Lesson Learnt

Ugh!

I now know that my body does not like grease covered foods anymore.

Yesterday, my mom and I decided to head into the city with the boys for a spur of the moment hunt for my dad’s Christmas present. He is, seriously, the hardest person in the world to shop for. What do you get a person who has no hobbies and doesn’t like clutter?

Anyways, we decided to hit Harvey’s for dinner. I would have preferred Subway, but mom really wanted Harvey’s. I caved in.

I had an original burger with cheese and a side of onion rings. I checked the points and I had enough points to cover it. I didn’t feel too bad spending my points on it.

About an hour later, I had the worst stomachache. I felt horrible.

I don’t want to go to Harvey’s ever again!

I’m sure I will at some point, but I think I’ll pick a grilled chicken burger or a salad instead. Lesson was learnt.

Today we woke up to snow gently falling from the sky. It looked so lovely. It’s a school day for Monkey. I bundled everyone up to walk him to the bus stop. Once he was safely on the bus, Muffin and went for a 3.1 mile walk.

I love walking outside when it’s snowing. I especially love big, fluffy snowfall. Not what we’re getting today, but it was still nice. Everything is quiet and peaceful. At least it was until we went by a snowplow. Those things are noisy! I enjoyed walking around, singing Jungle Bells with Muffin. He was so bundled up, he was nice and warm by the time we got home.

I took the time to shovel the driveway, walk way, front porch and back deck. Ranking up those activity points, burning off some of the fat I’m sure I packed on with yesterday’s burger and onion rings.

New Blog

Life takes many twists and turns.
My life has taken me a little away from the scrapbooking I used to do. I don't have the time to create everyday like I used to. Maybe someday I will again. Until then, I've decided to focus on other things in my life. My kids, my family and my weight loss journey.
I've started a weight loss blog. You can find it here. I'm trying to be more accountable. Hope you'll support me in my journey. Or at least read along.

Picture Sharing

While Muffin eats his lunch, I decided to organize and back up some pictures. It's been awhile. I decided to share some pictures from the month.

 Muffin *loves* Elmo. He's aways been drawn to Elmo since he was a newborn. I think it's Elmo's bright red fur. Here he is, playing with his Elmo and watching Elmo's World. Monkey was on the couch watching too.

 Mmm...Toes! Muffin loves sucking on his toes. I love it. Such a sweet, baby thing.

 Check out those lashes! Both my boys were blessed with Daddy's long lashes. If I ever have a girl, she'll get my short lashes, I'm sure.

 "Mama, push this button right here and free me already!" Now that Muffin is on the crawl, he hates being confined in anything. His carseat (I can't believe I have a 8 month old who still fits in his infant seat! Monkey outgrew his at three months!), his bed, his swing, the exersaucer (unless there's food, or his brother is playing with him). Only the jolly jumper is welcomed.

 He woke up from his nap one day looking like he had been in a fist fight. Thankfully the red, bruise like marks faded in a couple of hours. Just the scratches hung around for a few days.

 Trying out crawling on all fours before going back to his worm crawl.

 There's my Monkey! Hanging out at the train station. We went to pick up my sister from her weekend away. Her car ended up in the shop (her brake line broke and she had a leak in her gas line), but she had palns to visit her boyfriend (an officer in trainning in the military!). So she trained it. Monkey, who is train obessed, was very excited to go pick her up.

 He dressed his self this day. When did my baby grow up into a little boy? And why does he look older than four in this picture?

 Pretty sunset from the road. I was in my mom's new (used) Pacifica. Love this car!

 Nice kitty, kitty, kitty. Charlie is very good with Muffin. Much better than how he is with Monkey. He likes to scratch Monkey up.

Muffin's newest fave food...Cheerios! Yay! Cheaper than Puffs, which he also loves.

Until next time...

Quickly....

The other day I was in a crafty mood and decided to get a little messy. I pulled out a canvas and some paints.

I ended up with this (Please excuse the poor lighting. The colour is totally off):

I don't really like how the clouds turned out. But it's a learning process. This was my first time attempting a painting. I've worked with canvas before, just in a mixed media setting. I do like how it turned out over all. It'll be nice in my new living room.

Now on to some scrappys.
I posted my May challenge last week at WeScrap. This month, I was inspired by Steve. He's all about straight lines. Guess that comes from drawing buildings all day long. My challenge was to create a grid.

And because Steve's always likes things straight lined, I angled my picture.

The next layout is based on last Saturday's sketch by Sarah. Check out WeScrap to see the sketch.

And since that's about all I have to blog about right now, I'll just leave you with a picture of baby toes...

Until next time...

The Day After The Scrappy Weekend

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? Get much scrapping done? I did. And it felt great! I haven't created that much in such a short time since early in my pregnancy with Muffin. How I missed getting my fingers dirty and paper cutting myself! I'm so messy and careless when creating, but man it's fun.

The challenges from the WeScrap Blog Hop kept me going. Here's what I created:

WeScrap Blog Sketch Challenge

Sweetness: How I adore this line from Bella Blvd! I made a mini album, this layout and still have bits and pieces to love. It's hard to see, but the background is misted a little with pink taffy from Tattered Angels. I love it when I get to break out the pink. Not something I do often. But Muffin and I deserve it, right?

Sue's Favourite Things Challenge 

Daddy's Glasses: I decided to take pictures from a recent favourite moment. Steve got new glasses (free from Clearly Contacts! I got a free pair too. We only had to pay shipping. Less than $14 for frames that cost over $200! Love it!). Monkey wanted to try on Daddy's glasses (he also puts on Steve's body spray so he can "stink like Daddy"). He was too cute; I had to snap some pictures. The background is a Tim Holtz stamp, coffee stamp from Studio Calio (my personal fave) and paint splatter punched orange cardstock (how awesome is that?)

Victoria's Favorite Photo Challenge 

Happy Camper: I picked out my favourite picture of Steve and Muffin. Love my boys so much!

Sarah's Favourite Embellie Challenge

You Make Me Smile: I couldn't pick just one...Fussy cut pattern paper and buttons. I had trouble figuring out what it my favourite embellishment. I went through a bunch of recent layouts and noticed these two were used the most.

Ally's Colour Challenge 

 Jaz: Love, love, love this colour combo. It's right up my ally. These papers were just sitting on my desk waiting to be used. And I think I'll be diving back into them again really soon!

I ran out of time to do Bev's Tic Tac Toe Challenge. It's on my list of things to do though.

We had a little Scraplift Tag game going on Saturday. I was the last person on Team One. Here's my layout:

It took me 15 mins to complete it! Super fast. And super fun. Team One won, by the way. Yay!

Now I have a very grumpy, teething Muffin in my arms right now, so I'm going to have to say...
Until next time...

WeScrap May Kit

If you're here for the Blog Hop...It's just a post below!

I had the pleasure of working with the May kit, Fun House, this month. I loved it! This kit rocks! Here's what I made:

 Finally: My best friend and her wonderful new hubby. I played with my Slice a bit.

Untitled: Just couldn't think of a title for this one. Sorry it's blurry. Cloudy day. 

Ladies Man: Monkey boy getting his groove on with some of the bridesmaids. 

Sweet Slumber: My personal fave out of the bunch. I love this picture of Monkey.

I had a mini book too, but well; I would say that it met it's maker, but I'm the maker. The poor little book met my son. Who distroyed it. But see how great this kit is? I did four layouts and a mini book, and I still have leftovers. I could easily get another layout or a couple of cards out of what I have left. If you haven't gotten the kit yet, go now! You won't regret it.

And don't forget about the NSD blog hop! Just below!

WeScrap NSD Blog Hop!

Welcome to the WeScrap's celebration of National Scrapbooking Day! In celebration of this wonderful event, we would like to share some of our FAVORITE THINGS with you today! So join us on our blog hop where you'll get inspired by some exciting challenges, cool prizes and you'll have LOTS of fun too.

As you hop along, each of our Inspiration Team members will have 1 word for you to collect. Collect all 6 words and hop on back to the Favorite Thing Crop Forum for your chance to WIN our GRAND PRIZE! See the Favorite Things Crop forum for details.

Another way to WIN is by leaving a comment on each challenge posting you see! Leave a comment for the challenge author and we'll give one lucky person a PRIZE just for leaving a comment!

Here's our Favorite Things Blog Hop rotation:

WeScrap Kits Blog (http://wescrapkits.blogspot.com/)
Sarah Nolan (http://www.theoccasionalcreation.blogspot.com/)
Victoria Lau (http://vjlau.blogspot.com//)
Bev Code (http://beeceecreativity.blogspot.com/)
Sue Sykes (http://www.kewl-beans.blogspot.com/)
Jennifer Benoit (you are here!)
Allison Cope (http://yourmemoriescanada.blogspot.com/)

My challenge for you is to use your favourite medium (paint, ink, gesso, etc).
Here's my example for you:

I used mist and paint on my layout. I couldn't choose between the two.

Now it's your turn!

To participate in our fun challenges, please create a NEW project following each of the challenges according to their creator and then post them in the WeScrap Gallery (http://www.wescrap.com/gallery/index.php) in your personal gallery and link them to the appropriate challenge thread listed in the Favorite Things Crop forum. You must be a member. If you're not, please register here. It's free and we're a fun bunch to chat with. We'd love to get to know you.

All challenge projects are due by Saturday May 14th at 11:59pm EST.

Your special word from me is: out

Good luck and Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

Wanna Win?

Join us, join us, join us!!! It's going to be so much fun for all levels of scrapping!
There's already a sign up thread going on for scraplift tag. If you want to join in the super fun game, get over to WeScrap right now and sign up!

News and Layouts

Hello! How have you been? I've been busy. And that's the way I like it. I have some news to share...I'm back on the WeScrap iTeam! Yay! I'm so happy to be back on the team. It was the first team I ever got on. I was around for a year before it was time to let someone else have a turn. Now I'm back again. So happy to be able to display this...

Yay!

I've gotten my scrap on lately. And it feels good.

His Trains: I bought up the Oliver line from BG when it first came out and just now dug into it for the first time. My mojo was majorly missing last year. Monkey loves his Thomas & Friends trains. We have three sets. If you have a Thomas fan at home, you'll know what I mean when I say we have the Trackmaster set and Take Along sets at home and the wooden set at my mother's house. This boy is all about his trains.

Sassy: Love me some Sass! Perfect for my little sister's new sassy haircut. My sister was known for her lovely, long locks. Now that she's done college and ready for real life (until she saves up enough money to go back to school for interior design) she decided she needed a new do. She went to the salon as a child, chopped her hair off as my mother cringed, and came out a young woman. 

And the layout I did up for my challenge at wescrap this month...

 Eyes always on Mama: More Sass! Love it! Muffin is a mommy suck to no ends. He can be passed on to anyone to hold, as long as he can still see me. I love seeing him peek over shoulders, peer around heads and crane his neck just to make sure I'm still there. He's my sweetie.

Before I go, I just want to share this month's kit from weScrap.

It's so pretty! I didn't get this kit, I'm on the rotation for next month's kit. But I have seen what the iTeam members who got this kit did. Beautiful work! You can check it the layouts at the wescrap gallery. And you can get your own kit here for only $19.99!

Until next time...

Something Scrappy!

I have been a bad. bad blogger. But what's new, right?

  

I had some time to myself a couple of weeks ago and worked on a banner. I liked it so much, I made a second one.

Monkey's (aka Chase) room has some mized media canvases in it that I did up using Monstrosity line. So keeping with the theme, I used the same line for these banners.It took three packs of Maya Roads banner albums to have enough for both banners. I sprayed the canvas pages with Studio Cailco's Mr Huey in Apple Jack (the bestest colour, if you ask me). I used my Slice to make the scalloped circles and the alphas.

As soon as I started Monkey's, I decided to make one for Muffin (aka Jasper) too. I love how they turned out. Adorable!

Stay tune for more scrappy goodness. I'm working on a couple of layouts right now...And I may have gotten some good news a couple of days ago which will get me blogging a little more.

Until next time...

Time is flying!

As I try to figure out how to balance my life, chores, errands, weight loss and crafting; two little boys are growing up a little too fast.

My little Monkey is four years old! Four! I can't believe it. I asked him when he got so big. He told me it was when Wee Man came home. Monkey stands a little short of four feet tall and he weights around 40 pounds. He's still wearing 5T, but we're starting to buy size 6 now. His feet are huge, and he still has clumsy paws for hands. He's going to be a tall guy some day, I think. He loves chicken nuggets, french fries and grill cheese sandwiches. He won't touch a vegetable unless it's cucumber or red pepper. To say that he is Thomas the Train obessed would be putting it mildly. He can count to 100 (and to 10 in French and Spanish), knows all his colours, can do some basic math and spelling. This little booger made me a mommy; and I couldn't be prouder to call him mine.

As for Wee Man...He's now six months old! I'm not sure how long he is currently (6 month check up today), but two weeks ago, he was 12 pounds extactly. He's sleeping a bit better at night, he's eating rice cereal, oatmeal and, as of yesterday, butternut squash. He can roll from back to front, and front to back. He's currently trying to sit up on his own. He's not there yet, but I think he's close. He can sit for short amounts of time if placed in a sitting postion. He's also figured out what his legs are for. He can walk around a little with support. He's still toothless, but we can see the white bumps of strained gums.

These boys are my world right now. At their tender age, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Love Day

 Today, I am saying....

Tonight is my weight in at Weight Watchers. No, no chocolates. Yes, yes veggies. And bad me for drinking diet pop instead of water so far today.    Why diet pop instead of regular pop? It's not because I'm a Weight Watchers member. It's because of the amount of sugar in pop. I stopped drinking regular pop when I was a teen. Yes, I know the chemicals in diet pop are just as bad. I'm not allowing myself chocolate and I haven't had a chip since November. I have to give myself something!

V-Day is not a complete bust in our Weight Watchers household. A certain little 3-year-old (almost 4!) took Lightning McQueen cards and homemade crayon hearts to pre-school this morning.

These ones aren't mine. Unknown source. But mine are just as pretty. I was just too lazy too upload the picture off the camera yet.

I also have a little display of V-Day goodies for my little Valentine when he comes home from school. The tiniest Valentine just gets extra cuddles since he's only 5 months old.

Hope you have a great day!

Layouts!

I've neglected this blog again. I'll post my Project Life pictures tomorrow again. Not all of them. That would just be too much. Maybe just from this past week with a few favourites thrown in for good measure.

Here's what we've been up to lately:

 Lots of cute-ness from Muffin (aka Wee Man. His nickname had to change at some point. Although he's still very tiny, he's grown a lot)

Lots of playing with new toys. Someone is finally big enough for his exersaucer. A Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa.

 Lots of baby wearing. See that itty bitty? That itty bitty is 5 months old now. And wearing clothes his big brother wore when he was 3 months old. He's fastly outgrowing his pants in length. His 3-6 months pants just barely cover his long legs. Yet as soon as you hold him up, they fall right off. His waist is a 0-3 month wasit. His 0-3 month pants look like shorts on him though. Even one pieces look silly on him. There's so much fabric, he gets losts. I'm so not used to a small, long baby. Monkey, although skinny too, was much bigger. He was wearing 9 month clothing by 5 months. 12 month clothing by 7 months. I've come to accept I shall never have one of those chubby babies full of cute rolls. My boys are baby sweet in their own ways.

I managed to get some scrapping done. Yay!

 New You - Muffin when he was only a few days old.

Baby of Mine - Love how this one turned out. These pictures have been waiting to be scrapped for a month now.

2 Cute - My boys! How I love them!

Squeeze Hug - Monkey and Charlie. These two are quite the pair. I love this line by Basic Grey!

And now I hear the cries of a certain little Muffin Man.
Until next time...

Project Life Saturday (on Monday)

Since I spent the weekend enjoy some family time at the Delta in Toronto, I didn't have the time to post this on Saturday. So here we go on Monday...

 01/15 Monkey and his trains. His tracks take over our living room every day. His trains are his life right now.

 01/16 My sweet boys. These two are my world right now; and I wouldn't have it any other way.

 0/17 Someone has the cutest jam covered face I have ever seen. He's also in need of a haircut. Strangers are starting to tell me I have a beautiful daughter. That's my cue that a haircut is due.

 01/18 Peek a boo! His eyes are always on Mama. The world could be burning down around him, as long as he can see me, he's fine.

 01/19 Lookin' so handsome! I decided to try out a hair salon that is just for kids. Cookie Cutters was just a little more money than I normally spend, but Monkey got to pick his chair, watch a Thomas DVD, got to pick out a balloon with a cookie cutter attached to it and got a sucker (which he dropped 5 seconds after opening it). He also got to play on the slide while waiting for his turn. I think we got our money's worth. He loved it there.

 01/20 Sporting the new do. He can't wait to go to school to show it off to his teachers.

01/21 I eat broccoli, Mom! How to entertain a baby while making dinner.

Until next time...