master"PIECES" of my LIFE

summer soiree ~ july workshop

  

 

this month's workshop is theme based again. summer, beachy layouts are the theme.  i am also revisting rub-ons from a previous workshop, showing some added benefits and techniques.  we will create 2~ 12x12 double page layouts as you can see above.  there's also more pictures in the album on the right hand side, named "my workshops" simply double click on it.

the 411 is as follows:  thursday july 30th @ 7pm in my home in danville.  the cost for the class is $25~ and the kit only cost is $15. 

here are a list of the kit contents:

*6~fancy pants 12x12 summer soiree doublesided patterned cardstock papers

*1~fancy pants 12x12 summer soiree doublesided patterned cardstock strips

*1~fancy pants summer soiree rub-ons

*3~american crafts large black brads

hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far.

festivities follow-up

lexi's 5th birthDAY, 'cuz it lasted allllllll day, was fun & crazy & exhausting.  we started the day with a pincess mani/pedi and lexi LOVED it!  i might have created a monster.  she got the full blown deal w/ pumice stones and cuticle treatments and lotion rubs AND it still has not chipped off 36 hrs. later.  that's a record for any nail polish in lexi's five long years of life.

 

  

 

she selected the colors all by herself.  surprised?!!?  anyway, after the salon we headed for the candy shop for some old fashioned candies to put in the goodie bags.  of course the birthday girl couldn't leave the store without a treat for herself and walked out with a lollipop practically as big as her 5 year old self.

 

after stuffing all the goodie bags for her friends and sebastian getting home from lego camp we head over to safeway for the beautiful barbie ballerina cake....that was not ready...and allegedly not ordered.  well, upon some quick research the head master baker admits they flubbed and will quickly make it for us if we can come back in an hour.  well, this is where the best laid plans go out the window.  we had planned lunch w/ daddy in pleasanton and currently we're at the safeway in alamo, which is a good 20 to 30 min. ride depending on traffic.  the party is also in pleasanton so this means going from alamo to pleasanton, having lunch with dad, going from pleasanton to alamo, picking up said cake, and finally going back from alamo to pleasanton.  why not, right?  what else am i gonna do?  "hey, lexi, you know that beautiful cake you picked out the other day?  well the evil head master baker witch didn't bake it for you.  so u don't get a beautiful barbie ballerina cake for your 5th birthday..."  anyway, i promised to be back in a couple of hours (at a reduced price mind you).  so we had a fun lunch with daddy, spend almost an hour in toyRus where she gets a balloon & crown and everyone wishes her a happy birthday, but can't find anything she Really wants so we end up at target.  1 pair of shoes, 2 dresses and a jewelery mannequin later we head back to alamo for the cake.  back to pleasanton for the party & to say lexi had a good time is an understament.

    

after a very short moment as a princess she opted for the fairy existence.  a very good choice in my opinion; the colors just worked better for her.   

 

lexi & all her friends played dress-up, created some crafts, had a fashion show, ate and danced.  life doesn't get better than this for a five year old fairy surrounded with friends & fun.

 

even noah her little prince was there.

 

who she had no inhibitions about eating on her first date with....

 

the princess tea room was super cute and a great experience.  after we sugared the kids up with cake ('cuz they weren't hyper enough as it was) we sent them on out to the arcade.  and although it might not seem like it, my prince was there too, he just spent most of his night in the arcade with some buddies.

  

and after going home and while opening her presents my five year old daughter says to me "hey lady are you ever gonna stop taking so many pictures!"

 

big FIVE~O

 

i can't believe another year has passed and my baby girl turns five today.  this is yesterday's cupcake from her celebration at playgroup.  remember we like to make it birthday-week in our house?!!?  good times.  anyway at 3:21pm today she will officially roll over the 5 year mark but she started celebrating early yesterday as she made the cupcakes for playgroup.

  

and while they baked

 

she tested the batter to make sure it was safe to share with all her friends { ;) wink }

 

and then she tasted some more 'cuz you can never be too sure...

 

and then she finally did the honors at the park.

 

today she starts her day (after dropping sebi off at lego camp) w/ a princess mani / pedi at pinkies downtown.  she'll be bestowed a crown while she's pampered, i know, i know, they just didn't have stuff like this when i turned five, but you gotta roll w/ the times.  after sebi comes home from camp & we pick up the barbie ballerina cake at safeway we'll join daddy for a family luncheon, which will be followed by a trip to toysRus.  the princess tea party festivities commence at 5 o'clock and we are anticipating 12 princesses and 3 princes not inlcuding the guest of honor.  should be fun. 

hit the summer running

summer has officially kicked off & since the end of school my life has been a blur.  it's a good blur but i really want to slow down & enjoy the summer-i-ness of things.  lexi's graduation celebration was followed by sebastian's last week of school, consisting of field day, all day field trip to crab cove (which i chose to drive & chaparone) and end of the year party (which i also attended with lexi).  on this last day of school we left for idaho to our good friends' cabin.  it worked out beautifully since our friends have kids the same age and lexi & emily played and played and played.

 

and trevor and sebastian played and played and played.

and of course the adults played as well.  here i am with my good friend lisa who was generous enough to open up her cabin to the materazo family. 

 

the dads also had some fun.  here they are setting off for a 4 wheel excursion (much more controlled than the ladies experience, which i won't get into much detail here, but lets say... many dead end turn arounds, running out of gas & abandoning an atv and knocking on a nice lady's farm door...).

 

thank you bertas for a fun filled adventure.  it kicked off our summer in a hurry!

  

now my life at home hasn't slowed down as much as i had hoped either.  lexi's FIFTH birthday is on wednesday so we're hosting playgroup today in honor of that & the big princess tea celebration at super franks on wednesday.  we just finished baking the cupcakes for playgroup while sebastian is at lego camp.  this is the only week camp i signed up for.  lexi still has her dance with her upcoming recital at the end of the month and after that it's just US chilling in the summertime.

my june workshop is on thursday.  the theme is father's day/masculine layout.  since it's theme based rather than technique driven i'm reviewing circles & sheer/transparent elements in this class.  here are the  class samples.

 

... and ...

 

supplies used:

scrap within reach industrial theme paper set

prism cardstock - gray

maya road sheer clocks

tim holtz idealogy sprocket gears

american crafts mini brads - black & pewter

{MJM} "father time" transperancy title

mmm, the cupcakes smell good!  time for frosting.  i'll be back with birthday celebration updates.  happy summer!

lexi ~ the graduate

 

lexi experienced her first graduation on friday.  yup, she graduated preschool.  i was a little bit more emotional than i was at sebastian's grizzly graduation since lexi is my last baby.  she's so sweet & cute at times she makes my heart melt.  just look at this picture above!!!  the ceremony celebration was pretty much the same as it was 3 years ago but ms. angel, lexi's primary teacher, was a bit more emotional herself this time around.  she had taught & nurtured many of the older siblings {like sebastian & lexi} so she was bidding farewell to quite a few families she had become very close to.

we love ms. angel and the entire family at aclc.  we will be forever thankful to them for setting such a wonderful foundation for our children's academic & social journeys.  i can't believe i'm ending my career at aclc, but i'm looking forward to having lexi & sebastian in the same school again.  we followed the ceremony at the school with a pizza party at primos downtown were she celebrated with about 20 of her friends.  fun - fun - fun!  i'm very proud of this little graduate and look forward to her accomplishments in kindergarten.

 

i have a similar shot like the one below on lexi's first day as a grizzly bear {the "seniors" at aclc} & i can't wait to scrapbook them together, comparing her growth & changes through this very important year.  this is what being a mom / parent is all about!

 

and although i'm proud & happy for my baby girl, at the same time a part of me is sad that she's growing up & moving on to the next stage in life.  i'm very thankful that it's a good life!  congratulations alexandra!

the playoff crazies

 

so this is sebastian's 3rd year in little league, 5th year doing some kind of baseball activity, BUT it's the first time he's had actual playoff games on dirt fields with umpires, score keeping and crazy mothers screaming on the sidelines.  yup, it's pretty exciting.  he's on the cardinals team of the farm division on the danville little league and all season the boys played on grass, did not keep score (officially) and just had fun playing their hearts out.  sebastian lucked out 'cuz he's on a great team, based on friends.  there are 13 kids on the team, 11 of which attend montair elementary and 7 which are in the same 1st grade class with him. 

 

so it's been a great season.  matt has been a great assistant coach.  i've enjoyed myself on the sidelines with a great group of parents.  lexi has played with some old friends and made new friends with some of the siblings.  well, on friday we had our first playoff game; there's two playoff games and if you happen to win both you play in a third and final game for the championship of your division.  so if you had asked me mid season or heck even at the last season game if we would win i probably wouldn't have been too confident.  no big deal, right?  it's all about having fun and learning fundamental baseball at this stage, right? 

 

 

well.... the cardinals will be playing the rays tonite for the final game!!!  pretty darn exciting, let me tell ya!  our boys have been fantastic and although the coaches were trying to stress playing your best and strategy to the last play of the last game, the mothers were going nuts on their feet on the sideline!  winning the first playoff game against the As, the other montair team, on friday night was pretty exciting.  this was followed by our end of the season party, which made for a festive night.  BUT winning the 2nd playoff game against the giants, coached by our coach from last year, was THRILLING for all of us.  so i'm excited & nervous & proud all at the same time for my big guy sebastain for tonight's game.

i'm proud of my boys and the excitement has just given me a glimpse into what the years ahead might bring.

sebastian

 

last week was open house at sebastian's elementary school where i was able to experience all the fabulous things he has learned and created throughout his first grade career.  unfortunately matt was on a business trip so he was not able to join us, BUT sebastian had a brilliant idea.  "mommy you can bring the camera & take pictures of all my stuff so daddy can see it".  it was/is a great idea, BUT i really did not want to bring the camera & carry it around, etc. (i know, bad mommy of the year award).  BUT i did bring the camera & document everything (mommy status redeemed) AND in retrospect i'm really happy i did.  now i have all this evidence of his 1st grade masterpieces~

 

 

 

this is just a random sampling, but you get the idea.  i love all his work!  he's been talking a bunch about 2nd grade lately & he's ready for the next level in his video game of life, BUT not as ready as he is for summer vacation!

memorial anniversay

 

we celebrated our 12 years of marriage on may 23rd.  in 1997, the year we got married, may 23rd fell on the memorial day weekend as it did this year.  our wedding kicked off the festivities for the weekend.  twelve years later we take a nice & relaxing 3 day weekend to enjoy w/ our family, sebastian, lexi & mocha.  we've been busy over the last twelve years.............hope everyone enjoys their memorial day, whichever way you choose to spend it, & take a moment to reflect on all the individuals that grant us the freedom to lead such wonderful lives.

lovely lady lexi

sebastian, as my first born & the elder sibling in our family has had the lion's share of the social network, activity circuit & event participation... BUT his lovely, little sister lexi is catching up full force.  remember this post not too long ago?  well, last week was all about lexi and more often than not lexi seems to be gaining more&more momentum.  i knew this would happen eventually so i wasn't really worried, and don't get me wrong, sebastian still has plenty going on to keep half of my attention & energy level going full throttle.  but last week was much to do about lovely lady lexi:

here we are on monday at the mother's day celebration at lexi's preschool.  the kids sang to us and made some fun crafts and we all enjoyed some yummy snacks.

 

here she is with her bff.  they met on the very first day of preschool as {little bears} and have been inseperable ever since.  they have spent their preschool years together and are only a few weeks away from graduating as {grizzly bears}.  they play really well together and love each other very much so i'm really sad that they will not be attending the same elementary school in the fall.  i hope to keep their friendship going through playdates though.

on thursday it was observation week for her dance class where they have been practicing really hard for their recital next month.  observation week means we get to sit inside the studio & watch up close & take lots of photos & videos.  of course i always take too many......

 

and then on sunday we had the professional photo shoot for said recital.  here she is in her {mickey mambo #5} outfit.  i wasn't crazy about it when i saw it, when i ordered it, when i got it & even when i tried it on her for the first time, but i must admit she makes anything look pretty darn cute. 

 

 

  

here she is with two of her school friends, who also happen to be in her dance class.  how adorable are they?  can't wait to see them do the {mickey mambo #5} on stage!

may workshop

this month will be a theme based workshop rather than technique based.  i originally wanted to do a layout all about {us} in honor of mother's day, but all the groans i received prompted me to change it to a love/romantic theme, requested by the audience.  we will create an 1-page layout and a 2-page layout, both 12x12.  here's the double layout:

 

supply list:

cosmo cricket everafter theme set
cosmo cricket everafter ready set chipboard
jenni bowlin alpha stickers ~ black ledger
prism cardstock ~ black

here's the single page layout:

workshop will be help on thursday, may 28th @ 7pm in my home for $25.  if you're intersted in attending or have any questions send me an email.