project life: and this brings us up to date (!!!)

I've been on a creative mission this week. Finish all of my design assignments nearly a week early (check!) and then, get the rest of my album current (check!). This morning I was able to sneak in a few minutes to complete weeks 20 and 21 and get them photographed. And, I just finished printing off two photos from this week to stick in Week 22.

You see, we leave for an international vacation on Tuesday. That's four days from now. We'll be gone for nearly three weeks and, well, you know what the return from a scrapbooker's vacation entails, right? The number of photos will be obnoxious. Add to that the normal post-vacation unpacking, laundry and, oh yes, re-adjusting to EST. As soon as we get home, I'll be itching to get my photos downloaded and into my album but, I'll also need to do that since July's design assignments will be due. It's going to be a super fun whirlwind around here!

{Week 20: May 13-19}

Date night, George "supervising" remediation work at his grandparents' house, a $1 Starbucks lunch date, the end of The Office, a very exciting PL product arrival, an impromptu frozen custard stop and more, The Office TV card? Completely inspired by my friend and fellow PLer/blogger Barbara. Check her out!

George floored us with all of a sudden deciding he knew how to write (before ever being taught), Jack causing trouble, a visit with family and new haircuts.. The "Heart THIS" and "AMAZING" cards were cut with my Cameo directly on the PL 3x4 grid cards. LOVE.

 {Week 21: May 20-26}

Mr. Boom's birthday, a zoo trip, G helping me bake his Baba's cake and Jack's favorite play spot. 

This week's layout? Well, it's done. I'm not happy with how it came together. I rushed and it shows but, this project? not about perfection. The documentation is there and in 10, 20 or 30 years, no one will care that the color of that title card is just too peach. Right?

Lots and lots of park photos (it was a such a fun afternoon!), Mr. Boom's new business card and lots of books...

The two missing weeks? They are all done, photographed and will be up here on June 12th, after the June Citrus Twist Kits reveal!

project life: another week in the book...

This week has been completed for awhile now, just waiting to be photographed. It was a jam-packed seven days and I couldn't even manage to capture everything on these two pages so, there is an insert of only Instagram photos (not pictured). The end of April brought us yet another stomach virus (boo!), time outside and a trip across the state to visit my sister and her family. I'm using a mix of my May Citrus Twist Kits, the Seafoam and Jade core kits digital/hybrid cards and my stash.

{April 22-28}

An account of the virus that hit and an exchange of texts with my husband related to an, ahem, incident at the grocery store (no one said parenting was glamorous), a river walk with Jack, liking Big Bang Theory and a pasta loving toddler...

Design F again to fit more stories and photos - Jack's first flight, spending time with my sister and her family and our little hipster...

A hipster close up. The flocked rub-on glasses are from the Basic Grey Hipster line...perfect!

Jack's first flight. He was in awe and did so, so well. I used a vellum pocket cut with my Cameo to hold journaling about the experience...

And, the details on the messy beginning to our week. The text card was made in PSE with a Jade filler card, an Ali Edwards digital stamp and a digi tag freebie...

My Project Life goal right now is to be completely caught up before we leave the country for nearly a month. I'm printing and putting weeks 20 and 21 together very simply right now! Weeks 18 and 19 are photographed and ready for the June Citrus Twist Kits blog sneaks and postings while I am away.

Yes, I am still LOVING this project...

I'm linking up to Project Life Tuesdays with The Mom Creative today!

project life: citrus twist may kit shares...

In my last Project Life share post, I had two weeks missing because they were for my work using the May Citrus Twist Kits and, here they are! I had a lot of fun mixing up the kits and Cameo cuts for my first week of April..

{April 1-7}

The week started with a stomach virus, a chocolate delivery and a fun quote about trains...

And, we ended the week with park trips and a day at the Bronx Zoo - our first of 2013! I included a pressed penny on the zoo card...

This speech bubble is one of my favorite new Cameo cuts! Just perfect for recording Jack's words and phrases that week (he has plenty more now!). It's available in the Silhouette store...

 {April 8-14}

There was so much I wanted to document this week that I veered from my standard two Design A page format. Broke right out of that and used one Design A and one Design F. Instant love! My new favorite combination. The week started with sun and heat! So much so that we were in shorts and tees at the park. Then, a minor bathroom re-do, new summer clothing for the boys in new sizes, George building with Legos and Jack's awesome point and nose scrunch...

My first Design F page gave me so many possibilities! More photos, more journaling. I documented house hunting, a trip to the park, the soil remediation in my in-laws' backyard, a new favorite snack, quotes from G and love notes to the boys...

One of the things I have felt has been missing from my pages lately is real, heartfelt journaling. When the boys look back on these album pages one day I want them to know that I valued our everyday but, I also want them to know exactly how I was feeling about them during different points in their growing years. The CTK Project Life kit this month comes with a whole sheet of Basic Grey sticker embellishments, one being this sweet "Pocket Full of Love." As soon as I saw it, I knew what I wanted to create, a little envelope with short letters to each of the boys. I cut a bitty bag out of vellum using my Cameo, adhered that to a 3x4 card and added the sticker to the front. I then cut down two 3x4 grid cards so that they would easily slip in and out of the pocket. I decided to go with vellum for this so that it is obvious that there are enclosures, rather than using tabs.

Back soon with more!

brothers...

One of the things I hope most for as a parent is to raise these two boys to be loving, compassionate people - starting with their own relationship. They are so young and have a lifetime ahead to form friendships. The one person I hope that they will always turn to is their own sibling.

In the past few months, there have been more and more moments of sweetness between these brothers. Jack will take a book to George to read or, George will take Jack's hand to lead him to see something exciting. They play together sometimes and along side each other quite a bit. Oh, there are crazy making moments too, and plenty of them! That's also what brothers do, I suppose. But, I love seeing their relationship develop in front of me, hearing George say, "That's my brother Jack!" when we meet someone new or, when Jack walks over to George and pats the top of his head. Those are the moments that melt me. Over and over.

Stick together, my boys. That's what brothers are meant to do.

project life, catching up again...

The weather finally cuts us a break and I disappear. Such is Mama life with two very active boys who want to go, go, go! And go we have. To the parks, to the zoo (over and over), on our weekly errands, scheduled activities and play dates. Jack even went on his first flight when we visited my sister and her family across the state two weeks ago (more on that soon). On. the. move.

Being outside means far less time dedicated to getting what we are doing down on paper. It's an adjustment every spring to balance that outside time with inside chores and crafting. Juggling nighttime priorities to make room for Project Life again. I'm getting there! I have three weeks of Project Life to share today. Two weeks are missing because they are Citrus Twist work so, they will wait until next week after the May kit reveal. Here we go!

{March 18-24}

First day of Spring happened but, no one knew it here! Documenting how we kept bust inside. Again. Broken record much? George put on his own shoes, the boys played nicely and some artwork was created. The bottom right is a recipe I created and the bottom left is the receipt from my best grocery savings ever.

 Pirate spotting, couch cushion forts, baking adventures and iPhone silliness.

 

 {March 25-31}

The week started off on a bad note. Stomach virus for G, stress from a few sources and Mr. Boom and I even had to put off our cheesecake indulgence for a day due to something that came up. Grr... Thankfully it all turned around by mid-week. The bottom pics are of G looking through Project Life and Jack playing peek-a-boo from the Thomas the train pop up tent.

 

 Out like a lamb, indeed! The weekend was beautiful just in time for a visit from my parents and our village egg hunt. The middle photo and card tell a hilarious story about George learning to spell and making associations.

{April 15-21}

Here's the two week skip ahead mentioned above. The week before this was so photo heavy that I ended up using one Design A and one Design F page to accommodate more pics and stories without adding an insert. Using the back of Design F for this week was perfect for documenting our very busy week of THREE zoo visits (yes, seriously). The date card is from the PL Jade digital kit with the addition of a digi stamp and family photo from one of the zoo visits. The green geotag, teal arrow and star tab are Silhouette cuts. Kept this very simple with hybrid cards and some quick handwritten journaling (a BIG, BIG announcement involving my handwriting coming very soon...squee!!!).

I knew I needed to include the Boston Marathon terror attack this week somehow. I chose to use a graphic that I came across on Instagram/Tumblr that week with a quote by Fred Rogers on helpers. Behind this card, I added more details (just the facts and some feelings about keeping the boys safe and innocent) on a graph card with a pull tab. The rest is just some favorite photos from the week and a bit of gratitude about our everyday life and routine.

I'll be back next week with more shares using the upcoming CTK May kits...so fun!