Pearly Whites!

The braces are FINALLY off!!!! This guy is beyond happy, since band camp starts on Thursday......

Scrappy Sunday

Here are a few pages I finished this week. For some reason I was drawn to my Christmas photos!!! So it's Christmas in July..........

I'm hoping to get a few pages done a week. I also want to get busy on the boys school albums, mostly because I want to stay up-to-date on Colin's high school stuff. I have a really cool idea for his Senior year & it'll be here sooner than I'd like~

Happy Birthday, Hubby!!!

He's looking good at 45!!!!

Photo Shoot

Well here is my first try at taking photos of "little" ones. I'd forgotten how difficult it is to capture kids at this age in photos. Here are some of my favorites........This one is my FAVORITE!!!! I mean how sweet.....the older brother trying to hug his little sister, too bad she wasn't having any of that!!!!!

Oh my...........I'm a sucker for this blurred off centered photo!!! I just love it~
This one would be perfect if the sun wasn't peeking thru the trees and glaring on Caden's face.....

I'm hoping that their mom find one that she likes!!!! The session did sorta crater after Carly did a face plant on the sidewalk & then fell face first off a curb into a street gutter full of yucky stuff. Oh, and let's not leave out Caden. He got his hand slammed in the car door when we got home. It was quite an exciting evening~

Shrimp Creole

One of my all time favorite dishes! I made it last night for dinner, along with steamed broccoli & yellow squash. Here's the recipe .....

Shrimp Creole

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1/2 cup chopped onion (sometimes I use green onions, but usually regular yellow ones)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 can (14 1/2 oz) Cajun style stewed tomatoes, undrained

1 can (6 oz) tomato paste

1/2 cup water

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 pound peeled medium size fresh shrimp

Hot cooked rice

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-hihg heat; add green peppers and next 3 ingredients. Cook, stirring constantly, 4 minutes. Add tomatoes and next 6 ingredients; cook 2 minutes over medium heat. Add shrimp, and cook until shrimp turn pink. Serve over rice.

Better late than never~

I finally made my last two graduation cards. It was a big year for graduations & we had EIGHT announcements!!!! The last cards were quick & easy.........the middle strip of cardstock is actually glossy silver. I used the silver stickles I picked up Saturday for the tassel......
Can't wait to get these dropped off at the Post Office.......it'll be one less thing on my "to-do" list~

Scrappy Post

FIrst, I have to start off with this photo of the boys that I LOVE! I took it while we were on the river boat cruise on the Ohio River. I tinkered a tad with some photo editing & really like the look.....Up next......some scrapbooking pages!! Yep, I finally found some time to go to the CK classes in the Woodlands yesterday. I loved 2 of the classes, but the one with the glitter pages wasn't my thing. That glitter is a M.E.S.S. So here are 2 pages that I did yesterday.........

I love the layout with the photos of Colin flying a kite. It was one of those rare moments that I was able to capture. I have quite a few more layouts to add photos to, and I bought some Studio Calico stuff that I can't wait to use. Happy Sunday~

*edited to add.....the pages above used the Echo Park Walk in the Park paper line. I can't remember who taught the class, but we put together 4 pages minus the photos.

Freedom isn't Free

The Vietnam War Memorial
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Arlington National Cemetery

I think this July 4th we'll be celebrating with a little more gusto.........nothing brings out patriotism more than visiting Washington DC right before Independence Day!!! I'll also be praying for all the soldiers who fought then & still fight today to keep us safe & free. God Bless the USA!!

What a Coincidence...

So a while back my neighbor asked me if I wanted to join a book club. Well let's just say my answer was "YES" before she could even finish asking me. I was a tad bit intimidated because my neighbor teaches high school English & is EXTREMELY smart. Her favorite book is "The Grapes of Wrath" which was a struggle for me back in high school. So back to the book club.......we had our first gathering last night, and I had a very interesting connection to the hostess. She lives across the street from my Popo & Granny!!! I just about lost it when Lindy wrote down the address and it was Seamist Court. Who would have thought?? Of course, she knew them & mentioned how well loved they were by all the neighbors. So that was my cool 6 degrees of separation moment and I just had to share it!!!