Wednesday, January 30, 2008

200301120804579

heading up the mountains above palm springs, pre elizabeth... actually i think i am pregnant here with her.



you take the tram up a steep mountain going from hot desert weather, to cold snowy weather at the top. it is really fun and i highly recommend this trip if you are ever in palm springs.



200301120805166

emily and daddy (emily has on a coat from one of her brothers)



200301120805195

200301120805996



200301120806549

200301120806526_1

aaron, andrew, grandma and grandpa! snow play above palm springs (before they moved to colorado, before we bought the cabin, before miss lizzy bee arrived)



Tuesday, January 29, 2008

candy sales have arrived

since my new years resolution is to be more flakey, less ocd, it is fitting i am just now (two weeks into the sale) selling candy with emily. we are going to go gang busters the second half of the selling month so beware, you will see us hounding the neighbors soon. here is our first store sale, in the wind and rain, didnt last long but still managed to sell a bunch.





Img_2790

cute babies and preschoolers are always good for selling candy, ha ha!



Img_2802

working on some future gifts and trying to "capture" the girls in a picture together. harder than it looks, someone is always clowning around, lots of goofiness, lots of grumpiness, pushing and shoving, whining, crying. who are these kids i wonder?



Img_2830

poor emily has had the on again, off again rash around her mouth for like months now. poor kid, she just cant seem to get rid of it.



Img_2848

typical liz shot, perfect! ugh!



Img_2891

finally i give you the first pair of pants i have ever made. i tried to make them a tad bigger (the pattern was 3t) and here are the list of goofs i made: didnt make the legs wide enough when enlarging the pattern so they taper in too much at the ankle, one leg is wider than the other ( how the heck did i do that?), had to chop the top off, the crotch was way to low, overall these are too short (thank goodness they are just pajama bottoms).... lets see, what else? oh, sewed the inseams up incorrectly (sorta made a skirt at first) having to start over again.... there is seriously 4 steps to making these and i goofed on all 4! i am a totally "jump in feet first" kind of person and in sewing i guess thats just my style. i have it all figured out now, so you might be seeing more pajama bottoms soon. unless i jump into something else (i would bank on something else).



Saturday, January 26, 2008

tent trailer

200302091804362200302091804951

found a ton of cool old photos so i am going to start a new category called "time warp"...this one is pre elizabeth, camping in san diego down by the beach (and a noisy freeway if i recall correctly) miss that dang tent trailer!



Friday, January 25, 2008

perfect rainy day date

we spent a recent rainy afternoon at the aquarium... liz was most interested in the ray tank where you touch their slimy backs. we spent enough time outside to be thoroughly soaked. back inside, i was hooked on the jelly fish, mesmerizing to watch, not so easy to photograph.



Img_2697

Img_2648

Img_2637_2

Img_2758

Img_2717

Img_2756



Img_2660

hoping for a sea lion



Img_2774

finding nemo tank



Img_2777_2

i think this guy is a sea dragon, something like that, he was near the sea horse tanks. fascinating creature and the last stop on our way out. unfortunately liz came down with the stomach flu this morning so i am trying to be the nurturing mama, but totally hoping i dont catch it too. when i called her preschool they said the teacher has it and half her class is out today, what a wipe out! so here i sit trying not to be a wimp, wish me luck!



:)



Tuesday, January 22, 2008

gymnastics party

liz attended a gymnastics party, introducing us to the world of gymnastics! emily has been in ballet for almost 4 years now, we are on the fence about putting lizzie in too. we want her to have the same opportunities her sister gets, but after this party i wonder if this might be a fun option for her instead? as much as i love the ballet, sometimes the parents put me off. when we started, i would sit with baby liz and several other friendly moms with babies, chatting while our daughters danced. now it seems stuffy with moms talking about their plastic surgery or the newest fashions, feels like high school all over again, no thanks. even my mom has commented that she doesnt feel comfortable hanging out during the class, kind of a bummer since we both really love ballet. i am hoping this next season finds some more down to earth moms to hang with.



here is liz enjoying the party:





Img_2510

Img_2502

Img_2538

Img_2524



Friday, January 18, 2008

emily's "new" camera

part of our christmas tradition was to give some recycled gifts... this tradition was started by my grandmother and continued with my parents....you know the story. anyways, emily was given my mother's older digital camera and she brought it with us to colorado. it was one of those things that needed a ton of batteries and then no one could find the cord to download the pictures (oh and it took forever to find the right photo card to use with it). poor thing kept hearing excuses for every little glitch that came up, i started wondering if it was worth all the trouble. somehow she needled all the right stuff to get up and running and she popped up everywhere snapping photos.



what a surprise it was to finally see what she had taken. she admitted getting help here in there, but for the most part these were all taken by her. we watched the photos downloading and she screamed out as each one came up, telling us where she took it and what she was aiming for. i was so taken aback and wowed by her great technique and style. here are a few and i will post more on flickr:





Pdr_0061

Pdr_0062

Pdr_0070

Pdr_0092

Pdr_0096

Pdr_0147

Pdr_0131

Pdr_0124

Pdr_0140

Pdr_0123



Pdr_0087

here you go, and remember this is a pretty old camera and emily is just 7 years old. i am so proud of her!



Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

heather horton

stumbled back onto this great artist, hoping SO BAD to be able to afford a commisioned portrait of the girls. we'll see... maybe she can make it 4 x 6 inches? anything she does will rock for sure.

Wr1_2



Wr

go to her site, the iv pole and the grandma with knives are wicked!



there seems to be a theme here

even though i work a varied schedule, since about november i have had one and even two days a week where i only work an evening shift. this leaves my days open to sew (and clean!) last month it was spent frantically getting gifts together. this month, recovering from flu and eye infections. finally today i found myself with enough free time to get a decent dog walk in and finish three out of four bags that had originally been christmas presents. it feels good to get these off the list finally. can't wait to pick up lizzie and give her the two bags going to her teachers. they turned out cute, my sewing is a bit spastic, but i was just blazing through it. my eye is finally feeling better and i can finally stand bright light again, two weeks with photosensitivity has been unbearable (and costly, i had to buy expensive sunglasses in colorado to handle the snow glare).

here's the result:



Img_2391



Img_2388

Img_2389

here is the back of one. i made them smaller and i am kinda liking this size. might be nice to have one in my larger bag to take into the store with me. sometimes i hate to carry in a huge bag. i guess i need one for me now.

oh and this little guy:



Img_2397

i forgot to mention him when he arrived over the holidays. i got him here to give away, but as you can see, he's still with me. love him too much and he smells amazing too!



Monday, January 14, 2008

candy sales coming your way!

tonight we geared up for upcoming candy sales. it was fun to role play possible scenarios with the girls.... things like , "what are you using the money for?", "what is camp fire?", "no thanks!" and everything in between. the girls were great sports and came up with some awesome comebacks... fun stuff! we ended our meeting with a "tearing paper" picture craft, no pens allowed. they did a great job!



Img_2355

these are the wetland paintings the girls did way back when, framed up and ready to auction.



Img_2356

Img_2357



Img_2362

it was all about tearing and cutting rather than drawing, i think the girls had fun!



Friday, January 11, 2008

back to it

a day spent cleaning, unpacking, putting all the christmas stuff away (man there's a lot of it!) and getting a few more gifts made. still need to get something made for elizabeth's teachers (they are so amazing) and finish the bag i started for me (who? yeah, ME! yippee!)





Img_2250

avocado for the teacher



Img_2253

fairy tale day at preschool (don't look too close, tape holding on the decal up top, shhh)



Img_2264

finished



Img_2261



Img_2270

new fabric, can't wait to chip away at it.