A Scrap of Life

Oh my goodness … I just did it. I made the reservations and ordered the tickets. We’re going to Disneyworld!!! I am excited beyond words. I'm a certified Disney freak and would practically live at the parks if I could. Yet it doesn't exactly fit in with our family budget, you know what I mean?!? Well Mom to the rescue. She's letting us use her timeshare in Orlando. We'll be making a budget trip of it ... sharing meals when we can and not going out to the expensive character meals. I think the kids are even going to be asking for Disney dollars for Christmas. But even if we won't have a lot of extra money, I know we'll have fun just the same. Now here's the thing ... the kids don't know. We haven't figured out how to tell them yet and want to make it something fun and exciting. Do you have any great ideas? I thought about wrapping up their park tickets for Christmas but I'm not sure I can wait that long. Not to mention I have an 11 year old who...

You know sometimes you have those theoretical chats with people asking "what would you do if you just found $100 (or $1000 or a million $) on the ground"? It's never really happened to me... until today. Brian and I were shopping in Fred Meyers and were in the ice cream aisle getting a half gallon of Brian's favorite splurge when I noticed this ratty looking envelope on the ground. I pick it up and took a peek inside. The first thing I see is a small pile of bills ... the first few being $100 bills. Inside was a total of $340 cash. Wow, gee ... guess now it's happened to me. We knew immediately that we wouldn't keep it so took it to the customer service desk to turn it into lost and found. I'm really hoping someone comes to claim it. Written on the outside in crayon were the words "From G&G for Kaitlyns birthday". This was obviously money that someone was saving to buy gifts for their child. Brian and I came home from the store and were able ...

We're slowly falling into the rhythm of school life here. Slowly getting used to getting up early each morning (even though I really want to sleep in!), getting to work and school (quite often almost late thanks to Ms. Slowpoke Carissa) and taking care of all the "other" activities that fill our lives. School for the kids is going better. Chase has made a few friends and that has helped him acclimate a bit more. Tristan had a friend he knew before move over to that school and has a few other friends besides that one. Carissa is friends with a couple of the girls in her class too. So the social things are slowly working themselves out. The academic things seem to be going fairly well. Carissa is the best reader in her grade. Not that it's a stretch there. There are only 9 kids in 1st grade and all my kids have always been significantly above the other readers of their age anyways. We read a lot here. She will be starting speech class next month, which I'm...

One of my fellow ScrapAddict designers has a 1st grade daughter. They currently have a class project based on the book "Flat Stanley". Each child has made a flat version of themselves and are sending them out on a journey. Meggie started her journey in Floriday and has visited both Idaho and Colorado. She is now enjoying her time here in Oregon. I took her with my preschool class to Oregon Hill Farms where we got this great view of Mt. Hood. In Florida they don't get to see pumpkins growing on the vine so I took a pic of Flat Meggie hanging out with some pumpkin flowers and growing pumpkins and with a ripe pumpkin. On the way out she took a break in this wheelbarrow full of gourds. Meggie is on her way to Connecticut next to visit fall in it's full colors. Have a great adventure Meggie!!!

It's always interesting when your kids write something about themselves. I find out things I didn't know and it makes me smile just reading it. Here's the bio-poem Chase wrote for open house: Chase Funny, Happy, Helpful, Wishes to be an actor, Dreams of being famous, Wants to save the evironment, Who wonders if science can answer everything, Who fears for endangered animals, Who is afraid of crabs, Who likes rats, Who believes in supernatural creatures, Who loves basketball, Who loves rocks, Who loves school, Who loves watermelon, Who plans to help the poor, Who plans to have a good life, Who plans to write books, Whose final destination is the beach.

So the new October ScrapAddict kits are available so I thought I'd share some of the projects I did with these kits. I had a great time with them. This is the Sweet Street Altered kit. I FINALLY made a SeaWorld album from our Mar. 2006 trip: I also made this sign for Chase's door ... although I must admit that it's usually on the "Go Away" side and rarely on the "Welcome to Chase's room" side. *sigh* And lastly I made this layout of Carissa and Kayli at Kayli's 6th birthday party. This is the Walk the Plank Kit/OD: