Layout of the Day-Wild Life

On this layout I used the May 2008 Celebration kit from Coordinates Collections. The only items that weren't from the kit was the Deluxe Design letter stickers used for the title and my mock stitches. I used one of the sketches from the Scrapbook Page Maps book.

Layout of the Day-How to Be a Pirate

I did this layout last week and forgot to post it. Nikolas playing pirate this past May. I love that he improvised the typical pirate parrot for a black cat.

June 2008-The month that derailed my resolutions

I'm learning that for me, summer is not a good time to keep resolutions. The month of June started and I really got sidetracked on my goals. Here is an update:

I resolve to take more pictures! This one is really hard to measure. You can see by my recent weekly updates that one week I will take a lot of pictures--the next week I don't take one. I have been keeping my camera in my purse, so it is with me if the mood strikes.

I resolve to read the Bible in a year. I have read up to the June 28th reading, so I am almost officially a month behind. It is going to take a marathon session of multiple reading each day to get me back on schedule to finish by the end of the year.

I resolve to read 12 Newbery Medal winners this year. I didn't read a selection in June, but just finished my 6th: Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi.

I resolve to lose 20 pounds. I just weighed myself and am down two pounds from my starting weight for 2008. Kind of disappointing, but it could be worse...I could be over my starting weight.

Our Summer schedule is just a hard time to keep disciplined. I have even let the housework slide. Hopefully, I will be able to get back on track once the school year starts in a month.

Layout of the Day-About My Hero

Finally, I can add another layout to my "Life as a Mom" book. This layout is about my hero mom, Mother Bear from the Little Bear TV show and books. I scanned the picture of my mother mentor from one of the Little Bear books. The pattern papers are Cosmo Cricket (their Xmas line) and the rub-ons (HERO) are by Flair design. I'm not sure about the other products, since I either got them from one of my Coordinates Collections kits or from a prize I won.

Layout of the Day-Tee-Ball

While Nik has been at VBS this week, I have done some scrapbooking. I picked up the pattern paper and baseball stickers this week.

Layout of the Day-Chewy

My sister bought me the bone paper when we were cropping at Archivers a couple of weeks ago. The other pattern paper (strips and hearts) are from the Pet Stack from DCWV. American Craft journaling sticker and paw circle accent from Etsy. The journaling talks about how Chewy had a growth removed from his ear the day before the pictures were taken.

Layout of the Day--Our Friendship

This layout highlights Nik's friendship with his preschool buddy, Dylan. I've had the Making Memories pattern paper in my stash for a long time. I love how it looks like the big gorilla size shirt the boys are "trying on" in the bottom pictures. I used the shirt to reference how comfortable their friendship is. I used my Silhouette to cut my large title and rub-ons for the sub-title.

Week in Review 7/13-7/20/08

Nikolas completed his last week of swim lessons for the season this week. He was quite surprised when he realized that he would not be moving up to Level 3. I gently explained to him that he did not master all the skills required to complete Level 2.

On Friday, we had a playdate scheduled with several of his preschool friends to Pirates Cove in Elk Grove Village. Here Nik is steering the pirate ship.

Here he is on the paddle boats. You might have noticed the aliens on the shore behind him. It was Outer Space Adventure day at the park. The kids got to hear alien storytelling, get to observe some science experiments, and search the park for planets.

If that wasn't enough fun for one week, on Sunday we spent the day at Kiddieland in Melrose Park. It was almost like going to Walt Disney World. Look, here are the guys on Dumbo:

Nik and I rode the teacups:

And we can't forget the character meet and greet:

Nikolas was very excited to meet SpongeBob. He is probably his second favorite character, after Scooby Doo.

Layout of the Day-Missing Tooth

I haven't been able to post a layout in a while. I finished this one today about Nikolas loosing his first tooth and includes a keepsake envelope with his first two lost teeth in it. I used the Japanese teeth stickers I got on Etsy as accents and as the dots on the "i" in the title.

Week in Review 7/6/08-7/12/08 (no pictures)

Sorry, I didn't take any pictures this week, but decide I would still do a short update. On Monday, Nik started his second session of swim lessons this summer. We really debated about whether to continue since he was flat-out refusing to jump in the pool or put his head under. I finally decide to let him continue and prayed for the best. Well, my prayers were answered by a daughter of one of Gary's friends from church. This young lady has been giving swim lessons for a while and since she knew Nikolas, had no problem prodding him a little. He wasn't too happy about it at first, but a little tough love was definitely in order. We will have to see how he does for the rest of the session, as she has to move on to the advanced classes this week.

Wednesday was our church mom's group meeting. We met at a cool new playground in the area. Nik got to play with the other kids while the moms talked about mother guilt.

In the afternoon, Nik and I headed to the doctor's office. Nikolas had his kindergarten check-up (and three shots). I asked the doctor about the heel pain I have been having. He diagnosed it as Plantar Fasciitis. He advised me to get a heel cup and gave me some exercises and stretches to do.

After swimming on Thursday, we met our neighbors at the weekly free movie offered at the local theater. This weeks selection was Surf's Up. Nikolas said he really didn't care for it. I thought it was fair considering it wasn't from Disney. LOL

Friday night, my sister and I went to Archivers to scrapbook. I got about halfway done with the mini book of Nik's tee-ball season. I finished the rest of it on Saturday before I left for work that night.

Week in Review 6/29/08-7/5/08

Nikolas attended pre-zoo camp (zoo camp for preschoolers) at Brookfield Zoo this week (Monday-Thursday). He attended with his buddy, Michael. They learned about how animals eat, animal babies, how animals move and where animals live. Nikolas' favorite parts were seeing the different animals and craft time.

After we got back from zoo camp on Tuesday, we celebrated Gary's birthday. He had the day off from work, and after opening presents he got to eat his favorite sub sandwich for lunch.

Since Gary was off on Tuesday, he was able to take Chewy in to have a growth removed from his ear. Here he is resting on the deck on Wednesday. You can kind of see where they had to remove part of his ear in this picture.

Nikolas enjoyed swimming in his shark pool this week. He was out in it just about every day after zoo camp.

Friday we attended the Lion's Club 4th of July parade in Darien.

The main reason we attended was to see my nephew, Ethan, who was the winner of one of the Lion's Club scholarships this year. He is the one on the right. This is the best picture I got b/c the batteries in my camera were dying. Hopefully, I can get a better shot from my sisters.