Sunday, November 30, 2008

too soon?

We made an impromtu trip down to Fashion Island on Friday night. We really wanted to go to The Grove but were afraid of the hoards of shoppers that would all be fighting for OUR parking space. So with 3 starving kids, against their will, we headed to Newport Beach. Low and behold Santa was ALREADY there. We were unprepared, and unrehearsed. No letters, no lists, nothing! But in we went... Their conversations with the big man in red went as follows...

Hunter: "I am not ready to talk to you. I don't know what I want. I will take some pencils if you have them."
Davin: "(long sigh)...Uhhhhh Do you got any G.I. Joe's?"
Avery: " I want a Nintendo DS...pause...no, wait, I'll take a female lizard."
Maybe because it is not even December, that visit to Santa doesn't really count. Does it?
Although we weren't there for longer than an hour, it was a sight to see. Beautiful. Well worth the drive. And Dusan and I got a good laugh while we were at it.

Friday, November 28, 2008

change of seasons

It was not my typical "day after Thanksgiving" this year. I, for once, slept in! Once I woke up at 6:30, I decided to leisurely drive over to Michael's with my 25% off coupon in hand and see what all the fuss was about. Was it worth it! I picked up this pink gem for Avery's room...originally priced $39.99...I paid $9! I could hardly wait to get it home, set up, and lit in her bedroom window.She took to the decorating responsibilities immediately. She chose the tourquoise and silver bulbs (bless her vintage little heart). She was so focused on each bulb hanging perfectly. It was quite a sight to see, until she finally got a little too aggressive and the whole thing toppled over, breaking quite a few of the little beauties it had once adorned. It was a lesson for both her and I...oops!On to my favorite piece to decorate... the mantle. Good bye Fall... (and wow this picture really magnifies the evidence of my little "oops I forgot to check the flue the first time I lit a fire, and the whole house filled with smoke" incident from two weeks ago. Yikes!So we have had these simple stockings from Target for 4 years now. And every year I look at them and think, "Wow, those are really boring". So I took matters into my own hands this year, as well as a bottle of Elmer's glue. I embellished the stockings with some ric rac and pom pom trim and ....Whaaaa lah! Dusan says that look like Cinco de Mayo stockings. Was that supposed to be a compliment? They are much cuter in person.After studying Country Living magazine, I decided to go with a vintage vibe this year. Lots of pink metallics, and lime green. I even cut my own white felt icicles. I picked up these two cuties at Marshall's on clearance. A closer look at the mantle tree. While Avery was occupied decorating her tree, I hustled to get the mantle all finished up. I wanted it to be finished when Dusan and the boys got home from running around at Biola. When they walked in Hunter said, "Wow, mom its really pretty!". Davin was concerned with which "D" stocking was going to be his. Dusan walked in and said, "WoW! It looks just like the displays at SEARS!". Now I'm not sure where you are from, but I had a hard time taking that as a compliment, even though in his mind he was trying to say he loved it. If teaching ever happens to fall through, I know where to apply. ;)

Thursday, November 27, 2008

complete

A hot cup of coffee, flag football game, tamale lunch, 2 mile run, time with family, pictures in the park, the best dinner ever, scouring the sale ads for Christmas hints, glasses of wine, decorating ornaments with all the cousins...one complete day. It doesn't get any better. Lots of reasons to be thankful.
Photobucket

just 3 out of many...

...reasons I am so thankful today.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

gettin' it done!

With the weather finally taking a turn for Fall... It has been fun getting out all my supplies and setting off a bomb in the family room. I have my own scrapbook desk/ area in the office, but I would rather be in the middle of the evening chaos in the front room while I work. As the kids have gotten older, they LOVE to get into my supplies just as much as me and make their own projects and mini albums. Gone are the days where the double-sided tape ends up all over the house.







By the way, I solved the blank camera card issue. Somehow Costco's computer reset my camera card so that all the pictures were deleted. I had to go into the camera's settings asnd ask it to reset the camera card. Sad that all pictures were lost, but luckily I had them backed up on my computer. Makes me think twice about putting my camera card into their machine again. I think I will upload from home from now on.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Aaaaaarrrrrgh!

Having technical difficulties...Computer won't recognize that my camera has pictures on it?!?!?
I plug the camera in the computer to upload, and the computer says "Your camera has NO pictures on it"?!?!? What??? In fact i do have some SOUPER cute (misspelling intended) pictures to upload. I don't get it? Any advice? I am one frustrated photographer at this point...

HELP!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

christmas card photo shoot

Several years ago I gave up attempting to get one shot of all three kids for our annual holiday cards. I have found it way less stressful to just capture them each individually. With the kids wearing white, and the dogs jumping all over them with ashey paws from the local fires, it made for an eventful time. Here is my backyard, point-and-shoot camera attempt at our 2008 card photos... funny girl...
love this one...



are you really 8 years old???
are you sure???


Now trying to narrow it down... or I guess I could just send out a mini book this year. Hopin' to get them out by the first week in December.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

i'm back...

With no internet access over the weekend, I couldn't believe how detached I felt from the world. No blogging, no banking, no emails... However, I have to admit, I was alot more productive around the house without a computer to lose myself in . A few recent happenings...
This LOVELY LADY turned EIGHTY.................................................FIVE!!!!!We celebrated in true Gram-fashion....over pizza of course.
Happiest birthday, Gram!

And this cutie pie brought home some exciting news from school on Friday....
Davin was chosen as the October Student of the Month.
We couldn't be prouder of our little scholar!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Corona Del Mar

In the spirit of the 4 day weekend, we got out the book my dad had got me for Christmas last year "Day Hikes Around Orange County". We flipped through with our eyes closed and just stopped on a random page which turned out to be the map of these gorgeous cliff trails in Corona Del Mar... so yesterday, down the coast we headed.
There were plenty of cliff walls to climb, and so much sea life to explore.

The kids loved going out to the end of the jetty.
It was the perfect time of day for pictures, of course.
How lucky are we to still be enjoying the beach in November (and to have an 8 year old photographer along for the ride that insisted that we strike these poses!)


I love this picture of Avery so much, I had to post it twice.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Veteran appreciation




Remember Joel, the Fullerton police officer from the Halloween pictures? (he was an 80's rocker)... yep this is him, much more presentable...



Old Town Fullerton Veteran's Day Parade. Interviewed lots of veteran's with their special hats, waved flags, admired the synchronized marching, tried to count all of the soldiers, recited the pledge of alliegance along with alot of other proud and appreciative Americans.
 
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