Happy Halloween!

October 31st!
Old Hallow's Eve.
Halloween!
My favorite holiday!

These pictures are from 1995!
I know that the image of the layout isn't great, but the kids are so stinkin' cute!
Had to share.
WE are so lucky, tonight the girl cousins are coming over to help the kids scavenge the neighborhood for the houses that give out "regular" size candy bars, hehehehe!
Big plans!
Of course we are one of those houses because not that many kids come through our little cul de sac, so the ones that do get the love!
I hope everyone has a great night full of playful spirits and stomache aches from too much candy!
B-

Think Pink!

October is breast cancer awareness month.
It is also Wendy's birhtday tomorrow, I have to remember to call Rick and the kids and tell them how much I love them, and cry over how much I miss Wendy.
Breast cancer needs to go away.
That being said, too many of the women we know and love are fighting this disease, so lets all pitch in and help find a way to make it just disappear forever!
Think Pinka cafe'press store by Tia Bennett is doing a fundraiser for a wonderful woman {Stef} and we should all show our support. 100% of funds will go to help Stef with her battle and when she WINS the proceeds will go to the Susan G. Koman foundation for research.
Please find a way to support the fight, if not this way then find another, we need to win this war!
B-

It takes guts!

To do halloween kids style!
Getting the pumpkins emptied and carved for seven kids is a gory and hilarious experience!
The kids have grand plans, and they are so cute when they draw their own images and then carve them oh so carefully!
We put the seven kids/pumpkins on the kitchen floor. Each with their own garbage bag opened and the pumpkin set inside.
This process saves a LOT of cleaning!
Every year we buy a few new carving sets to replace the ones we broke or couldn't find. We get out big huge serving spoons, rice paddles and ice cream spatulas to dig the slimy innards out of the crusty shells.
Every year we have one pumpkin top that is opened to large and one that is opened far too small. But this year was just that more interesting because some of these distinctions were shared with the cousins. Usually the four of my kids manage to do many crazy and silly things themselves but this year some of those distinctions were able to find new places to land! And of course I am so amped that I have my book done and waiting for all these darling pics! WooHOoooo!
It is so great having Rick and his family living so close now, the kids love having the "girl" cousins to spend time with, and I love having my brother and his amazing wife for friends! The holidays have become so much more now, and I LOVE IT!
B-

Holding my breath

Do you ever find that there are times in your life when you feel like you are holding your breath?
You are not sure why you feel like you can't breathe.
You just can't.
So I am holding my breath waiting for the moment when I find out why I have felt like I have been in a holding pattern.
I learned so much in Las Vegas, got to hang out with so many amazing people.
So here are my shouts:
To Tia, Jenn, Leslie, Becky, Rhonna and Kelly (the AL girls) thanks for being so much fun!
To Margie and her family, how stinkin' cute are all of you, it was great to meet you and Megan, call Mike he is so cute and he thought you were all that! Loved getting to do the whole photo booth thing over and over, super fun!
To all the MME guys, you are so fun, smell good and are great sports about getting worked over by Rox and I! Mike call Megan!
To Thena and Sharon (two hams!) loved catching up with you both it is always so fun to find you and get my hugs!
To Sarah and Jim thanks for entertaining me for pretty much all of Wed morning, I love to visit with both of you and love the stories you always have! Jim next time let Sarah know where you are ;)don't just take the kids to the volcano at midnight without anyone knowing where you went!
To Tif, thanks for being such a fun and understanding friend!
To Jessie the specklebird, my sistah from anotha mistah, I LOvE you! Just wish we had more time, I will plan better next time! I need pics hint hint!
To all the Prima gals, Sharon, Carla, Kim, Tina, and Michelle thanks for sharing your roof! It was so great getting to know all of you and I so enjoyed your company!
I learned so much from each of you and appreciate each of your individual talents!
To Joanna and Annie, thanks for the company at dinner, you were so fun and the delicious sauce followed by the dessert bar was just too hilarious!
To those who I am brain cramping on at the moment, thanks! I had a great time and it was because of all of you!

So on a back to reality note:
Tyler turned 17 yesterday!
It was great Mom & Dad, Rick's family and Rox and her family were all able to come up and help celebrate and a couple of Tyler's good friends from school!
So we had Chinese from Asian Star for twenty!

We had a spanking machine! Hilarious...

I'm BAAAACK!

So many interesting, educational, hilarious stories from the last week in Vegas, some of them have to stay in the vault, but others I might have to share!
But, not right now, long day driving home after a long night (not from fun)!
Anyway, I loved seeing all the peeps that I soooo love! And I loved seeing all the beautiful goodies that the amazing talents come out with!
And, only 3 weeks until Vancouver!
B-

Hump day

It was a hump day for me.
Just getting through right now.
I get to leave for Las Vegas on Sunday, I need a break. Reality has been a little too real for me lately. I have had to exercise a lot of patience and good will lately, and I am just worn down and it will be great to have a change of pace for a few days.
So I will spend the next few days packing and prepping.
And then viva Las Vegas baby!
B-

I have a been a digi'n fool!

Had one of those weekends where I couldn't be with my beloved paper and paste, so I packed up my laptop, my external drive and my mouse and took it with me!
I felt like I got so many thoughts out there onto a LO, and I was also able to try some different things that I had wanted to play with!
This scraplift is from the Ali Edwards designing with patterned paper book and the layout I lifted was one by Jamie Waters. It is good for me to use some of the designs by these artists, it really shows how to put a beautifully designed LO together. When they are balanced visually it makes a such a beautiful image and is so easy to look at. Thanks Jamie for the inspiration!
There are some really fantastic kits out there also that really help me "see" what I want to try, very mojo providing!

Anyway, so I went very geek this weekend and it was great!
Today I am finishing up a Halloween album out of Teresa Collins papers and a 7 gypsies 3 ring album with MM velvet stickers, it is so cute and just waiting for my pics from this year!
Woohoo, ahead of the curve for once!
B-