365 layouts in 365 days (44-50)

Picture post (prompt 5)

(Layouts to follow shortly. I just got a lovely stack of photos back from ScrapbookPictures and it is time to play!)

Conversations with a 3 year old (prompt 4)

Since Max started kindergarten in August, Mason gets my company 24-7. And I get his  =)  Conversations with Mason run the gamut from perplexing to silly to downright hilarious. Consider this recent funny:

Mason - "Mom, we should get a dolphin at our house."
Me - "A dolphin? What would you do with it?"
Mason - "Mom! I would play with her."
Me - "Where would she live?"
Mason - "At our house."
Me - "The dolphin needs an ocean to live in. Where would we get one?"
Mason - "From the water, Mom! And we would put some mud around the house, too."

PSA - If you dress your three year old as a road sign for Halloween, be prepared to have a backseat driver for years to come. "S-T-O-P! That spells stop, Mom. You were supposed to stop!" or "Hey, Mom. You can't park here! N-O spells no. No parking!"

10 Things (I'm reading) Prompt 3

I love to read and I usually have an assortment of books, magazines, newspapers and other reading material all going at once. I wish I could speed read!

The latest pile on my bedside table looks a little like this

The Cellist of Sarajevo

A haunting little book that I picked up at a bookstore in Seattle while visiting with my sisters. Fascinating look at the brutality of war juxtaposed with the healing powers of music. Doesn't hurt that I absolutely adore cello music and asked Michael for one for Christmas.

The Creative Family

A great resource for any family that values tradition and creativity. Concepts will be familiar to anyone who espouses the Waldorf or Montessori traditions. The author has a great blog, which is where I discovered the book in the first place.

The Lost: A Search for Six of the Six Million

Picked this up at Powell's bookstore in Portland. HUGE bookstore - Michael and I could have stayed all day just browsing.

This is a bit of a return to an earlier passion. In middle school and high school, I devoured every book I could get my hands on that dealt with the Holocaust. It sounds...wrong...to say I am fascinated with the subject, but I can't really think of another way to say it. Excellent book!

An Echo in the Bone

This series is my guilty addiction. My mother-in-law first introduced me to Outlander several years ago and I have been in love with Jaime and Claire ever since.

Canon EOS Digital Rebel Xsi/450D for Dummies

Always trying to improve my photography!

Columbine

A disturbing but incredibly fascinating look at the facts of the Columbine massacre. Debunked many of the media theories that most people probably still believe today. Very well researched and definitely a page turner.

The Mists of Avalon

Fantasy and science fiction - more guilty pleasures. This is an oldie but a goodie. Love Marion Zimmer Bradley!

The Time Traveler's Wife

4th or 5th time through. One of my favorite books ever!

The Lady Elizabeth

My baby sister (hey Nyla!) got me hooked on Elizabethan historical fiction. This is a great one!

Parenting the Strong-Willed Child

Do you have one of these? I have several. Possibly six  =)  Well, at least two anyway. Always reading and trying to improve my parenting skills. The somewhat (verbally) combative relationship I have with a certain child is distressing and I am constantly looking for ways to change that relationship for the better.

And with that, you can see why I am wishing for speed reading ability!

And the other 6

That's all folks!

(yes, there are only 5. I CAN count. I had to remove one of my layouts because....it is being published!! Woohoo!!!)

365 layouts in 365 days

Signed on for a new little (ha ha) scrappy challenge. October counts, so I'm already 31 days in. I've got 12 for this week, but I'm banking a few since I know the holidays will be crazy.

More to follow after I play taxi driver for a bit =)

The Girlfriend (Prompt Two)

Her name is Julia.

It seems that we have entered the phase of life of being parents to teenagers. So much of it, I enjoy more than I ever dreamed. I always considered myself a baby lover and certainly one who adores the toddler years. As the kids approached 7, 8, 9...I felt like I lost a bit of that enjoyment. And I was petrified of the approaching onset of teen-hood. Teenagers were snarky, disrespectful, consumed-with-self creatures I really didn't think I would like.

But then I had a couple of my own. And despite some occasional snark, a smidgen of disrespect and being very much all-about-me, I found that they were actually quite delightful. Definitely lots more fun to take shopping (only applies to the girl) and much easier to understand than a toddler!

The one aspect of teenage-hood that I still look upon with some foreboding is the blossoming of hormones and the advent of the boy-girl exclusive relationship. Matt has "liked" girls before and had a traumatic, heart breaking two-week "relationship" with a young lady earlier this year, but Julia has now been a constant for a couple of months. First date, first major school dance (Homecoming, pictured above) and pretty much 24-7 texting, IMing, Facebooking or just a quick text to me saying he has not taken the bus home but is at Julia's.

While I delight that my sometimes awkward son has found such a wonderful friend and more, my very Mormon mother instincts shout BEWARE. Too much, too soon, too close before that all important mission I hope to send him on in less than three years.

I know of what I speak (type.) I always had a boyfriend. Middle school, high school, college. I started even earlier with the liking of boys (yikes!)  and I know the dangers and pressures he will face, but that is a story for another day.

Julia is a sweetheart - I like her spunk and style very much, but I definitely have motherly reservations and concerns. They have followed the rules so far - no dating til 16, group dating only, group activities only. I just hope the lessons I have taught him are instilled deeply.

A new chapter in (blogging) life (Prompt One)

This blog has mostly been a spot to share completed scrapbook pages. A few pictures of the family here and there since I know my Grandma occasionally reads it (86 years old, reading blogs AND on Facebook. Love it!) A few memes that catch my eye and a random post thrown in for good measure. Not super interesting really, unless you're my Grandma and want to see what the great grandkids are up to. It doesn't really even do that much, unless you can read the journaling on my scrapbook pages.

Someone might find inspiration in a layout or two, but the actual verbal content leaves quite a lot to be desired. Then I saw an advertisement for an on-line course. I loved the class description of Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers. It was exactly what I needed to get more out of my blog and use it as a scrapbooking tool.

I went through Stacy Julian's Library of Memories class at Big Picture Scrapbooking and using her amazing system, I have been scrapbooking old photos along with my newer pictures. And I have found that telling the stories from those older pictures is sometimes really, really hard. I. Just. Don't. Remember! And it makes me really sad that so many of the stories from my older children's younger life are already gone. I've captured many, to be sure, and I have little notebooks of important stories and quotes all over my scrapbook room. But they're not super organized and all over the place and some memories are just lost. The stories are so much easier to tell and record when using photos fresh out of my camera.

And that, right there, is my only goal for this class. I want this blog to be a place that the very fresh, very new stories about the most recent photos are recorded so that I can come back tomorrow, next week, next year and find them to record them in my scrapbooks. This way, I will remember.

15 more Minutes of Fame

One of my favorite layouts was featured on the Studio Calico blog. Scroll down - mine is the 5th layout! I'm thrilled! The ladies at SC are incredibly talented; so much inspiration there. And their kits? Fabulous!

Happy Halloween!!

My most favorite day of the year!! Our Halloween is under construction (wink!)

LOAD Day 31 - I did it!!

31 layouts (plus a few extra) in 31 days. Scrapped every day!! Woohoo!

LOAD Day 30

One more day to go. And if you know me, you know I'm scrambling! It is the day before Halloween and costumes are needed tonight for Trunk-or-Treat...and they're not finished yet! Yikes. I work best under pressure (read - procrastinate until the last possible moment) but this year takes the cake!! I don't think I've ever NOT been done so late.

LOAD Day 29

LOAD 26, 27 & 28 (almost done!)

LOAD 23, 24 & 25

Busy, busy. No time to post. Did find snippets of time to scrap and just eeked out enough pages for the LOAD challenge.

LOAD Day 22

Catching up - LOAD 20 & 21

LOAD Day 18 & 19

LOAD Day 17

LOAD Day 16

I wanted to use the new Cosmo Cricket Boyfriend woodgrain alpha for the title - turns out there is no "Z"! What's up with that?!!

BTW, I love CC. And the new Nutmeg line is darling. But really, no Z??

LOAD Day 15

LOAD Day 14 (and a bonus!)

Two for Tuesday (LOAD #13)

Almost half way there on this challenge! Yay me. Now if only I can keep it up through all the madness of Halloween costume production.

Studio Calico Playground kit used for both.

LOAD Day 12

LOAD Day 11

Reflecting a little on how fast time has gone. I took Matthew to pick out and pay for his Homecoming date's corsage yesterday. How did that sweet little boy grow up so fast?!

A friend of mine has been taking senior portraits for some of the kids in our ward. As I looked over her website with lots of gorgeous proofs, I told her she needed to do Matt's. NEXT. YEAR. That shocked me. It hit me, hard. He will be a senior next year. The very last year that he will for sure be living in my home, directly in my realm of influence. I suddenly felt like I had so much left to do in the raising of my oldest. And yes, for those who know me, lots of tears were shed while finishing this page.