Let's Go to the Movies

We are a homebodied people, we Deutsches. I can stay home for days on end, happily puttering about with cleaning and scrapbooking. Dave can be entertained forever as long a he has books, Call of Duty, and TV. The kids adore the television like a member of the family. An since we are all out and about during  the week, on the weekends, we can be pretty immobile.

But with Shabbat ending early in the winter, Sam has been eager for us to go out on a Saturday night. And Max has been trying to get together with friends on Saturday eve.

So, finally, last week, Sam and I decided to go see Catching Fire. Dave was happy to come with.

But wait! That is a movie we all wanted to see together, and Max wanted to see his friends! What to do? What to do?

Well, Max came with us. As snow fell gently out the window, we rode the bus to the theater. 

We looked forward to walking home in the snow. 

We did walk home for most of the way, but by then, the snow had turned to rain.

But the real point of this story is that while we walked home, I said to Max, "Sorry you didn't get together with your friends tonight. 

And he said, "I am having fun." 

I said, "Oh. cool."

But what I thought was: "Oh frabjous day! Calooh! Callay!"

Because my 15 year old baby boy likes to hang out with his family.

Some Layouts to Share

Since I told a Max story this week, we'll continue with some layouts about Max. 

I shared this one at Write.Click.Scrapbbook., as I wrote about documenting in-jokes. 

Here's a little song that Dave made up about Max. It's quite catchy, and it doesn't mean anything. It's just silliness. Apparently, I got some of the lyrics wrong, but I don't feel like fixing them. Take that, posterity! 

I was never much of a fan of the color gold, but I have to say, all the trends in scrapbooking and fashion have converted me. Here was my first gold foray. I even bought some gold embossing powder! Now all i have to so is stamp something. 

Here is  just a silly little moment recorded. For posterity, no less.

Way back in the 1980's, being a nerd was a something to be avoided at all costs. Nowadays, it's a badge of honor, of sorts. It means you know a lot (and are slightly obsessed with) about comic books, games, or sci-fi shows. Sometimes my kids even argue about who is the bigger nerd, each one claiming the title for himself.

Go figure. 

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Max.

When he was little, he cried whenever his parents left his side (like every day at preschool). He hid behind his parents when people came to visit.

Well, Max grew, and grew, and grew until he became a very large teenager. (He barely even fits in this picture.)

And he wasn't scared to leave his parents anymore. (They were happy if he said goodbye before he left for school in the morning).

And he didn't hide from new people anymore. 

In fact, by now, Max was so big and brave and not shy anymore that he was in his school play. A musical. He danced (sort of), and sang, and wore a skirt. (I mean a kilt! a kilt!)

And his parents were kind of amazed and excited and proud of the whole thing. 

P.S. On the morning of the play, Max did say goodbye to his mommy. And then he just stood there for a few moments, not going anywhere. And his mother (who is quite fetching, I might add) realized that even though Max was big and brave and not shy anymore, he was feeling a little nervous, and so she gave him a hug and a kiss. And then off he went.

The moral of the story is: Even though you might think you don't like the music of Gilbert and Sullivan, after watching Pirates of Penzance, you will come to realize that their tunes are quite catchy, and that's probably why everyone likes them so.

Chanukah, Oh, Chanukah

One day in late October, I received an exciting email from the lovely Stephanie Howell, asking if I'd like to create some Chanukah projects using My Mind's Eye products. Uh, yes please. Well, just opening that box of goodies was an experience on its own. Then I got to work and had a thrilling, and productive, time, creating and creating and creating.

Today it is all up and running on MME's blog, but I'll post it all here as well.

I do not usually work with a whole line of products. I just usually have bits and pieces from many different companies. Here I worked with MME's Cut and Paste, as well as Lost and Found-Record It. I was pretty shameless about mixing the two lines together; I couldn’t get enough of the grays, and vintage elements in Lost and Found, and then I liberally added pieces from the Cut & Paste collection for pops of holiday color and cheer.

Each night of Chanukah we light the candles together, and sing the blessings and the prayers. In my layouts, I like to capture the event, but I also liked to add a little detail that captures a little something about us as a family. So, I felt it important to record for posterity, that we are not very good singers- especially by day 8 of Chanukah, when the novelty has long worn off.

Chanukah food is pretty dang tasty, and while latkes get all the press, jelly doughnuts are a family favorite. We are lucky to live a block from a kosher bakery that sells fresh doughnuts each day of the holiday, and we are usually there first thing in the morning to buy our daily dose.

Since there are so many traditions that happen every year, I decided to make a mini album as a home for this year’s photos. And just because it’s Chanukah, I made eight topics for my album; Thanksgivukkah, candles, singing, gifts, latkes, doughnuts, chagigah (a party), and a Chanukah story. I tore right into the Lost and Found 6x6 paper pad for the base of the pages, and layered on elements from both collections. I am not an avid mini album maker, but this process was so quick and easy- everything just looked great together right away.  All of my pages were ready before Chanukah even started, and as soon as the holiday is over, I can pick out my favorite photos and pop them right in.

Now here’s something you might not know about lighting menorah. It can be a messy ordeal. There are menorahs, matches, and candles. At our home, we also light an oil menorah, so we have a bottle of olive oil and wicks that we use each night. So, this year, after many years of good intentions, I decided to make all this “stuff” look prettier.

First I created a decorative bottle for the olive oil:

Then a tin for all those little tiny wicks:

Inside that tin, fits a cute, matching match box.

Or the matches can be left out for this adorable, little tableau.

 And just because I was having fun, I made another matchbox too:

If nothing else, this year is definitely shaping up to be the prettiest Deutsch Chanukah ever, thanks to My Mind's Eye!