Overnighter

I am busy getting ready for my big spring overnight scrapbooking event at the Amish door. I can hardly wait. I have my pictures all printed, organized and even have picked out paper and stickers to go with each page. So each page should be relatively easy. My hope is to get at least a few pages done. I am so excited to have a big group of friends and soon-to-be friends coming. I have several coming that I do not know yet. How cool! The whole group is up to 67 people!! I have 23 of those! I love these events to get away. You come back tired but energized because you got so much accomplished. Now that's ambition in action! Hopefully I can inspire you to join me next time! What an opportunity! Can't you feel my enthusiasm!

If you didn't follow the last part, let me fill you in. I am still going through round table principles at Sunday School and at kinship. So I am immersed in this character stuff right now. Inspiration, enthusiasm and opportunity are just a few. I've got the enthusiasm down for the overnighter, now I just need to keep my attitude in check. That's a challenging one for me.

I tried my hand at inspiring Javin to be more responsible and so on. I took my group's suggestion of sitting down for "tea" to create a welcome atmosphere. We made cappuccinos instead. Yum. Javin created a list of things that he wanted to do or own someday (like a 4-wheeler). The concept of inspiration is to encourage others to follow your dreams. Then I gave a list of things that I hope to see in his life someday. Then he came up with a list of consequences that would motivate him to keep him on track. (Losing his light saber was one of them.) I made a list of my promises in how I would communicate with him. (Here is where the attitude is such a problem, but I am working on it.)

So our first "situation" arose last night and he handled his consequences very well. Now this morning, it was another story. A good nights sleep must have erased our whole conversation and he denies that we even talked about his consequences. I held my end and didn't yell or get upset. And he managed to get himself together in time to get on the bus. Yeah! Progress, I think.

Painting the Day Away

I have definitely increased my ambition rating this past week. If you have been at the ladies round table Sunday School class, you know what I am talking about. For the rest of you, we are going through a series of principles and one of them is ambition. So how ambitious are you?

My project was the basement - painting the walls. What a transformation! I went from white walls to a nice warm and homey brown. So now all my scrapbookers will feel comfy and cozy in my basement when they come.

The amazing thing is that I pulled off the project pretty much on my own, (Kailyn helped paint a little and Mom helped with the kids and a little bit of painting) and didn't have a major catastrophe! I only stepped in the paint twice!! Can you believe it? Thank goodness I had on my garden clogs and could quickly go wash off the paint, no real damage. My triceps are aching from all the rolling but other than that I'm doing good.

The wall going down the steps didn't turn out to be the color I had imagined. It is green but more on the cool side and I thought it would be a warmer tone. Oh well, it works. The lighter brown, Basalt Mineral, is great and the chocolate brown, Olympia's Curls, is striking! Okay, so who in the world thinks up these crazy paint names? Olympia must have some dark curls on her head!!

I have one more project left, the steps. I am thinking about Olympia's Curls to tie it all together. But a dark color for the steps will probably show dirt really quickly. What do you think? Should I go dark or light on the steps?

Princess Tea

Last week Kailyn and her friend, Bianca, had a memorable time at the library's Princess Tea Story Time. The girls got all dressed up in their princess outfits and Mimi escorted them to their night out. Bianca and Kailyn are best of friends. We are NOT looking forward to May when Bianca and her family will return to Ukraine. It has been such a joy having a friend like Bianca.

The princesses arrived at the library and joined a room full of other princesses. They had a story about a princess, made princess necklaces and hats. They were even awarded rings. The event ended with princess "tea" (apple juice and cookies) with real china cups.

What a great night! It's so fun to be a princess when you're 4!