Woah... two posts in one week!

Might I actually be getting back into the swing of this whole blogging thing? ;-) Well, the first full week of summer is going well. Noah has been at Lego camp in the mornings, and we've been keeping busy and having playdates in the afternoons. We're going to get our 4th of July on this weekend with the neighbors, and we plan to get in lots of pool time.

I have to share a few recent things my kids said that cracked me up...

I had recently asked Chloe to do something, and when Noah observed that she wasn't doing it, he reminded her of what she was supposed to be doing. Chloe's reply? "Noah, you're not the boss of this family!!" Hmm, that sure knocked him speechless... ;-)

The other day, I was rinsing out an outfit of Lucas' in which he'd had a blowout. Noah came over and asked what I was doing, and I told him that I was getting the poop out of Lucas' pants and that one day, when he was a daddy, he'd have to do the same thing. He replied with, "Ewwww! No way! I'm going to have the wife do that! Oh, and I'm not going to change any dirty diapers either!" OMG, I wasn't sure if I should bust out laughing or be pissed that we are raising a little chauvinist lol (although, i'm still hoping he was kidding ;-) The funny thing is that Tony is a very hands on dad, so he's certainly not getting the hand-off type dad modeled for him. Crazy boy. Luckily he has many more years for me to knock some sense into him!

Before I leave you, here are two of the layouts I completed at the crop I was at this weekend:

If i'm not back here before then, have a wonderful 4th of July to my friends who celebrate! :-)

summer summer summertime.....

Whoo hoo! it's truly finally officially summer... let the fun begin! :-)

This layout:

is of my beautiful girl at her first dance recital a couple of weeks ago.

This boy:

is TEN months old (how on earth did that happen??). He is SUCH a joy! He just got his first tooth on his ten month birthday, and today (a few days later), he got his second tooth. He's not crawling the "proper" way, but he scoots around on his tush and crawls backwards lol. He's waving and clapping and smiles and laughs all day long. Seriously. Our neighbor always jokes that he has never heard the boy cry. I only hope his demeanor stays so upbeat ;-)

This girl:

loved her dance recital! She was in two dances (a ballet dance a tap dance), and did such a great job up on that big stage! She misses preschool and constantly wants to work in school workbooks lol. She has gotten really good at writing her letters and constantly asks her big brother how to spell words. She also really loves crafts, and she has recently taken to "upcycling" pretty much every empty bottle and box in our house. We have a long craft to-do list for the summer.

This boy:

just "graduated" from Kindergarten! Wow, that also went fast! He had such a great year and learned so much! He is reading like a champ, and it never gets old hearing him. He continues to be a lego fanatic, and it truly amazes me how well he build his own designs. He's also gotten really into drawing lately - hopefully he has his daddy's talent. He made some great new friends this year, and he continues to be an awesome big brother.

This mama:

is REALLY excited for the upcoming cruise we are all going on this summer. I'm happy to be in summer-mode both at work and at home, and am hoping to take some time to take things down a notch. I've been eating well and working out regularly, and I feel good (despite feeling sleep deprived since that baby of mine still isn't sleeping through the night ;-) I went to a scrapbook crop yesterday which was so wonderful - hadn't been to one since I was preggers with Lucas! It felt SO good to create. I'm really trying to make time again to make it a regular thing. I've gotten totally addicted to Pinterest lately, and i'm really excited for the season premiere of True Blood (in 30 seconds! gotta wrap this up lol).

This daddy:
is training for his first race event (it's called Tough Mudder, a relay type of thing) in the fall. We can't wait to go watch! He's the best daddy ever, and he's a pretty darn good hubby, too ;-) He's also super excited for our upcoming cruise - we haven't been on one since our honeymoon!

What we've been up to...

Or more like, what haven't we been up to?? Gosh, things have been busy lately! As the school year comes to a close, I am looking forward to lazy(er) days and spending lots of time with the kids. The kids have some camps they are doing, we are going on a week long cruise to the Bahamas, we've got lots of crafts and pool time planned, and we're even going to have a visit from this super cool lady and her super cool son :-)

In scrappy news, I can sum up what i've been up to very easily - nothing lol. I have taken a break this past month as I hadn't been feeling very creative and needed to refocus. Well, i'm happy to report that the break helped - I actually felt motivated to scrap two nights ago, and it felt GOOD! Actually, it felt great :-) It just reinforced for me how much I love (and need!) having a creative outlet, but sometimes taking a break is definitely needed to get the mojo flowing again. I made this layout just for fun (something I also don't do nearly enough!).

Here is the journaling:

You have always been SO tall for your age and have often acted more mature and wiser than one would expect. Because of this, I sometimes forget that you are ONLY six. I forget that when it’s pajama day in Kindergarten, you will want to wear your superman pajamas with a cape. I forget that when it’s show and tell, you’ll want to bring in a stuffed animal. I forget that when I volunteer in your classroom, you’ll want to run over to me, give me a big hug, and sit on my lap (which I love!!). I forget that sometimes when things aren’t going your way and you’re frustrated, you’ll break down in tears. Time goes way too quickly as is, so I am so thankful for all of these little reminders that inside that mature, wise exterior, there is a little boy who is ONLY six.

So, speaking of scrappy breaks, my term is up at AMM and, after two years designing for Michelle, I have decided not to renew my term. It was a tough decision because I love AMM and I really love Michelle, but it seemed like the right time for me to move on. Life is definitely crazier now, and I think it's good to do something different after awhile to bring out the best of my creative side :-) This is the first time in three years that I have not been on a design team, so it will definitely take some getting used to, i'm sure. And, although I don't have the time in my life to be on multiple teams like I used to, I would certainly still love to be on a team in the near future if it's a good fit. So, my plan is to just keep creating and see what the future holds!

And, of course, I just had to post some recent pics of what we've been up to...

Chloe and Lucas loving each other up on Memorial day: The boys swimming at our good friends' house:
Hanging out with my new friend, the goat, at my nephew's b-day party (at a farm ;-)
I just loved this bench, and Lucas seemed to, as well!

Love this little guy!!
Happy hump day, my friends!

Some Jenni Bowlin projects...

Ok, these are so overdue to be posted here, it's not even funny ;-) I was a guest blogger on the Jenni Bowlin blog last month, so I made four projects, including these two layouts (with the awesome new Be My Guest line):

I just love that clock paper. I cut out the larger circle and then stitched clock hands with my sewing machine.

I love those large butterfly rub-ons... so pretty! It's hard to see in the pic, but I heat embossed a butterfly (using the JBS butterfly stamp) with glitter embossing powder on a transparency - it's layered between the large pink butterfly on the bottom and the blue punched butterfly on top.

I also made a mini album and a butterfly mobile that is hanging in Chloe's doorway. Will post those next :-)

Life is good here... the school year is winding down, and I am anxiously awaiting our schedules to be a little less hectic. I can't believe it's almost June!!

Happy Memorial Day weekend, friends!

Happy Mothers Day!!

I love my mother dearly. Over the years, she has gone from the role of mentor to the role of friend. Don't get me wrong - I still go to her for advice all the time, and I still consider her my best role model as a mother, but now that i'm an adult, I definitely also consider her a friend. She has taught me how to love unconditionally, selflessly, and with all that I am. I truly don't know where i'd be or what i'd do without her! My parents are on a cruise right now, so this is one of the only times I haven't spent Mothers Day with my mom (the only other times were when tony and I lived in Tucson). I missed her today, but i'm sure she's having a lot more fun where she is lol.

In honor of Mothers Day, here are some of my reflections on motherhood...

Motherhood is NOT:
glamorous
easy
inexpensive
restful
quiet
free of stress, anxiety and constant worrying

Motherhood IS:
a privilege
a blessing
incredible fun
the most important and rewarding role I have had and will ever have
truly the most incredible, overwhelming, all encompassing love
My wonderful hubby gave me this gorgeous bouquet of flowers. I smile every time I walk into the kitchen :-)
I had such a great day with my family, and actually, the Mother's Day fun started for me on Friday when I went to an event with Noah at his school, and then I had a Mothers Day party with Chloe at her preschool. Today we met my bro, SIL and niece and nephew out for lunch, and the rest of the day we just chilled.

It was gorgeous outside, so we played with bubbles, the kids rode bikes, and Tony and I both got in some napping and I even got to crack my book open :-)

Lucas LOVES bubbles. He would get the biggest smiles whenever he saw the kids blowing them.
He would also, however, make what we termed "the stink face" every time a bubble came near his face and/or popped in front of him. Oh man, he was cracking us up! I laugh every time I see this picture.
Before I go, I wanted to share my last projects from AMM's April kit (sorry my posting is so long overdue!!):


I hope you all had an amazing mothers day today, whether you're a mother yourself or celebrating a special woman in your life!

Let's just pretend....

that I have been keeping up with my poor neglected blog. Let's pretend that I remembered to post this last layout that I did with last month's AMM kit
and the first layout i've done with this month's AMM kit.
Oh geez. One of these days i'll get my blogging act together ;-) I have a few more layouts to post, but i'll come back with those, as well as several projects I completed for a guest blogging spot on the JBS blog - will come back with a link when that's up :-)

Things here are good, and they continue to be super busy. I really don't think it's that much harder (yet!) adding a third to our family, but the biggest change for me seems to be that someone always needs something, so my "me" time has been greatly reduced. Of course, all his sweet baby snuggles make every lost second of "me" time more than worth it, and I know that one day life will be balanced again ;-) Luke continues to be such a sweet sweet baby, now if only we could get him to sleep! His nighttime sleep is the pits, and his daytime sleep isn't much better. Of course, I blame us for that - since he is the third kid, it's really hard to keep him on any type of schedule since there's always places we need to go for the bigs. I just keep reminding myself that he won't go off to college still waking in the middle of the night. At least I hope not lol.

Noah and Chloe are doing well, too. I can't believe the school year is already winding down - Noah got his 3rd marking period report card today. They're continuing to stay busy, and they've very excited that the weather is changing and bringing us outside every day again.

Well, friends, I hope to be back much sooner next time, and hopefully no pretending will be necessary! ;-)

My loves...

Yes, they truly do make my heart full, even on the days when they make me want to tear my hair out :-) We got pictures taken at Picture People recently, and this is one of my favs...
This LO was made using the gorgeous March kit from AMM - I just love those doily stamps I used to make the bordered edge!

Speaking of AMM, there is a giveaway at the forums for the new Pagemaps book. You can check it out here.

Soooo, tomorrow I turn the big 3-6. Yikes. Is it terrible that I still feel like i'm in my twenties? :-) Tony and I went out Saturday night to celebrate since my b-day is in the middle of the week. We saw a movie - my choice (The Adjustment Bureau - I loved it!) and then went to dinner at The Melting Pot. YUM!! We had only been one time before, many many years ago, and we had gone with a big group. This was seriously one of my favorite meals in a long time. And since it's a nice leisurely dinner, we had plenty of time to reconnect and talk (and have a few drinks :-) Great night!

Well, friends, i'm off to go exercise... nothing like waiting till the last minute. Good night, all!