Sunday, September 28, 2008

We have a brain surgeon!

Seriously, Riley built a brain today. Does that not make him a brain surgeon?


Ok, so it was a kit, but hey, he built it. There is a brain inside that clear head-the skeleton's, NOT Riley. We already know he has a brain.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

I could not resist...

While at Target yesterday, the boys and I came across the Halloween cards. The boys like to look at them-especially the ones that make noise or have sound. So, we were reading the cards and laughing ourselves silly. I came across this one...



Wait for it....




Ha ha ha ha ha! I just had to get it for Kevin. Too funny. Not so funny? They had the same one for Obama. That's just not funny at all. They had a good scary Halloween one about George W. as well.

Remember to vote!

Friday, September 26, 2008

So very Wicked

It's been a crazy week. A new school year is always tough at the beginning, but I have to say that my little class is coming along. They are quite sweet, and I didn't want to throttle anyone this week! I feel like all I do is work, and come home and work. I get up the next day and it's the same. It should even out soon enough. I'm hoping to maybe sew this weekend-I have another Amy Butler pattern I want to try. I have a picnic to go to on Sunday, and a Pampered Chef party to go to as well.
I did get one thing accomplished today though (well besides the "magic" I worked at school), and believe me, if I could have throttled Ticketmaster, I would have!! What a pain, but I got them...

These are my Wicked tickets. I saw this show in Chicago two summers ago, with the girls (Hi Valerie!) It was a great show! It's now going to be playing in San Francisco starting in January. I got my tickets tonight (after much ado). The seats they kept trying to give me were all crap (excuse my French). My mom and I are going, not until April, but we are going! I'm super excited cuz I want to be Pop-u-lar! Check out the London site. Check out this one too! It's a great show. See it if you get the chance.

Monday, September 22, 2008

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Halloween!! Oh and Christmas. I kid you not, Target has their Halloween stuff out, and at the very end of it...Christmas!! Cards and lights and things to put on your lawn! Craziness. BUT, I still love Target.

Festive Halloween M&M's. Yummy. Plain and peanut.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to some thrift stores looking for wool sweaters to felt. I came across this old applique thing. Fabric on Fabric. Cute huh? It was a whole quarter!!

I think when I make one, I won't put the "welcome." I'm just going to use the bird and branch.

Alas, I got a little crafting in this weekend. Scout training took up all of Saturday, and I was planning on scrapbooking on Sunday, but instead I had to clean up all of the beads that our cute little cat spilled ALL over the place! That took awhile, and while I was at it, I tidied up the entire area-well mostly.

This little guy is made of felt. I got the pattern off of a Blythe site. The bird is meant to be a pet for Blythe.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

A Scouting I will go...

I spent my Saturday learning about the Boy Scouts of America. I'm going to be the Tiger Cub den leader for Quinn's den. I had my first meeting on Wednesday. It went well. Today, I officially got trained.

Here I am, ready to listen and learn-oh, can you see my new glasses?

To prepare me for my meetings, a neighbor and friend, gave me all of these magazines. She was a den leader when her sons were scouts. These magazines are vintage, from 1972 (I have the entire years worth), 1973, 1974 and 1975!! I LOVE them!

This one is my favorite cover. Look at how cute those little guys are!!

This little magazine (it's about 5"x7") is FULL of crafts, and even little skits. How cute is this Eskimo sock doll? So much fun!! I'm sure I'll use them for more than just scouts. Oh, and I did a google search and the magazine is still available! Check this out!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Kahlo and Chihuly aka our day of art culture

My mom, my new friend Cathy and I went into the city to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit at SF MOMA, and the Chihuly exhibit at the deYoung Museum. I have posted pictures from the Chihuly exhibit. The Frida Kahlo exhibit was a little dark. She was not a happy person. Some of her work is kinda graphic, and it was way too crowded to try and get any pictures. It was interesting to read about her life and see her art, and about her relationship with Diego Rivera. I'm glad I went, but I'm glad we went to that one first, and then ended with Chihuly. His work is blown glass and it is incredible! I wish I had some of these following pieces in my house!!

"Boats" is the name of this piece. These balls are in a boat, like the following picture.

Another "boat."

Mille Fiori

This big piece is at the end of the Mille Fiori.

Persian Ceiling

These glass sculptures are so impressive. After the museums, we headed to Ghirardelli Square. I wanted to pick up some things for a swap I am doing. Those pictures are on the next post.

Ghirardelli and Beyond

Here are some more pictures from our day.

Cathy and my mom in the "jungle" of Golden Gate Park.

This picture is of the Academy of Sciences. This has been closed for years. It has been completely redone and is set to open up on Sept. 27. We are personally very excited about it.

The famous Ghirardelli sign at Ghirardelli Square.

The window of the Ghirardelli store. Look at all of that yummy Halloween chocolate goodness. We got free samples too-peanut butter and chocolate!

The cable car turn-around at Ghirardelli Square. The cable cars have to be turned by people. The line was really really long to ride. I don't like to ride the cable cars, it freaks me out. The brakes have been known to fail, and SF is known for big hills. I don't think the two go well together-no brakes, big hill...

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Creeeepy

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but I had my eyes dilated today-see my HUGE pupils? Kevin took this picture of me on his iphone, in a restaurant, so it may not be really easy to see. He actually got my whole face, but it was a little too close up for my taste, so I cropped it, which probably makes it creepier. I had a margarita with dinner, just so you know. It was one of those days.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Like Mother, Like Son

Well, we have started the school year with a bang. I got a call at school today, from the secretary at the boys' school. Riley was in the office. Seems he fainted in Science class, and he needed to go home. I was on prep, and my husband was working from home, so he went to pick him up, and I came home and checked him out too. I told Kevin to take him to the doctor. He did. She asked if fainting was something that ran in the family... Ummmm...well...yes. I kinda do that, but only if something is yucky-blood, broken bones, injured knees where the paramedics are poking around looking for "pieces" on the floor of Stein Mart. He may come by it naturally. Turns out, he has the flu. He'll be home today and tomorrow. I should really call that science teacher and apologize-I think he's new. He's feeling better (Riley is-and hopefully the science teacher too), but we are keeping him low to the ground, just in case!

Here's regular Riley.

This is what he looks like when he faints. I wasn't there to catch him this time (like I did this summer). He landed on the floor. Poor guy. Poor science teacher. Oh, I should tell you that we faked these pictures-you know, for the drama. I don't THINK I would grab the camera and take pictures of such an event, but you never know.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Did you feel it?

I didn't. We had a small earthquake tonight at about 9 pm. A 4.0 centered in Alamo, CA. Kevin felt it. I thought I heard something-there's a noise associated with them-maybe it's the rumbling. Hanging things were swinging, but only a little. The boys didn't feel it-that's good. Riley would have been up all night reliving it. I have no pictures to prove we had an earthquake-nothing broke. Just a little shaker to remind us that the earth moves every so often. We have had 2 little aftershocks too. The 10:00 news is funny. They want people to call in with their "earthquake stories." It was just a baby one.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

First Day of School

I think we were one of the last schools to finally start. Today was our official first day. The boys had a great day-they both really like their teachers. My day was good too. I have to whip some kids into shape, but they were pretty cute. Here are some pictures from this morning, before leaving for school.

Quinn, a big, bad 1st grader-he's bad ass!!

Riley, A calm, collected, thinking 5th grader.

Brothers. Awww.

Here's one Kevin took at school this morning.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

I'm Ready

I am officially ready for the start of the 2008/2009 school year. I have my class list. I have my supplies. My room is clean. The desks are clean (for now). All I need are the students! They come tomorrow!

Here's my nice, clean desk, with my first week's lesson plans.

My reading chair.

Here's the view of the left side of my classroom.

Here's the right side of the room. I don't like the kids in table groups at first. Once they start scooting their desks all over creation, then I'll move them into table groups. I just love this "E" backwards "E" grouping.

If things get scary, there's always my "easy" button! I have some last minute things to do tonight, and I have to make sure the boys are all set for their first days as well. Lunches to make, supplies to sort, outfits to figure out (mine too!), Ugh! It's going to be a busy night. Why am I still sitting here?

Monday, September 1, 2008

California State Fair

We left the house a little after 8:00 am this morning, and headed for Sacramento, to the State Fair. It's a 2 hour drive. We made it to the state fair right around 10:00 am, and we got to park under covered parking! We were very excited about this as Sacramento is usually really hot in the summer. We were freezing. It finally warmed up, but it wasn't bad at all-it was way hotter in Dublin, where we stopped for dinner!

The theme was based on Hollywood, which we thought was really cool. They had an Indiana Jones exhibit which both boys LOVED. They also had some fake movie sets, exhibits with movie props, the alien character (from Alien-or was it Predator? I don't know, get them confused. I know ET), and lots of picture spots.

Here's Quinn in a "cornbox." Instead of sand, they filled the box with giant corn and the kids went to town.

We saw some really cool African Longhorns, and Texas Longhorns. Look at how cute that baby is! I saw a Texas Longhorn last summer, in Texas, but it ran from me. These were kinda friendly.

Riley milked a goat. Quinn was in line too, but chickened (kidded?) out. Riley actually squirted out some milk too. I tell you, he's a boy of many talents. They were right there with the hand sanitizer too!

We had a really nice day. We normally go to the county fair, but missed it this year. We had never been to the state fair. I think we'll go next year too!

Disturbances at the fair

We had a great day at the California State Fair! There were a few things that disturbed me however...

This guy disturbs me, Arnold-our governator, NOT my husband...at least mostly.

Awwww. What a cute horse! Horses should be cherished... what's that on his fence? A poster board? Let's try to get a closer look...

OH My! The poster board is made by Elmer's. Isn't that a GLUE? Are they trying to torture the poor horses? Glue and horses? It's a good thing that poor guy can't read!

Ah, well, we had fun, and no horses were injured during the writing of this.