Pinterest party

Kyna, Karen, Misty & I had a little Pinterest Party at Kyna's house to celebrate the holidays.  I brought a few crafts to work on that really did not pan out.  Thankfully Kyna is Martha Stewart reincarnated and she had some backup crafts for us to make.  Ribbon bookmarks with charms attached.  They were so adorable and mine turned out great after Kyna and Misty helped me tie on the ribbon (I am SO bad with bows and ribbons!)  Kyna, please have a good laugh at my expense.

Anyhoo, the little bookmarks are awesome and I'm so excited to give them out to my family as stocking stuffers this year.  Reese & Ryan loved them when I brought them home and have been deciding who they were going to.  I can't wait for our next get together next month ;)

I want

I REALLY want this pretty little thing:

A Nikon D90 with a 18-105mm lens.  My dad has offered to buy my current DSLR camera because the office camera is so janky.  Problem is I can only get about $300 max for my current camera (unless I want to rip off my dad and that's not happening).  That leaves us about $700 short to buy my pretty little love.  Cory's not into it.  He wants me to sell my camera and wait until we can save the cash up to buy the next one.  I'm trying to tell him that it's a business expense and we can write it off, yada, yada, yada.  He's not buying it.  We'll see who wins this one.

My new obsession

I just discovered Pinterest and I'm seriously hooked.  I just really got into it this weekend and I wanted to spend all weekend on the computer looking up fun things that other people have 'pinned'.  I may be way behind the eight ball because I usually am with most of this technology stuff, but I think this website is the going to be amazing for me.  Here's why:  I am not a crafty/creative person.  I can see something that I like and copy it, but I can't conceptualize something and bring it to life.  I'm the world's best copycat when it comes to seeing stuff I like.  That's why Pinterest is so awesome.  I can see other cool stuff that people are doing to their homes, creating for their kids, wearing this fall, cooking at home and copy it all.  Sigh.  Be still my heart.  Right now my eyes and clicking fingers are faster than my brain, so I need to pick a few things to focus on and try to implement.  Here's a few faves that I really want to work on soon:

I love this monogram with photos all over it.  I need to gather some photos together, but I'd love to make this for our entry way and IF (that is a big if) it turns out well do another for the kids' playroom.

Bubble wrap painting.  How fun.  The kids would love this.  Even Ryder is getting into the art stuff around here.  Next time we get a box with bubble wrap we're doing this.

 I thought this was so cool.  Both the girls would get a kick out of melting crayons with a blowdryer.  Reese would think it was the best thing ever.  She loves rainbows SO much.

 Love this ruffle top with a cardigan and belt.  I'm on the hunt for something cute like this for Fall.

 This might be a bit ambitious, but I love these Apothecary jars filled with candy corn and the gingham bows.  I'm starting to look around for jars.

Little DaVinci

I've been wanting to post this for awhile now but keep forgetting.  R&R are signed up for an acrylics painting class at Little DaVinci Studios in Chandler.  The art stuff is right up Reese's alley but they are both signed up and loving it so far.  They are painting a beach scene with a fence and sea grass.  It looks like a Cape Cod beach to me.  I've been sneaking a peek at the end of class to see their progress and they are so excited to show off their work.  It's fun to see them paint the exact same scene and put their own twist on it.  The finished product will be posted soon, but here are each of there pictures in progress:

Ryan's painting.  I love the crazy clouds and her green/white sea grass.

 Reese's painting.  Love the graduated sand dune and blended ocean colors.

Soccer practice

The girls had their first soccer practice today and they were pretty stinkin' adorable in their uniforms.  The league was short on coaches so Cory stepped up and is coaching the team.  They were all really excited about practice tonight.  I took a few photos on my camera that I still need to download, but here they are after a sweaty hour of fun in the 110 degree heat.

Cory did some really fun drills with the kids and I could tell they were all having a blast.  Ryder and I went to watch for a bit but he was all about interrupting the practice.  Cory gave me the big ol' stinkeye and I knew I needed to get Ryder out of there fast. We packed up quickly and headed to Mimi's house to take a ride on the golf cart and have some fun.

I can't wait for their first game in September!

Juggling it all

I really want to work on one of my hobbies right now.  I go back and forth between digital scrapbooking and traditional scrapbooking.  I'm not crafty or artsy.  My pages are really simple and generic but I do like to put photos on paper instead of just having everything saved on my computer.  I just wish I had more time to do it all.  I sit down to scrap but the piles of laundry and dirty dishes in my sink nag at me.  I know I'm not the only one that feels this way.  It's hard to juggle it all--kids, work, cleaning, and trying to have hobbies/time for ourselves. 

As I organize my photos I realize how behind I am.  This is what I'm working on today, while trying not to feel guilty about all the other stuff that needs to be done:
 

 I'm scrapping our Christmas cards photos from the past few years.  I'm 3 years behind.  Don't worry, I'll catch up someday.