Recent Layouts

As I was getting ready this morning and thinking through my day, I told myself after supper I would clean my scrapbook area and post before/after pictures on my blog, along with some of the recent layouts that caused it to be so messy.  Well, as things would turn out, I got a phone call after supper and then had to finish up some work I didn't get done at the office, so the cleaning didn't happen (yes, I could be doing it now, but Darrin's watching a show I don't care for at all...).  So, you'll just have to settle for some recent layouts. The surprising thing about these layouts is that they're actually from this year, too.  I'm still way behind, but I'm trying to keep current as well...

This one's pretty self explanatory. I had it scrapped within two days of taking the picture.  I got the idea for the writing on the chalkboard from Pinterest.  The inspiration for this layout came from the Issue Challenge at Club CK to incorporate a clock in your layout. I thought it worked well, as this layout marks a new passage of time.

This one, while it may look fairly simple, was time intensive.  The Issue Challenge for this was to cut up a piece of patterned paper and also to outline with pen.  The checkerboard on the background was a solid piece of plaid paper that I cut apart into squares and put on the background.  I love how it turned out.  The layout of this is based on a Scrapbook Generation sketch.  So glad I was able to add the pamphlet, too.

If you're my friend on FB, you've seen this already.  Very rarely do I post my layouts on FB, but I loved this one so much I had to share. I love the composition of the photo, the sun burst, and the tone of colors.  I think it's outside my box a bit, but I absolutely love it. Think I should frame it instead of putting it in a book...

First Weeknd of Fall

We celebrated the first weekend of fall at Martin's Hillside Orchard, and it was the perfect way to kick off the new season.  The temps were even fall-like in the low 60s, leaves were changing, and the sun was shining brightly.  It was a PERFECT fall day.

The past two seasons we've gone to a different orchard, but their you-pick season was over already. Marlena sent me the link for Martin's (she'd never been there, just was searching for orchards), and I'm so glad we made the hour drive there, seeing parts of Nebraska we'd never seen before.

There was plenty to do at the orchard besides pick apples. There was a butterfly garden with lots of structures to play under as well, a playground, trike trail, straw mountain, tire mountain, and other fun things. We had to check all that out before we could even think of picking apples.

Gourd Cave

Corn Stalk Teepee

Bear  Tunnel

Eye Spy at the playground

Tire swing fun

Corn maze queen

King of the Mountain

Climbing Tire Mountan

Running on the Dragon's Tail

Then it was on to picking apples.  There were lots of varieties to choose from.  In the end we ended up with about 50 pounds of apples- a combination of Haralson, Jonathan, Empire, and Melrose. We can already attest that they go together to make a great apple crisp, and have plans to make lots of sauce.  The orchard had a pumpkin cart that worked great for hauling the apples, as well as for hauling Annaliese.  She did not want to get out and help with the apples. It wasn't until she realized there wouldn't be room for her in the cart with all the apples that she got out to help. Before that, all she did was whine and cry.  Ian was a great helper, jumping in right away to help pick.  They both got to snack on an apple for their hard work (the owners told us to feel free to try an apple if we didn't know how they'd taste. Glad we did, that's how we found the Melrose, our new favorite).

Ian picking some Jonathans

Me playing with the camera

Annaliese's favorite spot. She refused to get out and help until there were bags of apples taking up her space.

Finally got out to help pick, though she had trouble getting the apples to pull free from the tree.

Much more content to just watch us pick and eat her apple.

She's actually staring at a butterfly amongst the fallen apples.

The apples of my eye.

Big helper for the day.

Back at home, after a dinner of homemade pizza and apple crisp, Darrin gave the kids a bath and I went for my walk.  I came home to find Buzz and Woody pictures on the camera. So glad Darrin grabbed the camera while I was out to capture these moments.

Fun at Church

Last Sunday was the return to two services at our church and the return of Sunday school.  After the service, there was a pancake brunch where our church puppet group did a few numbers. Annaliese was sooooo into it, at first staring at them wide-eyed and opened mouth, then dancing along to their songs. I was so mad at myself, because I followed her the whole time with my phone, thinking I was recording her, but I forgot to press the darn button! Oh well, I did remember to snap a picture of her and Walter dancing (the puppets are in the background, just above the black drapes that hide the performers). 

 After the puppets were done, we headed outside to watch the kids play in the jumping houses (they had two, one for big kids and one for the tots, which was perfect) and play in the bubbles.  It was lots of fun!

We're still alive

and Annaliese is still as photogenic as ever. She does this crazy thing right now where she smiles really big and closes her eyes.  Can't get a nice, pretty smile out of her any more.  She makes me laugh so much!

Trying on Mommy's glasses (that floor is pretty clean for us...)

At Applebee's. She was ornery and wouldn't sit on the bench, but the window ledge instead.

I have no idea why she's doing this one... but she's making her signature face in it.

So last Friday I bring her home from day care and notice as I'm getting her out of the car something under her dress.  Apparently she wore a cheerleading skirt home from preschool.  Someone told me this is how shoplifting starts...

Crazy face

Showing off her sticker she got for being a Super Cleaner at preschool

Playing in the backyard after supper.

A Thought on Multi-Font Titles

Today my thought on multi-font titles is up at Thinking*Through*Design. I like to use different fonts a lot in my titles- jazzes things up a bit, adding interest and helping to direct attention to what I think is more important.  For my layout at T*T*D, I adapted the rules I learned for how to write titles when I was in elementary school, using big letters for the words that are important and little letters for those that aren't.

I had a bit of trouble coming up with a title for this layout that was multi-word, but once I came up with this, I got excited to write the journaling.  See, we actually went down this trail twice. The first time, as we headed to Musining Falls in Michigan, the kids would chase each other, and then Annaliese face planted.  The journaling here talks about how the second time down, we took a slower pace. But if you open the picture of the kids running, you'll find the story of how she got all bloody and cleaned up.

 Here are some more layouts I've done lately with different font titles.  The first one is the story of the day Annaliese was born. I wanted birth to be the prominent word in the title, so I used a bolder font.

 On this one, I wanted to use smaller fonts so that the "stomping at" would fit before the 'k' in backbone.

 

For this one, I thought each word in the title was important, but having them in the same font would have been boring, and possibly have taken up more room than I would have liked on the layout. 

Make sure to head over to T*T*D and see the awesome work the other gals did!

Ian's First Day of Kindergarten

How can it be that Ian started Kindergarten today?  Seems like just yesterday he was my itty bitty boy (all 8 lbs. 4 oz.) and we were bringing him home from the hospital. Now he's a very big boy (did I mention we had to buy size THIRTEEN shoes for back-to-school) and he was so excited for his first day. 

Before we left home, we had to take the obligatory first-day-of-school picture. I based this off of something I saw on Pinterest. In that one, the kid is holding the sign, but figured by doing it this way, we can use the easel every year and gauge how much he grows. So the easel Noah made us is going to be sticking around for a long time.  

We had to run to church before school to grab his jacket we left there the day before. The whole time after grabbing it and heading to school, Ian kept saying, "I can't wait to get to Kindergarten! I'm so excited!"

At school he put his bag, jacket, and sleeping bag in his locker, after a refresher course in how to open it, and headed to his classroom to get started on the task on hand- playing with play-doh at his table (I learned the hard way, don't call it a desk).

I asked him how his day was, and he was able to be pretty descriptive, which was amazing given the explanations I got every day after preschool. When I first picked him up at school, he told me, "Kindergarten is the best!"  In art class they got to draw whatever they wanted; Ian chose to draw a flower, butterfly, and sun.  For lunch, he chose to have the yogurt and cheese stick option instead of the main hot dog entree, which I wasn't totally surprised by.  Recess was his favorite time of day, though he said he hasn't made any new friends yet. Rest time was very short; you didn't have to sleep, only rest your body. She read three stories today, "Kindergarten Rocks!", "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom", and "The Kissing Hand."  For snack they had fruit snacks that juiced when you bit into them. His only disappointment seemed to be that he had to go to the center where you strung shape beads onto a string, when he really wanted to go to the Lego or kitchen center.

We asked him if he wanted to go back tomorrow, and he was all for it. Hopefully that will continue as the days and years of school pass.

A Basketball Lesson

Ian got a basketball hoop for his first birthday from his godparents, and it's sat in our basement. But because he's so tall (almost 4 feet), the hoop had to be raised so high it didn't really fit in the basement anymore.  This past week, it finally made the transition outside, where Ian got a basketball lesson from Darrin.  I love moments like these.