Scrapping the Music

This week's song is Home by Marc Broussard.
This layout is a long time in the planning... It's a 4 season layout of our home. Yep, I've been taking photos for a year! We live in Southern CA, so the change is not drastic, but it's there...

Biggest Scrap Loser!

It's another week of the Biggest Scrap Loser Challenge over at Scrapbook Deals 4U! This week we had to use This week, use 6 of the following 8 items on a layout:

• Paper scraps, cardstock AND patterned
• A sticker (NOT an alphabet)
• Embossing (dry or heat)
• A stamp (acrylic or rubber)
• Chalk, paint or colored pencils
• A punch
• At least 3 buttons
• Ribbon
BONUS FEATURE: Stitch somewhere on the layout...Hand, machine, or faux.

I used everything except for the stamps!

Happy Birthday Jim!

Today is Jim's 57th birthday!!!

He started his day surfing with his friends at Trestles. When he got home we had "Birthday Breakfast Burritos" (Chris said that's an alliteration, Uncle Randy, hahaha!).

After that we played Jim's new Wii game, Game Party. I'm so bad at video games... We had a GREAT lunch at my mom and dad's house. My mom always makes so much food. She's such a great cook, and we eat enough for lunch and dinner! We left early today, because Chris needs to study for finals. Finals week is so stressful!


Chris made this cool birthday card in less than 5 minutes. He's the pop-up master!

Scrapping the Music - Colors

This is new for me... it's an all digital layout for the challenge over at Scrapping the Music. The song this week is Colors by Kira Willey. I used the inference "I'm a rainbow today" and created a layout of us each showing off our colors. :oD

The Biggest Loser!

I'm participating in a fun challenge over at Scrapbooks Deals 4 U called The Biggest (Scrap) Loser. The idea is to use supplies from our scrapping stash each week to create a layout... hence trimming/losing our excess scrapping supplies.

This is my week #1 entry. The challenge was to create a 1-page layout and use at least 4 of the following items: brads, buttons, ribbon, ink, number stickers, stickles, or 5 pieces of patterned paper. You also had to use at least 3 photos. And here is my entry! I used 5 pieces of patterned paper, brads, ink, and buttons!!


This is my week #2 entry. The challenge was to create a 1-page layout and use at least 5 of the following items: eyelets, transparencies, fiber, paint, flowers, striped paper, or 3 pieces of cardstock. You also had to doodle on your layout. And here is my entry! I used everything except for the fiber!!

MLK Day

It's MLK Day! No school... and we are just hanging around... Hanging around on Jim's bus! The kids spent Sunday night at our house. We got up early on Monday to drive to Huntington Beach to catch the bus. We waited less than 5 mintues and Jim showed up.

We took a nice ride into Long Beach. In Long Beach, the kids all got to sit in the driver's seat, scan tickets, open/close the doors, and talk on the PA.


Jim also showed them what the bus computer can do. We also saw the bus behind us lower its ramp to load a wheelchair... fun stuff, if you've never seen it before, LOL!
Then it was back to Huntington Beach... We almost missed our stop! It's a good thing that the kids remembered to ring the bell... then we headed home.

What a nice day for a bus ride!

Cheryl's Graduation Layout

Here's half of Cheryl's Graduation layout.
I used the sketch from Scrapbook Deals 4U. As I was trying to decide how to do the circle, I found the song challenge at Scrapping the Music. It mentioned a "clock upon the wall"... And I connected that to "Time Flies"... so the circle is a clock face.

This is only the first page of a double page layout. The title will be on the other page.

CVHS Track

I'm so proud of Chris. He had to be one of the first seven sophmore's across the finish line in the one mile to make the track team. The one mile is not his strongest race. It was very very close, but he made it! He's a member of the Capo Long Distance Track Team. Go Chris! Go Cougars!

Winter in So. CA

This post is for all my friends back east. I was cleaning up the yard today and cut a few flowers to bring indoors. Spring is just around the corner!!!

Sandy Owen

I sat next to this guy at work for almost 2 years. I wasn't aware that he was famous until some people came up to us at lunch one day and asked for his autograph! He hasn't composed much in recent years... until now. Sandy was on TV last month and this month. His interview is being replayed on Tuesday, January 13, KLCS (for us it's channel 38) at 11pm. The show is called "Between the Lines."

Cheryl and I watched it earlier this month. He was AMAZING!!! Sandy is promoting his new album and a new piano playing technique. Did I mention it is AMAZING? Cheryl and I were fascinated by his playing.

Ran and Cat, if your kids are serious about getting into piano, you need to record this show for them. Jim heard us talking about it and we'll be recording it for him tomorrow night.

Run, Run, Run...

Run, run as fast as you can.
You can't catch me!
I'm the musubi man! LOL!

This morning, I did my first long run in over two weeks... 10 miles at Dana Point Harbor. I'm already sore, but it's a muscle sore... not that pesky iliopsoas. Three more weeks until the race. I don't know if it's possible to train for a half-marathon in three weeks, but I'm going to do my best (without getting hurt again).

Custom Made Keds

I saw this and had to share... I love it!!!

If you have an exceptionally hard-to-buy for family member, try these on for size. Custom sneakers! Upload your photos or digital designs to http://www.zazzle.com/kedsstudio, for a gift that couldn’t be more personal.

Happy Birthday - Round 2!

January 6th is Cheryl's actual birthday day. So, she gets into Disneyland for free! How could we resist?!!!

It was just us girls today... Jim had to work, and Chris went to school. It's been years since I've been to Disneyland. There were new rides that I've never been on and old rides which have been updated. I was anxious to check them all out.

The first thing we did was take a picture of where we parked. We have a bad track record locating our car in a parking structure.

This is me... can you see that button I'm wearing? It says, "Happy Birthday, Cheryl." Cheryl was too cool to wear it. I decided to wear it and see if we got any freebies because it was Cheryl's birthday. We didn't... what was I thinking? This is Disneyland! Nothing is free! But, a lot of people wished me a happy birthday, LOL!

It was actually kind of crowded... 45 minute wait for the major attractions. There were a lot of college students there (who are still on Christmas break), Australians (who are on summer break), and moms with preschoolers. We had a bit of excitement when Splash Mountain broke down while we were riding it. We had to climb out of our log and follow the attendant, through the singing animals, to the secret door, down the scaffolding and out into the back lot. It actually was fun! I ran through the backlot during the half-marathon, but this was Cheryl's first time through there. They had lots of Christmas decorations back there that were waiting to be put away, along with Winnie the Pooh, who was taking a honey break.

Look at this... isn't he sweet to remember to wish his sister a Happy Birthday?

Well, we must buy Chris and Jim something for letting us come to Disneyland without them. The best place for a sweet treat is the candy shop on Main Street!

Happy Birthday, Cheryl!

New Europe Layout

Here's my layout created for the Sketch Challenge at Scrapbook Deals 4U.

It gave me FITS!
See the square journal box on the left that's tilted?
It looks better that way, but it goes totally against my grain, LOL!

The reason why I like sketch challenges so much is because they stretch my creativity. I had solid paper circles on my page, but I thought they looked too heavy. So, I printed out some pretty circles on transparency film and used those instead.

Patterned Paper and puffy stickers from the SEI Dill collection (sent to me by my friend Mary). Journaling tags from Fancy Pants.

Meet Levi Mole

This little guy is an extra credit project for Chris's Chemistry class. Why a stuffed mole you ask? A mol, 6.02x10exp23, is a unit of measurement in Chemistry... also called Avogadro's number. I remember it had something to do with counting molecules, but that's all (it's been a long time since I've taken Chemistry). I asked Chris and he said, "Yeah, it has to do with counting molecules."

The teacher posted a pattern online, and the kids had to make the entire mole themselves. There is even a sheet for the parents to sign to confirm that fact. It's a good thing that Chris can sew, and that we have a sewing machine. The teacher said that she would not accept any moles that were glued or stapled. They must be sewn!

The mole can be made out of any fabric. I had some floral cotton fabric left over from my quilting days, but Chris vetoed them very quickly. He settled on an old pair of jean shorts. It came out pretty cute... very manly, LOL!

He did all the cutting, sewing, and decorating himself. I was the design consultant. The fly-zipper necklace and the mole number on the label were my ideas. Chris came up with putting the label on the back, the red levi tag, and the pocket-rivet eyes. Everything else was part of the pattern.

The teacher keeps all the moles. I guess that she must have hundreds made from kids over the years. When I asked Chris, he said, "Yeah, she has a lot."

--- Edited 10/22/11 ---
By popular demand (oh, okay, so one person asked me) lol! Here is where you can find the mole pattern. There are two types of patterns: the teddy bear style that Chris made, and the football style. Good Luck!

By popular demand (oh, okay, so one person asked me) lol! Here is where you can find the mole pattern. There are two types of patterns: the teddy bear style that Chris made, and the football style. Good Luck!

http://www.statweb.org/ACT2/mole_patterns.htm

Happy Birthday Cheryl!

My big girl turns 19yrs!

... and we had an ice skating party! All the kids skated. This is the first time my nieces and nephews have been on the ice. Jim and I skated to give them a helping hand. They all caught on very fast!



When we stopped for the zamboni break, my brother took a finger count. He's convinced that thousands of fingers are lost each year to ice skating accidents. Wait, Randy! Does that red glove look like it's missing a finger? LOL!

Here is a picture of the skaters and their dedicated support crew.

One more photo! I didn't think we'd ever see a photo of my little niece and nephew with Kayle. They have finally made friends, and they are all coming to spend the night here in a couple of weeks.

Rose Parade

It's been over 20 years since we were last at the Rose Parade. I woke the kids up at 3:30am (since they didn't go to bed until after midnight, they didn't get too much sleep.) They dressed in their warm clothes; and we left the house a little after 4am for Pasadena. We parked on Orange Grove Blvd and walked through the float staging area.

We walked right up to all the floats. They were amazing and smelled great! Some of the floats were giving away extra flowers. I received 3 sprays of orchids from the Baliwood float.

Here's us waiting for the parade to begin. The kids walked around a bit while Jim and I held our "spot." It was a long 2 hour wait, but it was a great "spot" LOL!

Let the Parade begin! We kept watching for the B2 fly-over. We were wondering why it didn't show up. We thought maybe this year's budget only allowed for a skytyper... We heard later on TV that the B2 was held up because of ice. It showed up exactly at 9:06am. I didn't have my camera turned on then (my battery was getting low) so I didn't get a picture.

Here are some favorite floats:
Of course the Mission Viejo float, with the pool on top. Those kids must have been freezing!!!

... and the Huntington Beach float... This was amazingly tall!!!

I love the colors in this photo. All the floats were very colorful, I just happened to catch the light right on this one.

This one was fun! It smelled like buttered popcorn, and Godzilla was snorting popcorn out of his nose.

We all agree this one was a favorite. It's the Jack in the Box float. It didn't have any fancy hydrolics. They played live music and there was dancing, and lots of energy! Great Fun!!!

We had a fun time...
I think we'll be ready to go back again in another 20 years...
Happy New Year Everyone!!!