Day 228 to 241...that's yesterday!

Well, I've got the rest of my photos edited for P365 (right up until yesterday) so I figured that I should get caught up, eh? I've gotten caught up on a lot of things lately, and it feels really good. The doors are all back on my kitchen (though I lost a hinge so one set is indefinitely out of place), my sister's cross-stitch is at the framers, I can get to the piano...I guess I need to start some more projects, eh? I guess I should finish the slides, though, too... I've also decided that I am going to redo my P365 LOs to make them one-pagers. It's easier to do up a photo book that way and, really, I only have about 3 weeks to redo!

This weekend was good. It was Jason's birthday and we had a good time. Saturday was mostly a relax kind of day and so was today. It was really nice just to chill out and have the house relatively clean. I've even recently finished re-reading Anne of Green Gables and have moved on the Anne of Avonlea. Do you know how long it's been since I read a book?

Anyway, on to the pictures...

Day 228 (Aug 16):

Here is Evan...I'm not really sure what we were up to this Sunday but I have a ton of pictures of him like this. He sits at the dinner table, facing the window so the light is often really nice. Unlike Xander, he doesn't yet fuss when I take a million pictures, either.

Day 229 (Aug 17):

Here's another picture of the church worksite. In the front, you can see the styrofoam blocks used to create the foundation and, in the back, you can see how the old Fellowship Hall is gone. There are some simple 2x4 railings but no walls. The project has really been progressing quite quickly. It's interesting to see what they've done each week.

Day 230 (Aug 18):

The sky and the clouds were really pretty out our back door on this particular evening. They actually turned out not too bad in the picture. So often, cloud pictures just don't do the real thing any justice!!

Day 231 (Aug 19):

Here are my kitchen doors on! It's hard to remember what they once looked like. I'll have to go pull out the "before" pictures! I like how they turned out, even though the extra paint has made some of them really stick. Also, there are a lot of scrapes in the paint already but you have to look to notice them so hopefully nobody does! :)

Day 232 (Aug 20):

I finally got back to the gym! It had been about a month with everything that had been going on and, let me tell you, when I miss that long, I sure can tell that I have. I still haven't gotten back to where I was but it's getting there slowly but surely. The stamina is just not there yet! I actually really like going to the gym so I was really glad to get back into my runners!

Day 233 (Aug 21):

I dressed the boys similarly this day...likely because I just grabbed stuff out of the laundry basket and orange is easy to find. Anyway, Xander thought this was great and wanted me to take a picture of them together. Of course, as I went to get my camera they posed really nicely. Evan stood right beside Xander and Xander gave him a hug. By the time I got my camera Evan had decided that was no fun so this is what I found! Oh well, missed opportunities, I guess!

Day 234 (Aug 22):

We rented this weekend and watched it Friday night (I know, the pic waited until Saturday). It's really the first time I've watched a movie in a long time. There just isn't much that I want to see! This was a really good movie. I loved it. It was cute and sweet and totally clean. Usually I'm so disappointed in movies that I want to see (I guess I have high expectations) but I also went to see Julie & Julia on Sunday with my mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law. Not only did I have a fun afternoon with them, but I also really enjoyed that movie, as well. It was totally my kind of movie (not too much action but more just about the characters and how they change over time). It was a good movie weekend - two movies I liked in one weekend!

Day 235 (Aug 23):

Here are the boys standing at the patio doors, watching Jason mow the (incredibly long) grass. I like how this picture turned out with the boys in the shadows and Xander kinda looking at Evan. They had a great time just standing there and watching!

Day 236 (Aug 24):

Jason went to the AC/DC concert Monday night. He took the car so that he and Steve (his brother-in-law) would have a way to get home after the concert. This meant that I had to pick the boys up without a car so this was our mode of transportation for the day. I actually got a fair bit of exercise as it was about a 20 minute walk to Cindy's, then a 20 minute walk to A&W and then about a 10 minute walk home. Trust me, with the weight of a 3 1/2 year old, a 1 1/2 year old and a double stroller - that was a work out! I enjoy walking, though, and it was a beautiful evening so all was good.

Day 237 (Aug 25):

This was the night that Xander put Evan to bed in the cutest going to bed ritual of all time (though Evan won't let him do it anymore...guess Xander's no substitute for Mom!). Here Xander is getting Evan's toothbrush ready so they can brush teeth.

Day 238 (Aug 26):

We took a walk Thursday night and Xander wanted to see the church so we went down to the building site again. There were several walls, as well as some major steel beams up. Again, the clouds were really pretty so I took this picture of the corner of the building. I really like how it turned out. Xander also got to go on a tour of the site as Pastor Bill took him for a look-see through the area. He quite enjoyed that.

Day 239 (Aug 27):

I took the boys to the grocery store with me because we needed a few things (and Cheez Whiz and Breyers ice cream were on sale!). Xander wanted me to buy a plant but I'm not so good at keeping those alive so I talked him into flowers instead. He picked out a dozen yellow roses that were really pretty and are still quite fragrant, even though they're starting to die!

Day 240 (Aug 28):

It wasn't Jason's birthday but it was his birthday party. We just had some family over and had supper and cake. Of course we had pizza (Jason's all-time favourite food) and I made a chocolate cake with really yummy chocolate icing (if I do say so myself). We even managed to play a few games. It was a pretty good night all around.

Day 241 (Aug 29):

This was actually Jason's birthday but we just chillaxed at home. I did go to the gym and took my sister's cross-stitch to the framers (along with a couple other pictures). This is a picture of the back of the cross-stitch. I always used to be amazed at my one uncle and cousin whose cross-stitches always looked almost the same on the back as the front. When I started doing afghans mine became a lot neater on the back, too. I realized that I've never taken a picture of the back so I thought I'd do it with this one. You'll see the front when it gets back from the framer's!!

And that officially gets me caught up on my P365! Another thing off my list!! It really does feel good. I haven't taken today's picture yet, though, so maybe I should do that. :) I also have a bit of laundry that needs to be folded so I should be off!

Until next time...

Scrap Stuff...Moving!!

Wow, it seems like I've barely done any scrapping lately. I've been working on scanning in slides (which I have to do on the Windows box - where my scrapping stuff isn't) and cross-stitching so that's been taking up my spare time! On the bright side, I've finally got my sister's wedding gift done (she's been married 5 years) and that's awesome! I just have to get it framed. I'm almost done the slide thing, too, but I have to pick up a couple more carousels at my parent's place next weekend. Then we can see about getting that finished.

We also had a bit of a birthday party for my husband today. He's 35 already...we don't seem that old! The good thing is that the house is clean - yay! We had to clean it up for today and it even seems to be in not too bad condition now...the kids cleaned up most of their stuff. That means that tomorrow we can just relax and enjoy the day.

Anyway, in scrapping news Eva Marina Scraps is moving!! She's decided to close her store at Stuff to Scrap and open a new store at Enchanted Studio Scraps. This means that you get the benefit. Right now, until her store closes on August 31st, everything in her STS store will be 50% off!! Some of this stuff will be retired, too, so hurry over and grab it now! You can click the flyer below to go straight to her store.

She's also starting her time off at ESS with a bang! She has a new kit out called What a Hoot! I hope to get a couple LOs done in the next couple of days but you can also win it before you can buy it!! Go here to the RAK thread at ESS and enter for your chance to win. Below is a preview of the entire kit (not all items shown), as well as separate previews for each of the parts. Her store there opens September 1st and she will draw more than one winner on Sunday!

Also, this was the last week of Scrapping Survivor over at Ginger Scraps. It was a lot of fun, but I think it'll be nice to just scrap for no reason again!! Also, the final week of voting is limited to those who enrolled in the Scrapping Survivor contest. It doesn't look like I'll win anything but it was fun! Here is the LO I did for the last week. We had to scrap what we would do if we won $1,000,000. Now, for interest's sake, I only included travel. In reality, it would probably be a little more mundane...like paying bills, paying off the house, giving some away etc. I'm sure it would include travel but it would be a little more! Anyway, I really like how this page turned out. It's one of my recent favourites.

Kit - Remember Me by Sarah Bennett
Chain- Fashionably Grunge by Scrappy Cocoa
Eyelet - Just Blossom by Digi-Designs by Nicole
Photo - Antarctic by Jerzy Strzelecki
Photo - Galapagos Islands by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio (http:\\visibleearth.nasa.gov)
Photo - San Francisco by Frank Brueck
Photo - Pyramids by Bruno Girin
Photo - Great Wall of China by Allan Bullard, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org
Photo - Ayers Rock by Corey Leopold
Photo - Leaning Tower of Pisa by Effervescing Elephant
Photo - World Map by Alan Rockefeller

Well, I must admit that I'm a bit tired. I baked a cake yesterday and cleaned and made pizza today. I enjoyed it, actually, but my feet could use a break. They're getting one right now but I think my eyes need one too!

Until next time...

The Cutest Thing...

OK, I just witnessed the cutest thing ever!  It was Evan's bedtime and I asked him who was going to put him to bed.  Xander said I will so I figured we'd go with it.  Xander took him upstairs, plugged in the nightlight and then said, come, let's brush our teeth.  He needed help getting the toothpaste lid off and squirting it since it's almost empty but I snuck back downstairs and listened from around the corner.  Xander brushed Evan's teeth, washed his hands and then put the stool back.  Then, they went to the bedroom and Xander read Evan two books.  Then Xander told him it's time to lay down on your pillow and came downstairs.  I told him he forgot cuddle bear so we found it and asked if they prayed.  Xander said no but he'd do it when he took cuddle bear up.  It was so cute!!  Now, Xander's playing Dance Dance Revolution with his Dad (shocking, I know!) so it's just been an all around cute night!!

Until next time...

Guinevere's Beauty

Well, my husband is at the AC/DC concert tonight (which apparently can be heard all over the city!) so the boys and I are on our own.  I've got them in bed and figure that I'd better blog about the most fun kit I've been using!  I've also got some other LOs at the end of the post, if you're interested!

So, I've got a new kit to tell you about!  Scraps of Ellay has just put a new kit into her store over at STS called Guinevere's Beauty.  I really love this kit and it uses some of the same colours I plan to decorate my bedroom in!  I thought that was kind of cool.  It's a really pretty kit with some medieval feeling elements to it (but not in a theme-y way).  I did a couple (what I think are) really neat pages with it!  Here they are...

Here is a preview of the entire kit.  You can go to her STS store here to pick it up!  Also, as a limited time special there is a free add-on that you get when you buy the kit!!  There's a preview of that below the full kit...AND if you got to LA's blog now, there is a freebie quick page for you there!  That's a whole lotta goodies!

Now, here are a few other pages that I've done lately.  For some reason I haven't been feelin' the groove too much so I haven't gotten a ton of pages done.  I think it's because I finished my last book and I'm not sure which I'm working on yet so I'm not scrapping with purpose!  Some of these pages turned out pretty cute, though.

The first page is my Survivor Week 4 LO.  The one where we had to "eat bugs".  I actually think it turned out kinda cute!  I've done my week 5 LO, too, but I'm not gonna share it until later this week!

Kit - My Soft Garden by Mimilou

Alpha - Dirty Boy Alpha by Misty Cato

Worm photo by Polandeze

This next one was for a speed scrap over at GingerScraps.  I've been missing these lately, mostly because I'm busy and forgetful!  I really need to attend more because there have been some awesome ones that I've missed out on!!

Kit - Take A Dip by Digi-Designs by Nicole and Nibbles Skribbles

This last page was for a quote challenge at STS.  I saw the quote and knew exactly what pictures to use.  Jason was always saying how we take Evan thousands of kms from home and all he wants to do is play with rocks or the buckles on his stroller.   I think it's really because these are all wonders to a child!

Kit - Take A Dip by Digi-Designs by Nicole and Nibbles Skribbles

Template - Template Set #9 by Binty Designs

That's all for now, anyway.  It's getting late and I would think that Jason should be home relatively soon from the concert.  At least it didn't rain!  I should be able to get caught up with my pictures on Thursday so I'm excited about that.  I'm starting to get caught up on a few things around here!  Guess that means it's time to start more projects, right... ;).

Until next time...

Day 214 to, oh, 220 or so - depends what I feel like...

Well, it's quiet for the moment so I thought I'd do a bit of blogging.  

If you're here for the QP freebie, it's one post down.

It's been a nice quiet week, which is great because last week was crazy with VBS and the two weeks before that were swimming lessons.  We'll have a nice couple weeks before the busyness of back-to-school comes.  It's funny how we don't have any kids in school yet but that still seems to dictacte our time to some extent anyways.  I guess a lot of that is due to the fact that church runs very much on a school year, as well, and that is a lot of what keeps us busy!  We were down there today and the building project is buzzing along (I'm not sure if it's going as fast as they'd like, but I doubt it...it is a construction project after all!).  They are putting up the steel beams??  I don't really know what they're called, but they were using a mobile crane and it was pretty cool.  Xander wasn't particularly impressed (though he did get a candy from Pastor Bill-shhh it's a secret).  I, on the other hand, have never watched a crane like that close up so I thought it was pretty cool.  They even had to block off half the street and detour people around the block.  It was a beautiful day today, though, so it was a great day for a walk down there.  There's been so much rain lately, that it's just been crazy.  It was funny because you can tell what the weather's like when your 3 year old asks why God didn't make it windy or rainy today!!

Anyway, let's move on to some pictures...

Day 214 (August 2):

Here is Xander saying good-night to Evan.  They may hate me for these pictures when they're older but they are so cute when Evan goes to bed.  They have to say good-night to each other and give kisses.  It's really sweet to see them be nice to each other!

Day 215 (August 3):

Xander actually took this picture (since I'm the one changing Evan' diaper) but I just had to use it.  It's so different when your brother is taking a picture.  Xander told Evan to smile and this is what he got.  I tell Evan to smile and he hides/runs away/ignores me!!  It's a totally cute picture, though!

Day 216 (August 4):

These are my kitchen doors - all painted.  Yay!  Now, they're almost all up but some of them are a little less painted than they used to be.  I was so glad to be done with this so now I can get everything back to normal and set up the way it's supposed to be and looking much neater!

Day 17 (August 5):

Evan started playing patty cake by himself and he was so cute saying r-o-o it (can't really do l's yet).  I didn't get a very good picture of him but, of course, Xander had to copy him and wanted me to take his picture!  So, here is Xander playing patty cake.

Day 218 (August 6):

After swimming lessons this Thursday, Xander had his first trip to the dentist.  I wasn't sure if they would even do anything so I didn't take my camera.  I totally regret that decision!!  I had an appointment first and they had toys and a blanket for him to sit on.  He wasn't going to let them do anything to him (he was a bit tired and this was new).  That was, until the dentist came in.  He bribed Xander with stickers and gum and that was enough.  Xander got right up in the chair and let them clean his teeth, give him fluoride and even let the dentist check him.  No cavities!  This is his nice, clean, cavity-free smile after we got home!

Day 219 (August 7):

This was the very last day of swimming lessons.  This is Xander getting his very first ever report card.  He passed sea turtles with no problems.  He loved his teachers and did really well the second week when they went in by themselves (I had to bribe him the first time but after that it was no problem!)  He's been asking about taking them again but I think we'll wait until next summer.  We'll just have to go swimming some more!

Day 220 (August 8):

There was another LEGO display at the Science Centre this summer.  It was on transportation.  I love LEGO and LEGO models.  It is so cool what you can do with these little building blocks.  There were planes and space ships and trains and cars and boats.  The boys enjoyed it somewhat but they're still a bit little.  They did like the race car made of LEGO that they could sit in, though.  This picture is the thing I thought was the coolest - the way they made the folded up sails.  It was really neat.

Day 221 (August 9):

Here is a picture of our finished bedroom.  This is a little darker than the floor (and furniture) really is but that's what happens with a picture.  You get the idea, anyway.  I totally love our floor.  It's so pretty and, unlike the floating laminate downstairs, feels really solid.  I love that feeling (better than the moving laminate, anyway).  We also managed to get rid of the major squeaks so I am really happy about that.  Now, I can't wait to get the bedding and do the rest of the room up!!

Day 222 (August 10):

This was the first day that Auntie (Xander's regular babysitter) was on vacation.  That meant that he got to go to Auntie Jodi's and play with Lucas - and they play hard.  The combination of playing so hard and it being hot and not having a nap just wiped him out.  He was so tired the last couple of weeks from spending all that time with his cousin.  He loved it, though.  He really does sleep all poker straight like that, too, sometimes.  It looks uncomfortable to me!

Day 223 (August 11):

This was the day I was taking pictures for my Scrapping Survivor layout.  I had to make people "eat bugs" so I thought I'd do the whole family.  I had to get pictures of everyone with their mouth open and tongue out.  This was a cute one that I got of Evan.  Not the one I ended up using but still very cute!

Day 224 (August 12):

This was the first day of our Vacation Bible School (VBS) this year.  We were out on Willow Island instead of at the church.  It was a lot of fun but definitely different to do just a one day thing rather than a whole week.  That presented other challenges and meant that kids didn't get to do some things like memorizing verses.  I think they all had fun, though, and God held off the rain for those two days!!  (It also wasn't 33C like it was the day before).  This was my area.  I was in charge of registration.  The first day was a schmozz.  It was more kids, younger kids and our system wasn't as good as it was the second day.  But, we got everyone registered and onto the island so I guess it was a success!  Apparently you could hear us throughout the park, too, so I guess more people than just those on the island got to hear the gospel. :)

Day 225 (August 13):

This was the second day of VBS.  It was the older kids (grades 3 to 6) so they got to stay on the island a little longer and got to have a campfire after supper.  It was a little more like camp that way, which is fun, too.  This is a picture of the campfire with the Legislative Building in the background.  I think it turned out very pretty.  It's also quite amazing just how big that fire pit is.  You can't really tell until you see the wood inside and how small the fire is!!

Day 226 (August 14):

Here is Evan looking at a photo book of the Berkan family.  He loves to look at this book and find Daddy and Papa, mostly...oh, I guess himself and Xander, too.  As you can see, he has started to get a little hard on it, though, so I had to put a stop to his looking.  I didn't want to, but I also don't want him to wreck the book!

Day 227 (August 15):

We went to Home Depot to look for register covers and something else.  I'm not sure what, though.  They were having some big to do.  I don't really know why, but they had donuts and coffee and water and juice.  They also had balloons but there was only one left so the boys had to share.  It mostly goes OK, except that Evan ignores it until Xander wants it.  However, at this moment, they were actually playing together and sharing the balloon.  That's about how long it lasted, though.  The strange thing is, it's now a week later and that balloon has barely lost any air.  I wonder why?

Anyway, I think this is a good place to stop.  I only have the past week to do now, so I'm mostly caught up.  Yay for me!!  I think I should go put another door on the kitchen cabinets, as well.

Until next time...

QuickPage Freebie!

Hi all, sorry I'm late but I almost forgot about this!!  I was busy putting doors on cabinets this morning and then it was lunch time and we had to play DDR Disney Grooves for a bit!  But I'm putting it up now.

I've got a QP I've made for you from the LO I did with the kit Gypsy by Scraps of Ellay.  You can still pick this up on her blog for free until the end of the week!!  Here is a preview of the QP and the link to 4shared.

You can pick this up at 4shared here.

Thanks for looking and I'll have more pictures tonight or, more likely, tomorrow!!

Until next time...

Day 205 to as far as I get... (213, it appears)

I'm kinda tired today (but not as much as the last couple days where I fell asleep on the couch well before 10 p.m. and only got up to go to bed - guess I needed some sleep!!) but I figure that while I'm sitting here downloading stuff, I may as well get started on the three weeks of P365 pictures that I need to post this week!

First I'm going to post a pic that's not part of my set.  I liked this picture but it didn't make P365.  It's of Xander and Evan playing on the slide.  It was so cute - Xander was catching Evan at the end.  How sweet!

Day 205 (July 24):

My little supervisor hard at work again!  Gotta make sure all is going well with the hole at church.  They were starting to put up the foundation forms in this picture.

Day 206 (July 25):

This was the big football game day!  A bunch of my family went the the Rider - Eskies game.  My sister and brother-in-law came in from Manitoba (he's an Eskies fan - boo!) and my brother and sister-in-law were down from Turtleford.  My brother took his two oldest girls (one wanted to go and the other got dragged along!).  Jason took Xander to his first game while I got to stay home with Evan.  Jason's sister and her husband also went to this game so we were well represented.  Of course Jason's brother-in-law has yet to see a Rider win live so this game, naturally went poorly ;) !  (Sorry, Craig).  Xander's first game didn't go so well, either.  He didn't have terribly much fun (not as much as the car races) and wanted to go home after the first touchdown.  He did like the fireworks, though, but fell asleep just as the fourth quarter began.  Oh well, the memory of it is much better for him than the original was!  He was likely a bit too young, still.

Day 207 (July 26):

I wasn't creative so this is the front of our bulletin from church.  This is what we do every Sunday and we love it.  I've been attending this church for almost 13 years now and have seen so many changes.  It's a very exciting place to be!

Day 208 (July 27):

Monday was the first day of Xander's first swimming lessons.  He got to be a Sea Turtle.  It is a transitional period where the parents still go in the water with them for the first while so I didn't get any pictures at the pool.  These are his swim trunks.  It's amazing how much the chlorine faded them over just two weeks!  He did have a lot of fun, though.

Day 209 (July 28):

This is the before picture of our bedroom.  The hours on that raspberry coloured shag were almost up.  It was about time!!  I am so happy to be rid of it.  Especially the parts that were faded - they were kind of a dirty brown.  But, when you do renos, you gotta be sure to get the before pic!!

Day 210 (July 29):

There it is - the old carpet - out in the garbage pile!  Yay!!  No more ugly raspberry shag.  In fact, they plywood underneath was a huge improvement!  We also got rid of the major squeaks by actually screwing down the subfloor in several places - even better!

Day 211 (July 30):

This was my big excitement - two raspberries!!  After I've killed several bushes and then had the wasps eat them all, I finally got to have some raspberries.  Xander was pretty excited, too.  He loves to check to see if anything is growing and ripe.  We've gotten a few handfuls since then but you can't expect much from three little bushes!

Day 212 (July 31):

Jason took the day off to come to swimming lessons with us and start on the floor so I could actually take some pictures at the pool.  There were fun and games at swimming and this one involved dumping pails of water (or putting body parts in it).  Xander really did well and even got over some of his fear of laying on his back and putting his ears in the water!

Day 213 (August 1):

This is the day the floor went it!  It looks so good.  It's lighter than it appears in this picture.  Evan was having fun trying to put the pieces together, too.  Really it's just a giant jigsaw puzzle!  It is so much nicer to walk on than the floating laminate floor we have, too.  It just feels so much more sturdy and solid.

Well, my downloads are done so I think I'll stop there.  I'm pretty tired so I hope I haven't been rambling too much.  I should probably get some sleep.

Until next time...