Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Being Thankful

Jared brought home a book of things he was thankful for. This page made me smile
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He's also thankful for the food he eats because otherwise he would die. And he's thankful for his community because it's a nice place to live. (and there were several other pages, but these are the ones that stood out to me)

I love this kind of stuff from the kids!!

Monday, December 3, 2012

Wounded Wing

Jared fell down at recess a few weeks ago and hurt his arm, but didn't say anything to anyone. After school, we went out for ice cream with his grandpa, and as we were leaving the restaurant, Jared said that his arm was bothering him. I rolled up his sleeve and discovered that his forearm near his elbow was pretty swollen, and while it didn't hurt to move his arm around, it was sensitive to the touch and he couldn't bear any weight with it. Off to Prompt Care we went to get it checked out! They ruled out a break and decided he'd probably strained the muscles and the tendon. They stuck him in a brace to keep his wrist still (which would keep the muscle and tendon relatively still, as well as discourage him from trying to use his arm too much). 3.5 days in the brace and another couple of days of taking it easy and he seemed good as new!
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Jared wasn't very happy to have to miss swim team and and water polo... He even said he wished he'd never told me his arm was hurting because he really wanted to go! Gotta love a kid who's dedicated to his sport! LOL

Friday, November 30, 2012

Recent crochet projects

A small sampling of what I've been up to lately!

My friend Kaci asked me if I could make an elephant coffee cozy for her. I initially thought making a gray cozy with a trunk, eyes, and ears attached (so the cozy would look like the elephant's face) would be the easiest way to go, but it was an epic failure... I tossed THAT attempt aside and perused the internet for a free applique pattern, and would I couldn't find any, I inspected an image I found online and did my best to recreate it.
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Kaci's sister emailed and ordered a whole bunch of cozies!
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A teacher at the kids's school ordered headbands for her twin nieces
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She also ordered tiger and raccoon hats for her nephews
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Another friend ordered a baby hat in these colors for a baby shower she's attending soon
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Emily wanted me to make a hat to use as part of the gift for a birthday party she was attending
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Word of mouth about baby hats/headbands and coffee cozies have kept me VERY busy filling ordres the last couple of weeks! A HUGE thank you to everyone who has supported me with your business lately. XOXO

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Carved Pumpkins

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I forgot to take daytime photos until a good week had passed and the pumpkins were starting to mold. YUCK!
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Close-up of Jared's, to show off the paperclips he bent into earrings for his. ha!
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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Halloween 2012

Posting these quite a bit late, but better late than never! Life's been busy and we've been dealing with a number of curveballs...

Dan and I attended a Halloween party at our friends's house. Dan went as Mr. T
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I was a "cereal" Killer. Got the idea from a Bunko friend from last year! Easy and comfortable. LOL
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Jared and Connor were "blobs" (Don't ask...), and Emily Grace was an old lady for Halloween:
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The boys were MAJOR hams in their blob costumes. They were actually pretty hysterical to watch. The costumes got a LOT of positive feedback around town!
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Thursday, November 1, 2012

Grand Opening!

Jared's classroom this year is running a school supplies shop, and their Grand Opening celebration was this past Tuesday. The kids had to work with their teacher to get a loan from a bank, they wrote letters to community leaders and local business owners (etc) inviting them to attend, they voted on what supplies to stock and what prices to charge, they memorized price lists, they created and performed live "commercials" for the other classrooms, they worked on their math/money skills like CRAZY, and generally worked their tails off for this event.

All dressed up "for work" !!
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Jared's class getting some sillies out before the guests started arriving
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Jared wrote a letter to one of the city councilmen, who came to the Grand Opening with his wife and baby, and his wife very kindy made some purchases at the store. Jared is very proud of the business card he was given!
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He also wrote a letter to the state auditor, who did a hand-written reply! (Jared also received a business card from him, which, again, he's very proud of! He saved them, along with the letter, and the copy of the shift schedule from the Grand Opening in his bin of "special" papers and artwork from school)
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Jared looked terrified when his teacher introduced him to the state auditor and asked him to give a tour of the classroom and the supply shop, but after a minute or so, the two of them were chatting away like old friends
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J hates getting his picture taken!
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In his element, working the window at the shop! (His custumer is Larry Sequist from the Washington House of Representatives)
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Posing with a fellow employee
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Bagging up a purchase
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Working his hour long shift serving punch and cookies to the guests
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Back at the window for his 2nd shift of the day, helping my dear friend, Stephanie, who came to support Jared! (Thanks again Steph!)
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I was so impressed with all the kids and their hard work. It was so much fun seeing everything come together for the Grand Opening! The store has only been open for three days, and they're already running low on a few items. They'll be working on balancing the checkbook and budgeting out money for restocking and paying the bank. I think this is such a fantastic experience! J's having a BLAST!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Halloween through the years

2002
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2003
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2004
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2005 (NOT MY COUCH!)
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2006
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2007
(testing out Jared's old costume... Connor HATED it. Shrieked and flailed on the ground, clawed at the hood, etc. Amazed I got a decent photo of him wearing it! He ended up being Superman instead)
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(Connor liked the Superman costume just fine, but he absolutely detested being forced to stand still for the group photo!)
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2008
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(couldn't resist posing Dan the ape with Connor the chimp)
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2009
(apparently I didn't bother taking a picture of just my three, but I've got a fun picture of the group of kids we trick-or-treated with that year! Connor was (to quote him at the time) a "knight in arming sharmor", Jared was a SWAT guy, and Emily Grace was Little Orphan Annie)
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2010
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(and just because it makes me laugh...)
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2011
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Stay tuned for 2012 after I snap some pictures tonight during the festivities!