Two Top Tens (Top Twenty?)

Happenings lately at our house:

1. Leah's cute new haircut. I had to convince my mother that it is appropriate for her to look like a sophisticated little girl rather than a toddler. After all, she's almost four, attends Preschool, and has been potty trained for over a year. The picture was taken at Jumpin' Jacks, an indoor playground with inflatable jumping things that we did as a family activity on Labor day (Which was a great hit with both kids and with our coupon, cost us less than $11!)

2. "I'm sorry Samuel, you just can't throw poopy diapers around."

3. Searching through the cereal cabinet: "Mom, do we have any more kid food?"

4. We differentiate tummy aches at our house by saying hungry tummy ache or potty tummy ache. One day on the way home from the gym, and with the promise of icy cold lemonade, Leah announced: "I have a lemonade tummy ache."

5. "Leah, that zucchini is food, not a toy. We have plenty of toys in the house--you don't need to play with vegetables."

6. Leah: "Mom, why do you love me?" Mom: "Because God gave you to me. Why do you love me?" Leah: "Because God gave you to me." *smile*

7. Today I realized something vitally important, and it took me 26 years to make this observation: while a watched pot may not boil very quickly, an empty pot will never boil at all.

8. "Mom, why do we have to go potty every day?"

9. Playing with her toy kitchen and stuffing a stuffed animal in the toy microwave, "I'm making a dog for lunch." I asked her if it was going to be a hot dog, and no, its just a dog.

10. And as we speak she totally zonked out on the couch next to me. I was just too involved in blogging to go put her to bed, so she put herself to bed!


And its been awhile since I blogged about Stampin' Up! Here are 10 good reasons why you should get stamping this month!

1. Holiday Mini catalog is live and wonderful! View the pdf here.

2. New product line: Build-a-Bear Workshop stamps, paper, and sizzix dies.

3. New product line: Design your own necklace charms.

4. Awesome new product that I want for Christmas: My Digital Studio. It is software for making scrapbook pages, cards, and more with Stampin' Up!'s exclusive colors, patterns, papers, stamped images, even SU! embellishments that look three-dimensional! It is a must have!

5. Hostess promotion through November 30: hold a workshop totaling $250 or more and receive any item in the Mini for $10! (excluding hostess sets and My Digital Studio)

6. Limited time offer: Decor Elements Growth Chart. It is only available until September 30! $24.95

7. Join me for a Workshop at my house on Thursday, September 17! It will be so fun! I will be giving out inkpads to those who bring a friend. Plus I'll be holding drawings for catalogs, merchandise, and retired stamp sets!

8. Hold a workshop with me in September or October and I will give you your choice of Designer Series Paper. That is a $10 value! Also, you'll get a free catalog and hostess benefits. See also number 5.

9. It's not too early to start thinking about your Holiday projects! Plan them and get started before October and November hit and you get even busier!

10. Help me reach my quarterly minimum by September 30 so that I can stay active as a Demonstrator!!! Visit my Demonstrator Business Website for more information or Shop Online now!

The What's and the Why's

I distinctly remember when Leah was going through the "What" phase when she was about two.

"Mom, what are doing?"
"I'm emptying the dishwasher."
*30 seconds later*
"Mom, what are doing?"
"Uh, well, I'm still emptying the dishwasher."

And now that I think Samuel is about to the "What" phase (Watching me inquisitively he says"What doing?"), I've noticed with much trepidation that Leah has just stumbled upon "Why."

"Time to go inside now."
"Why?"
"Because I have to got to the bathroom."
"Why do you have to go to the bathroom?"
"Uh, well..."

Naperville visit in review

So I took several hundred pictures in the three weeks I was out of town, so you can't blame me for delaying so long in posting, and for having a hard time deciding which ones to put up. (Plus I have to argue with Blogger's awful format to make this presentation...presentable.)


Treat yourself to a self-guided tour of some highlights, including but not limited to Chris's big 3-0, a family bike ride, playing in the sand and water (notice the girls both have The Little Mermaid on their suits?), visiting the arboretum with Grandma and experiencing all the fun animal houses, and some general good cousin and grandparent time, etc. And I haven't even posted about the wedding yet!

Thanks to Jane

I just finished reading Sense and Sensibility and thoroughly enjoyed it. It makes me want to use long, flowery words that I'm not quite sure of their meaning, and talk in a British accent, if only I could come up with something eloquent to say.

Here are a few gems I dog-eared as I read. Such a perceptive commentary on society! and how much does Marianne remind me of someone...myself!

• On avoiding awkward pauses in social gatherings: "Lady Middleton had taken the wise precaution of bringing with her their eldest child, a fine little boy about six years old; by which means there was one subject always to be recurred to by the ladies in case of extremity, for they had to enquire his name and age, admire his beauty, and ask him questions which his mother answered for him[...]. On every formal visit a child ought to be of the party, by way of provision for discourse. In the present case it took up ten minutes to determine whether the boy were most like his father or mother, and in what particular he resembled either, for of course every body differed, and every body was astonished at the opinion of the others." (Vol 1, chapter 6)
• The maturity of seventeen. "Marianne began now to perceive that the desperation which had seized her at sixteen and a half, of ever seeing a man who could satisfy her ideas of perfection, had been rash and unjustifiable." (Vol 1, chapter 10)
• Ever heard people say that the baby looks just like someone on their side of the family? Mr Palmer got it (who in the 1995 movie is played by Hugh Laurie, of course...): "Mr Palmer maintained the common, but unfatherly opinion among his sex, of all infants being alike; and though she could plainly perceive, at different times, the most striking resemblance between this baby and every one of his relations on both sides, there was no convincing his father of it; no persuading him to believe that it was not exactly like every other baby of the same age; nor could he be brought to acknowledge the simple proposition of its being the finest child in the world." (Volume 2, chapter 14)
• Ever try to argue with someone who just doesn't get it? "Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition." (Volume 2, chapter 14)

Next is Northanger Abbey while I wait for Pride and Prejudice to come in the mail.

What is your favorite Jane Austen?