More scrapbook talk

When I finished with my Disney album, it was time to start catching up on Michael's. He already has one complete album that goes from birth to December 2012. 

Then I started a new one in January and plan to keep all of his albums consistent with the calendar year instead of birthday year. 

I'm not sure if I will be able to fit two or three years in this album, therefore I have left the date blank.  

This album went up to Easter, so I had a lot to catch up on.

These pictures are from April to August. 

 I like to do a page for each month or season, depending on how many pictures I have. I also do a page for each trip we take and for each holiday. His birthday usually gets three or four pages. 

I never liked to add journal boxes to my scrapbooks, but lately I love doing them. It helps me to remember the date and what and where each picture is. 

I hate to get behind on my scrapbooks, and I know some people who are years behind. But for me, and my type A personality, I like to have everything finished as quickly as I can. 

One thing that helps me stay on top of these albums, is having my pictures printed. Every time snapfish or shutterfly offer free or penny prints, I order pictures. Sometimes I don't have any pictures that I need to print, like right now. Snapfish had their penny print sale going on. 

Then other times, I have a ton of pictures that I need to print, so I sometimes have I wait for another sale to get them all printed. 

Either way, I can't scrapbook, if I don't have pictures. 

I don't know if I will always do traditional scrapbooking, or I may switch to digital one day. Either way, I love my scrapbooks and I am so glad that I have them. 

Catchin' up on my Scrappin'

Over the last month, I have been busy catching up  on my scrap books. 

After I posted all of my blog posts from our Disney trip, I was in the scrapbooking mood. I had already printed all of our pictures, so I just had to lay them all out and get them into an album. 

First, I lay out the pictures and figure out how many pages it is going to be. When i finished putting pictures on all 23 pages, then I pick the paper and crop the pictures. Then it's time to tape the pictures down. 

After all of the pages are done, then I go back and add any embellishments to the page. That includes using my cricut to add any "headings" on the page. The last thing I do is add my journals. I do these on the computer. I just measure how big of a space I left, then make a text box that same size. Then type in what I want to say. 

For me, this is easier than hand writing it in. I can change the font type and size to accommodate how much room I have. I print them on card stock and then tape them on the page. 

I have a great system that works well for me. I primarily worked on it while Michael was napping each afternoon. 

Now, my Disney album is all ready for me to add to it when we get home from our trip in October. Yes, we are going back. 

These are just a few of the pages. 

Apple Picking

On Saturday, we had a family fun day at the apple farm! We went to Niven's Apple Farm and had a great time. 

Michael played on the tires

We looked at all the farm animals 

We picked apples

And just had a great time. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! 

Looking forward to going back in October for the pumpkin patch. 

My Little Spider Man

Friday Morning, Michael and I met Julie, Coleman and Finley at the Tyger river Park. They had a blast playing in the sandbox, on the swings, the playground, the giant musical pipes 

and the giant Spider Web. 

Michael especially liked the spider web!

With the weather becoming cooler, this might have to become a regular play date! 

Build and Grow

Michael went to his first Build and Grow Workshop at Lowe's a couple of weeks ago. 

Andrew said that Michael had a great time. 

They came home with this:

He was pretty proud of himself!

We might have to make this a monthly thing! Next month is a fire truck! 

Fun Times at Home

Some days at home, are pretty uneventful. But then there are days like last Friday, where Michael and I have a ton of fun being at home. 

We painted airplanes 

And a bird house

We made cookies

And licked the beaters

And ate cookies

It was a fun day! 

What's for Dinner - Creamy One-Pot Pasta

We had this for dinner tonight, and it was so yummy! 

I used these noodles, just to get some veggies into a certain three year old that refuses to eat veggies. 

And they tasted great! 

Please excuse the picture, but I forgot to take a picture until dinner was put away. 

Our Disney Vacation

I know this is about 3 months overdue, but I finally got around to blogging about our Disney Vacation. 

We had a great time, and you can read all about it.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7 

Big Boy Bed Part 2

First, Michael and I went shopping for a blanket for his bed. I wanted something classic and that will grow with him. I don't want to be buying a new blanket every couple of years for him. 

I really liked several from Pottery Barn, but I just cannot justify paying $125 for just a quilt!

So, we went to Marshall's and found just what we were looking for! There were two different ones I liked, so I let Michael pick which one he wanted. 

I'm glad he picked the one he did, cause that was the one I would have picked too. 

I love all the blues, and the bright green gives it a little something. 

Best part, it was only $40 and included the sham! 

Now for an update on how he is doing in his new bed:

Well, Michael has been in his new bed for a week now and it has completely changes his sleeping patterns. I was not expecting this at all. He usually would go to bed really easily, go right to sleep and sleep till 8 or 8:30. Now, he wants to play at bed time, is getting out of his bed when he is supposed to be sleeping, and he is waking up at 7:00! His naps are also getting shorter. He used to nap for 2+ hours, and yesterday, it was only an hour. 

Last night, I kept hearing walking around, so I went to check on him and he had every light on upstairs and was playing in the extra bedroom! I think tonight we will be putting up the baby gate outside of his room, so he at least he will stay in his room. We don't really mind if he is in his bed looking at books (which he was also doing last night), because he will eventually fall asleep. We just don't want him wandering around the house. This morning, when I went downstairs, the lights were on, and his toys were out. So, who knows when he was down there playing! 

This probably has a lot to do with him testing his boundaries. He has been doing that a lot lately, and this is just one more area where he wants to see what he can get away with. Hopefully he will figure it out quickly. 

Planes!

One of Michael's birthday presents from us, was going to see the new movie, Planes. Every time Michael saw anything to do with the movie, he got so excited, so I knew he would love the movie. 

We went last Tuesday night and Michael had a great time. He didn't move from his seat almost the entire time. He did have to go the bathroom, but other than that, he just sat and stared at the movie. 

Since then, he has told anyone who will listen, that he saw the planes movie. I am actually thinking about taking him to see it again, because he liked it so much.