Halloween is around the corner...

and I'm working on decorating! I found that I really have hardly any decorations for Halloween! Or, Fall for that matter! It's really kinda sad! So, since we decided to have a Halloween party for the kids this year, I decided that I really needed to step up my decorations this year! Haleigh and I decided to make a banner together and it was really a lot of fun! I've seen so many cute ones out there and thought that I should give it a try. I have enough Halloween supplies from the last couple of years that I needed to use up somewhere!!!



I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out! I think that I needed longer ribbon because this wasn't big enough to stretch all the way across but, I ran out so, this will do for this year!

We've also purchased a few things such as cobwebs, a bucket with Halloween images, a small skeleton, a small hay bale for him to sit on and several other odds and ends. The kids are really looking forward to this party, as am I!!!

Now that I have this project complete, I think that I can finally sit down to scrap and enjoy some of the challenges at the SAL crop!

Come join us!!!

This Saturday, Sept. 26, will be the kick off of crop season at Scrap-A-Latte!!!

Sarah Martinez will be hosting a "School of Scrap" cyber crop!!! There are sure to be lots of fun challenges and cool prizes!!!

Be there or be square! ;)

Girls weekend...

I'm finally getting back to this! So, the weekend before last, my sister, Mom, sister's Mother-in-Law and myself went down to French Lick, IN, to stay in my Mom's and step-Dad's camper for the weekend. We spent Saturday in Jasper then headed back to French Lick to hit an antique store, a couple of beautifully restored hotels and a casino (which didn't last very long - lost all of my $16 quickly!). It also happened to be the weekend that the Porsche club was there, showcasing classic, old Porsches, and they were sweet!!! On Sunday, we stopped at Oliver Winery on the way home to enjoy some wine tasting. We were lucky enough to be there on the day that they had an open house at their vineyard. We went on the tour of the winery and then off to the tour of the vineyard, 4 miles away. It really was a fantastic weekend!!! I look forward to doing it again!

American Crafts and sickies...

First, I want to post a layout I did in response to another American Crafts challenge that was posted on their blog. The challenge was to create a layout about school and use 2 American Crafts products. I had the PERFECT picture of my son from the end of the school year, last year. Here's what I came up with:

I used American Crafts pattern paper from their "kids" collection. I also used patchwork fabric thickers (love these things!), AC clear remarks journal sticker and the apple is from the American Crafts Craft Fair collection.

Now, onto the sickies. So, I went away for the weekend with my Mom, sister and her Mother-In-Law (pictures will be uploaded later). I get back Sunday night and Dakota said he wasn't feeling very well. He ended up having a fever of 101. And, it pretty much stayed that way for 2 days straight, with some nasty coughing. Tylenol knocked it down, then it went right back up. He did get back to school on Wednesday and he has had a TON of homework! So, Tuesday, Brian wakes up and is sicker than a dog! And, it's not even the same thing as Dakota! Here it is Thursday, and he's still miserable. I'm ready for the weekend and I'm ready for everyone to be back in good health!

I'll post again maybe this weekend with pics from the weekend trip!

American Crafts challenge!

This last week's challenge was to create a layout about friendship using two American Crafts products. I decided to go for it but, I forgot about the friendship part. Lucky for me, the layout I decided to do this afternoon was about friendship anyway! I actually just took this picture of my daughter with her BFFs from around our neighborhood yesterday and couldn't wait to use those little umbrellas from the Backyard collection! So, here's my creation. I used American Crafts paper from the everyday collection (rain drops), chipboard umbrellas from the Backyard collection and Chit Chat thickers.

Thanks for the challenge, American Crafts!

Homework

This is what we see A LOT of here recently...
From the time he gets home until about 8:00 or so on most week nights. He is coming from a public school that hardly ever sent home homework, never had tests to study for and never really held any kids accountable for anything. Understandably so, as this school is surrounded by people that just in general do not care about their children. It's sad really. But, we have pulled our kids out and put them in a charter school. And this is what we get. I can't say that I'm thrilled that he has so much work but, I'm thrilled to see that this school is teaching the children not only academics but, accountability. A very important thing to know in the real world!

I love 3 day weekends!

I love them for more than the fact that it's three days off of work! I love that it's only a four day work week afterwards, which totally rocks in my opinion!

It was, overall, a nice relaxing weekend. Brian got our bathroom floor finished (a project that's been in limbo for months), he replaced our crappy basic brass ceiling lights in the front entryway and in the hallway and, we were able to just be lazy! Haleigh went to a hotel party sleepover on Saturday and Sunday morning, that's all we heard about! Obviously, she had a great time! Sunday night, my sister and brother-in-law came over. Alyssa needed a little bit of help on putting together some invitations then the rest of the evening was spent scrappin, while the boys played video games. It was a great time and I actually managed to get two layouts done!!! I'm really happy with the "She's got style" layout. It's so Haleigh right now! The "good times" layout, well, let's just say that I suck at titles and I can assure you that I will use this title several more times!

On another note, school is in full swing! The kids are doing really well so far! Dakota is struglling a bit with remembering to bring things home. At his old school, they rarely had tests or any "at home" work. Mostly because a lot of the kids would totally fail if it were left up to the parents to help them at home. Now, it's the opposite. He's getting A's and B's so far in everything but Social Studies, where he has a C+. But, we're working on that. It all has to do with learning how to study for tests. I know by then end of the quarter, he'll have all A's and B's. I know my kid. Haleigh, on the other hand, is thriving even more now than ever! She is getting straight A+'s in all subjects! I'm very proud of both of them!