Last Friday I promised I’d post another silly photo of myself…

I was dressed like this for a silly good reason, and those of you that visit the Paradise Scrapbook Boutique Blog have already seen this photo.

Ah, gracious….here it goes:

AHHHH!  I’m a man!

Here’s the good fun reason to dress up like this:  It was Men’s Shopping Night at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique and my friend Barb and I both dressed up so that we could find out what the heck goes on in a Scrapbook Store on “Men’s Night”.  It was a blast.

I know, the yarn beard is just a little over-the-top!

Have a happy Friday!

I haven’t submitted a Friday Photo over at Candid Carrie’s place in quite awhile.  I’ve missed hanging out over there at Carrie’s.

Usually I catch my husband doing something silly, take a photo and use his silliness to my advantage on my blog.  Well, I haven’t caught him for awhile now.  But he did catch me.  I guess it’s time for my payback.  It’s only fair, right?   I have two super-silly photos.

Here’s the first:

My sweet husband, Dan took me out to Sushi and the movie, Yes Man on New Years Eve.  On the way out of the movie I saw this life-size poster and just had to stick my head in the head-hole. Dan took this photo with his phone.

I know, I don’t quite look frightened enough, but I was trying not to laugh as strangers passed by shouting out advice about facial expression.

I will not be seeing this movie that I seem to be starring in. I do enjoy a scary movie now and again but I don’t like gore for the sake of gore.

And as for the 2nd picture…you’ll just have to wait until next Friday.

Now, get on  over to Candid Carrie’s Fx4 (Friday Foto Finish Fiesta)!

Make 2009 a good year!

Love, Christie

This is why I love the city I live in.  The trees.  There is rarely a street that is not completely lined with trees.  Trees, trees, everywhere.  Every shape and size.  I love living in this City.

I miss the trees when I go away…there are always here to welcome me back.  You can tell every season just by looking at the trees.

Fall is my favorite season, I’m sure because of this city and the gorgeous colors the trees produce.  The trees here define my hometown, they are glorious!

Go Check out CANDID CARRIE for more great Friday Photos posts!

My kids LOVE to read the I SPY books.  We own all of the I SPY books and even have an I SPY Treasure Hunt computer game.

Parker recently checked out a video from our local library.  The video was all about the I SPY books and how they are created.  The video runs for about 20 minutes.  Parker and Izabelle watched the I SPY video over and over and over and over again.  Did I mention that my kids LOVE everything I SPY?

Well, the kids took it to the next level.  Izabelle started an I SPY project and Parker helped a bit.  Izabelle made her very own I SPY scene along with a riddle.  OK, I helped a bit with the riddle, it’s not as easy as it would seem to come up with one…

Can you find everything in Izabelle’s riddle?

In honor of Candid Carrie’s Fx4, I give you Izabelle’s Spooky Spy:

I spy four skulls, a trunk and red wings.

Two spiders, a cage and four flying things.

I spy two pumpkins, a scarecrow, a “U”.

A white cat in danger and EYE OF NEWT.

Have a great weekend and don’t forget about my GIVEAWAY!  For details click HERE.

She is a real Witch. Seriously.  She is.  I swear.

At least this is what I told the 2nd and 3rd graders that came to Izabelle’s “Halloween” Birthday Party.  I made sure all the kids saw her lying in her coffin before the games began.

I made up a little story on the fly…it went something like this:

Once upon a time…in a town not too far away, there lived a woman named Lucy.

Lucy was no ordinary woman, Lucy was a witch.

When Lucy died some local children went to her house to have a look around.  What they found may surprise you…do you want to know?  OK.  I’ll tell you.

On the mantel they found a BRAIN just sitting in a jar.

{This is when my friend (and helper) passed around a bowl with a towel over it.  We told the kids to “feel” the brain they found in Lucy’s house}

Do you want to know what else they found?  It might be too scary for you?  Are you sure?

Oh, alright.  In a cupboard full of webs, they found a box.  Inside the box there were INTESTINES!

{we asked them if they wanted to feel the intestines, of course they did, so we passed them around}

The children inside Lucy’s house were getting quite frightened.  Would you be frightened in Lucy’s house?  I know I would.  But the children decided to look on…They found a treasure chest, it looked like it used to shine.  Now it was old and dusty…before they opened it one of the older kids remembered a story he had over heard his mother telling a friend.

The story was about Lucy, when she was young…back then she was still a “Good” Witch.  Lucy was best friends with the Tooth Fairy.  They were such good friends that the Tooth Fairy told Lucy where she hid all the Children’s Teeth she collected.   Many years later when Lucy became a “Bad” Witch, she STOLE all of the Children’s Teeth from the Tooth Fairy!

They opened the chest, inside were thousands of TEETH!

{At this point we passed around the teeth for party-goers to “feel”}

The children were so frightened that they called the Police.  The Police sent over a Detective.

This is what the Detective discovered…Not only did Lucy the Witch collect Children’s Teeth, she also collected their FINGERS!!!

{Yep, the fingers went around the room to gross out the children}

High on a shelf in Lucy’s room the Detective found another jar, this one labeled EYEBALLS!

{around the room with the eyeballs}

The last thing the detective found was a bucket.  Inside the bucket was a HEART and worst of all it was covered with MAGGOTS!

{The heart covered in maggots was passed around the room)

This brings us to the end of our frightful tale.  Now, does anyone think I would really pass around a heart covered in Maggots?

The residing answer was “NO!”

One by one I took the towel off each bowl (of course I made them guess what was really in the bowls) and let the kids at the party LOOK and feel this time.

BRAIN = Cooked Whole Cauliflower

INTESTINES = Cooked Spagetti

TEETH = Dried Corn Kernels

FINGERS = Cooked Baby Carrots

EYEBALLS = Cherry Tomatoes (I thought of using hard-boiled eggs)

HEART = A Skinned Peach

MAGGOTS = Cooked Rice

The kids at Izabelle’s party seriously loved this game.   I’ve never had 20 kids in one room before, much less had them be completely SILENT. They were captivated.  The kids would squeal and laugh whenever they stuck their hands inside the bowls.  I even had a mom tell me a few days later that her daughter loved it so much that she tells the story herself, especially the Tooth Fairy bit.

Ah Lucy, you did your job well.

Laura and I have been friends for many, many, many years….Since first grade to be exact!  We wore the same dress for first grade photos, we were Girl Scouts together, played with Barbies, Liked New Kids on the Block” and made up dance routines to their songs.  We struggled through Jr. High, High School, Boyfriends and schoolwork, side by side.  We’ve laughed, sang, danced, roller-skated, cried, cooked and played together.  Laura and I traveled through Europe together, and were there for each others weddings and for the births of our children.  Laura is more than a friend, she is my soul-sister.

Laura is the mother of two beautiful daughters who look just like her.

Laura is a true, dear friend, an incredible mother and teacher, is amazingly organized and has a beautiful heart!  I love Laura.

Keith and I (not the greatest photo) have been friends since 7th grade.  We would pass notes back and forth.  We actually had a little Jr. High romance for about a second then decided we were better as friends.  Keith and I have never stopped being there for each other.

Keith treats me like a sister…this means he is constantly trying to gross me out or get me to watch scary movies so he can watch me squirm.  He convinces me to take silly videos of myself (or him) with the video camera, we play them back and laugh until it’s painful.

Keith is an amazingly talented musician and Keith was the person who introduced me to my husband (they were in a band together).  My kids call him “Uncle Keith” (my daughter wants to be a rocker like him) and my dog, Mr. Marley is completely in love with him and will not leave him alone for a second.  I love Keith.

Carrie and I met after High School, through a mutual friend.  Carrie was at the hospital the day my son was born and there to help out when my daughter came along (premature) three and a half years later.

Carrie helped me through the toughest years of my life.  She was there for me when I found out my son, Parker had Autism.  Carrie had a cousin with Autism (about 10 years older than Parker) and had a lot of experience not only managing the behavior of a child with Autism but children in general.  Carrie was at my house every day (before she met her husband) and she was ALWAYS welcome.  At that time Carrie did not have any children of her own but through her example, she taught me how to be a better mother.

Both of my children were in her wedding (ring bearer and flower girl).  She has always made my children feel very special.  Carrie talks to them like she’s their mother and my kids listen to her like she is.  I have watched Carrie become a mother to two beautiful boys of her own.

Carrie is the friend that I call to confess when I’ve eaten an entire pint of Ben & Jerry’s or when I’m feeling like an awful mother…Carrie helps me keep things in perspective.  Carrie is beautiful, totally hilarious and just plain wonderful.  I love Carrie.

Then there’s this guy.  This amazing, talented, wonderful, sexy, awesome guy.  He’s the father of my children, he’s the keeper of my heart, he’s the reason I wake up and smile.  He is my very best friend.  My rock.  He is my husband, Dan.

I am so blessed to have Dan in my life.  I not only love this man, I want to be near him all the time.  Not only does he shower me with compliments every. Single. Day.  He writes me poetry and plays me love songs on the guitar.  He is completely mellow and puts up with all of my high-strung crapola.  I love Dan

Today is Friday!  Candid Carrie’s Friday Foto Finish Fiesta (Fx4)!  Check out what her and other’s have submitted HERE!

New phone in hand, Dan took this photo of Izabelle passed out in the drivers seat asleep.  We could actually hear her snoring…Sweet little sleepy head!

Play along with Candid Carrie: CLICK HERE

When did my 11-year old get so tall?  Is that a gun he’s waving around?  Izabelle, when did your hair turn red?  What a big chest you have!  Is that a garter belt?  I know that your Mother is large-chested and has red hair but she does not run around in a green dress with a garter showing.  What kind of children am I raising?  Please, don’t grow up sot fast.  Stop. Right. Now.

Play along with Candid Carrie!  Click HERE.

Above is a photo of me with my best friend Laura.  We’re in Paris, France and it was my 18th birthday.  Yes, after all these years I still have crazy curly red hair.  No, I do not still wear weird vests (it was an early 90’s thing.  Hey, don’t laugh, I was very stylish in the 90’s).  Just in case you don’t know me and you’ve never checked out my photo on the upper right hand side of my blog, I’m the oh so hot (at least I was then) 18-year old on the right.

This is us at the top of the Eiffel Tower. I wish I could go back. Right. This. Second.  Oh wait, this picture takes me back…kinda.  Ah, but the memories.  Young and on the loose in another country with a bunch of teenagers (er, I mean young adults)!  Seriously, this was the time of my life.  I still have the “itch” to travel, I can never quite get that itch scratched the way I want it to be.  Someday…Someday SOON, I hope.  I will be traveling to distant countries again.  Then and only then will my traveling itch will be scratched properly.

Her’s my gang of friends back on solid grond in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Ah -Good times, good times.

I left California a 17-year old.  When I returned I was 18 and had a little “world” experience under my belt.  My eyes had been opened.  I had seen more culture in 6 short weeks than I had in my “almost 18″ years.  OK, maybe not the ENTIRE 18 years, but you catch my drift, right?  It was a lot for a young woman to take in.  Lucky for me I actually appreciated all the art and history I was witnessing…the Louvre, don’t even get me started there.  I’ve always loved history, although I am no “history buff” I love to learn about those who have come before us. 

The very first country I visited on this trip was Italy.  My first day on foreign soil was spent in Rome.  Talk about history.  But that’s a post for another time. 

Happy Friday!

Love, Christie

My husband ALWAYS puts on a “silly” face for the camera.  It’s very rare to get a nice smile out of the guy.  I happen to think my man is VERY handsome, so I am some-what disappointed when I review my photos and see this:

Or this:

What I want to see is this:

only a little less blurry.