Baby C's

Hello from chilly, wintery central Alberta! My goodness we've been getting a lot of snow over the last week. I can deal with it as long as we don't have any more freezing rain. Its made life pretty interesting when you're attempting to travel from place to place. I highly DON'T recommend it!

When the girls first began learning songs and singing, one of the first I shared with them was the ABC's. They still don't have every single letter down pat, but they have the majority of it. They are also starting to sing along to the theme songs of some of their favourite tv shows- especially miss Maren. I love listening, and I love that she's trying to sing along. It makes my heart happy. They are learning so much and growing so incredibly fast!

Anywho, Addison affectionately sang the 'Baby C's', at the beginning, because that's what it sounded like to her. Now she knows that the song is actually ABC, but I thought it was so stinking cute! I never want to forget some of the sweet things they said and did. I'm so thankful for this hobby of mine.

Why do I say that? I scrapped about it. Naturally!

Reveal day at Lets Capture Our Memories is today, which means I have another layout to share with you.

I'm not sure that Addison was actually singing the ABC's to her Oma in this picture, but she could definitely be doing it- the toy that's in the middle of the bottom part of the picture, is a leap frog fridge magnet that sings the ABC's (including magnetic letters- all 26 of them- from the alphabet). That's what they sing along to now. This picture was taken the morning of our outing to the air show this past summer.

Its incredibly hard to see (I should have stamped it in a darker shade of ink, but I was afraid to try it over again, for fear of it looking bad), but I stamped 'I love you' in SU's Close to Cocoa along the upper right hand side of the picture. The scalloped circles were first stamped using SU's Always Artichoke ink, then cut out with a pair of ridiculously sharp scissors. The journalling spot was also stamped, using SU's Chocolate Chip ink.

The lady bugs and flower are all from the Susan Winget collection of K&Co.

The patterned papers are all fab scraps. Yay!

The sketch? Can be found at the LCTS blog. As always, please let me know if you played along with the sketch challenge this week, and don't forget to post your finished masterpiece to the website, using the link tool there. I'd love to see how this sketch inspires you!

~a

Skip

So, I completely missed a LCTS sketch a few weeks back. My bad!

Here is my take on sketch #152. As per my current 'kick', all the papers used are scraps. The chipboard Joy sentiment is K&Co, and I've had it in my stash for eons. It's pretty Christmas-y, but I like that its versatile enough to use on a layout that's far from Christmas! The netting is from packaging.

The girls always throw a fit when their daddy leaves the house- whether its for a 'yucky smoke' as we call it, or to run out to the garage for something, or to run an errand, mow the lawn...the list is ever-expanding. I will often tell them to go look in the window, because they'll be able to see their daddy if he's doing something outside. In this case, they were able to watch him for a while, as he was mowing the front lawn for us. It made their afternoon!

Great Shots

I got so many good shots of the kids the day we hung out in the garage cleaning up over the summer! Here, Maren is helping her daddy sweep the floor. I love that little tongue hanging out of her mouth!

The latest sketch (#26) is up over at Heathers blog; you should go and check it out! Seriously, the design team is fantabulous! The designs they come up with are incredibly creative, and Heather's sketches are beyond amazing! They are a lot of fun to work with.

As always, if you decide to use Heather's sketch, please let me know. I'd love to see how it inspires you!

And, once again, all the papers here are scraps (and incredibly ancient), except for the green card stock base. The ribbon isn't a scrap either- it came from a bargain basket over at DeSerres. Seriously, I love that store! I could definitely go crazy there...

Another layout will be coming up in the next few days...until then, take care!

~a

Hop Scotch

Hi everyone!

Have I mentioned before the 'sidewalk that leads to nowhere' that was located in our backyard? I say 'was', because its now been torn out. Or, most of it. When we put the shed in the backyard (yes, we bought a shed and had it delivered a couple of weeks ago), Kyle used the sidewalk blocks to level it. Now, we have to re-seed it before the snow flies, so next spring we'll have new grass growing in!

Before the fence was put up, the original owners used the backdoor as their main entrance- which, if you think about it, is a real nuisance, considering you're entering right into the kitchen/dining room. But, that's just me. To other people, its no big deal. There was no grass in the backyard either, so they parked back there- hence the sidewalk.

After it was further developed and closed in, the sidewalk just plain didn't make sense. Why leave the sidewalk when it leads smack dab into the middle of your backyard fence? Silly, if you ask me, but it lead to tons of hours of fun for the girls. They loved taking their sidewalk chalk out into the backyard and play with it. The first thing they always asked for was hop scotch (after I showed them what it was all about one afternoon). Having that sidewalk was a bonus for me, too- I didn't have to worry about my little toddlers playing out in the driveway or along our street, where it is quiet, but local traffic is a constant worry for me.

At first, I didn't really want to cover up as much of this picture as I did, but in the end, I wound up really liking it. I wanted to mimic the numbers in the hop scotch in the picture, so I used my Cricut to cut out the numbers. (I searched high and low for sticker numbers that weren't minuscule or monstrously huge, and apparently I have none! Cricut to the rescue!!) I thought the floral background worked well to highlight the outdoors- even though there were scant flowers growing in my backyard. One day I will remedy that!! (At a time in the kids' life where it isn't fun picking all the heads off the flowers anymore, or playing in the dirt...)

For the title work, I traced out wood veneer letters that I found at Walmart (because the package contains only one of every letter in the alphabet) onto foam and cut them out. To cover up the pencil lines, I used a sponge dauber and inked the outer edges of the letters with SU's Cherry Cobbler ink.

All the papers used on this layout (minus the kraft base) are from my scrap stash- including the papers I used to cut the numbers with.

In a lot of ways, the season change is welcome, but in some ways, I'm sad to see summer leave us already. The kids sure have enjoyed the changes the weather has brought- they loved playing in the snow, and just the other day Maren asked when it was going to snow again. I cringed a little at the thought of cold weather and the white, fluffy stuff, but told her it was coming soon enough. Halloween has me excited enough as it is; don't get me started on Christmas! I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year. Its going to be so much more meaningful for the kids! Eeek! I can hardly wait to put up the tree and decorate!

What are you looking forward to at this time of year?

~a

Fascinate{d}

I love this shot of Addison. It was kind of a fluke, really, but a happy fluke. I get all giddy inside when stuff like this happens!

We were out in the garage helping Kyle clean up and sort through the loads of junk and garbage we've got kicking around, and after a while, the kids discovered daddy had some of his old toys kicking around the garage. They also discovered there were some neato things in there- such as sand paper- which is what Addison is holding in this photo.

Everything on this layout is from scraps- in one way or another. The orange and gold flower sticker is actually a 12 inch border strip (K&Co) that I cut into four strips (all varying lengths), to get more mileage from. The white netting is packaging from toys that I bought from Walmart for the kids' prizes (for their weekly chore charts). You'll see it popping up on a few different projects in the near future!

The flower I am especially fond of. It came from a cheapo flower arrangement that my MIL bought the kids for their bedroom when they were first born. Truthfully, I was never keen on them (there were three), but now they seem to have grown on me a little. Now that the kids (aka Addison) tore them all to  shreds (except for one). I kept some of the flowers from one of them, and plan to incorporate them into my layouts. Here, you can see one of them- I used a black rhinestone for the centre of the flower.

For the title work, I threw together some sticker letters (I don't know where they came from- my sister gave them to me!), but the green banner is MS. The phrase sticker in the top right corner is K&Co.

All this was done for sketch #153 over at Lets Capture These Sketches. If you get the chance, head over there, and see what the design team has come up with. If you choose to use the sketch, let me know- I'd love to see how it inspires you!

~a

Small Gestures

Did you hear? I'm having a giveaway! For more details, scroll down, or click on this link to head straight over there, and click here to see what's included in the RAK!

One of the things that I've wanted to cross off my scrappy bucket list is painting/chalking/inking (and for those of you that have mists- misting) using a template of some kind. Since I have none of those things in my arsenal as of yet, I used what I had on hand. While it may not look as nice as spray inks and proper templates do, I still really like the effect this created.

I used what I had on hand- being Stampin' Up ink, and a paper (dollar store) doily. Then, I took a sponge dauber and inked away! Once that was done, I layered on the elements and called it done.

Before that, though, I altered a few other items. The bird within the frame is a K& Co chipboard frame, and it was fairly blah being an off-white with barely there script scrolling across it. If you were going for a monochromatic colour scheme, it would be beautiful. I wanted more colour, so I used Summer Sun ink (SU) to fill in the scalloped edge, then Cameo Coral for the flowers, and lastly Old Olive for the leaves. For the bird, I used Martha Stewart glitter in Peridot. (I used Always Artichoke ink for blending in the shape of the doily).

The butterflies are vellum, and they're also K&Co. We all know what vellum looks like, and they seemed to be a little lost on the layout- blending in with the white background. Once again, perfect if you're going for a monochromatic colour scheme. With my sponge dauber, I painted them in using Cameo Coral and Ruby Red.

To ground my picture, I threw on a piece of scrap patterned paper (from K&Co's Itsy Bitsy 6x6 paper pad), and then flipped over a smaller piece of the same patterned paper for the sentiment, which is a rub-on and I'm not sure where it came from anymore.

I think the girls sat outside one evening with their daddy while he had his 'yucky smoke', and when they came back in, they were holding some flowers that had come from the flowerbed underneath my living room window. Never mind they came from my own garden- they're still beautiful, and I loved the gesture!

Recipe for Goodness

For those of you that know of my recent breakfast smoothie/fruit and veggie smoothie addiction, I've got a new concoction for you: blend together a couple florets of broccoli, a small handful of (frozen) spinach, frozen blueberries (I freeze all most of my store-bought fruit and veggies), bananas, and watermelon, 1/3 -1/2 cup plain yogurt, and 1/4-1/3 cup milk. (The milk was added to thin it out a little bit- its quite thick! Instead of milk, you could also add more yogurt and some ice if you prefer). This will yield just enough for a small glass for you and two full (or four half cups, taking more than one child into account) toddler cups for your littles (if its just you, I would guess it would yield about 1 large glass full, or two-3 medium sized glasses).

YUM!

Try it out. The broccoli makes it a bit gritty- sort of like oranges do when you leave too much of the skin on, but otherwise it's delish!!

Here are some more pictures from Fathers Day. Maren gave me a huge hug and told me she loves me in the first pic, and in the second, she's playing with my necklace. You know, kids are so amazing- they're quick to point out to you when something is out of the ordinary. When we went to pick up the kids from their grandma's a few weeks back, I had taken off my locket because of the massage I'd been to earlier that day. I hadn't put it back on. Maren kept telling me over and over that it was 'gone'. Then, the other day, we were loading up to head out somewhere, and I put the girls in the wrong seats- on the wrong side of the truck, and Maren informed me, when I was putting Addison into her seat, that the seat that she was occupying was actually hers.  Oops! Maren always sits on the drivers' side, and Addison always sits on the passenger side. I rectified the problem after we'd finished shopping at our first destination that day. But, how funny!

Back on topic now. This layout was completed for the monthly sketch challenge over at scrapbook.com. This was the week 4 sketch, based on a sketch from Pagemaps July 2009. You can find the sketch here, along with some other gorgeous sketches, too. I'm going to have to remember that website!!

I stamped the entire title- first one some left over packaging, and then underneath the second photo. I've had the stamps for quite a while, and don't know where I got them. Probably at Michaels. The black polka dot paper in the background is Recollections, and the brown patterned paper is K&Co. I used white card stock for the journalling spot, and I blended in the brackets (which have also been in my stash for so long that I don't know where they came from) with basic black ink (SU). Originally, they were patterned, but I didn't feel the pattern on it worked with my design. It was too loud and busy.

Enjoy your Tuesday evening, everyone.

~a

Grass Slipper

How incredibly fun is this nail polish?! I splurged a bit on myself this morning during our grocery shopping trip. This is what I got! I can hardly wait to doll up the toe nails with this fun colour! Its called Grass Slipper. (Cute, right?!)

I just thought I'd share what our chore chart looks like (right now). My mind might be changing as far as the printable chore charts go- this system seems to be working really well for Addison- getting a sticker as a reward for helping out seems to be really good incentive for her. I am not sure yet if its working for Maren- she just kind of seems to be neutral to the whole idea. But, maybe its just that she needs a bit more time to warm up to the idea, or catch on to the whole idea.

Its fairly vague, and the chores that the kids help with needs to be elaborated on, but they each have their own 'chore' that is just theirs; Addisons is helping mama set the table at supper time and taking our dirty dishes to the sink (after supper), and Marens is helping mama load and unload the dishwasher. Both girls need to help mama clean up their toys, and come to bed at bedtime  and nap time without fighting (especially Addison. She's so defiant these days! Terrible two's I think- I hope!! Maren is such an obedient girl.) They can also get 'bonus' stickers, if they help with things like picking up garbage off the floor and putting it into the 'dirty box', as we call it, helping put groceries onto the grocery belt at the till, helping bring the groceries into the house, etc.

Of everything I've found on Pinterest and the internet, this seems to be working and I don't want to mess with it. Maybe as the kids get older and their chores change and they are able to help out more, the way it works will change too. But for now- don't fix what isn't broken!

Lastly, here's another layout I made. This began as another scrap lift, but quickly kind of took its own direction. At least, the inspiration came from sasload4's layout 'Domestic Princess', which you can find by following this link.

Because the kids like playing 'nighty night', I wanted to keep the colour scheme cool and night-like. Also, to play up a starry night sky, I used a polka dot stamp with whisper white ink to create far away stars. I also used some clear rhinestones to help add a little twinkle to the night sky. The white, purple and blue card stock are scraps, as are the blues for the clouds and the stars. (The blue stars were cut with my cricut, and the paper I used was from the Sweet Nectar 6x6 paper pad by K&Co, and the blue of the clouds are from a SU Christmas line). The title work was made also using the same blue paper from the Sweet Nectar paper pad. Lastly, the damask patterned paper in the very back background is Recollections.

Chore Chart and a Layout

I've been researching ways to visually stimulate the kids to become more involved in tasks around the house. I'm getting irritated that everything is always up to me- my husband doesn't even help out (though he does offer to cook on a regular basis). So, I'm enlisting the girls' help around the house. They are getting to the age, anyways, where its time to start learning about responsibility, and contributing to the household chores.

I came across a really neat site- its free- for printable chore charts. They're empty, so you can add which chores you desire. There's also behaviour charts, and a multitude of other tips and hints to help us point our children in the right direction. All you need to do is sign up in order to print what you want (which I didn't care much for, but its a small price to pay for what I wanted).

My plan is to use magnets with their chore mod-podged to them, and a sticker system for every chore they complete. At the end of the week, they'll be able to pick a prize from the goody box for being such a big helper. I haven't figured out yet how I'm going to implement the chore chart. I am not crazy about printing out a new chart every week- I'd rather laminate it and use it over and over again, but then I don't know how to implement the stickers!! The girls are really into stickers right now, which is why I want to use them.

On a different note, here's the latest layout I created. This was the week 4 bonus sketch over at scrapbook.com for the monthly sketch challenge.

The polka dot background patterned paper is Recollections, and the brown patterned paper is K&Co designer paper. I took the brackets that you see, and pop dotted them for some dimension, as well as blended them in with Basic Black ink (SU) using a sponge dauber. They were a black and white damask pattern.

Its very simple, but I'm in love with it!

Once, Many Moons Ago...

Thought I'd share a fun layout with you today!

While auntie and uncle were down here last celebrating Fathers' Day with us (you may remember that I've been referencing that a lot lately!!) we played at the park with the kids until their bedtime. Auntie and daddy got the bright idea to try and go down the twisty slide like the kids (auntie, mainly as a way to encourage the girls to go down it with her. They still think its a pretty scary thing!!!) Daddy- just because he was showing off. LOL

He did mention that we may need to call 911 if he got stuck. Thankfully--he didn't! It was a tight squeeze, though.

Hilarious, right?

The sketch I used for this layout was done by Melissa over at What's Scrappenin'? You can also find her over at scrapbook.com. I did this for the Monthly Sketch challenge (which is where the sketch came from), week 3.

I did a lot of stamping on this one, and everything that's stamped or inked was done using SU's chocolate chip. The stamps I used on the grey card stock are Autumn Leaves (Walmart), the journalling spot is also Autumn Leaves; the ties and the 'best dad ever' stamps are all from SU's Best Dad Ever set.

The blue gingham pp is SU (from many, many moons ago), and the alpha stickers in my title work are probably also from Walmart. (They're half used up- from my MIL...I am not sure where they came from!) I fussy cut the banner on which my title work is adhered.

There you have it! Simple, but loads of fun! (And a laugh or two)

ANother weekend is here. We are laying low this weekend. What are your plans?

Cheers

Good evening! Where has the day gone?! The weather has been gloriously beautiful today- although muggy. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous right through next week, and I suspect that all the thunderstorms that have by-passed us this past week will probably dump on us this week. At least, I hope! Some cooler weather would be almost a good thing :)

I have another layout to share with you. Today, its a two pager! The next few layouts are going to contain a number of pictures. I've finally made it to the point in the month where we celebrated with the girls' twin cousins on their first birthday. If you recall, a ton of pictures were taken that day, so a few layouts are going to be dedicated to that day! I'm waiting on permission from my cousin, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to post the layouts I make with her kids in them. But, if this is the only layout you see of that day (possibly one more), then its because I don't have permission to post pics of her kids on the net! Just a little forewarning!!

The inspiration behind this particular layout comes from the incredibly talented Kelly Klapstein. She created this layout for a new segment in the Canadian Scrapbooker magazine called 'Double the Fun'. We were encouraged to play along and try this sketch out for ourselves- with the possibility (I think) of being published along with her. After thinking on it for quite some time, I decided to try it out. I must say, I just LOVE how it turned out!

All the accent patterned papers are from the same sheet(s) of 12x12 paper. I cut out the mushroom portion of the paper to make the border along the top of the page, and the lined/stitched portion for the bottom of the page. The flourishes were also part of that paper, so I fussy cut it out, then cut it in half and adhered it to the bottom right corners of each page. The banner was also created using the same paper- the parts of the paper that hung off my 8.5x11' card stock base got transformed into that- its double sided paper, so both sides were effectively used. Its incredible how much usage a single sheet (well, two, really, so that I could take advantage of the all the mushrooms and lines) of paper can give you!

For a little bit of drama, I outlined the flourishes, banner and photos in black pen, then decided to make the only horizontal photo a focal photo, by drawing two lines around it, and adding the buttons and ribbon (I wanted to highlight the fact that it was the only picture with both girls in it on this layout). I guess the journalling helps draw the eye to it, as well! (And, speaking of how well things worked- how about the flourishes underneath the only two pictures with water?? In my mind, they kind of mimic water...perfect, or what?!)

Here's a few close ups:

Oh, I forgot to mention that I stamped in a few places on my layout with SU's whisper white ink, using an Easter stamp (of all things) for a bit of a subtle 'something else'.

301* that Maren finally told me (numerous times today) that she loves me (which I never doubted, but its always nice to hear)
302* all four of us had the opportunity to really play this afternoon
303* and how good it felt
304* the slushy/treat dear husband is bringing home for us
305* cuddles with Gregory
306* someone came and had a look at the trailer (here's to hoping they buy it!!)
307* how excited Maren was over their tickle trunk full of toys
308* that their trunk full of toys finally made it into the house!
(and thus begins my nightmare---I'm seriously going to have to go through their toys and donate all the ones they no longer need/play with--they're no longer babies and don't need baby toys!!!)
309* that their (my) storage trunk made it into the house
(now I can put all the clothes that I want to hang on to into their 'trousseau', or whatever you want to call it)
310* that dear husband (and J) made an even bigger dent in the garage clean-up tonight. yay!!

Here's to a great day, and looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow! Cheers!!

Duh!

Hi everyone! Hope you're having a terrific day so far!

I just wanted to share a layout with you today, and some close ups:

I get a kick out of the kids 'helping' us out around the house. For the most part, its ridiculously cute- when they actually do what you've asked them to. Other times it can be aggravating, because its obvious they don't want to do it, but they must because it either came from some place they shouldn't have taken it, or it just plain needs to be picked up (as in their toys). And, when I say 'they must', it usually means that mama or daddy picks it up in the end. :)

They'll help us carry the groceries from the door into the kitchen (if they deem whichever item they're carrying not 'too heavy'. Last night, I asked Maren to carry a bag with pork chops in it to the kitchen, and she promptly dropped it back on the floor, saying it was too heavy. Ok, if you say so!! (LOL) (Though, she has no problem carrying a 4 litre jug of milk to the kitchen when daddy asks her to do it).

So, when I asked Maren if she wanted to help me with the laundry, she quickly, and wholeheartedly answered, 'yes!' My first reaction was, 'oh cool', and when I discovered how she had helped mommy put the laundry away, I just had to chuckle. She put the folded laundry back into the laundry basket. Still folded! Instinct told me that what she had done wasn't really putting the laundry away, and I was about to tell her that, when I decided to bite my tongue. To her, that was putting the laundry away. How many millions of times has she seen me put the entire load back into the laundry basket, intending to put all the items away at a later time? She was absolutely right, so I congratulated her on it! (I was particularly impressed that everything, for the most part, was still folded!)

I've been wanting to create my own background for a layout for a while. A really long while. I don't really think many of my stamps are very conducive to making pretty backdrops- mostly because they're too small and not elaborate enough, but I've picked up a few in the very recent past that will work beautifully for backgrounds such as this one:

I took the vintage post card stamp I bought from Michaels, and used it to stamp the image in varying directions. I also pressed fairly lightly, to give it an even more vintage, worn look. To finish it off, I inked the edges with a sponge dauber. (I used SU's Close to Cocoa ink).

W.O.W.!!! I think it looks horrendous  fantastic, and I can hardly wait to use this again on another project! Its my new favourite thing!!

I should mention here, that the inspiration for this entire layout came from a design I found in a special issue of scrapbooks etc.- sbe page planner. Unfortunately, I don't know the year of publication, or if there's more than one publication of this particular type of special issue. You can find the original of this layout on page 29 of that particular issue. (Ha, good luck trying to find it! I know its pretty vague). Sorry!

The bird stamps come from a certain SU stamp set that I don't know the name of. I actually never thought to add the name of the collection to the outside of the box until I bought a box full of goodies from a girl off Kijiji that no longer wanted/needed as much scrapping stuff. She had put them on the outside of her stamp boxes, and I had an 'aha!' moment when I saw it. So now, if and when I ever buy anymore SU stamps, I will remember to do that!!

The birds are pretty, though, aren't they? I love the green against the brown background. I just love neutrals period. I think they're fast becoming my most favourite colour to work with. Colour scares me a little, though when I do work with bright colours, I am sometimes pleasantly surprised (such as with the one I am currently working on. That may be tomorrow's post!!)

Creating the title was a lot of fun. Every once in a while, I get into this mindset that using my cricut after the kids have gone to bed is a bad idea. I worry that the noise it makes will wake them up- especially since I'm working in the room right next to theirs!! Even with the door closed, I worry about it. You know how it goes- when you try and be as quiet as possible, thats when you inevitably end up being noisier than usual. So, when I'm in silent mode, I try and come up with creative ways to get things done without my cricut. And, I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome! I'll be doing this in the future more often now, too!

I took SU's whisper white ink, and stamped with alpha stamps on black patterned paper. Then, I just fussy cut around them to create this fun and whimsical title! Easy peasy!

And lastly, the journalling block. I stamped it onto kraft card stock with SU's Close to Cocoa ink, then fussy cut around the lines, creating my journalling block. Then, I took a sponge dauber and lightly dragged it across the front to help age it just a tad more. Voila!

A lot of the elements on this page were created using scraps. How many of you make it a priority to use up your scraps? Do you use them for specific projects, like mini albums, cards or off the page type projects? Or, do you use them in any way that tickles your fancy? And, how small is too small to keep? Do you keep every tiny piece of paper, or do you keep nothing smaller than a certain size?

I'd love to hear how you use up your scraps!

Until next time, enjoy your Thursday!

FUN

Oh my word, we survived another busy weekend! Phew!

Father's day was an absolute riot. My family (sister, BIL, mom and dad) spent the weekend with us, and thankfully it was beautiful! We took the kids to the park Saturday night (after my sister and BIL arrived), and Sunday afternoon, we played in the yard until supper was ready. I promised dad that he wouldn't have to help us do any work around the house this visit- and that promise was kept! Ha!

I hope you don't tire of my picture posts. I love sharing them; in fact, I can't get enough of them!

So, without further adieu, here are my faves!!:

Addison

auntie trying out the twisty slide

auntie pushing Maren in the swing

uncle and Addison

I love the look of concentration, uncertainty, determination in Maren's face! She did awesome climbing up the half-monkey bars

Addison coming down the slide, I think

daddy trying out the twisty slide. ROFLOL.....thank goodness we didn't have to call 911 or anything!!

Addison holding auntie and uncle's hands

auntie and uncle helping Addison down the slide. (She loves it, but is afraid of going down without help)

auntie and Maren

auntie

Addison

Addison pushing their stroller

"SUPER BUNNY--TO THE RESCUE!!!"

love, love, love

love, love, love even more!!!

So, this wound up being quite a long post. And, there's still more to share, so I think I'll just split it into two, possibly three posts. (I took over 240 pictures!!) over the last three days, so please bear with me!!

I'm by no means a photographer, and I really don't consider myself a good one although I do try hard, so I get pretty excited when I come up with ones that I find are 'exceptional'. I would like to take a photography class. I just started thinking about it this weekend! Maybe!! Anyways, I can hardly wait to edit these last two a bit more...of all the pictures I took, these two are my absolute.faves. 


Hope you had a great weekend. See you again real soon!

Surfing

171* a freshly mown and watered lawn
172* having the opportunity to relax after supper
173* while husband cleaned up the dishes
174* the way Maren hangs onto our necks if something scares her
175* the way they both jump off their changing pad (on top of their dresser) after changing them (yes, I still use it...) into my arms (and it catches me off guard every single time they do it!!)
176* I can talk/confide in/heart to heart with husband


The next layout I'm going to (actually will be soon) work on is Addisons our first home. Yes, the trailer is the 'first home' that she remembers, but I plan to take it a step further: its our first home, too. Many of you will already know that. Kyle and I had our beginning in that fifth wheel. We moved it out to Saskatchewan with us, and lived in it for the first few months before finding a house and buying it. When we first met, he was living in it in a campground just outside of Edmonton, Glowing Embers. Then, when I moved in, it was after he'd moved to Camrose to start a new job. I followed...I had to wait a while, because mom and dad had been living in South Korea, and were to be coming home a couple months later. I stayed to take care of the house like I'd promised them, then I moved out. In that moment, when he moved to Camrose, and I had to stay behind, I knew I was sweetly, blissfully, incredibly attached. And, there begins our story.

I've been flipping through all our pictures, trying to find some good ones of the trailer, and while I've found only one, so far, that I like, I've been finding other ones that I should really scrap one day in the future. Here's a sampling so far:

I'm not sure, but I think I was pretty selective in choosing what wedding pictures I was going to scrap. I do have a wedding album, and I'm fairly certain this picture isn't in it!! And, I don't know why--I LOVE it!!

Setting up our home outside the shop (Kyle's work shop--also known as the North shop--there were two shops in town; the north one and the south one). Not the nicest location, but it was a step up from where we'd set up in Camrose!!

At the race track with friends' (who also now happens to be Kyle's boss) kid (of two. They have twins, too).

With dear Oma, who turned 93 on Sunday. I printed this picture already, because an lo all about her is going to be coming up shortly, too!

And, my dear Grandma Murray, who passed away 4 years ago, July. This is the only picture I have of her, other than one that's sitting in my kitchen window, that got water damaged when we moved from Alberta to Saskatchewan. It isn't the best, and it was during a pretty dark period in our lives, but its still dear, and she's still precious to us.

This locket will forever be special and dear {and near-literally} to my heart. She gave it to me as a Christmas present quite a few years ago. Back then, it was the only gift from her that I truly appreciated. (Looking back now, I realize that was unfair). Little did I know then that this would become the dearest connection I have with her today! Its surgically attached to my neck; it rarely comes off. If we're going to something special and fancy, and I feel like wearing something different, I'll take it off, but as soon as that event is over, the locket is back on. I love it, and I love her! And miss her terribly! (Ditto for my sister, too).

Engagement day! Christmas Day morning, 2008. After the holidays, I showed up to work (I was working at Walmart at the time), and Danielle and I, who was also expecting (hoping) to get engaged had a show down. As soon as we saw each other, we were like 'so??', and then waved our rings in each others' faces. HA. It was pretty funny, looking back on it now. Neither of us was really sure we were going to get engaged over Christmas, but we couldn't help but think how romantic it would be. (And, at least I got the more romantic proposal...her hubby just kind of pulled out the ring, and said 'so, will you?' as they were driving to family's).

Do I need to--should I--share the story? Its pretty simple, actually. I'm a wanderer, and Kyle learned that early on in our relationship. Its actually more like I'm easily distracted. As you well know. If I see anything shiny or sparkly, I have to go check it out. I may, or may not, say anything about where I'm going. I have my mother to thank for that. She always told us to 'go, leave me alone. you don't need to follow me like lost puppies' while she shopped. So, we learned to go off on our own, but always keep an eye out for her so that we don't get left behind.

It scared him. He thought that I'd left him every time I walked off like that, distracted by something else I thought was pretty or interesting. But, lucky for him, each and every time I would show up again.

So, when we proposed, he thoughtfully attached my engagement ring to a leash. A pink leash. Which, un beknownst to me, would re-appear at our wedding- during the ceremony. (The wedding band was attached to the end of that one). And, he told me that whenever I walked off on him like that, he thought I had left him. He didn't want to lose me, and that's where the leash comes in.

He doesn't think his proposal was very romantic or extraordinary, but I think it was perfect. It was true to us and how he felt, and it couldn't have been more fitting.

(And, now that I think about it, I should get a picture--a good picture-- of the wedding band and engagement ring together. They're nesting, and super pretty! Now I'm just waiting on the third band that goes along with this set! I think its one of those past, present and future type deals. I just hope that when we get around to it, that its still there!!)

And, I know I've scrapped Gregory before, but I just have to do one again using this picture. Its the best shot ever that I've gotten of him! {IMHO}

177* Grandma's
178* Oma's
179* intricately designed silver lockets
180* that cat, aka chicken, aka Gregory

"First Home"

Their grandma and I were in the trailer cleaning it up, and daddy brought miss Addison down when she woke from her nap. I asked her as she was coming into the trailer if she remembered this place, and you know what she said?

"First home".

This is the first home she remembers. And, I'm astonished she even remembers this was her 'first' home.

In reality, her first home was in Saskatchewan, but she was too little and new to remember that. We didn't live there long enough for her to remember it. Which is why I feel its so important to bring the girls back there one day and show them the place they were born and lived for the first year of their lives. A part of my heart is always going to hold that place dear.

After it was all cleaned up, and it was ready for its very own photo shoot, the first thing that overwhelmed me when I walked into it to snap a few pictures, was that this was home. It will always be the first place Kyle and I lived together. Then, it will always be the place that we lived when we moved back to Alberta. This trailer began and ended here in this beautiful province.

And, I'm happy she remembers it. So she doesn't forget it- and so her sister doesn't forget it- this first home (for all four of us) will be scrapbooked. Its an important piece of our familial history!!

124* the fifth wheel
125* the apartment
126* both our houses (old and new)
127* Regina
128* pof.com

To Do

Its been a busy weekend around here, so far. Plants- like petunias, geraniums, marigolds, blah, blah, blah, were on sale, and I wanted to go and pick some up. (I did). I got some of them planted today, and then ran out of planters. Apparently I bought more flowers than I had room for in the planters I already had. Ooops. (The petunias were a really great deal- $6 for a 6 pack. I'm not sure I've ever come across anything like that!!)

Today, we went back, and bought a couple deep planters, and I'll put the rest of the flowers in there. They are so deep, though, that I don't have enough soil to fill them. (A slight oversight on our part). Kyle said that he'd go back to work tonight and pick up some gravel for me. We'll put some of that in the bottom of the planters, and then cover it with soil, and then plant my flowers.

(On a side note, how do you like the sidewalk that leads right into the fence? Pretty ingenious, huh? I think it was there before the fence was, and whatever was on the other side of the fence was probably used as a parking pad or something. Why else would there be a sidewalk that leads to nowhere? IMHO).

That's great, but I have a feeling it won't get done until tomorrow. Just because my husband moves so quickly on things. The amount of flowers I bought shouldn't take two days to plant, but I'm pretty sure that's how its going to play out. Oh well. I'm sort of thinking it might even be a little too early in the season to be buying and planting flowers anyways. In this northern climate, you can just never be too sure.

Especially considering its May long weekend. In my experience, the weather during this weekend is almost always cold. And, just to prove me wrong, so far, this weekend hasn't been too bad. We've had some rain, but the weather otherwise hasn't been really cold. (This coming from the girl that's started wearing her fleece jammies to bed (again) the last couple of nights because she just can't warm up. OH- and I should mention: socks, too. And, this coming from the girl that will wear flip flops until there's 2 feet of snow on the ground). Ha. That list could go on, actually, but I'll stop it there. I'm just a walking, talking oxy-moron!

Plants weren't the only thing we picked up for the house. We also bought a retractable screen to put in the patio door. I'm pretty excited about it. It will be like a patio screen door, but its 'invisible' when you don't want to use it, and when you do, just pull it out from the door jam, and it keeps the bugs and creepy crawlies out! Yay--no more flies in my house! We also need to invest in a screen for the window in the kitchen. Kyle swears there's one here, but I'm not too sure. I've never seen it.

We've also sort of tackled the garage again. When we moved in, I didn't get everything unpacked. We left everything in the garage, rather than paying for anymore storage, and I quickly got overwhelmed by the amount of junk that we've been hanging on to for the last five years. Seriously, there's so much of it (and all of it hasn't been missed), I don't know where to begin. Neither does Kyle. Most of it is his. And, mixed in with all that junk are still a few things that I would like in the house. The trick is finding them!

And, some of it we did. I am soooo excited about them! It was like going shopping and coming home with a bunch of freebies! The two pictures are actually a wedding gift from a dear friend, and the wall-hanging is a gift from another very dear friend. Honestly, I forgot all about these pictures, but I'd been thinking of that wall-hanging for quite some time. I was honestly hoping that we'd find it rather soon. Yipee! We did! And, as I speak, husband is out and at it again- trying to clean up the garage and get rid of some of the clutter and junk. (I'm in the house waiting for the kids to decide their bath time is over. They like staying in there for as long as they possibly can!)

And, the 'to do' list for this summer just keeps getting longer and longer. Tomorrow we're going to clean out and up the fifth wheel, and try and get it sold. Its sat for the last 6 months (since we're no longer living in it), and we have no use for something so large. I think its going on Kijiji. We also have plans to strip and re-paint the deck and fence in the backyard. Both are in serious need of repair! I want to rip out one of the flower beds in the backyard- it was just weeds, anyways, and the other 'flower bed' is going to have to be ripped out too, I think. Its just grass growing in it, and I can't pull it out! It was nearly impossible.

What are your summer plans?

111* long weekends
112* finding long lost treasures!
113* Dr. Pepper
114* sb.com
115* my new patio table umbrella
116* the new umbrella base (so that the wind doesn't blow away and break another one! ooops...)
117* property taxes are included in our mortgage
118* vacuums
119* dishwashers
120* having pancakes every day off Kyle has
121* family traditions
122* being able to create new ones!
123* home