The One Where Parents Snap

So, it's summmer....and I'm not sure what that means at your house but at our house it means a LOT of family activities.

And with a lot of family activities come a lot of parental insanity. Well, maybe not for everyone...but for us, when you have such a wide age gap between your kids, it makes it hard! Nathan is about to turn 9...and he wants to do "almost 9" year old things like bowling and bumper cars. Parker just turned 1 and he wants to do "just turned 1" things like play in the sandbox and poop in his diaper. It's hard to find things that they both enjoy.

Yesterday we went to the splash pad and I thought that would be enjoyable for everyone....but alas only Nathan enjoyed it. Parker and Naomi were NOT impressed.

Don't tell him but I think we're going to take Nathan to a water park on Thursday. We've given up and decided that the only way to please everyone is to please them separately. Naomi and Parker will have to stay with Tabatha. They'll have more fun at home anyway ;)

This is what happens when you take a 1 year old bowling:



When we went to Gatti Town Nathan said "Momm! Mommmm! Mommmmmm!" one time too many.

Ok so you know I'm just kidding. No children were actually harmed in the creation of this blog post. But the outtakes from our family outings are just too good to not share ;)

Till tomorrow, friends!
Toodles!

The One With Layouts!

I just printed a big book with VioVio and now I have room to scrap some more!So I have been busy scrapping, scrapping, scrapping!! I did this layout with Eva Kipler's Gettin Fresh:



I used Julie Billingsley's Little Slugger for this layout of Naomi (this is my favorite one I've done lately!)



I created this page of Naomi on the 4th of July last year! I love her little headband!


I used our new collab with Connie Prince to make that one...this kit The Fourth is on sale today for only $3.58!

I also made this page of Nathan ... that boy LOVES to climb trees!


I used Fort Wannahockaloogie...our other new collab with Connie Prince, to create this one! It is also $3.58 today! Check it out!

And that's really all from me today! We are going to do some summer reading and hang out today so I had better start...with breakfast! Till tomorrow friends!~

The One With The Public Library

I was rifling through my June photos and I found something I wanted to show you.

The public library where I live is AWESOME!

It's a half an hour away which is a bit un-fun....but it has so much to offer!

I wanted to show you all of the stuff my kidlets and I have been doing at the library this summer besides reading! We've been going about twice a week.















We could spend hours there (and sometimes we do! Nathan enjoys it because he gets some peace and quiet...and he can use the computer. The kids run around from station to station acting like they've never seen toys before. Because obviously we don't have toys at our house ;)

Anywhoo.....just thought I'd share with you and let it be a PSA that you may want to see what your library has besides books! :-)

The One With A Makeover

Hiya bloggers! How do you like my new look! Chelle (Roxxygerlie) has been helping me redo my blog...it's not 100% complete but we're getting there!

In honor of my makeover I figured I'd blog about Parker's makeover!

I've been lucky because I've never had to take my kids to the salon for their first haircut. Nathan's godmother is a hairdresser so we took him into her shop when he was about 1 and she cleaned up his scruffy neck.

Naomi couldn't wait any longer at 13 months and my stepmother cut her hair for us...and this past weekend my stepmother did Parker's first haircut too! We didn't pack up and drive the two hours to the salon she owns...instead she came to our porch and brought her scissors :)



He was cute but scruffy! He actually tolerated his haircut fairly well!



I don't think he cried even once!



I didn't let Anne touch his curls in the back...but she did trim up his bangs and around his ears...



By the end of the haircut he was definitely ready to play though!!

And that....was my last first haircut.

*sigh*

They grow up too fast!

Have a great day bloggers!

The One With The Summer Reading List

What are your kids reading this summer, bloggers?

Parker is LOVING these chubby board books by Joanna Walsh. He's starting to get to the age where he actually will sit and look at one instead of trying to put it in his mouth.

His favorite reading buddy is his papa.
Now Naomi? This girl is crazy about Dora. Her favorite is Dora Climbs Star Mountain. There is this one part at the end where they have to clean up "green goo". Naomi giggles like crazy. Apparently there is no word in the English language funnier to a two year old than "goo".


She now knows most of her colors and can count to ten, and I attribute this to book reading (and tv-watching, *gasp* )

Nathan loves any Matt Christopher book. He writes about sports and I've found hockey, soccer, baseball, even skateboarding...but Nathan's favorites are the football ones. He just got done reading Halfback Attack and The Team That Couldn't Lose. They are chapter books and are about 100 pages each. I'm so proud of my reader!

I did this layout last week of him working through his summer reading list.



I scrapped it with the new kit that Tabatha and I designed called Bookworm. It is on sale for $1 today at Elemental Scraps!
Also we are giving away these free bookmark printables in our newsletter today! All you have to do is sign up for our newsletter if you aren't already. We put a freebie in our newsletter every week!

I'd LOVE to hear what books your kids can't get enough of right now! We are always looking to expand our horizons!

Have a great Monday bloggers!

The One With My Water Babies :)

My kids absolutely love the water and I set out with my sister to create lots of water kits this summer. Last year I had tons of pictures and literally ran out of kits to scrap them all with! So I vowed for that not to happen to anyone :P

We made this kit (which is actually two kits)....with a boy half, and a girl half. I've shown you the combo pack which is wicked cheap on sale today so you should pick it up!

I made this layout with the girlie half of the kit, Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie


And I made this layout with the boyish half of the kit, Cannonball!



Both kits come with free with purchase templates, so you should check it out! The kits are helping me work through my backlog of pictures ... that one of Nathan is still from LAST summer! But I'll get caught up eventually right? :)

Have a great day!

The One With More Layouts :)

I have been busy scrapping this week! I used All Summer Long by Julie Billingsley at SSD:




I also used Julie's collab with Manda Bean, Children at Play:



And, a new release: the newest kit from Scrap Kitchen and Misty Cato, Racer X.



So that sums up my last few days...just catching up on my scrapping and doing a bit of design work. Plus lots of dirty diapers as per usual ;-)

Toodles!

The One With A Nice Sister

So the other day we were out at this little walking trail and there stood this lone hot pink flower. Naomi of course went and picked it for herself and was enjoying her flower!




Then she noticed there was another little tiny flower next to it, and she went and picked it "for Carker" she said.

She came running back with it, roots and all, so proud of herself.

We were laughing so hard because the ball of dirt and roots were much bigger than the tiny little pink flower.

But, she shared her find with her little brother...
It made me really happy to see them act nice because lately they have discovered their intrinsic ability to fight over toys. They have been insufferable! So....sharing is good :)

The One With A Short Note

Just a short note today to say look at all our new goodies!!!!

And, everything is only $1!!! (except the one thing is free...even better!!!)

Click HERE to shop and have a GREAT day!

The One With Some Layouts!

Wahoo for getting my mojo back! I've been working on layouts this week and it feels SO good!

Using Matryoshka by Scrap Kitchen @ SSD:



Using Shabby Daddy by Scrap Kitchen and Traci Reed @ SSD:



Using H2Ology by Bella Gypsy @ ES:


Using Joi de Vivre by Scrap Kitchen and Zoe Pearn @ SSD:


Using Bug Hunter by Nikki Scott and Angie Kovaks @ ES:


and.................

I'm going to share one more extra special layout to share because it is with a kit that's not out yet! This is using our new kit My Dad Rocks, and the kit will be available at ES on Monday. We had a LOT of fun with it!

Anywhoooo....

Told ya I'd been busy! Now I need to get busy finding breakfast! Toodles!