summer freedom

I think this is childhood summed up. Barefoot on a tree swing. Green grass in the shade of a Sycamore on a warm day. These are the best days- summer is approaching and the anticipation of days filled with swimming and playing is within sight. Its like one great big friday.

reminded of my blessings

wow. I was uploading some files and was struck by how many fun memories and wonderful people are in my life. one little cd has so many things to make me smile. I suppose that is why I love scrapbooking. In one album you may have 50 funny and sweet memories. I will never have enough hours in the day to complete all the possible pages that my life creates.

from saving caterpillars, and soccer games on saturday. Birthday parties and ice cream cake to 4th grade projects. Kitty birthdays and Hello Kitty bike helmets. From being part of scrapbook lifestyle and making new friends, to making pom poms for sports day at school. Don't forget coloring Easter eggs and napping cats - and not least, all the many pets we collect all along the way.

Sometimes I step back and think it must be crazy at times to have me as a mom. I hope they understand this one thing when they have children of their own:

Live life every day.

bowling night

yeah tacky shoes and all.












we took a break from mid week homework and went bowling and ate dinner at the bowling alley.

Hallie got a strike and davi won by 2 points (94) and hallie came in 2nd. we arent real good bowlers, but we have a good time anyhow.

when I look at the photo of shane and hallie, I realize how much she looks like him.

tennis anyone?

the girls went to a party yesterday. Katherines parents belong to the country club and had a tennis pro come out and play games with the girls.

they had a great time, they played really cute games and the girls didnt want it to end.

after tennis we had cake and snacks.

the only hitch was that the birthday girl fell down steps at school a few minutes before pick up time and couldnt play tennis or walk or...how sad!! she was a good sport and I think she had fun anyhow.

davi is making her a blanket to comfort her while her ankle gets better.its white fleece and she is putting a pink fringe on it.

catapillar whisperer

Hallie loves the black fuzzy catapillars. ok, she loves anything that has 4 legs, or 6 legs or no legs....she had one catapillar - "Callie" that she has been taking care of and today we were coming in from school.
she said "Oh mommy! Help me save her! There is a catapillar stuck in a spider's web!"
sure enough - she saw a catapillar between the wall and air conditioning condenser. I bent down to look - it was curled up in a ball, and I told her I thought it was dead.
She said "No, it's alive, poke it- they don't stay curled up when they are dead and he is curled up and he isn't in pieces, when they die and get all dry they break in pieces and he is whole."
Seems like sound logic, so I pull it out of the spider web and hand it to her. It moved a bit and she was sooo happy it was alive.
"Thank you! Mommy! You saved her!" **pause** "Now how do I get the spider web and dirt off her?"
I told her to brush it off and pick it off and then put it in Callie's house.
Unloading the car I hear "OK!! I cleaned her off, now how do I DRY her off??"
Me: "Ummmmm....YOU WASHED HER??"
Hallie: "Yeah, in the sink, but not with soap"
Me: "Is she still alive"
Hallie: "yeah....ummm, yeah she is!"
I told her to put her on a Kleenex and put her in Callie's House. Thinking to myself "Hmmm, where can I find another one when she kicks the bucket from drowning?"
She named her Cassie and she loves carrots. Cassie is ok, a bit damp, but just fine.

mini me

hallie put on my slippers and sun glasses and said "guess who I am?"

she pointed her finger at me and said

"Hallie Grace pick up this stuff right now!"

ouch- is this how my kids see me? Me wearing sunglasses while wearing fuzzy slippers telling her to pick up her toys?

this is so much fun

this blog thing is really fun. I love how people leave me comments that what I posted makes them smile or laugh. I am seriously taken back that someone would think my boring little life was funny enough to want to share with their friends :)

I mostly started it to speed up and organize my scrapbooking. I would have details of events, a few photos and dates all done and in one location for me to refrence and I can even just print it out

thanks everyone for leaving comments! :)

johanna

bathtime for barbie

while running a bath for the girls, I was sitting on the side of the tub. tired, glanced over and saw this. Barbie covered in piglets. Not sure what is going on here- looks like something off of Fear Factor. My kids haul absolutely every toy they own into the tub to play with - this combo is a new one.

mommy's little shop of horrors

Ok, don't get me wrong, I love being a mom. But I was watching the news and they were talking about phobias, fears and I thought about what makes me cringe, what am I afraid of? Snakes? Nope, had one as a pet, they are nice - I am not going to snuggle with a rattlesnake anytime soon, but no fears of snakes. Spiders? Nope, I am the official bug wrangler in this house. Oh, I know what sends chills up my spine.....

• when I hear "can we keep it"?
• when I see one or both of my kids running with a towel and a bottle of windex.
• over hearing "oooh, I am sooo telling mommy - you are sooo busted!"
• when I am told "close your eyes and hold out your hands..."
• the phrase "Quick! Get the plunger!"
• the question "if I tell you something, do you promise not to get mad??"
• Davi showing me two bottles of glue: "which is stronger to glue like a million pieces back together?"
• being asked "what takes off permanent marker?"
• the announcement "Stop where you are! Snaily and Shelly are loose!" - or you can insert "the hermit crabs are missing!"
• "look what I found on the ground!"
• being told "mommy- don't come in here if you don't want to get mad!!"
• "mommy - remember when you said not to paint pictures on the carpet?....."

LUCKY indeed!!!

lucky with a shaved hip





lucky at home









lucky at the vet



this is an amazing story! Shane's brother Joey rescued this kitten off a busy highway. they think he had been on the road quite a while, unable to move. the kitten had been thrown from a car, or hit by a car - or both! and was stuck between the lanes on the dotted line. the kitten, lucky - joey and julie so appropriately named- couldnt move and could only watch as huge trucks would come within inches of running him over. The vet wasnt real optimistic he would live. this is the note from julie:

"Joey was traveling from Mississippi and was driving through a town on a 4-lane road. He saw traffic swerving in and out and noticed something on the white dotted line in the middle of the lane. It was a kitten lying on his belly just looking around at the 18-wheelers flying past him. Joey slammed on his brakes and jumped out of his truck. When he went around to see, the kitten was gone. A woman behind him stopped and yelled "It's behind your tire!". Joey picked him up and jumped back in the truck. He rushed him to the vet because he couldn't walk very well and was very lethargic. Doc didn't promise us anything but said he would do all he could. "Lucky" had a broken hip that was splintered like a chicken bone. Doc put a pin in and wired it back together. He got his strength up and you wouldn't believe him- 2 weeks later. He's jumping, running and fighting The Moto.(their other cat) He is the sweetest angel I've ever seen!"

and yet another one

this was my last one, I made 5 layouts for Pine Cone press, I am mailing the editor a total of 11 or 12 layouts, I dont think she will use all of them though. I think this one was my favorite. I put it to last since it was so hard to do, I must have put 50 different backgrounds on it, white, then red, blue - no pattern paper, no blue, no maybe strips of paper...it went on for hours...and hours. this is a layout about shane's dad and his time in the service. that is the flag they put on his casket when he was buried. I thought the photo turned out nice. dignified and masculine.

welcome home

just busting them out the last few days, here is one about when shane came home from West Pac. Hallie saw the photo as I was working on it and asked "who are you hugging?" - i said "that is your daddy" she said "nooooo" - I am quite sure my 5 year old thinks I have a boy friend. She looked at the photo a bit longer and said "wow, you USE to be pretty!"...thanks. Now I am sure that she thinks my cute boyfriend dumped me when I got old and ugly.

flight deck

clever title - huh?? this is my latest layout. love the photo, have saved this for so long to do something special with it.

Day one: Life as a 10 year old

Davi had a soccer game on her birthday. They played the white waves and won 5-2. Now they go on to the finals and play the first place team. Grandma and Grandpa went to watch her game. Davi loves it when they come to watch and really kicks it up a notch when she knows they are there. Grandpa video taped it.
Grandma and Grandpa took us all out to brunch at Jimmy's. The girls love eating at Jimmy's since you can get a waffle with ice cream and whipped cream for breakfast. Chocolate ice cream of course.Davi has always wanted to tell the waiter it was her birthday and to have them sing to her. We weren't even sitting down yet and davi blurted out "its my birthday!!" they brought her fresh fruit and sang to her. You can tell we live in California (fruit instead of cake) - she took some fruit home for her hermit crabs.
She asked a few friends over and they played on the trampoline and waterslide before dinner. Davi got to pick what we had for dinner - she asked for steak, mashed potatoes, and watermelon.
Of course I made my traditional ice cream cake. It was pretty good - smores "oreo" cookies, nestle crunch ice cream, chocolate syrup and chocolate sprinkles. Madison sang us a chocolate song while we ate cake.


davi was so happy to get clothes for her birthday. Her favorite was a jacket with sequins, embroidery and crocheted cuffs - the Unfabulous line (Emma Roberts on Nickelodeon). She got a MP3 player (PINK of course). I guess life is good when you are 10.

birthday morning

davi is 10 today - wow T-E-N! so this morning - I could hear davi in her top bunk humming happy birthday to herself when she woke up. A bit later Hallie woke up and said softly "davi - you are ten now".

wow!! I made it....

I typically never win these things, but I entered the Frances Meyer DT search. Made it to the finalist phase (cant believe I have fingernails left!) - they had 20 finalists and narrowed it down to 10. I checked out the competition and figured I was sunk. Great work all of them...........but....I MADE IT!!! me- little ol me! wow. I am still in shock :) hoping shane would say lets go out to dinner tonight, but no dice. ugh. a freind of mine asked "so what is with all the french writing?" - the stickers and embellishments are all (mostly all ) in french. had to call my mom and have her translate, did not want to add a sticker that said something like "princess" on a chicken page.

hey- its monday

ok, just trying to keep up with life and laundry lately. the girls always can make me smile, even when I am stressed out or feeling overwhelmed. here are tiny bits of my day: **** I was brushing hallie's hair and it had a big knot in it- I said "oh wow, the water slide did a number on your hair- it has a big knot!" hallie said "what number is it?" **** I had asked davi to clean out her bag from her field trip. I went upstairs and the bag was still sitting there with her stuff in it. I asked her why she didnt do as I asked and she said "Mommy- I have a very tight schedule!" *** I told hallie we were going to open house, she said "do I have to wear my uniform, or can I wear relgagler.....releggagar.....relegrggle...UGH!! can I just say PLAIN clothes???" *** at a stop light Davi looked out the window and said "oh Mommy- that would make a perfect photo! (pointing at a corner of a shopping center with flowers and a waterfall) - except for the sign in the photo....oh and the pole, but it would be a perfect photo if it didnt have the lamp - oh and the red curb and...."

Mission Accomplished!!!

Ok, for a while it felt like this was "Mission Impossible" - but we started over a week ago and I had davi and hallie work on it a bit each day. (yeah had to let hallie paint popsicle sticks too!) - oh, and hallie did all 4 potted trees. Davi struggles in a lot of subjects, but shines when it comes to art. She was so proud of the fountain, she made it out of clay and painted a bottle cap and a tiny saucer for a plant. then for water she used a clear blue glue with glitter. the hand rails are skewers for bbQing and chop sticks. the girls had a blast hunting for sticks and rocks in the yard. we bought the statue, tiny pots, the building itself and orange trees and...all at the craft store. davi used paint and cream of wheat to add a stucco texture. tiles, stepping stones and stairs are fun foam. the trellis is two premade fences hot glued together with chop stick legs :) thank you panda express!! lots of popsicle sticks met their doom in the making of this building. I think the most challenging part was the sign. I didnt know how we were going to do that and davi has a hard time writing sooo small. it finally hit me, I took a photo - of a photo of the church, printed it out 4x6 on my little hp and davi cut it out and hot glued 2 skewers to the back and stuck the skewers in the styrofoam base! so cute, you can read when mass is :) davi is excited to present her mission and give her oral report. we made a cute periwinkle cover for her report and tied ribbon on the edges. I want her to feel happy when giving her oral report.

mouse cake

we have never made frodo a cake for his birthday, but after 17 years, I figured it was time. gross - but time. we bought some canned cat food, shaped it into a mouse shape, hallie added string cheese whiskers and dry cat food nose and eyes. Davi added lunch meat ears and a string cheese tail. yummy. we put a candle in it, but frodo tried to eat the cake while the candle was still lit. the girls made a wish for him and we blew out the candle. he was in heaven. Frodo started eating his cake before we finished singing Happy Birthday. Not very polite, but its ok,we will let it slide since it's your birthday

HAPPY 17th FRODO!!

Frodo turned 17 today. wow! I got Frodo (he was a stray and not in great shape) when he was about 8 months old. Never imagined he would still be here with me and my kids and husband and dog and...Frodo is my little shadow. If I walk down the street, he is there - trotting behind "chirping" his funny little bark of a meow "Mom" - it seriously sounds like he is saying "mom". If I am on the computer, he is sharing my chair or walking on the keyboard and you all read "hujikkkkkkkkkkkkkkkhdssshs" from time to time :). While I am working on digitizing, he is sitting on the stool (while I stand). When I am taking photos of the girls, there is a tail flitting through the photo. While I am doing dishes he is underfoot. When I pull up in the driveway, if he isnt on his wooden block perch, he comes running from where ever he is and greets me. He rarely sits on my lap or begs affection, he is happy just to be close by. Happy birthday my constant companion.

GECKOZILLA!!!

AAAhhhh - Father Serra - run for your life!!!! there is something wrong with all of us - this is very entertaining to us. davi has to write a report and build a California mission. we decided to let baby earie get a closer look and walk in the garden :) he seemed to enjoy the garden but was a bit disappointed he couldnt crawl inside.

added some spice to my scrapbooking!

ok, found this at wal mart, like the Kamenstein brand or something. $19.Loooooove it :) I dumped sooo many packages into those little bottles. Its all my Queen & Co goodies, except for the new stuff (its packaging couldnt be any cuter) and ribbon and anchors. I have bazillions of anchors and it looked so lost in the bottle, I put it in something different. I love the way I can see what is in the bottles, and its soo colorful and fun to spin. had to add some ribbon and just make it more me!!!