Washing machine thanks

I know I tend to complain about laundry (especially the putting of it away), but today I thought I'd give thanks for my laundry buddies - the washing machine and dryer.



I'm thankful to whoever invented these brilliant machines.

I'm thankful that these were just left at our house for us by the previous owners.

I'm thankful that my dad was able to install them on the main floor for us.

And most of all I'm thankful that I can put a load in the washing machine and then sit on the couch feeling productive while the machine does all the work.

It is Fall

The leaves are starting to turn colors.  I love the mix of red, yellow, and green.


Of course it also means that we need to start raking.


In the spirit of fall I made some fun pumpkin rice crispy treats for the kids when Michael had a friend come over for a play date.  Just added some red and yellow food coloring to the melted marshmallows and then used frosting and a candy on the top for the leaves.  Oh, and what the kids liked best is that I hid a peanut butter cup candy in the middle of each pumpkin.  We called them Pumpkin Surprise.

Aaaaahhhhhh

I was working on creating a list at the table.  Becca and Jon came over and wanted to do some of their own writing.  I got them their own paper and pens.  Then I got up to go do something else.  When I came back, Becca was covered in pen writing.  Luckily she had just gone to the bathroom and stripped all her clothes off in the process.  So while the pen was head to toe on her body, none of it was on her clothes.  :)

Taking in the dock

It was time to bring in the dock this past weekend.  Lucky for me the guys took up the manly challenge and left us ladies to sit inside and chat (oh, I mean tend to the children).  The kids started out wanting to watch but bored quickly.


Instead they went off to play.  One of the favorite things to do is to push each other in the hammock.

Squirrel Food

Last week Jon came home all excited from preschool with Squirrel food they had made.  There were instructions to put the food out in the yard and then to watch and wait for the squirrels to come.


In the bag was popcorn, cherrios, acorns and sunflower seeds.


Jon excitedly waited and we didn't need to wait long.  The squirrels we have in our yard a so black they are quite striking.




Credits: Template by Cindy Schneider, kit and font by WM[squared]

Sharing some layouts

Ok, this post will probably be a bit random, but I wanted to show some of the scrapbooking layouts I've done recently.  I sold my laptop to my brother a while back and have been without my own computer to scrap on for the second half of the summer.  We have since cleaned off the kids computer, reinstalled Windows and I've been able to use my Photoshop Elements software on it without it bogging things down too much.  This means I've been able to have a blast catching up on some scrapping.

First up is a layout with some of my favorite pictures from last spring when Grandpa and Grandma came out and it coincided with the early blooming tulips.

Credits: Summer Breeze (kit, bonus alpha, word art), font is Olphelia Scribbles all by WM[squared]


Then, here is the layout about the jamming session I wrote about earlier:
Credits: My Inner Punk by geniaBeana Scraps and Cluster Queen Creations; Template from Sketchy v5 by geniaBeana Scraps; font is Fixedsys


Here are pictures from our trip to the Boston Gardens and the Swan Boat ride:

Credits: Great Escape Boston kit (and Word Art bits), WM2-Krista font - all by WM[squared]

Next up is a layout I did with some old pictures from Michele's baby shower way before Luke was born.  It was a scrapbooking kit that I loved and I loved how it pulled out the red in her sweater from the day.

Credits: Sweet Storytelling by Sahlin Studio; Template by JadyDay ; Fonts are Wendy Lovey Dovey by WM[squared] and Poplar Std


And here is Jon's and Grandpa's birthday party.  My 4 year old boy has grown up so much right under my nose.

Credits: Hoppy Birthday mega from The Lily Pad; Template is by Scrapping with Liz; Font is Aunt Bea by WM[squared]


And last for today is a layout with some pictures of my Mom that I just love.  This was when she came out to visit right after Jon was born.  One thing I loved about my Mom and that visit was that she made sure that she hung out with Michael just as much as she cuddled her newest grandson.  And I love the picture of my Mom laughing - it is just so her - a picture I never want to forget.

Credits: Summer Breeze, Be Inspired - Fonnetta v2 template, and Olphelia Scribbles font all by WM[squared]

Becca successes

Becca has had success in two major areas recently.

1.  She has just completed two full days of being dry.  AND she has even started go to the bathroom on her own without me asking her and while we were out, even told me once that she needed the potty.  I don't by any means want to think that she is fully potty trained because we could backslide, but I'm so excited and proud of her.

2.  She talks all the time now.  For a while I was starting to worry.  Now if we could only figure out what she is saying: