Busy Busy Busy

Mentally, that's is what I tell myself I am during the day.  In reality, I think I might be, but in the eyes of others, who knows.  People might just think I'm playing trucks all day with Ronan for the fun of it! 

Anyway, this past weekend was pretty "busy" for me.  I work retail.  And let's face it, it's not all that exciting.  BUT, if you know me, you know my love of cash registers and pushing buttons. (Hence the fact that I was really wanting to work at Publix, but they would not hire me...perhaps it's because I had no register or bagging experience, who knows...)  Well, this weekend, I went to work early on Saturday, so I could get trained on the register and maybe attain more hours.  Let me just say that ringing people up and seeing what they buy, is worth it to me.  You have to know what goes through my mind when you see someone get in line and hand you a piece of lingerie from the 'Very Sexy' collection.  I giggle.

Well, I ended up working both weekend days and last night, I had a PTA Awards function with Riley.  All went as well as it could, but the funniest thing happened AFTER the awards on our way to the car.  Another mom on the PTA Board with me, Kim, has a son who is in Riley's class. They have become buddies and last night, Riley was standing in their van and somehow coaxed David into pushing the horn.  I yelled into the van, "Riley Egal, did you do that?"  She peered her head and sheepishly said, "no, momma."  I said, "Did you tell David to do that?"  As David is vigorously shaking his head  yes, Riley slowly admits she did.  And then, Kim says to David, "If Riley told you to jump off a bridge, would  you do it?"

David replies:  "I would if Riley went with me!"

Riley then chimes in and says, "I'll only go with an umbrella."

WHAT?  Where do they come up with it?

*****

Nothing exciting planned for today.  I have lots of orders to work on (which is AWESOME) and in between, I have to make sure I'm properly taking care of the child that is home with me -- who yesterday, was pushing a truck which slipped out from underneath him and now his face is all scratched up...I'll take a pic...and MAYBE I'll post it.  We are going to Shelley's tonight and I know she'll take a picture and post it, so if it gets up before mine (which I'm sure it will), I'll direct you to her site.

Toodles for now.  Gotta take Riley to school and get some work done!

I'm L-A-M-E

I'm sorry.  I haven't posted a thing about Disney.  I know you are shocked.  It's not that I don't want to, it's that I really haven't had a chance to!

The good thing, is that I'm busy.  But not with just "mom" stuff, with work and with WeAreFullofScrap stuff, too.  It's good...I'm not complaining.

I'll try and get some pictures on tomorrow sometime....

Disney, AGAIN?

Yep, we are going to Disney...again.  This time, we are dragging our friend Shelley along for the ride.  We are hitting the Food, Wine and Beer Fest at Epcot and then probably going to Magic Kingdom on Saturday before we head home.

I'm sure there will be lots of incriminating pictures to share when we get back.  Until then...just think of me...drinking my way around the World...such a rough life, such a rough, rough life...

My daughter said what?!

You never know what you are gonna get when you have a conversation with Riley.  Sometimes it's thought provoking (one that I actually have to tell her, "Baby, I have to look on the internet for that answer...") or one that makes you shake your head and question which side of the family she got that from...

Yesterday, she was at her BFF's house playing when I guess they got into a slight tiff (as girls often do) and Lori had to call and tell me that the girls got into a little because Hannah was being bossy (this is according to Riley).  Well, while Riley is telling Lori her ailments and complaints about what she and Hannah were going through, she went on to say that Hannah was being a "drag queen."  

Yes, you heard me correctly.  Apparently, when I refer to Riley as a DRAMA queen, she thinks I'm calling her a DRAG queen.  I asked her about it today and said, "Riley, I heard you referred to Hannah as a 'drama' queen..." She responded, "No, momma, I called her a drag queen. She was being dramatic, but we are best friends still and she forgot we had a fight."  

Ahhh, how quickly those 6-year-old fights end.

Now, how do I tell her it's DRAMA queen and NOT drag queen....

Feels like fall!

Florida lacks seasons. There is summer. And then there is summer. And then there is a season right before summer called almost summer. Well, when it's 'fall' in other parts of the country, here, it's almost summer. But it feels like fall when the pumpkins are out and people start decorating their houses with Halloween decorations and haystacks.

Now that I started working part-time at Victoria's Secret, Ryan has had to figure out how to occupy the time of two kids who absolutely LOVE being with him and moreso, being outside with him.

Riley has been asking to go to the Punkin' Patch for weeks. And everyday, Ryan will say, "on the weekend." Well, the weekend came and no joke, at 6 in the morning, Riley comes running into our room asking to get her punkin'.

Ryan ended up taking them one afternoon when I was working and they got out like bandits. 2 normal sized punkins and 3 baby punkins for only $10. And now, Riley can stop asking to get her punkin'. (At least until next year, right?)


I wished I was there for that. That's the bummer about working retail. My hours are pretty sporatic and have been late the night have worked. I am happy the kids get to spend quality time with Ryan, so I don't want to take that away, but I do miss the moments like this. Apparently Ronan fell in a pile of mud at the very end of the trip, so that part, I'm glad I wasn't there for...but you know what I mean...

Love a man in uniform...

That's why I married Ryan. No, really, I love him for all the other stuff, too. But when he gets into his nice uniform, I can't help but smile...he just looks so handsome.

He had to wear it the other day for a retirement ceremony...
And when I asked him to pose out front, there was Ronan, right beside him, saying "chee." I have the little man trained already (although he doesn't always like to look AT the camera.)
Of course Riley wanted to stand next to her daddy in a picture, too. So cute.

Mad at Momma

I upset Ronan badly yesterday. He was crazy...like a creature had invaded his tiny 25 pound body and taken over him. I stood in the office organizing my mess and he was yanking at my pants for nothing I could understand. So, what did I do? I knelt down and looked him in the eye and in a really stern tone said, "You get out of this room right now and sit down."

Like a dog with its tail between its legs, he hunched over and walked out of the room. I know he wanted to cry. He looked at me so sad (and I felt awful!) but I kept my stern look, in hopes he would listen to me. He did. This is what I walked out to:


But within minutes, he kept asking for "bweh" which translates to 'bread.' I gave him a piece he was eating and when I walked back from the kitchen with his water (no longer than a minute), this is what I discovered:

He was tired. He napped for an hour on that couch. I took the "bweh" out of his hands...but not until I snapped this picture. Too cute. Little devil, but too cute.

I give up.

The other day I said to Riley, "Baby, when the cleaning lady comes to the door, you can answer it, okay?" She delightfully responded with, "okay, momma! Who is the cleaning lady?" That's when I felt like going to the other side of the door and ringing the doorbell and having her answer it.

She's 6. How much is she to know about cleaning, right? Well, I think she should be more aware than this!

I've said in a previous post that I have done the cleaning for her. And I had a major purging session with her to try and remedy that situation. We haven't purchased anything new. I'm not kidding. I haven't bought any new toys and I can only recall that I got her one craft airbrush thing from Costco for $9.99 a little over a month ago. That's it. I swear. Well, being that she's an artist, her room suffers for it greatly. Mostly her art table...but that's to be understood. I'm just so tired of cleaning it for her.

We asked her to clean. We asked her to put her shoes away. This is what she gave us:
I love her. I can only blame myself for not teaching her properly how to clean. I just don't know what to do. I don't know what to show her in order to have her stop leaving her stuff EVERYWHERE. She literally undresses in the bathroom afterschool. She leaves her clothes in a pile by the toilet. Gross. Help me.
And then there is Ronan. He is not the neatest kid, but he's also 22 months old. He helped me pick up this mess in his room today. What's funny is that the majority of stuff in his room is Riley's. Now tell me, how did THAT happen?

Going back to Pittsburgh...

JUST FOR A VISIT!

My parents decided that they wanted to see the kids, so they offered to fly our family back to Pittsburgh in November.

I'm looking forward to it, mainly because I know the kids will have a good time.  My dad hasn't seen Ronan since he was 3 weeks old and knowing what a goofball my dad is, I think Ronan is going to love him.  Riley is pretty excited to see my parents and Barb (the lady that works for my dad) because Barb, well, she always takes Riley up to the bakery and gets her cookies.  Why wouldn't you like Barb for that, right?

Then wouldn't ya know, one of Ryan's high school friends, Luke, is having his bachelor party that same weekend!  What are the chances?  So, Ryan will be attending that one night while I figure out what I'm going to do with myself (because there ain't no way I'm staying in!)

I'm going to a baby shower (yeah Rhonda!) and in between all the excitement, I'm going to get to see my friends!

But no trip to Pittsburgh comes without some sort of anxiety.  Of course, my in-laws still live there.  The last few times we were back in the 'Burgh when they weren't talking to us, I walked on eggshells because I didn't want to run into them.  I avoided all local attractions and drove to the farthest malls and restaurants to avoid running into them.  This time, I am saying SCREW IT.  After all the crap they have put us through, there is no way I'm going to keep myself holed up in my parents house or spend more time in the car because I don't want to see them.  As mean as they were to us, why do I have to suffer more for it?  So, I have decided that I'm going to go about normal business and if the small chance should arrive that I accidentally see them coming towards us in the mall or on the street...don't think for one second that I won't be scooping up my children, crossing the street and walking away.  They don't deserve to see my babies and beyond that, they aren't going to benefit from this trip on my parents dime.

Am I mean and cruel?  Maybe.  People can think what they want but I'm so OVER this with them.  I can't lose sleep over them.  I can't be upset anymore over things they have said or done to us.  I'm sure plenty of people in Mt. Lebanon think that I'm the biggest bi-atch in the world, but they only have my MIL's story and if they believe her, then they must think the National Enquirer is truthful.  

Anyway, I'm praying that the trip goes without a hitch and that we can enjoy time with each other, our friends and my parents...we'll see, I guess.  I have less than a month to go before we trap ourselves on a plane for two hours with crazy Ronan.  Pray for us.

Random Pictures

Riley has been always been pretty creative...I think she gets it from my side of the family (haha) and since I've been working on the cards and mini albums the past couple weeks, Riley has gained more and more interest in scrapbooking -- so she sat down one evening and scrapped with me while I "worked."

She comes up with the cutest pages and even though a "professional" scrapper may see it as strewn together with glue and globs of sparkles, I see the making of a lifetime scrapper with an eye for detail. She's pretty amazing and one day, when she finishes the book she's on, I hope I get to share it with you on this blog.

And then there is Ronan. Ah, Ronan. He's still a little crazy (guess what side that comes from...LOL), but everyday, he shocks me. He's growing so fast and I'm so fortunate to be able to watch him progress and see the world through his big brown eyes.
He's talking more. He asks the very minute Riley gets out of the car, "whay-er wiley aht?" I say, "Riley is at school." He then repeats, saying, "Wiley aht skoo." Months ago when I feared the boy wouldn't talk, well, he's making me eat my own words. Some things, I understand. Others, not so much. BUT, we are working on it everyday and soon, I guess I'll be one of those moms that says, "When he was little he never talked and now I can't get him to shut-up." Let me be that mom.

So the headband. What is that? Well, crafty Riley decided to make herself one with paper I had given her and Ronan can't be without anything Riley has, so she had to make him one, too. He wore it in the car all the way to school and then for hours after we got back from dropping Riley off. He looked cute, especially when it would push his ears out to the side...not like Michael Phelps ears...just a smidge.
The other child that I get to see often is Thalia and MAN, the girl is growing like a weed. She's absolutely precious and each time I get to see her is a time when I squeeze her meatball legs and enjoy what a happy baby she is. She's sitting...she drools...she rolls over left and right...and she loves Ronan. She follows him with her eyes and Ronan is never one to not include her in things he does. He calls her "mah baby." He just adores her.
Look at those big brown eyes...and those folds on her arms. How cute is that?

And how can I forget to mention Baby Ryan. He's my friend, Joanna's, new little man. He's 9 weeks now and although Joanna claims that he's getting "fatter," I beg to differ. Let's just say that his legs no longer hang from his little bum like toothpicks. He's so cute and looks more and more like his dad everytime we see him. Soon, he'll be up and running trying to keep up with his brother, Thalia and Ronan...

And no, seeing these babies does not make me want one, thank you very much. LOL.

SLACKER?

Yep, apparently I am.  I was called out by Joni last night for slacking on my blog.  For that, I'm sorry.  I've been busy making cards and mini albums and entertaining Ronan in between all that!

I pinkie swear promise that by this afternoon, I'll have some new pictures posted!

Check back tonight.....

Forging Ahead

I was talking to a few moms yesterday about this, which got me thinking about what makes me happy in life...

We've seen them, those moms that come up with some sort of contraption that everyone uses, they end up millionaires and then on Oprah, telling their story.

I want to be one of those women.  Well, not necessarily...I wouldn't mind the millions and being on Oprah, but mostly, I want to be doing something I absolutely love.  I have that opportunity now and although it's only in its beginner stages, it feels good and it feels right.

WeAreFullofScrap was created with the intent of just making a few cards or albums and selling them.  But now that I am really into it, it has become so much more than that to me.  I sit at our dining room table during the day (in between playing with Ronan, movies, naps and meals) working on cards that people are going to use to send to loved ones and albums that they are putting their most prized possessions (their pictures) in.  It's an amazing feeling.  

I told Ryan that it would be absolutely insane if this business picked up and took off...can you imagine?  Me, doing something I love?  And getting paid for it?  It couldn't be more perfect.

I want to thank my friends who have extended their support thus far and appreciate all my friends who have passed the word along about this new venture.  Nothing is stronger than word-of-mouth and the Creators of WeAreFullofScrap stand behind everything we make...it's all done with great detail and most of all, passion -- because we love what we do and we hope you love it too.