Hello. Again.

So, I have not visited or updated my blog in four years! I feel a mixture of disappointment and guilt. A feeling that I should have given it more effort. To be honest, when I started it I felt a little uncertain it was something I wanted to do. Three busy children and a full time job certainly had a lot to do with my lack of time spent blogging. I definitely go through phases in life that lead me to just drop things. That is part of the reason for my absence here. However, I am certain a lack of confidence and an abundance of anxiety contributed to it even more.

Eventually, more and more time passed without a thought of it. But something brought it to my thoughts today.  After a few fumbled attempts at retrieving my password, I am back in and not sure where I will go from here. This unplanned update occurred after the voice in my head would not allow me to walk away without saying hello.

I have plenty of the same things going on in my life as I did four years ago - new memories made with the kiddos, plenty of scrapbook pages completed, and still many unread books and adventures waiting to be started.

More later. Hopefully much sooner this time.
M

Today during a full day of scrapbooking, I completed this baseball page for Jacob's book.  About five years ago, we took a trip to St. Louis with our friends from Australia for a Cardinals game.  Jacob really enjoyed the game, but I think he enjoyed the hot dog more!  I love this paper and embellishments from Creative Memories' Baseball Additions set.  I also used the banner punch from Epiphany Crafts and a Tim Holtz ticket for a journaling spot.

The summer went very quickly and I neglected blogging about all of our fun and my scrapbooking!  I have been working more on it lately and finally scrapped a page in honor of Peyton's first lost tooth . . . five years ago!  I remember he was so excited because he was the last kid in his class to lose a tooth!  I used some paper from Karen Foster's Tooth Fairies paper, some twine from Queen & Co., tags and labels from Chic Tags and Jillibean Soup.

Fun road trip, fantastic tree house, and fun summer notebooks . . .

The three kiddos have been out of school for two weeks.  We started off the summer with a fun trip to St. Louis.  A St. Louis Cardinals game, the Arch, a fabulous pool party and family cookout made for a fun three days.  But most importantly, we found the best tree house ever at City Museum! The kids did not want to leave this place!

So, now it's time to set the pace for summer learning.  Hopefully participation in the library summer reading program, some journaling, and the review of math facts won't be too painful.  Today I showed the kiddos the notebooks that I blinged up for them.  They loved them!  Hopefully their enthusiasm for the made over notebooks will encourage the use of them!

In addition to some pretty pink and brown floral paper, butterflies and jewels on Sydney's book, I used washi tape to cover the entire spine, as the binding color didn't coordinate with my paper choice.

I used blues and greens for the boys' books, as well as some Ford car paper.  They fell in love with this paper and asked if they could have more notebooks covered with it!  I will have to get some more of it for them.  Black and white patterned washi tape covers the line where the paper meets the black binding of notebook.

All three books have tags for their names.  Let the summer learning begin!

Birthday, breakfast, books . . .

I've been hoping to make a fun photo gift for my mom for her birthday. One of my talented coworkers inspired me to  make a photo tray.  Photos of the kiddos in sepia, fun papers and embellishments from Basic Grey's PB&J line, and some Maya Road ribbon brought this project together!

After a birthday breakfast, my mom, my sister and I took the kiddos to one of the local libraries to sign up for the summer reading program.  My sister and I will be participating in A.R.K.S. (Adults Reading Kids' Stuff).  I decided to be very organized in tackling the reading requirements and chose the required number of selections in group of non-fiction, biography, and/or fairy tales. I'll tackle another set next week. The kids checked out many of their own, too.  Let the reading begin!

Here are some close up photos of my project . . . 

Memories like these . . .

" . . . memories like these . . . " and other quotes are found in this beautiful paper line by Little Yellow Bicycle called Paradise.  I love the colors of this line, as well as the little sticker letters that I used for my "FRIENDS" title!  So fun! I also love the Tear Out Ticket Book with so many options for journaling!  I have put together some group photos taken during a cookout at my sister and brother-in-law's house for my friends from Australia.    

Cathey and I became pen pals over thirty years ago through Girl Scouting. After about eighteen years of correspondence, I was finally able to meet her in Australia during Christmas and New Year's Eve of 1998.  She and her family visited the U.S. in the spring of 2007.  So many wonderful memories were made!   

So, here it is . . .

 . . . a crafty blog. Lori made me do this. That is my story and I am sticking to it. You can visit her at Lori's Happy Place and see some of her crafty talents.  As for me, soon I will post some of my scrapbook pages that I put together to capture the fun memories that I make each day with the kiddos!