the fourth

I love the fourth. Like love, love, love the fourth. It is without a doubt my favorite holiday. I love that it's stress free. I love that I don't have to worry about gifts or costumes or money. I love that it boils down to spending time with family and friends, eating good food, watching fireworks and laughing at those glowing smiles on the kids faces as they dance around with sparklers. (Or in Drew's case, stand completely still and watch the sparkler in a trance like state. He was fascinated.)

I must say it's also one of my favorite things to scrapbook. I think stars might be one of my favorite shapes to use on a layout and the fourth gives me every reason to use them (and probably over use them!)



I hope everyone had a great Independence Day! We sure did!

Sketches for Scrapbooking, Volume 4

After much success with volumes 1, 2, and 3, we (Scrapbook Generation) are very pleased to bring you Sketches for Scrapbooking, Volume 4. Wanna a chance to win one? Go over to the Scrapbook Generation blog for a giveaway! :)

For those of you that would like to know how our sketch books differ from others, well, there are a lot of reasons.
• Each sketch is a large size (almost covering the whole page). You see everything clearly instead of squinting to see the smallest elements.
• Photo sizes are shown.
• Paper sizes are shown so you know exactly what size to cut your papers instead of trying to guess.
• There is even a key at the bottom of the page that shows you what kind of pattern papers work best. Example: small pattern, large pattern, stripe, accent cardstock.
• There aren't any layout examples, just the computer generated sketch.

I'm still here! :)

Wow. That may have been the longest I've gone without blogging. I actually got in trouble because of my lacking blog today, twice. Oops!

Let's see. So much to has been going on. Lots of work and it looks like that isn't going to be slowing down anytime soon. The next five months are booked solid. That's okay. I love fast paced. If life's too uneventful it can get boring.

So, here it goes...

This guy turned four. Four!


I know I keep saying where did the last year go but...seriously, where did the last year go!

We had a great time at Drew's Jump Mania party (especially the part where we didn't have to clean up!). He was having so much fun that he didn't even want to stop jumping to eat cake or open presents. When we got home he got the biggest surprise and found his own mini jump mania waiting in the backyard.


We tend to spend many evenings lounging on this thing while Drew jumps away. My favorite is his kung fu-style jumping. Gotta get a picture of that one. I would be lying if I said that I haven't attempted a few kung fu flying kicks and *blushing* those old junior high cheerleading jumps.

This little guy is surprising us everyday. Walking, talking, running, climbing, swimming, trying to eat dog food...


Jackson is going to be our trouble maker. Our fearless one. The one that will be our reason for having the ER on speed dial. Goodness this boy likes to climb. Which means he falls. A lot. He's also jumped right into toddlerhood without so much of a pause. Sure, take that toy away. Take it away and get the fun of dealing with a full on, throwing himself down, feet kicking, ear piercing scream, tantrum.

And inbetween or my ever growing to-do lists, enjoying the summer, family time and the little naps I get here and there, I have been scrapbooking.


Scrapbook Generation was the lucky one to be the very first to carry Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker, a new scrapbook company. I wasn't at the store the day we got it but I did come in the next day to see that our front section was covered in a very colorful new display. I walked in the store with Drew hugging my leg with chocolate covered hands and Jackson doing his best to catapult himself out of his stroller. While trying to pry the melting, chocolate laced fingers off my new jeans and at the same time trying to keep Jackson from floor diving, I was drawn to this bright and colorful new stuff. Suddenly I didn't care that I had chocolate finger prints on my butt. I love how exciting scrapbooking papers can be. Those ones that you see and instantly get a flood of ideas. :)

Answers to a few comment questions...
Drew's rash turned out to be nothing. Of course it went away about two seconds after we pulled into the parking lot. They had thought that maybe it was some sort of strep rash(?). We haven't seen it since! :)

In regards to the H1N1 post, I do realize that is the proper name for the flu. My post was only meant in humor since I was trying to take a humorous approach to the situation (which I often do in most embarrassing or unfavorable situations). No pork product or production was meant to be harmed in my poor excuse for humor. :)

down she goes.

Whew. The last week has been rough.

Last Wednesday night I was sitting on the living room floor working on some stuff for the upcoming Scrap-a-palooza event (this Saturday) and thought to myself, "Man, I'm way ahead. Like way, way ahead. I bet by the end of this weekend I will have everything ready for the big event." Famous last....thoughts?

I wake up at 4:00 a.m. and my throat feels a little scratchy. No biggie, right?

I wake up at 5:00 a.m. and now it's scratchy and every time I swallow it feels like a big lump is stuck in my throat.

I wake up at 6:00 a.m. and have to actually touch my throat to make sure I don't have a jaw breaker the size of Texas in there because it sure feels like it.

At 7:00 a.m. Jackson wakes up. Crap. I can't get up. Like seriously don't have even the slightest ounce of energy to roll my ass off the side of the bed.

I tried to get Drew to entertain Jackson with any toy that would light up or make noises (those aren't too hard to find around here). I peek one weak eyelid open just in time to see Drew hurl a block into Jackson's crib. Crap. This isn't going to work. I was hoping to get Jackson to hold off until Mike got home so he could take care of the kiddos while I tried to sleep off the sickness. That plan was thrown out the window for fear that Jackson would end up with a bump on his head.

I sit up and am instantly greeted with a splitting headache. While trying to keep my balance and not pass out I get Jackson out of his crib, feed the kids breakfast (while spilling Drew's cereal twice) and back in bed in what had to be record time. Mike got home and made me go to urgent care. I was content to stay in bed but Drew was starting to break out in a rash so I figured we could both go. Make a little family day out of the whole thing.

We get there and are checking in when Mike says, "Hey Honey! You have all of those symptoms!"

Me: "What symptoms?"

Nurse: "Uh oh. Where going to have to ask you to wear this mask."

Me: "What symptoms?"

And then I see that the waiting room is wallpapered in signs with a list of symptoms. Symptoms for swine flu. Great. I have the pig flu. Crap.

So there I sat in a crowded waiting room with a bright yellow mask over my mouth and nose. A big, huge sign on my face that screamed, "don't sit next to me, I have the pig flu!" I would like to say that I laid my head in the chair and covered my face in embarrassment but actually it was because I couldn't hold my own head up.

We spent most the day there and I learned that you CAN have strep throat AND tonsillitis at the same time. Up until last Thursday I thought they were the same thing. Just for fun my body decided to throw in an ear infection too. Geez. I think I was so happy that they didn't quarantine me and tell me I had swine flu that I didn't care what I had. It's not that I'm scared of the swine flu, it's that awful name. Pig flu. Flu of the swine. Big, stinky, dirty pig flu. I bet you wouldn't turn your head at something called butterfly flu. It just sounds cleaner... and a little prettier.

So to the pharmacy we went. The doctor wrote me a prescription for antibiotics, I wrote one for milkshakes. The second we got home I planted my sick butt on the couch and didn't move for three days. It was the first time in a very long time that I remember being that sick. It sucked.

But now I'm recovered and finally feeling normal. Woohoo for that! Now I'm diving into the mile long "to-do" list I've got for Scrap-a-palooza this Saturday! So much for being way ahead! This year I'm teaching three different paid classes, four demos up on the big screen (I swear, it's the size of a movie screen!) and I'm also teaching a free class to all 200 people on the big screen. It's going to be a crazy day!

Nothing cuter!

There is nothing on this planet that is cuter, as far as I think, right now than Jackson waving.


It all starts with his hand in a fist, turned towards his face. Slowly he opens and closes his chubby little fingers, usually with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, (the definite sign of deep concentration.) Once he gets his fingers going he turns his hand around to face whoever he's waving bye bye to and of course he throws in a big grin to make it even cuter. (That whole I'm-so-excited-that-I'm doing-it-grin.)


My favorite is when he gets super excited and this action requires two hands. Both hands frantically opening and closing, the grin growing even larger to show his two teeth...I love this age! I love that everything is new to him. The other day I managed to entertain him for at least 10 minutes with the wrapper of a straw. Boring to you and me but it was pure discovery bliss to him. I love that!

The big ONE recap...

I don't know if it was due to great organization, a few years of experience or just some freak accident but this birthday party went together without even the slightest of a snag. So not our usual party experience. Let's see, the year of the big cake mishap, the days spent on the swing set construction...okay, I won't dull this post with all that information.

After last year I was positive that I had learned my lesson and this time I was not going to spend the whole birthday party eve getting the cake together. The big kicker is that I actually had it done by 10:00 p.m. What!?! Last year I was still filling in the icing at 5:00 a.m.!


Much to my surprise the cake turned out exactly the way I had pictured it in my head. The only big "uh oh" I encountered was forgetting to put one batch of the candy stars up. Thirty minutes of melted candy madness destroyed by two dogs in about thirty seconds. Lesson learned, always push in the chairs!

The day finally arrived and unlike the years before we weren't rushing around trying to stuff a few last minute messes in unknown and hidden places. We were good to go.

We waited...

and waited...

and waited...

and waited. Where in the world was everyone? It was almost like everyone called each other and said, "Hey, let's all be 30 minutes late just for fun!" I was starting to worry that I had written the wrong date or time. Drew and Jackson got pretty impatient too.


Well I don't technically know if Jackson was as impatient as Drew was or if he just liked banging his hands on the door. I'm going to go with the last one.

Finally everyone arrived and before the cake and decorations were destroyed I had to get a picture of the birthday boy with his favorite birthday aunt.


The star decorations were a little too distracting and it was near impossible to get Jackson to even consider breaking out his usual big, happy, I-love-the-camera, smile.


We started off with opening presents but Jackson the fearless adventurer was only interested in climbing everything.

When it came to the cake destruction part we did have a minor foot in the cake problem when it was time to blow out the candle. I'm anxious to see the pictures of that hilarious moment.


Jackson didn't waste much time when we put the whole top of the cake down in front of him. He made a few funny faces with the first few tastes but after that he was shoveling it in.


He even flashed us a cake and frosting covered "1"!


And then it was time for the "after bath". You know it's a good party when it ends in a bath!

And the winners are...

RAP said...
My time saver is using kits. All my supplies come ready matched and ready to go.

Jennifer said...
Definitely my favorite time saver is using a sketch (or a template!) to give my creative juices a jump start.


Congrats! Email me at alidavis1919@hotmail.com :)

I loved reading all of your solutions and time savers. I might have to try out putting things together in a kit beforehand. It sound like that would save a lot of time to already have everything picked out and ready to go. Thanks so much for all the great ideas! :)