A miracle!

Eliot slept past 9:00 am! What a glorious day for the Mohr family!! It's a sabbath miracle, I tell you, a sabbath miracle!

Toddler 'rite of passage? '

The writing was on the wall...literally. Thankfully only with a pencil and only a few small/medium sized lines. Thankfully we have Magic Erasers for such an occasion. Thankfully we have a time-out chair with promises of a spanking if this behavior continues for such an occasion. Thankfully he's a smart boy and this hasn't happened since.

62% off Arbonne? What?!

Detox is quite the buzz word! It is the basis for health, wellness and beauty. Toxins are impossible to get away from but Arbonne created a line of skin care products that help your body eliminate those toxins. I wish I could have had a chance this month to get in front of you all to show off these amazing products while Arbonne is offering this huge discount. To hear the benefits of each one makes such a huge difference!! I'm getting great results and so are my clients that have started using the products!

Here's the deal: The entire detox line is normally $352.50 but Arbonne is offering it to you in August only for 62% off making it just under $135 (plus tax and shipping). The set includes Rescue Wash, Foaming Sea Salt Scrub, Renewing Body Gelee, Fortifying Hair Mask, Sea Mud Face and Body Mask, Re-mineralizing Body Lotion, and the purifying sea soak. The soak by itself is usually $60, so you can see why this is such a great deal! To check out the details of each product go to this link.

If you won't use all the products, keep friends and family in mind! Maybe you can go in on this together and divide up the set or save the few you may not use and give them away as gifts this holiday season! (Although, as soon as you get your order you may change your mind on that one and keep it for yourself.)

The first ten people that email me back to take me up on this offer will get free shipping and 50% off your first holiday product! (Actually 3 people have already taken me up on this, so the next 7 people will get that!)

Chasing Cheerios (boxes)

Some of the mom-blogees are familiar with the blog Chasing Cheerios that I've referred to before. She posts lots of great ideas of stuff to do with your toddler. We've been trying a few of them around here!

However...I've noticed that it's key to time these projects correctly. With any toddler, I'm sure, but especially with a boy. Here's project 1:

Experimenting with states of matter with some toys to make it interesting. Another example of how older kids do this one is on this blog I just discovered. Here's what he's supposed to do:



Here's what he did after the first 30 seconds:



The block of toys was not as much fun as squirting everything in sight, including me. But, who cares, right? We had fun. He's probably learning something.

Project 2: New puzzle using common household stuff. Hence, the cheerios box joke in the title. Here's what it's supposed to look like in succession:






However, these happened backwards. Looks good, though, huh? Pictures can be very misleading. Then "Mama! Frow!" (throw) and off went the pieces of the puzzle. For the remainder of the night parts of the cheerios box were flying with zest through the house. Maybe he's doing a more individualized project with aerodynamics and such. Makes sense to me...

Follow up to previous post

Went to the grocery store. Highlight of my trip was doing a double-take when in the...uh.. frozen dairy section. I mistook a lid to read "Double chin" instead of the more appealing "Double Churn" that it actually said. Anyone else have weight loss/gain on the brain? Maybe this post should be called Muffin-top Monday.

And for Heather: Total: 104.75. But I bought a huge bag of chicken on sale, so minus that.

Muffin Tin Monday!

Oh wait, we need to go to the grocery store.

AHHHHHHH!

There's a sign in my front yard. "We're live" as our agent stated this morning. Pictures are being taken, disclosures are being signed, toys are being hidden, clutter shoved into boxes.

Here's the most recent pic of the front of the house:

(We've recently done some updated landscaping.)


I have that feeling I get when I step in line for a scary roller coaster. Unknown and uncertainty is what lies ahead, that is what I know and am certain of.

Happy 10, Crusty Rusty.

This time 10 years ago...

It was the day of our rehearsal. Details were all over the place in the 89+ degree heat. Family and friends were arriving to sweet little Greenville asking "What can I do?". Russ took some of his fellas putt-putt golfing while us girls ran around town giggling. We arrived at the steps of Hogue Hall (an historic building on campus that was torn down last month! What does that say?) ready to "practice" getting married. Our coordinator was nothing but business that evening which was probably like trying to corral hyper livestock in a rainy field wearing stilettos and a blindfold. Poor woman. I should probably send her some Arbonne to help with the wrinkles caused by my wedding party.


"Why," one might ask,"is Katie standing so awkwardly?" Oh...in my haste to get there on time after getting the reception hall ready, I forgot to put a bra on. Smooth, real smooth...

Puh-lease...

FE had a photo shoot a few weekends ago with a great photographer in Chi-town. (Not Jodi this time, it was through some music world connection.) The results were amazing!! Here's another of my favs...



If you haven't checked out their band blog, click here! Then scoot right over and add it to your google reader. They'll be posting more pics eventually but these are the two I got permission to post!

And sorry, ladies, the hottest one is taken. For ten years now...

Orange you glad Eliot got to paint?

Orange Hunt!!!




Painting a real canvas for a baby shower gift for Baby Lunden, coming soon. Eliot loved getting his hands all over this project! I forgot to take a pic of the final outcome in our haste to get things ready for the shower. It looks really cute though!

Wax Museum

I've decided that I'm going to use my vast knowledge of science to create a method to freeze dry Eliot at this stage and preserve him like in a wax museum. (But not as creepy as the wax museum statues).

This wise decision was made after having two conversations in the last 24 hours. One about a student in high school who spent the summer in rehab (drug related,not physical therapy) and the other on what it's like when you first experience watching your child experience rejection/disappointment, etc. Not to mention all the blogs in the last week showing off pictures of my friend's children going off to school.

Nope. Not us. We're not doing it. Not any of it. We've got a good thing going here.

However...the thought of Eliot wearing a backpack containing a cool pencil box and a fresh box of crayons, grinning at his very lucky teacher each morning makes me giddy.

Such a conflict of emotions, this parenting gig.

On our gotcha day we went out for Ted Drews and there was a little family sitting on the bench next to us with several young kids. Eliot wanted to play with them and the older boy, probably 4 years old, kept trying to get away from him. But not in a playful way, in a mean kinda way. Eliot had no idea the kid was such a tool, I mean...uh...that the kid wasn't comfortable with new friends. My immediate reaction was sad that this kid was missing out on playing with the coolest kid on the planet. I actually wasn't sad that Eliot experienced a little rejection. Is that awful? In reflection, I'm not sure if it's because he was clueless resulting in no hurt feelings, or if I'm just that okay with Eliot experiencing trials as long as they're little. I hope that we can raise him to understand that he's loved beyond measure, hemmed in on all sides with enough security that the little things won't hurt as bad?

File this entry under "Lofty, naive, new parent thoughts."

I spent enough time as a classroom teacher to know the truth behind "kids will be kids." I know someone will be mean to eliot and his feelings will be hurt( or maybe not since he'll be shaving by second grade, who knows?). I just don't think I'll be the parent who requests Eliot's chair to be on the other side of the room or that he be placed in a different class the next year. If we always swoop in and save the day, will he ever learn how to deal with disappointment/sadness/bad choices others make that effect him? I would rather him learn effective ways to problem solve while the disappointments are small before he's out on his own using unhealthy ways to deal with it and we're not there to save the day.

Again, just processing here.

All I know is that I need to limit his time with Pastor Mike. I mean, seriously. Take a look at Mike's idea of a good time at our garage sale...



Maybe this is the solution for all bullies:

I heart Arbonne.

It's true. As weird as that is. The last few months I've really grown an odd delight at doing my 'job.' Think about it for just a moment:

* I get woken up by Eliot, not an alarm clock. I make my own work schedule! and in my pajamas!
* I do 6-8 parties a month which involves hanging out with people that are friends and family anyway, talking about products that I love that have truly made a difference in my health.
* I get to drop off product orders to women that I love having an "excuse" to hang out with anyway. Many of those drop-offs end up turning into great conversations.
* I get free stuff all the time. Jewelry, products, flowers, trips to Cancun, etc. It's like we're dating.
* I constantly get recognized for even the smallest of accomplishments.
* I have daily conversations with my team which are women I love getting to know and having an "excuse" to talk to everyday!
* I get to go to amazing training events, like the make-up artist this weekend. A-mazing. Now I'm trained to give make-overs. What?
* The harder I work, the more my paychecks grow exponentially. That's never happened before. And, the people above me want me to succeed as much as I do!
* The products are unlike anything I've ever seen in the market. I've become a product junkie. Yikes. You should see my shower. Oh my. All part of a hard day's work, people.

I'm just surprised that I love it as much as I do. When I started this three years ago, I had no idea it would turn into this. I kind of "tolerated" it at first, hoping to make some extra cash alongside teaching. There's been moments when I truly wondered what in the heck I was doing but the more I plug in, the more it becomes evident that it's the perfect fit for me. I know it's a little out-of-the-box for a lot of people but it works for me, for us. I'm truly humbled that I get to do this and not have to work a full-time job outside of the house.

Update

Baby Noah passed away yesterday. Visit the Lauer's blog to see arrangements. We are still sending gift cards if that was already your plan.

Today would have been his first birthday.

Not sure what else to say.

Helping Opportunities Update

1. If you wanted details on Mayra's school in Guatemala, please don't forget about it! We're gathering all the details and I will post them as soon as I have them!

2. The Lauers gift card gathering:
A. Restaurants: Panera, Qdoba, McAllisters, Outback, Starbucks
B. Gas: BP, Chevron
C. Visa gift cards work great!!

If you're going to get the cards, you can either mail them to me and I can mail them all off or you can email me and I'll give you their address so you can send it directly to them. Let's really get behind this couple and shower them with support through great little plastic cards!! Even if you don't know them but want to help, that's not weird, it's amazing!! Let's bless them in this time of uncertainty!

Ups and Downs

Ups:

*My friend Maria adopted an Eskimo-baby last week. Yep, an Eskimo. A Yupik Eskimo to be exact (and correct).
*After giving away 7+ years of teaching stuff to a brand new teacher, she gave me a $15 gift card to Target where I scored 3 tops!!! (Yes, 3 tops for 15$)
*Craig's List makes selling our stuff so easy!! I couldn't be happier with that!
*Eliot's learning 8 gazillion new words a day. I've started calling him Webster. (Yep, as in Webster's dictionary...)
*School is starting and I have no lesson plans in my immediate future.

Downs:

*When talking to a financial lady about selling our house for a better(higher) price she compared it to "A dented can" and "Real Estate Suicide."
*When talking to a different financial lady about selling our house for a lower price she talked through options that were "better than foreclosure or bankruptcy."
*Baby Noah isn't doing well.

In the last year I've had lots of Arbonne parties and without fail someone at the party says, "oh, that's you! I was/we were/my church was/my small group was praying for you to come home!" after I finish the time during the party with my story. It's amazing to me how wide our story traveled. For those of you with Nemo fans in your household, I feel a little bit like the part when Nemo's Dad is telling the turtles his story and then it travels all the way to the Pelican who retells Nemo all about it. Sad that that's the first connection I make, but that's how it goes.

My point in sharing all this is that the Lauers are in need and are in a new city without a lifetime of family and friends ready at their beck and call, to run a meal to them, bring them clean clothes, take them for a starbucks run, whatever. So, I'm doing what I know how to do: rally my blogees. (If I'm the blogger, then are you all the blogees?) We've rallied stockings for the troops and care packages for the guatemamas. I'm waiting to hear back from a friend on which restaurants/gas stations are around the hospital. So, get ready peeps. I know they have Panera near them and I'm assuming they have Starbucks. I'll let you know where else, especially gas cards to get them back and forth from home. Stay tuned~

Another Meme...

'The Meme of Fives' Game: (if you read that title with a sneer, you read it correctly,I'm not really a fan of these but am doing it anyway)


Q1:What were you doing five years ago?
I was collecting junk to fill my basement.

Q2:What are five things on your to-do list for today?
1. Go to Target =)
2. Finish secret projects for baby shower this weekend
3. Book another Arbonne party for August (anyone interested?)
4. Take a shower
5. Convince Russ that he should grocery shop, not me.

Q3: What are five snacks you enjoy?
1. Trail mix
2. Fritos with a coke
3. movie popcorn
4. sour gummy worms
5. Ice cream (yes, Heather, ice cream...)

Q4: What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?
1. Adopt a gazillion more kids
2. Buy FE a new van and set fire to the Compliment
3. Buy the Lauers a new laptop
4. Sponsor all 50+ kids to go to Myra's school in Guate
5. Buy some great new jeans =)

Q5: What are five of your bad habits?
1. Completing Memes even though I don't want to
2. leaving clothes in the dryer
3. watching tv
4. drinking pop
5. sinning

Q6:What are five places where you have lived?
1. Waterford, MI
2. Greenville, IL
3. St. Louis
4. Guatemala
5. St. Louis

Q7:What are five jobs you've had?
1. Retail
2. Receptionist
3. Waitress
4. Teacher
5. Arbonne Consultant

Q8: Five people I tag:

No one! I refuse! If you want to do it, do it. I'm off to take a shower!

Heart for the nations, or at least one of them...

Oh Guatemala. I didn't even know where to find it on a map three years ago. Now I'm obsessed. Not just because it's the birth country of my little chocolate chip, but somewhere along the way, the country and it's people were sewn into my heart and brain. Our trip with the team from church was incredible and since then several from my Guate-lovin' crowd took a trip to assess the ministry needs of the country. They hit several spots we haven't been to yet and it makes me so excited to become aware of more needs. Check out Emily's blog about the Least, the last and the Lost and Chris's blog titled Seen Too Much about parts of that trip.

As Chris stated, we are now among the accountable. That sounds like it should be a burden but on the contrary, it excites me. Hence, the title of this posting.

So, here's the deal. With our amazing connections, knowledge of the city, hotels, transportation, safe restaurants, etc and Russ' God-given worship talents, not to mention our two-year old entertainer, we're kind of a package deal. While we don't feel called to live in Guate like "regular" missionaries, we would love to use our skills/resources to facilitate groups that wish to serve there. While we can't afford to sponsor each and every ministry/need that we're aware of, we can use our voices to make the needs known through organizing and taking groups to the needs there.

There's lots of you who catch this blog now and then and some who check daily. I'm asking you to take this offer into consideration. Whether for a group from your church, your small group, your family, or whatever. We would LOVE to have a few trips a year on the calendar of groups we know from all kinds of different circles. Creating experiences to change your hearts toward this country. This isn't to take away from any local missions or helping in the U.S., it's just a need that we're aware of and in love with so we're just putting ourselves out there. The Lord may have plans for us to never take another trip there or He may already know of the many groups that will take us up on this offer. Who knows. What I do know is that I can't ignore the favor He gave us in planning this last trip and how the hearts of our team were expanded to include these beautiful people. To quote Chris Wheeler again, "At this point I know that we're to be a mouth-piece, a catalyst, a bridge...to connect people here in the States with the great needs in Guatemala."

So, anyone interested?

Without fail.

The Olympics make me cry. Last night I had an Arbonne party so I watched the Opening Ceremonies today. I don't know how many of you watched it, or how many of you made it to the end but OH MY. The whole ceremony was something to behold but one of the last elements just murdered me.

If you don't recognize this photo/moment, allow me to be your Olympic corespondent. Oh, and just get ready.

Obviously, Yao Ming is carrying the flag for the Chinese Olympic team in the parade of nations, however, you may not know Lin Hao. He's a nine-year-old survivor of the huge earthquake in China in May. 20 out of his 30 classmates died in the quake. He sung songs to himself as he dug himself out of the rubble to freedom. (Cue tears...)

THEN! THEN he went back in and dug out two of his classmates, saving their lives. (Tears are now released for streaming down cheeks)

When they asked him why he went back for his classmates, he responded that it was his job, he's a class leader, he's the hall monitor so it was his responsibility. (Full-on ugly cry) I don't know about you but that just kills me. I really can't handle stories like this.

Sidenote: I've also decided to take up beach volleyball. Preferably before our Cancun trip. It's clearly the right decision.

Subject: schizophrenia

I'm convinced there's more than one of me. (By the way, it took both of us to figure out how to spell that.) I've been cleaning/purging/organizing/packing the house this week in preparation for moving. ("Haven't you been moving since last fall?" you ask. yes, thanks for keeping up. Then you ask, "Is your house on the market?" to which I reply, "No, silly!") We've had 3 garage sales while at this house in the last 4 years. AND YET: I have oodles of crap. How?! I purge and purge and yet it's still hiding in every dark corner of my house.

The only explanation is that while the 'True Katie' puts things were they go, throws/gives away unnecessary items, cleans up after herself, organizes with joy, etc. there's another darker version of me who's sneaking around hiding useless items cleverly around in the most inconspicuous places. It's a craft, really. To put things into your home and then forget entirely that they exist and are taking up space. Blah.

So, in honor of the little treasures I keep leaving myself and facing the reality of downsizing before upsizing (is anyone following me?) WE'RE HAVING A YARD SALE TOMORROW! There's actually some good stuff (the aforementioned 'crap'). If you live in the STL area, swing on by between 7-12. If you don't know where we live and you're not some crazy person, email me and I'll give you our address. We'll be out on the lawn like good little mid-westerners displaying our beauty for all to see.

Crazy 8's?

Good morning and welcome to 08/08/08! Eliot blessed me with waking up an hour early this morning so I'm watching all the Olympic hype on the Today show and making strawberry waffles. (If I had a wordpress blog I would cross out 'making' and type 'burning' instead since I'm blogging at the same time!) I do love the Olympics. I love hearing the personal stories of the athletes and what obstacles they've overcome. It's inspiring to say the least. Hearing these stories reminds me of the Winter Olympics in February of 06. To review: Russ and I decided to pursue adoption after a key conversation on Valentines Day that year. Within days we had informational packets at our door. Those few days are a blur but in them, we were watching the Olympics and Toby Dawson's story was featured. He was adopted from South Korea by ski instructors in CO and went on to win a bronze medal. I remember just crying and being so taken with the story. Not that we needed any more convincing but it was inspiring in a different vain. (Eliot is the next NVP with Arbonne with a platinum record?!) I remember sharing his story with our parents when we called to tell them what we'd decided. AHHHH!! If we only knew back then what a ride it would be!! Saying that now makes me wonder what ride is ahead...

Anyway, off to my waffles...

Wanna help?

I have to brag on a friend of mine, Erin, still in Guatemala. I got to see her briefly on our trip. She's been there for a year and a half, and her beautiful daughter just turned 2. Her husband lives there with her now. Her blog is, of course, interesting but more importantly she has a shop on Etsy! Her stuff is amazing! She recycles Guatemalan hand-woven textiles into fabric collages, mosaics, note cards, etc. Her stuff is so unique and such a tribute to the beauty of the Guatemalan culture. As you're thinking of gift-season coming up, you have to check out her stuff! Her site is called La Chapina. Check it out!!!

I thought I had a picture of Eliot with her daughter but I can't find it! Erin, do you have it?

Also, keep checking the Lauers Blog. They update it daily, sometimes twice. Sweet little Noah is in need of your prayers and Josh and Deb in need of our encouragement.

Dear Campaign Managers, Margie, Allie and Jason,

Since you're the only people who call our home phone, I thought you should be the first to know that we've canceled that service. You'll only be able to reach us on our cell phones. Oh wait, campaign managers don't have that number. Hmmmm. I guess we'll have to figure out who to vote for on our own. Well, here's a picture to cheer you up from your disappointment.


Love,
Those Purging Everything Unnecessary

He's a Turtle!

Can you tell I'm a first-time mom? We got a letter addressed "To the Parents of Eliot Mohr" this week announcing his moving up to the next classroom at church. You might as well have told me that he just graduated first in his class from Harvard. What did E accomplish? He got older and I'm so proud.

What else did Eliot accomplish? He got 2 molars!! Woo-hoo!! Several times in the last few weeks, he's held his little hands against his jaw and said, "MaMa, I hurt". It's ridiculously cute. The first time was in Guate and when he woke up in the morning he had mosquito bites all over his cheek and ear so I left it at that. Then when he did it again here at home sans mosquito bites, I checked his teeth and sure enough his bottom two molars have already popped through!

In other news, last year one of our coming home gifts from some dear friends was a zoo membership that includes free parking, train rides, entrance to children's zoo and sea lion show. It was expiring at the end of July so we went as a family and tried to burn all the tickets we had left. If you're ever looking for a fun gift idea for someone with kids, this was great! We used it a lot and LOVED it!

On the train!

Waiting for the sea lion show!



****Oops, for those not in our church community, the children's classes are named by animals, he's graduating the Lambs room and moving up to the Turtles, hence the title of the blog. Not to be confused with our trip to the zoo...=)

Guate Trip, Day 7 & 8

Day 7 I sent the team to hike the volcano while E-beast and I got some much needed bonding time with Mel and the other moms. We met at the McD's playland and hung out all morning. Once the team came home, we went souvenier shopping all afternoon and finished the night off at one of my favorite restaurants, Cafe Sky. Day 8 was our travel day back home, complete with a "running through the airport to catch our connecting flight" moment. Wouldn't be complete without that!




Also, I didn't add a team picture from earlier in the week so I'm adding it now. It's hilarious. We weren't trying to create this, it just happened and it kills me.

Guate Trip, Day 5 & 6

Monday and Tuesday we had the incredible opportunity to work at Hermano Pedro, the children's hospital that Russ and I went to a few times while I lived in Antigua. For these two days we split our team in half. One group took some of the kids out to lunch at Pollo Campero (yummy!) while the other half stayed at the hospital and helped the nurses with lunch for the rest of the kids and then headed to lunch ourselves. Monday afternoon we also hiked up to the cross that overlooks the beautiful city. Tuesday we split girls/guys and headed to dinner! These two days were very stretching for all of us. Aside from one of the leaders, none of us had ever had an experience like this before. I was so proud of our team, they just jumped right in and each grabbed a kid to love on. It was a blessing to be apart of it.

Lunch on Monday:

Fake sleeping with Dad...

Oops, he really fell asleep. That hasn't happened in months!

Russ with Ascension (a.k.a. Curly) on Tuesday!





I cherish this picture.

Darvin had his hands full!



Think Lion King...

Molly finally got Eliot to hang out with her, she'd been trying all week!

Mel met us girls for dinner (Eliot was allowed at girl-dinner!)