What a Big Girl!

I am amazed by our almost-one-year-old Lila every day. She is definitely more tenacious than her brothers were at this age. She isn't fully climbing on things yet but she is trying and neither of the boys were ever climbers. They were much too cautious for that! Lila gives "kisses", waves, and claps like most babies her age but when she sees someone she wants to impress she goes into an elaborate presentation of all of these tricks rolled into one comical routine. It usually works. She has admirers at the library in Gonzales as well as all along the Gulf Coast thanks to our beach trips. This girl will do what it takes to get people to notice her! She says a few words on occasion (bye bye/nigh nigh used interchangeably, no no, and dog) but she does bark multiple times daily when she sees or hears the dog. She loves her big brothers and goes to their doors in the morning either rattling the baby gate keeping her out of Carson's room or banging on the door to Cullen's new room (formerly the office). We sure are enjoying our sweet, busy, baby girl! Cullen said he couldn't imagine life without Lila and I whole-heartedly agree.

Household Staff

I have always wanted to have a staff of workers to do my bidding. Here are the people I would have on-call. They could live nearby and be texted when I need them.

• Nanny- not full time, just when I want to take a nap or when Lila is in a biting mood. If she gets paid perhaps she won't mind being bit. She can also play Mousetrap with the boys 500 times a day. Come to think of it...
• A second nanny for the boys so they can do things without Lila, like play Mousetrap 500 times
• Gardener to pull all of these darn weeds. The grass is almost dying from the lack of water but the weeds continue to grow. Go figure.
• Chauffeur- he would go get the boys at camp. Then their sand and rocks and crud would be all over his car and not mine.
• Cook
• Maid
• Butler. I am actually not sure what a butler does but wouldn't it be fun to have one? We tried to win a butler once as part of a Batman Begins promotion but it didn't work out. Carson really liked the idea of a butler too.

I would be able to survive with the above staff. They would need to give me some freedom to do things on my own but whenever I want to take a nap or don't feel like cooking they would be there! I will talk to Kevin about making this happen.

June Stamping Projects

Here are some of my stamping projects for the month. I will have samples of my scrapbook pages for my hostess clubs and my card class too. Lots of fun things going on! It has been so long since I've had a card class; I really missed them! Wish I could do it more but with Lila being into everything it's hard. She eats shoes, paper, purses, phones, table covers, and anything she finds on the floor. She also crawls up to me, holds onto my legs so that if I move she will fall over, and bites me whenever she feels like I am doing something that is not centered around her. So I am especially proud of my projects and the three classes and events I have prepared for considering the cute little obstacle I have!

This card was hard to get just right; during the class I knew it needed a little more "umph" and I figured out what the fix was once everyone was gone... one more little bird, this one red. That red bird made all of the difference!

This card is so sweet in person. I love this stamp set! My class attendees could use pink or blue paper for the card.

This was probably my favorite card. I love the Big Shot texture plates (the product that made the dots on the light purple paper). The different textures of the paper and ribbon made this card so pretty yet so simple.

This was a great way to use the fun scallop oval punch and "oval-alls" set. Thanks, Julie, for loaning me the stamp set!

This father's day or male birthday card was too cute. Margarita loaned me this funny little stamp set and we had fun with the "punny" phrases.

Right side of the two page spread

Left side

Both pages together on my two 12x12 clipboards. These pages would be great for boys or girls, men or women, and for all sorts of summer events and activities. Lots of space for journaling and photos!

Pet Peeves: Grammar

Facebook has opened up a whole new awareness of exactly how inept some people are when it comes to grammar. I am FAR from perfect but I do try to proofread what I write. Why would someone create a quiz or something on Facebook and have words spelled wrong? Why would they use the wrong words? Here are some of my pet peeves. I have more, I just don't want to seem as anal as I actually am.

Your and you're used incorrectly
Y'all is spelled y'all, not ya'll
Congratulations has a T not a D (not congradulations)
Their and there used incorrectly

The only excuse for this is if foreigners are making these quizzes. Honestly, most foreigners would probably use better grammar than many Americans.

One down, one to go...

I just finished my first college class in fifteen years. It was actually sad to put down the last book! The books were fantastic. I liked them all except for the first, Little Women. For some reason those girls have always kind of annoyed me. Is it wrong to be aggravated by literary characters? I certainly have enough real people to be annoyed by, I am not sure why I have to add fictional people to the list. The other books were all fantastic and I plan to use excerpts from several of them in my classroom. Ninth grade is a good transitional year; you can read out-loud to them and have some fun with them and they don't think they're too big for their britches yet. However, their britches MAY be too big for them, hanging down to their knees with their boxers showing...

Anyway, I just have one more class to finish, my EDCI class, which is about teaching literature to various grade levels. It was between that and a Civil War literature class. I am not sure if I chose well or not as the mid-1800's has always interested me as does history. Wish I was a woman of leisure who could take classes, shop, and work out all day.

Employed

I am pleased to announce that I am employed for the 2009-2010 school year. I will be going back to East Ascension High in Gonzales and am thrilled about it! I didn't take any sort of leave so they didn't have to hold a spot for me but they had one available and of course I jumped on it! Teaching there was a good fit; I liked them and they liked me. It looks like I will be teaching ninth grade English. I like the older grades better but have taught ninth grade four years total and do understand the nature of that wild beast. It felt really official when I got my packet of paperwork requiring me to go get fingerprinted (again) and drug tested. I don't mind either of those; I am pleased to know that they work hard to keep our kids safe. I just hope Diet Coke doesn't show up in drug tests.

I have Lila in a sweet little daycare nearby and as much as she loves the nursery at the gym I think she will enjoy daycare. She never fusses when I drop her off and wants to stay longer when I come to get her. The other day she held onto a large walking toy and I had to pry her off to be able to get her out of the nursery. I just don't know where she gets her stubbornness from ;) It surely can't be me...

Lila, Grandpa, and Lila's 'fro

These are some sweet pictures of Lila in Folsom on the Gator with Grandpa. It was parked while the boys picked blackberries. I love these sweet shots of Lila and my dad but also would like to point out the 'fro on my baby. Click on the picture of Lila hugging my dad and you will really see how defined the curls are. Before anyone starts to question Lila's parentage- Kevin and I both tend to have wavy-curly hair so we were bound to eventually have one with curls! I just have a good relationship with an expensive straightening iron and Kevin keeps his hair short.