Party On!

Today I am babysitting Cameron's friend and they are fighting like cats and dogs...therefore, I am the official referee of the princess coloring books and crayons. I am about to go crazy. But, they are being quiet for now, so I am going to quietly post a picture to the blog and hope there is no blood drawn over who gets the Cinderella book and who gets the Sleeping Beauty book.

This weekend Cameron was jabbering a million miles a minute (like she always does) and she said, "Mom, when will I have babies?" and I told her not for a long time. And she then told me she would be having three babies and she would love them with all her heart (precious). Then she was quiet for a minute and said, "Mom, who will my babies Grandma be?". I told her it would be me. She was quiet for a minute and then said, "Oh! They're gonna love you!" I hope she's right.

Well, my fall decorations are up and I am looking for ways to justify buying more. I am an addict when it comes to fall. And it doesn't help one bit that my good friend has her own business that specializes in Primitive wood art and Vinyl lettering. Her stuff is AMAZING and she is going to be at the Harvest Festival this weekend in Emmett. Check out her website http://www.rustygoose.com and if you like what you see, come check her out! This girl has talent!

Here are some birthday cards that I made for a birthday swap on http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/. I have been working with this website for awhile and doing lots of swaps. It's so much fun to get back new birthday cards in the mail! I try to keep all of my creations "cost effective" as scrapbooking can be an expensive hobby is left unmanaged. Therefore, you will find that most of my creations are pretty simple, not a lot of embellishments, because embellishments, my friend, are a money sucker. I use a lot of thread, a lot of embroidery floss, and a lot of stamps and cricut die cuts. I am still pretty proud of what I do, even though I don't spend tons of money on the cute stuff.

Preschool

Here's my big girl on her first day of preschool. She was so excited to go! We decided to go with a different school this year and it is going awesome. Cameron is coming home with all sorts of new songs in her repitoire (?). She is learning her A's and has brought home apple prints and macaroni letters. Yay! I love school!

Saturday today and I am being lazy. I am thinking about scrubbing out the bathroom floor as I noticed it's quite grimy in the cracks. I am also working on my lesson for relgious education class on the Apostle's Creed. I made some really cute bookmarks for the kids to stick in their bibles that say what we believe.

The kids are fighting (again) and Tucker is being whiny. I'm figuring he's probably getting his two year molars, and he's just not having it with Cameron today. THis is why I'm planning to leave him with Daddy today while I take Cameron to a friend's birthday party. Hopefully he'll enjoy his time.

Now this is trashy

I just wanted to let you know that we have an "official" ice cream man roaming the streets now. And, what an ice cream man he is.....if it wasn't for the ice cream stickers on the side of the beat up van, I wouldn't let my kids within a ten foot radius of this guy, but $1.00 for a fudge pop is tough to beat. Of course, the kids can hear the music from WHEREVER he is, including across the highway, so they patiently wait for him for a LONG time. I like the dirt on the back end of the van and the hub caps. If you think the outside is classy, you should see the inside.....Man I love Emmett.

Princesses can be Sassy

And in my never ending attempt to catch up on life, here are Cameron's birthday pics. Of course, she has to have a princess themed party and 4 is a big deal beacuse she was involved and knew what she wanted. It was a good time. Here she is blowing out her candles on her cake. (A close up of my cake and details about this creation below) Here she is showing how old she was and you can see a little bit of the "Princess" bounce house in the background. I have to say, I think kids who have bounce houses at their parties are spoiled, but it's a well-spent $100 because the kids play non-stop and the adults can actually have a good time with each other. I may have one every year....

Opening presents...of course it's a "princess" coin bank.

And here is a group shot of the princesses eating pizza and having a tea party. I bought Cameron a really nice birthday dress, but she went to her friend, Mary's that day and told Mary's mom that she didn't have a party dress and could she borrow Mary's Cinderella gown. She refused to put on her party dress at the beginning. But, she is pretty darn cute in it.

And here is the cake that I started making on Tuesday (party was Friday). I worked from 10-1 or 2 in the morning for three nights and finished in Friday afternoon. It was impossible to get it to look like the one on the website, but it turned out okay. I could pick it apart, but we'll go with it for now.....

If Cameron ever doubts my love for her, all I have to do is pull out this picture and show her what I will do to give her a "princess" birthday. I know, I tend to go over the top with parties, but they're only young once so why not?

A lesson in foreshortening--and rodeo pics.

I found these shots from the Emmett Fair and Rodeo which took place this summer too. Actually, my friend Dawn took these shots and then kindly forwarded me the links. It's so hard for me to get into the photos because I'm the one always taking the shots. That was my goal for the year was to pass the camera on to someone else and get in and smile. So here I am with Tucker "gettin' in and Smilin'"

And here I am with Dawn. Both of us smilin' like it wasn't our ten year reunion this night after all and we're still the hot chicks that we were when we were 18! Of course Dawn still looks the same, but me, however....well let's just say it's been a long 10 years of babies.

But well worth it because look at this cute girl I created! She's so beautiful! And I love the fact that she's got her Pink boots on for the rodeo with a skirt. The best part is, she totally pulled it off!

Today I got to teach an Art lesson in my friend Melissa's classroom. She teaches 6th grade here in town and I just love to get in and teach. I know I am so lucky to be at home with my kids, but the teacher in me is just screaming to get out and play and today I got to do that. Cameron is in preschool three days a week and Tucker is semi easy, so he just comes with me and hangs out in the back of the classroom. We did a lesson on foreshortening, or how it would look to draw someone standing on a glass bridge and looking up at them. The kids LOVED it. Here are some examples:

I truly can't wait to get back into the classroom and am looking forward to doing a monthly lesson with these kids! A great day for me!

Tucker's Birthday Photos

It is September and I am finally downloading the birthday and other late summer activity photos to share. I thought I'd start with Tucker's birthday photos. Here he is looking so cute with his newly buzzed hair (compliments of Papa and Daddy). I could have done without the "Chemo" cut, but he's cute anyways. I tried my first attempt at fondant icing and it wasn't the best attempt. I did two layers. A 10 inch square and a six inch square. I layered them in white fondant and then edged the seams with lots of icing and confetti sprinkles. We of course, had to get the Handy Manny Tool set from the Disney Store to put on the top of the cake, as we were going with the "Manny" theme.

Here is the big present from Daddy and Mommy. Notice his foot barely touches the pedal? Yes, for those of you who are wondering, two is too young for a four wheeler. But, boys will be boys, and of course he had to have the biggest one they make. Cameron actually rides it more than Tucker does, but when his legs grow a few inches, we'll be ready!

I just love this one. He looks tickled to death to be eating his dinner of hot dogs with his friends. This is Cailey Cronquist, Cameron, Cayden Cronquist, and Mary Thompsen. Lucky boy with all those older women around him! Tucker picked out his hat at Walmart and it's totally tacky with a huge Spiderman on the head, but he loves it and it was his first actual "I pick this" hat, so he had to have it.

Eatin' some dogs.....

Checkin' out the cake.....

Whose kid is that anyways?

You know when you're out and about, and you see that mouthy kid running amuk in the store who won't mind her mother and you swear there is no discipline whatsoever at home? Or the kid at the restauraunt who is running around while the parent sits and enjoys conversation or the meal? Or, the kid whose parent has pulled over on the side of Franklin because the behavior has gotten so bad they had to have a spanking right then and there? I hate that kid, I hate that parent. And today, it was totally me!

I hate the fact that you can work your butt off to instill manners, virtues, social decency and just all around good behavior and in one day it can fly out the window. How can a child who is reasonably well -behaved (atleast I think) go off on some tangent and start screaming in your face, hitting her friend, yanking toys away from her brother, and deliberately disobeying, just to see if you will catch her? It makes me sick just thinking about it.

Cameron was having an off day today. Unfortunately, today was the day we were going to go with her friend and her friend's mom to Archiver's (stupid to take kids there, even when they are well behaved), out to lunch, and then to Settler's Park, which is a wonderful play area/water park for kids for one last hurrah in the heat before the Fall weather comes on. I swear, if we wouldn't have been out with friends (and they always act this way when you are) I would have taken her butt home so fast, she wouldn't have known what hit her. Instead, she hit her friend, she hit her brother, she ran around the restaurant, and she used Tucker as her innocent pawn in her evilness. IT WAS RIDICULOUS!

We came home and clearly it was time for a nap, but do you think she took one? Nope. Not a chance. FINALLY it was bed time and she was out in about five minutes. It's exhausting being rotten. And now, she is sleeping soundly, looks like an angel, and hopefully, she will transform back into the sweet girl that I know and love tomorrow. But, if you see a Sequoia pulled over on the side of the road with a kid hanging onto the handle for dear life, it's just Cameron having a bad day. Don't worry about it.