Saw this cute download for a 2010 calendar. Would be great for a last minute gift for someone. Or a Happy New Year gift to give in January. Enjoy!

I just signed up to do another round of LOAD the Layout A Day challenge. 31 days and 31 layouts (or more). I just can't resist the pull of the LOAD challenge! At least it is making me catch up on my project 365 journaling. I've been pretty religious about taking the daily photos, but I'm way behind on journaling for each photo. I was so inspired that I did an entire month this evening! Then I'm going to crack open my Studio Calico kits and get to work! Can't wait - I'm feeling motivated!

Hello baby Georgia.

Hello 7 year old Georgia. Having a blast at your Mad Science party!

Love you!

It's been almost a month. Crazy. I seriously need to catch up on my project 365 blogging so I can add it to my written journal later. What have I been up to?

*Georgia was in musical theatre camp during the summer. They did the 101 Dalmatians musical. She was one of the Narrators and one of the other dogs (boxer). She had to memorize lines, learn lots of songs, make her costume and then put on 2 performances to a live audience. So exciting! She now has caught the acting "bug" and wants to do the next play - The Wizard of Oz.

*I attended an Early Childhood Conference for my upcoming job. So exciting to get back to work. I get to feel smart again!

*Irelyn had a beauty shop birthday party with her friends. A friend came over to do "fancy" hair, paint nails, put on make-up, etc... the kids all got to decorate mirrors, make an edible necklace and take home nail polish and lip balm. So fun!

before            after (excuse the fingerprints on the mirror)

 

getting her nails done            all the girls playing after getting fancied up

*Back to school supply and uniform shopping

*Celebrated my dad's 72nd birthday!

*Irelyn's 4 year well visit that entailed 4 immunizations. Ouch!

*playdates, more birthday parties and one last VBS before our trip to the beach

*Spent a week at the beach. So relaxing! Perfect way to end the summer before I being my job.

*Saw Mama Mia at Ruth Eckerd Hall and it was awesome!

*Started job. Girl Scouts leader meeting. Dad's hip replacement surgery (he did great). Irelyn's VPK orientation. Georgia's 1st grad orientation. Back to school haircuts. All in one week.

*Sunday is my 37th birthday!

*School starts on August 25th.

Whew.

June 21st - all of the Father's together: my brothers Mark & Terry, my Dad, and R. Celebrating Father's Day at my parents' house.

June 22nd: First day of swimming lessons for Irelyn. She was terrified to get into the pool because she thought she would sink. Soon she realized she could touch the bottom. I hope she becomes more comfortable in the water before we head to the beach!

June 23rd: The temperature in the car as we left to do our errands today. Too hot to be outside running around.

June 24th: Swim lessons every morning this week. After lunch we headed over to J's house for a play date with some friends. We had popcorn - the black pepper & salt popcorn is the best - chased a frog on the patio, played games, and had a fun time!

June 25th: After swim lessons we met some good friends at the park. They moved to Texas last year and it was great seeing them. It was HOT and all the kids were melting, but it was so fun to spend time together. Of course, Georgia didn't want to hang around with the "little" kids so she went to a friend's house for play time & swimming.

June 26th: Before bed play time with daddy - Irelyn giving him a make-over. Georgia had a friend sleep-over tonight so R was trying to help occupy Irelyn so the big kids could have their alone time.

June 27th: Took Georgia's friend home after the sleep-over. Georgia ended up staying to swim and play and I headed down to the Outlet mall. R finally received his Father's Day gift - Mario Kart for the Wii and he was playing it when I got home from shopping.

June 28th: After lunch we headed down to Sarasota to the GWIZ hands on science museum. Here, Georgia is making a cloud. This is a great little museum, and the best part was the free admission thanks to our membership to the Florida Aquarium. We spent a nice afternoon seeing how magnets work, an exhibit of Leonardo Da Vinci's creations, and learning about all sorts of fascinating science things. I think R and I had more fun than the kids!

June 29th: Flip flops are what we wear in the summer time. Here we are, a family of flip-flops!

We spent the morning at swim lessons then headed over to a swimming play date and lunch with some friends. I was too tired to cook so we headed over to Bob Evan's for dinner.

June 30th: Irelyn not happy about bed time.

July 1st: R's new shirt! He has a running joke about not wearing pants and someone sent him this shirt. Too funny!

July 2nd: This is pretty much what the passenger side of my car looks like on a daily basis - purse, swim bag/towel, water bottle, coffee (not always Starbucks), notepad and pen to jot down things as I think of them while driving around town.

July 3rd: R was off work today. He took Irelyn to her swim lesson where she jumped off the diving board for the first time. I was sad that I missed it, but happy that R got to see it since he normally is the one to miss out on all of those types of events. Later we headed over to my parents' house for some Maryland Fried Chicken. After dinner we set up the new sprinkler toy I bought for the girls. They had a blast.

July 4th: Happy Independence Day! Too many pictures taken today - too hard to choose just one. We started out the day going to a local church for a free picnic lunch with hamburgers, hot dogs, snow cones and a bouncy house. Later we met some friends to watch the fireworks display at the mall.

July 5th: On Friday, R decided to go out and get a tattoo. He's been wanting a new one for a while and this is what he chose.

If you do, your baby girl will go from this

  3 days old

to this

  4 years old today

in a blink of an eye.

Happy birthday to my feisty, sassy, sweet, smart, beautiful girl!

What a week. Oh it started off fine enough. Monday was swim lessons for Irelyn and then a couple of errands before going home. Girls were great until about 1pm and then the aliens must have abducted them or body snatched them because they were not acting like my girls. Irelyn had 2, yes, 2 potty accidents which she hasn't had in months. So I yelled about that. Then there was the bickering between the girls over who could be the princess or the dog or the ___________________ (fill in the blank) in whatever imaginary play they were having. Then the dog peed on the floor. I was washing dishes and I look down and she is just walking in the kitchen peeing. Great! Haven't I dealt with enough bodily fluids for one day?!?! As I'm mopping up the urine, Georgia says "mom, can you log me on to Barbie.com?" Seriously? Can't she see I'm mopping up the dog pee. So I snap at her saying that it isn't the right time to be asking me that question.

We muddled through the rest of the day and thank God tomorrow is a new day!

Tuesday was swim lessons again then a trip to the bank. I was planning to open the girls' first savings accounts, but I forgot the ever important social security cards in order to do that. At least we were able to stop and see my parent's at their business and have lunch.

Wednesday. Woke up. Called the girls in for breakfast. Georgia comes into the kitchen and then I hear Irelyn crying as she's walking down the hall. "Georgia hit me" she says. Georgia denies it, saying she told Irelyn it was time for breakfast and left the room. Then Georgia chooses which cereal she wants. I ask Irelyn to choose what she wants. She picks Apple Jacks. Georgia grabs for the container of cereal (I had transferred it to a tupperware container) before Irelyn can get to it and she winds up dropping the container, the lid flies off and Apple Jacks pour out all over the floor. I make Georgia clean up the mess and then try to figure out why she was grabbing it from Irelyn. We discuss it for a while and then she admits that she indeed did hit Irelyn earlier and lied about it. At this point I lost it. I do not tolerate lying. We had a lot of yelling, crying, and general ugliness about the whole situation. Mind you this is all happening at 8am. What a great start to the day.

We all calm down, take a deep breath and have a do-over. We get to swim lessons and as we are crossing the parking lot, Georgia somehow pulls Irelyn too quickly and Irelyn twists and falls hard on the asphalt, hitting the back of her head. It was an accident, but it scared me. Georgia kept saying "I'm sorry mommy" and I told her it was an accident. Of course after the fall Irelyn wasn't too keen on doing her lesson. I convinced her it would be alright. About 2/3 through the lesson, Irelyn had had enough and started crying for me. I couldn't get to her and I tried to calm her down from across the pool. She made it through to the end but was very weepy.

After swimming we stopped by the preschool where I'll be working in the Fall to check on some things. The girls were able to play with their friends and it was a pleasant experience.

Thursday was about par for the course - lots of bickering between the kids. It hasn't helped that it's been raining almost non-stop for the past 5 days. I'm feeling very stressed and exhausted today from the week. Decided that I needed a nap so the girls had quiet time and I napped. Peace and quiet for a little while anyway.

Today. No swim lessons on Fridays. The girls let me sleep in until about 8:15 which was nice. They both jumped in the bed for a cuddle and Georgia says "I'm not grumpy- bumpy today" Irelyn says "I have my listening ears on" and they had a really good day. Of course, Georgia was looking forward to a sleep over at a friend's house tonight and the neighbor girl babysat for about 2 hours this afternoon while I ran some errands that were not appropriate for the kids. I think the break did everyone some good. Now it's the weekend and Daddy is home to help referee. Hoping it was just a case of a bad week and not a sign of things to come over the next 6 weeks until school starts. This is the first week I thought about that since the summer break began.

At least there is always tomorrow (to try) to get things right.

French Dip Sandwiches

I found this recipe and tweaked it a bit.

1.5 - 2 lb. beef chuck roast (or other type of roast) trimmed

2.5 - 3 cups of water

3/4 cup soy sauce (low sodium is fine)

2-3 tbs. Worcestershire sauce

3 tsp. Italian seasoning blend

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 bay leaf

fresh ground black pepper - I just did about 10 grinds worth

1. Place roast in crock pot. Add all other ingredients.

2. Cover. Cook on high for about 5 hours. (I actually cooked it on high for 4 and then turned it to low for the last hour).

3. Remove meat from broth and shred. Keep warm.

4. Strain broth and skim off fat. Pour broth into small cups for dipping.

5. Serve beef on hoagie or french rolls.

As seen on Ali E's blog and Cathy Z's blog this week. A cool concept to document Today.

TODAY
June 23rd, 2009

Outside my window... Mostly cloudy and hot. Already in the 90's. 

I am thinking...about what I need to get done today vs. what I want to do.

I am thankful for... Right now I am thankful that the girls are playing nicely and quietly together.

From the kitchen... Just ate a bowl of Grape Nuts. Tonight will either be salmon patties or tacos.

I am wearing...khaki capri pants and a t-shirt. no shoes.

I am creating... haven't created much lately. I do feel the siren call of my scrapbook supplies. Maybe I'll create a page today! 

I am going... to start the laundry, fold the laundry and entertain kids. At some point I should get on the treadmill.....

I am reading... Firefly Lane. Only on chapter 3 though. Need to sit down and put some time into this one. It looks very good. 

I am hoping...that Irelyn loses her fear of the water very soon. She wasn't as apprehensive about swim lessons today, but still not ready to jump in or put her head under the water. Baby steps.

I am hearing...Lizzie breathing softly.

Around the house...clutter, pet hair, kid's toys on the floor. 

One of my favorite things...staying cool inside when it is almost 100 degrees outside.

A few plans for the rest of the week... more housework, swim lessons for Irelyn every day, some play dates for the kids, a sleep-over on Friday, and finding a place for our beach vacation later this summer.

Even though I failed to complete the LOAD challenge in May, I still got a lot done and I wanted to share some of the layouts I did. Congrats to all who finished the challenge!

Prompt was to create a page with an imperfect element - on purpose.

Prompt: create a page about the future.

Prompt: make a page with flowers on it.

Prompt: Do whatever you want today.

Prompt: use a sketch

I was able to complete 19 pages in May. Of course, I haven't done a thing since. Soon...............