Well, my prayers had been answered and Grace had a cancellation this morning so I was able to go in early and get my hair cut, highlighted and my nails done.  I feel so much better now!  You know it was getting bad when I asked Eric the other day what he thought my nails looked like from a distance and he said they looked kind of weird. 

After I got home from my appointment, Erica and I ran to the post office.  I had a swap that I needed to mail and of course I should have mailed out yesterday.  A day late and a dollar short.  The story of my life lately.

After our run to the post office Erica and I came home and took a much needed nap.  This going to bed late and getting up early, yuck!  Of course I slept way longer than I meant to and slept right past the time I needed to start dinner.  I can’t make it tomorrow night as I’m going out with some friends, so Chicken Mirabella will have to wait until Thursday night.

I’m off to watch a movie with Eric now.  Tonight I can get away with staying up a little bit late as I can sleep in a little tomorrow.  Thinking maybe tomorrow I need to finish up the layout that has been laying on my scrap table and then maybe clean up my mess.  I’m just really feeling like I want to be creative but it’s so hard for me to do that when my area is so unorganized.  Most likely I am going to end up spending the whole day organizing.  Especially since I want to ramp up the kids’ section of the scraproom so they have an area that is theirs and everything in it they are allowed to use.  After reading the Scrapbooking with your Kids and seeing a friends room that has a space set up for her daughter I am feeling very inspired.

So this afternoon we took Erica out to shop for a lightweight travel type stroller.  Figuring she won’t be up to wanting to walk all over St Louis and Chicago.  Before we hit Babies R Us we went to Jose Pepper’s for lunch.

On the way there I turned around and Erica has a binky in her mouth.  I know, we broke her of the whole binky thing back at Easter, but she has had some rough nights (the night she split her head open, bad dreams, bad allergies, etc…) and we broke out a couple of binkies out of hiding for her.  Well, we figure as to not let this turn back into a habit she could not have one unless she was in dire need of a nap or sleep.

So, I ask her if she needs a nap.  Which she then promptly responded by pulling the binky out of her mouth and handing it off to Eric.  I reminded her that binkies were only for nap time.  So a few seconds later I hear the loudest fakest yawn ever.  And then little Miss goes, “Did you hear that big yawn.  I think I need a nap.”  I just died laughing!

Okay, so we get to Jose Pepper’s and Erica is being her normal self.  Eric turns to her and tells her she is just so fascinating.  So looks at me and says, “Did you hear that Mommy.  I am a fast eating.”  Okay, maybe that one you had to be there for!  But I totally got it!

Oh, and you so have to see the stroller we ended up with!  It was only about $100 more than we planned to spend.  Hopefully when/if we get pregnant again we’ll have another girl!  But I just loved this, and Eric said it looked like the most comfortable for her and the most maneuverable.

Here it is:

Well maybe not all.  I think I would be bored out of my mind!  But every once in a while is good.

We totally had a lazy weekend and spent time together as a family.  Saturday I slept as late as I possibly could, which was really late!  Then once I finally was awake we spent the rest of the day putzing around the house and watching movies.  Wish I could say we watched something really good, but not so much. 

Sunday was pretty much a repeat.  Only with a huge sinus headache which kept us from church.  I was so badly wanting to go to church too, as it has been so long since we’ve been.  And we won’t get to go this next Sunday as it will be leaving for our family vacation on that day.

I am so excited about our vacation!  Nothing too terribly exciting.  But it’s Eric, the girls and myself away from everyday life for almost an entire week!  We plan on going to St Louis for 2 1/2 days and Chicago for 3 1/2.  Eric has us at a ridiculously priced hotel in both places.  Not that I’m bragging, but…  Oh heck, of course I’m bragging!

It’s kind of funny to look back over the years and see how our hotel habits have changed.  When we first got married it was Motel 6’s all the way.  Then we graduated to Quality Inn, then Best Western.  And now we are very loyal to Marriott.

We figure while we are in St Louis we will go to the zoo, Grant’s Farm and of course the Arch.  And most importantly Red Lead!  Yay!  I’ve already told Eric to be prepared for me to spend lots there!

While we are in Chicago there is one day that Eric has to work most of.  So that day we’ll go to the American Girl (it’s just like three blocks from our hotel), go to lunch and lounge by the pool.  Maybe even make a stop at Hershey’s Chicago.  On our list of must go to places is Navy Pier, the Aquarium, Children’s Museum, couple various other museums and of course shopping!

This should be a week that passes by quickly though!  Much to do.  Today I have Social Suppers to pick up (home cooked meals, yum!) and we are going to see if we can find a stroller that Erica isn’t too big for her.  Eric really thinks there is just too much walking around for her little legs.  Which I’m thinking he’s probably right (ssshhhh, don’t tell him!).

Tomorrow I have a much needed appointment to get my nails done!  Hopefully Grace will be able to do my hair cut and highlights too.  Thursday I’m going out to dinner with some friends (trying to work it out that I will be minus Erica that evening).  Saturday is an all day crop with friends.  And then Sunday morning bright and early we hit the road.  First stop is St Louis, so it won’t be too long on the road. 

Once we get back it will be time to cram back to school shopping in and then Ally is back to school and Erica and Jackie’s homeschooling begins.  Hopefully the week after that I will have some awesome news!  We will be making an offer on a house!  We have about a 50/50 chance of them taking it.  But it is worth a shot!  Wow!  What a birthday present that will be!

So much going on, I almost don’t know where to start…

CHA in Chicago was fun!  A little overwhelming, but fun!  There were just rows and rows of brand new scrapbooking and crafting product!  I didn’t get to see quite as much as I thought I would have, but between Martha, Sara, Shelby and myself we got the whole thing covered.  I can’t imagine what the Winter show would be like!  It’s supposed to be like twice the size and a day longer!

While we were there we did get to take in some of the sights in Chicago.  I had my first piece of real Chicago style pizza (it was to die for).  And did some shopping for the girls.  You know you can’t go out of town and then come home empty handed to the kiddos.

What else?  I got caught up with a friend day before yesterday!  It was so wonderful getting to talk to her!  I missed her so much!  Granted when I first knew her, I didn’t know her very well and hadn’t spent a whole lot of time with her but am so looking forward to getting to know her more.  She is just so much fun!

Last night I went to Ladies Night Out At The K to the Royals Game with Christy, Amy, Nora, Lee Ann, Tracey, Kara, Paula and a whole bunch of other girls.  They were giving out this cute pink rhinestone hats to the first 10,000 people and you can bet your buns we were among those.  Then we got our cute pink Royals shirt and were all set.  We ended up leaving though I think by the 5th inning.  But the Royals were up 4 – 0 so that was a good point to leave them.  It’s been so long since I’ve been to a ball game, so it was actually pretty cool.  As cool a our cute pink hats?  I don’t know that I’d go that far…

I resigned from the Serendipity Scraps Design Team.  Eric came home from this past weekend with tons of new business and he is pretty much needing me to step back into being a full time Mom and then some.  So he asked that I give up my scrapbooking obligations, and as he asks for very little from me, I agreed.  However before anyone else calls Sara and asks her what happened between her and I, it absolutely has nothing to do with Sara.  This was a decision I had to make for my family.  As much as I will miss being on the DT, this is where I have to be for now.  And Sara and I are still very good friends.  She did not take me down to the tracks and push me when I told her my decision.

I think that pretty much brings you up to speed on my life.  I know it’s about to get crazier.  And I am so looking forward to our family vacation in 1 1/2 weeks.  We’ll be going to St Louis for 3 days and Chicago for 4 days and I am so anxious for it to get here.  Then just a couple days later, it’s back to school for the girls.  Ally will be going to public school as usual.  And then Jackie will be still be home schooled.  And this year we are going to start homeschooling Erica and Eric really wants to start her on the Kindergarten curriculum.  Eric will be in charge of putting together the curriculums and I will be in charge of communicating them to the girls.  That’s a post for another day though…

So Eric and I went downtown to Brighton the other day.  I decided I wanted a cute business card holder to take with me to CHA.  Well, while we were down there I found my new purse.  As I’m now trying to transition from a paper calendar to a paperless organization system, my current Brighton bag was becoming much too big!

But, Eric told me I could get it not that day but after he sold his first product at the seminar he was speaking at this weekend.  Well, I felt bad enough for even wanting a new purse after I’ve only had it for maybe three months.  So I figured that was a pretty fair compromise. 

Well the next night he got an email that one of his clients was sending him a rather large check early!  So of course I convinced Eric to let me buy my new purse when that check came so then I would have it for CHA. 

So, Saturday morning the check arrived, I deposited just barely before the bank closed and headed down to Brighton where I bought my brand new purse.  I LOVE all the compartments in/on it!  Makes the things I use more frequently much more accessible!

So I’ve now gone from this:

To this!