catching up [trying to]

hello! just getting back in the swing of things after spending 6 days in SF!! the weather was not the greatest but typical of summer SF weather (foggy, misty, COLD). i did have a fun time spending it with my sister & family! she is due near the end of october. sooooo excited and cannot wait to spoil the baby!! and best part----it's a G I R L !!!!!!! i can finally buy girlie things and justify it!

if i haven't been around your blogs, i apologize. some of you know my laptop crashed and it's currently sent out to the manufacturer to get fixed. it has a bad memory chip or so the best buy's geek squad told us. at 1st, they said they they would give us the same computer in exchange for the one that crashed but the next day, told us it would be sent out to the mfr for repair. hmpfff!! i just want my laptop back. i don't think i can use hubby's little laptop much longer. screen is too small. plus, i had all my fave links bookmarked and everything. i just hope all my un-backed-up photos are recovered!! hubby got to extract some but i know some pics were not extracted from the kaput laptop. teaches me a lesson. anyways...............

a fast & easy card made from punching shapes out of vintage dictionary sheets,

this is a magnetic memo board. getting ready for brandon's 1st grade school year. this is made from a thin sheet of magnetic board, covered in pretty papers. the middle panel is stamped. the owl is backed with a thin flexible sheet of magnet paper. all the apples are laminated and backed with magnets. the once sterile tongue depressor (thanks to hubs for getting that at work) is painted with chalkboard paint. i can change out the message as needed. it wipes off so easily----just like a chalk board!! finished it off with some fun pom pom trim! will use to keep track of his week to week activities.also made a tag for his backpack. everything has to be labeled at school! sweatshirts, bags, jackets, etc... poor little brybry---- when he gets brandon's hand-me-downs, they'll all say 'brandon'!!! hahah! i should just start labeling BMW since both of them have the same initials! [brandon matthew & bryan marcus]

and the tag on his new backpack. i actually bought him 2 this school year. he had a hole in his last year within 2 months of the school year. boys!!i will probably put this tag on the inside of the pack.

thanks for stopping by! it's going to be a HOT one today! you can find the boys in the kiddie pool!

BTW, any suggestions on what fun things to pack for brandon's lunches this year?

have a nice day & look who won some chicken poop

hello! sharing a quick card. that sun just makes me smile =)been busy getting things ready for my sister's baby shower. made the invites and sent those out. now, i'm working on the decorations. here is a sneek peek at the fabrics i'm using for a flag banner. plan to hang this at the shower and perhaps, my sister will want to hang this in the baby's room after.

wednesday, we got together with one of brandon's classmates and went to the farm. they were having free wagon rides and pick-your-own-corn day (79 cents each). farmer kenny telling us how to pick corn and how they grow their corn. he told us that they can chop off the tops for us IF we didn't want to see the worm on the top. WORM???? apparently, when they grow corn there, they place a worm egg on the top, the stalks grow over it and as it grows, it secretes some sticky liquid to seal off the corn to prevent pests, bugs, ants and other things from getting into the corn. i am sure i am not explaining it completely correct but it's something like that! it's an organic method. kenny's grandfather owned the farm who passed it on to his father (kenny's). here are the boys picking their corn. best part was that we could eat anything there---as many corns as we could while at our stop. raw corn is especially sweet & yummy! we had 1 [or 2]!

brybry said, 'farming is hard work'! yes it is and we thank all the farmers who work so hard to grow us food that we don't even think twice about before we eat!

the tractor wheel pulling our wagon. (BTW, brybry dressed himself---black socks and all!)

we also got to stop off to pick tomatoes. has anyone ever tried a yellow watermelon? they grow those there too and we got to sample some at the end of our trip. SO SWEET!! try it if you haven't! you will be pleased!

finally, from my post here, the winner of chicken poop is........................donna. sorry this took so long to post. i actually used random.org but cannot figure out how to post the box where the random generator picked #1. so the #1 commenter from 13 comments was donna! go figure---how many people win who were the 1st commenter? i have your info donna =)

5 boys for breakfast

what a treat to meet up with a friend from NorCal that i haven't seen in 20 years! we went to the same high school and ran track together back in the days! we met up this morning to have breakfast together before their drive home. it was my 2 boys+his 3 boys. that ='d FUN! the boys got along just great, playing with all their ultraman figures and monsters. (just look at the table covered with all their figures!) thanks for a great breakfast jonathan!! your family is just lovely!we cooled off a little today in the mini pool.

busy making tooth fairy pillows. this one is my 4th one AND i made some moolah! the mom asked for it to be in these colors. this may be my side job! i am finishing up 1 right now for a special girl.

backside to put the tooth in the smaller pocket and a dollar bill or mini toy in the bigger heart pocket.these sunflowers were ginormous! these were at the farmer's market we went to saturday. was going to buy them until i saw a billion ants on the backside. i DO NOT need those in my house!love the summer cropsstopping to smell the flowers except he doesn't know these don't smell!yum!

bryan's mouth was never empty at the farmer's market. fresh fruit samples galore! a tip: you can actually have a light breakfast at a good farmer's market. LOL!

picnic fun

can you belive summer is almost over? i have no idea who brandon's 1st grade teacher will be until the day before school starts. we have been slowly getting his school supply list checked off. when i was younger, we never had a supply list. here is what's on there: 1 pencil box, 1 box skinny crayola markers (6 ct), 24 #2 pencils, 1 pack 12 ct crayola coloring pencils, 1 yellow highlighter, 1 fiskars blunt 5' scissors, 1 box kleenex, 2 pink pearl erasers, 2-24 ct crayola crayons, 2 dry erase markers, 24 glue sticks, 2 reams of white copy papy, 1 box of ziploc bags (sandwich or gallon size), 1 container disinfectant or baby wipes, 1 ream of colored copy paper, 1 elmer's white glue,, 1 set addtion/subtraction flash cards, 1 pack 3x5 index cards (lined or plain), 3 pocket folders (red, yellow, blue). whew!!!! anyone wants to donate any of these supplies for us?!! j/k
i'm getting my school cards done early this year too. here is one for his 'unknown' 1st grade teacher. it says, "have a great year"! she'll probably need it!!
just curious, to my peeps in your neck of the woods, do you have a supply list for school to bring in? sharing some pictures of a picnic day i had with the boys. we are so lucky to have so many parks where we live. i mean, the whole 2.5 hrs we were there that day, only 5 people walked by on the trail. no one around us so the boys could be a loud [and annoying] as they want.
here they are each holding a rollie pollie.

look at all that space! and no one else in sight!i usually pack sandwiches, finger snack foods, lots of fruit, juice boxes and water. sometimes, i'll bring bubbles. other times, their balls and bikes.i highly recommend this....the boys play tag, we lay down and listen to nature. they ask me questions. they tell silly jokes.

i bring them each a notebook and they draw and write. this one below is brandon's drawing.here is mine. i just did leaf rubbings. came out very pretty. i haven't done this since grade school!

this one is brybry's. i love that he likes to write and draw. he already knows how to write his abc's. you would have trouble seeing what some of his letters are but i can make it out =) he makes my job easy. already learned how to spell his name (and ours) a while ago.so go out to your parks and enjoy!

the OC fair & making simple flower embellishments

a few weeks ago, we went to the OC fair at night. it was also that night that we adopted a beta fish. someone had left or forgotten their fish prize and left it on the waiting areas outside. maybe they couldn't or didn't want to bring in to the concert. some lady saw us passing by and kindly asked if my boys would like a fish and of course, the boys answered yes in unison! [happy to say, "marlin" is still alive & swimming!]

we did not ride any rides BUT we did have some fair food. 1st stop---here for a ginormous turkey leg. i find fair food extremely over-priced.... $9.75 for the turkey leg. but can't complain....it was yummy and fed the 4 of us!

we also had some funnel cake before we left. delish!

little brybry ended up hogging the turkey leg that was as big as his head!i remember my dad taking me on a slide similar to this one at our state fair YEARS ago. look at all the yummy colors! fun!we stumbled across a literacy for children booth while at the fair. this nice girl read them a story and told the boys after she finished the story, they could then pick out a book to take home. there were new & used books and of course, the boys BOTH picked old, used books! maybe they take after their mama who likes old vintage stuff!

here is a card from a set i recently made. i don't have a lot of play moolah so making

my embellishments are a must sometimes. theses flowers ones were easy peasy. self explanatory....for you non-crafters, LMK if you want me to send you instructions. they were made from a vintage music sheet book.
here is the set of 4 cards i made. just changed up the color in the center of the flower.

speaking of vintage, can anyone help me out with finding an old (vintage) flower frog? i have been looking for over a year now at places like thrift shops and the goodwill. no luck. we don't have too many garage sales in my area either. i am looking for a tarnished green one or a silver one....not too big. something under $10. i would pay you for shipping too. thanks!

BTW, don't forget to enter for chicken poop!! see here.

no calories post & chicken poop giveaway

hello again. seems like summer time, i have more time to post but i still post sporatically!
here is a recycled altoid tin i covered and made into this:cute, no? i really do love this stamp set.

inside, i filled with 2 instant coffee packets, rich hand cream, and lip balm. and yes, the lip balm is named 'chicken poop'! see the end of this post for blog candy giveaway.

i WAS going to give this to a coworker who just had a birthday but after i finished it, it was too cute to give up! [shhhhhh, she won't know!]speaking of delicious, we love going here after our trips to the wild animal park or the san diego zoo. such a treat! the boys will have a fresh cup of homemade sorbet or ice cream.not only are their desserts decorated beautifully but so is the front of the shop. such inspiration!almost looks too good to eat!

we always get some to go too in addition to the ones we ate there already!!

so how about a giveaway? i so happen to have an extra tube of chicken poop lip balm! wanna try it? some of you may [or not] know that i am very OCD about lip balm. i must have it on all the time. there is one in every single room of the house. 1 if not 2 in my purse. and i'm always game on trying new lip balm flavors. you'd think i was crazy if you saw a picture of my lip balm "collection"!!

so just tell me what your all time favorite dessert is or favorite dessert place. or tell me your favorite lip balm brand. comment on this post til august 12th and i will pick a winner then.

thanks for stopping by and always leaving lovely comments.