I Love to Dance

This is for Cecily's album. She was three and it was her first dance class. She had undergone some separation anxiety earlier in the year but by spring when her friends had joined the class she loved it.

She has decided not to dance this year which makes me a little sad, but extra glad to have these pictures!

Scrapbook Night

I have to laugh because Amy and I always seem to have coinciding lives. We also did a family scrapbook night last week (but ours was Sunday instead of Friday). The girls begged to invite Grandma over and we did. It turned out to be lots of fun. Grandma scrapped tons of layouts (she always works so quickly) but between caring for a cranky Lydia, I didn't get much done. I had already done the first page of this 3-page layout earlier in the week, and I got the second page done and most of the 3rd (I finished it up Monday morning). So here is the rest of the second grade section for her school years album.

Unlike Amy I didn't have to put much time into getting the girls supplies. They are into them on a regular basis and know where everything is. My problem is keeping them OUT of my supplies! I am constantly out of my tape-runner refills and I get frustrated when they use a particular supply I was saving for something. But, I love that they scrapbook so I try not to freak out and try to gently nudge them in the direction of things I don't care if they use! They each have a binder with layouts they've created. They just use extra photos (I keep a stack of photos they know they are allowed to use) and they just go into the album in the chronology of when they were created, not when the pictures were taken. It's kind of a hodge-podge but fun to look at how their scrapping skills have evolved over time!

Here is Cecily's layout of her swimming in Utah over the summer.

And Isabel's layout, also of swimming in Utah. She spent more of her time creating a paper doll I didn't get a picture of.

It was fun! We'll have to do it again soon, because it was a good impetus for me to get a few pages done!

One Little Layout, One Big Mess

I was determined that this week I was going to get at least one layout done no matter what. Of course things got busy as usual and it was looking like it wasn't going to happen. Then Lynnsey asked if we could have a scrapbook night together and she was so excited about the prospect that I decided we'd just make it happen on Friday night. When Kendall and Spencer saw what was happening they decided that they wanted to participate too. So I dragged out a bunch of supplies and we ended up spreading everything all over the dining room table. I'd like to say we had a nice quiet and enjoyable evening. But I can't say that. The kids enjoyed it immensely. I, on the other hand ended up spending most of the time finding certain supplies for the kids or helping to peel stickers off or searching under the mess for the stuff I had picked out to work on. After an hour, I still had nothing done and looking at the chaos on the table, I was nearly ready to panic at what I knew would take me another good hour to clean up! I just kept muttering to myself: "we're creating memories" to remind myself that this is something that the kids may remember as a happy time. Finally, they decided they'd had enough and I quickly threw together a simple one page layout before I began the tedious clean up process and vowed that this scene, while the kids loved it, will not be a regular occurence! They really did have fun though. Spencer dug through our extra photos and pulled out some old pictures of himself which he pasted (with half a glue stick) onto a scrap paper. On the other side he glued a bunch of stickers. Lynnsey pasted on an extra photo of Kaya and one of herself and then used about a hundred stickers to fill in the page. She looked at her finished product and remarked: "I'm very good at this activity." And Kendall also found an extra photo of himself which he framed and then used some of my scraps to decorate the page. He even did some journaling which I thought was very cute. He was kicking himself when he was done because he had just done the a decorative X on the page and he wished he had made it a K instead. Oh well.

And here is the one that I did. This is for Lynnsey's book and she was thrilled with the flower and all the pink. It was an exhausting night! But I'm glad we did it.

Fourth of July

This is an extremely simple one for Bentley's one-year album. I just glued red and blue paper squares onto white cardstock to make the grids and the rest were die-cut shapes I've had forever. As simple as it was, I love how it turned out!

I'm revising my scrapbook goal for the rest of the year...I think one per week may be as much as I can handle. I am still organizing literally hundreds of old photos I've just developed and there are no dates on them and it is a nightmare sorting them out. Moral: develop your photos right away!

Also, I'm cross-stitching a Christmas stocking for Lydia and I'm really hoping to get it done before Christmas, so any crafting time I have lately is going into that. But I don't want to give up scrapping altogether now that I've gotten back into it so hopefully one per week will still happen!

Kendall's First Camping Trip

Okay, yes I know my second son is now nearly 10 years old. In these pictures he was 10 months old. I am forever and probably will be forever behind. But at least I am doing more now than I was a couple of months ago.

Well, it's not five...

...but I did get three layouts done this week. And in a week that I was planning a birthday party and cleaning house for that party, and preparing a relief society lesson, too. I figure if I could get some done last week I should be able to get some done nearly every week!

"Second Grade":
This one is for Isabel's school years album. I use the Becky Higgins kits and love them. I need to get the rest of her second grade section done. This week!

"Boo"

This is for Isabel's two-year-old album, photos from a ward trunk-or-treat. The title is Isabel standing in front of the decorations, and I just cut it from the photo. I had all these Halloween paper remnants from making Cecie's party invitations last week on my desk, so I decided to use some of them on a simple Halloween layout.

"Kaya Nicole"

These photos are of Kaya, for our family album. This finishes the rest of the stack of photos from Amy I had on my desk after my "Oswald Kids" layout a few weeks ago.

That's all for this week. I'll be posting on Sunday's from now on. That was smart thinking Amy. The rest of the week is too busy and I could never remember on Friday.

My goal for this week: the rest of Isabel's second grade stuff for her school album and the same section on pre-school for Cecily in her school album. Also, do some more photo organizing. I just came across a ton of pictures from YEARS ago that were never dated or anything. What a mess to try to sort that all out. They are cute pictures, too, although heart-breaking to see how big my kids have gotten since then.

Also, I found a bunch of photo CD's. When I got my first digital camera, I wasn't sure how to develop photos so I just made CD's and I still don't have hard-copies of all those pictures. My Ritz-Camera store has 6 cent prints on Tuesdays so I have been going in on Tuesdays to drop off and pick up; so I'm going to start developing a CD a week til I get things caught up. Then hopefully I'll be in the habit of going in, and can continue and just clear off my memory card each week. That way I won't have hundreds of prints to deal with at a time.

Two Weeks Worth

Last week I did get my layout done but I wasn't able to post it until now. These pictures from our family album are some that Kalen's sister did of us when we were out visiting one summer many years ago. So here is last weeks work: (With Kaya out of the picture I actually was able to do a 4 page layout instead of my standard two-pager)

And then I also took advantage of an hour that Kalen and the kids were watching an old Doctor Who episode to get another layout done this week. Pardon the really poor picture quality. My digital camera is dying a slow and painful death. These pictures are just a few of a whole stack of Taylor on a trip we took to Pinetop Arizona one summer to stay in the cabin of some friends of ours. (Remember that Melissa?) The next few layouts I do for Taylor will probably be of those pictures.

Still Not Scrapping

So I still haven't gotten back to scrapping, other than stuff like Cecily's birthday party invitation (which I apparently forgot to rotate when I uploaded it). I have still been organizing my pictures and memorabilia into albums which is taking FOREVER! Just when I was nearing the end of my stacks of pictures it took me so long to sort and date, I went and developed hundreds more (from our vacation, start of school, pumpkin patch, etc), so I'm right back to where I started.

The thing is, though, that I am ALWAYS going to be busy and I'm always going to have a very reasonable excuse for why I couldn't scrap that week. I just need to make it a priority and get it done!

Here's me recommitting to scrapping this week. I know, I said that a while ago...but this time I really mean it!

Finally--I'm back

In spite of all my good intentions, I just could not seem to find the time to get my meager one layout a week done since school started. (Aren't I supposed to have MORE time when the kids are gone all day???) But finally, I found a spare hour and decided it was time to drag out the scrapbook stuff again. This layout is for Kaya's book and sadly it is the very first layout I've done for her, ever. I'll never ever catch up, I know. But at least it's something. These were taken when she was a week old. Oh, how I miss those days!

Love at First Sight

This was a pretty easy one I threw together fairly fast for Bentley's album this week. I meant to post it on Friday but didn't get to it. I'm starting to think all my layouts look the same, but I'm not sure what to do about that.

Other than that, I have been dating a ton of pictures and will hopefully get them organized into albums this week. I may take a scrapping break this week to organize the photos and all the other memorabilia stacked up and litttering my scrap room right now; so that I can start fresh and organized next week. I feel like once I am fully organized I'll be more productive and hopefully get back to my five layout goal (the one I have yet to meet)!

Newsletter '08

Yeah, so I totally copped-out on my layouts for this week. The above layout made it into each of the older three kids' albums plus the family album (yes, I made four duplicate layouts). Obviously, I didn't put too much work into it! A copy of last year's newsletter and Christmas card, with some letter stickers and a ribbon. It was the easiest way I could think of to meet my goal this week! (And, I still didn't officially meet the goal, since I still have nothing done for Lydia). Ignore the terrible photo. I didn't notice the dark shadow until I'd uploaded it and I'm too lazy to do it over!

I actually do put a copy of our newsletter and Christmas card into everyone's album each year. I think it is a fun glimpse into our family's life for that year. And, lots of journaling already done! So, I'm glad I finally got last year's newsletters into albums.

Sweet Baby Boy

This is all I got done this week...finishing up the layout I started for Bentley before we left for vacation. Very simple, too. But something is better than nothing!

These are his 20-week ultrasound photos, when we found out he was a boy. The journaling is taken from the pregnancy journal I kept, which made it easy! If you click the image it should enlarge so you can read it better, in spite of the camera glare.

Happy Day in the Park

Okay, for once I am absolutely thrilled with the way a layout came out. Lots of times I can totally visualize what I want it to look like in my head, but what the finished product looks like is not even close. But this three page layout of Spencer just came together so well without even any preconceived idea of what I wanted it to look like. The pictures don't even do it justice. I know it sounds like I'm bragging and I don't mean to but I am just so excited that this turned out as well as it did. The quote says: "We find delight in the beauty & happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body" by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I love black and white photos but never quite know what papers or accents look best. To me, this seems to be a good choice. I love the understated green and blue and the bold black and white that seems to make things pop off the page without detracting from the cute photos of Spencer.

Chocolate Heaven

I had big plans when I pulled out these pictures. It was going to be a super-cute layout and a super-quick one so I figured I'd get some done for Spencer that same night. Two hours later I was just thankful to finish up this one. I ended up making some mistakes that needed correcting and still I wasn't able to fully fix them, but I won't tell you what they were just in case you really can't tell.

Anyway, this is darling Lynnsey when she was about 8 months old. Kalen's parents were visiting to help us out during Kendall's heart surgery and they didn't take us seriously about our no sweets for babies rule and sat Lynnsey on the table right in front of a box of Oreo's. She got one taste and there was no turning back! (The caption around the bottom photo says: "all a girl really needs is love...but a little chocolate now and then sure doesn't hurt).

I'm Such a Slacker!

Yeah, you'll notice no new pictures this week. I just didn't get myself scrapping! I am blaming it on our vacation to Utah (we leave tomorrow) and the excitement and preparation. Really, though, I was mostly just lazy. And there'll be no new post next week, either, since we'll be in Utah still.

I did do a few things "scrapbooky" though:

1. Did about half a layout for Bentley. Not ready to photograph and post, though.

2. Cleared off my memory card and developed the 880 photos that were on it, which span the last 3 months. (You can see that at the rate I take pictures, I will never ever ever be caught up on scrapbooks). This was helpful because now I have actual photos of Lydia if I ever get around to a layout for her.

3. I did do a lot of writing in Lydia's baby book.

Hopefully, I'll get back into right away once we get back from Utah and get our kids settled into school. I'll need to...I'm sure to return with hundreds more pictures from the trip!

Amy's First Week

Well, since my calendar still said 2008 the last time I scrapbooked, I decided to start out with a very small goal of one layout per week. If I find that I am having no trouble getting one done then I'll up the number. This week actually was super busy so I was grateful to have such a small goal to meet. But I have to say, I had so much fun and I am really looking forward to getting at least something done.

This layout is for Kendall's book (and like Alison, I am years and years behind in my scrapbooking). These photos may look rather familiar as Alison chose to do pictures from the same beach trip. I know, what are the chances? But I also love scrapping beach photos so that may have something to do with the coincidence. This one actually came out rather simple because I ended up scrapping after the kids had gone to bed and so once I decided what I wanted to scrapbook, I couldn't get back into my supplies without waking up Taylor, so I just used what I had. And that does it for me for week one. I need to get more organized beforehand so I can come up with a better layout for Lynnsey's pictures next week.

Week one

So, this was my first week to scrap for the new blog. I did not meet my goal, only getting three of my five layouts scrapped. Isabel is having a birthday party sleepover this weekend, too, so that has taken quite a bit of my time.

This layout, "Oswald Kids" is for my family album. I've had these pictures on my desk for almost a year so I figured I might as well quick put them on a layout!

This layout, "Fun in the Sun" is for Isabel. She was only one. I am WAY behind!

This layout, "Life's a Beach" is for Cecily's album. Can you tell I love scrapping beach pages? They are probably my favorite. She is 3 1/2 here.

I'm still hoping to get layouts for Bentley and Lydia scrapped this weekend. If I do I will post them.

Getting Organized

So, I love scrapbooking. But I never seem to ACTUALLY scrapbook! I am lucky if I can keep my photos even slightly organized, much less put onto layouts. In fact, about the only times I scrapbook are when I get together with Amy a few times a year. I always feel so accomplished after those scrap sessions (plus they are fun!) and commit to doing better, but somehow on my own I never get to work. And on this last visit with Amy, I was disappointed that we never found time to scrap together.

So I thought, how about we start a scrap blog, commit to scrapping at least once a week, and posting our completed layouts. This way, it is almost as if we are scrapping together. And hopefully knowing that I've committed to the layouts will make me feel compelled to get them done!

So, I am hereby committing to five layouts per week. One for each child and one for my family albums. (Some may be duplicates as I often do the exact same layout in my family album as I've done on a child's album). I will try to do my posts on a Friday unless my week gets busy.

Yay! This will be fun! I am feeling better about my piles of pictures waiting to be scrapbooked already!