February Has Come and Gone!

I can't believe it is going to be March tomorrow!! We have already been so busy this year. It just doesn't seem right that we are already pushing into Spring.

Most of this new year has been devoted to Junior Girl Scouts. This is cookie time and Olivia has been quite the salesgirl - almost 400 boxes already!! The sale doesn't end for almost three more weeks. She has really enjoyed going door to door and chatting up the neighbors. She did so well in the initial sale that she won the tie dye t she is wearing. You go girl! Today we have our first troop Booth sale - you know, set up a table in front of store and sell, sell, sell! And, of course, it is raining!! Thank goodness there is a TJ MAXX right next door to our location, I will be buying at least an umbrella and maybe a raincoat!

Rick has been to Alaska and is in England right now. He has been interviewing for a job (Alaska) and is teaching at Gary Oldman's alma mater in London. Yes, that Gary Oldman - Bram Stoker's Dracula and, more importantly, Sirius Black!! My hubby has been quite the world traveler! Oh, and the Alaska thing - so not going to happen . . .

I have been directing a show at school, dialect coaching a play at Actors Guild and, as always, doing the mommy and wife thing. Lately, the single parent thing too, yuck! I don't know how single parents do it really. I am in awe of their patience and energy. I have fallen asleep sitting up twice this week! What am I, 80 years old??! No, I am running after two darling children and all of their activities BY MYSELF!

Moving on . . .

Aidan has really been so much fun lately. He is really talking more and more, and I can understand him most of the time. He loves trains, dinosaurs, farms and dragons - such a little boy! I found this mini backpack at Target in the dollar aisle and, boy, does he love it. He wanted to wear it on a walk the other day - too cute!

More Layouts and Playdates

I finally finished the book order I have been working on for the last few months. I am SO thrilled with the result. I pushed myself to explore a new style and to use more vibrant colors than usual. I tend to use more vintage looking papers, but this client wanted colors that pop. Using those types of colors really shift the style of the layouts, at least I think they do! I also tried to use materials that I hadn't used before. I used lots more chipboard and, I can't believe I did this, I used my OWN handwriting! Eek! Yep, I did, really. Anyway, I am so excited about the books and about the new discoveries I made while making them. Yay, me!

This past week was mid-winter break for me. I was so looking forward to some quiet, just for me time. That time that all us moms dream of. But, it ended up being a few snow days for Olivia, preceded by a sick day! Once she was well we had fun, we got to spend time together that we don't normally have. One of the days, she invited her friend Grae over. They played and we made Valentine cookies. They had a blast icing them, well - EATING the icing really! The cookies turned out really cute after all the finger licking and we delivered some yummy treats to Livi's teachers on V - Day.

Heritage: Scotland

Olivia has been working so hard on her Heritage project. It was due last week; both the verbal presentation and her scripted research. I was lucky enough to see her present to the class and I was just beaming with pride!! She did a great job. I was also lucky enough to be asked for help on this project. Olivia came to me often to ask whether or not she was headed in the right direction or to tell me what new tid bit she had discovered about Scotland for her project. It was great to work on it together.

She chose Scotland because of my "Brier" side of the family. Our name was originally McBrayer which is, very Scottish! Our family members have done extensive research and have found out lots of information about our family and how they lived all the way back to the 1600s in Scotland. I am proud of that heritage and was so proud that Olivia wanted to learn more about it.

The Latest!

So, things have been pretty crazy around here. Both the kids and myself have had strep - Aidan is on round number 2, poor baby. We are trying to sell Girl Scout cookies but the weather won't co-operate. Luckily, Olivia had some good luck the first week we could sell. She got up to 157 boxes before the cold, snowy weather hit. Hopefully we can get back out there soon. She has officially started her basketball season. She is so amazing out there on the court. So focused and intent on winning! Last weekend, her team lost and had a bit of a rough time out on the court. She was so disappointed, but kept her chin up. I get all goose bumpy watching her play!

Aidan is still working on getting the potty thing down. Some days he is all about the potty; which big boy underwear he wants to put on, all of that business - and others, he is peeing in his pants left and right! Well, it's not that bad really. I guess all things considered, he has caught on to the idea pretty well. Now, if we could just get him to poop in the potty . . .

Christmas, A New Year and . . . Potty Training!

Well, Christmas in Texas was great. It was so nice to see my family; mom, sister, brother-in-law, uncle, cousins - everyone! We drove down and it took about 12 and a half hours, not too bad. The kids did pretty well in the back seat and the hubby & I took turns driving. It is always fun once we hit Texarkana to break into "East bound and down, load 'em up . . ." and I'm sure you know the rest!! Made it to McKinney in time for an evening dinner with the fam. Christmas Eve was the next day, we realized that we hadn't seen Santa so we rushed to the mall at 9am. Oh boy, what a line to see Santa!! It took us and hour and a half to see the old man. Thank god my mom was there, because there was no way the kids were going to stand in line for that long! She walked them around the mall and took them to the play area, she was wonderful.
Finally, we were near the gate to see Santa and Aidan melts down. I mean serious melt down - crying and screaming, fighting me as I held him, saying "I don' wanna see Sanna!" it was crazy! So, our picture with Santa is full of tears and frowns and the minute we walked away, Aidan was waving back and saying "Bye Santa!". Ugh, what a memory to talk about years from now! The other exciting thing we did in Dallas was taking a trip to the new American Girl store. What an adorable place to go! Livi got her first American Girl doll for Christmas, so her Aunt Kate's present to her was to take her to the store for a doll outfit. It was really fun and it made Olivia's day! Otherwise, we spent time with the cousins, ate well and, eventually, headed for home.




New Year's Eve was uneventful. Stayed at home due to the boys being ill. They both turned in early and Livi and I tried to stay awake for the ball drop. And, of course, that didn't happen! We both fell asleep at about 11:50 and woke up at 12:03, totally missed the big event!! Olivia was so upset, she burst in to tears and said, "But I wanted to give you a kiss!" Isn't that sweet? She is the best. I really don't know what to expect from this year. There are lots of exciting possiblities though. Top on the list is the birth of my niece!! I can't wait to meet her, but will have to until the Spring. In the mean time, I will just have to settle for updates from her mommy.

We did start to potty train today. That's pretty big for our little boy! He had three accidents between 9am and noon, but after that it was smooth sailing. He has peed (is that how you spell that?!?!!) in the potty once today and it was A LOT of pee. I know, gross, but I can't help it! I am so proud of him and he was so proud of himself. Can't wait to see how tomorrow goes . . .

Yep, it's another video!

Here I am, being an obnoxious mom!! Here's ANOTHER video of my "perfect" child!

Really, though - isn't she so cute up there singin' her heart out?! This footage is from her first chorus concert last night at Cassidy Elem. The program was short and sweet, emphasis on the sweet!

She is standing next to (on your left) one of her very best friends, Keely or KeKe as Olivia calls her. They were glad they got to stand by one another.

I love her seriousness. She gets this serious face on when she is focused on getting something done or doing something right. She has been doing this since she was a baby. For as much fun and silly as she is, she can get down to business in a big way too!



So you can probably tell that the lighting was AWFUL in there! Hence, the fuzzy pics and inability to really make out all of the video super well. Oh, and trying to look through people's heads helps too!

It is a shame that they don't have a proper auditorium. Just a stage in the gym - yuck!! But, those older schools were built that way, what are ya gonna do??

Well, regardless of the lighting, the heads in the picture, the wiggle worm standing next to Olivia, and the little brother who almost didn't make it through the program - it was a LOVELY performance!!

My Rocker Chick!

Livi had her first public performance as a musician today! We are so proud of her. She has really worked hard and done it with virtually no complaining! Today, wearing her electric guitar t-shirt, jeans and metallic converse - she played like a pro. Oh, am I bragging? I just can't help it!





There were about 18 kids on the program, she played about half way through the recital. She patiently waited, didn't express feelings of nervousness, and then just got right up there and blew us away!








I hope you enjoy the video. I have to admit, I was nervous for her so sorry if the video is a bit shaky!