Influenza

Yes, it has struck our house. Poor Remi reported a sore throat on Wed night. And as the night went along he got feeling worse and worse. By morning his throat was really sore, he had a cough and pain in his chest, and his nose was soo stuffy and he had a fever. So I had him stay home from school. He was sick alright. He didn't really care to get out of bed and he didn't even want to play. By night time he was really miserable so we knew he would be home another day. Friday morning his chest was so full that he was having kind of wheezy breathing and he got a little scared so I thought I better get him into the doctor. Their only appointment was at 3:30 in the afternoon. That just was not going to do it so she finally squeezed us in at 10:40. The nurse listened to his symptoms and pretty much knew it was the flu. She took a nose culture - which Remi thought was totally uncalled for - and that confirmed it. Since it was less then 48 hours Remi could take the Tamaflu perscription. It tasted horrible but really seemed to help him get better sooner. Friday after the doctor was pretty miserable for him. He laid in bed all day. The only thing he was to do was be read to or stare at the tv - I am not even really sure he could tell you what he was watching. He was one sick boy! His fever topped out at 102.7 that night. By Sat morning he was getting a bit better. Mom cam eover to stay with him while Peyton and I went to register Remi for Little League. And he sat downstairs and played with her the whole time. When I got home and Peyton was napping Remi and I watched a movie together to kind of have some down time for him. And by the evening he was up and going. He and Peyton were even back to fighting. Oh, and he also lost his voice in this whole thing. For a kid that talks as much as Remi does that was odd for his to not be able to say much for two days! But today he is more or less on the road to recovery. I think we are going to try school tomorrow. I am volunteering so if it is too much I'll just take him home with me. But I have learned my lesson and he will be getting a flu shot next year. Poor kid was really sick!

Yes, I am still kickin'!!

I guess it has been a busy week.

Tues: Meeting at work, Remi to tutoring, Remi to karate, me to exercise, make dinner, go to Supper Solutions

Wed: Work during the day

Thurs: Kindermusik, Lunch with Julie, Stamp club

Fri: 2 hour snow delay for school, Clean for Cindy to come, go see Remi's play at school, see Jock off for hunting this weekend, Finish cleaning, Remi to karate, dinner, kids in bed, scrap!!!


Ok, so now that I am listing it, I guess it doesn't look so busy, so I guess I have no reason that I have not updated here.

On the note of Remi's play. I have to just say how very proud I was of Remi today!! He is in the lowest reading group - he struggles and hates every minute of reading in school. So, his group put on a play and he was so excited because he got the main part!! Good boy! He never brought the play home to practice or anything so I was a bit worried about it, but he was great!! He read his part soooo well. I thought he was much more fluent then the other kids. And fluency is one of the big things that he needs to work on so that was really a big thing to me. I was just so pround of my sweet boy!!

And, on the note of Remi, I can not believe how strong that boy is getting! Last night we were just wrestling around with the family and at one point he tried to kick backwards at me. I caught his feet and lifted him straight up. The kid started doing push ups in the hand stand position!! I was holding him for help balancing but I was not helping with the push ups! WOW! Crazy! He did like 7 or 8 push ups that way and then flipped down and did like 15 more in the regular position! That kid is getting strong!I guess all that strength training in karate is really kicking in!

Submitting Pages

I love that feeling of getting an email or call for a page to be published! I have had a total of 19 pages published and I love it. But it is a heartbreaking thing at the same time. I kind of end up going in circles. I submit a lot for a while and then don't get anything picked up so I quit submitting. And then something happens: I get a page picked up out of the blue, there is a call that really interests me, someone says they really like a page, something and I start the submissions again. Well, at the end of last year I decided that if I want to get things picked up I gotta just keep at it. So, I am getting more organized about how I track my pages and the things I use on them and then I can mostly just copy and paste things into the email form to submit. So tonight I submitted 9 things to Scrapbook Trends. Maybe something will get picked up. Although, I hear that they have already made calls so I won't hold my breath. At any rate, I'll thought I would show a copy of the word document that I use to track my pages. Pretty simple on one hand but if I can keep up with it I think it will help me stay on track as far as submitting this year. Ok, never mind, for some reason I can't upload it. LOL!

2005 Review

I signed up for the Donna Downey class on line. It is a year long class. I am looking forward to doing the pages with her and I refuse to get behind this early. So, I got the photos picked out and printed today and put it together. It is a review of 2005. A fun layout to do! On each tag I wrote in the highlights of that particular month.

Lots to do

How can scrapbooking take over my life so much?? I have a list a mile long of things I want/need to do: assigns for ScrapAddict, a photo swap, challenges, some pages that I want to submit, organizing of photos, ordering some more photos, organinze my scrap room, finish some spreadsheets that I am doing to help me track things, the list goes on and on!! LOL! Luckily, at this point it doesn't feel like a chore, it is all fun stuff. I guess when my hobby becomes a chore it is time to reevaluate. But right now, even with the long to do list, it is something I crave and can't go a day without. It is such a release for me. I love being able to be crative!

Another page I did

I thought I would post another scrapbook page I did recently that I really liked. Remi had more fun choveling snow - hope he keeps that love up through his teenage years!

Exercise

Well, I finally did it - I joined a work out place today. I just have to. I can just feel myself getting more and more out of shape and I am tired of not looking good - or even decent. So I had to do something. I am just not good at doing things on my own at home so I knew I needed to do somehting different. Then it occured to me that near Remi's karate class there is a woman's workout place. I take Remi to karate three times a week and although I really enjoy watching Remi in karate, it would be a great time to go exercise. So I joined up. Now, I just gotta keep it up. And in the mean time I am sitting here craving a Coke. But I am going to just go upstairs, have a glass of water and go to bed.

End of vacation and other thoughts

So I stayed up way late (well, for me it was way late) last night and got most of the room picked up. Then today I broke out my Feb DT kit and started a layout with it and now as I look over at my desk - it is a mess again! See this is why I don't clean - it just gets messy again! LOL! Like my mom used to tell my brothers and I when we were in high school - "I don't know why I bother going to the grocery store to buy food all you guys do is eat it!" LOL!

And, today was the last day of Remi's Christmas vacation. We have had a great holiday - we have done lots of stuff and played lots of games and it has been nice. But I have to say that I am ready to be back to the good old schedule. And to make it even better - it is a Tues!! My absolute best day of the week! Peyton is at Mom's Morning Out for three hours from 9 to noon. So I have three hours all to myself. My mom tried to schedule a board meeting at work and I told her I was busy and so she would have to do it another day. Well, I am busy - having three blissful hours to myself. I am so bad! But I can't wait!

MESS!!

I can no longer stand it. I am not a neat freak by any strech of the imagination but my scrappin room is out of control!! It was moderately workable in early December. Not neat as a pin but do-able. Them came assignments and my box from SA was lost in the mail so it was late. Then came my mil for three and a half weeks during which time I felt the need to sort of hang out with her during the day and in the evenings. Finally, there was Christmas. All those great handmade gifts - I made them all the while piling one mess on top of the last. And then Jan came and I got my DT box from Sweet Pea Scraps and had layouts to do for that. Well, I finally got all the had to do things done. And now the top thing on the have to do list is clean this room!!! I can not stand it any more. So far, I picked up Peyton and Remi's toys, cleaned up the "art" projects that they had out, and cleaned off my main scrapping table. Now, I need to tackle the other table, the couch, the photos, and file some papers. And when all of that is done I seriously need a master plan for all my magazines.

Page from the crop

Ok, so today was just a boring old day. Didn't really do anything important - just errands and hanging out at home. And I have nothing profound to talk about so I thought I would try to share one of the pages I did at the crop last night. I was pretty pleased with how it came out and I used my new Briticanna QK alphabet for the small pink letters - very fun!!

Pump It Up and a Crop

We are on the Christmas break count down now. So I promised Remi that we could go to Pump It Up. They have two rooms with four big inflated play things in each room . I was not as impressed as Remi. I kinda thought they would have more or they would be different or something, but I guess I am the wrong demographic because both kids loved it! Anyway, Peyton was too small to really do anything by herself. Again, I had heard they have toddler time so I thought there would be toddler areas - wrong. So that book that I was hoping to sit and relax and read - UH, NO!! Remi ran into a girl from school right a away and they were off. Peyon and I headed out to see what she could do. At first she was really shaky on the inflatable things - hard to walk on when you are a relatively new walker. She really wanted to go on the BIIIGGGGG slide that they have, so I pick her up and start climbng up, got about half way up and thought, Geez, this is a really long and steep ladder. As we slide down Peyton is giggling and squeeling and I knew I was going to have to climb that damn thing again and again! No need to exercise today! But actually it was a fun time and the kids really enjoyed it. I did suggest that this was something daddy would really love so next time we should bring him!! Sneaky me!!!

Tonight I was suposed to go to a crop. It is done by some ladies that I am in the Pine Cone Press Book Club with. They all work together and it is at their work. Well, I get there and kinda wander around and think I might see them in the building but can't get there. I was so set on cropping and really felt like doing it so I drove to Archivers and went to their crop. It was very interesing. The two ladies behind me were Stampin Up gals and not much of scrapbookers at all. And when one of them won the grand prize drawing she looked at the stuff in the bag and I overhead her say she thought that the magazine looked interesting but she had never seen it before - it was Creating Keepsakes!! And then she pulled out a package of Heidi Swapp flowers - the big really cool ones. And she went on and on about what would you ever use those for. I was about to just take her good bag - she didn't deserve it!! She didn't know what she would do with the patterned paper in it. And finally she went to the crop hostess gal and told her that so much of it she would never use and would there be any way she could just trade it for some plain cardstock and stickers!!! I guess it takes all kinds but I was just amazed.

At the end of the night the crop hostess came over and told me, "You are really good! You should work here." I told her thanks but I am busy with other things, blah, blah, blah. She then said, "I'll bet you submit your pages, huh?" So I said yes and she asked if they had any mags that I was in and I said yeah and showed her. She was so impressed. She was very nice and made me feel good. As I was leaving she said you better come back to another crop and next time bring an album so I can see all you work. It is fun to have people admire your stuff sometimes. Especially since I have been on such a lull as far as getting things published.

Went to the Aquarium Today

With only a few days left in vacation and all company gone we decided to try to go do something. Remi has been to the aquarium with Grammy Grammy a few times but Peyton had never been so we decided to head to Denver to see the fishies. I brought my little camera but I missed the shot of the day - the moment that Peyton went around a corner and saw a huge fish tank that surrounded her. She literally squeeled! She was hooked. And Remi was a great big brother and showed her all the highlights of the place. They both had a great time "petting" the horseshoe crabs. At the end you can buy fish to feed to the stingrays. Remi loved to do it! There were some huge sting rays there! I held Peyton's hand and a fish and tried to help her feed them but thoase big old things come up and it is kinda creepy! I kept dropping the finsh in the tank. Remi was soooo much more brave - there was one really huge one and Remi just stuck his hand in there and it engulfed his whole hand - yuck! The funny part was that they had a lady there taking pictures and I think she just saw "sucker for buying any and all pictures" tatooed on my head. So, yes, we came home with two pictures of us feeding the rays for the bargain basement price of $15!! I will try to scan them and figure out how to post them here.

Proud Mama Moment

Remi started karate last summer. He has wanted to do it for a long time but we never really did anything about it. Then a new school opened just a few blocks away from our house and I thought it would be a great thing for him to do for the summer. He loved it from the moment he stepped foot in the place! The first month you could go as much as you wanted and we went at least four days a week that whole month. When the month was up we talked and he said he really wanted to keep going and was willing to make the committment to going. So we signed him up for the year. As we were doing that he was talking to one of the Instructors/Owners who was telling him that it was his committment not ours and he was the one that had to be responsible and not complain, etc. And he told Remi that if he worked hard like he has been he might be able to be a green belt in a year - which would be moving up through white, purple, and blue belts and then into green. Remi's eyes got the size of saucers at the thought! And he went on to say that if he continued to work he could be a black belt by the time he went to middle school. Well, you can imagine how he loved that idea!

So, since then he has done the karate classes, demos, and extra practices every week and at every opportuniy. He loves it! Never once have I had him say he doesn't want to go to karate. He got his purple belt on Oct. 15, 2005.

In December, they had their annual awards banquet. I didn't even think about going - figuring that it was more for older kids and higher ranks. But then the Instructor pulled me aside one night and asked if we were going because Remi was getting an award. So, obviously, we went. On awards night, Remi had a great time and had no idea that he was getting something. When they called his name for the Most Enthusiastic student for his branch he just sat there. Jock and I kept waiting for him to get up and finally after a long pause he did. When he turned to us the smile on his face was so wonderful! He was so surprised and absolutely proud of himself. He told us later that when they called Remington Kramer he thought it must be another Remington Cramer with a "C"! LOL! Like there are so many Remingtong Kramers around! LOL!

So, last night after two weeks off for the holidays we went back to karate training. He was so excited to be back at it. The Instructor pulled me into the office to tell me that they were reworking the schedule and he said that Remi's regular class would still be at 5:15 but then he would be in an extra half hour class of Leadership training! What?? My kid in leadership training?? A future karate instructor?? WOW! I was so proud and happy for Remi at the thought of it. He loves karate and they obviously see the potential in him! And they also told him that they want him to test for his blue belt in Feb. so that green belt by summer is a good possibility.

I was so proud of Remi. He knew he wanted to do this and he loves it even more then he thought he would. I love that he is really successful! And I also like the "stuff" that he is learning: self defense, respect, committment, discipline. And as I was watching some news show on bullying it was interesting to see that was one of the big ways to prevent your child from being bullied - have them take karate. So, overall, I am just so proud of Remi and so glad he pestered me until I got him signed up for karate.

Our Bedtime Routine

I am continually amazed at how much Remi wants to be with and help his sister. I can count on one hand the amount of times that he has grown tired of her and gets mean to her. He totally loves her and she him. It really is so sweet.

One example, since the day we started putting her down in her crib for bed at night, Remi has helped us. Every single night. It doesn't matter what he is doing if we are going up to put her in bed Remi is there with us. I get her in her jammies and Remi sits in the rocking chair waiting for me to finish. Then we all get into the rocking chair and read a few stories. Lately, Remi has enjoyed reading to her. Next we give her night night kisses and I put her in the crib. I get her all covered up and cozy and Remi turns on her music for her and then we both tip toe out of the room.

I keep waiting for the night that he says he is in middle of a PlaySatation game or watching a tv show or something and that we should take Peyton up without him but he never does. It really is so sweet.

Shake, shake, shake

Remi and Peyton both love to dance. In the past the best dancing tune has been the theme song from Jeopardy but recently there is a new number one favorite tv dance song - the commercial for Carl's Jr shakes. In the commercial there is a farmer type of guy who is standing with his hands on a cow and shakes her while this catchy tune plays in the background. And Peyton comes running the minute she hears that commercial start. It is so cute to watch her shake, shake, shake her cute little bottom. We have it tivo'ed so that we can replay whenever she wants to hear it. And Greg searched and found the song to put on a dancing CD for Remi and Peyton. The song is pretty racy in real life but they won't understand that part. And of course there is a few other dancing tunes that will be on there that are more racy then I love - Holla Back Girl by Gwen Stefani and others. But seeing how much fun they have while dancing makes it all worth it. I suppose when they start understanding the words and saying them back to me I'll make the CD suddenly disappear.

Visit with friends

When I was growing up my mom had two really good friends who both had kids about the same ages as my brothers and I. We formed our own little playgroup and grew up together. Now, many of us didn't become best friends or anything but the moms have always kept us all informed about the current info on each family. For the last few years we have gotten together once a year and it is one of those strange, uncomfortable, yet somehow fun days. So, yesterday was the day.

First of all, the reason we really started doing these get togethers is that Mary is really really ill. It actually scares me to think that a person the same age as my mom is so sick and really may not be here by next year. But I was amazed to see Mary. After hearing about her declining health and how all of the systems in her body are basically just shutting dow, to see her shocked me. She is still so much the same as always. A bit greyer and perhaps a bit slower but generally, just the same lady I have know for my whole life. And she called me "Lynnie" the whole day! Gotta love that! I so admire Bob, her husband, who is the most devoted husband that I have ever seen! He lives to cater to her needs. Jenny, their daughter that is my age was not there. Her little boy has ear infections in both ears. It is kind of strange - she seems to always miss these. And Jeff, their son, was there with his wife Annie and their two kids. It is strange to see Jeff in a father roll. He was always kind of a sick kid and just not real strong. But his kids seem to love him and he seems to be a good father.

The other family there begins with Ann. She is such a amazing woman - very earthy, a talented artist and a bit of a bohemian. What a wonderful gentle person she is. As soon as we got to her house she was giving Remi rocks from her collection that she has amassed from all over the world, sharing seashells with him from many differ dive trips, and just generally spoiling him. Her husband, Michael, is the quiet, brainy, musician. He worked for a tech firm and his job literally was to sit and think of new and different ideas. Their oldest child is Mark, my brother's best friend. My brother and Mark went to Alaska to stay in my uncle's cabin one summer and Mark left his heart there. He feel in love with Alaska. It is perfect for the part hippy/part cerebal person that he is. He went back shortly after they came home and has never left. He teaches and is a principal there now. And has recently has is first child. The mom of his son and Mark plan to get married next summer. We are thinking very seriously about going to the wedding. That would be sooo great! And Amy is their other child. Amy is this stunning natural beauty. A few years back she cut her hair so short she was almost bald and you know what? She was amazing! She lives in Puerto Rico now and is about to finish up her masters in foreign language translation. For her thesis she started to translate a text about the Cuban economy and even spent some time in Cuba. Once she is done with her masters she is thinking about splitting her time between Alaska and either Boulder or Puerto Rico.

Overall, as we sat there yesterday conversing, I was just amazed at how far we had all come and how nice it is to reconnect with old friends!