the moments in between

ah, fall.

we live in an old part of town.  with lots. and lots. and lots. of old trees.

it has its benefits.

 

but there's a not-so-good side, too.

 

14 yard waste bags.  from the backyard.  which already has more leaves on it.  and we haven't touched the front yard.  and it's not like we're on a big lot, at all.  we're on a small mid city lot.  with a lot of trees on our block.  lol.

i've spent some time at my desk this week, looking out at those gorgeous leaves.  i've been finishing up a couple of christmas projects for fiskars, which will be up later this month.  while i wait for those to be live, i'll link you up to our november project a day - handcrafted holidays. loving the stuff that i've had a peek at!

i also made some blocks for a quilting bee that i'm doing with kelly, becca, susan, steph, and kelly's sister tami.  these are for kelly's quilt, and she wanted us to all do houses. this was a super fun little project, and i managed to learn a few things along the way. =)  

 

this was my first block.  i decided to go against my first instinct - which was to border the block w/ the linen - and uses the linen for the house, and set it on a crazy background.

 

and my second block, which i wanted to keep!!  there's a city house (hi-rise!) and a country house.  hee.  the space above the little house seemed too empty, so i added a stitched heart.

i'm off to clean my desk.  i had a happy, happy mail day today. i got a box containing the studio calico decemeber kit, AND the new home front line.  i've linked you to some images of the product on the blog, but here's another peek :

    

 

(it's even lovelier in person - so can't wait to work with this!!!)

happy thursday!

and now it's november

 

 

 

just a few favorite photos from our funfilled week / weekend. =) way more of sam than the bigs - they were too busy running around with friends!! the boys all had a blast on halloween. i stayed behind and manned the porch while the boys trekked around the neighborhood in search of candy. we had a big group this year - 7 kids, 3 toddlers, 3 dads and 2 mom. they stayed out for over and hour and came back with a *lot* of loot. we had a beautiful night - absolutely perfect weather for trick or treating. 

we had a quiet day yesterday - it was clear and warm again, and the boys spent almost all day outside. it was a nice way to work off all of that candy. ;) i'm glad to have the craziness of last week behind us and move on to a quieter week.  i'm starting today with a little desk cleaning, and then sam and i are meeting a friend for lunch.

 

i finished up this page last week - i had posted a pop dot challenge on the studio calico blog, and wanted to play along.  plus, i got to use a couple of elements (the car paper and that maya road ribbon) from the november kit that  i didn't get around to working with when i finished my projects for the gallery.

happy monday, all - here's to a good week. =)

pumpkin patching (sort of)

after a crazy busy week w/ another one in front of us, we decided to go the easy route to get pumpkins.  our fave little urban patch that's just a few blocks from home. =)

 

it's bordered by a 4 lane road and a cemetary, but hey.  it works. =)

 

the boys take their pumpkin choosing very seriously.

 

i love that little finger pointing.

 

debating the merits of this round one.

 

ben finally commits to one.

 

i lovelovelove this photo.  love.

 

and this one cracks me up.  they had a bowl of candy at the counter and told the kids they could have one.  sam couldn't reach, but wasn't about to be left out.  love that little hand reaching up.

so.  this week we have a halloween party, a bday party, a block party, and movie night at school. ben has a field trip today, alex has a school club tomorrow, and the bigs have swimming on saturday.  there are pumpkins to carve and there will be homework that needs to be done. i'm sitting w/ a diet coke and my calendar right now, trying to figure out when the errands and scrappy time will fit in, while still making sure sam gets a good nap and playtime everyday, and the bigs get some quality downtime w/ us.  eeps. i know it will work out, it always does, but seeing it on paper can be a little daunting.  here's to a productive week!

sneaks of two sorts

first :

 

halloween costumes!!  we have darth vader, boba fett, and the imperial monkey. who wouldn't wear the pants from his costume, but what can you do?

matthew's work had a halloween party today, so the boys got to do some pre-halloween trick or treating. some of the departments really go all out - one building has different groups that each have their own haunted cubicle rows, complete with voting on which one is best.  sam left with his treat bag so full it was dragging on the ground - and with the idea that he was going to eat it all TONIGHT.  he was a pretty cranky monkey when he got one piece after dinner.  they boys will be attending another halloween party at grandma's work next week, and then trick or treating in the neighborhood on halloween night - i suspect we'll have enough candy to last the next 5 years by the time we're done.

and second :

 

 

studio calico november sneaks. =) both of these use the main kit and the bazaar add-on, which was by *far* my fave of the three. and i liked the other 2 quite a bit, so that's saying a lot!.

***

thankfully, none of the rest of us caught what ben had - we made it through the week healthy. =) the bigs were off school today and yesterday.  they went to my grandma's yesterday afternoon while matthew and i went to conferences (and they both got glowing reports - so proud of them) - and then matthew joined them there for dinner.  i had volunteered, along with another mom, to get dinner for the teachers - they work 8a-8p on conference days, and only get a half hour for dinner - so i met them back at home later that evening.  today, ben went over to a friend's while alex, sam and i hit the library. i spent some time scrapping, they spent a lot of time playing - and we generally enjoyed the not having to go out into the rainy icky wet first thing in the morning.

no big plans this weekend - just lots of little ones.  pumpkin buying and carving, errand running, cleaning, laundry - and hopefully lots of outside time, these kiddos could use it.

some sneaks

(mostly the flea market add-on, with bits from marketplace and bazaar)

 

(just marketplace)

 

(just street fair)

 

yesterday and today have been absolutely gorgeous.  love getting the chance to open up the windows, and  hearing the rustling leaves and happy playing boys outside. the bigs and the neighbor boys spent the evening playing some crazy made up ball game with enough rules to rival calvin ball.

we were hoping to get some playground time after school, as it's beautiful again today - but ben's sick. =(  and from what the secretary said when i called this morning,  he's not the only kid out with an icky, croup-y cough. the bigs are off school thursday and friday, and i reeeeeeeeeeeally hope we're not all sick for it. heck, while i'm hoping for things, here's to ben waking up feeling well tomorrow and no one else getting it!

la-la-la-lazy

i don't know what it is, but i'm going through a major lazy streak in regards to blogging and photo taking. maybe something just had to give. the bigs have been in school for a month now and sam and i are finally finding a good groove (now here's hoping all three boys stay healthy so it doesn't get messed up again!).

we had a good week.  some work got done.  the house looks reasonable. we played at the playground every day after school.  sam went to his gymboree class, we had bagels with the girls, and we made a trip to fremont for pancakes with becky. we had open house at school. today the bigs and dad went to swim lessons while sam and i watched his best bud liam, and then me and the bigs and my mom went to see the velveteen rabbit at the children's theater.

some of the very few pics i've taken in the last couple weeks :

i *have* been scrapping a bit, in spite of my laziness.  i finally finished this page that i started at the crop - it just needed the stamping and the stitching.

there are still new sewing projects going up each day over at fiskarscrafts.com - i've got a couple up now.

an iphone case and

a cat bed.

we're planning a lazy day tomorrow... i've got lots of scrapping to do, and the boys are just looking like they could stand to do a whole lot of nothing. maybe it's time for a jammie day?

guilty

while i was off doing this :

 

 

 

two little boys at home were tried and found guilty of throwing mudballs at the house.

 

they were sentenced to cleaning off the house. ;)

matthew emailed me this while i was at the crop and all i could say was "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!?!" - the general concensus was that they WEREN'T.  oooooooh, boys.  LOL. hopefully next time they WILL think.

oy.

long story short, littlest dude has croup.  no sleep last night, steroid shot today, hopeful for tonight.

since my brain is too fried for actual content (and, uh, i really don't have any, since i spent all day on the couch w/ sam watching curious george and clifford), i'll throw my backlog of projects that i haven't shared up here and we'll call it good, okay?

first up, 2 layouts w/ erica's digi goods :

 

 

these both used her letter templates.  i've fallen in love w/ those things.  my digi skills are weak and sizing / manipulating bits of paper is definitely not my strong point in pse.  but i can group paper to layers like a pro! ;)

a layout with the august studio calico kit :

this one came together exactly how it looked in my head, which always makes me happy. i seem to be going through a 8.5x11 phase. counting the digi pages, i've done 6 in a row and have 2 more on my desk.

i did a couple of luggage tags for fiskars (ps : it's national sewing month, keep an eye on the project a day. lots of cool projects. i've got a couple more going up this month, as well as an article i can't wait to share.)

i also contributed to this download on inspiration for fiskars - there are some great ideas on finding inspiration from 5 different designers.

i think that's everything for now.  =)  i should have more soon!

two handsome boys

picture day at school today.  since they were dressed up, i figured i'd snap a couple pics of my own. =)

 

 

they look entirely too old.  sigh.

wonderful weekend

lots of fun this weekend.  beautiful weather, time w/ friends & family, and some cool events - perfect.

 

friday night, matthew took alex & ben to star wars night at rosenblatt.  darth vader threw out the first pitch, of course. but really - star wars + baseball + fireworks after the game + staying up late?  can't go wrong there.  they didn't get home till almost 11:30, the game went reeeeeeeeeeeeally long.

 

we thought they might sleep late the next morning - but we were wrong.  we had breakfast and walked up to the dundee day celebration and got there just before the parade started - and found lots of their friends to hang with.

 

it wasn't a big parade - there was a high school band, a bus, a lot of groups walking and throwing candy, some cool old cars and a handful of mascots - perfect for a neighborhood party.

 

there were more storm troopers!

 

ben helped sam get candy.

 

 

we watched mr stinky feet & the hiccups & did a little dancing.

 

then we had lunch, hit some bounce houses and had ice cream before walking home. a very good day, despite the fact that sunscreen would have been a BRILLIANT idea.  we're all a smidge burnt now.

sunday was all about errands, cleaning and playing outside. sam dug in his sandbox and the bigs played basketball. matthew's dad came over in the afternoon and played with the boys.  there were pancakes for dinner.

today we're back to the grind - sam and i dropped alex and ben off at school and went to target.  yes, he's still in his jammies - something had to give for us to get out of the house on time, and getting him dressed was the lowest priority. and that's my winter hat. he insisted.

happy monday!