Homemade with Love

My Dilemma

I saw an idea on a blog recently that used the Pottery Barn photo carousel as a way to display and organize scrapbooking embellishments. I can't for the life of me remember where I saw it though. Since, I already had the carousel AND had nothing on it, I dragged it into the office. I purchased some binder rings and went to town filling it up.

Here is my dilemma. Now that it is stocked with my goodies, I am not sure how I feel about having all of them out for display. I mean, for those of you who know me, I hate clutter and this almost feels too cluttery (is that a word?). Plus, my girls and others (who shall remain nameless) think I am running some type of craft store out of my office. The flipside is that (I think) by having the stuff out, I will be more likely to use it.

Any thoughts?

First Day of School

 

We are in the fourth week of school now, but I thought I better post pictures from the first day. Abby started 5th grade and this will be her last year in elementary school. Hailee started 8th grade and this will be her last year in middle school. This year the first day of school was a sad day for me. My girls are just growing up too quickly.

We started the morning off with taking Abby to school. I was almost tearful that it would be her last year taking pictures by the bell (an annual tradition since kindergarten). She has Ms. Fossum this year and is so excited about her teacher and 5th grade. Ms. Fossum was Hailee's 5th grade teacher and is so great about preparing her students for middle school.

 

Next, we took Hailee to school. She starts about an hour later. It was sad for me to take her picture at the same spot I have since 6th grade. She has a lot of work ahead of her in 8th grade. She must read EIGHT classics this year, in addition to a greek mythology book (that is in English only). She has already read Pride & Predjudice and is almost done with Sense & Sensiblity. She has taken a liking to Jane Austen. I think her next book will be Emma or Persuasion.

I also snapped a quick picture of her with her friends just as the bell rang.

The JoBros

 

For Hailee's birthday, she and I went to the Jonas Brothers concert in Fresno. This was her first concert and I am SO lucky I got to share the experience with her! We listened to their new cd all the way there (and back too). She had a smile plastered on her face from the moment we stepped out of the van. She immediately saw their tour bus. She was bummed that she forgot a pen to sign her name on it, but happy to see it.

 

Once we got inside, we stopped to buy the essentials: concert t-shirt, program, and lanyard. We made our way through the crowd and found our seats. Center stage, not too high up. Just perfect. The opening acts were Honor Society, some girl band (they sang only one song, obviously didn't leave that big of an impression), and Jordan Sparks (who totally rocked). Then the JoBros came out. Total hysteria. And that was just me. ;)

 

 

 

I took LOADS of pictures. Hailee brought her camera, but I didn't want her to waste one minute of the concert behind the lens. I just wanted her to enjoy the experience, so she let me be the sole photographer. I made sure to take lots of pictures of Nick, her favorite.

 

She and I sang and danced and screamed the entire time they were on stage. It was awesome. LOVED every minute of this concert. LOVED seeing my girl so excited. A great time for us both.

Monterey Again?

 

It seems like we are always in Monterey. Twice in July to be exact. This time we went with my sister Dina, my brother-in-law Jeff, and their two adorable children, Katarina and David. We met up with them at the aquarium and enjoyed seeing the new seahorse exhibit, walking around together, and having lunch outside. Uncle Wayne LOVED bonding with David and Katarina wouldn't let the girls out of her sight!

 

 

The weather was awesome, so we headed over to the beach next. Abby played with Katarina (I am bummed that I don't have a picture of them together) and Hailee hung out with David.

 

 

We all drove over to the farmer's market to suck down some oysters before heading over to Moss Landing for dinner. We love Phil's!

We had so much fun together and can't wait to meet up again soon. Love you guys!

Nancy Drew x 2

 

This summer the girls "persuaded" me to sew them each a messenger bag so that they could play Nancy Drew together. They found coordinating outfits in their armoires, then filled their bags with essential mystery-solving/Nancy Drew-type items. These items included magnifying glasses, pencils, notebooks, band-aids, and of course, homemade blondies. Abby is holding Secret Agent Lucky in the picture, mystery-solver extraordinaire!

 

They made THE most delicious blondie bars EVER. Oh my goodness! They were awesome. We just found a recipe online and purchased some white chocolate chips. Yummy! They even packaged them up nicely in wax paper bags. SO cool. SO Nancy Drew.

SF/Muir Woods

 

Way back in July, we took a trip to San Francisco with our new friend Eva. What an adventure! She was visiting from Spain and staying with my cousin's family for a few weeks. She is lovely and so very funny. We took her to Muir Woods (just north of San Francisco) and we hiked one of its trails. It was so much fun and the scenery was beautiful.

 

We then headed to a nearby beach. We would have stayed longer but it was a bit windy and smelly (not sure why).

 

Next, we were off to SF. First stop was Ghiradelli Square. Paid a visit to Auntie Kara. Then drove around the city and laughed, laughed, laughed. It was a chilly day and we saw a man in his underwear and dress socks. Nice. We wondered how he lost his clothes. Also, drove down Lombard Street and through Haight/Ashbury.

 

 

Excuses, excuses

I could probably think of a ton of excuses WHY I have been such a bad blogger, but the biggest culprit has been Facebook. When I blog, it is so one-sided. Not a lot of communication back. But with FB, I feel that when I reach out, almost instantly someone reaches back. So, if you have been wondering where I have been, blame FB.

Wayne and I shut our computers down yesterday. All day. It was actually not bad at all. I found I could live without email, browsing the web, and FB, IF I had to. ;) I actually finished a book, watched the movie with my family, AND played my DS (hello old friend) plus Wayne and I cleaned out our kitchen. We are going to see if on Sundays, we can shut down the computers and eliminate watching the television. I can go without TV for a VERY long time, so this wouldn't bug me at all (Hailee and Abby have a much different opinion).

So, for now I am back to blogging. I have SO much to share too.

Tidepools

 

During our trip to Monterey a couple of weeks ago, we stopped for a few hours to play in the tidepools on the beach. We had an awesome and relaxing time there. Wayne caught some crabs. (Why doesn't that sound right?) Hailee shares my OCD and helped me sift through the sand for very small pieces of green sea glass. Abigail caught hermit crabs and explored the pools as well.

Wayne spent a long time searching for a crab. He didn't want to hurt it, just find one. Funny thing is he is REALLY afraid of them. A young couple with their two 2-year-olds set up a blanket on the beach very near us. The husband was intrigued by what Wayne was doing and joined in. He happened to be even more scared of the crabs than Wayne. They were hilarious together. Wayne sucked it up, a bit of a false bravado, and plucked a crab from one of the rocks. He didn't want to appear to be a wimp. Like the other guy. I have a feeling that if  we were alone, no crabs would have been caught that day. ;)

 

 

 

Surprise Visit

 

My friend Cheryle and her family live in Tennessee. She emailed me a couple weeks ago and asked if I would be home on 7/20. I replied that we would. I was curious, to say the least. I even asked if they were planning a trip to California. No response.

A few days before, I emailed again. Um, Cheryle, are you planning on coming over? Will you be in California? Should I start cleaning my house now?

The answer was yes.

We were so happy to see our friends. Our visit was WAY too short, but we had such a nice time catching up. It had been years. We were part of an awesome playgroup in Elk Grove. I LOVED that playgroup (Abigail and Mimi were about 18 months old when we all met). I loved seeing the kids together too.

I missed them the moment they pulled out of the driveway.

 

P.S. The chickens miss you, Daniel!

Garden Video

Abigail is quite the videographer. When I saw this video, I about died laughing. It is SO them, together. My girls are SO weird. If I saw that worm, I would have run off screaming.

Note: This worm was, in fact, harmed shortly after the making of this video. The chickens ate it. Circle of life, I guess.