Valentine's, a graduation, cute girls and jewelry...

I've got some updating to do! I'll try to keep this short and to the point since I have much to blog about. (Oh, who am I kidding? When do I ever keep my blog posts short and to the point?)

Let's rewind back to Valentine's Day first. I think we have begun a tradition at our house. We all celebrate Valentine's Day together with at least two essentials, balloons and chocolate covered strawberries. The girls were also thrilled to get their annual cards and treats in the mail from Grandma and Aunt Abby. So, the build up of excitement for Valentine's Day went on for several days. Lizette was very concerned with what all of us were going to wear. She was not happy that I was planning on wearing jeans and a red shirt. She really wanted us all to wear dresses in pink, red and purple colors. I negotiated jeans by promising to wear lots of make up and jewelry. She and Lexi wore matching outfits which pleased our little event planner. 

Early in the day, the girls and I went shopping for our Valentine's necessities, which included balloons, chocolate, chocolate covered strawberries, steak filets (Daddy's request for dinner), and some pink plates. Once we had the balloons, we went to Daddy's office and took him the two that the girls had picked out for him. We got to parade around his new office and meet his new team. It was like trick or treating for the girls because several on his team gave them candy. They were in heaven. Lexi was not shy at all about taking it and began to expect it as we would go to each new desk. After eating lunch with Jeff, we got the rest of our supplies and went home to begin decorating and preparing for our Valentine's party. It was a fun night!

    

To top off the day, Jeff treated us all to candy from Goody's candy store. Yum!!

On February 17, Lizette completed her reading lessons out of this book:

I was so proud of her! This was sometimes a very grueling process for both of us. With many stops and starts, interruptions with things like Summer when neither of us had any interest in doing reading lessons, I consider it no small feat that we finally finished! She is doing great too and I think she actually enjoys it now. Being able to read sentences and often being surprised at the words she just knows now has been fun for her. To mark this event Lizette and I went on a date yesterday morning. Our first stop was Krispy Kreme, then on to Wal-Mart to pick out a few treats for her. We were going to get pedicures but she said she would rather have a blanket instead. We ended the date at Craft Warehouse. We were going to end with lunch but she decided she wanted to go straight home and work on her craft.  It was fun to have some one-on-one time and celebrate something that we had worked on together. Love this little girl!

Enjoying her Krispy Kreme with sprinkles and at home with her  new dress and blanket.

And on to more about the girls. I love watching them interact. Lexi is still the aggressive one, but so loving at the same time. It is so funny to watch them play. Lexi wants to do everything Lizette does. She tries to copy most everything she says and does and where ever Lizette is sitting, is where Lexi wants to be sitting...right next to her. Lizette sometimes loves this and sometimes not so much. I love that they have a true love/hate relationship like most sisters do. They love each other more than anything but get so mad at each other too. It's hilarious.  I'm trying to cherish all of the little moments with them. The time is going so fast. I can't believe Lizette is going to kindergarten next year! She keeps talking about when she is going to get married and move out. Already?! 

And finally, more about my new jewelry adventure. :) In the last week and a half, I have gone from just signing up to sell the stuff to pretty much having a full on jewelry and accessory store in my home. I now have an inventory of jewelry and hair clips with more on the way. It's a little crazy, but so far a lot of fun.  It's sort of like being a kid in a candy store with all the fun accessories I have access to. Jeff built me some displays so that I can use them at parties and when I do fairs and other shows. I was experimenting with how to display the jewelry on them and I pretty much just made a little display that has now taken over part of our living room. It looks a little tacky right now with my hot pink tablecloths, but I think Jeff did a great job on my displays. He's been helping me figure out the actual business side of things too. I'm glad to have him on my team. I've never been good with money or business matters. But I love the cute accessories. I've been wearing them and getting compliments on them too! I went to Goodwill the other day to look for jewelry hangers to use in my display. The lady checking me out complimented my necklace, so I told her about my business. She asked for a card and of course I didn't have one, but then she took my phone number down. It made me feel good that my necklace spoke to her. :) 

So, some time in the next couple of weeks I will be having my first open house and you are invited! I'll post details when I get the actual date in place. Since this is a new product to Boise, I'm excited to show it to people. I think their stuff is really great and especially for the price. Am I sounding like a salesperson? I have to say that talking about accessories comes a little more natural to me than talking about plywood or glulam beams. I'm actually really excited about doing this. I love that I can do it on my own time and that it's a fairly new product to this area. I love that it is affordable so I don't feel like I'm asking people to spend a lot of money on something they don't need. And honestly, who doesn't need jewelry? It really is a need. And for $5, it's a great deal! Okay, now I sound like a salesperson. :) 

Signing off for now...

Paparazzi!

I have a little news that may surprise some people. I am in the jewelry business! Why you ask?

A couple of months ago I received an invitation to a Paparazzi Jewelry party. The invite said that everything was $5.00 and I was intrigued. I took Lizette and it was super fun. The jewelry was very cute, the atmosphere was low key and no one asked me to book a party or become a consultant. It was a nice experience. Since then, I've been invited to a couple of other jewelry parties. They were super fun too, but the jewelry was expensive. Lovely and very cute, but expensive!

I kept thinking back to the Paparazzi party and how it would be nice to have an alternative for those of us who don't want to spend a lot on our jewelry. And since I am not exactly a fashionista, I sometimes don't know which accessories will go the furthest with my wardrobe, or which colors will look the best, etc. So my wheels have been turning...

I have loved the pieces of Paparazzi I bought at that party I went to, and I wouldn't mind buying more since it's only $5.00. If I buy a super cute green and silver necklace and discover that it only goes with one outfit, oh well. It was only $5.00! So I started Google searching to find out who the Paparazzi reps are in Boise. And low and behold, one of my friends, Cindi Morgan, is selling the stuff! So I contacted Cindi and signed up to become a consultant. The funny thing about it is, no one approached Cindi about selling it either. She felt the same way I did after seeing the product and wanted to sell it too.

I like the Paparazzi company's approach to sales. They encourage their consultants not to pressure people to have shows or become a consultant. They want to provide trendy, affordable jewelry to women, but at the same time not subject them to a high pressure sales experience. I like that very much because I am not at all a fan of high pressure sales.

So in the coming weeks I will be putting a website and Facebook page together and probably holding my first open house! I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Lizette reading, Lexi being cute, and a scary picture of me!

We're getting closer to finishing the reading lessons and Lizette is coming along great. We took this video yesterday to send to Jeff at work, so I thought I would share a clip...

And here is Lexi being her cute self. One of her favorite things to do lately is pull her shirt up and just leave it up. For extra entertainment she will grab her belly and act super proud of it. She is such the hugger lately too. It's almost comical to watch. She will hug you if you're laughing, crying, just sitting there, making dinner, talking on the phone...anything. 

And last but not least, I've been trying to send Jeff some sort of cute picture of the girls every day since he is gone so much now.  Instead today, I took a scary picture of myself and sent it as kind of a joke. I had a really bad migraine over the past couple of days and this morning it was particularly bad. (long story, but my insurance put a limit on how much migraine medication I can get, and I'm currently out...major bummer!) Anyway, the picture on the left was taken last Saturday. It's me on a normal day. The picture on the right is me on a migraine day. Ice pack tucked under a headband to numb the pain. I just wanted to have proof of my suffering... ;)

Lexi was so sweet to me today while I wasn't feeling well. She would stand there and look at me for a minute, then say "Headache?" and then start to rub my back or my head. She is just so sweet!

Snow, New Haircut, Girl News, and Other Stuff

It finally snowed in Boise! Sort of a mixed blessing as the roads are a complete mess. But it does make for some good times with the kiddos. Well, at least with Lizette. Lexi is not so fond of cold and snow yet. I remember Lizette being this way too, but Lexi might be a bit more animated about her dislike. The snow was too powdery to build a very good snowman when we were out today, but Lizette did get to make snow angels. Lexi stayed out for a whole two minutes and spent the rest of the time watching us from the window.

    

In other news, I got another version of a short haircut. I've gone from long to medium-short, to short, back to medium-short, and now back to what I would call short. I was even going to go shorter than this when I went in, but Lisa talked me into baby stepping it a bit. Probably a good idea considering the fact that I am a bit compulsive! Anyway, here is my self-photo taken with my phone. Lovely. But I do think I sort of like my haircut. I think it says "sophisticated, almost 39 year old".  :) Well, that's what I'm telling myself anyway. Sophisticated may be a stretch...

Oh, and you can't tell from the picture, but the sweater I have on is a shawl. Later that day as I was heating the water for the girls' mac and cheese on our gas stove, the sweater caught on fire! No, I am not kidding. Luckily I had a hot pad in my hand and stamped it out quickly. Not before screaming like a mad woman and scaring the daylights out of both of my children. Lizette is still afraid to come into the kitchen when I'm cooking. Maybe it was a good lesson in kitchen safety. That was pretty wise of me to think of such a great teaching moment for my children.

In girl news, Lexi has maintained her composure as she adjusts to not having her binky. Although, the other day I spied on her as she was digging through a bag and found a binky. She held it in her hand and looked at it for the longest time before she finally put it in her mouth. And then she just sat there for a couple of minutes enjoying the moment. I didn't interrupt. I kind of felt like she needed this closure. A few minutes later she came to me and said "Binky?" I said, "No, remember binkies are for babies." She was sad for a bit, but then finally said, "Okay." She hasn't asked for it since.

Lizette has taken to playing with one of the babies and decided her name should be Emily. Emily ate with us tonight and she is currently taking the middle section of the girls' room as her sleeping quarters. We recently made a chore chart for the girls and Lizette decided today that Emily needed her own chart too. So we made one and hung it in their room. I've been doing some thinking and I think I'm pretty hard on Lizette. I expect a lot from her because she has always been a pretty good, responsible kid. But, she is a kid. I'm afraid in my wanting great things for her and expecting maybe too much sometimes, I've turned into some version of "Mommy Dearest".  So, I'm working on that. I'm trying to give less orders and more hugs.

Halloween

Halloween was pretty fun this year. Lizette went as Little Red Riding Hood and Lexi was a Queen.  I thought it would be fun if I dressed up as a grandma and Jeff could be the big bad wolf. But Lizette said "No Mom, you should be a witch...a wicked witch."  (One can only wonder if this has something to do with the taking away of her toys.)  Anyway, she was pretty set on the idea and I figured a witch costume would be easier to put together than a grandma. She really wanted Jeff to be a handsome prince, but we didn't manage to find a costume for him. Of course, we all know he needs no costume, being the handsome prince he is naturally! He did get to take them trick or treating and they had a lot of fun. Lexi got scared at one house that was all decked out with scary things in their yard and animated stuff going on. Poor little queen! 

Lizette's preschool had a Halloween party and the kids put on an adorable little program. I took cupcakes and felt a little out of place because there was only one other parent in a costume. Oh well. Lizette seemed to be happy that I had dressed up.  

Off to Trick or Treat with Dad!

As always, we got a TON of trick-or-treaters. We went through 16 bags of candy and had to post a "sorry--out of candy" sign on our door by 8:00!  Crazy!  I answered the door in my witch costume and the kids seemed to like that. I scared a few little ones though...sorry! Someone even had me pose for a picture with their kids. That was pretty fun. I think I'll dress up again next year. It was fun to get a response out of people with my scariness. :)

New on the Blog list...and a couple other things

I found this Blog, Real Mom Kitchen and I have added it to my blog list. If you haven't visited before I would highly recommend it. I've been looking through her recipes the past couple of days and she has some good ones. Mostly pretty simple too, which for me is very important! And I like that her blog is very easy to navigate.

P.S. I am currently working! Crazy, right? Thanks to my friend Trina, I got a little part-time, temporary job transcribing interviews for a grad student. Kind of nice right before Christmas to earn a little extra Santa money. And it's a little bit fun to be working I must say! I don't think I would want to make a habit of it or anything because I'm staying up pretty late most nights to get it done. But it's kind of nice to have that feeling of contributing to something and earning money.

P.S.S. Lizette's behavior is much improved since the taking away of her toys. She has even begun to do extra things like make hers and Lexi's bed without me asking her. She even put Lexi down for her nap today and said she wanted to do extra things like that to help me so that she could earn more of her toys back. Well, I guess we're on the right track. At least she knows that good behavior nets good rewards. It's sort of funny that Lizette is on this sort of probation period. She is taking it so seriously but half the time I'm thinking...she is such a good girl overall...maybe I'm being too harsh? I can't imagine what measures I'm going to have to take with Lexi someday! Boarding school? The girl scares me sometimes!

Anyway, good night!

Fun at the Park

We went down to Ann Morrison Park last night. Our primary objective was to get in some fun park time as well as stroll along the Greenbelt and take in the beautiful fall foliage. I also wanted to practice for our upcoming Christmas card photo shoot that Jeff is going to do. So Jeff brought along his camera and got some great pics. He even turned the camera over to me so that I could snap some of he and the girls. We all had a fun time and it was a great evening! I love this time of year. I love walking the Greenbelt. I love Boise. And I love my family!

P.S. Every time I visit any of the Boise parks, it reminds me of how much I wish my brother Paul could move here and be in charge of them. He does this for a living in Nashville and does a great job, but I really think the Boise parks would be the perfect place for him. ;) 

20 Year Reunion

For the past year, I have been in charge of organizing my 20 year high school class reunion.  I have worried and stressed and stewed and worried some more about this thing!  It's not that it was that complicated to plan. It was the worry about having a good turn out, people having fun, having it be everything a 20 year reunion should be.  I guess I just felt a lot of pressure to have it turn out great and it completely stressed me out!  

Well, after all the stressing, I think it actually turned out pretty great! I think it was what a 20 year reunion should be.  It was so fun to see old friends, get caught up, reminisce, and all those things you do at a reunion. I think everyone had a good time and went away with a pretty good feeling.  

Mission accomplished!  

High school was a great experience for me.  The friends I made there have been life long friends for me. We saw each other through some tough times in life and I think we will always have a special bond.  My mom treated all of my friends as if they were her own kids and they in turn treated her like their second mom.  I loved that.

I'm glad I went to my reunion.  So glad I was able to see the people I did there.  And I'm SO GLAD IT'S OVER!  No more stressing for me!  About the reunion anyway...

Diane and Phil

Jeremy Rhoades, Me, Diane, Joe McKinney and Tami Parker
(Jeremy was my boyfriend in 7th grade for two weeks.  Our song was The Greatest Love of All, by Whitney Houston.
It was serious.)

Ryan Wolfe, Me and Stephanie Seib.
Both Ryan and Steph were great friends of mine in high school and have gone on to much success in life.  Ryan is a VP for Gap Inc and runs the Banana Republic operation in Europe. He lives in London now.  Stephanie worked for Disney in marketing for several years and has now taken a few years off to raise her family.

Me, Diane and Julie Macauley
Julie was the go to woman in planning the reunion. She lives in Lebanon and took care of a ton of the phone calls, errands and logistics there.  Total life saver!

I did face painting at the family picnic and the girls and I got some practice in beforehand.

Painting Diane's little girl Hailey's face.  She is such a cutie!

Phil, Diane's husband and Hailey eating lunch.

Heatherly Stankey, Chris Spence and Brooke Bingaman
Don't you love the name Heatherly?  Brooke was the Strawberry Festival queen.  I was miss congeniality.  :)

Brooke and Diane

Stephanie.  So pretty!

Me and Steph sharing a laugh.

Some reminiscing going on here I presume.

Liz Ahearn, Julie, Steph and I
Liz was a big track star in high school and still enters running competitions.

All of the classmates who showed up to the reunion on Saturday night. 

Friends and sisters!
Our parents were married the summer after we graduated from high school.

The next generation of trouble!
Lizette and Hailey had a ton of fun together over the weekend.

One last thing about the reunion.  Jeff was a trooper!  He took a ton of great photos for me.  He even learned how to make balloon animals to provide some entertainment for the kids at the family picnic.  I LOVE this man!