22/52

“A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2015.”

The backyard pool has been set up and so begins hours of splashing, laughing, playing, and fun. You pretend to be mermaids, fairies, horses, penguins...and I am constantly in awe of your imaginations.

Joining in with Jodi for the 52 Week Project.

Eight

Every year on Bridget’s birthday, I wonder aloud to myself how she can be growing up so quickly. Eight years old already; it seems like only yesterday that I was going into her room after nap time to lift her out of the crib....and now....goodness, it is so true when people tell you that the time goes by quickly...they are not kidding.

Here is my girl on her eighth birthday:

My husband took this picture when we were out for lunch to celebrate her special day, and I think it is an absolutely amazing picture; it captures her perfectly.

I used several patterned papers from the Porcelain line by Basic Grey on this layout, and especially love how using a patterned paper for the base of the page looks. I wanted to keep the focus on my picture so I kept my embellishments to a minimum.

This is the last layout for my 2014 album (yes, I am feeling a great sense of accomplishment). I’ll do a post soon about how I put my albums together, so stay tuned for that. Until then, happy scrapping!

In the Garden

Last week was a worrisome week in the garden. After all the planting we did, there were a few nights with the threat of frost so we had to run about and cover all our plants to protect them. Even with taking the necessary precautions I was still concerned - it was so unbelievably cold outside. Thankful everything survived just fine and we are looking at warmer, more seasonable temperatures this week.

The cold did do the tulips in, so I am glad I got this picture before they started to fall apart.

This is my Happy Flower Garden and I love how it looks all summer long, with different things blooming at different times. It runs along the side of my deck and I have a chair there that I love to sit in; it is one of my favorite places.

Every time I get on my knees and work my hands into this soil, I feel a deep sense of calm. I can breathe deeper and easier, and I feel truly at peace. Is this the magic of gardening? It sure feels that way to me.

This week, I am hoping for some rain, and wondering just how long I have to wait before I can start snipping fresh herbs (I just planted them last weekend) from the garden.

21/52

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2015."

Your first soccer practice. You got your own jerseys and balls and had so much fun running around the field. And we had just as much fun watching you. Stopping for ice cream on the way home brought even more smiles and you both declared at bedtime that it had been "an awesome day".

Joining in with Jodi for the 52 Week Project.

The Vegetable Garden: Planting

Over the weekend we planted our garden. This is the first year that we will have two raised beds and we are really excited to grow a variety of vegetables.

In this garden we have planted tomatoes, peppers, beets, leeks, carrots and garlic (which was planted in the fall).

And in this garden we have broccoli, cauliflower, kale, spinach, lettuce and quinoa. We had not even thought of planting quinoa until we saw it at the garden center and decided to give it a try; apparently you can eat the leaves....who knew?

Lucky for us, the many rabbits that live around our house have not eaten any of our new plantings.

With some watering and tending, we should be enjoying delicious veggies from our own garden this summer. We can not wait.

Proud Reader

Good Morning!

Today is a holiday here in my neck of the woods and it is also time for another sketch challenge over at The Memory Nest - in other words, an awesome day.

Here is the sketch:

I love all the layering on this sketch, which of course translated to a lot of layering on my layout. You may recognize this photo - it was the first photo I posted here for my 52 Week Project; it is one of my favorite pictures of the girls ever.

I used papers from the From Me to You line by Pebbles Inc. for my layout.

I especially like the paper that looks like an old newspaper; it fits the theme of this page perfectly.

I love how this page captures such a precious moment between my two girls - Claire learning to read, and Bridget embracing her big sister role by helping Claire along.

The incredible work by other members of the Design Team can be seen over at The Memory Nest.

Have a wonderful day, I'm off to do some crafting on my day off.....

20/52

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2015."

Bridget: "We are going to the park!"

Claire: "See you Mom, we'll be home for supper!"

This week you two rode your bikes to the local park on your own while Dad and I stayed at home. A little independence for you, and a whole lot of letting go for us.

Joining in with Jodi for the 52 Week Project.