Finished my June 2008 Album in a Year layout last night and wanted to share:

Have I mentioned how much fun I've been having with working from these sketches? So quick and easy! Have you been keeping up with your Album in a Year? :) 

Well, the swim lessons at the gym went considerably better than the ones through the city...they ended today (for this session--I may have to see about future sessions, though, they enjoyed them so much). Noah and Asher had soooo much fun! I know that it helped that the student/instructor ratio was better (3/1 instead of 6/1), and both boys had wonderful instructors...each just right for each boy. Whew. So happy. In any case, a few quick photos:

Asher's like an entirely different boy from the start of the summer. Initially, he didn't even want to put his face in the water...now he's like a little fish and can't wait to get wet. Noah, meanwhile, has been enthusiastic about swimming from the start and loves the pool. He's been working on his freestyle stroke and diving this summer...

Micah, on the other hand, still isn't fond of the pool at all. He's rather glad not to have swim lessons yet. But. I caught him copying Asher during Asher's lesson today:

Isn't he cute? (Yes, Noah's lessons are in the outside pool and Asher's are in the inside one.) In any case, Micah's been pretty pleased with the whole swim lessons situation as it meant (with the exception of today since I was taking pictures) that he and I got to go to the little cafe and have a drink and a snack while his brothers were in class. :) Gotta have priorities.

Well, I'll try to get another layout done tonight (no promises). While I do that, leave me a comment if you have any super secret awesome tricks for traveling with young boys... ;) (We'll just be driving a couple hours...mostly I'm concerned about the evenings in the hotel since they're used to staying up later than most...need something quieter than the rough housing they like to end out the day with at home, lol! Any other tips about sightseeing and all that are also more than welcome!)

In and out all day today...busy this week with getting ready for our trip. Realized I haven't shared many layouts lately, though, and wanted to just post these two quickly. These are layouts I actually started back in April and finally got around to finishing this week. Normally, I don't leave layouts hanging like that but assignments cropped up and these got set aside. In any case, just a couple layouts I did for nothing in particular. :)

This one was about a field trip with the boys where they learned about bats...not obvious from the pictures. ;) Big thanks to Vivian for the cute little wooden bat button! This next layout is just a heap of pictures from some fountain fun downtown last September:

Love the mirror paper (by Prism, of course!) for the "spray" and how nicely the title came together (finally). Hard to see here, but some of the little pictures along the bottom are popped up and framed with silver tape as well.

Okay, off to the gym now then the rest of my crazy afternoon... :) 

It started with the sidewalk chalk. And then they wanted to change what they'd written. Thus came the water...

Noah, of course, declared himself in charge of the hose as he sprayed his brothers. Micah wasn't keen on getting wet but loved to see the spray. Not exactly sure what he's doing here...perhaps signaling some sort of water spray preference? Regardless, he's adorable!

And, my suddenly fearless Asher ended the session completely soaked...with goosebumps and pruney fingers. Unlike his water-dodging brothers, Asher headed straight into it:

Incidentally, I now think that it should be mandatory that kids wear tie dye when playing in the water. :)

(Yes, btw, I know I should have redirected them to spray the water over the yard so at least we'd have been watering the grass. But they were having such fun and we didn't stay out there *too* terribly long...)

 Well, it seems like a good start to the weekend. :) Here's hoping the rest of it goes as well...(and I promise to try to do some scrapbooking to share, too!)

Popping in again to share some pictures from last Friday (aka the Fourth of July). First, here's Micah in his very first ever water gun fight...gotta love the belly profile!

Not surprisingly, he was NOT a fan of anyone squirting him, though he felt more than justified in getting everyone else. :) Noah, on the other hand, has finally grasped the true spirit of a water fight:

The boy was completely soaked in short order and gave as good as he got. Asher's still on the fence about the whole being squirted thing...doing better than last year when he was more like Micah, but still rather adamant about certain "rules" that seemed to be forthcoming at his whim. Regardless, this is one good-looking six year old:

And, what Fourth of July would be complete without fireworks? We again visited the Loveland city fireworks show. Here's one of the many photos we took...not the best, but still a fun one:

And thus ends my belated pictures from last Friday. ;)