What we're doing today

Here;s what we're up to right now...
1. Recovering from spring break with friends and family. Aunt Cari was in town from Indiana and she met addison for the first time. Will vaguely remembers her (although it could be that 'i do mommy, i do remember' when really he doesn't. I don't know). Both were THRILLED to have her all to themselves for at least a day. Aunt Cari is kind and loving and cherishes every moment. She is always on the brink of tears awaiting the day she has to leave. Anyhow....the week was full of breakfasts, dinners, more dinners, and lots of foosball.

2. Recovering from Aunt Cari leaving. Last night we went out to eat at Claim Jumpers (they have the BIGGEST servings EVER) and had to say good bye to aunt cari and grandma. It was all a little too much for Will who spent hours. 3+ hours crying after he realized he may not see either of them for awhile. "My heart hurts" - those were his exact words and they just about sruches Rob and I. what 6 year old says that? He proceeded to cry uncontrollably the entire trip home at which point he ran to his room where Aunt Cari left him a special gift- a picture and a card. Well this just set him over the edge. He HAD to write aunt cari a note back and was adamant that she get it before she left. at 10:45 he finally fell asleep in our bed and tossed and turned All. night. long! He made that crying sound where you can't catch your breath all night long. It was a long night. Aunt Cari...you must come back in June. For the love of Will....June.

3. Catching up. I've been working with my dad here building his blog. I never thought he'd catch on as quickly as he has and now...we'll i've got enough work to keep me busy with that alone. SO cool what the web can do for small businesses. It's the ultimate power at your fingertips.

4. Getting ready for a presentation that I have to give to a group of adults in two weeks. Adults...not kids. It's about technology and teaching and the classroom. Whew! a one hour presentation. Why is it that I procrastinate every time I have something like that to do?

5. Inspired by so many things (most recently Food Revolution) I'm working on getting ALL processed food out of our cupboards. Hard to do my friends...hard to do. We cook almost every night at home so the cooking homemade is easy, it's making your own cream of chicken soup that gets a little dicey. I've spent hours scouring the internet for ideas and am working on the perfect working solution for our family.

6. Finishing up two FUN projects. One for me and one for someone else. I'm so close. so close. Almost too close like I may never finish but I WILL. my goal is to finish this weekend on both of them. pictures to follow.

7. nursing a bad leg pain that is the result of running way too much. ok so not really too much but Whew! more than I have done in a LONG time. Thanks to running buddies whom keep me motivated and going. But the leg thing...it hurts. really bad hurts. think we need more stretching in my life-i've got time at 4:00am for that...i think i'll sleep in!

8. Planning out our summer...classes...vacations...CUBS in Seattle!!! I'm brainstorming some ideas for the neighborhood kids. Could be fun.

9. Thinking about a special project for someone else that is yet to be started. It is however taking up a lot of my thoughts because I want it just perfect. Ever have one of those? It deserves to perfect!

10. Enjoying my kiddos. 6 years old. can you believe it? And Addi is growing so big so fast. it all happens too fast.

11. mulling over ideas for the future endeavors that rob and i talk about all the time. We are never at a loss for new ideas!

hugs!

How to upload a video

Erin-we no longer are allowed to talk via email. I only answer questions via blog (just kidding) but here's how I upload video.

1. Go start a youtube.com account. You can do a lot with this...a lot. and when you are a teacher, you'll be worried about the weird students that are following you. but whatever. (as a side note...i used to use google videos for video uploads but google ditched that business and then invested millions in YouTube because they clearly have internet videos figured out-just a side note)

2. Click on the upload button at the top of the page. Here is where the button is:

3. Follow the directions on the next page....title the movie...give it a description...and then hit upload. If the movie is long-this will take forever. I recommend doing a short one. Just so you don't wait forever (without access to our beloved google reader) only to have the whole damn thing crash on you. For the video below, the upload took about 15 minutes.

4. After the green bar comes up and youtube tells you that you are DONE...Click on that 'Embed and Sharing Options' link just below the film strip (see the arrow below)

5. On this next page there is going to be a line that says something like "embed video". It will be a string of letters and numbers. I would show you a picture but I closed the window and now I can't get back to the page.

6. Copy that code. It's essentially computer language that somehow equates to that video of cute little Conor that you want to put up. (Actually, it's a referencing link that tells your blog to look at youtube.com at whatever little address you just copied. Clear as mud right?)

7. Now paste that code in your blog. Think you can just post it anywhere....here, let me try...

Cute video of Baby Will

yep! It worked. There's the video. And the cool thing is that the video lives on youtube and your blog lives over here on blogger. if blogger fails (i'll tell you about backing it up soon as I'm knee deep in a project) then you still have the videos.

8. If you have the video on your desktop, then follow this....

.go back to your blogger page, open a new post and type away. Then, just like you would add an image, add a video. The video icon is just to the right of the image one on that toolbar up there ^^^. Find your video on your desktop and upload. Sometimes this way does not work for me because blogger times out and nothing loads.

Hope this helps!

Chocolate Chip cookie brownies

I made these brownies on Friday night (actually thursday so that they could cool for the chocolate ganache topping to be applied) and they were delicious.  The cookie dough stuff is weird though.  it's a powder and you add butter and something else and that's it.  then it's a dough. weird.  But they were good.

 

OMG Erin-Try THIS!

Want to widen your blog area? the place where you write? Go here and follow the super easy instructions (command F will get you the find bar to find the words without searching-it's like cheating only it's fair game on the internet)

ps....you're reading blog post 100.  I never get to 100 on ANYTHING (unless you include weight....)  so yes...I stuck with something long enough to get to 100.  I think my dad would be proud!

target, friends, and reading out loud

1. Target is like therapy for moms. the best therapy session is without children when you can wander the aisles. It costs about as much as traditional therapy ($50+ per session) and is has good as spilling your guts to a complete stranger. The place has everything. Like this year t-shirt (i bought one in almost every color and am almost guaranteed to wear one everyday from here on out. don't judge. they are $7/each-clerly I'm on the cutting edge of fashion). I suppose Target is like therapy for everyone - or at least i hope it is. otherwise i may need to go to actual therapy...

2. Friends. the kids both have buddies-well best friends really-that live down the street. Each of them talk about their best friend fondly all. of. the. time. constantly. What would *friend* say to this..."*friend* come have a tea party"..."can *friend* over?". The friends are from the same great family that has two cool parents and few other siblings that are neat too. I love that they have buddies so young. Is it weird that i hope they are friends forever? that's one of the things I get to see teaching high schoolers...every year the baby ads come out in the yearbook and these students go back in time - YEARS - remembering when they first met each other. and a lot of them are still friends - good friends. Those types of friends are great. The old ones, that know the good, the bad, and the ugly. The ones that you fought with, broke up with, and then got back together with. The ones that - even after not seeing each other for months (or talking) - you can pick back up at breakfast like no time had gone by at all. Those types of friends. and since each of the kids' friends brings out the best in them, I hope that the friendships last for a REALLY long time. Because those types of friends are special - like little treasures. I now I treasure the few that I have.

3. One of the reasons I love blogging is that it chronicles some of the things that go on around here that I might otherwise forget. The little things. I'm always jealous of those people that do a picture a day (tried one year and forgot to take a picture on day 6...end of project!) But when you think about it, it's the little things that you don't want to forget. I have to keep that in mind when I think I have nothing to write so I just don't. There are all sorts of little things to remember.

So this series of pictures below is of Will. This night I had to be at school late for a curriculum night. Well, one job ran into another and I spent another two hours on the phone for the other company that I work for. In between jobs, Will was getting ready for bed. I called home to say good night and he wanted to read me a story over the phone. Now...I don't win a lot of awards for patience...although I try-really I do. I try to be present and in the moment but I struggle. So, I really wanted to say no-finish up my work and get home. But I didn't and I was so glad that I didn't! Will read me a story over the phone-word for word. The book..."I Love you Mommy". Seriously...could it get any sweeter. He kept asking me on the phone..."did you hear that mommy" because I was so quiet on the other end. I was quiet because #1 it still amazes me that this kid can read. it's so cool. and #2 I was overcome with the fact that he felt that it was so important to read me a book-since I wouldn't be there when he feel asleep. His concern was so sweet. I love him. Look how he's balancing the phone and the book...sounding out the words. too much!

How to create a signature

or a post for erin!

Working with my dad on his blog, I've been pushing myself to learn new, easy tips that I can pass along to him that make his blog personal and fun.  Once such thing is a signature at the bottom of posts.  I've seen these on other people's posts and think they are a fun way to add a personal touch.  I set forth to my friend google and ta-da!  have a how to create a signature tutorial for you:

1.  Go to My Live Signature.  this is one of (i'm sure) many signature websites that let you choose the perfect signature that represents you.
2.  Click o the 'Click Here to Start' link in the middle of the page
3.  Choose the first option 'Using the signature creation wizard' this is the easiest!
4.  Follow the steps on screen...type your name as you want it to appear in your signature
5.  Go through the options (there are 100+) of how you want the signature to look (I chose #3)
6. Click Next step at the bottom
7.  Choose the size of your font.  This is how large it will appear at the bottom of your post (I chose 4).  Then click Next.
8. Don't change the text color unless you know the color code (i left mine blank).  CLick Next
9. Choose the slope of your signature ( I chose 3). Click Next
10.  Click 'want to use this signature' link on the next page
11.  Click 'Generate HTML' on the next page
12.  Click 'Generate code for my handwritten signature on the next page.
13.  A box titled "Generated HTML Code for your signature will appear that has a series of letter and numbers in it. Copy this by highlighting it all and right clicking to 'copy'
14. If you are using blogger...here are the next steps....
15. Open the blogs layout page and click on settings.
16. Scroll down to the Post Template box and paste the code (CTRL+V) into it.
17. Click on Save Settings.
18. If you are using a Wordpress, you can paste the HTML code directly into the bottom of your post. Right now, I can only figure out how to do this so you paste it each time. There must be another way....I'll investigate.

This is how we ended the weekend...

two kids in one princess bed.  Snuggling up together because they just wanted to.  Will hugging Addi's leg because she is a wild sleeper and moves around like a crazy person.  I love that Will thinks it's one of his 'lovies' (that's what we call his stuffed animals).  so sweet and reason number 1001 that I love having siblings...especially when they get along!

ps...see that signature down there...pretty cool huh?!