Summer is over?

Gracious, I cannot believe how quickly summer has flown by this year! We had a big, big summer!!

Both of the big girls went to Girl Scout Camp this year and both loved it (despite the tragedy of losing BehBear). A week after Elizabeth came home from camp, we were off to Grammie's for a week. We always enjoy our time there - and this year, Brad and I took at day-trip to Atlanta. Archiver's, Trader Joe's, Ikea and, of course, The Varsity (the original!)

We left Elizabeth at Camp Grammie for two weeks. Katherine spent another week going to Day Camp at Ozark Conference Center (Annie and Harrison aren't old enough for that). The truck got a tankful of bad gas (delivery company's fault, they covered it), the motor on the dishwasher went out, DirecTV went out for four days in the smack-dab middle of the Olympics (say WHAT?!)  and my laptop got a brand-new-never-before-seen variant of the TDL4 Rootkit.  And then, we are suddenly in the first week of August -- when we started school!  We've been back at it for three full weeks now.

The girls are doing handwriting, math, spelling, reading, grammar, science and history.  Science and history are done all together. The big girls do spelling and grammar together.  Harrison is doing Saxon Kindergarten math this year and he loves it.  I wasn't supposed to start the lessons until September but he couldn't stand not doing it!  He is also doing handwriting.  Annie is doing fabulously - reading has finally clicked with her. She also continues speech therapy one day/week at the local elementary school. We actually had her evaluation this week and "real" therapy will start next week. Our focus this year is on her rate of speech/conversational speech -- and after this year, she's out. She will be finished.

Harrison's preschool meet-and-greet was today. I had to fight back tears. Our last year, ever, at the preschool. It makes me sad when I think this will be the last year our family interacts with this staff and teachers!  Preschool starts Monday and he. is. ready!!! He is very excited about the year. I can't wait to share a "First Day of School" photo! So, hopefully I will see you Monday!!

Did I tell you BehBear is gone?

So, you know how when you have a baby and they latch on to something as their lovie you should get two of them, right?  And you know that my oldest daughter received a red bear from her Grammie when she was 13 months old, right? And you know that Grammie got it on clearance at JC Penney in early 2004 (right after Christmas) for something like $2.00, right? And Grammie didn't think to buy two - but who knew we'd need two of them?!  Elizabeth Jane has never been without BehBear (nee Red Baron) since she got him.

Elizabeth & BehBear (and Purple Blankie) in her little fold-out chair in the kids' room at Boop & Paw's house. March 2004

Well, she took him to Girl Scout camp earlier this summer...see him laying on the bed back there?

He did not make it home. We still don't know what happened to him.  He did not show up in the camp lost-and-found. He did not go home with any of her tent-mates. The only thing we can guess is that he rolled out of the tent during the night while she was sleeping and he got carted off by a raccoon or something. She was heart-broken. And, quite frankly, so was I. Every time she had a new sibling, BehBear went to Boop's house with her while Mommy was at the hospital. When she had some dental work at the age of four that required general anesthesia, they let her keep BehBear with her when she went to the OR so she wouldn't be afraid.  When her very best friend moved to Florida last summer, she spent many afternoons curled on her bed with BehBear - talking to him about how much she missed BFF.  BehBear was an extension of her. I remember how I could tell she was tired because she would start biting his nose. I remember the first time he had a hole in the seam and the drama that erupted because he needed "surgery." Last summer, she and Grammie actually added stuffing to him because he was so flimsy.

When we came home from camp, I spent several hours on eBay trying to find one of these bears - hoping against hope that someone, somewhere would be an avid bear collector and have one for sale. At that point, I would've paid a significant sum of money to get one. And I still hope that someone from Girl Scout Camp will find him and they'll remember that Elizabeth is looking for him and will get him home to us.  My heart still breaks that he is gone. I loved him as much as she did, I think.

Long Live Summer!!!

Summer is here - and if you're anything like me that means lots of pictures!! We recently spent a week in Chattanooga, TN (which is a fabulous place for a family vacation, by the way - so much fun family stuff to do!!) and I took a ton of pictures of the kids playing in the fountain, riding the carousel and playing in the water at Grammie's. We did a lot of playing in the water because it was 100° or hotter every day we were there - and for several days her AC was out! {Kermit flail!!}  But today, we went to GG & GrandDaddy's house to swim. I love hanging at the pool at their house. It is beautiful, quiet and really close to our house so buzzing over there for a quick swim is easy to do. That's what we did on my lunch hour today. While we were there, Elizabeth showed me how she can now jump off the diving board!! This is a huge step for her!! And of course I got it on camera!

Even better, this photo qualifies for the Long Live Summer sweepstakes over at Shutterfly's Facebook page! Here are the deets:

Long Live Summer – Facebook Photo Contest details (US residents only) 7/9 – 8/12 Multi-week summer themed photo sweepstakes with instant win prizes. http://bit.ly/sweepS

Win a trip for four to The Bahamas and a professional photo shoot so you’ll remember your vacation forever.  All you need to do is upload your favorite photo and caption based on the theme of the week.  Get a gift from Shutterfly just for entering! You can enter at any point during the 5-week sweepstakes period.

PHOTO THEMES

•       Week 1(7/9): Americana - ended

•       Week 2 (7/16): Great Outdoors - ended

•       Week 3 (7/23): Water Fun – current week

•       Week 4 (7/30): Sports & Activities

•       Week 5 (8/6): Parties & Celebrations

PRIZES

•       Instant win prizes just for submitting a photo!

•       Weekly prizes (contestants can enter one time/week)

•       Weekly featured photos: up to 5 weekly entries will be selected from the gallery and featured on the Facebook fan page.

•       Grand prize: trip for 4 to Bahamas, 4 nights, family photo shoot

•       Shutterfly Sweepstakes - Official Rules

Instant win prizes just for submitting a photo?! I'm in!!  Click on over and share your photos!! Can't wait to see them!  Y'all know I love Shutterfly. I use their photo books to make family albums for my mother-in-law, and I love their Christmas cards. Enter! Win! Check it out!!!

The opinions about Shutterfly expressed in this post are mine as a happy customer. If I did not like them, I would have told you. But, I like them and so I told you that.  I was compensated for this post with a complimentary 20-page 8x8 hardcover photo book. My opinion of Shutterfly is in no way influenced by this.  If you are concerned about that, please email me (there's a link in my right side bar)

SAF 2012: Camp Card Set Challenge

So, this is being posted after all the challenges have closed, but I wanted to post it anyway. We were challenged to create a set of cards using the ideas given in this post or to create our own.  I was actually inspired by Becky's Mehndi Medallion card that I have pinned on my PTI Inspiration board on Pinterest.  I was initially thinking I'd stamp the medallions in red, blue and yellow (love the primary color combo). Then I got the idea to stamp it in a monochromatic color scheme. And then I wanted to see it in the primary colors. And then I decided I wanted to do something "tropical". And now I'm wanting to do it in all sorts of colors...

So, anyway, I'm going to give these cards to a friend of mine who recently had a baby so she can use them for thank you notes. Here they are:

Cardstock: Stampers Select White, Classic Kraft; Ink: Dark Chocolate, Classic Kraft, Fine Linen; Stamps: Mehndi Medallion, Think Big Favorites 3

Cardstock: Stampers Select White, the packaging for PTI cardstock (the stamped panel); Ink: Harvest Gold, Blueberry Sky, Pure Poppy, Versafine Onyx Black; Stamps: Mehndi Medallion, Think Big Favorites 3

Cardstock: Stampers Select White, the packaging for PTI cardstock (the stamped panel); Ink: Harvest Gold, Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz, Smokey Shadow; Stamps: Mehndi Medallion, Think Big Favorites 3

SAF 2012: Ribbon Challenge

Stamp-a-Faire had a fun "summer camp" theme along with "badges" that people could "earn" throughout the day. The first badge was the Knots badge - and the challenge associated with it was the Ribbon Techniques Challenge.  There were several different videos posted with ideas for working with several of the different types of PTI ribbon. My personal favorite of their ribbons is their twill tape, but for this challenge I stepped out of my comfort zone. Really far out of my comfort zone. I used my second favorite PTI ribbon: Saddle Stitch and I used Dawn McVey's technique for tying a bow on my card (she also used Saddle Stitch ribbon in her demo).

As I was thinking through what I wanted on my card, I was reaching for my Mat Stack 3 dies that just came in the mail this week and then remembered the little bag of goodies from my friend JenniferK...hmmm, what's in there that might keep me from getting out the Cuttlebug, plates, dies (remember, it's late and I'm tired...I'm also lazy if you want the whole truth). I grab the bag o'goodies and find the most fabulous "get well soon" tag. Perfection! And, it has what appears to be Ripe Avocado bitty dot paper which will go perfectly with my RA Saddle Stitch ribbon. Happy dance.  So, this card looks fabulous because of Jennifer. I just tied the bow and stuck it all on some cardstock with foam dots (the tag, that is).

Cardstock: Fine Linen, Dark Chocolate; Ribbon: Ripe Avocado Saddle Stitch; Tag from Jennifer K

  **edited to add:  Jennifer shared the pieces of the tag with me and here are the deets

the circle flourish is from Spooky Sweets 2, then Turning a New Leaf on Simply Chartreuse bitty dot paper, a butterfly from Butterfly Dreams. I *think* the sentiment is from Tea For Two.