Weekend pics

Yesterday, Hannah and I attended what is now the 1st Annual Breast Cancer Awareness luncheon/American Cancer Society fundraiser at our church in Orion. My Aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer the day before Thanksgiving. She has endured 4 months of chemo and is halfway through 33 weeks of radiation therapy. She is a fighter. She is a survivor. She was truly humbled with over a hundred women in attendance. Can't wait until we celebrate another year of survival next year :)












Took the girls to the park on Friday and on the way we found a cool photo op at a corn crib across the road from Lance's parents home and farm....look what we found hiding inside the crib (we couldn't see it when we pulled in the gatehole). Love little cool stuff like this!






and this pic of Gracie swinging that I've been trying to capture for a couple months....

~Home of the Free

Here is my entry for Scrapaganza's blog challenge for this month....I promised myself I didn't need anything new for this (though I was SUPER tempted)... so this is all last year....Scenic Route papers, AC felt flowers, AC thickers and Jenni Bowling Journaling card (which I trimmed). The star paper, hmm, not sure who it is because I only had a half (without the name) left. So glad I got rid of some older goodies and still got a descent page out of it. :)

~ Our Gateway getaway.....

Playing with some new LYB and Graphic 45 goodies....yummy!!

~Because of you....

My submission for this month's challenge at The Story Matters.

What motivates you to be good at who you are today as a mom, wife, girlfriend, friend?

Summer's Peak, Work and Catch Up....

Where did summer go? Wow! I can't believe that the girls will start school here in one month. We did some school supply shopping this week. We'll do some more this week and then start on school clothes. We have a trip planned to St. Louis in September and are planning to take the girls to Adventureland in August, if it works out with my schedule. If it doesn't, we're going to hit Six Flags while in St. Louis and just extend our time in Missouri by an extra day. No biggie either way. The weather has been very fall like this week, so I am super looking forward to some warmer weather and more pool time.

Work is a mess...the state's budget is horrid and I still don't know anything about layoffs yet. They are coming, whether it is now or in six months, this budget is just a temporary bandaid to the problems. I am hoping that I am not affected, but I really think it is coming sooner or later. If it is, we are prepared, there will be some sacrifices but I am already ready with all of my paperwork to return to college if need be. College in my thirties....oh, wow! Just want to finish my degree, since I put it off to get married and start a family. I think a year or two of sacrifice would be to all of our benefit in the end.

Here are a couple of layouts to catch up on some things I have missed documenting in the girls' books. Gotta love Walgreens 50 for $5 prints, it seems like that is when I bulk order and then have to play catch up, lol! These are of Hannah's Biztown experience (she picked the papers). "Vote for Hannah or your will go bananas" was her campaign slogan. The next is of Avery making art, that is what she calls it. When she paints I lay out an old bedsheet so she can create without worrying if she drips or gets a little messy. She sits for hours and sings and creates, happier than you can imagine. Like I said in the journaling, I have no idea where she gets that, *wink*.

And here's the book...yay!!

Avery's 1st Scrapbook Page

Yesterday while still working on Avery's fair book, she asked if she could scrapbook. First time ever she has had any desire to do a page (other than drawing on a page, lol)....so I let her get a picture out, she picked cardstock and stickers, some letter stamps and ink. I wrote out "Little Miss Henry County Fair 2nd Runner Up" so she could spell it with the stamps....here is what she made. I love it!! Pink and red really aren't a color combo I would come up with, but I love how she "got it"....woo hoo!!

A fave picture from Fair Week of the Queen 2nd Runner up, Gabby. I am planning to enter the photo in the arts & crafts tent next year at the fair. And this copy goes in Ave's scrapbook!!

Scrapping the fair photos so that I can keep up on this new album for Avery. I am doing some 12 x 12 and mixing in some 8x10 and 8x8 pages also. I also have a 12 x12 American Crafts Modern Album that I am embellishing and creating a cool outside for. It's the chipboard albums where you can make the cover whatever you want.....that part is coming soon, as I'm still playing with moving things around on it. Want to have it perfect!

And, TIP OF THE DAY....check out
here for some great deals on Cricut and Slice cartridges. Single prices are fantastic....but you can even order 4 for $99 Slice cartridges...that makes them only $25/cart!!! Similar deals for Cricut carts!!Woo Hoo!! Placed an order yesterday that I can't wait to get!!

Back with my game on...

Creative juices were flowing today!! Thankful for that, last time I sat at my desk for an hour and a half and ripped apart two layouts only to say "heck with it". Here's what I came up with....maybe it helps to have some new pictures to play with? Hoping I can pass on some mojo to all of you :-)

She's baaaaaaack......

Dang! Where in the world did the last two weeks go? I've been on "vacation" for the past 10 days and have 1 1/2 days left. My plans were to get caught up on my scrappin, keep up with my blog friends and let loose and relax with my family. Hmm....didn't quite do it did I? Life was interrupted with a week of fair activities for Avery after she became part of the Little Miss court. Then we had parades and the 4th of July activities. We found some time for swimming in between, but not as much as I'd have liked.

Today, we took Gracie into the doctor (ear infection and strep) and made a detour to Scrapaganza (I finally picked up those Thickers I won!! Thank you!!) and to Walgreens to pick up some cool photos I got of all the girls during fair week. I've been scrappin most of this afternoon and should have some pics for you soon.

Until then, here's some pics from this weekend's 4th of July parades....hope you are enjoyin' your summers too. :-)