We love Isabelle

We welcomed a new niece just two short weeks ago and I'm sending this layout in a frame to my sister as a present.

Getting a leg up on Christmas

It's only September and I'm well into taking care of things in anticipation of the holiday season. Since I was "hired" by the family to create a scrapbook for our parents, I am enjoying putting the foundation of it all together. I've already decided on the layout of the book as well as the template of the pages. I've picked the colors and fonts so now all I'll need are the photos. I'm proud of myself for working in advance so I won't have the last minute rush. I've mapped out Bryce's 2 page spread as a jumping off point and I think I like it!

This was my Tuesday

up at 6:30 to wake Bryce up
me dressed and face on

make him breakfast,
pack his lunch
talked about being more organized in school and planning ahead
also helped him make a plan for earning money for an expensive video game he wants that comes out in 7 weeks
pack Keith and Summer's lunches also
7:05 Usher Bryce out the door to the bus, get my morning hug and kiss
feed the fish
check kids' grades on PASS - Bryce 97 on history quiz - yes!
check bank balance - need to find out what the recurring pmt from verizon is???
check email
wake up Summer
put in a load of laundry

7:30 walk Lady (listen to Paperclipping Roundtable podcast on my ipod)
got to listen to my Fab4 in the last two days: Stacy Julian, Ali Edwards, Cathy Zielske, Becky Higgins
feed the dog
help Summer with her shower
put outfit together for Keith
make coffee
empty the dishwasher racing the coffee pot, I won!

check on Summer
return text messages to two friends
feed Summer breakfast
remove wheels from her sneakers for PE today
practice for spelling test and talked about horseback riding lessons (she wants them bad!)
take Lady with me to walk Summer to the busstop

walk the dog again (accompanied by PRT)
folded and put away a basket of laundry
switched wash to dryer
make a shake for Keith and fix his coffee before he leaves for work

made all three beds, time for coffee!
9am - finally get to sit and have a cup of coffee :-)
pay a few bills online, research weird bank charge
find out how much Bryce's christmas list stuff is going to cost me

research local horseback riding lessons
checked the blogs of my Fab4
decided to test drive Becky Higgins' Project Life Monthly View - will see if I like the setup - really wish she would create the digital kit rather than make it only available on her site, but we'll see
was getting too many bookmarks on my favorites bar, reorganized and created folders for those I don't use daily
blogged about getting Christmas album designed already, just waiting for photos from everyone
texting with Julie to check on kids and see if they want to come to Fleeton for the weekend with us
walked the dog again (I know 3x and it's only 10:10am - she is totally spoiled, but she gets me off my butt regularly throughout the day

ate the last of the long stem chocolate covered strawberries my sister sent me for my birthday
10:20am out the door for an eye doctor appointment - Julie is coming along for the ride
talked to one of Jimmy's clients, they want AntiVirus software, will have to check later
11am eye dr appt, arrived early - what a miracle! - eyes got worse of course (it's been 2 years), said I now have a slight astigmatism in my left eye but it shouldn't affect my prescription for a year or two - based on my description of my recent eyesight he said I may need - ahem - reading glasses in the next year or two as well - no, no, no - c'mon eyes don't let me down, I already have to wear contacts to see far away - don't make me wear something to see close up too - that's just not fair!
lunch with Julie at Wendy's and browsing around the mall, bought the cutest little shoe-socks for Isabelle, they look like Mary Janes with socks underneath them, but it's all one piece, so cute! - home at 12:45pm
Julie wants to do a book for her daughter Sophia for her upcoming 13th birthday so we spent some time browsing thru some of the books I've done and showing her different options. She seems overwhelmed because she's NEVER printed any of her pictures, we need to remedy that quickly
showed her some of the many pics we have at Fleeton and the stash of baby clothes I'm getting ready to send both of my sisters, cute boy stuff for little Eric and adorable girl stuff for baby Isabelle
also checked out Fleeton on Google Earth so she'd get an idea of where we are going this weekend
client called back, left message for Jimmy

stopped by Giant to get milk, bread & and meat for dinner burgers
3pm - just sat down for my 2nd cup of coffee
Bryce worked on sewing badges on his Boy Scout sash {pic}
pulled together a few photos to scrap a baseball page for Bryce
3.45 Summer home, hear about her day
 she is Cardinal of the week, she gets Lady all crazy after school

4.15 parent teacher conference, Summer is doing very well in school

5pm took Bryce to get a haircut
went to Petco to try to get a mouse for the snake, they were sold out but we were able to get him a new house to hide underneath
picked up Keith's dry cleaning
got home, said hello to hubby, planned dinner, walked the dog (talked to Julie to let her know that our plans for Fleeton were a-ok and it was alright for her to bring the dog)
psyched for our weekend, now to have dinner and
get Summer's homework done -eeekk - this after school time goes so quickly (Keith was nice enough to cook dinner so we could finish the pile of homework she had, including make up work from the day she missed last week)
clothes still not dry, put it on for another cycle
Bryce wants his favorite sweatshirt to wear tomorrow, so put in another load of laundry
dinner at 6:30, now 8pm, just finished Summer's homework, Bryce off to shower, summer off to change in pjs while I walk the dog (again)
8:20pm me into my pjs early tonight, kids winding down - but Bryce still in the shower
checked laundry, clothes still damp - yet another cycle (and yes, I remembered to clean out the lint trap again) Summer wants to snuggle - how can I say no to that
added some journaling to the page I started about Bryce earlier, moved some elements around, now I need to let it marinate for a day and see if I still like it
updating the rest of this post, now 9:10 - off to switch the 2nd load of laundry and then off to la-la land
- reading through everything we did today and looking forward to getting some sleep -that 6:30 alarm comes way too quickly

Writing about me

I'm currently taking a class called Me: The Abridged Version through BPS. I get the opportunity to write about what makes me tick...from A to Z. The class is inspired by the book Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. It's been quite an interesting journey trying to define myself letter by letter. So far I've designed my pages by color scheme and I've started writing a bit. I'm interested to find out how it all ends up. I always take time to make scrapbook pages about the rest of my family, now I suppose it's my turn. Now everyone will really know what makes me tick, maybe a little bit too much? I don't know yet :-)

Chocolate covered strawberries are DIVINE

I was the lucky recipient of a delivery from Edible Arrangements yesterday. My sweet baby sister sent some deliciousness my way as a thank you for my participation in my new nephew's dedication ceremony. We received not one, but two boxes of chocolate covered fruit! The pineapples are covered in chocolate and coconut, and the strawberries are covered in chocolate. Not just to say the strawberries are delicious is an understatement. These are positively the best and most delicious strawberries covered in delectable chocolate I have ever had (well, at least since my last delivery that is :-) ). They were certainly a treat and very much appreciated.

Love These Eyes

Have had these two photos just propped up on my bookcase for a week or so. Love the way their eyes look in the photos and how their shirts match. Woke up to an email challenge from LOMcom to make a monochromatic layout and voila! This is one of the first times I've played with brushes on a layout and really like the look. Also, I think it's interesting that I was able to use a Christmas themed kit for a non-Christmas layout. Scrappy goodness!

Jonathan The First Year

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Timothy The First Year

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Designed Thank Yous for Eric's dedication

Loved using scans of the decorations from his party to create this cute thank you note. Don't you just love those cheeks?

Skype is helping me with my word of the year

My word of this year (2010) is CONNECT. Skype is helping me do that. My sister and her family moved to Ireland in 2008. I was recently in Ireland with her and feel so re-connected , it is wonderful. We now Skype quite often and our kids are getting to know one another better which is very cool :-) She is getting ready to have her fourth child (whew!). So I'm anxiously anticipating when I'll get to physically see them again. In the meantime, Skype to the rescue!

Photos I'm Proud Of

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