Kid stuff and a layout

I love this face

And I love this face

Even when it looks like this

But it sure was nice to spend a day this week with just this girl

The boys had a sleep over at Grammie and Grampie's so just us girls got the day to ourselves. The house was so quiet and peaceful. No crying, no fighting. We did laundry, ran some errands, B had a nap and I watched General Hospital and scrapbooked...ahh, bliss. Of course, they were exhausted by the time I got to them from staying up late and going on an adventure hike with Grampie in the morning. Bedtime...well, let's just say that was far from fun. And then Kieran was up half the night sick with a fever and B was up just for fun I think so then next day I paid dearly for my day of bliss, lol! Never comes without strings. I'm sure I'd do it again though, haha.

The boys have done really well in their swimming lessons. Today is the last day and I know they are going to miss it. It's amazing to see how much they improve, especially at Riley's level, in the course of 2 weeks.

Riley has informed us that he's going to buy one of the houses next door to us when he grows up. And he's going to have a bunny that he keeps on a leash to eat the dandelions :) When asked how old he was going to be when all this happened he said, "I'd say 16. No, maybe 12." And to get the money he's going to go to the bank for three days and get 108 (not sure if that's dollars, pennies, what, but 108 was the number). Funny boy :)

Bridget is now in the "what's that?" phase. She asks about everything :) It's cute and not yet annoying, but I'm sure that will come, haha. She's learning more everyday and she's just the cutest little imp ever, heehee.

Here is my second layout for the LCOM Sketch team. This is based on Tara's awesome sketch :) For more takes on the sketch check out the blog :)

I'm finally digging out and scrapping some of my Greece pictures. I think it's because I'm too lazy to get more pictures printed, lol. I really, really want a photo printer so I can just print pictures as I need them rather than editing and uploading a bunch at once. It's on my wish list :)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend :)

Hippity Hop!

It's our first ever blog hop over at Scrap That! Each DT member will be posting different techniques using buttons :) Hope you enjoy all the creations and maybe learn something fun and new!

I actually saw Beth stack buttons like this on a project recently and thought they would make cute flowers. I was making this with kids running around and in hindsight realize that I probably should have tied a ribbon on the top button, lol. I might go take it apart and do that! Anyway, still cute flowers I think. I also use buttons a lot on acrylic accents like the butterfly. They draw the eye to the accent and help cover your adhesive ;)

Riley thought it would be fun to make a card while I was scrapping this one. He used the same button technique (ok...I put them together, but he picked them and placed them on his card :)). Here's his creation:

Pretty good, I think :)

So, stop at the Scrap That! blog and leave a comment and then hop on over to all the DT blogs :) You can find all the girls here:

Jodi

Sarah

Mara

Amanda N.

Sharon (GDT)

Have fun!!

More cards

I know...hard to believe, but here they are :)

This birthday card was made with my June Scrap That! kit. It was so full of fun, bright goodies! I love how these bright colours look against the kraft paper :)

And here's another one made with my Treasured Scrapbooking kit. The aquas and oranges have been so fun to work with. I just love them for vacation/summer projects :)

The kids are doing well. The boys have been in swimming lessons every day this week and next week too. They are loving it and doing an amazing job. It's so fun to watch them progress each day. The results are a lot more obvious than when they only go once a week. It's funny that the thing they have the most difficulty with is the bobs...just dunking under and back up again. I think they have some kind of mental block or something, haha. They put their face in and I think they believe they're putting their whole head in. Riley will swim when they tell him to bob, lol. Guess he's doing ok then :) Poor Kieran is shaking like a leaf with cold when he gets out, but he still loves every minute. I think he has my temperature control :)

Bridget is sweet. Getting her eye teeth. She knows and understands so much and I swear her vocabulary grows by the minute. She calls the swing 'whee' :) She says hi to everyone in the grocery store (repeatedly...if you see us, don't feel obligated to say it back 50 times). She's got a little bit of a red head temper and I have seen her lie herself down for a tantrum. She breaks into tears every time I say no (if only the boys had the same reaction!). She knows most of the parts of her body and I've been trying to work on colours. She loves to give her brothers hugs and kisses (again...repeatedly...she does nothing half assed, that girl :)).

So, life is crazy, but great! We wouldn't change a thing (ok, maybe my house could be a bit cleaner and I could get a bit more sleep...someday).

Oh, all you scrappy gals...stay tuned for the Scrap That! blog hop this weekend :) Here's a sneak peek of my project.

The Treasured Hunt

Treasured Scrapbooking is hosting it's biggest contest of the year! You have to go and check it out. I am so looking forward to it...I wasn't around last year at this time, but I have heard this is not to be missed! Lots of great challenges and inspiration! I find a lot of my best work comes from being pushed outside my boundaries by contests like this. And there are FABULOUS prizes to be won!

GRAND PRIZE: Prize Package worth over $250 of scrapbooking supplies and a $50 gift certificate to the Treasured Scrapbooking store!!

2nd prize: $40 Treasured Scrapbooking Gift Certificate

3rd prize: $25 Treasured Scrapbooking Gift Certificate

Eligibility entries can be uploaded to the gallery up until July 31st...don't delay!

First Friday Sketch!

Check out the first Friday sketch at Capture These Sketches!! Yay!! Such a talented group of girls creating sketches and layouts each week! Play along each week to be entered for a chance to win a prize at the end of the month from one of our sponsors! Plus, you'll come out with a gorgeous layout...win, win! Join in the fun here.

Melissa's layout for this week was so much fun to work with! I've been having some trouble getting my camera battery charged this morning (hmm...is the charger wonky or is the plug wonky??) so my layout hasn't been uploaded to the blog. I hope I'll get it up within the next half hour or so.

More scrappy goodness to come later! Believe it or not, I did another card ;)

More reveals

Today was our second July reveal at Treasured Scrapbooking. So many gorgeous projects from the girls on the DT there. Leslie's kits really rock...they are packed full of all kinds of gorgeous goodies.

I did *gasp* another card! I actually think I am starting to like making cards. (Diva, we've crossed to the dark side and it's kinda fun ;)). All of the supplies for this were made using Kit #1 from TS, with the exception of the bumble bee which is made by My Little Bit of Whimsy (definitely check out Steph's buttons too...amazing!). I created the flower using the 7Gypsies oval stamp and cutting out petals.

And here is another layout using the same kit. I just love all the aquas, oranges and browns in this kit. They inspired me to do my first layout of the trip to Greece I took in 2002. I had such fun with this!

I have tons of stuff left in this kit, so you haven't seen the end of it for sure!

And I have a couple more projects using my Scrap That! kit, including, you got it...another card (Amy, don't show Jack...it's for his b-day, haha).

(The picture of this is a little dark...it was taken on a dreary day. The colours are brighter, irl).

This is a picture of Riley from last summer. I think he's just so cute. I'm proud of this pic that I took myself that looks exactly like the ones they wanted to sell me, lol!

I just came down from Riley's room. At 8:00 when he should be sleeping he wanted to have a talk about David and Goliath and heaven and Jesus. Sigh. Man, that kid knows how to postpone sleep, haha.

The boys went back to the toy store yesterday with their Transformers and got more age appropriate toys. Riley got a Transformer that is a stage below that one and loves that he can transform it all on his own. I took a picture of him with his big boy toy tonight (the batteries are dead on the camera...I'll have to show you later :)). Kieran got something that's like a Nerf slingshot with 2 balls. It's super easy for him to use and doesn't go too far. They're much happier now.

Well, I might just sit down to do another card...imagine :)

The Week in Review

My, I have had a busy, busy week. I probably don't even want to review it because afterward I'll have to go take a nap. But, to keep you all in the loop (and to post a few cute pics of my kids) here we go.

Monday afternoon I ended up, after a call to telehealth, taking Riley to the ER. The day before, Kieran had poked him in the eye with a plastic dinosaur. By Monday it was pretty red and a bit sore, so I called and they said I should take him in to make sure there were no scratches. We had a pretty long wait, but thankfully, due to some stories, a tv, and other kids to play with, Riley was well behaved. The doctor looked at him for all of 2 minutes before he told me that it would heal with time. I guess the 3 hours of waiting was a good start, lol. It's all healed now. I always have to call or get things checked out with Riley because he's made of steel or has no nerve endings or something...I swear the kid doesn't feel pain. So, just had to make sure there was no damage. Any other kid, after being poked in the eye that hard would have cried for a long time. Not Riley...a few seconds and he's over it.

Tuesday we went picking strawberries with Grammie and Grampie. It was a nice day for it...the perfect temperature and the berries were gorgeous. The kids all had fun picking/eating strawberries. I think Kieran picked two and ate 20. Of course, if you put those same berries on his plate at home he wants nothing to do with them. Have I mentioned he's picky?? Apparently, they are only good right off the plant. Haha. Riley had fun picking "dandies" as he and Grampie call them. "Too bad you didn't get any dandies, Mommy, I got them all." So cute.

My strawberry girl in a strawberry field :)

Strawberry...

He has no problem eating here.

Riley covered in strawberries. Am I the only Winchester working here?

My cute babies :)

Wednesday was pretty low key. The cousins came to play in the afternoon. I tried to be Rachael Ray again at supper and the kitchen looked like a hurricane hit it by the end. 30 minutes, my tushie! I think RR needs to have three kids and then tell me how long it takes her to make a meal!!!

Bubbles!!

Practicing sun safety :)

Thursday morning I cleaned the fridge. And I mean take it all out...every shelf, every draw and scrub it kind of clean. It took me almost two hours of cleaning, dealing with the kids and spilling yogurt all over the floor, but I got it done. It's been bothering me for weeks. I also hung out laundry for the first time in forever since the weather's been so crappy. In the afternoon we had a playdate at the playground and then went to McHarg's house to play and for impromptu supper. They live close to the playground and Riley had to go to the bathroom so we made a pit stop and just stayed. I didn't plan it that way, honest ;) We had pancakes...Kieran's fave. I swear that kid would live on cereal and pancakes if we let him.

Friday morning we went to feed the animals at the "farm" a local nursery that has pigs, a horse, cow, goats, hens, peacocks, bunnies, ducks. The kids love to go there! They have a trail too with wooden faces on the trees and the boys love to spot them. Grampie came with us, it was nice to have the company. Then home to do laundry (I hung out two loads!) and back to Grammie and Grampie's in the afternoon to wash the van. The boys played water guns with Grampie...we all got wet and had fun. Thanks to Mom and Dad for supper, again :)

Saturday morning Riley had a soccer "mini-fest". He played 3 games of 20 minutes each. He is still kind of "space-y" a lot of the time....not really paying attention, but he sure has fun. He made a couple of nice stops. He loves to play defense/goalie, but at that age they don't really have positions, they all just chase the ball :) Really cute. They got timbits and a medal...Riley's perfect morning! Then we went to the Farmer's market, had lunch there, and then to get groceries. We did a kid swap with the cousins in the afternoon for playdates. Then a bonfire before bed...mmm...marshmallows.

Ok, I clearly messed up these pics, but you get the gist :) Happy boy!

Today we told the boys we'd count the money in their piggy banks and let them take some of it to buy a toy at the store. It was so cute. They each picked out a toy (Transformers) and gave the cashier their money and took their change all on their own. Why, oh why, didn't I take my camera? We get home, open the Transformers and, I kid you not, the instructions are 15-18 steps to transform the stupid things. It took Kevin 20 minutes or so to do one. They are supposed to be for ages 5+. Needless to say, they are going back tomorrow. There is no way either of the boys could do them and they'd be broken in a day. They actually took it pretty well, not being able to play with their toys. I felt so bad for them, they were so good all day and picked them out and paid all on their own. We'll have to get them something more appropriate tomorrow.

Phew. Busy week, but lots of fun! Hope we see the sun again this week. It disappeared again today :(

I hear the sun is coming!

Yup, that's the rumour going around! I hope that we'll be out playing in the sunshine later in the week. Enough rain already!!

I've been behind in my blogging. Life has been busy! The Bon Jovi concert was amazing! So much fun and worth the lack of sleep! Canada Day we took in some festivities and had family dinner at my parents' house. Kevin took Thursday and Friday off so we went to the zoo in Moncton and did some rides at Crystal Palace. Friday we cleaned and got ready for my 30th b-day party, which was on Saturday. We had a crowd in and had some great food and a really nice time with everyone. A few of us hung in there until 1:30...had so much fun with you guys :) Thanks to all for gifts (which were totally unnecessary) and for the good food! Again, for the second Sunday in a row, we were recovering from lack of sleep :)

Kieran has decided that when he grows up he wants to be a superhero AND a firefighter :) Riley wants to be a firefighter only, heehee. Bridget is practically running all over the place. She loves playing with the boys and pretends to cook and eat food :) She also has a bit of that redhead firey streak, lol. When she's angry, she's angry! Thankfully, that isn't very often :)

Some overdue scrappy business :)

I issued a Christmas in July challenge over at Treasured Scrapbooking. Guess what I created for the challenge! Gasp! A card! And...I actually had fun making it!

I've had this stamp for a while but this was my first time using her :)

Here is my layout/sketch for the TS July 1st reveal...

Check out the gallery! The girls are rockin' the kits this month!

Our June kits at Scrap That! were postponed a bit last month so the DT could take advantage of some sales in the store (you really should check out Lori's store!). The kits are so beautiful and summery! I have 2 layouts done so far and I'm sure lots more to come from this kit!

That's it for tonight! Keep your fingers crossed that I see the sun this week!!