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!