My youngest, Tom, is turning 16 today.  He's not quite ready to get the driver's license because he hasn't been driving for 6 months quite yet – that's somewhere in August, I think.  But this is yet another milestone for me, as well as Tom…he can officially date, not necessarily paired off, but double and group dates!  The big question is: when will the first date be?  Am I ready for my 6'3" "baby" to enter this social step?  Sure.  I certainly don't want to rush or pressure him, but it will be another new adventure.  Just in case you don't remember him…  At Pioneer Day, Hegessy Ward.  With his brother, Michael… At La Jolla Shores…  Playing with blocks at Grandma Naylor's. Tom really knows how to party! It helps having older sisters:)  He has always loved watermelon!   What is it about boys and camo? …even when they get BIG! Tom is a Scout, through and through! He became famous on a book cover…all by just blowing a bubble!  From that to this! With a little help from big brother Jake!  He still loves La Jolla Shores… Megan thinks this one resembles a "big foot" at the beach! Watch Tom grow! Here's a few more – a little of this and that! Well, I guess that will have to do for now.  So girls…he's available!  Who could resist a handsome young man that dances with his Grandma?  Happy

Photos are one of those things that help to keep memories alive.  Looking at a photo from your past, either recent or distant, can somehow transport you back to a moment in time.  I remember these two boys, so many years ago.  They used to be small.  Now, they not only got older but they tower over their mom!  I miss the little guys, but at the same time, I love my big boys!  I can't have it both ways, so these pictures are a quick visit to the past. We don't get frequent visits from Nancy and the family, but I sure love it when we do!  I remember that day well.  Nancy, sitting on the couch, pulling in Kaleigh a little closer for the shot.  The boys were off playing, probably a computer or Xbox game, but the girls always sit and visit.   The waters of the Pacific Ocean are a little chilly in May in La Jolla.  But when you used to live in wonderful San Diego, but have moved to Nampa, Idaho, and come to visit in May, you just can't miss the opportunity to go the familiarity of the sand and surf at your old hang-out.  The kids would run out into the water and play for a while, then they would need to come back to shore and bundle up in towels to get warm.  I don't know the exact date, but

I have been wanting to post some scrapbook layouts, but I think I need to spend  a lot of time on the text in the post…oh well!  No one really cares what I have to say, right?  It's all in the pictures, huh!?! Actually, I usually have a lot to say, but it's a time issue.  I'm not the best with time management, but I love to scrapbook and sometimes it's easier to say it with pictures.  It's one of my favorite creative outlets and I can't seem to give it up.  I know that some of my friends would much rather read, but for me…it's all about color and color makes me happy – either observing it, mixing it or combining colors to form pleasing palates. These colors were perfect for the colors in the photo, which was of my little friend Henry, at my daughter and son-in-law's (Christie and Matt) wedding open house.  The photo was taken by Alison Beachem! I really love subtle patterns that can mix and mingle with each other to make a bright, cheerful page. Everything about this layout compliments the cupcakes in the photo.   Believe it or not, the cupcakes came first! This picture really takes me back!  Mike is graduating in a couple of  weeks, Tom is turning 16 at the end of the week, Heather is in college and everyone  else is BIG and playing football.  I love

I had the opportunity to do something fun this year – be a judge at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar!  No…I'm not going to tell you what I was judging, just in case you entered something and don't agree with the judge!  But it was an interesting and educational opportunity.  I would love to have the opportunity again next year. Both Mike and Tom have also been working at the fair for set-up in the Home and Hobby department and they will continue to work there once the fair actually starts, after school and during the day when school is out.  Now I'm going to have to do a serious plug for submitting in Home and Hobby.  Enter!  I have seen some wonderful arts and crafts that haven't been anywhere near the San Diego County Fair!  Did you know that there are cash prizes available?  Did you know that there are areas of submission for children?  We used to do this years ago with our children, things like Megan's Betty Boop collection and Jake's Lego creations.  It doesn't have to be anything massive, just a bunch of any type of item, like bottle caps, matchbooks or pigs or along a theme, like "I Love Lucy" merchandise.  It's a chance to strut your stuff! On to scrapbooking… I made this layout for a Pinecone Press upcoming Options kit with

Be careful…so will you! The $2.99 Special We recently went to breakfast at a restaurant where the "seniors' special" was two eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast for $2.99. "Sounds good" my wife said.  "But I don't want the eggs." "Then I will have to charge you $3.49 because you're ordering ala carte," the waitress warned her. "You mean I'd have to pay for NOT taking the eggs?" my wife asked incredulously. "Yes." stated the waitress. "I guess I'll take the special then," my wife said. "How do you want your eggs?" the waitress asked. "Raw and in the shell," my wife replied. She took the eggs home and bake a cake with them. DON'T MESS WITH SENIORS…we've been around the block more than once! Thanks for the laugh, Susie!

 A while ago, like last fall, I did some projects for Parents.com for a section called Camp Mom…bling art projects for kids to make.  They are finally up.  It's always fun to see your designs somewhere online, although I must admit that I would be happier if I had some sort of credit for it…hmmm.  I don't know why I didn't get it.  I have lots of mostly cards on Scrapbooks,etc.com and my name is attached to them.  I wonder why?  Oh well, if you follow the link, you can see what I did!  All eight of the projects are mine, but there were two that they didn't use.  I am surprised that I use any bling at all anymore!  The hardest part was trying to use things that sparkle and shine on craft projects that 4-5 year olds could make…with adult supervision, of course.  Go ahead…click on the link!  These are a couple of the ideas.  The photos aren't super clear, but I borrowed them from the Parents.com website.  Thanks for looking!

I have to say that sometimes I get really frustrated with myself when I make dumb mistakes.  What makes me even MADDER is when I can’t figure out what I did wrong…mad or crazy, which can be synonymous.  So I typed out almost an entire post, including photos, had to leave for a few minutes, which turned into a few hours and when I came back…I couldn’t find it.  And the title was out of my head…which had been super cute.  Then I remembered that I had centered the whole blog around the word “cute”…beats me if I can remember a single sentence.  But it’s been a long week and I’m only to Wednesday and I need to move on to the next task at hand…or at least to attack the list.  Last week I got a wonderful box full of Cosmo Cricket’s new line, DeLovely, in the mail.  I love the brilliant colors – the shades of green, turquoise, yellow and bright pink are some of my favorites colors ever and the combinations make me happy.  Anyway, last week was crazy busy and I had to set the box aside for a few days.  Once I got to it, I sure had fun.  Hopefully I will get to play more with it tomorrow! I like to think of card making as warm-ups to my “creative exercise”.  I will frequently start

Great production last night!   Figments, Mike's last production of his high school career was exceptionally fun, although it did have a PG-13 rating (content and some swearing).  It was most entertaining and very cleverly delivered.  Very funny!  Good job everyone!  Here are a few pictures…there are more in my Facebook Album, Figments!  Go UCHS Drama Department, cast members, stage crew, Komron (assistant director) and Ms. Brown!!! Aren't high school productions fun to attend?  I think so!&#

What happened?  Well, I had planned on making a big deal about my 100th post…but I just noticed that I'm already at 102!  I honestly didn't think that I would be able to do it – stick with something for so long!  I signed up for Typepad on a month-to-month basis because I wanted to make sure I would keep going…so I could cancel if it was too much for my schedule.  But let's see…I have been typepadding for almost 8 months, approximately 200 days, and I have 102 posts…that averages out to a post every other day!  Not too bad, if I do say so myself! I am a fairly confident person, but I haven't been stretching myself creatively much lately.  So I decided that I needed to step outside my comfort zone.  I submitted some projects to a design team call.  I came across Margie's website accidentally…I'm Just a Girl.  I discovered that I had missed her class up at Everafter earlier in the month.  Nothing personal, but I just don't like to drive that far to a scrapbook store anymore and I don't have to because I have a really great one close by…Cool Scrapbook Stuff in Poway.  But it would have been fun to take a class.  I haven't taken a class for YEARS!  But whether I get on the team or not, it was fun to try!&#

If you have some free time this Saturday, please stop by Cool Scrapbook Stuff in Poway and take a few minutes to do some make-n-take gift cards.  There is a small charge, but the money will go to support one of the store reps in the Susan G. Kommen 3-Day Walk.  If you haven't played with embossing powder, Flower Soft or 10 Second Studio molds and Adirondack Alcohol Inks by Tim Holtz for Ranger, you can come and try them out.  I'll show you how to make some fun little cards and we can visit for a while…and shop, of course!  There's always fun, new product at Gena's! Hope to see you there!&#