June Scrapbooking

To say I don't scrapbook in order would be an understatement. Never have. Never will.
So here's a look at some of what I got done scrapping with friends earlier this month at that gorgeous house.

This was an Allison Davis sketch. I attempted to scrap these pictures quite some time ago, but was not loving the direction or the papers. This time around, I'm really pleased with this page.


Funny story, we were looking for a picture of Garrett at a certain age so I pulled out an older album and these pictures were in the album, but just there loosely, not scrapped. So I decided to bring them with me. I used another Allison Davis sketch and dug into my black buttons to make those little Mickeys. I'm sure my page would look nothing like this if I had scrapped it 8 years ago.

You see what I mean-I scrap out of order. This is the first page to Garrett's K-5 book. I used the page I did for Morgan as my guide.

This is a lift of a page by Karen Grunberg. Even though the pictures aren't great, I like that I was able to tell the story about what Morgan's been up to since quitting gymnastics. I like to tease her that she is growing through her Marcia Brady phase and trying out lots of things.

Another Allison Davis sketch (and also completed awhile ago).

I had this Kick This template for awhile. I was kind off put of by using it, but it's a nice and simple page and sometimes I have to remind myself that nice and simple if just fine.

Some new papers that I had no intention of using for a Jack page, but I think they worked just perfectly.

A lift of a Nancy Damiano. Chris saw these pictures and said, "oh, that's the tournament that Garrett got 3 place." pause "I think." I asked Garrett and he thinks it was 3rd-quite honestly in 20 years from now, it won't really matter. So I'm creating a little family history here and documenting this as a 3rd place win.

I saw a page somewhere and this was really inspired by it. I changed a bit to accommodate my pictures.

And another inspired by someone on the web.

A Real Scrapbook Retreat

A few weeks ago I went scrapbooking with my friends. For the majority of 8 years that we've been going to this tiny beach town, we've stayed at the same house. But the home seems to be falling in disrepair and we were growing weary of the severe ant problem, electrical outages, and an owner who did not seem to appreciate his repeat business that we decided it was time to find something new. And WOW, did we find something pretty fabulous.

Actually the home was so beautiful, it was pretty distracting from a scrapbook point of view. It was my least productive weekend ever.

First, let's start with the view-
Sitting on top of a hill, this is what we saw:



Now for the inside. Apparently this home was purchased a few years ago and allowed to be burned to the ground by the firefighters and then the owners started from there. I can only speculate that there was either an interior designer who is one of the owners or utilized before the plans were even made because the details (which sadly are hard to see in the pictures) were so incredible that there's no way your average DIYer could have had the vision (or the money-ha!)

The main floor bath. Notice the transom windows? Those were throughout the entire house.

The family room-gorgeous stacked stone fireplace. Many of the pass throughs between rooms were framed in rough timber. The walls were all board and baten like you'd seen in a Pottery Barn Catalog, the ceilings were planks of wood and enormous wood beams.


The kitchen, again very high quality cabinets, high end appliances. No upper cabinets. To the right was a butler's pantry where it was stocked with platters, appliances, more dishes, etc... and a sink.


The island was a really unique piece of furniture, it was definitely something that was picked up somewhere.

Master bath-again the details are hard to see. But that gorgeous armoire was a focal point. In the very corner of the picture is a door that leads to the toilet, it is mounted like a barn door. It is absolutely stunning. Again, it had to be picked up somewhere and incorporated into the design of the house early on.




The kids' room, 2 sets of bunk beds and a big tv and gaming system in there along with this pretty mural.



The downstairs family room. Not that I was looking, but amongst all this beautiful, antique furniture we found a little table with a Ross tag on it~lol.


I "borrowed" some of these images off the VRBO website. We are planning to stay at a few other houses, but I think it's really going to be hard to top this one.

Summer Forecast:

BUSY!

Despite our crummy weather we've been having, school let's out in less than four days and my life of leisure that I lead (totally joking, but some people seem to think that) will come to an abrupt halt and my job as cruise activities director begins :-)

At one point, we could spend the summer at the pool hanging out or a day trip to a local museum, but now days seldom is there any agreement about what is entertaining. So I have to juggle to keep everybody happy.

So here's a look at the top highlights that the kids will be doing:

Garrett
1. A week at soccer camp staying at a local college.
2. A couple short trips with some buddies to their vacation home in Santa Cruz
3. Soccer tournaments that takes us to exotic locations such as Turlock or Sacramento :-/ for the weekend.
4. Hopefully a few golf tournaments


Morgan
1. A week of Xtreme (away) Camp with the church
2. 3 days of USA Cheer camp at a local college staying at the dorms (remember those days Diane?)
3. Using a Christmas gift for some horseback riding lessons
4. 2 day a week practices for cheer-it's less about the practice and more about being with friends.


Jack
1. The dinosaur exhibit at Gilroy Gardens
2. The dinosaur exhibit Lawrence Hall of Science (do you see a pattern here?)
3. Seeing the movie Cars II
4. Going to the California State Railroad Museum while in Sacramento.


As for me, I have my own list as well:
1. Celebrating my 20 year anniversary in July.
2. Getting together with so many people from my family for a week at the beach in Cayucas.
3. Seeing the movie version of one of my favorite books, The Help with friends who also loved the book in August.
4. August 23...the first day of school. Kidding!!

1 Down, 15 To Go

(number of years of school, that is)

Sept. 2010


May, 2011
Jack just finished his first year of preschool. He loved going everyday, playing with his friends and playing with toys. And while it sounds like he just loved playing, his preschool was wonderful about sneaking in learning opportunities disguised as play.

And with the last day of school came my last duty as room parent. I was actually inspired by the photos above, thinking about how much the kids have changed over the school year. So on the front of the flowers (cut by my Cricut) are pictures from September and the back are pictures from May showing how much they have bloomed.

I made a little envelope to tuck a gift card from the class inside.

Now I have three months to come up with an excuse of why I can't be room mom next year or a list of some new projects, I think word has gotten around the school and I'm starting to feel the creative pressure.