Special Occasions

Summer is always a busy time for us. My girls definitely keep me busy and I find it a little harder to get some pages done with both of them at home. It is almost impossible to keep Ayden inside on those bright sunny days. Likewise, it is almost impossible to convince Raquel into going outside. Now that she is older, she would rather spend time on the computer. Thankfully she loves to read, so on our recent trip to the dentist, in the city, I bought her a new series of books to read, (it's never much fun to start a series and than have to wait for the next book). I myself know all about that, as I recently finished the fourth book in George R. R. Martin's series A Song of Ice and Fire and am now waiting to read A Dance With Dragons, which will soon be published (I hope).

I finally got a couple of pages done though. I started working on several at one time. I should know better, as I always find it harder to come up with a concept and it takes me longer to get them done. From now on, one at a time, unless it is a two page layout. I decided to use Vanessa's latest kit, which is currently on sale for a limited time in her store. The backgrounds in it are beautiful and some of the elements rather unique.

It was a perfect match for this first LO and gave me a chance to work with some of my old pictures. Some of the pictures weren't really in such great condition, but I restored them the best I could. This is my mom's 1st cousin and her family. Her communion dress was quite pretty, but I bet she must have been a little chilly as they were all standing outside for the family picture.

First Communion digital kit credits: Communion Kit from Blushbutter
Font used: Cataneo BT

This second page I did as a surprise for my cousin. This is my uncle with his granddaughter, at her baptism last year.

Baptism digital kit credits: Communion Kit & Flourish swirl Photoshop brush & digital stamp from Blushbutter
Font used: Edwardian Script ITC

It's kind of hard to believe it is almost August and summer is halfway over. Ayden is hoping Lady will be coming home soon. We got to go for our first ride on her a couple of weeks ago, and it was great. We still haven't really got a pasture fixed up for her yet, but once that's done we should be getting her home and than the girls can get in some riding practice. My parents and niece were down here a few weeks ago and we all had a wonderful visit. We took in the Bergen Rocks exhibition and also took Madison to the Calgary Stampede. It was her first time and I think she really enjoyed it. Both Raquel and Ayden are looking forward to a trip up to their grandparents house in about a week or so. My parents birthdays are both at the beginning of the month, so I though it would be a good time to go. Ayden birthday is at the end of the month as well. She will be turning four already. Time sure does go by quickly.

We've been enjoying some nice summer weather lately. Which of course at this time of the year means lots of thunderstorms later in the day. We sure do get some severe ones in our area of the province. But I have always enjoyed watching the lightening and listening to the rain. It's supposed to be quite nice this weekend is well, so hopefully we'll be able to get out and enjoy the long weekend. Hope you all enjoy it as well. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog!

Celebrations

I actually got my page for the May challenge at Blush-n-Dusty finished early for once. Usually I seem to get busy with other things and leave it till the last minute. This month the challenge was to do a page featuring a birthday (and hopefully have a cake in the picture as well). You also had to use something from Lara's newest mini kit, Vintage Birthday which she was featuring as a freebie on her blog for May.

I decided to do a page for my heritage album. I knew I had this picture of my Aunt Joyce and Uncle Peter scanned and Lara's kit seemed to go so well with it. It even has my uncle holding his sister's cake. So it fit perfectly with the challenge theme. I know my children love celebrating their birthdays and always look forward to having cake. It is such a joy just to watch them enjoying their special day. My oldest will be having his 20th birthday in a few days. He lives quite a ways from me now and I miss making him his favorite things for supper on his birthday. I hope he has a wonderful day.

Celebrate digital kit credits: Vintage Birthday, Amid Memories and Dainty from Dusty Bear.
Fonts Used: Renaissance Regular

Both girls have been enjoying school, as this is the time of year when a lot of fun activities are happening. Ayden was thrilled, as she got to go with her class to one of the local restaurants this week and make pizza. Raquel got to have a sleepover at school with her class. They camped out on the classroom floor and got to watch a movie, play games and hang out together. Raquel is counting down the days till the school year is over and looking forward to summer vacation. She decided to spend this weekend at her dad's, so it will be rather quiet here at our place. I think Ayden and I will have to make a trip to the farmer's market tomorrow to keep ourselves busy.

We've been enjoying some wonderful sunny days the past couple of weeks. The yard work is slowly getting done and the girls and I are looking forward to some visits to our local greenhouses soon. The past couple of days have been rainy and wet, but we really did need the moisture. This coming long weekend is supposed to be cool, so I put off buying flowers till next week. As it is a long weekend I'm sure we will find a few other things to do though. I hope you have a wonderful long weekend also!

Happy Mother's Day

I think one of the most amazing things in life, has got to be having a child and watching them grow and change into a unique individual. I certainly appreciate all the things my mom has done for me throughout my life. Now that I am older (and farther away), I wish I could spend more time with her. I miss the little things we used to do when I lived closer, like going out for lunch, visiting greenhouses with her or just stopping by for a cup of tea. My own children are growing up so fast and it is kind of hard for me to believe my son will be 20 at the end of the month.

The April challenge for Blush-n-Dusty was to do a page with your favorite color, using Blushbutter's newest mini kit, Favorite Color. I don't know if I truly have a favorite color, but I do prefer blues and greens to pinks and purple. So I decided to do a blue page because of that. I used one of my recent, favorite pictures of all my children together taken last summer. I printed this one out for my mom and mail it off to her for Mother's Day. Which is the reason why I didn't post it here till now, as I didn't want her to see it before then. Hopefully she got her card in the mail by now though.

My Children digital kit credits: Favorite Color Mini Kit and Favorite Color Kit from BlushButter.
Fonts Used: Edwardian Script ITC and Dani.

During the past several weeks we've been having some nasty spring storms here in southern Alberta. The power was knocked out several times (once all day) and the highways were closed as well. We had a fairly mild winter though, so perhaps we are paying for that now. The farmers were grateful for the moisture I am sure and at least the fire ban the county had on has been lifted. Once again the snow is almost melted and the green grass is showing. I spent some time cleaning out my flower beds the other day and the green shoots are starting to push their way out. The leaf buds on the trees are beginning to open also, so it would seem spring is finally on it's way. The weather is supposed to improve this coming week with temperatures returning to normal.

Due to all the snow, Raquel got to miss a few extra days of school as the buses didn't run, which made her happy. She had a sleepover at her friend, Taylor's last night, so Ayden is anxiously waiting for her to come home today. We also had a quick visit with Vern's mom a couple of weekends ago. It was nice for the girls to see her, as they don't get to very often. Ayden is eagerly awaiting some mail from her Grandma Doreen, who promised to send her a few pictures of their time together. Last weekend we dropped in at the arena where Lady is being broke, to check out how things are going. Ayden was thrilled as she got to sit on her back, in a saddle. Lady is making good progress and should be back home in a couple more weeks. This week we decided to save a couple of kittens from being taken to the SPCA. Raquel and Ayden are both quite happy with their new little pets. Meko and Mouse are quite the rambunctious pair, and it is certainly amusing to watch them, as it has been a while since we had kittens around here.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. Thanks so much for taking the time to drop by my blog. I really appreciate your comments as well. Happy Mother's Day!!!

Time Passages

Today marked the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, which was founded to put a focus on environmental awareness. We really should try to do our part to protect the environment and our natural resources all year long. If you are interested in checking out how your own habits impact the planet, take the Footprint Quiz from The Earth Day Network.

Time certainly does go by quickly. I've been meaning to get this page posted all month and just never seemed to get around to it. The March challenge at Blush-n-Dusty was to do a page featuring a baby photo of yourself, using Dusty Bears' Darling Baby kit. So this is a picture of me, at a few months old. The picture was not in very good shape and I had to do some restoring of it, so I decided to touch up the pink color of the dress as well. The quote I used on it, was from a card my mom sent me not very long ago and I thought it was quite appropriate.
Darling Baby digital kit credits: Darling Baby, Spring Sprung, Wintertide Elements & Affinity from Dusty Bear.
Fonts used: Porcelain & tabor handwriting.

We had a wonderful Easter holiday. My parents came down from up north with my niece, Madison. Everyone had a good visit and the girls really enjoyed having their cousin to play with for a few days. Following their visit here, they headed for Vancouver, to visit with my youngest brother and his family. On their way, they stopped in and spent the night with my mom's relatives in Kamloops. I had given mom some of our old family pictures, to see if they could identify more of my "mystery" relatives. When I spoke to her last week, she told me they were able to name a few of the people, so I am eagerly waiting for her to send them back to me.

My mare, Lady, is away getting saddle broke. I am looking forward to finally getting to go for a ride on her. She is 3 years old now and I halter broke and broke her to lead myself. Raquel and Ayden have both ridden on her bareback, while I lead them around, so I think the cowboy who is breaking her for us should have a fairly easy time. Ayden is really missing having her in the yard, so maybe this weekend we will have a chance to go to the arena where she is and check out her progress.

Raquel has no school tomorrow and is finally going to take her babysitting course. It has been postponed several times, due to various reason. She is anticipating being able to babysit and make a little extra spending cash. Following that, she is off to spend the weekend with her dad, so we should have a quiet few days at our house. Hope you have a good weekend. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Spring

This past weekend was the first day of spring, also known as the Vernal Equinox. In the northern hemisphere, this refers to the date when night and day are nearly the same length and the sun crosses the celestial equator moving north. This date is also significant because Easter always falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox. For me, it means that the end of winter is drawing near. I am really looking forward to the snow melting, fresh green leaves and grass.

Ingeborg from Ikscraps, has out a beautiful new spring kit, Blossoms. I was so pleased that she gave me a chance to work with it. Ingeborg has some gorgeous kits and many of her designs are quite unique, as they are hand painted. Ingeborg is offering a lovely little freebie at the store that coordinates with this kit, if you want to sample her designs. Working with her kit really inspired me to get a few pages done from last spring. Looking back through my pictures was fun and made me realize just how fast time goes by.

Spring Definitions digital kit credits: Blossom Elements & Blossom papers by Ikscraps available at e-scape and scrap.
Fonts used Courier New, Book Antiqua & ALS Script.


Easter Egg Hunt I & II digital kit credits: Blossom Elements & Blossom papers by Ikscraps available at e-scape and scrap.
Fonts used Wenceslas & VIctorian LET.

March has been such a busy month for us. Raquel & I both celebrated our birthdays about a week ago. Raquel celebrated hers, by having a sleepover with her best friend, Taylor. They stayed up literally all night just hanging out, until I finally told them at 5:30 in the morning that it really was time to get some sleep. It is hard to believe Raquel is already 11. She is looking forward to taking her babysitting course this weekend, now that she is finally old enough. Ayden is really enjoying her swimming lessons. Twice a week, (in the mornings), we've headed into town to the Aquaplex. Her final lesson is tomorrow and although she is progressing quite well, I am fairly certain she with have to take the level again.

Easter is just around the corner. The girls and I are anticipating it, as my parents are planning to come down along with my niece, Madison, for a few days. Raquel is also looking forward to spring break, which starts on Good Friday as well.
I hope you are having a good week. Thanks for dropping by my blog!

One's Life Story

I finally got another page done for my heritage album. The February challenge at Blush-n-Dusty was to do a page about someone who you miss, that has passed away, using Blushbutter's newest mini kit, Miss You.

I decided to do a tribute page about my paternal grandmother. She passed away in 2007 and I will always miss her. I only saw her a few times in my life, once she came to Canada and I was fortunate to go to Germany and visit another time, when I was about 18. My oma always made me feel loved and I often wrote letters to her. When my dad went to Germany to attend her funeral, among her things, he found one of the letters I wrote to her when I was about nine. He brought it home with some other mementos from her life. My oma overcame many difficult situations and saw the world go through many changes. She lost her husband and her home in the second world war, but through it all managed to keep her children together. She spent several years in a refugee camp in Denmark and when she was finally allowed to return to Germany, rebuilt a home for her family. She was a strong, courageous and very determined women, I will never forget her and will always respect her.

The quote on this page is from Helen Adams Keller: One's life story cannot be told with complete veracity. A true auto biography would have to be written in states of mind, emotions, heartbeats, smiles and tears; not in months and years or physical events. Life is marked off on the soul by feelings, not by dates.

One's Life Story digital kit credits: Miss You and Miss You mini kits by Blushbutter.
Fonts used: Wenceslas & Delitsch Antiqua.

Over the past couple of weeks we tried to spend some time each day watching some events from the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. What a fantastic sporting event it was and Canada's athletes certainly made us all proud to be Canadians. The weather here has been wonderful for this time of year. We've been enjoying some really mild temperatures and our snow has been slowly disappearing. Although it is way to early for winter to be over, it sure does feel like spring is on it's way.

March is looking like a rather busy month for us. Raquel will be turning 11 in a couple of weeks and she is looking forward to taking her babysitting course near the end of the month. I decided to register Ayden for swimming lessons this month. This will be her first set of lessons with out me in the pool with her, so the first lesson or two might be a little interesting. She will be going a couple of mornings a week, which I'm sure she will enjoy.
I hope you have a good week, thanks for dropping by my blog.

10 Reasons Why

This year for Valentine's Day I decided to make each of my daughters' a special page. I thought it would be fun to tell them 10 different things, that I love about each of them. They are quite different from each other and I really enjoyed doing these pages for them.

I decided to use one of Dusty Bear's newest kits, that I've been trying to find time to play with. I really like the background papers in this kit. I believe that Lara currently has Splendiferous on sale in her store at Gotta Pixel for a limited time, if you are interested in checking it out.

10 Reasons Why - Raquel digital kit credits: Splendiferous and Poly Plastic Layer Style by Dusty Bear.
Heart Element by Art Within Designs.
Fonts Used: Old Newspaper Font, Kayleigh and Monotype Corsiva.

10 Reasons Why - Ayden digital kit credits: Splendiferous by Dusty Bear.
Heart element by Art Within Designs.
Fonts Used: Old Newspaper Font, Kayleigh and Monotype Corsiva.

We have been enjoying several more weeks of mild winter weather, although it has been quite foggy some days. The ice crystals that form on everything because of the fog, are certainly beautiful and even Raquel snapped a few pictures of the trees with her cell phone. The girls have been busy with school activities and Raquel is looking forward to the break she will get this week, due to the annual teacher's convention. I must say I am really beginning to dislike paperwork, as once again it is time to get everything together for a trip to the accountant's.

Ayden enjoys swimming and so we decided to take her for the Family Day swim at the pool. It was a busy place today, but it was great to get out of the house and do something. Besides that, we had a quiet weekend as Raquel was off visiting her dad and didn't come back home until this evening. I hope you had a Happy Valentine's day and took some time out to enjoy the Family Day long weekend.