Took a slight detour...

to Disneyland. We surprised Zeke last Monday when we woke him and his brother up bright and early to get in the car. We didn't tell him where we were going. He was trying to figure it out and he did guess correctly we just didn't tell him until we got there. So for the past week, we were enjoying the southern summer sun (which is much cooler than this one by about 20 degrees). We wandered around Disneyland and California Adventure and had a great time with the kiddos. I think they really enjoyed it as well. I was able to get Zeke to go on Thunder Mountain with me despite the fact that he didn't think he could do it. I was proud of him and I think he secretly liked it a little. We had breakfast with the characters which was a lot of fun for all of us except Zac. He was a little apprehensive when it came to meeting the characters. I don't blame him, some of them do look a little weird. I loved the new Toy Story Mania ride. I also enjoyed going on Space Mountain and the "teapups" as Zac calls them. We all enjoyed the week a lot, but of course, we are happy to be home again (for now). Here are a few photos from the week.








Well here are just a few of the photos. I took a ton but I can't post them all! Hope you enjoy!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Yesterday we celebrated Father's day with my dad and grandpa. Hersch made dinner for everyone. It was enjoyed by all. He made some very yummy t-bone steaks. We washed and cleaned out the car and I watched my dad play baseball with my kiddos; something he enjoys very much. Today we are headed over to my in-laws house for a bbq. We will be celebrating with the rest of the fathers in the family.
As for my husband: HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! I love you and I couldn't raise these crazy kiddos without you!


I hope all of the fathers out there have a great day!

Minor accident in the house...

happened last week on our way to Target. I was driving and I hear Zac say "uh oh". I look back to discover that his tag had come off of his blankie. Now I was worried he was going to have a major meltdown in the store but luckily he was just content to hold on to the tag.

This was him at home walking around with his tag.

Once we got home from the store, Zac came up to me and said "fix it please". So here he is showing me where to reattach his tag to his blankie.

Here I am diligently working to get his tag reattached. I used my embroidery thread for scrapbooking to reattach his tag since I needed some thicker thread. He should consider himself very lucky that mommy parted with it.

He was waiting so patiently for me to finish.

Once again, his blankie was whole. I don't know how long it's going to last but it works for now. I tried to stitch it a lot to keep it on there for awhile.

Herschel's 30th

This past weekend we celebrated Herschel's 30th birthday with many of our family and friends. It was a lot of fun. I always love having an excuse for all of us to get together. We always seem to have a ton of fun. Herschel got some great gifts but I think the best gift of all was not having to go to work the next day because school was out! I just want to thank everyone for coming and making the party so great! I think I will let the pictures do the rest of the explaining. With out further ado:

Boys, beer and bbq: a must for every party!

A celebratory shot for the birthday boy!

A quick photo op. before the party gets too crazy!

Lighting all those candles is a group effort!

He said he didn't make a wish because everything he would wish for, he had; great family and friends!

Opening his presents.





My most favorite from the day was playing wiffleball in the street with everyone. I will be back tomorrow to let you know about a minor accident we had in the Smith house today. Not to worry everyone is doing fine. Stay tuned...

school is done...almost

I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day of school. Who am I kidding they haven't really done anything this week. Today was the root beer float party and tomorrow is field day. Every year, I have the toughest time trying to come up with what to get Zeke's teacher. Well this year I made her a little something. Also I will be putting a gift card in it as well. I decided to make her an explosion box using the Stampin' Up Simply Scrappin' pack. I used Hoppy Memories. I just love the colors and the embellishments in that set. All of the stuff I used on this box came in the pack and I still have lots more left to use. I like the box so much that I don't want to give it to his teacher. I often finding myself doing that with presents that I make. I never seem to want to give them away. Here are a few photos from the box. Maybe, I will make this into a class with the new products that are coming out soon.

Here is what the box looks like with the lid on it.

Here is the inside of the box when the sides fall open. I took four pics of Zeke that were from various school functions. My fave is the one with his teacher.


Here are a few of the scenes behind the photo flaps. I had a great time making this box this evening. I am hoping she will enjoy it as well. For those of you with kiddos, have a great last day tomorrow!

A little of this and a little of that...

I haven't really been up to too much lately. I worked on two layouts for Zeke's school scrapbook and I also completed a toothfairy one as well. I really need to clean up my scrap area so that I can continue. When I wasn't feeling well, I felt inspired to create a few layouts. Now that I am feeling better, I need to be cleaning up the house. The bedrooms are all really messy and they are driving me crazy. I have been doing laundry but then I hate to put away the clothes. Not really helping the cleaning situation any, oh well!
Zeke finished baseball this past weekend and in a few more days he will be out for summer. I am looking forward to summer vacation. I am hoping to get myself motivated to work more so that we will have some extra spending money on our trips. We are very much looking forward to them.
Before I go tonight, I wanted to leave you with a few random photos from the past week. Enjoy!

The "Back 2 School" layout for Zeke.

The "tooth fairy" layout for Zeke.

A cute brotherly shot during our game of Candyland.

Zeke making an awesome dunk in the bounce house. Great pic, Hersch!

And finally a picture that Zeke took of me and I actually really like it. Good job, babe! Thanks for looking!