cabin fever

it's an ugly day here (chilly & rainy) so we are staying indoors. i know the boys AND myself, will have cabin fever..... i am planning on keeping the boys busy by decorating the gingerbread house we bought over a month ago. yea, i know---a little late. life just got busy. it's a pre-built one so i don't have to worry about it falling apart like the halloween gingerbread house we did.

i got up this morning and made these 4 cards. may give these to a friend or keep on hand to have for myself. TFL!!

free santa

hope everybody is enjoing the holidays with your family & friends. my parents are here visiting and the boys are loving it!
sharing some santa pics and crafty stuff :-)

i cannot believe what luck i had this year...free santa pictures AND i didn't have to wait in line!! i hate going to mall places and paying $7+ for only 2 shots with your own camera or choosing one of their outrageously priced photo packages. this santa was at nordstrom's and i rushed over there after brandon got out of school at 11:23 since santa would only be there until 1. i was expecting a looooong line but i strolled my kiddos right up onto santa's lap!

santa did everything i wanted....1st brandon, then the 2 boys on santa, then brandon off--bryan on, and then, FINALLY, it was my turn! i mean, since no one else was waiting in line, i might as well ask santa for a few things for myself!! i didn't even have to be one of those moms that bossed santa around! santa knew the "mommy drill".

this santa was super patient and fun! i hope to see him next year!

i've been a good girl....................................

after i got all my pics in, santa solicited me-----for business! he also does birthday parties. that's what he solicited me for :-) he gave me his card. brandon kinda had a funny look on his face....i think he overheard santa talking to me. oh well...this santa thing can't last forever right? if you need a santa for hire or need a magician, balloon animal artist, birthday entertainer, get in contact with me. i have his card! apparently, santa wears a lot of hats!
tags i made for eddie's gifts to his coworkers (thanks cheryl---tags are super handy) super fast & easy cards. no stamping when i am short on time! mini tags that went along with the treat bags from brandon for his class mates cards for brandon's teachersthese 2 altered gifts were for the other teacher that helps out in brandon's kinder class.

cutified a plain notebook covered an ugly datebook calender

i'm bored

brandon is off til jan 4th from school and their faces say it all---I'M BORED!!!
just some random pics post....bryan drew this pic of me in october.....that look says it all doesn't it??!! he's a real good drawer actually. brandon still was drawing stick figure peeps up until recently while bryan drew people with actual bodies.

2 birthday cards for boys

whipped up a batch to send out with little gifts for friends (stamps are from stampendous from that warehouse sale i went to. see post here)

brandon's placemat he made in school from thanksgiving. nice that the school laminated it for everybody

a quick wedding card i made minutes before we had to leave for it (thx to hubby who told me he needed one last minute). can you believe at this wedding, they had the USC matching band come play?! very cool. hoping to post pics of that at a later time.

at the mall. beautiful ceiling with a ginormous tree

want this.....it didn't come home with me though :-( if i had a girl.........................................

santa pics tomorrow!! hoping to get eddie to help me unload the photo card. using 3 cameras doesn't help getting pics organized. i have a camera just for taking crafty pics of my projects (a cheapy kodak one), a camera i usually take everywhere i go w/ the boys (nikon), eddie's nice canon. oh, and i take lots of pics on my iPhone (takes surprisingly good pics).

pictures from a iPhone-a-holic

my 2 boys knew how to use an iPhone before me from playing with my SIL's & BIL's. so when i finally got an iPhone, they pretty much showed ME how to use the basics. go figure---kids these days!
it has been a blessing on shopping trips. all i have to do is sit bryan in the shopping cart and he'd happily play with the phone. we have "educational" apps.....puzzle games, matching, letter & number writting.
recently, my iPhone-a-holic, bryan, discovered how to take pics. i've told him not to since having to delete 50+ randomness pics of nothing. now & then, he sneaks a couple shots that i don't know about.
is there a 12-step program for iPhone users? bryan needs to attend meetings. it's getting to the point where I have to ask bryan to use MY phone in the store! at home--it's off limits. otherwise, what's the incentive for bryan to sit in a shopping cart?

here is bryan's 1st official showing of pics :-)
below is mcD's
dad was SUPPOSED to be monitoring his phone usage when i shopped in another area of the store BUT guess what?? dad wasn't really paying attention cause DAD was using his iPhone. here's the proof...

some butt shots of strangers and popcorn in a large plastic beer container---not sure really what bryan was trying to take....either one kinda concerns me!

apparently, brayn sked brandon to pose for this one...

snacks---brybry's fave!chicken nuggets and fruit snack

hoping to post some pics of brandon's cookie decorating party on his last day of school today. he doesn't return back til the 4th!!! ughhhhh, what & how will i entertain them both with? any suggestions?

so tired....anyone else?

been so so lazy & tired lately. this time of year is so hectic. it all starts in october after brandon's birthday. then it's halloween, then thanksgiving and now this christmas mayhem!
i remembered these pics of bryan sleeping that i don't think i've shared yet. this boy can sleep anywhere! a lot of times during the week, i try to get both boys to nap at the same time (so i can nap too or have some ME time) so while getting things all cleaned up, bryan would fall asleep waiting.
the pic below was when i thought he was sitting in the chair watching tv. next thing you know---he's out!
i do love taking pics of the boys sleeping. something so peaceful about it. bryan actually DOES sleep like that w/ one leg up. reminds me of my dog when she was a pup, she'd sleep like that. to be so carefree.........

here he is at the dinner table.....i give bryan a 'homework' worksheet to do too while helping brandon do his kinder homework. he was getting tired but i was determined to get brandon to finish up his work before heading upstairs for their naps. all the sudden, i hear snoring :-) when he's tired---HE'S TIRED!

i have a video or 2 (or 3 or 4) of bryan nodding off that i'll upload one day WHEN I'M NOT SO TIRED!!

yep, that's right----sometimes, i REALLY have nothing better to do but to take pics & videos of my kiddos sleeping.

i volunteered in brandon's class friday. it went pretty well. that last couple times i volunteered, brandon was nothing but brat. he'd stick his tongue out at me, push me away, told me he didn't want me there. all the other moms who volunteer tells me that he's so friendly, helpful and a good kid. it's good to hear that but hurts my feelings that he doesn't act like that when I'M in his class. so, this time, i told brandon that it would really make mommy happy if he's be nice to me when i volunteer in his class to do these sock snowmen. i told him it's a craft project and that i'd really enjoy doing this project with him. he said, 'ok mommy. i'll try really REALLY hard not to make ugly mean faces at you.' and he kept his promise. it felt good that i wasn't embarassed by my 5 yr old!

monkey boy pose. this is a real easy & fast craft project to do. for any moms who's interested:

sock snowman

supplies:

kid tube sock, fiberfill, pompom, buttons, fabric strip, orange triangle (for nose) hot glue gun, rubberband

directions:

flip sock inside out

stuff with fiberfill up to the ribbed part of sock

rubberband the top

flip that part down (that's the snow cap)

tie fabric strip to section off the head & body

hot glue pompom to top of cap

hot glue buttons for eyes and body

hot glue carrot nose

i donated supplies for this project and when brandon's teacher was saying that she inherited a jar full of buttons from her great aunt betty, i almost made a mad dash to scoop some up & conceal them in brandon's snowman to transport them home secretly!! j/k but i should've asked her to trade some of her vintage buttons for mine :-)

lots of things i haven't posted but will eventually get around to it. we've had birthday parties the past 3 weekends. this one was at rainforest cafe. (birthday boy is sitting 2nd from the right) brandon loves going to birthday parties. and no, that is not a beer bottle on the table.

thankful

thankful for my family.

thankful for my friends.

enjoy your thanksgiving with yours.......

7 things

just some cards i made a while ago i never posted.
ATCs

cards made ith leftover scraps

my friend kiara passed on this bloggy award to me. it's a MeMe award where i am to tell 7 secrets/facts you might now know about me. in random order.

1) i am addicted to lip balms. have to have some on all day & and night. there's one in every room of the house.

2) i ran track (starting in the 8th grade) and cross country (starting as a freshman in HS) competitively in school til end of college. i HATE running now.

3) i was never afraid of the dentist as a kid but fearful of them now

4) i stay up all hours of the night watching reruns of cold case & without a trace on TNT

5) i am such a stickler about conserving water (i am known to turn off the water when hubby is using it when i think it shouldn't be running). i do it so i can take longer showers . j/k

6) i hate to cook

7) i take a ton of pictures of the boys

ok---sorry so B O R I N G !!!!!!! have a great rest of the week!

rubber heaven

never too early to get started on gifts for the upcoming holidays!
i recently got to go to a Stampendous warehouse sale. i found this cute teacher set and scooped it up (along with a bunch of other crafty goodness--see below).

the above is a plain ol' calendar covered and embellished with the stampendous set (worm is from imaginisce).

to the left is an altered composition notebook all prettied up. very easy to make!

for you teachers out there, what DO teachers REALLY like besides giftcards? food? sweets? any ideas would be greatly appreciated. i am thinking these would be useful but IS it really? or just crapola?!

i got to go to the Stampendous warehouse sale this past weekend with a friend. it was a great sale. i was given cash from my hubs (thanks!) and i didn't spend it all!! i came home with $$ which bought [only] 3 drinks from starbucks. the deals were great and the ladies who rang me out were super nice & generous! i won't even tell you how much the stuff i got was total cause i really got all of this for practically NOTHING!

i bought extras of sets so i can give to some of my blogging/crafty friends

:-)

unmounted rubber and wood blocks.

look at all that rubba goodness! oh-- the little things that make me happy!