Must Be Santa...

Must Be Santa, Must be Santa, Santa Claus.

We had a knock on our door this evening, right before the 8 pm hour. The boys answered the door and were very surprised to find Santa standing on our porch! We invited Santa in and the boys had a chance to sit on his knee and chat with him. They all reported that they had yes, indeed been very good boys.

Thanks for the visit Santa! What a FUN surprise that was!

pay it forward

you may (or may not) remember this Pay It Forward post from earlier this year. I had one year to make the first 3 ( I chose 4) friends who left me a comment on that post, something FUN from me. I was able to deliver 3 out of the 4 Pay It Forward surprise (in person or via snail mail) in the last two weeks. This is what I made and shared for my Pay It Forward surprise. I had so much fun making these ornaments for the school teachers, family, friends & my Laurels this year. I thought my Pay It Forward recipients would like one too! I am sure the Home Depot workers were wondering why the metal light plate switch frames were selling like hot cakes this season :-)! These little ornaments are a perfect way to use your pattern paper scraps. Add some ribbon, bling, charms & glitter American Craft(or not)Thickers and you are good to go!

week in review...picture style

I can't believe a week has passed since my last post. After a crazy weekend(last Saturday) of soccer games, I was happy to just stay close to home & relax on Monday! I was able to sleep in till 8 am. Yes folks, in my world, that is sleeping in!
Instead of trying to recap everything, I thought I would post our week in review...picture style & a few thoughts.

Monday:
We have been enjoying these on a daily basis. When it is 100 degrees plus, these are a must, in BULK.


















Tuesday:
we were able to enjoy a quick breakfast with my Mom, Grandma & Grandpa Shore & Aunt Carla! We had homemade waffles topped off with whip cream & fresh strawberries.















We don't get many visits from family so we take them when we can get them(we were a pit stop on their trip home from Utah)! It was nice to visit with them. The boys loved showing off for them.















Wednesday:
We escaped the heat again & headed to Tahoe! It was a FUN day playing in the water, riding on the boat & hanging out with friends!






















Thursday:
We have spent a ton of time in the water this week. Whether it's been water balloon fights out front, swimming with friends, cooling off in Lake Tahoe, or just running through the sprinklers...the boys have loved cooling off.
















Friday:
Our friends,the LaPortes(AKA The HILL people) invited us up to their house for a day of fun! They live in Foresthill & have an incredible backyard. Lots of room for the kids to play...and play they did! They rode bikes, had bike races, played water baseball & football, played with Buddy the dog, & played with the rocket launcher. We enjoyed lunch & my boys ate the cheese balls like they were going out of style! Thanks for a super, fun day Debby!















(Up, l to r) - Tarik, Brody, Alyssa, Garrett and Carter
(Down, l to r) - Nadia, Tanner, Logan, Alissa, Daniel, Matthew and Jacob
*photo swiped off Deb's blog. Hope you don't mind Deb!!

Saturday:
Here we are, one week later & we were back on the soccer fields. Tanner & Carter had their seeding tournaments today. From 8 am to 4 pm, we cheered the boys on. It was a little cooler today & their was even a warm breeze! Both teams did really well & took first place.


















I can happily say that I am thrilled to be parked on my couch with the AC cranked. The boys are all showered/bathed & they smell clean again! We are looking forward to a night in!
Hope you are enjoying a lazy summer night too!

Kindness

So I show up to work last night for a meeting at Green Tangerines. My cute friend(partner in crime), Brandigirl says to me "I have a surprise for you in my car"! I am thinking: "What? No way! I LOVE surprises"! She comes back into the store carrying this...

How stinkin' awesome is this? I honestly thought she had all of our CHA pictures on CD for me(don't get me wrong,that would have been awesome too)-LOL! She had created two of these pieces of art earlier this summer for her best friends weddings. She had posted them on her blog & I left her a comment telling her how much I loved them & that my 12th wedding anniversary was coming up in September. Okay...I was so joking. She totally surprised me. Brandi made one for John & I, for our anniversary! I LOVE it!!!! Brandi, I can't even begin to tell you how happy this makes me. I have had a smile on my face all morning. You made my day, my month, heck... you made my year :). I was so bummed that I couldn't blog about it last night. I couldn't get a decent photo of it with my camera. It was midnight-LOL!
Brandi, you ROCK! Thank you for being such a kind, thoughtful, creative friend! Love you!

So this has got me thinking...kindness & thoughtfulness really do go a LONG way! Leave a comment telling me something nice that someone has done for you. You know, something that left a smile on your face all day long. One lucky winner will in turn, receive something nice from me! Can't wait to hear all about your kind friends & family members.