Little St. Nick

I used the new Crate paper Peppermint Collection on this layout.

And a Sketch from Kristin Powell was perfect!

Original Sketch:

You can find the entire history of sketches provided by our Design Team in the Sketch Gallery.

Teacher Gift

A little gift for Miss Gayle.

Starbucks insulated cup, Fancy Pants Off To School Collection and bakers twine.

All available in the Shop.

9/11....a few days later

I tried to write something for 9/11 but I just couldn't do it.

It seemed that everywhere I looked, I was hit in the face with the events 10 years ago.

It seems so long ago but at the same time, only yesterday.

Everything I wanted to write didn't seem right.  Now, a few days later, I figure I'll put it in words.

Even though I'm a CA girl, I spent a lot of time in New York.  NYC is my city.  I love it almost as much as I love my son.  There are days when I believe I should still be there but knowing for some reason, I'm right where I should be.

I knew people in those buildings.  I know people who got out and some who didn't.  Some who were supposed to be in there but weren't, some who shouldn't have been there but were.

Friends who worked on a level low enough that allowed them to escape.  Hearing their stories scares the hell out of me.  If I had stayed in New York all those years ago, I could have been in those buildings.  A company I wanted to work for was in one of those buildings.

In college, I got to know a lot of the fireman on Long Island.  Great guys, every one of them.  Both volunteer and paid fireman.  Some of them were the first to respond that day.  I can't thank them today because they aren't here for me to thank.

I didn't turn on the television that day.  I couldn't.  I couldn't force myself to watch everything over again and I wasn't in the mood to 'celebrate' anything.  I spent time with family and friends knowing that any day could be the last time I see them.  I celebrated life on 9/11.  I celebrated the few friends who were lucky enough to make it out that day.  I celebrated the family I have that made it safely home from the city that day.

I can't listen to the 911 calls or the calls home to families letting them know they love them.  I can't do it. I won't do it.

I remember them every time I look at my pictures of NYC with and without the towers.  My city has changed.

A side story: I took my husband to New York for the first time in April 2001.  He'd never been so I got to show him as much of it as I could in the 2 days we had.  I took him down to Wall St and gave him the option of seeing the Stock Exchange or the Twin Towers.  Since we did the Empire State Building the day before, he opted out of another skyscraper.  He chose the Stock Exchange.  I'm sad that he didn't get to see the view from there.  I'm sorry he didn't get to stand in those glass windows and get a view of the world around us.  The last time I had been up there was 1988.  I wish I had taken the time to go up there more often but I was so focused on what goes on at ground level that I forget about the fantastic views.

I also didn't share any of this with my son.  He's 4.  He still thinks the world is this fun place, his playground.  I can't jade his view of that just yet.  Maybe in a couple of years, but not today.  Not this year.  I don't want him to ever have to deal with that.  I was 9 when the Challenger exploded and that jaded me.  I was watching live at school that day, along with my friends.  Your little world just stops and it seems like nothing anyone says can change how you view the world.  I know that wasn't a terrorist activity but it was still life changing.  I lost some of my innocence that day.  I want my son to stay innocent a little longer.

Back to School

I let out a sigh of relief last Wednesday (along with many other moms).  It's back to school time.

Here is just a sample of a *regular* day for me.

7:00 am-7:30 am - start getting Nick ready for school.  This can take anywhere from 30-45 minutes depending on his mood that morning.  He's not a morning person (just like me).
7:30-8:00 Breakfast and cartoons, pack the finals things in the backpack (lunch, snacks etc)

8:15 - Bryan drops him off at school/I start working.
8:15-9:00 - check emails, clean up the desk from the intensive work schedule from the night before
9:00-12:00 pm - Fill orders
12:00-12:30 LUNCH - lunch really means scrounge for something in the kitchen that resembles a meal and then eat it front of the computer while calling manufacturers, answering emails, getting some other computer work done.
12:30-4:30 Fill more order, unpack product if it comes in.
4:30-9:00 PM - shower, pick up Nick from school, dinner, bath, watch a Little Einsteins, maybe read a book, bedtime.

9:30 - 2:00 am?? - wake myself up from a quick power nap and its back to work for me.  Every night is different.  I stay up as late as 4 am.  So for any internationals wondering why you get emails from me at weird hours.....now you know.  I'm UP!

The Summer Schedule was different because the kid was home.  Instead of me getting 5 good days of work in during the week, I got 3.  Summer Camp was only Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  So he was home with me a total of 4 days during the week which really messes up the carefully scheduled day.

It feels GREAT to be back to the regular schedule because Summer, quite frankly, wore me out!  I don't think I relaxed much.

To celebrate, I dropped him off at school, made sure he was good and then rushed off to get a pedicure.  These poor feet needed a little TLC.  (Of course, the pedicure was interrupted with this horrible news......)

Anyway, here are pictures from Meet The Teacher Day and the First Day of School.

Meeting Miss Gayle (the snake is our latest obsession)

Miss Gayle wanted to assess where he was in writing and recognizing words.  She had him draw a picture of himself AND write his name on it.

 Then he had to find his cubby on his own and put the picture in it.  He found it on the first try.  My little boy is growing up!  He can almost write his name.  I think there was some confusion because we call him Nick and the teacher was trying to get him to write Nicholas.  So the word is kind of a combination of Nick/Nicholas.  We're going with NICK and Miss Gayle will be working with him to go with that.

 Coincidentally, his cubby is right next to Skye.  (Thats his school wife.)  They've been going to school together for over 2 years.  First at Tutor Time and now at the new school.  In fact, it was Skye's mom who told us she was making the move.  We found out later that a bunch of kids (8 at the time, but more now) have all made the jump to the same school.  We noticed a lot of familiar faces last September when he started.  These two are inseparable - its funny.  The school staff jokes that they are a married couple.  They sit next to each other during circle time, snacks and lunches and even nap on cots next to each other.  If someone puts them in places where they aren't near each other, they switch places with kids to get closer.  And I've heard they argue like a married couple too......  All I know is that Skye and Keshav are the two Nick talks about most.  This year, Keshav got put in the other 4 class so the trifecta has been broken up......

 After we met Miss Gayle, we took him out to breakfast.  He loves the breakfasts at McDonalds and its a treat for him.  (Don't worry, he didn't eat that entire meal - dad helped him.)

Whats with the goofy smiles?  Moms, please tell me this is a phase and he'll grow out of it.  I have so many pictures with a goofy face instead of the smile I'm used too.........

*Official* First Day of School

His Cubby

Another one with Miss Gayle.

Circle Time

His little workcenter book.  We have so many of these at home but this just makes it official! He goes to school!

I started a tradition with him last year.  Every Monday, I pick him up from school and we have a 'date'.  Usually just Nick and I.  We have dinner and get ice cream.  I'm trying to get him to tell me more about school - what he does, his friends, his teacher, what he learned etc.  So I took him out to dinner after the first day - Flame Broiler and Cherry on Top.

 Thats pudding on his nose.  I got most of it off but this spot was dried on.  Must remember to send wipes with his afternoon snack.....

Mom got a little treat too - did someone say Pumpkin Spice is back at Starbucks?

What did I learn at the First Day Debriefing?

He likes Miss Gayle.
He is happy to have Skye in his class again.
He played outside.
He has Mr. Myers for PE (Mr. Myers is kind of a celebrity at the school.  He's coaches most of the sports teams at the school and all of the PE classes.  This year, Nick gets PE.  Mr. Myers loves Nick because Nick LOVES sports.  I mean, he LOVES sports.  And he's good too.  Mr. Myers has, on several occasions, pulled me aside and told me that Nick is very coordinated and does very well when he sneaks up onto the upper field when he's coaching and plays with the older kids.)
He misses Miss Kim - his PS3 teacher
He's trying to spell his name out loud


And thats all I got.  Based on the amount of paint stains on his person, I'm going to assume painting was involved in the schedule.  Anyone else have some fun Back To School stories?

Devastation.

First one.

Then another.

Then a third one.

Its been a rough summer for hockey players and as a fan, its tough to wake up to reports.  At this point, you begin asking yourself 'who's next?'.  You wake up every morning wondering if you'll hear another report of another player gone.

And then this.

43 dead.

An entire team.  No one left.  I knew several players on that team and it kills me to read the roster.  A former King was on that plane.  Pavol Demitra.  He wasn't a King very long but he made an impact while he was here and he was one of my favorites.

He's gone.  He didn't do drugs.  Or drink.  He wasn't an enforcer.  He just played hockey.

This is my favorite moment of him in a Kings uni.  The night the team gave out free hats to every fan in attendance.  All 18,000 +.  The night he scored a hat trick and we gave all 18,000+ hats right back.

The Avalanche player #3, Skrastins was also on that flight.  He was the one who tried to block the shot.

RIP Pavol and the rest of the Lokomotive team.

Sadly, this comes just a few days before 9/11.  Kings fans lost two great members of its family that day as well.

Ace Bailey
Mark Bavis

As summer fades.....

We're wrapping up the list of summer fun.

A couple of fun things we did.

Solvang
I've been going to Solvang since I was a little girl.  My grandparents used to take me up for the weekend.

It starts with a cool trip up the coast along PCH.

You pass these about every mile.  It marks the route Father Junipero Serra took while building missions.

Welcome to Solvang

 

 

 Birdhouses hanging outside your house give the elves a place to sleep.  They say if you have one of these, the elves won't steal your food.

 Cranes.  Also a good luck charm.

 This structure...

 Its a replica of the one in Copenhagen.  We saw this in 2006 when we were there.

Solvang is known for its Danish food.  Their bakeries....are awesome.  I get these lattice cookies and the petit fours every time.

One of the main reasons we made the drive up there was to eat at Andersons Pea Soup.  Another stop we always made when I was growing up.  I don't eat pea soup but their food is great.

 I have so many of these pictures from my childhood.  Now I have one with Nick.

 Vintage manu.  They keep them under glass now.  That graph is a mileage chart.  It told you how far you were from different places.  Andersons was a staple on a road trip.  People stopped here as they traveled up the coast on their way to other places.

 After dinner it was back down the coast towards home.

We stopped in Carpinteria at the local beach there to watch the sunset.

 Found a train mural across the street from the beach.

 What a perfect shot to sum up the day.