My Life Using Plan B

Well its almost summer again =)

So i have been on a extended-ly long vacation from Typepad. I update typepad in my mind all the time =). Seriously. Sometimes I am driving home and i think of a great post ... but thinking of a great post and actually typing it are two entirely different things. EVERYONE screams update your blog ....  oh so much has happened ... and how do you wrap it all up ... my sister had little bitty Meghan and now she's 7 months old ... and i am missing it cause i am here and not there.  We've been home twice since she was born ... and its going to fast. I can't believe that shes sitting up by herself now ...

Get Croppin' had its first and last "extremely large" event in February. We hosted close to 1000 attendees and it was entirely to big. I can't even stay that I enjoyed it  to much because I was overwhelmed. With seven instructors, people attending just the crop, people attending classes, people attending both the crop and classes. UGGGH! To many people, to many things to deal with... but on the positive side, wow. simple wow ... sometimes i sit back and say ... we did it. We accomplished what we started out and reached our goal. And once the goal was reached ... that doesn't mean that we have to surpass the goal. Both M and I are in agreement  that we'll never let it get that big again.

Been there done that!

Summer is ... well not over yet!

Today was K's first day for Third Grade ... wow ... time flies~! She said this AM ... "I am exciterous" .... =) But I am sure that this is going to be a great year with a great teacher! Tomorrow K and I and GROUP fly to Arizona for Creative Escapes ... but more importantly my mom is flying in too from CA! Girls on the Run in Arizona. I couldn't go to Arizona without a quick trip to my University (and both my parents) ... NAU! SO SOSOSOSOSOSOS excited to go to Flagstaff, see how much NAU has changed, fall in love with Oak Creek Canyon, show Kaleigh all the great places i love! Totally eating at the best "hole in the wall" Mexican food restaurant El Charo in Flagstaff! LOVE IT! Can't WAIT! And the best thing ... Kaleigh said yesterday that her summer isn't over! And she right!

Summer is flying by ...

Well there are officially three weeks left of summer (man has it flown by) ... and these two have spent practically every waking minute together. Courtney and Kaleigh are BFFs! Oh to be 8 again! Here are the two of them at cheer camp. Great picture! Oh lucky me ... i get to host a High School Musical 2 Movie Preview Night at my house for K and her girlfriends to giggle, laugh, and owww and ahhh over Zac Efron.

Oh to be 8 again! I think the big movie that my best friend and i freak out over at age 8 was Grease!

Sock Monkey ...

My SIL loves Sock Monkey ... she has a great collection of unique sock monkeys ... and while browsing on Etsy I came across a great fun book perfect for her Kindergarten class to laugh at. They took a bunch of sock monkeys and put them in funny scenes. Heres a photo of the monkeys break dancing.

I like the postcards of sock monkeys in Ireland ... T and J would get a kick out of that.

Plus how freakin cute is this one.

Fun Stuff!

How much do I love ....

Firefox! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! Found this super cool bit of fun, at Got your back, if you type my first name, you'll find my PIXEL addition to the logo! Fun stuff! Here's another cool find when it comes to the global world of foxfire ... Everyday Hero ... wonderful to read the stories about other people who make a difference in the world. Even if its a small change ... its a difference.

This morning, I witness an car accident. I didn't see how it started, only the two cars bouncing off each other, clouds of smoke, and pieces flying off in all directions. Its a horrible thing to witness. Really shakes you up and makes you realize how a few seconds changes everything. One of the drivers got immediately got out of the car and was very visibly hysterical and shaken. K was with me and it was the first time she really understood that cars get in accidents and people get hurt. I told her angels were above us at that moment cause if I was 4 seconds faster ... I might have been involved.

For the last few weeks I've been thinking about how accidents happen ... how one minutes your fine and the next ... broken. Last week, I slammed the car door shut on my thumb. One minute going about my daily routine, the next practically throwing up in pain. How do you avoid ... accidents?

Can you fix a crappy mistake ...

Distracted by life, I grabbed my camera to take a couple casual pictures of K ... but unfortunately i didn't notice till much later that the camera was on manual with 1600 ISO ... ugh ... even Photoshop couldn't fix the mistake ... but somehow I still like the results. There something about mistakes that lead to something unique and different ...

Had a great weekend ...

K and I went on our annual trek to Celebrate Fairfax! on Saturday. Perfect weather, not to crowded, as usual a great day and event. We didn't get there till after 4pm because we went to the belt ceremony for her Blue Belt. The fair was great, we went on ride, enjoyed the exhibits (although we've been so many times ... theres only so much "give away Frisbees, cups, and pencils one needs in a year). So this year we only "spun the wheels and declined the giveaways." =) Around 7pm we headed over to the main concert area with all the needed "fair food" to get good chairs for the Smash Mouth Concert. (Not really really really good fair food like the County Fair that I grew up on ... the Fair Tacos ... huummmmm!

K loves Smash Mouth ... and it was great that they were the main headliners to the event. Her favorite songs (of course from the Shrek Soundtrack are ALL-STAR and I'm a Believer (the Monkeys). The show was great, and since we got there so early we scored 6 row seats. =) After the show, we enjoyed the great fireworks display!

Exciting Day yesterday ...

K took her Blue Belt TKD test at Tiger DEN and PASSED! Yeahhy K! She had to show all her form and kicks, spar, and break a board doing a somersault into a back kick. It took her two times before she finally broke the board. Determination, confidence, respect ... all good things that are taught at Tiger Den. Kaleigh really likes her masters, they are great with the kids ... just enough discipline mixed with just enough fun. As we were walked to the car, K beamed from ear to ear and said "I am so proud of myself ... I really didn't think I could break the board until I looked up at you and got my confidence back ... and thought .... I'm going to do this ...."

If thats not what being a mommy is all about ... I don't know what is ...

Favorite Line ...

My favorite line of the Sopranos last night ... "there are no SCRAPS in my SCRAPBOOK!" ... LOL said by Phil Leotardo. Sucks that its taken the last 4 years to get back to the morning after "water cooler" talk that the show once was years ago. Such a good episode to lead up to next weeks series finale.

Fabulous Weekend AWAY ...

I am all about mini vacations ... wait, I am about any type of travel ... weekends, long weekends, even your overnighter ... as long as it doesn't involve working ... count me in. M and I took the kids to Hershey Park this weekend. Had a great time, great weather, great kids (most of the time) the only thing that wasn't great were my shoes. I should have worn tennis shoes, but after my Disneyworld experience where my sneakers got wet on the raging rapid river ride ... and I spent the rest of the day miserable walking in wet shoes. YUCK! I made the decision to wear slip on sandals and boy were my feet hurting towards the end of the day! The kids had a great time, and the hotel we stayed in had a indoor/outdoor heated pool ... which the kids loved! K is still so afraid of "fast rides" whereas Steven and LITTLE Zoe love speed and have no fears! Both Steven and K made the highest marker for "big kid" rides whereas poor Zoe didn't even make it to the Kisses line, which would limit her from even the baby'ist rides. Good thing the ride operators didn't really follow the height requirements ...

Great way to kick off summer ...