hanging pictures

Our bedroom got a little facelift with some vacation photos. I'm not usually very good about getting pictures framed and put on display, but I was so in love with these shots. I ran right out and bought frames and ordered the enlargements. Plus, our room tends to be a little dark with that wall color, so these add brightness.

JT likes to point out the picture in the waves. He says, "Dada, big one?" John says, "Who's that big wave splashin'?" "Dada." "Who else?" *chuckles* "JT".

See the vacation pics here, here, and here.

celebrating independence

the boys, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Really, what better way to celebrate independence day than with toddlers?

Lucas came to visit us for the 4th of July with his mom and dad. He's about two months younger than JT. These two are both very much asserting their independence at this phase.

We dragged them to the parade, forced them to eat experimental mashed potatoes, and made them stay up late for the boys' first ever fireworks. I think it might have been some fun, too. JT shared his toys and his parents' attention pretty well. He was only a little bossy with his house guest!

And unfortunately for Lynn, JT may have introduced "Wucas" to "ride the mama." Hope your knees hold up to all the horsey rides, Lynn!

June 12

12-of-12, June., originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I took off work on the 12th last month to have a day to get ready for vacation. Perhaps subconsciously I just wanted to be doing something interesting on the 12th, since it was "document-our-day".

The project is still going strong - it's the 6th month I've documented the 12th. Unfortunately, I haven't scrapped much else this year. I've made invitations for events, a couple mini albums, and these pages. That's about all I've had time to do.

Vacation was a BLAST. Always sad to see it go. I finally processed 400-some photos... so we are ready to document that trip, now. Coming soon...

save ohio libraries

Today I attended a rally at the Ohio statehouse in support of library funding. The governor has proposed cutting state funding to libraries by up to 50%. It would be a devastating blow at a time when library usage is increasing and critical.

Please find out what you can do to support your library. Visit http://saveohiolibraries.com/ to find out more and stay informed.

tweet, tweet, document

I'm taking Cathy Zielske's Everyone Can Write a Little class. It just made sense since I was already on twitter and facebook doing just what this class is about. As I learn to document the everyday as it happens, 140 characters at a time... these are some thoughts I've had.

• Use hashtags to categorize. You can aggregate them into a single scrapbook layout later. Here are some good themes: #grateful, #prayer, #wish, #whatif, #proud (of someone & why).
• Fortunately/Unfortunately. There is this book I love on this very topic. And really, for every negative there is a positive and vice versa, right?
• CZ has mentioned dialogue. I love this. For me, I label my immediate family "Me", "JT" and John is "Hubz". Again, a great way to do a layout or aggregate the conversations that happen in your house.
• Picture this: the prefix to use for those times when your camera isn't handy. Write a blurb that describes the scene you wanted to photograph. Maybe if you get a collection of these, your eyes will begin to see things differently and your photos will evolve? I'm just projecting here.
  
• Tell a story as a knock, knock joke. I can't wait to try this.
• Say something... then pose as the reader and ask a question. "What's that you say?" State the obvious question and answer it. It can be done in 140 characters!
• Dear ____, I prefer to address inanimate objects. You know, like the darn printer at work.

And in the spirit of using the same tools to keep in touch with your friends and network and note the everyday, I propose doing each of the following each day:

• Take a picture and link to it. Cameraphones are awesome for this. Or link to someone else's pic or anything that inspires you that day. Focus on visual inspiration.
• Link to music, a book, or art that is inspiring you. Could be any medium. Could be new or old. Maybe you'll see some trends and can scrap a page about it?
  
• @ someone. Reply to someone else. Laugh at their joke, commiserate with them, or just say hi.
• RT something someone says. If you hear about something cool or funny, retweet it. Others may also enjoy. And it documents what you are finding interesting on that day. Worthy of noting.

Now follow me on Twitter or Facebook to see what transpires. :)

baby shower

Have I mentioned that I'm going to be an aunt? Did I mention that I get a baby without any of the pain, recovery, late nights, or full time worry?! I'm pretty darn excited that my brother and sister-in-law are having this baby for me. So happy, in fact, that I threw Theresa a shower!

Family and friends joined us at Broken Rocks Cafe and Bakery in Wooster. It's a gorgeous restaurant with amazing food. Glen, the owner hooked us up with a great menu of sandwiches, soup, and salads. We just ate, chatted, and opened presents...

Theresa looks awesome. She has a sick schedule between teaching high school and taking classes for her master's degree right now. I would be asleep at the table if it was me!

I'm not even pregnant and I have been too tired to finish all the projects I had in mind for this baby. I did manage to pull together a few purchased things and some handmade. I made a blankie and a scrapbook for baby. There's also a wooden bunny teether in there from Little Alouette. So cute!

To top off the event... we had dessert. Strawberry shortcake and chocolate custard. YUM!

Wooster has such a great downtown. I think several of the ladies sneaked off to shop before or after the shower. There are a couple yarn stores, a scrapbook store, and a bead shop to name a few of the cool places.

I can just imagine the summer days we'll spend strolling around, sipping lattes and shopping... with my little niece in the stroller... oh, did I mention my prediction for the baby is girl? I'm pretty sure of it. Heee!

he loves trucks

On Sundays, John and JT usually head down the highway to to drop off the citin' (recycling). This past Sunday, John was out of town and I had other errands to run, so JT and I tackled the task. I should point out that I wasn't going to take it, since it's not my chore, but JT reminded me. "Drop 'citin'?" he asked. Ok, ok... we'll drop off the recycling!

As luck would have it, we arrived at the drop-off location just as the truck was emptying the bins. To a 22-month old who loves trucks, this was a golden opportunity! And how convenient that Mama had a camera! We watched every bin get dumped. It was thrilling.


When we finished there, JT reminded me that Dada took him to see the planes at OSU Airport last time they were out. Not to be outdone by Dada, we went to the airport. We got to see a small plane land and one take off. THEN we saw a jet take off!


And then I forced a toddler into his car seat while crying and screaming "Mama, jet! Mama, jet!"

keeping up

May 12, 2009, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

This month is flying by almost as quickly as April did. I'm so glad I started the 12 of 12 project. I haven't scrapped much lately. So at least I have my 12 of 12 pages every month to document what's been going on in our lives.

Last week I was really sick, so that totally threw a wrench in the works. Kind of hard to do any of the extra fun, creative stuff when you can barely get through the essential and necessary things in life - like working, feeding the fam, and keeping up the house!

I'm taking a class called Everyone Can Write a Little that combines my Twitter love with scrapbooking. Can you imagine?! So hopefully that will help to kick start the scrappin' around here. I'll keep you posted. Or at least tweet about it. :)

April 12

The 12th of April happened to be on a Sunday this month. And it also happened to be Easter. The weather was just perfect for celebrating Jesus and hunting down candy hidden in plastic eggs.

JT woke us up not-too-early. He might have been cold. I turned the heat off the day before and I guess it got chilly overnight. It was 60 degrees in the house when we got up. Ooops. We had JT find a few eggs that were hidden around the house as soon as he got up. Then we noticed that the Easter bunny had left a basket with MORE goodies outside in the yard. (There are always bunnies in the backyard... they just don't usually leave such nice presents.)

Easter bunny left a pair of rainboots, a Charley Harper puzzle, Not a Box, a handmade bunny, and more candy. I hope that bunny got to see how much JT enjoyed everything in there.

We had to drag JT kicking and screaming away from the candy and off to church. He did look awfully cute in his green gingham shirt and vest throwing a tantrum on the floor. The church service was a tear-jerker and a half. There are some amazing voices at our church. I don't think there was a dry eye in the place.

When we got home, Nana and Pawpaw arrived. Nana made me a basket with lavender plants, "dinosaur eggs", and chocolate bunnies. Right up my alley, I tell ya. Oh, JT got a basket, too. It paled in comparison to getting to play with Nana and Pawpaw all day.

I made an Italian chicken salad I discovered on Simple Mom that was delightful. I'm not normally into ham, so you won't find me cooking one up for a holiday dinner. We spent the afternoon goofing off and playing at the park. Then we had Nana's carrot cake. I had requested it because it went with the day's "theme". (Bunnies, carrots, get it?) Sometimes I make these odd requests of her just to see how far she'll go for me. And from the resulting carrot cake? I can tell, this is one Nana who will go the distance!!

The bummer of the day was that JT developed pink eye that got worse as the day wore on. Here he is late in the afternoon listening to Pawpaw read Go, Dog, Go:


If that doesn't melt your heart, I don't know what will. Poor little thing. So off to urgent care we went. He was the only kid in the place and the staff went gaga over him in his cute little outfit. It made the whole adventure less painful that way.

When we got home, Becka stopped by with some pineapple upside-down cake... more yumminess! Then it was off to the bath and bedtime for little sickly.

Here is the photographic evidence of the whole day. It's the first 12 of 12 where I actually have decent photos. I would like to thank my lovely family and the sunshine in the sky for that!

an encounter

Oh look, a girl.

I think she's trying to talk to me. Look away, appear busy...

Shwew, she's walking on by. That was a close one.

Easer Bunya

A couple months before each holiday, I start thinking, "this would be a good holiday to make my crafty holiday." I dream up all the possibilities, fill my inspiration journal with pictures of cool things I could make, and maybe even sketch something cool. And then life happens and it never transpires. The holiday gets nearer and I end up doing the same thing as last year, or very little to nothing to note the special day.

This year I wanted to make JT's Easter bunny. Easter is a good time to make something crafty, right? It's just one bunny. I should be able to knock that out, yeah?

Well, I did it!

JT calls him "Easer Bunya".


He's a little wonky and a lot whimsical. Which is my way of saying, "look, it was an experimental first attempt at making a softie."

But never mind that. JT went running to his Easter basket and pulled Easer Bunya out first thing! He got a lot of love until JT realized there was also chocolate in the basket...

It fills my heart when he loves on Easer Bunya.... and then asks for candy.

ba'ketball

JT loooovvves basketball right now. His dada got him a hoop that we have in the house for now. But as you can see, he has a bit more to learn about good sportsmanship...

yes. deer.

A few Fridays ago when I was home part of the day, I noticed these two deer in our backyard.

I figured they were just passing through, so I yelled for JT to come quickly!

They ended up staying out there almost all day. They laid down and were comfortable as could be in our yard. Total craziness here in suburbia!

March 12

Another month, another 12 pictures on the 12 of the month! Looking at these layouts together makes me think "wow these days sure pass quickly." It's like a blur. I guess that's why it's worth taking the pictures - so you can look back and remember.

If you draw conclusions from this layout you will think that our mornings last half the day, my toddler has his own blackberry, and I don't water my plants until they are pretty much dead. And you'd be right about the plants. :-)

let your sham rock!

leprachaun09, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Happy St. Patrick's Day. We played outside all evening, except a short break to eat dinner. The weather was amazing. Looking forward to lots more days like this. Playing at the park gets to be old hat for us... but wow, are we lucky to have a park RIGHT HERE. JT loves it!

challenge #3

Happy Friday the 13th! Again!!

And now for the last of the challenge layouts from the all-weekend crop. Sunday's challenge page was to (1) use some of the paper we got as a gift at the crop, (2) embellish with a tag and eyelet or brad, and (3) cut a photo into a silhouette. The silhouette was my contribution... for which I'd like to send a shout out to my friend E who totally rocks the silhouettes!

I think I broke a lot of design rules on this page, but I was running low on sleep at this point. I think 2 photos is ok, but using 2 cupcakes was wrong. Feels like it should have been one or three. And the tag isn't worked into the page very well. But then I look at that drooly-faced, bald-headed, big-eyed baby and I don't care one bit about design. :)

challenge #2

The second challenge from the all-weekend crop was (1) to use paint in some way, (2) experiment with alcohol inks, and (3) to make an embellishment out of felt. The felt was my idea. I've been toting around a stack of it and never getting inspired enough to follow through on it. So, challenge it is...

I am quite pleased with my stitched owl. Of course, I predicted that John would say, "What does an owl have to do with these pictures?" Men. Owls are hip and trendy. Roll with it.

Today is the 12th! I am taking pictures all day today for 12-of-12. Hopefully a layout (probably digital) will be heading your way soon.

friends don't let friends...

At our all weekend Scrap Happy crop, we like to play games between the 3 of us. I mean, if you don't want to put yourself out there, you should just stay home to do your scrapbooking, right?! As the shirts say, "friends don't let friends crop alone."

Each day we each issued a challenge for one layout that day. That means one layout had to contain all three challenges for the day. Friday's challenges were (1) to use only paper from the scrap bin, (2) stamp an element for your page, and (3) hand-write your title... like old school scrappin' days!

Here is my take on the first challenge:

You should have seen the girls squirm when I stapled the sheep to the page... they may both need therapy after scrapping with me. Haha!

I've got 2 more challenges... but you'll have to wait another day to see more. Toodles...

20 months

JT turned 20 months old yesterday. Oi. He is such the little boy these days. At 20 months, JT...

• is talking up a storm: deer, apple, 'nana (banana), penya (penguin), TRUCK, car, buh (bus), boo (moo, for cow), barn, gong (gone), dardonne (dinosaur), tertut (triceratops). He also says octagon and ambulance... impressive, eh?
• runs everywhere, all the time. 'un! he says!
• loves to hide.
• is obsessed with books. He definitely has his favorites. Though we did recently adopt a Richard Scarry book about trucks and cars. A book with PAPER pages - a big step for him.
• has days where he eats constantly. Which means more growing... which means bigger clothes. I'm kinda looking forward to shorts weather in that respect!
• counts. "Un, two... pi (five)" I think he said "nine, ten" the other day. But I don't know where he got that high up... so maybe I misheard!
• knows that airplanes fly in the sky and the sky is blue.
• has conversations with his parents. One or two words from him... a few words from us... one or two more words from him... etc.
• likes to grab a toy to take upstairs when we go for a diaper change or bath.
• loves to splash in the tub. Really likes throwing the soap bottle from a distance for the biggest splash possible.
• rides his bike by scooting along with one foot or pushing the bike from behind. Not getting the pedals bit yet.
• watches Cars like a boy in a trance. He knows almost all the characters by name.
  
• points out all the cars, trucks, and buses on the road. Also points out flags and counts how many (see counting above).
• likes when I play pretend games where his toys eat his food or his dino-shaped chicken nuggets walk around. hehe.
• is now sporting big boy hair because Mama got tired of the rat's nest of long hair we were always dealing with.

I wish I could actually sum him up for you. He is such a joy to be around. I am loving the silly games, laughter and conversations these days. Just don't make me think about potty training...

holiday mini album

The last weekend in February was my annual get-away scrapbooking weekend with my sisters-in-law. That weekend always brings me joy, joy, joy. And completed projects!

I present, our holiday adventures. Weighing in at 5 by 7 inches, and about an inch and a half thick... sandwiched between delightfully see-through acrylic covers... tada!




Click the photo to see more of the album. I still need to add some journaling on the last pages, but wow, does it feel good to get a project out of my head and onto paper (and glue).

I love this little album. We had some great times and great pictures in December.