Headed to Disneyland!

We leave for Disneyland tomorrow. The kids have school off for a few days for Fall Break or UEA, whatever it is called. Although my favorite was UEA--Utah's Exodus to Anaheim! Yep, we now fit into that crowd! I'm very excited.

Plus, I get to see some dear friends along the way, stop on our way home and stay the night with Rachelle and her family and meet my gorgeous little nephew, Flint for the first time. It will probably be our only trip south for the rest of this year, so I'm excited to see the family that is making the effort to see us. And it was so sweet of Rachelle to offer her home to us, not like she doesn't already have a lot going on, with 6 kids and all!

Sam is so excited, but I don't think he remembers much (we last went in February) because all he says when I ask him about it is "food, food?" I've been baking cookies and preparing goodies to take with us and telling him it's for Disneyland! Or maybe he does remember more than I'm giving him credit for, and he's thinking of all the good food there! Either way, we're all excited! It was really cold this past weekend, and we got our first snow storm, so I'm looking forward to some California sun (hopefully not the California smoke, but we'll see!).

I also need to post pictures from Abby's play on friday and saturday. She did such a great job! Her solo was darling. I recorded it and will post it when I get back. All the video and pics are uploaded on my other computer.

Update WAAAYYY over due!

I can't believe that I haven't update our blog in over a month! I've been so busy with the kids' schedules and the opening of my new store that things have been very crazy!

Things are going great! The kids love school, a lot and they are very involved with extra-curricular activities. Chipper is doing choir, before school 2 days a week and is also the Caterpillar in "Alice in Wonderland" a play the kids are doing through Musical Theatre. He is one of the top students in his class and loves all that he is learning!

Mitchell is doing sports before school, two mornings a week and he is the King in "Alice in Wonderland". I think he wow'd them in his audition when he sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in a British accent! Needless to say, listening to him do the Trial attorney "King" part of the play with his British accent, is such a hoot!

Abby is also doing sports before school and she is in a different play. She is the cheese in the musical play "The Cheese Stands Alone". Her performance in next week, and we're all very excited! She even has a solo part!

Sam is in school and doing well. He has also recently started doing speech twice a week, privately. He is really making progress with his speech. He is actually speaking in sentences. He has every syllable, the intonnation and most of the vowels, just very few consonants. To most, it still sounds like gibberish, but to us, it is music to our ears!

Olivia is loving being at home alone with mom and her favorite thing is to go shopping. She asks me daily if we can go shopping! Not that I do a lot of shopping, but I think she associates errands and grocery shopping as her time with mom! We have a lot of fun!

John is still busy with work and now preparing to take the Bar in February. The 80 page application has been a bit daunting, but he has almost completed it! We will be so glad to have this over!

As for me, I've been busy with my new store, which is going very well. I've also been making some drastic changes to our diet. Between the allergies, Celiac disease for Olivia and just all of us needing to eat more healthy, we have incorporated a much more "raw food" diet into our routine! Green smoothies have actually become a breakfast favorite! I have also been walking several miles, several times a week and I love how much better I have been feeling!

I think that is about it, but hopefully I will be around more to post and give updates! Also, for anyone interested in digital scrapbooking, I'll have some free things to give away. Just in time for the holidays!

New store opening this weekend...

I'm so excited about my new store opening this weekend! It's getting so close. I have most of the product in and ready to go, we have the forum and gallery up and going. I just feel like it is such a dream come true! I can't wait!

I thought I would share the link here, in case anyone wanted to go check it out and tell me what you think, before we open our doors (so to speak).

http://browniescraps.com/shop

Also, if there are any digital scrappers reading this that would be interested in being on my Creative Team, we are looking for you! You can even be brand new, just wanting to learn, because we will have tutorials and lots of help along the way! Basically what a Creative Team (CT) is, is people who use the products from the store, for free, to create their own layouts, but then post them in several places as sort of free advertising. It's a great way to use free product, but it's great for me, because it spreads the word. Plus, we have a lot of fun. Anyway, if anyone is interested, here is the official CT call:

All is Well!!!

After two days of school, the kids seem to be very happy! They love it so far. Chipper is a bit stressed out because he is so determined to get straight A's and every little thing seems to be a threat to that. They had Math pretests that he knew a good portion of but when it got into equations with x, he couldn't remember how he'd learned to do them last spring. He was worried that by missing a few, he probably lost his chance at straight A's! I find it adorable, because I was NEVER that kind of student. I told him today that he reminds me of his Aunt Rachelle. She used to stress about that stuff too. I also told him that she has a nice college diploma to be proud of, as well, so not to worry! Looking back, I realize that all it really takes to suceed in school is a lot of determination and work. I just never cared that much! I'm excited to see how he does and hope that he chills just a little!

Olivia is adjusting just fine. She did put on Abby's shoes and her backpack and said, "bye mom, I going school." But, overall, her and Sam are doing great. Sam starts Preschool on Monday, and I'm excited to see how he does. He loves school, so it should be fun for him. He also gets to ride the bus, which is HUGE for him! LOL!

And not to be out done by my kids, I figured I needed a new project, as well. So, I am taking my digital scrapping to a new level. I'm opening my very own online store! I can't wait and still feel that it's all a dream. I have a million ideas to implement and can't wait! I have a very smart friend that I met through ivillage who is doing all the technical stuff for me. I tried, but Wow, those PHP's killed me!

I'll show the link, as soon as we have it already. We're hoping to open September 1st and I truly couldn't be more excited. It feels like such a dream come true and I have to pinch myself that it's really happening. I've always had ambitions to own my own business and helping John has been as close as I've gotten. Now, I'll have my very own project!

Is it really possible?

That it's been 2 weeks since I've posted? Wow, where has the time gone? LOL!

Things are going great here, busy, busy, but wonderful! I absolutely love living here, more than I ever thought possible! We are blessed with wonderful neighbors and such a lovely neighborhood. And I can't say enough about the weather! Such a nice break from a So. Nevada summer!

School starts on Monday and the kids are soooo excited. We went to the open house yesterday and met their teachers. I think it's going to be a great year! They are each so excited about all of it. The one I feel the worst for is Olivia. She has always had her siblings at home, from the beginning, and she thinks in all this excitement that she is going to school as well! On the walk home (yes, the school is in walking distance!) she kept saying, "I go school". I think I'll have a very sad little girl on Monday, when we drop everyone off and she is stuck with boring old mom!

But I couldn't be more excited to have this time with her. I've never had a period of time with just one at school for even half a day. I don't know what it will be like!

Well, that's about all for us. I will take pictures and post them on Monday. I can't wait to see them in their new clothes with all their new stuff!

I don't think I posted either that Abby got her ears pierced a few weeks ago! I finally talked her into it. I've been trying since she was 3. She was so brave and so cute getting them done! Here's a few pictures!