sneak week

Sneak week has started over on the Green Tangerines Kit Club blog! Check out what all of the designers are doing with one sketch. Two have been posted on the blog thus far . . . more to come over the next 5 days! Here is my layout that is on the blog:

In case you are wondering why we have a class picture when you know that we homeschool . . . our area has a Christian Homeschool Academy that started up two years ago. It's a place to take extra curricular classes and to meet other kids who are homeschooled. This past year, Paige took sign language, math games, hands on science and Lego engineering--just to name a few. The girls go two days a week for three hours in the afternoon. They loved hanging out with other kids and getting to do some fun things that we wouldn't normally do at home.

Time flies, I can't believe I have a 2nd grader now. I am so thankful for every day that I get to spend pouring into my kids and I'm thankful to live in an area that has so many homeschool support groups--we have so much fun! 

Enjoy your weekend!

ella everyday life lists

Hey friends! Today I want to share with you one of Ella's recent List It eBooks! The List It Everyday Edition journaling guides make it easier than ever to capture important details about your everyday life RIGHT NOW. Some of the 90 prompts in List It! Everyday Life Edition are standard and universal, others are quirky and unique. But they'll all help you paint a complete picture of what your life is like—your schedule and routine, your goals and pursuits, the people you love, your home and surroundings, your possessions, and more.

You can even watch a List It Video to learn more about these unique and AWESOME printable lists!

This is not something I would normally think to scrapbook about . . . websites that I frequently visit. But I am so glad I had this LIST to prompt me to do it! 50 years from now when I am sitting in my rocker trying to remember what life was like in the days of the internet (because I'm sure there will be something even better by then), I will have this reminder of where I gained some information, wisdom and just plain fun eye candy "back in the day."

This layout with photo strips was inspired by the fabulous Susan Weinroth. 

I simply took screen shots of some of my favorite websites (though I couldn't fit them all in!) and made a collage in PSE. 

Hello to my friends at CHA this week! Hope you are having fun without me! I love seeing all the eye candy you have spotted and shared during the first couple of days!

train party

We had Seth's 2-year birthday party this past weekend. He is obsessed with trains, so we of course had a train party. I attempted this cake that I found on Family Fun's website. Let's just say, I think I'll keep my creative finger in scrapbooking and not cake decorating . . . this took me forever and I stink at getting the frosting smooth. It still resembled a train though and that was the point, right?

I was originally drawn to this cake because of the popcorn "steam." So easy!

This little man is such a delight! 

The kids were more interested in eating the candy off the trains than in the actual cake itself!

Happy 2nd birthday Seth!

*Note to my scrappy friends . . . I've got some layouts in the works to share soon . . . I took a whole month off of scrapbooking!

it's cow day!

Did you know about Dress Like a Cow Day at Chick-Fil-A? I found out about it yesterday and we decided at 9am this morning that we wanted to go! Faith had this cow costume from Halloween last year, I had this cow hat from Seth's birthday party last year and we pulled together an outfit for Paige. You can't see them well, but she has some brown "hooves." We added some cow ears to her cat headband and my dad made rope tails for Seth and Paige. (My mom is throwing the hat on Seth for the picture--could not get him to wear it!)

We'd planned on just getting the kids a free meal, but if you "partially" dress up, they will give you a free entree of your choice. They provide these cow hats you can put on--my parents both scored a free sandwich! This is my dad saying, "Moo!"

This was so fun! My kids thought it was THE BEST and we made a memory. It was so simple to do! So, MOOOOOVE on out the door and get yourself to Chick-Fil-A today! You still have time for a late lunch or dinner! And it's FREE!

our weekend in photos

My parents are visiting from Iowa for 2 weeks and Tim and I took the opportunity to get away this past Sunday. We drove to Lake Tahoe to go hiking and were shocked to see that the trail we had planned on hiking was completely covered with 6+ feet of snow! It's JULY!!! We still hiked the entire trail--I was very thankful for my waterproof boots. It was hard enough snow that we didn't need snow-shoes.

We've gone to the 4th of July parade with the Coulter's for several years now . . . I've lost track of how many it's been. The parade itself is not THAT exciting, but the candy keeps drawing our kids back year after year.

Our attempt at a family picture . . .

Seth wasn't interested in having a grandparents picture at this particular moment. I tried.

I hope you all had a fun 4th of July weekend!

and the winner is . . .

 Congrats! Send me an email at johnstonhouse at gmail dot com with your address and I will get your magazine in the mail! Happy 4th of July weekend!