School lunch

Because of the ice rain school delayed starting for two hours. They cancelled afternoon kindergarten and spread the word that morning kindergarten would be there during lunch time so please be sure to provide them with some money or pack a home lunch.

To watch him after he heard the news, you would have thought I had just told Tennyson it was Christmas morning again! He was so excited.

When I picked him up that's all he could talk about or remember about the day. He felt like such a big kid.

Kevin is a good, sweet, dad and that was the first thing he asked Tennyson about when he walked in the door.

I love the expression on both their faces and the fact that in some cases Tennyson is blurry.

Because he just could contain how amazing eating at the school made him feel.

What a wonderful moment to capture.

Small success are big to the small ones

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  My morning was kind of grumpy because of some choices the older kids were making, me being classified as one of the older kids as well.
  
   BUT, amidst all of that I managed to remember that today, the 3 year old got to be Captain at preschool. He's been looking forward to it for a long time. Talking about it on every preschool day since the beginning of October. I even remembered in enough time this morning to help him make sucker ghosts for his treat to share. (Thank goodness I threw myself out of bed at 5:30am this morning to go work out. It's rough, but the extra time I seem to have in the mornings is good stuff.)
  
  When I dropped him off he giggled to his teacher that is was HIS turn to be captain and that he had brought sucker ghosts that he got to help make. Also, that the boots he was wearing because it snowed for the first time this season had a line pattern on the bottom. That's important information right there.
  
   He was so full of joy.
  
  I'm glad I had the presence of mind to think, "If nothing else goes right today, I am going to remember that for him, it was the best. day. ever!"
  
  Not a whole lot got done the rest of the day, but I feel like today mattered. I made it count. I did what was really important. The one single item I am able to cross of the list was worth more points that the rest of the list put together.
  
  To end the night on a high point, Beckham attended his first Pack meeting and earned his Bobcat. I got a Mother's pin for his hard work. Truth be told, the pin belongs to Kevin. They have been rock stars together as far as this scouting thing is concerned. Me? Well, I am just going to make darn sure this pin doesn't get lost!
  
  
  
  
  

  

  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  
  It's lovely to go to bed knowing the day was used well. 

Signing THE contract

It happened.

I am talking about IT !

Today, on this very normal day in October, I signed a contract agreeing to let some very nice people use my designs on fabric! I am officially a fabric designer!

PS don't you LOVE the desk I refinished?!?!! Sigh. It makes me super happy.

I seriously can't believed I just typed that and it's not even an exaggeration! Or an imagination. Or a dream! It's reality. My reality no less.

Wow.

It makes me tear up with joy.

I can't spill who it is with yet, but I promise you are going to want to start following me because things are going to start moving quickly!

OK, here's the back story:

I work for Pick Your Plum and a new sister company called Downtown Tape. DTT just launched at the beginning of August and hit the ground running. By the end of August I was drowning in my work load. We had been asked to be part of Scrapbook USA's expo when we were one week old and I had the great opportunity to plan the booth and get everything organized. With the expo came a couple of TV slots, that I was lucky enough to be part of, and all of the behind the scenes prep work you would imagine. Thankfully, my sister, Annie, was in on everything with me. She is one to have on your team if you want to get things done!

Me and Annie after putting together the booth all day. Don't judge. At the time, we were hilarious.  Promise.

ANYWAY, back to the drowning feeling. There were just too many nights I would go to sleep realizing my children and I had been in the same house together ALL day and I had not really seen them. That was not OK. They weren't going to be little forever. I wasn't working because I have to. My jobs are hobbies. I enjoy them. I don't make much money, but that isn't why I'm doing it. One day I woke up and it was ALL I was doing. Not cool.

So I decided that DTT had to go. That was a hard, hard, HARD decision to walk away from something that is so successful that you've been with from the beginning. Hard! By the time the expo rolled around at the end of September, even though I knew I had made the right decision, I finally felt it. I was fine walking away. I was excited to put that energy toward my kids.

The first day of the expo, September 28th, we were busy! We had a small 10 x 10 space and for the first 4 hours had a minimum of 20 women in that space with us all buying our washi tape . It was a blast! I remember hearing my phone ring a couple of times, but we were so busy I did not have one second to even look at it.

It's cute right!

After the biggest rush ended I glanced at my phone. I saw one number I didn't recognize and then Kevin's.  I called Kevin and he asked if I'd gotten a call from a girl I knew of, but had never met. I told him I didn't know because I hadn't had much time to be with my phone. He went on to explain that someone I have many mutual friends with, but had yet to personally meet, had been following my blog. Not only had she been following my blog, but she was starting her own fabric manufacturing company and she wanted to talk....to me....about my designs.

Hold. the. phone!

I remember being in shock. I didn't have time to really process what I had just been told. The craziness of the booth demanded my attention. For the next two days I held it in my heart until I could really let it soak in.

From there we talked. New company. Not launched yet. New business model. LOVE your designs. We are so excited by them. We would like you to be a part of this. And my favorite quote from all of this

"Well, if people are ever critical of you being so open with your dreams and if they ever tell you not to be too public... you can ignore them. If you hadn't been so gushingly excited about your goal to design fabric, I would have never known you were interested or even trying. So I am anxious to see where this takes us."

Chills. For sure.

Until today. Less than one month, a mere 27 days, from the first call. The signing of a contract!!!!!!!!!! After I signed and they signed I squealed, "YAY!!! Can we hug?"

"Ummm....sure...if you want to...I guess..." ( It was a man. I'm pretty sure I terrified him)

"Oh GOOD! 'Cause I'm a hugger!"

That's right I sucked him right out of business world straight into Emilie-land. In my defense, we were in my home. There's a certain level of realness I like to maintain when I am home. My real self hugs people when she's happy. I told him to get used to it. Again....terrified him. ;)

Do I think that it's a coincidence that on the day that I had finally, truly made peace with letting go of something that was taking me away from my family I got THE call. The call I have been working towards for three years. A call that came out of the blue, unsolicited, and gifted to me.

No. I absolutely do not.

When I told Annie about the call she made a good observation that I could just be possibly taking one thing off my plate only to fill it with something else and thus my plate would be too full once again.

But it hasn't felt that way. Thankfully, it hasn't been that way either.

What it has felt like is a blessing for doing a hard thing. For walking away from something really good to make room for something even better. To allow my Heavenly Father to take me down the road HE needs me to go. So I can be in the places I can do the best good. Make the most difference. Be who He sent me to be.

And do you know what? I have made more time for my kids. I have stopped in the middle of MY agenda to just be with them in whatever adventure they have created from that day. I have not had one. single. sleepless. night because I felt regret from not spending the time with them they deserve. Not one. It feels really good.

That's HUGE for me. That used to be an every night event I took part in.

I haven't had a moment of mommy guilt because I am also chasing BIG dreams. I am being the mom I want to be. Of course I am not perfect. That just keeps it interesting ;) But I am better. I am more intentional. I am soaking in all their little soul's goodness and tucking it away in my heart so I can snuggle with it when they are too old to be snuggled.

So the phone call was a gift, in more ways than I even realized until now. Letting DTT go was a gift. Trusting that He knew more than me is always a gift. I am SO excited to start this new part of the journey. I still cannot believe the waiting is over!

It's a good day, my friends. An extraordinarily good day!

If I could be so bold to ask for even more awesomeness today, if you read this, would you leave me a little comment below. I print this blog off as a book and I want to document every piece of this part of the journey and remember everyone who celebrated with me!

Thank you!

Beckham gets baptized

 
Today Beckham chose to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He really made that choice almost two years ago when he watched his sister get baptized. Since then, he has commented at least once a month, and recently, every Sunday, that he cannot WAIT until he gets baptized.

It was extra special today because two of Beckham's best buddies in the whole world, Bradley Russon and Austin Dunn, happen to be in our ward. They were all born within 30 days of each other. They were all eligible and chose to be baptized today.

I expect great things will come from this group of  boys. How can it not when an already great friendship has been added upon with an incredible spiritual bonding?

I've mentioned before that Beckham is my most outwardly spiritual child. When I asked him tonight was his favorite part of the whole day was he said, "Coming out of the water. Because then I knew I would get confirmed, receive the Holy Ghost and I was totally clean." 8 going on 18 right there.

Because there were three boys, we took turns with the baptisms and the confirmations. Beckham was second for both. After watching Bradley be confirmed, he walked up to sit in his seat. He was already teary eyed as is his nature when he is feeling the spirit. I was so, so proud of those boys today.

I had a real life break down yesterday because I stressed myself out getting everything ready. But after a good lean-on-the-wall kind of  cry I felt much better. Seriously. I was a mess. It was embarrassing. I was a complete wackadoodle.

Thank you Mom and Annie for helping me getting everything perfect and talking me down off the ledge :)

The other neat thing was all of Beckham's grandparents went in on getting him his first set of nice scriptures. They each wrote their testimonies in the covers. So much love for this darling boy.

This is the scripture bag I made Beckham using Skye O's pattern. It is such a great pattern. Thank you Skye for letting me test run it for you!

I don't want to take away from the specialness of the day so I will leave more pictures of the scripture bag tomorrow.

I think he likes it though!

Beckham, I think you made a great choice today. I have found so much joy from my choice to become a member of this church. There will be times when your faith is so strong and times when it seems to you that you have no faith at all. I have proven in my life that if I remember to keep the promises I made to Heavenly Father the day I got baptized He keeps up his end of the bargain too. Never be afraid to question for yourself and to seek your own personal revelation in what is truth. I'm proud of you! I hope your choice brings you joy!

This is one of those Parental Payoff days for sure!

Little effort Big reward

We found a great treasure this summer. Justine! She is our swimming teacher. She is one of the instructors at the Rec Center, but does private swimming lessons on the side. She is wonderful!

Each kid has their own 30 min. lesson every day for a week. This week Tennyson and Sanders have lessons and in 2 weeks Karaia and Beckham will have their turn.

At the beginning of the week Tennyson was eager but didn't have a lot of skill. By the end of the lesson on Tues. he could do a front stroke and stay a float for a few feet!!! I was blown away and he was so proud. Today he mastered floating on his back for pretty much forever. Wahoo!!

Sanders can float on his back all on his own, but he refuses to believe it and keeps insisting he will sink. She's barely holding him up. It's a mental thing. Still, he will put his face in the water, hold onto the kick board and float on his back, and is a lot less nervous about the whole affair. It's a beautiful thing!

Last night of two

Tonight is the very last night I will ever have a two year old. Sanders turns 3 tomorrow!

I'm not afraid to admit that I'm feeling very nostalgic about the whole thing. Not enough to make plans to ensure I have another two year old child of my own, but slightly melancholy about the whole affair none the less.

Two year olds are SO fun...and challenging....and frustrating...and FUN! Their personalities really shine and they learn SO much between the age of Two and Three.

Sanders is no different. He learned to speak better, He is potty trained, He sleeps in a big boy bed (well, mostly...we still only have the crib mattress on the floor). He can get himself dressed. He can wash his own hands. He can peddle a bike...mostly. He recognizes a bunch of letters. He knows what's funny and does it or says it just to get a laugh. He's the best!!

I took a few pictures of him a few days ago with the idea that I would make some invites, but time got away from me. He wants a GREEN birthday party which is why he is wearing his very green shirt. I wanted to document the pictures. He is nearly impossible to photograph right now because he keeps trying to get action shots and I'm not a skilled enough photographer to make them not fuzzy. Anyway, they still do a good job documenting his general personality. Enjoy.(GASP! I know! A post with pictures!!!!)

Picture black mail. He said he would LOVE to have his picture taken...... right after I snapped a shot of him as Batman.

 

I realize this pic is all washed out, but I love his expression so much I couldn't leave it out.

The rest are what I call, "Sanders in action"

"Who me?"

"Here's my 'camera' smile, mom!"

"I'm loving this one on one time and all, but I'm still not going to look at the camera..."

"Yeah. I'm cute."

"Mom, how can you say no to a look like this?"

"No, YOU'RE turning 3!"

"Kidding!!!"

"I'm so silly! She totally believe she was turning 3 instead of me!!"

"The Ennnnnd!"

I love you Sanders Bo Banders!

A new life

For the last 9 years diapers have been part of my life. Thankfully not wearing them myself ;)

Before today Sanders was accident free for 4 days! Including running to the bathroom himself. He has even been waking up dry through the night. YAY!

I said before today. You see, Kevin got home from a 2 week business trip today. That's kind of thrown off the rhythm of things. Still, I'm hopeful.

This is an end of the diapers. 9 years of diapers. It's kind of awesome!

OH, and Tennyson had been wearing pull ups at night for a long time. When Sanders started potty training Tennyson announced he would no longer be wearing pull-ups at night. I told him, "OK, I'll see you at 2 am." But I didn't! He's stayed dry every night since.

So....

I haven't posted in a few days and that is just weird. I've wanted to, but not enough make it happen. And that, my friends, is just lame.

Potty training is exhausting. Even if you don't have accidents...which we have, not many, but enough...the constant reminding to go potty, get COMPLETELY undressed, him not me, because going to the bathroom with anything more than a shirt is ludicrous, then getting REDRESSED every half hour is a word, exhausting.

Sanders has done fairly well. He hasn't had very many wet accidents and only 2 1/2 poop accidents. Why the half, well something came out, completely round. It then bounced off his underwear barely leaving any mark, and rolled down his leg. Then, THEN he picked it up and brought it to me on the palm of his hand! And then. handed. it. to. me! Why did I take it?!?!?!? I think I was afraid he would drop it and squish it. I don't know. There was POOP in a hand. I panicked.

YUCK!!!!!! Excuse me while I gag.

Here's a little back information, that is pretty much too much info, but he is my kid that poops on average 5 times a day. And since he decided to start potty training on Tuesday, he has only pooped 3 times. The whole 3 days. It's like he's scared to do that on the toilet.

Sigh.

Potty training.....Yay?

Still here's a cute picture of Sanders after having a particularly successful day.

Oh wait. I mean THIS one. That one is just hilarious!

He's probably cute enough that I can keep doing this. Except the poop in the hand part...I'm not doing that again.

Do I dare?

Today Sanders said something that I was pretty sure was far into the future, "I need to go potty!" He said this right as we were dropping Tennyson off at preschool. Out of the blue. He held it in all the way home and after a few minutes on the toilet he successfully went.....both "kinds"!!!

He then flatly refused to wear diapers the rest of the day.

What the ?!?!?!

Um, I am SO not ready for this. It was not on the radar. We've been casually talking about when he turns 3, on March 2,  we will become serious about this whole potty on toilet business. And maybe about 4 or 5 times a week, as we were changing a diaper, we will offer him the chance to sit on the toilet. He has refused nearly every time, to which we always say, "OK. Let me know if you want to go potty on the toilet." End of discussion.

So today's little "announcement" floored me.

UGH! I HATE potty training! But usually I have time to prepare myself....

Since we are doing this thing I will record how the day went from 1pm on.

1:20 First potty success (BOTH) YAY!

Did the potty dance, called his favorite friend Rhyse and Daddy. SUPER excited.

Put underwear on.

2:00 Wet underwear --this one was TOTALLY my fault. I made the rookie mistake of forgetting that just because he went on the potty doesn't mean the training was over. I forgot to remind him.

2:05 set the timer for every 15 mins.

2:19 (1 min before the timer was going to go off) Wet underwear (Bummer!)

One more Pee success and dry underwear until the rest of the day!!! He even started running to the bathroom without me prompting if he heard the timer go off first.

YAY Sanders!

This wasn't the MY plan, but I'm hoping that because Sanders start it, it will go better than I think it's going to go. I'm pretty sure it's going to be, well you know, potty training.

Wish us luck!

11 years

Today is my 11 year anniversary to my best friend.

Forgive me if the post isn't longer. We had a busy day and haven't sign each other much.

Perhaps tomorrow I will compose a more fitting post to celebrate the joy of being married 11 years to someone you still get excited when he comes home.

But not tonight.

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First Day

Today was big day for our little family. Not only did Karaia and Beckham start school, as I mentioned yesterday, they are in the same class.  Beckham in 1st grade ( I swear it feels like he MUST be older than just a first grader)

His shirt of choice? Diary of a Wimpy Kid. We love those movies.

And Karaia as a bid 3rd grader. Where in the world does the time go?

And a couple of the two classmate together.

Both their smiles make me laugh in this picture!

My favorite quotes of the day are:

I asked Karaia how it was having Beckham in the same class with her today. Her reply was, "Well, it was weirder than I thought it was going to be. I thought he was going to sit far enough away from me that I could just forget about it for awhile. But his seat was right behind mine....right next to Cole's."

"Oh, so you saw Beckham every time you snuck a peak at Cole?"

Turning bright red, " yeah."

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Beckham finished telling me all about his first day of first grade. He was especially detailed about lunch as he had been very nervous about finding a seat (Thank you, Diary of a Wimpy Kid). At the end of the tale of his adventures he added, "I think I'm going to handle 1st grade pretty well."

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Sanders came and gave me a quick hug. Stepped back a bit, put his arms around my waist and started patting my waist with his hands saying, "You tiny. You no big. You tiny!" And then continued informing me of my stature for the next 5 minutes.

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After I tucked Beckham into bed he began bouncy his body in his newly tucked in blankets squealing with delight, "I can't wait for school tomorrow!!!!! Mrs. Pickett ROCKS!!!!"

It was a marvelous day.

Long awaited

Tennyson turned 4 today! But I want to save his special birthday post until tomorrow when i'm using my computer and not my phone to post. For now it will do to say that all the family made him feel very loved. Thank you!

My dad became a citizen of the United States today. I was happy to be there for the ceremony. There were 195 candidates representing 40 countries.

Congratulations, Papa!

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Growing up

Tennyson has started reading!!!!

He's known his letter sounds for quite a few months now. But I decided it was time to be a bit more proactive in the reading department.

We bought the Bob series books that are designed for just this sort of occasion. He read through the first two books as if he has been reading for awhile...maybe he has.

He has been so excited to read with me every night with his "special" books.

Today in the car I decided to see how far his knowledge goes. I would spell simple, three letter, words and ask him what I was spelling. He was able to sound everything out and get them all right! Pretty good for not being able to see the letters written down!!!

Way to go Tennyson!

I have to document a little conversation we had at Costco the other day.

Tennyson saw a HUGE playground displayed. His eyes got wide and he exclaimed, "Mom! Look! Can we get that for my birthday?!?!"

"Oh, Tennyson, I would love to get that for your birthday, but it's too much money."

He thought about that for a moment before he asked, "Do we have too much money?"

Thank goodness "Too much money" isn't really a price ;)

OK kids you can chose anything that's "Too much money" or less.

he he he he

I adore my children.

Lion House Birthday Party

When I turned 8, my mom took my friends and I to the Lion House. As much as I want Karaia to be her own person, part of me also thrills at reliving some of my happiest childhood memories through her. Thankfully, she was super excited to indulge me.

It lived up to every single one of our dreams. On Dec. 17th, we took Karaia and nine giggling girls, who were also excited, to a birthday celebration at the Lion House.

The girls got to wear bonnets, they took us on a tour of the house, played pioneer games, fed us dinner, helped us pull our own taffy, and helped create some amazing memories.

The "who's got the Button" game

 Princess for a day. Could there be a happier girl?

 Mom came with us to help chaperon and chauffeur. Thanks mom!

 They made the cake. One less thing for me to worry about!

 She couldn't get the crown to sit just right for awhile. But she loved the special chair she got to sit in.

Gabrielle, Lacy, Laurn, Whitney, Talia, Asia, Danielle, Morgan, Karaia (It was SO hard to only be able to take 9 friends with us! ---we are missing Sophi in this picture, she was able to come later)

Everything was amazing. The cherry on top was Karaia being able to pick out a doll to take home. She chose well. Happy birthday my sweet girl! I am so glad you are part of our family. You are a good sister, a good friend, and a good daughter.

I have seen a big change in you since you turned 8. You are more mature and more helpful all the while still maintaining your love for having fun. You are a delight to be around. Thank you for all you do for our little family. I love you Karaia. Love, Mom.