the mandel 5

Julie is on the design team for digital scrapbook designer Kathryn Balint and was invited to the CHA World Fair. She got to bring a guest - me! Last night we went to an icecream social for 2 Peas and met Cathy and Tara. Today we went to the tradeshow and met more scrapbookers and authors whom we admire. Click on their links to see their work! So much to see and do today - I could sleep for days now that I'm home! me and Julie this morning before our adventure.... Donna Downey The one, the only, Mrs. Grossman . Anyone else have a sticker collection in grade school? Elsie Flannigan Heidi Swapp Tara Whitney Lisa Bearnsen, founding editor of Creating Keepsakes Magazine . Cathy Zielske Every booth had sweet treats! This one had a chocolate fountain!

Greatest American Idol Clip

Hello friends, Below is a link to a blog you should read. The kids involved are friends of my niece and nephew. Sadly, the story is true but you can help return happiness to this mother and her children. As my dad said way too many times while we were growing up, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." A friend in need

Well, I took the boys to the cemetery today to finally see where my mom's ashes are. I told the boys we were going to see a rock with grandma's name on it. I got sick of everyone else saying they had been there and then being surprised that I hadn't. We brought bright yellow flowers and the boys played in the water and ran around. I know dad sprung for the rock on the river because I loved the spot so I figured I should pay a visit. My mom would've liked this spot, a place where her grandchildren can run and play and still sit on her lap. =) Excuse the yucky photos in the bright, bright California sunshine. Here's what the place looks like..... I thought that by taking the boysies, I would avoid any difficult questions but no such luck. Nathan wanted to know how grandma would GET the flowers (is it bad that I said she is an invisible angel and would fly down at night and get them? It sounded good at the time) and then wanted to know exactly when Grandma was coming...

Ahhhhhhh....Girl Scout COOKIES! Everyone's favorite snack! Megan has joined the thousands of girls selling cookies this year. Boxes are $4.00/each. You can view the different kinds by clicking the link below. What's that? You're on a diet? No problem. You can now pay $4.o0 and have the box of cookies sent overseas to our troops. They make it really hard to say no! click here to see the cookies!

We had lunch today at the American Girl Place for Megan's friend's birthday. Megan got to spend her gift certificate there from Grandma. She's been looking at the catalog for weeks! with her beloved Jess Anyone else think this is hilarious? There's one in each bathroom stall.

No post photos anyway. What a week. Everyone had Monday off but I had a session because I forgot when I booked it that it was a holiday. Tuesday the boys and I drove to Oxnard to get the tv in the van fixed. After only 2.5 months, the $800 thing quit working. They weren't going to repair or replace it without my receipt. I'm not really ashamed to say I squeezed out some tears and walked out of there with a new tv. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do! Wednesday and today I had sessions and I have a bunch more tomorrow. My mac mini is officially dead and out for repairs. Thank goodness for my laptop and Rob who is making the whole no-big-computer thing as easy as possible for me. Tonight we took the mac in while the kids were at Krystal's. We went to El Torito afterwards and ate in the bar where I was carded thank you very much. =) I promise to photograph something fun this weekend!!

In the middle of proofing yesterday's love letter sessions, my hard drive crashed! Thank goodness I have a husband who stayed up till after 3:00 am saving everything to a back-up hard drive so I don't lose files. My poor mac mini bit the dust. =( One thing I can't do from my laptop is check my comcast or rr emails. So, if you are waiting for a reply or just want to email me, send them to mitzi@photobymitzi.com so I can access it from the internet.

Yep, 2 wasn't enough. My new blog is a challenge to do a photo a day this year. You can visit www.365themandel5.blogspot.com or click below. 365 blog This was inspired by fellow ilper/blogger/photographer/mommy Jennifer . Who's going to join me? Julie? Cindy? Jen? Steph - you know you want to start a blog! C'mon, it's fun. You can start tomorrow and not worry about the first 13 days of the year. Pretty please?

This is our fourth straight boy Chuck E Cheese party. Time to find something new. Not because the kids dont love it but becuase Mom is bored. Easy though, that's for sure. =)

We went to Travel Town today...we used to go there when I was a camp counselor and I thought it was sooooo boring. I'd end up spending my own money to get my campers on the train ride just to make it more exciting. But if you go there on Thomas Sunday (1st Sunday of the month) with a two year old Thomas fanatic (Alex), it's way more fun! AND, before we got to Travel Town, there was another place with a miniature train ride which we later found out was this..... train ......and we waited to ride it. I almost said forget it because my kids are not good line waiters but it was worth it to go on a real train ride for free that lasts 15 minutes and goes over bridges and through tunnels! They do thaton Sundays. We lucked out with both things happening today. =) Did I mention that both the mini-train and Travel Town are free? Good, cheap fun. I love l.a.

Megan, Nathan, and I went with Jennifer and her friend Rachel to a UCLA gymnastics meet tonight. I can't watch some of those routines. They make me sooo nervous. Nathan was of course very interested in every aspect of the sport and asked Jen about a million questions. Now he wants to be a gymnist - to add to all the other things he will be when he grows up. =)

For Logan's birthday, Grandma Verna came up and took just him to build-a-bear. Logan loved every minute of Grandma's attention and is thrilled to finally have a bear - his brother and sister have many. Logan chose a Buzz costume for his bear - big surprise.

Rob and I got back today from our annual kid-free Vegas trip, thanks to Casey and Kris who watched the rugrats while we were gone. Here's a cheesy photo. =)

Logan and Alex think I am hilarious!

Well, tonight I tried to shoot each kid's Valentine's cards so I would have samples. After that, they let me get exactly one shot of them together. And that was only because Alex and Colleen stopped by and we asked them to show Alex how to sit nicely for a photo (it also cost me 3 lolipops and three $1 bills).