Kicking off a busy weekend...

You might say we started celebrating our Memorial Day weekend a little early today - or at least it felt like it. For starters, it is Karstin's 14th birthday today.

He was the first one up this morning, as usual, and Danica was soon to follow. So we took a few seconds to pose for a birthday morning shot before Karstin headed off for school. A couple hours later, the girls & I did a little running around to finish up the birthday preparations, including delivering a coffee shop gift certificate and balloon to the school for their big brother.
For once, I actually had the cake done ahead of time. Knowing that this would be a busy week - and that of all my kids, Karstin is most interested in upholding traditions like being "surprised" by what his birthday cake looks like, I actually had it all finished, decorated and hidden from sight by early yesterday afternoon. A guitar seemed to be a pretty fitting theme for Karstin's cake this year, considering how much music dominates his existence.

In fact, music was pretty much the theme of most of his gifts, too. But more on that in a minute... 
After school, Karstin was pretty much bouncing off the walls ... or at least bouncing off the tramp! Whether this was a result of all the candy he'd eaten during the day or the cool new drumsticks and guitar picks from his girlfriend, I'm not sure ... either way, he was a happy camper - and that's what I love to see, especially on his birthday!

How that kid can talk on the phone and jump on the tramp at the same time, I do not know!!
Anyway, we had an early dinner of shrimp scampi, corn on the cob, garlic bread, etc. and then had to dash off to Kody's last band concert of the year. Kody did a great job and was relieved to have it over, since he was pretty nervous about this concert. I think with all the attention Karstin gets on the drums, his little brother was feeling the pressure to measure up.
After the concert, we returned home and showed Karstin his cake. I say "showed" because he is having several buddies over tomorrow night for a sleepover and he decided he wants to save the cake until then so they can see it, too... We did light candles and sing, however, and Karstin posed for a traditional birthday shot. The foot is intended to represent the extra digits to get to 14, by the way... done in true Karstin humor!

After cake, it was everyone's favorite ... presents. Karstin was a total ham and really managed to get me giggling with all his theatrics as he opened his gifts.

We gave him a digital camera, as well as a microphone & stand, a charger for his iPod, and a framed photo of him with Jacques & the deer Karstin shot last fall, which is now hanging upstairs with the mount Jacques also put together for him. He also received a guitar-themed t-shirt from gramma & grampa, as well as an iTunes gift card - always a big hit - and some little gadget type stuff like a flashlight (I think... I hardly got to see it!).
As I sat here watching him wander the house for the next hour or two singing into that microphone and being goofy in general, it dawned on me ... a microphone is not going to make things any quieter around here!! But that's okay ... he loved it and it supports his passion, so that's what matters most.

We eventually did get to eat cake ... I had frosted a chunk of cake left over from trimming pieces for the guitar and we ate that before sending everyone off to bed. The birthday is over, but the busy-ness is just getting started ... Jacques & Kody are heading out around 5 a.m. tomorrow morning for a guys' fishing trip to Devils Lake, ND with several of Jacques' buddies & relatives.
Meanwhile, Karstin's friends will come home with him after school tomorrow and celebrate his birthday again with a sleepover in the camper. Jacques helped him set up the propane fire pit tonite and in the morning, I'll stock up the camper with the tv from the garage, a cooler of root beer, a bunch of junk food, and at some point we'll order a couple pizzas ... party prep is pretty simple for teenage boys!! The girls and I will hold down the fort in the house ... and then hopefully after the dust settles and Karstin catches up on the sleep he won't be getting Friday night, I can get him to lend a hand over the weekend so maybe I can catch a little "me" time somewhere in there!!
Jacques & Kody will be back Tuesday sometime and then it's the countdown until school ends June 5th. Then soon after that, we'll have the Montana Newspaper Convention in Kalispell, Father's Day, Jacques' birthday, Danica's first birthday, swimming lessons... like I said, the busy-ness is just getting started!! :)

Fun stuff for scrapbookers!

My new items from CafePress arrived yesterday and I wanted to share... last year I designed a combination datebook/gratitude journal for scrapbookers. With the birth of my youngest daughter in June, my design work took a huge back seat and I didn't do much of anything scrapbook-related (except take 100s of photos!!) until the last month or so. But then I was contacted by someone who purchased my datebook last year and wanted to know if I was doing one for 2009. Since she loved it - and so do I - I decided to go ahead and do one, even though the year had already started.


So... here it is. There's an individual page for the beginning of each week with an inspirational quote, "to do" list, and room for a grocery list. That is followed by an individual page for each day of that week, with room for appointments, a place to mark holidays and occasions (major holidays are already filled in for you), room to jot down the dinner menu, a list for photos taken that day (so you can remember when you find time to scrapbook!), a box for little things you just want to remember, and a place to list 5 things you are grateful for that day.




New this year is a two-page full month calendar at the beginning of each month (thanks for the great idea, Nancy!). There are also various help items at the back of the book, including 2010 calendars and holidays, places to list gift ideas, favorite websites and phone numbers. The book itself is 5x8 inches, 458 pages. If you're interested in having one for yourself, you can find it here in my CafePress store. If you like it, let me know ... I'm planning early to do one for next year.
The other item is a mousepad, which I actually designed last year but just now got around to buying for myself. It has my favorite quote on it: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."  You can find it here if you'd like one of these.


Now, to get back to work ... I've been doing so much scrapbooking lately, my other "to do" list is getting a little long!! Enjoy!!!

Testing out a "blended album" approach



Just enjoying a quiet weekend at home and managed to put together the first calendar page for our 2009 family album. I'm trying a new approach this year, referred to in the industry as a "blended photo album." Basically it's a traditional photo album with photos slipped into sleeves but you add scrapbook pages and/or scrapbook-like elements mixed in.
I've decided to do this with the bulk of our family photos, since we take so many every year and there's no way I'll ever find time to scrapbook them all. I'm going to do this album chronologically, with each month starting with a page similar to the one above. Hopefully by the end of 2009, I'll have a finished album instead of what I have at the end of 2008, which is a ton of photos still in my computer!!
BTW - I scrap-lifted the design for this page from one I saw at digitreats.typepad.com. Love her stuff ... be sure to check it out!!