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! :-)

I'm Fancy!

Wow, did I wake up to some good news yesterday! I had an e-mail in my inbox from Jodi, the founder and co-owner of Fancy Pants Designs, telling me what was just announced on the Fancy Pants blog:

Our NEW Team!
Well, I'm (Jodi) here in Florida following our fun HSN experience...wow...it is much harder than I thought! Don't forget to check out all of the great kits we offered on HSN.com!

Anyway, I have heard from all but one of our chosen NEW team members, so I've decided to go ahead and announce without that person. Hopefully we will hear back from them soon! We'll be posting bios and pics of our new team to our website next week. We will also contact the 'runner up' scrapbookers next week to work out guest spotlights, etc.! It didn't work last year for that plan, but if you don't keep trying, you will never succeed, right?
Thanks again to all who participated...you all rock your Fancy Pants!

Today we are listing 2 international members and 4 (of 5) domestic members! So, if I can get a drumroll please....a drumroll for some amazingly talented ladies that Fancy Pants is super duper excited to have join us.....in no particular order :)! (Ladies...let me know if I mess up your name in any way :)!)
Liana Suwandi (US)
Staci Taylor (US)
Ania Lexander (NO)
Jolene Pienaar (AU)
Denine Zelinski (US)
Nikki Bellish (US)

They are still trying to reach one more person, so there was a delay in making the announcement, and i've been bursting at the seams to share the news - so now i'm going to get it out of my system.... AAAAAHHHH, I'm so excited! Heheah, that felt good. Anyway, I am extremely honored and flattered (and shocked!!), so I'm going to enjoy floating on this cloud for awhile... Also want to give a super big congrats to the other girls, especially to Ania and Denine! I can't believe I get to work with Ania on two design teams! :-)

Onto more exciting stuff! Luxe has launched their brand new gallery here. It's really really organized and has lots of different ways to search, so go check it out when you get a chance! Speaking of Luxe, Aussie Scrap Source posted their feature on Luxe today, and my layout, Bikini, is included. That site is overflowing with eye candy, so check it out if you need some inspo!

And, since I've been so slack in posting layouts here lately (CMK Sept. kit layouts coming soon!), I do have one that I made with some Jenni Bowlin gorgeousness (is that a word? It is now!). It didn't take me long to scrap those photos of Chloe trying on my shoes!
I had a ton of fun with this layout! I used the shaped paper as my guide to cut the inside papers down. I backed everything on a transparency and left some of that peeking through. I then covered the transparency area with tulle... so much fun to work with! I cut out some flowers from one of her papers and glittered them up, as well as the edges of the shaped paper. Everything is JBS except for the orange flowers which are Petaloo.

Hope everyone is having a great week and looking forward to the long weekend ahead!!

I need another weekend!

I had a fantastic weekend, but it went by way too fast... i'm ready for another :-) Friday we went to the recycled tire park with Lisa and the girls next door. The entire park has tires to climb and play on, and the "mulch" is made from recycled tires... it's pretty cool! That night, we had and impromptu happy hour/block party with some of our neighbors. It was such a blast! I know I gush about how much I love my neighbors a lot, but I truly feel blessed. We started at 4 and hung out until around midnight. Since we were camped out on lawn chairs in front of my house (and the kids were playing in the cul-de-sac), I was able to put chloe down to sleep at her normal 7pm bedtime and just bring the monitor out. Noah actually asked me to put him to sleep at 9, believe it or not. He was exhausted from running and riding bikes for 5 hours! Tony got home from work around 10 and was able to join in the fun.

Yesterday, we had a birthday party out in VA. It was a High School Musical dance party. Noah is in this phase now where he clings to us in new social situations - very strange being that he's always been my social child who jumped right into everything. So, Chloe and I were out on the dance floor while Noah hung back with Tony. Chloe had a blast since she is quite the dancer! After about 30 minutes, though, Noah was ready to jump in. It doesn't happen gradually, it's like a switch, all of a sudden he's ready! They ended up having a really good time, so that was fun. Then last night, Lisa and Chip next door watched the kids for us while we went on a date - whoo (thanks again, Lis!). We went to this cute local restaurant - it has a really nice ambiance and great food! They had a musician outside while we were eating, too. Then we saw "Pineapple Express" - my summation is that it was very stupid with a lot of funny :-)

Today, my good friend Renee came to visit with her two kids. She lives in NY, so we usually only see each other about once a year (we go away with them for New Year's most years). Her kids are practically the same ages as my kids, so it works out nicely. We took them to the local splash park which wore my kids out!

In scrappy news, i've been scrapping for CMK's September kit, but I can't share anything just yet. I'm supposed to be getting new Luxe goodies, too, which I can't wait for. The new Luxe website is almost ready to go, I can't wait for you guys to be able to check it out... it looks great! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend filled with lots of relaxing :-)

Since I don't have any layouts to share, of course I have to share some pics :-)

From the tire park:

Gotta love visits from the ice cream truck:

This is what happens when my almost 4 year old refuses a nap - he crashes out on the couch later in the day!

Last but not least, do you think Chloe is enough of a girly girl?? :-)

Dropping off some layouts...

Ok, so am I the only blogger who sometimes has a hard time coming up with a title for my posts? I'm just not that clever, lol. Since there really is no point to this post, however, but to share a couple more layouts, I figured the one I came up with will work ;-)

Another Paper Trunk layout for CMK - I used the 1974 paper line this time. Love the colors and these swirls were begging to be cut-out!


This next layout was part of a scraplift challenge on 2peas. I joined this challenge because I just had a conversation at the crop this weekend about how I don't normally lift because it tends to complicate things in my brain to come up with ways to make it different enough from the original that it is "my own" and doesn't look like the same layout. We also had a discussion going at CMK the other day when, for my question of the day, I asked if people scraplift. Most of the answers were that they feel everyone lifts to a certain degree as we are constantly gaining inspiration from others and storing away little ideas we see to try on our own layouts. I think that is so true! I guess I used to have this idea of scraplifting as copying a layout completely, and although I know sometimes people will mimic a layout in its entirety, I do think it's more common for people to take inspiration away and put their own twist on it. So, the original layout that I lifted had a square frame around the photos with one of the photos peeking out, and that is the idea that inspired me that I built the layout around. Ironically, you'll see some similarities to the other layout posted above that I did this weekend before seeing the layout that I lifted! I guess I was already drawn to the frame idea, so it was meant to be that I saw this layout :-) If you are all still awake after my monologue, you can see the layout here, lol:
Hope everyone's week is going well - we're almost at hump day!