Laugh.Play.Love.Be Silly.

2011-05-30T18:29:00.000-07:00

"Don't use the baby as an ottoman...." As I was sitting and trying to think about what to post, this is what I hear my 10-year-old say to his 5-year-old sister. It sums up very well what the last six months have been like. A lot of love and a fair amount of chaos.

This seems mundane, a bookfair all boxed up, and ready to go back to Scholastic, but it's the last bookfair I'll be involved in before we move. I'm truly going to miss this, helping to run this for the last few years has been wonderful.

Now my focus is on what we're moving to, it's something I never would have expected, a house this big, it's as close to a "dream house" as we could have wanted. I'm continuing to keep my fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly.

2011-02-21T23:25:00.000-08:00

In January both me and Matthew celebrate birthdays, and we celebrated at Disneyland once again. This time we included great friends, and our newest addition...as it turns out, Disneyland with a 4-month-old is actually pretty easy!

The view from our room at the Grand Californian, and worth every penny! Being this close to the park during a four day stay, with three kids in tow, is invaluable. Plus the view is awesome!

2010-11-26T23:03:00.000-08:00

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving...

On Monday we'll be heading back to Shriner's for removal of Mia's casts, and she's scheduled to be fitted with the brace and boots. Hopefully, all goes well!!

2010-11-10T15:09:00.000-08:00

Babies and Photobooth are just a great combination!

2010-09-19T23:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a long, long time since I've posted, but here is the reason for my absence...

...Amelia Mary Cathryn, who arrived September 1st via emergency c-section, weighing in at 7 lbs, 10 oz!! So far she is not only beautiful, but the best baby! It's been an adjustment, getting used to being a mom to three, but I'm fortunate enough to have wonderful children.

At our 20 week ultrasound we found out Amelia has bilateral clubfoot, her feet are turned in, and curve around her bottom.

She's been treating successfully with Dr. Lerman at Shriner's Hospital, and we're in the final stretch of casting. In three weeks she'll move from casts to her boots/brace for the next four to five years. It was a daunting proposition when we learned of the treatment plan, and it certainly hasn't been easy, but it hasn't been the horrible experience I expected. I'm so grateful for the family support we've had, without it this would experience would have been overwhelming.

2010-05-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

After a few months of feeling really worn down with the first trimester of pregnancy, I finally had the energy to start spring cleaning, my office was first on my attack list!

It's been a shamefully long time since I started creating this kids space in my office, I bought this table at the end of last summer, with the intention of creating a space in here where the kids can play. There's an easel right outside the door we can drag in for painting projects, and enough as been done in two days that there's already paint on the carpet! That's when you know it's been a fun day!

And fortunately I've got a large supply of Play-Doh, because this seems to be Sofie's favorite way to play with it.

Matthew made some gorgeous flowers out of pipe cleaner and some old Heidi Swapp blossoms lingering, I'll post pictures in a few days.

2010-04-24T12:44:00.000-07:00

A lot has been happening in the last six months, mostly happy things, but definitely things that needed some time away. Most happily we're expecting our third child, and I'm exactly 20 weeks today! I finally feel like I'm coming out of the first trimester stupor to rejoin the land of the living!

I started the Ali Edwards "A Week in the Life" Challenge last week, but ran into some obstacles in getting the project finished (I'm not sure it would look the same with absolutely no pictures!). It's a great challenge, and I need the kick in the pants to get some scrapping done, so it's going on my calendar for a week in May, just so I can make it a priority. Here are some of the pictures I did manage to capture:

Sofie's first day on the bus. She's ridden it for a week now, and so far has not made it home without falling asleep.

My mom might disagree, but I love this picture; she prefers posed photos, so I'm sure I'll hear about this! Part of the last week was spent visiting with my grandma, and soon she'll be living close by full-time, so we'll be having more of these moments!

2009-09-13T22:59:00.000-07:00

This is a terrible photo, but it's late, so it is what it is! I'm just thrilled to have accomplished this much scrapbooking this weekend, considering it's the first real effort in months.

Tomorrow I'm starting a weeklong project, to both make my life in my office happier, but to get a lot of scrapbooking done in the process. I'll be posting a "Before" photo tomorrow, and on Friday I'll hopefully be ready to post the "After"...fingers crossed!

2009-09-13T11:23:00.000-07:00

I love this picture of John and his cousins, Lisa and Allison, so much I had to repost it here, and it's definitely now in my pile of pictures I want to scrap.

I think what I love most about this picture is the expression on John's face, and how much Sofia looks like him; this is the same expression she gives me when I catch her doing something naughty!!

2009-09-07T14:58:00.000-07:00

We've had a wild, wonderful summer, and now we're back to work! School has started, and it's time to get back to our "normal" schedule. I can't believe Matthew is already a 3rd grader!!

There's less than a month until Sofie is 4 years old!! With the help of my mom, grandma, and "Auntie" Cathie, I've planned what can only be described as a birthday extravaganza! Here's a hint of some of what's been planned :

And today is the first day I've been able to get some scrapping done since June, I'm hoping to finally get back on track.

2009-05-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

Since taking two months away from blogging, scrapping, and spending time with my friends, it's time to get back into the swing of normal life. Last January my sweet son was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome, and since then it's been a roller coaster learning to deal not only the condition itself, but the cycle of medications and their side effects. Two months ago we hit a wall with his first medication, and since then we've been working to get back to some sense of normalcy.

I just want to extend a huge thanks to my friends, especially Cathie, Diana and Patti, for being so patient with my anti-social behavior, I'm incredibly grateful!!

Happy Tuesday :)

2009-04-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

This week was my week to teach art in Matthew's class, and I had an unexpected helper when Sofie's teacher called in sick. I didn't want to disappoint Matthew and his class by canceling, and I figured how much trouble could she get in to? Hah!! 20 minutes into class she pooped her pants. Shockingly none of the kids noticed the smell, but Mrs. B and I just about passed out! I couldn't stop to change her, because we had a limited amount of time to get the project done.

After taking a second to regain my composure, I start explaining a complicated cutting pattern to the class, when Mrs. B suddenly whispers loudly "Sofie's cutting her own hair!!!" Sure enough, I look to the back of the room to see Sofie sawing away at her hair with kid scissors!! Oh well, at least hair grows back.

Here's a layout I completed with the Scrap for a Cure April kit. I've wanted to scrap these pictures for awhile, but it was hard to find paper that went well with the Spaghetti-O sauce all over her face. This GCD flocked paper matched perfectly, and I love the contradiction of the beautiful flocked paper with the messiness on her face. And the Tim Holtz grunge ribbon looked so cute in her hair.

Happy Thursday :)

2009-03-31T06:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of the boys flying a kite on Sunday. They were hilarious about the whole process, there is truly untold drama in kite flying!!

Finally airborne....

And even though his friend hadn't had a turn flying his own kite (his dad got it flying for them), he let Matthew go first. We're lucky that Matthew has such a wonderful and kind hearted friend.

I wanted to get some layouts done by today, but had to take care of some medical stuff done for the kids yesterday, but I'm looking forward to having some time this afternoon to create some layouts with these pictures.

Happy Tuesday!

2009-03-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

We spent an exciting afternoon with my mom at the Exploratorium yesterday afternoon, Sofia loved being in a place where she was allowed to touch everything!!! And it's one of Matthew's favorite places to go, the kid definitely likes science.

And here's a picture of Matthew in front of our house....I wish!! Of all the houses near the Palace of Fine Art, we decided this was our favorite.

As you can see, even the adults like playing at the science museum! One of the things that makes my mom such a wonderful grandmother, is how much she likes to play, too.

I couldn't resist, this just fit her perfectly!

Just when I think Matthew's getting to be too serious, he does stuff like this! This is his impression of a Who, proving you're never too old for Dr. Suess. I have a picture of my mom wearing this homemade Who hat, but I fear what the consequences would be if I posted it! It may show up soon on a layout, though, so keep your eyes peeled.

Happy Sunday :)

2009-03-28T14:10:00.000-07:00

Any day there are cupcakes for lunch is a good day! Especially super pretty cupcakes like this one, it was so cute I almost couldn't bring myself to eat it...almost :)

Matthew's chocolate on chocolate looked almost to die for, until he licked all the frosting off, and decided he was too full for the cake part. It didn't look quite as pretty licked clean! But he had a great time doing it, and that's what counts when there are cupcakes for lunch.

And to work off some cupcake, we climbed to the top of the lookout tower at the mall, and had a very scientific discussion as to why it's so much windier when you're taller than the buildings around you. I love scientific discussions I know the answers to.

We're off to the aquarium, I hope everyone's having a great weekend!

2009-03-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

I got some journaling done last night, here's a layout from last weekend. My wonderful husband gave me an 8.5"x11" American Craft album for Christmas, and slowly but surely I've been doing some layouts for it.

Things yesterday seemed pretty calm; I got up early, had several cups of coffee before the kids were out of bed. I cleaned most of the house, and even made beef stew and homemade bread for dinner. It was a calm, relaxed day.

That's when Matthew walks into the kitchen and said "Sofie colored on my sandwich." That's a statement that will bring your brain to a screeching halt. Colored a sandwich? That can't possibly be right!

Sure enough, she'd found a marker, and when Matthew's back was turned, she colored on his sandwich! Just when I think she's colored on anything that can be colored on (the TV, couch, dining room chairs, art work at school, etc, etc), she finds something else!

After her food related antics, I feared dinner might be her next target. I'm glad I saved these baby monitors, they come in very handy! Plus they have an intercom feature, so every time she set foot in the kitchen I could yell at her to get out! She doesn't believe it's me though, she's convinced the kitchen has a ghost...whatever it takes to keep her out

Yep, she's frequently a pain the rear! But she's also my biggest cheerleader. She followed me around for 20 minutes yesterday while I vacuumed yelling "you did it Mommy, you did it!!" No one else does that for me! She's goofy, but she makes life fun!

Happy Friday!

2009-03-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

I didn't think I'd actually gotten much done at the crop retreat last weekend, but 7 layouts isn't too bad, for me at least! Only one actually got any journaling on it, but I have an admittedly hard time concentrating in room filled with 100 women and 2 MP3 players. I may not have been too productive, but I had a great time!

As Spring Break winds down, we're finally spending some time at Grandma's house. On a trip one of my many trips back from the car, I found one of the dogs lounging in the middle of the driveway, and had to take his picture.

This is the original Bolt, my kids were thrilled when the movie came out, they thought it was a movie about Grandma's dog! He looks all relaxed and mild-mannered, but he's named Bolt for a reason; leave a gate open and he's half way across town in 10 minutes! Many exciting hours have been spent searching for Bolt, but he always meanders home.

This is another shot I could not help myself from taking! Grandma's new TV must be hypnotic, because Sofie looks like she's been stunned!

And thirty seconds when everyone was actually sitting still...a very rare occurrence!

2009-03-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was spent at a fabulous scrapbooking retreat with friends, and I finally feel as though I've recovered! It's funny how time spent away from screaming kids, housework, etc, etc, should be relaxing, and I should return home refreshed, but it's usually totally the opposite!

I didn't get much done scrappy-wise, maybe only 6 layouts, but I had a great time hanging out with friends, and meeting new people, all of whom live in my area. I did manage to get a scrappy room cleanout out of the weekend, too, since the organizers have a "share"bin; you can bring in product you don't want anymore, and take something away for yourself. It was a fabulous opportunity to get rid of stuff that I either know I won't use, or things I forgot I had.

Sofie is still so excited to have me home, two days after I've returned! This morning she brought me a present....her breakfast sippy in an empty Kleenex box! She was so thrilled with her "gift," she even did a big dance routine when presenting it to me. Now I just have to figure out how to get it downstairs without her noticing...it was a wonderful gesture, but this sippy will not smell nice for long!

2009-03-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

While sitting in my office yesterday morning, drinking coffee, reading blogs, I hear this little voice, "whooooo whoooo, I a scawy ghost!" Then this apparition came stumbling into my office :

I'm not exactly sure why, but ghosts have become Sofia's latest obsession, she even claims to see one wandering the house sometimes! Then I discovered Matthew's been watching Scooby-Doo movies in his room, which I feel confident, solves the mystery of Sofia and her ghostly friend.

I've managed to get some scrapping in this week, making a few cards with Jenni Bowlin's January kit,

and some layouts with March's kit.

And I'll be spending the entire weekend with friends (Patti & Diana) at Scraptacular Getaway, working with some kits I've been wanting to finish up. With two full days (and nights), it should be pretty easy to get a lot done!

Happy Friday :)

2009-03-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally finished cleaning my office, it's the hardest room in the house to clean, since it seems to be where everything we don't know what to do with ends up. But I love my pink office, and when it's clean and tidy I feel a little more like everything is right with the world.

Now that I've posted these, I realize I didn't photograph half the room. Our computer desk has never been so tidy and organized, so I'm definitely getting pictures of it as soon as the sun comes up! Those pictures will be lovely to look at once the desk is covered in homework, mail, movies, etc, etc.

And don't forget to leave a comment, for some Pay It Forward scrappy goodness!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

2009-03-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

Erin Benaim, one of the Scrap for a Cure design team members, was generous enough to offer to "Pay It Forward," and is sending some wonderful scrap goodies to some lucky scrappers some time in the next 365 days. It's a wonderful idea, and I feel fortunate to get to keep it going, so the first 5 people to leave a comment will get a treat some time during the next year!

With the spirit of gift giving in mind, I had to snap this picture of Sofia, loving a box of children's silverware (yes, silverware) my parents brought her from Europe. She carried this box around the better part of the day, and when I found her curled up in her bed with it, I had to get a picture!

Our first official day of Spring Break went as planned, and we pretty much did nothing, in fact the kids stayed in their pyjamas all day, I finally changed to sweats around 1:00 PM. I did work on getting my office straightened up, and a stack of filing finished, but now I feel even more relaxed that more chaos has been conquered!

And I did get the grocery shopping done, my favorite way, by having the lovely delivery man from Safeway bring it to us! Since I'm sure they frown on a grown woman grocery shopping in sock monkey pyjamas, it was the only way to get the task done :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

After two weeks traveling around Northern Europe, my parents are home! They go several times a year, but I can't remember them being gone for this long, so it was wonderful to get to talk to them again.

My mom very generously shared some chocolate she picked up in Belgium, they really looked too beautiful to even consider eating, but I somehow managed to force myself :)

I love Early Grey tea, so choosing this chocolate was a no brainer for me...and it tasted like the best cup of Earl Grey in the world!

While waiting for my parents to arrive on Saturday, I took over their dining room table to get some work done on this month's Jenni Bowlin kit. I managed to get several done,

this is my favorite of the bunch. I didn't have my Slice with me, so put them up once titles and things are done.

Happy Monday!

2009-03-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

The first thing Matthew said to me this morning, "one more day until Spring Break," and Friday is always his favorite day anyway! After all it's Frosty Friday, assuming of course, he'll be good at school again today. If he's good at school all week, we go to Wendy's after school and get Frosties...even I love Frosty Friday. When I tell him in the morning to be good, it's with a niggling sense of urgency, because come Friday, we get Frosties!!

Even Sofie gets to participate in Frosty Friday, though she's already provided herself with a treat this morning. After dealing with a load of laundry, I went downstairs to find she'd raided the fridge (which I didn't know she could get open), and eaten a carton of sour cream. Personally I hate sour cream, so I'm keeping a clear distance until her breath loses that soury creamy odor!

At some point today I want to work with the February Jenni Bowlin kit, this picture of Matthew at Disneyland just fit The Farmer's Wife line so well!

And yesterday afternoon the March Jenni Bowlin kit arrived!! I'm not too embarrassed to admit (though I probably should be) that I was so excited I slipped off the porch, and twisted not just my ankle but my entire calf. Fortunately my neighbors saw it happen, so I didn't have to laugh at myself all alone :)

Happy Friday!

2009-03-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

I walked into my son's room last night, and saw this :

And that sweet, adorable little girl (if you can find her in this picture) is the culprit responsible for the entire mess! I could not believe she achieved this level of destruction in a short period of time!! After walking in on this, I turned and walked right back out, took a few deep breathes, and went back in; I actually had to do this about four more times, and drink a glass of wine, before I could start to tackle the mess. Fortunately, my ridiculously over-organized system for putting his toys away paid off, and more than half the mess was picked up in about 20 minutes, which is fair since it only took her that long to destroy the room in the first place.

After dealing with that, I locked myself in my office, and finished up some more layouts, two from the March SFAC kit, and one from Jenni Bowlin's January kit.

Hopefully I'll have some more time today to finish up some projects, but I'm pretty content with what I've done so far this week, so if the bathrooms refuse to clean themselves again today, I don't mind locking myself out of my office to get other, more practical stuff done.

Happy Thursday :)

2009-03-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of my finished layouts from the Lucky kit

I love this Bella Blvd paper, and couldn't not bring myself to cut it up! This kit has been a blast to play with, and I've gotten a lot done with it; I've added about 3 sheets of cardstock, and so far finished 7 layouts. I have enough left to complete one more layout, and a few cards, I hope to have that done by the end of the week.

Using the MM Slice helped to get this layout done, and though I'm not ordinarily a huge fan of die cut shapes on my layouts (beyond the occasional swirl), I had to add this spider, and Matthew really liked the end result.

I heard a rumor some Michael's locations were carrying the Slice, so I headed over to my local M's yesterday, but alas, no Slice stuff. They did have all the Martha Stewart products 30% off, and I had to get these zinnia stickers, I can't wait to get them on some layouts!

Happy Hump Day, I'm off to make copies at school :)

2009-03-10T07:46:00.000-07:00

With only a week to go until Spring Break, the plan is to finish Spring Cleaning, at least that's my plan. Sofie's plan is to continue to do her best impression of a human tornado! This has been the near constant state of our family room for two weeks, and she has left Matthew's room almost unrecognizable. Having one kid with OCD, and another who prefers constant chaos is starting to make my hair gray!!

Things did not go as planned at the dentist, no fillings were done, but there was quite a bit of crying (a lot of it from me when we got home!). I wish this picture was from after his dental visit, but he didn't even look this happy!

My scrappy goals this week are to finish a couple of mini books I've had laying around, and finish the last of the SFAC March kit, then I will be ready for the March Jenni Bowlin kit, which should be here by the end of the week.

Happy Tuesday, and thanks for stopping by!

2009-03-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

Sofie's coming home this afternoon, and I'm so excited to see her! Spending the day with just Matthew was great, and we all had a great time, but by the end of the day the house was way too quiet.

We spend our afternoon near my mom's house, and visited one of my favorite stores, The Container Store! I've been searching for a washable microfiber duster, with a refill, and finally found one there. Exciting stuff!

We stopped in a little boutique after lunch, and Matthew took my picture wearing this mask. He got frustrated when I wouldn't say "cheese," until he realized it wouldn't make a difference; nothing would make the mask smile!

Matthew's having his first dental filling this morning, wish us luck!

2009-03-08T11:31:00.000-07:00

As the world's slowest scrapper, I actually set a record yesterday, finishing four pages at one crop! I also took a class from Patti, one of the Scrap For a Cure girls, and made a beautiful 6x6 book.

Today we're having a "day of adventure" with Matthew, since Sofie is spending the weekend at a grandparent's house. It's fairly commonplace for one of the grandparents to take Matthew for a weekend, but not vice versa; though I miss her already, I'm excited to spend the day with Matthew.

Don't forget Daylight Savings today!!

2009-03-06T12:07:00.000-08:00

Oh, boy...I've once again found myself facing a pile of ironing of epic proportions. This has been my system for several years: let the ironing pile up over the course of 3-4 weeks, spend 2-3 solid days ironing everything (all the while swearing I will never do this again!), then let it pile up again for 3-4 weeks, and so, and so on. This time, though, things will be different! I've now accepted, at least for the time being, that this is my system, and will not beat myself up about it :) The funny thing is, I really like ironing, since what's to hate? It's chore where you get to stay in one place, everything you touch is clean, and you can watch TV!

In the grand scheme of things, letting the ironing pile up isn't a crime, and as long as everyone leaves the house in clean clothes, we're all good. And once we finish getting the house in order, which is very close to being done, staying on top of this will not be a big deal.

This is truly a rare sight, Sofie napping. After the week she's had I can't say I'm surprised, and it's giving Matty and I a rare opportunity to hang out one-on-one. It's not often he gets to complete a sentence uninterrupted!

Happy Friday!

2009-03-05T13:02:00.000-08:00

Today has been all about playing catch-up from the last few days, and getting everything around here picked up, so I can spend this Saturday away, by myself, guilt-free! Yesterday was spent running all over Oakland getting things done, and getting home in time to run errands here, and working on homework.

Here is the end result of Sofia's visit to Children's Hospital, four vials of blood taken! It seemed excessive for such a small person, but she seems no worse for wear. She absolutely refused to let anyone take this bandage off, it stayed from 11:00 am - 8:00 pm, and though I'm sure that's horribly wrong somehow, I also know when to pick my battles!

Our other errand, since we were in Oakland, was a trip to IKEA. Sofia and I had lunch there, then bought lamps for the living room. She insisted she wanted meatballs for her lunch, then of course shoved them aside for my lunch :) It was for the best, I shouldn't eat french fries anyway. Below is what she got for being a good girl for the neuro, and getting her blood drawn. She's been playing on it almost constantly, and is now wonderfully worn out!

In Matthew News :

Every day at school this week the kids have to wear something strange. Yesterday was "Backwards Day", and I'm so happy Matthew was willing to do it! He's been so particular about things lately, and I was worried he wouldn't want to do anything that wasn't "normal". He wasn't on board to do the crazy hair thing on Monday, but since his hair is so crazy on its own, and it's too hard to work with anyway.

John didn't realize that yesterday Matthew was supposed to wear his shirt backwards, and started to get seriously worried that there was something wrong with him!! Poor John, it was hard not to laugh at him, but I couldn't help myself either. Thankfully he loves me as much as he does :)

2009-03-04T07:29:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited, we just received this painting from my grandma, and I can't wait to hang it up! My grandma has been painting for over 60 years, and she's painted wonderful portraits of all of us, this is the first of Sofia. What I love most about this one of Sofia, is it's from one of my favorite pictures of her, it's a great memory from a really fun day. There are other pictures of her from this day on the slideshow; as you can see my grandma painted pants on Sof, so she's not flashing us forever :)

These are the layouts I've done so far with the SFAC March kit, hopefully I'll be able to get a few more done before this weekend. My goal is to finish the kit by Friday.
Well, off to Children's Oakland, wish us luck....I'm not feeling confident Sofia will be very cooperative.

2009-03-03T08:20:00.000-08:00

Just when I think my darling daughter has grown past the stage of near constant mischievousness, we have a day like yesterday. She somehow managed to get hold of two boxes of macaroni & cheese, and spread them all over the family room. Later she "stole" three apples from the kitchen counter, and ate a little bit of each of them.

I discovered later that her rampage had continued when I found 7 bananas mashed behind the couch. Fortunately only one banana escaped its skin, so the rest are destined for banana bread. Days like this used to be the norm for Sofia, but lately they are few and far between, so when they happen it's far more emotionally draining, at least for that day.
A lot of positive things do come from her annoying antics; by the next day I can usually start finding them amusing, and I've gained a broad range of stain removal techniques! From the above picture I will learn how to remove lollipop from microsuade :)

2009-03-02T16:04:00.000-08:00

As the saying goes, march in like a lion, out like a lamb. So far we've got the lion part, so hopefully Spring should be mild. It's been really blustery here today, alternately raining and sunny, but the wind has been relentless. The kids keep running to the door to see who's there, just to again find that it's just branches banging against the side of the house. Below are pictures of only two of the many rainbows that have been out today, some were the most brilliant rainbows I've ever seen!

And the day been spent on the run, a pretty typical Monday. I taught art in Matty's class, which is always way more fun that I think it will be; I'm always afraid the kids are going to hate the project we do, but thankfully they're always really excited. Today they sketched from a posable wooden model, then made clothes for their sketches with construction paper. The models were a huge hit, and everyone (except Matty, who's decided he does not like art) finished, a huge relief!!

I picked up my Scrap for a Cure kit, and I can't wait to actually use it!! The subscription is a birthday gift from my fabulous mom, and I am determined to not let them sit and collect dust. There are so many wonderful women on the SFAC forum, who also post numerous layouts in the gallery, there's plenty of inspiration, and no reason a kit should just sit!! Here's my kit, and hopefully by the end of the week I'll have most of it used!!

Greetings from Disneyland

2009-01-22T15:50:00.000-08:00

We've had an exciting week, a lot of travel, and our trip is coming to a close. Matthew has really enjoyed his week long birthday celebration, and in light of recent events in his life, he really deserves to have a really happy birthday. And Sofia has benefited by association, and has been living it up at Disneyland; she's already stated very firmly that Sleeping Beauty's Castle is hers!!

2009-01-11T19:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a really fun weekend, the time just flew too fast. I got to spend a lot of time with friends, scrapping and relaxing. John got to spend some time in Sac with an old friend and his family, and spent some quality time with Sof. Matty spent Saturday playing with Patti's kids while we moms scrapped the day away. We are an exhausted bunch tonight!!

I love this picture of Patti and Diana working diligently during the Relaunch Party, with trusty Vaughn by their side. The poor guy just desperately wanted to go to bed!

I have the best time scrapping with The Girls, and everyone on the Scrap For A Cure forum is so kind and encouraging, it makes for a great group scrap with. Here's the layout I did for my challenge, I've been wanting to scrap these pictures for awhile now, and I was thrilled to get a chance to share them with everyone by creating a challenge with them for the Relaunch Party!

Thanks Girls :)

And now that we're winding down from the weekend to start a new week, Sofia is as usual still running at full speed. While trying to get Matty ready for bed, I found Sof adding dress-up stuff to her ensemble instead of getting ready for her bath. I had to take a picture, she was just so thrilled with her pretty princess gloves, etc.

Our countdown to Matthew's birthday trip to Disneyland is winding down, and I can't wait to see the look on his face when we get there. Have a great week everyone!

2009-01-06T17:35:00.000-08:00

I didn't realize until today that my last post was in November!! I knew I'd been procrastinating about posting again, but this is ridiculous!!

We had a great holiday season, and I'm almost recovered. A week after Thanksgiving I was finally and officially diagnosed with hypothyroidism, and I'm so relieved to have a reason for feeling so exhausted and run down all the time. The treatment will take a minimum of three months before I feel much difference, but after a few weeks I'm already noticing some minor improvements; and just knowing things will get better makes me happy.

One of my goals this year is to continue to take photos of the ordinary things in my life, and this is an example of one of those things.

Sofia has developed a very strong opinion about her wardrobe, and what she's willing to wear at any given moment (this changes frequently throughout the day). The sweat pants were a compromise, since it is January, and she only seemed to think I was being mildly unreasonable.

This week

2008-11-16T19:50:00.000-08:00

After reading my last post I've resolved to never update my blog after 10:00 PM ever again! I apparently get rambly and punchy at about 1:00 AM!

This week I'm resolved to stick with two goals : 1. getting my artistic to-do's caught up; 2. and more importantly, make progress with potty-training. Since the second goal pretty much dictates that me and Sofia stay close to home, I'm hoping the first goal will be more easily accomplished.

Later this week I'm going to start a new project, and I hope anyone reading this will play along. Look for an update Tuesday or latest Wednesday for the post. And be sure to check the SFAC forum!

A Not So Wasted Day

2008-11-16T00:54:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how, even though the goal of staying home for the last few weeks was (for the most part) achieved, not much was actually accomplished! Today I celebrated the act of not doing much by spending it watching Patti and Diana work toward building their business. Some definite progress was made, and it was actually another remarkably relaxing day.

John will be back to work this week, and Sofie will start preschool "full" time, and my hope is that I will be more productive in the coming weeks. My friend Diana just wrote about how there never seems to be enough time in the day for all the things she want to do, and yet there are people who seem to conquer the world on a near daily basis. My dream for this week is I become more like these "world conquering" people! The first goal : potty-training.

Sofie has already had some potty success (could Election Barbie be forgotten!), but now it's the time to hunker down and get serious. My plan to conquer the potty? Stay home for anything but school, and spend the bulk of our time sitting on the potty reading books and singing every song we know. Grandma has already offered a fabulous bribe....a family trip to Disneyland if Sof can be trained within the next month! Sofie is already addicted to watching the Haunted Mansion intro (scary!), and singing along with the birds in the Enchanted Tiki Room on the Disney website. Anything to keep her motivated!!

Fingers crossed we'll have success!! And advice is always welcome.

What a week!

2008-11-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

Just when you think you've seen just about everything, something new appears. This is Election 2008 Barbie, and Sofia picked her out all by herself; Sofia earned a treat for going potty at Les Schwab, her first public potty success (it was the cleanest public restroom I've ever seen!). She insisted she wanted a Barbie, and I relented. I offered Bridal Barbie or Fairy Barbie, but once Sofia saw Election Barbie it was the only one she would consider. Election Barbie comes with a cell phone, computer, and an Inaugural gown. We're not sure of Barbie's political leanings, but she makes Sofia happy.

It should be a very hectic week, between John's surgery and the onset of the cold season; Matthew's been home for most of the week with a fever, and I seem to be falling victim to it as well. I've decided, however, that unless it's critical, no one is leaving the house! We have enough groceries and household items, and Netflix and Kindle continue to provide entertainment, so as a family we have no excuse to not relax after the chaos that has gone on since spring. As John likes to joke, we need to "stop and take it all in."

2008-11-03T21:45:00.000-08:00

It seems this election has been going on for years, and when you do the math, it almost has! I heard somewhere today, that this election process has been going on for the last 20 months, which is about two thirds of Sofia's lifetime! While I'm excited about the prospect of change, I'm just as thrilled at the idea of no longer having to listen to the mud slinging and political rhetoric of a campaign. To that end, I wanted to do something to celebrate this event, and have decided to treat the day as a "new years" of sorts; and besides, because John as surgery on Election Day, we've already voted via absentee ballot, so now all that's left to do is sit back and enjoy the democratic process in action.

I've decided to spend the next two days working through my current creative to-do list (shown above), while watching one of my favorite documentaries, the History Channel's "The Presidents" series. I find it strangely addictive! And whenever I work on a huge project, such as painting a room or finishing a lengthy to-do list, I turn this on; since it lasts 6 hours it gives me a fun and easy way to gauge my progress.

I will be posting pictures of some of my completed projects, and the kids in their Halloween costumes later this week!

On A Scrappy Note....

2008-10-26T11:25:00.000-07:00

A few days ago Jenni Bowlin put up some sneak peaks for next month's kit....the papers are wonderful! I love her style, and November's kit promises to be one of my favorites. And I cannot wait to see if she releases some kits of her classes from Silver Bella, they would be a great addition to our stockpile of Christmas decorations!

As a fan of Tim Holtz, I'm thrilled Distress Stickles are hitting the market! Personally, I have a lot of fun with glitter, and Stickles have been made using glitter much easier, because using glitter can otherwise be so messy; with Stickles I don't find glitter on the kids once I'm done with a project. With Distress Stickles it will finally be easier to get the glass glitter look, without having to risk getting glass shards in your hands.

Ali Edwards has put some more examples from blog readers for her "Week in the Life" project, and they are all so beautiful! The project is such a great idea, and it fabulous to see what people are doing with it. And Ali's Halloween mini book is really cool, definitely worth checking out; I definitely need to get some more of the Hambly web rub-ons after seeing what she's done with it!

The Golden Gate

2008-10-25T22:10:00.000-07:00

As usual, having Andy here makes for a fun weekend. This time we spent the afternoon crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, and having dinner on Fisherman's Wharf, typical touristy stuff John and I have done many times before, but are always fun to do again.

Today was the perfect day for being on the bridge, clear skies and wonderful breeze (and not just from the passing cars), and there were seemed like hundreds of sailboats in the bay.

2008-10-16T12:16:00.000-07:00

Once again it's become an incredibly hectic week, a recurring theme around here. I did get some time to work on the newest Jenni Bowlin project kit, otherwise it's been doctors appointments, meetings and a field trip!

Here's what I got to do to make myself happy in the midst of crazines...I'll post pictures of the finished products later (or you can visit Jenni's site, since it'll be exactly the same :) )

SFAC Monday Challenge - That's me?!?

2008-10-13T20:50:00.000-07:00

I love this idea, scrapbooking a picture of yourself from childhood. It's so easy to focus on preserving our children's antics, but frankly my kids are just as interested in what me and my husband did as children. I've had a great time this afternoon digging through my baby pictures, reminiscing about things like this swing set; in my mind this was the coolest thing I'd ever had!

To add to my crafting pleasure, I've finished six layouts in the last two days, and I can still see the top of my desk and the floor in my office!! It's truly a scrapbooking miracle. Furthermore, my mom sent me "Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day", and I can't wait to watch it tomorrow while I work on the SFAC challenge. Tomorrow promises to be a great day :)

2008-10-11T12:22:00.000-07:00

I saw this bumper sticker when we were in San Francisco last week, and I love it!! And it reminded me how much I love some forms of Danish food....I'm craving frikadeller!! So bad!!

Between this, and the most recent post on Pink Latte, I want to job on a plane right now for an extended stay in DK. It's been way too long!!

A Day at the Museum

2008-10-07T18:18:00.000-07:00

We spent an adventurous afternoon at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, Matty wanting to see dinosaurs, and the rest of us wanting something fun and interesting to do. I've been there several times growing up, but hadn't been back in about 20 years. A major renovation has just been finished, and though we saw most of the museum, there a few things we need to go back and check out.

One of the coolest things they had was a rainforest exhibit, at the top there were hundreds of butterflies, or according to Sofie, "butterbies"; she was chased by a butterfly across the atrium, much to the delight of about 40 people! After that she enjoyed the "butterbies" from a safe distance.

Today was my last day for Ali Edwards "Week in a Life" challenge, and now I have to start figuring out how I want to put everything together. She has some great formatting ideas, including templates for creating separation for each day. Her finished project looks great, and she uses baseball card pages for hers! I love that idea, and plan to "scraplift" it.

I also want to send a shout out to the Scrap for a Cure girls for the success with their October kits. They have only two of the main kit left, and I highly recommend it; they are serious that there is 25% more product...I've never had this much stuff come in a kit! Check it soon, last I checked there are only 2 left.

New adventures...

2008-10-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

Finally the weather started to be more autumnal, and we could go for a walk without suffering heat stroke! And Sof was able to start utilizing her birthday gifts...she looks fabulous her new sunglasses; the stroller also got quite a workout. She actually made it almost all the way home pushing the stroller herself, for which John was very grateful.

The other remarkable event of the day was that I was out of bed at 4:45 am on a Sunday! I spent the morning at the Alameda Antique Fair with friends, and found some great items, including a typesetter drawer I've been lusting for ever since I saw what Ali Edwards did with hers. It's in great condition, and just needs some minor repairs, then I can start filling it with goodies!

Speaking of Ali Edwards, I've had a wonderful time working on the Week in a Life challenge, it's really jump started my enthusiasm for scrapbooking. Things have been so hectic lately it's been difficult to focus on one project long enough to complete it; but Week in a Life has refocused my attention, and it's been so much fun focusing on the everyday things that are usually so mundane, and distract from other things I'd rather be doing. I'll try to have photos up later this week of some finished products.