once upon a li{F}etime

3...2...1

3

• Road blocks these last few weeks. Bryson got sick, Maddy continues to mysteriously throw up, Bryson took yet another visit to the urgent care last night.
• Road blocks overcome.  Bryson was better after about 5 days.  We are in the very beginning stages of figuring out if Maddy has a food allergy.  Bryson is glued back together (again!) and doing o.k. after falling in the bath and slicing his chin open. 
• weeks of track break begins today!

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• (and a half) more days until our Disneyland trip
• kids and 2  parents VERY excited about the trip
• more photoshoots left of the season.  It's been a busy November but I love it!

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• very Happy Birthday wish for my favorite 2 year old nephew!  Happy Birthday Graham!!

I probably won't be on here again before we leave (surprise, I know!).  Come back in a week or so for all the pictures and stories!

Disney Autograph Books

Originally, I wanted these to be pretty simple.  Had something in mind I wanted but knew they were going to be loved on so I wanted to keep it simple.  When Kelly showed me hers I was like "that's it!" That is exactly what I want.  But, I really did not want to copy her.

So my search began.  Looking all over the place, calling previous Disney trippers, trying to decide what to do.  It was turning into a much bigger deal than it really needed to be.  So after much thought, I went back to my original plan and added some detail.

It's hard to tell from the picture because of the page protector (It's too much of a pain to take off) but the black paper is shiny, the yellow paper has some sparkle to it and the white strip to the right of the stars is a piece of ribbon.  In other words, they look better "in person" :D Maddy's looks pretty much the same except it of course says "Maddy's disney autographs" and it has red binder rings with a pink mickey on the top ring).  I'm glad I stuck with the binder ring idea so if we need to take the front cover off while we are there to keep it from too much lovin', we can.

Now my problem was to figure out how to keep the pages protected seeing that I added the detail.   Mainly the front and back cover.  I am not sure how much detail I will be putting into the inside along with the signature and a picture.  The Lord blessed me and I was able to find a few packs of 8x8 sheet protectors at Archivers on clearance for 75% off with an additional 15% off the day I found them.  That made them a little over $1 a pack.  Perfect!  Now if I need to cover all the pages, I can.

I told you, much more of a process than it really needed to be!  But, I like the way they turned out :) 

14 more days!
 

Wordless Wednesday-Halloween Costumes, Picture Overload

 

 

Something New

I've been on a scrapbooking kick lately.  It's been fun!  And, I've been branching out a bit.  Trying some new things. 

The first is an old technique but this was the first time I had tried it.

Sewing on a page.

This is actually just 1/2 of a 2 page layout but I made the sewing quite subtle.  I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out.  But, I think it turned out great and I loved doing it!  I'll branch out even more next time.

Can you see it?

The next thing I tried I feel in love with too.  My youth pastor and his wife are the creators of Shimmerz.  Basically they are waterbased paints that add shimmer to your layouts or whatever you may be crafting. 

In the layout above I used a brown shimmerz on the scalloped edges.  It's hard to tell the "sparkle" in the picture but this product is really cool! 

Yeah, the picture doesn't do the product justice.  You have to check it out because these are so fun!  They just add a little more fun to plain chipboard (or whatever surface you are using) than regular paint or stamps do.  They also have a Shimmerz spritz and Blingz (which add even more sparkle).  They have a website and a blog which have some great ideas, inspiration and much have better pictures of the product in use.  And, the prices are totally reasonable!  Check it out...there is a really cute halloween card on the blog today. 
 
 
 
 

Close Your Eyes...I Have a Surprise!

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Seeing that Mike and Kelly are finally spending their first night at the happiest place on earth, we were finally able to tell the kids that we were going too!  For those of you who don't know my sister, they have kept their trip to Disneyland a secret from their boys.   Woke them up this morning and surprised them.  (I'll let her tell the full extent of the story)  Well, just to be sure that they were able to pull their surprise off without a hitch, we decided to wait until they were gone to tell our kids about our trip.  Our trip has been a year in the making.  Talking about it but no serious planning until this past summer when we had to cancel our beach vacation because of Bryson's broken foot.  We originally had planned on going next fall.  See, next year is our 10 year wedding anniversary.  We went to Disneyland on our honeymoon so we thought it would be cool to take our kids there around our anniversary.  Then, doors just started opening and everything fell into place and so now instead of heading there in a year, we will be there in 23 days!

To break the news to the kids, we had originally planned on having Garrett and Carson call Maddy and Bryson tonight to tell them about their first day in Disneyland leading to Maddy and Bryson asking if they were ever going to be able to go...however, Jeff and I changed the plan up a bit (partly because I could hardly wait any longer in the day to tell them...I hate secrets and I held unto this one way too long!...and partly because we wanted to "drag" the reveal on a little longer).  Looking back we could have incorporated both but I wasn't thinking.  Anyways, this is how we told them-

We sat them down on the couch and told them we had a big surprise for them but we wanted them to try to guess what it was.  They came up with everything from the fun we were going to have taking halloween pictures tomorrow to a new toy to candy.  After a few minutes of them guessing, we sent them to Maddy's room and where they were sitting I put this

Stuffed animals and a count down chain to when we leave (the paper mickey hangs above the chain).  When they came back out, they were excited to see the stuffed animals and totally looked past the chains.   Our conversation then went something like this-

Us: do you guys know what that means?

Them: (excited but with a tad bit of confusion on their faces) yeah, this is Mickey and Minnie.

Us: would you ever like to go visit the "real" Mickey and Minnie

Them: yeah

Us:  Well...we are!  We are going to Disneyland in this many days (showing them the chains)

And then after we peeled Maddy off the walls from her excitement, Bryson started to cry.  Seriously?!?  Come to find out, he doesn't want to wait till the chain is done.  He wants to go now!  Could be a long 3 weeks for him :) 

We sat down and watched a video we had gotten with our vacation package and the kids were so fun to watch.  They got so excited when they started listing off and seeing all the characters we get to meet.  Maddy would squeal with excitement, Bryson's eyes were as big as I have ever seen them and his mouth would just drop to the floor. 

Yay!!!  The "secret" is out and the anticipation has begun!!! 

 

 

Checking In

My poor, abandoned blog.  Seen a lot of neglect here the last few months.  Do you ever just feel like you have nothing to blog about.  Well, that's been me the last few months.  But, then I get mad when I don't at least come on here and give some kind of update because we like to use this as a "family journal".  So here it goes.  A quick run down of what's going on. 

• Scrapbooked with Christy and a few of her friends this weekend.  It was a blast and I got 4 LO's done!  Now that I'm back in the groove hopefully I can get some more done.  Sorry, no pictures.  I don't feel like messing with that process :)
• Looking forward to my first 5K race this weekend.  I'm doing Barber to Boise with Jessica.  Should be a blast!
• Hoping the weather is "nice" this weekend.  "Nice" meaning no rain.  I can handle the cold but going to the pumpkin patch in the rain doesn't sound like fun.
• Looking forward to taking the kids pictures in their halloween costumes this weekend too.  I always take them out for a photoshoot in their costumes before halloween.  Not sure why, but I love that photoshoot.  One of my favorites.  That and it means no stress of having to take pictures on halloween.  We all like that.  I will share those pictures when they are done. 
• I got GREAT deals on the kids halloween costumes.  We looked everywhere for a batman costume for Bryson.  Couldn't find one for under $20.  So when we found a barely used one (complete one with mask, cap, belt and all) at Savers for $4.99, both Bryson and I cheered right there in the isle.  High fives and all!  It was a happy moment.  I also found a beautiful princess dress (really it's Belle but Maddy just wanted to be a princess so we aren't calling it a Belle dress) for Maddy for $10 there.  I love thrifting! 
• I especially love dressing Maddy up for halloween.  I was so happy when she said she wanted to be a princess.  I can't wait to do her hair, put on some make up (blush and lip gloss ;D) and sparkle her head to toe. 
• Speaking of photoshoots...requests are coming in like wildfire!  I love it! 
• Let's see...what else...
• No school Thursday and Friday!  That's always makes me do a happy dance. 

Well, the mind has gone blank!  That's going to have to be it for today...I'll be back later this week...I promise!

Fall Crafts

Like I said a few posts ago, I love fall crafts.  Holiday crafts too.  After I gather my supplies this weekend, I am finally going to start on our Christmas Advent Calendar.  Kelly and I found a cute idea last year.  I remember thinking I couldn't wait to make it, Christmas '09 seemed way to far away.  And, now it's quickly approaching so I really need to get on it. 

Anyway, back to fall crafts.  I am always looking for new and fun crafts for the kids to do.  Today we made a few. 

We started with these curled paper pumpkins.  They were a bit harder than I thought.  Too hard for the boys so Maddy and I just ended up making these while the boys raced cars under our feet. 

You take 1/2" strips of paper, curl them around a pencil and then secure the end with glue.   Once all the circles are made, arrange in the shape you want  your pumpkin and glue the edges together.  We used 33 strips for this pumpkin.  You then take 4" pieces of green paper, curl it around a small paint brush and secure to the top.  It's hard to see but there is also an about 2" piece of brown paper folded in half at the top for a stem.  Turned out cute but they were kinda hard and time consuming.  We ended up making two big ones like this, so the kids could hang them on their bedroom doors.  We didn't want Ethan to feel left out so we put together a little one for him to take home too.  Actually, the little one ended up being our favorite. 

Seeing that the boys ended up not being able or interested in doing the curled pumpkin we decided to do our annual leaf art project too.  We headed out with bags and filled them with leaves that had fallen on the ground.  We usually do this a little later in October but we found that the leaves are actually prettier and not as dry doing them now. 

We again made the turtles and a butterfly.  Although Ethan thinks his turtle is a frog :)  

Do you have any fun fall (kids) crafts you like to do?

10 on Tuesday

errr...Wednesday

1. Don't mind that itsy bitsy teeny weeny banner.  It's a work in progress. ETA *o.k. now my banner is too big and I haven't touched it...what's going on Typepad???*
2. Maddy is home sick again today.  Day #2.  So much for perfect attendance this year. 
3. If Maddy had just a mild form of the flu (which is what the doctor told us), I feel bad for anyone who has had a bad case of it or the Swine flu.  6 1/2 hour of throwing up every 15-20mins was terrible for a little 38lb 6 1/2 year old to go through. 
4. I L.O.V.E this weather.
5. I am thankful that Thursday and Friday are school-free days.  Even though I obviously don't like that Maddy has been sick and that she had to miss school, I have really enjoyed having her home.
6. The kids have decided that they are going to ask Santa for a "real puppy".  They are smart little things and make sure they emphasize the "real" part.  They have it all planned out.  And a name picked out-Scooby Doo.  They will call him Scooby.  Yes, him.  They decided they want a boy dog. 
7. This may be the year the kids find out Santa isn't real. 
8. I L.O.V.E this weather.
9. Hooray for the Biggest Loser and the Amazing Race returning to TV.
10. I L.O.V.E this weather.  Oh wait, did I already say that?

Welcoming Fall

Even if summer won't go away.

If I were to put the seasons in order from favorite to least favorite it would look like this:

1. Fall
2. Winter
3. Spring
4. Summer

I just love this time of year.  The crisp air, the beautiful trees, the smells, the colors, fun holidays approaching, pumpkin picking...  I could go on and on.  Fall is by far my favorite time of year. 

We have welcomed fall into our home, even if the weather outside is TOO HOT and it doesn't "feel" like fall.

I saw these pumpkins on another blog and they looked simple enough to make so I tried.  Not too bad for an amateur sewer.  I think I need new bows for them though.  The ones on there now are going along with the fall theme and making it look like it's windy in here. 

One of the many thing I like to do this time of year is crafts with the kids.  Yesterday Bryson and Ethan made trees. 

We used their hand and forearm for the tree trunk and branches.  Then, the leaves and grass we made using fingerprints. 

What is your favorite season?