Summer is on its way

Summer is fast approaching. I can't believe there is only a week and a half of school left. It has gone so fast! I really like this picture of Leah - it was taken a couple weeks ago in our back yard after her soccer game. The weather is getting so much nicer - we are spending more and more time in the back yard again. This year Eric is re-doing our yard - so it is finally all tilled up. Now we just have to get the seed down and start the process of growing nice grass.

Soccer

Leah decided to play soccer this fall. She loves to be out and playing against "the boys". She loves running after the ball but of course the best part is when she "actually gets to kick it" - lol. Her team is the "Blue Super Spies" so up her ally!

New Love....

I can't believe it but Bailey has found something she loves as much as swimming - Running! She did the Girls on the Run program at school this spring (after swim team was finished) and has discovered it is something she really enjoys! Her favorite part was the 5k run at the end of the program and she wants to know if she can do more runs. We are so proud of her! Here are a few pictures of her 5K:

Racing Hard!

We are so proud of her!

Middle of the Night Card

I am on a simple kick with my paper crafting lately. I am loving the clean lines and minimalistic approach. I am also on a muted color kick. So, Thursday night at 3 am I decided to redo my cards for the teachers for staff appreciation. And they turned out wonderful - I loved them.

Uh Oh - watch out - those things that seem like a great idea on little or no sleep - sometimes look completely different later.

So now that I have slept - what do I think?

I still really love them! I can see me using this base and this idea for a lot more cards. I love it when things work out better then planned.

I started with a piece of Lovely Lilac 8 1/2 x 11 paper cut in half the long way. I scored it at 2 3/4 inches from each short end. Then I stamped with my So Swirly wheel on the outside of each short flap. I stamped the Anne Frank quote on natural paper then mounted it with foam tape on Sage Shadow paper. I inked all the edges (to make them look finished) and mounted the square on to 1 flap. Here is how it turned out (although I don't think the color turned out very well in the picture).

The inside of the card is also very simple. The flowers are stamped on the natural paper with StazOn ink and the top and bottom edges are torn and inked with the Lovely Lilac ink. I then water-colored the flower with Lovely Lilac and Sage Shadow ink.

Like I said simple - but effective. I love the way it all blends together - I can imagine it with all different colors and themes.

The quote says:

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. - Anne Frank

I See The Light!

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel - and feel like I can start to breath again. For the most part staff appreciation week is over - so I can start focusing on other things now (and my house shows just how off focus I have been this week). I have been up since 6 a.m. yesterday - So I apologize if I don't make a lot of sense right now.

I sat at my desk last night and redid all the cards for the teachers - and I must say - I think they turned out so much cuter then the first ones I made. I forgot to make one for me - so after I get some sleep I want to make up a blank one because I can see me using the card for so many things. I will post a picture this weekend after I make some more up.

I do feel horrible today - I get the bad Mom award. Leah has her big, all day field trip at school today and I didn't go. I debated all week because I wasn't sure how much more I would need to do this morning for staff appreciation and decided at 3 a.m. today that for safety reasons (i.e. I don't want to fall asleep behind the wheel of my van on the hour drive home) that I had better not go. So I went in this morning and told her teacher that I was staying here. Leah looked so sad! Leah has 21 kids in her class and 17 parents went on the field trip (some kids even had more then one adult going). So now I feel like I'm the parent that doesn't care. I am sitting here feeling so guilty as I type this. But I know she will have an amazing time and I will hopefully get to hear all about it when I pick her up this afternoon.

Okay - I am off to bed to get a couple hours sleep. I will post more soon.

Hello My Friends!

Hi to all my friends, New and Old, who are reading my blog. Welcome! I hope to keep you all updated on our busy lives! I will post more pictures and stories soon. I need to get through Staff Appreciation first! It should be a fun week - but very hectic!

Again, welcome everyone and let me know what you think - feel free to share my sight with those you think might be interested.

Hugs,
Wini

My Favorite Picture

I thought I would share my current favorite picture of the girls! I took this picture at Christmas time and was going to send it out in all my Christmas cards - but they never made it out the door (they are all made and the pictures are all printed but they never made it to the PO) - the story of my life - LOL