HELLO

Hi. I'm Amanda...a happy wife and mom to three awesome guys. We've lived here in Fort Collins for more than 20 years and are proud to call it home. Before moving to CO, I worked at a city attorney's office, making use of my law and Master's degrees from Duke. After settling in Fort Collins, I homeschooled my three (now teenage and older) sons and was delighted to experience music classes, soccer, karate, swim team, archery, Science Olympiad, First Lego League, parkour, and climbing (not all at the same time!). From 2005-10, I was also a contributing editor for a national scrapbooking magazine, authoring a book and a couple of monthly columns. From 2009-10, I founded and ran the Good Grief Blog. I enjoy learning new things, spending time with my family, volunteering with The Matthews House, traveling and indoor rock climbing.

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Tuesday
Dec252007

Merry Christmas!

Heading to bed now but wanted to share a fun picture of the boys earlier tonight. Our Christmas Eve was spent somewhat lazily...tidying up and then going to a very crowded Children's Mass...then home again for dinner, watching Miracle on 34th Street and, finally, opening a couple presents. :) The boys each got to open two (one is always pjs). This Christmas Eve, the second ("fun") gift they each opened just happened to be a Transformer (the boys shopped for each other this year and guess what they all got each other *laugh*). I can already see that I'm going to spend some significant time this week switching Micah's for him...from "guy" to "car" modes.

12-24-07firstgifts.jpg 

By the way, dude. What a difference that flash Nathan bought me earlier this month makes for these evening shots! :)

Okay, to bed with me so that I can get at least some sleep before the boys wake me in the morning! Merry Christmas to all! 

Thursday
Dec202007

OUT ON A LIMB...taking a wee break...

As I'm sure you understand, busy stuff around here. :) So, because I feel my OUT ON A LIMB challenges deserve my more full attention, I'm officially taking a wee break until January 10. Hope you'll stay tuned and check back!

Off now to wrap more stuff... ;) 

Wednesday
Dec192007

Input needed, quick!

Help! Other than Shutterfly, where are the best places to go to get digital layouts printed? Do those places also have options for digital layouts in photo book format?

I won't go into details now, but would truly appreciate any suggestions! Thanks! 

Tuesday
Dec182007

One week to go...

Or so the boys tell me. ;) Things here are mixed...part of the time I feel like I'm finally nearing the end of the holiday craziness and part of the time I feel utterly behind. I'm sure you understand.

In light of that...here are some random and completely unrelated tidbits:

Apparently, you get to be an Autobot until you turn 30, at which point you become a Decepticon. This is what the boys were explaining to Uncle Zach (who's 28) when he was trying to figure out why Nathan and I have to be Decepticons. See? It really is worse after 30. Bwaahaahaa!

Micah was so sweet this morning...making us all wear our "ho ho hat" (yes, we each have a red and white Santa hat). Every time I'd take mine off, he'd bring it right back to me with such a happy little grin that I ended up with hat hair all day.

Noah played in his music school's piano recital Sunday. He did a great job. Asher was invited to play but declined this year.

For a week or two now, Micah's been exclaiming that there's a ghost in our master bathroom. He would peek through the door, shout "ghost! ghost!" and run away giggling. I could not figure out why this was...until yesterday, when he finally pointed out the actual "ghost."  In the cabinet above the toilet, we have a refill for one of those shower cleaner things. It's by the Scrubbing Bubbles people. Did you know that those scrubbing bubbles look an awful lot like ghosts? ;) What a cutie!

I had a meeting tonight and Uncle Zach got to officially babysit the boys. Micah didn't even blink when I left, just turned to me and said "bye, bye" and went back to playing (to date, he's often cried when left with non-parents). When I got home, this is what I found:
12-17-07micahdarts.jpg 

Yes, Uncle Zach was shooting the boys with dart guns...and they were lovin' it. :) You should have seen their happy faces. Heck, they even convinced Uncle Zach to make cookies with them (admittedly, just the store bought cookie dough stuff, but still). All in all, good nephew-uncle bonding was had.  

Okay, back to crossing things off the ol' "to do" list now...hope your holiday season is going well! 

Sunday
Dec162007

Who lives longer?

As heard earlier today...

Noah was talking about average life expectancies, guessing that it was around 83 years. Nathan commented that it's different for men and women. We asked the boys at this point if they knew who lives longer (on average). Asher piped up right away..."men do." 

Of course, I asked him why he believed that. His answer? (which came promptly and with confidence)

"Because men have less hair."

I don't really know what to make of that. :)