Chasing Bluebirds

Handmade Christmas 2009

So, keeping with tradition, we are doing our handmade christmas again. I came up with three ideas for our camp fire meeting (and was lucky enough to have Jen help me, yay!!) We made compound butter (herb butter: chives, basil, salt smooshed together) which was a big hit and so easy to make. Decorated soap (something i did back in the 70's with my mom, just modge podge paper on to a bar of soap) which was also extremely easy and fun and made book plates out of name tag stickers, stamp and doodle with the words "this book belongs to" written on. I think they came out great and this weekend the girls and i will do our christmas elf routine making gifts for everyone, i am really looking forward to it!!



thanks Jen! xo

belmont shore parade 2009

     so we survived another christmas parade, i had parents in charge of both my groups and i can tell you delegating is the way to go!

been awhile

hey there! busy busy!

found: high school friend who is a make up artist to the stars = camp fire meeting (lizzie got a sunburn)
blisters and a tat
amber got a black eye (emily did too)
crazy sky the other day (coming out from work i saw this lava sky)
hank turns one
emily is running for vice president, 4th grade
camp gvl
yes that is chris in a mullet wig...
future son in laws

tonight was our "kiniya" ceremony (a camp fire tradition to honor service projects) lots of fun even though i lost a kid for the first time as a leader, oops! it ended up ok, but yikes was that scary!! happy friday (tomorrow)!!

Busy Weekend

I spent a few hours on Saturday at a restoration event for Los Cerritos Wetlands, this is historic because the public has not been allowed to walk around on the 66 acres owned by the city because the surrounding area is privately owned. through some agreements and other special circumstances, we have been allowed to enter and WOW! what a thrill! for anyone who reads this blog and lives in a rural community, i can't tell you how much i dream of the day when i can live in a green, wild, lush and totally nature filled environment. i am literally starving for it and when i get the chance to take a walk in anything remotely open, i get euphoric. seriously. so why am i living in this cement jungle? long story and i can promise you, i won't be here forever. for now though, i am working tirelessly on saving these 500 acres of wetlands that would be a welcome reprieve to us nature loving locals. 












we picked up trash, learned about native and non native plants, seed collected (did you know the southern tar plant is endangered and growing right here in these degraded wetlands??) and then sunday:
we had a little garage sale
that took ALL DAY and left me totally drained but
happy all the same! :)

camp fire pumpkin carving party

i rolled in late after a busy day of work and the party was in full swing, glad i have so many fun parents in my group!! happy halloween!

Camp Fire Halloween Carnival 2009

this year we hosted a haunted cupcake circle walk... i really love the fortune teller booths (maybe next year?) it was super fun fun fun! chris walked around with lizzie and some of her new camp fire members were there. this carnival is great because it is just groups hosting a table and some are really creative but all are inexpensive. it has a very retro feel which i love.





these costumes are recycled from the boys, wish i could find a picture of them (emily was a baby that year if i remember correctly) but they are buried deep in our photo box. unfortunately i have to work today (added a shift last minute) so i am thinking this is going to be a rough week. monday night is our pumpkin carving party for camp fire, now if the weather would just cool down it might actually feel like halloween around here!

whats up??

role models for a new group of camp fire kids
cabin time

chicken dancing and beer

an energized group of gals
each girl runs a meeting, emily was up this week showing her collection of rocks (true treasures that once belonged to her dad) the topic was "rocks and gems"
it's been a fun week. back to work tomorrow. see you soon!

busy week

camp fire drama meeting




something new this year, each girl is in charge of a single meeting and the first one up was katie... she chose drama and hit a home run for sure! the girls jumped right in and embraced the assignment and i LOVED it!! delegating is fun, fun, fun!
my new group's first meeting

and our first big rain storm
left a beautiful cloud above the Los Cerritos Wetlands. Hoping for more rain and a great new year of Camp Fire. Stay tuned for more of Lizzies new group.

Good Neighbor Festival (sneak peek Matt's wedding)

I never knew who my local council member was (or even WHAT a local city council member was) until i got involved with saving the wetlands and let me tell you. we have a wonderful representative in our district, she gets some flack of course, but she is spot on for what we need in this neighborhood. she is all for saving ALL of the wetlands, she is pro solar power (she organized a solar power group that tours houses with solar power units) she is pro camp fire (my girls sent her letters and she invited us to start the "duck patrol" as part of the lakes, ponds and wetlands taskforce she created) and finally, she started a "good neighbor festival" that promotes local organizations to get together and have fun. we have come every year since it started and for the last two years i have hosted a table for the wetlands and camp fire.

i got a lot of camp fire alumni with those ceremonial gowns!

always clowning around

(i like these squishy photos from the phone!!) and then sunday was matts wedding... here is a peek and more to follow on that BIG event!

someone didnt get a nap...

more photos later! happy thursday!

camp fire

camp fire will soon be in session and planning is under way big time (i have a new group starting in october for lizzie). i was happy to be interviewed about my camp fire group on nonchalant mom (someday i will have to post about how i found out nonchalant "dad" is a high school friend of mine! long and very cool story) anyways, please check out the interview and leave a nice comment if you can... hint hint. i am knee deep in planning our camp fire year out and i officially signed on for a position on a newly organized group that will be restoring the tiny bit of los cerritos wetlands available for restoration, so excited!!! lots going on, sewing, crafting, organizing and still training for a half marathon just weeks away, eek! i will try to keep you posted as i make my way through all this chaos.