happy birthday mom . . .

. . .today is my mom's birthday. . .69 years young. . .


hope you have a wonderful day mom!

catch you soon -

my version. . .

. . .so the incredibly talented Candice Stringham wrote an article in CKMag about taking patriotic pics this 4th - in front of a flag. . .we happen to have an old large flag lying around (well ok, folded up and respected). . .now, I am CLEARLY no photog - even though I would love to be and think i have a good eye - i just can't translate that eye to a picture. . .or something like that. . .the also incredibly talented cathy zielske did a shoot - and again, i bow down before her fantastic-ness. . .

but my family cooperated (some grudgingly), and i have some cute shots.

the big kid:


the little kid:


the reluctant dad:


the mom:


thanks for looking - hope you had a great 4th!
catch you soon -

happy 4th of july. . .

independence is a wonderful thing for which we should all be grateful


from me an mine to you and yours -
catch you soon-

getting ready. . .

. . .for my next Cathy Zielske adventure. . .it's like a travel club to exotic destinations. . .



cz is hosting a BPS workshop based on Amy Krouse Rosenthal's book, "Enclyclopedia of an Ordinary Life"

i had the pleasure of reading this fantastically amusing book several years ago, when the amazing Keli Crowe mentioned it on her blog.

now it's a workshop, inspiring the completion of an album about me and my life. . .perhaps just the thing i need . . .

waiting for my order from scrapbook.com to get here with the last of my supplies, and then it's just wait for september to get here. . .

catch you soon -

my albums . . .

. . .so these are my American Craft albums. . .at least four of my current 7. . .

. . .these are my main scrapbook albums, per Stacy Julian's Library of Memories methodology. i have 4 AC cloth albums in 12 x 12 in chestnut, labeled for Stacy's 4 main categories. the "all about us" album is pretty full and needs to be split out into three separate albums. . .

catch you soon -

childhood ambitions. . .

. . .today i was talking with a friend, and they mentioned Cowtown, NJ. . .

as soon as i heard the words, i thought of going to the rodeo with my dad when i was a young girl. . .we went a few times. . .i loved it. . .the horses and the bulls and the cowboys. . .i was never sure what to wear - i didn't have a real pair of cowboy boots - even though i wanted a pair. but i knew i wanted to be a cowgirl. . .i wanted to climb up on one of those horses, waiting for the steer to be let out of its' pen so i could chase it down and rope it. . .

not very animal-friendly i'll admit. . .but it looked like fun. . .i don't think i've thought about being in the rodeo for years. . .until today. . .and today i remembered going with my dad and sitting in the stands, eating junk food and watching the competitions. . .watching the calf roping and the bronco riding. . .the rodeo clowns. . .the dust. . .

thanks for taking me daddy -

catch you soon -

rain, rain. . .go away. . .

. . .yep, another rainy day here. . .john had to go into work this morning so I'm on mom duty for the day. . .i had planned a trip to the book area. . .but this water pouring from the sky is making me want to put my yoga pants back on and watch a movie. . .

i was able to get 4 pages done for my ECWL class this morning. . .i'm not sure i know PSE any better, but I can set up my 6x6 pages and change the text and pictures. . .small baby steps. . .and perhaps a completed album by the end of the month.

catch you soon -

summer camp. . .

. . .today is the first day of summer camp for ryan. . .this year he is doing sports camp - 8 different sports in 9 weeks (one week is olympic week).

i have mixed feelings - 9 weeks for 5 days seems terribly busy for sumer vacation. . .but since both john and i work outside the house - we have little choice. plus ryan is in an on-the-go kind of kid. . .and he needs the structure and activity level.

owen gets to stay in his childcare facility for the summer - but after this morning's hype over camp. . .we need to refer to the summer program there as "camp" as well. . .

is there summer camp for moms??

catch you soon -