I Bet You Thought I was GONE!

Well, I'm not......

I've just been really busy, with the start of school. I'm teaching reading this year and I'm working on all new units. That has kept me busy a lot!

Today I finally took some "me" time and sat down to create. I scrapped a simple little page of my daughter crocheting. I combined some really old papers that have been lieing around for a long time with a new tool that I recently purchased, the Sew Easy.

For those of you who have wondered about this tool, it really is pretty easy. I just picked the style of stitches I wanted and then rolled the head along the side of a ruler, creating the holes. Then I stitched in the holes.



I'm sure hoping that I get more "me" time really soon. I've missed scrapbooking!

My Boy is Back in Town.....

Can you hear me singing???

Can you tell that I am HAPPY!!!!!

We went to Danville yesterday and picked Keenan up from Governor's Scholars, where he had been for 5 full weeks. It seems like FOREVER for me......

He had a GREAT time and has matured a lot.

While he was gone we did a bit of shopping.....

Right before he left, Keenan took his driver's test and got his license. Of course we started talking "car". We weren't really sure when we would be able to purchase one for him, but we knew that he would need one to get back and forth to evening college classes during his senior year.

Glenn got what he considered a good deal and we were able to purchase Keenan's dream car: red Nissan Altima 2 door coupe. It was hard, but we kept the purchase a secret from Keenan for almost a full month. When we left home yesterday we decorated the car with beautiful bow.



As we neared home, Glenn handed Keenan 3 cards. He opened the first one to discover a birthday card, to which Keenan said, "Why are you giving me birthday stuff already?" He opened the second one to discover a Christmas card. After a few seconds it kind of sank in that he had a BIG gift waiting and he kind of knew what that meant. After the 3rd card which was a graduation card, Glenn presented the small gift box with the key inside. The look on Keenan's face was simply priceless, but his face when he finally made it home and sat in his car for the first time was even better.

My Girl....

My girl turned 14 this week. It almost seems impossible that it has been 14 years since I gave birth to her and brought her home from the hospital. Those 14 years have been very lively ones! Everyone kept telling me how different boys and girls were, but I wouldn't have dreamed how different until Kari came along. After a couple of years with Keenan, I really thought I had this kid thing figured out, but I have to admit that it has been really different raising a daughter.



Kari is our free spirit, fun loving child. She would rather be out running or playing a game with a friend than sitting at home reading a book. She is much more independent than her brother too, and sometimes that independence creates conflicts with us.

Even with the problems, arguments, and conflicts, I really wouldn't change a thing. I am so happy to have her in our lives. Happy birthday Baby Girl!

Daddy's Girl

You ever have that photo that you just HAVE to scrap? You know.... the one that touches your heart and brings a smile to your face....?

When I saw these pics of Kari with her dad, I knew that I had a scrapbook page in the making.



Can't you tell just by looking at these photos that this girl has Dad wrapped around her little finger? Whether it be a new shirt that she might love, a cd by her favorite artist, or a new nail polish that is just a shade different from one she already owns, Dad always seems to come through.

As for the layout, I can thank Scrappin Mojo yet again. I used this month's "Mojo Master" to provide the directions for the layout. If you haven't tried joining in on this yet, you really should. Every month there is a new set of instructions. You get one instruction at a time, every few days, until you finally have a finished page. At the end of the month it is so much fun to see the original inspirational layout and compare that to your finished one.

A New Love

I haven't been scrapping much for the past few weeks, but I have been keeping an eye on the scrapping goings-on online, particularly on Two Peas in a Bucket. I have gotten hooked on the videos that are posted there by the design team, especially those by Nichol Magouirk. I LOVE her simple, linear style! I also love the AE stamps that she has been using. (For those of you who haven't discovered them yet, I'm talking about the Technique Tuesday stamps by Ali Edwards.)

They are SO versatile and Nichol's videos are opening my eyes to LOTS of possibilities, so much so that I have subscribed to the monthly automatic delivery orders. I received the June set this morning and wasted no time using it on a layout.


I used the words "adventure" and "explore" from one set and the word "our" from another stamp set. I am LOVING these stamps! (They also inspired me to dig into my stash of die cut tags....LOL!) I'm fairly sure that you can expect to see more stamping on my future pages, especially with these word stamps!

My Father, My Hero

Father's Day is coming up and I had to take a few minutes to create a layout dedicated to my very special dad. Growing up, my dad was always busy: work, church, deacon meetings. He was very dedicated to making a way for his family.

As I became a teenager and then went to college and moved out, Dad went through lots of personal turmoil. He has had several accidents. Everything from having a tractor roll over on him to falling from a church roof. Through it all Dad never gave up. When he fell from the church roof the doctor informed us that Dad would be blinded in one eye. Even that didn't slow him down, much to my surprise. Most recently, last year Dad had 4 of the fingers on his left hand cut, losing 2/3 of the pinky. After 5 hours of neurosurgery, he came home within a week and was back at work within only a few weeks.

Though I don't have many warm "fuzzy" memories of time shared with Dad, there is not doubt that he loves each and every one of our family members. That is why I dedicated this layout to My Father, My Hero.



By the way, the layout design came from my latest purchase: Allison Davis's Volume 6 of Sketches for Scrapbooking. LOVE those books! This sketch is also the sample for my One Little Word Challenge over at Challenge Masters. Be sure to come check it out!

Family Time

Now that school is finally out for the summer I am trying to squeeze in as much family time as I can. It isn't going to be easy: Kari is going to Academic camp in a couple of weeks and will be attending ACT Prep classes much of the other weeks. Keenan is going to Governor's Scholars for 5 weeks. Glenn is doing his usual summer "get everything ready for the new year" work at school.

Knowing that everyone is so busy it makes every mooment that we have together more important. This weekend, for example, we spent a large portion of Saturday morning assembling our new gas grill.





The kids managed to get along throughout the whole process and the final result was a grill ready to be used.....



Of course, that required that we actually give it a try, right? Keenan and Glenn prepared beef and chicken kabobs, along with potatoes and corn on the cob. It was DELISH!!



Photos really don't do the food justice, but I'll tempt you with it anyway.... YUM! YUM!! (Now we just need to get a table and some chairs so we can sit outside and enjoy the food.)

Make the most of what is left of the Memorial Day weekend and try to squeeze in a few minutes with your family too. Store up some memories!