the toy story parade

our special seats reserved just for us! all fo us. inez with his crab he won and his jack the pumpkin king pillow.

little harry man and o-dog gathering and discussing their loot. for more fun photos and some before and after shots of the boys (fun to see) go to ambermisfit.blogspot.com. she has a great post of our trip.

yes, this is 3, but there is still a 4, tune in again to see some more!

entering california adventure, the excitement continues
this is the most way coolest radical fun and totally amazing ride. it is the toy story movie but you get to play the games in it. it is like a big video game and you are timed and your score goes againt your partner, the entire ride and the highest ever scores! this was my favorite by far and i would love to play this on a regular basis. plus, you have to wear 3d glasses, how cool.
yep, we are all totally rad in front of this fake set! i love this picture.

second round.

having our lunch on the wall. amber is sooo smart she packed up pizza and chips, dried mangos, beef jerkey and fruit snacks for us to eat so we didn't have to buy lunch.
this was the "front row crew" on pirates. amber, ian and i sat in back of them. what brave short people. second row smiles!
how cool is it that the lego store was having an official building event. they were making a giant r2d2 which the boys got to build individual bricks for and then have them inspected to be used by the lego master. they got certificates and were very impressed with this stop.

disneyland... the first set for ya

finding nemo ride (formerly the yellow submarine) which the boys totally loved.
the haunted mansion is the nightmare before christmas right now and is so amazing with all of the decorations.
inside the tarzan tree which was swiss family robinson before and i liked better then. tarzan has lost much appeal for me.
this is how excited amber was about tarzan. we waited for us all at the bottom. smart girl!
the 4 boys being very cool.

the begining

here we are at ambers house 20 minutes before she is. we hung out on the front lawn waiting in anticipation for our fun evening. the boys were perfect in the car but were eager to get out some enery after their 5 hour trip so they wrestled on the grass.

soccer

owen trying to get the ball, it is at his feet, but on the wrong side.
jule (#14).
my jule bug.

owen following the general direction of the crowd.

my incredibly strong lyricist

jule douglas decided to bring his guitar and write songs at work today. he worked most of the day on this and wrote several songs (yes, on paper) about all kinds of things. he then asked me if i would hire him to be the shop songwriter (which i agreed to) but i don't pay him, he just wants a job. what a boy! so, the picture is near the end of his day when he came up to show me his muscles. he informed me that they are his "big songwriting muscles". i found this very picture-worthy. that is my jule bug.

here is a song he wrote:

so heres the story about a little man everything was blue for him

the little man sung a song about his self oh im blue muma dee muma do muma dee muma da mumu dee mumu do oh im blue mumu dee muma do muma dee muma do oh im blue the end.

i think this is quite good for a 6 year old.

mama monkey cont.

yes amber makes them. you can read a story about mamamonkey at ambermisfit.blogspot.com/2008/05/mamamonkey-went-to-spa.html

another day in the life.......

we have been really fortunate lately that we have remained to be busy even with the economy in a slump. in fact, we had such a good day that we took all of our employees out to chili charlies for lunch to say "thanks". we have so many drop-offs and estimates that much of our time is filled with customer service rather that servicing customers. it is a challenge to get all of the work out that we have to do, but i am convinced this is a blessing. so, with that, i am grateful. we have a soccer game to attend tonight for tyler (frans great grandson) and tomorrow morning jule has a game then owen afterwards. life just gets busier and busier!

confused poodle.

sofie chicken is 4. romo is 16 weeks..... poor romo. chicken is wanting to breed, but is not smart enough to know what she is doing. she has been absolutly discusting on romos face. romo just sits there and sofie does her thing then romo brushes her off. these two spend most of their day like this lately, with us intervening because it is not appropriate for work, or anyone for that matter. they need to get some private space. nasty dogs of mine. i am so proud....................

soccers opening game

jule as goalie. he got to save 3 balls from going in. his team won 8-2.
jule in action. he is the bald kid in the middle. owen the great

he is number 10. his team lost. (it is the main stitch upholstery team). owen just stands and watches. he is not much of an aggressor.

mama monkey

years ago (nearly 8 to be exact) my friend amber had a son. he was (is) a good son and she wanted to make him something very special. so, the legend of mama monkey was born. now i was ahead of her in kidmaking, so my kids missed out on their own special versions and i have been giving amber a hard time about not having one at our house for awhile now. so, for my birthday/wedding gift she made me my very own special mama monkey which is displayed on my mantle (yes, next to the abraham lincoln bookends). mama monkey is happy next to abe, they are friends. my kids are in love with her and are awaiting their own to love.
my favorite shoes for work. they are like tennis shoes and sandals together and protect my tosies from harm. and, they have blue flowers. huge selling point for me.

more of my favorites

this is another one of my favorite pictures that ian made me. he is so wonderful at making me beautiful pictures.

a jovish blog about food

these are enchiladas i made night before last. they are soooooooooo yummy. the only thing missing are the olives that grandma main put on each peice. i didn't have any. these are going quite quickly as they are a family favorite. we had them with cantalope.

some fun projects

i made this tire cover, top and back covers for this joyner. the customer has an original super bee sticker on the front and it really turned out cool. it is very havasuish. playcraft pontoons are nice boats. this is the top of a cooler we upholstered for a customer to match his upholstery in his pontoon. it is popular here to have icechests that are seats also because it is cool.
front view of the cooler seat

we finally finished ians couch. this is his chinese monkey couch. this fabric used to be curtains in my morenci house, ian has always loved it so i have tried to keep them in his room over the years. now they have evolved into a couch. this is the monkeys final resting place. ian is thrilled.

total desperation

i only like to drink out of my big cups. this one got a puncture wound in it so i had to do some major surgery. my staff was making fun of me for this so i felt is was blogworthy.

birthday preparation

jule douglas' favorite day of the year is his birthday (november 2). he has been making his list of places to have the party and presents he wants. i love his list. i love everything about him. he is so fun to listen to and watch because his excitement about life is so amazing.
making the list (needing some spelling help)

deep in thought about how his friends feel about him. he was student of the week and everyone in the class had to make a picture and write a few sentences about him. it is a wonderful book.

boys

i took ian to the referrals club meeting with me this morning because he had a fasting blood test to do before school. so, we walk in and i show him where to sit and go to do my fundraising part. i look over and he is up shaking everyones hands and talking like an adult like he has been there many times. he was not bashful at all. AT ALL. he asked for a go box for his food, got in the line and sat across the table from me next to my guest from shimmer marine. he was thrilled to be there and had a great time.


so i just picked up owen and jule from school. this is the conversation in the truck. me- "so did you and davis let the girls chase you guys today?"

owen- "no, we don't play that anymore. we play racers now."

me-" oh, how do you play that."

jule from the back seat-" i am on the devils team"

owen-"i am on the devils oreos team. we race eachother."

me-" so who else is on your team?'"

owen-"about 7 people. we race everybody"

jule-" i am on my own team."

owen-"yeah, jule is a one man team."

jule "i am the only one who is fast on the team so i am the only one who counts"

owen-"yeah, jule is the only one who can beat us. sometimes he gets second."

this was funny to listen to. these guys are so full of personality. i wonder where they got that from.........................

laboring on labor day

so apparently most of you feel that this holiday is for staying at home with your families and relaxing. well, i am here (at work) to tell you that it is the most important day to be at work and you should all feel guilty about not working your butts off. mike is home with the short folks, i am here (by choice) getting some things done. i will leave early though and get home. we had people dropping off today on their way out of town and it is soooo nice working with the quiet. i have gotten quite a few things accomplished. hope you are all having wonderful days and cooking lots of great things.