Date Night

Date night with my sweetie! We are getting pretty good at our self portraits:-).John surprised me with tickets to see the midnight showing (12:08 am to be exact) of Eclipse(part of the Twilight saga). How fun is that? I don't know of too many guys who would make plans to take their S.O. to a midnight showing of Eclipse. I know it wasn't his 1st, 2nd, or 3rd(you get the picture)choice to see...but he knew it would make me happy. I love him even more for being so thoughtful! We made an evening out of it and hit Outback for dinner. We then made our way over to the theatre. We got there at about 9:30 and had to sit in the parking lot until 11:30 pm with a bunch of wild and excited teenagers. John was definitely out numbered...way more ladies at this movie. I loved the movie & thought this one was way better than Twilight and New Moon. There was lots of action & the love story was great too...two thumbs up from me. Another fabulous date night for the books. Wonder what we'll do next?

June by the numbers

Another month down! Can you believe that Christmas is only 6 months away??? This year is flying by and we are enjoying every minute of it.
Here are some fun, random things our family enjoyed during the month of June.

ZERO more diapers for Brody -WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
ONE tooth lost...Garrett's first!
TWO books read (Tall Grass & Total Recall)
THREE - Toy Story...we all gave it a two thumbs up! Disney did not disappoint!
FOUR scrapbook pages completed.
FIVE Little League games were played by the boys...wrapped up our baseball season.
SIX the # of candles on Garrett's birthday cake this month.
SEVEN handmade cards were created by me. Happy to report this #. It has been a while since I have created any cards.
EIGHT hours spent at Six Flags, running from ride to ride.
TWELVE a.m. showing of Eclipse with John.
THIRTEEN blog posts for the month of June
FIFTEEN the # of runs that Tanner & Carter's team scored at the WLL championship game against the Padres...they won the whole thing.
SIXTEEN miles logged on the treadmill.
TWENTY SIX days of summer vacation enjoyed so far.
THIRTY photos taken...one a day for Project Life. Half way done!
FIFTY dollars received from my Grandpa Shore via Grandma in honor of him on Father's Day. I haven't ever received a Father's Day present before :-). Another wonderful gesture from Grandma...love her so.
ONE HUNDRED,EIGHTY ONE days without a Diet Coke...YAY me!!!
UNKNOWN # of Otter Pops consumed this month...it's summertime!

A smile can start a conversation without saying a word.
Fresh Thinking from Daisy

Another great quote found on the inside of the sour cream lid, of all places. A smile can turn your day around. A smile can turn somebody else's day around. Try it. Smile at a random stranger today. Smile at a family member who may be driving you crazy today. Smile at the stranger who cuts you off on the road today. Smile at the unkind friend who may have upset you today. Smile at everyone...make someones day :-). Who knows??? You just might even make a new friend today!

just one of the many reasons...

I keep a blog! I am slowly going through my scrapbook room and getting rid of things that I no longer use. As I am going through this process, I am finding lots of things...like this unfinished layout.



This is not like me, to not finish a scrapbook layout. I am all about the start to finish process when it comes to my scrapbooking...the laundry is a different story :-). Anyway,I am pretty sure this layout didn't make it into the scrapbook because it needed a title and some journaling. Just by looking at it, I can tell you that Brody was a baby and maybe 5-7 months old. That little baby, uhhhh, I mean big boy is now 3 years old. The pattern paper/stickers I used are an old SEI line. Just by looking at the pictures, I can't tell you specific details about this exact age/stage except that I know it was getting harder to photograph him because he was on the move at this point. While going back through my blog archives, I found this entry here. Here are those exact photos and some journaling. This my friends, is why I am big believer in journaling and keeping up on the family blog. While I do love to share my scrapbooking layouts, crafting adventures and coupons steals on our blog...I am SO glad I have been documenting the growth of our family along the way. As we have added more boys to the mix the tiny,little details of everyday life have become fuzzy. When reading through that old blog post, I didn't remember Tanner making the comment about how fun it was to have a baby in the house again. Although it does not surprise me :-), I am happy to have it recorded it somewhere :-)! As I finished this layout today, I was able to add all of Brody's 6 month stats & a little journaling about how we all felt about Brody at 6 months.






This is just ONE of the many reason I enjoy keeping our family blog current.

{6 cents}

Look what I picked up for just 6 cents.


Yes, you read that right...when all was said and done, I paid 6 cents.

Here's what I picked up.
2 bottles of Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen
3 bags of Double Bubble gum(my boys love this stuff)
2 boxes of Stove Top stuffing
1 box of thumb tacks (not on sale, just needed them to hang 4th of July stars)

So here's how it worked.
After my ECB's(Extra Care Bucks) and manufacturer coupons, my total at the register was $10.06.



When you buy 2 bottle of Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen at CVS this week, you receive $10.00 in ECB's. ECB's are like money at CVS. I can then turn around and spend them on anything in the store.


It has been a great week in the world of coupon shopping. Earlier this week, I picked up two big boxes of Huggies(60 count). They were on sale for $19.99. When all was said and done(ECB's & manufacturer coupons), I was paid $2.00 to take the boxes out of the store. I was able to do this deal twice :-). I love getting diapers for free. I am hoping these are the last boxes of diapers I will have to purchase in my parenting career...wish me luck!

Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful men in my life who have been great examples of love, courage, faith, honor, humor and who have led by example.

I am especially grateful for this guy. He is the best Dad in the world. I hope my boys realize just how lucky they are to have him in their lives, filling that role of Father, Dad, Daddy, Padre, & Dad-io! Oh, how we love him so!

I am pretty sure I say this every month...and I will say it again! I love how versatile the monthly Green Tangerines Kit Club product is. So far, I have been able to create 3 totally different layouts (with one in the works) with just one kit. You can see the others in the posts below.

Here is my latest creation using the April/May kit. If the pictures look familiar, they are. I scrapped our most recent Girls Night Out, Summer concert style.







Oh these pictures are making me want to hit up another summer concert with these girlie's :-). Girls, who are we seeing next :-)?

darling Etsy find

I just have to share this darling Etsy shop with you! I was blog hopping one evening and entered a give away. The prize that evening happened to be a Happy List Taker from knitty bitties. Guess what??? I won!!! Can you believe that??? I am on a roll! I was so excited. I love little handmade items & this darling Etsy shop is right up my alley.

My prize arrived in yesterdays mail. Before I even got to my my list taker, this is what I pulled out of the envelope!



Even the packaging of my prize was cute. It is all about the little details for me!

Check out my darling list taker.





I LOVE it! I am already putting it to good use. I have my grocery list going. A list of scrapbook supplies that I need to pick up and my To Do list. I am a busy girl. I figure if I have to make lists, I might as well do it in a cute notebook :-). My Happy List Taker came with a note pad and a fun little green pen. I love that I can replace my notepad when I've used the original one up.

Please stop by and check out Andrea's wonderful work at Knitty Bitties. I have decided I want one of each item. I am thinking I need to wait until after Father's Day to shop for myself :-).

Thanks again, Andrea! I love my Happy List Taker.

and another one

Here is another double page layout that I created. Once again, I used my April/May GTKC goodies. I wanted to create a layout that summed up our Spring. I highlighted(with photos) a few of our favorite Spring activities. The ones with photos on the layout were John's birthday, park days, baseball season & the beautiful Spring blossoms. I then included one/two words that highlighted other Spring activities that were not included by the way of photos. I am loving the October Afternoon pattern paper. I cut around the circles on each side and kinda like the border it created for my layout.








I be back later, with another GTKC layout. Enjoy!

a double pager

With the end of the school year winding down and having everyone home 24/7, my scrapbooking has been put on the back burner. Slowly but surely, I am am getting some layouts done for the Green Tangerines Kit Club!This layout was created using the April/May kit. This kit is filled with lots of colorful product...perfect for all things having to do with Spring and Summer.



{promise the layout is not crooked in real life...still perfecting shots from above...aka squatting above layout :-)}



Are you getting anything crafty done with the kiddos home?
Enjoy!!!

I thought I'd answer a few questions about how I store our memory/picture files. I take a ton of photos each month. Don't we all? The beauty of digital photography is that you can take as many photos as you'd like and then delete the ones that you don't like. It can be overwhelming to find a system that works for you. I thought I'd share mine in case it helps you out.

On the last day of the month(or sometimes the first day of the month),I don't stress if I am a day early or a day late. I take my memory card down to my local Wal*Mart and put our photos on CD. Lets face it, I am at my local Wal*mart a few times a week replenishing our milk, yogurt and bread supply :-). It makes it easy for me to remember to save my photos to CD each month. I love that the CD comes back to me with some thumbprints of the photos that were taken that month right on the CD. You also receive index sheets with a thumbprint photo of every picture that has been downloaded to that CD. Once I receive my CD with the thumbprint index sheets, I take my American Crafts Slick Writer and print the date & events that are on each CD right onto the sheet protector/index sheets. I will occasionally put the ages of each family member on there too. Saves me time with my math at a later date :-).



From there, each month is placed in a little black binder that can be purchased at Wal*Mart.



From there, I place the little album on a shelf in my scrapbook room with all of the other binders. I store our photo CD's by year. It makes finding a certain picture for reprints a snap.



One helpful tip/reminder is to delete the photos that you are not wanting to save. I take a lot of photos of my scrapbook projects/layouts for the GTKC. I certainly don't need 10 detail shots of each layout. Deleting those photos before having them put onto CD makes it so I don't have a ton of unwanted photos stored on my CD's.

This is the one system that has worked for me. I would die if my computer ever crashed...but I would not be heart broken because of the simple fact that all of my photos have been saved elsewhere and not just on my computer :-).

I hope this was helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions :-).

AAA Little League champs

They did it! The Yankees won the AAA championship title today. Tanner and Carter have had one amazing baseball season. Their coaches meant business this season and the boys thrived on their coaching style. They grew so much and learned a ton. It has been so much fun attending the games this year. Today was our final, playoff game. We beat the Padres...wahoooooooooo! Final score was 15 -4. We are so proud of our base stealing, triple hitting, bunt hitting, delayed stealing baseball stars. Way to go Kruppy's.

A few shots after today's win! I love this first shot. It is a little blurry but I loved that I caught Carter hugging his team mate, Daniel after they had already high fived each other. They were so excited!

{coaches Johnny & Nick - brothers and Carter & Tanner}

Happy Birthday!

Wishing Garrett a very Happy 6th Birthday today! He has been playing the "it's my birthday" card all week. We have heard things like "Can I have another Otter Pop because it is almost my birthday"? "Can I go play out front because it is almost my birthday"? Can I have this toy because it is almost my birthday"? Well today is the day and he will get away with it all because it is HIS birthday! Here are a few fun facts about the birthday boy.

- He just recently completed kindergarten and is so excited to go to 1st grade. The thought of so many opportunities to play on the playground is mind blowing to him.

- He recently informed us that he would like to be called Kyle. He says he likes it better than Garrett. Kyle is his middle name.

- He played Little League baseball for the 1st time this Spring and was a super star. This boy was all over the field making plays even when it wasn't his position to be playing for the inning.

- I am listening to him call the wiffle ball game(much to his brothers demise)that is happening in the front yard through the front window. He LOVES baseball.

- He gives me a kiss and a hug each night before going to bed. He is adamant that that kiss be on the lips :-).

- He has the cutest little head of blonde hair. He is the only one who has stayed light. When I am out with all four boys, I am always asked 1). if they are all mine and 2). even the blonde one?

- He is a BIG helper. He is always quick to ask if I need help with anything. I love that about him...even when it is more help that I want :-)!

- He is telling everyone that he is 6 1/2 today. He went from 6 to 6 1/2 in a matter of seconds.

- This boy goes through shoes like they are going out of style. You can tell how hard he plays just by looking at his shoes.

- I can't celebrate his Birthday w/out remembering that Ronald Reagan's funeral was the day Garrett made his way into the world. Total random fact, I know. After I give birth, I am always ready to go right home. Instead, I got to watch hours of that funeral procession while snuggling my new baby boy.

Wishing Garrett a very Happy Birthday. We are thankful for the wonderful addition he has been to our family. Happy Birthday, buddy!

bittersweet

Today was the last day of school. I am experiencing a roller coaster of emotions...very bittersweet. I have always looked forward to summer vacation and its perks since I was a little girl. The thought of being carefree...the lack of schedules, no homework or reports to complete, sleeping in and not having to make sack lunches on a daily basis really makes me smile as the Mommy :-). There was an all school assembly this morning. I lost it(tears and all) when I turned around and started to see individual classrooms, entering the quad with their teachers. When you are blessed with wonderful teachers and friends for your children, it is really hard to say goodbye and move on.






This school year has been amazing. The boys have loved every minute of it. They have grown so much. Not just academically but physically and emotionally. Tanner made the honor roll again with straight A's. Carter reached (or surpassed) many of the goals that he set for himself. Garrett worked so hard and made HUGE progress in all areas of kindergarten. We are so proud of each of them. This was a big day for our family. Tanner finished elementary school and is excited at the thought of attending middle school. Garrett graduated from kindergarten and will enter 1st grade this August. I am constantly asking myself how we got to this point. I swear Tanner just started kindergarten yesterday. Their little lives are flashing right before me and I really want it to stop...at least for a moment.


We had a great last day of school. We enjoyed a kindergarten picnic with friends,getting yearbooks signed,saying goodbye to special friends and teachers,Popsicles and a swim party.






































I am excited at the thought of not having to set my alarm tonight as I crawl into bed. YAY for summer vacation and alarm free snoozes! Happy Summer!