First Day layout

Yes, this is for Carolyn's book. I previously posted a page for my book about her first day, but as any obessed scrapbooker can tell you, you usually have more than one album going at any one time. For me, I do three...one for Carolyn, one for Jonathan and one for the family. I might start getting into doing ones for others but then what happens when you fall in love with a new creation and you have to give it away ... makes me sad just thinking about it. Wow that's terrible huh!

Jellystone

Well I finally got the pictures added to a layout that I made over a crop weekend in late August. My mom and I went to the crop because of a book series we were reading involving murder, mystery and mayhem...thanks to Joanna Campbell Slan. It was a great weekend and the coordinator, Angela Rhyne, did an amazing job!

Siblings...friends

You know there are days that your children love one another and days they need some space from one another. Well this was a day that they played beautifully together. I wanted to capture these moments of their childhood and I loved this layout idea from CTMH and so here is that company's layout idea with my children having a tea party.

Carolyn's first day layout

I love this page...I love trying so new things for me. I saw a similiar layout on the My Mind's Eye blog and loved the title. I did Jen's trick of rolling the stamp letters to get the edging color different on the word "heart." anyway, now I need to do this page for her book but not using this paper...going with some more classic preschool paper with lots of colors. The journaling reads,

"Carolyn entered 4-year old preschool at XXX Elementary and for the first time, had to ride a bus to school. She was more excited about the bus ride than school but donning a new outfit, she was ready for both. While she only rode the bus twice because of route changes, every day when I drop her off at school, my heart breaks a little more knowing she’s getting bigger and bigger and one day, she won’t run back to give me another kiss before scurrying into school for the morning. I just thank God that today…she gave me two kisses!"

Mom's Christmas layout

So it's no secret that I'm a Close to my heart junkie but I have started experimenting with other company's products as well. This is a layout I did for my mother's Christmas album. We went to a crop together a few weeks back in hopes of finishing up her Christmas pages. This was Jonathan's first Christmas so of course I wanted to do that layout. It's not COMPLETELY done...mom still needs to embellish it a little more but I'm loving the tree and the fact that all us kids and grandkids are featured.

first day jitters

Carolyn had her first day of preschool up here in Iowa. Boy is it an adjustment. She rode the bus the first two days but then we pulled her from the route because she was on it the second day for 45 minutes before coming home...and that's way too long in my book. But other than that, we're learning the ropes and having a good time doing so. She just might the cutest preschooler I know!

The circus is in town!

Wow, a BiG Wednesday night this week with the arrival of the circus. With something family-friendly in Keokuk, we decided to treat the kids to the night in the big tent. Of course we had cotton candy and watched the crazy acts including this teenage boy fit himself in a box (Carolyn said that couldn't be healthy...lol) and motorcycles flipping on cables. Not too shabby for a one ring circus and some good family memories.

Swim Lesson finale!

Well both children were signed up for swim lessons but only one made it through. Jonathan gave up after two days. I don't think the class setting was for him. Carolyn, on the other hand, loved it. On the last day (Friday) she got to jump off the diving board and while she stood there for a few minutes debating and flapping her arms, she did it and LOVED IT! After two or three more times she finally let someone else take a turn. A thrill addict already!

Tag you're it!

I've now been tagged by my bloggin' friend Roxie with 4 questions to answer and 4 people to pass this along to!!So here we go...............

1. 4 things I look forward to:
1. Jellystone
2. Scrapbooking with Sarah
3. Spending time with my family
4. alone time

2. 4 things I did yesterday:
1. Vaccumed
2. Swim lessons
3. Ordered more photos to scrapbook
4. Talked to Sarah

3. 4 things I wish I could do:
1. Get more alone time (or couple time..either)
2. Take my husband's house worry away (we're hoping to sell a home in PA)
3. Go on a vacation with my family
4. figure out a way to make money at home and still be with the kiddos

4. 4 shows I have watched:
1. Criminal Minds
2. Food Network
3. Caillou (does watching shows with my kiddos count???)
4. ahhh CSI: Miami

Now comes my nominations of 4 people:
Beth,
Meagan,
Sarah
Erin

Carolyn's birthday cake

I can't believe that I've forgotten to post Carolyn's 4th birthday cake. It was a lot of fun to pull this idea off for her. She loved Cinderella last year but she was WAY impressed with Ariel this year. She couldn't wait to show her friends at the party. I only had to do Ariel like 5 or 6 times before being satisifed with her. My favorite is Sebastian...so cute. Anyway, wanted to share.

And the blog award goes too...

So I was informed I recieved a Blog Award from Jen Mueller, roommate of my mother's womb and mother to two of my favorite newphews. Her blog is http://www.mueller-time.blogspot.com/

The rules are:

1) Accept the award, and post a link on your blog with the person name and blog who granted the award.

2) Pass the award to 10 other blogs that you've newly discovered. Contact the choosen 10 to pass this along.

Here is my list of blogs I love to check out for a variety of reasons.

1)http://www.charmcitycakes.com/blog

2)http://www.cookiemadness.net/

3)http://bethym99.blogspot.com/

4)http://cakefun.blogspot.com/

5)http://aliedwards.typepad.com/

6)http://cookinglight.typepad.com/

7)http://www.babyhomepages.net/babyschmitt/

8)http://www.theilen.blogspot.com/

9)http://www.babycheapskate.com/

10)http://blog.cakelove.com/

A place to call home

Oh so with a toddler again, comes all the little toys. Jonathan's room here was getting out of control so one weekend when my father came up we built a shelving unit for Jonathan's room. It's roughly 3 foot by 4 foot and we chose red and blue for typical boy colors. I painted the trim khaki and I think it turned out nice. so roughly $50 in supplies (man that wood is expensive at full price!) and now each cubby is full. But thankfully all the little toys are up off the floor so the only things left are the Little People's zoo and farm. It really completes the room. Just wanted to share.

Branching out

We found this really neat park over in Illinois and the kids loved it. All the climbing equipment was wooden and in shapes of transportation like planes, trains, tractors (did you think I was going write automobiles...carefully you'd be dating yourself!) BUT there was a pick up truck.... Anyway, snagged some great pics of the children but the funniest has to be their sudden urge to play with a tree...I guess that was after an hour or better but all the same...plenty of stuff to keep them busy and they choose a tree.

Days at the parks

There might not be too much to do in the town but there sure all lots of parks to venture out to on beautiful days. The children are playing so well together, really depending on eachother for child interaction, and that need is so refreshing to see. In one morning, we hit 6 different parks around town; some we stayed only a few minutes for various reasons, and some much longer. The children are really starting to adjust well with sleeping much better and smiling more often.

A new adventure!

Geodes + deer + a new house = a new adventure for the Zelkovich family. Our house looks like a barn and on the left there is a matching garage. It's funny. Almost every night we see deer in the backyard now that the grass is growing and hardly being cut (hint hint honey)! Geodes are the special things here. Pretty much they are rocks with mineral formations inside that look like crystals. Carolyn loves hitting them with hammers and taking the crystals out like little treasures. It's funny. We're right at the nook of the Mississippi and Des Moines Rivers now. It's pretty country up here and the smaller town life hopefully will suit us soon.

My baby turns 2!

Jonathan had his second birthday right before we moved.
Complete with a balloon artist, lots of friends and family and a Curious George birthday cake. He seemed to have a good time with lots of smiles and it was a great way to wrap up our time in St. Louis.