Yeay, Friday again!

Not a very prolific week in terms of getting things accomplished, but I did catch up on some things at work before the end of the quarter, so that is good. We had a busy week in terms of evening activities. The Deac had fire department stuff two nights this week and the girls had 2 playdates this week (both on the same day - it actually worked out pretty well), as well as soccer practice. This week Emmelia had her first group lesson in violin. Groups are a big part of Suzuki theory - they allow kids to see other kids their age playing violin and lets them practice together and encourage each other. Emmelia loved group. She started to learn rhythyms, which is actually a sneaky way of teaching them notes (as in the difference between a whole note, half note, quarter note, etc.) before they actually learn to read music. Last night, Em had a make-up violin lesson - normally group supplants individual lessons once a month - wherein she advanced to her 2nd song! She is working on variations on Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. She'll learn 4 variations (different rhythyms used to play the same notes) then the song itself. She's almost got "I'm a Little Monkey" down and last night started on "Grasshopper - Grasshopper." After Twinkle, she'll be on the road to learning all sorts of songs, including some Bach minuets. Right now she's referred to as a "pre-Twinkler." But she *really* wants to learn the song that comes after Twinkle: Lightly Row. Right now that is her main motivation. And last night she made a major stride toward her goal!

We are still worrying about the Deac's medical issues here and all the stress is wearing us thin. But we just keep trudging forward - we can persevere through this and someday maybe "normal" will return. At any rate, prayers are always appreciated.

Emmelia has another soccer game tomorrow which promises to be LOVELY fall weather and should be much warmer than last week's soccer game. She really seems to be enjoying it.






















I got 4 layouts done this week, which isn't bad for not really feeling much like scrapping. Two quickpages helped me scrap some older photos and then I used some photos I took of friends' kids this summer to make pages using a template by Doodleboogs over at SOTB. I really like how that 2-pager came out. I used my friend Ginger's Fresh kit and the colors were just perfect for the photos and the elements went well with the template. The addition of Christine's Simply Stitching in Basic Vanilla really added the perfect touch.

I was really excited on the Christmas card one (figured I should scrap that one before it's time to design THIS years!) because I figured out how to make the ribbon on the top look pinched like it had been put through the ornament hanger. It's so fun to learn new techniques in the Gimp!

You Are My I Love You

I've been wanting to use this poem for a while now. I saw it on a layout in one of the digital scrapping galleries and fell in love with it. Turns out it's the words from a children's book by Maryann Cusimano Love called (appropriately enough) "You Are My I Love You." For the layout, I used a set of freebie papers by Jen Reed that were given away on the Digi Pick of the Day blog when she was interviewed. The colors are not what I normally work with, but went great (and, you know, are absolutely *stunning*) with this photo Emmelia took of me and Maura back in March. And I accented with some of Christine's excellent stitching - from her Autumn stitches collection and her Imperfect Browns.

Here's the poem from the book:

I am your parent,
you are my child.
I am your quiet place,
you are my wild.
I am your calm face,
you are my giggle.
I am your wait,
you are my wiggle.
I am your water wings,
you are my deep.
I am your open arms,
you are my running leap.
I am your way home,
you are my new path.
I am your dry towel,
you are my wet bath.
I am your dinner,
you are my chocolate cake.
I am your bedtime,
you are my wide awake.
I am your finish line,
you are my race.
I am your praying hands,
you are my saying grace.
I am your favorite book,
you are my new lines.
I am your night-light,
you are my star shine.
I am your lullaby,
you are my peek-a-boo,
I am your good night kiss,
you are my I love you.

Yep, it's Friday all right...

Ah, yes, it's Friday - must be time for another blog post. Hee. I've actually had a very productive week at work and got a lot of things done. In general, I've been swamped and along with it, my general state of exhaustion has grown. I hope to find some quality nap time this weekend.

Really, I didn't even have much of a chance to scrap this week. However my friend Christine just developed a new kit called My Boys: Dino Dig (available at Scrap Outside The Box) that I have fallen completely in love with. I used it to finally scrap the photos from our trip to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with Emmelia's pre-K class this summer. First I made the dinosaur page, which was somewhat revolutionary for me - I rarely make pages that are more about the page than the photo. But this kit sort of made me HAVE to do that because there were just so many cool elements and papers I wanted to incorporate. So today I decided to make a 2nd page (you don't see that many 2-page layouts in the digiscrap world, but it is done occasionally) with the rest of the photos I liked from the field trip. So the two layouts hopefully balance each other. Plus I got to use some of Christine's excellent Simply Stitching on both layouts to help tie them together. A while back my friend Ginger Thibodeau put together a set of Giant Letter Patches that I used for the "museum" title - that worked out rather nicely, I think! Christine's stitching and Ginger's patches are available at Scrapbook-Elements.
Hope everyone has a lovely first weekend of fall! It promises to be cold and (possibly) even snowy here. I wonder if Emmelia will play ANY soccer games this season?

Bug - 4; Us - 0

Boy, this time of year can be rough - the new school year begins and along with their laptops and iPods, the students bring new germs onto campus. This week we've all been down with some sort of bug. But the good news is things seem to be on the upswing in time for another weekend. Hopefully we'll feel good enough to enjoy this one more than the last one. Emmelia has her first soccer game tomorrow - I'm looking forward to seeing it. The 4 year olds play 5 on 5 and only have 8 minute quarters so at least it will be mercifully short. I am not sure what to expect because the kids still seem to have no idea what they are doing out there on the field. At practice this week the coach ran a drill where the kids just chased each other around the field trying to get the ball. I mean, they are still learning that the point is to try to get the ball - not stay in-bounds, get the ball to the goal, or have any sort of strategy. Actually, it'll be interesting to see how different their last game of the season is from tomorrow's game.

Well, anyway - you'll notice I decided not to blog about the 5th anniversary of Sept. 11th. On that day I found myself taking the girls for the first visit to the dentist. It was a "Happy Visit" wherein they got to ride in the dental chair and the dentist checked their teeth. It went well - neither has cavities but Emmelia needs a good cleaning. But I did find myself in sort of a surreal mood that whole day.

I've been scrapping away lately - I joined another Creative Team, but it was for my friend Christine Nash, whose stuff I use a lot anyway. So not much has changed. I have had some fun with her new page templates, though. Here's my latest layouts:

CAN you take it with you?

The other day the Deac was looking at something my mother had given him after my Dad died. Emmelia asked him if it was something that had belonged to Grandad. At the "yes" response, she got thoughtful for a moment and then said: "You know, when Grandad comes back to life [she means, is resurrected], he's gonna know his stuff is gone." Ha!

Here's a couple fun layouts I managed to throw together in not much time over the past couple of days. I really love the one of Maura with the water gun. The background on the "Speed" one is actually a bad photo I took - no photo manipulation was involved there. But it came out pretty cool. Although it's obvious Emmelia needs a new bike (& helmet!) - it's starting to look like she's riding a circus bike. Hmmm... might have to talk to Santa Claus about that.

Long time no see (redux)

There's been a lot happening that is blog-worthy. But I'm just don't get around to blogging that much. Since my last post Lynette Hoppe lost her battle with metastatic breast cancer. She was an amazing woman - an incredible example to many people around the world. Also last week my cousin lost her baby at 33.5 weeks gestation. What a horrible tragedy. We know baby Aubrey is safe in the arms of God and never had to suffer in this world. But it's still a tough pill to swallow for those left behind. I was starting to get a little freaked out because these things generally happen in threes, but then Steve Irwin died and that was sad, too. So maybe that will be it for a while.

Emmelia enjoyed Tae Kwon-Do, but has decided she's done with it for a while, which is convenient because soccer starts this week. The girls are sleeping apart in their OWN ROOM and doing a great job of it, although it still feels weird to me. We've been co-sleeping for nearly 5 years now. I turn the baby monitor up to the point I can hear them breathing and it seems almost like they are there next to me. I think the hardest part of parenting is letting your kids grow away from you, but not too fast.

We had a good Labor Day weekend - spending time with friends and decorating our house a bit. New curtains for the girl's room were in order so that the light would not wake them up so early in the morning. On Monday we took the canoe and kayak out with some friends and had a great time. The girls really, really enjoyed being in the boats, which made us happy. We'd like to go out more, but soon will need to get a tandem kayak to make it possible - I found it difficult to paddle over a 4-year-old's head in the single.

I was asked to join a Creative Team - a group of people that make layouts with kits by certain designers and post around to different on-line galleries to help the designer draw in customers. So far it's been a fun challenge, although I haven't had as much time to scrap the past couple week as I would like. Here's my last few layouts, most of which I made for the Doodleboogs CT.