Birthdays, Sickness, Organization and Vacation Time!

Phoenix with all his Bday gifts!

So things have been pretty boring lately. We had Phoenix's birthday..it was the first time we had hosted a birthday party in about five years as we went to family trips after Chelsea's last sleepover..12 girls one house= yuck!!!
This party went off without a hitch, there were 13 kids total including our three, a friend of Tristan's and a friend of Gryphen's. We had it at the Jolly Roger which was great! They did everything for us and the kids had a blast..Phoenix made out like a bandit too...tons of great toys and books it was great!

Since then we have been back to normal most of my time spent volunteering at the school or hanging out at home. There has been a pretty nasty bug going around the school and it hit our family Thursday night with Gryphen waking up in the middle of the night throwing up, he was sick all day friday and then woke up good on Saturday just to have Tristan, Phoenix and I all feeling under the weather. Sunday we all woke up well except Brandon who was REALLY sick! Then Sunday night Gryphen threw up yet again...not a fun weekend, we kept Gryphen home from school again today but he seems to be fine today and will be going back to school tomorrow pending of course how tonight goes! Everyone else seems to be over it.

In addition to the fun around here we are really working at getting our house organized, we have alot of stressful things going on in our lives right now and our house is a big part of it. We have a plan of action but haven't really had time to get started on it, hopefully will start to put a real effort into it after our vacation.

I really want this! Actually several of these..one of course for crafts but I think it would work great for so many areas!

Speaking of which it is almost here! We leave friday morning for our week in Devon and I am SOOOO excited!!!

My CJ entry for this month...It is for my favorite place...one of the pics is from our last "real" vacation to Snowdonia!

So that is about it...check out the few pages I have gotten done this week....

Just a picture of Brandon and Phoenix...they are so much alike!

The earliest known Halloween picture of me...I did this for the October Challenge on UKS...the challenge was to use non-traditional colors and metal. I don't love it but it fits the rules at least!

shopping, stash and suspicious packages.

So we are back from our trip to Lakenheath...it was a stressful trip to say the least! The trip started with us leaving about 2 hours late making us miss the antique bazaar! We had some time to hit the BX and Commissary and bought Brandon two new pairs of jeans, two shirts, a new pair of running shoes and a new pair of casual sneakers. We went to bed rather late as we were all wired and finally fell out about 1am...now here is where the real stress starts! 6AM an alarm goes off, I was thinking it was Brandon's alarm clock until I saw the flashing lights...it was the fire alarm...there was a man outside yelling at everyone to get out and directing a line of sleepy, half dressed, freezing cold people through the parking lot, it was a "Suspicious package"; EOD (explosives ordinance disposal) and the fire department were on their way but we all had to get out right away, so Brandon and Chelsea had time to put on shoes and jackets while I grabbed jackets and the little guys, Christopher, both younger boys and myself went out without shoes and joined the people across the way, within a few minutes a large group of men in uniforms told us we had to move again and led us several blocks away to the dental office where we were ushered inside and squashed together in two small waiting rooms, there were well over 100 people of all ages and stages of dress, hungry kids and everyone was freezing. We finally were allowed to return to our rooms and of course we have no idea of the outcome but for 30 minutes after we returned to our rooms the alarm was still going off. When everything finally settled down Brandon went to his orthodontist appt while the kids and I got dressed and packed up. We went to the BX where we loaded up on makeup, new shoes for Chris, Bra and Panties for Chelsea and birthday supplies/gifts for Chris and Phoenix. We then went to the craft store where I breezed through $200 in stash (see pics) onto the toy store where we finished the birthday shopping and then to taco bell for lunch. The trip home was congested both in the car and on the road, it rained the whole way and the kids were fussing and loud...but we are finally home, Tristan is picked up and I am going to spend the rest of the night stroking my stash!

A good day scrappin!

So today was good, Sandie came over after several weeks of one or the other of us having to cancel it was great to finally get the chance to sit down and chat and get some scrapping done! We nibbled on carrot sticks and apple slices (were both dieting) and chatted more than we scrapped! I got two new layouts done and thanks to Sandie I was able to finish all my unfinished pages! I even like several of them ! LOL!

"Starting Year Five" pencil lines sketch #51

"Big Boy" Sketch # 49

"What a Personality" added "What a" and journaling

"Scrapaholics"
added felt flowers, buttons, 1 year, title and journaling

"Strange Things" Added Journaling strips

"Who am I?" added felt flowers, buttons and big flower...still not thrilled with it...I added the flower because of too much blank space but I think it ruined it..

A few small victories!

I am trying to come out of a rut and started my day with my weigh in...YAY 9 pounds lost...3 of them this week! YAY!

I came home and cleaned and organized my scrap area! Doesn't it look pretty?


I did a page...not a great one but a finished one...It's for my "Me" album..

Weight

Messy, Unfinished and Unhappy...FRUSTRATED!

I have been so unmotivated these past few weeks! I have dozens of projects in various stages of being finished, a swap I am completely unprepared for and I just sent out a CJ that I am completely unhappy with :(!

Blue..my layout for the Favorite Color CJ....

I don't know what is wrong with me or why I am so blocked! My scraparea is a complete mess, I can't seem to make myself clean it..and there are movies, and padlocks, notes from school and water bottles mixed in with my stash! I received my kit from ScrapAngels yesterday and it did nothing to inspire me! I am feeling very frustrated!



These are the closest to being finished of my stack..I can't figure out how to finish these off!

"Strange Things" A page of my family at Avebury

"Who Am I"
A page about myself and all the changes going on in my life

"Personality"
A page about Gryphen

"Scrapfriends" a page from the Scrapaholics birthday crop...

And last but not least..I can't figure out how to get everything I want into my signature on UKS...I am just frustrated today!

Unbelievably Tired!

Today was a really nice day! Sandie and the kids came for the day and I got alot of scrapbooking done! I was pretty tired and hadn't slept the night before so I was pretty grumpy but Sandie was an excellent sport and we ignored the rowdiness and mess and just scrapped away! It was really nice!

I missed the crop again :(

Well I missed the crop yet again! Brandon had somewhere to be for work and I spent all my "pin money" for the month so I couldn't go..:( I did however scrap the whole time of the crop and got two layouts done! That is what the goal was for the night! I used my new scrummy yummy Kewl kit that came in from the Prima site! Check em out!

Busy few days

So I have been busy scrapping this weekend! The rain has been miserable and so we stayed home all weekend...Firstly I finished my CJ...I am not at all happy with it but it needed posted today and so off it went...
Cover

Info page

The Rules


I also did a couple of pages...

Having A Ball (Phoenix at the Jolly Roger)

Inspired by Sandie I scraplifted one of her pages and tried my hand at a self portrait page!

Chillin

What a lovely day of scrapping today was! Sandie and her children came over for the day and we had the most wonderful day! Brandon made us his special chicken, we had mountain dew and candy and just chatted the day away! Part of the time we had a total of eight children in the house but Brandon took the older four out to the base for a good part of the afternoon leaving a semi peaceful house for Sandie and I! Chelsea was a great help with running interference and helping with the younger ones. I finished one page and when I hit total brain dump Sandie did a sketch for me to follow for a total of two..not an amazing number but considering the amount of chatting we were doing I think it was excellent progress!


Sandie Scrapping

Phoenix, Hannah and Gryphen enjoying Zebra Cakes.

Chapped

Chillin- the sketch Sandie made for me put to life!

JUNE

Well I am itching for new and exciting things to do and inspiration, so crazy me I signed up for a Circle Journal and two different groups in the same swap! It's a calendar swap and the idea is that we will end up with a completed 6x6 calendar..I chose June in group two and October in Group three. June is to be Turquoise based and this is what I came up with..not very exciting but I don't hate them! I hope the people who get them will be pleased!
Twelve Junes

Up close...the beads are actually clear..they look white in the pic but in life they look rather like little crystals!

Dollars, Pounds and Lacock.

Today I finally got to go to a proper British Scrapbook store. I had so much fun touching the products and matching things up etc. I bought brads and flowers and papers and rings and jewels and so much stuff. It was so fun and I have had a great time going through them tonight. But then Stupid me I priced the same items online back home and realized I paid twice, maybe even three times as much as I would have if I had ordered them and that is a very depressing thought, I love to go into a store and pick out my stash..but when your paid in dollars and the pound is worth SOOOOO much it really makes it hard to do. I am sure I will get used to ordering things and waiting a week or more for my goodies but today it has made me a little sad.

On the up side I made these two pages with my new stash, they are both from our trip to Lacock and were taken at random places around the village. I am doing my first 11x8.5 album using the Lacock pictures and all the goodies I bought today!


Phoenix in front of a lovely cottage of no real consequence.

Gryphen riding a ceramic pig...no explanation available!

Brandon _ Love

Today was such an amazing day! We went to Lydiard Park with Jamie and her family and had a picnic..the weather was phenomenal! And the kids all got along without a single fight to mar the day! It was a definite reminder of all I love about living in England.



When I got home tonight I felt motivated to make a page about Brandon. We have had such a hard time these past few years with losing my mom and then losing my Liam and we have moved so many times. I wonder sometimes if he knows how much he means to me and how much I love him. Anyways..so I did this page and wanted to share it..it's not perfect but I like it.
It is also my first ever 11x8.5 layout!

Decisions Made

I just did the math and our utility allowance actually covers our phone and cable etc..which I don't think we get on base..and the housing allowance does seem to change with the exchange rate..so we make more living off base..I don't really miss having an American Washer and Dryer and I only miss a garden when the boys are home and driving me nuts..but most of the year they couldn't even use it because of rain and it getting dark etc. And I don't think it is fair to make the younger boys change schools..the only thing that is a true problem is the parking...if we could figure out something to do to fix the parking...that's all we need...I don't think I can face moving again and uprooting the little kids...I might regret it with time but I am not going to even look at the base house. I am happy where I am and we will get settled in and used to things before long, plus I will have to get a job either way so I might as well live in the house I love!

Journey

For my sisters birthday I made her this mini book, I couldn't find alot of family pictures so It is smaller than I intended but I figure she can add pictures to it and I can always send her more pages. It is the first time I have made a book completely from scratch. It was a little emotional to do as it made me really miss my mom, and the days when my family was intact..now most of the family no longer talks! Anyway, I think it turned out alright and wanted to share it before I sent it off!

I really just layered papers with this one, then distressed it with a file and some aging powders. I layered blood red and light yellow flowers. The letters were naked chipboard that I put cream and chalk on to give them depth.

Again I aged this one and layered pictures...the caption is Precious moments, this was taken the Sunday my sister Melissa was brought home from the hospital in 1980.

This is my least favorite page...it just looks rather cheesy! But anyways, it was the first Christmas after Melissa was born..the dress she is wearing was made by my mom, it was a beautiful green velvet.

I really like this page..I just like the dimension...It is nothing but scraps cut in squares and inked with red walnut ink but I like the results.

This picture was taken when Chelsea was only a few weeks old, It was at Arabian Knights which is a fantastic dinner show in Orlando, I worked there as a princess and photographer so we got to go for free all the time! Melissa would have been about 12 I think.

This was our last family trip..we went Camping in Georgia for Easter the year we moved to England the first time, we visited the town that the film "Fried Green Tomatoes" was filmed. It was a really nice trip but I wish we had the chance to take another trip.

This picture is the last full family picture taken, It was Thanksgiving right after we had come home from England when my mom was sick. We were lucky enough to have Christmas with my mom as well but my grandparents and aunt and uncle didn't come so this was the last time we were all together before my mom left us.