Project Life: Week 21 (6/26-7/2)

Bryce loves all things military. So it’s no surprise when Gram & Fossil gave him money for his birthday we immediately went to the military surplus store. He got outfitted in Marpat head to toe. He also bought dog tags & MREs.

Katherine’s 33rd
We celebrated her birthday in style at two opposite ends of the spectrum. Her husband hired a pole dancing instructor so we danced the night away Vegas style. The next day was more reserved as we took her to High Tea at the Thomas Jefferson hotel in Richmond and to the Maymont.

F is for FUN at Fleeton
We love going to Fleeton whenever we can. We were lucky enough to celebrate the 4th of July there this year with Keith’s family. It was hot and sticky but worth it. Great fireworks show!

FIREWORKS * FOOD * FUN * FLEETON

Love the sunset photo off the dock, I must have about a hundred of them because I can’t resist snapping one each time another beautiful sunset happens!

This week saw another visit to Kings Dominion, the girls had a great time riding rollercoasters and smiling for photos with the characters.

I love, love, love this photo of Summer with Hope, she is so happy when she is near these beautiful creatures.

Project Life: Week 20 (6/19-6/25)

 

   

 

We had a nice Father’s Day celebration at Win & Carla’s with her parents as well. We also got to meet Jill’s new puppy, Croix. He is adorable! All the Dads: L-R Win, Mr. Young, Frankie, Baldwin, Keith & Peter

She’s OK!
We had a little scare with our sweet Ladybug on Monday. She must’ve gotten a stomach bug and got very sick and dehydrated. Luckily we have a wonderful vet and after some IV fluids & meds she’s doing just fine. Thank God!  

The Doll House
My Dad put this doll house together piece by piece for Summer. I love how she still plays with it almost everyday. Taking the people on car rides and putting them to sleep before she leaves or goes to bed. I {heart} my little girl.

Any day is a good day for a sleepover (or under :-). Summer & Ashley have been having a great time having play dates and sleepovers practically every day . I’m glad they enjoy each other so much. (Side note: As I post this 7 months later, Summer & Ashley are still having a great time, Summer has been staying at her house since yesterday afternoon and then the girls are due to come here tonight. I love that they are still good friends.)

Below is a Father’s Day card I made for my hubby, the pilot.

{By Bryce}
I just got back from my second boy scout summer camp and I must say it was a much better experience than the first. Not to mention the fact I earned six merit badges. Plus, I even signed up for an extra merit badge: finger printing. along with my rowing, reptile & amphibian, Emergency preparedness, leather work, first aid and wood carving. Overall I had a pretty grand time.

The house was very quiet with him gone. We really missed him and we’re glad he’s home safe.

At lessons I got to canter for the first time in my life. It was very fun cantering but it was very bouncy. I love horseback riding so much. {By Summer}

Still jazzed with this project and new way of keeping up with the day to day of our lives. I am definitely planning on keeping this going!

Project Life: Week 15 & 16 (5/15-5/28)

As all the school year sports and the school year itself wrapped themselves up, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot going on these two weeks. Either that, or I was just busy and didn’t really document the daily stuff. Either way it’s just fine, and I was perfectly content combining two week on one page and calling it done.

I included Bryce’s heat time card from the last day of swimming. He’s looking forward to starting again in the fall. It will be interesting to see what his times look like after the first session. It’s funny that the two major events of the whole time span, actually both happened on the Saturdays: Summer’s first horse show (5/28), and our first neighborhood block party (5/21).

Summer ended up riding this horse, GE, in her very first horse show. She did so well, and we are incredibly proud of her. She ended up getting both a 3rd place ribbon, as well as a 5th place ribbon. She wasn’t particularly thrilled that she had to ride GE in the show. He is such a sweet horse, and we’re thankful he survived his lip cancer. However, because he has to wear a special bridle with no bit, it’s a tad more difficult to steer him. But she did just fine. The consensus is that because he’s a special horse, he needed a special rider, and she certainly fits the bill there!

The block party was a huge success. Every one of our neighbors participated and we even had neighbors and friends from the adjoining areas. Since we had a DJ the atmosphere was fun all night, particularly during the group dances.

The kids had a riot and some of the adults acted like the kids! The boys even set up all the skateboarding stuff and they were busy doing tricks in the street with the lights highlighting their tricks. As you can see by the photo, Bryce certainly felt like the King of the World!

Popular vote says this is an event that is definitely worth repeating. I was happy our plans worked out as this was the first time that I had planned a block party. I’m happy to report that I’m in the preliminary stages of planning our next block party to bid summertime adieu.

Summer gets to canter!

Create your own free picture slideshow

Summer's First Horse Show

Slideshow design generated with Smilebox

Summer had her first horse show today with some interesting circumstances. The horse she rode did not want to show today. He was hiding behind some trees out in the paddock. When they brought him into his stall, he decided it would be a good time for a nap. Once he was tacked up,  he gave her a hard time walking to the ring. He did ok once he was in the ring, thank goodness. She did so well today and we are so proud of her. She ended up getting two ribbons: one for third place and one for fifth place. She had one half of the bleachers filled with spectators just for her. Every local family member showed up as well as a few friends which was very exciting.

The icing on the cake was a celebratory lunch out afterwards, that never hurts :-)

Summer Riding: Week 10

Free digital slideshow made with Smilebox

Project Life: Week 8 (3/27-4/2/11)

Welcome to Week 8, I’m proud of myself for getting this far – woohoo! Lots of fun stuff to report this week.

A few months before I got Project Life I was looking for a way to capture little stories on the go and found some cool little journaling cards. So while I was watching & waiting, at the pool, at the baseball field, at the soccer field, etc. I would write on one of these cards. What I lacked was a plan of when and how I would use them, so they’ve been sitting in a little envelope very neatly and waiting to be used. I was hoping they would fit into the journaling card pockets, but alas they do not. This particular one caught my eye this week and I thought I’d try to get some extra mileage out of the week placeholder. It worked and it reads:

Every single day…
I get kisses & I love yous
I sing, I dance & take pictures
I feel lucky
I dream, I worry
I live in the moment

I drink in the goodness of…
Right here, Right now.

Here’s the two page spread for this week…

and a closer look at the left side:

Some of Summer’s spelling words, some great photos of her riding and her new glasses. She has worn glasses since she was 5 and like any other kid that HAS to wear them, she’s not a fan. So I figure the least I can do is let her pick out a pair of glasses each year that are the ‘right here, right now’ for her. While in the past she has chosen glasses that are light and barely noticeable, this time she went for all out style. She chose a bold frame with lime green lattice sides and they make her feel very stylish. I’m so proud of her for embracing them as part of her own unique style – go Summer!

Summer is thoroughly enjoying her riding lessons and doing so well. she has already learned how to groom & tack. She has even been able to steer, do 2 point and trot! People keep telling me she’s a natural! A very happy girl.

As I realized that our schedule was going to get much busier the following week with the addition of two more sports, I thought I should capture our schedule before the change took place, and then I’m sure you can guess what will be in next week’s layout as well.

On the right side:

 

My very creative son decided to write a screenplay for one of the projects in his portfolio for presentation at his CGS interview. He amazes me with his imagery and imagination when he writes (while his spelling leaves much to be desired-ha). The top left picture is of a delicious surf and turf dinner we had to celebrate my oldest nephew’s 21st birthday

I thought it would be fun to include Quotables from the week (I think I’m going to try to include that more often), here are a few:
”I forgot how much I love swimming. I feel so free when I’m in the water” ~ Bryce
”Every Saturday is the best day ever {because of riding lessons}” ~ Summer
”I know my Mom is hard on me because she doesn’t want me to end up working at McDonald’s” ~ Bryce
“God did a good job when he picked you to be my Mom!” ~ Summer

I wrote a letter to Bryce to tell him how proud we are of how hard he tried during the application process, it’s enclosed on one of the fold up journaling cards.

I decided to also include some stuff that came home from school this week. Summer’s honor roll certificate is shown on the two page spread photo. On this side of this 8.5x11 insert is a letter from one of Bryce’s teachers saying what a joy he is to have in class. Additionally, are some notes he wrote to prepare for his upcoming interview for Governor’s School. See pictures above to see how handsome he looked wearing a suit!

 

I couldn’t help myself with a cliché about my coffee photo.

Oh, Caramel Mocha, I like you a latté!

Happy Scrapping!

Summer riding: Week 7

So cool to watch her post and trot with the horse today!

Summer riding: Week 6

Summer is practicing 2 point, posting, trotting, and navigating around standards. I'm still in awe of how confident and comfortable she is around these incredible creatures. She's come so far already, I hope this is something she continues.

Project Life: Week 5

Welcome to my Week 5 (3/6-3/12) the week of airsoft and horses, and the week that boxes of Thin Mints snuck into my house!
Apparently my children thought it would be fun to look at the book through some 3D glasses, I never did get around to trying that though. Now that I’m more than a month into this project I am finding my groove. I find that I am more aware of the moments happening around me and a little more choosy with the pictures I take. One thing I know for sure is that the camera on my phone is most definitely getting a workout! Every single photo on this page and most of the subsequent ones as well are taken with my phone. They say the best camera is the one you have with you, and this little guy is always in my pocket. How much more convenient can you get?
I think that realization has also prompted me to make sure that I do take out the ‘real’ camera more often to get some higher quality shots. Considering that I might be lobbying for a DSLR in the very near future, I know it will be a good idea to use my existing point-n-shoot more. Honestly though, I have put the old point & pray through it’s paces and have thousands of photos to prove it, there will be no guilt there!
The two page spread:

On to the left side:

The daily walk with my pup always includes a pause and pose like the top photo. She stops, she listens and then pounces. Luckily she has come up empty so far, but birds and squirrels beware. I swear she must be thinking “So many squirrels, so little time”
My son is very much into playing airsoft. For those that aren’t familiar with it, it is similar to paintball without the mess. It’s essentially the equivalent of BB guns with plastic BBs however. We spent the day driving back and forth to the CQB store in Manassas to get his airsoft gun fixed (again). It was nice to have him all to myself to chat. we got caught in a massive rain storm & stuck in traffic due to a jack knifed tractor trailer.
Photo is of “The Bat Cave” I created for him to showcase his airsoft arsenal.
Meet Alfred, the little paper creation you see above. My teenager crafted this out of a piece of looseleaf paper and introduced me to him. I thought it was hysterical and it reminded me of his younger days, I often go back to this page to visit the innocent version of my now moody teen.
Sneaky Thin Mints came into my house. I spy a green box of cookies, can you?
Beautiful card and little book were a wonderful surprise I found on my doorstep one morning from my good friend Julie.

On to the right side of the page:
The photo of my kids playing may seem innocuous to most, but they rarely get along so it was nice to see them  playing the Wii with each other voluntarily. Although the picture quality is terrible, I couldn’t resist putting in this photo of these two playing together & getting along. Made My Day.
Totally surprised myself today by swimming 2/3 mile without stopping. then I met the instructor for the Master’s class and decided to give that a try too. I was pruny and exhausted at the end but learned a lot and will do it again soon.
Life is GOOD
1. Eating healthy (see veggie pic)
2. Good friends (see little book pic)
3. Home to take care of sick kids (see sleepy sick kid pic)
4. Doing nice things for them (see Bat Cave pic)
In this picture is me with a horse. His name is Rascal. It was so much fun! {Written by Summer}
We were told on Summer’s very first horseback riding lesson that apparently she is a natural. It’s so nice to hear that about your child and I am so incredibly thrilled for her!

Summer riding and steering

Summer did really well in her third lesson and successfully steered her horse around a standard. It's a lot harder than it looks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX9NoUTwGWM

1st time on horseback

This is the second week of lessons for Summer and she got to ride today. She was sooooo excited and even that is an understatement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb3OKP3_CqU

9!

A special day for a special girl. Summer’s 9th birthday was last month and the day was full of fun and catered to requests. To start off the day, she was served breakfast in bed. She still had leftover star tattoos on her face from the night before…

As it was a school day, she was chauffeured in by the Mommy Limo. Then as a surprise for my sweet girl, I brought her a Happy Meal for lunch and cupcakes for all of her classmates.

When school was done, she was again chauffeured home by the Mommy Limo. Fortunately, I had arranged a bouncy playdate with her friend, and they jumped on the trampoline for over an hour.

Dinner was made by request… chicken cutlet parmesan and spaghetti, followed by a strawberry birthday bundt cake with glaze and sprinkles.

In the spirit of continuing the obvious spoiling, presents were in order. Her brother gave her the DVD for Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2. Which inspired this Kodak moment…

Then we gave her one of our presents…

and then the piece de resistance…. her wish came true and she is now taking horseback riding lessons and loving every minute of it!

 

Happy Birthday and happy trails to my little tom-boy princess!