{sprinkler fun}

such is life

Our kid-free week is over. To tell the truth, I was aching by the last day. I've decided I can handle 3 days without them with no problem, but any more than that, and I miss them so much! So we drove down to pick them up last weekend, and stayed a couple days to spend some time with family.

Turns out Alex is quite the sharer when it comes to his cousin (but NOT his sisters!):



My brother has an old motorcycle, and he entertained the kids with rides around the yard:



And my nephew just gets cuter every day:



I bought a sprinkler at the Dollar Spot at Target while the kids were gone, and finally got to hook it up yesterday! Jessie and Alex were the only ones to play in it.



Alex didn't take to it quite as well as Jessie did though:



But he warmed up to it, by sticking his legs and feet in:



What will he do when the pool goes in? :) Jessie was a true trooper, jumping through it over and over, then looking at me with my camera and saying "did you get that?" I managed to capture several cute ones:









We signed papers yesterday for the new pool! I'm so excited! Weather permitting, there will be a huge hole in our backyard on Thursday :D Stay tuned for lots of photos documenting the whole process!

down to business

Speaking of getting wet, Angela Powers and I have teamed up for this ultra-cute kit:




I hope to sit down and scrap with it tonight!

Today is $2 Tuesday at {we are}storytellers:



Today only, get my May Blossom Fizz papers and ellies for only $2!

latest layout

I scrapped this layout in a mere 20 minutes! My quickest ever, I think. I talk more about it HERE if you're interested :)



Here's to getting wet!!! Cheers!

{kid-free!}

such is life

My children are all gone for an entire week. It's only been three days, yet I miss them already. But I'm enjoying it too. They are at their grandparents for a week of summer fun. Bible school for the two middle ones, and trips to the pool and park for all. They enjoy it, and Ed and I enjoy the time alone. We pretend that we are newly married, with no kids. We can go where we want, when we want. It's nice, in its own way, but not nearly as entertaining as having four monkeys around!

Last weekend was a busy one. Ed's birthday, father's day, both sets of grandparents visiting, dance recitals, and getting the kids packed for their week away. We grilled out, on Ed's new birthday/father's day present. Yum! He's a pro now:



The dance recital was amazing. This was the girls' first year of dance, so we had never been to one of these before. It was a huge production, and taking up the majority of 3 days. The actual recital was nearly 4 hours long, and only 5 minutes or so of that belonged to my kids. The tots were adorable, and way too cute not to take photos of, even though none of them belonged to me.





I only broke down once, and ironically, it was not during my girls' dance.

TEAR JERKER ALERT: There was one act where a group of younger girls danced an incredible number to Celine Dion's "Fly." I am quite familiar with the song, and I recognized it as soon as it started playing, and knew I was in trouble. For those of you who don't know, the song is about losing a child. That in itself is heartbreaking enough. But these girls, these tiny, innocent, angelic children ACTED IT OUT in on stage! It ended with one little girl climbing up the others' backs who formed a "staircase," and dropping off the edge, only for her limp body to be carried out on stage. Ok, now seriously. I'm bawling just sitting here just thinking of it!!! Who in their right mind creates a dance like that for a room full of PARENTS??? It was beautiful, powerful, yet heartbreaking.

My girls were wonderful in their own hip-hop dance (Helen's second and third from the left in the first 2 photos, Jessie's the one on the right in the others):









Here they are afterwards:



Morgan's best friend also goes to the same dance school, so I caught a few photos of her as well:





And Alex was amazingly well-behaved through the whole thing!

down to business

I've finished my June kit, and it's my favorite so far! I love, love, LOVE the beach, so I put a lot of TLC in this one:




No layout to post today. I hope to play with some Prima tonight!

Here's to dancing through life! Cheers!

{it's hot!}

book winners!

Thanks to everyone who left a comment on my last post. I love hearing from my readers!! Random.org has given me the following winners:



Mic
Rita
Karla

Congrats to you lucky three! Send me an email (<--- on left column) with your address, and I'll get your book to you right away!

such is life

I had a date last Friday! Hubby and I went out for a night on the town. We had happy hour at Firebirds, one of the best places for half priced martinis and appetizers.



Then I coerced Ed to take me to go see Sex AND The City. (My daughter has reprimanded me for calling it Sex IN the City. Oops. I like it better that way!) Loved it. Cried on several occasions. Highly recommend it if you like the girly thing.

It's been in the 90's here lately. I'm loving it. I am a summer girl all the way! We did some much-needed yardwork yesterday. 3 hours mowing, trimming, planting, and mulching. The yard finally looks great, or at least as good as it can right now. It's finally dried up enough that the grass is really greening up nicely. After 4 years, I finally got someone from the water company out too look at the road in front of our house. For the last couple years, water has come up through the street from some unknown source. A lot of that water ends up in our yard and turns things to mush. Turns out a water main has broken, so they will shortly begin tearing up the street in order to fix it. It won't bother me one single bit if they can stop this water!

latest layout

Still scrapping camping photos!



Here's to summer! Cheers!

{the good things in life are free}

A few weeks ago, Penguin Publishing contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in reviewing a new book, based around scrapbooking. A free book, with scrapbooking involved? Heck yeah, I was interested! Especially when I read that one of the characters in the book had 4 children, as I do. The book is called "A Page Out of Life," and I just finished it last night.



Even better? The nice people at Penguin sent me 4 copies, so I have 3 to give away! If you would like a copy, leave a comment here for me, and I will draw 3 random winners to receive a *free* copy of this book, so that you can judge it for yourselves!

So, here's what I thought. While the book is called "A Page Out of Life," there was actually very little scrapbooking in the plot. The story was based around a group of women who met weekly for a scrapping get-together. Each chapter was titled after the character it revolved around, and each woman had their own interesting story. There was plenty of drama, including an almost-affair, an impending divorce, and a secret that involved two of the friends. The author was obviously intelligent and well-informed on some of the economical, political, and educational issues in the book, but the writing style wasn't always to my liking. I thought a bit of it was unrealistic (but, hey, that's why we read, right?), and the characters sometimes spoke a bit too correctly. My favorite part? The way the group of women really came together and supported each other when it really mattered. My favorite part of scrapbooking is the (usually) warm and caring community, and how we can all join forces when someone is in trouble. That was certainly well-represented in this book. The storyline was pretty intense toward the end, and I stayed up late to finish it. It was an easy read, and a great way to relax before bed.

Speaking of free..... a popular Brazilian scrap-related blog is having an anniversary celebration! They are giving away a huge collaboration kit that I contributed to, along with Gina Miller, Kate Hadfield, Lili, and a few of their own designers!









The kit is centered around Valentine's Day, which is this month in that part of the world. Be sure to stop by their site! All you have to do to get the free goodies is participate in their challenge: scrap a page with a "celebration" theme, and leave a link to it in their comments. Voila! Free kit!

more camping photos

I've finished editing all my camping photos, and thought I would share a few more of my favorites.

My uber-cute nephew. I was so lucky to catch this look!



Jessie and Alex playing "horsie" on the curb:



The view at the beginning of the Cedar Falls Trail. There was a beautiful waterfall at the end, and yes, it's at the bottom of that valley there. The way down was quite steep but fun! And worth it!



Stopping along the trail for a rest:



The falls spilled into the huge pool. It was gorgeous.



We had a spring running through our campsite, and the kids loved to go wading in it:





Photo opps at the Bear Caves:





And, of course, I've already started scrapping them!

latest layout

Here's to the free things in life! Cheers!

{petite jean}

What's the perfect camping trip requirements? Good site, good views, good food, good company, and nice mild weather, right? Well, 4 out of 5 isn't bad! While I wouldn't recommend a nature trip in 95 degree weather to just anyone, it actually worked out pretty well for us! We met my mom, dad, brother, sis in law, and nephew in Petite Jean State Park in Arkansas last Friday for a weekend of tent sleeping, fire cooking, and trail hiking. It was only hot while hiking, since there was absolutely NO air stirring. The slightest of breezes would have made it perfect. There was a cool spring in the campsite that the kids loved wading in, and lots of trees for shade. We even lit fires at night. We cheated a bit, as we brought fans and air mattresses to sleep on, and lots and lots of ice. The cousins got to see some mountains and spend some time together:



There were several trails to choose from. We did the Bear Caves trail and the Cedar Falls Trail.



The Cedar Falls trail was a bit strenuous on the way up, but worth every step. At the end is a beautiful waterfall that spills into a large pool.



We ended the trip with a visit to the swimming pool to let the kids cool off, and a tour through the Museum of Antique Autos for Alex. It was a nice little break!

Camping did mean that I missed something that's been on my calendar for awhile:



'Tis ok, though. I've got it marked for this weekend. Hubby and I rarely go see movies these days, so hopefully he will suffer through a supreme chick flick in order to get out of the house! LOL I don't have many girly tendencies, but this show is one of them! It's ok, I'm proud.

latest layout

I did get a chance to scrap before we left. I didn't do much last month, so I'm determined to make some scrapping time this month!



Here's to nature! Cheers!