Featured Fan

Just stopping in real quick to shre some cool news! I am the featured fan over on the Teresa Collins blog today! Check it out!  http://teresacollinsdesignteam.blogspot.com

Girls are home for the summer yay!!! Enjoy your holiday weekend!

And the award goes to....

Happy Monday everyone!

WOW what a busy weekend.  I am truthfully feeling a bit overwhelmed right now.  I didn't have time to get much done this weekend and this week seems a bit daunting but I know it will get done.  I just need to stop, breathe, and break it into pieces and all will get finished.

This is the last week of school for my girls.  I am definitely excited about having them home with me for the next couple of months but it also means a busy week.  I am making tags to go on little packages of cookies for all of K's teachers.  When you have a middle school child, it is just impossible to thank all those teachers the way we did when they were in elementary school but I don't want them to go without either.  I will share the tags with you later this week hopefully.

I mentioned that we had another busy weekend and it actually started Thursday night.  K had an award ceremony at her school.  So proud of my girl, she  got an award for being a High Honor Roll student, having Excellent Attendance and the Presidential Fitness Award (which she tells me is VERY hard to get mom)  I have to admit I didn't hear a lot of those being given away. LOL  Friday morning was L's award ceremony and she got an award for Excellent grades and for having the highest NWEA (standardized test) math score in her whole class. Go figure.  This from my child who loves to read but HATES math. LOL

We also got to go back to Bloomington this weekend for L's best friend's birthday party.

That was a lot of fun.  Those trips do make me a bit melancholy though.  I miss all of those amazing people back in Bloomington so much!  I grew up in a small town but DH and I gravitate to bigger cities for all of the extra activities that are available.  But Bloomington is perfect in that way, IU offers all the extras while you still get the benefits of a small town.  I really feel we got to know people faster and better while we were there because you just ran into them more often.  I guess the reason I bring this up is because as we were leaving town we had to stop at CVS to get L some cold medicine.  While there we ran into a friend that we knew from gymnastics. Her daughter had been on the team with L for a couple of years.  Oh how I love that sweet family.  I was just sad that her daughter wasn't with her so L could have seen her.

This week I also have to get ready for a big trip.  L and another friend from B-town are going to a gymnastics camp next week in Tennessee.  Yes, I said Tennessee.  This momma is NOT prepared to leave her baby in TN (8 hours away).  So what does any self respecting mother do?  She plans to spend the week in Nashville with her best friend (the other momma not ready to leave her baby).  It may be tough but we will muddle through. (insert big fat smile here!)  I think I am as excited as L is. While we are gone K is going to go spend some time with grandparents in Illinois.  DH is going to have a very quiet house that is for sure.  This means I have a lot to get packed and ready before I go.

Got a layout to share with you also today.  We focused on products from the amazing Teresa Collins last week at Emma's.  I really do love her stuff.  Had so much fun making this layout about K's twelfth birthday party.  They had a scavenger hunt at the mall.  I debated including the some of these photos because they are a bit blurry due to some very giggly girls being in charge of the camera (that was part of the hunt) but I decided it was part of the story and had to be included.  The strip along the left lists the items they were to find.

So I suppose I should stop procrastinating and actually get that stuff done huh?  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Scrapbook Steals

Morning everyone!

I was so honored when Kristy from ScrapbookSteals.com contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in being a guest designer for them.  They really have the coolest deals over there.  Every day at 9 AM and 9 PM Kristy posts a new steal for the day.  She sent me the most amazing papers and embellishments from the Teresa Collins Sweet Afternoon collection.   These papers are seriously gorgeous. So many soft, pretty colors and patterns.

I ended up creating one layout and two cards but I promise you will be seeing these papers and embellishments again.  I simply adore them!

I would love if you could stop over at the ScrapbookSteals Blog and say hi!  Have a great weekend everyone!  Only one more week of school!!! 

Mother's Day Recap

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  I couldn't have asked for a better Mother's Day.  The girls decided to give me a pamper me day as my gift.  LOVE that.  It was a nice relaxing day that included reading with my girls, lunch created by them, a fabulous dinner and even a photo shoot at a gorgeous local park that DH found.  

Have you checked out the new challenge at Challenge Me Happy yet?  Annelie gave us a great sketch to work with this week.  The designers did an amazing job with this sketch.  

Here is my layout based on the sketch.

Make sure to head over there and check it out.  We are giving away another kit from My Little Shoebox!

I also wanted to announce the winner of the Jeremy Camp CD.  Random Number Generator picked....

Congrats Julie!!!  Email me your information and I will get the CD out to you right away.

Hope you all enjoy the rest of the week!

Need You Now by Beth Wiseman

Three posts this week!  Can you believe it? LOL

If you missed my post on Wednesday make sure to check it out.  I am giving away a free CD.

I wanted to share a book with your today.  A couple of weeks ago I received a free copy of the book Need You Now by Beth Wiseman from BookSneeze in return for a review.

I need to clarify that the review does not have to be positive, I simply have to let readers know what I thought of the book.  This book struck a cord with me from the minute I read the brief summary.  The main character, Darlene is a stay-at-home mom who is looking for something more.After she and her husband move their family to a small town in Houston, Darlene takes a job working with special needs kids at a school near her home.  That is when life seems to fall apart around Darlene, as she deals with serious issues her daughter is facing, managing a home and a new job, and the affections of a man she meets at the school.  

Although, I will say that this book is not the BEST book I have read recently, I did enjoy reading it.  The characters faced real life problems and handled them in ways that many of us would.  I liked Darlene instantly.  She is an every day mom that just wants to do what is best for her family but also needs to find what is best for her.  I felt that her character was well developed and as a reader I connected to the pain and loneliness she was feeling. I loved the message that when things go wrong in our lives we need to stop trying to handle them ourselves and turn to God.  This message was not hammered into the reader, though, like some authors try to do, but instead was brought across through Darlene and her family's struggles.  I thought the supporting characters were also well developed.  Darlene's husband, Brad, handles their situation in a way that is common for so many of us. Darlene's children are also very real, believable characters with very real teenage feelings and reactions.  All in all, I found the book enjoyable to read and I will definitely read another book by Beth Wiseman.

Jeremy Camp

Hi everyone!

Just a really quick post to tell you about a cool event I found out about this week.  On Monday I posted about how we got a chance to go see Jeremy Camp and Francesca Battiselli in concert.  I have been a fan of Jeremy Camp's for a long time.  Actually the very first Christian Rock concert I went to see was when Jeremy joined Casting Crowns at the Indiana State Fair in 2006.

Anyway, I found out that Jeremy is going to be hosting a LIVE, FREE concert on Facebook tonight at 8 PM  CST.  You can see the details here.  I really encourage you to check it out.  He is such an inspiration guy and has the best voice!

This is one of my all time favorites of his, a bit older, but great just the same.
       

Also, while we were at the concert on Saturday night I was honored enough to get a copy of his new CD.  Here is the problem, I already have most of the songs on the CD on my iPod.  So....I want to give it away to you.  All you have to do is leave a comment letting me know that you would be interested in the CD.  I will pick one lucky winner next week!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Musically inspired

Happy Monday everyone!  It is rainy and dreary here this morning but thankfully it waited until Monday morning.  We were able to enjoy a wonderful, warm, sunny weekend this way.

K had two games Saturday morning instead of one and her sweet best friend was there to cheer her on with us.

Then came Saturday night. Cinco de Mayo.  The night my girls have been waiting for, for months.  The night of the Francesca Battistelli concert.  :)  She was actually playing with Jeremy Camp, an incredibly and well known artist in his own right.  As you can see, we had amazing seats (just 5 rows in back thanks to my in-laws!) Thank you B&G!

But none of that mattered to my girls, they wanted to see Francesca!  :)

As you can see, she is quite pregnant.  I can't imagine having to put on concerts being about 8 months pregnant.  All I wanted to do when I was that far along was sleep!   One of my favorite parts was when her husband came up and played the guitar while she sang "100 more years".  Love the song but I spent most of   my time watching L.  That is her absolute favorite song. Yes, it plays over, and over, and over and over on her CD player.  Who invented the repeat button. LOL

Please check out the song on YouTube.  I don't think you will be disappointed. :)

                      

Wanted to also share another music related item with you today.  Our challenge at Emma's Paperie last week was to create a project based on a song.  I love music, it plays in our house almost continuously.  Since we listen to mostly Contemporary Christian music, so many songs speak to me.  So why was it that I had such a hard time deciding on what song to use?  What inspired and moving song do I end up using you ask?  Our House in the Middle of the Street by Talking Heads.  Yes, that is right. Not the inspired project I was I was envisioning. I am happy with the project though.  I have had this mini album sitting on my desk and have been wanting to scrap the photos of our new house so this was the perfect opportunity.

I do actually plan to do a layout for the girls using the song "The Words I Would Say" by Sidewalk Prophets Love this song.  It says everything to them that I can't seem to put in words.

Enjoy your week.  Hope you can find some sunshine even though you may also be dealing with gray skies.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Sporty Girls

Morning everyone,

I usually try to post on Tuesday mornings but I wasn't feeling so hot yesterday.  We did have a really great weekend.  

My sweet parents came into town to see the girls compete at a home gymnastics meet.  I use the term compete loosely.  Every year the gym has a meet for everyone, team and rec, enrolled at the gym.  Since K is taking rec class (what is she not involved in??? that child!) she got to participate too.  Then we raced over to the ice rink so L could also skate in her first skating competition.  She did a beautiful job but you will never know because I was so captivated that I forgot to take pictures!  Can you believe that???

As I stated above, K has a wide variety of interests.  I love that my children are involved.  It keeps them busy, out of trouble and off the computer and away from the TV.  BUT, we do have to work with K to keep her from over doing it.  She brought a form home for student council yesterday.  I hated that I had to make her choose to not get involved but there is a limit.  So...during our conversation I had her write down her current commitments, adding student council and number them in order of importance to her.  This is what it looked like (I am NOT kidding)

1.   Youth group  (love that this is her number one priority!)

2.   Soccer (currently practices 4 days a week and plays a game every Saturday morning)    

2.   Gymnastics rec class

2.   School Play (thank goodness the show is next week!)

2.   Piano

2.   Student Council

She obviously needs to work on her numbering skills! HA!  She did decide to not do Student Council.  I do have to say, we have had a discussion about this more than once when she decided to try out for the play again.  Her response, "Mom,  I am getting straight A's in school."  How do you argue with that?  I don't know about her but I am ready for the summer!

Since we are on the topic of sports maybe it would be a good time to share a layout I did for Challenge Me Happy.  We would love for you to join us this week.  You could win goodies from My Little Shoebox!  We have a color challenge this week, using red, black and white.  Perfect IU colors.  :)  There was no doubt what I was going to scrap.  Here is my layout.  

Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy the rest of your week!