hittin' the road

Here they are.... those boots ready to see some new gravel........

Blog at y'all in a couple of weeks.....I'm off to houston!
This is post number 97..... only three more til the big 100!! (I'd check back if I were you....can you say give-a-way?)

last day of Kindergarten?

Oh my word...... It was just yesterday that my oldest was starting kindergarten...... He had a most amazing year with a most amazing teacher.....Mrs. Sosa. She is probably the world's greatest teacher.....My 1st grader certainly thinks so! I remember thru my years of education I will always hold a very fond spot in my heart for my kinder teacher.......There has got be something said about how special teachers are. They give so much of themselves for our future leaders and yet our govt gives them so little in return.... in way of funding, support and salary. (arrrgh...) BACK to kindergarten.......this is him on his first day of kindergarten (august 2007)


This is him on his last day of kindergarten..... (today - may 2008)


Here's him and his special teacher - Mrs. Sosa! Look at the love!! and his CHEESY smile!!


here's him and one of the aides in his class whom he also holds a special spot in his heart for...... miss sandra :)


We had an amazing last day, the teachers put on a slide show and the kids sang to us then a small reception with juice and cookies :) Yum Yum! But for now - all he can think about is....... "SUMMERTIME!!!" , grammy&papa's house, swimming.... and sleeping in.......Folks - just thought I would share some special moments with y'all! My boy's going to first grade, how can that be? He even has two LOOSE teeth (front and center!!) ?? Where is the time going?

the piles that define me.......

Here's the layout from one of my postings earlier this month.........

P.s. I'm dusting off my boots!!!

P.s.s this is post number 95...... get ready to leave a comment for post number one hundred - here's a teaser at what could be yours..... BUT you have to comment..... it's for the ladies........ think clutch.......

Getting ready to hit the road....

click me



getting ready to see my girls in houston..... nola here we come.. then to cku! ahhhhh!

The Happiest place on Earth...

We went to disneyland last weekend. Actually It was just myself and Super Q. Marz and daddy had a bachelor's weekend at our casa. Here's Q and Mickey!!


This was our first ride.... yes he was scared to go inside the dark doors.... so this and alice in wonderland was all we could get out of him for "indoor rides" All our other rides were outdoor... ie... dumbo and orbit.... yada yad


this was my favorite ride.... nemo's submarine...... we only had to wait one hour in the baking hot sun.... (do note the sarcasm in my text...)


This was a his favorite memory...... STAR WARS - go figure.....


We met goofy and had breakfast with him too!! Cool huh - they have a whole restaurant where you can have breakfast with the characters.... and since goofy makes the food they have dishes like peanut butter pizza and the dessert bar is the biggest buffet..... not very nutritious..... but worth it. Q had so much fun!


we also went to disney's california adventure park. we met bob the builder.... I mean handy manny..... sorry
A fun time was had by all. Gotta love digital camera's I took approx. 330 pics! I'd say that's a record for me.... for one weekend.

let it be sung

CLICK ME....


I have published this link before but I feel like it's worth a second (or first) look. Please click the link above and listen to the song.... these dudes are two of my absolute favorite singer songwriters....

Have a great day,
AT

Empty Nest - broken heart

Y'all - I don't know what happened - My hubby and i have been keeping a really close eye on the nest checking in every couple of hours or just every-time we walk by the kitchen window. I thought something was funny this morning when I saw that hortence was not in her nest.... I thought maybe just an early breakfast but she has not been at her nest for almost two hours... I saw Horton (daddy) sitting on our iron fence just flying around kinda concerned...... I got our ladder and the found the nest to be empty. I am soooooo sad. I don't know what happened? I can't imagine that anything other than another bird could have got to the nest? It's so far up and there's no way a squirrel or rodent or cat could reach it.... wahhhhhhhhhhh

Signing off with a broken heart :(
anna

Nest Update....

It's been a few days since I've reported on our nest on the backyard porch..... I have included a new picture of daddy Horton. He's guarding the nest while mommy is off getting supper. How cute huh? He comes two to three times a day to relieve Hortence (mommy bird) He stands on the edge of the planter with his chest held high! Proud Horton! Anyhow mom takes off for about 1/2 hour or so and they trade post. It's the sweetest thing.






above is a house I re-did for my house swap.... I really did not like my #5 with button trees and a porch.... so I made it to have an awning. I added post and a flowered pot. I like it a hundred times better. Anyhow - busy busy busy with the boys (end of the school year) and getting ready for my big trip to houston. I'm so excited!
Hope you have a marvelous day.

House ATC Swap

Here are my houses for the swap..... (cpa - as for me and my house swap) I like all but the one with buttons (i tried to make trees..) ... Thinking of redoing it.... My theme was building all sides of a house - front/ back/ side
other side/ side of the side.... My husband came up with the idea and wanted me to build the house and put it in to a chinese take out package and mail it..... Not sure I'll do that, as Nathalie will have to take them all apart but it was a cool idea.....xoxo
anna

Nest!

OOhhhhhhhh - Two eggs in the nest. How sweet! they are probably the size of a "whopper" - the candy - malt balls

Happy Nester's Day to me!

Happy Mother's day ! I'm a mom of two BEAUTIFUL boys and I am happy to be a nester! It's my thing and I embrace it with all my heart!



My day has been so sweet so far :) My boys (all 3) each gave me a mom's day card first thing this morning. I was able to enjoy a cup of coffee while looking at a mama bird on our back porch!


Here's a picture of the sweet mama bird and her nest she made in our hanging pansy planter basket :)
It's soooooo COOL! She started to make her nest early this last week. I believe she has laid some eggs (she hasn't moved from her nest in a few days). Daddy bird is never far away... he's either on the fence about 20 feet away or on the chimney of our neighbor's house with a perfect view of his wife and future tweeties... that's what the 2nd pic (of the birds) is.... he's on the chimney and she's in the nest. I can honestly say this is my first experience with a bird's nest this up close and personal the added bonus is I get to see it full circle!!! From beginning to end! I'm sooo excited and I really can't think of a better way to spend my mother's day (or mom's season).

Oh yah - we named the mama bird "horton" - we just saw the movie and my youngest son's fav book (for the moment) is "horton hatches an egg" We are a cheesy family like that :)

Have a beautiful Nester's Day!
all my love,
a

All because of the love of paper...

Ever since my fabric obsession recently turned to paper (still mostly love the patterns) I have met some cool people (in person and on the net). My dearest prayer MOM and friend, Linda , showed me a whole other world existed out on the internet. She the reason I am blogging and rekindled my creative spirit, and I thank her as much I can for that! :) Anyhow, she's in a christian paper artist group - (ok she practically runs it...) and she kept posting these really cool treasures that she made for swaps and RAKs and others that she received from friends all over the US. Well, to make a short story long, I joined the group and have met some really great and talented women. Like Chris and Nathalie and Katie. I have joined two swaps (joyfully yet reluctantly) as I am trying to expand my paper crafting horizons. I made some inchies and a few ATC houses - I'll post them soon.....

Like I said ...... my short story made long..... A few weeks back - I was challenging my blog visitors to leave a comment and in return I'd make them a card. BTW - I made 7 cards - Faye was the only one who I never got an address for. WELL.... KATIE sent me a treasure back. It's a wall hanging with the letter A, a cute little girl with a crown and rhinestone (oh la la!) OHHHH and WINGS (one of my obsessions) and lastly a great bible verse I would have never thought to have such valuable meaning! "You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not by ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on tablets of stone but on the tablets of human hearts. " 2 Corinthians 5:3 . Y'all - I love it sooo much - it's just precious. I can't believe someone I just met took the time to create this little treasure. Well - It's hanging on my INSPIRATION board (right next to my post-it note.... "I am creative , I am an Artist"... A plug for ALI.... ) and it's going to stay on my board for a very LONG time - Thank You Katie for making my week and thank you Linda for opening my creative spirit to all these wonderful women. You are a rock star!
xoxo
anna

It's appreciate your teacher week....

so - here's a link if you wanna appreciate someone who teaches (in any way shape or form). It has a digital download of "your teaching inspires... you make a big difference...thank you...etc) anyhow we printed off a bunch and made the candy bar wrappers (shown in example number 2) for all the teachers/therapist in our lives. SO far we are at 15!! OHHHH ali has a giveaway today.... check it out!
IHS,
Anna

the piles that define me.......

ok, sadly enough i have a few too many piles in my life..... piles of toys, piles of laundry, piles of PAPER (mail - recycling - scrappy stuff) piles of dishes, piles of dust (hahahh - funny but true:)

sooooo - I am working on a layout for this month's book club called the piles that define me. Now that I am finally feeling better - I am able to start tackling those piles that grew and grew and grew while I was sleeping on the couch..... They drive me a little bit crazy and make me want to call "mission organization" and ask them to come help me out.... either that or extreme makeover - the house edition.......

fortunately my house does NOT look like this :) wahoo!
As yucky as I have felt all week - I'm happy to report that I am getting a night out :) I'm going to meet my friend sharon for a night of hard core paper pile making at one of our local scrapping stores.....

7 day challenge to self - results

Day one: monday around 6.. watering the plants with dad


day two: peter parker goes to school....... seriously


day three: wed - swim lessons with coach will


day four: doctors visit .... bleeding ear - granulation.....popped blood vessel


day five: school play - the little red hen - soooo proud of my mill worker


day six: hot bako day!! 89 degrees or so... see my side profile panel - the part about hubbie......it's true


OK - last day sunday.... could not get out of bed..... almost fainted taking this picture (ok...i'm exaggerating...just thought i'd add that for some "drama" :)