watch out spielberg

the finished product

The gypsy costume is complete, here it is...


Since we posted the original pictures of the costume we have added...skirt trim, coin belt, leather belt, tons of jewelry and some sandals we picked up in Tijuana on one of our trips (they work perfect with the costume) We also added suspenders. Suspenders? Yes, suspenders. After I got the trim sewn on to the bottom of the skirt I realized that we had a definite problem - the skirt now weighed a ton. I took in the elastic waist 2 times but the skirt just continued to fall right of Megan. The suspenders work perfect and if Megan wants to change up the costume a bit she can be a farmer gypsy - that's sure to win some originality awards at a costume party.

We got a good laugh at about the skirt and how much it weighed so tonight we did a little experiment. Megan got on the scale with the costume on and then with it off. The grand total...the costume weighs 6.2 pounds - it's all that skirt and jewelry.

three cheers for em...hip hip hooray!

So Emily is not one of our bravest kids when it comes to amusement park rides. Over the last year or so she has gotten much better about trying out some rides when we go to an amusement park but she still tends to stick to her comfort zone rides. Her big step was a while back when she finally made it on to Indiana Jones at Disneyland. She loves that ride now and I think it gave her the little push she needed to try other rides.

Last night we went with our friends the Smiths to Disneyland and had a great time. The highlight for me was watching Emily make the move towards a fast ride - Big Thunder Mountain She had a bit of a nervous moment while in line but she pushed through it and ended up loving the ride. We're so proud of her for learning to overcome some of her fears to try new things. Our Disneyland experience has changed so much now that she is willing to try more things - she just has a way better time at the park. Now if we could just get Luke to try a few more rides.

un-lucky charms

OK, General Mills has a problem. Take a look...
No marshmallows...not a single one. I am sure that this is General Mills fault and couldn't possibly be because of one of my children. I mean come on, is it really possible that Luke would sneak into the pantry and pull the cereal off the shelf and then sit and eat every marshmallow out of the box? We do have a lock on the pantry and I know Luke would never use the broom handle to secretly open up the pantry lock to get to the cereal. And if he did do any of this, which I know he hasn't, he for sure wouldn't do it everyday without my knowledge -what kind of mother do you think I am? So see it must be General Mills fault - are they owned by Best Buy :)

school project # 5,649

Another school project for Emily but this one required all of us and a friend. I took the kids and one of Megan's friends to the park this afternoon because Emily needed to finish up a book report. She read Bridge to Terabithia and for her report she filmed a scene from the book. The project is now being handed off to Derek so that he and Emily can work on the editing. Perhaps we'll try to download the finished masterpiece. Here are some shots of the kids dressed up as Terabithians...
Emily's shot is actually of her playing at the park after the filming. She was a great Terabithian however.

my little nacho libre

So these pictures make me laugh. We spent part of the afternoon at the park helping Emily film a book report (more on that in the next post) We had costumes with us and Luke was running around in his mexican wrestling mask that we got in Tijuana the last time we were there. How nice to be able to run through the park with reckless abandon not caring what anyone thinks - I guess when your face is covered in such a fantastically silky, colorful mask no one is going to know it is you any way.

By the way...the navy rain boots with shorts add a nice touch to the ensemble.

derek is feeding my obsession

So I have a Sharpie obsession. Even with all the damage they can do (we have black sharpie'd window sills - thanks Luke) I still love them. Every time I go into an office supply store my heart races a bit when I see Sharpies in all their glorious colors. I nearly have a heart attack when I see the huge multi pack at Costco.

Last night Emily and Derek were out buying a protractor at Staples and they came home bearing a gift. Yes, you guessed it I am now the proud owner of 24 colored Sharpies - life is good! I colored for about an hour or more last night thoroughly enjoying my vibrant colored doodles.

a moment of silence please

We will miss you little Sanjaya...

Now let's enjoy the show!

gypsies, tramps and thieves

Derek hates the song I used in this post title. It's by Cher and for whatever reason it reminds me of my childhood - no I was not a gypsy, it's just a song I remember hearing in my childhood and I still can remember nearly every word of it.

On with the post though...

So here is how Megan's gypsy costume is going. These pictures are just the very basic costume - she will have lots of gypsy "bling" added to it. In the pictures the vest looks a bit big because I don't have it laced up in the back. I especially love the poses. Meg and I were laughing a bunch while taking these pictures because she was trying to pose like the models on the front of the pattern envelopes.

I'll post more pictures when the finished product is all put together.

laughing ourselves silly

After our eventful afternoon we dropped the kids of at Grammy's house and Derek and I went to see Brian Regan in Long Beach. As always, we laughed a ton - he is so funny. If you haven't seem him you really should - you will not be disappointed.

us and mickey...drowned rats

Derek had Friday off work so we decided to brave the weather (finally rain in California) and we headed off for Disneyland. We tried to prepare ourselves the best we could but we never really stood a chance against big bad mother nature. We handled ourselves ok for most of the day but at one point the rain was coming down so hard there was just no hope...we were pretty soaked through. We quickly left Disneyland and headed over to California Adventure for free tortillas (hey, how often do you get anything free from Disneyland) and then into a store so I could buy a purse I have had my eye on since January - I was able to use my birthday money - what a fun gift!

After all that we were all rather cold (some of us were freezing) and looking like drowned rats so we called it a day.

let the fun begin

Nathan and I took our first trip to the Scout Shop. Nate will join Cub Scouts in a few weeks and he is excited (not sure if he'll still be excited when he is 14 or 15 but for now he is) He is the proud owner of a cub shirt and all the other "stuff" that he has to wear with it. I don't know how excited I am to sew on patches and attend cub day camp but I'll smile and go along with it.

can you handle more cupcakes?

Here are the latest cupcake creations...

Derek has been in the middle of quarter end closing the financial books. He has spent a lot of long hours at work so as a little pick me up I delivered these goodies for him to share at work. I think these cakes would also be a great April 15th Tax Day treat.Some family friends made plans to travel to Hawaii with their family for Spring Break. To give them a proper send off we delivered these beach cupcakes complete with graham cracker sand and flip flops.

welcome home

I almost forgot...our computer is home and resting comfortably.

pinch me, i must be dreaming

Can it be? Is it really true? Can we finally say Sanjaya Good bya?!?!?

Once I got over the shock of seeing Blake in the bottom 3 - what's that about? I mumbled under my breath "please be Sanjaya, please be Sanjaya" and the American public heard my cries - yipee! For whatever reason the song Ding Dong the Witch is Dead from The Wizard of Oz has been running through my mind all morning - funny, huh?

I really do have a life despite what my frequent American Idol posts might lead you to believe. I have been busy the last few days sewing a costume for Megan. At the end of the month is the middle school's medieval faire and she was assigned to be a gypsy.

Here is the costume she liked. We couldn't find one pattern that would fit the bill so I have combined a few patterns in order to try and recreate this costume. We have made a few changes but for the most part it looks fairly similar. Megan agreed to wear this for Halloween too so by the end of this week I'll be a 1/4 of the way done with Halloween! Since my machine is out I may start in on the other kids Halloween costumes as well.

Speaking of machines...I got a new one! It has a ton of fun capabilities but since I'm just trying to get this costume done I have not ventured off into the unknown world of digital sewing - I'm sticking to my boring straight stitch at the moment.

in case you're wondering....

Still no computer. Have we told you how much we love Best Buy and the Geek Squad?!?!?

do i have to bring this up again?

Really people, what is going on in your minds? Sanjaya is safe and Chris Richardson is in the bottom three? I can't believe Sanjaya is around another week. Please don't think I'm a meanie - he sings ok but he just seems boring. Do we really want him to win?

If anything good happened this week it's that Hailey is gone. I'm glad that Simon commented on her choice of clothing (Lakisha could use some guidance too) Her outfits were too much, especially for a family show.

I'm still a Blake fan. I can't wait to see what he does each week.

good mail

This post is way late and so my apologies go out to Kristi. Kristi is a new blogging friend that couldn't be nicer. Just a few days after we spoke by email she sent me Good Mail. I was thrilled to get tons of fun ribbons from her. I have already used a lot of them and have plans for the rest. A girl can never have too much ribbon. Thank you so much Kristi for your thoughtfulness.

I have really enjoyed learning more about good mail and I love the concept. What a great way to stay in touch with family and friends . Everyone loves to know they are being thought of.

more cupcakes

I have been working on my frosting and I am finally getting the hang of it. For awhile my frosting would just kind of melt - I wasn't getting a thick enough consistency. I made some thicker frosting and everytime I tried to frost the cupcakes I would bust holes into my piping bags because I couldn't get the frosting to come out because it was so thick. I think I have finally figured out the secret so now I can frost the cupcakes with no troubles.I made the cupcakes with the red candies for a friends birthday and the cupcake with the camera I made for a friend that I am taking a photography class with. I love finding little trinkets to use on the top of cupcakes (like the camera) I also love the cupcake boxes that I found at Michael's. The boxes are great for delivering and they make a little cupcake look more like a special little gift.

card class

I taught my card class at the end of March and it went well. The only mishap was Nate getting a horrible ear infection again and Derek was out of town so I had to juggle. It was one of those times that as a mother you wish had a few more hands and a more patient personality. It all worked out however, so no worries.

A few women in the card class wanted to start meeting monthly to work on cards. I think it sounds like fun and it will make me commit to working on cards more frequently.

For my birthday I got a a few homemade cards from friends of mine that had taken the card class. I was so pleased to see that they had gone home and made cards and I felt lucky to be the recipient of their handmade creations

I made the pictured card a few weeks ago for a friends birthday. I love making them but find it hard to find the time to make them for everyones birthday. Meeting monthly would be great for this very reason.

completely out of order- just go with it

I'm going through pictures to see what I have missed posting during all the computer problems. I realize that these posts won't exactly be in chronological order so if it bugs you, my apologies.

The kids celebrated St Patty's Day by wearing green to school and eating their surprise green lunch. The lunch really isn't a surprise anymore, they know that I do it every year. Maybe I should skip next year just to throw them off. I made turkey wraps with cilantro tortillas, green cream cheese and turkey. I added green grapes, celery sticks with green cream cheese and any other food items that came packaged in green.

For dinner we had our traditional corned beef and cabbage. It is such a yummy meal, that we all love, I don't know why we don't eat it more often.

The kids set up some leprechaun traps in the backyard but we got no visitors this year. The kids have plans to improve on the trap designs and see how well they do next year.

nick and mandi

So I better do some catching up with posts. Friday, March 30th Nick and Mandi were married in the Newport Beach Temple. It was a beautiful day and it was so fun to see lots of family. Ron and Ann and family were here. Darryl, Lisa and the kids (minus Meredith) came and so did Dena.

We were all busy during the day getting ready for the reception but all went well. Even though we pretty much kept to the kitchen during the reception it was fun to work side by side with family we don't see as often as we'd like

Congrats to the new couple!

special request

I had a request to post this picture of the boys in their Easter garb. I realized that I did not get a picture of all the kids together - what was I thinking?

happy easter

We had a very nice Easter. Derek had no church meetings before church so we were able to enjoy the morning together as a family. Here are a few shots we took before church.
Derek was asked to sub for the 16 and 17 year old Sunday School class. I made some Easter cupcakes on Saturday night for Derek to take to his class - I think the cupcakes got some of the kids out of the hall and into class :)
After church we spent the rest of the evening at my parents house. Ryan and Katie were there as well. We had a nice dinner and a lot of fun together after dinner. We had an impromptu photography session and this picture for whatever reason makes me smile. I realize it is not a great photo but I think it's kinda funny

birthday thanks

I guess I should start posting about the family again. I had been waiting on the return of the computer but since we have no idea how that will end up I guess I'll just start posting using Megan's laptop.

Thanks to everyone that helped to make my birthday so nice. I received lots of birthday wishes and a very special gift from Derek. He compiled a book of letters, written to me from friends and family. It was touching to read all the thoughts - thank you to everyone that contributed and a big thanks to Derek for coming up with such a thoughtful gift.

I delivered cupcakes to thank everyone for thinking of me on my birthday. For those of you that live out of town just imagine I had dropped off a cupcake at your doorstep :)

The note read "thank you for helping to make all my birthday wishes come true" How blessed I am to have such wonderful family and friends - thank you again to everyone.

find a "best buy" somewhere else

So the computer was picked up on Friday - happy day! (at least for a moment) Derek spent countless hours trying to get it to work properly when he got it home but no such luck. The good folks at Best Buy gave us back a computer that had more problems then when we took it in. We have had a horrible experience with them through all of this and even though we have purchased nearly all of our big ticket electronics and appliances from them we are done shopping there.

Our computer is now being repaired again and we are going on a month without it. Customer service doesn't seem to mind that we paid for a service protection plan, that they have had our computer for 3 weeks and returned it in worse shape, that we spent hours of our own time trying to get it to work when we brought it home thinking the problem was on our end, that they now have it again for who knows how long and we have no confidence at this point in their ability to repair it. We are not bitter though :)

:(

3 weeks today and no computer