My weekend...

I feel like I had a very busy weekend, yet I spent most of it at my house! My MIL came up on Friday and is leaving tomorrow, and she was a huge help to me! Tony worked all weekend (although he came home early afternoon today), and my MIL spent a lot of the weekend with the kids so that I could get stuff done. I completely cleaned and cleared out both the kid's closets. It doesn't sound like a big project, but it took me sooo long! I also got to escape yesterday and have lunch with a couple of friends which was really nice, and then Tony and I got to have a date last night. We went to dinner and a movie - we finally saw The Dark Knight. It was so good, and I can totally understand why everyone went crazy over how good Heath Ledger's performance was.... just amazing! So tragic to know that he never got to see the movie come out.

We also spent a lot of time outside this weekend. We had beautiful weather, and all the kids and adults were out today. I have some pics of my weekend to share. From looking at these pics, you'd never know that my daughter was clingy and fussy for a lot of the weekend or that my son woke up from his nap in "a mood". I definitely think these toddler/preschooler years are preparing us for the teenage angst stage most kids go through, lol.

Chloe posing for the camera:

Chloe with her Ya-ya (my MIL):Gotta love mine and Noah's attempt at a self portrait:Bath time:
My MIL bought Noah this Darth Vader mask that also makes sounds. Needless to say, he wore it a lot this weekend!

Chloe has been doing what we call "the excited pose". She clenches her fists, makes this really funny face and pretends to shake b/c she is so excited. Crazy kid.Lisa (next door) took my camera to try to get some pics of us. Tony decided to pick me up and toss me around, so I made the best of it by posing for the camera, lol.Noah loves to "play tennis", and he is really good at hitting the balls! My future Andre Agassi :-)

Overall, we had a great weekend, and I hope you all did, too. What did everyone do this weekend??

TGIF!

So, my sweet friend Lori Renn totally made my night last night. The October issue of Scrapbook Trends contains the first layout I have ever had published by them. I’ve been stalking the stores, but it isn’t out near me yet, but Lori just received hers since she subscribed. Anyway, she offered to take a photo of the page for me, hehea, so I’m nerdy enough that I took her up on it. So, thanks again Lori!!

I have a layout to share that I finished last night which uses the new Luxe Simply Brown Line (I love all the Simple lines - I’m especially a sucker for ledger lines!) and some bits of the new Sprinkles line, too (I have another layout which is entirely made up from the Sprinkles line that I’ll be sharing soon, as well). Our design team challenge this month was to use the Maya Road Sheer or Chipboard letters in a fun way. Well, as soon as I heard that challenge, this idea popped in my head to use all the letters of the alphabet as a design element on a page about my baby starting preschool.

Journaling reads: I can’t believe it’s time for preschool already! You are going two mornings a week, but since I work part-time, that means our time for fun activities and playdates is limited. I really miss having that time with you, but I know you are very ready for school, so I’m excited for you. You’ve shown great interest lately in the letters and their sounds, and you’ve even started writing your name. I’m so proud of you, Noah, and I can’t wait to see what this year has in store! I love you! Mommy

Besides the Luxe patterned papers and Maya Road sheer letters, I also used Luxe labels and stamps, MM felt letters and Jenni Bowlin stars.

It’s been a busy week here – I feel like I haven’t had as much time to scrap lately as I would like. I’m hoping I can make up for it this weekend :-) Hope everyone has a wonderful end to their week!

Halloween is coming!

Halloween is just around the corner, and I love this time of year! First comes my baby's birthday (can I still call him a baby at almost 4??) and then comes my favorite holiday of the year! Tony and I have both always loved Halloween, and we go all out with the decorating. Now that we have kids, it's so much fun to include them, and Noah especially is at a fun age where he gets really into it, too. Chloe seems to be a bit spooked by all things Halloween so far, which is unfortunate since we have two six foot tall talking mummies in our basement waiting to come upstairs and show off, lol.

Anyway, to celebrate my favorite holiday, I made a *Luxe Halloween tree* using the new Color Me Halloween paper. To make my tree, I collected a bunch of branches, tied them together, spray painted them black, and put fake spider webbing over them. I then cut out the designs from the paper and, depending on the design, I colored some of them in with markers and left some black and white. I then heat embossed them with UTEE to make them glossy (and to make them stronger since they'd be hanging). Finally, I strung them on wire and hung them from my tree (along with a few Halloween ornament balls I found at a craft store).

Also in scrappy news, you all have got to go check out the awesome sneak peeks for CMK's September card kit done by the very talented Danielle Flanders. You can see them here. Even if you're not a cardmaker, the papers in the kit are 12x12, so you can use them for layouts, too.

Also, if you haven't heard, CMK is hosting a Scrap Pink crop September 26th-28th. Scrapbooks etc. is partnering with Susan G. Komen for the Cure® to hold a “Scrap Pink” fundraising campaign in September 2008 at stores across North America. I, along with the rest of the design team, will be posting challenges and inspiration on the 27th for anyone to participate in. You can read more about it here.

I hope everyone is having a fun and restful weekend!!

We will never forget...

So, September 11th is here yet again. As i'm sure it does for most people, this day makes me so very sad. It will forever be etched in my heart and in my memory. Not only did we face a nation's worst nightmare, but my grandfather died that same day, too. It was the day he was to be removed from life support. I was at work (on an adolescent mental health inpatient unit) when I learned of the terrorist attacks, already wearing a heavy heart due to my grandpa. Once we realized what was going on, Tony asked me to come home so we could be together. I went home and spent the day glued in front of the tv with my then fiancee. My heart was already breaking for all the devestation that was going on around us, and then I learned that grandpa had died. Life changed that day for everyone, and I truly hope we will never again experience anything like that day.

This layout is pretty old (I think that will be obvious when you see it, lol), but I thought it would be appropriate to post it here today:

Journaling is long, so feel free to skip it: I can’t imagine ever forgetting what Tuesday, September 11th, 2001 was like. I was working at Sheppard Pratt Psychiatric Hospital at the time, on the adolescent male inpatient unit. This was already a very difficult day for me. Grandpa was dying. Dad was in Florida, at the hospital with Grandpa. This was the day that they were going to remove him from his life support. We knew he was going to die once they did that… it was just a matter of when. As I was getting paperwork done on the unit that morning, trying to keep myself busy and distract myself from Grandpa’s impending death, we got word that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. An accident, we assumed. I called Tony at work to find out if he had heard about it. As we were talking about it, another plane crashed into the other twin tower. How could this be??? All of a sudden, the talk changed from “an accident” to thoughts of a terrorist attack. People were silenced all around me, glued to the TV on our unit. In front of my eyes, I saw the unimaginable. There was fire and smoke all around the towers, and people were jumping out of the windows of the World Trade Center, taking charge of the way they would die. Then one of the towers crumbled to the ground. Crumbled! And then the other one collapsed, too. Tony told me he was leaving work, and he wanted me to leave, too. He wanted me home with him… we both wanted to be together. So I left. As I was driving home, there was now news of an attack at the Pentagon in D.C. Shortly thereafter, I found out that Howie was near there driving to a meeting that day. Terry hadn’t yet been able to get a hold of him. Panic was now filling every single cell in my body. I was having a very difficult time wrapping my brain around all that was going on that day. Although Howie witnessed the plane flying overhead of him before it crashed and chaos all around, thankfully, physically, my brother was ok. When I got home to Tony, we just sat there, holding each other, as images on the news filled our heads and our hearts. So many were dead. So many were hurt. So many were missing. I couldn’t stop crying at the devestation, the terror, the cruelty, the heartache that was surrounding me. I truly did not think that day could get any worse… And then we got the call that Grandpa had died.

Sooo, where were you on September 11th, 2001?

Is it Monday again??

Boy I love my weekends :-) Yesterday I got to have a date with my dad. We hadn't had one in a looong time, so I brought the kids over to my parent's house and my mom watched them (since Tony was working) while dad and I went to see a French movie (complete with subtitles) at this cool independent theatre near their house. The movie, "Tell No One" was FANTASTIC!! Loved every minute of it, which is saying a lot for me, since it's not easy for movies to always capture my attention the whole time. It isn't playing at many places around here, but if you can find it near you, I highly recommend it! Cute Noah story: when I was telling him that "Paw paw" and I were having a date day like him and I sometimes have, he said to me, "So, mommy, are you and Paw paw going to go to chuck e cheese, too?" Hehhea, that's where him and I always go on our dates, so I thought that was adorable!

Today, I met a new scrappy friend, yay (hi Heather if you're reading this :-)! Heather actually saw my layout in MM's Reader's Idea Gallery issue about my neigborhood, and as she was flipping through it, she noticed HER neighborhood in there, lol! So she found me on 2Peas and we met today for a playdate in our 'hood. The kids played while we looked through each others pages. It was a lot of fun to talk scrapbooking with someone IRL since I don't get to do that very often, and she was really cool. Her kids were very cute, too :-)

Today was my turn to do the "Monday Muse" challenge at CMK - my challenge was to create a layout using fabric, which is something that i've always wanted to do. I cut three different fabrics into the same sized squares of about 2.8 inches (and cropped my photos to the same size), I sewed all the pieces to the cardstock, embellished with some flowers, and my layout was born :-)

Hope everyone has a wonderful start to their week!!

Where did my baby go??

Boy, it feels like just yesterday that I was bringing this kiddo home from the hospital. It's hard to believe that he's now a little boy. In one month, he will be 4. Ack, it really goes too fast!! Anyway, his first day of preschool went great!! He was excited to go, and he had absolutely no problems at all when I dropped him off and left. It was a shortened day today, so he was only there for an hour, but they seemed to really pack in a lot in that short time. He told me that he painted a picture, his teacher helped him write his name, he had circle time and read a book, and he played outside. He made sure to point out, though, that they didn't get a snack (since it was a shortened day... snack starts next week)... that is so my kid!! It's all about the food :-) Lisa next door took a bunch of pics of Noah and me in front of our house, and then I got a few others. Now if I could only get him to stop making "scary faces" while he's getting his picture taken!!

With his friends Kendall and Savanna (there's that scary face again)- they leave for Kindergarten at the same time that we leave for preschool (both the elem. school and the preschool are in walking distance):

Walking to school (with his new Batman backpack that looks as big as he is, lol):

In front of the school:

And, last but not least, Noah's classroom:

I don't know if I've mentioned before that his preschool is a co-op, so it will be a lot of work for me. I'm a little overwhelmed by all of my responsibilities, but i'm really excited! I think it will be fun, and I think it will be a good bonding opportunity for both of us. I will be co-oping in the classroom about once a month, i'm in charge of planning and attending all of the fieldtrips, I am a teacher's aide (need to help with prep work for projects), I/we have to do one housekeeping/cleaning day during the school year, and I have to attend all of the general meetings (every other month). Wish me luck ;-)

I'm signing off with another layout I made from my Jenni Bowlin kit. Gorgeous, gorgeous, stuff in that kit!!

Journaling reads: Two years have now passed since these photos were taken, and now when I push you on the swings you ask if I can push you so high that you will reach the sky. When it comes to your dreams, Noah, always aim high, because with a lot of passion and determination, you can reach the sky.

Oh, and I got a big 'ole package from Luxe yesterday and wowee was it awesome!! Thank you SO much Luxe, and a big thank you to 3L who sponsored us this month - I got enough adhesive for an army to scrap with! Such a great mail day!

Happy almost weekend everyone!

p.s. My dining room furniture was delivered today... whoo, I feel like such an adult now :-)

CMK September kit

CMK's September kit featured Pink Paislee's new Vintage Moon line, including their gorgeous papers, chipboard toppers (sooo cool!), letter stickers, a transparency and rub-ons, as well as some Glitz bling and some pom-pom trim (my favorite!). I had so much fun with this gorgeous kit!! The first two layouts use only the kit, and in the last two layouts, I added in a few extras.

Journaling reads: Noah was being so sweet and loving with you and then bam! Without warning you totally blindsided your poor brother by going straight for his hair. Good thing he is so forgiving!

Journaling reads: Those first few months of your life went by in such a blur. Even when you were still a baby I had a hard time remembering those early days. I guess that is what sleep deprivation does to the brain. I do remember some things, though - I remember spending a lot of time in that chair... just me and you. We rocked, we snuggled, you slept on my chest and you nursed all the time. I remember spending a lot of time staring out that window, watching the world go on below me and reflecting on how life was unchanged for the people below me, yet my life would never be the same. I was in awe of how perfect you were, and of how very much I could love someone I had only known for such a short time.

Journaling reads: We start them young in the Taylor home!

Journaling reads: You met Avery and Analese when you were three months old, and we had playdates together frequently your first year and a half. It was so cool to watch you interact and become buddies, even at such a young age.

I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend! Ours was so much fun - I think it was the busiest weekend we'd had in a long time! Saturday we went to my parent's house to bbq. Sunday, we went out to breakfast, hung out at the bookstore, took the kids to the park, got ice cream for lunch (gotta love those days, lol!) and then had another block party with our neighbors in the late afternoon/evening. Then yesterday we kept up with our last year's tradition of hitting up the Labor Day sales and finally bought dining room furniture... whoo! I'm so excited! We've been in our house for 2 years now, and the dining room is the last room we had to furnish (well, we certainly need some replacement furniture in our living room, but at least we have some in there and it's not an empty room, lol). And the furniture is all in stock, so it will be here on Thursday!! Today was another park day, and tomorrow is a work day for me.

Tomorrow, Noah has his "meet the teachers" session at his preschool, and then he starts with an abbreviated day on Thursday. Not sure why they need an abbreviated day to ease the kids in, considering it's only a 2 1/2 hour day to begin with, hehea, but hopefully it will go well and he will like it!

Hope everyone is having a great week! :-)