It's official. I'm now the mother of a 2nd grader and a 4th grader. My middle daughter was ready for school at 6:45 and didn't need to catch the bus until 8:07...LOL Do you think she looks excited? Her enthusiam was contagious.


The oldest was nervous I could tell. I'm hoping that the first day at her new intermediate school goes well and that she likes her new teacher. She seemed excited but once the bus came she looked like she might cry.

This last picture is of my son (in red) and his good friend Zach. They've watched the bus leave without them too many times to count and here you can see them thinking "one more year." I can't wait to scrapbook that. I just love this photo.

Dear Big G,

How can you be starting 4th grade? Didn't I just take you to preschool yesterday? When did you turn into a "tween"? Why are we always at odds? What happened to the little girl that held my hand and said, "I'm sure going to miss you, mommy. Don't have any fun without me."

Now you are off to intermediate school. You'll truly be on your own. You will ride a different bus than the one that takes your sister to elementary school. You will be the youngest, surrounded by 5th and 6th graders.

Those quirky songs played on the other bus will be replaced by ipods and swear words. You will change even more this year and I'm not sure I'm ready for that.

But trying to keep you little is like holding onto sand. Soon it runs through your fingers and tries to catch onto the wind.

I'm excited for you to take on this new adventure, but part of me is sad.

Sad that I can't be there, if no one wants to sit with you.

Sad that I can't help you figure out what to do in that huge cafeteria.

Sad that you will have much fun without me.

I'm excited that you will likely make new friends this year and will cross my fingers that they will treat you the way you deserve to be treated because over the next few years you will value their opinion more than you value mine.

As I look at you, I can't help but remember the baby who looked at me with big bright eyes and prefered no one but me.

Where did she go?

Do you know how much I love you?

Good luck in 4th grade. I'll be here when you get home.


Mom (formerly known as mommy)

Thanks so much for all the kind words about my Tuesday post. He didn't even acknowledge me at the meeting on Tuesday. Hopefully he'll have forgotten all about it by the time the next meeting rolls around.

I'm busy today making some candy for a craft show I'm going to do tomorrow. It is just a itty bitty one and I love the little ol' lady who organizes it. The girls and I usually go for the morning and we have a really good time.

Hopefully, we'll sell a few cards and some gift boxes. I made some homemade chocolates and some pretzel dipped in chocolate. I'm crossing my fingers that they don't melt tomorrow. LOL

If I can a chance I'll post some pictures.

I can't possibly write anything creative because I'm soooo irated right now. I'm trying not to be, but I am. As my profile indicates, I'm a freelance writer. I cover a handful of school boards and townships for our local afternoon paper.

Last week a story of mine ran with a quote from a very outspoken board member and now he's claiming (get this) not that he was misquoted but that he didn't intend the comment to come out that way.

So now he is threating to quit the school board and according to the superintendent he is quite irrate.

As newspaper readers, do you expect the quotes in stories to be what people were inferring or what people were saying.

Yeah, my point exactly.

How am I to know what you are inferring, I can only write down what you are saying and if you are going to say something completely off the cuff at a public school board meeting while the press is in attendance than you deserve to be quoted.

In fact, you should be quoted.

Even the superintendent says the quote is correct, though she claims a small portion of it was attributed to the wrong individual. I spoke to that individual and he, of course, says that he has "no recollection who said what." Big F'n surprise!

So I'm off to the same school board meeting and I'm bound to be verbally assaulted by a professional who regrets his own words. I'm bringing a friend to serve as a bodyguard and witness. Plus the meeting is near a Starbucks and who can refuse that afterwords. LOL

I think there is a valuable lesson in all of this. If you are going to open your mouth at a public meeting, expect to be quoted and you can bet that whatever I file tonight, will definately include a quote from him.

After Disney-ing myself out a while back, I didn't have any desire to work on by scrapbook anymore. (GASP). But now I'm happy to report that I'm out of my rut and finally posting some new layouts for that book.




This first one is an animal kingdom layout and I, of course, cut the words with Zoobaloo. Goodness I just love that cart. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I added some stickles for detail. Click on the picture to see a larger version.

This one is a collage of memories from MGM studios. I cut the pictures so they would make a square like that and added Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable's autographs to it. They are copies from my kids' book. The font is Printing 101.

This picture is kind of dark, but this is a mosiac of our breakfast at the Rainforest Cafe. I like the final look, though I don't think this picture does it justice. No I didn't cut all of those little squares. It is a customizable layover that you can get here. I love that guys designs. He has a lot of unique things and I always stock up when I find him at the CK convention.

This is a muppet layout from Disney. I freakin' love the muppets. Always have and always will. Unfortunately there wasn't much to photograph. Oh how I wish they would have had the characters there to meet. I would have waited forever to see Gonzo. LOL

My kids loved this playground of things from the movie even though they hadn't see the movie at that time. They slid down a blad of grass out of a film canister (boy that dates the piece) and road on an ant. It was really cute.

Thanks for looking.