Apples

Well I'm a little behind on this post since it has been about 2 weeks since we went apple picking but it is still Fall, and I like the pictures and wanted to share them. I was having trouble with my photo program and couldn't get the pics to upload.. Anyway.. here they are. We went to Oak Glen which is a wonderful place to go. It is so peaceful up there and the air is so crisp. Sammie loved picking apples. This was our 2nd time up there. Last year we went with Christine, Nicholas and Adam. They kids all had a great time running and playing in the apple orchards. This year we went as a family and had a lot of fun as well. It was a very cold day so we were glad to have our sweatshirts. We walked around the village, ate some yummy, fresh donuts and rode the train. We found some ponies so that was great for you know who!! She remembered last year's trip because there was a horse named Duke there. We didn't got to "Duke's orchard" this year. I guess we will go there next year.

You're not supposed to eat the apples in the orchard.. OOPS!

We got a ton of apples. Gala, Golden Delicious, Rome, and Granny Smith. I even made apple crisp which was devoured the first day!

Yes, she is hugging the pony's leg!!!

Let's see.. what else have we been up to?? Just keeping busy as always.. We've had soccer practice, games, pizza parties, riding lessons, pony club, etc.

I cleaned out my scrap armoire and now I can actually work there again.. I have tons of projects I need to get finished so maybe now i will be inspired to get to work. Yesterday Sammie said to me, "Mommy, this house looks like a scrapbook store". Hmmmm how does she know?? LOL!!

Last night we went to "Boo at the Zoo". We really enjoyed it. They had 10 trick or treat stations set up around the zoo and many activities like crafts, storytelling, animal presentations, etc, not to mention the animals we saw along the path to trick or treat. Another Sammie quote, "I saw a real porcupine.. I have never seen a REAL porcupine before". This was a great event. If you have never done it, I recommend it. Great for kids and a fun family outing.

We saw Donna and her kids there too. They all played on the playground and had fun.

Today I took my Nana out to lunch and shopping. We got Sammie a new fish since her beloved "Crabfish" decided to go be in the "big ocean". She picked out a new fish and named it Belle. It is a male Betta fish but she thinks it is a girl. Not that it matters but she calls "him" a "her". He/She is very pretty. He is red and blue and will live in our "little mermaid" tank just like "crabfish" did. Crabfish was named after "Sebastian" the crab from Little Mermaid and since her tank has Ariel in it, that's where she got the name.. Now Belle, I'm not quite sure except she loves Princess Belle from Beauty and the Beast and wants to name her "horse that she will get someday", Bella. ( Her words of course)

My parents are coming in town this weekend to take Sammie trick or treating for the first time which will be fun for them. It is hard having them so far away, especially on fun days like Halloween so this year will be a treat ( no pun intended) to have them here to celebrate. I used to love Halloween as a kid. It was always so exciting.

Happy Halloween to you!

Winner, Winner!!!

Okay.. I know I said I would choose a winner on Friday night and this post is going to show up as "Saturday" but it is 1:30am, and to me it is still "Friday night" because I am still awake with a "second wind".. Anyway.. Here is a photo of the RAK that I am giving away. Thank you to all who stopped by my blog and for your friendly, kind comments.. Don't be a stranger, please stop by again. I enjoy seeing new people and it is fun to go to your blogs too!
I printed out all the names of those of you who posted comments and cut them all apart. (Sorry the photo isn't so clear)


I put all the little strips on the floor, closed my eyes and chose one and here is the winner...










Congratulations Jennifer!!

Scrappy Goodness!!

A HUGE thank you to my friend Jennifer K for this RAK!! I answered a Disney trivia question on her blog about the Haunted Mansion and she gave me this awesome Cosmo Cricket Halloween assortment with yummy ribbons too!! Jenn has worked at Disneyland for a long time and knows all sorts of fascinating information about Disneyland and especially the Haunted Mansion. Thank you so much for this generous Random Act of Kindness Jenn!! I will put it to good use. As a "pay it forward" gesture, I will send a Halloween RAK to a lucky winner for posting on my blog. Leave a comment and I will choose a random winner on Friday, Oct. 19th to receive some Halloween goodies from me!!


Just a random share of Sammie's handprints and how she is writing her name at age 4.

Here are some pics of the incredible projects we did at Inspiration Unlimited. This is a book by Layle Koncar from Scenic Route. Layle is awesome. She is a very sweet person too. We had a lot of fun chatting at the event. I still have to put photos in this book but here are a few pics.




This is the album we made in Teresa Collins' class.. Isn't it beautiful??? I love all the pink and black and of course, THE BLING!! Teresa autographed my book. She is so sweet and genuine. What talent she has too! I can't wait to put my pics in it.



Today is a windy, stay home and clean the house day. I'll be back again soon with some pics from our Apple Picking Adventure this past weekend. Post a comment so you can be entered in the drawing for my Halloween RAK!

We had a blast!!

I am back from IU and we had a wonderful time!! I went with my friends Christine, Donna and Jennifer. All 3 teachers were amazing and inspiring! We sat right in front ( thanks Donna) and were able to laugh and talk to Teresa, Layle and Janna. I even had them sign my projects at the end of the night. We first day we made several make and takes, jewelery, bling rings, Halloween pin decor, mini books, cards and a layout. There was a crop that night and tons of prizes too!! The next day was 3 workshops, one taught by each teacher and the brilliant thing was that the teachers rotated, not us, so we could stay in the same place all day!!! I will post some pics soon of the incredible projects we made taught by these talented girls!!
Did I mention prizes??? We all won prizes, and there were tons of goodie bag prizes too. Met a bunch of nice people from all over and even a group of "my peeps" at the end of the night! That was fun chatting with Lisa, Jules, and their buddies!


Donna was so happy to win this paper pack from Layle & Scenic Route!



Christine won these flowers and a big prize too!! Go on her blog and check it out!!! She was so excited!!



Lookie lookie at these prizes!!! They had over 300 prizes donated by some fabulous manufacturers!!



Ginger was the event coordinator and she did a terrific job doing everything!! I will definitely go to this event again!! It was so much fun and a great girlie weekend!!!


Layle, Teresa, and Janna posing for the "scrapparazi" . Be back soon with some pics!!

On My Way!

Yippeee!!! I am on my way to Inspiration Unlimited!!! This is going to be such a great event!! Can't wait to see what these awesome teachers have in store for us! I'll tell you all about it when I get back!! :)
Congratulations Christine for making the DT at Tallyscrapper! WHOOOO HOOOOO You rock girl!! You are going to be a busy girl on two design teams!!!

Can't Wait!!

In just 2 weeks my friends and I are going to this event!!! It will be so much fun. It is in Vegas and the presenters are Teresa Collins, Layle Koncar, and Janna Wilson. I love all of their stuff and can't wait for all the fun. Ginger at Down to Details has been organizing it all and has a ton of sponsors. A few sneak peeks have been posted by Teresa and Janna. All I can say is FABULOUS!!! I am really looking forward to hanging out, scrapbooking and not to mention being in VEGAS!!!

Went to Disneyland yesterday and here are a few of my favorite pics..

Every time we go, we have to ride on the horse drawn street car. Sammie even knows the horses' names. This horse is a new one named Big Red.


It was a great day at the park and it wasn't very crowded which is exactly how I like to go. Alice grabbed Sammie's hand, and the Mad Hatter, Sammie and Alice all walked along while I snapped this pic.


All summer long, Sammie had to wear her "magic boots" so she would be tall enough to ride some of the rides. She loves Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, and especially Tower of Terror. She is finally tall enough to ride these rides without her magic boots!! The minimum height for those rides is 40" and she was 39" without the boots! She finally made it and was so happy! ( she sure has been eating lots of healthy foods so she can grow!)




Today in the mail her Halloween costume came. What should a 4 year old horse-loving princess be for Halloween you ask??? A pink princess unicorn of course!!! She dressed up as a horse like this 2 years ago and she loved it. She still wears the costume and prances around the house neighing. I like the idea that she can wear it again after Halloween. They don't even get to dress up in preschool. How sad is that???


On Sunday we went to the park but before we went, she asked if we could stop at Starbucks so she could have a "pink coffee". Yep, she's starting young. (The pink coffee is really a strawberry smoothie. ) On that note, I had an incident a few weeks ago with a Starbucks lid falling off my drink and making a huge mess in the car, filling both of my drink holders. I went back to the store where I got the drink and explained what happened and then had to scoop the ice out of my drink holders with my hands and then dry up all the tea with a towel. I emailed Starbucks to tell them I wasn't a fan of their new environmentally friendly cups and explained what happened. Today I received a $20.00 gift card in the mail!! YEA Starbucks!! Thanks for your wonderful customer service!





We had a horsey lesson with a new trainer. Her name is Victoria and she is very nice. This is her pony, Flicka, who she is training to ride and her other horse, Joey, who Sammie got to ride.



Christine had a Stampin' Up party and our friend Jennifer is a demonstrator. We had a great class on Sunday and learned how to make a box of cards. Jennifer is so talented and we had a lot of fun. I'll post some pics soon. I ordered some new inks and a scallop border punch. If you want to host a party or order some new stamps, check out Jennifer's blog. There are monthly specials as well. That's all for now.

Scrappy Class, Soccer, Beach, Fashion Show

Here are the pics I promised from the class Christine and I took a few weeks ago!! EEEKKK I am so far behind!!! This class was taught by "Mick" ( down under) from Kaiser Craft. The book was a lot of fun to make and now I just need to add some pics.. Love their products, especially the bling, board books and rub ons.

Sammie is playing her first soccer season. The team is called the Wildcats! She is one of the youngest on the team and isn't really sure what to do besides chase after the ball. They had their first game on Saturday and "lost" even though they don't keep score. The other team ( the Panthers) had a pretty good idea of how to play although one of the kids picked up the ball in play two times. At the end of the game, Sammie said to me, " The other team needs more practice because they picked up the ball, mommy, and that's NOT soccer!" I thought that was funny coming from her.



I love this pic of her from the back. She picked her uniform number herself. She chose 4 because she is 4 years old!! Works for me and my scrapbooks!!! :) The uniform is HUGE on her. It is size XS but I still had to pin it because the shorts fell right to the ground when she put them on. The whole game I was worried she would have no shorts on but she wore others underneath and I used a strong safety pin!

It was such a hot day, Sammie asked me (for the first time ever) to dump water on her head. I did!!

We hadn't been to the beach all summer and so we went over Labor Day weekend. ( yes, I am posting all of this out of order but in blogger you have to go backwards because it adds the most recent pics at the top) I tried hard to get these somewhere else but my brain doesn't work well in the logical, think backwards mode..
Anyway.. Here she is at the beach just loving every bit of it!! She loves to play in the water, sand and could look for shells all day long!! I love this shot of her jumping in the air!



This weekend we participated in an event called Festival of Children. It is an organization that raises money for children's charities. Sammie was in two fashion shows at South Coast Plaza. She wore an outfit from Gap Kids and I liked it so much I bought it for her. ( we got a discount)



She loves to ham it up!



Here she is walking on stage in her new outfit.



After the shows we walked around the mall and went to here for lunch. She sure enjoyed that!

School started last week and I have been exhausted. It is tough trying to catch up from being sick and then jump right back into work. I still have piles of laundry to put away, a messy dining room table and so many other random things to do.. I spend waaaayyyyy too much time on the computer but it is my "fun time". My class this year seems good. We have a nice bunch of kids. This is the first time I have ever taught a combo in my 15 years of teaching!! It is a little challenging to bounce back and forth from grade to grade but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

I particpated in the garage sale at The Scrappin Table. I made some scrappy money and bought some new fun stuff. Hope to get some time to scrapbook soon.
I entered a monthly challenge contest on the Scrapbook Supplies Direct website and won. That was exciting!! I'm not sure what I won yet, but I'll let ya know.

Well, I guess that's all for now.