Jumping on Beds..........

Christmas Organizing!

Good morning!!

I am cleaning up my Christmas binder this year with some new organizer printables I found here!

I am also going to re do the outside of the binder too, just to mix it up a little.  Here it is....I love the photo with Santa and the kids....may have been one of the last photos with a mall Santa like that.  I keep it framed and up all year actually.  I think we may do the mall Santa photo this year though, for old times sake!

I made a 25 days of giving calendar yesterday to keep me organized....this is separate from our regular calendar but coincides with it.  I thought if I wrote it all out in calendar form, it would be easier for me to keep track of.  The 16th is empty for now.....may be a date night for Mannie and I so I am not sure what I want to do on that day yet!

The kids got busy on their letters to Santa as well. Charlie was so cute. On his letter to Santa he asked Santa to bring his Dad an ipad and drew a picture of it all wrapped up and what to write on the tag.  Not sure if he thinks Mannie would enjoy an ipad or maybe he thinks Mannie wouldn't really use an ipad so why not just "borrow" Dad's ipad?  Either way, I got a kick out of it! 

I never did get to Project Life yesterday but the goal is to have November all wrapped up by tomorrow so I can just concentrate on December and then it will be all done!!!  

The kids and I watched the Grinch last night all snuggled up in bed.  The Giants were on but I wanted to watch the Grinch instead! It was fun.  I still can't believe it is the holiday season already!!!! 

I am still putting away all the fall decorations, not sure when we will start to pull out all the Christmas stuff....maybe this weekend? Not sure, we have a busy weekend coming up! 

Hope you have a fun day! 

TIme to go throw some chicken in the crockpot!

Thanksgiving!

Howdy!

Last week absolutely flew by!

I can't believe vacation is over and time to get back into the grind again!

We went up to Pismo Beach to Mannie's aunt and uncle's for Thanksgiving!

This was Indy's first roadtrip.

The ride up was long and tiresome but Indy had a blast.  I felt like the kids were babies again and we had to keep stopping to either change a diaper or take out the portable potty for the kids....this time though it was dog potty breaks.

We made it though and we were going to check Indy into a kennel or as they call them, "Dog resorts"....but everything was booked.  To be honest, the more I looked online, the more I couldn't bare to leave her somewhere....so it sort of worked out for the best that we kept her with us.  We had to pay extra to have Indy stay with us in the hotel but it was worth it! 

I think Indy had the BEST vacation ever! I was a little worried that it would be a nightmare having to either keep her on a leash or in the crate but she did awesome! When we were in the hotel room she was perfect, only barked a couple of times, not loud either.  We had a balcony and she loved hanging out on the balcony.  Our room was so cozy with a fireplace and I loved spending time there with her jumping into bed with us! We don't let her upstairs at home so this was a treat for all of us!

Then, on Friday, it was the most gorgeous day and we all went to the beach.  This was another first for Indy.   She loved running in the sand and jumping in the water.
 I had such a blast just watching her. 

The hotel we stayed at has a great bike/walking trail behind it.  Each morning we took her for walks.  The path is gorgeous with lots of trees that had turned pretty fall colors! Indy met tons of dogs on the path, she was in doggy heaven!

On another random note....my latest photography goal is to get more pictures of me giving the kids hugs and kisses...I just feel like that is a powerful image for the kids to have when they are older. I am going to print and put in their little boxes....on the trip I only got one of Charlie and I....2 for Mannie:

And my other goal is to get more pics of my hunky hubby and I! Here is one that Charlie or Cara took, can't remember!

 

Overall a great weekend.  We had a great visit with Aunt Joan, Uncle Pat, Gia and Gramps!  Being with Indy 24/7 was such an awesome bonding experience for all of us!  I am so thankful we have this cute little doggy in our life, she is such a fun loving sweetie!

Todays Mini Goals:

1. Clean House

2. Laundry

3. Project Life for last week!! 

4. Make Christmas shopping list

5. Start to get a complete handle on my 25 Days of Giving line up! Finalize details!!

6. Hang with Indy!

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving and have an awesome day!

This was my day!

I got to SEE this today:

 

Today I am thankful for nature and God for making it all possible!

Life is good!!! 
 

Hope your day was just as glorious and that you have an awesome Thanksgiving!!! 

Time to go pack!!! 

Making Christmas Plans!

Hi there!

I write you in complete exhaustion! I needed a time out right now from the kids and Indy!! Mannie gave Indy a bath and then the kids were put in charge of drying her but ended up getting her all crazy and barking and running around the kitchen, then she knocked down the gate and ran into the dinning room and peed....then somehow Indy's mouth was bleeding?  We think she lost a tooth anyway....dude, I am drained! 

Indy is outside, kids in separate corners, Mannie went out for a UCLA baseball alumni dinner thing (lucky him!!) and I am sitting here trying to regroup!

I have dinner and a huge pile of dishes in the sink calling my name but I am just taking a deep breath before tackling that!! 

We had a good day.....had breakfast together at Cinnamon Productions, then checked out the new candy store in town!! After, we ran to Target to get some neccessities! I am starting to stock pile presents. Target had some board games on sale so I got a bunch today.  The kids found books.....Charlie has been dying to get his hands on the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book and Cara found a book series to satisfy her darker side! ;)

Each year around this time, I start thinking about what might be fun to do as a family in December! And this year, I do want to do fun things as a family but I sort of feel like most of the Christmas things in the area, we have done.....sort of like, "Been there, done that".....I feel a little restless.

So, I started planning different ways to celebrate the holiday as a family this year! Instead of trying to think of ways to make ourselves happy, how about thinking about ways to make others happy?!

I thought up of a little schedule for us.....25 Days of Giving.

I was thankful to come across Nora's link to a great post on giving today!!  That helped me fill in a few gaps! And some of the smaller random acts of kindness may come in handy  if some of my "bigger" events don't work out for whatever reason.  

I hope we can do this, I know  how life gets this time of year with all the busyness! It was last year that Cara had that horrible reaction to penicillin and we spent the holidays on pins and needles on the severe hives that covered her body.  But I feel pretty strongly about finding ways to bring a little smile to others vs. ourselves this season! Life is good to us and we need to remember that and give back this season! 

Here is my outline....I figure if there is a day that doesn't work out, then double up the next day! Some of these dates are set in stone though due to it being an "event".  I also worked around some of the fun things I did plan for the family already!

1 - bring Christmas themed tissue boxes and soap to teachers.

2 - goodies for the fire station

3 - gift card for a homeless person to Subway! 

4 - unwrapped present...Spark of Love

5 - hot cocoa for secretaries/principal

6 - toys/snacks in a stocking for  a doggy in an animal shelter (Indy will bring this one with us)

7 - Operation Santa.

8 - surprise a friend

9 - canned food drive - Mt. Olive

10 - holiday parade - 4H

11 - Help a Hero

12 - unwrapped toy....Starbucks

13 - CHOC unwrapped toy or Henderson House groceries

14 - surprise a friend

15 - "You've been Elfed"

16 - WGYB....unwrapped toy

17 - canned goods...2nd Harvest

18 - Ronald McDonald House

19 - Senior Santa

20 - poinsettia plants for neighbors

21 - donate books to library

22 - gift card at the gas pump

23 - goodies for kids doctors

24 - gift card for grocery check out

25 - gift card for hostess/waiter

 

Well, wish me luck!! Let me know if you are going to do something similar or want to join in and do the same as us!!  

If I think of something that would work better on a specific day or can't do one of the above i will switch out so if you have any good ideas, let me know! 

That is all for today.....time to get dinner ready...keeping it simple tonight.....soup, bread and broccoli! 

Have an awesome night!!

 

A Cozy Kind of Weekend and some Project Life!

It has been such an awesome weekend....we stayed home almost all of it.....yesterday we stayed in our pj's until dinner and then we went to the new Selma's pizza place in town.  During the day we just hung out....we made cookies, the kids drew their "Dream Farm" on a big piece of butcher paper.  I thought it was a great way to distract Cami.  She was crying because Cara got a new bird on Friday....a cockateil and she wants one too because Cami loves birds.  Then she was crying because she said all she wanted for Christmas was a baby bunny and Mannie says NO MORE PETS!!!!  So, I told her to start planning her dream Farm where she can have all the animals that she wants!!! So, Charlie and Cami got to work drawing a fun farm!  Here is the beginning of the plans....
I love the disco ball in the biggest bunny cage:

Speaking of bunnies....we brought Hopper inside for playing today too! Here is Indy wanting to be a part of the play! 

Charlie also brought his big box of train tracks downstairs.....You have no idea how happy that makes me!! He is SO OVER trains....or so I thought!!!  He thinks Thomas is "babyish".....and there he was building away! It brought back so many memories....my heart was bursting with nostalgia!! Always nice to be reminded that they are not as "grown up" as they seem to be sometimes!
 It was a very relaxing day just sort of hanging out in the family room! The perfect day!!

Today started out pretty much the same and then Mannie got us to rally and go for a walk to the bagel store with Indy.  It was awesome!!! The rain held out thank goodness but it was spitting on us here and there! 

Then we came home and we worked on crafts....then the rain started and we started up a movie.  We ended up with Ramona.  Cam and Charlie built a fort too! Here is yesterdays clubhouse the kids made for the birds and kids:

Awesome weekend!! SO nice to have NO WHERE to be!!!! 

Cara is enjoying her new friend, Cookie! So happy for her! 

Here is a little of the PL from October! 

On to November....maybe this week....although I am running out of page protectors.....that is one of the downsides, you are either running out of printer ink, paper or page protectors with this project.....so hard to keep on task day after day or in my case, month after month!!!

Hope your weekend was relaxing and fun!! 

Project Life...half of October

Hi there!! 

The  kids and I brainstormed a rainy day schedule for either Sat. or Sun. if it rains! Here it is....lots of "usual" activities but somehow putting them on a fancy schedule with specific times has made these oh so more exciting for the kids!!!  I will tape it up on the kitchen wall on the rainy day.

Yesterday I got caught up on Project Life....well, not caught up but I got the month of October done so now if I can just quickly get November done then I can start off December fresh and my goal is to have details of each day....may be a lot to ask of myself but I will try it out! 

Here is half of Oct....I stuck with all the same page protectors which feels a little boring on the creative side but it made it easier to get all the pictures in and not leave me with too much "thinking" on sizes to print, ect. 

I started with 2 pages of birthday questionaires....one for Cam and this one for Charlie since it was his birthday month.

I will post the rest on another day....I couldn't bring myself to journal about Tucker dying....Cara is still crying over him and it breaks my heart.....maybe later I will do that or some things might not need to be written about.

What a month October was....it was packed with stuff and most of the pictures are from our weekends, not even the daily stuff.

November will probably be similiar except with less photos....I actually didn't take that many pictures when my family was here.....there was too much going on with my Mom in the hospital so November may be really easy and quick on the catching up part.

Today all the kids are home, our vacation has begun and I feel like today would be a great day to stay in our pj's all day....except for maybe a quick run to Target later. Oh wait, I just remembered that Cara's soccer party is tonight....forgot that.

We had our parent teacher conferences yesterday and got the kids report cards....it is always fun to hear what the teachers have to say.  

Well, I guess I will go...Indy is barking at the gardeners right now....oh that dog!!! She pooped on Cara's bed this morning....she is not allowed upstairs and found a way to sneak up there this morning while Mannie was on a business call!! poor Cara!! 

I still can't believe how much one can love something SO MUCH that can be such a pain!!!!  It is unreal how much I love that pain in the rear!!

Gingerbread Cuties!

I love gingerbread anything.....Christmas time always means gingerbread houses, cookies, reading the story, gingerbread playdough, crafts...ect.

So, I was very excited when I came across gingerbread marshmallows the other day!! 

I think they would be wonderful with some hot chocolate!!! 

And I will be planning something fun to do with them.....thinking a math related activity would be perfect!! Either estimating jar, non standard units of measurement or maybe some type of counting/graphing activity.

I found these cute appetizer plates at HomeGoods too!! 

I think they will make a great teacher Christmas gift with some cute cheese/dip spreaders.

I made Thanksgivng a la Trader Joe's last night! 

It was fun to make an easy version of Thanksgiving! I am so thankful that the big meal is prepared by Mannie's aunt and uncle each year.  They go all out making everything from scratch.

Last night's menu was:

Turkey....made ahead of time thanks to Trader Joe's.....just had to warm it up for an hour and a half!

Corn bread Stuffing.....great box from TJ's!

baked potatoes with bacon, cheddar cheese and sour cream

green beans....with olive oil, white wine vinegar and dijon mustard

sweet potatoes with cranberries and pecans...a la Trader Joe's....microwave ready in 3 minutes

broccoli... a  staple during any dinner here.

Cami and Charlie made cute Thanksgiving themed place cards for everyone and I served dinner on our good china!

Everyone liked it but still can't compete with Aunt Joan and Uncle Pat's....although I wasn't trying to compete, just saw that TJ's had all this new stuff to try so I figured I would give it a shot and I have to say, it was really rewarding to see everyone's plates filled to the rim with food.  Why that makes me feel good, not sure? But for whatever reason, I feel like I have done my job if everyone takes a big helping of what I have made. 

In other news.....ONE MORE day of school before break!!!!! YAY!!! 

Can't wait!!! 

Hope you are having a fun day!!

 

Indy-anniversary!

get it? Indianniversary? 

Oh well!

We had a nice one.

Simple celebration that included cake and face painting......do we need much more??? 

Oh yes......doggy cookies for the dog of honor!!! 

Hope you are having a nice night! 

I had a really good day....got lots of groceries and the party ready.

Tomorrow I am cooking a Thanksgiving dinner here for the 5 of us! A simplified version of Thanksgiving I should say!! or rather a Trader Joes version!!

Oh my gosh, I have to type this out.....I told the kids to go shower which means of course to wash their faces and take the face painting off.  Well, little miss Cami just showed up in my scraproom with wet hair, pj's and a completely perfect doggy painted face!! LOL. She cracks me up!!  How on earth did she manage to shower and not get her face wet?  Where there is a will there is a way! 

Oh kids are just the best!! Have  a good one! 

I'm Back!

Well, it has been a while (for me)...every time I take a blog break, I am always surprised to find that I don't miss it much! But coming back on and typing feels relaxing and I am glad to be back.  I find that if I am blogging that means that I am finding time to do something for myself.  Sometimes, I find that I spend alot of time trying to make life wonderful for everyone else and blogging is something that is just for me! So I am happy to be back!  Nice to have a few moments to gather my thoughts and just be still for a bit!

 

I have been busy having my family in town.  It has been quite the visit....started out great with a trip up to LA for our Uncle Gramp's induction in the UCLA Hall of Fame.....what an amazing night for him!! I was so proud of him and proud to be the slightest bit associated with someone so wonderful!     Gary had the biggest group of supporters of all the 8 inductees.  During his speech, he asked all of the players that he coached who were there to stand and I gasped as I looked around the room and saw so many men standing in honor of their coach.  There were 16 major league ballplayers there and lots of other players that went on to choose various careers outside of baseball.....amazing to see how many people he has affected in such a positive way that they would make the trip to honor him! 

So, we also got some rooms in the W hotel
up there and had ourselves a little getaway with my parents and sister Kerry.  We found a new spot to view the Hollywood sign!!!
We found it on  accident, just drove toward the sign and came across two men who told us about a trail that overlooks the city and the sign.  It is right up Sunset! We had also hit our favorite restaurant on Sunset the day before for lunch.  They gave us the cool cotton candy dessert again on the house! 

We hit Beverly Hills and ran into one of the Beverly HIlls Housewives who was napping in her Bentley on Rodeo Drive!
Kerry was thrilled because she loves Lisa and the show!! What an awesome trip to Beverly Hills for a gal from NY!!! 

Last Monday we drove back up to LA for the taping of the show, The Talk! It was fun to see how it all works and be a part of it.  Jack Osborne was the guest.

But on the way home from the taping, we stopped for lunch and my Mom said she felt sick and her stomach had a bad pain.  Long story short, she ended up in the ER and then was admitted for an inflamed pancreas! That began the back and forth trips to the hospital to see mom.  She was in until Thursday.  It was stressful, however, I was thankful that I could be a part of it and not on the opposite coast worrying and not knowing, for once.  That was the only positive.  She had a great group of nurses though caring for her and I think she will be okay from here on out but only time will tell. Still, not the trip she had invisioned for herself.  

That put a bit of a damper on the trip and stress on all.  The family left yesterday and as I said good bye, turned around and headed home to get ready for Cara's soccer championship game.  Because in between the trips to the hospital and all that, the kids life goes on and they had school, homework, sports ect.....and Cara had a playoff game that she won.  That meant championship game on Sat.

Cara's team lost to their opponents, 2 -0.  It was a bummer.  On the positive though, Cara was goalie for a quarter and they didn't score on her.  Overall, it was a great season and 2nd place is pretty cool anyway! The important thing is that she LOVES soccer!! Look at her smiling during yesterdays game!! 

So, today is chores,chores, chores......trying to get some normalcy back into our life. We have 4 more days of school left until Thanksgiving break if you can believe it! I am excited for that but do need to get things cleaned and organized by Thursday, before the kids will be home for a week.  I fell behind in all my chores while my family was here so I find myself again, drowning in laundry!  Oh well.

Tomorrow is our one month anniversary with Indy!! We are going to plan a doggie celebration!! And by "we", I mean, ME!  

Time to get back to the chores, enjoy the day!!

 

November Already!

Can you believe it is November 1st? Wow.

We had a fun Halloween here.  I have to say that  I love where I  live.  I am sure everyone feels that way....actually I hope everyone loves where they live. But I do love this town, it is a fun place to raise a family.

We had a little outdoor street party last night.  

Then we hit the streets and I loved walking the neighborhood and seeing so many friends from school.  That is the cool thing about going to school in the neighborhood where you live.  Loved the feeling of community.

I also love the homes that really get into Halloween, with fog machines, music and lights!! Those are my favorite houses to check out.  Too bad we don't get into the spirit like that....but too much work the day after for me!! So, I enjoy others creative work instead!

Today I am taking down anything Halloweenish but leaving anything Fallish out.  I printed out some Thanksgiving subway art and will switch up the mantel a bit.  We didn't decorate too much for Halloween this year.  Mostly just put out the Fall type of decor.  The kids didn't seem to care and we left 2 boxes out of the mix that had alot of the Halloween stuff. 

Today I am thankful for that....only a little bit of clean up!

But I do have a lot of regular cleaning to do.  2 parties 2 days in a row is alot. 

Messy floors, ect.

Today is gloomy looking but I think the sun is supposed to come out later.  I do know that  a cold front is rolling in.....a bummer for my east coast family coming to visit. 

So that is that for today! Going to also get working on October for Project Life!! 

Happy Novemeber!!!