Sweet Charley B's

Last One...

This last card for the challenge is a Mother's Day card... I must confess that the girls were picking and pulling at me so I used a design I have done before ;) 

Still counts, right?  I thought so!! 

My favorite flower

The third card in the challenge was to do something using my favorite flower... I have SEVERAL favorite flowers... Lilacs are the top of the list though, and A Muse does not have a lilac stamp, so I used the little hibiscus.  They make me feel lovely and tropical... When we when to Hawaii a few years ago, they were on every corner... I loved it!

Card #2

I cannot for the life of me get a good picture tonight!!!  Here is my second card with a little time to spare even!! Woot!  The anchors are colored light grey with a one of my fancy Koh-I-Noor colored pencils, but ya can't tell here... Anyway...

The theme for this one was repetition...  

VSN

Which stands for Virtual Stamping Night over on the A Muse blog.  I will explain more later!!  I need to post my card and get on with the next challenge!!

Sorry for the not great picture and the non-crop!!  I'll fix it later!!  

Art and a Fieldtrip

I made a couple of cards last week and had a really good time doing it!  I make simple cards... When I try to get fancy, they just don't look good! 

The images and paper are from A Muse.  The ribbon came from Impress and I used Copic markers.  You can't really tell, but the belly's of the owls have flock by Doodlebug Designs on them. 

Again the images and paper are from A Muse.  The sparkly paper is scrap from who knows where? And of Course Copic markers!

Felt good to make a little craft... Trying to do more of this!!

Friday was a no school day- teaching-in-service.  The kids asked me for and adventure and wanted to go to Sonic.  Now, we live in the Pacific Northwest not in the sound, and to my knowledge there are only two Sonics around here.  The closest one to us is 40 minutes away. 

Sam and Georgie are waiting patiently for their food...

Avery and Sam... still waiting...

This is Charley with her head in my lap because she was SO hungry she was weak... She hadn't eaten anything for almost 40 minutes!!

AWWW... The Cherry Limeaid.  The whole reason I was willing to make the trip!  I didn't take a picture of all of our food.  I was too busy shoving onion rings in my face!  We had an awesome time, though.  Totally worth the drive!

Have a good weekend!  See you soon!!    

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!