Cute and Simple Invitations

I'm helping to throw a baby shower this month. Of course, I volunteered to make the invitations. I used old Stampin' Up! paper that I just love along with scalloped circles punched from Chocolate Chip and stamps from the Riveting set in Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink. The ribbon is from Michael's. Beth helped me make them and she liked them so much that she wants me to make these for her baby shower in the WAY distant future. (She's only in middle school, for heaven's sake!)

So enjoy another stamping idea in February! I can't believe how much stamping I've done this month. It's more that I've done in nearly two years, I think.

On a family note: Jacob begins his second semester at AMDA next week. He is loving it there and doing well. I took him job hunting at Universal City yesterday. It was great weather to walk around City Walk. We are keeping our fingers crossed for a job there. Send good thoughts!!

A Gift of Time and Knowledge

I have owned an electric piano for about five years. I have always wanted to play the piano well. I love to listen to piano music. I have longed for someone in my home to be able to play my piano. I am tickled pink when someone comes over and plays beautiful music on said piano. Unfortunately, piano lessons for myself or the children has been out of the question. So the piano has sat there and only occasionally been tinkered with. Until a week ago...

A dear, generous friend of mine has offered to give my kids piano lessons... for free! I cannot tell you how happy this makes me. All three of my kids (at home) are so excited to be learning the piano. Especially Matthew. The girls each had a few lessons about four and a half years ago, when money was a little easier to come by, but we never kept it going when their teacher moved away. The best part, is that I get to sit in on the lessons and then apply what I've learned on my own. I did take lessons for about a year when I was twelve, but nearly all of that knowledge has long since been forgotten.

So now I am thoroughly enjoying hearing the piano being played every day. I look forward to the time when I am hearing Church hymns and other music playing softly from the living room. So here is a BIG Thank You to my wonderful friend for her gift of time and knowledge in sharing the piano.

Off to College

Wow! Where in the world did the time go?? We took Jacob to college a couple of weeks ago. It seems like just yesterday that he was in Kindergarten with a broken arm, or playing the clarinet in the middle school band, or performing on stage at the high school's spring musical.

Well, now it's time for our first born to leave the nest and spread his wings. He is already loving the college life. He enjoys his classes and right now, he is sick with a cold. I so want to drive down there and make soup and medicate the poor thing. It's not easy mothering long distance. I hope he knows how much he is loved and that we are all cheering him on from the desert.

Jake's twin bed in the dorm room he shares with two other young men.

(Yes, that's his Star Wars pillowcase).

To-may-toe. To-mah-toe

I did some canning with my sweetie when tomatoes came into season. We canned so many!! We also made Salsa. Everyone says it's yummy. I don't eat it, of course. If you know me, you probably know that mexican food is not on my list of favorite foods. But I love to do a project with Chuck. Check out these beautiful Jars.
My favorite thing about canning: the pop as the lid seals... so satisfying!

Summer Update

Hey there! I can't believe it's been over three months since I posted here. I've had nothing crafty to share. Haven't made a card since the last post. Yikes. I used to freak out if I went a day with stamping!

We had a good, busy summer without going anywhere. We did make it to the beach once. Chuck and Matt and Beth spent most of the day out in the water.

The rest of the kids, including cousin Jessika and friend, Kenny just enjoyed soaking up the beach air.

The rest of the summer was just hanging out, keeping busy, getting ready for school which started mid August.

Now we're getting ready to take Jacob to AMDA in two weeks. We'll be starting a whole new chapter in our lives. One of our babies, out in the world and not protected in the family home. I'm excited for him, but I'll miss him!

A day at Six Flags

Tuesday I took Matt and Beth and two of Beth's friends to the local Six Flags Park. Beth was celebrating her 1/2 birthday. Which we do since her birthday is so close to Christmas. And Matt had a free ticket from the reading program at school. We had a great day. The weather was great and the park wasn't very crowded at all. We even rode Scream (see pic above) four times. Beth and her two friends went off on their own while Matt and I on ours. We met up every few hours and rode several rides together.

Matt was so fun to hang out with. He is a fun kid and so very generous. He always wanted to make sure I was having fun throughout the day. We got wet on a couple of water rides and loved the many roller coasters. We only skipped the few with lines that took over an hour.

This is Matt's last week of school. The other kids are all out for the summer already. So I'll need to come up with some fun (but cheap) activities to do with the kids.

I hope you are planning a fun summer!

Gold Rush Fun

Matt was required to make a diorama for school recently.  He could choose between a mission or the gold rush.  I'm so glad he decided on the gold rush.  We had a good time putting the project together.  Even Meagan helped locate just the right legos for the job.  We did our research and learned several things about this time in history.  One interesting tid-bit: people rarely bathed. Yuck!  I'm happy to be around during the age of indoor bathrooms.

School is winding down.  Thank goodness.  I think.  It will only take about a week before the kids are whining, "I'm bored".  Every summer I threaten to make a chore list that the kids will have to choose from every time they say those dreaded words.  Maybe I'll actually do that this summer.  I wish the world was more like when I was a kid.  I would take off in the morning and not be home till dark.  My friends and I would explore nearby hills, teach ourselves to roller skate backwards, make up dance moves to "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie.  There was always something fun to do.  These days, the kids only know a few neighbors and they spend most of their time on the computer or playing video games.  How boring!

Feel free to share ideas on how to occupy the long days of summer!  I'd love to read them.

High School is History!

The whole family...so proud of Jacob!

Jacob walking at the graduation ceremony.

We attended Jacob's High School Graduation on Friday evening.  It was a nice ceremony... not too long.  Jacob, and the rest of the seniors in Show Choir sang the Star Spangled Banner and the school's Alma Mater.  One great thing about Jacob's singing voice is that you can always pick out his voice in the group.  

After the graduation we all (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins) came home for spaghetti dinner and visiting.  We even had a fire in the backyard to sit around.

The next day we had all the family over and a bunch of Jacob's friends for a party.  We had tons of Mexican food: Enchiladas, taquitos, tacos, rice, guacamole and chips, beans, etc.  Then there were the desserts: Hershey Cake, Banana Pudding, Lemon Squares, Brownies, and home made Ice Cream.  And to wash it all down: home made Root Beer!!  Needless to say, we were stuffed!

But the best part of the day, was talking Jacob into singing for us.  For his AMDA audition he had sung Stars from Les Miserables.  None of us had ever heard him sing this and so this was our request.   Can I just say, "Wow"?  I know he's my kid and I guess that makes me a bit prejudiced, but dang, that kid can sing!!  Of course, I had tears streaming down my face while he sang.  No surprise there, either.  After that we all wanted more so Jacob and Zoe sang their duet from Back to the 80's: Total Eclipse of the Heart.

We all had a fabulous day.  Thanks to all who came and enjoyed the day with us, and to everyone who brought yummy food to share.  And thanks to Berk for playing piano while Jacob sang.  You rock!

Only two years until Meagan graduates!  

Yikes.

Family and Fun in Florida

I had such a fabulous time in Florida with my Mom last month.  We didn't get to stay very long, but there was lots to do while we were there.  The main event of our stay was the wedding of my cousin, Anna to Koko.  Koko is short for Konstantine.  We helped with details and attended the rehearsal and dinner on Friday, cleaning and the wedding on Saturday, a brunch and a quick visit to the beach on Sunday, and home again on Monday.  The wedding was just beautiful.  As was the bride!

Here are the newlyweds on the beach Sunday afternoon.

My sweet Aunt Jani, and her sister, my mom, Marcia at the wedding.

Koko and Anna preparing to share the cake.  They were both nice about it.

The weather was beautiful while we were there.  The only issue was a little smoke and ash from a  nearby fire.  It was not too hot, the humidity was not a problem, and the beaches were gorgeous.  We were in the South-Western part of the state, on the "Emerald Beaches".  Just lovely.  Mom and I picked up several shells to take home as souveniers and we were amazed at the lovely white sand,  the tropical vegetation, and the multi-million dollar homes that sat along the beach front.  

My Aunt Jani is encouraging me to plan a trip to Florida for our 25th Wedding Anniversary. She and Uncle Larry live in Orlando and would love to show us around the Magic Kingdom.  Sounds like a plan to me!!

My Baby is a Star!!

Last night was opening night for the high school production of Dreamgirls. My son (on the right) played C.C.-brother of Effie. He is in a lot of scenes, several songs, and even has a solo. He did so awesome!! I knew Jacob would do a great job, but to actually see your baby up on the stage acting and singing is totally different! I'm really glad I brought a box of kleenex with me. LOL This is not the bes picture. I will try to get a better one on Saturday night when I go again. After the show all of Jacob's friends from Church were so surprised at his voice! They even came up to me and asked where he learned how to sing like that. What fun! I'm such a proud mama! Jacob's dream is to have a career in theater. I hope that he sticks with it, becauses he is a natural...at least I think so.

Congratulations, Jacob!!

Do the Hula

I can't believe that my oldest daughter will be 14 in two weeks. Time is going WAY too fast! This year she has chosen to have a birthday party at home with some of her friends. She chose the Luau theme. She let me design her invitations and this is what I came up with. Card stock colors are So Saffron, Pink Passion and Whisper White. Ink colors are Pink Passion, So Saffron and Tempting Turquoise. Stamps used are Big Deal Alphabet and the retired Island Blossoms. The front of the card has 3/4" cut off the bottom and a 1" piece is attached to the bottom layer to show on the front. This picture is my sample, but on the actual invitation I did cut the center out of the letter "a" in luau. It looks more professional. I had to make 14 invitations. That made a total of 56 letters to cut out and 14 flowers. I don't normally do this much cutting...lazy stamper, remember? But I did the cutting while watching TV and it wasn't so bad.

I didn't photo the inside of the card, but I printed all the party info on the computer before cutting my card stock. That makes it so much easier. I don't really enjoying handwriting invitations so I do them on the computer whenever possible. For these, I used a cute font called CK Surfer. I got it from one of my Creating Keepsakes journaling/scrapbooking programs.

Last night my youngest child, Matthew took a nasty fall off his bicycle. He was going off jumps at a neighbors house. Unfortunately, the poor kid did a face plant. After we got him cleaned up and had some dinner he started to get the chills and we worried about a concussion. So we took him to Urgent Care. He checked out fine, thank goodness. But what a sore looking face!