The Pud and I...

I just love that my kiddo is also a MORNING PERSON!

I'm taking off to the coast with my quilting buddies this morning for 4 days, so Victor & I both took Charlotte to school. She's the first kid there every morning and she just loves it there. She took me through her morning routine: check-in at the computer, hanging her coat and back pack up on her hook in her classroom, then breakfast in the activity area until class st arts later this morning.

Sandy, the school director, is always there when Victor drops Charlotte off in the morning and we chatted a few minutes about how Charlotte is doing and they absolutely love having her there.



Cellphone self portrait at 6:30am this morning at Charlotte's school.

Everybody walk the dinosaur

Fun times watching Ice Age 3 tonight...she LOVES the end credits and SONG!

Happy fishy mail...

Love, love, LOVE happy mail. Got this today at work from Rose. THANK YOU Rose. Even though I've pretty much stopped purchasing ANY fish items, I still LOVE receiving fishy gifts. Fishy swizzle stick oars, that's one I don't have (until now) in my fishy collection!

Charlotte's first dance class...

Saturday Victor took Charlotte to her first dance class. 45 minutes of a combination of ballet and tap...she had a BLAST! She'll be going back every Saturday!

E is for elephant...

Charlotte's class is working on a letter each week. Last week was "E"...we got to bring home her elephant today..LOVE IT!

Bakerella.com

Love, love, LOVE her blog...
http://www.bakerella.com/

If this doesn't put you in the mood for Halloween, I give up!

Why toddlers and markers DO NOT mix!!!

Olivia's 4th birthday party...

Saturday afternoon/early evening we spent over at Olivia's home celebrating her 4th birthday. We don't get to see Jodi, Paul & the kiddos nearly enough, but we sure have a great time when we do see them.

Little Nicholas is now 14th months old already...thanks Jodi & Paul for fun times celebrating 4 years of Olivia.

Beaverton RFL Planning Committee Retreat...

Great time today with most of our Relay Planning Committee 2010!

THANK YOU all for taking 5 hours out of your Saturday to participate. 2010 is gonna be another AWESOME Relay season and all of you are a huge part of making that happen!

Kristine, thanks so much for letting us take over your home and being such a great hostess!

Sew...

I've been fairly busy working on these little surprises the last week or so...trying to get the pattern how I like it (or my sewing seams consistent enough that the coffee cozies fit the way I want them to)...Only 2 of my Committee members could possibly check out the blog before I see them @10:30am, so I'm posting this...Tai is one of them, and she'll be with her Granny today (so I don't even get to see her today)...Dean is the other one and I'm hoping he's sleeping in!

I saw them a few weeks ago and said "I can make these"...I have enough fabric in my stash to last a lifetime...well, except that I didn't have any OSU, U of O, or Seahawk fabric, so 50% JoAnns coupons for that..the rest is from my stash.

Coffee Cozies for a Cure will be the catch phrase..better photos, marketing and lots and lots more sewing is on my horizon...Still deciding on the final price. On www.etsy.com they charge WAY TOO MUCH (but they are selling), so I'm gonna sell them for $3.00 each or two for $5.00. HOPE for the Holidays Expo (giant Relay Holiday Bazaar on Nov. 15th Red Lion @Jantzen Beach hotel) will be the main place we sell them...if you have any special requests, let me know. Super FUN, inexpensive gifts for the holidays! 100% of sales going to Relay For Life of Beaverton.

Amber, one of these little piggies will be in your hands soon....PROMISE!

Blog readers out there...leave me a comment and tell me what you think....

Love happy surprises at work...

My friend Laurie at work left this for me today...totally made me SMILE! Can't wait, 4 weeks from today @12:03am, I'll be with my Twilight buddies seeing New Moon for the first time...THANK YOU Laurie for the FUN surprise today!

This little piggy...

is gonna be turned into some FUNdraising goodness tonight!



















More tormenting just for AMBER, since she'll be getting one of these VERY soon!
























LOVE the library...picked up my latest knitting book for the next 2 weeks!

Happy mail...

I've received a Happy Halloween card every year from Andy (quilting buddy) for the past 15+ years. She always puts Halloween confetti in the card and this year was no different. Charlie had fun opening the card and then flinging the confetti all over the floor! Thank you Andy!

Haircut and Hot Topic...

We went to Pigtails & Crewcuts after school today to get Charlie's haircut...Bangs and a bit off the length and of course PIGGY TAILS! She LOVES getting her haircut and the two gals working today have both cut her hair many times over the past couple of years...she's (of course) and absolute ANGEL when we are there....at home, not so much!

After her haircut, I decided to walk around the outside mall area and let her RUN a bit. We went into Hot Topic (a store that specializes in music and pop culture based fashion) in hopes to find some Twilight fabric (pillow cases or bandannas)...no such luck. Guess my secret Relay FUNdraising project won't have any styles for my Twilight buddies.

When we were leaving the store, Charlie wanted to check out the costumes, which run a bit on the risque side. Of course she wants me to take her photo next to one and tells me that's the costume she wants to wear when she gets bigger. I'm not even sure what is was suppose to be...short skirt, plunging neckline and one wacky wig...I'm in trouble when she hits her teen years.

I tried to get her to pose in front of some of the Twilight and New Moon items, but she wasn't having anything to do with it. I tried Bonnie!

Choose your attitude!!!

FISH...One of my top 10 books of all time. I LOVE this book and can't recommend it enough! It's a super easy read and I find myself rereading it almost every year. If you need a little reminder that you DO ultimately make your day a great day, this little book will help you every time!
















The four main concepts behind the World Famous Fish Monger's POSITIVE attitude and SUCCESS in their business is SIMPLE and EASY and totally DOABLE!

• Choose your attitude
• Play
• Be present
• Make their day

So, those of you that read my little blog, that might need a little reminder that LIFE IS GOOD...seriously, I can't recommend this book enough! AND, I double dog dare you to go to Pike Place Market in Seattle...hang out with the Fishmongers and NOT have them make your day!

Speedy Gonzales ABCs...

Saturday when we were driving around, Charlotte was singing the ABC song...over and over and over again. At one point I jokingly said "faster" and this is what she did....this is real, not a sped up version of the video...enjoy!

Crazy weather day....

One minute sunny, the next torrential down pour...then sunny again. Gotta love fall in the NW!

This first photo is us driving west on Sandy Blvd. with Portland out there in the rain...

Wyatt's birthday song video...

Wyatt's 2nd Birthday celebration...

We had a fun time this morning at Me Too cafe celebrating Charlotte's 3rd cousin Wyatt's 2nd birthday!

It was great that Mark & Karla (Karla is my mother-in-law Paula's first cousin) could stop by and they are Wyatt's grandparents. We all live in the Portland area, but don't get to see each other as often as I wish we could. Last time we saw them, Amy was 9+ months pregnant with Miss Olivia.

Thank you guys for inviting us to be part of Wyatt's little party. We had a lot of fun and Charlotte LOVED the cupcake Matthew!





















Wyatt enjoying his birthday cupcake!


















Amy and Miss Olivia.

Productive times last night...

Victor working on the terrain for tonight's game.

























Trees, trees and more trees...
























Some of Victor's planes.


My corner of the craft room...cutting and sewing up a storm...




















More teasing for Dean and Amber...

NFL teams up with ACS!!!

http://www.nflauction.nfl.com/

Thankful Thursday...

Working cellphones!!



















Love that my hubby loves to cook...6 pt. Weight Watcher Chicken Pot Pie in the works right now...Darn is smells really good in our house!



















Happy sleeping toddler on the couch..she crashed on the way home from Nana & Papa's house this afternoon and she's still OUT!



















Happy to have my sewing machine (for my top secret Relay FUNdraiser), right next to my laptop! YES Amber and Dean...I'm gonna keep tormenting you both on what it is....not gonna tell!!!



















Cute little pumpkins (Charlie picked this one out at Albertson's the other day when we went grocery shopping)...

Do NOT try this at home...

I know this is OBVIOUS, but washing machines and cellphones DO NOT MIX!!! I was on a roll when I got home...we had dinner, I started the laundry, tagged the last of my consignment items and then it dawned on me that my cellphone was not where I thought it was...hhmmm....the washing machine had stopped and I was gonna rotate and put in the whites....MAN, this is NOT what I needed tonight!

Oh well, it could have been worse....I just won't have a phone until tomorrow or Thursday...I wasn't due for a new phone until next year..that's what really stinks...my own fault, we'll be paying for it! DRATS!

Those of you that text page or call my cellphone on a regular basis...I'll be MIA for awhile...blagh!

By the way...stupid cellphone tricks DO run in the family...remember this one? http://charliecinasplace.blogspot.com/2008/12/only-my-dad-would-have-this-happen-to.html

Papa Green's eye...

Continues to get better. He still can't drive or go back to work, but at least he doesn't have to keep his head face down 90% of the time.

Charlie and I went over there tonight for dinner and Papa and Charlie had a lot of fun horsing around without overdoing it.

Thank you for the continued prayers and happy thoughts for dad and his eyes! ;-)

Super cute pumpkin!!!

Charlie and I went to my monthly quilt group meeting tonight at Melinda's home. She had the place all decked out in Halloween and lots of yummy treats for us to eat. Charlie did OK, luckily Melinda dug out some of her sons' toys to help keep Charlie busy...

There was a funny discussion about the "assignment" from the Craft Warehouse monthly QUILTING meeting and this month being a "craft" pumpkin, not a quilt block like they usually do (for the QUILTING group)...needless to say a few of our quilt group weren't too thrilled about the assignment and passed.....

Fast forward about 5 minutes and Melinda passes out the most adorable pumpkins (she made) as gifts for all of us....I just about choked because of the previous discussion about making pumpkins....

Check out the stem...if you click on the photo, it will get bigger..the stem is a wine cork, roughed up and a sharpie for coloring...another use for all those wine corks out there!

THANK YOU Melinda for being such a wonderful hostess (as always), for pulling out Justin & Garrett's old toys for Charlie to play with and of course the wonderful PUMPKINS!!!

Pampered Chef FUNdraisers are the best!!!

YAHOO--got the GREAT NEWS from Brenda this morning....we raised $237.52 for Relay For Life with our FUNdraiser on Wednesday night!!!

Charlie and I would like to THANK all of you that were either able to be there in person, booked a party or ordered on-line. This is the best show yet!

Charlie is now 1/4 of her way to becoming a $1,000 club member for the 3rd year in a row! THANK YOU for your continued support of Relay For Life!!! Together we ARE making a difference!

Jennie and Chad's wedding...

I've known Jennie for 5+ years....we actually were both at the first Hillsboro Relay in 2003, we just didn't end up meeting until a few years later...

Jennie's mom Gail is a colon cancer survivor, 10+ years. We all Relay together and they'll be joining us this year in Beaverton (Jennie made sure to tell me that last night as we were saying goodnight).

Jennie and Chad met online and I am happy to say that Victor and I had a "small" part in encouraging Jennie to take a chance...it worked for us!

CONGRATS Jennie and Chad. It was a beautiful ceremony and we had a blast at the reception...If Victor hadn't had to go to work this morning, we would have stayed much later...Charlie danced her tail off last night and made some new little friends. Thank you for inviting us to be a part of YOUR day!