Hop To Challenge #12

Today's challenge is short and sweet: Use the below sketch from our very own Gloria! Gloria's blog is amazing - she's an awesome card artist (not bad on the sketches either;). This, along with yesterday's and any other challenge I get up this week, is due by Sunday evening to be eligible for the Weekly Treat. You have until May 5th to catch up any of this month's Hop To It challenges to be entered into the Grand Prize drawing.

I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for soccer games tomorrow. The one where we have to leave the house by 6:45 am, AM!, is the one I'm having the most difficulty with. I'm also setting up for a big sale at Apron Strings with savings starting at 30% that will kick off later today. Whoops, did I say that out loud? Look for some fun stuff coming for May - I won't compete with other NSD events, but have some plans to celebrate it later on in May. Enjoy your weekend!

Hop To It Challenge #11

Really - I think I'm caught up enough, technically-speaking, to get the last couple challenges for the month up. Remember you have until May 5th to get any passed challenges you may have missed to be eligible for the Grand Prize. It was gorgeous, if windy, yesterday. Near 80 and on the wind I could smell the sweet vanilla scent of the Linden trees on our street. But that was yesterday. Today it's grey and, yes, snowing. I don't mind the cozy thing though I'd kinda like to be cozy during a rain storm, rather than snow, but whatever. So there's lasagna in the crock-pot and hope for being able to enjoy a hot cup of coffee and browse a book. I'm looking out my kitchen window at our May Day tree (it was in one of my Week in the Life photos) and it actually has a couple of the blooms popping out stark white against the dark grey of the trunk and green of the leaves. So pretty. Those little pops of white has inspired today's challenge; create your layout using only white embellishments. Link up this layout, and any other challenge from this week, by Sunday evening to be eligible for the weekly Treat. Today's sketch is from Sketchy Thursdays.

Happy day to you!

Bear With Me

I lost access to my internet, phone and TV over the weekend - 2 full days -- and am trying to catch up on any number of things - all computer related that I couldn't do Saturday or Sunday. Gotta love those bundles. ;)

Week in the Life Day #7

Week in the Life Day #7, Sunday April 25th WooHoo - made it!

Thomas made breakfast this morning (and took the photo) . . . waffles filled with bananas, peanut butter and jelly. Delish.

We couldn't make Mass on Saturday, so a late Mass on Sunday where the priest unfortunately mentioned donuts (the "Catholic Tradition"), which led to thoughts of them, and of course the car must have heard because next thing I knew we were standing in front of the glass case filled with sugar-glazed goodness.

Could they be brothers? Perhaps.

A little sharing.

Sigh. Laundry . . . and this is only a week's worth. Sigh.

Dinner - with Christopher out of town, and has been the majority of the week, dinners are quick and easy. Tonight - Soft Tacos.

Screaming for Ice Cream. Ahhh. . .ya.

Kitchen cleaned, kids in bed, time to try to get a little work done.

Okay, my original thought at the beginning of this was to do a nice 2-page layout. Are you laughing as hard as I am? And the photos I posted aren't even all the ones I took, though I could narrow them down to use just these. But clearly even just using these, they aren't going to fit on a 2-page layout. So now the search begins for a small album - I might have one. NOW, I get why there was a "planning" portion to the week. Stay tuned to see if these photos end up in an album!

Hopefully you enjoyed the week, whether you participated or just followed along on everyone's photos.

Week in the Life Day #6

Week in the Life Day #6, Saturday April 24th

We are a sporting family - so waking up to this: grey skies, wind and snow coming in over the mountains is not what we want to see. Gear up, boys!

Soccer parents are a hardy breed and Spring soccer will test our very souls and warmth ratings on our coats. Who's bringing the Hot Todies?

Mine is the bundled one. Wait. He's the one in the hat. Wait. He's the one right there on the left, in the red hat. Thank goodness for numbers on their jersies.

On the road again . . . Headin' for The People's Republic of Boulder and game two.

They say wait 5 minutes and the weather will change in Colorado. By the time we got to the next game the skies had cleared and the sun was out. The only evidence of our past suffering was the mound of coats and blankets in the back of the car.

Grandma brings treats - always. I think it's in the rule books. Apparently only the insides were worth eating to some small creature.

Aaannnddd. . .north we go again, to games three and four. My little "setter."

Two games, two photos, this time she's serving and Mom actually caught the ball in frame!

Cold, snow, wind, sun, more wind, drive, drive, drive, and a couple volleys thrown in for good measure. All in a day for sporting families. We ended with two losses 1-0; 8-1 (yikes) and two wins in straight sets.

Week in the Life Day #5

Week in the Life Day #5; Friday, April 23rd

Do you have one of these? A just-when-I-thought-it-was-Spring moment.

Do you have one of these? The when-I-feel-like-it-some-times milk drinker.

Do you have one of these? The coffee container, that until today when Spiderman found it, was just about holding coffee.

Do you have one of these? A teenage daughter - 'nuf said.

Do you have one of these? The pre-teen boy who doesn't mind his picture being taken.

Do you have one of these? The 9 y.o. boy who still loves giving kisses and hugs.

Do you have one of these? The after-a-long-hard-week-at-school relaxing box?

Do you have one of these? A horizontal space that "collects" things.

Do you have one of these? The thrown together dinner - tonight Fetticini Alfredo and Chicken.

Do you have one of these? The left-at-the-table eaters.

Do you have one of these? The after dinner kitchen. (sigh)

Week in the Life Day #4

Week in the Life Day #4: Thursday, April 22nd.

Most mornings it's the first thing I do - lunches. Three of them, usually almost identical.

The storm was coming in, so the sky was overcast. It had rained overnight and everything looked fresh and green in the early morning. The tree trunks were dark and the new leaves were bright pops of spring-green. In a couple weeks this tree will be leafed-out with beautiful white cones of flowers.

The upside to have the husband out of town and having to take the kids to school is I can make an early morning trip to the grocery store and still be home by 8:30.

Looking west a couple blocks from the house, the foothills can barely be seen with the low-lying clouds filling up behind them and starting to boil over the tops. No mountain views today.

Out Indiana on the way to The Container Store, aka heaven for the organized. Did I think to take a photo in there? No - it was Nirvana; I could barely concentrate as it was. After The Container Store it was out to get the kids and let the running beginning - pretty much a repeat of Tuesday evenings, only with rain. The rain effectively cancelled practices early, well not so much the rain, as the bolts of lightening and cracks of thunder. Luckily, it only takes one for coaches to clear the fields in nothing flat. Before the boys hit the car doors, it was a downpour.

Hometown: Assignment #4

Friday again! And it is April, right? Almost the end of April in fact and we have snow - yep, snow. You'll see a photo of it in my Week in the Life, but because of all the rain and snow we have one rescheduled soccer game, one moved to a Turf field for the same time and two back-to-back volleyball games. Why does that sound just as busy? Unless I can think of a better way, we'll be grabbing some dinner out. And that's what Assignment #4 is about: eating out. Where's your favorite place in town? Mom and Pop place? A little hole in the wall only locals know about? Or maybe it's McDonald's because it has quick food and a play area that guarantees you 15 minutes of uninterrupted adult time. If that's the case, it's all good, we aren't here to judge. :) For us, it's this place. . .

Chipolte - yum! It's our go to after church, after games, for a mid-week lunch, just the DH and I, for whatever. We seldom need to come up with an excuse. What's your favorite place for a meal out? Take a picture and have it uploaded by Wednesday night to be eligible for the Treat for the week. You can play catch-up with this challenge, link your items to the correct posts by May 5th to be eligible for the Grand Prize.

Winner, winner, winner -- It's Catch-up Time Baby

So, there's just a few winners to list from the Hop To It and Assignment: Hometown challenges for the month so far. Random.org was used to pick them all.

• Hop To It Week #1 (challenges #1 & #2) - girlyscrapper
• Hop To It Week #2 (challenges #3, #4, #5 & #6) - Perez, Kristin I'll get you something in the mail at the end of the challenges.
• Hop To It Week #3 (challenges #7 & #8) -- Perez, Kristin - ditto :)
• Assignment: Hometown #1 - Briel, your goodie will be in your next kit
• Assignment: Hometown #2 - Briel - ditto to you as well
• Assignment: Hometown #3 - Deanna, I'll get you something at the end of the challenges, too.

Keep 'em coming ladies, layouts have been fantastic and it's been really fun to see all the different hometowns. You can play catch-up with both these challenges to be in the drawing for the grand prizes. All layouts/photos are due by May 5th to be in the Grand Prize.

Week in the Life Day #3

So, Day #3, aka Wednesday, April 21st. I'm having fun. . .and beginning to wonder how I'm going to get these photos on a 2-page spread. Guess I better explore my album possibilities.

Nothing better, except maybe a chocolate donut, to start off the day. The smell of them alone is . . . yum.

Ummm. . .yeah. Who's kid is this?

We can thank big sister for this. She showed him how to dip his finger in the sugar bowl. He found the bag o'sugar and guess he put two and two together. Finger dippin' good.

He plays with this . . .

and this. . .

and this. . .

While I work on this - June kits.