Goin' to the Big Table

My parents were kind enough to invite my good friend Ginger and her family over to their house for dinner on Christmas Eve. Bruce called up Ginger and told her she was pretty much family now since they were officially invited to "the big table" (my parent's house.) John was flattered to say the least and the boys couldn't wait to check out Darren's grandpa's house.

These are they flowers that Liam personally picked out for my mom. How sweet!



Check out the yummy prime rib we had that night:





Oh, here are a few pictures from the cookie-baking marathon day. I have to say that I was quite pleased with this year's mix. I added fudge, a rich dark chocolate cookie with white chocolate bits and magic cookie bars with graham cracker, marshmallow and coconut. I was bummed I hadn't thought of taking pictures of the filled cookie tins when they were getting packaged but I was in such a rush that morning I didn't give it a thought. There's always next year!






The kids exchanged their gifts that night and Bruce was given his Christmas gift a day early since they were too hard to hide in our house. I think the big grin is his stamp of approval.









Darren proceeded to wake up at 5 a.m. Christmas morning but we told him he couldn't wake us until after 7. Needless to say, he came bounding in at 7:02 ready to open up the presents under the tree. It was definitely a Lego-themed day. Will I ever be able to vacuum my carpets again? Hmmm....











Tomorrow Ginger and I are taking the boys to Yosemite for a day in the snow while the hubbies are at work. It'll be a long day of driving back and forth but the fun to be had will be priceless. Until then, happy holidays!

Another Performance

Sorry for being gone for so long! Bad blogger! The rush of the holidays is getting the best of me right now. I've been crafting away these past few weeks but can't share anything since they are all gifts! Ginger and I cropped last weekend at My Daughter's Wish and said our fond farewells to Sheri and Daniela and the store.

Darren had his last Little Gym class on Thursday and his group gave a little performance of the skills they learned over the past six month. Darren can do back bends, somersaults, assisted handstands and cartwheels! No performance would be complete without a medal for all of those accomplishment so here's the proud owner of his first medal! Way to go, Darren!













Since I'm on winter break along with the kids for the next 2 weeks I hope to get a lot of scrapping done as well as watching some of big movies coming out this Christmas. Check out the latest creations from Tim Holtz:





How cute are those doors? If there was only enough time in the day!

And speaking of movies, if you haven't seen it yet, I HIGHLY recommend seeing "7 Pounds" with Will Smith and Rosario Dawson. Hands down the best movie I've seen this year. It's one of those movies that stays with you for a while. I won't give it away but have plenty of kleenex on hand!



Now I'm off to mom's house for an all-day bake-off complete with Christmas music. Until then, happy holidays!

My little performer

Sunday night was Darren's CCD class Christmas performance. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good solo shots of Darren because of where I was sitting while trying to take photos of the first grade group. But, he did wonderful and looked SO handsome! Even Bruce managed to sneak out of work to catch the performance.



Proud mama:



On a sad note, the downturn of the economy is definitely hitting close to home. My favorite scrapbook store, My Daughter's Wish, in Pleasant Hill, is closing at the end of this month. The news was just announced this morning. This store was one of those stores you walked into and it just felt so familiar, friendly and homey. The people who work and/or teach there are amazing people and I will truly miss them all. I am sure I will see a few of them around but I am just sad to see a familiar place with lots of memories close its doors. Who could forget my birthday crop I had there a few years ago complete with an 80's theme? What shall I do with my leg warmers now? LOL (um, yeah, you are NOT seeing those pictures!)

If you are in need of a scrap fix, the store is 30% off in its entirety so be sure to check out the store in person or via their website. Ginger and I are hoping to crop there on Saturday night for one last hurrah.

Cat Drama and Pajama Day

My sweet 12-year old cat, Bocce (think Bocce ball) has not been able to hold down any food for the past month. At first I thought he had dental issues and/or hairballs but after noticeable weight loss I took him into the vet yesterday.

Come to find out this afternoon that blood results shows he is suffering from hypothyroidism. Yeah, I thought only people got that too. Thankfully, no surgery is necessary but he will be on meds for the rest of his 9 lives. Thank goodness it wasn't a tumor or something awful like that. I can't imagine my life without my cat. Heck, I've had him longer than hubby!

After about 15 takes, I finally managed to get a few shots of my guy.





My other guy had PJ Day at school today so I only managed to get this photo when I went to pick him up this afternoon since this morning the fog was SO thick I couldn't see anything! I suppose I'll have to get a photo of our infamous fog one morning so you all can get a sense of how thick it is. Let me tell you, it's not fun to drive in!



So does everyone have their holiday decorations up? I am usually so good at having everything up the day after Thanksgiving but last weekend was so crazy the decorating didn't happen until Sunday late afternoon. My house is by far not Martha Stewart's but it still makes me happy nonetheless.

Is it December already?

Time is seriously passing me by. I can't believe it's December 1st. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I sure did! I am sure I ate more dessert than food!

I had a crazy Thanksgiving weekend so I am thankful for having a fairly lazy day today if you call volunteering in my son's class this morning and putting up all of the holiday decorations in the house {minus tree decorating until Darren gets home from school.}

Thursday we whooped it up at my cousin's house here in town. It was nice not to have to drive far. We had a great time and TONS of food. My cousin Dean outdoes himself with homemade desserts and my mom's famous pumpkin pie was delicious as usual. Mmmmm...



The "fam"



them boys!



Dean and Monica:



Darren and cousin Gabrielle:



Sis-in-law Isabelle and Jen:



While some of the guys watched football a group of us played about 3 hours worth of Tangoes. If you have not played this game you MUST! It is so addicting! Plus it's great for the brain {which I desperately need!}

Friday I drove down to San Jose and met up with friends from high school. Some of whom I have not seen in 10 years. We sat around and talked and laughed for hours. It felt as if we hadn't lost a step since high school. We are each the same person at the core but just a bit older. We are going to plan a summer picnic so that the next time we get together we can meet each others' spouses and kids. I wish I would have thought to take some pictures but I guess that'll have to wait until next time.

Saturday was my mother-in-law's 80th birthday party. We had a scrumtious dinner and then watched a video montage my brother-in-law put together of photos from her teenage years up to the present.



Nilta and all the grandchildren:



Her children and in-laws:



Nilta and my parents:



Darren and his Granny:



After all of the big dinner celebrations I had my first 5K run on Sunday morning and I had a BLAST. I wasn't too thrilled with waking up at 5:30am and driving to San Francisco for the race but once the run started the endorphins kicked in and I ran the 3.3 miles in 32 minutes. Lisa and I finished together and Ginger was a short distance behind due to some calf cramps.

Pre-run shot:



Here's Ginger at the finish line. Way to go, Gingy!



Here we are post-run {excuse the sweat!}:



Ginger enjoying the free Starbucks:



The best part of the run was watching the runners cheer each other on. The top ten runners were incredible to watch and everyone began applauding them as they passed. At the beginning of the race we passed a woman who must have been in her 80's and she was jogging her heart out. What inspiration. I loved the experience so much I now have my eyes set on a 10k run here in town in 2 weeks. I haven't registered for it yet but I'm hoping a group of us from the gym can all go together for support and motivation. Here are some post-run crowd shots:





I am officially 'blogged-out'! Until next time... have a great week!

Happy Monday

I was cruising the blog scene just now and came across this etsy shop via SiStv. How darling are these tags? I must have them! Those mustache tags crack me up.


And if you haven't been to Pink Paislee's new and improved website, you MUST check it out. I love, love, love their 'pink projects.' So much fun.


I'm going to have to create those fanned flowers from Thursday's project idea. So many projects, so little time!!!