Personality Bears

This week marked the end of my youth group for this semester. We take a break for the summer. I have had so much fun with my small group of girls this year, and I wanted to give them something that they could hold onto for the summer. Something that would remind them that someone cares about them. I put a heart on each one to remind them to keep God in their hearts. I tried to make each bear a little different, complete with the personality of the girls. They were a huge hit and very loved right away.


This has nothing to do with scrapbooking, but just an idea of something you might be able to use in the future. I can't make an album for every kid who comes into my life for a season, but I can try to make sure that they feel loved, special and unique.

Scrap Happy!

Perspective

I had been scrapbooking some over the weekend, and then had stopped to organize a rolling cart I keep under my desk. I ended up piling things on my desk as I cleaned, and happened to glance at the mess. A photo of my daughter caught my eye. It looks like she just can't take the mess on my desk doesn't it?! I thought that was so funny that I had to share it.

It was great to work on my daughter's album. I am going to squeeze one more page into this one and I'll be done with her 21st album.

Here is a photo of my daughter and son having a snack. But that wasn't really what I was trying to take a picture of. It doesn't tell enough of the story. By my coming down a little, and making sure that the blanket shows a little in the photo, you can see that they are actually under a tent! Our living room has at least one child-constructed tent in it at a time lately.

I love that my girl isn't too big to play with her little brother. She waited and waited, wanting a sibling for so many years. Now she has one, and she appreciates having him. She helps him ride a tricycle, helped him learn to walk, keeps him off of the stairs, and taught him how to scream! That was one thing he didn't need to learn, in my opinion.

Scrap Happy!

Scavenger Hunt

It's spring! The kids are enjoying the nice weather and I am loving the brilliant colors of the flowers and scents of the trees as they blossom!

A tree God gave me, right by the deck. It just appeared in our yard one year and has grown into a beautiful sight.

I was actually just checking to see if my camera was still working since I had dropped it! That's why I took the pics without my kids in them.

I don't actually have any pictures of the scavenger hunt because I used a new memory card and my computer won't even work if it's in it! Weird!

I think it's important for parents and kids to have fun one on one. Especially if there are other siblings. I also like to do fun things for my daughter and I have a heart for kids her age. As she grows, I like each new age so much! This is why it might seem like I am always planning an activity, class or party. It seems like that because I am!

A few Sundays ago, I arranged a hunt for kids and parents. It was in my little town and the "hunters" had to be from here as well. It was only for specific 1st and 2nd graders, whom I invited.(My daughter's friends) The teams were 1 parent and one kiddo. We started the hunt at my house. I made a list of places or things to find. All of them were in town. The goal was to find as many of them as you could in 2 hours and take a picture of each place or item on the list. I also was specific sometimes, saying that certain things neede to be in the picture. One of the people on your team had to be in the picture, unless the rules made an exception. 2 of the pictures had to have both of your team members in it. You could earn bonus points for certain things, such as if you were eating a dessert in a certain photo.

It ended up being a rainy and chilly day. But I think that both the kids and their parents had a good time. Thankfully, I had a clear winner. The first team to check in had all of the pictures they needed, except one extra credit picture. They were at the finish line so much earlier than all the other teams, that when the rain let up, I encouraged them to go out and try to get that last picture, which they could get from my yard! They did, and it gave them the points they needed to be unbeatable! My husband and daughter came in 2nd. They couldn't find the elusive purple rock!

As teams came in, I went through their pictures on the digital cameras with my list beside me and made tally marks. It was fun to see the different things people had found, some were different than the one I had seen, but still correct!

This was an easy thing to put together. I just kept my eyes peeled for unusual things or things that might only be known by people who live here. Then I made a list on the computer, invited everyone by phone, and sent them on their way. I only wish I could have been there, too! I keep asking my daughter how they found this thing, or which one of you knew that it was in the window?

Scrap Happy!

Easter pics and tips

I mentioned to my friend that I wished I could borrow her new bunny to take to the studio when I get my kids pictures taken. She suggested I just take the pictures myself. So that's just what I did!

I love how this one shows the difference in size between the 2 of them! There isn't much that's green yet in my yard for the background, that's why I stood looking down on them for the picture to get the grass as the background. A sheet on the ground protected their Easter clothes from grass stains.

I knew that for the proper lighting, I should take the pictures while the light was soft in the morning, or in the late afternoon, when the sun is heading down. I took the pictures too late n the day, so some really great ones suffered from too much light and were bleached out.

But I was still able to get several pictures that I love.

Now moving on to dying eggs. My son was only a couple months old last Easter, so this is all new to him. He was positively AMAZED when we dropped an egg into the cup of dye. He stared into it until we lifted it out, now a whole new color!

My daughter liked that this egg came out dyed differently than she expected it to.

We did egg dying on the nook. I like taking pictures here, because my daughter can be on the other side and higher than I am. Plus, there is a light directly above us, so the flash isn't always needed.

Here are her precious dyed hands and our year egg. This year, we bought 36 eggs to dye. We can never eat that many hard boiled eggs, so I only boiled some of them. Leading up to Easter, if we needed to use an egg, I emptied it by poking a dime sized hole in the bottom of it. When we died these hollow eggs, we just had to take extra care to fill it with the dyed water when dying it, so that it wouldn't float. Taking it out was also tricky as we didn't want to dump the dye from the hole outside of the cup. We also used eggs that had been neither emptied nor boiled! We were careful with handling them and didn't break a one! We also made sure to keep them seperate. They worked just fine.

The Easter egg hunt: When concealing eggs, I sometimes hid them in a way that my girl would be walking towards me, finding the eggs in one plant after another so that I can be sure to catch her finding one. Knowing where they are hidden is an advantage, too. It is such a challenge to get good pictures of the kids hunting for eggs because they move so fast!

What a sweetheart! She was so happy to find Razzle candy/gum in her egg.

"OH!" So there's something in these things!"

On Easter Sunday, I let my little man eat his chocolate bunny in his good clothes! Look how serious he is! He ate almost the whole thing in one sitting and freaked out when we cut him off!

And then this is my loving daughter, wanting me to take her picture with her white chocolate cross. How could I refuse?