The Clouds Parted....

and the Angels sang. For on the 18th of May my children actually slept in their beds ALL NIGHT and didn't wake me up! For the first time in EIGHT STINKIN' YEARS I actually slept in my bed all night!!! Yes, I am one of those mothers who gets up when her kids cry in the middle of the night and go sleep in their room. Usually it's Gavin who wakes me up. Or if Jim is snoring like a bear I am like, I need my sleep, and bail out. But 8 years??? Who knew?

Maybe it's a coincidence but on the same day, these two knuckleheads had a birthday:

Jamie turned the ripe old age of 8 and Gavin is now a strapping 4 years old. To celebrate we took them to the dreaded Chuck E. Cheese. And surprisingly, we all had fun including Jim & I. The kids had a blast playing games & even got to see the giant rat do the chicken dance. I can't believe how fast these years have flown by. So we won a bunch of tickets & the kids picked these lovely things:

and the kids had a blast with them. Even got Nana in on the action:

If I had known a cheap pair of Groucho glasses would have provided so much entertainment, I would have bought ten pair.

I am still drooling over the pictures I took at The Vintage House. So have you made the trek out here yet?? Well what are you waiting for???? Time's a wastin'! Jim laughs because everytime we drive by I am craning my neck to see if there's anything new in the window. He calls me the stalker. But it is just such a beautiful store I can't resist.

I loved this red wire dress form but resisted the urge to buy it.

Ain't it perty?

I am in create mode now. I just finished making 22 albums for Kieran's entire kindergarten class. Nothing fancy but it was time consuming as heck. But do you think that stopped me from hording more projects to complete? Heck no! I managed to purchase a dress pattern, an apron pattern and some beautiful fabric to work with. Yes, I am going to try to sew on a sewing machine. So if you see my fingers bandaged up, you'll know why. I am also trying to learn to knit. My mom is showing me & being so patient because she knows I'm the type to get frustrated & give up. And of course, the camera & I are becoming very good friends. Jim is drawing the line at me bringing it to bed (get your mind out of the gutter!) but I am dragging that thing everywhere I go. Which is how I managed to catch this little bugger showing me his muscles wearing Vinnie's old Superman pajamas. I swear, this could would live in pajamas if he could. The best outfit is the Buzz Lightyear pj's with his black cowboy boots. Ya' gotta love it.

Summer is almost here & we can't wait. Jim & the boys are installing the sprinkler system in the backyard & then we can lay the seed for grass. I am praying for a nice backyard by July but we'll see.

I also posted some new blogs on the side. Check 'em out. I am the total blog stalker & have found some amazing sites with beautiful things. Have a great week!!

P.S.

My deepest apologies to those who hated the blasting Bubbly song that came on everytime you visited my blog. I admit, initially I was tickled that I figured out how to do that but then it just got plain irritating. And why was it posted 3x you ask? Well because I am technically challenged and it took me 3x to figure it out & then a day to figure out it posted 3x. DUH! So I have successfully removed the all too cheerful Bubbly song and am now songless. Until I find something else that doesn't make you want to stick an ice pick in your ear.

The Vintage House

Oh my GOD. I have been waiting a few weeks for this place to open down the street from me. There are a couple of antique places out here but this one caught my eye because it is my favorite color of aqua inside. I have literally been stopping in front of this place a couple of times a week and just looking in the window to see what they have. Drool, drool, drool. Practically licking the glass in anticipation of all the loveliness. And today was the day they finally opened and it was well worth the wait. Absolutely beautiful inside and so many goodies!!

I was in heaven just browsing through the store. The owners were super sweet and I scored some cute stuff. I will post pics of those later but in the meantime, here is the beauty of The Vintage House:

It is a beautiful store and the prices were amazing. I can't say enough but I will definitely be returning. So if you're in my neck of the woods, the address is on the door in the picture below. Ignore the reflection of me. I was just so excited I didn't even realize not only was I in the reflection but also that a man was walking out the door as I shot it. I'm sure he was thinking, what is this crazy woman doing and why does she have drool on her chin???

Last weekend was National Scrapbook Day and I was lucky enough to be able to participate with my pals. I haven't cropped in awhile so I had a lot of fun and was so excited to be able to spend the day with Nancie!! It was a long weekend but fun.

This is the super cute wallhanging she made for a class at MDW (My Daughter's Wish). Love it! Her stuff is so amazing.

Busy wrapping up the end of the school year. Less than a month of school and I am busy busy. Love the weather lately because it has been warmer and just beautiful out here. And I have been taking my camera everywhere and getting so many pictures. I would love to post them all but it would be just too boring of a blog. Maybe I should break down and create a Flickr account? If I do, I'll post it if anyone is interested. Have a great weekend!!

What the...???

When Nance & I went to LA a couple of years ago, I got totally hooked on this place called Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. You know how there's like a Starbuck's every block up here? Well down in LA it's the opposite. CB & TL is everywhere. Our friend Frank bought me a yummy green tea & Japanese cherry latte. Heaven in a cardboard cup. ANYWAY, up here in Starbuck's country, there's only 2. And they're both in San Francisco where I hardly go anymore. So a couple of weeks ago I had a shoot in Mill Valley. And early shoot. So I purposely left earlier to take the loooong way to Mill Valley so I could make a pit stop at the CB & TL in Ghiradelli square. I'm all excited, thinking about it all week. I pull up, gleefully plop my coins into the meter and turn around. And this is what I see:

WHAT THE HELL??? Where is my Coffee Bean??? I swear, I was sooooooo mad!! It's 7 in the morning, I have been waiting all week for this & IT'S GONE!!! I stood in the middle of the street, cursing to myself which in SF is not uncommon since there's whackos on every corner. I stomp back to my car & unfortunately, had to resort to the evil, bad

Yep, the Devil's den. UGH!! Nonetheless, it ended up being a good day. Mill Valley is goreous & the weather ended up being beautiful. I was too busy working so I didn't get any personal pictures but it was a nice day.

I was very lucky to have the opportunity to go on Kieran's fieldtrip last week. Mom watched Gavin while I went to the Stockton Children's Museum with 20 kindergarteners. How his teacher does it is beyond me. The kids were amazing & so sweet. She actually has a great group of kids. The bus was 45 minutes late & she kept the kids occupied by singing & it was such a kick.

It was my first field trip with Kieran so I really got to see him interact with his classmates. I had 3 kids in my group, Kie, Andrew & Esmeralda. Kie & Andrew are friends I was so tickled to see this as we walked out to wait for the bus:

I love this age where you don't care about who sees you or what people think. You are just YOU. I hope they never lose that. There are so many people that lose that 'realness' when they get older. It's like you have to put on a front for certain people or certain environments. I'm guilty of it too though not so much now as when I was younger. I am soooo not the people pleaser I was. Call me what you will but I am all about keeping it real now. I don't have the time or energy to be fake anymore. I have 4 kids for pete's sake. I don't even have time to sleep!

ANYWAY, keep it real baby!!! By the way, it's National Scrapbook Day on Saturday. Or in our case, Nat'l SB WEEKEND. Because one day just isn't enough. So scrap something, create something. Do it up!