Puter Time

Today I did just enough house work to allow myself to play on the computer without guilt. I'm not talking "company is coming" clean, but good enough that I wouldn't be terribly embarrassed if someone showed up unannounced (no floor inspections, please).

I have number of holiday projects in mind, along with other computer related tasks that I HAVE to get going. I also wanted to play with "pinterest" and wanted to have time to surf fun sites. Today is my day. I'll take a couple minutes to update:

Baby Quilt -

A sweet friend had a baby this year. It was her first girl, 4th kiddo. Aubrey and I wanted to do something special, so we made this quilt. Aubrey picked out the fabric because it was bright and fun. It is a basic rag quilt, extra large (as both the parents are soooo tall it is guaranteed that this girl will be long). It was fun to do a craft project with Bree.

Band-

Brandon has been enjoying high school quite a lot. Getting everything done has been a struggle, but overall it's been very positive. He is playing the bari-sax in marching band and LOVES it. Great kids, automatic friends, football games. Right now the season is winding down and he's been extra busy every weekend with tournaments. We don't get to spend much time with him right now, but it's sooo worth it. Here he is after playing the Poway Days Parade.

Biz Town -

Jon had a great field trip this year to Biz Town where he had the opportunity to take on a job, understand a checking account, and learn about business loans. He had to interview for 3 job choices. He was picked to be the town's Judge. He loved it. He was interviewed in the Biz town TV station, was able to try 3 cases (mostly students caught running), and other responsibilities. Such a great experience!!!


Brian and I have both gone through church calling changes. He's now 1st Counselor in the Elders Quorum and gets lots of opportunities to visit members of the ward. I've sadly been released from the Young Women (after 4 years). I was called to work with the Activity Girls (8-9 year old girls) and also as Stake Humanitarian specialist. With both callings, I get to work with some pretty neat people. It has been quite a change for me to adjust to, but I'm enjoying it all.

Jon turns 10!

Jonathan - my brown eyed boy!

Jon chose to go to Universal Studios to celebrate his big day. We went last week when school was out, and used our passes from last year. Made for a great day!

Family shot on the tour tram.

Jon & Aubrey have wanted to do this for a long time. They turned out soooo cute!

Jon is treating his class to some "rocking" Ding Dongs.

I was looking through some old pictures of the kids when they were little. My heart melted into a pile of goo. It shocks me how quickly they have grown, and how sweet they are. Jon is still a shy little guy, with big dreams. He is a smart tart, with a tender heart. He is a kid I never have to worry about "doing the right thing". He is a friend to everyone ... once he gets out of his shell. His innocence in endearing. J-Dawg, we love you! Have a fabulous birthday!!!

What's New???

I haven't been as "on top of it" as I thought I'd be once the kids got back into the routine of school. I ended up getting pretty sick and not doing ANYTHING! Now that I'm feeling better I find that I miss my excuse to sit around reading books. HA! So, here's a quick review of what's been going on here in the last week:

The 1st Day of School -

Brandon started High School in great spirits. He spent the final week of summer vacation at the school all day long with Marching Band Camp. He got to know a lot of the other kids and felt right at home on campus. He's also started early morning seminary (a scripture study class that meets everyday before school). He seems a bit tired, but is enjoying both the social and spiritual parts of the program.

Aubrey, 7th grade at middle school. She was ready to get back to school to hang out with friends. She had some scheduling issues, but now is loving her classes and teachers.

Jon, 5th grade at elementary school. He is happy to be "big man on campus", but I think he'd be happy with a few more weeks of summer. We were so busy this summer, we never had a chance to get bored. We are all ready for a vacation. :)

Foster Kitties -

Snuggles, Socks, Ninja, & Fuzzball

These are the shyest kittens we've ever fostered in our home. They are dang cute, but haven't had enough socialization with people. We work overtime to help them get over that. It's a tough job cuddling and playing with them, but it's a sacrifice we're willing to make. We'll introduce them to Chance in the next couple of days. They are progressing really fast!

Socks likes to just hang out in the scale bowl everyday when I weigh them. It looks like the other cats are taking note on his weight gain. HA!

Cub Scouts -

Not a great picture, but Jon earned his Bear last week. He is loving scouts and looking forward to becoming a Webelo this fall when he turns 10.

Summer Days

What I love about summer:


Brian took the kids to the beach last weekend and gave me a few hours to play at the So Cal Shop Hop. This was only Brian's second time at the beach all summer. They had a blast.

School starts next week. Maybe then I can catch up on blogging. :)

Kitten Season

With Spring and Summer come lots of kittens that are abandoned or unwanted.

We can't adopt any more kitties, but we can help out by fostering them until they are big enough to get fixed and are ready for adoption. These 3 look-alike sisters are part of a bigger litter. They are only ounces away from being ready for adoption. They are so cute.

This one is forever hanging out on the keyboard. Even when someone is playing music, she seems right at home!

They seem so calm now. For the first hour they got here, they practiced their "scaredy cat" Halloween impression. They kept jumping at each other and hissing. So funny. They hardly ever stop to sleep. Brandon and Jon have been sleeping with them every night ... and regularly get attacked when the kittens get their energy built up. The kids love having them here!

Family Moments

This last week has been the first of our summer vacation that we didn't have a camp or schedule to follow. I'll be posting pictures of all the kids' activities soon. We've had some really happy family moments and some pretty devastating ones.

Milestone

One of our nephews, Taylor, graduated from High School this summer. Though it was belated, I wanted to send him a card. Right after graduating he found out his entire family will have to move to Utah with only about a month's warning. Their life is cRaZy right now. We wanted him to know we love him and find a simple way to celebrate his moment.

Sorrow

Then we got an email that crushed all of our hearts. Our niece, Deirdre Wetzker Aguigui , passed away. Completely out of the blue. SHOCKING!!! She was young and pregnant with her first baby. She had joined the military and had learned Arabic in order to serve as a translator. Smart girl. Emotional girl. Sweet, giving girl. She died due to a blood clot in her lung. It was a complication of her pregnancy. So random, so tragic.

I made this card for her parents. I really like the sentiment: "May you find peace and love in the memories you cherish." It makes you just want to hold on to every moment you have with your family members. Take those pictures and create those memories that can stay with you for a lifetime.


We took the kids to the temple for Family Home Evening this week. We just walked around and allowed the kids to talk about their cousin, what they were feeling and any questions they had about death and what happens now. Deirdre, we love you and will hold tight to the memories we will always cherish.

Deirdre Wetzker Aguigui

Chiffonade: what and why

This summer we have made a goal for each of the kids to learn to cook some of their favorite meals. Aubrey asked to make this soup.

Basil is a pretty significant ingredient in this soup. I thought it was a great time to teach Aubrey how to "chiffonade" the basil (translated from French: "made of rags"). It is a pretty simple technique. Though it is a little time consuming, it is a safe way to cut it up. This is where things took a bad turn.

I cut up a whole plant of basil the correct way with just a couple of left over leaves. I grabbed up the stragglers and instead of stacking and rolling them up to cut, I just started cutting. As the picture shows, I missed the leaf at some point.


The doctor said that the nail slowed the knife and saved the tip of my finger. It will know act as a splint to hold the finger together until it heals. You can't see it very well, but the cut goes around the back of the finger too.

I would say it was a successful lesson for Aubrey. She not only knows HOW to chiffonade, but also WHY. She cut the other plant of basil while Brian and I were at the urgent care. :)

A House Divided

I'm realizing that our family is in big trouble. I have my handy dandy little camera that I take pictures with, and Brian has his awesome big camera he takes pictures with. Then we both have computers we prefer working on. The result of all that is I have some of the family pictures on my computer while he has others on his. So, today I will share a little that is going on, but then I'll have to fish out some of the life event pictures from his computer (it's always a bit more tricky) for a later entry.

Bridge Re-Build ... COMPLETE!

When we bought the house, the bridge was old and rotted. I asked Brian if we could pay someone to fix it this summer, but he thought it would be a great project for the family. It turned out AWESOME, and the kids learned a lot. It took more time, but he was right in making it a family affair.


Certificate of Merit - Piano

This year Jon experienced his first round of "Certificate of Merit" evaluation. He was nervous to perform in front of a strange "judge" who couldn't give him much feedback. Still he did well under pressure and got 100% on his theory test which earned him a music trophy. He says he loves piano, but still plans to start up trombone next year in 5th grade band. My hopes of having one kid stick with piano are all but dashed. Still, they all love hearing and playing music. In the end, that's what counts.


Father - Son Camp Out

Ok, so I said I take pictures with the little camera ... except if there is camping involved. Then Brian takes my little one. :)

They went to Dixon Lake. I love that camp area. I don't know why Brandon is aiming for the guy in the center, but I'm sure it's all innocent boy games, right?!

One of the games they played was "volleyball" with this huge air filled soccer ball. No rules, you could use anything to get that ball over the net. The kids loved it!


Cub Scout Camp - "How to Train a Knight"


One of Jon's favorite activities at Cub Scout camp is archery. Jon got himself a bull's eye the second day shooting. I was his Den Leader for 2 days this week and those boys were soooo fun!

Bits of Happy

Do you ever find that some of the most random things can just bring a smile to your face? Here are a few of my favorite things ... for today (I'm a fickle gal).

Fish in Our Pond
We have about 25-30 fish right now. This is a photo of their feeding frenzy. They are just so fun and peaceful to watch.


Chancey Sitting in the Flowers
I have no idea why he likes to lay in these flowers, but every time I go out to pull weeds or work in the pool area, he just lounges. Such a cutie!



Challenge Accepted
The challenge for our craft group this last month was the "shadow box". I was stuck for a long time because it was to be something for our own homes. I do better when I think I will be giving my creations away. Anyway, this is our family "mantra" this year. So I thought I'd include all the big things that we're focusing our goals on. The top left corner is my Young Women's medallion that I earned as a teen (Aubrey is just starting the Personal Progress program at church with the goal to earn her own), top right are little tokens of college graduation, bottom left is a plaque of a missionary (note there is both Elder and Sister - just in case), and the bottom right is a medal to symbolize the Eagle Scout award. And, of course, the whole point of any of our goals is to return to our Heavenly Father, thus the picture of the temple.

I hadn't thought this message meant much to the kids since I didn't have anything up to remind them. But just last week when Brandon was telling me about some things that were happening at school, he said, "it just goes to show that decisions really do determine destiny". I don't know if everyone is getting it, but it made it's mark on one kid's brain this year. (small victory dance)

Judgment Day - Are You Prepared?

Ok, I know I am not watching enough commercial TV when I totally miss a big event like this. May 21, 2011 is "Judgment Day", you know, the big Rapture. How do you decorate for a holiday like that?? How did I miss this? Did you know about this???

So, I'm torn. The radio spot I just heard told me that the Bible says it pretty clearly that the date is May 21, 2011. (I went to the website they were advertising, and it never says WHERE the date is laid out, but after "5 years of tireless study", this guy has decided on this date.) Now, I've read the entire Bible, both old and new Testament, and I've never seen that passage. I admit, I'm surely no expert on the Bible, but I've always gone with this way of thinking: Mark 13:32.

So, practically speaking, do I worry and get my food storage taken care of ... I mean, I do have 3 days to prepare! Or do I blow it off cuz we won't be needing it afterall. How important is it to do that extra load of laundry at this point??? So many projects that I've been putting off can just be left undone, right?!

I was counting on the date in December (according to the Mayan calendar) since I won't have to worry about holiday shopping this year, but could still enjoy the holiday lights. This blows my whole push for Brian to get more lights on the house this year.

I'm being rather sarcastic and rude here, but this is why I love knowing there is a living prophet on the Earth today. That he spoke just recently of the temples being built and the progress of the Lord's work. I feel at peace in a crazy world. While I probably shouldn't poke too much fun at these people who are crying "the world is ending", I will continue to prepare myself and my family to become who we have been asked to become.

And, if you're still around in 3 days, Happy May 21st!

Craft Showcase

Time to show some of the fun things made at craft group this month. Our assignment was casual "thinking of you" type cards and tags of whatever theme we chose. There was another challenge, but I will have to share that in a different post.

Love the pretty color combinations here. Very nice!

Fun colors. Love the apron tag!


These next ones are fun too. Check out the matching envelope.

These final two are mine. Pretty simple, but still pretty. Aubrey helped me put on all the MANY beads. That's how we spent our General Conference weekend. :) I love "church at home" weekend. Or as we also call it: "pajama day Sunday". ha!

Sweet Baby Shower

It all started when I was asked if a friend could host a baby shower at my home. We have no furniture in our front room, so there is lots of space for a party. I then turned to my 2 crafty friends and asked if they had any ideas for a cute baby shower theme. Wow! That started a great journey of all things cute!

"M", the mommy to be, is the sweetest lady. She's having baby #4 - and it's her first girl! Pink had to play a part! With it being Spring, "J" came up with the idea of "birds and nesting" as the perfect theme.

This banner is something that can be used to decorate the baby's room. What little girl doesn't fit this "Sweet" label?!

Here is the final dessert table. So pretty with the green and pinks.

"J" is always trying to learn whatever crafty thing she hasn't mastered yet. Lucky for us, she had been wanting to do a complete dessert table for a party, but hadn't had the opportunity to do one. So, she put all her creative energy in doing this one.

"J" also wanted to perfect the whole cookie decorating skill. This is her first attempt ... AMAZING! She has no learning curve. She sees what she wants to accomplish and it's done! So talented! My personal favorite are the little flowers on the wheels! So cute!

Wait, there's more. "J" also wanted to learn this technique used to sew and ruffle up these cute goodie bags. Look at how many layers are on these! What guest isn't going to feel appreciated after receiving this?!

"Thank You" Goodie Bags

Everything has to match, right?!

Lest you think I'd expect a friend ... who ended up not even being able to attend the party ... do all the work, I did make a couple of contributions to the party. I mean, I did actually clean the house. (Well, sorta ... I got the kids to do their weekend chores early. Does that count?!) Ok, how's this:

Strawberry filled cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

I used this recipe. They were so yummy and the filling was like eating strawberry ice cream. The nests on top are made with sugar cookies frosted with royal icing and dipped in toasted coconut flakes. The eggs on top are chocolate covered sunflower seeds glued on with more royal icing.

And no chick party would be complete without chocolate. Before the party even got planned, we knew that "S" would be bringing this little beauty:

Who doesn't love a chocolate fountain with all the fixin's? YUMMM!

The party was so fun, and filled with great people. I wish I had half the talent that "J" has so I could recreate this for the next shower. Ha! Ok, I have something to aspire to, right?! "M", we love you and wish you the best with your little baby girl in your new home. (Oh, did I mention that "M" is also moving out of state next week? I hope she leaves knowing that she's very well loved!)

She's 12

It's easy to say I always love my kids, but there are times when I find myself fully in love with my kids. I've been feeling that lately with Aubrey! She is an amazing girl, and I'm often fascinated with her way of thinking or acts of compassion. Happy birthday, Sweet Girl!

Aubrey is more often behind the camera now that she's found a love of photography. It's harder to find pictures of her.

Aubrey at 18 months. Our first attempt at "professional" photos.

Aubrey at 2. She's mimicking me taking her picture. I LOVE this photo!

Even at 7 Aubrey always showed a bit of spunk!

Our family wouldn't be the same without this fun, peace making, fiesty, spiritual, sweet girl. Happy Birthday, Bree. So looking forward to what this year has in store for you!!!

Craft-Therapy

I have had a very "off" week ... and it's only Wednesday!

Monday I received a ticket for driving without my lights in the rain. I had no idea that was an offense worthy of a ticket. Sure, a warning perhaps. I was driving below the speed limit (as indicated by the officer on the citation), and it was only spritzling, it wasn't even raining. Ugh! I'm over it!

Then on Tuesday I got bit in the face by a friend's dog. He's a little beagle, and we've met many times before. I was down at his level and he was lapping up the attention. Then all of a sudden he snapped me on the cheek. It's not a big bite. No medical attention needed. It was a big shock, though. It kinda rattled me.

So, the moral is for me NOT to leave the house. I'm staying home today and finishing up projects that need my attention ... like blogging! I never posted the crafty goodness that was created at our last craft group in February.

The assignment was to make TAGS for any occasion:


This is a deceiving picture. "J" made 2 different styles using the black and white. They are so cute and go with the b-day paper she brought to keep us coordinated as only she can. "C" made 6 different tag styles ... (overachiever! Ha!). Sadly, I haven't put them all together so I'll show the one I absolutely love! How cute is that little apron?!


These are my tags. I don't remember what was going on that week, but I didn't even get them finished. Cute paper that would have been finished off nicely with some fun baker's twine or jute.

Then we had The Challenge:


"J" found some fun packages of nature items in the dollar bin and was intrigued. Look at the variety in that one package! It was overwhelming at first.

What was most fun was to see what "J" came up with. She is not the "pretty" type of designer. She's all about cute and coordinating. Look at her card (on left) with the pretty ribbon and layers upon layers. It came out so nice. "C" was ingenious with her use of embossing (on right). So simple, but so pretty. Love them both!

I wasn't able to mass produce my cards since I used Bo Bunny paper, and couldn't find more in our area! So there was more variety in my offerings. Still I really like that paper! Very fun with very little work. Gotta love digital work!