Here is to 41 years of finding & sharing fun together…and many more.
Happy Anniversary Nana & Papa.
Love you both!
J, C, E, & A
Happy Anniversary!
3
I spy an elf (or two!).
Elfie (our Elf on the Shelf) reappeared on Thanksgiving evening much to everyone’s delight. (Mommy was excited to find him at the last possible moment.)
But he was not the only elf to be working hard around our place this weekend…
Can’t you almost see their pointy little ears?
Yeah. They might not have been a ton of help, but thankfully they are really cute!
(And no…I did not put them up to wearing the Santa hats. They found them in the Christmas boxes
and decided they must go on.)
Happy Thanksgiving!
Wishing you and your families a wonderful Turkey Day.
May you be blessed today with lots of family time, good food and friends!
(And maybe a little more appetizing looking turkey than this little guy here.)
Dipy Week #44 ~ I am thankful for…
I am thankful for…
…taking a gamble and winning. Right after we decided (or rather the price of airfare decided for us) we were not going to Michigan this week, I received a jury duty summons in the mail. Wasn’t it just a few months ago that I was called in? Oh, yeah. That would have been two years ago and apparently it is that time again.
So I told J. that I was not going to try to reschedule it, even though it was Thanksgiving week. In fact, I was betting that since it was Thanksgiving, not many cases would be called during the short, holiday week. So I stuck it out, called in faithfully every night (well, one evening I forgot and had to get up at 4am when I remembered the next morning) and it paid off. I didn’t have to go in and my “service” has been completed for another two years.
So I am adding it to the already very long list of things I am thankful for today and all that God has given me: my sweet girls, my amazing husband, my entire family, good friends, J’s good job, plenty of food in our stomachs, a great roof over our heads, the good fortune to live in the United States, and every once in awhile that feeling like I “beat the system.”
Meanwhile, Kimberly took our challenge this week to heart. Her half of the dipy is just beautiful, isn’t it? I sat staring at it and wondering if she snuck up and took the shot of him deep in thought or if she “saw” the shot and asked him to pose for her.
Guess we’ll have to go over and see.
Crafty Tuesday ~ Cramming Edition
Jamie and I finished the capes, party favors and cupcakes for our Birthday Party package last week. And I packed them all up in a box, and didn’t take a single photo of it!!
The cupcakes were cute. We did half of the favors, capes and cupcakes for Chase in a superhero theme (red and blue) and the other half for Peyton in a princess theme (purple and pink.) They loved it, so that was a job well done. (And I’m so happy that it IS done.)
We were running through the Christmas aisle today at Target and Addie found these sweet little bird ornaments and was ecstatically trying to show them to me. Emma took one look at them and said, “Oh, we could so make those Mama – couldn’t we?”
Yes. That IS my girl. So we had to buy one to use as a sample. We’ll see if we “so can make them” or not.
But first I will frantically be sewing so I have something – ANYthing – to put out on the table at the Boutique next week. Right now all I have are a lot of pillowcase dresses cut out and pinned with bias tape. We will be cramming for the next week and a half.
Since we will need to display the little dresses with long sleeved tees and leggings (the dresses won’t work in winter – even here in California) does anyone have any ideas where we might find a little kid dress form? Preferably a cheap one?
And anyone have any good crafty stuff to show this week? I know Jen and Stacy must…now that Christmas season is upon us.
Observations from the midst of Chaos.
Just a few little notes from our crazy couple of weeks around here:
Waiting is always the hardest part. I am currently waiting for the other (little girl sized-13) shoe to drop and for Em to catch the plague that Addie has had for the past 24 hours. It is going to hit Em on Thursday morning, isn’t it?
We are doing a totally non-traditional Thanksgiving this year. J. starts his job at Disney (!!) next week and to celebrate, we are going to spend our Thanksgiving day (and dinner) with the Mouse. I’m excited to be at the ‘Happiest Place on Earth’ since I’m feeling a little blue about not being in Michigan this week.
Not only are we missing Thanksgiving with our extended family, we are missing a FIRST birthday for Mr. Maverick. I simply cannot believe that he is already one.
Ah. Yeah. THAT was the other errand we really needed to do today, but were sidetracked by sickness. Mav’s actual birthday is tomorrow! His present will clearly not be there by his real birthday. (Since part of it is still in the store.) We should shoot for maybe it making it to his birthday party this weekend, I think.
It is weird to not have to be shopping for Thanksgiving dinner this week, although I had to help make turkey and all the fixin’s last week. The kinder classes had a combined feast on Friday – 60 kindergartners. We catered it in from Boston Market. Note for anyone planning a feast of this magnitude – simply chopping the serving number in half is not enough when dealing with 5 year olds. We planned, bought, and reheated enough food for 30, and still had enough leftovers to feed pretty much all of the teachers at school, too. Another note – the kindergartners will not eat potatoes, stuffing, or even very much turkey. However, buy about twice as much mac & cheese and corn as you think you’ll need. They will eat that.
(My pilgrim – it was also pajama day.)
And finally, no matter how early you agree to do a craft boutique (months and months ahead in our case) – somehow it still will sneak up on you and catch you completely by surprise. Oh, hello Dec. 3 & 4 – there you are, just next week. And here I am, with nothing done.
Back to the machine.
Dipy Week #43 ~ Journey
Now, I totally have “Just a small town girl…” stuck in my head. Thanks, Kimberly!
And although our theme this week was Journey, it could have just as easy been inspirational reminders. My shot is of my fortune from dinner the other night. I think the universe is trying to tell me something.
Hangin’ On.
Daddy is on his last work trip for awhile. (Since he will be taking a new job in a few weeks with…less travel – we think. We hope!) So we are just hangin’ on til he makes his way back home to us.
Come home soon, Daddy.
Crafty Tuesday ~ Cape Edition
Well, my plans for a very crafty past week were seriously thwarted. I was able to get the six capes finished that had to be done by the birthday party this Thursday.
Jamie (my Birdie partner) and I had put a Birthday Party Package in the silent auction for Em’s school last spring and a friend of ours bid, and won, the package. So her twins are having their party on Thursday and we are working on getting the “package” done. The capes are done – now we have to finish the party favors and cupcakes.
And then? THEN, I really need to get some crafting done. We have a boutique on Dec. 4th and 5th and I do not have anything to put out yet. So yes, this week we are for sure going to need to do some serious sewing. Plus I got a whole box of fun de-stashed felted scraps from my friend Jen – and I’m itching to make some good stuff.
But I’m just not feeling very productive. Today was one of those days where I felt a little like a hamster, just running on the wheel. Where I nearly felt dizzy as every hour I kept switching “hats.”
I had the “mom” hat on this morning – cajoling girlies to get ready for school, making lunches, cleaning up kitchens and loading laundry. And then I dropped them to school, kissed J. goodbye for the week (his last work trip for awhile – hopefully!) for the week and then ran back to school to put the “teacher helper” hat on. Back home again to finish up the PTA newsletter (“editor” hat) and make myself somewhat professional and presentable as I ran to a client lunch. My “professional” hat did pay off as I picked up another client (a cool artist!) and website project. Back home again, picking up girls and back in “mom” mode or rather “homework nazi.” Then switching gears and into the “soccer coach” hat and a long (almost last!) practice and back home to put on the “chef” hat. Then off to put on the “Girl Scout leader” hat and a service unit meeting and finally back home to plop the girls into bed. And it is only Monday night. No wonder my “blogger” hat isn’t quite working smoothly tonight.
But, tomorrow is another (packed) day, so I had better go plan it out so nothing falls through the cracks. I promise I am going to get to reading everyone’s blog this week. So leave me some good stuff to read!
Day One Down.
Today was the first day of a much-needed four-day weekend.
We stayed in our jammies for a good part of the morning. Jamie (the other Birdie) and I put together six supercapes for a birthday party order we have next week and I took the girls to a yummy lunch.
Then Em and her BFF, Audrey, visited Aunt JB where they got to be voice talent for a little webisode that hopefully will air on the website – you can bet I’ll let you know if it makes it live.
They were awesome. And they are so funny together.
Although, this is the smile I get from Em these days…
Not so funny. It is a kind of “half” smile. I think it is because she is afraid that her tooth is going to fall right out of her head.
Yeah, that front tooth on the right is just hanging out…I’ll have to tell our “tale of the lost tooth” from a few weeks ago when I get a free minute, maybe over the next few days “off.”
Addikins (and all her teeth) were along for the ride today, too.
