Happy August!

I think I say this every month, but here we are at the start of another one! They seem to be going by so quickly lately and this week of crazy heat sure didn't help!

This is what happened to one of my poor candles because of the heat!!

The last week has been absolutely nuts! On Wednesday, our house was a balmy 81 degrees at 7am! The temp was supposed to be about 35C (95F), but we had this freak humidity thing going on, so they're saying it felt like about 43C (110F). This is soooooo not our normal weather and we had days of this! Not many people here have air conditioning at home and we sure don't. Our overnight temp of 21C (70F) is common for daytime this time of year. Wednesday broke all time heat records and then we broke the Wednesday record the following day! It has thankfully "cooled" down a little, but not enough for my liking!

Needless to say, we did do a whole lot this past week other than try and stay cool. We had thankfully bought the kids a pool to play in a few weeks ago and that was probably what saved us since we all spent time in there! The kids were in and out all day though I was trying to even keep them inside for a while in the afternoon when it was the hottest.

We did get the new dishwasher we ordered and George put it in! It's sooooo nice to have a dishwasher again and it cleans so well, actually dries everything and I can barely hear it when it runs! Gotta like that! We had a little scare again this past week though when the fridge started acting up again too, but we "fixed" it by cleaning out the build-up of ice again that was blocking the movement of air and preventing it from cooling properly. All seems well again there now.

I did get a layout done as well and this was for a layout tag (like playing "Telephone" with layouts so you only get to see the one done before you) at Scrapdango, so you can go and check them all out if you want!

*You'll have to excuse the piece of fluff that was on Nathan's "face" when I took the picture of the layout!

Well, think that's about it for today! Going to go see what else I can get done while it's quiet around here with the boys all taking my old dishwasher to the dump!

Cheers,


**OK, I am going to try the daily blogging again this month and we'll see what happens, so wish me luck!

Keeping Cool!

We've been doing everything we can around here to try and keep cool with the heat wave we're at the beginning of - unfortunately! Kyle and Nathan must have done this about 10 times before I got it on video! Kyle makes me laugh!



We're bracing for another hot one here!
Cheers,

Happy Mail!

This is what just arrived in the mail thanks to my wonderful friend Julie!! Yes, the author!! This is a book she wrote and that has been published in Australia where she lives, but we can't get it up here yet, so she kindly sent us an autographed copy with a little note in it for the boys! Very exciting! I just want to say a HUGE Congratulations to Julie on this amazing accomplishment!!

You can check out an interview with Julie about the book HERE!
There's some more information about the book as well HERE!

Thanks for the book Julie and can't wait to read it!
Cheers,

PS The kids love the "nibbble" out of the book!

Upcoming Classes for August!

Here are a few sneaks at the August classes I'm teaching...

Cupcake Crazy Cards

August Get 'Em Scrapped (paper only layouts)

Quick and Easy Cards!!! NEW!

This class includes the set of Hero Arts stamps!

Livin' is Easy Mini Album (Bo Bunny)
Fun in the Sun Mini Album (Bo Bunny)

Keep an eye out for the new Precious Memories class schedule if you're local and hope to see you at a class soon! All the samples are in the store if you want to have a closer look and to be able to see all the cards in the class!

Cheers,

Monday again already??

Yes, here we are at the beginning of another week after the weekend going by in a blur! Amazing how quickly a couple of days of work and a day of family and errands go by!

I went for another massage this morning and so far, so good. It's always a little sore after she works on it and I'll need to ice, but my sciatica is definitely better anyway! Hoping to have a little rest this afternoon and watch Y&R shortly while Nathan naps and Kyle plays for a bit. Nothing much else on today other than a few chores and some scrapping I hope, but we'll see how long I can stand/sit at my scrap table...

Here are a couple more cards I did recently that never got posted! I'll also try and post some peeks at cards I've been working on for August classes!

The papers are some from an SEI line a little while ago!

The die cut butterflies were done with my MM Slice.

Hope everyone has a fabulous evening!
Cheers,

Fabulous Friday

Yes, it's hard to believe we're at the end of another week, but here we are! The boys and I are just having a slow start to the morning and then we're planning on heading out to the park for a bit since the weather is nice!

Since I've been catching up with posting stuff on my blog that I've created, this was a card I did not long ago for one of Kyle's friends for his birthday!

Don't think there's too much else really! Work tonight and then just trying to take care of my sciatic thing that seems to be better or worse depending on the day...

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!
Cheers,

Another card...

I think this is another one of those cards I did a little while ago and never posted! I used a sketch for this one and really like the results with this Pebbles paper and goodies that came in my Scrapperie Winging It kit! Nice to have a few of these cards without sentiments around in case you need to drop a quick note to someone!

Glad to see the sun is out again here today! We're not up to too much this morning, but the kids are having fun playing and I'm getting a few things done, so it's all good. My issue with my leg and my sciatic nerve is still coming and going, but it seems better overall I'd say. I couldn't have said that after my massage the other day though it did help in the long run! I have to go back again Monday to have her work on it again.

Tracy is coming over after lunch today and dropping off Matthew for a bit, so I'll have the 4 kids this afternoon. It'll be almost nap time for him though thankfully, so I'll get a bit of a break there. Tracy and Brian have to go to BC Lottery because they won an Olympic prize package for Whistler worth $22,000 that they need to claim!! Crazy!

OK, well better go check on the munchkins and get a few more things done!
Cheers,

Christmas In July at WeScrap!

Come and join us for tons of fun!!

Land of Nod...

This was a layout I did for a challenge over at WeScrap a few weeks ago and I love how it turned out. These recent pictures I took of Nathan napping in our bed are just so sweet! I had fun playing with some masking for the title and with an acrylic heart on the right side.

Cheers,

Glimmer Mist's Fabulous NEW Look!

Glimmer Mist is the same great product with a Fabulous NEW Look! So, to celebrate, they're doing a giveaway on their blog!! There are also amazing new colours being released, so go and check it out! Check out all of their amazing products on their website - there are even little videos to give ideas on what you can do with Glimmer Mist!!

Cheers,

Another warm one...

Well, it was another warm day here! Didn't have the most ambitious early morning, but I was definitely up in time for Sophia getting here. We had our breakfast and then got everyone ready and headed over to spend some time at Maria, Joseph and Sarah's place this morning! The kids had fun playing on the trampoline, the swing, the slide and just running around together. Maria kindly invited us to stay for lunch and then we headed back home for naptime.

I knew Nathan was tired, but was fighting it! I finally got him to lay down and he crashed! We had a big success this morning with the potty again though he surprised himself when he started going and stood up to watch, so you can imagine what happened! I was just happy he was willing to wear his underwear and had been trying all morning - never mind actually going too! Oh the things that you never imagined would be so important in your day!!

Kyle and Sophia spent some time in the new pool this afternoon as well. I can see that it's going to get more than it's fair share of use this summer if it's as dry and warm as they're predicting. Heard on the news last night that June was the warmest and driest since 1951!

I haven't been very good with posting scrappy stuff lately, so I'm going to post some stuff I've been working on. As you can see, this was done in May! It was also one of the Use It Challenges. The best part was that it has some scraps and some really old fibres on it as well! Gotta love scraps!

Well, think that's about it for now! I'm on a blogging roll here again now! lol Just watch me go!
Cheers,

Happy Canada Day!!

Hope everyone had a very Happy Canada Day!!

We didn't go to the Amphitheatre in Cloverdale like we usually do. To be honest, I think that was our plan this morning when we got up, but George told Nathan he needed to pee in the potty first and when that never happened, the park didn't either!

We're in a bit of a test of wills here now with Nathan and the potty you see. Still trying not to make it too big a deal, but we've moved on to underwear during the daytime and that means some accidents. The frustrating thing is that he'll be dry all night and then won't pee on the potty in the morning when we know he can!

Oh well, rather that going to the Canada Day thing today, we did mange to do a few other things. George needed to get some new work pants, so that got done. He'd also been looking for a pool or some kind for the kids in the warm weather and he picked one of those up today too! Then, this afternoon, Kyle and I got to go and do something fun...

We went and saw the movie "Up"! Kyle has only ever been to one movie in the theatre and that was when George took him to see Wall-E and it was a first for me with him. He still doesn't like some of the loud commercials and stuff and the beginning, but we both enjoyed the movie. I think some of the message was more directed at adults than kids, but he laughed a lot, so all was good!

We came home and had dinner and then the kids played in the new pool and that was about the extent of our day! Another one gone quickly! So weird that it's the middle of the week too! I'm going to be messed up for days!

Here's to a fabulous July for everyone!
Cheers,

Happy 6th Birthday Kyle!!

Wow! Once again it seems hard to believe we're celebrating Kyle's birthday, but here we are! We did most of the celebrating on Saturday actually when he had some friends over for a Star Wars Party and then we had George's parents and Tracy, Brian, Sophia and Matthew over for dinner as well. A couple of rounds of bbq and cake and we called it a full birthday day!

Since today is actually his birthday, we did something a little different and went up to the park/water park to play and have a picnic. We went with Maria, Joseph and Sarah as well as Tracy, Sophia and Matthew, so we had quite the gang. It was a beautiful day and a really fun time for everyone I think!

We're having Kyle's favourite for dinner at his request - tacos! Not sure if we'll go get a cupcake or something for him too or maybe go for ice cream!

Happy Birthday Kyle!!
Cheers,

Proud Mama!

Today, there was an assemble for the K-3 classes and they presented awards and recognized summer birthdays. I knew, but Kyle didn't that he was getting an award today, so here he is getting the award from the principal at the school and then with his teacher afterwards since I didn't get one of her handing him the award!

Kyle was one of 2 kids in his class to get a citizenship award.

He really loves his teacher and she'll be teaching Grade 1 next year, so I'd love it if he got her again, but who knows. We'll have to wait until September to see!

Very proud of him for doing so well this year and it's hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day of the year. The Kindergarten kids participate in the Grade 7 assembly tomorrow and sort of "escort" them out apparently. A short day with report cards and that's all that's between us and summer holiday! Amazing!

Cheers,

Scrapperie's Latest Kit

OK, I've been bad with my blogging and not posting scrappy stuff in the last while though I've been doing it, so here's the work I did with the June Scrapperie kit called Salon de The (sorry, don't know how to get the accent above the "e" for the French!).

This is a close-up so you can see that I added pearls and glitter to the centers of some of the flowers! One of those things that looks much better in person!

This is about our frustration in potty training Nathan as he's the most stubborn child you've ever met when it comes to this! I just keep telling myself that he has to get it someday!

I also did 2 cards with this kit and love how both of them came out!

Well, I have more with this kit too, but will post it another time! You can check out some of the amazing work that the other Tres Chic Girls did with this kit HERE!

You should check out the July kit - English Garden too!

Cheers,

I'm a Winner!

I checked my e-mail to find a little note from Lindsay at Pebbles Inc telling me I'd won one of their giveaways!! Wahoooo! Made my day! Can't wait to get that package!!

Cheers,

So much learning happening in our house...

This is what Kyle started the other day while Nathan was napping. I was shocked that he wanted to actually write a full sentence rather than a word, but he knew what he wanted to say. The most exciting part for me was when he got stuck and came and asked for help that he asked me for the phonetic sound rather that the spelling of the word.

After doing the printing, he had to draw a picture of course.
The funny thing is that after doing this at home, Kyle's teacher asked to talk to me after class yesterday and she wanted to show me the journal work he had done yesterday and it was something quite similar though on a different topic! Part of the reason she wanted to show me was that she thought it was so cute. He'd written "Thank you Ms. ___ for your help, but I'm going on vacation." and then he'd drawn a picture. So cute! And we're not quite going on vacation yet, but he's excited!!

He's also really improved his reading with the home reading books he's bringing home every day and I can see his reading confidence improving. He's much more willing to try and sound out words now and likes the challenge of words he doesn't know. It's so much fun for me to see him doing all these things! Think he'll be getting a couple of new books for his birthday!

His teacher also let me know that I might want to come to the awards ceremony towards the end of the month because Kyle will be getting a citizenship award! Cool! Can't wait to see what Grade 1 will bring!

Cheers,

Happy Anniversary George!

Yes, it's hard to believe another year has gone by and that we've been married for 7 years now! Happy Anniversary George and I'm looking forward to going out tonight! Thanks for taking the boys Trace...

This is the card I made for our anniversary! The heart has metallic paint on it and the big brad says "love". Gotta love it when you can use some stash to do things like this (the paper and heart)!

This is the little thing I did for George for our anniversary. We're going away in a couple of weeks, so we're not spending much on gifts right now, but he loves chocolate, so I got one chocolate bar for each year we've been married and cut the same number of flowers for a "bouquet". I used my MM Slice for all the flowers!

I guess that's about it for today really! Just trying to get some things done around here this morning after a busy weekend. Need to finish off a couple of things and get all my new class stuff submitted today for July classes as well.

Looks like it's going to be another warm one for sure and that the next few days will be the same. Kyle was extra happy to be going to school this morning because it was "messy day" where they get to play with paints, sidewalk chalk, a water table, etc outside for a while this morning. Good day for it anyway!

Well, going to try the daily blogging again this month though it didn't go so well last month! Here's to better timing this month!
Cheers,