A real girlie night

Yesterday afternoon, we had some friends and neighbors over for a little barbeque. It rained all day, but the kids did manage to get out onto the swing set for a few minutes in between showers. By 6:30, everyone was ready to go, but Linda, Tanya, and I were still in a partyin' kind of mood! (it might have been the strawberry margaritas - 4 pictures later...)

Well, we may have been ready to party, but Jack was certainly not ready for bed yet. So we all headed in to the air-conditioning to figure out how to entertain Jack until bedtime. I left the room for five minutes to load the dishwasher and when I came back - Jack, Tanya, and Linda were on the floor of the family room setting up a massive Thomas the Train layout! I sat down to join them and we all played and giggled the evening away! We were actually a little bit disappointed (but not completely!) when Jack asked to go to bed.

After that, we watched a chick flick (well, Tanya and I watched it - Linda snored through it!) and sobered up before it was time to call it a night.

July Kit is up!

I just finished updating my site with July's monthly kit. All July Kit orders placed between now and June 29th will ship on June 30th and will receive a free package of Heidi Swapp Travel Silhouette Words!

So go check it out! Let me know what you think! And feel free to inform me of any typos or broken links! ;)

Cool Blue July 2006 Monthly Kit

Before and After

Today's list:

• Clean and organize craft room
• Clean and organize linen closet

I was on my way into my craft room to get started and, at the last minute, decided to do the linen closet first instead. I figured I would actually be able to *finish* the closet today - so instead of starting on the room and not getting anything finished, I decided to do the linen closet, which I could definitely finish, and then get started on the room after that.

It feels so good to actually have something FINISHED! :)

Father's Day!

So, I decided to show John how it's done (following in the footsteps of my very wise friend, JJ). After church, my parents, John, Jack, and I went to the Iron Hill Brewery in town for lunch/dinner. Jack was perfectly behaved - he totally turned on the charm and flirted with all the waitresses. On our way back to the car, we stopped at Spazzo's for some yummy (way overpriced, but yummy) ice cream, and then headed home to enjoy our ice cream and open some gifts.


I gave John this cool keychain that displays digital pictures (holds up to 50!) and recharges on the computer. John is always meeting with clients and wanting to show off pictures of Jack - so now he'll always have the cutest and most recent pictures with him. My friend, Elaine, posted on her blog and also emailed me a link and as soon as I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for John. (Thanks, Elaine! Hope you don't mind me stealing your bandwidth!)

I also got John, my dad, and Jack all matching patrioc t-shirts from Old Navy. They are going to look so cute!!

Jack spent the night at my parents' house last night and John and I had a date night! We cooked ribs and potatoes on the grill and then headed out to a movie - we saw "The Breakup". It was pretty funny and definitely cute. Probably a chick flick, but John seemed to enjoy it! A good date movie, I think!

My dad taught Jack how to pee in the bushes this morning. Jack thought it was the funniest thing EVAH and spent the entire day saying, "Bubba peed in the grass!" and cracking up. *eyeroll* He couldn't have taught him how to pee in the TOILET!? Cause that's what I'm needing help with, here!

ANYWAY, it was a good day, in all. No major fights and only a few temper tantrums - and Jack was good, too.

Cape May Ferry

Jersey Shore

Wildwood, NJ
High of 79
Clear Skies

And just to prove that we did actually *see* the ocean...


It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day. Perfect for walking along the boardwalk. Sunny, breezy, not too hot. We had every intention of actually walking out to the ocean, but... well, the jersey beaches are just way too long. And Jack's not too fond of the sand.

We played some fun games and Jack won a few prizes! Here he is picking out his ducks in the duck game - he won a little duck that he is just in love with!

And right before leaving Wildood, we all enjoyed some delicious soft serve chocolate peanut butter ice cream. Mmmmm... it was SO good! (I won that crazy blue thing out of a grabby machine!)

And Jack's *favorite* thing of the day... We decided to take the "scenic" route home and took the Cape May Ferry across to Delaware and drove home that way. It certainly didn't save us any time (added about 2 hours to our travel time) and it definitely didn't save us any money (instead of a $3 bridge toll, we spent $40 on the ferry ticket!), but it was WELL worth it!

While waiting for the ferry, we all played on a playground at the terminal - Jack loved that! Jack wasn't able to fully appreciate the fact that we were able to actually drive our car onto the boat, but he DID appreciate the beautiful views we were able to take in up on the top deck. He was perfectly happy just staring at the water the whole time. And it was a really nice break from sitting in the car all afternoon.

For some reason, it won't let me put any more pictures up right now, so hopefully it will let me share the ferry pictures later.

Finally!

A willing participant!

Jack has finally decided that he loves having his picture taken because he LOVES saying, "Cheese!" And not only that - but he wants to do it ALL THE TIME now! I'm in a scrapbooker's paradise!

Update...

The ink did NOT come out of my quilt. After pre-treating, soaking, washing in cold, etc... I now I have lovely blue faded scribbles all over my side of the bed. *sigh* Good thing I got that quilt on clearance at the QVC outlet!

Very Bad Things...

That's what I find myself saying to Jack ALL THE TIME now. "Jack, have you been doing VERY BAD THINGS again?"

While in the shower today, he found a pen in the basket on my night table (I really thought that basket was Jack-safe). He used the pen to scribble all over the quilt on our bed. I only washed that quilt a few days ago and laundry *wasn't* on my list of things to do today. *sigh* But I guess it is now!

On a happier note - Jack has been using the potty like a pro before his bath each night! He runs in there and pee-pees before I even have the chance to get my things gathered and in behind him. Then it's lots of high fives and cheering! Well, we've been doing that for a week so I decided to add a "potty time" to the routine. I figure every week I'll add a potty time until he's going on the potty throughout the day and not in his diapers. If this is a really bad way to potty train, feel free to NOT let me know. I'm kind of at the end of my rope and a bit raw on the subject.

So anyway, I decided to add bedtime to the potty routine because he was soaking through his diaper EVERY night and waking up soaked. So he sat on the potty and not ONLY did he do pee pee, but he also did poopie-doopie! BOY, was he ever excited! He got TWO M&M's for that! AND he didn't soak through his diaper this morning! So I'm finally feeling like I must be doing something right!

Don't you wish you had my job?

Kit-packing time makes me absolutely giddy! I love getting my hands on all the paper, ribbon, and other fun stuff and seeing everything all together as a kit for the first time! I'm SUCH a scrapbook nerd!

I can't wait to get the July kit up on the site. It is SO fun and summery! John and I are taking Jack to Wildwood, NJ, this coming Thursday in hopes of getting some great beach pictures to use with this kit. I sure hope the weather holds up!! It hasn't been very warm this week!

Happiness is...

... an organized underwear drawer!

I spent all of last night (yes, ALL of last night!) throwing out the old, stretched out underwear, unpacking and washing my new underwear, and organizing my drawer. Underwear on the left, jammies in the middle, socks and pantihose on the right.



I can't wait to get dressed! (that's right - I'm not dressed yet!)

Memories Expo

My mom, Jack, and I went to the Memories Expo in Somerset, New Jersey, last Friday. The ride up was a big success, considering that last year we got off an exit too soon and got completely lost and the year before that we ended up in New York! I saw this sign on the back of a truck and am wondering if anyone knows exactly what it might mean, although I'm not sure if I really want to know!
Jack was a perfect angel the entire day. I was so proud of him. When we first got there, he stayed in his stroller while my mom and I walked around to glance at the booths - to see who we wanted to go back to! When he started to get antsy, we got a table in the lunch area and let him run around a bit. For the rest of the afternoon, we took turns while one of us stayed with him and the other went off to shop. It worked out well and Jack got to release a tiny bit of his never-ending supply of energy!

I gave myself a $20 budget for the day - after a week of organizing and purging in my craft room - who really needs ALL this stuff!? I DID manage to stick to my budget, getting only a few little things that I absolutely HAD to have! It was pretty fun being really discriminating about what to get. However, come CKC in Valley Forge, ALL BETS ARE OFF!