Taking a break...

from the ole blog for a bit...might be two days, two weeks, two months; just don't know. I can assure that when I do come back there will be some seriously picture-heavy posts!!
For right now I'm going to concentrate on my family, so I'll see you later bloggie friends:)

Summer fun...

We had a visitor sunning himself on our wall outside the other day:

He was seriously prehistoric looking:

This lil one wants to "be a man" and tells me that he's in charge of the house. "Mom come see me sitting like a man":

and when asked to smile for the camera, "men don't smile, they have to look tough"! Oh my, where does he come up with this stuff?!?

Alex's dad bought him a super-cool new Star Wars toy:

I just {HEART} this picture, his sweet face and the sunset gleaming in the window...I see a layout coming!

While we were outside, we saw a rainbow over our neighbor's house:

flowers + rainbow = happiness:

Enjoying a water balloon toss with our neighbor, Jack:

Our friends Becki & Max invited to a local indoor pool (Becki's back went out and she needed to soak in the hot tub...aaaah, it did us both some good and the boys had a blast):


After the pool we went through Culver's...I've been craving a rootbeer float (I MISS Sonic!!!) and I have to say next to Sonic and Carl's (if you're anywhere around Fredricksburg, VA, or within a day's drive - hehe - click on the link to get directions, it's awesome...get a float, any float - icee and soft serve swirled together in pure delightfulness!), this one is up there in my faves:

Alex is still lovin his karate headband:

Can I tell you how much he makes me laugh and smile?!!

And of course the sweetest thing of this summer, Miss Kinsley Ann:

And yes, the super sweetie is sporting her hat that I made for her!! Thanks for putting it on her for a photo Krista!!!

We're headed outside for some slip-n-slide action:)

T-Ball Camp...

Alex was in T-Ball camp for four days this past week, just three hours a day and he had a blast!
Getting their game plan together:


Waiting patiently to bat:









They had them hit, run to 2nd, then run home...don't ask! But here's Alex running home!




Playin outfield - they all trampled each other, they ALL wanted to catch the ball, no matter where they were standing, they all swarmed the ball!

While we were at camp, a couple of deer came to the park to watch:

Waiting patiently in line for his award (is this Alex? He had lots of patience a few times at camp, so proud of him!):

Getting his medal:

Alex with his coaches (Olivia and Matt - he had Matt last year at sports camp):

He LOVES his medal, water bottle and blue airhead candy:

Happenings around here...

*Warning, photo heavy, no craftiness, missing teeth, and sinfully rich peanut butter pie*


We had a nice day, so we got Alex's pool out, the only problem was the water coming out of the hose to fill the pool up was freezing! Still had fun:




(don't know why they're so small, sorry!)

Alex hung out with the middle school girls next door one evening! He's such a little player, but the love him, he kept score for them while they hula hooped:

and then when we made Alex come home so they could enjoy their sleepover time, they came over to ask if Alex wanted to come color with them on their sidewalk. Of course he wanted to and he sat with them, coloring for 30 minutes, which is amazing for him (to sit that long and be interested in coloring!)...just goes to show what boys will do for cute girls!!



Alex's fave snack lately has been "Yummy Yummy Fudge Bars" - I have no idea where he came up with the name, but that's what he insists they be called!
(if you look close in the last picture you can see his lil snaggle tooth that finally came out!)



Here he is after the tooth fairy made his first visit to our house:

Yes, the male tooth fairy came, he had more money than the female tooth fairy! Alex told anyone he saw at Target how the tooth fairy came and gave him $10 and that's what he was using to buy his GI Joe toys! After having speech delay, it's music to my ears to hear him chatting up everyone!!! (I'm just ignoring the fact that he has NO stranger danger fear!)



This next picture is for his SWEET Aunt Jenny:

He's enjoying some ice cream (might have been a bribe to pose for the camera to get a shot of his lost tooth hole!) in the cool bowl she bought for him on his 2nd birthday!!



Alex dressed up in his new Sunday duds, complete with his watch and his DandY topsiders, such a big boy:






Alex's friend from school, Max, and his mom came over for an evening playdate! Such a fun evening.
We played Twister:




Ms. PacMan:


And Miss Becki wrestled with Alex (willingly!...her dad was a wrestling coach, so she truly did have fun, whereas mommy is too wimpy to wrestle with Alex!):


Alex and I had to drive into Minneapolis one day, such a cool skyline:



And we drove over the new bridge that they built in place of the one that crashed:



I made a couple of Pioneer Woman recipes last night, spinach salad and peanut butter pie:

It was delightfully rich and delicious, but I think the next time I make it (yes, there WILL be a next time!!), I'm going to use a chocolate graham cracker crust!

The only thing sweeter than that pie is this sweetie pie, Kinsley Ann:

Isn't she just precious?!!!

Have a great weekend!

Rain, rain go away...

yes, it's raining and COLD on Alex's first day of summer vacation.
So, we're hangin in my bed, watching Star War the Clone Wars cartoons on Cartoon Network. Of course we went around the house and gathered all of his Star Wars figures, because you have to have them while we watch! Love that he went to look in the "huge box" for his characters, came back with three; I went to look in the same box, found 12! Here he is still in his tidy whities and undershirt that he slept in last night (we're on vacation, why get dressed?):

Also, I'm trying to feed him anything that will get his first SUPER loose tooth to come out!! He won't even have a cute gap there because the permanents are already coming up behind the baby teeth (going to the dentist on Thursday for them to look at things).

Next up on this seriously random blog post, I took this picture of this cute lil necklace at The WalMarts the other day - ribbon and beads, how cute! So now I'm wondering why I just didn't buy it, the sticker says it's on clearance for $4!! I guess when you own as much ribbon and as many beads as I do, you figure you'll one day make one:


Finally, I'll leave you with a picture of Princess Kinsley (who doesn't love looking at pictures of babies? especially when they're as gorgeous as this one?!!):


Happy Monday!

Please meet...

My God-daughter:





Kinsley Ann McGettigan
She was born Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 10:42 am. She weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz.
She and her mommy are doing just fine!
Her big brothers, Ashton & Bailor, are in LOVE with her! (I'm sure I am too!!)
I cannot wait to meet her and am hoping to this summer!
Congratulations Krista, Jeff, Ashton, Bailor, Lady & Earl!!!!

I made her this little hat, but in true Joni-fashion, it didn't make it in time for her to wear at the hospital - it's the thought that counts, right?!! Oh well, I'm sure she'll wear it for a photo-op!


Alex and I are off to school for his last day of Kindergarten! His class is having a pizza party, yum!

Alex's Last Day of Therapy Party was...

...the "coolest thing ever", "awesome" and "the most fun"!!! Complete with a shaving cream slide, a car wash and cake!

Getting shaving creamed up:


There he goes:


He's having SO much fun:


Sorry for the sideways photo, you'd think by now I'd have learned how to fix it:

Afterwards, he went through the "Alex car wash" - it's a long skinny tube of material that he had to army crawl through that got all the shaving cream off:

Next came cake! Alex didn't want cupcakes, he wanted cakef (only after I explained to him that other than him, no one else might want pepperoni pizza at 9:30 in the morning!). He helped me bake it, but had to go to bed before I frosted it - he loved seeing it this morning, he said it looked like a giant sprinkle donut (his fave!):

This is Olivia, her little brother goes to therapy with Alex, so she got to come to the party! Olivia just turned 4 and has a little crush on Alex, we were glad she was there:

Here's a video of the wildman in action (don't forget to pause the music on the bottom right if you want to listen to the video):

Do you want to see...

The layout that was the longest in joni-history scrapping?

It's not this one! This one actually didn't take that long and I really like how it turned out:


This one is it:


Why did it take so long? Was it because I covered the chipboard with pattern paper and filed/distressed it all? Or was it that I had to file/distress the letters for the title? Maybe it was because I didn't know what title to use until the magnificent Jessica posted this challenge over at Just4Keeps and I knew that I wanted to use the phrase "spread your wings and fly". Thanks Jess for the inspiration!!! And thanks to Krista for the cool bird paper, I just love it!!!

Tomorrow is Alex's last day of therapy - the insurance will only pay for 75 sessions a year and we've reached our limit. They are going to have a little party for him and he's SO excited. They let him choose which activity he wanted, last I heard it was a shaving cream slide!! FUN:)

Have you're having a terrific Tuesday!

Memorial Day weekend...

We kept very busy during the long weekend. We hung our flag, went to see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, walked to the beach at the lake where Alex went into the chilly water chest deep, roasted marshmallows with our neighbors at their fire pit, stained the deck, fixed the screen door, shopped at WalMart, ate out twice, played at two different parks, went fishing on the lake and were thankful to everyone who has served or is serving our country!

Alex in front of "his" boat:


The fish were sparse and tiny, but at least Alex caught something:

LOVE the park:

Kindergarten Concert...

Edited*** Before playing the videos, pause the blog music

Last night was Alex's Kindergarten concert, it was SO cute!

Alex is on the top right side (he waves at the end of the first video!):

After the concert, they had a slideshow, with a picture of every kindgergartener! Alex sat on his teacher, Mrs. Bree's lap, he loves her so much:

Alex and Max outside the school:

It was such a fun night! After the concert, Alex's dad took Max, his mom, Alex and I out to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and games at the table (the boys shared so well and I don't think they even noticed what they were eating, they were so enthralled with the game, maybe I should sneak some veggies on Alex's plate next time, he probably wouldn't notice...just pick it up, super dip it in ketchup and eat, all the while not taking his eyes off the personal tv game at our table!).

Another one...

Yes, I got another layout done today!!

Here it is:

I don't remember where I saw a cute tulle flower, but I just had to make one:

Now we're off to the kindergarten concert...you know I'll have pictures of that tomorrow!

Layout...

I finally finished this layout that I've been working on for weeks, it took quite a while because I used some Prima paintable paper and had to let it dry, cut it, spray it, let it dry...you get the picture!

This is totally lifted from the amazing Prima Donna Salazar:


She offered kits a while back and I just loved getting all Donna-like with ink all over the place, but love how it turned out! The blue denim flower is cut from an old pair of Alex's jeans!!

Thanks for takin a peak:)

Haley's Graduation and some random pictures...

We'll start with the random pictures, to catch up...

Alex's dad went fishing and caught MN's state fish, walleye. I fried it up and it was yummy, Alex tried it (with lots of coaxing) and loved it, ate quite a bit:

Alex and I on Mother's Day:

Alex on Cinco de Mayo:

A card that I lifted from one in Scrapbooks Etc.:

Haley's graduation card (inspired by one I saw on Fiskateers.com):

Haley's recipe album (I made it from the awesome stash of Teresa Collins' papers that sweet Dawn gave me for my birthday), I put all of our family recipes in here, with notes about most of them and she just loved it! (thanks Dawn!!!)

Now, on to our trip to TN!!

On Saturday, my sister and I drove to Knoxville. We went to lunch with Haley, Alex, my sil Jenny and two of her sweeties, Maddy & Katy.

Here I am with the graduate:

Me and my sil Jenny (we joked because we always seem to dress in the same color, never planned and this time, we had the same haircut too!):

Sweet Katy-bug and Haley (Haley's cousins all adore her and she is always happy to have one on her lap!):

Maddy and Alex:

Alex cuddlin with his Aunt Jen:

Then the big night!!

Here Haley is after she got her diploma:

Alex wanted to give Haley flowers, so Jen & I got her these beautiful sunflowers that he insisted on holding the entire graduation. He was SO excited to give them to her (he said, "Haley, you did a great job!"):

Haley with her diploma and her Salutatorian certificate (she was a little upset not to make Valedictorian, but didn't really want to have to get up and give a speech):


Alex was just so proud of his sister, he loves her SO much:

Alex was so funny, when I introduced him to Haley's mom (she's hasn't seen him in a few years), he said, "I'm Haley's brother, Alex Buhl!" and then when he met Haley's other brother, he definitely didn't like that, he might have given him a little bit of "stink eye"!!! He's so funny and extremely protective of his sister!

Happy...

Happy Mother's Day!
Alex and I are headed to church and then maybe get some lunch after. He has been eagerly waiting days to give me the Mother's Day presents that he made for me at school, so sweet and cute!!
Hope all the mommies out there have a wonderfully relaxing day!

Our trip...

to Florida! **Warning, picture heavy

Love landing in Tampa and seeing palm trees lining the interstate:


1st stop, SONIC!! And we were there for happy hour, RT. 44 Strawberry Limeade baby:

and cheddar peppers with ranch and a chili cheese coney to split with my mom!

Shopping at SuperWalMart was a treat, especially since they have Monkey Bread! Alex kept saying he hadn't had it since he lived in OK and it was Yummy:

(we don't have Super WalMart in MN:( . )

The next day was my Grandma's memorial service. It was a beautiful service, their old Reverend flew in from Texas just to perform the memorial (he grew up with my aunt and has always been special to my Grandma - bless his heart he gave her her first computer and taught her how to use it). This was the table at the entry:

I love that picture of my Grandma, it was her Senior picture. The picture in the back is my Grandma, her sister, four brothers and their mom (Grandma is in the center).

Me with my Uncle Rick (my mom's baby brother who I haven't seen since I was 20!) and his son, Matt, who is 15, looks just like my uncle when he was that age:

After the memorial and a nice gathering at a family friend's house, mom and I dug in my grandma's closet, trying on hats! (I LOVE hats, so momma wanted to see which ones I would like, of course I told "all of them"!)

This was mom's when she was a teen:

This was my great-grandmother's (Josie Main):

I teased Momma that we HAD to wear hats the next day because it was Derby Day - she didn't know if I was kidding or not, NOT!!

That evening my Uncle Rick's other son, Ryan, came over and Alex jumped right in the back of his truck - he's so not shy!! We headed to the pool so Alex could show off his swimming to my mom. She said that he didn't have lungs, he had gills because she has never seen anyone hold their breath for that long or stay in the pool for that long!


On Friday we headed to the beach! We had lunch in the sand (grouper sandwich melted in my mouth!!!).

Alex colored a beautiful rainbow fish that Grandma Patti hung up on her refrigerator as soon as we got home:


We played in the water for a while, it was SO nice! Alex had a great time playing in the waves and karate chopping them:

Saturday morning we went to see my Aunt Phyl (she's my dad's aunt who has always been like my third grandmother):


Aunt Phyl lives in a beautiful retirement community and she gave Alex some pennies to throw into the fountain to make a wish:

Alex wished for a puppy and didn't want to leave because there was going to be a puppy come out of that fountain, "puppies love water mom!". He's such a nugget!

That evening we went for a bike ride down to the water. Alex and I rode on my grandma's three-wheel bike, he had so much fun standing behind me like it was his chariot:

Sunday after church we went to a cute local steakhouse, they serve your beer to you in a paper bag, so cute:

and yummy!

Alex's wish for a puppy came true that afternoon when Grandma Patti bought herself a Chihuahua puppy:

She is so adorable and just perfect for my mom, who needed to have a companion since she's spent the last year taking care of my grandma. Just the distraction that she needed so she wouldn't be too alone after we left.

Next we went to my cousin Jessica's ranch. They have lots of sweet horses, but Alex and I didn't get to ride that day, maybe next visit.

Alex had the puppy (her name is still being debated on!) in the backseat with him on the way to the airport. He kissed and petted her the entire way:

On our way to the airport over the Skyway Bridge:

Man, what a sight, LOVE me some saltwater!!!

It was a great trip and I'm so glad that we would be able to go, to be there for my mom and to see lots of family.

Where oh where...

does time go? I haven't blogged in over a week.
Alex has been keeping me busy, very happily! We've been on several play dates with his friend Max, going to the park lots, but since we live in MN, we're back to being cold, so what should we do? Fly to Florida you say? I think we will!
My grandma, my mom's mom, finally went to be with The Lord after suffering from emphazema for many years (second hand smoke DOES kill!), so Alex and I will fly down for her memorial service. We are leaving Wednesday and get to stay until Monday. Alex hasn't ever been to Bradenton and there are lots of people there that cannot wait to meet him! Alex is going to be beside himself to swim in the outdoor pool since it's plenty warm! I'm looking forward to seeing my mom and getting out of MN for a little bit.
I'll be back with many pictures!

More...

Layouts and Alex funnies!

Trisha's Wednesday Challenge at Just4Keeps was to use orange and I {heart} orange, this picture of Haley and my new Maya Mists, so this is one of my faves:


One of Trish's old Tuesday Challenges was to scraplift one of Kelly Goree's layouts. I used LOTS of Studio Calico papers and "was/now" stamp on here:


Now for the Alex funnies...last night we went to the park at the lake to play and feed the birds/fish some bread. I gave Alex a piece of bread, I took mine, starting pinching some off throwing it out, Alex says, "mommy this is yummy bread!" He had eaten half the bread, which may or may not have had a wee bit of mold thinking about growing on it. Yikes! What doesn't kill him only makes him stronger, right?! He finished that and asked for more bread, he was "hungry for more of that delicious bread"!
Then this morning I could hear Sparkles upstairs meowing. I asked Alex to go up to see if she was shut in a room, he told me, "I didn't want Sparkles to eat Robo, so I shut her in my bathroom!" I asked to go up there to let her out - goodness how long was she in there? Never a dull moment with him!

Have a fab Friday!

More layouts...

I've been holing myself up in my scraproom lately (read: Alex's dad had him all afternoon and evening for Easter and scrapping saved my sanity...well somewhat!).

I participated in Just4Keeps' Neverending Scraplift Challenge - my layout was #177, so fun seeing the progression of the lift from #1!

I also did Trish's Tuesday Challenge using a fun sketch:

Alex has been getting up with the sun lately, so I've been getting lots done in the a.m. - my laundry sorter is empty, seriously! Never thought that would happen!! And I've got two layouts working on my table, I love getting a jump-start in the mornings!

Alex got on a kick last night and wanted me to read his Kung Foo Panda book and of course it was a Kohl's Cares book, so we have the stuffed Po Panda to go with it, who happened to be wearing Alex's karate sash. Well, of course he wanted me to tie the sash on his head like a headband and slept with it on all night! He got up this morning and practiced his karate moves all morning, such a fun lil man I have, he makes me SMILE!!

**edited - I was able to get Alex to go to school without his headband on, but he has a red mark on his forhead to show for it!!

Hope you have a terrific Thursday!

Star Wars cards...

Alex got a cool book for his birthday from Aunt Jenny, Uncle Jonathan, Lily, Maddy, Katy and Parker Buddy - a Star Wars book with punch-out character cards! The other night while doing his therapeutic listening, he grabbed his book, his cards and a blue pen:

A section of the book was to list your favorites (droids, character, coolest, bad guy, etc.) and he had so much fun filling it in:

Thank you Aunt Jenny for picking out this cool book for me!

Easter fun...

Instead of decorating Easter eggs that we won't eat, we decorated Easter cookies that Alex gladly ate!

I'm still finding sprinkles on the floor after a dozen sweepings! He surprised me by helping decorate all of them, that's huge for his small concentration. :)



Aren't they decorative?!

The Easter bunny brought Alex a basketful of treats and his eggs all over the living room that he had fun collecting:

I'm so thankful that I was able to spend Easter Sunday morning with him, he said it was the "best Easter ever"!

New Haley layouts...

I'm trying to get back to doing some of the awesome challenges over at Just4Keeps!

Trisha's creations are always so incredible. She challenged us to use vintage inspired papers, this is what I came up with:


Trish have us a great pagemaps sketch to create a layout, this is my take:


Kathy challenged us to use a less than perfect picture on a layout. This picture of Haley has an awful glare and is very fuzzy, but I don't think Haley's ever taken a bad picture, she's so photogenic!!

Trisha challenged us a few weeks ago to use blue as the main color in a layout. This picture of Haley playing softball was perfect for that:


I'm really enjoying Haley's layouts, filling them with fun girlie embellies!

Sharks galore...

Alex and I headed to the aquarium during spring break. It was very cool.

The shark tanks were tunnels with a slooooow moving sidewalk:

Alex was excited to see this alligator:

At the end of the aquarium was a play ship that Alex really enjoyed playing on, especially the telescope:

What a fun day!

Spring Break...

Alex has spring break this week and we played at a classmate's house, hung out at the library, rented two movies, stayed up a little past 9:00 (shhhh! don't tell) and slept in until 7:40 this morning. I love having Alex home all day with me, he is the light of my life and brings me much needed happiness!
Hope you're having a good spring day:)

Scraps of pink...

I worked on some of Haley's layouts this past week.

I got a little bling happy on this one:


This one was all Basic Grey yummies (except for the bling and flowers):


I used lots of odds and ends that I've had forever on this one:


Papers from one of my Studio Calico kits, love those lil birdies:

I took a piece of paper from a SC kit and cut it to pieces to get all of the embellies for this one:

Thanks for taking a peak!

Coming off our sugar high...

All of the cupcakes have been consumed, the crumbs vacuumed up and we're getting back to life as previously scheduled after the big 6th birthday celebration!

I finished up Alex's thank you cards:

Alex went to the dentist:

NO cavities and we saw "pictures" of his big boy teeth that are waiting patiently under the wiggly baby teeth!

Today was School Spirit/Pajama Day at school:

Batman pj's with a flashing bat on the chest and a cape in the back, what a good day!

Alex and I are going to spend a quiet Friday night watching Beverly Hills Chihuahuas in our pj's (luckily he has on already, so easy night for me!). Have a great weekend!

Waterpark Birthday Party....

Alex's 6th Birthday Party was today at the Holiday Inn WaterPark right near our house. It was SO fun!

This is the big slide:


They had basketball goals:

At big hot tub (no BNB!! inside joke for my fam!):

A shallow swimming area that the big kids invaded:

Here the big kids had a water ball/slingshot war:


And of course we had cake (really cupcakes!):

All of Alex's friends were able to come and I think everyone had a good time, I know we had a GREAT time!!

Lil Leprecon...

On ST. Patrick's Day, I took cupcakes to Alex's Kinderzone class:


I stayed and went to lunch with him and his class in the cafeteria - big stuff! It was a very fun morning!

Alex's BIG 6th Birthday...

To start out Alex's birthday, I took cupcakes to his kindergarten classroom:




After school, we headed to the Mall of America! We went for his birthday last year, so he now thinks it's a tradition. Here he is with his map, guiding our way through the rides (even though he KNOWS that place like the back of his hand!):




I just love this picture of him:



THis is his favorite ride there (Jess, you remember this one!!):

He was very brave and rode this:

To end a fun night at the Mall of America, we had dinner at the Hooters there - Alex's favorite restaurant!

Alex was SO wiped out, he fell asleep on the way home! When we got here, he got out of the car and said, "I thought we were still at the Mall of America!", but he soon perked up to open presents!!

First up was his "mystery package" - his box from Aunt Jenny has been here since Saturday and he's been so intrigued by what's in the box - he even told his class about his mystery box! He LOVED his gifts, wrapped in super cool Transformers paper:

LOVE the excitement on his face:


He cannot wait to put this together:

He LOVES this book, it's FULL of trading cards! His big wide eyes remind of of Parker Buddy:

Here is the excitement of him getting his Nintendo DS (sorry for the screaming, don't turn your volume up very loud!):

Thanks for taking a peak at Alex's BIG 6th Birthday!!

**Edited - sorry about the video, don't know why it's turned sideways!

6? SIX? Already....

How can my lil man be 6 today?
It seems like yesterday we were here:

Now we're here:

I had to throw this picture in there because seeing makes me know 100% that we brought the right baby home from the hospital!! THat is SO Alex:

We've got a long day: therapy, lunch, kindergarten (mommy bringing cupcakes and juice for snack!), Mall of America and then home for presents!!

I {heart} theme gifts...

I love to give themed gifts - for example, my sweet neices when they are into a certain character, I make them a birthday basket full of goodies that are all Dora or Little Mermaid.
Sometimes I get to carry this out with adults, but not often!
For my sister's birthday, I made her an apron and sent with it a good kitchen knife and some cute rubber gloves:

She texted me this picture to say thank you! She's so funny!! That apron is almost as sassy as she is, almost!

It's March!!!!!!!!!

Alex LOVES March, it's his birthday month! He's sings, "It's March, Marchy, Marchy, March, iiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's March!"

His birthday party this year will be at the Holiday Inn's water park, right down the road from our house - very exciting! Here are his invitations:

Alex also got new glasses:

Pre-hockey has started back:

I made another apron, this one is for my sister's birthday:

One day I'm going to get around to making one for myself, one day!

Thank you for all of your comments on the glasses, I have #5 but my 30 days isn't up yet!! LOL!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Help me decide!!

I need help! I bought new glasses and they made the mistake of telling me that I could exchange them within 30 days if I didn't like them - HUGE mistake on their part, they had no idea they were telling Miss Indecisive to come back three times to try on glasses! Will you take a look, leave a comment telling me which option you prefer? THanks!!

Oh and I don't take good self-portraits and ignore the the lovely cold sore! ;)

Option 1:

Option 2:

Option 3:

Option 4:

Option 5:

So I picked option 5 originally, here I am in them this morning:

Which do you like the best?!

20 Wishes mini album...

Trisha at Just4Keeps gave us a wonderful challenge, to create a 20 Wishes Album. I chose to make it an album for Alex about his Uncle Jason who's in Heaven.

The front is smaller than the back, it's graduated and I used brown paper bags as the base. I kept each page simple, picture(s), stamp, journaling and three buttons to represent Jen, Jason and I!

Take a look:

Thanks to Trisha and J4K for the awesome challenge and thank you for takin a peak!!

Fun time...

It's been a while since I skated with Alex, so yesterday when we went skating, he was my "teacher". He said I did a good job and now I can get a job teaching skating (I about fell just laughing at the thought of that!).


Me following my teacher:

He's giving me a high five for completing an assignment:

I got the thumbs up for a good lesson:

BTW, I got my hair cut off! Bye-Bye long hair, yay!

I'll leave you with a layout for Haley's album, lots of Studio Calico yummies on this one:

Hope you're having a great Monday!

Birthday and a movie...

Alex's friend Carson had his birthday party at the movie theater! Pizza, cake, icees and a movie - lil man was lovin it!!

Alex and the birthday boy:


The boys heading upstairs to see the viewing room, where all the movies come from:

The boys got to look out through the window to the theater below, very cool:

They got their treats:

Everyone has their treats and waiting to go in to see Hotel For Dogs:

All the party people:

It was a cute movie and Alex loved sitting in a row with all of his friends (parents right behind them!)!

More scrappiness...

Yes, I've been churning out the layouts lately! Hope the time and inspiration keeps coming!

I haven't done a double pager in ages (and that's all I used to do back in my early scrappin days!):

Here's a layout for a challenge at Just4Keeps:

And this one is also for another challenge at Just4Keeps:

Yoga...

Alex loves doing Wii Fit Yoga at home and he's gotten very good at it. He calls it "yoda" - the boy loves his Star Wars!!

At school someone gave the class an ABC's Yoga video for Valentines. The boys loved doing it and they were so cute!
Here they are being alligators for A:



He really loved the video and impressed his teachers with his wonderful balancing!

Alex's gifts for his Valentines...

Alex has a special friend in KinderZone that he wanted to buy a Valentine for. He chose this rose for his Valentine, Madelynn:

His teachers said that he came into the classroom with it hidden behind his back and both he and Madelynn were smiling HUGE! He gave her the rose and she kissed him on the cheek! I KNOW, how stinkin cute!

He also made me a heart shaped pin for Valentines:

It is perfect for me, lots of sequins, beads and bling!

Celebrating President's Day at School...

Alex's class made these hat/wigs to wear in honor of President's Day. Alex was George Washington (he always thinks he has to be first!!):

He and his friend looked at a book about Presidents: