Halloween Fun

Hope you all had a fun and safe night, this Halloween!

Tonight we bundled the kids up around 4:00 to head to the neighbours' place before they took off trick-or-treating. Got a bunch of pics of all the kids together, then came home for a quick bite before we headed out for our own round of trick-or-treating. We headed out to our old neighbourhood and made 15 stops before we went to Steve's parents' place around 7:30. There we had snacks and the kids got to have pics with Grandpa, who in the true spirit of fun, dressed up too!!!! Thanks for getting in on the fun, Grandpa! You looked great in your pilot's uniform. The neighbours had also given us some sparklers, and the kids lit them on Grandma and Grandpa's patio. I got some cool effects pics from that.

Funny thing, the only candy we gave out (besides to the next door neighbours when we went over there at 4) was to the UPS man who dropped off a Stampin' Up! parcel this afternoon... Steve opened the door and got the parcel, then said, "hang on, Sarah's got something for you!" He said, "Oh no, not more chocolate!!" But he said thanks and took it, and we watched through the blinds... before he drove away, he popped a mini Mars bar in his mouth!!! That's the most conversation we've ever had with him. The UPS guy at our old place could stand and talk for 5 minutes, no problem! Maybe the new guy is warming up to us!!!!

How To Grow a Christmas Tree...

Step One... buy some little kits from the store. Read the instructions!


Step Two... Put the dirt puck in water so the dirt will grow!


Step Three... Put your dirt in the container.


Step Four... Add the seeds (very important step!)



Step Five... Place trees in windowsill and water every day.


Step Six... Come back often to see if your tree is growing.

Note: At some point, you may need to transplant one or two trees from one child's container to another... without them knowing, of course! This keeps things even, and everyone happy... but could backfire when slower-to-sprout trees come up in the container that you have just transplanted into... thus causing uneveness again. So, maybe just leave things alone. We ended up with E=1, T=2, and S=4. Oh well, at least the oldest has the most.

Treats from Lisa

Halloween came early for my kids this year... I went on a date on Monday with Todd and we got to meet Lisa's new baby girl. On our way out, Lisa told Todd to pick a few treats from her stash that's ready for handing out on the 31st... he picked a couple, then she gave a bunch more to share with Scott and Elise. Thanks so much Lisa!!

On Board Journal

Last Saturday I had a Journal class here where we used the On Board art Journal and Porcelain Prints paper... here's what we made...



There were more pages than this, but this gives you an idea!

A couple "blogable" moments....

First of all... have you seen what is in the Dairy section of the grocery stores now?? I am SOOOO excited!
And secondly, I just got this awesome video of the MOM SONG from Jackie... check it out here! It's for all the moms out there, but seriously... anyone who has had a mom (ummm - everyone!!!) can relate to this!

I think I got it.....

Something happened with my blog header, and I don't really know what was wrong with it.... but I fixed it. I had to create a new blog with the same template and copy and paste the html code from that because I couldn't seem to cut and paste the right codes from my existing blogs... oh I feel so technical. Then I deleted the new blog because, really, how many blogs does one girl need? I already have 2, and Steve has one too... (don't look at what time it is, or you might figure out how LONG it took me to do this!) I am totally exhausted, and a life of computer programming is NOT in my future. But I am quite proud of myself for figuring it all out...

These are some pics I took at my parents' place in Victoria in the summer. Thought it would make a cool banner for awhile. Totally not related to stamping, so I guess it is the "live laugh love" part of it!!!!

Cocoa therapy

It's sweet, it's dark and it can stop a cough faster than a spoonful of syrup.... it's just one more reason to indulge in our favourite super-food: chocolate. Researchers in the United Kingdom have discovered that eating dark chocolate is more effective at halting a persistent cough than sipping codeine-based medicine. (MSN news)


Bring on the cough... I want some chocolate (cough cough... oh I just might have something for that!). This is good news for Steve... he only eats dark chocolate. But good news for me, too, because I just really love chocolate!

Baby Cole is here!

Congratulations to my sister Louise and her family on the safe arrival of baby Cole Maverick. He joined their family on Sunday afternoon and they went home from the hospital yesterday.

I just got some pics, so I thought I would share a couple with you.

My Stampin' Website

I was holding out on announcing this because the Stampin' Up! websites are still under construction. They are working on putting out a great and improved website, and it is not finished yet. But I wanted to get my website address out to you so you can read up on my upcoming classes and look in the art gallery as well.

So, for now it is the old format, but when it is upgraded, the address will stay the same. Here it is!!!

http://stampinsars.stampinup.net/Welcome.aspx

ps- there is obvioulsy something wrong with my blog header... sorry it looks so funny, I am trying to figure it out!!!

Fall Scrapbook Club Layout

Tonight was my second scrapbooking club night. I couldn't show the pages until both groups had finished them. We did a Fall themed double layout, and we used the Autumn Fest stamp set. To colour the leaves we used the Earth Elements Watercolour Wonder Crayons and a water spray bottle. The lettering is done with Chocolate Chip Craft ink. now all I need to do is get my kids out in the changing colours to take some pictures!

The quote on the second page is printed on Vellum paper and it says:

Winter is an etching, Spring a watercolor,
Summer an oil painting and Autumn a mosaic of them all.
- Stanley Horowitz

New Jammies!

For Christmas last year, Elise got these cute pj's from my Aunt. They were so big that I thought it would take forever for them to fit... nope... just a few months later she is in them! Cute hat, eh? Love it!

I sat down to take a picture of her and she crawled over to me with her little photo album (of pictures of her... by herself and with other people - I put it together for her to have on her 1st b-day... the boys have them too, and it is always funny how kids love to look at pics of themselves so much!). So we looked through it together. She got tired of the hat and took it off :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy "Canadian" Thanksgiving everyone (even if you're not in Canada!!). I hope you all have a great weekend with family and friends... and a turkey!

We are having Steve's family over for dinner tonight... the bird is in, the veggies are peeled and the table is set - so I thought I could afford a few minutes to blog!

Here's what I did with the table... pretty simple, but festive nonetheless. Both the place namecards and the napkin rings are made using the Dotted Autumn stamp set. The kids will be at a small table on their own.



On the mirror in the hallway the boys helped me put up dried leaves, and we added a couple little scarecrows onto the cedar chest.

Daddy's Home!

Last night the kids and I drove out to the Vancouver airport to pick Steve up from his week in Texas. He had a great time and the kids were so happy to see him. And I was too!!!!!

Steve brought the boys these Dallas Cowboys footballs, and last night when I went to check on the kids before I went to bed, Todd was hugging his like a teddy bear and Scott had his in bed too. So cute!

Elise would not let go of Daddy and when I tried to take her away from him, she would just hold him harder. Daddy's little girl for sure!!

Build-a-brad now AVAILABLE!!!!

I am excited to announce that the Stampin' Up! product, "Build-a-brad" is now available. Stampin' Up! has resolved the quality issues with their supplier, and are now happy with the result. Find Build-A-Brad on page 189 of the Fall-Winter Collection 2007.

Man Made Card

Here's a fun cardmaking lesson for all the guys!

Enjoy!!!

Click here: Man Made Card

Playroom pics

Awhile ago I mentioned that we had made a playroom for the boys downstairs (basically I should say "my dad and Steve" made a playroom downstairs... I helped with the smallest bit of baseboard painting, and some cutting in here and there)... Here are some pics of what it looks like. The boys spend lots of time down there, and Elise can play down there if Steve or I am with her, and if we aren't... she can play in her playpen and watch her brothers. She loves it! The blue paint on the wall was created by adding a bit of this and a bit of that... so we just call it "Playroom Blue!" And the brown was a second try, the first one I brought home was too green, so Steve asked me to try again. I didn't really mind the first colour, but that was before we created the blue paint that butts up to it... the brown is way better, and ties in with the tiles in the hallway really well, too.
Table and chairs... colouring happens upstairs in the kitchen... supervised..... they aren't allowed crayons in the new playroom, but there is a display string on the wall with mini clothes pins to hang their artwork on. They love having a play table to drive cars on, or use their magnadoodle.
Nice picture, Todd :)

The mural on the wall is one I painted for Scott for his first b-day party which was a zoo theme. It is just on muslin material so I can hang it anywhere. The colourful storage unit was an IKEA purchase. I still need to weed through their toys at some point to get rid of anything broken, and to match up sets better, but the boys are getting pretty good at keeping their playroom clean when they are done... helps to have a place for everything!
I LOVE this carpet... we are so tempted to put this cozy stuff throughout the house wherever there is carpet already, but the other stuff isn't that old... but it's not that nice, either.
Elise's domain... the boys know that only her toys are allowed in there. But usually she is up in her own playroom which is the Little People land off the living room, or just roaming on the main floor by me... she does love playing with her brothers, though! Soon I am sure it will turn into "bugging her brothers!"

4:30 this morning

I got the boys up at 4:30 this morning to say goodbye to daddy.... he's off to Texas for the week, and we are staying home. On the day that Steve went to get his passport - a couple weeks ago, the boys asked him, "how was your trip?" when he got home... hmmm... that was only 6 hours, what are they going to say when he is gone for 5 whole days? We're gonna miss him!


ps- Steve took the digi camera, so I'll have to be creative in my posts...