Court Of Dreams 2012

Ben and Madi are smack in the middle of their basketball season. They are on the same 4th-6th grade team. Earlier this month the YMCA and the NBA had an evening called Court Of Dreams. The kids got to go have a basketball practice with their team on an NBA court...the Sacramento Kings Arena. This is the same place a month before we saw the Lakers play. My kids thought they were IT!!! During practice Ben made 3 3 point shots...all in a minute on that huge NBA court...he WOWED everyone watching and people are still talking about him. Madi does so well hanging with all these middle school boys. She is a really good ball player! The older boys cheer her on and pass her the ball. Check out our girl in this photo...OFF THE GROUND. We are very grateful for such a wonderful experience...Court Of Dreams. It's so fun to see how awesome people make things for kids.

Card Time

This morning was so enjoyable...I made some cards. It had been a long time since I made cards for the purpose of just making cards. These make me smile!

Moving on...

What is it? ADD? When you can't sit still. Well whatever, I have it. As soon as I finished my first afghan, that day I had to find a new pattern and start another. I have 14 squares done and a million to go. I definitly have something...everyday I wake up so excited to decorate and organize my house, cook a good dinner, have fun with my kids, exercise, make some sort of craft...I LOVE everything!!! I am really lovin' the shabbiness of these blocks.

I Am Addicted To Purses!

This house we live in here in California has TWO walk-in closets in the master bedroom. It's a good thing because I have more purses than clothes. Before we ever got stationed in Korea I use to make my own purses...not anymore.
Not only do I have enough designer purses to go a month carrying a new purse each day, I have wallets...
...and designer sunglasses....
...and a drawer full of scarves. Korea was the bomb for fashion. These Louis Vuitton, Prada, Chanel, Gucci scarves were only $2-$5 each, so I bought one of each. :-)
Until I picked up my shiny red Louis Vuitton to use the other day I was using this plain grey and black Prada. Every few weeks I change my mind as to which one is my favorite.

A few weeks ago I was really down about my struggle with my weight. But since then I have been doing really well the last few weeks with making lots of healthier choices...I have lost almost 10 pounds. I am very excited but have a long hard road still. But when I get there I can't wait to go shopping for some super fun clothes to go with all the neat things I bought while living in Korea. When I get to a 25lb. weight loss one of my girlfriends still living in Korea is going to go purse shopping for me...I know I need another purse like I need a cookie. But ooooo I am already dreaming of what kind of purse I want later this year. My name is Jeni and I am a purseaholic!

Almost Ready For The Love Day

I saw this idea online. These are for Ben and Madi to open on Valentine's Day. One gift for each of them to open on the 14th minute of each hour...they are going to dig this!

Summer of 2010 we took a vacation touring the WHOLE east coast...Washington DC, Boston, New York City AND PHILADELPHIA. In Philadelphia there is really a park named Love Park. The is the famous artwork...LOVE, that is how it got it's name. I never knew until we went there that this was a "real" thing. So I cross-stitched this LOVE in honor of Valentine's Day and in remembrance of going to LOVE Park in Philly. The fabric on the bottom is a map of Paris...another fun LOVE place we loved touring in.

These are just some cute red trees

displayed on my kitchen counter.

I made some LOVE cards.

This is one of the gifts I am giving Steve. It's a baby quilt...I saw the idea online. I sewed the blue lines and red line then stitched the words...fun

huh?

This is a super fun card I made for Steve. My kids cracked up...they were in my craft room when I was making this. Steve is going to get a good chuckle.

Since it's almost Valentine's I am carrying my lovely shiny red Louis Vuitton. And for extra fun I am using my shiny aqua Louis Vuitton zipper wallet...red and aqua...LOVE!

My First Afghan...

Finally it's done...my first afghan. I have been crocheting this since Thanksgiving. Boy is it a lot of work! It's big, close to a single bed size but not quite. It's heavy. It's cream with a dark plum in colors. I am in love with it. I just finished it this morning but already to start another...hmm, what colors/pattern?

Hershey Kisses

At Christmas I saw the idea of these Hershey Kisses but had already made other treats for the kids to hand out. So when they came around again for Valentines it was a done deal. Those are the cutest stickers to place on the bottoms of Hershey Kisses. I made tags that read "Happy Valentine's Day Kisses, Madi". To top off the cuteness I have "I heart chocolate" twisties I bought in Korea. I have found some of the most fun things when shopping in Korea. I just bought stuff knowing that one day I would find the perfect use for it all. Here is the link for the Kiss stickers if you want to make them. Ben is going to take a big red bowl of the these for his last class of the day. Middle schooler's don't want Valentines....just a big bowl of the candy.

These are the twisties...I only paid $1 for a pack. So of course I picked up a few packs and other kinds too. These were found at the outdoor Namdaemun Market.

Bring On The Hearts

It's hard for me to believe it's already February. Usually January drags on. But I think because it's been in the 60's everyday here in California it seems like Spring instead of Winter.



Well I made another dishtowel...this one with a patchwork heart on it.









My kids this morning. They are funny. Madi wore her new heart shirt I made her. I love the colors.

I stitched the 'LOVE'.

Also for the kitchen I crocheted a couple of Valentine themed wash clothes. Madi picked the white one to use today...she likes it best.

A couple of weeks ago I went on an all day super fun shopping trip to San Francisco with other wives from the base. Oh my gosh are there some fun stores there! I love kitchen stores. In one of them I must have spent an hour. I did buy that fun Eiffel Tower cookie cutter there. Perfect huh?!?

This is what I made for dinner last night. YUMMY! Tonight we are having Double Mushroom Soup. I have been enjoying trying out some new recipes. If the soup is good I will share the recipe.

We're In Love With The Boy

This past weekend we fell in love with my new little nephew. My sister-in-laws parents are staioned at Travis AFB, CA about 1 hour from my house so it worked out perfect. Man we couldn't get enough of this happy guy.

Only Jen and the baby and her parents came to visit us. But Danny and Bailey joined the party via video chat. Ben, Madi and Bailey played for a while over video. They were doing some funky dancing and cracking each other up.

The Lakers AND Harlem Globetrotters

We loved living in Korea but are happy to be back to the USA...the land of sports. And boy are we glad the NBA finally stopped their strike and started playing!!! We live so very close to the Kings Arena that we want to take advantage of it. We made our way into that Kings/Lakers sellout. Steve took this picture. Look at Jimmer off the ground and being guarded by Kobe. Boy was it LOUD and full of electricity in there!

Kings did beat the Lakers.

Me and the kids...the only picture of us in the arena.

A few years ago I took the kids to see the Harlem Globetrotters when we were stationed in Atlanta but Steve was in Iraq and missed it. So when they came to Sacramento the kids begged to go. Well if you have ever seen them you know how fun it is, so we went again.

We had great seats...row F. Six rows up from the court. When the did they did the water throwing act we got wet.

This is me on the day we went to see the Harlem Globetrotters. I like to wear black...most days. I am not very good at fashion but that day I had on jeans with a black sweater and a necklace that was the same color blue as my jeans and I loved it. I like this picture...I look skinny don't I? I am so not skinny. I wish. It's so hard for me. But I have started working really hard on it. My goal this year is to work very hard on myself. In 2009 I ran in that half marathon. Now I don't know if I want to do that again...that was REALLY REALLY hard. But I want to get healthier which I hope will help me loose weight and I want to become more fashionable.

B is for baby, boy....

My brother and his wife have a new baby boy so I thought he could use a set of cute bibs. Before becoming a full-time mother, my sister-in-law taught 1st grade, so I thought she would really enjoy the Dr. Seuss fabric.

I love Dr. Seuss!!! I have yards and yards of Dr. Seuss fabric too. I found this at the fabric market in Dongdaemun, Korea this past summer. It was so cheap, at least a quarter of the price it is in the quilting stores here in America, so when I saw it I knew it was a steal and bought TONS of it. Glad I did.

My Red And Aqua Bathroom

Oh yea baby...my downstairs bathroom is RED AND AQUA! The main part of my house is very warm. It's painted a total California golden color and I like it very much. But red and aqua are my favorite. Remember my laundry room is painted a baby blue with beautiful red front loaders, but that wasn't enough so I did a blue/aqua in the bathroom with red accents downstairs.

I leave the door open and the little recessed light above the sink on because I love looking in there anytime I pass by. I am always keeping my out for some new red pretties to put in here.

crocheted IPhone cover

I have been sitting here enjoying the night with my family. We had a delicious Korean dinner-bulgogi, broccoli and egg rolls. We are all sitting here in the family room watching the 49's/Giants. Since we now live in California we are rooting for the 49's...but will be okay if it's the Giants who win...we LOVE NYC. While sitting here this evening I crocheted myself this pretty iPhone cover. Check out my ruffly edge!!

OOOOO the game is in overtime!

Winter

My WINTER dinning room. I love how simple and easy to keep clean it is.

Remember my big beautiful pine cones I picked up at Lake Tahoe over Thanksgiving. I love them so much I think they may stay out all year.

Steve got me this HUGE picture of New York City. NYC is our favorite city in the world...over Vancouver, Canada, Tokyo, Paris... I just love this picture of the city with the clouds and the colors. It's on the Brooklyn Bridge and you can see the Empire State....it was only 18 months ago when my family went to the top.

I moved my subway art into our family room. It's one of my favorite things too.

Another new kitchen towel. It's just a cheap flour sack towel with pretty fabric sewn to the end and I did a cute running stitch for extra cuteness. I started another on last night I hope to finish today. I want to make a pretty stack for my kitchen.

"My Room"

Yes, I have my own room and I love it. It's full of all my favorite stuff and even complete with an HD flat screen...I can spend all day in here. My room is also home to the PS3 so often times the rest of the fam keeps me company. It's a regular thing to have the kids ask me to go in the craft room with them...they like me to craft and watch them play at the same time.

This fun print is what welcomes you when you enter my room.

We have only been stationed here 4 months but I sure feel like it's home sweet home.