Have you ever??? Dmitry Style

We recently discovered our crazy cat, Dmitry has a talent...he fetches, just like a dog! I tried to capture the silliness of a cat running after a fuzzy ball and bringing it back only to get it again, but you'll just have to imagine the crazy scramble to run down the hall to get it (the floor is wood, so there is a lot of sliding and slamming into things). He enjoys this game so much, he stalks Ana to play with him.

A Weekend Agenda

Big weekend ahead -

• Ana's graduating from 8th grade on Wednesday, June 2nd and due to travel schedules, we're having her party this weekend. Making some goodies for that with my nephew (who likes to cook)...
• My niece and nephew are getting ready to spend a month in Arizona with their Grandma and it's my (self-appointed) job to make sure they have enough to read. Taking my nephew to The Frugal Muse today to get him some reading material ..... all my hardwork shoving books in his face since he was a baby has paid off and he's a "reader"! Yeah! His hardwork helping get ready for his cousins party will payoff with some summer reading - I'll let you know what he chooses!
• I've got some much needed time off to recharge my batteries - the "work battery" (Memorial Day Weekend) and the "mom battery" since the kids will spend some much needed time with their globe-trotting father this weekend.
• I've had the itch to paper scrap this week....I'll share some stuff soon. I have a book I've been working on for Ana about Real Beauty, that she will get later this week.....
• Also, have a digital scrapbook Summer book in the works using some of the fun papers and elements creating by the awesome Jen C Designs, which I will get to share this weekend, too.

So, fun stuff for me....hope you have some fun things planned as well.  See you soon with some pics from our weekend!!!

I'm Sharing.....Log Your Memory Weekly Challenge: Siblings

So, I spend a lot of time over at Log Your Memory. Each week, there is a scrapbooking challenge to document something about your life. This week's theme was about siblings. I could have written about my kids as sibs or my own sibling....I chose to share my thoughts about my sister. I know she reads my blog (good sister!) and this assignment was a chance to finally document how I feel about her. So, meet my sister/best friend, Jeanne:

Here's the Journaling:

My sister is my best friend. She’s my go to person and I talk to her every day. Really. Every single day. It wasn’t always like this, though. She’s 4 years younger than me but you know how time seems to close the age gap when you get older? Well, now there’s really no telling who’s the older sister and who’s the younger one unless you look at our driver’s licenses! What I mean is there is no older sister/younger sister roles between us. We are just us. I think the time gap closed when we were both pregnant at the same time with our first borns – they were born a week apart. We both had the good fortune to stay home during those first couple years with Nick and Ana. Because I didn’t drive at the time, she became the “big” sister, helping me go everywhere I needed to be. We did our shopping together, doctor’s appointments, hung out and took care of our kids together. Fast forward 13 years to today. She’s still as vital to my daily happiness as she was back then. The difference is, we are both stronger women. We are both hard working moms, with teenagers. She opens her heart and her home to foster rescued dogs, while working a full time job. I do my scrapbook thing, and work full time. We support each other’s passions and wipe each other’s tears. We plan movie dates, and scrapbook together. We even have sleepovers just like the teenage girls we still feel like. Only, when I was a teenager, she was too young to really hang out with. I’m really thankful that we’ve maintained such a strong relationship for the past 30-some years. We are truly friends by birth.

And another, much different page I did featuring my sister and me:

Jeanne and Ana at Ana's Confirmation (Jeanne's both my kids' Godmother)

Just curious:

Are you close with your siblings? Has your relationship with them changed over time like mine has?

Matt and "The Big Fish"

(Kit: Write On, a new kit from Laura Banasiak/simply.scraps which is available 5/17 here)

Back on April 23rd ...., we had a celebrity among us....our very own, award winning author, none other than, Matt! Matt's short story, "The Big Fish", was selected  by the Brainstormers as one of 5 stories to be performed by the group, in front of his classmates.

The school called that Monday, and let us know his story had been selected and instructed us not to tell Matt. Yep, it was a BIG secret - he couldn't know until the very moment his story was performed, that he was a chosen author! We all gathered, as his entourage, in the conference room at the school, so he wouldn't see us until it was time for the show --Me, My Guy, Stepmom (on Dad's behalf, as he was stuck in Canada), Grandma and Bubba, and I even sprung Ana from school a little early, so she could be there to celebrate Matt.

The Big Fish

by Matthew Erickson

Once there was a bear that was really good at catching fish. One day, it saw a really big fish. But something else was trying to catch it. It was an alligator.

And the bear went up to the alligator to ask, "Want me to help you catch that big fish?" And the alligator said, "Yes. So the bear told the alligator all his way of catching fish: using a fishing pole, using a fishing net, and using a trap.

So first, they tried using a fishing pole. But when they tried casting the line, it got stuck in a tree. And the tree was too weak to climb. So they left it there.

Then, they got the fishing net. But the bear had it for a long time, so it had a hole in it. And when the fish came, it just went through it.

Next, they used the trap and the trap was to get some logs and put them behind and in front of the fish, then jump in the water. So they did and they caught it.

But they had to decide who would eat the fish. And they decided they would both have a half. So, they split the fish and ate it. And that's how the alligator and the bear worked together to catch the Big Fish.

Couldn't be prouder!!!

My son, the author....and just one week later, Ana found out she took second place in a writing contest! Oh, they make their former English teacher mom proud!!!

I found it....I bought it....you want one too, don't you?

New Glee tonight....liked, no LOVED last week. Found this on Etsy and had to buy it...

Yes, it would.

This guy has all kinds of buttons over there....Ana and I have had fun sharing and wearing them...

This one is so me too....

I'd love to show you more, but why not check them out for yourself.....

http://www.etsy.com/shop/beanforest

Happy new Glee tonight!

A few pictures from Matt's First Communion and Ana's Confirmation

Family....here are some of the pictures from Ana's Confirmation and Matt's Communion...naturally, I took a zillion more...here are the highlights...

Jen C Designs - New Release - Strawberry Delight

Jen C has a fresh new kit available Monday, May 10th - it really got me in the mood for summer....think I might plant strawberries this year. Do rabbits like strawberries? I can't plant anything that might turn into rabbit food -- 2 years ago, I spent BIG bucks on my garden only to realize 2 weeks later that all I really did was provide an expensive buffet for the rabbits in my neighborhood! Nothing grew back - I was NOT happy. I've learned my lesson and I plant a border of marigolds around everything now!

Strawberry Delight

And a couple layouts using this kit....

Hope your Mother's Day was everything you hoped it would be. Thanks to my kids for treating me like a queen!

Happy Mother's Day!

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

--Elizabeth Stone

To all of my bloggy moms - Happy Mother's Day - there is nothing harder or more rewarding.

From simply.scraps, available at The DigiChick

On Children - Khalil Gibran

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them,

but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children

as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,

and He bends you with His might

that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies,

so He loves also the bow that is stable

This has been a favorite of mine for a long time. A college friend introduced me to Gibran, but it wasn't until my daughter was born did I understand this section. When she was a baby, I would listen to Sweet Honey In the Rock sing their version of this poem, and even as I write it, I can hear it in my head. You can listen to it here: Of Children


Ana as Hello Kitty and Matt with his Diary of a Wimpy Kid shirt