Diamondbacks Family Night

 

This Friday night, we enjoyed a Diamondbacks family night, along with folks from FCA (Nathan's school). There was a great fireworks show after the game followed by a Toby Mac concert.  It was such fun to spend time with other FCA parents and for Nathan to hang out with classmates outside of school.



And I got my picture with Randy Johnson!

Look who's scrapbooking now!

As I continue my decluttering rampage through the house, I finally hit the craft room.  As I worked on reorganizing, my ever present sidekick wanted 'some work to do' too.  So I gave him some paper, die cuts and glue.



We both worked diligently at our tasks. 



And whaddaya know, my little one put together a scrapbook page!

School Fundraiser-Tasty Batters

WHY: Help Nathan support his school.



WHAT: This is an opportunity to buy Cookie Dough

• Each 3 lb tub makes 4 dozen 1 oz cookies
• Keeps for 6 months in freezer and 2 months in refrigerator
• All cookies are trans fat fee
• $15/tub

WHEN: Orders and money is due 8/29 (2 weeks from now)


WHO: Local folks will get tubs of frozen cookie dough. 
Out of state folks will get a box of pre-made cookies (made by me!)



 



Cookie doughs available for purchase:

1. Sugar Free Oatmeal
2. Fudge Brownie
3. Sugar
4. Cranberry nut
5. Triple Crown
6. Apple Caramel
7. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk
8. Key Lime
9. Katydids
10. Rocky Road Surprise
11. Snickerdoodle
12. Peanut Butter
13. Extreme Chocolate with Reeses Pieces
14. Chunky Chocolate
15. White Chunky Macadamia
16. Honey Raisin Oatmeal
17. Red and White Cranberry Delight
18. Shortbread Sprinkles

If you would like to support Nathan and buy cookie dough, please email me and let me know - thank you!

Air Conditioning Mandatory.

Summer in Arizona does not mean running around outside.  Quite the opposite, Summer is the season we run around inside, where air conditioning is available.  Sometimes we have to be creative like the Saturday Nathan and I spent an afternoon at...The Mall.

There's a Train at The Mall.
Me:  Nathan, we're only going to ride the Train once because it costs dollars.  We'll ride something free as much as you want.  Do you understand?
Nathan:  Yes, I want to ride in the coal car.  No, I want to ride in the green car.

{Photo-bombed by a 2 yr old.}

There are coin operated rides at  The Mall. 
Me:  Nathan, you can sit and pretend but I don't have change (I did) for these.  We can ride something free as much as you want.
Nathan:  Ok, I'm get on ice cream truck and pretend I got you ice cream.

There are also elevators at The Mall.

.
Me:  Nathan, do you want to push the button on the elevator?
Nathan:  YES, yes, I wanna push the button!  (has finger hovering over the 1 button, waiting for family of 4 to finish loading)
Oblivious Father:  (leans over 4 yr old with finger hovering over 1 button and pushes 1 button himself)
Nathan:  (offended) Hey! (disappointed, face crumples, crying ensues)
Understanding Mother:  That little boy was going to push the button.
Oblivious Father:  Oh I'm sooo sorry, I didn't realize it, I didn't know.
Me:   Nathan, it's o.k., we can ride the elevator again (it's free) you can push the button next time....come on, let's go ride an escalator.

What to do with all your kids schoolwork?

Give it to the grandparents.  That's what I do!  I realize this may not be a solution for everyone.  I have a 4 year old preschooler, who creates a massive amount of paper projects between church and school.  Since I'm a self-prescribed 'organized-hoarder' I had to figure out a way to deal with all of Nathan's schoolwork and projects.



A while ago, I sorted through a bucket of every project I had saved.  I pulled out what I wanted to personally save as keepsakes, then I sorted out what would go to the grandparents. 

I labeled baskets with tags for each set of grandparents. (I'm in love with this font, strangely named 'Rage' - if you also like it, you can find it for free at Kevin and Amanda's blog.)





I sort through Nathan's schoolwork and projects as I collect it.  I set aside what I want to keep and toss what I think the grandparents would like into their respective baskets.



I also keep a handful of large envelopes in the baskets and the baskets literally sit on top of my desk credenza. This makes it very convenient to pull a basket down, grab an envelope and gather some items together, address and send off!






This works well for out of state grandparents (like ours) who don't have the opportunity to interact with their grandchildren in person much.  I feel like it's just a small way to include them in the life of their grandchild.  I also throw less away, total win for me!

For grandparents who are not out of state, this could still be a useful way to share all those paper projects, Get the kids involved in putting together a grandparent packet. Mail it or hand deliver, either way is fun.  If grandkids saw some of their work displayed on Nana's or Papa's fridge, they just might feel extra proud!

Just something that's worked for me...

My Garden Center

For many folks, having a dedicated space for a personal hobby is a luxury.  For some, a sewing room.  For others, a man cave or garage.  For many years, having a craft room was that special space for me. However, since my transition from traditional to digital scrapbooking in the last few years, I use that space less and less.

 

Now, I've always enjoyed flower and container gardening but it's been a long time since I've had a dedicated place to store my tools or repot a plant. Our first house actually had a small green room which I loved but that was long ago.  In our current house, storage always seems to be an issue and my gardening tools or supplies were always in a basket here or a bucket there and I would literally squat on the ground to repot a plant.  So I made myself a garden center and the best part is, it only cost $10.00.  :)



I found this Baker's Rack on Craig's List for $10.00 - SCORE! I gathered all my scattered things and now everything is organized.  You know how I love me some order!
 
A work surface for projects...
 

 A shelf for extra pots and planters...
 

 A tool drawer...


A supply drawer...


Aluminum container with lid and scooper for fertilizer...

A trash can with snap on lid...


My sweet little garden center{insert big grin}just a little slice of heaven for this old girl!

School is Back in Session

Monday was the first day of school for Nathan.

Here's Sir Grouch-A-Lot waiting for the whistle.


I asked if Sir Grouch-A-Lot wanted to take my picture instead - he did.  I set the example and smiled big.


He perked up and smiled for this picture.


Then the whistle blew and it was time for Sir Grouch-A-Lot to line up with his class.


 



And that was that.
Nathan went to school.
And I went to Dunkin Donuts.

Update to Sink Hardware

The improvement train at our homestead is still chugging along, 2 small improvements that just make me happy. :o)

The kitchen faucet that came with this house was the most basic $15 faucet found at Lowes. I hated it and hate is not to strong a word in this case. 


Greg picked out and installed our new faucet.  I love it and love is an adequate description of my feelings for this new faucet!


My OCD kicked into high gear on this next improvement.  One weekend, hangers were on sale at Target, 10 for $1 so  I bought 3 sets.  The humor in this improvement is that I don't think the mis-matched hangers bothered me until I got all matching hangers, hahaha!  But now - ahh, it feels so nice to have order cause I love me some order!