Look, Ma, I can tie my shoes!

Russell is amazingly motivated and once he decides he wants to do something, there is no stopping him. He was that way when he learned to ride his bike and, here recently, when he learned to tie his shoes.

I had kind of an idea of how I wanted this page to look, but I probably should have done the title differently, or at least somewhere else. It looks like it's falling off the page... Oh, well.


I used a stencil for the letters of the title. See, you don't need a die cut machine, if you're willing to sit and cut out the letters. I'm a little weird and I enjoy the tedious work of cutting out the letters with my little manicure scissors. I bought the stencils from Michael's (probably on sale because I rarely pay full price for anything!) and I love them! There is a letter stencil and a shadow stencil. I love shadows for my letters since I always use busy patterned papers.

I used Stampin' Up!'s notebook paper punch for the pictures on the right to give them the feel of being a roll of film. I took pictures of him step by step and wanted to just scrapbook them in order. I love the way it turned out.

I also punched a small piece of scrap paper on the bottom left and laced it up with some string that came with a cheap-o kite last year. The kite has since been tossed, but the string is useful for so many things!

I usually mat all my pictures, again, because I use busy patterned papers, but I need to step out of my "scrapping comfort zone" and do things differently sometimes... Sometime... Maybe later... :-)

First Day of Kindergarden

This is one of my favorite layouts! It is a little busy, but there was so much I wanted to add to it. I had lots and lots of pictures (you can never have too many pictures, I say) and really wanted to use the busy background paper. I tried not to add too many other embellishments, just a 3-D backpack sticker and a flat pencil sticker.

I used Stampin' Up's punch that makes it look like paper that has been torn from a notebook on the inside edges. I love that punch! I can't remember what it's called, but I love it!

I wanted to explain each picture, but didn't want to clutter the already cluttered page with journal blocks around each picture, so I just numbered each picture and added the corresponding descriptions.

Journaling reads:
1. So excited to wake up...
2. Danielle came over to wish Russ a great first day
3. Mommy tickles to get a smile out of a nervous Russell
4. Walking Russell down the hallway to his classroom
5. Standing in front of his room, next to his name on the wall
6. Randall gets a smile out of Russell with a hug
7. Sitting at his table, looking around at future friends

I love this layout because, although it was a very difficult first few months of school, he now loves going and looks forward to it. We have been very pleased with all he has learned, both academically and emotionally. He's learning how to be a good friend, even when others are unkind or difficult. Those are life skills and we're very proud of him. Not to mention that he gets to go to a first-grade room for reading each week because he's doing so well and reading up a storm!

Decorating the Tree

This was a quick layout and isn't very embellished or even all that much to get excited about. But, it was simple and I liked the background paper. I'm all about paper. You can never have too much scrapbook paper, I say.

There is no journaling, because I felt the title pretty much said it all.

National Night Out

This layout is from August 2007. Our neighborhood has a Neighborhood Watch program and one of the ways to get to know each other is by participating in Natinoal Night Out. We met in the cul de sac in the middle of the neighborhood. We had hotdogs, chips, cookies, drinks. The kids played basketball, drew with sidewalk chalk, rode around on various motorized vehicles, rode bikes/skateboards/scooters and even had the chance to do a small craft, like the one Randall is holding in the picture with him in the pocket.

I used stickers that I had had for a very long time on this layout. I'm not a huge sticker fan, but I just loved these and was determined to use the pocket and put someone in it! I wasn't sure if I would like it but I went ahead and cut out Randall. And, of course, then there's no turning back! But once it was all glued down, I loved it!

Gathering Acorns

Some Fall scrapbooking.

This layout is from last October. Our neighbor, Allison, told us that LeTourneau University had some huge acorns and she had them arranged in a pretty glass vase as a simple decoration. We decided to make a family night of it and go gather acorns. The weather was nice and the evening was lots of fun.


Journaling reads:
"We went to LeTourneau University to gather acorns for some fall decorating around the house. First, though, the boys got to play on the "big machines" (R. G. LeTourneau's machines--I used to love playing on them when I was younger, too). Russ rode his bike, too. Then we gathered lots of huge acorns. We all had a lot of fun!"