This & That

A Crafty Weekend Ahead!

I have been pretty busy the last few days getting my class sample done for a super cool alcohol ink beach pail class at the store.  I also made a cutie layout of J&J at Kalmus searching for sea critters - their favorite beachy activity.

Speaking of activity....did you know that peeling the sunburned skin off of Jacob's back is actually an activity?  I know.....I know....insert all your eeewwws and groooossses here.  Anyway, that is what Julia told me the other day while I was brushing her hair  (another favorite activity around ehere .... NOT!!!)

This weekend Tim Holtz is teaching at our store.  If you are crafty and don't know who Tim is you have been living under a huge mountain of your own scraps ;)  If you are curious he is teaching all this weekend OR you can come on in and see his lifesize image that freaks everyone out.  I think I have gone over to him like a million times about to ask him if there is anything I can help him find....hahahaha.  I can't wait to take a class with him.  I have been looking forward to this for a long long time.  I have heard so many great things about his classes.

Saturday night Grandma & Grandpa are taking the kids for an overnight.  Dean and I were going to go out to celebrate our anniversary, but I think that we are going to stay in and cook yummy steak and lobster and have a romantical evening.  awwwwwwwwwwwww

BIG shout outs to G&G for taking the kids.  THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!  I love that our families are so close to us and we can do that sort of thing!

I am thinking of ending the evening with a movie....or random text twirl games on Facebook.  still undecided. 

It's Been Three Years!!!

Three years of wedded bliss that is.  It kinda feels like we got married like 15 years ago.  We have been "together" for almost 14 years so I guess it's not totally unreasonable to feel like we have been together for just about hmmm....FOREVER!

On June 25th 2005 we finally sealed the deal and made it official...two kids and one dog later.

That was pretty much one of the happiest days of my life. The other three are the day Jacob was born, the day Julia was born and one day many many years ago in March of 1995 when I found out I was accepted to BU with a VERY GOOD financial aid package.

I am thinking that there is a very lucky man out there to make it onto my TOP FOUR BDE's (see previous post for acronym definition). I am also thinking that I am pretty much the luckiest girl in the world to have married such a great guy.  I know that sounds so trite - "great guy" but I will leave it at that so as to not bore you with sappy gooey lovey dovey prose about what makes him such a "great guy". 

I truly think that those that know me know that He and I go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Love you Babe.....can't wait to spend like 70 more years with you laughing at all your silliness and loving all of you. xoxoxoxoxoxo

p.s.

Sunday was not only fabulous for bbq's.  It was Jacob's BDE (that's short for Best Day Ever).  He got to ride ALL THE WAY TO FALMOUTH from the store in Hyannis in Erin's vette.  Yes, you read that right. Erin. Drives. A. Corvette.  This is ONLY one of the reasons why she is too cool for pretty much anything.

I took this picture with my phone.  Jacob made me show EVERYONE today.  And with everyone that he showed it to he said "I got to ride all the way to Falmouth in that". 

Dear Erin,  Thanks for making Jacob's year!  I am sure now you are probably his favorite :) Love, er

Here She Is!!!

Our little dancing superstar!  The show was great and the girlies were all so adorable.  I loved every minute of it.  Julia got three bouquets of flowers and lots of hugs and kisses for her adorable performance!

These pics were taken at the house (in front of the fireplace of course) right before the battery on my camera died.  Use a backup battery you say? I tried both of them and they too were not charged.   I thought that they were in the camera bag with a full charge ready to go.  It's okay though because you weren't allowed to take pics in the theater anyway and I just wanted to make sure I got some good ones with her in her full costume and makeup.  Her eyelashes are like a FOOT long.  That darn waterproof mascara WAS NOT coming off for anything.  I think all the water activities from the weekend have finally worn it off.

What a busy weekend we had.  A great day with Dean and the kids on Saturday that involved Cicada watching and listening, fun times at the beach and dinner at Acapulco'.  There was also a depressing trip to BJ's that yielded  disgusting $330 dent into my bank account but we don't need to go into that any further........UGH!!!

Sunday I worked and taught Stamping 101 to some lovely ladies and then headed down to the East Side (also know as Melissa's house in Falmouth) for a FANTABULOUS BBQ. There were tasty Malibu beverages and pasta salad (my favorite) and these delish potatoes and bobio being hilarious. 

But, I think that my favorite part was seeing Jacob and Melissa's son Griff finally get to meet and hang out and swim in the pool.  They were like two peas in a pod in an instant.....LOVED IT!  Thanks Melis for a great night!

Off to clean the house and then the beach if the weather clears up. 

Have a great Monday!

SUPER EXCITED!!!!

Why am I SUPER EXCITED you may ask......well, tonight is little miss Julia's very first recital! I CAN'T WAIT.  It is going to be so stinking cute. 

She is in the "Creative Dance" class at Dance Designs.  Her number is going to be the peppermint twist.  Guess what there costumes are.....red and white striped unitards. LOVE IT!

So can you tell that I always wanted to do dance classes and now I am living vicariously through my five (almost six) year old?

I got her professional pics from the photographer that we took a few weeks ago and as soon as I figure out how to hook up my scanner/fax/copier to my wireless computer I will be sharing.  Hopefully I will get some good pics tonight.  Even though you are not allowed to bring cameras or video cameras into the theater!!!!! UGH! I am sure I will take a zillion pics of her pre/post show. And of course because you are not allowed to bring in cameras/video cameras I OF COURSE had to shell out the $30 bucks for the DVD of the whole show.

Anyway, that's whats going on today.  Tomorrow is Saturday and I have it off....that doesn't happen too often so I am pretty excited.  I asked Dean what he wanted to do and to my shock and amazement he said, "let's go to the beach". After I picked myself up from the floor I said SWEET! He can play with the kids all day and I can actually read some of that book that I bring with me every time I go to the beach and never read because I am too busy watching the kids.

Have a great weekend and I will probably be back tomorrow or Sunday with some of cutest pics EVER! I know, I'm her mother and I am a teeny bit biased :)

School's Out!!!!

I TOTALLY can't believe that today was the kid's last day of school.  They both had great years and really wonderful teachers.  Here are pics of the kids on their first and last day of school.  They were both taken in front of the token picture posing place - the fireplace.  They are so funny...whenever I say, "okay guys let me take a picture of you two together", they just go right there without me saying anything.

We are looking forward to spending the summer on the beach and just having fun!

We have already been to the beach twice so far.  Once on Friday which was a ton of fun because a bunch of kids that we know showed up and once today to my parent's beach.  It was pretty windy and a bit chilly so we didn't stay tooo long, but long enough that I got my first semi-sunburn.

Here's a pic of the kids on the lifeguard chair at Kalmus beach.

If you are looking for a beach date (or a margarita at Sam's date) I'm your girl :)

Happy Father's Day

Today I celebrate my husband. 

The father to my two beautiful babies. 

The man of my dreams :)

Today I feel blessed that he is the father of our family.

With his guiding hand and strong heart he leads our little ship through the calm and the storm.

He is so loved and admired.

He teaches his little girl what a man in her life should be.

He teaches his son how to be a man.

I am honored to call him my husband.

I love you more than words can describe xoxoxoxoxoxo

Happy Father's Day

Thirty Reasons

My BFF Paula just turned 30 on Saturday.  I was sad that I was not able to celebrate with her so I am going to celebrate right here on the good ole' blog with Thirty Reasons why this girl is so ridiculously spectacular.

1. She is actually a real life Dr. - after many many many years of hard work and over-achievement you can officially call her Dr. Paula (she let's me call her paula waula still)
2. Even though she lives in California we talk almost every day.
3. She is beautiful (on the inside and out)
4. She is my only friend who thinks that sightseeing in Compton is fun ;)
5. When she comes home to visit she always makes time to see me as much as she can - even though she is in high demand when she comes home - that makes me feel special :)
6. Every once in a while she will send me a handwritten letter - I think I still have them all too.
7. She loves my husband and my kids like they are her family too
8. When she leaves me a voicemail she alwaysstarts it with hellloooooo miss Melissa - so cute!
9. She always takes my side...even if I *might* be wrong
10. She gets the most thoughtful gifts - the kind where you know she really put a lot of thought into it
11. She isn't a flashy kind of girl
12. She is very forgiving and nonjudgmental
13. When we hang out we don't have to "do something" every time.  We can fold laundry together and be happy to just be hanging out.
14. She has spent many Christmas Eves helping both Dean and I wrap presents.  There were a few years when she helped Dean wrap all of my presents.
15. She is frugal with her money - a lesson I am working on
16. She came from nothing and has become a Dr. of psychology all on her own.
17. When she lived on the Cape she would take Jacob on little trips to the library or the fire station just to give me a little break and to spend time with him. 
18. She doesn't mind if I fall asleep on her while we are watching a movie.
19. She loves to cook for her friends - and she is really good at it.
20. She will go out for Indian food with me.
21. She has this massive - almost unreal - global network of friends
22. I KNOW that if I ever really needed her she would be there for me - no matter what.
23. She likes to go hiking (ummm....that one is from Dean)
24. She is moving home soon - okay, that's not true I just wish it was
25. She loves me for exactly who I am
26. When a country is on the State Department Travel Warning List - you can bet it's on her itinerary
27. She makes me feel like I am an important part of her life.
28. She is the best auntie in the world to her two nephews
29. When I have "mental health" questions about myself or my kids she gives me FREE therapy.
30. I know In my heart that we will be friends for life and when we are 80 we will still be calling each other BFF.

Happy Birthday to my BFF.  I hope you know how much I miss you living around the corner. 

xoxoxo

Juliaisms

I know people....another post in less than a month. I must be going crazy or something.  Well that's true, but really I just wanted to share a funny story about Julia.  I always read this girl's blog and love when she does the little conversations between her and her little girl so I am going to totally steal her idea...hope she doesn't mind :)

Julia: Mama, I have this bump in my mouth.  What is it????? 

Mama: Oh....That's just a cankersore.  Does it hurt?

Julia:  YES....(insert kind of frantic crying because that's what she does)

Mama:  Don't worry...it will go away all on it's own.  It's just like a little blister in your mouth.

Julia: A Blister????  I don't like blisters (more crying)

We were getting ready for school this particular morning and I was able to calm her down so we could get ready and be on our way to school.  About ten minutes later we are in the car talking about school and the "plan" for the day

Julia:  Mama

Mama:  Yes Julia

Julia:  How long does it take for a kinkashoo to go away??????

Mama:  A what?

Julia:  A kinkashoo (duh) the blister in my mouth.

Mama:   ooooohhhh....the kinkashoo.  Don't worry, it will be gone in a day or two.

I love it when she makes those cute little vocabulary mistakes.  It helps me hang on to my little baby and her sweet innocence.  She will be turning 6 this July and I really can't believe it.  Jacob is going to be 10 - now that's just downright crazy.  Where has the time gone.

Hellloooooooooo..............

Is there anybody out there still?????????  I didn't realize how long it had been since I visited blog land.  Phew, it has been an extremely busy last few weeks.  Usually when I don't blog it's because there isn't really anything going on.  That has definitely not been the case recently.  I guess it kinda just snowballed too....you know when you don't talk to someone for a long time and rather than just pick up the phone to have a quick little chat you wait until you have a big block of time so that you can really have a good chat??? 

Well here I am, I won't bore you with all the minuscule details of the last few weeks.  The week before last I was a busy bee working on a Mexico album for my mother-in-law for mother's day.  When I wasn't working on it, I was thinking about working on it :)  Last week was staff appreciation week at the kids' school and I was super busy with that.  I put in so many hours last week doing stuff for that - it was very rewarding!  All week long we have volunteers bring breakfast items to the teachers room and we have coffee all set up.  We also have volunteers cover lunch duty for the entire week - that's two volunteers per day for three lunches.  This week all culminates in a huge luncheon for the whole staff (something like 80 people).  All of the food is brought in by the parents of students at our school.  I did a lot of cooking!  I made a world record batch of guacamole for the teachers - I used 16 avocados....it was a HUGE bowlful.  Every last drop of it was GONE!  I wish that I had the smarts to take a pic of it, but it was like midnight on Thursday night and my camera was not on my mind.

A little update on Betty Moo Puppy....she seems to be getting better.  She still won't jump up on the couch, which I know makes her sad because it was her favorite spot, but she can get up the back steps now at least.

There is pretty cool renovation going on at work...that's exciting.  The store is kind of being reconfigured a bit.  Yesterday and Monday it looked like the ET house when all the government officials came....that was the description that Melissa texted me the other day (she's so funny). When I went to work on Tuesday morning that is what it looked like and by the time I came back to teach Stamping 101 at 5ish all the plastic was down and the store looked 1000% better.....stop by and check it out!

In other really exciting news....we have booked our summer vacation to Maine!  woohooo.  Dean and I have gone to a camp on Mt. Desert Island (where Bar Harbor is) a few times and we LOVE it there.  This camp (that's Maine speak for cottage) is so special.  We usually go during the shoulder season because that is all that we can get, but this year some time in the end of July opened up and we are able to go during the summer.  We are super excited.  I think that I have a pic somewhere of Dean and I the summer before I went to college (1995) when we went up there for a week.  We also went when Jacob was about 2 and the last time we went was in 2003 when Julia was 1. 

Here are some pics from our last trip