Summer Break

Its been awhile but I finally find a few minutes to let you all know what we have been up to. My business has been flourishing! I have been so busy and we are trying to figure out life as I work full time. There have been a lot of changes which have been hard to adjust too. I miss my kids terribly! Change is good and I know that so we hired a nanny for the summer. I am able to work during the day and have more time in the evening with my family. I have taken Mondays off since I work every other day of the week. I hired my friend Rochelle to work with me. She is a pop making machine! This week has been the true test to why I am so thankful she wants to work with me. 1300 cake pops have been made, dipped and ready for weddings, graduations and birthday gifts this week.

Our summer is booked solid with kid activities. We have something every day of the week. I guess it keeps them all out of trouble and active for the summer. We have baseball, softball, soccer, swimming, dance and golf. We do take time to hang out on the boat and in the pool. It should be a great summer. I took the week of 4th of July off so we can enjoy each other. I have a lot of projects that I would love to get done. We shall see! I will post some pictures of our fun so far soon.

Weekend Get Away

We finally were able to get a few days away from the busy. It was nice to leave my computer and work phone behind for a few days. We went to Wisconsin Dells for a few days with the kids and some friends. I have a ton of pictures that I need to post. The kids had a blast! It was so much fun to see everyone laughing and having a great time. I can't wait to do it again. I will be taking more time off this summer to do this more often!! Stay tuned for some great pictures. I think the wave pool was by far the favorite place to hang out.

Ready Set Go

I have been super busy getting my studio space all ready to go. My licensor came on Monday and approved everything! I am fully licensed now in my space and able to bake and decorate everything. I am so excited and relieved to have it all ready. I actually ended up getting sick Monday afternoon. I cam down with a fever and bad cold. It must have been all the stress finally leaving. I took it easy for a few days and was able to get in and bake Wednesday.  It is so GREAT to have everything at my studio. I have spent the week/weekend getting everything from my house into my space. The best part is I go to work and come home to a clean house. I don't have stuff spread all over my kitchen and dining room anymore. It is all at my studio and I can leave it all there. If I need to leave and I am not completed with what I am doing I can leave it to come back to it. It is such a big relief and I just LOVE having it! All my pick-ups are now done at the studio. I am able to meet with all my brides and custom orders there as well. My home is now my home and I LOVE it. It is such a great feeling. I don't even know how to explain it except that I now feel like I can relax at home. It is going to be a great year and a busy summer. I have only a few weekends open for weddings. I did take a few weekends off this summer for some much needed R&R. I am excited to be able to enjoy the lake and pool this summer. Now I need to start training for my next 1/2 marathon that I will be running in October.

Sisters

I just got home from a visit with my sister Patsy and her boys. Thursday she had surgery to remove a Schwannoma tumor, which was benign, that was growing in her neck. It was a procedure that came up quickly but she was in great hands. The doctor operating on her was rated in the top 1% of ENT specialists in the Nation. He was amazing and answered all our questions during the procedure. He even scrubbed out to talk to us about how everything was going. We feel so blessed that we were in the right place. He removed a tumor the size of an egg from her neck and had to go to the base of her skull to get to all of it. SCARY!! No one expected it to be that big. You can do X-rays, CAT Scans and MRIs but they still didn't expect it to be that big. My husband was amazing! When we found out she was having surgery and how severe of a procedure it was he immediately said he would take time off to help. He took two days off of work and rearranged some things to help with all my orders at the store plus the kids. I am so blessed! I had to make sure everything was ready to go for Valentine's Day. On Valentine's Day I left Mankato at 1pm to head up to the cities. I spent the next few days with my nephews, sister and brother-in-law. I am grateful that I am able to do that and was able to be there with all of them. I did come home Saturday and spent some time with my family and kids. Sunday night Charlie and I headed back up to help make Sean's birthday cake and spend today with them. We were able to celebrate Sean's birthday with him today and had a great visit. I enjoyed every second of my nephews and getting to be with my sister and brother-in-law. She is recovering well and wishing she could heal faster. We have to remind her that it takes time and it has only been a few days. She looks great and her incision is healing. We are all so grateful for all the prayers, well wishes and meals that were provided for them. It is amazing how friends pull together and just make it happen. Wednesday she will get her stitches out and see her doctor. She is anxious to ask some questions and just hoping to get some answers on lasting changes. We are all hopeful that in time some of the effects from the tumor will subside and she can return to a new normal. I enjoyed my time with everyone and hope they all get back into a routine nicely. Happy Birthday Sean!

Laughter

Sometimes the best medicine is to just laugh. Ah...the stress of getting everything to coordinate together and have my space complete is frustrating. I have been anxiously waiting for a fridge and a few other supplies. Over the weekend I decided to just order the smaller items new and be okay with that. My microwave showed up yesterday and the door was busted. I just started laughing when I opened the box. It felt like the cherry on top with everything else going on. HAHA!! Seriously...how does it come with a busted door when you order it brand new and FedEx delivered it? This too shall pass and I will be up and running shortly. On a brighter note I purchased a fridge last night on auction. My husband has the resources to send drivers to go pick it up so we are going to have a fridge in my space by the weekend!! WAHOO!! Now lets hope the new door front for the microwave arrives quickly so I can get licensed.

4th Grade

I know I have said this before but I am going to say it again...4th graders know a little too much about life! I am amazed at what gets asked at home. I feel very lucky to have a son who feels okay with asking me anything. Today I got a phone call from school, which is NEVER a good thing. NEVER! 'Mrs. Otto this is Mrs. Mueller the Assistant Principal, OH CRAP, giggle from principal. We had an incident that occurred at lunch today.' In my head I am frantically thinking Emma or Braeden...CRAP! Braeden and another student were doing dares for the last few lunches and today Braeden asked the student to say....' She told me and I was appalled. Seriously! We had a conversation a week ago about this phrase and how it is really not okay. I told her I was very disappointed in my son and we have raised a better boy than that. She said if it meant anything she knew Braeden felt terrible and truly didn't understand what he was saying at all. I said well he knows he will be in big trouble when he gets home :( I am so sad today! I don't think people truly understand what it is like to parent ever. We have learned so much and Braeden is truly our experiment as we go child. We have changed a lot of things just by facial expressions when we talk to him. He is such a smart child and wants to be liked so bad. I feel like he makes bad choices to fit in. Last week we were dealing with him getting bullied at CCD. Seriously...he thought it was okay for a friend to punch him in the stomach every time he came to CCD. He told me he didn't want to go anymore because it hurt. Well that isn't a friend. I had to sit down with him and explain that true friends would never hit you or hurt you. True friends are just that a friend who wants to talk, play and have fun. UGH...Now this week he wants to fit in and gets dared to say something awful but instead of saying it he says..'No I dare you to say it!' So the kid says it and Braeden gets in trouble...BIG TROUBLE. We now have explained to him that if you have to dare someone to say anything it SHOULDN'T BE SAID! I am so amazed at what kids know and ask to know at 4th grade. I don't remember knowing any of this at all! Tonight we feel we have parented the best we know. We told him that when he doesn't know the meaning of something it shouldn't be said. I sat with him this afternoon and we looked up words that he didn't know but that were being said at school. He was amazed at the meanings and really felt bad for what was said today. Braeden got home from school and was crying. He was worried he wouldn't get his special night with my mom! He said..'I bet I don't get to go to Grandma's now do I?' He was a wreck. He knows his actions have consequences but he doesn't always understand the severity of them. I am so confused with this child because he is the most sensitive kid I know but yet can do the most stupid things! He knows so much better than what he did today. He did get to go to my mom's tonight. I felt he probably needed someone to talk to that wasn't Nick or I. Someone that could explain things to him in a much better way. Life is hard and we are learning as we go. I am appalled at what kids are saying to my child and what I have to explain or look up to explain to him. This too shall pass and we will all learn our lessons from this. No child is perfect and everyone questions everything. Curiosity will always win and get you in trouble. Lets just hope we learned a valuable lesson today and this won't ever happen again!

Road Block

Well I have hit a few road blocks as I try to get my office/store space up and running. The frustration has set in and I am just trying to push through. This too shall pass and we all hit hurdles. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of a fridge. A few people have told me they have one and then when we go to get it there is no fridge to be had. FRUSTRATING! We attempted again yesterday and again I was left without a fridge :(! Who knew this would be such a pain to get. I am trying to get a used one to save money. More shelving arrived yesterday so Nick and I will be hanging the final shelves, trim work and final things that we can do this weekend. It will be all ready to go minus a fridge! Unfortunately I can not get licensed until the fridge appears. I sent my husband to work today asking him to find me a fridge. We shall see how this day goes.