Monday, October 25, 2010

where have i been?

It's been over a week . . . I think that's the longest I've gone without posting. It's been a busy week! A friend and I have been busy preparing a "bat day" with our homeschool group at church. Today was the day and it is finally behind me! We had 70 kids in attendance. They learned the difference between bats and birds, where bats live, what they eat, etc. all through fun activities . . . we had a "bat cave," a "bat snack" (cupcake), a "bat craft" (with their handprints as the wings), and anatomy lesson and an echolocation game. So much fun!



Paige is playing the echolocation game and Faith is making her bat craft with her handprints . . . love Oriental Trading!

If you are a homeschooling mom (or just want to have fun with your kids) feel free to leave me your email and I will email you all of the information I put together on what you need for each station. We had the kids rotate through five stations every 15 minutes and then had a large group time at the beginning and end of our time together.

In other news, for those of you not local to the area, this past Thursday, part of our mall was burned down by an arsonist. If you are interested in seeing pictures see here. The mall is 1.5 miles from our house . . . it was a pretty big deal, especially considering the guy burned the newer part of the mall that was just added on two years ago. The entire mall (it's HUGE) has been closed until further notice due to water and smoke damage. The section of the mall that collapsed will probably be closed for quite some time. No one is sure yet when parts of it will reopen. Some are saying that certains sections may reopen by Black Friday . . . we shall see. It 's just so sad how many jobs have been affected by one person. Ugh.

I hope you are having a good start to your week! Be back soon with some crafty shares. : )

Friday, October 15, 2010

a card


One of my good friends lost her father to cancer last week. He was only 63 years old. I am headed to the funeral for the day to support her. My parents are 60 and 61 and my mom has had cancer three times. Kind of makes me think more about my parents . . . I cannot imagine losing them at this stage in my life. Even though a plane flight separates us, they are a very active part of our lives. Give those you love an extra hug today.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

welcome baby keira!

Just last week, Angie Lucas, co-founder of Ella Publishing brought home her frist child . . . a baby girl! Congratulations Angie and family! Many of us are participating in a virtual blog shower and sending our congrats and new mom advice via the web. 

First tip . . . enjoy this special time. It will fly by.

Second tip . . . take their (your) favorite stuffed animal and take pictures of Keira each month. (This will get harder and harder as they get older!) I picked this idea up from Becky Higgins several years back and have done it with my second and third child--love seeing the changes. Wish I had thought of it with my first! You can see Seth's first and last teddy bear pictures in this post: http://brendajohnston.blogspot.com/2010/07/family-update.html
I'm hoping to do a layout documenting the teddy bear pictures soon!

Third tip . . . record the moments that we as moms sometimes forget to record . . . the crying, the screaming, the drama. This will be fun to show my daughter when she is my age and dealing with a child's tantrum. Is that mean? Maybe, but I think it will help her feel normal as a mom!



I did this layout about three years ago. This is my drama queen . . . really, she's not that much drama. But compared to my other girl who shows not a stitch of drama whatsoever, I have dubbed my 4-year old my drama queen. : )  She does know how to turn on the tears!

Congratulations again Angie and God bless!

Monday, October 11, 2010

a day in the city

Last week we went to San Francisco for the day with my parents who are visiting from Iowa. I had been dying to use this "city" paper from Basic Grey's Wander line. That is not the reason we went to San Francisco . . . I promise . . . really . . .

I hand cut the skyline and then cut these additional 3 buildings out and raised them with dimensional adhesive. It's hard to tell, but I raised the green building on the right hand side of the page as well.

I designed 4 kits for Green Tangerines Fall Retreat and this is one of them. The others I can't show you . . . if you are local, sign up for the retreat and they will all be yours! You get 4 kits, a bag with $50 in goodies, meals and 28 hours of scrapbooking . . . in a cushie chair! The retreat is October 22-24 and there are still some spots available. Call the store to sign up! (916) 771-8010.

Friday, October 8, 2010

having fun

We've been having so much fun with my parents in town! Here are some pictures of what we've been up to. The layouts are already being formed in my head . . .

My mom and dad . . . they are such great grandparents!

We went to the pumpkin patch with our homeschool group from church . . . this is one of their besties in the middle.

Seth had a great time the entire morning. Here he is in the barn of the petting zoo . . . he really got into the goats!

 Wednesday we went to San Francisco (2 hours from our home) to celebrate my mom's 61st birthday! This was also the kids first trip to San Fran. We had SO MUCH FUN! We stayed the entire day.

 The beach was a highlight for everyone. Can you tell?

 I love this picture of my mom with Seth. This was Seth's first trip to the ocean.

In Golden Gate Park they have these really old cement slides. We brought our own cardboard and attempted a family run. We found you go much faster with just two people aboard and if you throw some sand down first. Just an FYI in case you ever run across a cement slide! :)

That's all for now . . . I'll be back with some craftiness after our life returns to our normal routine. Have a great weekend!

Monday, October 4, 2010

40th birthday card

We recently celebrated a friend's 40th birthday. Here is my attempt at a masculine birthday card. It was pretty quick and easy to throw together. It's all American Crafts patterned paper.


My parents are in town for 12 days and we've been keeping busy with projects. They are only able to come out twice a year, so when they come my to-do list is pretty long! It's amazing how much you can get done when fun grandma and grandpa are around to help with the kids. Today we are taking a break from projects and heading to the pumpkin farm!

Thanks for all your congrats on my fun previous two weeks! Hope you have a great start to your week today!