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I. CAN. make. it. five. more. weeks.

No Pencil Boxes in Third Grade

Took the 2 biggest ones school supply shopping today. I absolutely love doing this. I think I get it from my Grandma Rosemary. Even as a "grown-up", she bought a new pencil box and crayons each Fall. Such an exciting time of year for all involved. I must admit, although I've enjoyed my summer with the five, I'm ready for them to start back. These kiddos are tiring 24/7!

The kiddos each get their own basket, supply list, and a pen. I just supervise and root around the bins for those hard-to-find notebook colors. Oh yeah, I also tote my camera around...

Here is the rest of that mini I made for my mom's birthday. I included pictures from this summer, including some taken while my folks were here visiting and helping me out with the brood. The big kids each wrote or dictated a few things that they love about Geega. I really had fun putting this together for her. Hope she loves it.

Be back with a sneak of Mosh Posh's September kit. It's sure to be a winner since it's chock-full of brand spankin new Sass and new Lily Bee!!!

The End of the World as We Know It

My days just got exponentially longer. Reagan Boy started K4 today at CCA. So cool to see Mrs. Gray again. Reagan is our third to have her as a teacher. I loved watching Reagan take ownership of "his" classroom. He'd always been the baby tagging along at Calvary and now he was the student and all the fun was his to be had. Also fun to see the other 2 enjoying the experience with him.
So, my day starts at 0630 and ends (kid-wise) at 2115 (9:15) when I send P.J. off to dreamland after our evening sports practices. Ugh. But, they're worth it. See...


Here's the cover and the first few pages of the finished miniBook for Mom. Shhh... Off it goes to the post office in the morning. We're finishing up our school supply shopping after that. Be prepared for some lovely Wally World pictures from all that fun. Stay tuned...

the blackhole that is FB

Really tried to make the most of today. Today was the last lazy weekday morning of our summer. Reagan starts school in the morn. Bright and EARLY! With football practice 5 nights a week, we've really gotten into the lazy morning habit. Well, as lazy as mornings can be with five kids, 2 of which are toddlers on the prowl. This morn we enjoyed our backyard with the twins. We discovered a teeny frog, a fuzzy caterpillar, a weird-looking dragonfly, and a ginomous grasshopper. I couldn't pull myself away from the froggy fun, but did grab it (with P.J.'s prodding) for the caterpillar. The twins are just so much fun. They're at that age where EVERYTHING new and/or living is just so dang exciting!!! The squeals that this poor caterpillar had to endure were simply priceless....

I've had a productive and fun scrappy month. Just finished up my second mini of the month. This one's for my mom for her birthday. I'll try to get some pix before I send it off. Here's some other scrappy eye candy for your perusal...

Favorite.Pictures.Ever

Well, fall sports are seriously kicking my tail. I'm pooped. Patrick took some leave and came home on Thursday. It's been so nice to have him here. The kids are growing up so much everyday. I don't want him to miss it ALL. plus, I've been able to get a few things done with the extra set of hands needed to say, take 5 kids shoe shopping! No, seriously, can you even fathom how challenging that can be?!?. Especially when your youngest princess recoils in terror at the mere site of the nice man with the foot measurer thingy. Tell me Patrick won't be relishing in the beautiful silence that is his Tampa condo when he returns "home" tomorrow! Wink.

This is one of my recent pages. Used more of the yummy new BG Lemonade. These colors just screamed newborn pix to me. The photo is of when I met Sophia for the first time on her birthday. Also used some of the new MM Vintage Findings and some old stash. Can you find it?

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These two of the twinnies are from a good friends' birthday party yesterday. These really are my new favorite pictures. Let me just freeze them just. like. this.

Wanted to include this next shot. It's a close up of that Downtown Disney layout I recently posted. One thing I love to do when I'm "done" with a page is to grab some goodies from one of my tiny paint pails and junk up a spot or two. I have these pails filled with the little bits and pieces that I just can't part with. An embellie I pulled for a project I didn't use or a scrap of some fab paper, or bits and pieces of ribbons and things. I pull a few things that make me smile and cluster them in a corner atttach them with staples and adda little junk. See...

My tiny little Girlie learning how to feed... great shot of her and Daddy...

No Pain, No Gain

How come P.J. is the one playing football, and I'm the one who feels like I've been tackled?!? Too pooped to chat, but here's some scrappiness. The first 2 are another rare 2-pager. Too lazy to take a combined photo. The next two are with the new BG Lemonade stuff. Love this!

Four Plus Four is Half of Sixteen

Well, here we are again, as promised. Here's the rest of that layout I peeked yesterday. Used lots of Amy Butler here and that fabulous pink floral pp is Creative Cafe. I really like the charcoals and pinks here. This is a pix of my sweet and sassy Sophia at 10 days. Getting stronger at the hospital, but still struggling with A's and B's. Finally feeling strong enough myself to scrap some of these not so perfect moments when the twinnies were so new and fragile.

Fast forward two years and here are the twinnies on their cool new rides we gave them for their birthday. Schwinn old school Roadsters. Loved the red one that Patrick found online, but when he scrolled down the page and found the PINK ONE I was sold. Nothing makes me happier than finding 2 matching items with one done in pink. OK, ok, maybe new Sass makes me happier. (wink) Love that as soon as I let the two of them loose, they each ran for their bikes. He to the red one, and she to the pink. Love that.

Tell me this boy won't melt some hearts in a few years...

Something else made me happy this week. Miss Julia followed in her momma's
footsteps 5 years early. She's CHEERING!! AND, she loves it just as much as I did. Here she is at her first practice. If you're wondering what I'm up to it is all Pop Warner, all the time. P.J. to football practice and J. to cheer practice FIVE evenings a week. Sorry for all the screaming this eve. It's been a long one. I love them. I'm just pooped. But, they are happy. All five.

Be still my heart. This one almost takes my breath away.

Will try to grab some pix of my other recent stuff. Thanks for listening. Be back soon.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

I have been on a scrappin roll these last couple weeks. I got my August Mosh Posh stuff done in plenty of time and then moved on to some just for fun layouts. I've been so in the groove I didn't want to slow down and take too many pix or even finish the journaling on some, but here's a peek of just one.

I have to say I am so proud of My P.J. This kid does soo much for me, that I often say I don't know how I would make it without him. It really is the truth. I'm even more proud of him this week, than normal. He has been saving his allowance to buy the drums for his Guitar Hero. He actually saved up $100. Now tell me, what kind of eight-year-old does THAT? Here he is checking out at TRUS on Wednesday.

And getting ready to rock out.

Last week, we finished up soccer season for the three Bigs. Saturday P.J. started Pop Warner football. This is his third year (seriously). It's an enormous commitment of time on my part, but the program is top notch and so worth it. Here he is on his way out for the first day of full gear. He'd played flag up til now, so we're really enjoying this transition to tackle.

And here is the "After" shot. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post. Look for Julia in cheer practice. Yep, she's cheering for the Saints. And a look at the completed layout from today. I'm audi.