We Cropped Until We Dropped

What a weekend - my Mom and I literally cropped until we dropped!  As a belated Mother's Day gift to ourselves we decided to hideaway and get some much needed scrapbooking done.

After we both got off work on Friday we headed over to a nearby Embassy Suites where we checked into our room, and then immediately headed down to the Manager's Reception - a.k.a free booze and appetizers.

Then we went back up to the room and opened another bottle of wine while we unpacked our plethora of scrapbooking supplies, and laid claim to where our crap tools would sit for the next two days.  We then sat up chatting for a few more hours then headed to bed.

Saturday morning we did the responsible thing and headed to the hotel gym.. where I again was met with a shortened run thanks to the hot air.  I think I'm destined to be an outdoor runner - not on treadmills.  After working out it was off to our free made to order breakfast and then down to business - 14 hours of non-stop scrapbooking.  OK we did take about a 2 hour break for the Manager's Reception again (more free booze!).

Here's a snippet of what we did all day...


Yes wine makes cropping all that much better!

This is just a little bit of my mess... the table is doing a great job hiding all the other crap that's on the floor, and if I'd have turned the camera around you could see all of Mom's crap.....

Here's a page from the book Mom's working on....

And then here's everything I did.  I'll have a detailed look at all of these pages over the upcoming Scrapbook Saturday posts...

We kept saying how great it was to have 100% uninterrupted time for scrapbooking.  Usually when we get together we're dealing with children/spouses/guests/phone calls/making dinner/getting home by a certain hour etc.  We really want to do this twice a year - and perhaps inviting others.  This hotel had adjoining rooms!  So we can all share our crap with each other! (Hint, hint to our MN family fellow scrappers....)

Slugger

While Mommy was away, the boys will play.  And what would they play?  Why baseball of course! They hit up the local park and Drew ran off some energy and crushed the ball!

I have to admit, he's quite the slugger with his new aluminum bat and tee.  Here's a video for you to see for yourself.

Scrapbook Saturday - Baptism

I'm awfully excited - right now I'm making more scrapbook pages with my Mom.  As a little Mother's Day present to ourselves we're holed up in a local hotel scrapping our heart away.

But to keep you satisfied until I can show off some of the pages I'm currently working on... here's one from Drew's first year album.  It's his Baptism.

I started with a paper I found and really liked - but it was awfully busy.  So I decided to cut out "mats" and slide the picture behind the background paper.  I then found a little piece of artwork and printed it off adding the date.  Simple enough, but also shows that I was a "rookie" when I created this page.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

It's almost scary that I can now have an "intelligent" conversation with my 2 1/2 year old.  Of course you'll be chatting along with him and he'll throw something random out there.  Here are a few unusual comments Drew has made in the past week or so:

• "I feel so much better now" - this very sleepy, yet excited declaration was said as I pulled into the garage and he woke up after dozing for the 10 minute ride home from day care. 
• "Frank peed on me" - Drew said this as he was throwing his bath toys into the tub, and one of the Fisher Price guys (who is I guess was christened "Frank") had water leaking out of him. Apparently left over from the previous bath.
• "I'm gonna bust you up!" - picture Drew saying this with his fists raised in the air.  This is what he tells Dave when he's about ready to wrestle or wail on him.
• "Mommy the sun is bothering me, put it in time out.  Stop bothering me sun!" - said often on our way to Day Care in the morning and the sun is blazing into the back seat of the car.  Drew is usually trying to "block" the sun using his hand.  Problem is, he's blocking his right eye, and the sun's beating him on the left side.
• "Mommy kiss my teeth" - he asked me to do this over and over after he did a face plant at day care, tripping on his own feet.  Then Drew proceeded to get mad at me because I didn't "make it small again".  Apparently he has a little bit of a fat lip on the inside.
• "Mommy, do you remember the garage sale (or any other random event)" - Drew apparently has a great memory!  He remembers so much, right now he's intent about talking about the garage sale from 2 weeks ago.  But he talks constantly about our Disneyland trip last September, our trip to Kansas City, the plane ride, and even our original Virginia trip when he saw his little girlfriend Leila!
• "Daddy lay with me for 5 more minutes" - Said at bedtime when Drew doesn't want to be alone.  I thought you ask for 5 more minutes when you wake up in the morning.  Oh yeah - that's what we say to DREW in the morning.... Mr. Early Riser.
• "Mommy/Daddy, I'm so proud of you" - after Dave or I come out of the bathroom.  I guess if Drew's potty training the whole family is potty training.
• "That's my school! That's my school!" - while this isn't normally funny, the part that IS funny is that he thinks a water truck is his school (they're adding onto the church/preschool).  When we try to point out the building that really is his school, he tells us no, it's not. *sigh* there's still  no reasoning with a 2 1/2 year old...
• "Mommy you go for a run like Rocky?" - said after I got back from a morning run.  He's infatuated with Rocky!
• "Mommy, you do exercises!" - As he jumps onto my belly while I'm doing crunches, or puts a toy on my abs watching the toy go up and down.  This is followed by his version of push-ups.

She's Like the Wind

I often hear from people that they could never be a runner or run races the way I do.  I kind of chuckle because until about 3 years ago, I said the same thing!

To give you some background on my anti-running campaign, it all started when I was in 6th grade and I passed out at school after running a single lap around the track for PE.  That's right I hit asphalt right in front of the teacher and the class - and when you're about 11 years old that's mortifying.  So I didn't try hard in PE after that.

Fast forward to when I was in 9th grade and I had a seizure at school - not as mortifying to a 14 year old as being carried out on a stretcher to the awaiting ambulance as school is being let out for the day.  They determined the seizure was due to my migraines, and tried to treat them with a wide array of medications - some of which were for epilepsy and absolutely drained the life out of me.  I couldn't participate in PE - yahoo!

Then as I was an adult, and looking for ways to shed the unwanted extra weight, I started doing work out videos, going for walks and dabbled in running while I lived in Fresno.  However I never had any method to my running madness, so I quickly gave up.

While Dave and I were trying to conceive Drew, I decided to shed the pounds, re-joined Weight Watchers and looked into various ways to help me earn a lot of Activity Points (those who are familiar with Weight Watchers know what I'm talking about).  That's when I found the Couch-to-5K program from Cool Running.  Essentially it takes you from being a couch potato to being able to run (or jog like I do) a 5K race.

When I saw how it was easy enough to start in spurts, run for 60 seconds and walk for 90 seconds, and gradually increase I was hooked. It also gave me direction and discipline.  Something that I hadn't had previously.  It was even better when I found Podcasts telling me when to walk or run - and no longer have to keep staring down at my stop watch - ok the music wasn't my favorite, but it got me through and kept me motivated.

I have since graduated from the C25K (abbreviated for couch to 5K) twice, once before having Drew, and the second time when I started running four months after having him - I waited until after breastfeeding.  Um, it hurts when you're... shall we say.. full.

So for all you nay-sayers who say you could never run - I said the same thing too.  Now I find it to be a great stress reliever, ALONE TIME for me (which never happens unless I run), and the results on the scale and with my clothes are another great motivator.  So don't knock it until you try it.  I'll see you on the roads or at the next race!

Potty Training Reward

Every kid I've come across has a fascination with something.  Books.  Movies. Elmo. Lightning McQueen.  Flags. Video Games. 

Well for Drew this fascination comes in the form of a windmill - otherwise known by Drew as a "Spinner".  Well Since Drew did so well last week on the potty training front at day care, his reward was to go see the Spinners.  Dave and I initially thought - heck we have to pick up a wine shipment in Livermore, why not just drive through the Altamont Pass, get a good look at the Spinners and grab some lunch in Tracy.

Well we hit pay dirt with the Spinners.  Drew was in heaven when we pulled off the freeway so he could see his beloved spinners up close and personal (OK they were in the distance still - but he could gawk at them outside of a moving vehicle for once).

It is sooooo windy on the Pass (duh, they're lined with windmills for a reason right?), so this Mama ended up having to take her wind whipped hair back into the comfort of the car, while Daddy and Drew marveled at the Spinners going 'round and 'round.  Seriously Drew was in heaven!

We then hopped back into the car and headed to Tracy where we had a VERY yummy buffet lunch and then hit the shopping center they call Outlets.  Our shopping excursion lasted far longer than expected, and we never did make it to Livermore to pick up our wine shipment.

Oh well, it was worth it to see how happy Drew was go go back over the Altamont Pass and see even more Spinners going in the West Bound Direction.

"What the Turtle?"

As if my son wasn't already a little mimicker, he has now picked up some bad "speaking" habits from someone at our house - who shall remain nameless (but for the record it isn't me).

It started the middle of last week when I go to pick up Drew from day care, and Ms. Stephanie mentions Drew dropped an F-bomb. She wasn't sure she heard him right, so she asked him to repeat it a few times.  For a while now Drew has said "What the Heck" - but this time while he was already sitting in time out, he blurted out "What the F*#@".

After Ms Stephanie realized he was actually cussing - she tried to explain to Drew that it was a bad word, and we don't say that.  She wanted him to say "What the Turtle" instead.

Fast Forward to Saturday morning and while Daddy was sleeping in (not that this is different than any other day) but my angelic little son was climbing on his little chair and says clear as day "What the F*#@!"  I instantly begin scolding him how we don't say that word - and Drew announced "We say 'What the Turtle'".

I said yes, he can say "What the turtle", but if I hear him saying the bad word again I will wash his mouth out with soap.

Drew starts processing this as all two year olds do, and rather than using his "inside voice" he thinks aloud and says "We don't say 'What the F*#@' we say..." I didn't let him get that far when I scolded him again for swearing.  Thankfully hasn't done it since.

Of course we were out and about later this weekend and he yelled "What the Turtle".

Needless to say, the nameless person who taught my sweet, adorable child this potty mouth is in the doghouse.  And of course denies ever cursing in front of said child.  Uh, huh.... right...... that darn Elmo is swearing on those videos again.