MAY 23, 2008

Tuesday was Jim's last night training. He had Wednesday off and began working DAYS {on his own} yesterday!! Woo-Hoo! It's been very unnerving for him. He and I and the boys have been doing a lot of praying, and God's been getting him through! Unfortunately he has to work Memorial Day, but that's the nature of the business.

This weekend we'll assemble our new trampoline, so the boys will be busy with that all summer!! We firmly believe it's a wise investment in our homeschooled children's physical fitness!

Owen made a crown (representing King David) in Children's Church last weekend, and he wears it everywhere! I have pictures of him in the car, swinging, eating breakfast, eating lunch and just playing. It's too cute! I'll eventually get to a page!

Speaking of pages, I've been pushing myself the last couple days to complete some pages. Although it's only 3, it's (hopefully) a new beginning for me too. First I want to share a quote that I saw on a website:

The only time 'cooking' and 'cleaning' come before
'scrapbooking' is in the dictionary!

Here are the pages that I've completed:

Owen trying to whistle

I have to note that this page is brighter in real life! It was the first time I followed one of the many sketches that you can find on the internet. It's a great idea. A tip: the scalloped blue paper, I did myself with a EK Success Large Corner Rounder. It has a removable corner clip so that you can make scallops (practice on scrap paper first!) Since the paper is angled, it had to be longer than 12", so I added a piece, and the overlapping part is hidden under the Magic Mesh ribbon that decorates the page! Pretty cleaver, huh?!! It get a kick out of myself when I come up with the occasional clever idea!

Jane & Rosemary

I love this picture of my mother-in-law with her best friend. It's true, they've been friends since Kindergarten. This picture was taken at her 70th birthday dinner...you do the math! A couple notes on this picture. See the light flowers on the right side of the page? I used a flower stamp with VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad by Tsukineko. It is SUCH a cool concept -- one that I just started doing recently, although it's been around for a long time! The word 'watermark' is the key. It leaves a slight impression on the page. Also, I LOVE, LOVE LOVE the dimension of chipboard. My Sizzix die easily cut through chipboard, but occasionally, I'll purchase other alphabets that I like. I loved this large letter alphabet by Quickutz called Blossom (the same font is called Pharmacy when you download it from the internet). But Quickutz doesn't cut through chipboard very well. I found, however, that it'll cut through chipboard the thin-ness of cereal boxes. So I've been saving cereal boxes so that I can use them with my Quickutz dies and EK Success punches. I realize the chipboard is not 'photo safe', but I try not to put the die cuts directly on my photos. Anyway, I like thicker chipboard, so I've been stacking THREE letters, cut from the cereal boxes and adhering them together. Then I adhere the paper or cardstock of choice on the top. If you look at the picture below, you can see how thick the letters are. Another CLEVER idea! My only reason for telling you about my clever ideas and/or bargains is because I hope you benefit from them -- or boasting about them is pointless! I'm certain they're NOT original!

Now to the VERY COOL adhesive that I've been using lately. Although the Quickutz Blossom letters are quite large, I've been using this DUAL ACTION 2-Way Glue Pen by ZIG Memory System (EK Success). It has a chisel tip for small areas and a wider tip for larger areas. It's perfect for letters die cuts! The DUAL means that you can use it as permanent OR temporary -- very cool!. I still like using my Xyron 900, but sometimes this is just easier!






Note: the diamond shapes on the red background cardstock -- used my VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad! Again, used my Dual Action Glue Pen to adhere the foam letters to the page. Also love my DYMO label maker -- I don't believe you can get this one anymore -- with the boxier letters. I found this on Ebay several months ago.

A couple more notes: I think ALL of the underlined words are links. I did some in red -- never again! and some are in white... sorry.

Many of the links are to Scrapbooking-Warehouse because I've purchased from them before. however, most times I get my scrapbooking tools and supplies on Ebay OR at AC Moore with a coupon. The Quickutz links are to Scrap-Mart -- I've purchased a few items from them -- they have free shipping on Quickutz dies! Right now they're having a fabulous sale on BossKut alphabets -- don't know BossKut, however.

blessings, joie

MORE OLD{ER} PHOTOS

I'm still having a blast finding old(er) photos and scanning them, so I can make reprints. Here's a photo of my great grandfather's triplet sisters! Isn't it the COOLEST picture?! Can't wait to "scrap" it!

great great aunts triplets

Such a handsome man!

And the most recent "old" picture from 3 1/2 years ago, a picture I'd forgotten about (obviously I haven't scrapped it yet!)...

sweet baby Owen, Sept. 2004

After I posted my blog yesterday, there were a few things that I thought about that I wanted to include in my next post. I'll be darned if I can remember them!!! Oh well, maybe I'll post later today.

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

blessings, joie

By the way, I was asked by someone which kid was Jim in the Freedom Train picture a few posts back. I'm going to try to link to that post. Anyway he IS the one on our far right with the PLAID pants! I thought it was, but I had to ask him just to be sure!

blessings, joie

HERE I GO AGAIN!

Here I go again! I haven't posted in 3 weeks!

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day! Mine was a pretty regular day -- except for the card from Jared, the poem from Nathan and the cup of flowers that Owen gave me (from his Sunday school class)! Jim had a terrible night's sleep Saturday, so he slept a good part of Sunday, then had to go to work Sunday afternoon around 4:30. He's still training with the night guy in his new job. Can't wait until he has more "regular" hours! In the trucking business, the hours aren't typical -- 9am to 5pm. That's pretty much unheard of! Drivers are at the mercy of the customer and the company. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad job, and I thank God again and again that Jim will have day hours soon, but it'll still be hard to make plans! Anyway, after going to church with the boys, we pretty much just hung out all day. We had a Mother's Day dessert with our neighbors after Jim left.

I've finally started to scrapbook again! I've had scrapbooker's paralysis lately. Can anyone relate? I don't know why, but when I sit down to pick out photos, I get so stressed and don't end up getting anywhere. Actually, I think I DO know why. I see pages all the time in magazines, idea books and on websites that I love so much and want to "scraplift"{duplicate}, but when it comes time to work, it's too overwhelming! When I think SIMPLE, and accept the fact that I don't HAVE to do really crafty pages, I seem to do okay. When I was a Creative Memories consultant years ago, I taught that it was more important to get photos and journaling on the page rather than worry about getting too crafty. I taught that you should keep most of your pages simple and save crafty pages for once in a while. Here I am, almost 10 years later, and I'm stuck on the same thing I warned against! So I'm thrilled to have completed 3 "simple" pages in the past week! If I keep going like this, maybe I'll do a really crafty page soon. I like layers and bulk and collage-type pages. We'll see...

Jared reading!

N & J at 2.5 and 6 months! SWEET!

Hanging out waiting for a rescue truck to go by!

Owen is learning to swing on the big-boy's swing. Since Nathan & Jared were born the same time of year, they learned things around the same time -- like riding a bike or swinging by themselves or tying their shoes. As far as riding a bike or learning to swing, the summer is the key. Owen will either be learning things 6 months earlier or 6 months later. Understand what I mean? N & J learned to swing by themselves -- pumping along -- when they were 4 and a few months. Owen will either learn this summer -- BEFORE he turns 4 or next summer when he's 4 3/4! It's not really important, but it's interesting to me -- the Mom! I need to document these things, because it's fun to look back to see who learned WHAT, WHEN! Nathan rode a bike w/training wheels the summer after he turned 4. So did Jared. BUT Nathan went w/out training wheels when he was 6, but so did Jared the same summer when he was 4! Who cares, you're probably thinking!!! (FYI, in Nathan's defense, they rode big tricycles with big tires in our gravel driveway for a long time, because it was too hard to ride a bike with training wheels.Nathan & Jared trying to teach Owen to swing!

Gotta run. I hear yelling outside. Typical!

blessings,
joie

IT'S A NEW WEEK!

My friend Irene sends me the COOLEST emails! So many of them have incredible pictures or messages. This one is about a woman in Louisianna with hummingbirds eating out of her hand. And you can click on her website for a little more information.

Then check out It is the Veteran...

Just wanted to explain the "peace sign" in the photo of Nathan and Jared with Lincoln Brewster from the last post. He told them to do that and a couple other hand movements in a song that he sang at his concert. True peace can't be found apart from God...

Let the Praises Ring that he sang at the concert.

Oh Lord my God in You I put my trust
Oh Lord my God in You I put my hope
Oh Lord my God in You I put my trust
Oh Lord my God in You I put my hope

In You, in You I find my peace
In You, in You I find my strength
In You I live and move and breathe
Let everything I say and do
Be founded by my faith in You
I lift up holy hands and sing
Let the praises ring!

Oh Lord my God to You I give my hands
Oh Lord my God to You I give my feet
Oh Lord my God to You I give my everything
Oh Lord my God to You I give my life

Had a very nice weekend with Jim's mom. We just hung out at home, but the weather was gorgeous! NOT typical of April here in the Northeast! It's been more like late May! The buds are bursting on the trees, and it won't be long before we can't see the strip mall on the other side of the creek behind our house! Gotta love that! And it won't be long before we're smelling the sweet scent of LILACS! Call them weeds if you want, but to me they're beautiful flowers that God made for little boys to pick for their mamas! Yep, I mean dandelions! Here's Owen with Jim's mom. She's trying to show him to to pick way down on the stem, because he was picking off just the top!

Some cute pictures of Nathan & Jared from the past...


Until next time...

blessings, joie

Photos from the Past

Greetings!

I recently was able to use my scanner again, and I've had a blast scanning TONS of pictures -- old and not so old! Here is a picture from the distant past. This is my maternal great-grandfather, Rudolph, (my mother's mother's father) in his younger days. He was born in 1875, so I'm guessing this is right around the turn of the century. I just love photos like these! We have several that we can't identify -- other than "family back in Hungary" -- but I'm thankful to be able to identify many of them like this one.

Great-Granpa G.

And here is a photo from the recent past -- last Sunday to be exact. This is Nathan & Jared with singer, songwriter and worship leader, Lincoln Brewster. Doesn't he have a great name?! The concert was very uplifting and very much focused on the Lord. It was pretty loud for this old mother of 46, but I'm really happy we went. The boys, of course, loved it! Jim stayed home with Owen and "did something special".

Lincoln Brewster with N & J
...finding true peace in God

I have to share something cute that Owen said. Rewind back to Jared's birthday, February 16th: After crying when we gave the Lincoln Brewster tickets to N & J, Daddy promised to do "something special" with Owen the night of the concert. Fast forward to last Sunday afternoon: Owen says at the dinner table "I have a idea! We can go to the playgwound and then get some melted icecream and bring it back home and eat it!!" Icecream is too cold for his liking, so if he eats it at all, he'll wait until it's kind of melted! THAT will have to go on a scrapbook page!!

A couple fairly new scrapbook pages...

Jared & Owen last summer in our dandelion field!

These pages are much brighter in person -- don't know why
my camera took such dull pictures of the scrapbook pages...

Love this picture of Owen at 18 months.

That's it for today! I'll try to post more often.

blessings, joie

BACK...

I can't believe that it's been exactly a month since I last posted. I'm not really sure why... Life is pretty "normal" here. I recently did some room rearranging -- again! It seems that as the boys grow, I have to find different ways to make our small home functional. Upstairs is pretty set with Nathan & Jared in one room and Owen in the other -- and of course Jim and I in the third room. So it's the downstairs that has changed a lot over the years. A few days ago, the boys and I moved our computer and main desk area BACK to the main living area. This isn't the biggest reason, but it frees up space in our "office" for me to scrapbook! Again, I have to reorganize my supplies and workspace so I can get something done other than THINK and daydream about scrapbooking!

It's good to be back! I plan to write more tomorrow and include lots of photos...

I'll leave you with this old photo that I found in my husband's magnetic photo album. He's in 7th or 8th grade sitting on the FREEDOM TRAIN in '76!
blessings, joie