TBT... some earlier kits presented by Lisa Bearnson

     This is one of my first attempts at a TBT (Throw Back Thursday) post.  And yes, I'm still learning cyber abbreviations lol.  I thought that I would share some of my previous layouts that I created utilizing kits that Lisa Bearnson presented on HSN over the past couple of years.
 
      I love how this black and white layout works so well with most of the colors in these two pages, especially Dakota's thick, beautiful black, gray and white coat, as well as some of the winter wear and sleds used during the sledding part!  On the left page and the lower right page,  I dry embossed some swirls/flourishes to help carry out the snowy weather theme.

       

       The top of these two photos is the page kit as it came.  I've been mixing and matching a lot over the past several years.  Above,  I replaced the light blue with darker blue cardstock as the base, to match some of the colors in my photos, specifically the birthday boy's winter coat... I also left out the striped borders as well. 

     This layout is somewhat a mirror/upside down reflection of the suggested layout.  The 3 photo frames are on my lower right page, theirs are on the upper left, and so on.  Again, the colors of this layout kit went well with the photos, as we had a Star Wars themed party this year!    
     The 3 layouts above documented the long and fun packed day of Wesley's sledding birthday party.  Yes, Dakota enjoyed it as well!

      When I saw the colors in this kit, along with the layout suggested, I knew it would work really well these photos!  Again, the black, gray and white draw attention to Dakota's coat, but Wesley wears a LOT of blue, which until this past year, was his favorite color.  In this case, he was wearing black, gray and red, but his mini dirt bike is blue...  I love to scrap not only by theme, but by color! 
     I love to document how Wesley & I (and yes, Dakota too) spend our summers together.  On weekends, Wesley has a lot of what I used to call "Daddy dates", and now refer to as "Guy time".  Michael works a lot of hours, especially spring through summer, including 5-6 hours on Saturdays, because it is his busy season at work.  Once he gets home on Saturday, if the weather is right, they usually take off to the State Park or other local spot for MAJOR bike rides (which I can't do lol), fly kites next to Lake Michigan, etc.  Therefore, I have several "me and my dad" and "me and my mom" mini albums.  These 12" pages will have to go into a different album.

      You will see bits and pieces of this 3 Birds "All About Fall" kit in the 2 page layout below, again mixed with another Top Pages kit!  Both kits even have chipboard.

     These are some of the pages that I completed or started during one of our local Crop For A Cure, a 12 hour crop that we have twice a year in one of our local churches.  I apologize for the glare on some of the photos above.   Hurrying to get things photographed while trying to catch up on household chores is not a good thing lol.

      This kit ended up being used on TWO different layouts already!  Immediately below you will see a two page spread that I tried to complete, covering two different days and topics, because of the colors. Ultimately, the mint green still called out to be only used on the ice cream layout because of my mint chocolate chip blizzard, and the pink/purple ended up on the separate layout about my studio pellet stove.

     

      I ended up converting my photos to b/w because of Wesley's sweater, but still wanted to use the mint embellishments.  I NEEDED (lol) to include that adorable photo of Dakota enjoying our trip to Dairy Queen, therefore it became part of a second page of that layout. 

          Wow, those covered a fair amount of time, both in the events, and the time period over which they were scrapped.  I think I may be doing this on a regular basis.  Have a wonderful TBT!

Birthday fun... VIDEO GAMES anyone?

     It's that time of year again. Our son will be 11 years old, and is definitely at that 'tween' stage of his life.  He made a major leap of his main interest a year and a half ago, going from Thomas the Train to Star Wars, is becoming more independent (he made Jiffy Pop popcorn completely on his own the other night) and is totally obsessed with electronic games.
     We invited 3 of his classroom friends (Jonny, Deakon & Carter) over for his birthday party on Saturday, one day before his birthday.  Michael suggested going to the pool for an hour or so before hand, or going sledding, but all the boys invited immediately turned down the pool activity.  At the time that we were planning his party, we didn't even have any snow, then it warmed up after we did get some.  We have snow once again, but I don't expect them to spend even a few minutes outdoors during the actual party, let alone going to the state park or the water tower hill to go sledding, as they are all big into gaming.  Perhaps in the late afternoon, or tomorrow morning, anyone who stays overnight might be more interested in going outdoors.  Carter wasn't able to stay overnight because of wrestling, but he stayed a few hours longer, only leaving when he had too lol.
     Wesley's main gift is still in transit, as I ordered it earlier this week.  I had hoped it would be delivered by tomorrow (FedEx delivers on Saturdays here, but UPS does not, unless it's a 'special delivery'), but it has only traveled from it's origin of Texas to Tennessee as of this afternoon.  Michael had told me that he didn't care if it was a couple of days late for his birthday, and not to ask if the seller was willing to change the delivery method in order for us to get it sooner.  I totally understand that outlook, as this item was a splurge, considering that I had already picked him up a few smaller and less expensive gifts.
    On a related note, as a birthday gift to myself, I ordered a canine DNA tester for Dakota this week as well.  It was listed as being on the FedEx truck for delivery today, but it turns out that they took it to the post office for delivery instead.  Oh well, another couple of days doesn't really matter, but it would have been nice to get it today as it was listed.
     UPDATES:  The party was a hit, with two of the boys asking to come back over for another sleepover this weekend, but I had told Wesley not so soon... I need a weekend off lol SO TRUE!
     Surprisingly, the boys DID go outside, wandering out while Dakota and I had gone for our walk.  As we got 2/3 of the way home, I could hear the boys yelling.  Soon I realized that it was so loud that they must have opened the slider for some fresh air....no, they were actually OUTSIDE!   Normally, when I let Dakota off her lead as we approach our property line, she merely trots ahead of me, usually getting a bite or two of some fresh, cold snow, before heading in with me for a big drink of water.  This time, she ran ahead and straight to the back yard to play with the boys,  assuming her self-assigned roll as the 'referee' which her fur coat resembles.  If people or other pets get loud, she assumes they are getting too rough and therefore steps in to break things up.

      Wesley & I bought this HDTV in the evening of Black Friday... LOVE it!  We also set up the old HD large screen that my brother Leon gave us when they moved home.

    

It just so happened that there were FOUR boys, and when Wesley ran upstairs before we sat down to have cake (cowboy brownies) and icecream, he came back with the FOUR Star Wars character masks he had collected so far.  Perfection....

   While looking for cake decorations, I saw these tiny mustaches, remembered what Roberta Davis's family (Jonny's mom) had done a previous summer, and added into account the boys' ages...hmmm!

  

 

I misspoke earlier... there were actually FIVE BOYS attending!  Michael had to show the boys his record high score!

Wesley received some great cards, cash gifts and a GameStop gift card, all of which are perfect for his current interests as well as the locally limited variety of gaming or Star Wars items.  Now he can combine his money to pick out something larger/more expensive which he has wanted for a while, or even order something online.

      The tv we replaced, Leon's pass-me-down.  I think the boys used 3 different game systems: Our Wii and PS2, plus one of the boys' game cube, seen on the floor in the above photo.

    We ordered 2 Hungry Howie's (Wesley's favorite) pizzas for lunch.  Dinner was a high-class kids' favorite: Mac and Cheese plus hot dogs.  Dad even gave Dakota a hotdog bun (some were stale).

        NOW I see why they have the wrestling game out!

     The boys were still pretty loud at midnight, but around 1 am they were talking quietly.  I laid in bed, worried that one of the boys would soon be walking into our room to tell me that they wanted to go home because they missed their family, which has happened in the past.  Nope... Michael said they were probably talking about GIRLS!

My 50th birthday dinner, and a few more pages completed in my 1st Christmas mini....

My mother, Opal Leonia Loehr-Gleason, myself, and my brother Robert, January 1964.

    Unlike last year's birthday, Michael remembered this year... and bought me a dozen of lavender roses! 
     YEY!  At last, after a couple of weeks trying to load photos and posts.  I had to use Mozilla instead of Internet Explorer... enjoy my purple roses!



     Michael told me that we could eat anywhere I wanted, including driving to Muskegon.  Rather than spend all that time and MONEY on gas to get there, or pay someone to make a less expensive meal, I asked if we could go to Meijer and buy whatever each of us wanted to eat.  Wesley asked for "bacon!"  I told him that he would have to eat something else with it though... Michael chose a steak and I chose 2 lobster tails.  YUM!
    I told Wesley he had to take a 'try it/no thank you' bite of my lobster, with and without the butter.  He didn't really care for it plain, but dipped in butter.... he LOVED it!

  Now that I found a way to add photos after so long, I am off to edit more of my older drafts and get them posted!
   SCRAP ON!





A third Christmas celebration, and Smoke is still blessing us with her presence.

     Saturday December 21st, my oldest brother's birthday, we hosted Gleason Christmas here in our home.  This house seems much smaller when there are 16 family members inside, but it was fun & cozy.  LOTS of great food, an always fun guys & girls gift exchanges, Brandon & Wesley exchanged gifts (Wesley made out BIG time, receiving the bow that has been passed down from Justin & Jorday to Brandon, and now Wesley!), a bit of drama, but lots of love.  Since Annetta provided the meat, I felt obligated to do dessert BIG!  We had a dessert BAR: Lemon Meringue Pie (Leon's fave for his birthday), Cherry Pie (Robert's fave for his birthday on the 10th), Cherry Cheesecakes for all of cheesecake lovers & January birthday of Justin, Wesley, Grandma Ruth & myself; Chocolate Fountain & lots of goodies to dip, ice cream sandwiches with cool whip..... ahhh and lots of color-coordinated candy too (My color scheme this Christmas was jewel tones, specifically Pink, Purple & Teal with Silver).
     On Monday December 23rd we learned that our beloved Smoke, our 11 1/2 year old fur baby has a large tumor in her abdomen, as well as fluid around her lungs.  I had begun creating a post to be published at a later date, expecting to lose her before or on Christmas day.  Through the tears and several attempts to save that post, it never came to be.  Smoke is still with us, still has an appetite etc, and I pray several times a day that she does not suffer, passing away comfortably in her sleep.  It has been 6 1/2 days since we got the terrible news and I keep praying for her.
     On a cheerful note, we were able to have our first Christmas gathering with our friends, the Davis family.  Pork loin dinner, a few gifts for the children, CHOCOLATE and hours of chatting..... the kids had a sleepover here, including HOURS of sledding in the 36 degree, partly sunny weather, and even some fireworks that night.  We also had our neighbor and his nephews over for the dessert bar as well, earlier in the week.
    Today they went sledding in town but gave up after only 15-20 minutes of bitter winds, continuing on to Pizza Hut before Wesley headed home with them this time.  Ahhh, the quiet!  And some MUCH needed playtime for Wesley.
      We all need more social time and I pray that this is a beginning of that... onward and upward.