First Snow

 It wanted until Buddy's birthday to finally snow for the first time this winter. 

 Babe was beside himself.  He wanted to be outside every second I would let him. 

Ben had fun too!  

 Happy Winter… Finally! 

Happy 12th Birthday!

I could write a book or a very long essay asking how it is possible that my little Jack is 12.  

Where did the time go?! 

We had a small celebration the day of his birthday with pineapple upside-down cornbread cake.  

With the snow, we really didn't get to go anywhere to celebrate big.  

The Man took him and a friend for sushi and there were presents.    

Later in the week, we celebrated with this awesome group of boys.  

Old friends and new friends. 

Pizza and cookie Cake. 

Happy Birthday, Buddy!  We are so proud of you and love you so, so much! 

A Good Book

Found this picture on my camera this weekend. Totally forgot I'd taken it - so glad I did. 

This might be my new favorite of Ben - snuggled on the couch with a good book wearing fake harry potter glasses.  Love it. 

Scrapbooking Again

This year I mapped out a few creative goals...more details in a longer post but one of them was to create one scrapbook page a month.  I know this might not seem like a lot, but when doing project life full time I really didn't scrap much last year. I think maybe three layouts for the year and that was disappointing.  I want to get more stories in the book for ME.  I like capturing everyday life in project life but I rarely do much writing in that space. 

Although there is not a lot of writing on these pages that I just made , it's more than what was in project life - if the photo was even there at all.  

I found a huge stack of printed photos and chose 5, I think they are all from 2013.  I looked for inspiration mostly on the studio calico gallery and went from there.  I'm happy to say I got three done and it's just middle of February! Woohoo!

I might actually get more than 12. Maybe!  

I like the simplicity of this page a lot. I love how the title came together. 

Although there's no "story" or journaling , I did write a note to Babe on the back.  Something I almost always do.  

Potty training Babe! Such a cute photo - it had to be scrapped.  

Not a good photo of this layout. I was losing daylight.  I have mixed feelings about this layout.  I loved the concept of the large chevron-ish pattern but it turned out to be time consuming and looks like a fish.  Other than that I like it a lot and that photo of Nana is one of my all time favorites.  

It wasn't until I was done, that I realized Babe was in all the pictures. But that's okay he has the fewest pages.  

Here's to more stories, more photos and more memories in the books. It doesn't have to be perfect or even good, it just needs to get done! 

Valentines Outfit

Ben has been so excited about dancing today for valentines.  He wanted me to get him a tuxedo! But I talked him into a pair of black jeans and button up.  He insisted on the red tie - that I had to go to three stores to find. (Thanks JCPenneys) 

I really don't know how to tie ties very well. Even after a few tutorials on Pinterest it still didn't look right, but he was happy with it, so off he went to waltz the day away. Or maybe 1 minute of his party time!!

Pretending to be a moody teenager! Hahaha! 

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Go, Ben, Go 

the waltz!

So, earlier this week, Ben's teachers came to M.E. and said that LG and some of his classmates have decided they are going to host their own Valentines Dance in the gazebo during their Valentines Party on Friday.  I was a little shocked but very excited for him.  Ben has always loved to danced, but I've never known him to dance with a partner.   A classmate choreographed a dance number for them all to learn and another got music. 

The next day, I got to school a little early at pick-up and his teacher told M.E. to got check it out.  Ben and his friends were practicing.  

Here's what I saw! 

(click the enlarge button, looks like a box, on the bottom right to see it bigger)

GO, Ben, GO! 

Artist

Babe has taken to drawings, coloring and now painting.  I'm pretty happy about this as long as he's using paper!!!