Let's Get Started

That's the new motto for summer, or maybe for life. Today I'm heading off to walk with a mom in the neighborhood. She walks everyday and offered to loan me her other jogging stroller so I can walk with her and my 5 year old. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully we can establish a routine and keep it going throughout the summer. We'll see once the boys are home from school how that goes.
Closet cleanout needs to start today too. The kids stuff has managed to continue to pile up over the school year and now it is time to attack it. My goal is to get it done before Zach's last day of school.
Finally, it's time to get the school albums started. I usually wait until summer, but with Katie off I'd like to get hers done and then have Zach's ready to go. It's also time to build up my Creative Memories contacts. We have such incredible new products that I can't wait for my customers to use and enjoy. I can't wait to use them myself!
This is going to be an awesome summer. So...let's get started!

Day One of Summer Vacation

Well summer has officially come to our house as Katie is now on summer vacation until Kindergarten starts in the fall. She of course is having a hard time with the concept of playing by herself! We're definitely going to be working on that more over this summer. Our next activity for the day is playing dog shop. I guess she is apparently a dog that I have to buy at the store. We'll see how that goes. I've discovered the trick to avoid the complaining is to rotate between doing a job that needs done and playing with her. It works most of the time. After all we got the grocery shopping done, and groceries put away. I even convinced her that our last play time should be exercising with the balance ball. She seemed to have fun. They grow up so fast it's hard to not just let everything go and spend all day playing with her. Finding the balance is the key...I guess it's time to go pick out a dog. I wonder what she would say if I pick out the real dog we already have as part of the game!

It was great...while it lasted!

Well, it has come to an end. Another great Red Wings season. Full of ups and downs, good games and games where I wondered if they could use some help from the 7 year old kid who lives in my house and wants to play with them someday. Now the game of who will and who won't return begins, rebuilding and dreaming of the next run for the cup. Overall, it was an incredible run. If someone could do something about us being in the Western conference I'd be all for that. The time zone thing in the end I think does play a factor, I know they are professionals and would be able to get past it. Maybe they should. In the end I still stand and applaud them for a being a team that played through 2 rounds of the playoffs and coming out ahead. A team that proved that while Stevie Y will never be replaced or forgotten, that he is the past and the future is up ahead with different guys stepping up to the line. A team that heard that commentators loved to mention also lost my personal favorite Shanahan, and while they kept saying they couldn't do it without him, they proved that even his talent spoke of the past not the future.
We took our flag down today. Have no fear it will be flying high again next season as the Wings go one step further and advance to the Stanley Cup finals. It's not over till it truly is over around here.

I think It's magic!

It's been almost 2 weeks since I last had a chance to post anything. Funny how time just keeps trucking right along. Sometimes I feel like I blink and a whole month, whole year has passed by. What a busy 2 weeks it has been. Perhaps a brief recap is needed as I sit here with my calendar open.
Of course there was Mother's Day. A day to spend relaxing and being pampered. My 7 year old had the right idea. He wanted so badly to surprise me with breakfast in bed so he of course started talking about it the night before. The funny thing is I was the one he was talking too. I gently reminded him that I really don't like eggs all that much and that it's the thought that counts, and I briefly mentioned how the toaster worked. That night after he went to bed I even refilled my water bottle and left in the fridge for him. Later in the evening Phil came home having a migraine and sick. He'd been out with a friend and they had to come home early as he had gotten sick while they were out. He thought it would be best to sleep downstairs in case he got sick again, and didn't want to keep me up. After almost 11 years of marriage he knows that once I'm awake at night, I don't usually get back to sleep very well. Anyway, off he went to sleep and then I proceeded to wake up every time our daughter coughed as I had this new fear that she would start throwing up. Finally, about 4 am I fell asleep. At 6:20 this sweet little boy snuck into my room with toast and a bottle of water on the lid to my mixing bowl as he couldn't find a plate. It was the sweetest thing in the world! Actually, he orchestrated all the sweet moments of the day as it was his idea that we also go out to lunch later. The rest of the day was spent taking a nap and getting ready for the next day...our daughters 5th birthday!
So day 2 Katie's birthday! She had a great day which included pancakes as requested, a morning at school and a party with 8 of her friends at lunch. Followed by gifts with Grandparents (my parents) and then off to her brother's hockey game. At the hockey game, which he scored a goal and had 2 assists at, her favorite babysitter showed up to surprise her and watch Zach play. Then we headed home for cake and bed.
The rest of a week was a blur of catching up on things, a Get Together for Creative Memories, a workshop for Creative Memories, and the entire family coming in for the weekend.
What a weekend it was, Katie performed in 2 dance shows as a cute ballerina. She did great and had a lot of fun. And as important as that was, Zach made a bigger step in getting baptized. He had accepted Jesus as his personal Savior when he was 3, but now after attending new life classes was ready to make a public confession of his belief. So he was baptized on Sunday morning. What a privilege it was to watch him make that step.
Later on Sunday we realized that he had come down with Fifth disease/slap face virus. Nothing dull around here. So...now it's Wednesday and this week of course has included yet another array of events including Field Day at Zach's school, and a field trip for him. And our biggest event since Sunday...our baby's Preschool Graduation!
Where have the last 5 years of for that matter 7 years gone? It must be magic. That is the only explanation that makes sense. You hold them in your arms for a brief moment and then they are off on the big yellow bus for a day away from you. I'm sure all too soon I'll be saying they are even further away. Treasure the days is what Moms always told me, they pass to fast. Now I'm on the end of the days that have past. The oohs an ahhs as they learn to walk, talk. I'm onto homework and friends over to play. So, when my oldest needs that one more kiss at night, I no longer get frustrated thinking "gosh, I wish he could go to bed with only one kiss and hug", no instead I'm hugging and kissing him realizing that in just a very short time he'll say he doesn't need to be tucked in. It must be magic, yes it is but hopefully some of the time I can still play the role of fairy godmother and keep some of the magic for myself!

The buisness woman

I am more and more coming to realize how great it is to work in my own home based business. Life gets busy, and that's not to say that I can stop working or thinking about my business, but having a career designed around me being home has allowed me to work at my own pace and when I need to. Sometimes that means working during the day while kids are at school, sometimes that means fitting training and calls in while traveling, regardless it's a pace that I can set and that is the best thing in the world with any job.
Creative Memories is such an amazing company to work for. The training is incredible, so much is out there for CM consultants to train on that I have to pick and choose as to what to study and learn more about. Not only that but Creative Memories likes to reward their consultants in so many ways. This is the 20th anniversary and they are doing an awesome job of letting us know that they appreciate what we mean to the business.
Probably one of the things that has meant the most to me is hearing Dr James Dobson talking to co founder Rhonda Anderson this spring and discussing how Creative Memories is a ministry. How true! Our job is to encourage others to tell their families story so that it will not be lost. Just as God has called us to do from Old Testament times to now. Telling our story, sharing our faith, and moving this passion forward to new generations. That will not always mean that we will be doing traditional albums, but that has not stopped the Creative Memories mission. Instead Creative Memories has embraced the future and stepped forward in meeting the demands that technology has put on the story teller to find new ways to share their memories.
I love working for a company that believes in what I do and wants me to know that they believe in what I am doing too.
One step, one story at a time until each one is told. So, off to spend some time on my own family's album, as my gift to them and the generations that will follow.

Happy Draper Birthday!

In our house we remember everything by hockey numbers. So with that in mind I'd like to wish my wonderful husband a happy Draper Birthday! (for those of you not in the hockey world that would mean he turned 33 DRAPER, KRIS (C) ).
Hope you have enjoyed your day of going to work, eating at home, putting garbage out on the corner, taking the kids to swim class, going out for ice cream, playing baseball in the front yard and of course now teaching me how to add links to my blog. Funny how an adult's birthday gets normal day treatment while a kid's birthday gets a huge deal made of it. Sorry about that! Hope you had a nice day anyway.

Life as a Mom

It's 11:21 and I already feel like I've run a marathon and yet at the same time finished nothing. Guess that is why I figured I'd might as well post something before heading out to do the next leg of the marathon. I guess I'm on a water break at the moment.
I guess it's not so much that I haven't gotten anything done today, just not what was planned. I mean I did get up, opened drapes and blinds, emptied the dishwasher, put 4 loads of laundry away, made a Dr appointment for my son, cleaned up dog puke, played kickball, called 2 schools, got the kids out the door to the Dr, sewed a badge on a cub scout uniform while waiting for the Dr, talked to the Dr about 2 kids, administered more allergy medicine, took 2 kids to school, played psychiatrist to my Mom, balanced the check book, and replied to one email. YET THE FEELING OF GETTING NOTHING DONE REMAINS! I guess it's because we as Mom's tend to feel like failures when we don't get what was planned done. Working from home does not mean there will ever be two days alike. We don't go out into the world have one boss tell us to finish a project in this particular order and then get to work on that project until it is complete and then start the next one. Being a Mom means the project just gets moved to one place and then another. My friend just sent me this email I think she is right on.

CHILD ACTIVATED ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER

Recently, I was diagnosed with C. A. A. D. D. Child Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests:

I decide to do the laundry. As I start toward the basement, I notice that there are cheerios all over the floor and my car keys are in the cereal bowl.
I decide to pick up the cheerios before I do the laundry. I lay my car keys down on the counter, put the cheerios in the trash can under the counter,and notice that the trash can is full. So, I decide to take out the trash.

But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash I may as well pay the bills first. I take my checkbook off the table,and see that there is only one check left, my extra checks are in my desk in the office/playroom, so I go to my desk where I find a sippy cup full of juice. I'm going to look for my checks, but first I decide I should put the sippy cup in the refrigerator to keep it cold. As I head toward the kitchen with the sippy cup a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye -- they need to be watered. I set the sippy cup on the counter, and I discover babywipes that I've been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back in the bathroom, but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the wipes back down, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote, one of the kids left it on the kitchen table. I realize that after school when they go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote as they fight over who lost it, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I splash some water on the flowers, but most of it spills on the floor. So,I set the remote back down, get some paper towels and wipe up the spill.Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day: the laundry isn't washed, the bills aren't paid,there is a warm cup of juice sitting on the counter, the flowers aren't watered, there is still only one check in my checkbook, I can't find the remote, I can't find the wipes, and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it,but first I'll check my e-mail.

So, now onto the next phase of the morning. Pick up medicine, order birthday cake, pick up daughter, drop off delivery to customer, stop and get pop, weed yard, take daughter to neighbors, make dinner, maybe check email, finish the mother's day present that needs to be done by tomorrow, maybe get the other mother something, get ready and head off to church to teach a parenting class. Somewhere in there maybe eat lunch and dinner. We'll see.
I'm sure everyone else is having a day like this too in their own way.
Off I go!