First Day of School. Should I feel excited? Banana pancakes for breakfast, per Bird's request. Miranda was up by 6:30am and we were off to her school by 7:10.

When I returned home from dropping off Miranda, the other kids were up and getting ready. They ate breakfast and I made their lunches. Standard fare: PB sandwiches, string cheese, grapes, and Cheez-its (gag, but they like them). I'm hoping Lina and Krish will remember to buy their milk at school. And I'm hoping they still have money on their account because I forgot to send the check with them.
2nd grader ready for his "beary" exciting year. (I tried to talk him into some different shorts but he wanted to wear these hand-me-downs instead. Whatever. Glad they aren't too concerned with fashion).

Merek and Bird are hanging out with me today. Bird has his kindergarten assessment after we pick Miranda up from school. Then we'll get the other kids.

First day of K is Friday. That will be a hard day for me.

Really? School starts tomorrow? Goodness, where has the summer gone?

We found out the kids' teachers on Friday. We get to "Meet the Teacher" today.

Krish got mail from his teacher on Saturday. He was so excited! She sent a letter from her, one from a student in her class last year, and a puzzle for him to put together with a special message. He also had an "About Me" form to fill out and take back to her today.

This week the Boeing Classic (Senior PGA tour) was in town. We are fortunate to live on the street along the 18th fairway so we can walk up to the clubhouse. We spent some time there both Saturday and Sunday afternoons, watching the leaders finish out their rounds. It came down to a tie at the end of the tournament so a playoff hole was needed. It was fun to watch. Makes me want to golf again.


With school starting, I'm trying to figure out a good breakfast/lunch schedule for the kids. I try to make them a hot breakfast each morning before school. They take lunch from home, too. (School lunch is $3.25. Three kids times $3.25 times 5 days each week=too much).

I'd love to hear some great breakfast and lunch ideas from you, to give us a little variety in the schedule. My kids really aren't too picky of eaters so any suggestions are welcomed!

Hope your day goes well. :)

Bright, fun colors. Travel-theme. Perfect for summer projects :)  Here are the projects that I made:




You can get the kit HERE and see more inspiration HERE in the gallery.

Today is the day . . . we find out who the Lina and Krish have for their teachers this year. A little nervous.

Big party, too, for Megan the babysitter. She graduated HS in June and the kids have been wanting to throw a celebration for her all summer. They are so excited!

Enjoy your weekend!

I really don't like making decisions. Especially ones that can have such an impact . . .

After returning from the middle school yesterday morning I received a call from the elementary school. Bird's number had come up in the full-day kindergarten lottery. Our district has half-day K, except for one full-day class at each school. You sign up for the full-day lottery in the spring. He was #28 on the waiting list so we weren't planning on him getting in.

The full-day class has tuition . . . $330/month. Well, being that he is 6 years old already and could totally handle full-day I wasn't quite sure what to do. So I made a few phone calls, including one to the teacher of the class. She told me that they follow the same curriculum as the half-day class . . . they just have all-day to do it instead of a half-day. Oh, and they have "rest" time after lunch.

Um, no. After talking to DH and a good friend, the choice was made to keep Bird in half-day. If he isn't learning anything extra or having more enrichment, why would I pay to have him in school all day? He is already reading chapter books and doesn't need all day to learn his letters and patterns, etc.

I really hope whoever is next on the waiting list really needs full-day kindergarten, either for the time to learn or because it will be helpful to the parents to have their child in full-day.

Bird would have been fine in full-day. But I figure I can use the $330 toward other things, like enrichment activites. He really wants to take violin lessons!

I'd love to hear your opinion and what you would have done in the same situation.

Oh, and we got a letter in the mail yesterday afternoon with his half-day AM class assignment. He has the same teacher that Lina and Krish had. We LOVE her! And his little buddy down the street is in the class, too.

This week is flying by WAY too quickly. The kids and I went school supply shopping late afternoon yesterday. It really wasn't that great of an experience. Mental note . . . next year don't wait until the week before to stock up. Crowded aisles, low stock on the shelves, cranky kids . . .

We have soccer practices tonight. So glad the weather is warming up a bit. It actually reached 80 degrees yesterday! Shocking, I know . . .

ps--I met my deadline yesterday. Hooray! I'll share those projects Friday. :)

a little too quickly for me sometimes. But it does move on, so I need to move as well.

School starts next Tuesday for the three older kids. Next Friday for Bird. (Kindergarteners have individual assessments the first three days of school so they start a few days later).

Today is Middle School Orientation. Miranda and I will go down to the school to get her schedule, locker info, and pay (an amazing amount of) fees. Seventh grade! I remember 7th grade . . .

The other kids find out their teachers on Friday afternoon. Lists are posted in the windows of the front door at the school. I think I'll sneak down to the school first before taking them so I don't have an inappropriate reaction if there is a disappointing assignment. I really shouldn't judge beforehand . . . last year I did and was proven wrong by a particular teacher. She was amazing!

I remember going to my elementary school a week or two before school starting to look at the lists. Oh, I always knew what teacher I was going to have (my mom made sure of that!) but I liked to see who was going to be in my class.

Finished Little Bee while on vacation . . . and do not recommend it. Too dark and uncomfortable. I quickly moved on to Catching Fire at my parents, finshing it in two days. Then I read Mockingjay, in two days.

Love how The Hunger Games series kept me interested the second time around. I've tried to reread other series . . . and haven't read past the first two chapters of the first books.

Now I need something really uplifting to read. Light. Funny. Happy.

Or maybe I should get my rear-in-gear and create since I have deadlines looming . . . like one today!

Better get moving. Have a wonderful Wednesday.

ps--I'm really hoping for some sunshine today. The past two days have been 62 degrees and rainy. Not exactly awesome August weather.

Today is Paige's 35th birthday. Last night I had a ton of thoughts running through my mind. Things I wanted to say. But I guess I'm just not that good at opening up, because now I can't seem to type them.

Instead, I'll share with you the way her sister, Karmen, suggested we remember Paige on this special day. Paige was an amazing thank-you note writer. She never forgot to send a thank you and sent them for the smallest things. So, today I will write a thank you note to someone for something they did that touched my life.

We get to have Esme with us today. She was here yesterday as well. I think we will make popcorn with her to celebrate her mama's birthday, too. (Paige loved popcorn).

Happy Birthday, my friend.

after returning from vacation is a slow morning :)  We had a great time last week up in the mountains. Some friends have a cabin there and offered for us to stay. It was beautiful!


The weather was perfect. We hiked, climbed mountains, swam in the pool, and played in the river.

Other than having a howling pack of wolves right outside our cabin one early morning, it was ideal.

After our time in the mountains, we headed to my parents for the weekend. We took the boat out on the lake and enjoyed a perfect Saturday.

This is Miranda :)

Krish and Lina each rode in the inner tube behind the boat. Miranda got up for the first time on water skis! And I even attempted to ski . . . it took five tries but I did manage to pop up the fifth time. It's been 20 years since I last waterskied . . . and I'm feeling it today! Lots of fun though. :)

Hope you had a great week and weekend. Enjoy your Monday.

The July Hip 2-b Square kit encouraged me to scrap photos from our trip to California in February. The bright summery colors made me think of warm, sunny weather.

Merek loved this Bullseye horse we won in California Adventure park for him. I love that the story is now documented.

Oh my goodness, and for the boys to meet Buzz Lightyear--what a thrill! They were SO excited and were at the front of the line. It was awesome!

I cut the stars from patterned paper. The pennants are a Marvy punch.

The reappearance of the big circle. This seems to be my "go-to" design when I am stumped. But I like it so I'm fine with it. :)  I just used the Disneyland in the photo for my title.

And a trend I noticed on three of my layouts . . . MME label stickers in the top right corner. Do you ever find yourself doing something like that over and over when you work on a series of layouts?

I loved adding the American Crafts tape for the sun's rays.

Some news about Hip 2-b Square . . . Kimberly, the owner, has decided to close her retail shop. Such an amazing local scrapbook store! I'm sad to see it go. But the good news is, by doing so she will be able to focus her time and energy on the kit club and building an online community around that. Along with the kits, she will be offering basics (adhesives, pens, mists, etc.) at below-retail cost. For now, everything in the retail store is 50% off! So if you are local--go check it out!

Thanks for stopping by . . .  I really appreciate your visits and comments. I hope that when you visit my blog you are inspired in some way to scrapbook, tell your story, or just happy to be here :)

Have a great day!

Earlier this summer, I had asked for some book suggestions. And, wow, did I get some amazing ones! Thank you!

My summer reading has been light, however. But it is all good.

Just a funny thing that I noticed the other day--these books right by my bed are all yellowish.
Yellow IS my favorite colors. I must be drawn to bookcovers of yellow.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate: great book. Perfect for me with my science background. Love the setting in the early 1900's.

Easy as Pi: Not what I thought it would be. As a numbers-gal, I was looking forward to cool ways of using numbers and how they are related. It's more a book that discusses numbers in phrases (i.e. 24-7). Which is fine, just not as intriguing as I'd hoped.

Little Bee: I'm not quite halfway through this book. The first two chapters were difficult to get through and I contemplated whether or not to keep reading. But I did keep reading and am now on chapter six. It is written from two different perspectives. I like one better than the other. If you have read this book, I'd love your comments on it.

The Help: Loved it. Great book. Thanks for all of the recommendations. I bought this at Costco in Boise on our way home from Utah. It was hard to put down. In fact the night I finished it I stayed up until 2am reading. Last Friday I took my friend, Amy, on a date and we went to the matinee to see the movie. I laughed, I cried, and I cringed.

Earlier this summer, I reread The Hunger Games. Just book one. I needed something to read but didn't want to have to concentrate to much on what I was reading. Loved it just as much the 2nd time as the first. I'll probably read Catching Fire when I finish Little Bee.

So, what are you reading right now?

These tin tiles were in my stash and fit the square apple stickers perfectly. Then I just glued a magnet on the back. Love when I find a use for stash stuff :)

This summer I have been on a bit of a veggie kick. Well, I guess that is to say trying new ways to eat veggies. Kind of sick of salads.
Just sayin' . . .

My favorite thing to do with veggies this summer--JUICE!

A dozen carrots, a bunch of beets, along with the beet greens, and two apples gives me 32 ounces of power-packed nutrition. I like to juice every other day, and then I have two 8-ounce servings a day. (I know the goodness is best right after juicing but cleaning that juicer every day would deter me from making a daily batch).

Not a fan of kale. For the past four years I have replaced it every time it was on the list for the weekly delivery. Well, this summer I decided to give kale another chance. I juiced it, and it wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. Then this past week I found a recipe for kale chips. Ha! They are pretty good, although not good looking.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Take a bunch of kale and tear the leaves off the stems (lengthwise). Lay the kale on the baking sheets in a single layer. Drizzle will 2 T. olive oil (1 T. per baking sheet). Then toss the leaves so the oil is distributed more evenly. Lightly salt. Bake for about 13 minutes. Enjoy! They are actually pretty good.

And just to throw in an oldie but goodie . . . is there anything much better in the summer than fresh corn on the cob? Yum!

What are some of your favorite ways to eat veggies? I'd love to hear them and get new ideas.

Thank you for all of the wonderful comments last week :)  I'm so excited to share the Frugal FAB embellishments with . . .

ELIZABETH!

Elizabeth said...

I really like how you combined the patterned paper. And all the rubons on one card is very cool! Great ideas and beautiful work!

Leave me a comment and I'll send you my email address. Here is a pic of your package:

Sorry for the light glare. Here's a little peek of what I worked on last week. I'm not sure I'll ever get tired of banners . . .

On today's to-do list:
ps--Be sure to check out the SRM Blog today. This week's Paper of the Week is Jenni Bowlin and the projects are amazing! Leave a comment there if you want to win the paper pack and SRM stickers.

Is it really already August 12th?

Seriously?

Where has the month gone? The summer? The year?!

I decided to look back on last year and see if I had any photos from August 12th in 2010. Sure enough! There were photos from our awesome visit to our good friends, the Porter's, in Arizona. We met the Porter's when we lived in Pennsylvania and had such good times together. Our four oldest kids are very close in age. (Although we didn't have #4's until after we moved. And then WE had a #5 . . . ).


It had been 5-1/2 years without the Porters . . . and picked up in conversation like we were just at each other's houses yesterday. And Marie fed us some delicious mexican food. Fabulous. Wonderful.

We must go back soon . . . or maybe they should come see us . . .

Good memories :-)

OK, I'm feeling better about August 12th.

Any fun plans for your weekend? I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend. No where to go, no one coming to visit (though these aren't bad things, just quite abundant this summer).

Oh, and before I forget, be sure to leave a comment on the SRM blog post from Monday featuring my Nikki Sivils projects. A name will be drawn from the comments and the winner will get the Nikki Sivils School is Cool line PLUS all of the new SRM stickers introduced in July at CHA. Leave a comment HERE if you haven't already.

Enjoy your weekend!

Well, that really sounds like nowhere I would ever be. But I did enjoy working with the Artisan Garden kit (Scarlet Lime August Main--SOLD OUT, sorry!). Full of rich color and fun new embellishments.

This photo of Bird is from June 2010. It has been sitting on my scrap table for several months. I had originally printed it to work with another kit, then didn't like how it was turning out. But then this kit came along and I LOVED the colors with the photo. I kept the LO design pretty simple, focusing on the photo. What do you think? Do you like how I used similar colors? Or should I have contrasted it more?


I had wedding on my mind when I created this card last weekend. We were heading to a reception Saturday evening for a friend's daughter, who married one of my former piano students from Pennsylvania. How crazy is that?! It was great to see the family again. We have been sending Christmas cards for the past 10 years, but still to see them in person was amazing.  Anyway, I adored the typewriter LOVE sticker and thought it would be fun paired with Happiness . . . though I didn't notice the HaPPPiness until after the card was done. Do you think they meant to do that?

I added the Together sticker inside to complete the card.

The Pebbles tape stickers in the kit weren't that appealing to me at first, to be honest. But, after using them on the card, I got an idea. I thought it would be fun to use them as sort of a border on a page. So glad I challenged myself to try it because I love how it turned out :)  In addition to the tape stickers, I added some buttons and dimensional embellishments to give the border a little pop.

Clever me . . . I used the BG stickers in the kit to "build" a camp fire by my title. :)

The photos on my last page were of just the week before at camp, me with DD and my niece. Such good memories. And isn't that why we scrapbook? To keep our memories . . .

Oh, and be sure to leave a comment today or on yesterday's post for my GIVEAWAY. You can leave comments on both days if you want. More chances to win :)

What are those perforated strips at the bottom of patterned paper called? Anyway, I LOVE them! They were the perfect addition to this page to add some color and patterns. Oh, and those alphas are from the Main kit.

Seriously in trouble with this page . . . either DH will be mad or Merek will not talk to me forever when he is 12. My girls like to play dress-up and make their brothers "cute". Am I a bad parent to let them do this? Or just a bad parent to take pictures documenting it and putting it online for the world to see? LOL
Thanks for checking out my projects. Tomorrow I'll share my Main kit projects with you.

Oh, and remember how I mentioned this kit has a ton of embellishments? Well, I couldn't use them all and would like to share them (including the 7gypsies stamp). So, be sure to leave a comment on today's post and I'll draw a name on Monday to send a goodie package to.

Have a wonderful day!

Adding in SRM stickers Live Life #49003 School Days was a great way to complete the album.

The "Preschool" part of the title is an SRM sticker, SIWS #40034 Preschool. In addition to the NS products, I used some Making Memories mini-type letters, and some red felt ric-rak Amy sent me awhile ago.

Up next was a card and tube set. I added yellow Reese's Pieces to the tube. The SRM stickers are from Quick Card set #52020 Teacher.

I loved this Note to Self cut out from the Nikki Sivils line and thought it would be fun to pair with one of the pencils. I cut apart the Go For It phrases from the EY#42019 Graduation sheet, then added the Believe in Yourself at the bottom.
I loved working with this line from Nikki Sivils. It went hand-in-hand with SRM stickers. Be sure to check out the SRM blog today for the feature.

Have a GREAT Monday!

Last week at camp was a good experience. It was really nice to see something we had worked on for months turn out so well. I kept a journal each night while at camp and am SO glad that I did.

My sweet Miranda loved camp! She always had a smile on her face. And each time she saw me she would say hi and come over to give me a kiss. Treasure!

Right after camp we headed to my parents for the weekend. My niece, Sarianne, was baptized on Sunday. Then we headed home on Monday.

Time to catch up on homelife . . . but my MIL arrived from CA Wednesday. She'll be here for a week.

And school starts in four weeks. And we have SUNSHINE here in Seattle. Awesome!

So, I'm going to extend my blogging vacation a little longer. I know you won't mind. ;-) 

Check back on Monday . . . I have some fun projects to share with you. Enjoy your weekend!