My Week In Pictures (And Some Words Too It Looks Like)

This was a busy week, even by my standards. It all started late last Sunday night when we were packing Joe for scout camp, and could find neither his Scout shirt or his permission slip that had been signed by a doctor. After a couple of fruitless hours of searching, I printed up new forms and had Joe and Joe run down to our ever so friendly neighbor who just so happens to be a doctor to get the new forms signed. The shirt was finally found (in the costume bin of course) and then I had to spend an half an hour sewing on some new patches. The crazy week continued the next morning when Joe IV came into our room where Joe III and I were sound asleep and said, "You Guys! It's 7:20!!" You see, we were supposed to be at the church for drop off at 7:30. And we don't live in Utah where your church is literally around the corner. It takes us a good nine to eleven minutes even at 7:20 in the morning. Luckily, we had packed everything the night before, so we threw everything in the car and sped over...made it just in time.

So what happened, why did my alarm not go off? Because I set it for 6:30 p.m.,of course. I found that out later, at exactly 6:30 p.m. when I was sitting in a meeting about Transitional Kindergarten for John. He got in by the way! I'm super excited about this. He'll go five days a week just like Kindergarten, but the class will serve as a bridge to Kindergarten. California just recently got smart (about this at least) and changed the cut-off date for Kindergartners from December second to September first. As a result of the new law, schools are required to provide (free of charge to the parents) a transitional class for those children born between those two dates. As a November baby, John is a perfect candidate for this class. Of course, the class will be held at a different elementary school than the one my other children attend, and Joe IV will be in middle school come fall, so Joe and I will have the unique challenge of getting five children to three different places all at the same time...sounds like good times!

So,onto the post title, my week in pictures....I had a wedding I did cupcakes for on Saturday afternoon. This was the first time I used my new "cupcake tree" to display the cupcakes, and I love how it turned out. So tidy and uniform...kind of like I wish my house were. The bride and groom were lovely...they live in Oregon actually, but she grew up in San Luis County, so they came here to enjoy some beautiful SLO weather. And the weather did not disappoint. It was perfect all weekend long.







I keep waiting for a bride to want cupcakes that all look alike (like Martha would do). I think it would be so pretty to just see rows and rows of perfectly perfect cupcakes. But I guess that kind of goes against the purpose of getting cupcakes instead of cake. You get cupcakes so you can have all those different flavors for your guests to enjoy. I suppose I just want to have my cupcake and eat it too.


On Friday night and Saturday afternoon, I was able to provide cupcakes for a local craft faire called "The Stitch Market". It is held at a woman's home 3-4 times each year and is full of homemade and handmade items made by women. It's full of pretty bags and aprons and clothing and jewelry. More importantly, it's full of creative women, who are always fun to be around. I saw a sign for sale there that said, "Creativity Takes Courage", and I thought how right that was. It takes courage to put your heart and soul and effort into something...and then to put it on display for others to critique.....to me, that is brave. But back to the cupcakes...because that's always where I go back to....I brought mini cupcakes for this event...I don't know what it is about mini-cupcakes...they're just so darn cute.









I found this cute little bird jewelry holder at TJ Max and turned it into a business card holder and a display for some of my cupcake toppers.


And a few other things happened this week.

I didn't get to bed before two o'clock for four nights in a row (last night being one of them and then I woke up at 5:30 unable to go back to sleep...hence the long blog post).

Maggie got a new bed frame with some storage drawers under it. She and her dad put it together one night while I was making cupcakes at the shoppe. We re-arranged her room a bit and de-clutterfied it. We'll have to take some pictures when it's fully done. I think Maggie is finally starting to warm up to the idea that being the only girl in a family of six is not an entirely bad thing. No one else gets their own room. Maggie also made dinner for us one night. Once, for reasons I can't recall, I made Hamburger Helper. Maggie loved it and is always asking for me to make it again. Joe IV hates it, and is always asking me never to make it again. So since he was away at scout camp, we got to have it. I was at the grocery store picking it up, and I texted Maggie asking what kind she wanted. She texted back what she wanted, and then, in a separate text, said, "Mom, remember that the meat doesn't come with the box...you have to buy it separately." I don't know why that hit me as so hilarious, but it did. I politely thanked Maggie for the tip and went over to the meat section to pick up some hamburger. What would I have done without that reminder?

I finally tossed out my old laser printer and replaced it with a new wireless color laser printer. I do a lot of printing for Coldstone and On A Lark, so I felt justified in it. Wow, can I say how much I love wireless technology? I mean, I know this is not new technology,but wow...I can print from any computer in my house? I can print directly from my ipad or iphone? Amazing.

Joe returned from Scout camp dirty and tired, but with a good attitude. He had not been looking forward to going...camping isn't really his style. But he apparently loved it. He received several merit badges including one he got for Wilderness Survival. To get that one, he basically had to go out into the woods with a sleeping bag and a tiny emergency kit, make a shelter, and stay the night! He got to do it with a buddy, but still...sounds pretty scary to me...especially when his friend woke him up at 5 in the morning to show him the mountain lion that was 20 feet away from their camp. Joe's friend asked him if he should throw a rock at the Lion, to which Joe furiously whispered NO!!!! Luckily, the mountain lion sauntered off before anything happened. But it was certainly a highlight (or low light) from his week at Scout Camp.

Harry jumped off the high dive at the local pool! May not seem like much to many, but to our family, it was an event three years in the making. I have it on video on my iphone, but it looks funny because I rotated my phone halfway through to catch more of the jump, and it looks like Harry is walking straight down the high dive. Anyway, it was a big day at our house!

Oh, and did I mention that Target opens is just six days? SIX DAYS!

And finally, this post, and all it's contents were brought to you by the following sponsor:


It's good stuff....melts your bones apparently,but good stuff none the less.

And now, it's time to get the children up for church and get going for the day. One thing I know for certain, there WILL BE a nap for me this afternoon. (And possibly during sacramnent meeting too....I've got the Lark headbob napping style down to a science now. :)

All Fuzzy and Dreamy

See this picture I took with my iphone this evening? I was leaving Costco, and just had to snap a picture of the image across the street. Yes, it's fuzzy and kind of dreamy looking, but that's a pretty good representation of how I feel about a TARGET opening only two miles from my home! Fuzzy and dreamy...like it's not really happening. But, it is...and today I learned that it will be opening not on the 24th of July like I had originally thought, but will actually open on the 18th of July. So, today is the eleventh of July, which gives me exactly seven days to figure out how I'm going to be able to live so close to a Target and still maintain a semblance of black ink in my checkbook.

This fall, it will have been 17 years since I moved to SLO to go to Cal Poly. I was 17 at the time....so I guess that's half my life at this point. But in all my 34 years, I've NEVER lived this close to a Target. Oh...I'm getting all fuzzy and dreamy just thinking about it now.

A Sad Goodbye

Remember this sweet little boy? You know, the one who loves all things trucks?The one who waits with such anticipation for garbage day? The one who had a garbage truck cake for his third birthday, and then dressed up as a garbage can for Halloween?






And then the next year was a UPS man for Halloween,



And celebrated his fourth birthday at the wrecking yard?



He's gone....lost forever to the dark side....and replaced with this scary little character:



I guess it was only a matter of time with three older brothers who have of late immersed themselves fully into the world of Star Wars. I guess the pressure was just too much....but after two years of this truck obsession, I was holding out hope that George Lucas was not going to get his hands on this little guy. But alas..a youngling become he has....

Luckily, I still have this little truck-lover to keep me happy....I'm sure it's only a matter of time for him too...but I'm sure going to enjoy him while I can!

The Third and a Half of July

So we started our Independance Day celebrations a bit early this year. Last year, when July 4th fell on a Sunday, we had fun creating a red, white and blue Sunday dinner. We liked it so much, we decided to go for it again. So, the decorations:



The food:
(The only time in the year we EVER have Jello)

(Nature's Popsicle)

(The red, white and blue drinks...which didn't really layer up quite right this year)

The Booty:
(mostly left over from last year's celebration)

The friends and fun:
(the kids made ice cream by shaking up baggies of ColdStone Sweet Cream mix, packed in rock salt and ice and then put into pillow cases. The jumping on the trampoline really helped with the shaking!)

And finally, the show:






(the "SAFE-ZONE"- where the kids hung out during the firework show)

After all that partying on the third, we still decided to take advantage of Joe having the day off from the bank and took the kids up the Ravine Waterpark for the day. We packed a lunch, left the lovely 76 degree weather of San Luis, and headed up to the 105 degree weather of Paso Robles. Amazing what 40 miles can do to weather. We had a great day and shut down the park, but opted out of taking the camera on the trip. Sometimes I feel like you just need to step back from the camera and actually enjoy the day...plus I didn't want to take the chance of me being photographed in a swimsuit! :)

After all that swimming and playing, we were hungry and ready for dinner. So we headed 30 miles southwest to Morro Bay for dinner at the kid favorite Bobs Big Boy Diner. Again, amazing what 30 miles will do for weather. We all suited up in our sweatshirts for our coastal dinner.

And, since we had already seen a firework show a couple of nights before at the San Luis Blues Baseball game, we skipped out on havoc of finding a place to park at the beach and then finding a place to see the show at the beach, and then just basically the pain of being at the beach (have I mentioned how much I hate sand?), and headed home for an early bedtime.

After celebrating for nearly 36 hours straight, we were ready for some sleep and relaxation. The fourth of July has quickly become one of my favorite holidays. I'm not sure exactly why. It's been so fun over the past couple of years to start and keep our own family traditions (can I say blow torch) for this special day. I think that next year, though, we'll skip the third and a half day of celebrations and just stick to the main event on the fourth!

Hope you all had a lovely holiday...no matter how you celebrated it!