A christmas campfire

Last night we enjoyed a fun evening with friends watching Christmas movies and making smores at San Elijo campground. Our friends the Hayden's had the clever idea of projecting movies on to their trailer from their movie projector. When they quickly got tired of sitting, letting the kiddos fill up on hot chocolate and smores and let them run loose around the campgrounds. It is no longer a question of if but when we will purchase our own trailer. All the way home I was calculating in my head how much extra side work Tony will need to do and extra loans I will need to fund to work that into our 2010 budget. Practical Sandy eventually came around and realized we need to buy a house first so we can have a place to store it.

Merry Christmas Eve!

A little baking, a little sanding and a lot of cleaning

Our new guest bed. Come and visit. We have added a new queen bed to our upstairs loft. I must admit it is tight quarters up there but the comfy pillow top mattress and fluffy pillows make up for the lack of available floor space. Also, the guest bed is lucky enough to house my treasured peacock bed set from Anthro. It was too "birdy" for our room and for my husband. At least I get to enjoy it when I am on the computer upstairs.
Repurposed project #1- A pot rack picked up at a yard sale and then transformed to a super cool mahogany pot rack.

Repurposed project #2- My treasured jewelery case. Truth be told, Tony originally made this for our booth in Leaping Lotus when we were thinking we were going to sell jewelry. Well we gave our notice at LL last month and there it sat. Tony was nice enough to finish the frame, line it with some burlap and quilt lining and make it heavy and solid enough to withstand any natural disaster. The bamboo frame was originally that yellowish commercial looking bamboo frame and the picture it housed was an airbrushed woody with a Jessica Rabbit looking girl in a bikini print. It was awful.

What can I say, I love it.......It is my favorite addition to our home this year. The picture does not do the case justice. It is quite a showpiece. After 15 years of making jewelry, I can finally say I have a proper place to display my pieces. Don't look to closely, some of my pieces need repair. I could not stand to have them stuffed in a bag under my sink anymore. I have boxes and baskets of beads and findings from countless bead fairs with little to no desire to make anything with them.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon baking cookies and treats for our neighbors. Brayden was very happy to help sprinkle anything he could get his hands on.

Yum! Hopefully everyone if enjoying some nice family time and Christmas cheer this weekend. Go Chargers!

The workshop

Eating some yummy vegetarian chili made by Greta and family at the Encinitas holiday parade.

My 2007 Christmas project- a family advent calendar. A 2009 project is still in development and will likely not be ready until 2010. Over the past few years I have adopted the tradition of buying one lavish Christmas decoration and making one elaborate project per year. Last years purchase was the 12 days of Christmas plates from WS and my project was an apple core Santa. This year I am attempting to make a wreath which requires me to learn to crochet and I have my eye on several fancy holiday goodies to add to our collection.

The elf's workshop filled with incomplete projects.

A sneak peek... Will post the finished projects.

Feeling rather behind this year. My days working from home are filled with nervous phone calls from Realtors and screaming matches with underwriters. Meanwhile our Christmas cards sit unaddressed and unwrapped gifts accumulate under the bed.

Celebrating the two's

Where have we been all month? By reading our blog alone you would think we are hoping from one celebration to the next. Not that many things go uncelebrated here but we actually have been taking things pretty slow. Work has kept Tony and I really busy ( hooray!!!). So when we are home we have tried take time off from Facebook, ebay, blogs and other internet time suckers. Replacing them with homemade dinners, crafts, projects and other fun family things.

Digging for treasures at Moonlight Beach.

My hamburger cupcakes. I was quite happy with the way they turned out. I never actually tried one but the kids seemed to enjoy them. I used white cake box mix for the bun ,chocolate brownie mix for the hamburger and colored frosting for the condiments. Those thick white chunks next to the hamburger cupcakes were sugar cookies cut up as french fries.

A little family moment before party # 2 starts.

Family party later on that night at our house. I must say it was a bit tricky having two parties in one day. Not something I plan on repeating. Hopefully next year we will be in a house big enough to accommodate everyone.

Can't quite wait until the cake is cut.

The goods. The "watch out I'm 2" was actually supposed to be a cape. Still thinking of creative ways to get through that bolt of Heather Ross fabric.

Present opening in the wagon. Much more fun than sitting on the floor.

Breakfast with the wagon. Anyone want to take a guess what we got him for his birthday?

Actual birthday morning birthday breakfast ( leftovers from party #1) . My two year old crown never actually made it on his head but stayed in close proximity. Pick your battles right?

Happy Two buddy!

( Yes, his helmet is on backwards)

I must say that we could not have attempted to have two birthdays in one day if it were not for the help of both sets of our parents. They helped out so much and made it possible for us to actually enjoy the day as well. Thank you!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Halloween

Ready to go

Pumpkin bowling

Trick or treating at the lumberyard. Notice the open Mounds bar?
Our little octopus, my last minute attempt at Seaweed and Tony went as a surfer. He claims that this in fact is a proper costume since he barely gets out in the water anymore. I am not so sure about that. Trick or treating in Harbor Point
Our Halloween night was super fun. We went to the lumberyard to walk around see some pumpkins at SRF, hear some music and even take advantage of a free family photo opportunity. We should have lingered around town a little more. We rushed home to be able to go out and trick or treat with the kiddos on our street . Brayden was having a swell time wandering around the shops getting candy with kids more his own age and listening to the band. We committed to our neighbors and thought it would be fun to have a little happy hour while walking around the neighborhood. Apparently we were the only ones who thought that idea was clever out of our group. We drank our beers quickly and in covert plastic cups- alone. We only made it a couple of streets and then our Brayden wanted something more to eat besides candy. We spent the remaining night handing out candy, eating leftovers and have a couple of beers in their original container.

Our Friday night Halloween party. I think next year we will try for a day party.

Pinata mania

Brayden with his poodle pal Malley

Before the mini's arrived. Watching his favorite show- Yo Gabba Gabba.

Celebrating 87

When you pass 80 in our family you get a big party every year complete with a house full of family, a lovely dinner and a cake with the number of candles equal to your age. My grandma turned 87 this week and 30 or so of her closest family wanted to help her celebrate.

Our sad attempt at a German Chocolate cake. It never made it to the party. The frosting was too clumpy to present to even family. Maybe next year for #88Some second cousins. ( l-r Tim, me, Amy, Jason ( my brother) , Michael and Chris.)

Hovering around the birthday girl. My mom made her wear a hat that looked more like horns instead of candles.

Double fisted.

Fire!!! She blew them out in a couple of blows too. Happy birthday Grandma. We love you and look forward to celebrating #88.

October and 85 degrees

We had a fun time at Bates Nut Farm last weekend with the Hayden's even though it was quite warm and crowded. What was started out as a crisp fall morning quickly turned to blazing hot day.
Stuffing the big mac's

The tractor tour

Costume finished with 2 weeks to spare. I still need to whip mine up and see if I can convince Tony to dress up in theme. Not too much cooperation modeling the finished product was offered up before bedtime. I am quite pleased with his little costume. I would have preferred to have his head be the octopus head but I know he would not have kept anything on his head for even a minute. Pick your battles as they say.

More Octoberness

Last weekend at the Carlsbad Oktoberfest. A very fun family event to kick off the fall season. Sooooo excited to be on a real firetruck.

Polka dance party!

Fun play date with Patrick and Liam at the Del Mar pumpkin patch.

Petting zoo

Handling the inventory

They are hired!!

Winding down

Have a lovely weekend.