Scrapbooking

I managed to find a little bit of time this weekend to play with my relatively new Storybook Creator Plus, a digital scrapbooking program from Creative Memories. So, I'm going to try to post the layouts I created here.

This is a miscellaneous August page.


This is a two-page spread from our timeshare week.


I've used mostly pre-made pages and then made a few changes. I'm pretty happy with the ease of the program and can't wait to get some pages printed to see how they look.

Groundbreaking!

Well, our church has finally broken ground for it's first permanent, owned - not rented, facility ever! We had a fabulous time at the groundbreaking yesterday. But it was HOT! I don't know why we always seem to do things outdoors on the property in hot weather (which is a great deal of the year here in Florida)! I did not have my camera with me as I was playing keys this weekend at church and didn't have time to go home in between. Our friend Darren had his, though, so he took this picture for us. We were divided in groups by when we came to the Springs. So that's the meaning of the sign by which we're standing.

The Funny Things That Carys Says, Part 2

While watching Fox News tonight, Carys says, "Look Dad--Obamama!" (which is exactly how she says it).

So, I proceed to brainwash her with our political leanings..."Carys, when you see Obamama, you say 'Boooooo!"

Chase adds, "Say 'McCain', Carys."

Carys responds, "Oh! John McCain?" in her sweet little 2-year-old voice.

Needless to say, we burst out laughing! She's paying better attention than we knew! :)

What Year Do You Belong in?

I found this fun quiz on Kristine's blog!

You Belong in 1982

Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

What Year Do You Belong In?

To All the Moms!

Blogging or Facebook?

I have been drawn into the world of Facebook through the worship team at my church. There are things I LOVE about Facebook. It is easy to find friends from the past by searching on the year you graduated from high school or college or an organization you belong to.  It's easy to put short, snippets of what's happening in our lives.  This appeals to me because I'm not much of a writer.  I don't think I'm extremely articulate in writing, so I hate the pressure to say something well.  It's fun to read a little bit of what's going on in my friends' lives without it taking as long as it does to read blog posts.

There are also things I don't like about Facebook.  I don't like pieces of flair, muppets, lil' green things, etc., etc., etc.   Sometimes I think Facebook is almost like stalking someone, and I wonder why people want to tell every tiny detail of their lives to others.  

I've been thinking about the reason I started this blog (perhaps I should call it the "excuse I gave myself for spending more time on the computer").  It was to take the place of the journals I tried (rather unsuccessfully) to keep for my children over the years.  I decided to replace 4 journals with 1 blog.  So, I have been copying my blog into a Word document monthly so that someday my kids can print it out if they choose to.

Now, the problem is that there has been a lot of overlap in the things I'm doing on the computer and the ways I'm recording memories.  This summer I took the plunge into digital scrapbooking.  Loving it, but it requires more time at the computer.  So easy to copy pages, though.  However, when I post something on my blog, I usually include pictures, too.  It's easy to put "photo albums" on my Facebook page, too.  I don't need to do all these things, and there's a lot of overlap in what I'm doing.

So... here's is what I've decided.  I will be drastically cutting back on the pictures I put on my blog.  I'm taking my blog back to its original purpose, a journal of our daily lives.  I may put a copy of a digital scrapbook page that I do on the blog as separate posts.  That'll be fast and easy and I won't have to copy that page into the Word document.  I'll be able to posts pictures and snippets on my Facebook page pretty quickly. 

I'm hoping this will cut back on my computer time.  I have four children!  I need to get off the computer and on with life.  :)

The Funny Things That Carys Says

Carys is cracking us all up lately.

Episode 1: I'm going potty in my bathroom at home. Carys is, of course, with me. I notice I'm almost out of tp, so I say, "Will you get Mama a roll of toilet paper out of the closet?"

She walks over the closet (it's right there beside the toilet), puts her hand on the knob, then says, "What say?" She says this a lot lately when she didn't understand what someone said to her.

So, I begin to say, "Open the closet door..."

She interrupts with, "Please!" I cracked up. She hears this all the time, too, when she demands something and we say, "What do you say?" I guess she learned that lesson!

Episode 2: We're driving to Sarasota to our timeshare. It's only a 2-1/2 hour drive, but we have to stop 3 times to go potty! Oh the joys of the newly potty trained! We go into a Hess station and Women's room is in use. I tell Carys we'll have to wait. She notices the Men's room and says, "Go in there?"

I say, "No. That's the men's room. Mommy's a girl. We have to go in the girl's room."

When she is finally sitting on the potty she questions me about the bathrooms again. I ask, "Are you a girl or a boy?"

She says, "I Carys."

I laugh and say, "Yes. You're Carys."

"I peoples."

"Yes, you're a people."

"I MEAHL."

She has it all figured out!

Episode 3: I cannot remember! I remember there were three funny things Carys said that I wanted to write down. But now that I get around to doing it, I cannot remember. Neither can anyone else! Hopefully, it will come to us later.