Perfect

I am so excited that we are having record highs this week. I love when it is still 107 on September 20th. Also...I love that the AC on my car went out...during this record high week. Perfect.

It's about this time every year that I find myself literally craving the cold: snow, slippers, heavy blankets, flannel PJ pants, hot chocolate, coats, etc. Doesn't that just sound wonderful (and actually perfect, not sarcastically perfect).

Other Happenings

Karl had a birthday last week. I got him Jack Johnson tickets. We're pretty excited. Karl's never been to a concert before and the only ones I've been to are Boys II Men and Dixie Chicks. (Get the laughs out now). Yes, I went from Motown Philly to Wide Open Spaces. The question is...which one are you singing in your head now??? I know that I'm breaking it down to Motown Philly.

The other day I asked Carson how he liked playing with one of his new friends (that's also a girl). He responded that he "needed to kiss her." I laughed, Karl started saying that kisses were for Mom and Dad and grandmas and grandpas. Carson interrupted and said "No, we kiss girls." He stated it as a fact. I laughed (again). Karl looked worried. HA HA...I'm laughing again. Oh - I just had a thought (laughter gone...serious face). There was a kid in preschool that we all called kisser boy. We all thought he was weird because he would chase us and try to kiss us. (Our name for him was very creative). Note to self - make sure Carson doesn't become the kisser boy.

Did that just happen?

I decided to quickly run an errand this weekend. I knew a store was having a sale and I wanted to grab a few items. As I began shopping, I thought to myself "I'll give Carson a little bit of a long leash today. He's been pretty well behaved in public lately." So I'm shopping and just kind of aware of my child 10 feet away. I suddenly realize that there is this really loud, annoying noise. It then registers that this is a fire alarm. I immediately look for Carson and he is standing by the emergency exit (about 10 feet away). At first I assumed he had pushed on the emergency exit door, but as I walked over he had actually pulled the fire alarm. I tried to push it back in, but apparently you can't just "push" the handle back in. So I found the store manager and apologized. She told me it happens all the time. That made me feel a little better inside. This whole time the alarm is deafening. Carson is sitting with his ears covered.

I decided to try and finish my shopping, with the annoying alarm going. At least now Carson was just sitting on a bench. A few minutes later the fire department showed up. While the annoying sound was helping to teach Carson to not pull a fire alarm, the arrival of five firemen and a fire truck had the opposite effect on Carson. I was busy trying to make myself look really interested in the clothing as I contemplated how I would introduce myself, "Hi, I am the mother that wasn't paying attention to her child that pulled the fire alarm that caused a total waste of time for all five of you brave firemen." I began to feel really embarrassed and the "okay" feeling I got when the manager said "this happens all the time" was fading away quickly. The firemen and store manager were all trying to push the handle back in (much like I had), but with no luck. I then heard them all discussing how they were going to have to call the alarm company to get it turned off. It was at this point that I couldn't stand the burning guilt in my chest. I kept waiting for one of them to hand me a fine but no one even mentioned it. I apologized one more time and then got out of the store.

While in the store I had tried to make Carson apologize for his actions, but he was scared stiff every time we approached the store manager. He did apologize to me though. On the drive home I tried to explain that we can't pull fire alarms unless there is a fire...etc, etc...blah blah blah (the last part is probably what he heard). The next day, Carson found the advertisement for the store's sale on our counter. He brought it over to me and said "I'm not going to pull the fire alarm, mommy." He said something about not pulling the fire alarm a few more times that day as well. Hopefully that has sunk in because I really don't want to relive that moment. Two thoughts - the "long leash" has new been shortened...and, why don't they put a little plastic box around the handle or put it a little higher. How much more tempting can they make a fire alarm to a three year old kid?

PS - This is a theoretical, hypothetical, imaginary leash. I don't literally have my child on a leash.

Break Through!!

I know a lot of you are aware that Carson is pretty much terrified of swimming. And if you're not aware - then I'll fill you in. He took swimming lessons last summer and they basically just scared him. At the first lesson, he was happy and I couldn't keep him out of the water. By the last lesson, he was crying from the minute we drove there to the minute we were driving away. I felt like I had ruined swimming for him for life. I had signed him up for lessons to 1) learn water safety...i.e. Don't jump into a pool w/out an adult, and 2) to learn how much fun water is. We pretty much only accomplished #1. As a kid (and even now) swimming was always the best part of any vacation. It made me sad to see him terrified of something I've always loved.

Back on track, by the end of last summer, I couldn't even get him in a swimming pool. I was hoping he would forget about this little fear by this summer. So June rolled around and our occasional swimming days (at Aunt Vickie's house) started. The first time we went, it took Carson over an hour to even get on the first step of the pool. I could tell his "little" fear had definitely not been forgotten. I tried to force it (gently) a few times...you know "I'll hold you, it's okay, swimming is fun"...etc...etc.) He was not buying it. Once I had the thought that if I could just get him out there with me, he would see it wasn't scary. That was a mistake...I almost lost eye from all the kicking and screaming that occurred.

So I took the patient approach. I didn't want to make a bigger deal of it than he was already making it by himself. So every once in awhile I would ask if he would like to swim with me, and he would always answer no. He always just sat and played on the top 2 steps of the swimming pool. I knew he'd learn to swim sometime. I knew he wasn't going to be 15 and scared of the third step. So I just stayed relaxed. It was also nice that I could sit by the pool and read/relax and know that he was never leaving those first two steps.

Last weekend we had family in town and some of us were swimming in the pool. We were playing "Pirates" with Carson and his cousin (also age 3 also a boy). When the game moved to the middle of the pool, Carson was sitting on the steps all alone, trying to shoot us with his pretend cannons. I swam over and instead of saying "do you want to come swimming" I said "let's go get your cousin with the cannons." He hesitated for a second and then simply said "OK" and he held out his arms. It was a very magical moment for me. I was so happy he was able to overcome his fear.

By the end of the day, he was showing me all the things he could do. Climb out by himself, kick, move his arms, climb along the edge, and jump from the edge into my arms. All the while he just kept saying "I'm not scared Mom...Look, I'm not scared." I was so proud of him. I am also SOOOO excited that I can have fun with him in the pool now. Yay! And I will say, that the year he spent being terrified of pools did have a positive...he definitely still knows that it is not safe to just go into a pool without an adult.

Quick Story

I haven't touched a camera since my last post - but since Carson is always up to saying funny things, I thought I would blog a few.

A lot of times when we are playing "pretend" he calls me honey. He'll say "C'mon Honey" or "Let's go over here Honey." The other day I wasn't heeding his pretend play demands and he said "Be a nice honey, ok?" I could not help but laugh.

He is also very into doing everything that Karl and I do. It's like we have a little shadow. Carson and I were in the store the other day and there were lots of exciting things for him to see. He was wanting to share it all with me but I was busy trying to find the items on my list. He began by saying "Mom, come look at this." I didn't really respond - I figured I could find what I needed real quick and then we could spend some time looking at the items he had found. He then got a little louder and said "Mom....MOM.....MOM....KKKAAASSSEEYYY!" I could not stop laughing. Did he really just use my first name to get my attention? All I could think was "how old are you?" As I was laughing and still not doing what he wanted, he then said "I'm going to start counting. 1........2........3. Ok, c'mon honey. I'm going to leave. C'mon." Oh this kid is rich. Obviously he's picking up something when I am saying these exact things to him and he is magically not hearing me.

Time to Blog

This is a sampler blog post - instead of making them separate posts, I just lump them all together. Bon Appetit!

Quilt #2: I have been working on another quilt. This time I did a pinwheel sampler. The block tutorials all came from psiquilt.com. So this was a HUGE learning experience. I felt like I really got to know my seam ripper during this project, we are very close friends now. I think it turned out pretty good though. Keep reading for quilt #3.

4th of July: We headed out to the Mesa Festival of Freedom. Can I just say that I loathe crowds. It makes me really cranky and I'm not ever willing to wait in a huge line. Basically nothing is worth standing in a huge line (a minor line is ok...but if it's over 15 people deep or if I'm not seeing any progress...I'm out). So the event was crowded. Carson seems to be pretty sensitive to loud noises so he had his hands over his ears ALL night...not just during the fireworks. The bands were too loud for him, the classic car engine revving was too loud for him, the general crowd noise was too loud for him. Half way through the night I saw a kid with noise canceling head phones on...maybe I should invest. *Side Note - Carson covered his ears for half of Toy Story 3 when we took him to see it (he kept asking if we could go because it was too loud). Also, he hates the Rainforest Cafe due to the noise of the "rain" storms that sweep through the restaurant. K...back on track.

The fireworks were cool though. That's pretty much all I can say about it. Here are a progression of pictures I took of Carson through out the night...try to find the common theme.

Here is Carson on 4th of July morning eating pancakes with whipped cream, strawberries, and blueberries (a special red, white, and blue breakfast...plus I made them funny face pancakes which he adores).

Quilt #3: Another one of my sisters is having a baby in the very near future so I decided to play fair and make her a quilt too. I got this pattern off Moda Bake Shop. It's the Moda Make Life fabric. I absolutely love this quilt and LOVE this fabric line. I just want to hold it and squeeze it because I think it is so darn cute. Also, I have to toot my own horn for a second - this was my first time ever doing applique and ever doing free motion quilting. I think I did awesome! The applique was kind of hard and I ended up getting a different foot so I could actually see the letter lines. I was so nervous for the free motion quilting. I had read so many blogs (and the ladies at the sewing store) that made it seem impossible. One lady said if I practiced about 120 hours, I'd be good at it. What! Who has 120 hours to practice stipple quilting? I did use one tip I read online - it said consistent speed is important and suggested putting a book in your foot pedal so it only goes down half way. I did this and I think it really helped. So there was only one spot I crossed my line and it was because I was just so caught up in the amazingly cool loops I was making...and making beautifully. So, I don't think I'll need 120 hours of practice. There is room for a little improvement...but I can display my stipple quilting proudly! Oh - and I machine bound it (same as above). I'll probably just go back and forth between by machine and by hand depending on how I feel that day.

Hmmm...I feel like there was way more I needed to say...oh well. Count your lucky stars I don't go babbling on forever.

Disclaimer: I have waited in line for a few movies/book releases in my life. It is a little different though - you can sit, you're with friends, you can eat, etc. etc. I felt I needed to disclaim or else a certain sister-in-law would call me out due to the fact that we waited in line to see a certain movie containing vampires and werewolfs just a few weeks ago. This movie will remain nameless.

Cursed Dress

During church yesterday, the power went out suddenly during Sacrament meeting. It was a very weird experience. It all the sudden got pitch black (and all the kids got really quiet). They opened up the curtains and then it was light enough for us to at least finish the meeting. So the speaker finished his talk (w/out a microphone), we sang a closing hymn, etc. all in a very dimly lit room. The Bishop then got up and said that we could all go home. So that's twice in the last month that we've been sent home after our first meeting.

Now - as for the title of this post, I was wearing the same "new" cute dress as the last time church was canceled. Yes...I know the last time was only two weeks ago and I was wearing the dress again. I didn't get a full wear out of it last time, so i figured it wasn't awful to try it again. Anyway, it seems I have a cursed dress. I'll have to be careful when I wear it.