Arizona Hammonds Family News

Studio J Has Me Blogging Again!

2011-05-08T20:42:00.000-07:00

So last week I was in Salt Lake City to participate in CTMH's first ever (and probably only) Studio J Boot Camp. I wanted to attend to create great scrapbook pages beyond the basics I have mastered and be able to do more advanced work. Of course it helped that attendance was very limited - only 40 consultants company-wide.

What I did not realize until after I was there, was that there is goals and accountability for the next 16 weeks!

So in addition to working on more pages (more on that later), I have revitalized my goal to post to my blog. I am an email-kinda gal, so transitioning to blogging is a challenge. I hope you will visit my blog periodically - at least to hold me accountable to post at least a couple of times a week.

In return, you will get some great Studio J samples and tips, Classic Scrap booking samples and tips, and reminders of all the workshops and crops I hold. So I hope you will not only check back often, but also provide me some feedback every now and then.

Above is one of the 8 layouts I completed last week. What I love about this layout is that this paper does not exist as actual touch-it feel-it paper. I hear many of you out there cringing about not actually playing with the paper - the cutting, the adhering, the unique smell of a new paper pack. The good thing is that Studio J is not an all or nothing style. I do both the classic and the Studio J depending on my mood, my location, and my patience at the moment for printing different sized pictures.

The paper is from the Magnifique Paper Pack which is great blues and browns. Problem is that I wanted it to match my kids' Christmas portraits so I was able to change the color of the paper with a simple mouse click. So easy, so beautiful!

AA's 5 Year Gottcha Day 1/13/10

2010-01-18T11:20:00.000-08:00

So last Wednesday was AA's 5 year gottcha day - the day a judge approved our adoption. 5 years has flown by so fast. We did not get to celebrate until last night - at TGIF's - the one place we were able to eat while in Russia.

I watched airport video with AA the night before the 5 year mark. I love how he fits right into the luggage carrier. Thank goodness he is bigger now!! The second video is of him walking. He was 19 months old, but had only started walking. These videos will be 5 years old on January 21st.

And where is AH? Well you can see her in the first video - 5 months in utero.

We Are Still Here

2010-01-18T11:07:00.000-08:00

Wow - can you believe the last time I posted to the blog was May of 2008?? I guess we live busy lives!

What is new with us? We sold the restaurant in November 2008. We moved in February 2009 - just a few miles down the road. The kids must have grown another foot since May 2008. Here is a current family picture - friends from Facebook will recognize it.

My goal is to communicate better through this blog. Let us know what you think:)

Our Little Dancer

2008-05-08T22:59:00.001-07:00

AH took her first dance lesson today as a trial class. We decided to sign her up for the summer once school is out for 3 lessons a week. Never know if you child will excel in the classes you put them in, but she so loves music and dancing at home. When I told her we were going to a dance class today, she did not even want her after school snack. Instead she insisted that we go dance! I hope her enthusiasm continues once we start classes in June. She also participated with out Mom being in class which is a new first!

Bus Update and Newest Family Member

2008-05-04T21:27:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, the day after the bus fiasco, the transportation tried to let us down again. After being told that the bus was running 10 minutes late, we still had no bus 30 minutes later. Of course I got a little snippy and told transportation that we wanted to AA to get at least 5 hours of education in his 10 hour week. I am so glad that our regular bus driver will be back on Monday! Really makes you appreciate a good thing when it is gone for a few days.

On Tuesday last week, my sister had her first baby - a boy named William Arthur. William is not doing real well right now, so please say a prayer for him. He arrived just a few days after his due date, but is currently in NICU for Sepsis, Reflux, and Thrombocytopenia (low platelet count). The whole family hopes that he can come home this Tuesday. AH and I will be visiting him in 10 days as well as my sister.

AA Goes on His First Field Trip

2008-04-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

or as I origianlly was going to call this post, PV school district transportation lost my son today!

The afternoon started with AA's afternoon bus showing up 10 minutes late. I tried to call his regular bus driver to see if there was a problem, but she did not answer her cell phone (I realized she was not working today). I had him half-way loaded into the car to take him to work. The bus driver was a substitute and there was no assistant on the bus. He got on the bus, no problem.

Half an hour later, the school called to see why AA was not in school today. NOT IN SCHOOL? I put him on the bus, so he should be there. The admin person said she would check back with his class to see what the mix-up was and call me RIGHT BACK. Half hour later I had not heard from her. So I called. She said that Transportation should have called me. Now I am thinking maybe there was a bus crash. But no. AA had fallen asleep on the bus and was never taken off the bus. The school loaded more students to take home (the 1:30 run). AA was never taken off the bus. The bus driver would be bringing him back after she did the stop she was nearing. The school said they would call me as soon as AA was back to school.

So I used the time to call the Supervisor as Transportation to find out why I had never been called and why this had happened in the first place. He said he did not know that Transportation was suppose to call me, but that he knew of the issue and would research (speak to the substitute driver) and get back to me.

Since I had to get AH from school, I called DH every 15 minutes to see if he had heard from the school yet. Our regular bus driver (cell phone call earlier) called me eventhough I had not left a message. I told her the whole story. Of course she was not surprised he had fallen asleep as he does this most days for a little cat-nap. I asked her why it should be so hard to count x number of students on the bus and x number of students off. Or the very lease to look through the bus after all the kids off-load. I mean, it is a short bus with very few seats and these kids have some issues which is why they qualify for transportation in the first place!

Finally at 3:25 (5 minutes before school was over), I called the school to talk to the admin who had said she would call me back when AA got to school. But instead I found out that she had gone for the day!! The person answering the phone said that AA had been at school for about 30 minutes and sympathized with my concerns (polite way to describe my end of the conversation).

Anyway, AA's teacher called me about 15 minutes later to see how I was and to add her appologies. She is soooo upbeat, she said that he had just been on a "field trip" and was in good spirits when he got to school at 2:45. He had had a snack, socialzed and went potty on his own.

Thirty minutes later the Director of transportation called me to follow up. Again, very applogetic and said that they had learned something new in the way they were handling the kids. Love being the issue that sparks change!! Anyway, our regular bus driver had called him based on our conversation earlier in the day - he said she felt just horrible that the whole thing had happened (and she was not even involved).

Fortunately they have assigned a different (better) substitute for tomorrow, so I am not going to keep him off the bus. But the whole thing was very nerve racking to the least. Wonder why I am so against putting him on a big bus for kindergarten with kids ranging from 5 to 10, no seatbelts, and no assistant!

I asked AA about his bus adventure, and it had very little effect on him. He just told me that he was on the bus for a long time before he got to school. But once he was there, so were all his friends:)

And, Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T23:42:00.000-07:00

Despite all the excitement at the restaurant this weekend (see post below). We did have a fabulous Easter today. We were lucky to be able to celebrate with Brenda and her family - thank you Brenda! The kids a great time eating, playing, hunting easter eggs, and taking pictures. Here is our family picture for you to enjoy.

Weekend Burglery Attempts

2008-03-23T23:24:00.000-07:00

Well we were the unfortunate victims of not one but two burglery attempts this weekend at the restaurant. Saturday morning someone tried to break our side door (first by cutting the glass in a circle and then etching the X inside the duct tape). They were able to cut the metal door jam and pull the door open. Of course that sounded the alarm so they did not try to enter the building. I spent Saturday morning from 5:30 am until 9:30 am in my pajamas (yes, had to give my report to the police in my unbrushed, unwashed, pajama best) since once I was at the restaurant I couldn't leave - the door would not close.

Spent over $900 to get the door glass replaced on Saturday and the door jam bent back to be able to close the door (will be repaired later in the week). So since the door jam was bent out of place, we were not surprised that the alarm sounded two times Sunday morning because their was give between the door and the door jam. When the morning paper was delivered, it set the alarm off. Then later in the morning we assumed the heavy winds bounced the door or perhaps a customer attempting to enter.

But we were wrong. The window right next to my NEW door had been smashed in. The losers even redamaged my NEW door! They also bent the door frame above the door so now the landlord has to see what he has to do to fix the structure of the building.

We thought it was only us who was being targeted. But the restaurant/bar down the street was hit mid-day today. The cops at least saw the guy drive off, but did not catch him. I so hope they find the creep(s) soon!!

Happy Late St Patrick's Day

2008-03-19T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well we are only a few days late in wishing everyone Happy St Patrick's Day. But I needed a great reason to show off out dd AH with her crown made in school on Monday and our new Restaurant shirts!

Happy Gotcha Day AA!

2008-01-13T20:12:00.000-08:00

Today we celebrated AA's 3rd Gotcha day - the court made us a family in a very nervous but rewarding meeting in Tula. It was a low key day, but we had a nice dinner out. Here is one of our pictures. I wanted to post a picture from 3 years ago, but they are on another PC. I will try to dig it out later.

We also weighed and measured the kids today. AA outweighs his sister again (it has been over 6 months to get here) - 34.5 lbs. A huge change from the 19 lbs. 3 years ago. He is now 41" tall. AH weighs 33.5 lbs. - down a few pounds from 7 months ago, but she is getting such tall, thin legs. She is now 39" tall.

AH Goes Back to School

2008-01-09T22:32:00.000-08:00

Well after suffering through a migraine all day yesterday, my energy level was back in full force today. I took AH to school today after she missed Monday (she only attends M, W, R). Her classroom was relocated during the winter break to a room twice the size of the old one. It looks fabulous!! And AH was so great about going to school today. She walked into the room, sat down on the bench next to some friends, and started chatting away! A big first for her. Hopefully the months and months of screaming resistance are over!

AH woke Monday with one eye swollen, no problems on Tuesday, but the other eye was swollen today. We are really worried that she is finally showing signs of allergies thanks to her dad. She does not complain, but her nose has been running for over 3 weeks now. We hope it does not progress into asthma (another potential gift from dad).

I ventured out this evening to try to replace AH's favorite blanket lost while in Cabo last week. Unfortunately I did not find a suitable replacement. Even worse, I found the after Christmas sale at Big Lots!! So many great finds for so little money. After having to do 20 teacher and therapist gifts this year, I was so happy to find some great sale prices on gift boxes for next year. Of course the really good pricing on crackers did not help either. I also found valentine's day gifts for the kids as well as items for them to exchange in their classes. A few items for my secret sister found their way into my cart.

Then I was off to Ross and found some great valentine's day items for my secret sister! No blanket though!

Got a great deal on a newly release Crop-a-dile 2 tool for scrapbooking tonight on HSN. Cannot wait for it to get here in early February. They promise that they have the exclusive release of this item. I have NEVER bought anything without waiting to hear what others think. But I did want the original for Christmas and did not receive it.

AA had a good day - enjoyed school and played nicely. His new favorite toy is the bad guy from Toy Story II. Carries it with him everywhere!

The Best Laid Plans...

2008-01-07T21:13:00.000-08:00

Well the first day back to school did not go so smoothly. AH was up at 4 am for a few hours and then went back to sleep until after 9 am. She does not act sick, but her eye was swollen and her nose continues to run (over 3 weeks now).

We had a nice morning anyway - ran a few errands, had lunch and then she napped as usual. Swelling was down by night-fall, so we will try again on Wednesday!

Ready to Start our 2008 Schedule

2008-01-06T22:13:00.000-08:00

Well we have finished out our week resting, doing laundry, and readjusting to household life. Hopefully we are all well rested from our vacation and are ready to return to school. Of course Mom and Dad have already returned to work this past week, but it will be nice to have the whole family on the same schedule.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-03T07:33:00.000-08:00

Well one of my resolutions this year is to post photos for family and friends to see and to keep our blog updated. So here is our first official post.

We arrived home from Mexico Wednesday night after a wonderful 7 day vacation in Cabo San Lucas. Everyone had a blast!! We were able to horseback ride, take boat ride (too cold for us to actually snorkle), walk on the beach, swim in the pool and ocean (a little), watch movies, and relax a little. The unlimited food was great.

We traveled with Peter's immediate family - 13 of us in all.