A Trip Down Memory Lane

Anyone remember this from Sesame Street? Makes me smile!



Your friend ~A

Or Am I Oragami

Spencer is really into Oragami paper stuff right now. He loves going on You Tube and checking out videos of Oragami making. He found this one and wanted me to check it out with him. I watched it...all NINE minutes of it!

He really wanted to make the Moving Cubes but I was totally confused after watching the video. (I was hoping he wouldn't need my help!)

He retreated to my scrap room with a ruler, a pencil, some paper and my tape runner and he did it. Joel helped him for a few minutes with the measurements but he mostly did it all on his own while watching this video! Yay Spence!



Your friend ~A

Joel on Anesthesia! Let's Go Shoppin'!

Oops...this was supposed to be a video of Spencer. Some how I picked the wrong one and uploaded this video I took of Joel right after he came out of his endoscopy! I videoed him because he was cracking me up and I knew he wouldn't remember it! I'm not going to delete because if you've ever uploaded a video to Blogger you know how long it takes so I thought I might as well make a post out of it!! Watch for the part where he says "What's it matter"! When he watched it looked at me and gave me a guilty smile. He felt bad that he sounded not so nice when he said that. It's ok...nothing counts while you're "under". Sweet guy.


This was the second video I took...the first one he was even more out of it...it was actually kind of scary and made me all teary eyed. This one just makes me laugh! He also made the comment to the nurses while he was half out of it: "No wonder Michael liked this stuff!"

(Yes...he knows this is on here :)

Now...I'm off to try to upload the one of Spence!

Your friend ~A

Scrapped again!

Although it wasn't a challenge layout :( I scrapped again!

I have been wanting to scrap this photo since it was taken! I bought the rub on quote at the Meet and as soon as I saw this pic I knew that I wanted to put this quote with it.

When Tina started the challenges my mind was opened up to a whole new way of looking at scrap booking. Find a layout that you like and THEN find the pictures to go with it. I used to start with pictures and then spend HOURS trying to find a layout to "lift" that would work with my pictures.

My new way was working so well for me.

But this time I had the picture. I had the quote. But I didn't have the layout. None of the challenge layouts was just exactly right for this. I spent forever looking through mags & idea books trying to find something.

This is what I came up with. Once again...my inspiration layout looks nothing like my final result but...at least it got me there!

My take:

Oh...and just a note...I had planned on making the colors yellowish and brownish...Kim's yellow shirt & all the brown/darker colors the rest of were wearing...I just thought it would work best. BUT...I really wanted to use that "LUCKY ME" embellie that I had...it just NEEDED to be on this layout and it was TURQUOISE???...but I worked it in and I think it worked!


PS: KENDREA......I need to know how you get your layout pics so perfect. Mine always look off-color and bowed!

Your friend ~A

Way to help a Sista out !!

Kim had a turquoise felt border that she was willing to give up!! YAY! Thanks Sista! I just love the way it ties in with the word "lovin"

I took this picture outside so the color is a little better!

Your Friend ~A

I scrapped!

It's been waaaay too long...can't wait to get back at it!!


Although the finished product looks nothing like it...here is my inspiration:


My take:

Once again...the camera does not do the colors in this layout justice. Not sure why that is. My camera takes great pictures. I guess it's just not so great at taking pictures OF pictures!!

I was really excited to use the felt turquoise blue swirl border that I picked up at the Mega Meet. I planned on putting it right under the striped ribbon to "take it to the next level" (That quote never gets old to me!) That's why it looks a little plain at the bottom. Well...when I tried to remove the adhesive backing it got all twisted and I ended up just wadding it up in a big ball of frustration and tossing it in the trash. I have a few more of those borders. Next time I will just apply glue or something to the back and not try to remove the adhesive. I know a bunch of us bought those...anyone else have any issues?!

Your friend ~A

More Summer Fun!

Getting rid of our big round table outside and replacing it with "furniture" is proving to be such a great decision (I was unsure at first!).

The other night we had the Jones (or is it Joneses?!) over for drinks & a bonfire. What fun!!

Happy Birtday Lisa !!!

The next day was my day off and Joel is on vacation so we had a fun family day! We went on a long bike ride and stopped at Knapp's for lunch then to the Splash Pad and then on to the high school for open swim!!



I love Spencer's smile in this video...pure happiness!

Your friend ~A

What have we been doing this summer?!

OMGooosh! It's been a looooong time since I've posted!

Life is just BUSY...I know you can relate!

So...I thought I'd update on what we've been doing so far this summer! With pictures, of course!

We've spent a lot of time this summer with Kari (my BFF since we were 13) & Mike @ their house on Watkins Lake.

We've also spent a lot of time going out to eat

and, of course, tons of fun with the Hillary's!!!

Every year Joel's parents do a combo party for all of the summer birthdays. This year we went to Henry Ford Museum!

Weatherd a few summer storms. Check out this HUGE hail we got during a pretty bad one! The boys had a blast scooping it up...we still a few in the freezer!

Played some golf...

We celebrated Carson's b-day by taking him to The Original Pancake House (not to be confused with International House of Pancakes!) to get his very favorite...strawberry ice cream crepes! He also got a new bike!

We celebrated Spencer's b-day by going to the IMAX theatre to see Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. It was the first time we had been to the IMAX...pretty cool! I also made him this cake. He saw it on the cover of one of my magazines and asked if I could make it for his b-day cake!

Had a great time at Tina & Derek's annual summer party
`


Got a new grill to complete our outdoor deck area!

Went to my 20 year class reunion
<

Celebrated my Aunt Doreen's 60th birthday with a picnic at our house! Believe it or not this is the first & only picture we have with the entire family in it!

Helped our great friends the Weber's complete their landscape project. We all decided that this is the way that all big projects should be handled!

And had a super fun BFF BBQ!

Your friend ~A

Last day of school :(

Spencer is soooo sad that school is over! He was in tears the other night when I tucked him in and he said he cried today on his way out of his classroom "but nobody saw me" and tonight he got weepy. He LOVED his teacher, Shanie Williams, and so did we. He also says he will miss his friends. Carson is also pretty bummed but not as emotional as Spence.


One thing that did surprise me is that they both wanted to go back to extended day today on their last day of school. They haven't been in about a month since Joel had his route change. In the past I have always tried to take the last day of school off because I always felt bad that all the other kids would be getting off the bus at 4:00...running home...smiling & laughing...giddy at the thought of the summer ahead. I didn't want my boys to have to stay 2 more hours at the school on the very last day and miss out on all the excitement in the neighborhood!


So when they said they wanted to go and say goodbye to their extended day teachers and the friends they have there on the last day of school instead of coming home it really made me think. Maybe I shouldn't feel so guilty about the things we have to do in order to provide the life we do for them. What I think is a big deal (being able to get off the bus on the last day of school) didn't matter as much to them as it did to me. What they cared most about was being able to give their extended day teachers a last hug goodbye and to make sure they could have them sign their end of the year tee-shirts. Life lessons from kids...gotta love it !


Carson's teacher gift:


Beach bag filled with beach towel, Real Simple & Rachel Ray Mags and Bath & Body lotion & spray in Exotic Coconut (of course!)





Spencer's teacher gift:


Card with picture on the front and gift card to Sagebrush and note with the BEST handwriting ever on the inside! He also wanted to give her some lotion so we included a bottle of Exotic Coconut!


Your friend ~A

Picture a Day...almost!

I really should've done the Picture a Day project since that is pretty much how I keep track of what we are doing! I was just so frustrated at not being able to the "the kit" it was well into the year before I realized that I never needed the kit to accomplish the same thing! Next year...

For now I will continue to post our life in pictures...may be not EVERY day...but most days!

Spencer in my Kris Draper jersey. (They've lost both times he's worn it...I doubt Joel will let him put it on for game 7)

The Blue Jays (Carson's team) took on the Diamondbacks (Liams' team)! What fun we had with the Hillary's cheering both of "our boys" on!

I love this picture of Carson batting while Liam is catching :)

Later that night Tina came over for some girl (and little boy) time! We were both shocked when she left and clock said 1:00 AM !! I was tired the next day but it was WELL worth it!

Carson's last day of soccer...playing goalie just waiting for some action!

Your friend ~A