Middle School Grades

Justin did really well on his first semester Middle schoool grades. He got three As and 2 Bs. One of the As was for PE, but I am so proud of him that one of the As is for English. His English teacher is very tough. She expects papers to be well written with alot of detail and marks them up and expects them to be rewritten in one day. Justin has really improved his writing because of Mrs. McLaughlin. She is his favorite teacher.

"They have Christmas!"

Kaitlin is enjoying the Christmas lights. As we drive along she points out the houses that have Christmas lights and says "They have Chritmas." Then in a diappointed voice, Kaitlin points out the houses that don't have and says, "They don't have Christmas."
It totally cracks me up.

Basketball Tryouts

Justin tried out for the 6th grade Middle School basketball team. He was so excited when he got home. I think he was on a little adereneline high. She was talking nonstop about everything from things he did in school to how the practice went to out of the blue questions about science and history. I love when he is that excited and happy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed fro him.

Fairy Girl

I got the idea of doing a little Fairy photo shoot with Kaitlin from a friend. We went to Sycamore Grove park in Livermore. She wore her lavender tutu and a little purple lace top as well as some Fairy wings for part of the time. Kailtin had fun looking in the creek, crossing the bridge and walking the trails. I took a ton of photos and some of them turned out great. It was alot of fun. I hope we get to do it again sometime.

Big Snake

Kailtin woke up early this morning and said she had a dream about a big scary snake. Then she told me that Logan shot it. I'm glad her brother was able to rescue her even in a dream. I have no idea what caused the scary dream.

Chef

Kaitlin gets out a potholder and spatula and tells me that she wants to be a Chef. I asked her what she wnats to cook as a chef. She says cupcakes. I think this may just be a clever way to get to make cupcakes. Too cute and a very effective way to get to make cupcakes.

Back to School

Justin and Logan are back in school. Kaitlin misses them. She is so happy when they come home from school. She hugs them and says "I love you." and then kisses them on the arm and hugs them. I knew she would miss them when they went back to school. She had a lot of fun with them this summer.

Great America

Today we went to Great America. All five of us went in the lazy river. It was fun to get to do something with all five of us. Kaitlin looked so cute hanging her little feet over the edge of the inner tube and her but dropping down into the middle. We all had a fun time!

Greenie

Kaitlin loves bugs. She especially likes rollie-pollie bugs. Today she found a rollie-polie bug in the yard and put him in a bucket to watch him. She was so excited to see him open and close.
She named him Greenie! How cute. Then she took him back outside and let him go in the grass.
My little nature lover.

My Current Top Ten

The current top 10 things that make me happy.

1. A good photo of J,K & L together
2. Taking Pictures
3. Scrapbooking when I'm in the groove
4. Reading a really good book
5. Chocoalte Chip Cookies
6. Iced Coffee
7. Pizza
8. Sleeping In
9. Making Katie, Jusitn or Logan Laugh
10. Hanging out at the Pool

If a week just includes just a few of these, it is a good week!

"My Little Bed"

Kaitlin has been sleeping in a toddler bed for the past three nights. She loves it. She calls it "my little bed". Tonight I asked her if she was ready to go to bed. She runs to the bedroom and excitedly says "My little bed!" I'm so glad that she likes her new toddler bed. It is another milestone that she has already reached. Bitter sweet!

Inspiration Word: Nurture

Scrapbooker, Ali Edwards encourgaed scrapbookers to pick a word for the year and to journal about it several times during the year. I didn't know about this project until she was doing her June update, but I figure better late than never. She picked "nurture" as her word and I am going to copy her.

Nuture is a great word to focus on with 3 kids, especially now that it is summer and the boys are home so much. I am trying to Nuture responsibility in the boys. Since they are home, I have been trying to get them to be more responsible for cleaning up after themselves and helping around the house. I am also still trying to Nuture them academically by having them work on their Summer Bridges work books. A page a day is a good way to help them stay in tune with some math and English concepts. We have been good about getting at least one workbook page done most days.

The other thing I need to Nurutre is their love of reading . We have not been reading enough this summer. It is definitely something to work on.

I need to work on nurturing Kaitlin's love of books too. I need to make time to read with her more often. Kaitlin is loving puzzles right now. She asks me to help her fix her puzzles all the time. I have definitely Nurtured her love of puzzles. They had some 12 peice puzzles for $1 at Target and we bought all the different ones they had. I have also bought her some nice wooden puzzles. Her favorite right now is a a map of the world. It is pretty tricky becasue there are alot of water and land peices that look similar. It cracks me up that it is her favorite.

Bug Friends

We had put a inflatable jumper toy outside for Kaitlin's Birthday. When we first put it up, losts of little spiders and ants started running around in the bottom of it. Kaitlin got down on the ground on her tummy to watch them. She called them her Bug friends. How cute. She has really been into bugs and insects lately. She likes to watch them and she likes to read books about bugs. They really are her bug friends.

The Other Part of the Swim Meet

Of course, the main focus of the swim meet is swimming. But the boys enjoy the hanging out with their friends playing video games alot too. They all cluster around connecting thier Nintendo DSs and playing 4 players at once. They trade games, but they always know who owns a DS or a game. Sometimes they even help each other. Logan wanted some characters in a Pokemon game and some of the other boys helped him get them. Eventually they get bored and do other things, but they spend alot of time playing together.

Make up

Kaitlin decided to do her own make up. She used her self inking stamp to give herself eye shadow, lipstick and rougue. I guess I failed to teach Kaitlin that blue makeup is very 70s.

She was so proud of herself and liked looking at herself in the mirror. A little water took most of it off. Thank goodness. The rest faded in the shower the next day. She loves coloring on herself. What's a mom to do?

Swim Meet - June27th

I love spending the Saturdays in the summer at swim meets. Justin and Logan have both become such good swimmers. I am so proud of them. It is exciting to watch them race.
Today we raced against Rhonewood. Justin is great at the backstroke, free style and butterfly.
Justin got first place in the backstroke today and also got an honors time in the butterfly and
freestyle. Justin swam the backstroke in the mixed-medley replay and his team got first place.
His free-style relay team got second place this team.

Logan is also doing really well. He got his best time ever in the breast stroke today. He also got an honors time in the butterfly. He keeps improving his times every week and his technique is improving all the time too.

What's Up?

Kaitlin's new favorite expression. She will say it over and over again. She likes to say it in a high squeaky voice and then sometimes in a low voice. It cracks me up!

Logan in Geology Rocks

Logan did the play Geology Rocks. He got to be a Rapper. He was so excited to dress up in glasses and a bling necklace. He looked so cute and he delivered his line with lots of enthusiasm.
"Everything that he ate was served on a tektonic plate"

Kaitlin's 3rd Birthday

Kaitlin just turned 3 years old. We had her Birthday party at our house. It was a pet theme. Kaitlin got to color animal masks, put on tatoos and play on the waterslide. Kaitlin loved all the animal finger puppets on her cake. She also loved the puppy pinata. She walked around holding it even after the party.

"Bestfriend"

Kaitlin and Logan were playing together and having a good time together. Kaitlin stopped and said, "Logan's my Bestfriend!" How sweet! Logan and Kaitlin really do get along so well. The five year age difference isn't that big right now.

Cute Sayings

Kaitlin was quoting the movie, The Night at the Museum. A statue in the Movie is flexing his muscles and says "Fire Power" with a New York accent. Kaitlin copies it complete with the New York accent. So funny.

On Logan's Birthday, Daddy was singing the Sponge Bob song, "Best day ever!" Kaitlin has been singing it off and on for the last week. She has also been singing the Madagascar song "I like to move it, Move it!" I love it.

Logan did his First Communion this past Saturday. He looked so cute in his suit. He was so excited. All the kids looked adorable. Logan read part of the First Reading at the ceremony. He was nervous to get up in front of everyone, but he did a really good job. He made a small banner that was put on a larger banner. His was in the lower corner so we could take a picture of him with it . Too cute.

Singing and Skipping

We can learn some life lessons from Kaitlin. At almost 3 yeards old she enjoys life so much. She sings to herself constantly. She sings her version of many songs or ones that she has made up completely. She is so happy and content while she plays and sings to herself. Kaitlin often skips from place to place. She skips to her chair. She skips outside. She skips on the way to the bathroom. I know in Kindergarten that they test if kids know how to skip. Kaitlin will pass that one with flying colors. She is a natural skipper.

A Day at the Beach

We went down to Southern Cal for a few days at the end of Spring Break. We spent one of the days at the Ventura Beach with Aunt Janet and Uncle Eugene. We had a fun day of flying kites and playing in the sand. I love this shot of Jusitn, Logan and Kaitlin together. It is so hard to get a good shot of the three of them together. I am always thrilled when I get a good one of the three of them together.

Nicknames

My husband, Marty and I have always enjoyed giving each other nicknames. When we first started going out, we gave each other tons of silly nicknames. One of my husband's favorite nicknames for me was Cookie. I can't even tell you all the sickly sweet nicknames we had for each other. Once we had kids, we came up with lots of silly kicknames for them too.
My favorite for Justin was Justin Bustin. My favorite for Logan was Logan Pogen. One of my favorites for Kaitlin is Katie Skatie. Sometimes I think I would like to write a childrens story with characters named Justin Bustin, Logan Pogen and Katie Skatie. I don't know exactly what the story is about yet, but I think it will be about threee kids that get into alot of mischeif.

My current favorite name for Kaitlin is Sweets. She has the sweetest smile and loves to skip. What could be sweeter than that.

Girlfriend

While Kaitlin and I were hanging out on the couch a couple of days ago, Kaitlin leaned over and hugged my arm. She does that alot when she is in a cuddly mood. I love it. Then she said, "Mommy, girlfriend. " How sweet that she thinks of me as her girlfriend. Mother's Day is in about a week, but I got my present from Kaitlin early. It melted my heart

My Carpet

I love my kids. They drive me crazy almost everyday lately. They make me smile everyday too.
They do crazy things constantly. At ages 10, almost 8 and alomst 3, they are into everything. To get an idea of the stuff that goes one just look at the carpet in my house. It is covered with Bakugan, Pokemon Cards, Littlest Pet Shop characters, pipe cleaners, dirty socks, lots of little Lego bits and puzzle pieces. I am constantly cleaning up, yet the carpet is constanly covered with stuff. I brings to mind the old poem. "Cleaning your house, while your kids are still growing, is like shoveling the snow while the snow is still snowing." Don't know who wrote that, but they covered the story of my life lately. :-)

What does life and scrap mean?

The title Life and Scrap gives the main topics that I want to cover in my blog, everday life and
my favorite obsession, scrapbooking. I want to use this blog to document lots little things that go on. It will be my journal of everyday happenings and thoughts. Someday maybe my kids will read it and get a laugh or two or maybe understand their mom a little better. I also hope to post some of my scrapbook layouts here. I love looking at the blogs of other scrappers. Some of my favorites include Ali Edwards, Jaimie Waters, Alexis Hardy and Sasha Farina and I also love the idea gallery at www.twopeasinabucket.com. They have been my source of lots of inspiration over the years and I hope I can inspire a few other people with my posts.