So here it is Dec...

the fog is slowly lifting. i made it through my brother's frozen turkey and all the trimmings. It was wonderful seeing my sisters and hanging with the Kirby's. Somewhere in the middle of celebrating with my family my father in law went on life support and passed away. I've been very sad dealing with my emotions. The man was an incredible father. You would never know what a life the man had led. He had done so much...to me he was "Chuck". i enjoyed our conversations and i will miss him greatly. With weddings and funerals you get to see family members. In the picture are his grandchildren and the great grandchildren minus a few. Hayden really enjoyed connecting with his older cousins from New York. Now i think he wants to go there this summer. Do you think i can send him Fed Ex with a little food in the box? He asked me if we could go camping there. Hmmmm
My handsome boys all dressed up for the memorial. i never dress them alike...but they sure did look cute. And they were such good young men...i was very proud of them.
This is a little something i created before Thanksgiving. i also made one for my father and for Diane. And in this past week 75 memorial cards and a memory book for my father in law. Somewhere i need to find the time to create Christmas cards...maybe the first year i don't get them out.

So another full week of adventures...

i guess that is putting it mildly. John came out clean...literally. Seriously put a damper on his life for the past month. But the Doc said he is going to live. But hey maybe the chew will be cut out. Or something else will be!!!
So with a somewhat clean bill of health and a new lease on life we all packed into the Sequoia and headed down to Monterey for a day trip. Yes we do like daytrippin'!!! The weather was GORGEoUs fall weather.


i have not been to the aquarium in years. i think since my culinary school days. Did that just date me??? John had never been either so it was fun to walk around and look at the exhibits. The boys had a great time in the wave room. i think it was Liam's favorite place...he kept running a back there.

i love Darren's expression in the wave room. the kids all screamed every time the wave went over.

One of my favorite rooms was the Jelly fish display. The colors were fantastic!!! It was hard to take photos ...no flash.

We also got to see the sea otters being fed. They are very smart and playful. The trainers did all kinds of tricks with them. The kids loved watching them most likely because they were mischievous...reminded them of each other stealing snacks and toys from each other.

After dinner we let the kids run wild at the Dennis the Menace park. i think Bruce had a good time chasing the kids around and dancing in the cage reliving his Paladium days. Overall another good trip.


The kids went back to school while the mom's packed for our last camping trip of the season. We headed out to Brannen Island. And a funny thing...no pictures. i think the only pictures were from our iphones uploaded on to our FB's. Go figure. Hayden has always wanted to camp there because we pass the campground every time we go to Sacramento or points to the North. We started in site 29 but ended in the nice sunny spot of 30. Yes Diane, Liam and I moved the whole camp to 30 when Bruce was gone on an adventure with the big boys. It was sunnier and warmer. We had a good time watching movies and scrapping at night. Kids were down by 7:30 every night. Got to love that with Daylight saving time.

So now we are weeks away from Thanksgiving and soon Christmas. i can't believe it!!!

Start your engines...

So we got through our first holiday of the season. Don't you think that Halloween is a holiday? My boys do. Liam was so excited to wear his costume all day. Also there were so many princesses for him to look at. He thought they were all beautiful. Hayden's school parade was fun to watch as usual. i have memories of my paraded at school. They were always a highlight of the day. My mother only made it to a few of mine so i make it a priority every year for the boys. Some of the kids had some great homemade ones but a slough of Star War costumes.Luckily John made it home in time to carve pumpkins with us. We always wait to Halloween day to do them. i like to freehand them and John uses a stencil. To eachs own. But his way takes so long that the kids eventually lose interest.
Hayden acrually reached in and cleaned some of the pumpkin inards out. Liam on the other hand had no part of that. He looked in and was like no way!!

In the end the night eventually became dark and the rain held off so the storm troopers could go out. Liam held my hand tight so the monsters would stay away. He did try to go up to Jose's scary porch but only made it 1/2 way. Mommy had to help him make it to the candy. My boys came home with their bags full and smiles on their sweet faces.

I can't tell a lie...

I've done it once again. Not that life stops but I just can't keep up on the blogging.
I've found facebook also. bad bad bad like crack not that i would know. But just bad.
So last week Diane and i had a mom's night out. We went to the new Rave Theater in town and saw What Happens in Vegas Ok, so i just admitted that i saw it...we also enjoyed it. The man in front of us at the end of the movie got up and said, "you ladies sure got your money's worth." We both had tears from our laughing. You know us when we start to laugh.


So Liam has been asking for a preschool...finally!!! Well my friend Jeanne son goes to a preschool and they were having a field trip to the pumpkin patch and we came along. He LOVED it!!! They had a new baby miniature donkey with the mommy. Liam said that was us because the mommy was protecting the baby. My sweet boy.



On Sat. i joined Diane in a booth for a fundraiser at her school. I purged 6 years of scrapbooking stuff.
breathe in breathe out
We did quite well but after we were starved so we picked up the boys and headed out for tacos and margaritas. Yeah then we had to go to the city park to sober up a little by way of the barbers chair. Dueling chairs that is. Hayden wanted a 1 and 1 but he got a 2 and 2. Liam just got a clean up from granddaddys buzz.
On Sunday i headed into Oakland chinatown to have brunch with about 200+ of my people. Yes the OwYangs. Very interesting lot. I hadn't planned on going until my Aunt Betty called and said that she was going. A nice surprise was to see my cousin Petrina and her daughter Jasmine. i have not seen them in a while. Talk about life getting in the way. The boys miss camping with them. Never a dull moment. While i was looking for a parking spot i did a ditzy thing. i thought the sign said 8'2 not 6'2. 8'2 was on the other side. So i headed down into the lot and heard BAM...yes it was my racks hitting. Of course i couldn't back out right away because of the pile up of little cars behind me. They had to back out then me onto to busy Webster St. They all moved fast when i went...i skidded out. Well i was on a downhill grade. What was i suppose to do. i also got to go to my favorite chinese deli YUMMY!!

challenges, inspirations and little lovelies of fall...

So this past weekend was our Art, Wine and Jazz Festival. Hayden entered his Matisse and he also had a drawing he did with his class. Very proud of that boy i am. He started out drawing this summer with my father and this was one of his firsts.

Diane, Liam and i went to Berkeley last Sunday. Liam came along so he could go to his Grand daddy's and Lizzy. He was so funny because he asked to spend time with the 2 of them. So i dropped him off and we were off to the mecca of shopping that awaited us. A feast for the eyes also.
We hit the usuals Scapbook Territory, Castle in the Air and Anthropology. Oh My GoodNeSs we are so starving out here.
It was so good to feel the vibe of the city. The Obama bake sale had some yummy things to eat. We would never have one of those out here.

Upon picking Liam up...we walk in and my little guy is was buzzed by Grand daddy. there were long rouge hairs and pockets where the steady hand must of waivered but nonetheless it was time spent with family. He picked these beautiful little pears with Lizzy. They were just so cute.


Returning with my bag of goodness i went straight to work that night. My head was racing with inspirations. So these are some of my fun that night.
i have been consuming myself with challenges. This one that one...well my next challenge was to Diane yesterday. Finish 3 projects by the end of the month. Things that are almost finished but just not done. How many of those do we have? Why can't we just finish them? Well i have found a lot while i am cleaning out my scrappy corner. i have NEVER cleaned out gone through or thrown out my stash. Oh am i sick!!! Bring in the guys with the white coats.

Saying good-bye...

to our sweet summer. Ah yes it is now fall the days are cooler the leaves are falling and the geese are flying. At least they sure were last week where we were camping at Collins Lake. If i don't hear another flock of geese flying over until next year I'll be happy. They don't have alarm clocks...one squaks and they all start in...6:30AM first light yes?
Bruce made fishing fanatics out of the boys. They loved it. Maybe not the walk back...the lake was low after 2 years of draught.

Our home sweet campsite. Yes, you can see 2 tents. i hit the dirt on this trip my husband was visiting his father. Since the boys were down on the dock fishing Diane and i found ourselves with a lot of idle time and we only brought one scrappy project Daniela's so we played many hands of solitare.

You got to be sure you explore your world above and below.

How do you teach a teenager manners?

So yesterday we had the honor of meeting Claude, the albino alligator at The Academy of Sciences. Evidently he and his lady friend are unruly teenagers and have no manners when it comes time for their meals. They attack the biologists behind their wooden walls.Hayden enjoyed having the docent there to answer all of his questions regarding the alligators and fish.What a treat it was to go to the city. Of course we were there for the kids but it was absolutely worth it as an adult. The kids ran all over the facility.The boys enjoyed the fact that they could go under and over in the building.

The building was a feast for the eyes. And so nice to get out of town for the day. i guess a couple of other families thought the same also...saw some other towns people. Well for our next adventure...stay tuned!!

Do you raise your hands to stop the ride....

Oh man it's been a crazy week. i got strep throat somehow...the neighbor boy had it too so he was probably contagious when i picked him up from school. Just keep your fingers crossed now that it is fall break. We are trying to go to Whiskeytown to go camping.
This is a LO challenge i did for Red Velvet. This saying just fits my husband to the "t".
And this LO is for Scrapmojo # 22 challenge.

Can you believe he's a 49rrrr??

Yes, my man turned 49 yesterday. The boys were thrilled to make him cards, pick out his cake and help me make his dinner. Thank goodness it wasn't his favorite meal...hot dogs rolled in cressent rolls. Yeah that's my guy.

This is my take on the OLW challenge. Liam and i were fooling around with the camera one morning and this picture came out just beautiful. It's funny how we as the memory keepers have to do a lot of self portraits.

And the other LO is one of my favorites because Hayden is being so mad at me. The title is from Sidney Poitier's movie...They Call Me Mr. Tibbs!

And did you know what Friday the 19th is??? i didn't either. So go out and practice your Aye maties and shiver me timbers!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Vintage photos - Family photos