Confessions Of A Scrapaholic

My Little Kindergartner

Today was a very exciting day at our house. Zoë started kindergarten! She loved it, of course. That is pretty much a given with Zoë. She walks into a room and says, "Hi everybody, I'm Zoë! Do you want to play with me?" The big drop off was pretty anticlimactic. I took her picture and she walked into her classroom. That was it. Doesn't she look cute? I love that her backpack is as big as she is.  

I was most excited to pick her up from the bus stop. Kindergarten didn't worry me, but riding the bus by herself for the first time? That made me a bit nervous. Kelly, Eden and I dropped our big girl off at school we made a quick stop at the party supply so that I could get some bus-stop-decorating supplies. I wanted to make Zoë's first day of kindergarten extra special. She stepped off of the bus to find this...

Funny little side note... the bus got lost dropping Zoë off. We saw it a few blocks away, a few times. It turns out the driver was lost and driving around looking for our house. Finally, Zoë just gave her directions. LOL! She stepped off of the bus and was very excited to see what we had done for her.

All in all, I would say it was a very good day. :)

What a Difference One Week Makes

Kelly has been out of town on business this week. It is always hard for him being away from the girls, but especially these days with Eden growing and changing so quickly. I don't want him to miss a single milestone so I have been taking lots of pictures and videos. It truly is amazing what a difference one week makes in the life of a baby. Here is Eden last week, walking a good amount, but she still crawled. I would say it was about 50/50.

And now the video I took today. Kelly wanted me to make sure and get a video of her "drunken sailor" walk, and honestly, it is just about gone. I would say that yesterday was the day she decided to become a full-time walker. She is getting so good at steadying herself. It's funny because she will start to crawl then realizes, what am I doing? I can walk! And then she stands up and goes. She walked around in the playroom for a good hour solid this afternoon. *sniff* My baby is getting to be such a big girl!

And in other big girl news, I took Zoë to meet her kindergarten teacher today.

Cutest.Thing.Ever.

We introduced ourselves. Zoë, of course, talked the teacher's ear off. She told her all about her loose tooth (she has TWO!) about her sister, on and on. She's is not even remotely shy and I love that about her. I wish I was so outgoing. She starts school next Wednesday, but this was a wonderful opportunity to alleviate any anxiety Zoë may have been having about going to a new school. We toured the classroom, found her cubby, her name on the table, brought in our supplies. It was all very exciting. I'm not sure, but I may be more excited than Zoë... And guess what else? She is going to be riding the bus! Why the school district requires it, i have no idea. We live a mile from the school for Pete's sake, but she will be dropped off on the corner every day after school. I am going to make a sign for her first day. :)

I've got a few layouts to share as well. With Kelly being gone I have been watching Weeds and scrapping at night. (It distracts me from the creepy noises in the house.) Wanna see?

Click HERE for credits (and a larger image)

Click HERE for credits (and a larger image)

Click HERE for credits (and a larger image)

Happy Birthday Zoë!

Today was an all day birthday celebration for Miss Zoë's 5th birthday. We started the day off right with some birthday doughnuts (complete with candle and singing of course) and the day just got better from there. Presents, a little bit of shopping, swimming lessons, dinner at Ruby's Diner. It was a good day. Here are a few photos from dinner tonight.

And the day would not have been complete without us singing Happy Birthday to Zoë at every meal. Silly girl. Here we have the lunch time version. Who knew you could stick a candle in a chicken nugget?

Happy Birthday, Take Two from Maegan B. on Vimeo.

A Swinging Good Time

Last month we did some backyard renovations to make room for an awesome new play structure. We moved a retaining wall, added a chain link fence, brought in a ton of gravel and rubber playground mulch. It was quite the project. I will post some before and after photos soon. In the meantime, here is a video I took yesterday of the girls enjoying their new swings.

Enjoying the Swings from Maegan B. on Vimeo.

I also wanted to point out a new category link on the sidebar: Video Clips. Now, if you *cough* grandparents *cough* want to see videos of the girls, you can click there and view all of the recent posts that include them.

Snow Baby Twins

I am in the process of editing and backing up all of my photos from the last six months. Ideally I would be doing this every month, but it is what it is. Once I am caught up my goal IS to do it every month when I backup. Anyhoo, I was working on my December photos and came across Eden's first snow picture, which looks very much like her big sister's first snow picture. What do you think? Clearly Zoë enjoyed it a lot more than Eden. In fact, if I remember correctly Eden started crying right after I took that photo. She likes the snow about as much as her mommy.

Easter Bunny Love

We are big fans of the Easter bunny at our house. He does bring chocolate after all. Who doesn't love that? (Except maybe me, but I'm definitely the odd man out on that one.) Zoë eagerly anticipates her trip to see the bunny every year and this year was no different. In fact, after the picture, she sat on his lap and chatted with him for a few minutes while I paid for the photo. I wasn't sure how Eden would do but I am happy to report that the gigantic furry bunny didn't phase her a bit. She had a huge smile on her face the entire time. She loved him! So, the bunny love continues. I present to you, our 2009 Easter bunny photo.

Zoë: Live and in Color

What can I say about Zoë? Words really can't describe my girl. She is just so fun and creative and animated, that words don't do her justice. I will definitely write a post soon documenting all of her four and a half year old quirkiness, but for now I thought I would post some videos from last week of Miss Zoë.

First up, we started attending church three weeks ago and Zoë is loving Sunday school. Last week she asked me every day if it was Sunday because she wanted to go so badly. This week she learned a couple of songs that she was more than happy to sing for me. I think that I may literally have a drama queen on my hands. (I am looking into some drama summer camps for her. I think she has a knack.)

Sunday School Songs from Maegan B. on Vimeo.

Over the last few weeks we have been working with Zoë to pronounce the "th" sound correctly. She still says "f," as in "free" instead of "three." Before she starts saying it correctly however, I wanted to get a video of her singing "The Thankfulness Song." She has been singing it at night before bedtime and randomly bursts into song during the day. Have I mentioned how much I love this kid?

A Fankful Heart from Maegan B. on Vimeo.

Overheard from Upstairs

Scene: Kelly tucking Zoë into bed.

Kelly: Good night little one. I love you.

Zoë: Good night big one. I love you too.

School of Life

I just got Zoë's "School of Life" album all caught up and I have to say, these layouts were so much fun to create. Honestly, I think it is the most fun I have ever had scrapbooking. They are not terribly fancy (not that I didn't try, but it distracted from the journaling) but they touch on all the important milestones from each year of Zoë's school life thus far.

The school year in the album has a very simple format.

• 12x12 Yearly title page. You may remember Zoë's title pages from the last few years: 2, 3 and Pre-K. I am using the School Days Quick Page by Heather Ann. The title page has the official school picture (or a picture I took since Zoë hasn't had an official picture yet) and some journaling about her school year, teacher, etc. I am also going to have Zoë write her name each year and include it on this page.
• 2 page layout of "Life at School" photos. This would include photos from field trips, play dates, special friends, etc.
• 2 page layout of "Life at Home" photos. This would include photos from holidays, important milestones, fun family activities, etc.
• 12x12 pocket page. The last page will have a pocket for special pieces of artwork, report cards and the class picture.

So that's the formula. Pretty easy, right? I was able to get these layouts done in about two hours. Well I take that back, they were 95% done in two hours then I fiddled with fonts and elements for awhile. Wanna see?

Credits: Template by Jen Wilson, String-A-Ling by Natalie Braxton, MA Googly Bear and Arial fonts.

I showed them to Zoë this morning and she gasped, "Mommy, I wuv them!" And that blog readers is why I do what I do. It doesn't get any better than that

The Silent Auction

Last week was a busy school week. Kelly and I attended Zoë's spring parent-teacher conference on Thursday, which is always interesting. We spent the first hour observing her in her classroom. It's pretty cute really. There is a little room with windows that you observe from, that way you don't disrupt the class. Unlike last time, Zoë was very much aware of our presence and was strategically placing herself in the room so that we couldn't see her. Stinker! LOL! Afterwards we met with Steven and he gushed about how wonderful Zoë was. What parent doesn't love that? He is most impressed with her extensive vocabulary. Shocking, I know.

He was sad to hear that Zoë will not be returning to the school next year. That was a very difficult decision for us to make. We love TLS. Truly. The environment, the teachers, the school community... It is a fantastic school. However, we moved into a great neighborhood in a great school district last summer, with schools (all of them, elementary-high school) less than a mile from our house. It is ridiculous for us to be driving her twenty minutes to school each day when we could walk to a good one right down the street. The clincher was the fact that Kelly met his best friend when he was five years old. (The age Zoë will be in a few short months.) Kelly and Jim went to school together from kindergarden through graduation. They rode their bikes to each others houses. We want that for Zoë. We want her to meet friends in the neighborhood. Maybe even a best friend. That being said, we fully intend on sending Eden to TLS for preschool.

Saturday was the school's big fund raising event for the year, the silent auction. Each family was in charge of procuring two items for the auction. I donated two Year in Review scrapbooks made by me. Do you know how much they went for? TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS! It is going to cost me more than that just to order the finished scrapbook from Shutterfly, and that is before I even factor in my time. Needless to say, I will never be doing that again. Lesson learned.

I also made Oreo Cookie Truffles for the dessert auction part of the evening. Would you like to know how much those went for? $400. Next time I am just making dessert.

Scrapbook insult aside, Kelly and I had a really nice time at the auction. The event was planned very well. Kelly and I couldn't imagine how they would stretch the auction to a five hour event without it seeming really long, but the time just flew by. We did win a few items: Karate Lessons for Zoë (called Little Ninjas-ha!), a Gene Juarez spa package for me, and some beautiful artwork for Kelly's office. All in all, a sucessful evening.

For parents in charge of other school fundraisers, here are a couple clever items that the auction committee came up with. The school had a photographer come in and take pictures of all the children. They were hung around the dining room and available for purchase. (Clever.) The same pictures were also combined into a poetry book for each class. The photos were paired with a little poem by each child and the parents were able to bid on the book. (One book for each class so the parents were bidding against each other. Also, very clever.)

And that's all I've got for now. I'll be back once I edit some pictures. :D

Thank you, and good day.