Our Life...

Happy 7th Birthday, Elsie Bug!

My baby girl turned 7 years old today. WOW! We had a birthday party this Saturday, and afterwards we had dinner at Quaker Steak & Lube. We had never been there, didn't know what to expect, but I think Elsie was pretty happy about the end result. After waiting for "forever" for our food, a group of servers walked out of the back clapping and a siren went off with a "We have a birthday in the house" over the loud speaker. Elsie looked up, and then was quickly surrounded. Her face turned red and she sunk a little in her chair with the biggest grin from ear to ear. They were singing to her for her 7th birthday. When I asked that evening what her favorite part of her day was, it was all of it.... but then she quickly said that the most awesomest part was when they sang to her at the restaurant.

What a cool waitress to think of my little Elsie? It just made her day!

Happy SEVENTH Birthday, Elsie!

Winter Summary...

For 2010-2011.

With Spring just around the corner, why not do a Winter summary page? ... You know, for 2010/2011. I can't be too current when I scrapbook! It is fun to look back and see how much the kids have grown and changed though, all the while still doing some of the same favorite activities.

If you want to see a little more detail, jump on over to the My Mind's Eye Blog. I have my "Anatomy of a Double Page Layout" Series up! I hope you enjoy it; it takes a lot of time and energy to write those babies up ;)

Happening Here...

Elsie had her first official date this past Friday. Her Daddy escorted her to her Girl Scout Father Daughter Dance.

She picked out the perfect dress. We put a little makeup and painted her nails. Then, her Daddy came home with the perfect accessory; her very first corsage. To say she was beyond excited would be an understatement. They went out to dinner with a couple of other dads and daughters, and then danced the night away sharing a cookie and drinking fancy punch.

The boy and I had our own fancy date. Even though we spend every day with each other, he was excited too! He was my little gentleman, calling me beautiful Mom the whole night. His choice of restaurant was McDonald's. I happily honored that request. He was kind of bummed when we got there and the toy wasn't exactly what he would have liked, but when we went up to the front to ask for the blue toy. The guy behind the counter actually showed him a blue big wheel truck. Yep. That made his night. We took two sundaes home for dessert, and watched Madagascar 3. It was a the perfect dinner, dessert, and movie date night.

Speaking of the boy...

Today, he turned 4 1/2 years old. What a big boy! When we were driving to target after school to pick out a cake mix he told me, "You are going to sing Happy Birthday to me, but without the Cha Cha Cha's. I don't yike the Cha Cha's."  ... I guess he wasn't all that impressed with Elsie's version of Happy Birthday this morning. What a kid. Happy Half-Birthday, Sam!

{365+1} Project Life 2012 | Week 32-33

I am still plugging away on my 2012 album. I have all the pictures in their place, and I am just writing up some journaling as I have time. Here is what my "in-progress" part of my album looks like...

Which is nice, because you can still flip through and see all the memories. I absolutely LOVE this project! The best part?

Definitely when I see this happen. After taking my latest pictures of my layouts, I had it sitting on my table. This little guy came over to check out what I was up to, which led to this. It is pretty cool to watch him look through our memories and see him pointing out different events. Just listing to his re-cap is pretty awesome. Well worth the time I put into this project!

Then, this happens...

I hear a "OH!" Then, he dashes up stairs only to come down with some new friends. This is something he had done quite a bit this past summer/fall. It's a big mamma bear and baby bear that Bumpa got him for Christmas last year. Yep, he saw a picture I had taken and decided it looked like fun again :)

Here are a few more weeks I wanted to share...

Week 32:

Awe... Summer fun. Lots of pool time, cool treats, summer reading, friends, and family.

Week 33:

Dinosaurs, trips with friends, pool, soccer, sand, seeding grass, and cars after an evening bath.

And yes, this is the page he saw when he got that awesome idea!

Look at that summer tan. Gotta love those tan lines from his swim trunks!

Goodbye 2012... Hello 2013!

Our Christmas was a whirl wind of family and traveling here to there & back again.

We spent time with my side of the family...

We spent time with Chris' side of the family...

We made our way back home to ring in the New Year ...

Yes, we stayed up way too late. This picture was taken at 2:28AM. Yes, my children were still awake, but they were amazing. Of course, they were able to make it through this crazy night with a little help from an early evening nap. Elsie made that cool last minute 2013 sign for our picture too, just as she did the year before. Perfect. The holiday season was absolutely amazing, but it is kind of nice to get back to our normal lives again.

Now... bring on 2013!

Winter

Even with our couple of 60+degree days we have had this past week, I know winter is just around the cold corner from us. I have a layout at the My Mind's Eye blog today featuring the Christmas collection All is Bright. I pulled these lovelies together to create a winter page for Elsie's album.

It's hard to believe that these pictures were taken 2 years ago. They change so much!

... And then there was December.

Well, I am not sure where November went. All I know is that December is here, which brought us our awesome holiday guest, Rexie!

As you can clearly see, the kiddies are not excited at all. Nope. Not. At. All. Our elf is back, our books are wrapped and ready for reading each night, and our house is being prepped for illumination as I type. Now, I just have to figure out how I am going to get everything done in the next 24 days!

Last year, I did my very first December Daily. It’s a mini album of all the fun little things we did during the holiday season. I have the greatest intention to do another one this year, but I am not quite sure how I will fit that in. BUT I do have the album. I do have the stuff. (Of course, I have plenty of stuff.) I just don’t have a proper working printer, which is putting a little crimp in my plans. I will figure it out though. Last year’s album is one of my very favorite projects I have done. If you want to check it out, take a look at my right side bar under the photo albums. You will find it under December Daily 2011.

Now, let the Christmas fun begin!

BOO! to you.

Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween!

and a big thank you too...

The super heroes loved getting surprises in the mail this past week! Big hugs to Grandma
& Grandpa, Bumpa & DiDi, and Aunt Ann.

Busy busy life...

Well with cooler temperatures, we are nearing the end of this...

The pool hasn't been completely closed yet, but we just aren't getting enough warm days now... so the clock is ticking quickly now. So sad. It has been a great two months though!

But with fall here, we have moved on to this...

My girl is now a First Grader. Full-time student. Yep, all day long! We miss her greatly here. She adjusted to it great. Sam on the other hand, the first few days he kept asking if we were going to get Elsie, Is it time to get Elsie? and Do we get her when it is dark out? Poor little man. Although, he is doing much better now. Now we have Elsie asking when she gets to play. HA! I guess those 4 short hours between getting home from school and bed just aren't cutting it anymore.

She has also back into soccer. 

This time with bigger nets and goalies, which she is super excited about. I think we might have a goalie girl on our hands.

Then this little guy turned the big FOUR!

How did that happen? Of course he chose a dinosaur on his cake. This year, he went with blue and blue. His favorite color.

After a few weeks of spending the entire day with me, he got to start his own weekly routine of school.

He is back at preschool (4's). AND loving every minute of it.

So now we have a lot of this...

And this...

Bring on school and homework :( I am just happy that they are both excited about the change in routine.

Because I am missing this...

Yep, this is the life.

So this is what the good life looks like in our backyard...

Yep, pretty sweet. We are one lucky family. AND we spend EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. IN. IT. Talk about getting our pennies worth out of it. So, when y'all coming to visit us!?!