They're Called Clouds...

and we have them sometimes. They just don't usually talk to us. We had a rare occurrence yesterday here in San Diego - thunderstorms. You know it's rare when your company's CFO and controller leave their offices to go outside, stand in the parking lot, look up at the sky, and discuss the clouds, thunder and hail -- at length.

My sister-in-law said on Facebook that her daughter was so afraid of the lightening and thunder that they stayed home from ballet and had popcorn instead. Yes, we had a thunderstorm yesterday and it was a local phenomenon! Sigh, I love Southern California!

The NDISB Blog Train is here!!

Welcome to NDISB's April

"A Natural Earth" Blog Train.

The Natural Designs in Scrapbooking designers and creative team have created a gorgeous collaborative kit, a collection of wordart and enough quickpages to fill an album.

In response to our customer's concerns regarding the safety of using third party file hosting sites the NDISB store is hosting the blog train contributions. Rest assured... we're aware of your concerns and we've got you covered!

NDISB's April Blog Train collaborative kit, "A Natural Earth", is a kit inspired by mother nature and her rich colour palette and wonderful textures. "A Natural Earth" is a tribute to Mother Nature Herself and was also designed to help celebrate Earth Day as only a Natural Designs in Scrapbooking Collab can.

Each of the designers participating in the "A Natural Earth" blog train have posted a coupon on their blogs so that you can grab their contribution from the NDISB Store. Several blogs also have bonus coupon codes posted on them too so make sure you read the posts carefully!

Grab the coupon code, below to my contribution and then hop on over to the next stop!

**You can only use one coupon code per transaction, you will need to repeat this process for each contribution to the blog train** Keep going with each blog train stop until you have the entire kit, all of the wordart and the quickpages!!

Click on the preview below to find my contribution in the store.

Coupon Code: NDISB-BT-TH-nb 67t

And then hop back on the train and check out the next stop:

Maz

**Please note that due to the fact that we are from all over the world and live in different timezones... some of the blog posts might not be ready when you arrive. Please move along to the next blog on the list and check back later for those post/s. Thank you for your patience, we hope you have fun and enjoy the April "A Natural Earth" Blog Train kit.

PS... Watch for the next NDISB blog train in June!

Tiny Dancer

Mattea has been taking ballet since she was 3. It started out as a way for me to get her out of the house on Saturday mornings after the boys were born, but has morphed into something more. She really loves it. She's now taking two classes a week, auditioned and got a part in the Nutcracker and is now scheduled to take her first Cecchetti exams on May 15. I

'm so proud of her! This is something she really wants to do as she grows. She wants to branch out and take tap next year too. So maybe we'll just have ourselves a professional dancer in the future. You never know!

The Funniest Thing I Think I've Ever Seen...

or at least one of them, is Kindergartners learning to jump rope. You don't need a detailed description of it. Just close your eyes and picture 40 5-6 year old kids, trying to jump rope. So freaking cute and funny!

Mirror Image Twins and Left vs. Right Brain

We've known for some time that the boys are mirror image twins, but it really struck me today when we got their report cards from the second trimester of Kindergarten.

Noah, my lefty, who refuses to use his left hand because no on else in the family does, is excelling at right-brained reading skills. He's already exceeding his year end goals.

I've been concerned that Grayson is lagging behind him, and attributed it to the fact that they have different teachers with different teaching styles. Until I saw that Grayson is excelling at math, a left-brain function.

Further proof that my nearly identical boys, are far less identical than appearances would lead one to believe.

Yeah, I Think I'll Park Somewhere Else

So, Monday is grocery day. I usually go over to the "special store" as my kids call it to stock up on gluten-free products. I was pulling in to park in my favorite spot under one of the shade trees when I see a guy walking towards me in a full-on beekeeper suit.

As he gets closer, I see him looking up at the tree I'm under. I think that it would be a really good idea to go park somewhere else. Somewhere far, far away from Mr. Bee Guy. I mean, if he pisses off the hive, I don't want to be in flying distance of an angry buzzing mob.

And Thats Why You Listen to Your Parents

You know you think it, even if you don't say it. "I've told you to stop that so don't come running to me if you get hurt." but of course they always do and our hearts always melt.

Friday night we went out to dinner at our favorite little dive taco shop. Normally we takeout, but Friday, Mattea wanted to eat there. We hadn't even placed our order yet when "it" happened.

Grayson was standing near the counter, with his hands in his jacket pockets, doing a skipping dance thing. We both told him twice to knock it off, but he continued and sure he tripped and with his hands in his pockets there was nothing to break his fall except his forehead on the floor. A hard brick floor over concrete slab. The thud was loud and the people standing next to us winced as well. How could you not? A short silence was quickly followed by a loud wail.

I scooped him up and held him and then got some ice for his forehead. And then we had the discussion about how we tell them what to do to keep them safe and not to prevent them from having fun. But, of course that was a short-lived lesson, because again today, while playing crazy and being warned several times to settle down, they ran out of the room, slamming the door behind, with Grayson's fingers in between the door and frame. Will he learn from that lesson? Probably not.

Transient Global Amnesia

Seriously, before yesterday, I'd never even heard of it. And no wonder, worldwide, it only affects somewhere between 3 and 35 per 100,000 people. But someone I care about was struck suddenly and unexpectedly by transient global amnesia.

I think it was scarier for those of us who had no idea what was going. But, just as the Mayo Clinic article states, it resolved within 24 hours. Go figure!