Shutterfly Thank You Cards

The kids and I have been holed up in the house the past couple of days as Tropical Storm Debbie causes damage across the state of Florida. We are not in the path of the storm, but we have still been subject to a lot of wind and rain, and an occasional power outage. Evan was particularly upset this afternoon when an outage interrupted his favorite show: Transformers Rescue Bots. It was the third time he's seen that episode today, so I was quietly relieved. 

While the kids ate their dinner I whipped together a photo Thank You card through Shutterfly... another freebie I stumbled across this afternoon through The Mom Creative. I love making handmade cards, but sometimes I need a generic Thank You note and don't have the time to sit in my office and whip one up, and these Shutterfly photo cards are perfect for those occasions. I included three of my favorite photos of the boys, dragged them onto card and ordered them. Easy peasy.

3x5 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

I am going to curl up on the couch and finish reading the very addicting 50 Shades of Grey series tonight. Goodnight!

Summer | Digital Layout

I am really excited to share a layout I created with Karla Dudley's new kit, Cool Summer, which will be available tomorrow in her shop. I love the colors she chose... perfect for photos of the boys! Evan's favorite color right now is green (and sometimes blue), so I created a very green layout about him. And this picture melts my heart! He looks so... big. And mature. When did that happen?!?

  

(Supplies - "summer" alpha: Dotty Alpha. Label: Cool Summer. Clear star: Clear Essentials No. 2. "e": Rusty Alpha. staples: Digi Essentials. zig-zag stitch & circle stitches: Digi Essentials. "Summer". tag: Cool Summer. Washi tape: Cool Summer. Notebook paper: Cool Summer. Green cardstock: Cool Summer. Patterned paper: Cool Summer)

Summer is flying by and the kids & I are having a great time together. Jack is at a wonderful age right now, and I feel like I am really experiencing "3" with him. Less than a month after Evan turned three, Jack was born, and life was really chaotic. Now that Jack is three (and we absolutely don't have another baby planned!), I get to experience this age with a little less chaos. He is so talkative and inquisitive... he definitely keeps me on my toes. Right now both boys are into playing "coppers and bad guys". They run around "shooting" the bad guys with their fake guns (index fingers). Sometimes Evan turns into a ghost cop, who cannot be seen by the bad guys, or me and Jack. The whole scene is quite comical... and exhausting when fights break out between the cops. :-)

Have a great week!

Kindergarten Graduation + a few random notes

* The letter "K" is sticky on my keyboard, so every "K" you see typed in this post is the result of me pounding furiously on my keyboard. I know, I know... first world problems!

* Jack is sick... again. I had a list of things I wanted to accomplish the past two weeks (cleaning, art project with the boys, organizing closets, etc.) but I haven't done a single thing on that list. So not how I wanted to start our summer vacation.

* I have two cards in the upcoming Stamp It! Cards Volume 6 magazine... out June 26th. I cannot wait to receive my issue so I can drool over all the amazing cards (and check out my cards as well!). This is my all time favorite publication and I know this issue is going to be spectacular! 

I also wanted to share a couple of pictures from Evan's award ceremony and his last day of Kindergarten. I am so proud of him and his accomplishments this year. He received the top score in his class on his final math exam, is reading well above the required level to graduate Kindergarten, and has made some good friends. I can't thank his teacher, Mrs. Lintner, enough for providing Evan the skills to be successful this year. She is confident, warm, inviting, and yet held the kids to a very high standard that they wanted to meet (and exceed). She is an wonderful teacher and I am so sad to be moving on from her classroom. All the teachers at Evan's school are amazing and I know we will get another fantastic teacher in August! But we will sure miss Mrs. Lintner. 

I am sitting on pins and needles waiting for another thunder and lightening storm to roll through. I am not used to the storms yet... they are nothing like storms in Washington! And Rocket makes them more fun by barking every time he hears thunder. Gotta love being a dog owner.

Celebrating 9

Mark and I are coming up on the 9 year anniversary of our first date: June 14th, 2003. I hadn't seen Mark in two or three years, and we had both grown up so much during that time. He took me to see the movie Finding Nemo followed by coffee at Starbucks. He had quite the Starbucks habit back then. :-)

(Photo taken by my father-in-law, Tony, while we were on a tour of the Kennedy Space Center in May 2012.)

The last nine years have been crazy... two cross country moves, a college education, two kids, and a lot of laughter (and a few tears, too), but it's been so much fun to do it all with Mark by my side. Love you, babe.

Top 10 Photo Book

I hope everyone is having a nice Saturday. I am hanging out with the kids while Mark does some shopping... watching the Mariners game and finishing up a photo book project. I posted it here for everyone to see. I really love the results! It's a Shutterfly photo book, designed by Ali Edwards. 

Mr. Jack is yelling at me from his room... apparently nap time is over. Have a great weekend!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.