Life's Trivialities

Sigh...

With the end of the month approaching, uncertainty wraps it's dubious arms around me...

- things are slowing down at work, being a PRN employee, my hours are being cut. Which means my scrappy budget gets cut!! BUT, lets, turn this into a positive, my ability to show up at the gym and work out will increase!! That's a good thing. A fantastic thing. Time to start working out and working on the demise of my body image and waist line...

- The Midget turns 6! I can only imagine what that age will bring with it if 5 is as it is... 'Nuff said!

- The school year is wrapping up (Nikolas is taking SOL's!!). I have yet to finalize summer plans for these children... Sure, we have some of this and some of that going on. Mostly swimming somethings. By this time, I usually have the grand master plan all laid out down to the finite details. Not so much... I am incredibly unorganized this year... Honestly, I feel, scatter brained...

That said, here's my layout for this week;

While filing layouts last night, I realized that I wrote the wrong year on this layout... Belle arrived a couple of months after this date. These pictures were taken this year!! Speaking of filing, the bookcase is full!! I have my albums on a bookcase in the "formal living room" AKA playroom, right by the front door. It's strategic, in part. God forbid anything happen, you know what's going first. You understand the cryptic speak so as not to jinx anything too, right?!

I love the color combination!! That "vintage" Girls Paperie paper has been sitting on my frame stand for months waiting for the right pictures to trot along. Well, here they are! Not what I had in mind, mind you. I distinctly remember upon first oogling this paper thinking baby Mia. Not quite!!

Allison's sketch originally called for banners below that horizontal strip. I like the way the lace doily stamp mimiced the banners and added that dark color contrast. It takes the black of Belle and draws your eye across the page.

The clothes line of layered banners! A slight variation from what the sketch calls for. Love it!! Banners are everywhere right now! In all shapes and sizes. I hope I will be as fond of them and the look on the page 10 years from now... See, more uncertainty! Not true, I like them now. I will have to believe that I'll like them 10 years from now.

If you want to download this month's 1 page sketch, be sure to pop by Sketch Support.

So, where are your albums stored? Do you have a reason for that placement?

1st Communion

A big day in our house today; Nikolas' 1st Communion! He and his "BFF", Jasper, both celebrated and partook in their 1st Communion today, receiving the Blessed Sacrament for the first time. The kids processed in together after Father Dan and took their seats at the "front". Difficult to really say there is a "front" of the church when we sit in the round. I think it was a bit unnerving for some of the kids as many of them rarely, if ever has sat 1.) away from their families or 2.) in the front pews. They did a marvelous job though and those that kept them organized also did a fantastic job. Nikolas was worried that he'd drop the wine glass on the (ceramic) floor and he succeeded in avoiding that fiasco! As did all 30 of the other kids!

Following the ceremony we took a few pictures before heading across the river (the James River, you know, THE river!) for lunch at Brio. It was a lovely gathering with Jasper's family. We had a delicious lunch!

And now for what you're really here for, the pictures! This indoor no-flash photography event is the first event that I really succeeded in capturing with any satisfaction! I had played around with a number of manual settings on my camera before just settling on the no-flash pre-set!! A bit cheaty, yes. Saved me from the grainy-ness of the pictures I did get with the manual setting!

Pre-event, outside the house!

Us four together outside the house before heading to the church. Before being stressed out by the triathlon traffic en route!!

Receiving the Body of Christ, angle 1. We divided and conquered. I sat with my Dad and Mia while on the same side of the round as Nikolas while Michael and Mummy sat diagonally opposite him.

Angle 2, taken by either Mummy or Michael...

Peeling the host from the roof of his mouth before receiving the Precious Blood!

Nikolas and Jasper having just received their 1st Communion.

Nikolas and Father Dan.

The WrinkLee's and their grandchildren.

Under/through a tree in the parking lot. Waiting for the rest of the family whom we "lost".

My handsome fellow!! Can't believe how fast time flies by, cliche as that is!

Beside a fountain at Stony Point; those are water sprays from the fountain! That he was shying away from!!

That sports coat and tie are Nikolas' first! Doesn't he just look smashing?! I'm not biased at all...

Two for Two?

I don't normally create double page spreads... I am always inspired by Allison's sketches and create them for design team assignments for Sketch Support but they aren't typically things that I "go to" when creating on my own. Until recently! Apparently May is double page month! I have not one but two 2 page spreads to share with you today. Just 'cos. My parents arrive this afternoon to help us celebrate Nikolas' graduation so I'm not sure how "present" I will be this weekend.

Papers are all Echo Park with a bit of Studio Calico and a Kaiser Crafts wood flourish! Simple really yet effective!

I am having a difficult time getting sharp pictures of my double page spreads... The left hand page is always crisp but the right hand isn't following along... Even using landscape setting or larger f-stops... I have tried multiple settings to no avail. Need to figure out how the focus points are working and go from there.

Those of you who follow me on FaceBook might recognize this layout - the one Belle was "helping" me with! The minute I saw this Scrapbook Generations sketch it screamed for use of these pictures of Nikolas at Driving School while at LegoLand this Spring Break. Not the absence of journaling... The bracket border journal spot on the left was originally intended for that purpose... It got a bit obscured with other "stuff". Some how. [mumble mumble...]

Have a great weekend! I hope I get some good pictures of Nikolas and his BFF this weekend at their communion. An adorable moment to share; following the rehersal Jasper asks his Mom and I "how come you two get to sit together but we don't?" LOL!! They are on opposite sides of the aisle... Front row though! Good for visibility for pics. No supposed to use my flash... Hmmm...

Broken

A two for one today!! I used the latest JilliBean sketch AND the latest Sketch Support Add-On sketch in today's little share!

Broken; the experience of getting her fractured wrist re-set and casted on an early Friday morning! I still have to do the layout about the process which resulted in the broken arm... The JilliBean sketch is perfect for cell phone pictures which don't always turn out the best. It's also a perfect space for the ribbon add-on's from Sketch Support!

Please pardon the fuzziness in the above picture, it is intentional. Though I know personal info is easy to come by on the big wide web, I don't need to make it blantant, especially in regards to my children. I included a piece of the wrist bands that were put on us as part of the "ribbon". A nice way to use some related memorabilia in the layout.

Another award ribbon, this one littler. Mizzy Moo deserves a lot of praise and award ribbons for her bravery over this whole incident! She truly was a trooper. I used a technique I learned in a Nicole Samuels misting class to use Thickers as masks for the "brave" rectangle. And that die cut from Die-namics!! Sigh... I placed an order of much coveted dies the other day... Bliss...

A lot of little details on this one! Thanks for popping by!

At The Alley

Bit late posting this today... We had a bit of a mishap around here...

Yesterday Mia fell off the monkey bars and broke her wrist. Unfortunately, it's the bone the pivots around the other one and the fracture was displaced. So not only did she have to have it reduced but she has a full length cast which means no freedom of movement at the elbow. She's an absolute trooper and so incredibly brave. Few, if any, tears were shed. She was more distraught about the full length cast than the pain!

Today is the Nikki Sivils challenge over at Sketch Support. We were graciously each given a kit of Nikki Sivils product of our choosing to use. I chose the Exit Here collection. It's so diverse, it's awesome! Though it's a "travel" based theme, I used it for a bowling layout.

I modified the sketch somewhat to suit the pictures that I had. The colors perfectly compliment the colors in the kids' clothing.

Thanks Nikki for sharing your fantastic product with us!! The Doghouse Diva's also used Allison's awesome sketch with the new product. If you haven't seen it already, be sure to hop over HERE and check out their work!