air show at pease

Okay... hubby and I happened to be in Newington, New Hampshire when the air show was either practicing or having a family event. Not sure which, but there were planes flying all around overhead. They are quite loud in case you haven't been to an air show or even in the direct flight path of these planes. I tried to take some pictures of them as we were driving with my point and shoot camera. Let me tell you, the pictures are awful. So now you are wondering why I would want to share them with you all? It's just how I roll.

I took the liberty of writing on the photos where the planes actually are in the photo so you can see them. You are welcome. :)

Yes I have a Captain Mickey Sparrow antennae cover. Should have pointed that out in the picture too. Guess I will have to do that before I print these.

I probably could have gotten something a little better if I had taken hubby up on his offer to stop the van, but I really wanted to get to Target and get some more DVD sleeves to continue the fun we had been having. See this post to find out about DVD sleeves and all their awesomeness!

one happy organized mommy

I love me some organization. I mean seriously... who doesn't? Since the kids are growing up, I wanted to make their playroom a little more kid friendly and then maybe they would spend some time there playing instead of using it as a dumping ground. Since we never really did much to make it a playroom for them to begin with. 

First order of business was to figure out which pieces of furniture I could remove and live without. My eye went directly to the dresser that is holding the television and DVD/video player along with a boatload of videos and DVD's. It worked out great to put all the movies in the dresser since at the time, we didn't want Alex getting into all the DVD's and scratch them. You know the whole, out of sight, out of mind with toddlers trick. :)

He's past that stage so I started looking around to figure out where to put the large collection of movies that the kids have. I came across this amazing post in the most fantastical blog. Seriously, this woman is a genius and should be treated as a national treasure.

I found the sleeves and purchased one package as I wasn't sure hubby would join me on my adventure, but he did!! Love that. We then headed to IKEA and had a total blast buying furniture to fix up the playroom. More pictures of the transformation will be coming and pictures from our IKEA fun.

Today we worked on the kids movies. Holy Hannah did they have a ton. Seriously a ton! I picked up these two baskets at Target in their bathroom area as the ones in their storage area were not square but had angled sides which did not work. Here they are all put away in their sleeves and alphabetized since yes I am that anal.

View looking down on them. The movies in the right basket are all Disney. The movies in the left basket are the other kids movies and also include all the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD's as well as our collection of Pooh movies since they would not fit in the Disney basket.

And here are the amazing sleeves!! I was so happy that Target had them on sale this week and I should have bought all that they had in Danvers, Massachusetts since the Target near me only had two boxes when we went out to pick up more! We went through 100 sleeves and only did the kids movies. Crazy I know.

Now we'll have to do the adult movies. No not THOSE types of adult movies. Harry Potter, Pirates, Iron Man etc. Get your mind out of the gutter!! We did manage to pick up two more baskets and I ordered four packages of the sleeves off of Amazon.com since ordering them through Target online was twice as expensive. You can be sure that when I see these in a Target, I am picking them up. Hubby was so impressed with how many movies fit in such a small space. Go me!!

And a huge thank you to Jen at IHeartOrganizing!! Without you, I have no idea what I would have done with all those movies!!

boston field trip through kira's eyes (photo heavy)

On the fifth grade field trip to Boston (June 12th) I let Kira use my point and shoot while I had my big camera. I thought it would be fun to see what she was looking at while we were walking around. She caught some great scenes. She really has a good eye for taking pictures. I was happily impressed with what she took. I'll save my pictures for another post. For now... enjoy walking around Boston's Freedom Trail with an eleven year old girl and her classmates.

This was our tour guide while on our walk. He was a ton of fun.

I totally missed this. But my amazing daughter found it!

Really pigeons?? oh well... this is what she was looking at.

Looking down from the top of the Bunker Hill monument. All 294 steps later.

View from the top of the monument. She did a good job with these next two.

Coming down from the top.

One of the small windows going down.

The original Bunker Hill Monument that is in the center of the present day one.

Bunker Hill monument.

Pretty neat, don't you think?? Guess I should hand her the camera more. That way I might be in more pictures than I presently am.

disney 2008

Still working on the Pirate and Princess Party pictures. Getting to the end, but still having a blast. These were some miscellaneous pictures that I liked and slapped them all together on one layout. No rhyme or reason. I started with a PageMap and then went my own direction. That seems to be the story of my life.

Kids are hanging with Nana and Papa for a bit so hubby and I are enjoying some quality time. Love it!!

rainbows, big girl and day old balloons

Fun title for a fun post! We went home to Syracuse this past weekend to celebrate Kira's eleventh birthday with family and friends. We had a good time and even got to catch a few pictures of this great double rainbow at my parents house. The second one to the right (check down by the tree line) is the reversed image of the brighter one. The colors are backwards. Alex noticed right away. Such a smarty pants.

I grabbed Kira for a few outdoor pictures to remember her on this big birthday. I can't believe she is 11. I mean seriously... where has that time gone? This is my mom's Charlie Brown tree. At least it was until it grew up. Poor thing was decorated on its first year for Christmas and looked so sad and pathetic. Looking much better now.

The day after all the fun of the party and there sits the balloons. The mylar one is still hanging at the ceiling but the fun color ones are relegated to the floor.

The kids are in Syracuse spending some quality time with Nana and Papa. I'm sure they'll also get some time hanging with Grandpa too. This of course means that hubby and I are foot loose and fancy kid free adults. I love the kids vacation time!

disney 2008 continues

oh heck... who am I kidding? This trip will never be completely scrapped, I can feel it. The good news is is that it doesn't matter and I am having fun reliving the memories and using my stash. So it's all good.

This started with a PageMap and then took on a life of its own. I had more pictures than were on the sketch so I went for it and added them in and played around. The Disney paper is from Downtown Disney as is the sticker on the side. Added the rub on (here comes the parade!) and used alphabet rub ons for the title. Stitched a few sides of pictures here and there. Added some Mickey heads and called it done.

Pretty happy with it. Now if I could manage to work on the page on my desk. I have ignored it all day. I didn't like how it was going and I'm not sure if I will like it any better now. Thinking that in the light of another new day, it might start to grow on me.


But I did get my Project Life photos caught up (see previous post) so that makes me feel oh so happy and joyful. Kira picked up her saxophone from the school. We had forgotten to pick it up and as I was looking over my online calendar, it dawned on me that we were missing it. We tried to get into the school, but they are doing construction at the entrance so I went to the exit and went in that way. All of the office staff was laughing at me since they saw me coming in and then all around the parking lot so I would be heading the correct direction to leave. At least I made them smile!

caught up!

Follow me to my 2012 Project Life picture of the day blog... click HERE! 

I have taken the time, organized all the pictures I have taken since the end of March and have started posting them again. There will be more posts in the coming days. I didn't want to overwhelm anyone with a zillion weeks worth of photos. I have totally been slacking off on the posting and don't even get me started on the actual journaling. I think I am on the second day of January or something like that. Hoping to work on it over the summer months.

This mommy duck and her babies crossed our street, which was quite a miracle they all made it across, hubby was watching at the door in case she slowed down, he could stop traffic for her. She came across our front yard, jumped our retaining wall and continued across our driveway into the neighbor's backyard and to the wet lands. Poor little ducklings had a tumble from the top of the wall to the driveway but they all fell down and stood right back up and followed mommy. So cute. I was shooting the pictures through the screen. I didn't want to scare her by opening the door.

It was a very hot one here today. This was taken at around 2pm EST. oh boy I am so happy hubby put the A/C's in the windows last night. I loves him tons for that.

last day of school!

After a not so long school year, we finally arrived at the last day of school. Not sure why this one passed so quickly, but it did. It could have been for the lack of snow days that we had. And for that I am NOT complaining. Or it could have been because next year will bring MUCH change to our household and I am not sure I am ready for it.

First off, my little lady will be heading to the Junior/ Senior high school to be in the 6th grade. Not sure if I have mentioned that I am not that pleased with her having to go to this school and I so wish that this town could have made the correct decision in 2005/ 06 to build a new school. Instead feet have been dragged for so long that even if a new school building is voted on and approved, neither one of my children would be going to it. Tis the joys of small town politics and backward thinking. 

I am scared for her but trying to keep a positive outlook on things so hopefully she doesn't pick up on my protective mommy feelings. I'm scared that she will see and hear things that I really don't want her to know at the tender age of 11. I am sorry that the school cannot offer her adequate choices in curriculum to keep her stimulated and learning at the same level that the elementary school has. I am sad that her junior high experiences will be played out in such a cramped and uninviting arena.

Sure a building does not make an education and I have heard such wonderful things about the sixth grade staff; however, I would think it would surely help the education process if teachers didn't have to share rooms/ spaces, windows could be opened and not labeled with signs that say "very broken. Do not open", hallways were wider than a shopping aisle of your local Rite Aid (or whatever drug store you have in your neck of the woods), if the music room was not next to the library, if the library had a larger book collection, if the technology that you and I take for granted would be available for the students (when school is in session it is a strong possibility that you will be kicked off the server because there are so many trying to get on) and if a parent walking through the building could smile picturing their child walking the halls instead of going home and crying hysterically because she felt like she had failed her child for having to send her to this building in the fall. (it was not a good parent orientation for me)

So where does that leave us with Kira's education? Well if the money tree in the backyard would start blooming, we could send her to a private school in the area or there is always the homeschooling option. Neither of which is an option for us. So come August I will drop my sweet baby girl on the door step of the Newmarket Junior/ Senior High School and be miserable and pray she remains the same Kira. Moving out of New Hampshire is also an option that is looking better every day.

Back to the second change that will be coming in August... my little peanut will be heading to first grade for a FULL DAY!! oh my. I am not sure what I am going to do with myself with those hours he will not be here. I will have to eat my lunch alone and miss my guy. Time sure flies.

Here are my happy kiddos on the morning of the last day of school. Looking oh so happy that it ends. sigh  

And here is one of Kira with her BFF Michaela. Such beautiful girls and happy they are friends. Kira was able to take home the paper chain that was in her classroom. oh how exciting for us, I think.

As to how I shall be spending my "free" time... thinking that the housework will get done without tripping over kids (always helpful) and there will be volunteering in my future as I love hanging out at the elementary school and I may be doing a bit of card selling. With all the cards I made this year, I have heard many times that I should sell them and even had a mom offer to host a party for me to get sales and get my name out. I'm thinking it would be fun.

New chapters. Lots to think about. Wishing I could slow down time for a bit. I'll have to enjoy the summer with the kiddos and make lots of fun memories.