Tuesday, September 30, 2008

September Monthly Special


Every month, Marc over at Take-out Photo gives a new photo challenge. This month was text + photo. In true Heather fashion, I am here on the last day, at the last hour getting it done. These are stickers from one of those fun photo booths on the beach in San Diego, where we were honeymooning. It is so true...I have never been happier than I am right now. Thanks Marc....can't wait to see October's special!

Another shed find...

A very loved Woody doll from 2001. We gave it to Tyler for being such a great help as our ringbearer at our wedding. I instantly thought of Andrew, Jill. Let me know if he would enjoy it!


Monday, September 29, 2008

We said it for the last 2 weeks.

"Let's go in the pool guys because this will be the last time we can go in the pool for a long time." Last weekend and the one before it, we were sure the heatwave was over, but uh, no. It is so HOT here.95 degrees! It doesn't really seem right. It is officially fall, right?

Typical Calvin poses from Michael & Lindsey when I have the camera pointed at them.

Not here it isn't.

It was great to see some racing going on....nothing like an older sister swimming faster than you to get you motivated:)

Tyler joined us and let me take a picture.....I know, I know...I am still getting over the shock of it.


Unfortunately, our little princess was sleeping so she missed out on the pool action, but she woke up in time for the popsicle that always follows the pool. How is that for perfect timing? Do you often ask yourself....do they ever wash her face? We do, I promise! It just seems the cutest pics are often the dirtiest...doesn't she look like she enjoyed her fudge pop? Her eyes mesmerize me.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

15 hours.

To ourselves. My Mom (& Dad) were generous to watch the kids overnight....what???? Yes, you read that right...overnight. It has been about 3 years since we have done that(not including birth of children). Charles surprised me and booked a room at our favorite place, Hacienda Del Sol. I love it there....it is so quiet, so peaceful.
"Our" courtyard where we got married....
I love this shot of one of the hallways of the hotel...It is exactly where I stood waiting to walk down the aisle..

More details later, when my pics are downloaded.

Have a great Saturday!

Friday, September 26, 2008

You know it's a good day....

When you can get this good and dirty, Feed Elmo yummy leaves,
Have a nice long bath...complete with swimming, splashing and singing.


And get good mail!!! My Aunt & Uncle sent us an early holiday surprise....isn't it cute? Thanks Pat & Rich! We love it!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Future Illustrator/Author at our house.

I couldn't scan Lindsey's latest storybook because the paper was too large, but you get the idea.
Gosh, I love that girl!

Monday, September 22, 2008

Benefits.

Of Bulk pick-up...Twice a year the city comes by and does picks up branches, old furniture, appliances, just junk you don't want anymore. Which in turn makes you clean out your shed that is about to explode.

Rediscovering some of your old favorites...
Finding new seating for the living room.....do you believe that rocking chair was mine when I was little? The Mickey chair was Tyler's when he was about 3. I told you I hold on to everything.
Recycling Tyler's old toys....he was a Pooh FANATIC when he was 2. Had to include this photo for Cristina....see it must be genetic!


Of Michael having a play date with Grandma...Thanks Mom!

We now have "snake" decor in our kitchen. Michael made 6 of them with Gram, because he couldn't leave anyone out. So sweet.

Of having flip flops strewn all over the pool deck....



Then I can show you how big


grasshopper really was! Is that the largest one you have ever seen? It was for me...I think he could have worn that shoe.

Hope you see the silver lining in your Monday! Have a great day.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

I've been tagged!

According to Lori, I need to talk about 6 random things about myself.

1. I won't eat a tuna sandwich from anywhere, but my own home. Weird, right? I have a mayonaise phobia...Really weird, right? If there is ever too much mayo(probably normal amount for most people) on a sandwich, I wipe it off with a napkin. I told you, weird.

2. Speaking of food and weirdness....I always eat the softest french fries first.

3. Calvin & Hobbes.....the best comic strip EVER!

4. I am loving Kanye's new song....Love Lockdown...how bout you?

5. I can sit with my legs behind me...Apparently, I have passed it on to Natalie.

6. I can curl my tongue too, Lori!

Now, I am suppossed to tag 6 others....Kim Sue, Kacey, Cristin, Cristina, Clare, and Rachel...tag you are it!

Hope your Sunday was great!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Made you smile!

It is all about accessories at our house. He had a tie on too, but threw it before I could get the pic.
I just love this one of Natalie in her Fancy Nancy hat...she is shying away from the camera so much these days.

Hope your Friday is wonderful!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

My book list.

I found this on Jill's blog this morning.


The Big Read is a National Endowment for the Arts program designed to encourage community reading initiatives and of their top 100 books, they estimate the average adult has read only SIX!
Here’s what you are supposed to do:

*Look at the list and bold those we have read.
*Italicize those we intend to read.
*Underline the books we LOVE .
Share this list in your blog, too, if you like.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter Series-JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo


30 out of 100......interesting...how many have you read?

Lifehouse Everything....

I know I have posted this before, but it is so emotional for me that I have to post it again. Please watch it all the way through. It is powerful.



Does it leave you in tears every time too?

Oh. my. gosh.

Don't you wish you had a little boy right about now? Pinocchio! Pinocchio! So, so cute~

Here are the directions on how to make this adorable costume.


Oh wait, you want more?


How about a little



Indian? How stinkin cute is that? Go here for the tutorial.

Have fun.....Halloween is right around the corner. Have your kids decided what they want to be?

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

All before 11am.


Planted some more flowers.....got good and dirty.



Mowed and raked the overgrown lawn.
Did some deep sea diving in the pool.







And rode our bikes!
A productive day, no?


Sunday, September 14, 2008

Good etsy mail, croquet and a movie.

I am finally posting about all the great etsy mail I have been receiving this past week. Okay, I ordered all of it, but it is still some great mail!


I ordered this from Creative Spring.

Thanks to my new bloggin friend, Lori, I found Susie Harris Designs. Do you love this tassel? I do!

Speaking of Lori, I ordered this from her shop, Too Silly Sisters. She sent this along with matching earrings. I really love them.
Another wonderful shop/blog I found was due to Lori. Artfulife. Do you love it or what? It is so sweet. Lindsey has already informed me that it is a picture of my 4 children. Thanks Summer, it is beautiful!






Saturday we enjoyed some croquet, Scavo style.



First, you need to make sure that you have not mowed your lawn in a week or 2.





Then give your small children REAL wooden croquet balls to use.



And wooden mallets....


Set up the arches(in our case, the giraffes) repeatedly because they hit the giraffes more than they hit the balls.


Oh, and you cannot to forget to do all of this barefoot.



Lastly, let your youngest sit at the finish...oh wait, you might not see her because the lawn is swallowing her.



Seriously though, they had a good time. I was surprised how well they behaved considering they were carrying dangerous weapons.


Also, on Saturday my Mom & I went to see Mamma Mia....it was good. Lots of fun and now I can't get any of the songs out of my head. Thanks Mom!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

FFFNI

Remember when I mentioned we have FFFNOs? Yesterday we switched it up and had a friday night in for a change. Right before our movie(Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang...how bout that Lori) started this is what I found in the living room. Cute, right?


Hope your weekend is wonderful!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Brought to you today, by the letter C.

C what we have been up to lately?
Caught! Impersonating a super-hero.


Curls, curls, more curls. Could I do this post without showcasing them?
Child accessories...the next big thing. Tractor tires...the new headband.
Crazy. Riding their new bikes as soon as Dad brought them home. No helmet, no shoes, no problems.
Culinary expert at work....okay, who am I kidding. I just made some stir-fry with fresh vegetables(I know, I didn't even use the frozen kind!).




Candy corn of the Brachs variety is finally on the shelves here. Yum is all I can say.
Car placement. How is this car hanging on the wall with no string, no hook, no nothing? I guess I should add Crayon to this one too....notice the beautiful artwork below the Lorax? I just did. Magic Eraser to the rescue!Can she see? That is the question. She went for her follow-up of the mysterious nodule on her eyeball and an eye test.
Curiously, her nodule has not changed with the steroid eye drops he gave her. He thinks it is benign(thinks!) and wants us to come in if we notice any changes. He gave her a eye test and found that she is 20/40 and has an astigmatism. Because he is conservative he recommended that we wait on glasses until she really needs them. When she needs them is up to us!!!???!!! Huh? I always thought that when you need them, you need them. I don't wear glasses, have always had 20/20 vision(I am sure that will be changing very soon though) so I don't know about all of this. What do you think?

Channeling Grandpa Ralph on her way into school.




Cat boots~~~I know, I know...who needs 2 pairs of rain boots in the desert? Natalie does, of course.
Close-up of the smallest cutie. Look at those eyes.
Cuddling family.....washed out photo courtesy of photographer not paying attention.
Chocolate chip cookies homemade by Lindsey & Michael. They were really good and by some miracle, we still have a couple left.
Chopping up Barbie's hair while everyone is sitting at the table waiting for you to start dinner. Lindsey was not happy. Cashing in on Aunt Candi's mucho generous Build-A-Bear workshop gift cards!

Choosing the perfect friend....who forever shall be called Petri.
Cleaning up their new friends.


Carrying the softest bunny ever...aka baby bunny.
Clothing fashion show for her new friend, Ella the elephant.

Challenge photo that I forgot to submit. Take-out photo has monthly specials that I like to participate in. Last month's was a photo within a photo. I think this is a great example of that. We were downtown and about to go under an overpass when I caught this. It is black and white photos of people downtown 50 years ago. It is made of all tile. So cool.
Chuck E. Cheese was our next stop after Build-a-Bear. The kids had a great time. I have to be honest there weren't many opportunities for snapshots....my eyes were in 4 different directions. Now, I remember why we only go once in awhile.




Charles my handsome husband, cooling off in the pool.
Cozying up to his water thermos???

Carrying on in the pool with Tyler and Lindsey....


And don't forget there was a lot of crying, cleaning, coloring, and creating going on too. Oh, did I mention Crying? Yeah, that too.






Oh how could I forget? Caillou pose, an every day occurrence around here!