Flashback Friday - Halloween Style

Happy Halloween everyone!!
























These are our friends Biznaz and Biz (aka the Biznii). I think the year would have been about 1997? The Biznii had a halloween party and it was supposed to be a "Wig" party, but they obviously took it a step further than altering their look with just a wig.

I can't find the other photos from that night, but I had a fushia bobbed wig on. Chico was wearing a rasta hat with dredlocks (actually the one my Grandpa is wearing in a photo a few posts earlier). I'll have to search for those photos (my photos from "pre-digital" days are all over the place and not in albums).

Anyhoo, I've had this photo on our fridge since that roll of film was developed. I just think it's cute. Plus, I miss the Biznii since they abandoned us and moved to Palo Alto about 10 years ago. They said they'd be back in about 5 years. Yeah, they're ruiners and they know it!!

Well, happy Trick-or-Treating tonight. Hopefully the rain here will stop for a bit so the kids don't get too wet!

Vandehay out!

Flashback Friday

2003






























2004
























2005


2006
























2007

The Tooth Fairy's working double time!!

Last night we were eating spaghetti for dinner, when Jaxon said that his tooth was bleeding. He's been talking about his loose tooth for weeks now, but it's definitely gotten more "wiggly" in the last few days.

Well, a couple minutes later, his tooth came out! He had to show us all. I told him I'd take some photos after he was done eating. Then, while he's finishing his spaghetti, he shows us how his other tooth on the bottom is really loose. That was kind of crazy. I could tell it was a matter of time before that one also came out.

I told him not to pull it out until I could get a photo of him with just one missing tooth. So, we took some photos... (sorry, I know this stuff grosses some people out)

























After the photo shoot Jaxon went skipping off to put his tooth under his pillow, singing "now I can be useless, useless, useless". He meant "toothless". :o)

And speaking of where he's putting his tooth. You'd think the boys would have their own tooth fairy pillows, since I make them and sell them in my etsy store!! Oh well, the zip-lock baggie will have to do for now.

Anyhoo, after getting their pj's on, Jax asked if they could have some dessert. I told them they could each have a popsicle and wouldn't you know, while eating his popsicle Jaxon lost the other bottom tooth!!

I've never seen that before. Lost his first & second tooth within about a 1/2 hour of each other. It's too bad it wasn't a couple weeks ago, before school pictures. Oh well, I guess my photos will have to do. Mateo didn't lose his first tooth until just before 1st Grade and the hole in his grin was captured in his school photo.

Here's missing tooth #2...

Not my little Angel!

I had my parent/teacher conference for Jaxon on Tuesday of last week. Just as we're sitting down to talk, his teacher (Mrs. Wolfington) tells me "So, Jaxon got in trouble today". Oh no, I'm thinking. I've been waiting for this day. What could it have been? What did my little "angel" do?

Well, according to the teacher, Jaxon was flipping people "the bird" on the playground! WHHAAATTTT??? I was mortified! Not this little Angel!



That's not something that goes on in our house. Believe me, I've been guilty of this particular hand gesture plenty of times in MY past, but it's most definitely not something I've ever done in front of my kids!!

Mrs. Wolfington goes on to tell me that she questioned him. He admitted to doing it. She asked him if he knew what it meant. He said "no", but she said he did know it was something bad. She reminded him that I was coming in later that afternoon and he started crying.

She said don't worry, he's really a good boy in class and he's not naughty at all. He is one of the 4 or 5 "class clowns" in the classroom, but he's doing well in all other respects. She said the kids usually learn it from someone that has an older sibling, that's figured it all out.

Older sibling, huh? I've never seen Mateo make such a gesture. Well, wait a minute. There was this one incident back in May of 2000...

Another Card Workshop

I had another card workshop last Sunday (10/12). I had two of my regular girls and 3 girls that had never been before. The 3 new gals are pretty avid card makers & scrapbookers, so I was a little nervous that my cards may not be up to par. Everyone said they liked all the cards and I did have a couple products that my guests had never used before, so it was all good.

Here are the cards we made this time around. I have to say that most of my cards come from artwork that I see from fellow CTMH consultants and I try to change it up just a little so I'm not totally copying it. The owl card was my own creation and I think I showed it on here a few months ago when I made 44 of them for a swap I was in.

Card #1: This was a simple little card using the CTMH stamp set "Whooo Loves You". It's one of my favorite stamp sets right now.
























Card #2: I love this card! We used the stamp set "September Word Puzzle". I really liked the color combination of Chocolate and Juniper on this card. The flowers are from the Big Blooms collection and we dyed one of the flowers the "juniper" color and then layered on a smaller flower and put a circle window charm over the "friend" stamp. Very easy to make, but looks great!!





Card #3: This was the Owl criss cross card I made for my swap a few months ago. Everyone thought it was cute. Owls are so "in" right now. Once again we used the "Whooo Loves You" stamp set like we did for card #1. I love the retro feel of that set with the owls and mushrooms. We also used the "Perfect Day" paper pack, which is my favorite new CTMH paper.



And this is the insert that pulls out.



Card #4: This was a fun fall card. I purchased this leaf stamp set "Nature's Vein" just to make this card. The leaves are fun, you first stamp the base color and then stamp the veins on after. there was a lot of fussy cutting (basically cutting around images with scissors) on this card. We just used 4 colors of card stock on this card. The alphabet is called "Doodle Alphabet", it's one of my favorites. I love the texture that the hemp and pewter embellishments gave to the card!





And finally, card #5: This was a fun 6x6 Halloween card using the "Creepy Cobwebs" stamp (which I also used in last month's card workshop) and the "Spooky Smiles" set for the pumpkin. We embossed the cobweb using white embossing powder, then sanded the purple textured card stock before stamping on it. It shows a little of the white core of the card stock. We did some more fussy cutting of the pumpkin and spider. The spider hung down from the web with a piece of "waxy flax" and we put two tiny sparkles on for his eyes. Every one's card turned out a little differently on this one because there were two different shaped pumpkins you could use and there are also four different facial expressions you could use on the pumpkin. We also added just a tiny bit of "Liquid Glass" on the pumpkin's face. That turned out to be a big hit. I think everyone ordered some. The photos aren't the best of this card, but it's very cute in person.





These card workshops are getting easier to do each time. I'm not quite as nervous. I even had one of the ladies sign up to be a consultant at this last one. That was very unexpected! Thanks for looking!!

Grandpa, you will be missed.

Clarence "Slim" Gerhart Evensen
November 12, 1917 - October 16, 2008


My Grandpa Slim passed away this evening at his home in LaGrande. He was 90 years young. He would have been 91 next month (born November 12th, 1917). Grandpa's real name was Clarence Evensen, but his friends knew him as "Slim". He was always tall and slender. At one time he stood 6'5", but had gotten a little shorter over the last several years.

My friend Doreen asked me tonight what I remember most about my Grandpa. That's an interesting question. I remember a lot of things about Grandpa, but mostly I remember how funny he was. He could tell a great story. His face was so expressive in his story telling and I just loved that!

When Grandpa was a young man, he had an accident with a saw at work and lost 2 of his fingers on his right hand. One of the fingers, being his index finger. Grandpa used this loss to his advantage and fooled around with all of us grandchildren when we were young. He would stick his index finger stub up to his nostril or in his ear and wiggle it around, making us kids think he could get his entire finger in there. We thought that was Hilarious!!

I know a lot of people my age don't have their grandparents with them anymore, so I am thankful that I had him in my life as long as I did. My boys were able to know Grandpa Slim too and for that I am very grateful. The last time I saw Grandpa was back in August when I went to LaGrande with my Dad for the weekend. We even got Grandpa to play the Wii with us during that visit.

Here are a few photos of Grandpa that bring back fond memories.

Up for trying anything, here's Grandpa driving the dune buggy back in the 80's.


And here, giving my Dad's race car a spin (sometime in the 70's).

I had bought my dad a Rasta Hat one year and Grandpa thought that was pretty great.

Grandpa holding Mateo in 2000.


Grandpa holding Jaxon in 2003.


With the boys and Tony the horse.


This is my favorite picture of Grandpa with the boys. We went to Riverside Park near my grandparent's house.























A good picture of Grandma & Grandpa at Grandpa's 90th Birthday party.

And here with my parents.

Having a Birthday breakfast at Denny's. They even put a candle in Grandpa's waffle.























This was the last visit I had with Grandpa in August.

I'm really going to miss you Grandpa. I'll think of you whenever I eat a grilled cheese sandwich and I'll forever treasure the tradition of waving the white hankie!

Love, your "Kandi Sweet"

Spooky!

Halloween's just around the corner and my friend Alicia made this cute little ceramic "Boo" wall hanging for me. This was her first time making a Halloween saying. Alicia normally makes wall hangings with inspirational sayings and some fall and Christmas holiday sayings as well. You can check out her other creations on her etsy store here. I have to say that the photos don't do them justice. They're very cute!!





OK, so the "Boo" wall hangings aren't spooky, but this is (to me at least)! On Thursday Chico called me at work to let me know he was on his way home. He said he picked up a hitchhiker in Portland. I know he wouldn't pick up a stranger, so I thought maybe his Uncle Phillip (who drives truck for the USPS) was in town and maybe he was bringing him to Hillsboro for dinner at Rose's (Chico's mom's house).

I said "Oh, is your Uncle here?". Chico said no and that her name was Charlotte. OK, I'm listening... Chico said a spider had taken up residence on the passenger side of his work van and she created a fairly large web the night before. Of course I was grossed out, but Chico seemed to be amused with this. He continued to drive around with Charlotte for the next two days.

So, yesterday he asked the boys if they wanted to see Charlotte. Of course they did, so he took them out to the van to meet her. They wanted me to come, so I went out to get a glimpse of Chico's new friend. OK, I am not a spider fan and she really grossed me out. I can appreciate that in the spider world she's a "pretty" specimen, but still... YUCK!! Chico took Charlotte out of the van and put her on the fence that runs along our driveway.

After that, Chico and the boys took off to go buy some worms (another story for another time). I thought OK, I'll take a picture of Charlotte so I can share her with those that can't be here to meet her (lucky you). I watched her as she crawled along the entire fence along our driveway, up the railing to our front porch and onto the side of our outside entrance wall of our house. Charlotte would freeze each time I started to take her picture. I just kept thinking "Don't jump on me. I've seen Arachnophobia!!"

After I got a few satisfactory photos I went in the house and assessed the door jam situation. "Please don't let there be a gap big enough for Charlotte to get inside my house!". I can respect Chico's willingness to let the spiders be, but only to an extent. I'm afraid there's no vacancy for Charlotte in my house!

OK, have I aroused your curiosity?? Here are a couple photos of Chico's friend Charlotte...







Isn't she lovely? You can click on the photos and they'll come up even larger and show her hairy body in more detail. Again, YUCK!! I just went and checked and she's still up under the eaves on our front porch. I hope she doesn't stay too long (sorry Chico).

What color are you?

I just saw this on Bonnie's blog and thought I'd see what color of crayon I am. Here's my result...

You Are a Purple Crayon

Your world is colored in dreamy, divine, and classy colors. You hold yourself to a sky high standard, and you are always graceful. People envy, idolize, and copy you without realizing it. You are an icon for those who know you. And while it is hard to be a perfectionist, rest assured it's paying off! Your color wheel opposite is yellow. While yellow people may be wise, they lack the manners and class needed to impress you.

What Color Crayon Are You?

It's funny that I'm a Purple crayon because although purple used to be my favorite color when I was younger, I really am not drawn to purple anymore. I think this description is somewhat true, I just wish I could see what all the other colors mean.

What color are you?