YES!

So, I am sitting here while Sammie does her homework and the letter this week is Yy. She has some "y" words she has to sound out and then write. She reads the first one "yes" and then says, "Mom, the word is "yes" like when i say, Mom, can i have some brownies (which just happen to be sitting on the counter) and you say YES!!! " Good one kid, way to work that into the homework and hint that you want a brownie!! LOL!!! I love her quick and clever little personality!!

Pure Happiness

Here are a few pics from our Spring Break family trip to the beach. All 3 of us were there but one of us had the MOST fun!!! :) She absolutely LOVES the beach and we found so much joy in watching her chase the water, play in the sand, find shells, and build a "ladybug kingdom".

After our terrific day at the beach we went to "Ruby's on the Shore" as Sammie affectionately calls it. Also known around Southern California as "Ruby's on the pier" in case you were wondering.

On Saturday was Christine's crop at the Scrapbook Oasis to raise money for Autism Speaks. We had a lot of fun scrappin' and chatting. There were a lot of fun girls there and it was great to catch up with everyone. The manufacturers were generous to donate raffle prizes, and sponsor goodie bags! There were a lot of great ones such as Kiki Art, Thermoweb, Cherry Arte, Prima, Zutter, Bella Blvd, Scrapbook Adhesives, Fiskars, Bella Blvd, Nikki Sivils, Little Yellow Bicycle, just to name a few!! I was lucky enough to win the grand prize which was a photo printer from Canon. Thank you Canon!!! Most importantly, Christine raised around $800 for this cause which is near and dear to her heart. I was glad to be a part of this event and to help her. We are also walking this Saturday at the annual Autism Speaks walk event. Thank you to all who have sponsored this. If you would like to sponsor me on the walk, here is the link to my walk page.

The last thought of the day is the conversation Sammie and I had today when i was looking for my car in the parking lot. ( as usual) Oh, and to give you a little background, I have the memory and sense of direction of a flea, so I am always lost. Fortunately I have Sammie to help me and she comes to my rescue all the time. Here is our conversation today...

Me: "Sam, you are like a GPS"..

Sam: "Mom, I AM a GPS"...

LOL!! Out of the mouths of babes... Does she even know what a GPS is??? who knows but it was the "quick-witted, tone inflected," immediate response that I find so amusing.. She doesn't miss a beat!!!

Good Week Bad Week

Well, my week started off great! My parents came in town and we had some fun. We went to the racetrack which was very cool. It was our first time and we really enjoyed it. ONE of us REALLY enjoyed it. :)

We celebrated Passover with a Seder at my aunt's house.

We went on an Easter egg hunt on horseback....

...And in the backyard, but not on horseback!

We did many fun things and then the black cloud came over my head...

Sammie had a horseback riding lesson and it POURED rain and we had to quit!! ( then the sun came out and it was gorgeous for the rest of the day.)

I had computer troubles and spent 16+ hours ( in 3 days) trying to get it fixed. ( I finally did, YEA!!! )

Sammie fell down a few steps on an escalator and hurt her knee, I spilled water on our pizza lunch, and then had a health scare with my Nana. ( she is all good now!) Anyway.. it is supposed to be my fun week and it started out fun and turned into uggggghhh... But now the black cloud is going away and the rest of the week is going to be good again.. I can tell. Good things are planned and fun will be had again. :)

Christine is having the annual crop to support Autism Speaks. We are also walking again on April 24th. If you would like to sponsor me in my walk please check out my walk page. If you are unable to sponsor at this time, and want to help in some other way, check out our scrap it forward challenge. You can participate in the challenge and win a cool prize!!

Hope you are having a good ( not bad) week!!

Spring Has Sprung

We took advantage of the nice weather and went to the park last weekend. It was a lot of fun. We had a picnic on the grass. We played soccer and played on the playground. Sammie did the egg hunt, we rode the train and visited the ponies. I have pictures of Sammie at 1 year old riding these ponies.. I also have memories of her standing at this fence at age 2 staring at these ponies saying "Come here brown one, come here white one"... This is when we nicknamed her "The Horse Whisperer" They have always responded to her naturally and she has always loved them, even way back when she was a year old. I will have to retrieve them from my other computer and show the comparisons... it is amazing..

Just so happy she has found something she loves and can continue her passion for horses.

We stayed at the park all day and had a lot of family fun. Here's what we do at home.. We have a birthday party for "Snort"... Yes, if you are a regular blog reader, we already had a party for Snort. I guess he is 2 in horse years. LOL! Note the handmade crown, necklace, and bracelet. He got lots of treats to eat.

Okay... I will leave you with this thought.. I am not much of a photographer, in fact I don't really even understand all the techincal things about photography, but i managed to capture this photo on my little ol' point and shoot camera and I am proud of it. I really like how Sam is flying high over the hills and it looks like she is on top of the world.. Just a lucky click of the camera but i love it!!

I am happy and grateful today.... We got some good news and all is going to be okay.

Happy Blogaversary.. and other more interesting things

How weird.. I was just goofing around on my blog and then thought I missed the anniversary of me starting this blog for the 2nd time in a row.. Well, I looked back all the way through the archives and can you believe it???... It was EXACTLY 3 years ago today.. March 20, 2007.. wow.. time flies!!

Here's what we've been up to lately...

We had Open House at school and this is my classroom.

Here is Sammie in the computer lab and by her classroom.

Brad took Sammie up to the mountains for a few hours of Spring Snow fun.. The weather was warm-ish but the snow was cold.. Sammie had a blast playing with her cousins.

We went to the Pony Club Movie Premier tonight to watch the video they made in November. Sammie was in it for just a few seconds but it was really cute. She talked about the things she loves about Pony Club, loving the horses and "hoof picking them". The girls all dressed fancy and walked the red carpet. They even received flowers and "oscars" for participating. We went to dinner afterwards.

It's always fabulous when you are at a Pony Club event and a pony just happens to be walking by outside... Yep, a little mini just happened to be outside the community center. What luck!

Meet Chicken Nugget

Here is the newest member of our family.. Her (his) name is Chicken Nugget.. Yes, that's right, Sammie's new FISH is named Chicken Nugget. I can't explain the name, I have no idea how it came about. She talked about several names such as Jasmine, Ariel, Dory, Aurora, and Nemo. Brad took her to the pet store this weekend and she came home with this little plastic container with this pretty (male) Betta fish and she proudly showed it to me and said, "Mom, this is Chicken Nugget, she waved at me and she is pretty and I choosed her." Okay.. welcome to the family, Chicken Nugget.

Here is another critter that is not our pet but came to visit in our yard recently.

Sammie had fun playing with this little guy. We talked about lizards and that they are reptiles and how they can get scared and break off their tails to get away and a new one will grow in its place. She observed him for a while and enjoyed holding him and then she put him in our planter so that Naomi ( dog) wouldn't get him. Thanks for visiting us little lizard.

Scrappy stuff

Well it's been a long time since I have scrapped but I finally did and it felt great!! I am happy with all of my pages and here are a few to share. Oh, and this one is for a contest on Julie's challenge blog. My favorite friends.

This month, Scrap it Forward is having a DT call and challenge for National Craft month. Check it out, send us some of your favorite crafty things and have some fun designing with us. Winner will be chosen at the end of March so get your scrap on!!!