countdown.

I woke up this morning with a sense of nervousness. Our trip to Florida is only a WEEK a way. I have not done my usual list making yet. I feel very out of sorts. A ten day trip to the beach and Disneyworld with 3 kids...need I say more. Just trying to sort out in my brain what we are doing and what to bring. And I have to factor in that Ryne wears about ten pairs of underwear a day. These kids never want to wear clothes when they are home. So if a speck of water or anything else spills on Ryne, he has to change. We've already talked about bringing extra clothes on the airplane just in case. I'm so glad that we have a washer and dryer in the condo we rented at the beach. Looks like I'm gonna be doing some wash.

Rich and I have been dreaming about what our vacation is going to be like. We have visions of spending days on the beach reading or working on my art journal. We just want to relax and spend time with Aunt Wendy & Uncle Bob and the kids before heading to Disneyworld. But after many days of this daydreaming, I had a realization that, in all likelihood, this is not how the vacation will be. The kids are super active, and are always doing something, and getting into something. Ryne's mind has to be involved. I'm sure we will be doing some sort of oceanic experiment of some kind while on this trip. Ryne and Shannon will undoubtedly be giving us many singing and dancing shows at night or on the beach. And Daddy will be helping Drew make lots of sandcastles. We are going to be wearing our cruise directors hat on this vacation. No relaxation in sight for us, but that is ok. We will be soaking every minute of it in, and of course I will be taking lots of pictures. I guess we will have to wait for the relaxation vacation til the kids are older. :)

big boy 

happiness is...

*joining an ATC swap.
*having a great lunch with the kids. we went and ran some errands and decided to stop for a corndog, and then of course, stopped for some ice cream. thanks to Shannon, i have now tasted coffee ice cream with gummi bears. Mmmmmm.
*Drew's sudden interest in wearing "big boy undies". I think our six and a half years of buying diapers might be coming to an end. :)
*finishing a couple scrapbook pages.
*counting down the days to our trip to florida. can't wait!

art journal 

the heart of a boy

When i read the art journal challenge prompt for this week, I knew the exact picture I wanted to use for the wings. I’ve had this picture of my dad when he was about 2 that i absolutely love. (circa 1948). Found the book page with the title “the heart of a boy”, and that is what I went with.
used 7 gyspies tissue paper for the background then added acrylics and glaze over it. Put some paper and book pages on top, then used some bubble wrap for stamping, along with the dragonfly and silverware stamp.

Journaling:a little boys heart is full of happiness, full of love, and full of life. a little boy may seem rough and tough on the outside, but his heart is as soft as butter. a little boy love to build, imagine, and play in the dirt. little boys soon grow to be men, but they still remain boys at heart.

fond memories

I finished another art journal page today. The idea came to me last night, so as soon as i got up this morning, I just wanted to create. I have this awesome picture of my grandmother when she worked at a confectionary company in Cleveland ( Aug. 1939) that i had to use. This page was inspired by a prompt a while back...do a page inspired by a dessert. Journaling is all about how my Grandmother always had dessert after every meal. She loved anything sweet: candy, cookies, cakes, and pastries. It just brings back so many happy memories I have of my grandmother.

I used acrylic paints for the background, then adhered the picture and stars. I painted a pearl metallic paint on top to make it shimmer and then added the title and journaling. Everything is adhered with gel medium. thanks for looking!

fond memories 

art journal.

These are just a few new additions to my art journal. I'm trying to get caught up on posting them.

life. 

breaking free. 

love. 

favorite day of the week. 

drew 

florida here we come.

Well, its official, we (the entire family) is headed out to Florida in July. We are so excited to be going on vacation, but even more excited that we will get to see family. Our trip will be centered around visiting Wendy, Bob and the kids, and of course, a little side trip to Disney World. The kids can hardly contain their excitement.


On another note, today was just gorgeous, the weather about 78 degrees, so the kids and I decided to take a trip to the park and feed the ducks and play. We went with some friends of ours, so we had an extra good time. Lots of smiles.

schools out.

Well today was Ryne's last day at Montessori. There was an end-of-school picnic tonight. Everyone brought blankets, had dinner, listened to childrens music, had ice cream sundaes, and visited. It is such a nice event for the whole family, and the weather was gorgeous. The kids really had a good time running around with their friends. For some, this was a sad event because they know they will not be returning next year, but for us, it was just another happy Montessori memory. We will be coming back next year. Shannon will be in the same class that Ryne was in this year. And she is super excited about it too, she can't stop talking about it. So, we are off to start our summer.

future redsox players 

surprise

We got a surprise package in the mail on Friday from Grandpa MacIver and Patty. Thank you so much for all the goodies. The kids wanted me to take a picture of them in their new gear so everyone could see. They love the outfits, thanks so much for thinking of us.

surprise

We got a surprise package in the mail on Friday from Grandpa MacIver and Patty. Thank you so much for all the goodies. The kids wanted me to take a picture of them in their new gear so everyone could see. They love the outfits, thanks so much for thinking of us.

home 

Seems like forever since I have posted. (Note to self: need to work daily on journal!) Anyways....I finished this page for my art journal challenge a while ago, but just haven't posted it. I really love how this page turned out, I think it is my favorite so far. I feel that "home" is more than just four physical walls. It is wherever my family is. I used two really awesome quotes that I found. "A house is a home when it shelters the body and comforts the soul." by Phillip Moffitt, and the second was, "Home is not where you live, but where they understand you." by Christian Morganstern. I feel that they capture what I wanted to say. I used pictures of all of us in the house. I tried a really cool bleach technique on the pictures of the kids, to get them to look like that.