Give Away!

Hey all you Coffee lovers, music lovers and digi scrappers. There is a give away going on this week over at Yeebird. While a give away is great, Her blog is greater. She is celebrating her 100th post! Congratulations. I enjoy reading her down to earth posts and her humor (she had me laughing this morning). So hope on over and win yourself some blog candy!

Scrappy Tuesday

Yes, I had two days of scrapping in a row!

This is one of those "kill two birds with one stone" deal. I wanted to scrap this age with Isha. It is so much fun and he has sooooo much personality. His likes and dislikes are obvious and well noted! These are also his first professional photos that he has had taken...of course I have to scrap that. This is also the weekly challenge for Sassy Blinging Babes which was to create a monochromatic layout. You can click on the photo to enlarge it and read the journaling.

I am really trying to get Cody's First Year album done. It is so fun (and bittersweet) to go back and remember how little and sweet he was 12-13 years ago. Oh where did the time and the sweet boy go? The journaling is hidden and reads, "I remember your enthusiastic smile, your big appetite and your devotion to me. Anna (pictured) was your first babysitter. The look on your face says, "Don't leave me, Mommy.""

Card Creating Monday

My sweet hubby, Roque, kept asking me today (through brief phone conversations) if I am having a good day. Yes, Yes and YES! I had an awesome day of creating! Even though the cards I created are quite simple, they are still fun and therapeutic to do.

I really wanted to create a card for a friend's upcoming wedding. I have very limited supplies (I have barely started making cards) as was wondering how I was going to accomplish this. This morning, Kristina Werner had her Monday card tutorial on her blog. It was the perfect inspiration for me. My card is definitely not as elegant as hers (check it out). Yet it gave me the idea that I needed. I was able to use the supplies that I had~and I think it turned out pretty well. So well, I actually made 4 cards total in two different colors.

Mojo Monday #98

This is for Mojo Monday's weekly challenge. Try their sketch and post your card/lo for a prize!

Sketch #32

Hop over to 2 sketches 4 You to see this weeks challenge. There is also a prize for the winning card! I actually picked the ribbon that I was going to use and then picked my papers to match. I don't have ribon that is more than 1/2 inch wide so I did mine a little different.

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.