To blog or not to blog...that is the question....

Debating with myself on whether to keep this up. I may keep it up but switch to private. I may switch it to more of a creative blog, less personal. I may switch blog sites. I may delete and say goodbye. Hmmm....what to do, what to do....

Blog forgiveness

OK, here come the excuses....This is my busiest season with Juella Designs so I haven't been posting much (obviously!).  Speaking of--The last day to place custom orders will be this Friday, December 11th.  

After I finish up with the last of the holiday orders, I have big plans for my blog.  Complete overhaul.  First I'm realizing I need to learn the 'New Typepad'...forever changing.  

Off to make more jewelry....

Thanksgiving

 Wow, Thanksgiving came and went and now we're into the Christmas season.  How in the world did that happen?  This was the first year since the kids were born that we didn't participate in the Turkey Trot and you know what? We didn't miss it...LOL!  It was nice to just sleep in and be lazy.  We made a big breakfast and tried to get the kids excited about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade but it just didn't have as big of a draw as cartoons.  

We had Thanksgiving dinner at home....Grandma Jeanne and Uncle Jeff joined us, as well as Cindy and Noah.  It was so great they could come up and spend a couple days with us!  The kids had a blast having a cousin to play with and they played lots of video games and laser tag.  Molly even had some company, Dharma and Yoda/Pedro, Cindy's dogs.  She wasn't as thrilled as we were to have company!   Aaron went back to work on Friday but we took Cindy and Noah on a mini tour of Redding.  We hit Turtle Bay, the Sundial Bridge (though it started to rain on us), McDonald's (but of course) and Aaron's Fire Station.  

Click here for more photos

Holiday Shows

I've had a busy couple of weeks with Juella Designs!  I've had 2 shows...both which I think were successful and a lot of fun.  The first one was a Holiday Boutique I put together at the Vintage Wine Bar & Restaurant (the place where my brother is the chef)...we had 11 different vendors and artists selling their wares and it was a crazy-fun-crowded time!  Here's a quick pic from that show...

 

The second show was one I joined at the last minute...it was in a local hair salon and was only for other local jewelry artists. It was a long day but it was also fun..I don't get to hang around with other jewelry artists very often and that was great.  

 
 

San Francisco Weekend

 

 My Mom and I took the kids away for a fun getaway to San Francisco.  It was a beautiful weekend and we saw some new sights we haven't seen in the Bay before.  We visited some old favorite spots too....Chinatown, beach near the Golden Gate, Palace of Fine Arts, Lombard St and Union Square.  We even took a ride on the world famous trolley car!  

Click here for more photos  

We finished up the weekend at the Bay Area Bead Expo (BABE) show.  It was a successful show and even the kids seemed to enjoy it. I got lots of new products I'm excited to work with.  

Happy Birthday Mom!

Sunday was my Mom's birthday...and I'm not telling her age!  We had a yummy lunch at Red Robin and then back home for banana cream pie and chocolate bon bons...mmmm! 

Beautiful day....I love you Mom!

Halloween 2009

 

October Highlights!

Ella's fall soccer season came to end.  Could have been a better season but she had fun and it allowed us to meet some new friends. 

 

Jacob is now a Cub Scout Wolf and Ella is a first year Daisy!

 

 

Weekend in Reno with friends! Saw Rob Thomas, Carolina Liar and One Republic. Lots of shopping and lots of eating....good times!

 

2nd Annual Guns and Hoses Football Game.  Sadly the Hoses lost.  :-(

Some other highlights:

• Pumpkin Patch visit to Hawes Farm


• School Jogathon


• Jacob's 2nd grade Goin' Buggy performance


• Ingrid Michaelson concert


• End of season soccer parties


• And sickness....ick

Horrible Blogger

I've become horrible at this blogging regularly stuff! Facebook hasn't helped the issue, it's so much easier to just do a quick update through-out the day.  Problem is this is also a scrapbook/journal of sorts because I print out the entries monthly, Facebook I don't do that.  What to do, what to do? 

Well what's been keeping us busy?  Hmmm....Fall is in full effect with school, homework, soccer, scouts, dance, daisy's, blah, blah, blah.  Aaron's been busy at work and with union meetings and budgetary issues. And I've had a great time with Juella Designs and had some great opportunities open up.  I'm gearing up for the holidays as well....never too soon to plan for that.

Jacob is THE MAN on the soccer field.  Click here for more soccer pictures

New approach to after school snacks

I'm always on the lookout for healthier after school snacks. We have 2 plastic bins full of lunch time snacks that I choose from to make the kids lunches but they're not always the healthiest choices (cookies, chips, every type of fruit snack known to man).  I wanted something different for their after school snack...they both come home starving and grabbing at everything in sight.  I saw this idea on another blog recently and after a quick trip to Trader Joe's and raiding my fridge, I came up with this cupcake tin full of more acceptable choices. 

Whether the kids like it or not (today will be the first day they're introduced to it), I know I'll be digging in!  I plan to keep this on a shelf in the fridge for easy grab and go.

It turns out there is an entire Flickr group devoted to "Muffin Tin Meals"....you can really get creative with choices and options, some even do theme tins.  I'm looking forward to constantly adding new healthy snacks to our tin. 

School has started!

Unbelievably I now have a daughter in Kindergarten and a son in 2nd grade.

They both had a great day. Jacob quickly hooked up with old friends and Ella is well on her way to making new ones!

Today was also Aaron's birthday...after dropping the kids at school we went to breakfast and had a great day together. 

We've been celebrating for the past 3 days (date night Friday, pool party with friends Saturday, family party Sunday) so he's had plenty of ice cream, cake and pies-we managed to put this together for him tonight!

Happy Birthday Aaron, I love you!

 

Wrapping up summer

Ella's BIG girl room

A big project this summer was the re-do of Ella's bedroom.  She has SOOO much stuff...art supplies, makeup, dress-up, Polly Pockets, Barbies, books, kitchen set, miscellaneous toys and her room was just not functional to store it all and leave room to play.  Not to mention the glowing pink was just too much! 

After much thinking and talking about it we decided to just go for it this summer.  We started with an exhausting search for the perfect comforter and finally found the ONLY one she liked at Target.com.  We picked a paint (flows with the majority of blue throughout our house currently), found a full size bed on Craigslist, painted her dresser and mirror black, bought some accessories, a trip to Ikea and we are finally done! I wanted to share the before and after pics.

BEFORE:
 

AFTER:

She loves it and I really love it!  I constantly tease her that I'm going to kick her out into Daddy's room and move into hers.

Santa Cruz Vacation

A couple of weeks ago we took a 4 day trip to Santa Cruz. Everything about it was fabulous. We had a lot of great quality time with family and just enjoyed our time on the coast. 

I put together this video of highlights of our time...

http://web.me.com/lisaski/_gallery/100149/ref.mov

Lots to write about!

More posts coming soon but wanted to quickly post this before and after of the kids haircuts today.  School is starting in less than 5 days and we're getting all the fun we can get in before homework starts!

Before - Shaggy Hair! (Oh and notice Jacob lost his first upper front tooth a couple days ago!)

After - Ahhh a respectable 2nd grader and Kindergartner!

More updates coming soon....Ella's room redo, Santa Cruz vacation, summer fun, Juella Designs updates....

Slip 'N Slide

We spend thousands of dollars on an undergound pool and everyday the kids have been begging to do this!  Unfortunately on the second day of slip and slide fun, it blew up.  Oh well...back to the pool and now our lawn will be spared.

Summer is flying by!

Come Friday there will only be one more month of summer vacation...then I'll have a Kindergartner and 2nd Grader in school full time...boo hoo and yee haw!!

Well what's been going on?  Let's see...
 
Jacob at Cub Scout Day Camp His very favorite thing was the BB gun and archery. Aaron has already come home with a gun for him. The issue hasn't been fully addressed yet. [I'm not a fan of guns]

A daily site at our house  This pool has got to be one of our best home improvement choices.

Golf Clinic at Gold Hills CC This time around both kids took the class.  Ella was so proud she made a ball into a hula hoop. 

Visit from the Harris Family We are always so excited when they come to visit us from New Jersey!

Hosted July Dinner Club Always a good time.  I love you guys!

Let's see the coming weeks will be both busy and relaxing...just depends on the day.  Some of our plans include:

• Cub Scout fishing trip in Mt. Shasta


• Ella's room remodel


• Gymnastics camp


• Santa Cruz to visit family