ink

my heart goes pitter patter

my mom sent me this photo the other day.

we think he looks a little like noah.

and a question.

when it comes to cooking, i tend to beat a dead horse.  i like to try new recipes, but in all honestly, i don't trust cookbooks.  i want tried and true -- real people tested -- recipes.  i'm on a hunt for a collection of good appetizers.  they don't have to be quick.  they don't even have to be "economical," though its alway nice when they are.  ideally something i could take with me to a party that would get eaten.  that's it. :)

here's where the earlier mentioned rak comes in.  if you've got an appetizer recipe you're willing to share, post it here in the comments and i'll reward a  winner with a rak of scrapbooking products.  the winner of the rak will be determined by throwing all contenders names in a hat and drawing one.   simple enough, don't you think?

cheers!

and happy friday!

coming soon...

a little rak of sorts.  scrapbooking stuffies, mostly.  think rubs, stamps, some letters and other general good stuff.  all stuff i've got doubles of (in other words, it's good stuff, people!) :)

stay tuned.

nearly ready

for school, that is.

go clothes shopping with nana

order sweats and other "play clothes" (which, make no mistake, are also worn to school)  from old navy

hunt down a complete list of school supplies

sort through old kit clothes and gave away the "too smalls"

take a "trial walk" up to the new kindergarten (took 10 minutes)

play on the new playground

hand in last of paper work (tonight at back to business day)

find out teacher's name (tonight at back to business day)

meet the teacher (next tuesday)

attend the kindergarten parents only meeting (next wednesday)

one more week of summer.  6 more carefree days until the fun of the school year officially begins.  i've always loved fall.  back to school has long been my favorite time of year (which is maybe why i became a teacher right out of college). 

i love those last few days of summer, when you try to take advantage, as best you can, of all the freedom and warm weather.  looking forward to a relatively under-planned last couple of days.  we're hanging out.  heading to the farm to pick up our weekly share from the csa.  fitting in a couple of last playdates here and there.  spending time in the yard and in the alley.  talking with the neighbors.  avoiding the necessary (like grocery shopping and laundry) to allow for more lazy time.  ah.  6ish more days. :)

happy wednesday.

am i late to the party?

so many of you might have seen this already.  mike and i were doing a little youtube surfing last night and typed in "blake lewis" only to find this guy halfway down the results column.  sit back and enjoy!  i only wish i spoke fluent french (sorry miss levie.  i know you tried to teach me.) :)

happy friday!

change is good/hard/exciting/(fill in the blank here).

the start of a new school year.  lots of newness just teetering on the horizon.  the start of kindergarten for anna.  noah going to preschool a whopping three days a week instead of two, and on the verge of giving up his daily nap.  some exciting/different family stuff i'll wait to divulge until a later date (and no, i'm not pregnant!).  and the official opening of this (though it's been in the works for over a year now). 

... and because of all that, and the anticipation of a busy and full year, the end of my cushy stint on the acdt. :(  while i'd love too put my name in the running for another year, the reality of my world is that i've taken on too much, too fast, and my world (aka my kids, my hubby, my mom, my other commitments) needs me to slow down.

so i thought i'd post a couple of my last official acdt projects:

(a little birthday mini book)

(and this little baby journal for a friend who is over-ready for popping!)

oh!  and speaking of change.  check out what the older kid got today:

in case you're not wearing your bifocals, that's a brand spankin new library card, baby!

oh yes.  life is full of change. 

happy (late) thursday!

eta:  since i've received a couple of phone calls and been asked point-blank by some of my friends, let me clarify "family news."  by "family news"  i mean news that i haven't gotten permission to share and that does not directly pertain to me.  make sense? :)  so seriously, i'm NOT pregnant.  we're NOT moving.  nothing huge at all.  just lots of little things that are making our lives around here a tad busier/different/exciting... you get the idea. 

rise and shine!

8:15 am and my kids are still sawing logs!  i poked my head in each of their rooms to check out the situation.  i was immediately confronted with snores -- LOUD SNORES!

i'm thinking of going into their rooms and playing this...

from k's blog.

of course, we have no plans this morning, so i may just let sleeping babies lie. ;)  you can find me in the kitchen, doing a little jig (and clicking on "repeat.")

happy wednesday!

coming to you live from sickville.

so yes.  i realize it has been weeks since my last post.  i'm sorry.  i have to admit, i've had the time, but not the will.  i've been summering. :)

of course now we're paying the price for all that running around/swimming/general goofing off all day, every day. we're sick.  actually noah's sick.  anna was sick last week.  fever.  chills.  upset tummy.  i'm crossing my fingers i don't get it!

and now, on a completely different note, the scrapologie august kit preview is up.  here are some of my pages:

no promises, but i'll try to post again tomorrow.  gotta get my groove back, i guess. ;)

happy monday!   

here's what we've been up to...

anna takes lesson one place, noah at another.  which means swimming lessons is pretty much taking up the bulk of our august.  BUT LOOK!  they're working!  today in lessons anna was diving in after rings, swimming "crawl stroke" (though very very rough), and blowing oodles and oodles of bubbles while doing it!  noah, on the other hand...  let's just say he's in need of lessons for safety-sake, and keep it at that. ;)

happy summer!  happy tuesday!

another one, just for fun.

just in case you still have the HP bug, like i do -- a little sorting hat quiz, just for fun.  here are my results:

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

Your in-depth results are:

Ravenclaw - 14
Gryffindor - 12
Hufflepuff - 11
Slytherin - 8

if you take it, report back, would you?

happy saturday!

a walk in the garden

good morning!

my laptop is off -- hopefully at hp by now and on the road to being tip-top once again.  in the meantime, i've set myself up on mike's computer.

got up a little slowly this morning.  maybe it's the heat.  maybe it's that it's thursday and the workout yesterday morning kicked my tushie!  (actually, it's my arms that are paying the price today!)  so i figured a lazy morning was in order.  got up well before the kids (they're still in bed), made myself some coffee -- even poured myself a half-cup before the pot was finished -- and sat down to enjoy this -- the creating garden over at two peas.  spent a good 20 minutes just savoring all the gorgeous pages and then stumbled upon this, by the fabulously wonderful mg.  now, suddenly, i'm trying to figure out how to install my (working) printer onto mike's (old -- very old) computer so that i, too, can make a "super fun creative journal" right here in my very own office!  :)

so -- those of you with working printers... what are you waiting for?????

happy (and possibly creative...) thursday to you!