Half Way There!

Can you believe it? I am officially half way there at 20 weeks. Here is a belly pic - I have popped and can't hide it anymore, unless I wear really baggy clothes and then I just look like I've put on some weight, even though I haven't gained any weight yet - I think it's the 3 or 4 miles I ride my bike each day, pulling at least 70 pounds in the bike trailer behind me - that's quite a workout! My goal is not to gain as much as I did with Brailee - I gained 50 pounds with her and only lost 30 of it. When my dr. mentioned this time around that I had actually lost weight, I reminded him how much I gained last time and he looked back at my chart and he warned me that I gained the most weight between 20 and 30 weeks, so hopefully that doesn't happen this time around! But I am still feeling fabulous and hope to keep up the great excercise, even when it gets colder. My next ultrasound is next week so I'll post pics if I get good ones!

Arrr!

September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! To learn how to talk like a pirate click here!

Monthly Word Puzzle Swap Results

I host our Unit swaps and we recently finished up this swap that we started this spring. We used the Monthly Word Puzzles and created 6x6 pages - I am putting mine in the My Creations Display Album and since we did 2 pages for each month, it will completely fill up the album! Anyway, here are the results - aren't they all great, we have such a fun variety!

{EDIT: I have noticed the slide show isn't always working, so if you would like to view all 24 samples, I have them posted on my website under My Art - just click here to view!}

Pool Party

Here is a layout I completed last week using Imagine - Role Play on page 106

I used this super fun, bright paper from We R Memory Keepers - I think it's called Frenzy? I also used the number 5 Solo, Hodge Podge Alphabet, and Do Nothing stamp sets.

Thanks for looking!

Progress Report...

I didn't realize it's been so long since I've posted! I've been busy creating but I'm not ready to share anything yet - I will post through this week with my latest projects. For now, here is our family update.

The girls are loving school! The only thing I don't get is this - before school started they were starting to get on each other's nerves and I was looking forward to them getting back to school and daily interaction with other friends. Anyway, wouldn't you know, Brianna complains when her sister doesn't play with her at recess! Then they come home from school and ask if they can invite someone over to play! They apparently have it all backwards, I just don't get it ;-) They are both so smart and such great readers. Kaylee brought home some little books as part of her reading homework and Brianna can read them! All of the word lists that Kaylee brings home that her class is practicing, she can breeze through them in no time and we never need to practice. So, she is beyond her reading homework books and onto harder books and words. I am very proud of both of them. Their school open house was last week and they had so much fun taking me around to meet their teachers and show them all the classrooms.

Brailee is having fun during the day without her sisters, but she's not alone. I babysit a little boy - he is just 7 months older than Brailee - and they get along so well! She likes having someone closer to her age to play with. Her big thing right now, she likes to say "Bess You!" when you sneeze or cough - it's just too cute! She has the funnest little personality and she just amazes me at how fast she picks up on things. David and I like to tease the girls about which of us is the boss. At first Brailee would play along and say "Mommy boss" or "Daddy boss" but the last time we asked her, she was so cute and clever, she pointed to herself and said "I boss!"

We made pumpkin cookies this weekend - if you haven't tried these yet, you MUST, they are SO good! I think it was my mom who gave me this recipe a few years ago and I have to make some every year at least once a month during the fall/winter, they are the best! They are so easy, soft, delicious, oh, and it's a Weight Watcher's recipe!

1 box spice cake mix (just the mix - no eggs, oil, water, etc.)

1 can (15 oz) pure pumpkin

chocolate chips (optional - butterscotch and white chocolate are good, too)

Mix all ingredients and spoon onto cookie sheet - bake at 400 for about 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Here are some pics of the cookie making fun!

I had to give Brailee her own pan so she could spoon her own cookie batch ;-)

Lip smackin' good!

My first half map...

...well, kind of, anyway! The latest contest over on the PageMaps Blog was a Half Map Sketch. Since I usually only do 12x12 layouts, or at least square layouts, I challenged myself to participate and keep it at a half map size. I decided to do something that would still fit in my 12x12 scrapbook, so I took a 6 pocket photo storage page and cut it in half - that left me with 3 4x6 pockets on each side, so I divided the map into 3 sections - how's that for making it work! So I didn't know how to count this in this year's page count ;-P Do you think it counts as one page?

Here is the sketch...

Here is my version...you can't tell in the pic, but I used Liquid Glass and Fun Flock on the title 'Dream' and it gave it a nice fuzzy soft texture, like her blanket.

And on the other side, I just put pics of that same day - who knew I needed 4 pictures of her sleeping that day - she was just too precious! I think I am going to add some photo corners to the pics on this side.

Labor Day Weekend Camping Trip

So we went on our final camping trip for the season this weekend - we went back to my hometown of Star Valley and camped. David's parents went with us, and my family joined us as well. Spudd is my 'little' brother, Spencer - he's my younger brother, but he's 6'3" so not too little ;-P and he was there with his wife, Hannah. Grandpa T is my dad and he brought the horses. My Grandma & Grandpa Lancaster joined us for dinner on Sunday as well, so there were fun memories. We went to church on Sunday in the ward that I grew up in and it was nice to see so many familiar faces, and even a few friends who had come home to visit over the weekend!

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The weather was nice until about Sunday afternoon - it rained and Monday morning turned to snow, so we were a little cold and soaked as we packed up to head out! We still had fun, though, as we got to enjoy the great outdoors at least a bit!

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Oh, and don't you just love Brailee's hat, where she's all bundled up! She had a winter hat on, then her coat hood, but she insisted on wearing the bucket hat as well and wouldn't go anywhere without it ;-P

September Challenges

Sorry, I meant to have these post while I was gone over the first, but didn't get anything new done for the Reflections or Cherish Challenges before I left. So, today I quickly found some layouts I have done but haven't used the blueprint for a challenge yet and so here are the challenges for this month! I can't wait to see what is created!

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Imagine Challenge - Timeline - pages 30 and 31

These are Brianna's ultrasound pictures - I can't wait to do Brailee and Kaylee's now!

Cherish Challenge - Photo Shapes on pages 46 and 47

Sorry, I have posted these on my blog before ;-P

Reflections Challenge...Main Frame - Portrait on page 61