SCY: Last Day of School

School starts on Monday for my big kids. :( Here's a layout on their last day of school, which I'm already looking forward to again!



The sketch came from Ali over at Sketches: Creatively Yours... come see the other designers' work!

Date with Mommy

Got this one in just before taking my son on another date. The pictures here are actually from LAST summer. Used Scrapdango here, too.

A girl and her cat

Love the way that the baby is enthralled with our cat! Yet again, a Scrapdango kit pulls it all together.

Presents

One last one from my youngest's first birthday party... used a Scrapdango kit here.

Base Running

I love Jillibean. Luckily, one of the most recent Scrapdango kits was exploding with it!

Journaling Junkie: Favorite Recipe

The new challenge at Journaling Junkie is on your favorite recipe.

It's been awhile since I posted a recipe for my cookbook scrapbook.

A few weeks back, the kids and I had a cooking day, where we made the entire week's dinners in one hour. One of the things that we made was this super simple crab salad that we ALL loved! I hope you'll give it a try and let me know if you enjoyed it as much as we did.

SCY: Building our House

I used a Scrapdango kit to create this layout from one of Ali's fab sketches for Sketches: Creatively Yours.

August slowdown

I'm trying to savor these last weeks before my big kids go back to school, so you will see a general slowdown on my blog. I have a few reveals pre-posted, and I'll post some recent layouts that I have tucked away, but that might be it for a few weeks. I'll be back when my heart is away playing in the schoolyard. Enjoy your families!

SCY: Leader

This is my layout for the latest sketch over at Sketches: Creatively Yours. I needed to document this story, on how my daughter was a leader at preschool... she could convince anyone to play any game that she chose. I love that about her!

Journaling Junkie: Favorite Things

Does anyone else have the Sound of Music song in their heads now? No... just me?

The new challenge at Journaling Junkie is on your favorite things.

Because I turn 35 (gasp!) this month, I wanted to highlight 35 things about myself.



1. I am a die-hard HOKIE… loved my time at VT and can’t wait until my kids go there.

2. Speaking of kids, my kids are my favorite people in the world.

3. I was a music education major for two years before deciding that if I taught, I would never want kids of my own. I finished my finance major in two years so that I could graduate “on time” by taking several 21+ credit semesters (and I still never turned down the opportunity to go out for a beer).

4. The Melting Pot is my favorite restaurant.

5. I converted to Catholicism in 2001, and I am totally at home in the Church.

6. I miss living in D.C. I still read the Washington Post. And, no, the traffic didn’t bother me that much.

7. I miss working. I love that I decided to take a break to stay home with the kids, but I miss accomplishing goals and getting PAID.

8. I became a Democrat in college largely because my beliefs were more aligned with that party, but also because I didn’t feel, as a woman, that the Republican Party really cared if I was part of it or not.

9. I am addicted to chick-lit books.

10. My favorite drinks are a good Merlot, Mountain Dew, and Starbucks Caramel Frappuccino

11. I never learned to swim or ride a bike.

12. I am huge on recycling and try to buy only organic produce. I would love to buy almost all organic foods, but WOW would that be expensive.

13. We are only 13 years away from paying off our house, thanks to a great seller’s market when we left D.C.

14. I’m an optimist, and Joey is a pessimist… makes things interesting!

15. My first car was a wood-paneled station wagon. NO I didn’t buy it; it was the one that my parents allowed me to have almost-exclusive use of.

16. We live in a subdivision down the street from the house I grew up in. If you told me when I was a teenager that I would live here BY CHOICE as an adult, I would have never believed you.

17. I am a classic oldest child, and I still think my sisters had it easier than I did when we were growing up.

18. I use scrapbooking as a tool to document my family’s life. When I’m no longer here someday, they will have books of not only pictures, but my own love letters to them, to hold onto.

19. I love snow and complain about the heat every day of summer.

20. My least favorite chores are folding laundry and emptying the dishwasher.

21. I often have horrifying dreams about someone breaking into our house and have since I was a child.

22. I sing in the car. Loudly. And not very well.

23. I’ve been pulled over by the police for speeding five times and only received one ticket… on the day that I drove an hour and a half for a wedding dress fitting.

24. I’m a stickler about the kids’ bedtimes so that I can have some much-needed downtime at night. With each minute that goes by without them being ready, my patience wears thinner. As far as my bedtime, I usually am falling asleep by 10pm.

25. I have only my mom left before my in our branch of the family tree, and I think that just sucks.

26. I don’t like dogs. I was scratched on the face by a neighborhood dog when I was 3 and had to have stitches. I don’t remember it, but almost all dogs still terrify me.

27. First memory: riding big wheels on the sidewalk in front of our house with the twins from across the street; Second memory: the day we moved to Virginia from Ohio. I cried because I didn’t want to leave the “my” house, the only one I remembered.

28. I can take on a northern or southern accent depending on who I’m talking to… Born in Lancaster County, PA (no, my parents were not Amish), then lived in Ohio before moving here… wonder anyone can understand me.

29. I could eat strawberries and peaches every meal of the day, but I can’t stand strawberry or peach ice cream.

30. The night of Joey’s and my first official date, I was sick but went anyway.

31. Every big storm that we had when I was growing up, we slept in the living room because of a huge dead tree that was in the woods right beside our house (but not on our property; the owners refused to cut it down)

32. I hate that I can’t remember the last time I played my clarinet.

33. I got a black eye when I was 6 or so, sledding with the kids in our area… one of the teenagers sledded right into me.

34. I was seriously not happy when I arrived home from school the day that Kristen was born. My mom’s mom was there, and I wanted my Mommy.

35. Within a month of getting every hair cut, I wish I had let it grow out.

I used a Scrapdango kit for this one!