Yellow Makes Me Happy

signs of summer

To me, one of the first signs of summer is baseball.  I know it technically starts in the spring, but they don't call them "The Boys of Summer" for no reason!  This year I only have one ball player.  Sam opted not to play (now I think he wishes that he had!).  Charley is fearless on the field!  (I used to be a softball player... it was one of my true loves, so it gives me much pleasure to have my girl feel the same joy that I used to!)

Can you see the ball coming off her bat?  I am coaching the team this year, and it is SOOO hard for me not to go over board when she does something awesome... I am bursting!

We also had teacher appreciation last week.  I tend to think homemade goodies are where it's at...  Sooo

Lilac's clipped from my yard, my super duper homemade oatmeal M&M cookies, and of course a homemade card.

I love the new Koshi Doll from A Muse.  She is SOOO cute... We have been so blessed by each of the teachers that we've had this year.  I can honestly say that each of my children are thriving.  Wow!  What a awesome thing to be able to say!

One last activity to show you... We still had a few chilly days in the last couple of weeks, and that always brings out the cook in us ladies around here!  The girls and I made soft pretzels.  Yum!  We ate them all...  no leftovers!

 Some had salt, and some had cinnamon and sugar... They were doughy goodness! 

Happy sunny day everyone!

My mojo went missing...

I think it might be coming back though... I have been doing things, but I've been having a hard time taking pictures.  I've also been having a hard time focusing on life.  It's been topsy-turvy around my house for the last 4 months or so.  My husband, Zachory, works at Microsoft.  They have gone through two rounds of lay-offs recently.  So far we have come through unscathed, but it REALLY makes you feel vulnerable.  He's been with the company for 11 1/2 years... I am biased, but he is brilliant... I don't know how they could get rid of him, but you just never know...  Anyway, I got a forward in my e-mail in-box the other day... It was a conversation with God.  What I gleened from it was to focus on today... not tomorrow.  Today Zach is employeed. Today we have money in the bank, and our bills are paid.  Today everyone in my house is healthy and for the most part happy :)!  Today our lives are in God's hands!!  For that I am enternally greatful! Soo... with all that out, here are some of the things I've been up to lately!

Here are some cards that I made... The first two are a little blurry... Zach messed with my camera, and I had a hard time getting it to focus. 

 This was for my neice... I took a class from Julie way back in February and she colored the cone like this on one of her cards... Needless to say I like it!

   This one was for my nephew... His first b-day...  I think two minutes from beginning to end... Gotta love that!

This is a little something I whipped up for one of my friends.  Her family is moving across the country to MO.  It's really hard on her family and my own.  Her 10 year-old is my 10 year-old's best buddy, and our five year olds are besties too!  I thought I'd send her a little pick me up...  (Plus I wanted to use my chalk!)

On to a little something yummy...  Sunday, at Zach's request, I made Chicken Pot Pie for dinner... It's my own special creation...  I usually make it with a kind of cheese sauce inside, but he prefers  just gravy... I have to say, YUM!  My crust turned out GOOD too... Crust is iffy sometimes... I'm getting better though...

Of course yesterday was Cince de Mayo... We had a little fiesta around these parts...

 Charley was the only one I could get to pose in costume... She's always game!

We had tacos, homemade guacamole, pico de gallo & orange soda in margarita glasses...  It was fun... The kids always enjoy a little celebration!

Have an awesome day & I promise to be back REALLY soon!

Sunday night rituals and more...

Every Sunday night my little family gathers on our yellow sectional couch (yeah I'm not sure why I thought a light colored couch was a good idea with 3 kids).  We usually have a little treat of some kinds and we prepare for an hour of family togetherness... also known as America's Funniest Home Videos.  It's on Sunday's at 7pm.  Our entire family laughs out loud!  I look forward to that hour all week!

  Even our dog, Harper, get's in on the action :) 

I tried a few new recipes this week too.  Zach's favorite (and maybe the only thing) that his mom makes is 7 layer bean dip.  I saw a recipe that is a little different than my mother-in-laws over on The Pioneer Woman's blog.  She has a whole cooking section over there, and I have used several of her recipes.  Anyway, I made this dip for Zach and Sam to take to a basketball party... It looked GOOD!

  Tell me you don't want a scoop of that!

I also made this... I'm always on a quest to make something different and fun for the kids on the breakfast rotation...

Can you tell what they are? Hehe... They are not biscuits and gravy... they are bisquits with CHOCOLATE gravy!  Needless to say they were devoured!  I got the recipe for this one over on the Bake or Break blog.  I have spent hours on end looking at that blog.  I am bound and determined to try all of the recipes over there!  Yum!

I also made a couple of cards :)!

   A little Irish for ya!  Considering we are only a couple weeks from St. Patty's day!  Everything I used on this card was from A Muse except the shamrock punch which is Martha Stewart Crafts from Michael's.

 This little bunny in the carrot car is my favorite new stamp from the Spring A Muse release!  It is so cute!  Everything I used on this card was from A Muse except the black card stock (which was a scrap) and my Copic markers :)   

Let's hear for my boy! (and love day)

Sam had his final game yesterday on his regular team (he also plays on a tournament basketball team).  His little team went undefeated.  Not only that but my boy had 2 baskets, a few assists & he got player of the game! Woo Hoo!

  Blurry picture... sorry!

Here are a few pics of the Valentine's I made for the kids classes.  I made the same for both of the girls'... 

This is the front of the Valentine...

I attached these awesome lollies to the back.  If you know me, I love cherries, so this was right up my ally :)...  I got the lollies at Williams-Sonoma.  (all images and twinkle sticker by A Muse)

Then I made these for Sam's class...

 I got these test-tubes from Impress.  I used Boris and Bernice from A Muse, Boris for the boys and Bernice for the girls. I filled the tubes with Pop Rocks!  I love Pop Rocks!  They remind me of being little.

My last picture for you today is of part of the gift that Zachory gave to me.  My FAVORITE food is barbequed hamburgers...

Oh yeah... I camelized some onions... Zach toasted my kaiser roll... blue cheese and steak sauce.  If love were food, that would be it! (I also got a dvd player for our bedroom, but the burger was the best!)

The bad blogger award goes to...

Me!  Sorry...  no excuses, just busy and lazy.  I have had some fun adventures though... my birthday, Zach's birthday, a couple of A Muse classes with Julie at the retail shop, the girls at the father-daughter dance... we've had some fun!

Anway,  here's a picture of Julie and me...

   

I went up to Seattle with my friend Suzanne and we took both of Julie's classes!  We had so much fun... Heather was in my class... It was so cool to meet her!  I met Rhonda, too.  She was even cuter than I thought she'd be!

Here's a picture of one of the cards that we made...

 It was a pop-up card... I wish I had taken another picture of it openned...

Now, here are a couple pics of the girls and their daddy...

 

They had kind of a Luau theme this year...

Shaken the booties...

The girls and Dadda... They had a really good time, except that G peed her bloomers and Zach had to bring her home naked wrapped up in his shirt :) hehehe... 

See you soon!  I promise!

Love is in the air!

Valentine's day is only a month away!  You better start getting the hearts out!  I made a card... I'll probably give it to Zach... I really can't give it to anyone else, after you see it, you'll understand why.  I have to admit, I think it's kind of clever, especially for me... I'm not usually clever...

He he he!  I indended to use it last week for Heather's spark, but I just didn't get around to blogging it in time.  Fortunately for me, it fits the criteria for this weeks spark!

I also have a few peeks of the love going on at my house!

  Little mailbox's that will contain special treats. 

  Our Valentine's garland... I couldn't find one that I liked, so I ordered letters from The Land of Nod and made my own.

   Mmmm... Yummy candies from my favorite candy store, The Confectionary at the University Village.

  Finally we have some made-by-mommy personalized pillow cases.

  That's all for now... I hope your starting feel love at your house!

Bee-lated

I am a little late with some of my cards this month, so I made some "bee-lated" birthday cards tonight... I know, I stamped!  Yee-Haw!

    I wish you could see the little bee's wings better... they're super sparkly!  This card design was inspired by Julie Ebersole.  She has made some really sweet cards by punching a whole through the front of the card and stamping the sentiment inside.  I love the way it looks.  That little rick rack is my fav too, I have many colors of it!

fine print- all images and paper from A Muse; ink VersaFine Onyx black, Copic markers & Spica glitter pen; rick rack ? 

And one more snow picture for the road...

 The Beers' family out for a day of sledding!  (This was before Christmas, just forgot to post)

A little bit of ink

I haven't had time to post our Christmas card or the invite to Charley's birthday party because of all the holiday hub bub...  I have been using my stamps even if I haven't posted any pictures!

  The Christmas car is my favorite A Muse Christmas stamp.  It is so dang cute!  I used to have a 1979, yellow, convertible bug with a liscence plate that said "SMYLE".  Not a day goes by that I don't miss that car.  You have kids and have to grow up... buy a responsible car...

While these cards may not look labor intensive, they were... See those little tabs on the side?  There is a tab for each of the kids with their name and age on it and it's attached to a picture of them.  I made a little envelope with my Scor-Pal and put it on the back of the card...

 I tried to pull the pictures out so you could get an idea about what I mean...

 This was the invite for Charley's birthday party.  We had a cupcake theme.  I used my giant cupcake pan to make her cake.  I also found these adorable cupcake sets at Border's for party favors.  They came with a mini cupcake pan, a little cook book, and frosting bag with tips.  It was perfect.  She had a marvelous time, and no one (except for Nay Nay) brought her gift wrapped in Christmas paper!

 These are the thank you cards that I made.  The girls are pretty little, so I write them and then they "sign" their names.  Charley is REALLY good and writing her name, G is still learning...

So, you can see the stamps are still in affect!  I am going to try to do some stamping today! 

Yesterday's post left out my very favorite gift that was received by my family.  I have talked about my uncle, the builder extraordinaire.  He helped his daughter, my cousin (who is 12, mind you) build an AWESOME stable for the girls for Christmas.  The horses were living in the doll house before :)

She painted it and worked so hard with her dad to build it.  It was the coolest and most meaningful present we got.  (I play with it when the girls aren't lookin :))

Happy Saturday!

Oh Martha...

Why am I continually sucked into everything Martha Stewart has to offer?  It's true that her craft stuff put out by EK Success is awesome.  However, her magazine always seems to be repeats from past issues or stuff so complicated that I wouldn't even try.  Yet everytime there is a new issue up by the checkstand I reach for it with joy!

  There she is...  I was suprised by this issue.  There were actually a lot of things that I really liked!  Things I am really going to try...  I let you know who they will turn out!

I also made another little card today.  We are making some cards at my Wednesday women's bible study that I go to while the kids are at AWANA.  The cards are going to be given to ladies that are "shut ins" but like to communicate through mail.  While I am not an A Muse instructor, I made A Muse card designs to teach these women!  Cool, huh?

I tried to take a better picture of this because I used my new Scor-Pal and there is a score line above and below the vintage paper.  I like it!  Images and paper by A Muse...

Quickie...

Not like that :)... Just kidding!  It was an unexpectedly busy day today.  I didn't even get a shower until 3:30 and I worked out today, so I am sure I was really stinky!  You were dying to know that right? ha ha ha!  Anyway I made a tag for Heather's spark this week.  So I'll post that, and then you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see more antics from my kids or something I've cooked... or maybe a Christmas project I've been working on!

 What do you think of my little leaves?  They are from a Fiskars punch...  ooo and now looking at this picture I meant to put some brads on those tires... I am tired tonight, so I will do it later.  Everything is from A Muse except the ribbon, and that is from May arts I believe.

TTFN