We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Summer Programming....

I have taken over 1,000 photos this week bloggers! I am going to catch up with you on a personal note tomorrow....but for this moment I'd like to interrupt all the fun to share with you a freebie and some new releases! Here are some new templates from us! (there is a HOT freebie in our newsletter this week, btw!)



And a new mini kit at a mini price too:




Here's a new collab we did with our friend Danimoy...


And a freebie for you as well!




Click HERE to be taken to our shop!

Click HERE to download the freebie alpha!

And...brace yourself for all of the excitement in tomorrow's post...I bet you'll feel like you were at the (insert activity here...zoo/fireworks/splash pad) with us!

Until then, have a fantastic day, my friends...and I'll chat with you tomorrow!

The One With Stinky Insomnia

Happy Sunday, bloggers!

I have a ton of photos to share with you, but I probably won't share them until tomorow!

On Friday we took the kids to see Ice Age 3 and went back to the Mill St. Splash Pad. I got some pretty cute shots of them!

Today we had a great Fourth at home. We grilled, played with sparklers, smashed a pinata full of candy, played in the pool and set off fireworks before bed.

However, I have been quietly suffering with some cruddy (non serious) medical junk that I haven't been sharing...and I'm on a hefty dose of steroids right now...complete with a steroid injection last night...which means---NO SLEEP!

I'm trying to go to sleep because we are getting up early tomorrow to take the kids to the Louisville Zoo. (okay, okay...I know what you're thinking. Don't they ever stop?) But hey, it's only summer once a year :) It's a two hour drive to the closest zoo (same distance to the Louisville Zoo or the Cincy Zoo and we've been to Cincy Zoo a gazillion times). So off to Louisville we go....

But I'm going to be tired from the Steroid-Induced-Jittery-Can't-Sleep-No-Good-Insomnia.

The upside is... I'll be back on Monday with lots of pics!

The One With A Splash :)

We had a blast at Kentucky Splash today! Despite slathering on SPF 50 over and over, I somehow feel a little pink this evening anyway...which means tomorrow I'll probably be grumpy and burnt!

My wonderful husband has agreed to let me sleep in tomorrow (9 a.m. here I come) so I figured I'd blog this evening! The photos really tell the story so there's not a lot to say, but here are the highlights of our day (before I tucked the Canon safely away in a locker so I could quit fretting about ruining my camera and start enjoying the day :-) ... )








Tomorrow we are going to see Ice Age 3 and possibly revisit the splash pad...you know we have to wear the kids out every day! I hope you have a great day!

The One With The Splash Pad!

So we had this hairbrained scheme to take everyone to the splash pad in town the other day. We loaded up 3 adults and 6 kids and hoped for the best! Well of Tabatha's kids the only one who really had fun was Tristan and of mine, the only one who had fun was Nathan. We were 2 and 4, but it was worth a shot!

We decided to just take Nathan and Tristan back next time!



I think the photos pretty much tell the story. I couldn't get any photos of Naomi or Parker in the water because they were too grumpy! But hey, at least I tried! :-)

Tomorrow we are going to Kentucky Splash with just Nathan. I told him yesterday and I'm pretty sure you could all hear him squeal...wherever you are! ;)

I'll be back on Friday with the full report ;)

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!