what do you do for a nine year old boy's birthday in the middle of winter (in the frigid midwest)?


well, you hire a VIDEO GAME TRUCK to come to your home, of course!  (i know this doesn't look frigid.  But welcome to Indiana where you never know what to expect)



Can I just say--- watching my son watch this huge truck park in our drive way was pure gold.  Game Star Mobile came highly recommended from a good friend, so we booked this incredible video game truck for Jonah's birthday party.  Jonah is SO into video games right now (however, unbeknownst to him, he is SO limited in the games he plays on the OLD, ANCIENT Wii system--- basically Mario and Sports games!).  But this.  This was the ULTIMATE for this boy, and he just had the time of his life.



Cantrell, the owner of Game Star Mobile, was SO patient and helpful to the boys.  He took time to explain rules and how to use the controllers to the boys.  He was their "coach" and would help anytime they had a problem!  Beforehand he asked in detail what I games I approved and did not approve  so that we were on the same page about what was allowed (I deeply appreciated this).  I also appreciated his thoroughness and patients with all these boys!



 If you are in in the Indy area I highly recommend Game Star Mobile for birthday parties and goodness, my husband and friends hung out in here too--- bachelor parties, work parties, etc...this is a great bet!



This boy = heaven.


If only this was what we could look forward to at the Super Bowl.  I think no one would disagree.  Have so many crazy thoughts on this Deflategate business... will leave that for another post.   (and #gohawks)

Jonah stuck to the football games

lots of Mario Kart, Minecraft, Madden Football, Lego Batman, and Wrestling going on here....



the girls stopped by too.. for only a few minutes!

We came inside to enjoy a Pacers Jersey Cake (Taylor's Baker) on a Football field table.....  Jonah's favorite sports!

For party favors I got a LARGE water bottle for each boy at the 5 and Under Store ($5 Dollar Store basically) and decorated it with their name.... thought that this would be more useful than a goodie bag!\


What a day!  we had so much fun!!!!!

PROJECT LIFE: DOCUMENTING BIRTHDAYS

Today I am sharing a spread I created for Jonah's birthday (January 5th)!

This year I am wanting to be less strict on documenting certain days (like, every spread has to document monday- sunday ), and I want to focus more on the stories.   Jonah's ninth birthday was January 5th, the first monday of the New Year and the first day of school.  This week I also celebrated my birthday, it was just a very full week for us.  I decided to focus on spread on his birthday alone.



These photos were taken January 5-7, but I was not very concerned on documenting the date, because the whole  idea was to focus on how we celebrated Jonah's birthday.  I just know 20 years down the road I will not be thinking that one or two of these photos were taken the day after his birthday!   I just love how it turned out, and I love this loose method of Project Life.

I love the "interview" card that is found in the Elle's Studio Cameron Collection .  I have used these cards at birthday's, beginning/end of the school year.  It's fun to see how the grow and how their answers change.

Although this photo is a bit blurry, i just LOVE it.  The movement of the candles are awesome.  And it just sums up how much this boy LOVES his birthday!  I hope he always has this much excitement every January 5th.

Project Life was created by Becky Higgins as a way to simplify how you document life and preserve memories. Photo pockets used in my Project Life are created by Becky and can be found here. You can read all of my Project Life posts here.

Hello 2015 3x4 Calendar Tags

January 2015 Kit

Numbers Stamp

Everyday Moments - Paper Collection Pack

InLinkz.com

Project Life: Hello 2015

Today I am sharing my first Project Life spread for 2015.

A new year, and a fresh beginning for pocket style documentation!  I am excited to get rolling again after falling behind this past fall. (I am not stressed at all about that--- my motto is pick up fresh and, if you can, go back later).    I don't have a solid plan for what I want to do this year, but I do know I want to mix it up a bit.  Different pocket style pages, not sticking to one week necessarily, different sized albums (for the summer).  So we'll see how it all shakes out as time progresses.

I shared my cover page last week, and this is my first spread that covers really New Years through January 4th.  That first semi-week of 2015.   It's all about the black, gold, and gray in this layout!

I trimmed a 12x12 Design A page in half and used the "B" side as the beginning of my layout.  (I still have yet to design the "A" side).  I used Elle's Studio's Hello 2015 and the exclusive January kit for the majority of this spread.  The "Love" wood veneer is from the Lots of Love Wood Veneer .

Can you tell I got a typewriter for Christmas?  I had lots of fun playing around with it and typing on journaling cards and photos.  Of course nothing beats hand written journaling, but the typewriter comes pretty darn close!

Thanks for swinging by today!  cheers to 2015!

Project Life was created by Becky Higgins as a way to simplify how you document life and preserve memories. Photo pockets used in my Project Life are created by Becky and can be found here. You can read all of my Project Life posts here.

Us: this week

He:

Turned nine on Monday. NINE!?!?  How did this happen?   

This boy LIVES for January 5th and we woke up Monday morning and celebrated to the max.  

He received Legos and Colts items (a Reggie Wayne jersey was his highlight).   

He is loving texting family members through his new mini iPad he got at Christmas.

He can NOT wait for the Colts vs Broncos matchup tomorrow.

He is studied the book of Jonah at school this week.  Pretty appropriate for his birthday week, huh?

She: 

Keeps me on my toes. 

Always.

She is asking Siri on my phone LOTS of questions.  Such as "are unicorns real?", "what do you look like?" "show me a picture of a tiger, lion, dolphin, unicorn with rainbow hair, etc".  We crack up when we hear her talking to Siri.

She is always coloring, drawing, making some sort of craft.

She is loving gymnastics! We signed up right before Christmas and it's a big WIN.

She is loving the Kids You Version Bible App right now.  She is reading Princess Posey chapter books!

She is now counting down the days until HER birthday!

He:

has spoiled me this week with taking me out twice for my birthday.

He is working a lot right now-- beginning of the year is a BUSY time for the insurance industry.

He got us hooked on Boardwalk Empire-- watching it every night!

He is the cool, calm, collected one--- when our power went out Wednesday night (it was -8 degrees), he just got in bed and read the newspaper with a flashlight.  Me?  I was freaking out.  So hilarious.

Me:

I turned 36 (!!) on Thursday.

Enjoyed lots of great family time this week-- two snow days and a delayed school day was wonderful (even though I'm craving routine).

Feel like a TV junkie.  Between Boardwalk Empire and the return of Downton Abbey and the Bachelor (what the what about Andi and Josh!??!?) , i've got my shows set up for this COLD winter.

Been fighting off yucky sore throat germs.

Been loving all the CHA lines.  What are your favorite's right now?

2015 Cover Page

Good Morning!  Today we have our first SNOW DAY of 2015 and yesterday we celebrated someone's 9th birthday (how is that possible!!!!)... but today I wanted to share my 2015 Project Life Cover Page.

I am all about the coin pocket pages and had a lot of fun putting this one together.  I love all the cork by Elle's Studio!    I used papers from their Good Cheer, and Sycamore Lane, along with pieces from Hello 2015 and pieces from the January 2015 kit (available January 10th).

This year I want to shake things up a bit in my documentation--- add different types of pocket pages, different sizes, and different album sizes.   Really, I want to find what works best for me for each season!    

Looking forward to a great year documenting 2015!!!

Elements of our Everyday

I am thrilled to share I will be a class contributor to Gossamer Blue's Pocket Page Class, Elements of our Everyday led by my friend Nicole Harper!



Pocket Pages have become my primary method of documentation over the last three years.  I still create mini albums, I still create layouts (not as much as I would like to... working on that), but this is truly the method I have found to be my preferred method to document the everyday.



I am thrilled to join Nicole and share a bit about about my method, design ideas, and share a layout I created especially for this class.

Here's some info about the class (register here).... we start January 5th--- so there's still time to join us.  Oh and the CLASS KIT (included while supplies last)... is just.plain.awesome.   Don't miss out!

Start 2015 off with a boost of inspiration and fresh ideas in tackling your pocket pages!   Hope you will join us over at Gossamer Blue's Elements of our Everyday Class!

2014 Favorites

Favorite Movie:  100 Foot Journey

Favorite Go To Meal: Chicken Fried Rice


Favorite Project: 2014 Cover Page

Favorite TV Show: Revenge


Favorite Date: Mendenhall Glacier Walk


Favorite Pop Culture Moment:  Ellen's Oscar Selfie


Favorite Sunset: Juneau, AK


Favorite Grandma-gram:  Courtesy of my cousin Alex



Favorite Moment:  Jordan Dancing with Belle


Favorite Celeb-Siting:  Jonah with Uncle Si


Favorite Layout:  Secret Magic


Favorite Photo:  My dad and Jonah in Butchart Gardens, Victoria B.C.

Favorite Ice Cream Cone:  Crystal Mountain, Michigan


Favorite Summer Tradition: Buffet concert


Favorite Scary Moment:  Running into 2 bears in Skagway (!!!)


And with that, I am ready for a whole new set of favorite memories for 2015.   And thanks to my friend Stephanie for the "2014 Favorites" post idea.