Wednesday 29 April 2015

Potty Training

I wasn't very ambitious to start potty-training with Emma. I don't know why. I left the potty out and hoped she'd see it and think, "Oh this is what I'm supposed to be doing." 

She never did so I bit the bullet a few weeks ago, took a week off and stayed home with Em, near a potty. 

We only left to drop Gracie off at school each morning, and by Day 2, she was going in her underwear. I mean wearing her underwear ;) 
She was still occasionally 'going' in her underwear too, but that's what happens when you're learning something new.

We pumped fluids so she'd have some big successes early in the game. 
Juice is a real treat in our house, so she sucked back whatever I offered her.


And then she got the idea and was so proud of herself and her big girl underwear!


So proud and happy!

Gracie made her a little sticker chart, so we could put a sticker up each time she peed on the potty, which was a real hit. Now the back of the bathroom door looks a little like Mardi Gras, but at least I can take it off with one piece of tape. She loves it and carefully chooses a sticker each time she goes to add to her collection.


It didn't hurt that she got a little animal cracker as a reward.... My kids like their treats. I wonder who they get that from?


She's still learning, but she's wearing her underwear all day and only wearing diapers at night. 

I'm not even urging her to play on the hardwood anymore. 
She's welcome to hang out on the carpet again.

I didn't even have to dismantle the carseat and wash it! (Yet... knock on wood) 
This is the worst thing ever!
Seriously. 
The worst.

Here's hoping this is the beginning of the end of diapers, wipes, and smelly diaper pails. 

Monday 27 April 2015

Geologist Gracie

Gracie got a great gift for her birthday and we finally got to get outside and use it. 
It was a sandstone block with rocks and gems hidden inside and she had so much fun hunting for them. 


Check out the safety googles!


It really was a lot of fun.


She was so excited when she saw one. She had a little brush to gently clean them off and a magnifying glass to examine everything more closely. What fun!


Her findings all washed up. She keeps them in a special jewellery box now. 


And the goggles are a great gift in themselves!!

Saturday 25 April 2015

Project Life

These page protectors are slightly larger than 12x12 so they get a little cut off when I scan them, but you can get an idea of what I'm up to. 

This was a page for Emma's book. 
This one is a random sampling of one off pictures of her from November/December last year. 
I probably would have made 6 pages for this, but now I can cram them all in on one page. 


The back showcases her beautiful baby photos.

I love the love on her face. Aww.


Sweet and funny. That's Emma.

Thursday 23 April 2015

QR codes

I'm still playing with Project Life layouts. Here's another one that has something new... QR codes are the bar code like box at the bottom, right of this layout. 


By adding this, I can include a video with my pictures. This is so great, because I take so many videos with my phone and what do you do to document those memories? I can also link it to a blog post if I want or any website. 

Pretty cool. 

To view it, I scan it with my phone and it takes me right to the video/website. 

How about that??!!

If you want to try, here's the quick tutorial I used. It takes a second, especially if you already upload your videos to a blog or youtube.


Tuesday 21 April 2015

Treasured Memories Design Team Kit

I got a new company that the store carries this month, called Chickaniddy Designs. 

The line was 365 and it was a good one. 

Bright and colourful and fresh. Ready for summer. 

I have to admit, I love these cute photos, too. The girls were begging to have a sleepover. Haha! So sweet.


I love these triangles. Great colours, graphic design and on trend. 

The heart die-cut was from a previous TM kit, and is cut with a Silhouette. Very cool. 

Black is great paired with this line, because it's very busy and the white is very cool and bright. A little black to ground it makes everything pop.


On the second layout, I cut apart the patterned paper with tags on it and layered them behind the photo.

 I also cut up some scraps to make my corners. 

The borders are actually the strip at the bottom of the page with the barcode. I love it when companies make every inch of their product useable and beautiful. 

Love my sun-kissed blondie smiling so hard in this photo. She's fishing at a friend's cabin. She loved it.

Thanks Treasured Memories for this kit! Very fun to work with. 


Sunday 19 April 2015

Layout Love

I love these pictures of Gracie's first day of Kindergarten. 

I LOVE them. 

The girls are so cute and excited and happy. 

I was pretty excited to scrapbook them and I like how they turned out. 
Love the bright colours and all the hearts and this background paper is my favourite!


There's a little bit of Crate Paper, Webster's Pages, Kaisercraft, Simple Stories, and Theresa  Collins on here. 

A little bit of everything. Alot of it came from a kit at Treasured Memories. It might have been the March kit? I'm pretty sure it was. 

Great stuff in those month kits, folks!!

The gold happy cutout above and the gold rose below were specials in the kit. Very nice. 


This has more of the same products and a few Project Life card additions, plus some American Crafts embellishments and some Basic Gray alphas. 


This one uses more of the same lines plus some Glitz Designs and acrylic paint. 

Friday 17 April 2015

Easter Hunt

One of three hunts the girls did over the holidays. 
They have a new stash of candy to add to the never-ending stash in our pantry. 


But it was so fun!




How can you not get into the hunt when the Easter Bunny has hidden things 
everywhere for you to find?



Life is good!





Wednesday 15 April 2015

Easter Calves

The girls (and I) loved seeing the new calves at my parent's farm over Easter. 


 Emma was especially smitten. 
"My Baby Calves?" 
Sorry... not yours, Em, but yours to pet for a few days.



The older kids liked seeing them, too. 




They even had an old curry comb for them. 


Em thought these heifers might need some attention too. 


Spring on the farm is pretty special. 

Monday 13 April 2015

Lethbridge Easter

A quick glimpse. 



All of the March/April birthdays (plus Emma).


Us.

Saturday 11 April 2015

Thursday 9 April 2015

Happy Belated Easter!


Hope you had a great break! We're back home from a trip to visit family, and it was really nice to see everyone. 


I'm loving the weather, the spring colours, the new buds peaking up in my flower bed and the nearly snowless yard I finally can play with the kids in. 

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!


Friday 3 April 2015

Lake Louise Layouts

A few layouts capturing a trip back to Lake Louise and area from 2011. 


 I love the barnboard texture. Both of these are pretty simple and use lots of stickers and scraps.


How about that? I used the horses that seemed to be popular in scrapbooking paper lines last year. Now I just need to get to the zoo so I can use the flamingos I see popping up in this year's products. 

Wednesday 1 April 2015

Soccer Star

Here's a quick two-page layout of Gracie's soccer last spring. I used the new Heidi Swapp line for this. Simple and clean with a focus on the pictures and the story.


I printed out my blog post about the season and added it to the page. 


Gracie's not playing this year, and I'm a little sad. It was really fun to watch all of the kids and she was really starting to get into it. 

It will be nice to not have to go out twice a week after supper...
and not to be chasing Emma around trying to keep her off the field...
and not dealing with the spring rain that plagues spring soccer ever year...
and not trying to get both girls, all of the soccer equipment, snacks and lawn chairs to the field on time....

Haha! Maybe it won't be so bad.