Back in the summer of 1990

I was 14 years old and in love with 5 boys from the music world (I was in love with them before 90 but this is the year I was able to attend their concert). If you are in your early 30s you know who I am talking about. They made an appearance on the Today Show this morning… NKOTB!! I sat and watched in awe. I cannot believe it has been that long. My daughter who is 4 doesn’t know what the fuss is all about, not even my husband who is 9 1/2 years older than me understands. Only a select few, my cousin O (pull out that t-shirt which will now be a fashionable baby tee) and my cousin A (get your pillowcase out baby, they’re BACK), I’ll get my Donnie, Jordan, Jonathan, Joey & Danny action figures out of storage (these are “Barbies” L will not be allowed to play with). Sadly no concert dates for STL yet but I am going to be checking everyday. They said that Chicago IL sold out in 10 minutes so I can only imagine what would happen here. But A & O consider this a date set in stone. We are so there!!! By the way, JT can’t stop making fun of me, you know what he can kiss it because these guys were in my life before him.

Summer is on it’s way

  Oh my Lord!!! L is already out of school. Today was her last day and I am already thinking about all the stuff we can do to keep busy. So, I know many of you are in the same boat which lead me to create a Summer in STL Calendar (it’s at the top of my blog). If you have any suggestions or ideas of what I can add please let me know. Keep checking back everyday I have a HUGE list of stuff to add and only so much time to pull it all together but I am trying. It’s a work in progress. Hope it helps all of you moms.

I feel like I just did this…

I feel like I just potty trained L and now all of a sudden this week my little baby boy J has decided he might give potty training a try. I had purchased a potty seat a month ago and some underpants at the same time in preparation for this summer but never once mentioned it or pushed him because he just wasn’t ready. But now, he gets the seat out and puts it on the toliet and comes to me to take his diaper off. Plus, I told him he could play soccer in September if he wasn’t in diapers anymore. He has officially peed on the potty a handful of times and he went at his first playgroup the other day so we are off and running, just not quite at full speed. I am going to take my time with this one. I believe he has the potential to psych me out. Stay tuned….

Works for Me Wednesday - A Scrapbooking Edition

I read this in my Creating Keepsakes May issue magazine (pg. 106). So I really cannot take credit for it being my own BUT if you use rub-ons as much as I do it’s an awesome idea.

If you buy Pampered Chef or at one time you did (like myself) you probably bought a stone, right? Well, with the stone come those brown nylon pan scrapers… use them for rub-ons. They cover a lot more ground and are perfect for those extra large designs. I bet they would even work for applying those extra large letters to your walls.

Check out all the other Works for Me Wednesday tips at Rocks in my Dryer.

Wordless Wednesday - Clouds

It’s a late edition but I downloaded this picture of the clouds the other day, they were really cool looking. They looked like waves.

Check out other WW here.

I have fallen behind

I have fallen behind in my blogging. So much is going on so here are some snippets because otherwise this blog would be SUPER long.

- I have finished the slideshow, everything is ready to go, I’ve made 20 copies and I am nervous to show it tomorrow. I have also finished both teacher scrapbooks and they are all pretty in their giftbags waiting to be delivered tomorrow.

- I am not sure if I mentioned this or not but my mom’s divorce is FINAL!!! YEAH!!! To celebrate we went shopping for some new furniture for her house, it was a lot of fun. Plus she bought a brand new 50″ plasma TV. Sweet!!! I may have to find reasons to visit more often.

- Jack will be getting a new big boy bed any day. I am pretty excited but I will save all that for another post.

- I am in love with my new pc but I am having a hard time figuring out Windows Vista. I’m getting rusty in my old age. I used to be able to figure out any computer program. JT found all of my supposed “lost” pictures and we are being sent a new hard drive.

- Tomorrow after school L and J are going to get haircuts and if you know L her hair is super long, I am going to cut a few inches off because it’s looking stringy, hopefully things will go well.

Have a good night.

What makes this mama happy

It doesn’t take much to make this girl happy. I was just sitting here contemplating the things that make me a very happy mama.

1. A tall cup of my Quiktrip coffee, I seriously find myself craving one about 6:00-7:00 pm every night
2. Some new scrapbooking paper
3. A new magazine in the mail
4. Some fruit punch crystal light (only that flavor) in my water
5. Finishing tasks that have been hanging over my head like a black cloud (slide show is done & 1 scrapbook is done, see earlier post)
6. Sleeping late
7. Walking around Borders without interruption and possibly buying a book or magazine
8. Being with my husband, no matter what we are doing, even running errands
9. Watching a cute chick flick
10. Making a new friend
11. Talking to my mom every night on her way home from work
12. A new haircut and color
13. My new Land’s End swimsuit, it’s simply a miracle suit, I am thin again or at least it gives that illusion
14. Warm spring days (75 is a good temp for me)
15. Clean white tennis shoes, or new shoes in general
16. The smell of my babies after a bath
17. Scrapbooking and listening to my iPod
18. Being right, who doesn’t like that, and feeling smart
19. Candy, apple pie, hostess chocolate pies, chocolate cake… basically anything with sugar in it
20. Sunflower seeds
21. AND Shopping

That’s all that comes to mind but combine all of those things into one day and that would certainly be a dream Mother’s Day.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL OF YOU MOM’S OUT THERE! HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Curiosity killed the movie

My kids are cracking me up right now. They are sitting on the couch with JT watching Cast Away and L hasn’t stopped talking. Poor JT can’t even watch the movie instead this is what he hears:

“What’s he doing?” “Why is he making that fire?” “Daddy that’s dangerous, don’t you do that okay.” “Why does he have that booboo?” What’s he doing now?” “Why is he drawing that face?” “Why he needs to talk like that?” “What is he doing with his fingers?”

WOW that’s a whole lot of questions in a short time period of 5 minutes and those are only the ones I remembered. I can’t help but laugh.

Not so crazy after all!!

Up until recently I always considered JT and I crazy. Crazy that is for having only one car. We totally make it work but some days I know it can be frustrating for JT, not having that freedom. We live in the City of St. Louis and are close to all facets of public transit. The metrolink (our light rail system) is only a ten minute drive from our house and JT can catch the metrolink under his building downtown, talk about convenience, plus the money we save is astronomical. It’s a BIG reason/factor I am able to stay home. Not so long ago it was the way it was, my mom tells me when I was a baby they only had one car, back then people didn’t look at you as though you have 4 eyes. Some people even think we are nuts, “Oh I couldn’t do that” or “You guys are crazy, why would you want to do that” simply put because we have to, but now that gas prices are where they are, I am so happy that we are a one car family. We save in gas, insurance, tag renewal costs and ultimately repairs.

Want to see what others say on the topic, Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer wrote an article on BlogHer yesterday. Pretty interesting. I wish I lived in one of those small European communities she mentions sometimes (Erika you are so lucky).

Do you ever? Or is it just me?

Do you ever have those weepy mom moments? You know the one where you look back at pictures and realize that you will never get those moments back and just how precious they were and you never even took the time to relax and just smile through them? Well I guess since I have recently been dealing with a picture crisis around here I have been having that moment a lot lately.

I was looking at these sweet as can be pictures of L when she was in the 6 to 12 month range and just started to cry. I know, I know… SAP!!! But it blows my mind that she is now 4. Where did the time go? I worry that without pictures I wouldn’t remember a lot of those times, I was pregnant with J when she was only 8 months old, and I puked for the first 4 months so when she was turning 1 I was finally back to normal but with a large tummy. She was the happiest baby and such a funny little thing and now the sass and that attitude to match are insane. She acts like she is 14 not 4, apparently school can do that to a girl, and now she wants to watch High School Musical and Hannah Montana instead of Caillou and Curious George. She’s definitely not a baby anymore. Don’t get me wrong I can’t wait for what lays ahead (could we just leave the smart mouth behind) but oh what I wouldn’t give for just one more day to hold that newborn and have that feeling again of holding your first born, or live that first day of bringing her home all over again.

Some of you may be wondering why I don’t feel sappy about J yet… well he barely talks and he’s not potty trained so I guess I still have a little baby left in him yet. Oh who am I kidding, they will always be my babies.