Breathing & Enjoying the Quiet

My house is SILENT right now.

AHHHHHHHHH. So nice.

Mr.R is at school with the boys this morning.
They have been begging him for weeks to go into their classroom with them and they were so excited for this big day and to show J. where everything is in school, what they do, how and where they hang up their coats and bags and name tags. I am sure right at this moment they are fighting over who gets to sit on his lap during story time on the blue rug. :)

So, what you may ask, have I been doing with my free quiet time this morning .... Well. I showered. And dried my hair. I made a 2nd cup of tea because my first one went cold as I was trying to get the boys out the door this morning. A friend stopped by to pick up her photo session CD. I made myself some crispy toast with butter and Trader Joe's strawberry jam. (Yum!)

And before I head out to my haircut this morning - my 1st in nearly 4 months! - I have to go clean the boys' bedroom and play room. This week, amidst the pre-birthday excitement (understatement!) there is a underlying Christmas is coming!Christmas is coming! excitement (understatement). The boys have been playing Santa (Aj) and Santa Claus (Z). This imaginary play consists of packing up every. single. toy. in their playroom and toy closet and packing into gift bags and any tote bag they can find. Carting the bags around, pretending to be Santa, and bringing them to the good boys and girls.

It is very cute and sweet ... and a GIANT mess for yours truly to clean up.
I am usually very good, as are the boys, about cleaning up their own messes - but when it's completely destroyed it saves a lot of frustration if I just do it myself and put it all back where it belongs. It's a heck of a lot faster too!

This time though, I am going to go through it and wheedle through what stays and what goes to get ready for the new toy onslaught from birthday and Christmas. Goodness knows they have more than enough toys and they most likely won't miss a few I pack away for good.

Happy Friday the 13th out there ...
Enjoy it!

Knock On Wood

I *think* we are in the clear now -- at least for Aj & Z with their colds, coughs and snots. ((Although, I am waiting for Aj to wake up still this morning, he had a bit of a rough night -- which means I had a bit of a rough night with him -- and was snotted up and was crying.))

Mr.R was home yesterday from work with a sore throat, coughing up junk, and all around feeling crappy. I kept the boys home from school yesterday for the SIXTH day in a row. I had a hard time yesterday deciding whether or not to send them and the decision came when Z puked up his milk all over the kitchen floor. Lovely. I think it was a fluke thing - he was running around, maybe coughed too hard, but enough to keep them home one. more. day.

They WILL go back today though -- I have an oil change appointment for the truck at nine, dry cleaning to drop off, grocery shopping to do, a quick poke around the Hallmark store ... Momma has places to go and things to do and I don't want to do with two little boys. ((Not that I don't enjoy going out with them, but after 10 days of playing Nurse Momma, I would love to just get out and get them done solo with out worrying about them. You know what I mean???))

So, 2 weeks from yesterday will be Aj's FIFTH birthday. 5th. I think I am having a little trouble coming to terms with that. 5 years is half a decade .... 5 years is half the time Mr.R and I have been married. Time just goes by too damn fast. Hard to believe my little guy has been here with us this long - that I have been a Mom for 5 years already.

And along with Aj's birthday comes the 40 or so people coming for his birthday party - 18 kiddos and 22 adults. YIKES!!! Space themed, I told you, right? And wouldn't you know it, as planned and organized as I am, I totally forgot to order his SPACE balloons and rocket centerpieces. Ugh. Had to pay more to get them here on time next week. In all the party stores (okay, so I only checked one in town) I couldn't find any space "stuff" and we had to order it all online and make it up from parts and pieces from other stores. I think it will all come out fine -- Mr.R and I need to finish up our activities planned. He is on the rocket scavenger hunt project. I have to make a "pin the flame on the rocket" game and I have crafts to make as well. Couldn't find a rocket cake, so I will have a blank one made up with blue-ish/gray/ frosting and we will pretend it's the moon and I bought little space figurines from the craft store to decorate on top. Although, I totally have to share some of the drawings Aj did of the cake he wants. So cool.

And, right after AJ's 40+ people party I am hosting that Tastefully Simple party - not sure of the #s yet for that one. At least 10 ladies or so.

And right after that party, will be the Christmas party Mr.R and I hosting for his work peeps and our friends down here. Not sure on the #s yet there either ... kids invited to that one.

Talk about Hostess with the Mostess the next few weeks.

Talk about it being 730 already and I need to get the boys out to school in an hour ....

Have a good one!
~ACR

Random Dozen

Random Dozen

I found this idea from poking around different blog links ... thought it was cool. Feel free to "steal" the idea too! :)


1. It's early morning, about 2:00AM, and you're driving home. You come to a red light and sit there. There is no one in sight for miles around. Do you wait it out or run the light?

I would slow down, check each way and go.... does that make a bad driver??

2. If you had the chance to re-do the last 24 hours, would you change anything?

I would have hauled my sorry tired butt of of bed while Z was sleeping and Aj was playing nicely in the playroom by himself. He asked me to come back cars with him and I kept saying, "In 5 minutes." The 5 minutes never happened; I wished I had indulged him and joined him on the floor with all his cars.

3. When you reply to some one's comment on your blog, do you reply in your comments or go to her blog and comment? (Or email her)

I do not normally go back and comment on a comment -- although I did this morning. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I email or FB message them with a comment instead.

4. Your favorite Disney movie is:

Geez, I am not a huge Disney fan. I mean, I love the movies, but I am not a Disney (nor any movie) buff. Some memorable ones for me are Nemo (or is that Pixar?), The Little Mermaid.

5. Do you recycle?

Yes. Jake is a stickler about recycling and over the last decade I have gotten a lot better at it. The boys run about and sing Jack Johnson's "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" all the time.

6. Games of strategy or games of chance?

I am more about chance - strategy takes a lot of brain work, exp. with cards, which are really the only games we play -- if you don't count CandyLand!

7. Do you have any recurring dreams?

No. Don't think so.

8. What did you learn from your first real job?

Retail for 7 years ... I learned that customers are messy messy messy and most don't give a damn about the person who has to refold or clean up the things they leave in their wake. However, since it has been forever since I worked in retail, I sometimes find myself being one of those messy customers. I suck. I admit it. Although, sometimes I do make a point to tidy up after myself or the boys because I know someone will have to come around and do it.

9. Do you buy or borrow most books?

All of the above. Some of my favorite authors I buy brand new hardcovers and collect them. I trade off books with my good friend Kat and my Mom. I borrow books from the library. I used to never use the library until I had the boys -- I always bought my books. It was when we lived in MI that I started using the local library regularly and fell in love with going and coming home with 4 or 5 books. If I didn't like them it was okay, I could return it and didn't have to waste the money. I could read as fast or as slow as I wanted and still go back and read more and more. The "they are letting me read brand new books for free" thing hasn't worn off and I am always rotating out library books .... as well as some borrowing and some bought.

10. What fashion trend of the past did you say you'd never wear again but did?

Hummmm, not really yet. I don't think. But as I see the models wearing the tight "skinny" jeans with the tapered legs I totally cringe. I love my straight legs and boot cut jeans and just can not see myself going back to the jean-pinning and the leggings look.

11. When do you start Christmas shopping?

Anytime --- sometimes if I see something throughout the year I pick it up. Most years it is in November. I like to be done to enjoy the holidays and not to be rushed finding things last minute. Stresses me out.

12. Have you ever been so happy that you literally jumped up and down for a few seconds? If so, what was the occasion?

When we discovered we were pregnant with Aj.

I also remember shouting out with glee & joy and yelling really loudly when my sister called me back in 2000 to tell me she was pregnant with her 1st daughter. We were living in San Diego at the time and it was very early in the morning that she called. The night before was a big night out and we had friends passed out all over the house and sleeping on the front porch. I let out a holler that woke everyone up.

Sunday 10

1. 2 little boys finally feeling better today after a week full of croup, coughs and snots. Thanks to some Momma TLC and my new Vicks Humidifier all is well -- well, at least better.
2. Thanks for Mr.R for cleaning up the leaves outside this afternoon. I think it's the 3rd time already in the last 2 weeks we have had to 'vacuum' up all the fallen leaves.
3. A beautiful sun-shiney day today --- just plain GORGEOUS day. It was sunny & 70 this afternoon.
4. A perfect day for a photo shoot at the park this afternoon. I got some great shots and the little boy was a cutie! Hoping to gain more business from this referral. Fingers crossed :)
5. Pictures are *finally* hung in the house ... I nagged Mr.R enough to finally get them up on the walls. Our bedroom is almost looking complete and definitely 'grown up'! I rearranged some things in the boys' room as well and cleared up a lot of the clutter throughout the house. Purging is good!
6. My new Uggs boots that I ordered yesterday for myself for Christmas. Can't wait to get my chilly toes all toasty warm in those bad boys! Might have to test them out a little before Christmas morning. You know, to make sure they fit right. LOL
7. Mr. R's new fish tank. Merry Christmas, J. ILYSSH
8. 2 weeks and 1 day countdown until Aj's 5th birthday. The kid is more than over-the-moon excited for his big day and his party.
   
9. Santa Claus ... we wrote out the boys' letters the other night. It was so sweet. J. took the boys out the mailbox to send them off to Santa. ((And then I snuck out the next morning to get them before the mail man took them!))
10. Our new mailbox. Finally got rid of the white plastic one with green moldy spots on it. A nice new sleek black one looks SO much better. Thanks, J!
    
11. Working on my RPP website and blog -- trying to come up with ways to get some winter-time business.
12. The boys' imaginary play with playing Peter Pan, 3 Little Bears, pirates, Super Spies, camping out, school and other fun games. They are the best of friends and buddies. So happy to have two great little boys who love being with one another. ((On last Monday, when Z was sick and I was sure I wasn't going to send him to school but was thinking aloud about sending Aj, Z was so upset and goes, "You can't send Aj. I will miss my brud-her."))
    

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Side note:
Ahhh, it's not even 5PM and it's pitch black outside. BOOOOO! It do not like these short days and dark afternoons. I guess I just have to get used to it.

Protection

Last night I had a major mini-breakdown.
Mr.R was witness to my insanity and instant headache.

It all started off with Googling my name to see if the photography website pulled up ((and from now on, the RPP photo website will no longer be named or linked here on the family blog)). After checking on how many A.R.'s there are in the world -- quite a few and more than I thought actually -- I then Googled the photo website to see what popped up.

I was pleased to see my website come on ... but then my heart just about stopped and then quickly restarted and went into over-drive. Along with my photography website in the results were also results and links to this family blog.

And there is no way that I want the two linked. Too scary to have strangers know about my family and the boys. To hear about our lives and what we do and where we go.

You can see why I was freaking out.

So I went back into this blog and went through every post that showed up and deleted every reference and link to the RPP site. I hope I got them all. I haven't been brave enough yet to go back into Google and see if they still show up. I was racking my brains last night to try to figure out if they will still show up now even if the exact same post doesn't exist now. What I mean is, and this is where it gets confusing, if if did exist and someone clicked on it because it showed up in a search, does it still exist even if it's deleted because at one point it did exist.

Confused yet??

Anyone know more about the world wide web than I do know the answer??

It is what it is and I can't undo what I can't get to or erase Internet history.

From here on out I will be more careful to keep the two separated and from here on the photo site and business will be referred to as RPP. If you happen to want to check it out, please let me know and I can email you the site. Or there is a link to it on my FB page, but again, no longer 'public' you have to search for it off of main page.

I am much better about it all today.

AND, if you know anyone who wants a deal on some family photography, don't forget about RPP! ((I put some new deals and specials up there last night and today, FYI.))

Hope you all well out there this fine weekend.
Tomorrow is full of outside fun -- leaves, leaves, and more leaves!! I have a new mailbox set up for Mr.R to put in too after he is done picking up about a millions leaves. ;)