It's the Small Things

Harry Potter Love

Dylan's best friend started reading Harry Potter and Dylan was curious about it. His best friend was so excited about, Dylan asked us if he could start reading. So, we said ok and got him the first book. Yes, I actually have to buy the books because I listened to them on rented audio tapes (back when I was a commuting and working full time). I must say, Jim Dale cannot be beat. Listening to the books was such an amazing and wonderful experience, that I am having a hard time reading the book to Dylan when it's my turn. It's, also, the first time I've seen things spelled. I can pronounce it all, but have never seen it spelled before. It's kinda weird. Anyway, he just finished reading (we read to him, he can't read, yet) the first book and is just now starting on the second. He LOVES it. LOVES! I admit that when I read that very first chapter to him, I teared up at several parts, but especially "the boy who lived" chapter end. It got me so excited to relive the experience. Now Dylan has decided he wants to be Harry for Halloween. Before this, it's been nothing but Indiana Jones, so I needed to make sure, but, yep, he wants to be Harry. Thankfully, Amazon has great deals on Halloween costumes kits, right now. I must say, Dylan makes a rather handsome Harry. Don't you think? He even took some of his paper and cut out a scar to match. Not bad. Not bad, at all! We've put everything in a bag and out of reach until October. I already know those glasses won't make it if we let him play with them now. I can't believe I am finished worrying about Halloween costumes this year. By the way, Brody is going to be Indiana Jones. He looks rather dashing, too. I had to take his foam whip away, along with his satchel and hat because it was a little too exciting. So, no pictures of that cuteness until October. I imagine that poor whip will have an accident soon after the holiday. Poor thing. 

A family update

We had a wonderful 4th of July. We threw a huge party and it was very fun. There was lots of food and chaos, which is just how I love my parties. The day started with a parade in our neighborhood. It's very fun because a fire truck and two police cars trail us. They kept honking the horns and sounding the sirens and Dylan kept looking behind him wondering why they were doing that. He didn't quite get that it was for the kids and not an emergency. I thought I was such a clever Mommy, too. I got them these really fun top hots to wear and they loved them. When we got to the parade, I realized I was the only one who's kiddos were not wearing helmets. NICE! Not! Ah well. It was still fun! 

Later that evening friends and family started dropping in for the party and to wait for the fireworks show. I'm still tired from all the fun! 

Dylan turned six, recently. We had a big party for him at a bouncy house place. The kids went crazy in all the houses. It was a big place and there was lots to do. Dylan was thrilled that nearly everyone he invited was able to attend. 

Here's a picture I took (too lazy to take out the red eye) of the two of them getting ready to take off and bounce. 

Brody is fearless. He was up and away and did not care  how tall or steep anything was. He was just going to do it. There were a few things he couldn't do on his own because he wasn't tall enough, so Daddy, Mommy or Uncle Jimmy gave a hand. Below is one of those where he would get up and down, but couldn't get through the next step. He loved it all! 

We had Dylan's party the weekend before his birthday. On his birthday we had a little dinner celebration for him and, of course, more cake. 

We have been spending the summer in swim lessons. Last year, at the very end of swim lessons, Dylan really started to get it and was stroking and swimming. This year, it took him two weeks to remember. I think he'll be swimming with no problem by the end of summer. He really loves it.

This is basically our view. The pool is behind a big fence, which I love, except for picture taking. At the end of our lessons, I'll sneak inside to get some good shots. Here he is getting his goggles on with his instructor. 

And, here he is ready to swim. 

And, while he is learning to swim, Brody is sitting next to me playing Lego Indiana Jones. There is a park, right next door, and he doesn't want anything to do with it. He just wants to play legos. 

That's basically a wrap of the past week. We are enjoying our mellow summer at home. 

ScrapStreet.com

ScrapStreet.com magazine did a wonderful article on Creative Therapy this month. We are all so excited because we feel the same way about the blog. 

The catalyst that was featured here is "Did you life turn out how you imagined? 

Lori Says:

When I was twenty I decided I would be a career woman. I would easily be a Vice President by thirty and I would never choose to stay home when I was ready to have children. I just knew I would marry a man who was career driven, wanted four children and a huge home filled with stuff. In fact, I had a laundry list of wants for that male partner. After much heart break, I threw that list out. I decided not to date and to allow myself to just focus on my own self growth. That’s when he walked in. He, who changed my ultimate want list. He, who showed me what love truly is. He, who understood that life was meant to be lived/experienced and not purchased. If I had not learned early on that change and open–mindedness were worthwhile, I would have missed finding my true love. I would have missed having all I have now; love, romance, laughter, tears, joy, passion. I have a fabulous and real life that is driven by the things that cannot be purchased. I am so grateful that my youthful self was able to see the error of my intended plans.

 

Journaling Reads:

 

My twenty-year-old self never imagined my forty-year-old self a stay-at-home Mom with two kids. I am grateful to God, my Parents and my twenty-year-old self for allowing me to embrace change and arrive exactly where I want to be. For I love my life now, so full of laughter and joy.

Everything on this page is Lily Bee Design, except for the Alphabet (American Crafts) and the cardstock (Bazzill). 

Have a safe and happy 4th of July! 

A class you need to take

If you didn't get a chance to take Karen's  Big Picture Scrapbooking class, "Telling Stories Deeply", last time, she's teaching it, again. I cannot recommend this class strongly enough. It really has changed the way I scrapbook. 

I am terrible at journaling. I don't even like to do it. In fact, it was always the last thing I thought about when I worked on my pages and sometimes that meant I left very little room to write anything more than who and when. It just never was a priority. That thinking started to change within me just before Karen's class started last time. First, I have always been effected by her writing and by those that can write well on their layouts. Second, I was going through all of my layouts and sorting them into album categories when I realized that my favorite layouts are the ones that actually told a story about the pictures. I noticed I had lots of "pretty" layouts, but they didn't say anything. I realized that I wanted to change that. I do not want to leave behind thousand and thousand of albums for my kids. I do want to leave behind a few very meaningful albums and I had maybe made a handful a layouts to that end. 

When I took Karen's class, it all just clicked. She broke down so many ways to journal and really helped me take the fear out of it. She was incredibly thorough. The amount of handouts, exercises and examples she gives are unreal. The class is infused with her soulfulness and it's worth every penny. I'm so grateful to her for this class. 

To quickly demonstrate what I mean and how it's changed my style I'll share some layouts with you:

This is exactly what I used to do. There is nothing wrong with my layout. It's just that I didn't tell any story about that day or how profound it was for me to take my camera out with a pro and learn on stationary subjects and not moving kiddos. I learned about composition and so many things in that two hours, yet I didn't mention any of that. I just showed some of the pictures and came up with a decent title. 



After Karen's class, all of my layouts incorporate journaling. I think about what I want to say before I make my layout. Some have more than others, but I can honestly say all of the layouts I have done since her class MEAN something to me and will to any future reader in my family. I didn't realize how important that was to me until Karen's class:




I wanted to share a real example of the effects of this class. I encourage all to give it a shot if you have any interest in broadening your journaling style.

CHA Summer 2009 sneak peeks

Just a quick note to let you know It's that time of year, again, when the scrapbook manufactures get ready to debut their new lines at CHA. This summer show will be in Florida and is at the very end of July. From now until the show we will start to see line debuts and sneak peaks. As I did for the winter show, I'll be posting everything I find at Willow Traders. You can find the list here in the CHA Sneaks forum. This is my favorite time of year. I'm really looking forward to seeing the new holiday lines. 

Edited to add: What?! You mean you are not registered at Willow Traders and, therefore, cannot see the sneaks?! Well, in that case, head on over to A Million Memories and check out the sneaks there. You do not need to be registered at AMM to see their boards. The only difference between the two is that I post pictures on the posts at Willow and have an alphabetized list (including manufacture website and/or blog) to make things easier to find. Enjoy.

Change is good, yes?

Ah yes. The old scrap room. My creative space. That lovely place all my own that was slowly killing all of my creative spirit. Ok, that's a bit dramatic, but it really was becoming a place I dreading going. I originally had a large room and bought all my furniture to fit that room, as I've stated before. Well, through much trial and error, I fit all that furniture into my new much smaller room. I thought I had it all perfect when I posted here. Somehow, after I did that, things just seemed to get worse. I just never wanted to come in here and play. I would come in to use the computer, but would never, ever just create for me. I finally came to the conclusion that I had to get rid of my big craft table. It took up so much space and made the room so much smaller. I knew this from the very beginning, but figured I could deal with it, since I prefer to stand when I scrapbook. But, I finally did it. I took out that big desk and my sweet hubby convinced me to paint the walls. That, too, had been a huge complaint of mine. The dark brown made the space really small and not at all cheery. I had been wanting to repaint the walls a fun color, but dreaded moving everything around to do it. Since we were switching it all up, we went for it and got the room painted my favorite blue, Gossamer Blue, by Benjamin Moore. It's a lovely grey-blue with no yellow undertone to it. It's so soothing. The second it was up, my mood elevated. I was so jazzed to be in this space. It's so amazing how true it is that paint can change the mood of any room. I LOVE the color and the way it looks with my black furniture. I, also, bought a white Ikea Expedit book case to hold all of my totes. Ah yes! I ended up hating the iris cart color drawers. I missed having all of one color in one tote, as before. So, I went back to that. To make things even more fun, my sweet hubby convinced me to buy a chandelier. I have been wanting one and we found one at Pottery Barn Kids. It's the perfect size for this small space and it really adds a lot of fun. I love seeing it from the hallway. I have a few pictures, but will wait to put the rest up until I have everything on the walls. I'm so happy with my new space. It just feels open and light and girly in a blue/not pink way!!! :) 

Here is a picture of the blue walls. It's not quite right in the photo, but you get the idea. What a huge change from the dark brown! And, I took down the red curtains. Those weren't working for me either. 

And, here is the Ikea shelf with my totes. I still need to label them. I have one for every color (pink/purple is combined), two multicolor totes, one mini book tote, one holiday project tote and one holiday tote. I love having all my cardstock at eye level. I am using more of it. I love having my albums on a shelf where they don't stick off at the end. 

And, lastly, here is my super cute chandelier! I love it. It's just so much fun and gives the room a touch of personality, which it was lacking before. 

So excited to share

The doll is ready and up for raffle for Project Ties that Bind. Scrapbook Royalty is hosting the raffle and you can read all about it on their website here. I'm so honored to have been such a small part of this project. This truly was a labor of love. The raffle to win this doll (full of handmade charms and ties by amazing artists) will up open until September 30th, 2009. You can get one ticket for $5 or six tickets for $20. Ovarian cancer research is such an important cause. If you can donate to this project, you will be helping to fund important research. Your donation is tax deductible. If you are unable to donate, but would love to help spread the word, please visit the Ties that Bind blog for information on how to help. 

This little one

is getting so big. Time is just going too fast. I just wanted to note a few things about him, right now. 

*He is obsessed with Lego people. He has to put them together, then pull them apart and mix them up. It's pretty amazing considering he's only two. If he starts to get frustrated he'll ask me to "break his legs" or "take his hat on (off)". 

*He is doing really well with not being able to eat any milk or eggs. He is even telling anyone he can that he's allergic to milk and eggs. 

*He loves posing for the camera these days. In this shot, he sat down and told me to take his picture. He sat with the lighting all wrong, but I wasn't about to move him after he was so helpful! 

*He has decided not to potty train and to go to preschool next year instead. Not sure how I feel about that, yet! 

*He adores his big brother, but has no problem telling him off when he tries to take one of his toys. 

*Thinks sharing means he gets whatever he wants when he asks for it. "He's not sharing"! 

*Loves to run. He's crazy about running. 

Long time, no post

It's been too long since my last post. I did this for this week's Creative Therapy catalyst; create art about a time when something that then seemed small happened but then it ended up changing your life.

My notes:
I think the biggest change that happened in my life because of a small decision, was when I met my husband. I had finally made the decision to move in to an apartment alone. This was something I really needed to do to grow as a person. The day I moved in, my future husband came bounding down the stairs and told me to feel free to crash any of their (he and his roommate's) future parties. I was so bummed to hear that my upstairs neighbors threw big parties. I am not anti-social. I just prefer small gatherings to big parties. One night, several months later, I decided to just go up and talk with them. I didn't put a ton of thought into it, I was just bored. That small non-though-out decision, which meant little to me at the time, turned out to be the reason my future husband and I started dating.

My journaling:
I was about to move into my first apartment and was thrilled to be on my own. The day I was to move in, I came down with the flu. Fortunately, I had several friends offer to help me. We were nearly done when a guy came bouncing down the stairs. He introduced himself to me and suggested I visit them upstairs when they have one of their parties. My heart sunk. My first place and the guys upstairs throw parties. Well, one night a few months later, I did go to visit them. They were not having a party, so I was able to talk to both guys and get to know them a little. A few weeks later, Jeremy, the guy I originally met on the day I moved in, knocked on my door and asked me out. I couldn't go, but asked him to ask me another time. A week later he knocked on my door, again, and asked me if I wanted to go out with a big group for his birthday. I did and we've been together ever since.

Yesterday, Donna Downey was in town to teach her fabric scrapbooking class. My friend Debi and I went to take it. It was awesome. Donna is a really cool gal and super funny. I learned a ton in her class. I cannot wait to finish up my book. I'll post it here when I do. It looks just like Donna's, but with my pictures. Donna's not too into journaling and I am, so that will be the only real difference. I am officially hooked on getting messy with paint, watercolors, gesso, gel medium, and molding paste. What a blast it was to spend a full day being messy and learning new things.  She couldn't spill, but I really hope she is coming out with more of her cool canvas line at CHA Summer. I plan on making more of these books. Happy Sunday! I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

NSD Sales Event

This Saturday is officially National Scrapbook Day (NSD). There are usually tons of events taking place at local and online scrapbook stores. A Million Little Things is taking it to the next level. They are celebrating all week with extra special sales and prizes. Every day this week, AMLT is giving huge discounts on select products. To find out what the specials are for the day, you need to visit the blog. For every $20 you spend at the store you get one raffle ticket toward winning the grand prize of a Slice or a Zutter System! Awesome, right?!!! 

If you are wanting any of the new products about to come in this week, Cosmo Cricket, October Afternoon, or Collage Press, you'll want to buy them from AMLT for a chance to win one of these fantastic prizes. For all the important details go here. Happy NSD!!!