We Are Thankful For...

I am hoping over Christmas break I can understand how Photoshop works. Even though I altered all the pictures the same way, one came out okay and the other two are too washed out.

These are pics from Thanksgiving last year. We celebrated the holiday at my sister's house. Thus, we are thankful for other people who host big events! So many pictures were taken this day and I only wanted to do a two page spread. So I thought about having the main pictures on top and "peppering" the smaller ones on the bottom. This way the story is told all at once.

For Thanksgiving, my Mom made the pumpkin turkey for the centerpiece, and my sister who must have been ambitious made the stuffed tomatoes (so I had to take a pic just in case this never happens again!), and David arrived just in time to make the gravy! It was a scrumptious meal. And so enjoyable since we did not have to host or cook! Yikes, that means this year we will have to do it all! Well, David mostly. But, that's what happens when you are a chef.... you cook!

Soccer Layout

Soccer season is coming to an end. We made the play offs

and tied our first game but lost the second. It was a great season for Jackson! He had some wonderful coaches who really helped him and had the patience for him.... I had some paper left over from another sport layout from
DCWV. Utilizing my scraps was an inexpensive way to

create a layout that has many photographs. The layout
does not appear as cluttered, even though I used patterned paper. Add some brads for whimsy and American Crafts Thickers for the lettering. The Blazing Dragons had a red and black uniforms which were perfect to make the photographs pop using touches of the red on an all black background. Plus I wanted to use as many photos as I could, not to have page after page of the same thing. And o many of the pics should alot of action and facial expressions that I wanted to have them on the page. Developing them as wallet sizes and then trimming them helped to make a nice collage.

Turkey Day!

This layout was fun to do since it reminded me of how "crazy" Thanksgiving was in 2007! We celebrate Thanksgiving twice most years. Once with my husband's family and once with mine. Thanksgiving has been at my Mom's house for years and she always throws in my Dad's birthday with it since it is so close. This layout shows our Thanksgiving at my Mother-in-Laws house. What cracks me up, is that "whatever could go wrong this day, went wrong." People did not arrive on time. Key items were not purchased, my Sister-in-Law cooked the turkey on the BROIL setting all morning, thus the blackened belly of the bird. Some parts were cooked and then some under cooked. We had to carve the turkey and figure out what was eatable now and what had to stay in the oven! In the mix of trying to find the right dish to bake something in...

we broke the favored white baking casserole dish. Someone knocked over their glass of wine and the glass broke. When my step daughter was young she had a "kitty" mug that she liked to drink from, the handle to this was broken when the turkey came out of the oven and needed room on the counter top and my husband had to make room by jabbing the baking pan against items on the counter. The kitchen in my Mother-in-Laws house is so tiny only two people (or better yet - only one person) can be in the kitchen at a time. The garbage disposal does not work - so dish detail is cumbersome. But through all of this we ended with a nice meal and everyone making an "extra" effort to smile for the camera... (don't know if you can notice the effort of smiling). The paper used here is scraps I had in a folder marked "Fall/Harvest." The wood tag was a recent purchase from Michael's Recollections line... The stickers are from Debbi Mumm. Does she even have scrapbook supplies anymore? But a little of this and that put this layout together... atleast for a chuckle!

First Win!

My son plays soccer and I watch every game. And every game their team either ties or loses by one goal. This Saturday the coach and his son (who is probably our best player) were not going to be there. The assistant coach had the team! Oh my, what a great game this was! WE WON! It was tense, we were ahead three to two then the game became a tied score at three to three... in the last quarter we scored again for a win at 4 to 3! So many times we almost scored and the ball either flies over the goal box or misses it on either side... It was such a great game I had to "scrap" this one for Jack! P.S. I used my new favorite product "Glimmer Mist" spray from Tattered Angels. I LOVE this stuff. And they come in so many great colors!!!! And they have a blog! I am "spraying" alot lately. (It's a good thing).

Kinder Kitchen

I just have to share the most adorable kitchen utensils. These were designed specifically for children to help in the kitchen. The handles and measuring cups are made from a soft grip silicone so they will not break and yet dishwasher safe! My son loves helping in the kitchen mixing the muffin mix or stirring the water, oil and eggs. When I make cookies he is right there helping me retrieve the ingredients from the pantry! These are great tools to get your little chef started! Makes a wonderful Christmas gift.... They are available at factorydirect2you.com.

Alegria in Sierra Madre on Halloween Night

This year for Halloween we decided to do something different. Each Halloween we have friends over and serve Chili and BBQ'd Pork Tenderloin. We usually dress up in costume and scare the trick or treaters as they come up to the door through the "fog" on our path. It is such a blast! Guests have to bring a pumpkin item so we end up with a variety of treats to taste. And to date no one has brought the same item yet. So it is always fun to see what people bring, this is making me salivate just writing about it! Well this year, since Halloween fell on a Saturday night we decided to do something different that the kids might enjoy and remember. We decided to take them to the famous Alegria Street in Sierra Madre...

The nights trek was a twenty minute drive, so we started to tell ghost stories in the car. WE each would contribute something to this progressive story. They were so cute. I should have recorded them! We finally made it up Baldwin in the train of cars. Now to find a place to park all or our cars together. That was a feat. Once we parked and hoofed it up to Alegria we were amongst hundreds of other treaters. The homes on this street go all out in decorations and pumpkin carvings. Grave yards line the lawns. Driveways are peppered with ghouls. Porches are strung with webs and creepy hangin' things. It is a sight for sure for us "older" treaters. The most amazing displays you will ever see of live pumpkins that have been carved into masterpieces...

Some homes put on a "show." There are flying ghosts on pulleys, two homes had photo opportunities - one had a live witch you can take a photo with, the other was a stationary creepy guy. One house served hot cider to everyone. You just needed to make your way up a long path filled with the most creative carved pumpkins. And the some homes have a theme.

Like this Spanish Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos , display. Complete with the hanging lanterns and skeleton display. One was a pumpkin house, the Parkers Pumpkin Porch as it read on a wooden sign secured to the top of the front door. Several homes were grave yards. One was a cacti mecha! The owners decorated their cactus plants with beaded necklaces and clothing. It is odd to describe - one had to see it in person to appreciate...

And it would not be Halloween if we did not see Michael Myers. This Michael loved the fact that I was taking his picture. He ended up posing for several. I liked the ones where I have him behind the group of people and you can see his face, as if he were following us... I don't think he was a "kid" either. He seemed like a "older" person. Creepy...

And I included this picture so you can get the idea of the number of people that come here for Halloween. The street is closed off. They bring in a porta potty. Police are visible. And the parking is difficult. The hords of people that line the sidewalk and streets are many! Some bring their oversized dogs? I observed one dog large enough to be a "bear" growling at a baby carriage. Hello! Why are you bringing a dog to an event that will be filled with children? Oh my! Crazy! Oh and do not come here with the idea of getting lots of candy. The boys were sorta disappointed that they did not get much. But that is because this street attracts over 3,000 people during the night. It was fun for them to atleast experience this treat once!

Cal Poly Pumpkin Patch

This is the Pumpkin Patch at Cal Poly Pomona. Every year on the third weekend of the month they open this field to the public and have a "Pumpkin Harvest." There are booths, music, samples, displays, activities for the kids and of course this awesome pumpkin patch with every size and shape pumpkin you could possibly imagine! The Agriculture Department of this college sponsors this event. It was so much fun to go to when the kids were younger. We would select all of our pumpkins and take our "Halloween Photo" here. Now with the kids sporting schedule it has not worked out for us to be available at the same time. So Jackson and I go. I enjoy everything about October. The changing of the leaves, the weather change, the colors, the decorations on the homes, the pumpkin pies and cookies, soup and all the pumpkin carving! I can not believe the month is almost over... I loved it!