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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Wednesday
Jul252007

Out of the mouths of boys...

We went to the dentist today. Noah and Micah were just getting general check ups now that we finally have Asher's dental issues under control. Both boys did really well (course, Noah's been to the dentist before...just not this particular one). Both boys will be going back again soon. Sigh.

Noah apparently has excellent dental health and good spacing...no cavities (yay!)...but...this bottom two front permanent teeth are coming in (one has very recently broken through even). He has yet to lose any baby teeth. You see the problem? Yeah. So, he'll be getting those bottom two teeth pulled. Micah, it seems, has a similar issue that Asher does...a rather small jaw, making for very tight spacing of the teeth...meaning lurking little cavities between teeth because, though we brush twice a day and all, have you ever tried to floss for a 2 year old regularly? Bleh. Yup, Micah's got two lovely little cavities right up front and will be getting those filled in about a month. Now, I ask you...how is it that Micah and Asher with their noggin size generally off the charts or at least at the top of it ended up with such small jaws? What's up with that?

Anyhow. We're home, right? Noah started getting a little worried about the pulling of teeth (until then, he'd been focusing on the tooth fairy coming TWICE). So, curious, he asks Asher, who's had a tooth pulled not long ago. Here's what I heard in the kitchen:

Noah: Did it hurt?

Asher: Yes!

Noah: But how much did it hurt? On a scale of one to ten, how much did it hurt?

Asher: I didn't get on a scale while I was there.

Bwaaahaaahaa! I was totally busting up here in my office. They still don't even realize it was funny. Just makes it all the more hilarious. ;)

Okay, I need to get back to scrapping...down to the wire here. Deadline for initial scans of everything is tomorrow. While I'm working away here, don't forget to leave a comment at the post below for my RAKs, okay? I'll announce winners Friday! 

Oh, and here's a picture of Noah and Micah at the dentist...they had Noah go first and we played in the waiting area for a bit then came back to watch the last part so Micah could see. Then, they had Micah climb right up in the chair with Noah and did a quick cleaning, fluoride treatment and exam right there. Noah was very stoic about the whole thing and a good sport. Micah clutched his little plane (that he hasn't relinquished other than during sleep since I bought it a few days ago) and only bit the dentist once. ;)

7-25-07dentist-withshadow.jpg 

 

Sunday
Jul222007

Checking in and a RAK!

Oy. I haven't blogged in a bit. I've been, um, busy. Swamped really. I've been scrapping up a storm, finishing up layouts for my book...deadline's in less than a week for the layouts portion. I'm definitely in the home stretch now and am mostly happy with how the layouts are turning out. Incidentally, I also think I should win a prize for deliberately *not* buying the Harry Potter book that released yesterday. I know myself well enough to know that I'd have to stop and read it from cover to cover...and I just can't afford that time right now. You can bet, though, that as soon as I get these layout scans sent off, I'll be heading straight for the bookstore and reading through the weekend. :)

Things? The boys are fascinated with rockets. Seriously. Nathan took all three on Friday night and they camped out at the site where the next day a local rocketry club had a launch event. They came home sweaty but happy. I haven't had a chance to go through the pictures yet. I, obviously, stayed home. I managed to get 12 layouts done in the 20 hours or so they were gone. My head hurt. Today, they all headed to our neighborhood park to launch rockets of their own using the water rocket system Nathan built a bit ago. Again, they came home sweaty but happy. I've only finished 5 layouts so far today...but will be up for another few hours.

Oh, and Micah discovered the harmonica. He's so freakin' adorable. I'll take pictures tomorrow. He's actually pretty good at it...enough that Nathan's trying to figure out a way to record some of Micah's "tunes" so we can link you up here.

Okay, I should get back to work. My office is a disaster area. At this point I don't think it's worth the time it'll take me to straighten up so I'll leave it for another four days. :) When I do clean my office, I'll be doing some significant purging. I figure if it's stuff I didn't even consider touching while making these 68 layouts I probably don't need to hang onto it. So...RAK time!

In the past 2-3 weeks, I've made roughly 50 layouts. Today, I used a color for the first time (not the first time EVER, but the first time in the past 2-3 weeks, you know what I mean). It rather surprised me to realize that I hadn't used it yet. Guess what color cardstock I'm talking about! (No, I'm not looking for an exact shade or anything that specific...I'm talking like red, orange, yellow...etc.) I'll give out two RAKs...one for the first person to post the right answer and one drawn randomly from all the guesses. Since I won't even be able to think about actually putting the RAKs together and all till next Friday, I'll leave this open until then...let's say Friday, July 27 at noon MST. Go ahead and guess all you want...I won't reveal the answer until I close guessing. What are you waiting for? Get guessing!

***ETA: Forgot to mention that though I don't know precisely what will be in the RAK, you can count on some awesome stuff...most, if not all, new in package! When I say "purging" know that I actually have purged lately, so the stuff I'm talking about now is mostly recent! Good stuff!*** 

Thursday
Jul122007

Best $1.50 ever...

So we were at Target the other day and the dollar spot was looking a little bare. But. They had three lonely straw cowboy hats on clearance...just $0.50 each. I figured you couldn't get much better than that, such a deal, right? I bought them mainly just because of the deal factor and because they were cute. I figured the boys could add them to their "costume" pile (you know, for pretend play and all).

Well, the boys surprised me by being simply delighted by these hats. Almost as soon as I put it on his head, Micah whipped it off with one hand, swung it in the air and yelled "woohoo!" which, apparently, is his version of "yeehaw!" since his brothers followed suit shortly thereafter. (If you're wondering where he learned this, you can thank the Backyardigans' "Ridin' the Range" episode.) The older two decided that they should all be cowboys for Halloween (yes, somehow they were already thinking about Halloween) and I can't wait...they'll make such adorable little cowboys! (assuming, of course, that they don't change their minds between now and then, which is entirely probable)

Here's a picture of them wearing their hats in the backyard...pretending to be cowboys holding down the fort. (Noah's gearing up for a big "yeehaw!" which explains why his arm is up in the air like that.) 

7-11-07cowboyhats.jpg

Such a simple thing. Definitely the best $1.50 I've spent in a long time.  

Tuesday
Jul102007

Pictures and news...

Okay, I haven't been the most regular blogger of late. I have an excuse. It's a doozy of a good one. Ready? I'm writing a book! Yup, Creating Keepsakes asked me to author a book that will release in January 2008!!! So. I'm working on heaps of new layouts and projects right now...can't share them obviously and can't share pictures that will go on those layouts...hence, the lack of pictures here lately. Sorry. But, I'm stinkin' excited and hope you will be too!

So, I know I promised pictures from our Fourth but I'm going to have to break that promise. Trust me, they're awesome and are going to make a spectacular layout. :) To make up for it, here are some pictures of late...just random shots of the boys over the past week or two...enjoy...

Noah-trucks07-07.jpg 

Micah-bath07-07.jpg 

Ash-egg07-07.jpg 

Micah-planeshow07-07.jpg
Noah-sprinkler07-07.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ash-candles07-07.jpg
Thursday
Jul052007

Yesterday.

Well, we took just shy of 400 pictures yesterday. By just shy, I mean 396. Really. The first hundred or so were taken at the radio control airshow Nathan & the boys went to (while I stayed home and tried to get a little scrapping done). They came home with all sorts of stories and favorites and, of course, with the desire to build model airplanes.

The next two hundred or so pictures were taken at the other nearby airport where planes were on display and tours were available for old WWII bombers. Seriously awesome stuff. We all had great fun seeing everything...well, except maybe Micah who was mostly confined to the stroller. But at least he was in the shade most of the time as a result. The rest of us relied on our hats and the wings of some of the planes but, folks, it was almost a hundred degrees yesterday...probably more there on the tarmac. (Hence the stroller packed with bottled water.)  In any case, loads of cool photos both of the boys and the stuff on display (I'm still sorting through them or I'd post them now).

Oh, and just gotta say that my boys are the greatest. After standing in line for maybe an hour waiting to be able to walk through the B-17, Nathan and I were very appreciative of how well behaved our boys are. They were patient. They were not loud. They did not scream every time one of their brothers touched them. They did not feel the need to jump all around and bump into people standing near them. They did not shout and cry and dump water on each other. Yeah. They were good. :)

So, if you're doing the math, that leaves a hundred or so pictures for the fireworks that night. We headed down to the Loveland display (having decided we prefer the slightly less crazy and crowded atmosphere of the Loveland show over the Fort Collins one). Got a decent parking spot and walked in. Set up our blanket and all. And then it started raining. So. Like most people around us, we put up the umbrellas and sat tight. Miraculously, when the show actually started the rain suddenly stopped. Weird but true. The boys, as usual, "oooh"ed and "ahhh"ed. Micah was apprehensive at first but got better after a bit and eventually I even heard a "wow" or two out of him. We managed to get a few decent shots of the fireworks and some fun ones of the boys wrestling after the show was over.

Then we headed home, gave the boys baths and went to bed. Full day. Yesterday.

Hope yours was everything you wanted it to be!

PS. Yes, I realize the irony of talking all about how many photos we took and then not sharing any. I'll fix that. Just give me a bit, okay? :)