Scrappy Day!

I love scrappy days! I actually have a horrible headache today but still managed to get some scrappy goodness done!

This was the second sketch for the week at 2 sketches 4 you.

My little ducky is saying "You Quack Me Up".

This is for this weeks #31 sketch at 2 sketches 4 you . I cheated

and used a premade embellishment.

This LO is for the Sassy Blinging Babes weekly challenge.
Can you guess what it was? Christmas in July! Use red, green and
white in the lo. This was a bit of a challenge. I don't have any * Christmas *
paper. I had a hard time making it look not so plain. I used this weeks sketch
#67 by Triple the Sketch .

Sea Life Aquarium

cousin Aislyn and Andan

Did you know sharks hatch out of eggs? These
are called Mermaid's Purse.

We had a blast yesterday at Sea Life Aquarium of Lego Land. I personally liked it better than Birch Aquarium in La Jolla. Maybe because it seemed to be geared more towards children but I actually thought they had more to see at Sea Life. Even Isha got to see things up close.

Sea Life Aquarium

The USS Midway

We have had a fun and busy couple of days! Yesterday we got to go on a decommissioned Aircraft Carrier. If that wasn't great enough, we also got our own personal escort onto the carrier as well as a bit of a tour guide. I meant to snap a photo of him with his grand kids (that's right, my dad) but I forgot and time got the better of me. What an experience! It was really awesome and impressive. We were there for about four hours and we still didn't see everything. I will be going back!

My New Etsy Shop

About five years ago I gave two of my young nephews a handmade workbook that could be used over and over. I laminated the pages and put them in a three ring binder with a pencil pouch of washable markers. Both boys really liked the gift and so did their parents. I always wondered if I could market it somehow. Then along came Etsy. It's hard to take the plunge and get started, but I did it. Please check out my Etsy shop.

Andan's Swimming!!!

Can you tell from the title that I am a proud Mama! We went to my parents yesterday to bbq for them and have a swim day. We are very fortunate that grandparents on both sides have pools. But being around the water so much can be worrisome too. Andan fell into the pool when he was about 2 1/2. I wouldn't say that he almost drown but he could have drown, I had to jump in and retrieve him.
My mom wanted to put him in swimming lesson's which is very smart but costly. This summer he seemed to be very close to swimming. The other day he was kinda moving forward. Yesterday I got in the pool with him and he swam the short length of the shallow end! Awesome! So I showed him how to roll onto his back when he gets tired, come up for air in the middle of a stroke. Within minutes he got everything down that I was showing him, like a sponge. I taught him to blow bubbles under water to prolong how long he could stay under. Then he swam the length of the pool from shallow end to deep end, then from deep end to shallow end on his back.
I am so proud of him! If you are around water a lot, you know what a great milestone this is for a 5 year old. and a great relief for a parent!

Our bbq was also a lot of fun and the food was great! I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

Water Fun

I am really enjoying my summer this year. This is my first summer that I am not working (since I was about 16). Now that I am a mom, I really appreciate being able to spend time doing fun activities with the kids. I have five but 3 of them seem way to cool to want to hang out with Mom (or dad for that matter). But the two little ones are both at an age where they are soaking it up.

We have been able to go to the zoo, Wild Animal Park, baseball game, story time (at the library), swimming, and camping (which was not too cool for the older ones!).

Yesterday we took the kids to the bay. This was Isha's first time to really get to enjoy the water. And he REALLY enjoyed the water. He was not too happy when I decided to take him out. His poor little hand didn't look too good and needed to dry out.

Ride' em Cowboy

This card is for the challenge over at 2 sketches 4 you. I have a lot of "men" in my life. So making a boys card should be something I do more of.

Yum Yum

I finally was able to finish the card I'd been thinking about. While creating this card, I realized I don't have all the material that I would like to be able to use.

Latest Layouts

This is for the weekly challenge. This was fun lo. This was NOT the finished project that I invisioned. It just came to be on its own, and I like the finished result.

This is for the July monthly challenge. The photos could be any color, but the paper and anything else had to be red, white and/or blue. It also had to have bling and at least one star.

Hey scrapping is still my first passion. Plus, I have to keep up with all the challenges over at Sassy Blinging Babes COF! Today was supposed to be scrappy day. Some days just don't go as planned. I was able to get the two challenges done.

I still have that card idea swirling around in my head. The plan is to try to get to it tonight once the two little ones are in bed for the night.

Sweet Moments

Can you believe that I experienced my sweet moment today at the Padre (baseball) game? Well, I did!

There were not too many people at the game today. Thank goodness because 1) it was hot. And 2) we were on the absolute top (of the top) last row. So I kept scooting down a row to stay in the shade. Usually Roque and Isha ended up directly behind Andan and I.

As we were sitting like this I felt these little tender arms wrap around my neck and embrace me in an unsolicited spontaneous hug. Tears came to my eyes as I eagerly excepted this gift from my 18 month old son, as I know that in another few years I will have to ask for affection and all too soon it may be an embarrassment to him to show such affection to his old lady, mom. I will store this memory in my heart as it is probably the only place it will survive through the tumultuous teen years. Lucky for me, Roque caught on camera what I caught in my heart!