AC Layout

Don't ask me how but I found time to do this weeks challenge !!

A layout with a favourite photo and 2 or more AC products.
I have favourite photo's all the time but this is a recent favourite...

This years Christmas card photo.
I blogged about it here.

AC Supplies:
Paper........Backyard(Boing) and Merrymint ( Fudge)
Thickers.....Cappuccino
Rub-ons......Minimarks,Kate.
Other supplies...Bazzill cardstock and SEI Sticker.

I think that's me done for scrapping for 2009.....Novembers page total was 7 and with 5 for December brings my yearly total of 81 layouts !

I doubt I will be around to blog until after Christmas...too much family fun to be had :)

So to those of you I know and those I don't that are reading...have a great christmas !

2 more sleeps 'til Christmas !!

That's the countdown I get from Ol every morning.
I don't know why every year I am surprised by how fast Christmas actually comes around.
The boys finished school yesterday and very happy they are about that :)
I have everything bought and wrapped and very happy I am about that :)
Oliver still believes in Santa but I have a feeling this may be the last year...his logical brain is ticking away....to be honest I'm surprised he's believed for this long.
Anyway,this is last years Christmas day page,recently finished !!



Our tree hunt wasn't successful this year....

Seems the next few years the tree farm will be low on trees to cut,so that may be the end of that tradition for us.
It was such a dark day.
It started snowing not long after these pictures.
The boys entertained them selves with snowball fights while I said no to a dozen or more tree's.
The someone got bored !!

So they wasted the time making snow angels until the tractor came to take us back.
We ended up driving back here and getting one from our grocery store !!
It's not as big as usual but I'm happy about that...easier to decorate.

My good friend Patti has a special birthday today.
I have pages we made for an album for her but they will have to wait until another post as I need to merge them !!
We went for dinner last night to celebrate.....for once not hampered by a snow storm as so often happens when we plan a get together of any kind.
I can leave you with the card I made for her though...


Back tomorrow with a layout for this weeks AC challenge.

Lots to say...

...but no time to say it :)

Hopefully here Wednesday,complete with a few new pages....because despite everything else I have found a little time to scrap :)

This weekend.

In a list,because it's been a while....

• Movie night (Ol's pick this week) and home made pizza tonight.
• Time for our annual Christmas tree hunt(hoping it's more successful than last year)
• More baking,pork pies,cookies and more.
• The males of the household are cooking me a late birthday dinner Saturday night.
• Some snow shoveling......deck needs clearing :(
• Some scrapping...need to do my page for last week from my photo a day.
• Catch up on more Six Feet Under episodes,love this show and love HBO for re-running it :)

This is the last page from our crop weekend....


It's become a bit of a tradition to do these age photo's on his birthday,this year he did it without me asking.Shame it took me until October to get around to scrapping it !!
Although I am only now doing last years Christmas day pictures...as long as they get done,eventually !

Enjoy the weekend :)

Today..

...is my birthday.
Happy Birthday to me :)
Just like last year,look what Mother Nature brought me...

A snow storm.
Not the best piccies but really I took three steps out my front door and one out my bedroom door....it's horrible out there!
Since I've had two,next year I think I can do with out,thank you very much.
This years is a lot worse than last,which has meant the cancellation of lunch with friends.
Better to be safe than sorry and we can do it some other time.

So what to do instead ?
Bake a pan of brownies,make some coffee and scrapbook :)
This is one of two pages...


I finished up that I started on Monday when I cropped with my pal Carine.
We haven't done that in a while and it was fun.

OK,I'm sure there's some snow that needs shoveling......maybe later :)

The weekends coming....

It will be another quiet one here....love that!
We have a Christmas party to go to but that's it.
Stuart wants to get some baking done.
I need to make some Christmas cards.
Other than that......nothing.

Since it's Friday,here's a layout....


It's an older one,from way back in January !! but I like it.
I never got to post it here as it was requested for publication by BHG,it was in the August/September issue.

Enjoy your weekend :)

Another layout

I started this one at the weekend but it fell to one side.
I wish I'd finished it up earlier because it is unbelievable dark here today,so excuse the poor image.

It's for the challenge on the American Crafts blog....to make a page about something you are grateful for...


I've wanted to scrap this photo for a while,so it worked out perfectly.Not sure about using my grocery list scrawl on this one but hey !

American Crafts Supplies:
Paper........The Goods(Pumpkin pie),Merrymint(fudge),Amplified(The twist)
Thickers.....Subway
Rub-ons......Minimarks,date(Hildi),words(Kate),heart(Catwalk phrases)
Other supplies...cardstock..bazzill

Well,better finish up my cup of tea before I head out to pick up Ol at the school.
They are having a used book sale and since we are severely lacking in French books I thought I should pop in.

Middle of the week.

After all my blah,blah,blahing yesterday.
Just a layout today.
Another from our girlie crop.....


I have a feeling I was going to add journaling to the outside of this.....

While I'm at it the Fathers day card I made this year,since I don't think I posted it .....



Hopefully another layout tomorrow.....

A photo a day

Where Oh where has this year gone ?
Anyway,it's the first of the December,whether I like it or not.
So two days ago in a brief email exchange,Patti and I decided we'd do another photo a day challenge....no rules this time.......well maybe the odd weekend one.
I believe Nathalie is joining us too :)

Anyway after a little thought I decided I needed some kind of theme(for want of a better word) for it.
I definitely want it to be Christmas related but also include more shots of us and the everyday things that we do.....I kind of got away from that as these challenges became more about me finding out more about my camera and what it can (and can't) do and generally trying to take better pictures.
But,what about all the times I know I'll be drawn into the garden to take something nature related as I did in April.Every time I do one of these the nature shot nearly always beats whatever else I've taken that day.

The answer.............2 photo's a day !!

The everyday pictures I want to scrapbook as a weekly page.
It's my solution to not getting my act together with the December daily album for the second year running.
I hope to scrap them as soon as I can so they don't sit there waiting for me to do them in 4 months time !
I think Patti's got her own version of a December album in mind for hers.

Anyway,enough waffling,the photo's as always will be on my other blog but I'll post today's here,since this post needs an image.

The everyday.....


As soon as he gets off the bus and comes in the door we have to go and get the mail.
From the garden.....

The droplet it's self is a little out of focus,as I was standing on tip toes and rushing a little as I knew any minute it was going to drip !! I just love it for the bokeh background.

Back again.....

What ?
Two posts in one day !
Just wanted to post a few photo's from this morning,I think it's pretty for the first 10 minutes.......


I think I might have made the resolution a little too small or can just blame blogger for the cr*ppy image.
I'm happy to report it seems to be melting.Although I have to admit it did make me feel the need to get rid of the leaves from my header :)

Whoops !

Well I had good intentions of posting last Friday but I'm not sure what happened,the day seemed to whizz by,errands and school meetings...kind of summed up the whole of last week actually.
Anyway,start of a new week and this boy.........


was very exited to finally need his winter coat and see this view this morning..........


Me,not so much.
Yes,yes,it had to come eventually but I'd quite like it to disappear and return in time for Christmas!
I was getting used to the unseasonably mild weather we were having.

I'll leave with this layout I should have posted Friday.
I normally photograph double pages together but I was feeling lazy and didn't,so excuse the dodgy merge !!!(It should click bigger)


I made this one a couple of weeks ago,hadn't made a double page for a while.

OK,I'm going to try and post everyday this week.....try :)

Upcoming weekend.....

......is going to be,nice and easy,just the way it should be !
No plans other than dinner with some friends,that should be fun since it's been way too long.

So it's Friday and I need to post a layout.
This is another from the scrap weekend.
I'm not one for added 'cute' to my pages.
But,Julie had these adorable bug Jolee's stickers that I never would have bought,mainly because I never even think to go and look at them.......


It couldn't have been more perfect for the page and nor could that BG paper that I had only just bought.
Everything Ol names,he just adds a 'e' sound to it as in 'Froggy' 'Batty' and 'Snakey' to name a few !!
So the caterpillar was 'Cattie' and the friend he found later for Cattie was called 'Pillie' so that's what this page is about,that and the fact he's so desperate for a pet he spent the day tending to caterpillars !

Have a good weekend :)

Layout

Thursday afternoon already...........

I finished this one the other day but only just got around to photographing it.
It's for the challenge this week at the American Crafts blog.

I only had paper from that line but I did use 3 pieces of it........


American Crafts Supplies:
Paper....Junior Line.......'We're number 1 !' 'Boom !' 'Radical !'
Thickers...................Rootbeer Float
Rub-ons....................Lauren
Sticker....................Remarks Journaling Book 2

Other supplies: Cardstock....Bazzill

Back tomorrow with another layout.

Easy weekend ahead

Yep,nothing really planned for this weekend.
The only 2 things that must get done are clearing the last of the leaves and getting my car into the garage,which always involves some clever maneuvering of 'stuff' ! !

On our way home last week we took a detour to Merrickville,what a lovely little town it is too.Turns out it was quite a detour,good job my husband loves me !! I'd found a store that sold barn stars,large ones....I've been on the hunt for a while.
So now this is attached to my house.........


and I love it :)

Since it's Friday and I'm trying to get back into posting a layout on Fridays here's a page from the crop the other weekend.......


I could have easily thrown this page away a number of times during it's creation.I was completely stuck on using that quote because it was so fitting for Ad and the star paper.
In fact if I had been home it would have been put on the 'to be finished....never pile' !!
Good job I wasn't as it turned out to be one of my favourites.

Time for a layout !

I created this one for the American Crafts blog challenge this week.
Create a fall layout using 2 or more AC products.
Which meant I got to use my all time favourite Autumn stripe paper .......


American Crafts Supplies:
Paper.......Merrymint 'Fudge' and The Goods 'Pumpkin Pie'
Thickers....Daydream
Rub-ons.....Hildi
Felt Flowers
Red and Yellow Brads in flowers

other Supplies:
cardstock...Bazzill,Photo Corners...Scenic Route,Brads...Heidi Swapp,Making memories and Unknown.

Oh and if it looks familiar it's because it's a lift of this one I made way back in January :)

Monday

I like Mondays like this one.
It's 11.30 and I've already done 2 loads of washing,3rd load is waiting to go in the dryer.
Tidied away all the stuff we took with us this weekend.
Made 3 of the 6 phone calls I need to make this week (after having to deal with severely lacking customer service people,I cut it short at 3,I could take no more !!).
Filled 10 huge leaf bags,which was actually enjoyable because it is beautiful out there today,lovely and warm.

So I think it's time to make a batch of cookies,have lunch while catching up on some some blog reading and maybe a little scrapping.

We went to see Craig and Nic and the boys this weekend,who seem to be settling in nicely out in the woods in Ontario !!
Nic and I ran a ton of errands on Saturday which left the men busy building a school bus shelter and cutting down trees....manly stuff :)
I barely took any photo's,although I took a few when we went for a little walk along the road before breakfast on Sunday.
These 2 are my favourites for different reasons......


I've been wondering if I have a focusing issue with my camera but I think sometimes I just rush a little.
I am aware I'm often trailing behind or trying to capture a child who would rather be doing something else !
I took my time Sunday and most were good.


The sun was in front of us coming back,I'm aware I have the pink sunspot blaring in there but I like it.

The weekends nearly here !

I'm looking forward to it too,should be a fun one.

It's been a good week.
I've been volunteering at the English library at the school(more of a cupboard than a library but it's better than nothing )and it's the only thing I can help out with since my French is useless :)
I got my hair cut/dyed,that felt good because it was waaaaaaaaaay overdue I was going to let my fringe(bangs)grow out since they got so long but I caved at the very last minute and got them short again.
Dealt with one sick son,who seems to be better now.
And I got the house organised some more and found some time to scrap.

Which leads me to this layout.
Which is a complete lift of the one I posted last Friday.
Why ? because I'm lazy and I liked it :)
Plus these picture have been sitting around since February and needed to be scrapped....


The colours are off,I tried my best in PS to correct them,the greens all match irl.

It feels good to be scrapping again,I did so little over the summer.
I just went to tally up what I had actually made,this year so far.To add to my running total,which at the end of May was 42 pages.
In June I made 6,July 1....1 guess July was busy !! August 3,September 2 and October 8,which brings the total to 62 layouts so far.

While I'm talking numbers,I'll leave you with the fact it's only 49 days until Christmas :) and yes I have already started my shopping !

Another.......

Halloween layout for the AC blog challenge.
Well I couldn't do one without the other,could I ?!
This one did look like this in my head :)
The bazzill edge strip is pop dotted.
My favourite colour combo.....


American Craft Supplies:
Paper.......Halloween 'Midnight' Travel 'Itinerary'
Thickers....Subway
Rub-ons.....Minimarks 'Lauren' 'Christmas Book 1'
Foam star

Other Supplies:Cardstock/Edge...Bazzill,Mini Letter Stickers...Carolee Creations,Brad...Dollarama

Be back tomorrow with another layout..non Halloween related

Layout !

Wow,I'm really good about getting photo's printed quickly but I never seem to scrap them until a long time after.
Not this week...I just finished up 2 Halloween 2009 pages with the help of this weeks challenge on the American Crafts blog :)
This one's Ad's and didn't look like this in my head but that often happens.
I had to make the question mark out of a K,the only letter that would work :)
The house is pop dotted and I added all the little star type rub-ons behind it.
I haven't exactoed (I know that's not a word)anything for a while,so it felt good to do that again.......


American Crafts Supplies:
Paper.......Halloween 'Wicked' 'scream' 'haunted'
Thickers....Jewelry Box
Rub-ons.....Minimarks 'Celebration Book 2'

Other supplies:Cardstock/edge...Bazzill,Mini Letter Stickers...Making Memories

Weekend Recap

Well we did everything we set out to do and more so that always feels good.
We spent most of Saturday afternoon carving pumpkins.
Ad made a cyclops,Ol wanted traditional and I got one that was beginning to go off.So I did what I did a couple of years ago faced with the same situation..........stars !!


Luckily it stopped raining in time for the boys to go out trick or treating,the sun tried to come out but since it was late,it gave off a weird light but at least it meant I got some pictures.


I stayed home to hand out treats but we only had 2 sets :(
Most of the kids around here have grown up and we are off the main street,so not a big surprise but we normally get more than 2 visits.
It does means I got left with a bowl full of chocolate,sitting there,looking at me....next year I'm buying peanut butter type candy and then there will be no temptation to scoff it all !!

Adam decided he wanted to be a dead baseball player ??!?! and Ol was a devil.....


I hate that mask,I only bought it to copy for face painting but at the last moment he decided he wanted the mask and not face paint.I didn't argue since we'd already had a back and forth about horns and a tail and I'd won that one :)

I've got a couple of pages on the go,so hopefully back in the next day or two with those.

It's Friday !

The end of another week.
So whats planned for this weekend?

• Stuart's cooking dinner for me tonight,since it's our Anniversary :) Actually the year we got married Halloween was on the Saturday and as much as I would have thought getting married on Halloween was extremely cool when I was 16.....it didn't have quite the same appeal as an adult !!.......we got married on the Friday instead !
• Have to put the tempo up this weekend,I hate doing this because it's a sign that winters on it's way :(
• I should cut all my plants down in the front garden.
• Carving pumpkins ! I have remembered to bring them in now so they aren't freezing tomorrow.
• Trick or treating...........my turn to stay home and hand out treats this year.
• Scrapping..........can not let my current roll stop just yet !
• Other than that,should be an easy weekend.

Back to the scrapping subject.
This is the first page I made last weekend....


These are last years pictures :)
I really like this page.
It was noted that there was 'a lot' of patterned paper on this page for me! Which is true,I suppose there is.
I actually really like paper.I have quite a lot of it too,as was abundantly clear to me this week when it was spread out on my kitchen floor when I was re-organising.
That is why I'm trying to use it instead of hoarding it.
One of my favourite parts of scrapping is selecting the papers I want to use,even if most of the time I don't use that much.
With that I'm off to pull out some papers for my next page.

Have a good weekend and a safe and fun Halloween :)

A New layout

I'm a bad blogger.
It's been a week since my last post !
I have,however,made 7 layouts since the one I posted in my last post.
Seven :) Helps when you crop with some fun friends !
It wasn't the usual Fall crop but fun none the less,lots of eating,drinking,laughing and scrapping,I actually made 5 pages,pretty good for me.
It got me motivated to scrap again and I had a little re-organisation in my space too,I find that always helps.


Anyway,I made this one this week for the American Crafts blog,challenge this week.
To create a sports related layout,with 2 or more AC products.
I've been waiting while to get these photo's printed off.I took this photo through the fence but I really like the effect it created on the photo,the shadow on Ad's face is a lot worse here than irl :)


American Crafts Supplies:
Paper........Junior 'You're Out' 'Tag-You're it' 'Radical'
Thickers.....Letterman (title) Giggles (date)
Foam Star......Used as a template

Other supplies: Cardstock...Bazzill,Grid Paper...Scenic Route,Little letter Stickers...Carolee's Creations.

Hopefully back tomorrow to pick up again with posting a layout every Friday.

A layout

Hmmmmm,well I thought I had a lazy easy week ahead but I seem to have been rather busy.
I have had time to make a layout for this weeks challenge on the American Crafts blog.
It's been a while since I've had a chance or the right stuff to do this.
This weeks challenge was to use a black and white photo with 2 AC products......
(Please excuse the poor quality,it is so dark here today)


As much as I have a pile of older photo's desperately waiting to be scrapped I picked a recent one from this summer with some AC scraps I had leftover.

American Crafts Supplies:
Paper.......Moda Bella(Timeless and Bold) Teen(Honor Roll)
Thickers....Daydream
Rub-ons.....Lauren

Other supplies:
Cardstock...Bazzill and SEI
Green swirl rub-on....WRMK
Brad and chipboard tag....Unknown.

Scrapbooking is definitely on the agenda this weekend.........woo hoo !! Off to plan some pages :)

And.....it's snowing.......yuck :(

I love Autumn

Or fall,whatever you want to call it!
I love it,I really do,it's my favourite season,no question about that.
Looking out my window,it all looks so pretty,I even like the cooler weather.
Last weekend we cleared a ton of leaves but already my grass is covered again,it's looking like the photo in my header.

Since I like to post a picture and I have nothing scrapbook related again :( I'll post the first 15 days of my photo a day challenge I've been doing with Patti.


We set ourselves a colour challenge since the month of October seemed pretty fitting...Yellow,orange red and green.Lots of leaves from me,7 out of 15 are leaf related !!!!

I don't know where the past week has gone since I last posted.
We got lots done in and around the garden last weekend,which was good.
My Mum flew home last night.
I'm looking forward to this weekend,it should be a fun one.

OK better get off the evil computer and get some stuff done around the house.
Hopefully back to being a better blogger next week,with some scrap stuff to post because I am determined to scrap next week :)

Short and sweet :)

Looking forward to the long weekend......the kids have today and Monday.
Lots of cooking and baking planned.
Plenty to do around the garden.
Hoping the weather co-operates and the sun comes out for longer than a couple of minutes,so we can go for a long walk or two to enjoy the beautiful Fall scenery.

I haven't scrapped since last week,I've been too busy sewing up a storm this week.
I see sewing on the agenda next week too but I am dying to get scrapping again,especially since I have a few new purchases just sitting,waiting........

Since I hate to post without a picture I'll post this one from last weekend.
We went to Ottawa for the day(I love Ottawa) Did the farmers market at Lansdowne Park and made a few purchases,then walked around the Parliament buildings and onto the Byward Market area.


Have a good Thanksgiving weekend for those of you reading in Canada :)

Teenager in the house !

Son number one turns 13 today.........


OMG,where Oh where does the time go ?

A Layout.......

......for Friday.
Been a while but I have one since I managed to scrap 2 pages this week.....go me :)


So glad my neighbour planted these along our border so I could enjoy them too.
Just had to scrap them for my flower album plus I got to use pink :)

Short and sweet post today.
Not much going on around here,just the usual everyday stuff.
Hoping for some sun this weekend.

Walk to the top

A couple of weekends ago we decided to walk to the top of Rigaud Mountain.We've lived out this way for 6 years and I can't believe we've never known about this way up !
We've gone up the way of the ski hill before but I didn't know about this pathway until Ad went with a friend labour day weekend.
It was the perfect day,sunny but not too hot.
I'm sure it will be even prettier in another week or so when all the trees are turning.
It was a quarry until a fatal accident in the 1930's when they stopped,so there are these sections of boulders to cross every now and then......


Since I had the camera I basically took a ton of pictures like this,only with different coloured trees.....

We opted for the extremely steep but shorter way to the lookout point....

It doesn't look that steep but trust me it was !
The view from the top was wonderful,with such a clear day you could see for miles.
A nice man took our picture.......

We stopped to eat the lunch we'd brought with us and admire the view for a while and then we headed back down which took a fraction of the time it had taken to get up........of course !

My mum is arriving tonight for a couple of weeks,lots planned that basically includes roping her into making my sofa covers with me :) so I'll see how good a blogger I can be......don't hold your breath !!

Look......

I actually scrapped :)
I've been busy doing lots of little bits and bobs around my house and generally settling into the whole back to school routine.
I've wandered into my little scrap space countless times over the past few weeks but done nothing,it was making me very sad.
I asked Patti to give me a little challenge,see if that would help.
It seems it did.........

Nothing earth shattering but it felt good just to do something.
The challenge was to scrap a page on myself or Stuart and I with new products.
I used new AC stuff,I love that little birdie paper but the obsessive compulsive part of me is disturbed by the rows of upside down birds !!!......it bothered me so much after looking at it for a while I nearly didn't use it but decided if I didn't it would probably sit in my stash forever untouched :)

I even have another one on the go !

Other stuff,I haven't felt very bloggie recently but I hope that's changing couldn't believe it had been so long since my last post..
I'm not a big TV watcher but very happy that Dexter's back.......Californication's back.......... True Blood is repeating from the beginning which I missed first time around but since Julie lent me all the Sookie Stackhouse books,which I devoured since they were fun and a little trashy,I feel I must watch :)........Another is Six Feet Under,starting in October,another one I missed getting into so all that should satisfy my meagre TV viewing.
October is fast aproaching and since it's been a while patti and I have decided it's time for another photo a day challenge........it will have a theme but nothing as hard as June's but that will be on my other blog !

Ok stuff to do.........including making a more seasonal header :)

Lots to do

We've visitors arriving tonight for the weekend and a corn roast to go to and lots of other stuff to fit in as well.....that means today is looking busy

• Go for a run (it will be my first one since June 29th,aiming for a slow 5 Km!)
• Sand repair to wall in the living room(ready to paint next week)
• Paint wall in the kitchen(best not to ask about this one :) )
• Put on a load of laundry and put away yesterdays 2 loads !!
• Make 2 batches of pizza dough
• Nip to store to get forgotten groceries
• Change and make up beds
• Set up the tent
• Clean bathrooms
• Vacuum whole house
• Hopefully all will be done before Ol comes home because then we have homework to get out the way.
  
  Oh and somewhere in there the chimney sweep is coming too !
  
  No scrapping for me this week :(
  
  Wasn't feeling very bloggy this week at all,maybe next week.

ETA: I hate to post with out an image so here's Oliver and chippie last weekend.....



I actually managed a 6KM run although I was nearly a minute a kilometer slower than my previous pace but at least I got myself back out there and it made me feel better.

Ok I'm up to number 5 on my list,back to it.

A layout for Friday.

It's been a couple of weeks since I managed to post something on Friday.I had hoped I'd have time to scrap this week,what with the kids back at school but I haven't,despite having a stack of the new American Crafts papers sitting on my desk tempting me:)
Next week though hopefully,I will get into more of a routine and actually create something.
I'm missing scrapping,a lot.
Anyway this one I made a while back,it's one with all my photo a day photo's from June.


It follows the same idea as all the others ones I've done for the photo a day photo's,if it isn't broken don't fix it,as they say !

So this weekend marks the official end of summer,I can't believe we're at Labour day weekend and it's September already.
It's looking like being a busy one for us,I hope there's some relaxing time in there somewhere.

Oliver's beginning to settle into his grade 2 class.The biggest thing for him has been getting used to the fact he has 2 hours before his brother arrives home.he misses him.Once the homework starts I'm sure the time will go faster for him.
Ad has done OK this week at High School but I find the whole class set up and schedule a little odd,it's certainly different from my high school days and I know it's taking Ad a while to adjust to that.One week at a time I think.He seems to like all of his teachers and his science/technology teachers first language is actually English she told them......hey one teacher I can at least communicate with :)

Have a great long weekend :)

No way !!

It's official,I have a son in High School.......where has time gone.......a few weeks away from having a teenager,gulp !!

Adam's first day was actually yesterday but it was only half a day and I had baseball to blog about and take my mind off it.

We had a day together over the summer,where I dragged him along shopping for fabric,cushions that sort of thing.
Just to torture him !!
We went to Starbucks for a coffee and hot chocolate and I asked how he felt about High School,since he's been quiet on the subject.
He was fine.
The size of the school didn't bother him.
The close to an hour bus ride did a little.
The biggest issue was none of his friends were going.
I told him if you value the friendships you have you will find a way to continue them.
I also reminded him that he made friends easily,and whatever instincts he's had over making those friends to keep following them.
We left it at that.

So he came home yesterday.
I grilled him the moment he was in the door !
So far so good.
His maths teacher is his home room teacher,she seems nice.
He got his first choice of Drama as his option.
His class is all kids in enriched English(remember he's at French school)
The funny thing is there is a girl in his class,that has been in his class since grade 2......at least there was one friendly face !
The bus ride was not so bad...I'm not sure if that was because it wasn't as long or because he was sat with a group of girls :)
He said the school was crowded....... and 2 grades weren't even there.

Today is his first full day.
I am going to take myself out and run a load of errands so I don't think about it too much because I am sure I will pounce on him again as soon as he comes through the door around 5.30.
I'll probably be greeted with,it was OK.........I'll know OK means good and it will be like pulling teeth to get anymore info than that for now,I was lucky I got as much as I did yesterday.


I can only imagine the change that will take place from this photo from one 5 years from now when he leaves.
We'll see how the week plays out.

Where have I been ??

Since last Saturday I have been lost in a haze of baseball.
If I don't write it down now I will forget.
Stick with me I am not a great writer.......it's a long post with no photo's !!

It's been crazy,coupled with all the usual stuff and getting ready for back to school.
I've drunk more take out coffee than I should and eaten so irregularly I've forgotten what a decent meal is at a decent time of day.
It was like groundhog day !
So 8 of the last 9 days have seen us in Lachine(a 90km round trip) 3 of those days beating rush hour traffic........4 of them freezing our butts off wondering if it really was August still!
The plus side was I was at least sitting each night with one of my bestest pals,Carine,so we could at least joke about it and have a fun time.
If you have no interest in baseball I'd just given up reading now !!

We lost a game last Sunday(7-6) so that meant to stay in we had to win every game because loose 2 and you're out.
We had most of our players give or take 1 or 2 every game.
Tuesday we win.
Wednesday we win.
Thursday we win.
Friday we win taking us to the finals.
Our opposition hasn't lost a game,so even if we beat them Saturday we have to play again Sunday to determine the winner.
This may be little league but there are rules regarding use of pitchers,number of innings,amount of rest,a pitcher can't catch in the same game,all that sort of stuff.
It's normally not a problem.
When you've played 4 nights in a row it is ! The up side to playing so much ball.......they were playing like a team should play.......and with each game they wanted to win even more.

So Saturday,lovely cold wet August day........everyone expected the game to be cancelled..........we played.
Us,the parents were wrapped in blankets under umbrella's......some were wearing winter hats and luckily one brought a huge flask of hot chocolate !!
We were winning,13-4 I think,when the game took a turn and all of a sudden it was 13-11 with 2 on base, 2 out..........when that ball was caught in the out field,the kids went berserk all running out and charging on W and so did we,jumping around in the stands,forgetting we'd sat there in the freezing rain for close to 3 hours.

Which brings us to yesterdays final.
The weather was better,slightly.
We had an almost full team.
Pitchers were good to go.
Play ball :)

Carine's son B pitched a 3 up 3 down first inning,just like that.We came on and scored 3.
Bottom of the 4th we are 5-1 up when they call a 10 minute rain delay.
It broke the momentum and before we knew it we were in the the bottom of the 6th 5-6 down.........1 run to stay in the game and play another inning.
J comes up to the plate.This kid can hit and can run like lightening.I don't remember what the count was but he hit that ball to the out field and made it all the way home.
6-6
7th inning...no scores
8th inning...no scores
9th inning...no scores
into extra innings........this is little league,we normally play 5 sometimes 6 innings !!
10th inning...no scores
11th inning....they score 2 runs.
We need 2 to stay in 3 to win.

Tense is not the word.
No one can sit down we are all pacing and shouting encouragement,well actually were were screaming encouragement,that would be more like it,I'm surprised any of us had voices left.
It all becomes a bit of a blur here.
We score 2 runs.
8-8
We are 1 out with bases loaded,Adam,is up to bat,it's the bottom of the order.

I will be the first to admit my son is no all star baseball player.He gets his sporting genes from me,unfortunately.
But,what he lacks in talent he makes up for in determination,effort and enthusiasm.
He strikes out a lot,more than he hits....but I know he can hit.
Last night that was to his advantage........they swapped the outfield positions.
All I can think is we just need one run.
I don't remember the count,Stuart was coaching first base and said something to him,I didn't hear what it was.
I don't know if it was Stuart's comment or channeled anger from being benched for 3 innings or both.
He hit the ball and you can tell from the sound what sort of hit it was.......that ball was going and it flew between two players and he gets a double,brings two players home.....not that it mattered,we only needed one.

All the kids piled out the dugout onto him and that's all I saw as all of us mums were jumping and hugging and going berserk too.......the end of an amazing,intense crazy 9 days !

Everyone gave it there all.
The kids were tired(we were tired!!)but they played like we've never seen them play.
Sure there were tears of frustration at times.
There was shouting and yelling !
They totally deserved the win.....they sure earned it.
B pitched 5 amazing innings,J pitched 6 amazing innings.
Everyone did what they had to do.
I am so proud of my son for doing what I know many people thought he couldn't.

One dad said to me right after,it couldn't of happened to a nicer kid......and he's right :)

Regional Champions..off to the Provincials we go !!

Woo! Hoo!

A layout

Here's one for the challenge this week on the American Crafts blog.
It was to use 2 Remarks stickers on a page.
I used a journaling tag and some of the mini letter stickers that I have used on virtually every page I made since I bought them.....I even ordered another pack because I knew these were going to be a must have !


American Crafts Supplies:
Paper: Craft fair (Elenore battington)
Backyard (drip)
Spring & Summer (Teapot)
Thickers: Cappuccino
Remarks Stickers: Journaling(coloured)
Letters(Hannah and Henry)
Chipboard: Numbers and Stars

Other supplies: Cardstock:Bazzill.....Scallop Punch:Stampin'Up!

10 Years....

.....today since we arrived in Canada.

I can not believe how fast the time has gone.....it seems like yesterday and yet so much has happened in those 10 years.

Wow ! Really,10 years !

I feel that might be worthy of a layout.

A layout for Friday

Yes,I was suppose to post this one yesterday but my battery went flat before I could take a picture and then I couldn't and still can't get photo shop to work...had to use Picasa.


This was originally for the American Craft challenge this week,hence all the AC product on the page.Looking at it here on the screen,I'm sure it needs something on the black near the letter stickers,I think I'll have to go and rummage and see what I can find !

So at last I found time in between all the other everyday stuff to scrap,I've really missed it and the pile of photo's I have waiting just keeps getting bigger ! Hopefully this week I'll find some more time.I have a clean and tidy space just waiting.

I can't believe that in 2 weeks today the kids will be back at school..........summer has flown by.

Lots to do this weekend,since it is our first one at home for nearly a month,including.........

• catching up on weeding(yawn !!)
• clearing out the garage
• stacking wood in the garage
• having family over (the boys are excited to see their cousins again)
• Strawberry daiquiri's(right Nic !! )
• an alfresco yummy dinner Saturday
• a long walk
• hopefully some time to sit and relax in the fabulous weather that has finally shown up !

Hopefully back next week with another page or 2.

Last weekend

We headed off to meet our friends at their cottage.
The weather was as hit and miss as it has been all summer.
Friday night when we arrived and sat out admiring the full moon over the lake it felt almost Fall like,there was that chill in the air.
The up side to that was it produced an amazing mist the next morning.

I haven't been into getting up very early this summer,which isn't like me at all.I need to rectify that starting next week,I always have to start something on a Monday !
So Stuart headed down to the lake,while I admired the mist from the cottage.
He took these pictures (should click bigger)within about a 10 minute period.


I'm annoyed with myself for not going down,it looks so beautiful and peaceful and annoyed with Stuart for not dragging my butt down there with him :)

Should be back tomorrow with a layout............yes,I actually scrapped...woo hoo !!