Busy, Busy!

Whew! It's been a pretty busy week or so around here. I've been up to my eyeballs in stamping events (not that I mind all that much) but I haven't really had time to sit down and blog. I went to my last scrapbook club meeting last Thursday. We decided that since I'm getting my business going, we can't afford for me to continue in the club. I feel like I've got a good handle on scrapbooking now and that's really what I wanted out of it. Friday was my first workshop. I had two ladies attend, but both of them are very interested and one booked her own workshop. Woo-hoo!! Monday I attended my second demo meeting and had a good time getting to know the other demos in the group. And I won a game, so I have an SU waterbottle now. Tuesday I had the second workshop in my home (in two parts so I could hopefully get more people here!) I had four ladies at that one, one of which booked a workshop. With one final outside order yesterday and another booking, I'm good to go! I was hoping I wouldn't have to kick in anything extra to make the minimum for the workshop, and God was so good! The final order kicked it just over, so all I added was an ink pad. Rob has graciously granted permission for me to add one little thing for myself to each order...but it's so hard to resist all that fun stuff in the catalog!!!

So I'm off to a good start with four total workshops scheduled for the next month or so. I had alot of fun showing the new products and even teaching one person how to stamp. It's such a great hobby!

Rob has been a good sport about taking the kids places while I have my workshops. On Friday, he took our kids plus one to McDonald's and did his best to avoid the roving swarms of mosquitoes plaguing our neighborhood. During Tuesday's workhsop, he took the kids to a puppet show put on by the library. They loved it and had a great time laughing at a lobster in a pot and a funny French chef. Rob said they were very well behaved. Even Anna sat on Rob's lap the entire time.

The kids have been amusing us both quite a bit. I'll start with the toddler, because toddlers are just such funny little people. Miss Anna acquired the nickname "Miss Determined" when she was only a few months old. Just to prove that she still deserves the moniker, yesterday I was getting the order from my workshop finalized and she came and asked for some juice. I told her to wait a few minutes and she left. As I left the study to go get her some later, she came to me with a paper towel full of grape juice. Come to find out that she had gotten out the juice pitcher, put a cup on the ground, and poured it herself. She was just showing me that she had cleaned up her own mess. Can't really fault her much for taking care of it herself, but we did discuss that she should wait for Mommy next time :)

And Anna got ahold of the boys' new craft, these little beads that get put on a platform then ironed. Yeah, 6,000 of them spilled all over the dining room floor. Took the boys a LOOOOOONG time to get them all cleaned up, but they were good sports about it.

This morning Matthew and Anna woke up and invaded our bed. We tried to get Anna to go downstairs to play Legos with Matthew, but it was no go. So then we asked Matthew to go play dollies with Anna and she was WAY more enthusiastic about that. Matthew said, "Oh, okay, but I'm not really a big fan of dollies." He was a good big brother and kept little sister occupied while Rob and I stole a few extra minutes in bed. :)

Ben has really become quite a big helper recently. I think much of his bad behavior recently has stemmed from the fact that he doesn't have enough responsibility. So he's gotten more "big boy" chores and I've allowed both boys to do things here and there that make them feel bigger. I hate letting them grow up, but it is nice when they can take care of smaller things themselves!

Matthew's 6th birthday is on Monday and we're having a Star Wars themed party in the afternoon. I know the norm is to do a party on Saturday, but when I looked over the guest list and realized all the kids had stay-at-home moms, I decided we'd just do it on his birthday. So far we have four children coming. Matthew already found his gift from us. Rob left it under his desk in the plastic bag and I hadn't wrapped it yet. A few days later, Rob sent Matthew to find something under his desk, and of course a Star Wars Lego box caught his eye :) He didn't look at it too hard and doesn't want it until his birthday, but it was pretty funny to see his face when he found it.

Today we're taking off and going to a free beach in Lake Mills. Should be fun!