Gems

Found these little gems as I was going through some of my old magazines-inspiration is everywhere!

Jack has Vacation Bible School this week, and started yesterday. Talk about planning and hard work-the whole church is decked out in a beach theme, and it was so organized. The best part was when I picked him up, Collin and I were a little early-just in time for the puppet show. Collin was memorized by the puppet show, and when I asked Jack later on what his favorite part of Vacation Bible School was yesterday, he joyfully shouted "the puppet show!" I love our church and all the people there. So kind, caring, and genuine. And it's this genuineness that has changed not only my life, but my family's lives as well.

I finished Jack's birthday invitations-made "player stat cards" for his football birthday party this year.

Tom's Train Table!

Yeah! Tom and I brought the table in from the garage Tuesday night, and the boys have been glued to it since then. They LOVE it! I am so happy Tom did this with Jack... such a great "bonding experience" for them both. We had some of our friends over last night, and the first thing Jack said was "look at the train table that daddy and me made". And yesterday Jack told me that he wanted to call daddy at work. So we called him, and Jack (all on his own) thanked Tom for the train table, that he loves it, and is "grateful for the train table". He told Tom that he is the best daddy in the whole wide-wide world". Gotta love that.

Collin has been really loving it too-the table is just the right height for both of the boys (to play trains on, and to "hide" underneath).

Talk about a great Dad.

Cleaning, organizing, being inspired.......

and it feels great. Getting my scrap area organized finally after finding some cute, sturdy baskets at a great price. Having lots of energy, and way too much creative juice because I haven't had enough time to do all the ideas that are running around in my head.

Planning Jack's 4th birthday party (4? already?) for when my mom will be here. Planning on a football theme party, so he can wear his beloved Packers #4 Brett Favre jersey for his 4th birthday.

Caught this beautiful moment in the morning sunlight the other day...

SeaWorld layout....

didn't turn out all that great, but I do like some of the little accent/embellishment aspects. Bought 3 iron-on patches at the SeaWorld souvenir store, saved the SeaWorld tags from the boys stuffed animals, and even found some SeaWorld stickers at the local scrapbook store. You can click on the pictures to view them more closely (sorry, some are blurry, but you can get the idea).

Above is the "front" of the 4 page layout.
Below are the 2 middle pages-love the rick rack-goes along with the "wave" and "water" look for these pages.

Used words that started with the letter "S" for easy and fast journaling.



I don't love how these pages turned out....but every one can't be a masterpiece! We had such a great time at SeaWorld together-and the memories are far better than how these layouts turned out. But I'm a "go with the flow" scrapbooker, so it will only make the next layouts more fun to experiment with.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! I'm working on some other layouts right now as well, including swimming, and an all-white page featuring Collin. Playing with rick-rack, ribbon, and some other new techniques that I'm really excited about.

Train table in progress...

Tom and Jack working on the train table in our garage today. Tom loves the boys so much, and I love him even more for that. Tom (and Jack!) are doing the final touches...sanding today, and most likely painting it next weekend. Bought the paint today on our way home from church. So excited! Working in the garage with Daddy makes Jack's day, despite the near 100 degrees outside... you just can't separate these 2 guys. Meanwhile, Collin and I spent time inside in the air-conditioning!

Life is Good...

Our family went to Seaworld in San Antonio, and it went really well. Tom's mom, Sally was visiting as well, and we captured such a cute picture (with Shamu of course). Jack absolutely loved the (kiddie-sized) Shamu Express roller coaster, and my favorite thing hands down was the Shamu show-they are such big, beautiful creatures.
We also went the the Austin Children's Museum for the first time, and loved it! Lots of things for all ages and interests.




Working on putting together the Seaworld layouts. I'm making it a 4-page layout using both sides of 2-12x12 papers. Layouts to follow!

Texas storms...

are finally done for now. Lots of flooding in the state and in our own county, but not the worst in the area. I have to say though that with all the storms, the skies were quite spectacular. Beautiful white clouds contrasting against the dark skies. Made me even want to snap a picture!

I have been feeling a need to organize, sort, purge, and rediscover treasures in the scrap area. I finally found some awesome wire baskets at Hobby Lobby-sturdy and stylish. They come in 3 different sizes as well, and I'm so excited to have found them.

I'll post more pics later of my baskets.... and of my organization in progress!