Facebook Zombie

I'm sorry. I really am. This blog has been so neglected. We are in 2009 people. 2009. And I haven't written a thing in here. Sorry. A lot is happening. March is coming swift within a week. In a few days Matt's parents will be here. And just as they are leaving we will be welcoming two foreign exchange students from Japan!

The house is busy. I'm busy. So I'm sorry. "Take a picture," they say, "it lasts longer" sigh...

What's worse is I am completely and utterly addictedto Facebook. Most of everyone I have know and have known has gone on this thing. Including some I've only met and made friends with virtually. It's fantastical. I knew I was in trouble when even Matt joined this thing. I love that I have reconnected with some friends that I haven't seen in ages. But, damn it takes too much of my times. Piece of advice for anyone thinking about signing up - stay away from "requests". People sending you virtual drinks and flowers and candies and such. I'm in an endless loop giving and receiving these things and ultimately, it just eats away at the time. But, I have enjoyed reading about the people I care about. Until next time. Let's hope it's not next year!

Fair Report 2008

We had a great weekend. We went to the Santa Cruz County Fair on Saturday and I have to say we "faired" pretty well. Har Har. Matt did the best out of all of us, he coveted a First Place, Best of Division Rosette for his picture of London's Tower Bridge! He also got a blue ribbon for his picture of Sam. Matt is incredibly talented. In fact, most of the stuff I entered and got ribbons for had pictures he had taken in them! I rarely take pictures anymore. I just don't need to. We need to frame the winning photos asap, so we can show them off in the house.

My sister did well also getting ribbons for mostly everything she entered. I finally got First Place for my Chocolate Peanut Butter surprise cookies! The secret is the dutch chocolate. Yum. Cindy and Lilly also did quite well. Cindy's blueberry muffins won First Place and she credited the win to the Martha Stewart cupcake holders that she had put them in. Most excited of us all, however, was little Sammy. He entered his Lego creation, "The Roblox Home 360" and won First Place in his age group!! He was bragging all week. Henry, was the only one who didn't get any ribbons this year. He entered in a painting and his Legos. Unfortunately for Henry the Lego category was jam packed this year with nearly 100 other entries and a good number of them in Henry's age group. Henry was excited for his brother but, sad for himself. I felt bad for my little guy. He did work hard on the Legos. Matt promised to take Henry out and teach him some Photography techniques so he can enter some photos next year.

The weather at the Fair was perfect this year. Usually, it's boiling hot but, it was rather mild all week. We looked at all the usual stuff (Farm Animals, Home Arts, Trains, and Reptile hut), did all the usual things (rode Rides and the Ponies), ate all the usual bad things (wall of curly fries, burgers, and ice cream). Mary got hypnotized by Mezmer again. There were a couple of new things, the Watsonville Speedway race cars were there for a free but, very loud show. The boys loved watching the cars speed by. And some piglets had been born over the week. We didn't leave the fairgrounds till almost 9 p.m. It was a long but fun filled day. Until next year!

Back to School...

I'm up early this morning. Matt left for a flight to Atlanta at 5 a.m. so I have a little bit of time before I have to round up the boys and get them ready for school. I'm working in Sam's class today. It's incredibly tiring working with preschoolers!

This weekend was incredibly busy! On Friday Henry attended a birthday party at Seacliff Beach for one of his classmates. On Saturday we hosted some friends over for a long overdue dinner and slideshow from our trip to Yosemite in the Spring. The other two families brought the food while we provided the venue. We meant to do this earlier but, life just go so darn busy!

It was kinda good that we waited so long to do this because seeing the pictures just took us back to how much fun we had. We stayed in adjacent cabins with the Hoffmans while the Linnevers stayed at Yosemite Lodge.

And even though Matt joked that some of the pictures were the same (he and Dave Linnevers have the exact same camera) it was great to see everyone's perspective. Dave's were all about beauty - the beauty of Yosemite and the beauty of his wife and daughters. Matt's were all about the adventure - the adventure of Yosemite and the adventure of his sons. And Dan's were all about the fun-which was had by all. I particularly enjoyed the pictures he took of Matt taking pictures and the one of Sam literally communing with nature (peeing by a tree)!

On Sunday Henry had another birthday party to attend and I offered to watch two of his classmates after the party. My house was filled with boys yesterday. Needless to say it was very loud in this house.

I'm excited because today is my first day of class! I'm taking a digital scrapbooking class on jessicasprague.com. Jessica Sprague is one of the big wigs in the Scrap world. She's a contributing editor for Creating Keepsakes Magazine and a real inspiration. I'm taking a class specifically on Typography and Writing, something which I need to brush up on. I played with some templates yesterday and I only had to ask Matt to help me once! Anyway, time to head off for school. C ya.

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

How bad of a blogger am I? That should be reserved for a whole other post (which I will draft and probably not upload because I am just that bad at this!). Summer went by so fast! One moment I was driving Henry around to Jr. Guards in Capitola, watching him compete, eating Pizza My Heart, and then congratulating him and the ceremony.

The next moment, I would take Sam to swimming lessons at the new pool in Watsonville High School. Aside from some time outs for not hanging onto the side of the pool, Sam had a real blast at swimming. The high school instructors got a kick out of throwing him around all over the pool!

And the next moment they were off to school! Matt and I decided that although Sammy was already five (in July) that we would give him one more year of play and preschool. This was a tough decision for us to make. I was really agonizing over it all of last school year. Academically, Sam is fine but, maturity wise he is just a little too young. Honestly, after the first week in preschool I was very glad that we had made that decision. He's really happy back with Teacher Debbie and I am just relieved. Next year, he will be ready for sure. Occasionally I'll get a question as to why his classmates from last year are in another class but, it's never a long or sad discussion.

At first I thought it was going to be really really busy for me, having to work in each of the boys classes and being elected on the SMT (Linscott Parent Board) meant up to 3 meetings a month for me. But, in the end things are working out. I work in Sam's class on Mondays (co-op parent secret -- there are a lot of Monday holidays). And I'm only working an hour a week in Henry's class - I'll be doing a keyboarding center with the kids on Fridays. Darlene, Henry's teacher is on the SMT too so she knew how busy I would be anyway. Plus, she's been teaching 3rd grade for eight years and she pretty much has the curriculum memorized so, she didn't really need my help. Good news is I get stick with my work out routine 2 weekday mornings again this year.

Anyway, next week is the Fair again. And I'll be updating with ribbon tallies, if I can manage to keep my act together!!

Our Family is kinda "Artsy"

We just had the County Fair over here. Matt put in three photographs. Charlotte put in several home arts pieces and a collage in Home Arts. Henry put in a poem and a watercolor. I put in two scrapbook pages and two types of cookies. As a whole we didn't "fair" too badly. (Har har.) In fact we ribboned in pretty much everything we competed in this year! Matt got second place for this picture:

This was his first time entering the fair and that particular amatuer category had tons of entries. So I was really really impressed and proud that he got that place. I guess that's where reading the manual and learning from the top magazines will get ya!

Henry got third place in both his picture and his poem! He had a poetry reading on Saturday. Lily won first place for her poem! I've included the videos in this post. They are both so darn cute! Siobhan, Cindy's friend took it on her digital camera! Thanks Siobhan!

There are a couple of things that Shioban missed getting. First, when Henry went up to the microphone, he tapped the mic loudly and said "Is this thing on?"- which made everyone laugh and after he finished reading he gave a triumphant "woohoo" and held up his ribbon and poetry book. And when he sat down, Sammy went "Good Job Henry!" and hi-fived him! Very cute!

As for me, I won First Place for this layout. I won Second Place for another layout and my Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies and Pistachio Cranberry Biscotti won both placed second. Cindy, placed 3rd in the two categories she entered in. My only beef with the fair this year (and I'm not talking about the bovine exhibit) was that there is no distinction whatsoever between Mini Albums and regular Scrapbook Albums. Cindy went up against and lost to two mini albums that clearly did not take half as much time to make as Cindy's large 12x12 scrapbook. I think next year they should split the Scrapbook category into two. Because quite frankly she was robbed.

Of course not to be outdone by any of us. My little sister, Charlotte placed First in four out of the five categories she entered in, including her Fine Arts collage pictured here. She ribboned in everything. She is very talented. I am so proud of our family and friends. Seeing our stuff at the Fair just makes the whole experience even more sweeter.

Fall already.

Wow. Can't get over how quickly 2007 has gone by. I mean seriously. It's September people! The boys have been in school for a couple weeks now and things are going very well. Henry's new teacher, Becky is great. And I'm not just saying that because I was on the committee that hired her. She's very easy going and welcoming. The kids and parents just love her. Discovery room has become a real lively community. They have really gotten into writing and reading already. They have penpals in a school in Florida and they take language on Friday. Henry is having fun learning sign language.(PS. One of Henry's front teeth fell out right before school started. Isn't he a cutie!!)

Sam is adjusting to going preschool three times a week now. Because this is pre-kindergarten things are more focused, so he's had to deal with that. Not to mention the usual problem with food. If he doesn't like snack - he refuses to eat any of it. He wouldn't even get near the table at first. I have taken to bringing him nutrition shakes so that he gets some nutrition before lunch. So at least now he will sit with the group and dring his shake. Otherwise, he just loses it with hunger. He's going through a real emotional time right now. He's been crying a lot over the littlest things. The world has just become to look so big to him now. Teacher Debbie has told me that all of this is normal. He's working through negotiating this reality, learning rules and learning about himself. That's a lot for a little four year old to learn!

I will leave you now with a few pictures of our Labor Day weekend. We went to New Brighton Beach on the Sunday. We had a sunset picnic with the Hoffmans, Murakamis and Sterns from school. It was freezing but, the kids all managed to get soaked still! And then Gilroy Gardens on the Monday. The boys always have wonderful time communing with nature.

Look at the big brains on Brad!!!

I am so happy to announce the new arrival of our dear friends Mila and Chas' new baby boy Bradley Alan. Isn't he a cutie! There is just something so terribly cool about a new born baby. They are simply amazing. Our super biggest congratulations to the happy couple.

“A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for”.

Have you ordered your copy yet??

Look!!! I made that layout on that page. That's Sam - isn't he just adorable!! Come on! You know you wanna order a copy. Go to Scrapbook Dimensions. Pre-order your copy and then go here and join the Scrapbook Dimensions Yahoo Group. We will be doing layouts and creating general mayhem!! Come on! You know you wanna join me. :)

My Baby is Four and Bobo's head is a "Potato"!

Wow. Can't believe it's already August. Summer has flown by at break neck speed! And my little guy Sam has suddenly turned FOUR! It's amazing how quickly they grow. It was like yesterday he was just this little guy. Now he's chatty and stubborn and truly himself. This picture of him and our friend Hernan, says it all. We visted them in Santa Monica and he was fascinated by Hernan's head. What he said about Hernan could have been seen as insulting but, he's so cute you can't help but laugh.

He really drives me crazy sometimes but, I just adore him. We took our usual trip to Felton to ride on Thomas for his birthday weekend. It wasn't as busy as years past and it really wasn't too hot either. Sam was disappointed because they didn't have the giant Lego Thomas set up like last year. By far his favorite part (next to riding on Thomas) was the large railway set up. Unfortunately, some kid was manning the thing and it was roped off from other kids playing with it. It was kinda funny watching all these 3-5 year old trying to give him direction. Sam would have stood there all day, if we let him, watching Thomas go back and forth around that track. And of course no day at Thomas would have been complete without purchasing t-shirts and toys. The merchandising at these events is phenomenal. That little blue engine is a capitalist juggernaut!!

We had a pretty mellow day on his actually birthday. We went over to the Hoffmans and had pizza, ice cream cake, and broke a pinata. The Hoffmans have been housing some Italian exchange students for the last couple of weeks and I'm sure they found the whole toddler party thing interesting. And yes, you heard right when I said we had pizza with rea Italians present. And they thought it was pretty good. Atleast I didn't feed them Dominoes! Unlike the day before, it was all about Cars and Lightning McQueen. He loves the little race track his grandma and granddad bought him. It's a good sign that he's still playing with these things after having received them over a week ago.