Bleh, but then again, not so much...

Apparently, I need deadlines. I haven't really had any big scrapping assignments this month. It feels a little odd. At first, I thought, "okay, this is good...time to regroup, find some balance, refocus on homeschooling...maybe even get some of my own scrapping projects done." After months of big assignment after big assignment, it seemed like a good thing, right? But. I find myself staring at my scrap supplies more often than not. I can't seem to find the inspiration to complete any projects lately. I find myself in "shuffling" mode...you know...shuffling papers around my desk and then shuffling them again just for the sake of shuffling. ;) I just plain work better with deadlines.

However. All is not lost. I've been having great fun with the boys and really *have* been managing to get some aspects of our life in order. Look at these silly boys earlier this week. It had rained that morning and while the guy with the mobile AC repair was working on the van (again...we did this same thing last summer), they escaped the house to play in the puddles in the street. (Fortunately, our cul-de-saq is wonderfully quiet.)

 

 

Yes, Noah and Asher are still in pajamas. Yes, I probably should have had them stop playing in the middle of the street, particularly when they soaked Micah with their splashing. Yes, the AC repair guy probably thought I was nuts grabbing the camera rather than a towel. But, look at how much fun they had. I love times like these...such incredibly simple and cheap entertainment.

So, I may not have been "productive" with my scrapping this month, but I'm not worried. I'm collecting plenty of material to scrap later... :) 

Camping highlights.

Yay! We had such a nice weekend! Once upon a time, Nathan and I enjoyed going camping. Since having kids, though, we just really haven't had the opportunity. We've been wanting to at least make a start, though; and, when a friend of Nathan's offered the use of his cabin for the weekend, we planned an impromptu camping trip. Picked up some new sleeping bags for the boys (wow...why didn't they have sleeping bags like these years ago? Nathan and I are definitely going to have to get some for ourselves...great CO company called Big Agnes with way awesome stuff) and headed out Saturday.

Incidentally, dude, packing for camping (even just overnight) with three little boys takes up a lot more room than you'd think...almost forgot diapers! We're so out of practice...did end up forgetting a number of things and taking way more than needed in other areas. For instance, totally forgot a first aid kit and then was paranoid the entire time that Asher (our accident prone one) was going to injure himself...fortunately, he didn't.

Anyhow, we arrived up there to see the lovely cabin and discover that the electricity and, therefore, running water, was not working. Not a huge deal, but we'd packed in anticipation of having those things.  No worries...had fun by candlelight (after moving all oil lamps out of Micah's reach) and it was a fun adventure in going back in time a bit (yup, worked some little history lessons right into it all).

Well, I could go on and on but instead I'll just give you a brief run-down by way a handful of the weekend's pictures. To start with, Micah got right to business playing in the dirt while we unloaded...

 

We then set up the tent for Nathan, Noah & Asher...played some games...made a campfire. Noah & Asher weren't impressed by smores (don't know what's wrong with them) but Micah thought it was all great fun (and had to continually be retrained from walking too close to the fire). ;) Asher was just mesmerized...

 

Then it was time for bed. Micah and I slept in the cabin's beautiful guest room, cozy with the fireplace going downstairs. Nathan and the other two slept out in the tent (by choice, there was plenty of room inside). Gotta love those new sleeping bags. (The boys are still trying to sleep in them now that we're home. They have a wonderful pocket on the bottom for an air mattress so you don't slide off ever...very comfy!)

 

After a yummy breakfast over the gas stove, we set out on our "exploring walk" (NOT a hike, as Asher refused to go on a hike). We MAYBE did a mile round trip what with little legs and all, but it was a fun little walk...stopping for a few pictures (both Noah and I holding things up when we stopped to take photos) and to examine things.

 

 

 

We made it back to the cabin to refuel. Then, Micah, Asher and I stayed behind while Noah and Nathan took off for a bit more of an actual hike...climbing up out of the little canyon we were in to see this view.

 

After they got back, we all packed up and headed back home. Whew. Well, that was a brief run down and just a handful of the 300-400 pictures that Noah and I took. ;) Good times. 

Rainbows in the oddest places.

So, the boys and I were visiting with my good friend, Melissa, yesterday. Between Melissa and I, there are six kids...a six year old, two almost five year olds and three almost two year olds. Yeah. It was busy. ;) While the kids were playing in the backyard, we noticed that they created a rainbow of Crocs when lined up by age. How weird is that? We tried to get them all to actually line up for us, but did you hear the part about a six year old, two almost five year olds and three almost two year olds? In the end, we took off their Crocs and lined them up ourselves then set about taking pictures, of course. (Melissa and I are both signed up for CKU in Anaheim and are taking Ali's A Week in the Life album track so have a LOT of pictures to take.)

 

So, anyone have any big plans this weekend? I had planned to finally work on a banner heading for this blog but turns out we're going to go camping. Yay! With the boys and life and all, we haven't been camping in ages. True, this particular experience will be cabin-based camping with conveniences like bathrooms and a kitchen, but it's a start. I just cleared off the camera card so that I can take plenty of pictures. Now I need to go pack some stuff! ;) Happy weekend to y'all! 

Happy.

Just a quick little post with some pictures of things in my office that make me happy today.

 

First is my monthly calendar page. I made a bunch of these up using scraps...keep the current month on my fun clipboard and jot down thoughts during the month then add it to my little 8x8 album at the end of the month along with a page with a collage of pics from the month...quick and easy.

Second is my new stash of printer ink. Just bought a bunch from a friend who had some to get rid of...yay! Always needing more printer ink.

Third is one of my KI tins with little clear stamps stored inside. This one happens to have a bunch of the fun little stamp sets you can find at Michael's lately. Love this! (If anyone knows where I can find some more KI tins, let me know...get the feeling I'll be buying more clear stamps since I seem to be addicted. Love that with the clear ones I can see where I'm stamping...it's totally brought stamping back to life for me! I've even dusted off my wood mounted ones lately!)

Fourth is just some stuff on my desk that I can't wait to play with some more...no idea where I got that green felt thing, but isn't it cool?  

So...what's making you happy today? 

Tagged.

Okay, so Tiffany tagged me. She tells me that this means I must 1) list seven random things and blog about them here; 2) tag seven others to do the same; and, 3) list those seven here and comment on their blogs to tell them they've been tagged. Well, I can definitely do the first. However, I don't know that I know seven others to tag. I'm new to this blog thing. So. I'm gonna do it...I'm gonna break the rules and the "tag chain" or whatever it is. I'll list my seven things but not tag anyone else. Does this mean bad karma? I'll chance it. ;)

 1. I recently got new speakers for my desktop computer so that I can watch/listen to dvds at night while I work. I'm so excited about this. I don't generally listen to music but love the background noise of a well-loved movie. Yay!

2. The boys and I had such a fun time at the park today...I haven't taken them by myself in awhile now. My little Micah is such a different boy than the other two were. He was climbing the "rock" wall, going down the big slides and learned that he could hang from the little bar...such an adventurer!

 

3. I've been wanting new sandals for the summer, right? I thought I'd finally figured out what I wanted...some fun Dansko Lolitas in Cognac. I went to my local good shoe store tonight to check sizes (they didn't have the color I wanted) only to discover that I need a 36. Not many places carry a 36. If you find one, could you let me know? Or if you have recommendations for other sandals...looking for something with awesome support (so a day of walking around in them isn't going to kill me), nothing that goes between my toes (hate that for some reason), a slight heel would be dandy, and fun yet stylish if possible. I'm a practical sort, so they need to go with many things, too.

4. Ceiling fans make me dizzy. Seriously, the lighting section at stores like Home Depot freak me out. I avoid them.

5. I love the look of stitching on layouts but can't bring myself to do it because my sewing machine scares me. (Noah's actually watched the instructional video about my sewing machine more times than I have (okay, more times than any person really aught to) so maybe I should get him to to it.)

6. I started a mini album of lists yesterday...lists like shows I want to see and books I want to read...because I'm always forgetting when I'm at Blockbuster or the library, know what I mean? Besides, I have all these fun little mini albums and thus far haven't made many of them into actual books. ;) I'm thinking I'll add pages about people I've been meaning to write to and places I want to go and all sorts of other things. Cool. 

7. I have the coolest neighbor. She volunteered to watch the boys once a month so Nathan and I could go out on a date night. Tonight was one of those nights. We went out to dinner and just hung out without kids for awhile. Gotta love date nights.

Yay! So, there are my seven random things. Since I didn't actually tag anyone...feel free to consider yourself tagged if you just have seven random things you want to get off your chest... ;)