Friday, October 31, 2008

they have conquered...

Well, an hour and a half later, the kids came home...

...with their loot!

Robert and Reese had so much fun, they visited almost every home in our neighborhood and were overjoyed at all the loot they got.

Check it out!


We will have to ration the goodies, too many of these will result in REALLY trying days for me!


Hope you all have tons of goodies too...and the ability to ration them!!

Camille

it's been too long...

I keep saying this (it seems) but where has the time gone.

I was truly exhausted after last week. It took energy to finish my ATCs in time! Aside from the necessities, there was not too many extras getting done this week.

Tonight, I am writing between the doorbell ringing and kids screaming "Trick or Treat" at my door. My DH is out with the kids and I have a few stolen moments to get you all up to date on what's been going on in the Young household.

This week has been all about Halloween for my son. He had 3 parties and tonight he is out getting more loot. I believe we have enough candy in our home until next Halloween. I know I am not alone out there when I say...the kids always get way too much candy. So much, that my husband cannot even eat it all...and he REALLY likes candy!

So, here is what my children looked like before going out trick or treatin'.


And the after pic I am sure will be interesting. I'll post it later tonight or tomorrow.

We are truly thankful for the great weather here. Usually, Halloween in Edmonton is snowy. Kids are bundled up with snowsuits under their costumes. This year, it's a balmy 5 degrees out...that's REALLY a blessing! It's also VERY unusual!

Well, I'm off to give away all my candy...and to complete my LO for Scrappin' Across the Universe challenge blog! It will be posted tomorrow!

Later,

Camille

Saturday, October 25, 2008

...a sigh of relief....

Well, I'm sitting in my living room with my hubby watching hockey. It's nice to be home, without a place to be until tomorrow night!

Today was a crazy day...

We woke up to crazy winds, like over 70kph!!! I had to bring my scrapbooking supplies to the crop, then take my son to hockey (all that before lunch). Upon our return (my hubby was drywalling our garage) I learned that our shed was no more.

...our shed was literally lifted from it's foundation and thrown everywhere. Some pieces flew over our fence into the construction area that is past our yard, some pieces flew over the fence into the trees bordering the lake and other pieces are still MIA. The wind has only now died down enough to risk going outside (but it's also 10pm and pitch black). It will be interesting to see the damage and missing pieces tomorrow when we try to find everything that was once in our yard!

Our neighbors are missing siding and soffits from their homes...and trees have fallen ALL over the place. Thankfully, they landed on the roads and NOT on anyone's home! Of course, I did not have my camera with me, so I don't have any pics to show you.

That adventure done, I headed out to the crop to teach my class and squeeze in a LO or two! It was nice, cozy and relaxing. It was fun. Here's the pic of the make and take we made.

I know this is not the greatest pic of the LO, but it reads "we love the beach...even on the cloudy days". I love make and takes, because even though it's the same template, everyone adds their own uniqueness and the end products all look so different. I was asked to keep it fairly simple because we had most beginners to intermediate scrappers. It was fun to see everyone's creative juices flowing during the class.

After a great homemade supper and a little creative work, I headed home for some much needed rest. As I sit here typing (sitting beside my man who is watching the hockey game) I realize I am more tired than I thought...

So, I'm off to bed.

Camille

Friday, October 24, 2008

One down, one to go...

I'm back from my Friday night events.

Bree and I had a girls birthday party and it went incredibly well. The birthday girl was turning 8 and, at that age they are beginning to get quite crafty.
I was an overall success and I am happy that it went so well...

Then it was off to my church's scrapbooking evening...I was so exhausted from my week (read on for more details) that I left all my supplies in the car and just chatted with all the ladies... It was so nice to just stop and do nothing for a little while.

This week has been unexpectedly long...

On Sunday, my son Robert "yakked" and came down with the 24-hour flu. On Wednesday, my daughter Reese "yakked" just before supper with no other symptoms. Then, later in the evening it hit my DH. He was up all night, slept most of Thursday, then repeated the whole process on Friday.
He has had a rough couple of days, but seems on the mend now...he's dressed in something other than sweats and a hoodie, so he must be feeling a bit better!

So, now I prepare for my all-day crop tomorrow. It will be nice to be surrounded by creative women yet again.

I hope to get some more done...I have some ideas percolating...

Here's a LO of Reese at her birthday. She was so sad because she could not hold her cousin (whom she thought was just as precious as her dollies).


She was pouting and did not understand why Robert was "big" enough to hold her, but she was not. Precious pics!

Until Later,
Camille

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Working hard this week!

I've been busier than I wanted to be this week.

Bree and I are very busy this weekend. We have a girls birthday party where we are making mini albums, then I have our church's monthly crop (that I set up and host)...that's just Friday night. On Saturday, we are teaching classes at another all-day crop.

BUSY...BUSY...BUSY!!!

But not too busy to be making some of my own stuff...


This one is means so much to me. Bree took the pic and it turned out so well. The journalling says "You must be very care not to forget the things you have seen God do for you. Keep reminding yourselves, and tell your children and grandchildren as well. Deuteronomy 4:9"

Family is so precious and I want to reinforce that in my children's lives.


I also had some fun with some LoveElsie clear stamps. I flocked the owl, although it may not be very noticeable. It was fun to play around a little!

Tomorrow is a busy day...one thing at a time!

Camille

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

I'm Back and recharged...

I just returned from a weekend getaway...it was fabulous.

Someone in our church hosts a scrapbooking retreat every year in October. And whenever I can make it I usually go into the weekend already exhausted and struggle to find my creativity before the weekend is done.

...but NOT this year!

We arrived around 6pm (at this beautiful lodge on the lake...of which we did not get to fully enjoy because we were scrappin' so much) and I was settled and had started a layout before 7 pm.

I had sooooooooo much fun, it was so nice to get away with so many of my favourite people. Bree was there too and she never slept at all the first night (she stayed up for 40 hours...check out her blog for the details).

I was surrounded by creativity all weekend. I got so many layouts done and so much inspiration for my weeks ahead. I will share some with you...but need to temper it...I can't let it all out yet!

I also finally finished my ATCs (yes, the ones I wanted to finish before going on the weekend!)

So here's some of my work.


I love the way the ATCs turned out. I can hardly wait to see what everyone else it going to come up with.


This is one of my 2 fave LOs from the weekend. It reads "Summer Love: Rober and Reese only have each other as companions...and we want them to truly love one another!"


This is my other fave from the weekend. It took me 1.5 hours to cut out all the circles from a page...and it was so worth it! I also used coredinations papers (brown with pink undertone) and LOVE the stuff...got to get me some more of that!

So that's it for now, more of my creations to come.

The weekend was a blast and I was anxious to come home and see the fam. Upon entering the house, I gave everyone a big squishy hug and then my son says "Mommy, I puked today!" It took 10 minutes for him to show me what he meant...I just got him to the bathroom before he let loose. We missed the toilet and narrowly got the garbage (and it graced the side of my head too). That being said...it was an evening of cuddling on the couch with my son until exhaustion took over for him, then I headed downstairs to do the 3 loads of laundry that had accumulated in the 3 hours I was home!!
It's so hard to see my children sick...but I was happy to be home. For me, it would have been harder to hear about it after the fact...I think I'm a sucker for punishment!!

Have a great week, stay tuned for more of my weekend's creations...

Camille

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Autumn's rush!

Ok, so I have to firstly admit that my ATCs are NOT yet done. I've begun them though...
The truth is that I changed my mind after starting and headed in a completely different direction and, as a result, am not done!

But I do have some cool pics to share from our weekend.

Our Thanksgiving weekend was so relaxing and fun...it was a little crazy at the end (but mostly for Rob).

On Saturday, we spent the afternoon with Bree and her family (and our cameras). We go some great pics!

I love this pic because of their expressions. I was trying to take a picture of just Robert and Oakley, but Reese just had to be in it! Priceless, Oakley couldn't be bothered either way!

Some pics I love...

It's nice to catch them cuddling, they do truly love each other (as I listen to their giggles right now while playing football together...well, mostly Reese running after Robert trying to catch up)


My little adventurer...whatever her big brother does she wants to do too!

During our walk, Robert would find anything to "pose" in and scream out for me to take his picture! I guess that's better than not wanting your pic taken at all!


To me there is nothing more precious than these pics, Rob and Reese take such great pics together. They have exactly the same eye color -that amazes me. It's a small glimpse into the amazing God that we have and the legacy that we leave in our children.

Anyhow, I almost got mushy there. I will be working on my ATCs tonight (yes, I really am) because I am going on a scrapbooking retreat this weekend and want to get caught up on some pages that I have not yet done (including my son and daughter's birthdays...which were in July and April respectively).

I need to get caught up away from home because when I am home I am almost always doing Crop Suey work...which is fun too, but it doesn't seem to help with getting caught up!!

I will hopefully have some ATC pics before I leave on Friday...

Thursday, October 9, 2008

My first ATC swap!

I'm working on my first ATC swap...

it's about the decades.

The first ones (due at the end of the month) are about the 1960's!!!

I'll post the finished products (if they get finished tonight)!!

Camille

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Where has the week gone?

So, here I am looking at the time and wondering how Wednesday snuck up on me!!

Our weekend was good, we have been so good at tying up loose ends around the house lately.

Friday and Saturday was spent building a frame for our shed and then putting it up. After we assembled the shed, it started raining...Praise God.

Then Sunday, we filled the shed and emptied out the garage just that little bit more. We are getting our garage finished this weekend and it's nice to think that I will be able to park the car in the garage very soon!!

This week is a hard reminder that we are in Alberta and further north than Texas!!
It rained hard yesterday and the wind has been blowing furiously. All of the pretty leaves have found a home on the ground and things are looking a little more "BLAH" around here!

All that, and I still can't recall where the last few days have gone!

I am looking forward to getting together with Bree tomorrow. We are getting the bug to do something creative again...something new and innovative!!!

Check us out at our new challenge blog...

Scrapping Across the Universe

It's going to be so much fun!!

Camille

Friday, October 3, 2008

Patio pics (FINALLY...)

So, after being asked by too many people, I forced myself to take some pics of the patio.

Here they are...


This is the much anticipated result. I love how the stones look. It's exactly what I hoped it would be.


My DH and my wonderful brother in law put many hours into this project. I am extremely grateful for my brother in law and all of his hard work.


While they were working on the stone patio, I was building my garden boxes. Here they are...


So now, there are only 999 things left to do next spring...

Just kidding, it's actually more like 99!!! It will be green by summer time next year!! Yahoo!!

Camille

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Some cards...

I've managed to find some time for crafting...

Here are two cards I made to thank the people who helped us make the patio and garden boxes in our back yard...

This one is made from some of Bree's Sassafrass Lass. It's such a fun collection. Now onto October's goodies.

Here's another one (made from paper I already had)!


Making these cards made me long for the nights that I can stay home and create...

It's been awhile since I've had that opportunity! We have a retreat coming up and I am REALLY looking forward to the weekend away...100% scrapbooking...yeah!!!

Now, I only need to decide what to take and make a plan for the weekend (that's the hard part)

Camille

I need to be everywhere!

I have no pics from our landscaping project yet...

The stone patio is complete though and it looks great. We are also building a base for our shed and we will be able to empty the garage a little in preparation for the winter months.

Bree is back from her escapades (in New Brunswick with Hurricane Kyle). Check out her blog for a really cute pic of her in the midst of the hurricane!

I am just running around today, but plan on posting some cards that I made over the last couple of days. (that's tonight's activities).

I am actually posting from my DH's work computer while waiting for my son to finish playschool (as my daughter is emptying out my husband's desk drawers). I guess I should clean up the mess before I jet!

...well, maybe I'll just leave the mess as a mark that we were here!!

I'll let you know how that goes over when I post later today!!

Off to pick up my son now...have a great day!

Camille