Almost Ready For Halloween

Halloween is right around the corner and I have a lot to do to get ready!  The kids are all set with their costumes, Cheryl and I made some Jamberry Sample Goodies for the "Mummy's", our party is pretty well planned, but I still have to get the food together this week, and the house is in desperate need of a once over before our party!  I can't wait!  We've had a Halloween party for the last couple of years now, and every year

New Family Member

After the loss of our beloved Ahb's and Cloz'r, we needed a little time before getting another fur baby.  We decided that, once we were done with camping for the year, we would get a kitty.  I was ready before then, but my level-headed hubby reminded me that it would be better to wait until we knew we weren't going to be gone a lot.  Just over two weeks ago, we went to Cannonsville Critters and adopted our newest baby, Star.  We didn't tell the kids beforehand, so they were extremely surprised when we got home with her.  She's a sweet and spunky little girl and we've all fallen in love!  :)

Love It!!!

Tonight while I was making dinner, Lauryn asked if I could put some music on.  She said, "We really should listen to music in the kitchen more."  She's absolutely right!  We used to be in the habit of cranking up the music daily, while making dinner, laughing, singing and dancing.  I'm not sure how we fell out of that habit but we need to bring it back.  Both Lauryn and Lucas like to pretend they're playing instruments when we're "rocking out" in the kitchen (or in the car...wherever really :) ), and I think that makes it that much more fun.  They don't go too far out with it, pretending to stomp on a tu2, although Lauryn did play air trombone once!  Whatever air instrument we're playing, we have fun and it needs to make a comeback!

Time For An Update!

Once again it's been way too long since I've posted anything here.  I need to get back on track with that!  A lot has happened since my last post.  Some things I can mention, others aren't my place to say, but our lives have been on a roller coaster lately!  First, about a month ago, we had to put our baby girl, Cloz'r, down.  That was a terrible day.  She wasn't acting quite like herself so I took her to the vet.  They found she had a tumor on her spleen and that it had been bleeding into her belly.  With her being 13, there wasn't much they could do, that wouldn't have ended up being incredibly rough on her, and the odds of her survival were slim.  It was heartbreaking to have to make that decision.  She went peacefully in my arms.  Our house is so not the same without her.  Every day there is something that reminds me she is not here.  When the kids drop food, when someone comes to the door... it's just not the same without her.




In other news, the kids are enjoying their summer break!  We've gone camping a few times already and have had a great time.  They love it, but much like me, they are always ready to go home at the end.  :)  Each time we've gone with been with family and/or friends and it's been a blast.  We hope to go a lot more in the near future.  The kids are also both in the summer reading program at the library again.  This year, Lucas is really getting into it.  Lauryn loves being in the older group and getting to do more with it.

Lloyd and I are doing great!  We are coming up on 15 years of being together (11 years married, in October).  It's been the most wonderful 15 years and I know they wouldn't have been this way if it weren't for him.  I'm so incredibly lucky to have found someone so amazing

Things are getting pretty exciting with my Jamberry business!  In 8 days, Cheryl and I will be going to Texas for the International Conference.  I'm excited and nervous!  The only time I've really traveled like this was almost 11 years ago, with Lloyd on our honeymoon!  It's going to be great!  We're going to trainings, special events and hooking up on some major Jamberry Swag!!!  Being away from Lloyd and the kids for a few days will be tough but I think it will be beneficial to my business....not to mention Cheryl and I have a blast no matter what we do!  :)  We'll be staying at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center....look it up, it's insane!!!

I suppose that's all I have for now.  Hopefully I can get back on track with this.  Not only can I share with everyone, it's also a little therapeutic!

Weekend In Review

To share your weekend, please visit Jodi at:

Friday ~ I kept Lauryn home from school because she'd had a slight fever and had been up a couple of times in the night with an aching ear.  I was pretty sure she had her first ear infection, which the doctor confirmed at her appointment later in the afternoon.  Luckily she didn't seem to be too bothered by it and, other than taking a nap in the afternoon, she was pretty much herself all day.  My mom came over for Nana Friday and we had a nice ham dinner with a honey ham I'd cooked in the crock pot, homemade mashed potatoes, ham gravy and my home canned sweet corn.

Saturday ~ The day started out with Lloyd heading to an appointment and then coming home and taking Ahb's to the vet.  He'd found a lump on her jaw the night before and we realized she wasn't able to stick her tongue out and was having  a difficult time swallowing.  Sadly, our spunky 19 year old cat wasn't able to come back home.  She had cancer and had to be put down.  It was very unexpected and sad.  The kids handled it pretty well.  Lloyd and I had planned on going out that evening and decided to keep our plans so we wouldn't sit home moping.  We went to dinner at El Rancho.  It was our first time there and it was delicious!!  We headed to Candlestone for their comedy show and it was one of the best ones we've seen yet!  Then it was off to Silk City Saloon for a few drinks, dancing, a little karaoke (who knew I'd ever go so brave?!) and friends.  Cheryl met us there and we saw my brother, Terry, and a few friends from high school too!

[caption id="attachment_5206" align="aligncenter" width="216"] R.I.P. beautiful Ahb Bu Dah Be. We will forever miss your crabby meows, random attacks and uber loud purring.[/caption]

Sunday ~ The morning was a bit rough as I had had a very good time the night before.  After some toast, aspirin and a shower, I was in much better shape.  My mother-in-law, Carol, and brother-in-law, Jake, came over.  The guys stayed at home while Carol, Lauryn and I headed out for a girls afternoon.  We went to lunch at Applebee's and then to the Butterfly Exhibit at Frederik Meijer Gardens.  We had a wonderful time!  The rest of the day was pretty relaxed.  We ordered pizza for dinner, the kids played outside for a while and then after they were in bed, Lloyd and I watched our Sunday shows :) 

Time Management

I really need to work on time management.  I have been so consumed with my Jamberry business that other things I'm involved in are suffering.  I wouldn't say it's a bad thing, though, I just need to figure out to do them all.  Jamberry has been amazing!  I joined at the end of December and last week I made Lead Consultant!  I'm still pretty excited about that!  I have signed three consultants and we're all part of an amazing, supportive team.  I'm also thrilled that in July, Cheryl and I are going to Texas for a Jamberry convention!  Neither of us have just gone off for something like this and I know it's going to be an amazing, informative and super fun adventure!  I can't wait!  This business has been so good for me.  I'm meeting new people, making a little money and I feel like I've finally found something just for me that I truly enjoy doing.  Not to mention my nails look fabulous ALL THE TIME! :)  The new catalog is coming out soon and I think business is going to be booming!  Nothing wrong with that!  ;)

carielle.jamberrynails.net

My Little Musicians

I have two little music makers.  Lauryn has always been interested in all things music; singing, dancing, playing instruments and non-instruments, and now Lucas is too.  When they decide to "jam" together, they really go for it!  Lauryn has expressed interest in learning the piano so I've looked into some.  There was a keyboard madness sale that had a lot great deals but I think we'll stick her Barbie keyboard until she gets a little older.  I absolutely love how much my kids love music!

It's Been Awhile...

I really need to get back into the habit of posting frequently.  I go too long without posting and it seems there's so much to catch up on.  To begin with, Lloyd and I have had some really fun date nights!  Just after Christmas, we met up with my cousin, Donald, and his wife, Kat, and went out to dinner.  We ended up meeting up with them a little later for some karaoke and we had a blast.  It was definitely a night I don't think any of us will forget!  We also had a fantastic night out with my friend, Cary, to celebrate her husband, Guy's, 4oth birthday with a bunch of their friends.  We visited a couple of breweries in Grand Rapids, had dinner and ended the night with dancing and a couple of drinks.  It was a blast and much needed time with my friend who I don't get to see often.

I've also had a great time with my new business as a Jamberry consultant.  After a short time, I've had two lovely ladies sign with me and between that and my sales, I've reached Senior Consultant status.  I absolutely love doing the online parties and I have found that talking to strangers about Jamberry nails is easy enough.  I hope to feel comfortable enough to start doing home shows soon.  It's a product I love and believe in and I can't wait to see where this goes in the future.  I am lucky to be part of an amazing team and I hope to make them proud!

A New Venture

I've decided to try something new and become an independent consultant for Jamberry Nails.  I have been wearing the wraps for a while now and I absolutely LOVE having pretty nails all the time.  My friend, Cheryl, became a consultant and after hostessing a party with her and using the wraps myself, I became addicted!  I've always loved having my nails done but can't stand chipping polish.  I'm also not a big fan of the cost to get them done at the salon and what acrylics do to my nails.  Having pretty nails that are simple to apply, don't chip and stay on for two weeks or more is fantastic!  Not to mention the amazing designs and colors to choose from.  My biggest problem with these wraps is that I have a hard time deciding on which ones I want to wear!  If you'd like to check them out go to carielle.jamberrynails.net  You can also email me with any questions you might have on how to make your nails this pretty:

Christmas Shopping

Usually Lloyd and I take a night, pretty close to Christmas, and get all of our shopping done at once.  We make it a date night and have dinner and do our shopping.  This year, I'm trying to get as much of our shopping done online.  I've got a few things so far but we're nowhere near close to having everything done.  I'm sure we'll still end up doing our date night/shopping trip at some point, to get a few last minute things but it's kind of nice to get as much as I can from the comfort of my living room.  The only downside, so far, is that I'm coming across things that I'd never seen before and now I kind of want them! :)  I found department 56 snowbabies at christmasplace and fell in  love!  They're adorable!  I think I may need to start collecting them!  Luckily, there hasn't been to many things like that, distracting me from shopping. :)

Saturday 9

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (1932)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.


1) Bing Crosby wants a dime for food. Adjusted for inflation, 10¢ in 1932 is now worth $1.69. Can you think of anything you could buy at the grocery story with $1.69?
Sure.  A can of veggies, or a head of lettuce, a couple of cucumbers....you wouldn't be able to get much but there are a lot of things to choose from.
2) This song was originally released as a 78 rpm record. Have you ever seen a 78?
Yes.
3) In 1932, Jean Harlow was Hollywood's glamor queen. Who do you think sets the standard for glamor today?
When I think of glamorous stars, no one from our generation comes to mind.  I think of Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor....I don't think there are many that fill their shoes in the glamour department.
4) One of 1932's best selling books was Agatha Christie's Peril at End House. She remains popular today. Are you familiar with her work?
Yes.
5) This week's featured artist, Bing Crosby, worked as a caddy when he was 12 and continued to enjoy time on the golf course his entire life. What type of exercise do you do most often?
Dance workouts.  They're fun and don't feel like your exercising.
6) Bing had twin sons, Dennis and Philip. Many people believe that the propensity for twins is hereditary. Are there twins in your family?
I think I remember my mom mentioning twins in her family....but I could be wrong.
7) Bing's daughter, Mary Crosby, has her own place in TV history. Do you know why?
Nope.
8) In the mid 1970s, Crosby and his family did commercials for Minute Maid. Do you have any orange juice in your refrigerator?
Yes.  My daughter drinks orange juice every morning when she gets up.
9) Now for something completely random: Do you like beef jerky?

Very much!

Catching Up

It's been a little bit since I've sat down and done a post.  We've had a busy couple of weeks and it's time to play catch up!  Two weekends ago, Lloyd and I decided to celebrate our 10th anniversary a little early by spending the weekend in Chicago.  We hadn't gone on a vacation, just the two of us, since our honeymoon!  His mom came early Friday morning and stayed until Saturday afternoon and my mom came Saturday afternoon and stayed until we got home on Sunday.  We had a wonderful time and it was a much needed getaway.  Some highlights of the weekend were the shopping, the Field Museum, The Emerald Loop restaurant, our fancy date night at Ruth's Chris, the dueling pianos bar, Howl at the Moon, and our hotel room, which had an awesome window seat hat was big enough for us both to lay in and look over the city.

Last week was busy with getting ready for Halloween, a costume party and Lauryn's birthday.  On Friday, Lucas and I went to Lauryns school and watched the costume parade.  It was a lot of fun and we loved seeing all of the different costumes.  Later that afternoon we had friends and family over for trick or treating and a get together/anniversary party.  It was a fantastic night!  Yummy food, tasty drinks and lots of laughs with great people.  Saturday night, we went to the costume party at Candlestone with our friends, Cheryl and Alan.  We were dressed as Flo from Progressive and Mayhem from Allstate and they were Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter.  It was another super fun night!  Those two are a blast to hang out with and there's never a dull moment! ;)  Sunday was Lauryn's 6th birthday.  We decided to keep it low-key this year and have dinner, presents, cake and ice cream with our moms and this coming Saturday the four of us are going to have lunch and play games at Chuck E. Cheese's.  Lauryn requested spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, strawberry cake with strawberry frosting and Neapolitan ice cream.  She got a lot of nice presents and it was a very special day for her.

I think sums up our last couple of weekends pretty well.  I'll add a couple of posts soon with the recipes for the seven layer dip, crock pot hot cocoa, and the caramel apple sangria we had on Halloween night.  They all were a hit! :)  I've been having trouble getting my pictures downloaded too so I'll post them once I get the kinks worked out. :)

Saturday 9

The Power of Love

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: The Power of Love (1985)Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Huey explains that you don't need a credit card to find love. What's the last thing you charged?
I don't have a credit card.
2) This song was written for Back to the Future. At the beginning of the movie, hero Marty McFly traveled around town on his skateboard. Are you good on a skateboard?
Not even a little bit!
3) Huey sings lead and his backup group is The News. Was the most recent news you heard bad or good?
Bad.  Is there good news anymore?
4) Huey's mother, Maria, was born in Poland. Who is the first member of your family to be born in the US of A?
I'm not sure.  That would be a question for my aunt, who has done a ton of genealogy research.
5) Brainy Huey got a perfect score on the math portion of the SAT. Did you take the SAT? How did you do?
I can't remember.....It's been ages.  I don't think I took it.
6) This song also hit #1 in Australia, where anzac biscuits are popular. To make them (the recipe is here) you need coconut. Do you have any coconut in your home right now?
I have coconut oil.
7) Thinking of dessert, would you rather have cookies, cake, pie, ice cream or frozen yogurt?
Pineapple upside-down cake sounds good.  It's my all-time favorite!
8) We're definitely into autumn now. What will you remember most about Summer 2014?
Spending time laughing with my family and friends.
9) Tell us your superhero name, as determined by the color of your shirt and an item directly to your right. For example, Sam fights crime as The Gold Kleenex Box!

Blue Coffee Mug

Guitars

Someday, I would really love to learn how to play the guitar.  I love singing and would love to strum the guitar while I sing.  I'm sure neither thing would sound great, and probably both together, my singing along with my guitar playing, would be a disaster, but it sounds nice. :)  I saw a martin 000 28ec that I'd love to own.  It sure would be nice to sing "Wonderful Tonight" to the kids like I do, playing an acoustic guitar signed by Eric Clapton, especially since that's mine and Lloyd's song.  Again, I'm sure it wouldn't come out sounding as good, but the thought is nice.

Another Great Weekend

I absolutely love our weekends!  Whether we make plans or just stay at home, I love spending time with my family.  This past weekend was no exception.  We started with "Nana Friday" where my mom comes over to spend some time with us and we eat dinner together.  Lloyd surprised Lauryn by taking her to the Belding football game to watch one of our favorite players, the Brim Reaper.  :)  She was thrilled!

Saturday started off with Lloyd making a yummy breakfast of omelets, brown sugar baked bacon and toast, and I did some cleaning and laundry.  In the afternoon we got a visit from one of my favorite people in the world, my cousin Ashley, and her equally cool boyfriend, Matt.  They came to share the good news that they'd gotten engaged!  I was so beyond excited for them!  I can't wait to see my beautiful cousin walk down the aisle!  After a nice visit, they headed out and my mom came over to watch  the kids.  Lloyd and I went to Allendale to pick up his sweet cousin, Jordynn.  We got to see her dorm and then we all went to Uccello's for a yummy dinner.  The service was less than impressive but the food was great.  We had a really nice time catching up with her!  We took her back home and then headed home ourselves.

Yesterday was a pretty lazy day.  We went and got a ton of groceries, Lauryn went to the neighbors for  a couple of hours to play with her friend, Sophie, and I made General Tso's Chicken and homemade crab rangoons for  dinner.  The rest of the night was spent hanging with the kids and watching some Sunday night shows.  It was a nice, relaxing way to wrap up the weekend.

 

Sunday Stealing

Random 20

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing which originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard of the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we try to credit the blog that we stole it from. We also provide a link to the victim's meme in our "Previous Victims" widget. (It's our way of saying "Thanks!") Sometimes we edit the original meme, to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, to select the best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from this new meme or recently asked questions from a previously featured meme.
Let's go!!!

From Survey's

Random 20

1. Have you had an argument with anyone recently? If so, do you still have issues with that person? 
I haven't argued with anyone.
2. Are you talking to anyone while filling this in? How about texting/chatting on Facebook? 
No.
3. Have you done something recently that helped someone else, in any way? 
Yes.
4. Who was the last person to pay you a compliment? 
My husband.
 5. Is there anything that’s happened in the past month, that you wish you could go back in time and change? 
No.
 6. What color is your purse/wallet? 
Brown, blue and white.
  7. What’s the closest item to you that’s black? 
The wall clock.
  8. Think about what you looked like 5 years ago. How did you look different, compared to the way you look now? 
I was a few weeks away from giving birth to my daughter so I looked quite a bit different. :)
  9. Before Facebook became popular, did you use any other social networking site, like Bebo or Myspace? 
Myspace.
10. Has someone of the opposite sex ever sung to you? If so, how did you respond to it? 
Yes, it was sweet and I loved it :)
 11. When did you last hug someone of the opposite sex? 
A few minutes ago.
 12. Have you ever seen the film “Casablanca”? Did you like it? 
I haven't seen it.
 13. Do you have a relative whose name begins with ‘L’? Tell me about him/her. 
Yes.  My husband and my kids all have names that begin with "L"  They are wonderful people who make me extremely happy.
 14. Are you a secretive person? 
I can keep a secret but I'm not too secretive myself.
 15. When did you last eat? 
A few hours ago.  I woke up to my husband making breakfast for all of us.
 16. If you were going to buy a present for a special person, what would you generally choose? 
I would try to choose something that would mean a lot to them.
 17. If I’m going to buy you a box of chocolates, which kind should I definitely NOT get? 
Something without nuts.
18. Is there something you generally always ask for help with? 
I'm sure there is but I can't think of anything off-hand.
19. If you had to give up your phone or your computer, which would it be?
Tough call.  My first thought is to say my phone because I don't talk on it too often, but I couldn't get rid of it because we don't have a home phone so it's the only way for people to get ahold of me in case of emergencies.
20. Has anyone called you gorgeous/beautiful today?

No

Just A Random Rant

You know what drives me nuts?  Those darn blue colored headlights!  Are they LED?  I'm not even sure.  I feel like they mess with my vision at night, when they're coming toward me.  Not so much that it makes it hard to see or anything, thankfully.  I am all for brighter headlights, and being able to see well for night driving but those lights are just too much.  I've never driven a vehicle that has them, so maybe I'm really missing out on something, but I sure don't like them coming at me.

Sunday Stealing

September 6, 2014

Alphabetty

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing which originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard of the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we try to credit the blog that we stole it from. We also provide a link to the victim's meme in our "Previous Victims" widget. (It's our way of saying "Thanks!") Sometimes we edit the original meme, to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, to select the best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from this new meme or recently asked questions from a previously featured meme.
Let's go!!!

From FYeahSurveys

Alphabetty

A. What are your favorite smells? My children after a bath, garlic, Rapture perfume, honeydew.

  B. Can you go a whole day without caffeine?  Not without getting a nasty headache, I'm sure.

  C. Who knows more about you than anyone else?  My husband. 

 D. What song did you last listen to?  "Happy Birthday"  we sang it to our friends little boy tonight at his party :) 

  E. Do you have a crush on anybody?   Sure, there are a couple of celebrities I'm crushing on.

 F. Do you like The Beatles?  Yes.

  G. If you could choose one color to wear for a whole year, what color would you choose?  Purple. 

  H. Do you cook often?  Every day. 

 I. What was the last film you watched? Did you like it?  I'm watching "The Notebook" as I type.  I do like it but the ending makes me mad.  Noah doesn't die in the book. 

  J. Can you sew?  By hand, yes.  I've had a very nice, new sewing machine for years, and I've tried to figure it out, but I have no idea what I'm doing. 

  K. What is your favorite fruit?  Watermelon.

  L. Are you health conscious?  Not as much as I should be. 

  M. What is your middle initial?  M 

 N. Do you curse a lot? No.

 
  O. When was the last time you had a beer?  I don't drink beer.  I've never cared for the taste of it.

  P. Are you pro sports fan?  I don't mind baseball but I've never been a big fan of any sports. 

  Q. Is there a certain food you often crave for no reason?  I crave different things at different times. 

  R. What was the last book you purchased?  Hmmm....it's been awhile.  I usually borrow books from the library.

  S. Where was your last vacation?  My honeymoon....almost 10 years ago.  

  T. Do you share your fries?  Yes.

 U. Did you ever play seven minutes in heaven?  No, not that one. ;)  

  V. Girls, when was the last time you went out without a bra? Guys, when was the last time you went shirtless in public?  I don't go out without a bra.  It's like when they say to always wear clean underwear in case your in an accident.  I'm afraid the one time I went out braless and I'd get into an accident and people would know.  Haha!

  W.  What's the longest you've gone "unplugged"?  Maybe a day or two.

X. Have you ever broken a bone? If so, how did it happen?  Amazingly, I have not.  I'm incredibly clumsy but have manage to avoid broken bones. 

  Y. How do you like your eggs?  When they don't make my stomach feel yucky, I like them over-easy.  Since having kids though my stomach can't handle eggs much anymore.

  Z. What was your last argument about and who with?  Probably my two year old.  He's my sweet boy but he likes to argue with me all the time - in that stubborn two year old way.

Saturday 9

Roar

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: Roar
(recommended by Cat)

If you're not familiar with today's song, you can hear it here.

1) The lyrics begin with Katy singing about when she used to "hold her tongue." Tell us about a time when you didn't speak up, but wish you had.
Mostly when my choices as a mother have been questioned.  I always regret keeping my mouth shut, instead of sticking up for myself.  I try to keep the peace by not saying anything and am always mad at myself after.

2) The lyrics mention both lions and tigers. In addition to the big cats, the video shows a monkey and an elephant. If we were going to the zoo today, which animal would you want to see first?
The giraffes.

3) Lions and tigers are carnivores. If we were having steak for dinner, would you order it rare, medium or well done?
Medium.

4) Lots of photos are snapped at the zoo. Did you take your last picture with a camera or with your phone?

My phone.

5) The "Roar" video takes place in the jungle. The average temperature all year around in the rainforest is a humid 80º. The typical September day in Juneau is 49º, dry and sunny. Which sounds more comfortable?

I'm not a fan of the cold but I hate humidity, so Juneau it is!

6) In her youth, Katy took dance lessons at the local recreation hall in Santa Barbara. Crazy Sam took tap dance lessons as a girl, too. What about you? Were you sent off to dance class? Music lessons? Art class?

I was in Brownies and I took a few baton classes.

7) Katy recently passed Justin Bieber as the most followed person on Twitter. What's the last message you re-tweeted?

I don't think I've ever re-tweeted anything.

8) Congratulations! You just won the lottery! Do you want it in a lump sum, or would you prefer payments over the next 25 years?
Tough to say.  I'd like to get a lump sum to take care of a lot of things and a lot of people right now, but it would also be nice to know that I'd be getting a steady check for the next 25 years.

9) Did you get 8 hours sleep last night?

No.

She's A Kindergartner!

This week Lauryn began a new and exciting chapter in her life.  She started kindergarten!  She had been counting down the days until she went back to school and got to ride the bus.  Tuesday was her first day and she loved it!  I had to make her "first day of school sign" like I did for her two years of preschool and I always ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, to put on the sign.  The first year her response was, "Everything!"  Last year it was, "Everything and a police officer."  This year it was the Tooth Fairy. :)  She was the first one on the bus and she didn't seem nervous at all.  I didn't think I was either but as soon as the bus pulled away, I completely lost it.  Seeing my little girl on that great big bus was tough!  We met her at school though to see her into her classroom for that first day, and of course, to take pictures.  Leaving the school wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  Instead of sitting at home all day, waiting and wondering, Lucas and I visited with Cheryl and Malachi.  It helped a ton to hang out with them.  When it was time for Lauryn to come home, Lucas, Cloz'r and I sat outside to wait for the bus.  Lloyd pulled in after a few minutes because he wanted to be here to hear all about her first day, too.  The bus was quite late, as I was told it probably would be, but when she got here she was still all smiles and a lot of excitement over her first day.  She kept saying, over and over, "Kindergarten is AWESOME!"  She's eating breakfast and lunch at school, she's making friends in class and on the bus, and she loves her teacher.  I couldn't be happier about all of this!  It's sad to think my sweet girl is already in kindergarten but she's smart and she's ready.

 



[caption id="attachment_5103" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Daddy and Lucas came out to watch Lauryn get on the bus for the first time too![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5104" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Look at my big girl! On the bus ready to go to kindergarten.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5105" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Look closely. In the second window behind the driver my sweet girl is peeking out. I fell apart about two seconds after this photo was taken. :p[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5106" align="aligncenter" width="224"] A sign outside of the classroom, welcoming the students.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5107" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Super excited about her cubby.[/caption]