This has been SO MUCH fun! I am decoupaging my work table in my studio. I have had it for years….a freebe from when I worked in the Design Industry. It had a ugly faux marble laminate on it….no more! I took random scraps of papers and images…..and just started to place them down. Like a giant puzzle….I would find myself drawn to my studio…. to fuss around with it. I am looking into a way to seal it? More photos to follow.
Kate and I went to see Mary Poppins a couple weeks ago at the Ahmanson Theatre. A wonderful show….cute songs, beautiful sets and great dancing. We are still singing the songs around here.
Our tickets were for the 8 o’clock show on a Friday night. Oh boy….long day….lots of traffic….we made it up there about 1 hour before the show….STARVING. I didn’t have any idea of where to go….so we wandered into Kendall’s Brasserie, which is in the Music Center Complex. We didn’t have much time…..I looked at the menu…..hmmm….sweetbreads…..thats not going to work…..escargot….nope…she won’t be up for that……oh look a cheese platter! PERFECT! Heaven for both of us!
served with Ollaiberry Sauce (the last from summer’s bounty)….Yum!
This was OUR valentine’s surprise…..4 inches of water in the basement. A pipe broke on the water heater. Blake got a new pump for Valentine’s Day…..much better than a new water heater!
My new “Crafty Soul Sisters” group had a Valentines Swap! This is what I made. Scanned my favorite page from Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice and sewed it to a cute piece of cardstock. Attached the banner and the embellished Jane Austin….ish…..lady!
I dyed 10 cents a yard ribbon in …..
Cherry and Black Cherry Kool Aid!
Here they are after I squeezed out the Kool Aid….next time I will wear rubber gloves…..my hand was bright red for awhile.
I had so much fun with my Crafty Group! Brunch…..Strawberry Scones, Tomato Basil Strata, Apples dipped in cream cheese & marshmallow fluff and berry cobbler. After opening our “Swaps”….we spent a happy couple hours playing with Shrinky Dinks!
Here is what we all received!
Cute fabric “Be Mine” Banner!
A lovely necklace with heart shaped beads.
A fun clipboard/frame with a bolt for a stand…complete with decorated clothespins.
Another darling little heart cutout banner….packaged beautifully in a decorated matchbox….along with heartfelt personalized valentines.
My breakfast room decorated so sweet for Valentine’s Day….banner, decorated vase with freshly picked flowers and cute little cardboard birds with paper clip feet. I LOVE my group! Very good for my soul. I love hanging out with them….gets my creative juices flowing….but, also forces encourages me to finish a project. We are now working on our Easter Swaps! Thank you….my friends.
Blake was Santa again this year for Pixie Toys & Vangie Ogg Photography for First Fridays….here he is heading out of the house!
Of course Will & Kate had to give him a hard time before he started.
See Vangie’s whole gallery of photos of Blake and the people who stopped by to see him at this link! She takes the most amazing photos!
OK…this little girl was so cute…..came running in…..said “Hold on Santa!” and went over to her purse and pulled out candy and cookies for him! She is so chatty with him….not sure what kind of rubber creature she is holding in her hand…..and I think she is trying very hard to make sure he knows her address. Darling!
I went to a super fun “My Favorite Things” gift exchange with some of my buddies. I took my favorite pumpkin bread (shhh….Trader Joes Mix) in a cute little reindeer loaf pan with a Christmas Tea Towel and a little ornament made by Kate and me!
Here is a close up of our ornament!
We got our Christmas Tree….So easy with the new “BIG RED TRUCK”! We walked in….the man untied one tree….we spun it around and said….”Looks Good….lets go!” Gone are the days of stressing out over the “Perfect” tree!
Last weekend Blake and Will had a Boy Scout Weekend…so Kate and I had one of our fabulous Girlie Weekends. We did quite a bit of crafting. Here is Kate working on one of her Christmas Presents.
Four of my Crafty friends and I have started a Crafty Club….where we will have “Swaps”….we each make or buy someting for each person in the group! Kate helped me make these little Candy Cane Ladies. They are made out of a pink ornament with cupcake liners tiered as the skirt. Lots of time spent with the mighty glue gun!
It was the perfect time to spread out all of our goodies and work away!
This last Friday night….we bundled up and took the Whaler out to check out the lights in Naples.
We grabbed Subway sandwiches and a bottle of wine and were off.
It was pretty chilly but…..so beautiful!
I love that in Southern California we can cruise around in our boat and check out Christmas lights. Lots of Gondolas out that night! That has you pretty up to date!
Wow…it’s been hard to get back into the swing of things around here. We just finished our second week. I had a PTA meeting for Kate’s school on Tuesday night, one for Will’s school on Wednesday night and Kate’s Brownie Parents meeting last night. Somehow….we managed to incorporate wine into all of those evenings! yeah. One of my biggest challenges is trying to fix dinner that makes everyone happy….and doesn’t take all afternoon to make. I am looking for lots of crockpot recipes right now.
A couple weeks ago Blake made meatloaf for dinner and I added a baked potato and YUMMY roasted beets from the Farmers Market. I know I was pushing my luck on the beets…..Will did actually like them…but, they hated everything else. How can you hate meatloaf and a baked potato?
Every bite they took was straight from the Fear Factor TV show….they painfully took a tiny bite and then swallowed quickly…then opened their months wide to show they had finished it.
Kate got up from the table without a word and fixed her own plate.
It official….Summer is over! Here they are all spiffy….new clothes, new shoes, new backpacks and Kate’s new lunch box. Dropped Will off at the Middle School gate with his GIANT Tuba….which has taken up half of his room all summer…..he headed off with a wave. Walked Kate over to the Elementary School…..
She immediately found her buddies and they screamed with glee and hugged. About 8 of us Moms met at Bake N Broil for a celebratory breakfast!
Back to making lunches…..Will just grabs $2 and is happy buying lunch at school…..Kate is another story…..she decided last night she would like edamame, cheese and rice? So this morning I got up and made her rice…along with some First Day of School heart shaped corn muffins.
We had a great summer….it flew by! Yesterday the kids and I went to Disneyland for our last outing.
The park was not very crowded….especially California Adventure. Here is Kate with Minnie.
We finally had a Lemonade Stand….the kids have been asking all summer……I baked cookies……we made TONS of Lemonade…..and hauled everything down to the street. The earned enough money to take to Disneyland to buy their own souvenirs.
We got lots of Whaler time in this summer….
here is Kate driving thru the canals of Naples.
Love this picture of Will….the sun is setting…and probably more orange than usual due to the fires. Its my last photo of him before his back to school haircut.
We had lots of fun swimming at the Petroleum Club…..here are all the kids of my Bookclub Friends.
We made it to a Dodger Game and dined in the Club!
I took the kids to Venice Beach to see all the crazy people on the boardwalk….as you can see in the photo….this was not our most popular outing!
We went to Downtown Disney and had the Volcano Cake at Rainforest Cafe.
I’m sad Summer is over….I will miss spending all day with these two guys…..but it is time to get back on schedules and routine. Bye Bye Summer!
My niece and nephew….Annie and Gavin came to stay with us a couple weekends ago. We had a LONG list of things we wanted to do. Here are the kids the night they arrived….all in brushing their teeth…..excitedly chatting and discussing their favorite brands of toothpaste.
For our first day they wanted to head up to Los Angeles and shop on Santee Alley (home of knock-off belts, purses, sunglasses, hats and jewelry!) As we were heading up the freeway….this was the view of LA with the horrible fire in the background….looked like downtown was on fire.
Annie and Gavin selected their fine glasses for $5 each. It was way to hot down there….my car was 112 degrees when we got back in. We then headed to In-N-Out for lunch….followed by Tillys, Justice, Ross & back to Tillys for some back to school shopping. We were hot and tired!
So we decided to take the kids out on the Whaler! Must have been 25 degrees cooler down there!
Gavin drove us around….with Uncle Blake as his Co-Captain……
while the girls had fun in the front of the boat.
The next morning Blake made our famous Cinnamon Monkey Bread for the kids, while I dashed off to my Needlecraft Rummage Sale. Todays agenda was Hollywood with Gommie. When I got back…..Will and Gavin asked if we could go find Rob Dyrdek’s old house. He is a famous skateboarder that has a couple TV shows on that the kids love to watch….”Rob & Big” and “Fantasy Factory”. So we went out to my computer and were able to Google and find the address. What would Hollywood be without a little Star House Hunting. So we all piled in the van and we able to find it quite easily.
The kids were so excited….screaming “Thats it!” when they saw it.
They were even able to see the chunk out of the 3rd step….where a statue was dropped in one of the episodes.
We didn’t realize it….but, it was Michael Jackson’s Birthday and his star was right in front of the theatre.
I love the expressions on their faces……maybe this is why…….
lots of people watching!
Will and Gavin had their picture taken with Jason from Friday the 13th!
We headed over to the El Capitan to see G-Force in 3-D…..and to just sit in the AC.
Here they all are watching the Organ Player before the movie.
After the movie we crossed the street to visit The G-Force Experience….part of going to see the movie at the El Capitan. The kids had their picture taken.
Then went on the Zip Line Obstacle Course. We had a great weekend and can’t wait for them to come visit again.
Kelli and I took the kids to Crystal Cove Beach yesterday! It was very HOT….but the kids played in the water for hours. We had never been to Crystal Cove….so beautiful. We parked across the Highway and took a (air-conditioned!) shuttle with ALL of our gear to the beach.
Here they are ready for a day of fun!
Kate’s first summer of Boogie Boarding!
Griffin and Will dug a large hole/castle. I felt bad for Will…he had Sinus Surgery and his Adenoids removed two weeks ago and could not go all the way in the water.
But he was a great sport about it.
We decided to feed the STARVING children on the way home and stopped at good old In-N-Out! Came home tired and a bit sunburned, but we had a ball.
Kate finds the Apple Photo Booth…..I think she looks like a Goldfish in her bowl. Why do my kids always have to yell for me instead of coming to find me?
Last week we drove to Paso Robles to go to the Mid-State Fair with my brother, Brian’s Family. His kids Gavin and Annie have been involved with 4H this year….raising two lambs…..Roxy and Money (pronounced Monet). Here they are in their show outfits with their ribbons. They worked very hard…..barn duty….practicing…and feedings twice a day. We were very proud of them. Below are some of the highlights from our trip.
Kate and Annie with Roxy.
Tuesday night KISS was performing at the fair……we thought it would be really fun to go see them…..but the tickets were $42 each. Everyone went back to the hotel…..except for Kate, Brian and I. We decided we would try to view the concert from the top of the ferris wheel.
Here is video of us listening to the concert….awesome! We could see them stomping around in their big boots and all of the pyrotechnics.
Each day when it was starting to get too hot….we would head back to our hotel (which was right across the street from the fair) and swim for a couple hours.
We had fun with Blake’s new underwater camera.
We ate LOTS of Fair Food…corn dogs, potato chips, tacos, BBQ, Pizza, Deep Fried Oreos! With all the wineries up there you could buy a NICE glass of wine to walk around with…..perfect! Love Kate’s rolled eyes in this photo.
Then there were the rides….here is our favorite from the Del Mar Fair….The Crazy Mouse.
Unfortunately this was a preview of later in the evening.
They had fun riding lots of roller-coasters.
Kate was much braver this trip….and kept up with the big kids… that includes Blake.
Will had a blast….(Yes, Colleen….that is John’s hand-me-down jacket! Will loves it)
It was all fun….until we hit this ride. We should have had a clue from the Carnie. It was a Tilt-A-Wurl type ride….like an octopus with arms that came down and two spinning buckets on each arm. Kate and Annie in one and Gavin and Will in the other. I kept watching the kids as it was going….soon Will did not look good….head leaned back and eyes closed…I kept thinking it will end soon. The ride ended…..and all of us grown ups didn’t realize that they never took our 4 kids off……then it started up again. Will and Gavin were bad….could only see the top of Kate’s head and Annie was trying to say something to us. I started to run over to tell them to stop the ride….but, Blake called me Mama Bear and told me to let them be. Well….I should have followed my gut…..the ride just never stopped…..finally we ran over to tell them to stop it. A bit too late…..ALL 4 of them got off looking miserable……there were tears……a couple of them leaning over the trash cans… not good. After some 7-Up and a bit of walking around they started to feel better. We now call that ride….Tilt-A-HURL.
On Wednesday we drove down to Brian and Kay’s house in San Luis Obispo and took their dog, Roy, out for a run on Avila Beach…..then lunch downtown in SLO and finally a quick stop at a wine tasting room back in Paso Robles.
It was a great couple of days…..we can’t wait to get together again soon up at the cabin in Big Bear!
We started the weekend with Kate and I meeting Kelli and Griffin at The Petroleum Club for BBQ and Gin and Tonics….while the kids swam.
Blake and Will went bowling with the Boy Scouts…..Will is wearing his bowling shirt that we had custom made for his Bowling Birthday Party last year from this site….and Blake’s old bowling shoes which he decorated with Sharpies.
Will decided that he would like to start doing some of the cooking for the family….we found this recipe from Martha Stewart…..it reminded me of the Chicken Viva my Mom used to make for us. We went to Ralphs and Will read the recipe and figured out just what we needed. We came home and put the casserole together and put it in the fridge….it needs to chill overnight. Here he is Sunday night with his finished creation.
It was very tasty….a bit runny….we think from the moisture of the mushrooms….more of a stew….than a casserole. We are going to recreate Chicken Viva next time. Sunday morning….Kate and I headed down to the Farmer’s Market at Alamitos Bay to meet Kelli and Barrie. Our mission was a large quantity of strawberries for this recipe….
We found this recipe in Martha Stewart Everyday Foods magazine. This is another of Will’s creations.
Delicious!
Kate spent a large part of the day watching TV and hanging with Ziggy….
and later had a Tea Party with her American Girl Dolls.
Here you can see her food erasers from Marukai in action…..and I LOVE that Samantha has her napkin in her lap. Kate will never put HER napkin in her lap….but, now I know that it has left an impression.
Will played video games with Lucy. Later we had our fabulous dinner prepared by our new favorite chef….Will.
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