My site is up…I even got two orders tonight!!  I am so pumped…I really didn’t know if people would like this idea…catch on to this idea…but there is interest out there!  I did a fair amount of research when I was starting my whole Etsy project.  I can’t wait any longer, though.  I’m horrible at keeping secrets, and so it’s time to let this one out of the bag!  My site is up, and in fact you can get to it by clicking on the “view my Etsy store” link below to the left.  My store is small, but it’s expanding and I hope you enjoy what you see so far.  But please check back regularly as I am going to be adding new things weekly.  Right now, my mom is working on jewelry to donate to the cause.  Oh yeah, the cause!  All of the proceeds from my Etsy shop will go to help us with Emma’s tuition.  I guess I never mentioned this, before, but she’s at a private school now.  This is absolutely THE BEST placement for her.  She is happy, content, excited, and just plain giddy about school.  I wouldn’t change it for the world.  However, I did mention private, and there is a hefty tuition that comes with it.  So I have created this Etsy shop to help us out with that tuition.  But once we break even, Brett and I want to set up a scholarship fund to help other parents.  There are so many kids out there who aren’t getting the proper education.  I just know that in my gut.  And from talking to my advocate extrodonaire, Kristina.  What’s more, there are so many parents who are out there fully trusting the district to do the right thing.  We were those parents.  As if that’s not unfortunate already, so many families are not able to hire advocates to help fight for their children.  I went into this whole school thing thinking I had some decent background being a teacher.  Unfortunately I was wrong.  While being a teacher certainly didn’t help, when it came to Emma, it’s the advocates who truly have the knowledge of the law that the “typical” parent doesn’t.  Anyway, long story short, once we get “caught up”, we are setting up a scholarship fund to help other families in our situation.

Without further adieu, I am presenting to you my Jumping Waves Etsy Shop.  And, for this first week, I am giving all of my customers 20% off of their order when they use the code NEWSHOP20.  Who doesn’t like a sale?  And if nothing catches your fancy, I’m good with that.  If you like my little shop, I would LOVE it if you spread the word, whether on a blog, your FB, or your twitter.  We just want the best placement for our little girl!

THANK YOU!!

Okay, maybe not Facebook all the time! I had to put up something neutral!

Speaking of Facebook, don’t forget, you can like Jumping Waves here!!

Adele on my Pandora.

American Express bill in the corner I’m avoiding.

Green tea to keep me going.

Hard stuff (transcribing) is over.

Now on to more fun stuff…my Etsy!!  Almost ready to show it off!

What’s on your desk?

Last week was crazy.  It was busy and crazy.  But in a semi-good way.  I’m very fortunate to be staying at home…I love it!  It’s where I’m meant to be.  But with that comes the responsibilities of other things that I might normally hire someone to do.  Since I’m home though, money is tighter and, well, I have more time.  So I’ve been typing a lot.  I will tell you why I’m typing so much later on, but basically, I’m at the computer all. day. long.   It kind of hurts my eyes.  And the work I’m doing is tedious, but it’s getting done.

When I’m not typing, I am wanting to work on my Etsy!!  It’s up, but I haven’t “broadcasted” it yet, just because I’m still tweaking stuff and adding new products.  I suppose if youwanted to take a peek you could.  The name of my shop wouldn’t be hard to guess!

This weekend we escaped the heat and went north to my parent’s cabin.  We took advantage of our park pass and went to the Grand Canyon again (3rd time this year, yay!).  We are spoiled because my brother works there as a tour guide (seriously, he’s the best.  If you’re thinking of going to the park, go see him for an amazing tour of the Canyon).  We had a nice little picnic on the lawn of El Tovar.  We got ice cream at Bright Angel Lodge, and just had a relaxing day, mostly!  Here are a few pictures from our time there.

Only YOU can prevent forest fires!

Mason, Emma, and Uncle Geoff.

We're working on sitting lady like with dresses. :-/

Okay, folks.  Off typing again.  I’ll be updating with some fun stuff shortly!  Happy Monday!

What did you do this weekend?  Seems like so many places had crazy weather.  How did you escape?

I have a few random thoughts for today.  First off, some “business” to attend to.  Did you know you can ‘like’ Jumping Waves on Facebook?  True story.  Just click here.  Please like me!  Who doesn’t like to be liked?  Not me!

Secondly, I’m always up for fundraising for Phoenix Children’s Hospital.  You know, they saved my daughter’s life.  True story.  We owe them a lot, and we do as much for them as we financially can.  The great thing about them is that they always have win-win fundraisers.  It’s not just us giving them money.  They have awesome wine tastings, silent auctions, golf tournaments, etc.  Coming up, they’re having a PC Squared event.  Local restaurants will be offering specialty menu items that will benefit  Phoenix Children’s.  Here are the dates, if you happen to be out looking for a great restaurant August 20th, August 27th.  You can go here to get more information on restaurants and to purchase tickets.  I’ll let you know where we go, but you have to let me know where you go!  :-)

Lastly, I got a great report from Emma’s teacher.  (Do you see a trend here?  Yeah, me too)  She said that when Emma is given the instructions in a way that she can understand them, then she will work independently.  Stop the press- what?  Good night, imagine that.  Who woulda thunk?  Oh yeah, ME.  Good things are happening with my girl.

I wish I could fill you in on my projects.  I’m not good at keeping secrets!  On the other hand, I want to make sure that everything is just right before the unveiling.  Plus, I’m dealing with some slow(er) vendors who are kind of holding up everything.  Not that I don’t have other things to do.  But you know when you’ve started something, and you just want to get it finished and show it off?  That’s where I’m at.

Today I’m jamming out to Pandora on the computer and getting shtuff** done.  Like cleaning the desk.  Organizing Emma’s school documentation (eek!).  Ordering shtuff. Writing shtuff.  Oh, and installing (I use the term installing loosely as it really was “plug n play”) an external hard drive so I don’t have the mishap of losing all of my iPhoto pictures.  All of them.  This was not a joking matter.  Called Brett in tears.  Couldn’t find them.  Had to shut off the computer and focus on getting to the pool with my girls.  But seriously, this almost pushed me over the edge.  The next day, a nice lady at Apple walked me through the process of finding them again.  They’re in a folder called “All Images”.  And the title is as literal as you can imagine.  ALL images.  Like banners from emails, icons and logos from emails and websites, any pictures anyone has ever sent me.  Oh yeah, and all of my pictures from 2005.  In no particular order.  All in all, 26,000 images in this one folder.  That I get to sort through.  Yeah, because I have that kind of time in my life.  But actually, I have to make the time.  Because if I don’t, then it screws up afore mentioned project.  I digress.

Right now I’m missing Paris.  I’ve been back a month and so much shtuff has happened in a month.  It doesn’t even feel like I went to Paris.  Isn’t that sad?  I get home and <BAM> real life is back.  You know, meetings, surgeries, new schools, new year, stresses.  Could I really have gotten through all this in a month?  Wow…as I look at back at all these posts, no wonder Paris feels like a dream!  Well, because I’m missing that city, and because I really haven’t posted pictures of our trip, here you go.  There might be 2 posts worth of pictures.  I took over 400 pictures, plus we’re all making CD’s for each other.  Glad I have the memories!!  And goals to get back there.

That there's the Eiffel Tower behind me, Kim, and Libby!

Paris Partners in Monet's Garden at Giverny.

And that there's the Palace of Versailles. Think of it as a big house.

And the quaint back yard of Versailles. Just enough room for the kids to play, really.

About to enter Disneyland Paris. Dude, don't judge. I know what you're thinking. It was very cool, thankyouverymuch.

Me and my German brother, Dirk. We had the greatest last day with him and his girlfriend. 11 years had passed, but it was like no time had passed. Test of a good friendship! (plate of oysters on the half-shell, if you were wondering!)

Kim and I CLIMBED up the Eiffel Tower at 11:30 one night. How many people can say they've done that!! So much fun!

Catacombs = Creepy + Claustrophobic

**Shtuff is a nicer way of saying crap or another, more colorful word.  I try to keep it clean on here.

What place would you like to visit again?

Emma’s been doing a little happy dance (from the confines of her wheelchair, of course) this whole week.  Today was the first day she was SUPER excited for school.  But every day when I pick her up, she’s SUPER excited to tell me about her day.  And here’s my theory on that.  If you’re not happy, how much are you really going to learn?  Especially, for a globally delayed 7 year old.  So, while other parents might want their kids education as their number one priority, we’re starting back at square one with Emma.  Her happiness is my number one priority.  If she’s happy in the academic environment she’s in, that will be more conducive to learning.  Who’s with me on this?

So…to recap.  While we’ve had a few “upsets” in the morning hours, today we had none.  And while she usually doesn’t want to mutter a word about school, I can’t get her to stop talking about it!  This  is what I want from her.  How can anyone guarantee that?  Especially people who don’t even know her.  Do you see where I’m going with this?  Please don’t make me spell it out because my language might become ‘colorful’.  Just sayin’.

She’s happy.  I’m happy.  Word.

Okay, we’re on the up and up for Emma’s new school!  Her director says that every day is better than the one before.  Granted it’s only been 3 days, but from a kid who despised school last year, I’ll take what I can get!  She had no qualms about the first day from the moment she knew she was going!  And although we’ve had a few “I don’t want to go to school” situations, it’s usually first thing in the morning before she’s eaten.  So I blame that on low blood sugar.  Brett and I tag team the morning routine.  One of us is getting her to the potty and the other one is jump starting the scrambled eggs (make that 2 with shredded cheese thrown in for more protein!).  Give her a few sips of apple juice to boost the low blood sugar, and we can usually calm any storm that might be rising.  Hypoglycemia is no fun.  Anyway, here are some pictures for you guys!

Look ma, no pillow!! That's right…she doesn't have to wear the pillow during the day anymore! And yes she's wearing a dress, the backpack just covers it!

Emma with the director of her new school. They've been great with Emma and with us.

I’ve been taking more of a backseat approach to her first few weeks. I want them to have the opportunity to work their magic without me getting in the way. I’m confident that my daughter will get what she needs at this new school. The fact that she likes it is the biggest step for us!

I can’t not post a ton of pictures about Mason’s first day.  The boy doesn’t get a lot of exposure on this blog.  I owe it to him…and his future wife, of course.  Well then.

We started the journey last night with a “meet the teacher” night at school.  He saw his room, desk, name EVERYWHERE!, met the teacher, the aide, the student teacher, met with the principal.  He had a great night.  Here’s a few from last night:

Cutie pie at his desk!

I'm not quite fond of the fact that he's a "ladybug", but whadaya gonna do?

This morning he woke up hesitant. He was still nervous about the bus, even though we talked about it a lot. To everyone. It was so great to have my in-laws come up to see him off, too. I’m bummed I didn’t get a picture of him with them.

All I can say is that I tried.

I'm not gonna lie…there were tears.

But he made it (and I beat him there!) and even had a semi-smile working.

We got in the classroom and did our thang...

…read a story and then I bolted with no more tears from him. (should I get bangs? Forehead looking massive.)

Caught him off the school bus.

As it turns out, he does like the school bus!  The first thing he said was, “mommy, I love the school bus!  I cried this morning, but I didn’t cry this afternoon.  It was fun!”  Huh.  Turns out I just might know a thing or two.

While Mason was learning, Emma had her first post op since surgery.  I meant to take a picture at the mall, because when we were there, she didn’t have to wear her pillow!  No more pillow during the day, just at night!  She was extremely excited about this news.  Oh, and the doctor said that Emma could go to school whenever she was up to it.  To Emma, that meant today.  She wasn’t so happy when I wouldn’t drop her off at 1:40 this afternoon.  I promised she could go tomorrow, and she begrudgingly accepted that.  This girl is EX-CI-TED!!

Oh, and I will be posting pictures of her first day tomorrow!!  She will be attending the private school that we wanted her to attend.  I am so excited for her to be in a place where she feels comfortable and enthusiastic about learning!  I know she’s going to bloom at the new school!

I’m starting up an Etsy store!  It’s the easiest (okay, maybe not the easiest) way to channel my stressful energy into creative energy.  And to perhaps help our family a little with the bills that are mounting.  I promise that when it’s up and running, you’ll be the first to know about it.  Right now, I’m in the planning, designing, and researching stages.  And it’s fun!

Do you have an Etsy shop?  Any suggestions for a new shop owner?

Yes, we went to Emma’s school yesterday.  It was an impromptu meet, so I didn’t get any pictures.  But I definitely will on her first day.  Promise.  She was super-excited about being there.  However, when I showed the staff the bathroom “situation”, she got pretty agitated.  She didn’t understand that I wanted to show them how I pick her up and put her on the potty, and that I wasn’t forcing her to go potty.  They just needed to see how I picked her up.  It kind of went downhill from there, especially after seeing the gymnasium.  She just wanted to go run around.  In the end, we left with “you bully, you’re busted, you’re getting a spanking, etc.”  Not the greatest first impression.  Fortunately it’s not like they’ve never seen this behavior before.  But still.

On Wednesday, I will take Mason to his open house and to meet his teacher.  He’s cautiously excited about Kindergarten on Thursday.  However, he wants no part of the bus ride.  I’ve gotten a few suggestions on how to handle the bus situation.  I definitely want him to ride it.  We have the ability, we’re going to use it!  And, plus, it’s fun.  Eventually.  I think what we’ll try come Thursday morning, is to put him on the bus (hopefully not kicking and screaming) and follow him to school.  And we’ll meet him at school to get all the pictures my heart desires.  What would you do in my situation?  Perhaps let him get 2 days of KG under the belt then have him ride the bus Monday?  I’m up for any and all suggestions!  I don’t want him to fear it, but he often goes into new situations very nervous and anxious.  And then he gets there and says “hey, this wasn’t so bad!”  The bus will be the same thing.

Okay, let me have them!  I want your suggestions!