Scrapbooking!

I got a chance to do some scrapbooking while working this past weekend. It was slow at the store and I had everything else done, so I turned to some creativity! This first one is my favorite page of the weekend.

Loved using the Christine Adolph papers and some alcohol inks on an acrylic strip. Threw in the jeans pocket just for good measure. The journaling reads: Jansse loved the ocean! Here he is at Moss Landing CA and the smile on his face says it all! We were there fro breakfast the morning before Grandpa Gary married Nell.

This one was for the Prima July Build-A-Page challenge. Used their sketch. Have had these photos of Andy working on the truck for years and wanted to do something rugged with them. I tried not to get too flowery, so I distressed the flowers with Radiant Rains, used some circles that I cut with a cog like scissors, and used dark colors. That helped to keep it pretty masculine. Also used the black crystal "Say it with Crystal swirls." The journaling reads: Andy didn't grow up working on cars. But here he is replacing the brakes on our truck. A hard job done well! Way out of his comfort zone.

I've got two other layouts on the table, one that is just missing an "N" in the title (it fell off bringing it home) and another with papers from Little Yellow Bicycle and photos from Lake Tahoe over Memorial weekend. I'll try to get those ready to post in the next day or two.

Camping

The camping trip was fun. I was hardly there, but I can tell from the photos that they boys had a lot of fun. It even got extended a night, much to the thrill of Jansse! Here are some photos:

He always looks so handsome! So glad my friend Denise grabbed the camera and took this photo. They were on a hike to a meadow for lunch and playing and fishing. The creek was rushing, and the fishing was a bust. The meadow was boggy because of our late and wet spring. But it was beautiful and fun! Lots of muddy clothes as a result!

We shared a camp spot with Denise and Steve, so then we took our meals together. Because I had to work on Saturday and teach a class on Sunday morning, I left before breakfast each day so missed out on much of the meal times.

Other friends were in the campground and brought boys for Jansse to play with. And they could fly-fish! What a joy for Jansse!

Boy play!

Denise and Steve have girls, and this is a wonderful thing! For a mom of a boy it is so fun to see someone who wants to pick wild flowers! Kool-aide mustache and all!

The children, minus one of them. They had a great time!

So, that was camping. No fish caught but lots of fun had by all!

We're Off!

Going camping. Just one night. Sort of awkward to arrange, but we worked it out. Andy and Jansse go up. I join them after work on Friday. Then I leave early on Saturday so I can go to work again. Amazing that working one weekend a month can result in so very many scheduling conflicts. Everything from baseball games to camping to trips to Lake Tahoe. How can that be?

Camping will be fun, but it means I will also miss out on my first "Reveal Night" at Studio Calico. I subscribed to that kit club this month for the first time, only to find out that the night the reveal the contents of the monthly kit and the contents of the "Add Ons" is like a huge deal. Right now, probably one of the biggest events in the on-line scrapbooking world. I had no idea! But, I'll be missing it. Have to wait to experience it until July. I'll get my kit because I subscribe. And I have a friend who will order me the add on kit I want, so I'll get my product, but I'll miss out on all the chatter and fun. Oh well. If I don't go camping I won't have things to scrapbook about, right?

This week was VBS at church. Tonight was the wrap-up carnival, and Jansse had some fun:



Bounce houses abound! He loves that!

But, he also had his first ever "incident" with another child that left him in tears. This other boy hit him in the face and called him names. Andy and I did not see it, and we were not able to find the boy or his parents (there were tons of people there), so I'm not completely clear on what happened. Sounds like Jansse was at the super soaker station, filling up. The boy came over and was shooting water in his face. Jansse asked him to stop. He didn't. Jansse put his hands up in front of his face to protect himself. The boy put the super soaker up to Jansse's hands. Jansse pushed the super soaker out of the way. The boy punched Jansse in the face and called him names. Jansse cried. That is the version we got. Makes me so sad.

Now, don't go thinking I'm a bad mom for this, but I don't know whether I should hug my child and storm off looking for the bully, or whether I need more information - like how rough was the play before Jansse was filling his super soaker? Not that I think Jansse is a wimp, or that he would lie, or that the other kid was innocent. It's just that not having seen it I wonder if this should be processed as a "What to do with a bully" thing or as a "This is what happens when you play too rough" thing. Given the name calling, I'm inclined to think that this was more of a bully situation than play escalated to a level Jansse wasn't comfortable with. It is just so hard. When tucking Jansse into bed tonight the his dad and I talked to him some more about it. We left it at advising Jansse to avoid this other boy (fortunately he is not around often) and to learn to forgive. Jansse was doing better with it, but it still breaks my heart. I mean, my boy was crying. He almost never cries in public. It was sad!

I'll be back tomorrow with photos of our camping and any layouts I do while working at the store.

Goals! Need help getting there!

I've got some goals. Yep indeed. But I'm not getting them accomplished as quickly as I would like. So, time to do a little something about that.

First goal: Lose more weight faster. I've been losing about 3 pounds a month, and while that is better than not losing, it is discouraging to be making so little progress over what feels like such a long time. So, I need to exercise more consistently and be better about planning meals.

Second goal: I want to scrapbook more! Like at least five days a week for an hour or two. That's 5 to 10 hours a week, and seems reasonable.

Third goal: I want - no need - to keep my house cleaner and in better order. Just a fact. I need to do that! It will make all of us living here so much happier.

Forth goal: I need to get my garden in order. I was inspired by a garden I walked by yesterday that reminded me of Oakhurst and my aunt's property there. I want that look. It will take years to achieve, but it won't get done if I don't get out and do some work.

So, to get all these goals accomplished I need a schedule. Yep, a schedule. It all works out great on paper. I wrote it all out while waiting for my car to be serviced. I need to stick to that schedule and say no to things that don't fit the schedule. At first I need to be rigid about it. The schedule has lots of free time, but I can only make that happen if I do the exercise, house work and office work at the appropriate times.

That is my challenge for July. I hope I can do it! If I do, I'll have scrapbook pages to share. I'll have weight loss in greater amounts. I'll feel less overwhelmed by the mess. My home and garden will be more relaxed and enjoyable. Wow! Sounds like it is really worth giving this a try!

Random Jansse facts

1. He has questions we don't know the answers to. Like "What's a Black Hole?" or "Exactly how big is the ocean?"

2. We've had to adjust the seat on his bike up twice in the last month, so I suspect he is growing!

3. He was willing to give his balloon to a little girl who lost hers.

4. He tells the worst jokes: Why didn't the wolf cross the road? Because there was nothing to eat on the other side and on his side there were lots of chickens. Ha! Ha! Ha!

5. He loves wearing dark socks with shorts, even though I told him they looked funny - "Mom, I thought they looked good because they are matching - dark socks with dark shoes with dark shorts - so I think they look pretty nice."

6. He had the idea that fixed the clogged shower drain last night - saving us lots of money on a plumber!

7. He still loves to give hugs and kisses, and that makes me very happy!

A full Sunday

I've been trying to upload these photos all day - Blogger seems to be having a bit of a problem. But, at last they are up.

Yesterday was a full day. Started with church - I know, predictable, but a good thing. Then we had Daniel and Danielle over (Stacy had to work and we didn't get to spend any time with her). It was fantastic to see those two just relaxing - no deadlines, no stress. It seems that so often they are on a tight schedule, checking in on their way to something or another. But yesterday was just hang out time. That wa so fun.

Andy mowed more of the front field - until the belt broke on the mower.

Danielle and Jansse played with the sprinklers, making a fort on the porch to shelter them from the storm of water coming their way.

I finally got some time in the garden, trying to get rid of enough weeds that the beautiful flowers could be seen.
Bo just loved having the kids to play with, especially when they went out to the field for some romping in the tall grasses!
Daniel and Jansse got out the bows and arrows and messed around a bit.

We know for sure that Daniel can shoot an arrow farther than Jansse - no surprise there to anyone but Jansse!

And little Miss D just kept running through those sprinklers!
And we topped the day off with yummy chicken from the grill.

Now, can you think of a better day? Only if Stacy could have joined in on the fun and relaxation!

Obsessed with the lilac bush

When we look out our living room window we see the lilac bush. And in the evening the light always hits it in a special way. And it seems that almost daily I run out with my camera and try ever so hard to capture the beauty. Certainly I am not able to match what God does with this bush, but I thought I'd share a little bit of it!




This bush brings me joy!

Oh Frick!

I was so excited to do a multi-week challenge contest on a site I'm not very familiar with. I twas a chance to follow through on my desire to participate in more scrapbooking challenges and contests. I really want to get more involved, which means more time, which is always the tripping up point. But still, it is a goal. So, I spent much of today working on a layout for that challenge/contest because I thought it was due this evening. And, it is due this evening, but what I missed was that you had to sign up last weekend. Well, I didn't even know about the contest then, so missed that opportunity. Here is the layout anyway.

It is from way back when Jansse was just 15 months old. He had a great time visiting GG and all the Oakhurst folks. An, he loved playing with the gardening trowl. What can I say, he has always been so easy to please. In fact, I often wonder why we even buy him toys. To this day he would much rather play with non-toy items. Today for instance, he had great fun playing with the hose:

Have a great weekend.

Yesterday

Yesterday Jansse and I spent the whole day setting up for the auction tonight. Took a truck load of stuff down tot he church - and this is not all of the stuff!

Fortunately for Jansse another volunteer offered to take all of the kids to her house to play on the slip and slide. That was so fun for him!
Yeah, boys love to goof around!
Usually Jansse is the only boy in this group, but John was there yesterday, and that really helped to make it extra special.

Here is a picture of pretty much the same group a year ago - Jansse was the only boy!

Amazing how they have grown in one year! Or maybe I'm the only one who can see that!

The auction is consuming my time. Haven't exercised in days! Haven't crafted! Barely manage to get meals done, and what I do serve is . . . well, a bit embarrassing! But, it will all be over tonight. Then the weekend is for catching up, gardening, and relaxing. Maybe, if I'm lucky, getting a scrapbook page made!

A Busy Night at Third Base

Yeah! We had a real game! No rain, and the other team showed up in full! And a good team they were! We had a lot of fun.

Jansse spent one inning at third base. Now, remember, one inning is through the entire fourteen person lineup of each team, so there were more than three outs per inning. Jansse made several of them as he was on third.

Gotta get there fast!
"See, when I touch the ball to the base before you get there, you're pretty much out!"
Foul ball!
"I got there first! I got there first!"
"And I'm not taking my feet off the base until you admit you are O-U-T!"

Backing up his team mates.
" Guess what I have in my glove!"

Throw to first!
Get that ground ball!
More ground balls!

Remember folks, this was all one inning!

I think he might have been a bit tired!

He also played left field and pitcher tonight. Less trouble with the heart guard! A good game all around!

At Last! Baseball!

Finally got an evening where we could play! There were threatening dark clouds, claps of thunder and sprinkles of rain, but no one person said a word about those. After five canceled games in a row, we were playing ball no matter what. Just to make things even more interesting, the red team only had six players, so we didn't really have a game. Just a "two team practice" as Jansse called it. Each boy got to bat three times and play at least three different field positions. The coaches just worked with all the boys, whether on their team or not, and the boys had a great time.

Interesting that because we use metal bats the pitchers wear heart guards. Well, Jansse pitched (that means stand next to the coach and be bored) last night, but it was really more of a belly guard. Or a cup! Or at one point I think he was wearing it as an ascot. Oh well. He didn't get hit, so we won't complain!

Here are a few photos:

Yep, that would be a strike! A little early there Jansse.

Dancing next to the coach pitcher.
Imitating how the pitcher should be.
Waiting to bat.
That handsome couch again - wearing his "going to court" clothes under his jacket.

Good game everyone!

Great excitement over the snacks! We don't usually serve that much sugar in one sitting!

On the way home we got to visit our little neighbor, who was busy, but oh so cute. And, notice, since baseball was over, the sun returned.