Congregation Party & Talent Show

I was about to post more photos from spring break and then I loaded an older memory card and found all the photos from our congregation party and talent show from a few weeks back. I can’t believe I forgot to load them! It was so much fun, and I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.

There were wonderful details everywhere. Every table was set with beautiful flower arrangements.

They had a bubble machine going that the kids were crazy about and then they had individual bubbles for the kids to use outside.

One of the really sweet touches is seen in the photo above. They laid out a box for each brother on the servant body and had little papers and pens on a table when you walked in. It was everyone’s chance to write a little something sweet. We haven’t gotten Aaron’s box yet but I can’t wait for him to read what’s inside. He is a very modest and humble person and he is very appreciated and loved in our congregation. I can’t wait for him to realize that and read what everyone had to say.

Then came dinner which was a delicious feast of Mexican food, followed by a slide show and then the Talent Show portion of the night. Here’s Gunnar playing the trumpet.

There were skits and bands who played and delicious dessert. And Bob Eubanks(below) hosting the Oldieweds game, which closed out the night.

And my parents, Couple # 1, who came in second place. Losing only to the longest married couple. They were such good sports. It was hilarious. Imagine couples being married over 30-35 years and the husbands being asked “What shampoo does your wife use?” Or the wives who were asked “How many girls would your husband say he dated before you?” Yeah, there were some pretty hilarious answers.

phone love

Not much time here, just popping in to say hello and wishing you all have a glorious weekend. Ours is full. Seriously, when isn’t it? Sigh. I wish just one weekend we had nothing planned. Oh well. I will leave you with a few iphone photos.

Had a date with the little bald bean this morning. He’s just getting too big. Sigh.

Saw this at dropoff yesterday, news to me.

Our garden lettuce and spinach haul just from yesterday alone.

A snapshot of Sawyer in chess club on Wednesday.

book post

I haven’t done a reading post in awhile. It’s not that I haven’t been reading, it’s just that the writing posts of the blog and the linking part takes me more time . But I am sitting here waiting for a guy from Craigslist to come pick up our Sparkletts water bottle dispenser and stand. So I have time cause he’s late! Yay for time. Never have enough of that right now.

I just finished the book, The Education of Little Tree, not too sure where I’ve been all these years since it’s been around for decades. But it was wonderful, one of those classics that really everyone should read. I’m onto a Malcolm Gladwell book, I could read his books for days.

Sawyer is all crazy obsessed with reading and rereading the Big Nate series. Not the Nate the Great, but a different series. Last week we went to Barnes and Noble and you know how my mom really likes “sets” well, I told her oh look Big Nate has a new book out we haven’t read yet. So she then buys the whole set. But he has read one a day ever since, and then when he completes all of them he goes back and starts over again.

While we were at the bookstore I also picked up Maniac Magee from my childhood and decided it was time to read it to the boys. I remember it quite vividly, I was in 6th grade and when we would come in from lunch all sweaty and gross, and tired, Mrs. Wingfield would turn down the lights and we would sit at our cool desks and she would read to us. It would be dead silence while she read, we all loved that book and looked forward to that part of the day so much. Well now the boys know that the quicker they bathe, brush teeth, and put on their jammies, the quicker it is for reading time. So they rush to get it all done so that there’s a good 20-30 minute chunk of time where I can read to them. I thought about how maybe Sawyer is too young being in first grade, and I was read it in 6th. But that boy has the reading level of a 6th grader so vocabulary is not an issue. And he reads books that I don’t think I ever read! They are LOVING it. When I finish a few chapters and say lights out, they squeal and yell “please just one more chapter, just one!”

Gunnar is working on a mystery book report that is due on Monday. He chose to do it on this Hardy Boys book, man does he love Frank and Joe Hardy.

So that’s what we’ve been reading over in this house. If you have any good book recommendations, I am all ears! I love it when a book is recommended to me because 9 times out of 10 I end up loving it.

Oh and the craigslist guy came and took the dispenser/stand, and I’m still alive.

crazy 8

Last night I walked into Crazy 8 for the first time, Gymboree’s sister line, and I have to say I was surprised at how much I bought, and how cheap it all was! Some items that found their way into my bag… and whatever they didn’t have in the right sizes, I came home and ordered from their website.

Can’t forget the little bean…

wordless wednesday- someone’s front chompers have gone missing

Skin by Deborah News

I just created a Skin by Deborah facebook page where I will be able to update specials on there as well as occasionally do a giveaway. You can click here to get there and then click Like and then you will be eligible for any contests. Even for non local people, sometimes the contests will be for a retail product and not just a treatment. So head on over and show me some love, or like. I just posted new products that arrived this week, just in time for summer.

I appreciate the support that everyone has sent me through emails regarding the new updated website and the new product line. It means so much to hear from all of you and that you truly want the best for Skin by Deborah. My husband’s little seed of an idea two and a half years ago has sprouted into a wonderful business for me and something I take pride in and value greatly.

Annual Strawberry Picking Adventure

I love our annual tradition of visiting Tanaka Farms during strawberry season. The kids love it there and I cannot recommend it enough. To kick off spring break I organized for 35 of us to do the tour and strawberry picking last Monday. It was a cool day and not too hot at all. You can see last year’s visit here and the year before that here. My how our kids have grown! I keep meaning to get down there for watermelons in the summer, but I think we will save summer farm trips for Underwood. Here’s some snippets of this year’s trip. Auntie Rachel and Uncle Dave were in town this time and I think they secretly loved it, and my cousin Connor drove down for it too. It was perfect, everyone had a kid assigned to them and I could actually pick strawberries and eat them!

My kids chow down on the tractor tour. They gobble up everything, onions roots and all, bok choy, broccoli, carrots, snap peas. . .

They are so grown now that they don’t even sit by me on the tractor ride! They like to sit with their friends although Soso was kind enough to sit across from me.

If you’d like to plan a trip down to Irvine to Tanaka Farms, you can go during the week if you have a group of at least 10 children, and then they have discounted group rates. Also, you MUST stop by their little fresh produce stand and purchase their homemade ROASTED salsa, you will be thanking me. Seriously. The best salsa I have ever tasted. I was cooking for Monday night family dinner this evening, and a whole container was gone in 25 minutes. Next time I am buying several containers and stocking up.

Greta’s Picture Day

Picture day kills me. My kids end up smiling all strange and then I have to pay $20 for the smallest package to get these cheesy looking photos back. Greta was extremely excited to pick out her outfit for picture day. Very different than the boys’ picture day experiences. They really could care less what t-shirt they are wearing the day of picture day. She had everything laid out the night before. And the morning of she explained in detail to me just how her pigtails needed to look. I am hoping her last year of preschool photos turn out cute. They had a really nice company do the photos and the photographer was meticulous about taking lots of poses until he was happy with the outcome. He did not like fake smiles and so however long it took the 3-5 year olds he was willing to wait. But I snapped this one before we left that morning just in case I get cheesy back.

spring breaking

I was really really really looking forward to this spring break. I just needed the time with my kids. No alarm clocks, no snacks to pack, just us and time. We did a lot too. Photos will follow soon. Auntie Rachel and Uncle Dave came out to visit and we spent 3 days with them. We managed to pack a lot in those 3 days. Strawberry picking at Tanaka Farms, a trip to the batting cages, a day at the beach filled with kite flying, a trip to Yogurtland and Greta was in her glory painting and repainting Auntie Rachel’s nails and toes over and over again. We also managed to fit in facials for them and lots of time talking and playing.

Once we had to say goodbye to them on Wednesday, we were bummed. Happy we still had a few days left to enjoy spring break, but sad they didn’t stay longer. We had Sawyer’s buddy Ethan spend the night. We had plans to visit the zoo, but those fell through and being that Obama was coming to town, I was relieved to not have to worry about battling traffic for hours to get home. Instead we made a trip to the library and rented Hotel for Dogs. We went to the park, Barnes and Noble and stocked up on Legos. A truly great spring break if you ask me.

This weekend was full of things. Work for me, baby shower, congregation talent show. Gunnar decided he wanted to play the trumpet and the two little ones(I realize I shouldn’t be calling my almost 5 and 7 year old “little ones” but I can’t help it) decided to bust out their breakdancing moves. Last second Sawyer and Greta chickened out, in Sawyer’s words “I didn’t know there would be a HUMONGOUS crowd here!” There was a slide show, music, hilarious skits, and the most comedic spinoff of the Newlyweds game, aptly retitled Oldieweds. They took our three longest married couples and my parents were one couple. I added up the totals and there was over 100 years of marriage between the 3 pairs. I cannot begin to describe how much we laughed. My cheeks hurt a bit now. I took some photos but haven’t loaded them yet, there’s a chance they may all be blurry from laughing so hard and trying to take photos at the same time.

I also put some volunteer time in, and with 6 days to go, I have 5.5 hours left to make my 30 hour goal. Crossing my fingers that my goal will be met by Saturday.

To put a smile on your face, here’s a little video of my nephew. He’s delicious and such a blessing to my sister and brother in law. This past week has been heartbreaking for my sister and her husband as my brother in law’s father passed away. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Facelift

No, not me. I don’t need one yet. But my Skin by Deborah website did get a little update recently, along with a fantastic May Special you can read about on the homepage. If you are on my e-mailing list then you already received the grand news about the special and the even more exciting news about the new line I am going to be carrying. Now I will be using and retailing not only Bioelements, but also 100% Pure. It is an organic, vegan, and gluten free line. I’ve been searching for over a year for a new line to introduce into the spa, and I have finally found the one. If you’d like to be added to my email list, please let me know by either commenting or just shooting me an email with your address, you can find my email on the Contact Me page here. Don’t worry, I only send out a handful of emails a year, usually with seasonal specials, or occasionally with dates I will be out of town for longer than one weekend.

I feel very very fortunate to have such supportive clients. Getting to do what I do, from my home, and getting paid for it is such a blessing. Most of my clients I have been seeing regularly since before Sawyer was even born, some since Gunnar was just a baby. So if you happen to be a client AND a reader of this blog, thank you. I am so excited what this next year will bring for us!