A Little Vacation

My parents' rented a condo at Orange Beach for the month of February and we took some time off to drive over and visit.  It was a nice break from normal life.

Back from the dead...

.... or least from the allergy zombie antihistamine fog.

You know I didn't take any pictures in January except with my phone and then I don't even recall any great photo wonders just pictures of things.

But last night we did go out to the Boy Scout campout for the OA (Order of the Arrow) call out.  Ian was very excited as he was part of the ceremonies team and was playing Meteu (the medicine man).  He had a bunch of lines and he did a great job memorizing them.  I was really proud of how well he projected and did his part in front of the large group of scouts.

Good first week of 2016.

I've been having a good week.

I started walking again.  Although the wind and hills really take it out of me, guess my lungs are quite all the way ready but I'm going slow.

I scrapped 3 days this week.

Product from Shawna Clingerman "Captured: Memories" at Sweet Shoppe Designs.

I also have cooked dinner all but one night this week.  Yesterday was just too hectic with our schedule so we planned on eating tacos quickly at the Cabana before dividing and conquering.

All in all, a good first week to a good new year!

Scrapping is Happy Again

So after giving myself a break and learning what I don't like, it seems that I have broken my block!!  I actually got two layouts done yesterday.  One that I posted (Batman -- although looking at it later on I realized that I totally got the date and Ian's age on it wrong, I fixed it) and then another one with Evan not wanting to get wet at a pool party.

I love the look of titles cut out of the top paper with the bottom paper showing through and I've been trying to replicate that with digital papers!  This layout uses "I Need A Hero" by Libby Pritchett and "You Are My Three Wishes" by Lauren Grier both from Sweet Shoppe Designs.

And then this morning, while waiting to go workout and watching reruns of Columbo, I made this layout.

It's a spin-a-lift off of Saar from Sweet Shoppe Designs and her layout "Daar Gaan We" for the January BINGO challenge.  Products are from "I Heart US" by a bunch of designers from Sweet Shoppe Designs.  I'm not in love with this layout because I think it lacks something but I can't put my finger on it.  Maybe I'll figure it out and maybe I'll just move on to the next one!

Getting back into the swing of things...

So the kids went back to school yesterday and as much as I love having them home, I was happy to get back into a normal routine yesterday.  I got a bunch of laundry done and went for a walk.  I even lifted my kettle bell a bit yesterday and it felt good!

I sat down with all my photos I've been trying to make into a digital scrapbook from our trip to California in 2014 and I think I figured out my problem.  I hate making mini albums.  I couldn't do it when I was scrapping with paper, what the heck made me think I could do it digitally?  So I put them all into a Montage book like the photos from Disney and I'll get it printed next time they have a sale.

Now I can go back to scrapping those every day photos and I feel like it is much better.  Here is one that I made this morning.  It uses a mix of Libby Pritchett's "I Need a Hero" and Traci Reed's "Heroic" collections from Sweet Shoppe Designs.

Christmas Morning 2015

Merry Christmas 2015

Happy 11th Birthday Evan!!

My little guy is 11 today.  I can't believe he's already a pre-teen kid and not a little boy any more.

Santa Pic 2015

The boys still like to sit with Santa for a picture, although Ian's getting a little big for the lap.

Thanksgiving Week 2015

The boys were lucky to get the whole week off for Thanksgiving break so we decided to travel north to see both sets of Grandparents.

First in Missouri to visit Darren's family.  There was an epic battle of Star Wars X-Wing with Brian and Cherlyn.  And gifts for an early Christmas.

And then a couple days later we drove even further north, where they had gotten 10+ inches of snow. We were not ready for snow.  Luckily most of it melted while we were in Missouri but there was enough for a small snowman.

At my parents house there were games with cousins, dinner at the kiddie table, decorating not one but TWO Christmas trees, and more opening of Christmas presents with their cousins!