The Mouths of Babes

On Monday, Lucas' teacher told me that he is the only kid in the 2-year-old class who will not sit on the potty. And apparently he is not that influenced by peer pressure because he announced to the whole class, "I. Go. Potty. In. My. DIAPER!" with all the indignation he could muster.

Tuesday, was chapel day. And at some point during chapel, Lucas' teacher asked him what he was doing. He said "I'm walkin' with Jesus."

LOL!

And to think just a few months ago, she was worried that he didn't talk much at all.

Easter Party

Our friends, Janie and Greg (and their five children) host an Easter party every year. They always manage to have perfect weather, a ton of guests, lots of yummy food and fun for all ages. One of the highlights is the actual egg and prize hunt where different areas of the front lawn are designated for specific age groups.



Last year, Ethan only collected blue eggs. This year he at least branched out to other colors of the rainbow. Although he chose not to pick up any prizes that were laying around NOT inside an egg...pencils, notepads, toys, etc.



Sarah picked up everything. Even a bucket I'm not sure was supposed to be a prize!



Another highlight of the afternoon are the cascarones! Painted egg shells filled with confetti! Everyone always enjoys sprinkling (or crushing) cascarones on other people's heads. I think there's a picture from last year almost identical to this one!



It was a gorgeous day and even though Janie says "this is the last one" every year ... we hope she'll change her mind. Again.

Happy Birthday Dad

I'm a few days late with this post but I didn't forget. I just can't seem to get my stinkin' scanner to work so I can post a funny picture from your past. So you'll have to settle for this:


It always makes me think of you. Unless you would prefer this:



Now see? Wouldn't a scanned picture of you from the 70's have been perfect here? I thought so too. Hope you had a great birthday and I'm glad you'll be back to truckin' soon!

Ethan's Birthday Party

Ethan and his birthday buddy Matthew celebrated their 5th birthday with a Star Wars party at our house on Sunday. We had the boys dress in their Halloween costumes for a picture that we put on the cake. I was amazed at how well it turned out.



The kids colored pictures of Yoda and Darth Vader, then went out on the backyard for a moon rock hunt. Moon rocks were Star Wars toys wrapped in tin foil. While everyone was outside playing, Darth Vader (Mark) came flying around the corner with squirt guns and a light saber. We had a bucket of water guns ready for the kids to get him back and there was much running and squealing by all.



Matthew's big brother Aidan and little brother Grant.



When the kids came inside, we had a meteor shower. We threw about 50 balloons over the second story balcony and had them rain down on the kids below. The kids had to pop the balloons to get the prizes out - candy, tattoos, stickers, etc. Then we did a pull-string pinata. Ethan went first and pulled a loose string. Then Matthew went second and got the one that opened Vader's helmet! All the kids were shocked it opened so quickly - maybe disappointed they didn't get to pull one - but the candy was a good distraction.



We gave the kids light sabers as a parting gift. Both the light-up kind and also an edible one I made with pretzel rods and melted candy coating. The boys had a great time and one of their friends said it was the best birthday party ever! Hope so!



Love you, Babers!

Spring Break

Yes, it was a stay-cation for the Naults. We started the week by celebrating Ethan's friend's birthday. Alex also had a Star Wars themed-party, so it was good practice in last-minute event planning so we didn't have the same stuff at Ethan's own Star Wars party a week later. Ethan and Matthew took their picture with a Stormtrooper.



And ate lots of Cheetos and cake and ice cream.


We also celebrated Mark's birthday. Had a surprise BBQ at the house for some friends. Mark thought one couple was coming. It was more like four other couples and all their kids. And I thought the vat of baked beans and the 3 dozen hamburger buns would have given it away, but he was still surprised. I got him a Flip Video - a camera that takes little videos that we can plug right into the computer - and hopefully, blog! Please hold for the learning curve.

The kids watched a lot of TV as I got ready for the big jewelry show. Lucas managed to roll his entire high chair into the living room (or "winger" room as he calls it) and climb up into it. Best view in the house, I suppose.



The bluebonnets are in bloom. One of Sarah's classmates thought they were called Blue Vomits. I'll never look at them the same way again.



We also had Fudge, the guinea pig again. He was Jacob's class pet from last year. He seems to pee a lot more when I let him out of the cage so I'm afraid we didn't do it as much. The kids enjoyed feeding him carrots and lettuce but amazingly enough, nobody volunteered to help me clean his cage. Hmmph. We had pretty good weather. Nothing beats sunshine and shorts on Spring Break!



And the jewelry show was Friday through Sunday. It wasn't as successful as Dallas market but we didn't really expect it to be. Lots of women whose husbands probably own a construction or landscaping business and let their wives borrow their Tax ID to get into the wholesale show to buy one necklace. What we wanted were the business owners themselves buying dozens of necklaces to retail in their own shops. I only worked Friday and Saturday because Ethan's birthday party was Sunday.

More birthdays...

Today is Robin's birthday, Matthew's birthday and Chase's birthday! And last week I missed Susan's and Annie's and Christie's and Bob's and Mary's and Eva's....

Jeez! I imagine many of you were conceived while your parents were having some 'summer lovin' after a day of hot sun and cold beers!

Happy Birthday Todd and Payton

My brother and nephew have birthdays today. We also celebrated Ethan's birthday today with a party at the house with his buddy Matthew. More pics later ... it's a GNO!

It's Alive!

My 5th child...
www.jennifermasseydesigns.com

Please look around and tell me what you think. And if you order something and the process is jacked up, let me know that too. I haven't tested it on anyone yet.

Huge show this weekend. Wish us luck.

Green Day

Actually, none of us dressed in green today. Except Mark. But the office ladies who gave him a Bakugan balloon for his birthday are probably more the pinching-type anyway. I think this was the first year nobody asked about me being Irish because of my name. And I didn't miss it. Although I thoroughly miss Rob Collins from Kragie/Newell shouting "SHANNON MC SHANNON" every year I worked there.

Crazy busy week with Spring Break, two birthday parties at the house and a monster jewelry market coming up Friday and Saturday. I'm not sure if I'll post again for a couple days. My eyes are crossed, my back is screaming and Lucas thinks he's too cool to nap.

Note to self: Future posts should include info/pics of birthdays, Fudge (our guest for Spring Break), Mark's new toy, Market and more family birthdays.

P.S. It was a sad day too as Mark's sister Susan and her family lost their dog Maggie today after 14 years. : (

Birthday Buddies!

It's that time again. Ethan and Matthew are having their joint birthday party on Sunday. They will be five years old and we are having the party at our house. Can you guess the theme?


We tried to get Ms. Suzy to make their cake but her daughter's birthday is the same day as our party. Suzy made Jacob's cake when he turned five and had a Star Wars party. Isn't it awesome?



So Suzy wasn't available and neither was Ms. Chocolatier, another cake lady we know. Isn't that a great name to be known by? So mainstream we went...but would you believe that HEB, Target and Walmart do not have Star Wars cakes?? So we took these pictures of the boys today so we can have a picture cake made! We'll have lots of games and a pinata and we're giving each kid a light-up light saber instead of a goody-bag. And there will be a surprise visitor from the Dark Side. (Shhh!)

It will be a bittersweet day because at the end of the month, Matthew will be moving to the Dallas area for his daddy's job. We'll miss him and his sweet brothers and mom and dad. Can't wait for Sunday!

Happy Birthday Mark!

I had a small surprise birthday BBQ for Mark on Saturday night. I thought the 3 dozen hamburger buns and giant vat of baked beans would have given it away, but he was still surprised to see a bunch of friends come over. Reminded me of his 40th birthday surprise in MN right before we moved here. Now, THAT was awesome!

He got some pretty funny cards that night so I thought I'd share. I'm sure there's some copyright I'm infringing on but I'm not doing this for profit, so it's OK, right?

This one said "Wow. You're old" on the front.



Happy Birthday honey!

Donuts for Dad

Since Father's Day occurs after school gets out, the preschool has Donuts for Dad every March. Ethan had to send in a picture of himself with his daddy so we took a couple, then the other kids got in on it too.





The boys filled out these fill-in-the-blank questionnaires about Dad. It's almost like Mad Libs sometimes because their answers are so funny. Lucas said Dad was 6 lbs. and that his favorite TV show was Mozart. (Miss Nancy was very impressed until I told her he meant Baby Einstein!). Ethan said "when my dad shops he ... buys all sorts of stuff!" LOL! And that he loves to cook macaroni and cut the grass (both true!). Lucas said Dad's eyes were blue. Ethan said they were green. I say they are brown. Ethan also said Dad was 90 ft. tall but only weighs 95 lbs.

And today also happened to be Mrs. Osoria's birthday celebration. She is an aide in Sarah's class and I went in with a class gift and had the kids sing to her. One of the kids asked how old she was and I said that all grown up ladies are always 29. Some of them argued with me and said their mommies were 41, 30-something, etc., but I told them I was pretty sure they were all 29. I'm wondering how many went home and told their moms that Mrs. Nault said they were 29!

Hello Walter!

Congrats again to Todd, Walter, Tanya and Payton!

Junior Silver Dancers

Sarah and several of her friends got to dance on the Spurs court for the pre-game show Friday night. As I wrote before, the dances were so incredibly complex, the 5-9 year-olds were lucky to just be out there in semi-straight lines. The organization of the actual dance night was ridiculously careless and Sarah won't be participating again until she's at least 14! Really sad for an event in it's 17th year. But when one of the organizers said he wouldn't have his daughter be in it ever again...I was doubly convinced it wasn't just me being paranoid.

Anyway, Sarah was too shy before the event to take pictures with the real Silver Dancer girls so there will be no pictures of that. The girls got out on the court and danced to "I Gotta Feeling" from the Black Eyed Peas and "Hoedown Throw Down" by Hannah Montana. They half-smiled, half scowled their way through it - always a couple steps behind but at least they were all behind in unison! Gwen's mom said it best "At least no one is crying!"

Charisse barely convinced her to be in this pic after the girls danced. Here's Sarah with Riley Jo, Bella and Camryn.

Welcome to the world, Walter!

My brother Todd, his wife Tanya and son Payton welcomed Walter Mackland Meyer into the world this afternoon. My kids are excited they have another cousin ... that makes 20! We have no pics for Walter but I'm sure they will spread the word soon enough! He was born at 2:21 p.m. and weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz. 19 inches long. Congratulations!

Lack of Originality

This necklace, lovingly referred to as the Breakfast at Tiffany's necklace, was created by Jennifer in January. It (and all it's color variations) has been a super hot item both for retail sales and wholesale sales. And now it's being copied by bunches of people who have nothing better to do than steal other people's ideas.



Jennifer sold some of these to her wholesale customers who in turn sold them at a show in Oklahoma last month. Someone bought one at the OK show and had it copied in China and was selling it at a Vegas show for half the price! It's very discouraging to stumble upon a fantastic idea and have it stolen right out from under you. It has happened so fast, we don't know how to deal with it.

I called another jewelry designer here in SA for some insight. She said she's been in business 12 years and hasn't figured out how to stop it. She just continues to design and changes her offerings four to five times a year. Registration/copyright is expensive and following it thru the legal system is time-consuming and also expensive. And by the time we'd "win" one design back, it would be out of season and dozens of others would have been copied.

Charisse also experiences this with her domino jewelry. Domino necklaces aren't proprietary but her designs ARE. And people - even local people - have copied them exactly. Same with Jennifer's jewelry. Even local people who have been asked NOT to copy it, still do. What is our recourse?

Out of the blue, I got a call last month from a woman who wanted to buy 80 of my wine charms for a banquet. I did some research for her, got pricing, gave her a quote. Then two weeks later, she calls back and says they want to make the charms themselves and would I mind sharing who my vendor is?!?! Ridiculous! I told her, reluctantly. I don't think she's going to start selling wine charms herself, but I think it was quite rude to duplicate my work after asking me to go to the trouble of quoting a custom design.

It may be true that there are no original ideas left in the universe, and certainly, jewelry and crafts are not exceptions to this. But if you're going to steal an idea, twist it enough to make it your own.

Texas PTA Convention

I went to the Texas PTA Convention in Corpus Christi this weekend with my friend Tori. If all goes well, she will be President next year and I will be 1st VP. So we went to this convention to act as delegates for the state election and business and also for some training. Here'e the view from our first hotel room at the Omni Bayfront Hotel.



And here's Tori checking for bed bugs! Apparently, her husband traveled for business once and brought home bed bugs. Welts, bumps, etc. all over his skin and one of their kids a couple days after he came home. It took three bug "bombs" of the house and washing everything in scalding water and tossing out a lot of linens. It was much worse than lice (note to Kim: AAACCKKKK!!!)! So she's a little obsessive when staying in hotels and these mattresses did not appear up to snuff. There were no live bugs, but little black spots that she thought might be shells or feces (double AAACCKKK!!!) and we got another room down the hall. It could have been lint too, but I wasn't going to argue with her!



We had a fun dinner the first night at Crawdaddies. A dive bar kind of place with big platters of fresh shrimp (peel your own), sausage, potatoes and corn on the cob. Warm butter in a squirt bottle (OMG!) The waitress tied these bibs on everyone - big or small - and we needed them!



A giant crawfish wearing Mardi Gras beads hung from the ceiling! It was probably six feet long.



Saturday and Sunday were a whirlwind of seminars, voting sessions, marketplace booths and a bit of jewelry sales in between. I wore a necklace with turquoise pearls on the first day and so many people wanted it, I had Jennifer send a box of necklaces to the hotel! I sold a dozen pieces or so and made a lot of facebook friends for Jennifer Massey Designs. Here's Tori and I on the last day - just after we ate a cinnamon roll - but right before we went to a session on creating a Healthy Lifestyles committee! haha! It's going to be a fun year!

Valentine's Outtakes

This is actually a really cute picture of Sarah but in an effort to not highlight only one child on the Valentine's Day card, it didn't make the cut.


In case you ever hire Lucas for a photo shoot, he has apples in his rider.


And this is what happens when you take the apple away.


Ethan looks to the right, Lucas looks left and Jacob looks cheesy!