2015, Part Duex...

Moving on to April...
There was a career fair at the twins' school-Cecilia went as the president, Natalie went as a computer programmer:

We celebrated Easter Sunday at church:

My azaleas bloomed:

We had the basketball end of year party at a local swimming pool, for the kids' privacy, I'll just post a photo of the trophies:

And, I started my job! I still love where I work and the people that I work with:

The twins passed the threshold for Advanced Reader points and earning a Nook e-reader (650 points). It was the second year for Cecilia, so she was given a Barnes and Noble gift card instead.

And, the twins had their spring concert:

Along with solos for each of them-

May was a busy month for us, starting with the Strawberry Festival (Evan got to ride in the Humboldt Utilities Bucket Truck):

Mother's Day rolled around, and the girls made me breakfast and a pencil bouquet:

And went to church with me:

 The twins rocked out their school's Science fair. Natalie won first place, Cecilia won second. So proud of them!

 Evan got to go to Nitro Circus with Nate (a long time best bud, cousin):

 Caitlin got her class ring:

The twins had their 5th grade graduation (I made the door sign):

The fifth graders walked out to "Uptown Funk, and I wish I had a video. Natalie hammed it up, and it was so cute and funny!

The kittens were finally ready to leave their mama, so we tried a couple of them out to see which one got along with our dog the best:

We settled on this one, and called her "Bambi":

I got to tag along for the twins final elementary school field trip, to the Discovery Park of America:

 Caitlin turned 16-I can hardly believe it!

And I had the opportunity to photograph the Warrior Half Marathon:

June meant a lot of senior photography, so not too much photography at home. We did a lot of planning for updating the front of our house a little bit:

The twins brought home flowers from an AR trip to the high school's ag science building, and the sunflower bloomed on our back deck. Unfortunately, the squirrels feasted on it after about a day.

July started off with some fantastic bbq served up by my hubby. He's the best at smoking meat!!

The rest of my July was a whole lot of work:

And late night crafting for my sister's baby shower:

Washington Trip fundraising: 

Our Anniversary was on the 20th, and we came home to a little treat from the kids:

The shower came around, and was a smashing success (if I do say so myself):

This post has run a bit long, so I will come back tomorrow with more of our past year.

2015...Hitting the Highlights...

January was all about finishing up the girls' 5th Grade basketball season at GES. The end of an era for our family, since my husband coached their team from second grade on up!

It was also about buying real furniture, from a furniture store, for the first time in my adult life. It was fun taking those trips to the store, browsing, and picking out what we liked! Love my new sectional, Dining room suite, and entertainment center!

And, at the end of the month, Evan tried out for the soccer team and made it:

(waiting for results to be posted)

In February, I made my last little set of treats for classmates for the Twins' friends for Valentine's Day:

My mom had us over for a sweet little Valentine's Day brunch:

And I celebrated V-Day with my hubby and a wonderful meal:

Then, the ice storms hit:

 It meant empty grocery store shelves:

And plenty of time for board games while we were stuck in the house:

Of course, a glass of wine by the fireplace was pretty nice too!

Finally, the ice melted, and I took this girl to get her driver's permit:

March rolled around, and brought the snow. More than we usually get in Tennessee:

My poor dog didn't know what to think!

The girls were super excited to have enough to make a Snow person:

 And I was excited to photograph it!

It finally melted away, though, and life went back to its normal pace. Soccer season started up:

The twins tried out for the CCMS Spring Concert, and started going to practices:

(I love how they were the tallest ones there, even though almost all of the other kids were the same age)

The twins made banks from recycled materials for 4H:

By the end of the month, the trees were starting to bloom (my favorite time of the year!):

And my mom's cat had kittens (which meant Caitlin was in love and immediately begging us for a cat!):

If you've stuck with me so far, awesome! Come back tomorrow for 2015, part 2.

What I am looking forward to in 2016...

Focusing on my One Little Word For this Year: "Goals"! I have a lot of goals this year that I am determined to achieve: a healthier lifestyle, paying off debt, improving my photography skills, purchasing a new camera and at least one lens, and my trips!

I have lots of fun trips planned for this year, and I can't wait to share them with you all!

Right now, this post is scheduled to go live as I am at Imaging USA, PPA convention. There are some amazing speakers scheduled to be there, such as Amy Purdy, Bambi Cantrell, Ty Fischer, Lindsey Adler, and Sue Bryce, just to name a few!

I am definitely looking forward to all of the instruction and inspiration, and I can't wait to soak it in!
And I get to meet my new baby niece, Gracelyn, since we will be staying at my sisters' house while I attend the convention. So, look forward to some pictures when I return!

At the end of May, my son and I will be traveling to Washington, DC and Colonial Williamsburg for his eighth grade class trip. We are full swing into fundraising and planning for that! I am super excited, since I haven't been to Washington DC yet, and I'm quite the history buff, so I know it will be an amazing experience.
Washington, D.C.:

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Colonial Williamsburg:

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All next summer, I will be photographing seniors (my own sweet little Catybug included!). And when fall rolls around...we're going to Disney World!! I can't wait to see Disney World around Halloween and fall!

The pictures I have seen look awesome:

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So, lots of "Scrapportunities" this year! Bring it on, 2016! I can't wait to experience you!

December Beauty

I know, it's not December any more-but I did this lovely little photo shoot with my daughters in December, and was so happy with the results-I just need to share with you! I was so busy for the whole month of December (I'm sure some of you can relate!), but I got a lot done last month, too, so it's time to start sharing it here. Anyway, the photo shoot:

I really had been wanting to do a winter/Christmas photo shoot, and the holly bushes behind my house were the perfect setting! Natalie cooperated with my vision and dressed up in a lace dress with pearls and fur, and we were off to the races. I can't believe how grown up she is starting to look! The glasses are recent addition-and she feels more comfortable wearing them than not wearing them. I love the ones she picked out-I think they're stylish and cute on her! 12 going on 20!

Friday Favorites

It's been a while since I did a Friday Favorites post, but I have seen some things around the web that I am loving lately, so here goes:

Glitter Girl is back!!Yes! Shimelle has always been one of my favorite scrapbook designers, and one of the biggest parts that I missed about Two Peas in a Bucket, so I was so happy to see her announcement and new Glitter Girl video:

Ali Edwards' December Daily posts. I am finishing up my Journal Your Christmas/December Daily mini album and I have really been inspired by Ali's posts this year. I love her story telling approach, and I have loved combining it with Shimelle's approach this year. I really love the balance of past and present stories that I am documenting. I am waiting on a lovely bright orange package from Shutterfly, and then I should be able to start sharing some of my own "Documenting December" mini album.

CHA Winter 2016 Sneak Peeks:

My FAVORITE thing I have seen so far is Paige Evans' new collection with Pink Paislee, Fancy Free:

It is so fun, fresh, and colorful!! I can't wait to get my hands on it!

My other favorites so far:

Shimelle's new collection with American Crafts, "Starshine" :

And, of course, Maggie Holmes' newest collections are always wonderful. Here is her newest, called "Bloom":

So much to love!! What are you loving lately?

January 2016 Counterfeit Kit , " A Fresh Start"

Welcome 2016! Happy new year! With the new year is a new month, of course, which means a new kit- and, let me tell you, I am ready for a non-Christmas kit! I have been working hard on my JYC/December Daily mini, and I am mostly finished with it, but I am ready to put the Christmas supplies aside and work on something different now! I always love the December minis, and it is so great to go back and look at previous ones, but after a month of Christmas scrapping almost every day, I am ready for a new scrappy adventure. For our January kits, we were given the directive to be inspired by the fantastic planner kits from The Planner Society. And we were allowed to choose which one we wanted to be inspired by. There were several to choose from- http://beejuboxes.com/category/the-planner-society-kit/ has a lot of photos and reviews of Planner Society kits, and I loved the November kit, but in the end, I decided that I would love to lift the December offering.This is the kit that I was inspired by:

I loved the colors and whimsy of the December kit, and tried to pull together a kit with a similar feel to it:

Mint floral, several patterns from the True Stories collection from Shimelle, and a coral red stripe,some ancient KI labels (I always try to include at least one or two older items in my kit to get them used up-another really old piece is the printed plastic frame from Making Memories. I also added in some resin shapes that reminded me of the ones in the planner kit, Basic Grey wood veneer, yellow washi tape, and a couple of handmade ribbon clips:

The Planner Society kits always have cute girl images in them, so I put a stamp in my kit to use this month:

While I will most likely use my kit mostly for scrapbooking, I do have a planner that I am excited to start using-I love the new Carpe Diem planner:

Even the box it came in is cute!

So, there you have it, my January Counterfeit Kit which I am calling "A Fresh Start". I am excited to hop around to the other designers and see what kits inspired them, and what direction they took the kits in, and which one of the beautiful Planner Society Kits they chose to be inspired by. And if you want some awesome inspiration for planners, I highly suggest that you follow the Planner Society on Instagram!

Susan: http://littlethingsbigdays.blogspot.de/

Stephanie:  http://skylinepaperie.blogspot.com

Susanne:  http://snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com

Clair: http://obstinatepursuit.blogspot.co.uk/

Jemma: http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk

Julene:  http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com

Kelly: http://66.147.244.112/~honeysv0/

Leslie:  http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.ca

Lisa:  http://lisahausmann.blogspot.ca

Margie:  http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com *YOU ARE HERE