Sweet 16

Today is our anniversary.

16 years.

Life is pretty sweet.

 I wouldn't change a thing. 

It is good.

We are happy.

And I love him.

Easter Sunday

...Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen...

Luke 24:5-6

{And Happy Birthday to my brother, Taylor.  We love you!}

Fun City

Over Spring Break, we took a little trip down South for an overnighter.  We had driven past Fun City many times, and thought this was our chance to check it out.  With the weather outside still cold, damp, and grey; an indoor waterpark, arcades, go-carts, laser tag, and bowling was a kids' inside playground!  But I don't think it was just for the kids.....mom and dad had a blast too! I love little overnight getaways!  And the price for the hotel and all the attractions was good.  {Waterpark included with hotel stay.  Fun City was a little spendy, but still on a family's budget.}
Check it out here!

Elmer's Embellishment Extravaganza!

!{Click on the pictures to see the embellies closer than they appear here. }


Today is The Paperlife Elmer's Blog Party!  If you came from Wendy's blog....WELCOMELove is in the air around here.  I know it is a few months past February, but April is my month for LOVE.  Next week I will be married to the man of my dreams for SIXTEEN YEARS! SWEET SIXTEEN! So I created these tags with love on my mind.

{I also used this PolKa DOT WhimsY kit  to create the embellies & the two scrapbook pages below}

Go on over to the Elmer's Facebook Page and see all their projects {Tell them that The Paperlife sent you...there is going to be a prizes!!}

Don't we all just like {or love} tools and glue? If you like papercrafting then I am sure you do too! Sorry didn't mean for that too rhyme....honest!

Loved this adhesive for all my paper-to-paper gluing needs! This is refillable and is a great tape runner.



This glue is for paper AND fabric.  Some other glue products say that they can glue paper and fabric, but with fabric it doesn't really work.  I used this product to make my fabric flowers that you see above and it worked great and dries clear.



LOVE this blade because it is RETRACTABLE.  As I travel around the country teaching, the biggest horror stories I hear are about xacto blade accidents and people cutting themselves when they reach into their crop bags!  They go from cropping to the ER! Yikes!  So I LOVE a retractable blade. This cut very smooth and worked great.



I used this circle cutter to cut all the circles that you see small and large.  I think that this is a great portable circle cutter.  There is only one problem: it doesn't have a cover on the awl or the blade! Yikes! It scares me even on my craft table.  I put the end of it into a big pink eraser, but I still feel scared.  The instructions on how to use it were not on the packaging, so I had to look up how to use it on their website.  Just like any other tool, once you get the hang of it, it was good.  But it needs a PROTECTIVE COVER or LID!!!



I used this trimmer throughout the night and it worked swimmingly.  I love the rotary blade.  I was a little rough with the flap that holds the paper in place and it already broke off, but I have ordered a new one because the rotary blade is fab.  I am just not really dainty when I use my tools.  My son also used this trimmer for a school project, and he could cut paper at different measurements without my help!



I {heart} decorative scissors...and they are BACK BABY!!!  I wish I hadn't gotten rid of all mine a few years ago in the scrapbook store garage sale! These were fun to use for layering.  Cutting bits of paper and adding layers.

BONUS: After I created all those embellishments, I was inspired enough to put a layout {or two} together.  It was fun to continue to use the tools and how easily these two layouts came together after the embellishment warm-up.  I just want to point out the burlap banner; the Elmer's craft bond fabric glue worked great with burlap.  

Thanks everyone for staying for the party!  Your next stop on the blog hop is AMY at The Paperlife!

Don't forget to check out lots of projects at Elmer's Facebook page.

 Party over at the Elmer's FB Wall...

{I was given these products from Elmer's and Xacto to use and review. Thank you!}

Spring

is here {crossing my fingers} to stay

Book Fair

I love volunteering at the book fair.  It helps out the PTA & library, but I also get to peruse the books for a couple of hours.  I love it....so many good books out there.  Some kids would come in, a wad of money in hand, and just head straight to the 'junk' table {pencils, erasers, bookmarks, and posters.} I tried to talk them into a book, instead of the alien eraser, but my sales skills didn't work.  So here is where I will share some of my favorites I found:

This book made me LOL several times....such creative writing.

Loved the message, everyone has a story.  And learning about Chinese influences in our world today.

The illustrations in this book were wonderful.  And I love this story also.  The only thing that bugged me was the 'grandma sews' stereotype.  Moms sew too!

With my baby now reading, this book tugged at my heart strings.  The illustrations are beautiful too.  It also reminded me of this post and how she talks about the magic of learning to read.  I feel the same way as a teacher & parent.  There are many factors that help a child learn to read...but it happens like magic {with lots of practice}.

 

{this one I found outside the book fair parameters, in the actual school library}

Both of these books would be great as a graduation present, but I just like to share them with my kids....it gives them a your-future-is-so-bright-you-can-do-anything-dream-big attitude.

I wish I could show you the inside pages of this book....it is so creative! All the wonderful things you can create with sidewalk chalk.  It will get you off the driveway and drawing all over your neighborhood!
I found some other books just within the library, but I will share those another day.  If you click on the books, it will actually take you to goodreads.com or amazon; where you can read more about each book.
Do you have a favorite picture book? chapter book? Please share! Also if you are on goodreads.....find me {please}!

P.S. My kids picked these books from the book fair: Diary of a Spider, Pinkalicious: Tickled Pink, Zoomer, Schooled, & Flawed Dogs. They had to do chores this time to earn their book fair $$ and spent the entire weekend cleaning, organizing, etc. Mom loves when kids want to do chores, but when they want to do them to buy books, that is an awesome deal!

Top Ten Birthday Party Highlights

10. Pre-Party Decorating: banners, pompoms, lights, and last-minute balloons!

9. Exploring the hotel room and meeting new friends.

8. Swimming, goggles, pool games, hot tub, and an underwater camera!

7. Photo scavenger hunt, exciting prizes & watchin Hallie open presents!

6.  Goop!

5. Casey's Pizza.  This is the best kept secret in Iowa.  We have lived here over 5 years and didn't know we could get this yummy pizza at a gas station!

4.  Yummy desserts & pink pop. Ella was thrilled!

3.  Adorable T-shirts and flip-flops! The 2.5 hour ride home was even fun!

2.  Seeing your IA bestie

1. Celebrating the seventh birthday of one of the funnest, funniest friends! We love ya Hallie!  Happy Birthday!

What a fun party! The kids just loved being with their friends: Hallie, Reese, and Piper.

 All three of these girls are our favorites.....and their mom is pretty cool too.