Something I Love About Kaleb

This was our conversation just now:
Me:  "I ate all the Pringles."
Kaleb: "What?"
Me:  "I ate all the Pringles."
Kaleb:  "Aw!  Why didn't you save some for Zach?  He loves Pringles."
Me:  "He does?"
Kaleb:  "Yes.  Can I have the rest of the crumbs?"
Me: "Here you go."
About forty-five seconds later after I hear the sound of the garbage can clinking closed:
Kaleb (whispering):  "I ate all the crumbs."

I love that little man of mine.  Always thinking of others.  But never too far from thinking of himself as well! :)

Come On To My House! Come On To My House!

Last month, I told you I became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.  I am currently working on getting a group of ladies together to form a complete Stamp Club.  In May, I got a few more to sign up.  It's really fun.  We get together each month and I supply all the materials for two projects.  The ladies take turns being the hostess and each one commits to ordering at least $15 in product.  This way each person has the opportunity to get the minimum required sales to get some hostess benefits.  We need four more people (But more are welcome!) to make a club of ten.  If any of my friends reading this who live close by, would like to join, let me know.  It's a lot of fun, and a great way to get out of the house and take a break.  My recruiter told me I should start by just making cards for now, so that's what we've been doing.  Last club was May 11th and this is what we made:

 I designed the first one.  It's pretty simple, but the monster card was not my idea.  I found it on a website where there are a plethora of ideas for people like me.  Of course, the colors are different, and I used a cupcake background instead of numbers, so it is mine, but I didn't think of it first. ;)  This card is so much fun because of what happens when you pull that yellow ribbon:

And you keep pulling to reveal the message:

Isn't that cute!?  We make fun stuff like that every month, and I show you how, and have everything cut out for you!  Next club is Wednesday, June 8th, 7:00 p.m. at my house!

It's Like Another Time...

I picked Zach up from scouts tonight, and this is how our conversation went:
Zach:  Can you turn the music down?!
I turn the dial ever so slightly - just enough to make him think I turned it down.
Me:  I like it loud.
Me:  How was scouts?  Did you have fun?
Zach:  Yep.
Me:  What did you do?
Zach:  Painted the Underworld.  And the heavens.  It's for our skit at Pack Meeting.  I can't really talk about it.
Me (singing to the radio):  "I'd give you money for that!  If there's a way, I could go back..."

Our Song

A long time ago, I was making a mixed tape of songs that reminded me of people.  I don't have it any more or really remember what songs belonged to which person, but while I was making it, I asked this guy I had just met a few months before what song reminded him of me.  This was his answer:

 

I had never heard it, so I made him let me listen to it, and that's how I knew he liked me.  

Happy Anniversary, Kurtis!  

As long as we stay together for the kids, we'll keep racking up those years! ;)  We're up to twelve now.

Double Digits!

Today is pretty awesome.  It's the day I had my first child.  He's ten now.  But seriously.  I am not old enough to have a ten-year-old!  I had to work today, so I was distracted.  I almost forgot to make him a cake!  Apparently I didn't ever say, "Happy birthday!" to him at all until after we went to dinner either.  What's that all about?  I forgot to send a treat to school, too.  I told Zach that I was sorry I completely forgot about a treat for his class, and he said, "That's okay.  I forgot, too!"  He's so good natured.  I love is excitement for life.  Sometimes he expresses it a little crazily, but it's still pretty cute.
This year is a family party year, so I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday.  He said he wanted to go to Outback Steakhouse.  I don't like steak, but it's his birthday, and everybody else in our family does, so we went.  I ordered chicken.  Zach got his first steak off the adult menu.  He was pretty dang excited.  Then we came home, and he opened his presents.  His brothers got him the game Mindcraft.  He was so excited.  Then he opened his present from his parents.  We gave him Magicka, and his own Steam account.  It's a gaming website, so if you don't know what I am talking about, don't worry.  It's something he's been begging us for for awhile now.  It's awesome to surprise him like that.  He was so excited.  But he has testing this week, so I told him he had to take a bath and get ready for bed.  Kurtis said I should let him play for a little bit.  I relented with ten minutes.  I know.  I'm being insanely strict this week.  It's testing week.  Nuff said.  But Zach had a pretty sweet day if you ask me. ;)

 Here is the cake I threw together.  Yellow cake mix, butter cream frosting, and peanut butter M&Ms.  I've decided I don't like butter cream frosting.  But Zach loved it.

 He's so excited!  It was a rainy day for us, though.

 I think he likes it.  Well, I already knew he would.  It was his first time at Outback, but not his first time eating steak.  I make it sometimes, too! :)

 He's such a ham.

 So when the games we buy are kids are just downloaded off the internet, we print a picture of the game, and stick it in a box, and wrap that.  Hee hee!  He thought we really bought him speakers.  He said, "Speakers?  I don't need speakers!"  He was laughing when he said it. :)

 I thought he might catch his hair on fire, but he's not as close as he looks.

Of course!  The card I made! :)  He also really liked the money he got from his grandma and great-grandma.  He's saving for it for a DS.

Buona Festa della Mamma!

So Kurtis did not forget that today is Mother's Day.  He woke me up at eight this morning, and said, "Hey, Melissa?"  "Hmmmm."  I was still sleepy.  "Happy Mother's Day!"  Then Zach came in about a half an hour later and said, "Hey, Dad, do you want Mom to open your present for her?"  "Hey!  Shhhhh!"  Zach left.  I giggled.  "That was supposed to be a surprise."  "Well, I am surprised.  You said my flowers were my Mother's Day present."  "No, I didn't."  "Yes, you did.  You said, 'I got you flowers for Mother's Day!'"  "No, I didn't say it like that!"  This went on a bit, but nobody won.  Except me.  I always win.  But we ended it when Kurtis said, "Maybe that is how you remember I said it, but that is not how I said it!"  Hee hee!
Riley gave me some bath salts/foot scrub that he put in a bag and decorated at school. I wanted to post some pictures of what they gave me, but the memory card on my camera isn't working!  Kurtis is re-formatting it, so hopefully it will be fine for tomorrow!
I slept in and we were a half an hour late for church.  Even though our church starts at eleven.  But today, Kurtis told me the world revolves around me, so if we are late, it's okay.  Church could start when I get there.  Well, of course, he was wrong, but it was fun to think so. ;)
After church, I waited for my parents to conference call me in with my little brother.  He's in Brazil.  The Zach and Riley talked to him, and then when I got the phone back, they said, "Okay, say good bye, and we'll call Michele!"  "What!?  But I didn't get to talk to him!"  So basically all I got to tell him was that I love him, and then I got kicked off.  Oh, well.  At least I got to hear his voice, and tell him that.
Then Riley asked when I was going to open my present.  I told him it was up to Dad, who told him it was up to me.  So I opened my present, and I got two books that I have been wanting to read!  Whoo-hoo!  I'm excited.  I almost started reading them right then, but I remembered I am reading something else, and they will have to wait their turn.  But believe me.  When I am done with my current selection, I will be starting them.  :)
But other than that, today was pretty typical.  I made chicken pot pie for dinner, and a cherry pie for Kurtis for dessert.  I don't like baked fruit, so I won't be eating it.  The kids still screamed at each other.
Sacrament Meeting was fun.  I got all teary-eyed when the kids sang the Mother's Day songs.  It was so cute!  Our neighbor's little girl came and sat with us, too.  She's about 18 months.  She was so cute.  Riley pulled out his crayons to color, and she decided that she needed to put them back in the box for him.  He'd pull out five or more crayons at once, and she'd put them back.  It made it hard for Riley to color, but he was super patient with her.  Then Kurtis came back from the restroom, and he played with the her, too.  He'd go to hand her a crayon, and then move it at the last second, so she missed.  She thought it was hilarious.  I love watching him play with babies.  He just loves them, and I love to watch his face when they play and smile or laugh with him.

The Merry Month of May! Hooray!

The month of May is a special one for me.  It's because May 14th is my anniversary.  Twelve years ago, I became a  wife.  Weird.  Then, two years later, after waiting five extra days, I became a mother.  So now, we celebrate all month long!  Mother's day, birthday, and wedding day!  Then later, we celebrate Memorial day, and being another birthday (my nephew's)  It's just one big party.
Kurtis came home on Thursday after work with some flowers in his hands.  He called the boys to him before he came inside so I couldn't see them, and had Riley bring them to me.  Then, he started freaking out a little.  Just a little.  He wanted to take me to dinner for mother's day, but we had to go to Roundtable.  Because Saturday (today) would be so busy.  I could not for the life of me figure out what he was so concerned about.  I was sitting at the table, stamping away, and thinking that we could just go out tomorrow.  After about five or ten minutes of contemplation about this while he was off doing I don't remember what, it dawned on me.  He thinks it's Friday!  I immediately started to giggle.  I should have known right away.  He woke up this morning and said, "It feels like Friday.  But it's not, is it?"  "Nope," I replied sleepily.  "That's too bad."
He worked from home most of yesterday.  Kaleb had a Mother's day program with all of the other kindergartners.  It was so cute.  Kaleb also insisted that I open his Mother's day present to me on Friday.  It was this awesome washcloth with his hand prints on it.  Now, I have three.  One from all my boys.  Every year, the kindergartners make those for the moms, so I already knew what it was.  But he was so excited to give me his present.  How could I not be excited to get it, too?
For my mother's day dinner, we ended up going to Chuck-A-Rama with Kurtis' family.  It was so much fun.  I gave his mom her present, and card.  She loved it.  Because my cards are amazing.  Kurtis ate too much.  I ate too much.  Zach and the boys tried jumbo shrimp.  I thought it was okay, but the boys loved it.
Today, we went to my grandma's house and cleaned up her yard.  All of her kids that live in our state came along with some grand kids, and we weeded, and raked, and trimmed trees.  I mostly weeded with my dad.  I also got to meet my cousin's girlfriend.  He might marry her.  He's not absolutely sure, yet, but she is.  It's a pretty big deal.  But I liked her.  She's really nice, and from Wisconsin.  She wants six kids, and is going to be a kindergarten teacher.  She played with my kids, too.  So that's a pretty big deal.  They are going to school in Idaho, and that's where they met.  Kurtis raked.  He said it was hard and that his body aches now, and that he has blisters on his hands.  I wonder if we will make it to church tomorrow.  Maybe I will just go by myself.  That would be a nice Mother's day present to myself.  We shall see.  I don't like going some places alone.  I've been going with Kurtis much too long for that.
Tomorrow is the real Mother's Day, but Kurtis seems to have forgotten that.  It's alright though.  We've pretty much turned our attention to the fact that Monday, Zachary turns 10.  He's about to be in double digits!
Oh, my heck!  I almost forgot.  Today, I added to my list of things I never thought I would say!  My cousin's girlfriend was playing with my kids, and they "killed" her.  She flew herself down on the ground, and said, "I'm dead!"  Zach started chopping her up with his plastic knife while saying, "Slash!  Slash!  Slash!"  So I said, "You already killed her!  Don't mutilate her dead body!  That's just rude."