My Two Boys.

He...

... totally loves pre-school. He is adjusting well to the transitions and having mommy & daddy leave him, and he is excited to have us pick him up. He talks about his friends at school & especially playing outside. I am so glad we made the decision to have him start this fall.

... is into everything! He is so curious & wants to know how to make things work. His new trick is to call people on Mark's phone, then hang up. He has done it twice now: once calling my mother-in-law, and this morning he called Roy. He can also turn on Mark's iPhone, push the button to his favorite game, and play it. He is so much like Mark!

... is into golf & soccer lately. He wanted to take his golf (or "glolf" has he calls it) clubs to the park, so after pre-school last week we did just that.

... loves to play Candyland, Hi-Ho Cherry-Oh, and Chutes & Ladders, over & over & over. I can handle playing a few times, but after the fourth or fifth round of Candyland, I've had enough! But he follows the rules & knows when it's his turn. I tried playing these games with him back in February/March, and he didn't get the concept of taking turns or counting cherries. Now he totally gets it.

He...

...is so full of personality & spunk I can't even put it into words. He coos and talks all the time, and almost always has a smile on his face.

... is really starting to bond with Mark. Mark is doing some of the night feedings, now that Jack is taking a bottle full time, and I think that has helped bring the two of them together.

... tolerates tummy time, but prefers to be sitting up. He hasn't mastered that skill yet, so he spends a lot of time in his bouncer, swing, or saucer to keep him upright. He is really starting to reach & grab at toys, and especially likes to put them in his mouth.

... is starting to think about sleeping through the night. Last night he woke up at 1:20am, ate, then slept until 8:15am. I have found I am a much nicer person when I don't have to get up three or four times per night, so I am really thankful for the 6 and 7 hour blocks of sleep his is allowing me to get.

They...

... make me happy & keep me on my toes & drive me crazy & make me love them more everyday.

Four Months & Online Classes

I loved this photo by Ali Edwards, so I have spent the evening trying to figure out how she did it. Thank goodness for Google! I did a search for "rounded corners" and found a tutorial on Jessica Sprague's website. I used the rectangle marque tool to fill in the blue section & found a cool font on DaFont for the title.

I also took some cute photos of Jack's little toes tonight:

They are only little for so long, right?

********************************************************************

Renee Pearson is holding a back-to-school event on her website, with free digital scrapbooking kits, web videos, & give-aways

everyday this week. The freebies are only good for one day, so once they're gone, they're gone.

Ella Publishing is having a grand opening on their website this week, including their first eZine. They also have eBooks & other fun stuff to check out.

Ali's Yesterday & Today class starts at Big Picture Scrapbooking on October 1st, & I am so excited! I think they are still accepting students, but the Big Picture website will have all the details.

I think that's it for today. Happy Wednesday, Friends.

This & That

So, we have had a very relaxing weekend with Mark's family & some family time. We all went to dinner at Applebee's on Saturday, and Debbie & I went shopping yesterday and took advantage of some great Labor Day sales. I don't think we paid full price for anything we purchased, which is exactly how I like to shop :-)

After they left last night, I tackled a couple more layouts: one digital & one hybrid. The hybrid layout has not been photographed or re-sized yet, but I do have a copy of the digital one:

Friday was really warm, so I took Evan to the park after pre-school to play in the water:

He was completely soaked by the time we left... it was a good thing I had a spare set of clothes in the trunk! He had so

much fun & talked about our outing for the rest of the day.

Peace.

New Layouts

I worked on/finished a couple of layouts tonight:

I created this layout from scratch using products from Designer Digitals.

This layout I scraplifted from Ali Edwards' blog. All the products are from Designer Digitals.

I am so tired! Off to bed... Erin.

Jackaroo.

I love how each of our children have their own nicknames that have evolved from their personalities. Jack has acquired many, many nicknames over the last four months:

Jacky

Jackaroo

The Jack Meister

Munchkin

Monkey

Baby Tiger

Baby Bean

... just to name a few.

Evan went off to pre-school this morning without any tears or clinging to my leg so I can't walk out the door without him. I told him I was leaving and he just waved and went back to him puzzle. Now I'm a little sad that he doesn't miss me!

I started Cathy Z.'s "Me: The Abridged Version" class last night. I have really excited to take on the project and create an entire album dedicated to me. I create so many layouts & projects for Mark and the boys, but not very many pages are about me & what has created the person I am today. I am hoping to stay caught up and have a cool, completed album in four weeks.

We have family arriving tomorrow & a fun weekend planned so blogging will be light. Have a fantastic weekend!

The First Day of Pre-School + Other Stuff

Some notes about Evan's first day of pre-school:

Leaving for school.

1.) Evan was excited about going to school & we talked about mommy & daddy leaving (and coming back), but the departure time was tough. He did a lot of crying (for about 20 minutes, according to his teacher), but he recovered by transition time & had fun the rest of the day.

2.) He participated in the art project & answered the question "what makes you special?" He replied: "I like cars." He gave the answer I would have expected him to! It's what I would have said :-)

Right before Mark and I left. He was very sad & clingy, but didn't cry until right before we walked out the door.

We tried to engage him in some activities before leaving, but he wanted to watch and hold my hand for the most part.

He did pick up a few colored blocks (to see through, of course!), but that didn't last long.

3.) He was so excited to see us when we picked him up. He ran up to us and gave us hugs & checked out Jack in his car seat. It was so cool to see that he had stopped crying and really enjoyed his day. His teacher said he played outside & worked at the coloring table & played in the imaginative play station for a long time.

4.) Evan did have one accident, but he told Mark & me that he got into some water while outside, so we're not sure what happened. We talked for a long time about going potty in the bathroom & not having accidents, and on his second day of pre-school he was accident free. Good job buddy!

5.) This is going to be a great experience for him. He talks about playing with other kids & is already excited about taking his cars to school on Friday for show-and-tell. I love having a couple hours to myself in the mornings, and he definitely needs the socialization. This was a good decision and I'm happy with the way things are going.

6.) His second day of school, today, went smoothly. A few tears during departure, but only for 3 or 4 minutes, and then he was fine. He did another art project (a self portrait) and played at the water table. I am so happy he is adjusting to our time apart.

Jack got to hang out with me while Evan was in school:

Every night is different with Evan. Sometimes he wants stories & to read books, other nights he doesn't. Last night he wanted book after book after book:

Look at me multi-task! Reading a book, holding a baby, and giving a bottle. I think I am due for a super

mom award soon :-)

Jack is the happiest little guy! He is all smiles, even though he is fighting a mild cold & is teething. He loves to be talked to & to be held:

I am off to work on more of Jack's baby album & some digital stuff.

-E

Beginnings Layout & Evan @ the Park

I have spent so much time the last three months learning Photoshop Elements, and now Photoshop, that I have neglected my traditional scrapbooking a bit. I really want Jack's book to start coming together so I pulled out some traditional supplies + played in Photoshop to create a hybrid page:

The photo of me at the top isn't great, but I had just had Jack a couple of hours before, so I had an excuse, right? This page is 6x12. [Supplies: Page protector: American Crafts. Pattern Paper: Chatterbox. Cardstock: Bazzill. Digital Elements: Ali Edwards & Karla Dudley. Acetate Heart: Heidi Swapp. Border Punch: EK Success. Other: Staple.]

A couple of close-ups:

Evan starts pre-school tomorrow & in preparation of his big day, we headed to his school today to play on the equipment and run off some energy. He was a little bundle of energy (and naughty-ness!) this afternoon, so this trip was good for him:

I have a ton of photos from this trip, over 200, but I don't have time to sort through them tonight. Evan learned how to

swing on his own, which he just loved :-)

The past several weeks I have been searching for some photos that I thought were lost on my hard drive. They were

taken when Jack was just a couple of days old, and I was getting very upset at the thought that they were gone forever.

Tonight, I found them! Somehow they were moved to my external hard drive and were in really weird digital download

folders. I cannot tell you how relieved I am to have them back. I take thousands and thousands of photos, but these are

particularly special because of how little Jack was. Those first few days and weeks go by so fast, and those photos show

growth & special relationships & just how tired I was! A couple of those photos I look just exhausted... completely

overjoyed, but exhausted. I want to remember those moments. I am so happy to have my photos back! Thank you,

hubby, for putting up with me tonight & for taking care of my frustrations. I love you!

Tomorrow is the big day & I am really anxious/nervous/excited/scared to death to be dropping Evan off... and leaving

him... for three whole hours. Wish us luck.