One of the (many) fun things about having a little girl is dressing her up.

I especially love the times where I have dressed her up in my old baby/toddler clothes.

I am so glad my mom saved some of her favorite clothes of mine.

Which makes me feel a little better about the 10+ bins in our storage room full of jonah and jordan's old clothes. It's just to hard to part with some of them. it's interesting how the bring back so many memories. Do any of you save ALL your children's clothes??

Anyway, yesterday I had some time so I scrapped a layout of jordan and I both at about 18 months, wearing the same dress. The Journaling says "I see two little girls. Two little girls wearing the same dress, wearing pig tails. I see two little girls who have the same smile, same love for their blankie, the same heart of joy. I see you in me, and me in you. And that, I love."

I used lily bee Hello Sunshine papers and their fun chipboard. It's a pretty simple and quick layout, but i really like how it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a lovely friday!

Scrapbooking Vacations.

Scrapbooking our vacations.

Not one of my favorite things to do, not because I don't enjoy the process of creating the pages, but because it opens the door to so many options.

Such as, should I document this vacation as an album all by itself? Make it a digital album? Or what about a mini-album? Or should I incorporate it into our family album?

One thing is for sure, travel is something that is worth documenting no matter how you decide to organize the album.

Two years ago we went on the most amazing Disney vacation with my mom,dad, brother, and sister. We stayed in a condo together. It was the kids first time to Disney (Jonah was 2 and 1/2, and Jordan was 6 months). Todd's dad drove over to Orlando and joined us for a few days. It was fabulous. I knew this trip would need it's own album-- there was no way of cutting down the 83902040 photos I took to make a mini album, or a few pages to include in a more general scrapbook. So a big album it was (and is!).

Two years ago, scrapbooking was still pretty new to me, and I used ALOT of sketches and "scraplifting" to create my pages. It was really helpful to just get the pages DONE, to get a feel for design, and begin to discover my own style. (And I STILL enjoy sketches when I am needing a boost to my creativity :) I love Becky Higgins sketches back in the older Creating Keepsakes Magazines. (And yes I have saved every.single.one.ever!) I found one of her sketches that I LOVED right before our trip in the September 2008 issue (p. 38).

I used this sketch as my "title page" for each day. It helped me SO much to get the book organized.

The large photo is a 5x7, and the smaller photos are 3x2. I chose my favorite photos from that day, (and if i didn't have enough photos, I would fill that spot in with patterned paper), and used it as a summary for each day. I also included "Favorite memories" on the strips of paper over the photos to help me remember stories I wanted to tell in detail on the following pages.

It was so much LESS overwhelming once I had my pages for each day completed. I then went back and began creating the pages that would follow these "title pages". Those layouts were the ones that contained more story and detail.

Like this layout below, "Epcot Food and Wine Festival". It came after "Day Six" (above):

This is another Becky Higgins sketch from Creating Keepsakes April 2009 (yes I love Becky Higgins). Actually, it's a lift from Wendy Bretz's take on the sketch. Even though I made this over a year ago, AND it's a scraplift, it's still one of my favorites!

Here is another example of a title page, "Day 4" (above), and a page that coincided with that day, "Date Night" (below).

These are just a few examples of how to organize an entire vacation album by breaking it down into days, using a title page (creating those first and filling in the other pages afterwards) and by using sketches from your favorite scrapbookers.

It may help you feel more organized in your thoughts, inspired to create, and make the process less overwhelming!!

** ETA** I just went over to Becky's blog today and she just blogged about vacation scrapbooking- too funny!!! Definitely check it out- she has lots of great advice! :)

A Million Memories July Guest Designer

I am SO thrilled and excited to be the July Guest Designer over at A Million Memories! Here is their fabulous kit for the month of July...

I had SO MUCH fun with this kit-- a lot of October Afternoon, My Minds Eye, and those fabulous stickers by Echo Park- LOVE! I also adored the journaling cards and little starburst numbers by Pretty Little Things. (check out all the kit contents here)
Ok, enough gushing... here are the layouts I created:

"First Pick"

I love the way this one came together. It was a quick one that really just fell into place. I think my favorite thing about this layout is the misting for the title. I used the strawberry chipboard as a mask and misted away. I love the way it turned out! It seems that this kit was made just for these picture of Jordan in the strawberry patch!!

"Sweet Reward"

This is one of my favorite photos from Michigan. We promised Jonah we would get him ice cream on July 4th and ended up waiting in line for 45 minutes- AHH! I loved layering all the papers and embellishments. The Echo Park stickers were so fun to use on this layout - everything from the title spot, banner, pinwheel... super fun!

"Oh How I Love.."

I mostly used the patterned papers for this design- i loved the variety of bright and soft colors in the papers of the kit!

"The Joy of Summertime"

This is the final layout I made with the kit, and i just love the simplicity of the design and the bright colors. Just yesterday I was looking at my calendar and realizing how close we are getting to the start of school and the busy school schedule and I was SO sad! This summer is flying by!!! I have had so much fun with my kiddos and have especially enjoyed watching Jonah have a blast this summer in all the fun activities he has done.

Aren't those Maya Road Flowers fabulous!? I grouped them together and topped them off with a butterfly. I loved using all the bits and pieces left over in the kit for this layout... it's probably my favorite layout of the four.

Thanks again to A Million Memories for letting me play with their fun July Kit!! I had such a blast. Make sure you stop by and check out their blog, they have so many great ideas and regular tutorials. Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

the randomness that has been our week (so far)

since i have yet to pick up my camera this week, i thought i would share a few random iphone photos of our week/weekend...

1. Monday we went to the office for miscellaneous monday. which is a RANDOM lunch where my husband cooks burgers on the grill and my dad and sister joust in the parking lot- HA!!! I think it's a pretty cool idea- everyone at the office loved it and there was a tournament with sweet prizes. jonah and jordan had a turn too!

2. my friend erin recently got married and invited the kids and i over today to decorate cookies with her new cookie cutters and fancy icing containers. Oh how j & j loved every minute of cookie cutting and decorating. erin was so sweet to let them come over and dump sprinkles all over her kitchen ;) AND, it was at erin's house that jonah found a Yoda stuffed animal and asked me if it was God. (?!?!)

3. Evening jam sessions with daddy. Love watching the kids dance and sing to praise music before bed!

4. Yes i know, i am late on the bandwagon here.... I have caught clips of Glee here and there over the last year but never watched it consecutively. Besides, Todd and I are more DVD people when it comes to TV shows anyway (ie skip commercials!). Anyway, this past weekend we rented first 8 episodes of Glee and pretty much had a glee marathon. Oh my, this is a great show. And i think Sue is pretty much the funniest person i have ever seen . I can't stop laughing at her (" and that's how Sue.. C's it!"). And Todd laughs at me laughing at her. I think I want to be Sue for Halloween.

5. I have been doing the Shred for the past week. I pretty much hate every minute of the workout, but have notice that i actually LIKE the way I feel afterward. AND, I have noticed improvement in my endurance when I am consistent with the workouts. So I keep coming back for more beatings from Jillian. Thank goodness it's only 20 minutes long... not sure how those peeps on BL endure full day workouts with her. *shudder*.

SO that's it for my random post!!! Hope you are having a fabulous week!!

A trip to the zoo

Last week we went to the zoo.

We pet sharks!!

Fed giraffe's!!

Saw Cheetah's!!!

(and lions, and tigers, and bears....oh my)!

But the BEST part of all (according to Jonah and Jordan), was the fact that they became animals too!!

Meet Jonah the Zebra... (not to be confused with Gene Simmons)

And Jor the Giraffe!

They had so much fun having their faces painted, it was truly the best part of their day! SO much so, that we had to stop by the office on the way home to show daddy. ( i love the bottom right picture of jonah when he first saw his face in the mirror-- sheer joy for this boy!)

After Jonah had his face painted it was Jordan's turn. I was SURE she would choose a butterfly, princess, puppy ,or pony for her face painting. uh, no.

She wanted to be a TIGER.

After a little persuasion she decided on a giraffe. what am i going to do with that silly one!? One minute she is ultra girly girl, the other minute she is roaring on the playground and scaring boys!

However... I have been informed by both Gene Simmons Jonah AND Jordan that next time we go to the zoo they BOTH want to be lions. Oh dear.

Lily Bee and Punches

Good Morning Friends!

Today I am blogging over at Lily Bee and sharing this layout about using Punches!!! Make sure you stop by :)

AND, don't forget, July 31st is the deadline to submit your projects to be Lily Bee's Guest Designer for the month of September... and to work with all three NEW COLLECTIONS!!! Good Luck! :)

a challenge!

Happy Saturday!

I have a fun, quick layout to share with you today :)

Yesterday I played in a fun little challenge over at Studio Calico hosted by Stephanie - to scrap-lift another members layout. I lifted this awesome layout.

Supplies: Patterned paper from the Studio Calico Cotillion Kit. Journal stickers by October afternoon. Red Flower by K&Company. Ticket by Tim Holtz. Corrugated cardboard by K&Co. Brown paint by Making Memories. Red letters by October Afternoon. Gold sequin by Prima. Green ribbon by Michaels. Navy lettering by Basic Grey. Staples from supply store. Photography by Carpenter Photography and Design.

Even though this photo was taken in the fall, "i love you to the moon and back" is Jonah's new thing to say to me when I put him to bed. pure sweetness to a mama's ears.

It was so much fun to do a quick layout without having to "think" of a design. That's the fun part of scraplifting. :) And I have to say it was nice to not fuss over the embellishments since i only had a little time to make it. Sometimes simple is better!

Have a fabulous weekend!!!

This... not that?

Right now, Jonah is ALL about asking questions.

Not just one question.

But many questions...

Questions about the questions he just asked.

For instance. This fourth of july, we visited Todd's godparents at their home in Bear Lake, Michigan.

Upon arriving, Jonah and I had a conversation that went something like this...

J: Where are we mommy?
M: Jo, this is Bear Lake!
J: What KIND of Bear Lake?
M: umm.... i don't know jonah, just BEAR Lake.
J: Like, Polar Bear Lake??
M: no sweetie, more like a brown bear lake (???)

-pause-

J: so it's not FROG lake?
M: no, it's just Bear Lake, not frog lake.
J: just ONE Bear Lake?
M: yes, just one Bear Lake.
J: not TWO Bear Lakes?
M: No, just one Bear Lake....

As crazy as it made me feel at the moment, I am overjoyed at his comprehension and his desire to learn. Because you know what? This boy would have never asked questions like this six months ago. We are in a whole different world, and even since the beginning of summer his vocabulary and conversation skills have grown immensely. To the point of making me crazy.
( ha! just kidding. kind of :)

So I will happily tell him that, No, this is not frog lake, turtle lake, polar bear lake, monkey lake, lion lake, giraffe lake, hippo lake, or tiger lake(and you better believe he asked me each and every one of those a few times over! :). I am just so thrilled with how far he has come.

An All-American Fourth of July

We are Back!!!! We visited a huge group of family and friends in Michigan over the Fourth of July and had a wonderful time. Lots of down time and beautiful weather... can't beat that!

We enjoyed playing on the Beach

Running in the water,

Time with our kids.

Some boating on the Lake,

Baseball,

Celebrating the Fourth,

Making funny faces (apparently I am married to Eminem??)

More silly faces.

We had ALOT of good food
(including desserts, fish dinners, great wine, and even a 150 lb pig roast on July 4th!!)

And of course some ice cream on the Beach.

On the evening of July 4th we went to Frankfort, Michigan to watch the fireworks on the beach. It was SO much fun. Thousands of people were there. Everyone dug holes in the sand as their seats, covered up with blankets and enjoyed the amazing fireworks display... well, everyone except Jordan. She HATED it. She covered her face with her de-de (blanket) and didn't say a word. Poor thing! She had a scowl on her face until we got home late that night!

It was just a wonderful long weekend. Now we are back to reality, doing laundry and trying to catch up. It's amazing how much there is to do even when you are away only a few days!!!

I hope you had a great Fourth of July weekend too! We are especially thankful this July 4th for the men and women who are fighting to defend and protect our freedoms. THANK YOU!!!

Freedom

Like all things, Freedom is not free.

There is always a price to be paid.

The cost of freedom is great.

This July 4th I am especially thankful for the brave men and women who have paid the ultimate price to establish and protect my freedom as an American.

So that I can say that I am a Christian without the threat of persecution. (which is a reality in many countries today).

So that I can teach my children about the Lord and THE ultimate Sacrifice He paid. A Sacrifice that truly makes us free.

So that I can openly pray for the men and women who are fighting RIGHT NOW, for me. They are our heroes.

There is so much to be thankful for this July 4th.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." - Ronald Reagan

“The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible”. – Patrick Henry

“In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity”. – John Quincy Adams

"I believe that God has planted in every heart the desire to live in freedom." -George W. Bush

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Galatians 5:1