My foray into scrapbooking

I'm trying to scrapbook - really I am.

Many years ago (like, 20, but who's counting), my stepmother did a little scrapbooking with me. Of course, back then it didn't have an official name, let alone a whole section at Joann's. Nope, back then we bought plain photo albums - the "old fashioned" kind with paper sheets instead of plastic holders. We used whatever paper souvenirs from the trip we could find - maps, brochures, tickets, postcards - and decorated the blank spaces around our photos. It was rather simple, yet fun to do...and made for a great way to capture a trip.

Those old scrapbooking days lasted just a few short years - as I grew older, and busier, I found little time for it. Slapping pictures together was all I could manage...and once I bought a digital camera, it was even easier to just save everything to disk.

However, as I watch my kids grow older, I find myself wanting to capture their childhood for them - in something other than flash memory, in a way that makes them really recall the summer vacations and weekends away. I'm attempting to scrapbook again.

What a difference...simply walking into the "paper" section of my craft store makes me want to turn and flee. Still, the wide selection of colorful papers does draw the eye; the rows of decorative stickers and ribbons are tempting. My first stop - Disneyana - is overwhelming. So many choices of paper, so many stickers.

Once I try to move on, however, I quickly realize how very slanted this whole scrapbooking thing has become. Princesses? Check. Babies? Check. Sisters, Love, Reflection, Girls Weekend? Check and check. Legoland? Not a chance. I can find all sorts of cute words, cursive titles, and adorable cartoon images. What I can't find are stickers and text that the average 9 year old boy would find neat, that a tom-boy tween won't gag over.

So as I finish the first of my new scrapbooks - and gather the materials for a second - I find that my "new" way is looking much like the old. A little easier, of course...I can create labels on the computer in fun fonts, and the range of archival tapes and glue is great. But still, the decorative details are still mostly ticket stubs, crumpled park maps, and lots of smiling faces.

With puffy Mickey stickers, of course.

Enough already

My 5 year old travels a lot - her dad and I live on opposite sides of the continent - so she has frequent flyer memberships with several of the major airlines. Since she's little, all the contact info is mine.

Lately I've been inundated with offers from American Airlines... I've had enough. Two credit card offers addressed to my kid this month! Email AND mail - and why? Can you imagine the damage that could be done if someone else gets these offers?

So - American and Citibank, you've made me angry. QUIT soliciting a 5 year old! She's a minor, and I KNOW your data on her will tell you that!!!

(Sorry, just had to get that out)

"This Talent Show Brought to You by Billy Ray Cyrus Productions"

Last night, our eldest daughter participated in a school talent show. By eldest, I mean 10 years old - so it was your standard elementary school talent show. Bailey was act 25 of 30, so we sat through 90 minutes of other kids before she was on. (They were supposed to limit the kids to 2 minutes each - we know because we had to edit her song - but when we were 5 acts in and 30 minutes had past...the writing was on the wall. Somebody didn't want to be the "evil PTO person" who cut kids' fun short)

Have you enjoyed a school talent show before? If not, let me fill you in on the fun!

• It's 90% girls.


• You will always have someone doing her ballet routine, with varying degrees of success.


• You will see 12 year old white girls girating their hips like Pussycat Dolls. You will be mildly horrified, and try to distract your 5-yr-old daughter from the sight. "Hey Rachel, wanna put lipstick on mommy right now? Please?"


• Some Second-grade boy will get up and tell terrible jokes. All the kids will laugh, all the adults will make terrible pretend chuckles. Most parents in the room have probably told their children they will be grounded for telling that joke just one more time.


• The other boy, usually around age 11, will demonstrate his Karate/Tai-Kwan-Do moves. One of your sons will punch his friend trying to copy it. They will both find this funny.


• One kid will sing a song really well. The others will mumble into the microphones, or just stand still for 3 minutes because they've forgotten the words. As your own kid's act approaches, you pray she manages to remember the words, or at least pretend well.


• Finally, the worst of all...some single artist will be very popular, and you will hear this person's music often. Two years ago it was Avril Lavigne - we had, I kid you not, FOUR versions of Skater Boy performed. I now hate the song. This year it was Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana. We lost track after FIFTEEN songs - thank goodness she has a lot of music out, only 2 repetitions that I recall. (And yes, my daughter also sang Hannah Montana. Better than her first choice, "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy")

For those of you visiting for my blog contest....yes, you can post a comment here and be counted! I'll be posting again this afternoon, and finally revealing the earrings you can win. Stay tuned!

Children Hurt

I've debated writing this post all day...but in the end, I need to express this. It was helpful to me to write it down, and perhaps someone else can give me insight - or just feel better for knowing that it's not weird!

I love my kids – all of them, unreservedly. Three of them may not be mine biologically, but they are still “mine”, and I do my best to make them feel that way. I know I’m not the perfect mom, and I’ll confess…I sometimes feel overwhelmed when dealing with the oldest kid. I mean, when you are used to a 3 year old, and suddenly add an 8 year old to your family, it can be a shock to the system.

As a child of divorce myself, I’m very aware of the emotions involved in divorce and remarriage. It’s tough on children, especially since they have issues sharing a parent with their own siblings – let alone some stranger they have to call “stepmom”. Add in the emotional conflict when you grow to like that stepmom, and wonder if you are a traitor to “real mom” for feeling that way…oh yes, that’s hard enough for adults to deal with!

So, I’ve always expected some rough patches. My husband and I didn’t insist that anybody say “mom” or “dad” if they weren’t comfortable with it. The transition from “Amber” to “Mom” was gradual, and the occasional “Amber” still pops up…and I’m OK with it. (Heck, sometimes I don’t want to be Mom, I just want to be myself) Still, things have been going fairly smoothly. A few verbal head-butts over discipline and such, but no terrible “You aren’t my mom, and I hate you!” moments.

At least, not until this week.

In my eldest daughter’s defense…she’s had a rough week. Sprained her ankle, which hurt a lot, scared her some, and interfered with her sleep. Plus, reports come out Friday, and I know she’s stressed about her math grade.

Other family dynamics play in here too…I won’t go into gory personal details, but her “real mom” is not as present in her life as she could and should be. In fact, “real mom” hasn’t seen the kids since last August, and won’t see them again until this summer’s visitation starts in June. That’s a long time to go, even with the occasional phone call. (Which, at one to two every few weeks, is pretty “occasional”)

Last night, the eldest and the youngest boy both had problems listening. Repeatedly. Hubby and I had already decided a slightly early bedtime would benefit everyone (I hate daylight savings). So I sent those two upstairs to read a book together, and had the other two read a book downstairs – where they each got a cookie for dessert. Everyone went to bed at the same time. That was my “horrible” punishment for them – the loss of ONE cookie.

About 45 minutes after bedtime, the eldest appeared at the door to my office. Hubby was away at an HOA meeting, so it was just me. She was sniffly, like she’d been crying a little, but not blotchy and not actively crying. She asked to call her mom. I told her no, it was bedtime – and rather late for her mom too. We could try tomorrow. She went back upstairs to bed, and no further issues. (Understand, about once a week, the eldest has some reason why she needs attention – so we try to make sure all is well, but not encourage this behavior).

This morning, however, was a different story. Hubby went in to wake her up, and found a very angry “Dear Diary” letter where he couldn’t help but see it. (Since she doesn’t keep a diary, and this was written on a single sheet torn from a notebook…we’re guessing he was supposed to find it) There was a lot of unhappiness there, or to use Hubby’s new term – a “tantrum on paper”. The one thing that bothers me, however, is her accusation that I was keeping her from her mom.

It’s not real, it’s said out of unhappiness that she doesn’t see her mom very often…plus some unhappiness over the loss of the cookie. Still, it hurts. Hurts more than I thought it would, even understanding it. Worst is, I don’t know how to make it better for her! I can’t force “real mom” to call, to spend more time with them. I’m almost afraid now to reach out more, but afraid if I don’t, she won’t have enough mommy-love.

Good gosh, raising kids is hard.

Not the Thursday I planned

Amazing how it happens - yet, when you have children, you kind of expect the unexpected.

Today was supposed to be just another Thursday. Get up, dressed, feed kids, off to work. Was planning to hit the gym at lunch, and maybe do some jewelry making tonight before bed. Nothing terribly exciting.

Well, yesterday at school my eldest fell on the stairs. Hurt her ankle, but she was able to limp to the office so my husband could pick her up. It was painful and swollen, but as a veteran of more than a few ankle sprains myself, I figured it wasn't serious. She made it through her band concert last night ok, managing the transition up and down the stage ok.

It was when she woke us up at 3am complaining of pain that my day started changing. At 7am, the ankle was incredibly bruised, and Bailey claimed she couldn't move the foot at all. Clearly, we needed to visit the doctor for this one - still most likely a sprain, but we have to check. Unfortunately, today was a day off school for the other 3 kids...which means someone has to stay home with them!

So off hubby goes with the daughter, headed for 4 hours of doctor office and xray fun. I stayed home with the other 3 kids - feeling, oh, just a wee bit guilty that I was home, yet what else could I do? I played PlayDoh with the youngest, watched a little Guitar Hero performances from the boys, and took a few pictures for Etsy.

Not a bad day, just weird. And so full of activity - especially counting that 3am wakeup - that I'm rather exhausted...and it's only 3pm! *yawn*

I'm running rather short on time to create this post...so if you'd like to see the pictures I took while "playing hooky", you'll have to visit my flickr site. Heck, you didn't have anything better to do anyway, right?

**UPDATE: It is just a sprained ankle, no break. Thank goodness!

Check out my first creations!

I put together 2 new "Kids Jewelry Kits" with input from my daughter. Still need to tweak the listing titles and such, but....what do you think?

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9395853

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9395676

Hmmm....a quandry

My eldest daughter (10) is really wanting to 'be like mom'. She signed up for a beading 'class' at school - a little something done during recess once a week - and she wants to watch and help every time I pull out my supplies.

My husband, of course, thinks I should encourage this....and while I agree with him, it DOES increase the amount of work *I* have to do. Plus - do we try to sell her items? He thinks we can "market" them to her friends for cheap ($3-5 each) with the intent of getting business cards into their parents hands. Not a bad thought. Me, I was thinking of starting a little smaller...let her help me assemble some of the "kid kits", see how she does coordinating colors and such, maybe even have her make some examples.

And of course the REAL problem - once I let ONE kid be involved, they will ALL want to be! I'll have to have "Rachel's Princess kit" and "Carson's Superhero kit" and....you get the idea! Although perhaps that's not a bad way to market it either....FOR kids, BY kids. Hmmm....

Anybody got any thoughts on this one?