Busy

I never liked hearing that word coming from someone's mouth. A few years ago, I vowed not to utter it to any friend as an explanation for why I couldn't come see them, call them, spend time. I have always felt that it's a big fat excuse :)

What I didn't realize was how busy I wasn't! I still really believe that you can make something a priority if it needs to be, regardless of how busy you are. But when the kids were younger, I was nowhere near as busy as I am now. People often told me that the older they get, the busier you get. I never really believed it. But it's true! I know some stay home moms who planned to go back to work after the kids went to school full time but it hasn't happened. They are too busy to go back to work :)

Recently, a friend who happens to be a neighbor said to me..."your car is never home during the days. What are you doing"? I thought it was kind of funny. After all, I am a stay at home mom!!

But that's really the last thing I do.

The good news is that weekends really feel like weekends now! It used to be that a weekend just blended in with the rest of the week. But now, it's different. It almost feels like MY day off too. Of course, with sports for 2 kids there are many crazy weekends. But that time to not have anything planned is golden.

These are not complaints. In fact, I love all the things I have going on. I love watching the kids play sports. Doing Social Services at the school has been inspiring. Working in the classroom is so much fun...getting to know all the kids. There are days I want to not have a thing on the calendar and the beauty is I can pick a day and protect it.

I still don't ever want to tell someone "I am too busy" but it's certainly getting a lot harder!

Teacher Conference Gift

I worked on Teacher Conference gifts this week as we are meeting with the kids' teachers this week. I like to go with something small to thank the teachers and to brighten those long days they have meeting with parents one after the other.


These boxes started out white. They were glittered and decorated. One teacher is a beach type and the other is very elegant. I tried to take that into account! Made some pretty fabric flowers, addred some tulle, feathers and bling. Inside will be gift cards to Barnes and Noble and some personalized bottlecap magnets to match the outside.

I think it's important to make sure our teachers feel appreciated throughout the year!

Beautiful Girl

My friend Liz had a quote on her blog that really reminded me of Ellie:

"The least strained and most natural ways of the soul are the most beautiful." -Michel de Montaigne (French Renaissance Writer)


Her Dad and I often talk about the joy that comes from a little girl who follows her own heart and instincts. I know we have a long way to go, but her choices are always hers at the moment and I really hope it continues! She is not swayed easily by the influences of others. Sometimes this works against me :)

She's not afraid to wear mismatched socks. She doesn't mind if everyone around her is doing one thing and she is doing another. She doesn't get embarrassed by anything about herself. She plays what she wants to at recess.

It is really wonderful to see her choosing her path, following her heart and being such an original girl. We always can tell her choices come from her natural self and from her beautiful soul. She really is unique and knows how to follow her heart.

I'm in Knots!

The last couple of weeks, I have been tying a lot of knots! I have completed a couple of craft projects that both involved tying fabric.

The first one is a Halloween tulle wreath for the front door. This one was a huge project! It took 4.5 yards of black tulle. Cut into small strips. Tied one after the other!! But I do love how it turned out.








The next one was a blanket for Lucas' birthday. I made it twin sized for his bed. He really loves it! It didn't take me too long and it turned out really well..

Sharing

I really love this:

Cub Scouts

Lucas has joined the Cub Scouts. He is a Bear this year and has really loved it so far. He is very motivated by the patches and belt loops so that certainly helps.

His den of 8 has 2 leaders so it's very well organized and really a lot of fun. I had a hard time picking which pack to enroll him in but decided to stick with the one at his school. I am really glad I did and have heard great things about how active they are.

He has done some cool stuff so far and we are only a month in. At the first meeting, they made marshmallow guns using pvc pipe which they cut themselves. It was pretty neat to see how hands on they were. Then they had the marshmallow fight :) Next meeting they made Alka Seltzer rockets which was a huge hit. Then they built a cardboard fort and had a battle with soft balls. Finally, they made a toolbox out of wood. Super fun!


Lucas got his Bobcat Trail badge last night. He also presented the colors at the meeting. They will be doing that at the Veteran's Day assembly at school and he is super excited he gets to wear his uniform to school.

Fall is in Full Swing

Fall must be here! Back to school, soccer and the pumpkin patch. It has always been a very busy time as we rush from school to the soccer fields, as I fall into my volunteer work at the school.


The kids are growing up so fast. 2nd and 3rd Grade. I am so proud of both of them: they were both elected by their classes for ASB: Associated Student Body. They will help plan the monthly service projects and spirit days at the school, as well as help the special needs kids in their classrooms.

We hit the pumpkin patch last weekend and came home with 85 lbs of pumpkins. Of course Ellie picked a gigantic one!






Soccer is going great! Coaching Ellie's team has been a lot of fun. The growth in the girls has been fantastic to watch! I love that all her friends are on the team and they just love each other. Tia and I worked our magic on their team shirts. They used to be a deep maroon color and look what we did! We are the cutest team on the field!


This year I am heading up Social Services at the school. This means running all the food drives, the toy drive, mitten trees etc. In years past, the school has worked a lot with Hope Link and most of our drives go to benefit them. This year, I have a broader vision for our community outreach projects. I want to reach out to our school community, our local community and our global community. My plan is to cover all 3 with service projects this year. In a school of 900 students, these projects are a lot of co-ordination and my budget is $65 :) So it will be a lot of time but I can't think of a better position for me to really sink my teeth into.

I'm also room parent for Ellie, helping with writing in Ellie's class, Art Docent for Lucas' class, working in the Student Store and running the Sunshine Club at the school (meeting needs of families going through a tough time). I really do love being a presence at the school for the kids, my own and many others.

Me Book

We had Curriculum Night at the school for Ellie ths week. I love seeing the little surprises they have prepared for us on their desks. Ellie's was a "Me Book" this year, with pages all about her. What better subject?

Her drawing is so cute and so detailed. In some pages, she added little touches like hot air balloons flying in the sky. I love looking at her sweet touches and beautiful drawings. Here are a couple of her pages:


You are right, Ellie. We love you so so so much! I love how we are all matching in purple and orange. Love the "diamonds" sparkling in the sky and around us.




Notice the feathers in her hair! And look below for the little birds she healed in her future as a vet :)


She definitely is creative and has attention to detail in her works of art!

It's Friday Night

Hubby is home early and is out playing frisbee with Lucas. El is in the yard with all the little friends playing. Dinner is prepped and ready to fire up. Love it when a Friday night comes together like this!

Skin Stuff

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a dermatologist for a precautionary full body check up and to address some issues I have been having. Upon inspection, the Dr decided I would need 2 spots on my body biopsied and some pre-cancerous sun damage removed. He was very optimistic about the issues and well convinced there was nothing to worry about. The biopsies were just precautionary.

So I had everything done today. And I am alive to tell about it! They did a punch biopsy on a spot on my left arm. That required freezing the area, and using a small cookie cutter type instrument to take out a portion of the spot. Then they put in 3 stitches. The second punch biopsy was done on my left leg and required 2 stitches.

Then, they used a freezing agent to freeze the pre-cancerous damage from around my lip line. I have to say, with the numbing of the biopsy areas, that was fine. But the freezing on my lips? That hurt like crazy. It felt like a very intense stinging, or like someone was poking many needles into my lips simultaneously. My eyes watered a lot.

I managed to get through it all without passing out :) Yay for me :) I will have the sutures out in 2 weeks. And now to wait for the results...

Scenes of Summer

Summer Report

Hard to believe that the kids go back to school in 3 weeks! But as I look ahead at the next 3 weeks, I realize that there isn't much left to do to make it a really cool summer for the kids and for us.

We really did pack it in well this summer. The kids have had lots of fun and had the summer you always want them to have. We had our road trip to San Fran, sports camp, Bible school, camping (and 2 more camping trips to come!), countless playdates. It really didn't matter that the weather was not too summerish, the kids didn't seem to notice at all. In fact, I enjoyed the weather, it was easy for me to stay out of the sun, stay cool and save on our energy bill :)

It was my goal to make sure that I had no regrets about what we should have done, what we didn't do this summer. With 3 weeks to go, I'm thinking we achieved it! We will definitely look back and think of all the fun things we did.

Melanoma

Warning: this post is honest and graphic with photos.

I try really hard to protect myself from the sun. I am so fair skinned that I feel like it's just asking for trouble if I don't put a max effort into it. Sometimes the sun beats my efforts and I get a little too much. But it's not for lack of effort! My husband on the other hand has that type of skin that tans like crazy. I always offer him sunscreen because I know what the sun can do. My Mum had skin cancer on her nose years ago and had surgery to remove it. But that was basal cell.

This past week, Mum had melanoma removed. I remember seeing the suspicious mole a few weeks ago and asking her about it. At the time, it looked like a small mole with a black spot on it on the edge. She told me she was getting it checked out soon. Before it was checked, she says it bled and scabbed and that fell off.

She had her appointment and it turned out to be melanoma. According to the American Melanoma Foundation, 1 American dies of melanoma almost every hour (every 61 minutes). How do we get melanoma? From the sun or tanning beds.

You do NOT want to go through this. Trust me. If you don't believe me, look at the pictures below.


BEFORE:

AFTER:


They take a strip out of your skin an inch and a half wide. They dig down an inch. They sew you up and leave you with a large scar. Then you wait. You wait to see if it has spread to your organs, your lymph nodes. Then you find out if you need chemo or not.

Is it worth it for a little tan that is so temporary? Brown skin is not healthy. It's a defense mechanism of your skin. It boggles my mind how much value people put on a tan and how people will use tanning beds in this day and age. I did it too in college. We all have. But there is time to change that. And what better reason than your own life?