Today I was helping Zander with his homework. We had to read a book that had an emotion in it. I let him pick and he chose Snow White. We talked about how Snow White was sad, but then she was happy (but much more in depth than that). He wanted to fill out his homework sheet all by himself. He's so proud of his writing!
He also like to buckle himself into his carseat - even if it takes 5 minutes. He doesn't let me help him at all!
Mana was watching him go into the bathroom earlier today and saw that his undies were on backwards.... he got himself dressed. Picked everything out himself and put each piece on himself. He decided that he wanted to keep the underwear on backwards. I guess we can't stop Mr. Independent!
Mana and I are leaving for a 3 day excursion to the North Shore on Sunday. This is the first time we've away from the boys at the same time.... and it's MUCH needed. We haven't taken a "vacation" (if you can even call this 3-day getaway a vacation) for over 5 years! Mana keeps telling me that we're going back to Hawaii for our 10-year wedding anniversary (next September). I told him that we better test the waters first with a smaller scale separation from the kids. My parents are watching the boys and I'm sure they will have a blast! The kids, that is. Hopefully my parents can say the same thing after 3 days!
We're staying at Lamb's Resort - which sounds fancy, but is really only rustic cabins. No TV or phone. They've been around for a LONG time (1920's) and Mana's grandparents used the stay there (back in the day :) ), so we thought it would be cool to check it out.
How crazy life gets in the summer! We had 2 SD cards with videos going back to mid-July that we had not yet put into iMovie. Anyhow, I thought I'd share a recent one (9-22-08) with mostly Mason. He loves when we turn the viewfinder around so he can see himself. Zander (Bean) and Mana make an appearance too. Mason is SO into saying people's names. I told him that my name is really Keisha and now he calls me Keisha sometimes. Zander is know as either Zander, Bean or brother. I think it's pretty smart (at 18 months) that he knows those all refer to the same person.
It's time for me to get back to scrapbooking again. I've been making cards like crazy - but that doesn't get me closer to being caught up in books. My room has turned into a disaster lately, so I decided to use tonight to rearrange and clean. I moved all my idea books (from the various places they were stashed) to a shelf above my computer. Holy crap, no idea I had so many!
This gave me room to re-arrange a few other places. My next project was to tidy up my ScrapRack area. In this whole process, I re-discovered some products and tools. That's always a plus!
Then onto my workspace. This still needs some work, but it's a little better.
Mom and I went to ScrapFest at the Mall of America on Saturday. In previous years, we've gone on Fridays and it's been a lot less busy. Note to self for next year. Anyhow, it was still fun. They had a lot of cute make and takes offered by 27 vendors. Many of them had LONG lines - so we had to be selective about which ones we did. Mom and I both took a class from SEI (1 hour baby boy book). The products were cute, but it wasn't really a class. They just gave us the supplies and we put it together in the hour of class. We've taken other SEI classes and learned new techniques or tips/tricks. Not this time. Kind of a bummer. The highlight of the day was a class I took from Hero Arts. When mom and I signed up, I signed up about 30 minutes after her (my fault) and did not make it into the Hero Arts class that we decided on. Mom didn't really want to take it by herself - she's not as "into" all this as me. So, she gave her seat to me. What a mom! The class was taught by the talented Jennifer McGuire and Shari Carroll - both artists for Hero Arts. I've been following Jennifer for quite some time - took a class from her at ScrapFest last year (also awesome), follow her blog and the Hero Arts blog. She has such fabulous ideas. She and Shari did a great job - adding tips along the way. I learned a lot.
I took Friday off of work on a mission to find some fabric for some projects I'd like to get working on - now that I have my own sewing machine :) First we went to Treadle Yard Goods in St. Paul - Grand Ave & Hamline. They had some really great Amy Butler fabrics - just the style I was looking for. This is where I found the blue/grey combo which will be for a bag/tote. Then we headed to Quilter's Courtyard in the Highland Park neighborhood. I found the green/blue/yellow combo which I will be turning into an apron. We had lunch at Midtown Global Market. Very interesting! Lastly, we stopped at Glad Creations in Minneapolis. This is where I picked up the pink/coral fabric (which comes across as orange in the picture - it's really more pink/coralish). Not sure what I'm going to make with it, but it was on clearance and I totally love it. I guess this is the start of my "stash"! It was a fun day spent with my mom!!
Last weekend when Mana was trying to get some weddings put in proof books, I took the kids on an "adventure". We hit a bunch of garage sales. On one block, there were two houses that had mounds (literally) of boys clothes. I ended up paying about $70, but it had to be retail $300+. One of the things not pictured is a little kid bike. We will need to buy some training wheels and a helmet, but the bike itself as only $5. Major score!
I found this really cool website called wordle from one of my friend's blogs. You can either type in a list of words... or you can type in the URL of your blog. It puts together a "portrait" of all the words - very cool! I did my blog. Looks like I have a favorite child, but I don't. Love 'em both just the same. Just more to talk about with Zander starting preschool, I guess.
Today was preschool orientation. Zander, Mana and I went while my mom watched Mason. Zander did just fine. His mother did not. When we walked through the classroom door, I started to get all teary eyed. Then, as I watched him put his backpack on his hook with his name, I lost it. I had to turn away and pretend to be looking over some paperwork. I didn't want Zander to see me, nor did I want the teachers or other parents to see. I felt plain silly! After I got it together a few minutes later, everything went very well. He has 2 teachers - Mrs. Herzog and Mrs. Nereson. Both were very nice. All the kids got to color a person and write their name on it. Zander was very proud to do that. Then, the teachers talked to parents for about 15 minutes and the kids were on their own to explore. They went through the paperwork we had to hand in as well as the multitude of handouts that we had to take with us and review! Zander even had homework on his first day!
Tomorrow is the first day of preschool for Zander. This is all very last minute since we just got a call on Thursday that a spot opened up. Tomorrow is actually the orientation for parents and kids, so that will be nice to get Zander comfortable with a new place. Ah, who am I kidding? This orientation is really for Mana - so he's comfortable with letting Zander go there! I know Zander will do great. Yesterday was when he actually found out he was going - and he seems really excited. Time will tell...
So, as of yesterday, I could say that I'm really into my thirties. Last year was a milestone. This year was just another birthday, I guess. However, there were two things that made this birthday fun...
{ sewing machine }
I finally bought myself a sewing machine. After about 7-8 years of doing all my quilting and sewing at my parent's house, I finally decided that I needed my own machine. I've heard great things about Janome brand. Easy to use, reasonably priced. So, my mom helped me wheel and deal on my very own machine.
{ garage shelves }
After I bought my sewing machine a few days before my actual b-day, Mana asked me what kid of "accessories" I wanted for my machine so he and the boys could get me a b-day present. I told him to forget the machine accessories. What I really wanted was for him to start and finish the garage shelving project that we've been talking about since we moved in almost 2 years ago. I came home on Wednesday to a few posts and partial shelves. And then Thursday, I came home to this....
I LOVE it. I know this sounds crazy, but I do. You see... I have ulterior motives. I currently don't have room in my office to set up my new sewing machine. So, I need to move stuff to the basement... which is also quite full. So, these garage shelves are for the basement items so I can move the junk in my office into the basement.
Sunday, Aug 30th was the American Idols concert. I finally got to see Michael Johns!!! We were in 10th row in the lower level (not floor), so not too bad. There were 8 of us: me, Marissa, Jason, Mom, Dad, Aunt Karen (my date:) ), Aunt Kathy and Uncle Marty. I had no idea what to expect for the overall format/content. The only thing I knew is that MJ would be singing 3 songs and I knew which ones based on my insider scoop. I guess they all do the same songs the entire tour. That would get boring! So, it started out with Chikeze (10th place) who sang songs and it went down from there. After the 5th place person (Brooke White), those 5 did a song together - "In the Name of Love" by U2. I got a good picture of MJ and Carly. They continued to do 3 songs each until David Cook, who did 4 or 5. MJ had (in my opinion) the best set. DC was a close second.
Then, at the very end, they did a group song - "Please Don't Stop the Music". Towards the end of the song, David Cook and Michael Johns do a little skit that has been affectionately been named "Mavid". They do one in every city - and it's different every night. They get pretty creative. At the Minneapolis concert, they used boat oars and paddled. Then, they swatted Jason Castro with the oars. It was pretty funny.
I was using my parent's little Nikon point and shoot camera since SLRs are not allowed. It took pretty decent pictures.
Lastly, too bad we didn't hang around afterwards. I found out that MJ, DC and Carly went to O'Donovan's Pub and sang karoke.
We ventured to the State Fair last Tuesday. It was a gorgeous day - a bit on the chilly side in the morning which made for a less crowded day. We took a bus from Shoreview. I love not having to worry about traffic and parking. When we arrived, we hit the birthing barn and Grandstand.
We also started early on the food. Some of the foods we ate throughout the day: mini donuts, bacon on a stick, corn dogs, cheese curds, blackberry malt, garlic bread, apples w/ carmel.
The kids enjoyed Machinery Hill where they got to test out the tractors.
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