A moment that made me smile

On Kim Holmes blog she challenged everyone to dwell on the good moments in life and not the overwelming worries that seem to be all around right now. The challenge was to blog every day about a moment that made you smile that day.

Today I ran a few errands, returning items we didn't use at Alexis' birthday party and whatnot. While out and about I stopped at a store that I have always wanted to check out, its called Plato's Closet. They buy and sell used name brand clothes. So I took a few shirts into the dressing room. I tried on a cute but simple red top, looked in the mirror and smiled. So cute. I love it when I find something that makes me confortable in my own body. Best part it was only 7 dollars.

Ok, Ok... I know what you're thinking. How entirely materialistic of you. But I have to start somewhere.

Princess Party!

I had so much fun planning Alexis' princess party but the best part is that Alexis loved it, she said the house looked like her dream house.

We decorated cupcakes.

Each girl got a pixie stick flower wand.

We decorated tiaras with glitter and gems.

The princess thone (Thanks Rachel & Jillian for letting us borrow it)

All the dress up jewelry and make up a 6 year old girl could hope for.

Happy Birthday Alexis!

Today is my daughter's 6th birthday. I feel so lucky to have her in my life. She is the most wonderful little girl a mother could hope for. I see me in her, I see her father in her but I see she is herself and she is going to be an amazing women. Her favorite thing to do is to "Give love away because it makes her feel good" We can all learn something from that. I love her so much.

Saturday Scrapbooking

I have actually had time to scrapbook this week. Here are the pages I completed.

I just love these pictures of Shayne. This was from our trip to PA in the fall of 2006.

Product: I drew the tree and cut it out. The patterned paper and letter stickers are Basic Grey. The journaling circle is Jillibean Soup. Misc buttons.

Aren't these girls just adorable! This is Alexis and her BFFs. Its so cute that all their names start with the letter A.

Product: The cardstock, patterned paper, flower pin and stamp are all from the Sept kit at Dixiepieces.com. It was an amazing kit this month. The letter "A" is from Michael's dollar bin.

Alexis loves to play picnic tea party. After I got laid off earlier this year we've had more time to play together. On this particular occasion Neo joined in the the fun.

Product: These are all scraps that I had in my stash of stuff. The patterned paper is October Afternoon. The flowers are made from felt. Thats all I know.

Its Tuesday?

I keep having to remind myself that its Tuesday. And crazier than its already Tuesday that its already Sept 15th. Alexis' birthday is Sept 24th and I'm busy planning her princess party. I still need some costume jewelery for the girls to play dress up with, let me know if you have any I can borrow or if you have any pretty wigs, I need those too. I designed the invitation from a digital kit I bought on Scrapgirls.com. Let me know what you think about the invite, I'm pretty happy with it.

The start of school

Alexis started kindergarten yesterday. Lets just say it was tough letting her go. I didn't want to admit that she is growing up. Not my baby girl.

She did fabulous at school, she loves her teacher (says she seems really nice), she's already made a "BFF" (yes she called it that) and she rode the bus home without problems (though she almost forgot her backpack on the bus). I'm so happy that she's adjusted so quickly. It could be because she has an awesome BIG brother to look up to!

As preparation for her being at school all day (did I mention she's in all day kindergarden?) I made her a mini album that she can keep in her backpack that has pictures of our family.

Lets not forget Shayne started 3rd grade this year. He's getting so big. He's excited to be learning cursive again (he learned it in kindergarden but has forgotten most of it) and ofcourse that he gets to see his friends again.

Halloween kick

I have been working on a bunch of layouts of last years halloween celebration and traditions. There are so many great paperlines out right now for halloween. Enjoy!

For this one I used a sketch from gotsketch.blogspot.com

I just read this great quote on elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com. I had to share it.

"Don’t let fear of failure discourage you. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you—whether that voice comes from the outside or the inside. You are a great power for good. You will make the world a better place. Lift up your chin; walk tall. God loves you."D.F. Uchtdorf

What a cutie!

Yesterday our friends James, Rachel and their kids Josh, Jillian and Monica came over for dinner. Its embaressing to say that it was their first time seeing our house since we moved in a little over a year ago. We used to have dinner dates fairly regularly when we lived near them in Lake Stevens. And we're hoping (though we say this everytime we see each other) to see each other more often. Towards the end of the wonderful evening, I got my camera out. Monica was being so cute. The pics turned out so great and I had fun playing with them in Photoshop Elements.

Daddy's star

I completed this layout for the challenge at ScrapTiffany's blog. I love the colors and how easy it came together. I used a design sketch from the Sept Sketch Challenge at Dixie Pieces. I was so happy with it but it was when Steve and Shayne saw it that I really thought "This is why I scrapbook". They both loved it also. The journaling say "win or lose we're never prouder than when you try your best. 1st year wrestling. Lake Stevens 2007-2008"

Another "Wrestling" layout

I had a few other snapshots of Shayne on the mat. The journaling says "Daddy likes that you're excersizing, you like that you get to take kids down, I like it that you two are spending time together".

Scrapbooking

Here's my latest page. This was for the Sense-ational challenge at Dixie Pieces. The challenge was to represent a sound of summer. The page had to incorporate sewing, painting, hand cutting and doodling.

I also made a card for Dixie Pieces Sept Card challenge. The card had to have a pocket or a hidden message on the front.

New haircuts for the kids

School starts next week. The last thing on my list to be ready for school was to get the kids hair cut. We went to the Great Clips by my house. Each time I go to a "walk in" salon I wonder when I'm going to start taking them to a full service salon. Where they get their hair washed, cut and styled not just a spray bottle, clip and go. The kids don't seem to mind and their hair turned out great. For Alexis I had to take her home, wash it and style it myself before I decided it was a great cut. For the price we'll have to stick with walk in service for now. But I know the day is coming.