Project Life - Week 25

I seem to have caught a summer cold. I'm not sure how that happened. No one I know has a cold, yet my nose is dripping, my sinuses are killing me and my throat is raw.

Do you know what the worst thing about getting a sick when you're the Mamma is? That you still have to be the Mamma. Meals still need to be made, laundry still needs to be done, kids still need to be watched... No rest for the wicked. Or the sick.

Now, having said that, it hasn't totally felt like I've got a 'summer' cold. Yesterday the temperature maxed out at 13°C. And it's August, not October. Normally, our temperatures for August should start with a 2... As in anywhere between 20°C - 29°C. Our summers are fleeting at the best of times, so reaching a high of 13°C is more than a little disappointing.

Any way, here is another project life spread, week 25: 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this cold is short lived, and that temperatures are on the rise for the remainder of the month. 

Reflections of Summers Past and PL Week 24

It's August. And I'm a bit disappointed with myself. I have not been blogging on a regular basis. I had the same problem last summer too. [Not that this is a problem I have only in the summer] I've limited the amount of time my kids can be on their 'electronics' and then I can hardly sneak down and spend time on my computer. They call me on it. And though I'm the adult. The parent. I have a hard time saying no to them, and then, yes to me. So it's easier to just stay away from the computer.

We were also away on vacation for the last 2 weeks of July. Our time away was terrific. The weather was fabu-lous. Really. Fab. 

We have been doing an annual lake vacation since I was a wee young girl. I have pretty much done it every year since I was about 5 years old. The only exceptions being, the year I was 13 and we did a big family trip across the USA. The year I was 24 and they sold the resort we'd been going to since I was 5, and last year, when the little town flooded due to heavy rain and a very dangerous run-off situation. So... In the past 35 years, we've missed going 3 times... And now of course, our little family goes. My kids have both been going since they were born. Both kids took their first trip to the lake when they were a mere six weeks old. A very different trip for me, those two times, but that's how young they were when introduced to 'the lake'. Both my kids also learned to walk at the lake, at 14 months old. I'm taking Ali Edwards - Hello Story Class at Big Picture Classes. I created 2 separate layouts, of my kids over the years at the lake. I love how they've turned out.

I love that by looking at these 2 spreads [both are 2 - 8.5x11 pages] I can see my kids evolve over the years. From little babies to the little people they are today. Love these layouts. I love taking Ali's classes. She's ubber cool.

I also have another project life spread to add. Week 24:

During week 24, I was lucky enough to go to our 2nd Annual Yoga Retreat. I added a few pictures of that, in a separate insert. Had such a great time.

Insert Side A:

Insert Side B:

Project Life - Weeks 22 - 23

I still adore this project. Sometimes, I get a little bit behind and get a bit frustrated, and think to myself, why are you doing this? Then I sit down with an album on my lap and I remember why I do this. Because I LOVE it. 

When I started this years album, I wanted rounded corners, and colours that ran to the edge of the photo. As I carried on, I quickly realized that I love the look of the crisp, clean, square corners, and white space surrounding all my photos.  For the most part, I've created my own templates in PSE 7. And, since May, I've added elements/papers/journal cards etc, from Sahlin Studio. On occasion I've used photo templates that are created in PicFrame app. I can select this to save the image size to 6x4 size, using the 3:2 ratio. It's pretty nifty. I also edit most of my iphone photos, using the PicTapGo app. I use my iphone way more than my Nikon D90. It's just so convenient, and I have it with me most of the time.

Products I used are listed at the bottom of this post.

Week 22: Both Pages

 

 Week 22: Left Side Close Up

 Week 22: Right Side Close Up

I love the confetti I added on this page. I printed off double-sided paper and used my EK Success confetti or Swiss Cheese punch. Love that I didn't have to fill in the entire 6x6 space with a  picture.

Week 23: Both Pages

 Week 23: Left Side Close Up

On this page I did a back stitch all the way around the heart. Just glancing at it, you probably wouldn't even know it was back stitched, but I know it was back stitched.  Love how it looks.

Week 23: Right Side Close Up

The following Sahlin Studio products were used:

Both week 22 and 23 I used the Melon Sorbet Line. The bundle includes elements, papers, journal cards and circular alphas. Love the colour and designs. 

Minecraft Birthday Party Re-Cap

I had Mason's 11th Birthday Party at the end of June, June 21st to be exact. Last year he was in disbelief when I told him that once he turned 10, the big parties stopped. It's actually funny, because last years birthday party was hands down, the easiest party I've done. [It was a sleep over/movie/video game party.]

This year, he was determined, that he wanted a small party. Just like last year, he said. 
Well, I'll be honest. He won me over. [That and one of the other Mum's at school insisted we should do parties at least, while they're in elementary school...] So I relented.

The thing is... I sound kind of tough, and I certainly can be... But I got the idea of having  a Minecraft party, and I was pretty darn excited to follow through with it. It started with the invitations:

Awesome right? Especially for a kid who is Minecraft crazy. So I was pretty pleased with myself. I had seen a number of invitation ideas on the internet, and just created this one after a few of the ideas I'd seen.

They got sent out in within the first couple of weeks of June. There was Mason, and 3 other kids. So 4 kids could easily play...

We woke up on June 21st, and found out all the city schools were closed... Our city, was under a state of emergency. I have to admit, that at this point, this was a bit of a shock to me. I had watched the news the night before. I watched as berms were being built in SW Calgary throughout Elbow Park and Rideau Park. It was raining like the dickens on Friday. It poured All. Day. Long. I had planned to pick up a few things for the party, while the kids were at school. Since school was cancelled, they had to come with me. This is the moment, that I actually started to be come concerned:

We stopped to pick up icing sugar and chips... For a boys birthday party... I needed to ice a brownie, and of course, boys need chips... I wanted mini water bottles to wrap a minecraft banner around. We walked into the store, and were met with this scene... The line up snaked all the way down the aisles towards the back of the store. Did I mention I needed icing sugar and chips? And water? Forget it. We left.

We ventured to another grocery store that wasn't busy. I picked up what I needed, and headed to the water aisle. And all the water was gone. Gone. And there was a line up 30 people deep to purchase the fresh spring water.  It was RIGHT THEN, that I might have begun to panic slightly... I went home, got a tip from another friend that the city's water supplied was being turned off, and I was then kind of vibrating a little bit. I then called and texted ALL MY FRIENDS, sorry about that guys, I did get onboard the crazy train for a very short period of time. I may have sounded a bit like a mad woman shouting, "Fill your tub!!" "Get jugs of water!" And when Barry came home, and he came home, with cases of water, thank you Barry, you talked me off the ledge, I opened a bottle of wine, and de-stressed ever so slightly.  The kids showed up for a sleepover, Miss Madelyn went to Ama's house, and I acted like I wasn't nervous at all in front of four 10 and 11 year old boys. The water was NOT turned off, and life carried on. We had a birthday party.

It was very simple to decorate. I blew up some green balloons, and drew 'creeper' faces on them. I also had left over glasses/napkins from Madelyn's Mad Science Party, so I drew creeper faces on the glasses as well.

Chips, pizza, vegetables. Overall, it was pretty healthy. I found and downloaded a free minecraft font to label all the food.

Downstairs, they had a treat 'station'. They were so into their gaming, that this was not very well utilized. I was glad, I didn't want any sick bellies.

See... I got my water bottles, this is why I wanted them, not because I was scared we'd never be able to drink water from a tap again.

  

Mason's Birthday Brownie. That was his request. He's not a super lover of sweets, but he loves his brownies. 

And this was the look on his face when he blew all but one candle out, and the boys he goes to school with said, 'we know who that's for....' And then he got red and blushed when a certain girls name got mentioned. Oy...

  

So, that's how it turned out. We had a party. It was great. Mason told me it was the most awesome party ever.  Such a lovely ring to those words, when you're the one planning the party.

As far as the flooding went. It was devastating. Calgary was hit hard. Southern Alberta was hit hard. Seeing the images on the television was surreal. I've never been so thankful to live up on a hill. Our hearts go out to those who lost so much. Re-building will be costly and time consuming. We donated $$ to the Red Cross. It's going to be a long road for many people.

Project Life - Playing Catch Up... Weeks 18 - 21

You have to believe me, when I say my goal is to blog at the very least, weekly. I know that all my working friends probably think, "For goodness sake.... You don't work!" And I don't work...[Outside the home, that is] But believe me, I work. Somehow days go by, that turn into weeks, that turn into multiple weeks. I'm still not sure how that happens.

Here are weeks 18 - 21 of my project life pages: [all pages were done digitally, using products from Sahlin Studio, I will list the products I used at the bottom of this post]

Week 18: Both pages

Week 18: Close Up Left Side

Week 18: Close Up Right Side

Week 19: Both Pages

 

Week 19: Close Up Left Side

Week 19: Close Up Right Side

Week 20: Both Pages

Week 20: Close Up Left Side

Week 20 Close Up Right Side

 

Week 20: Insert Side A

 Week 20: Insert Side B

 Week 21: Both Pages

 Week 21: Close Up Left Side

 Week 21: Close Up Right Side

The following Sahlin Studio products were used:

Week 18: Down the Lane Bundle as well as Birthday Cake Snippets.

Week 19 and 20: A Wonderful Day Kit

Week 21: A Wonderful Day Kit as well as Project Mouse (days) Washi Tape.

Birthday Boy

There are so many things I need to touch on. It's been a long time since I blogged. Too long. In the past 23 days there's been Project Life Pages, updated in my 2peas gallery, a yoga retreat, a natural disaster, a birthday party and a birthday. I need to find some time to update, but this post is all about this guy:

It's hard to believe that:

 

In some ways, it seems like yesterday. In other ways, it feels like you've been with us forever.

 

You are a sweet, kind-hearted, little boy.

 

Your sense of humor is definitely emerging. You like to get a laugh. [Definitely takes after his Mummy in this aspect, though I'm sure Daddy would say he's the funnier one...(not)] 

It's been a pleasure sharing this adventure of life with you. Love you more than you'll ever know. Happy 11th Birthday,  sweet boy.

End of School Countdown

Can you believe that it's June already? That means, for our little family, we are in countdown mode. As of yesterday, there were 19 more 'school days' left. As of tonight, we're down to 18. Eeks! I can already see how this month is going to slip away from me.

Last week and this week, I've been volunteering at the pool to help kids get changed/dressed for swimming lessons, with Madelyn's grade 2 class.

Next week, I'm heading out to our 'Second Annual Yoga Retreat' with the same group of ladies I went with last year. I'm looking forward to so many aspects of that little get-away.

The day after I come back, we're hosting Barry's family for the celebration of May/June birthdays.

The week after that I'm helping out at the school with the Grade 6 Provincial Achievement Tests.

That takes us to June 21st... Ay, yi, yi...

I like to do teacher's gifts for the end of the year. This year, both my kids have had terrific teachers. I couldn't be more happy actually. So, I want to put a bit more thought into our year end gift. I need to put my thinking cap on. Of course Pinterest is all a flutter right now, with teacher appreciation ideas. I have seen an idea or two, that has caught my attention. I just don't want to break the bank... There is a lot of team teaching that goes on at the kids school, so I struggle a little bit with what to do. Both grades 2 and grade 5, have 4 classes each. That's 4 teachers per grade... So that would be 8 teachers gifts. That's crazy... I can't afford 8 teacher gifts.

On another completely different note, this past weekend was Madelyn's basketball wind up. It was a parents vs kids day.

I know nothing about basketball. I have picked up a tip or two in the last 10 weeks, but it's a game I really have no clue about. I showed up at the event, with my runners. I did get out of the warm up, thank goodness, but I didn't get out of the drills and the 3 on 3 games...

When I told Madelyn that I might just watch, she said "But Mummy, I want you to play. I just want everyone to see how awesome you are".

Melt.

And so, I played.

Not very gracefully. I'm certainly NO athlete. I didn't show up to basketball totally prepared [a sports bra would have been a good idea] and I didn't expect to have a full sweat on by the end of the hour and a half, but I did. And my little girl beamed from ear to ear. [Even though we got split up and were on different teams].

She on the other hand, did fantastic. A few of the other parents commented on her 'tenacity'. I mean, she can barely get the ball up to the net, let alone in the net. But what she lacks in getting the ball to the net, she makes up in defense. When I played against her, she was like a little pitbull. It was nearly impossible to stop her... She's got drive, that's for sure, and she is going to get that ball away from you. 

Keep it up little girl, who knows, maybe basketball will be your thing!

I laugh at the bottom left picture, because she was so fast. Seriously... You didn't have a chance when she was coming at you. None of the pictures Barry took were clear, because she never stayed still long enough. [I was wow-ing the crowd with my awesome dribbling, top right picture]