Slices of Life

 *Originally posted September 30, 2013 when my boys were 9, 7, & 6* I couldn't believe it today when I told my boys we were going to be writing and no one complained!  Evan wrote his first and last name twice in his best, neatest, handwriting. He knows his first name very well but it's one of the few times he's had to write his last name.  By the time he wrote it twice he knew how to spell it.  I asked him a few times throughout the day to tell me how he spells it and he got it right every time!  It's such small progress but it feels like a huge leap. Evan writing his name The older two boys wrote a short story (more like a paragraph) about their Lego Minifigures.  I had downloaded and printed off many writing ideas from Homegrown Learners quite a while ago and had forgotten all about them.  The boys are very big into Lego's so I thought they'd enjoy this assignment. They each wrote a cute little story and tried very hard to make su...

We finally got some much needed rain last week and while I definitely missed getting out for walks and hikes it was also pretty nice to have an excuse to stay home and get things done. I finally got the house mostly decorated for fall. I'm just not into it much this year so I'm calling it "good enough." Since I'm the only one that even notices or cares, it's very low pressure to be festive. I can't believe it's already October tomorrow! The days and weeks are just flying by.    We had another fabulous link up party last week. It was so hard to pick just a few favorites. So many of you have been off on these wonderful trips to Hawaii, Alaska, Banff, Europe, etc. and I just LOVE travel recaps. They constantly make my own travel bucket list longer and longer. It's a good problem to have. I also saw so many delicious recipes and adorable crafts I want to try. I was sort of dreading the arrival of fall this year since I didn't want summer to end but...

I honestly thought I was going to have yet another month without any cards or scrapbook pages but in the last week or two inspiration hit and I've made a couple of birthday cards. For Evan's 18th birthday I tried a new pop up/fun fold card and I just love how it turned out!  I also tried out a new "smoosh" stamping technique that was a lot of fun.  This card looks a bit better in person since I rubbed an illuminate pad over the whole thing and all the ferns have just a touch of sparkle to them.   I played around with some glitter this month too. I rarely think to use any but I have a whole drawer full of all sorts of colors.  I finally scrapbooked our Acadia trip from June!  Alec's pages I don't love the pages for mine and my husband's scrapbook. I think the it's just a bit too plain but until I can figure out how to jazz it up a bit I'll set it aside and work on some other projects... just as soon as I order another batch of photos.   Linking up ...

Since the last Saturday of the month is tomorrow it's just about time for Share 4 Somethings with Jenn. As always we're sharing some things we loved, some things we learned, some things that went well, and some things we let go of .  Some things I've loved:  We obviously LOVED our trip to Glacier National Park since I can't seem to stop talking about it or showing everyone our photos.... sorry, not sorry.       I loved seeing this guy leave childhood behind! There is something very bittersweet about seeing your youngest become an official adult.    I have loved our weather-- it has been a bit warmer than we usually see in September but it's been so clear and perfect for hiking.      Some things I've learned:  Oh so much! Alec and even Ian sort of fell into their first jobs so filling out online applications with Evan was eye-opening and oh so frustrating but we learned a lot. Alec also handled both his college applications with...

I put together my own photo challenge for the summer; once again hoping to get myself to use my "real" camera more. But I'd say 99% of these photos were taken with my phone. I did bring the Nikon to Glacier national park with us but could not get it to work despite changing the batteries. I guess it might be time for a replacement.  Anyway I had fun filling in the prompts and have started putting together a list for fall-- any suggestions on prompts I should add to my list?  Flag or Umbrella       Sunrise/sunset      Book Ice cream Lemonade/drink  Flowers Fruit My view Boat  Water Clouds Blue sky Mountains   Lake Family Friends Vacation   BBQ Fire   Hiking    Animal      Waterfall     Linking up with: Thinking Out Loud, Spread the Kindness,