I'd Like To Thank Pinterest For Helping Me Make My Kid's Birthday So Awesome

It's been a busy week.  I had my Stampin' Up! workshop and Riley's birthday party back to back.  Workshop on Thursday and party on Friday.  The party was the scariest part for me.  Because little boys are loud and like to run around the house risking breaking things.  It freaks me out.  I had Kurtis work from home for some back up that day.  He mostly just wanted to play the computer while the boys ran through the house causing my anxiety to spike.  I think he enjoys seeing me freak out (on the inside) a little bit.

 This is the Halloween card we made for my Stampin' Up! workshop Thursday.

 This is the inside.  It's really awesome.

Then we made these cute mummy boxes.  We put candy inside them.

 Riley wanted a Doctor Who themed birthday card.  I already blogged about it and showed you the invitations here.

 This cake is a blue velvet cake that I made from scratch after the workshop on Thursday night.  I frosted it in the morning.  It's the Tardis.  Riley really liked it.  I've never made a cake from scratch before.  It turned out alright.  The food coloring turns your poop a blue-green color if you eat too much though.  Nope.  I'm not lying.

 I used my Tardis cookie jar that Kurtis got me for my birthday as a centerpiece.

 I made this out of the first invitation I made (before I made the ones that open up.  You can see a tutorial of how to make those invitations here.

 I finally put up the Halloween decorations on Tuesday.

It exhausted me.

 Riley blew out his candles before I could get a picture!

 Eleven!  He's such a good looking kid!

 This is awesome!

 Riley loved all of his presents.

The party favors.  Tardis boxes full of treats and mini composition notebooks turned into River Song's diary.  Pinterest rocks.  :)

Nobody Ever Calls Me. So Why Would I Think I Might Actually Need My Phone?

I haven't been blogging very much lately.  Do you want to know why?  It's silly, really.  I started doing this.
I'm not sure how it will go or if any one will even watch them.  So far, the answer is not that many.  Which is fine.  Talking to a camera is weird still.  I mean, as an actress, we are told to pretend it isn't even there and now I have to look into the lens and pretend it's a real person.  Who am I even talking to?  Meh.  I'll figure it out.  It's fun.
But I have a story to tell that I don't think I can tell quite as well on camera.  I get nervous.
I watch this guy on YouTube quite a bit.  He's kind of the one who made me think I should just go for the video blogging thing.  I have been toying with the idea in my head for awhile now.  He's doing this weightloss challenge thing.  He suggested we set goals.  My goal is to work out everyday - well, every week day.  So far, I worked out every day this week except Wednesday because I needed a break.  I was determined to work out on Thursday, too though I probably should have not.  I over did it and hurt my right side behind my rib cage.  So I Friday I wanted to do something that would not require me to do push ups at all.  I thought I should go walking with my dog, Neji.
Walking with Neji is really not that fun for me because he pulls me and does not walk next to me.  I HATE IT!  So I wasn't going to do that.  Kurtis said I should do it and that Neji could be my workout buddy.  He'd push me into going further than I normally would.  HA!  That sounded awful.
I finished the book I was reading and said to myself, "Just do it.  Just take the freaking dog on a freaking walk.  You will have fulfilled your goal, and that will make you happy and you have Shay Carl's voice in the back of your head telling you to do it and how could any one ever say no to that man?"  Blah, blah, blah.
Finally, I got my work out clothes on and I got Neji in his harness and put his leash on it.  I got on my new athletic shoes that I bought for me to go play racquetball with Kurtis (but he never commits to actually doing with me), but have never worn yet, and we were off.  I thought about bringing my camera along, but then you would know just how out of shape I really am.  It's terrible.  I have no stamina.
I went down my street, around the corner, past the funeral home, up the block with the craft store on it, then up to Fairfield Road and past the Jr. High.  Then around the corner past the grade school, down Mutton Hollow to 700 something.  Then left on 700 and right on 350 and back to my house.  Kurtis thinks it was two miles at least.  I don't know.  It took me about 45 minutes.  I walked and jogged and then walked again.  Neji LOVED it!  He thought it was the best thing ever.  When we got home, he was so happy and dancing all around.  And I loved that he loved it.
I was getting ready to get in the shower when I heard Kurtis' ringtone.  Great.  I almost didn't answer it.
"Hello?"
"Hey, where are you?"
"I'm home.  I  just got back from taking Neji for a walk/jog.  What do you need?"
"I just got a call from the school that Kaleb is sick.  They left me a message because they couldn't get a hold of you."
"Oh.  Crap.  I was just about to get in the shower.  I guess I'd better go get him."
"Yeah.  Call them and see what's up.  Because it's better if you go get him than me."  Because he is 35 miles away and I'm only, 0.6 miles away.  This is when being a one car family kind of sucks.  Kurtis took the car to work that morning.  I called the school to find out what was going on with him and if he could walk home.  He said he could.  He also said his head felt like it was being crushed.
So, I got my clothes back on and I ran to the school.  Well, like I said.  I have no stamina, so I ran.  Then I walked.  Then I ran again and then I walked.  I probably ran faster than I did when I had Neji with me.
The thing that is ironic here is that when the school called me the first time, I was probably walking right past it.  Geesh.
Luckily, my friend was driving home from somewhere and saw us walking home.  She did the awesome thing and gave us a ride.  I gave Kaleb some Ibuprofen and told him to lay down.  He felt better after a bit.  It was probably a migraine.
Today, though.  My hips and shins are really mad at me.  I'd like to tell them to shut up, but when I move, they just start up again.  Jerks.

My new shoes.  Aren't they cute?  They came untied, so I felt like I was a three year old when I double tied them.  ;)

The Boy Who Hung the Moon

I had a really great weekend.
Saturday night, my brother and his wife welcomed their first child into the world.
Sunday, I got to meet him.  He is quite adorable.
With his parents' blessing, I will now show you the pictures I took when we visited him in the hospital.

 He has captured my heart.

 I told the boys Kaleb gets to hold him first.

"What!? Why?"

"Because he has never held a baby before."

 Zach loved holding him.  Until he started to cry.  Then he didn't want to hold him any more.  He didn't believe his Aunt Lili when she told him it wasn't his fault.

 Beautiful mother and baby.  Kaleb took this one.

 Riley thinks he's pretty cool.

 I do, too.

 Ben is pretty excited, but trying to be cool.

 He kept sticking his tongue out.

 It was so cute. :)  Everything he does is cute.

 Fingers and toes.  Then he got cold and said, "I want to be wrapped up!"

 Grandma got him to burp.  She has skillz.

 Grandpa was pretty excited.

 I love this picture of my mom snuggling her grand-baby.  She is so beautiful.

Jeremy came, too!

I let Kaleb take the camera and take pictures while we were there.  This one turned out pretty cool.  

The rest looked like this:

He cracks me up.