Some layout shares...

Today is my son's birthday. I can't believe he's 10 now. It seemed like it was just yesterday when, after two hours of pushing, he came out of this world. I have learned so much about myself and the beauty of selfless love through him. Happy Birthday Mr. Marcus!

One of the many opportunities I discovered through having children is my passion for memory keeping. Marcus was nine months old when I attended a scrapbook class at my local church. The nice lady that taught it showed me the basic and from then on, I caught the bug. Here are couple of layouts I created, just for fun. 

Atlantis Playground

There's this awesome park back in Southern California that we loved to go to. It's interesting how this park has been around for a long time. My husband even remembered playing in the big dragon slide. These photos were taken way back in 2010. 

I decided to use some fun, happy colors in this page so I can evoke the feelings of joy and excitement, my children had during this trip. 

I added some handmade buttons using Epiphany Crafts button tool and buttons. 

Beginnings of a Book Worm

These photos were taken back in 2011 when my son was a 2nd grader. His class/grade participated in a reading program where they got a belt, similar to a karate belt, every time they read a certain amount of books. My son quickly caught the reading bug after this program. 

I decided to add some texture to the punched out tags by running them through my embossing machine with a star embossing folder. I then inked the top edges to show some color and finally, I punched out a star in the center and then added pattern paper under the tag.

I found this strip of books from a GCD Studios paper and I thought it worked perfectly with my layout theme. 

So there you have it. Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,

Grace

New Specs for Marcus

Remember this post about my son getting his first pair of prescription glasses? Well that was over a year ago. He was very excited about it for a couple of weeks but the excitement wore off and he refused to wear them ever since. Well I had a meeting with his Pediatrician recently. I told her that he has refused to wear his glasses and she suggested that we bring him back to the Ophthalmologist to see if his prescription changed. 

About three weeks ago we went back to the eye doctor. The good news is that his eyesight was much better than a year ago. The bad side (cause there's always the negative side, right?) One eye was working harder than the other so she gave him a new prescription to correct that issue. I made Marcus pick his frame with hopes that he'll want to wear it more often if he chose the design of the frame. 

Here's what he chose...

The eye doctor made a deal with Marcus. The plan was that he doesn't have to wear them all the time but she wants him to wear it when he's working on the computer or reading a book. Those where the only times it's a "must wear" item. 

Marcus shook the doctor's hand and called it a deal. Now here's my little man with his new specs...

Now it's my turn to shop around for some new specs. His new glasses are inspiring me to get a thicker frame for me too. It looks very "Clark Kent". Don't you think?

Till next time,

Grace

Pinewood Derby 2013

I would have to say that I do a lot of things for the kids. I help them with their homeworks and special reports. I'm a party planner for them, sometimes a taxi driver and even a cook/chef. But one thing I can't and probably will never help my son with is creating his car for Pinewood Derby. That type of  "thing" is something I reserve for my dear hubby and this year I'm so glad that he took on the challenge and helped Marcus create a cool looking truck that was a great improvement over all from last year's car. 

Last Saturday, Marcus got to race his cool truck and here are some pictures from that event...

Mitch let Marcus draw out the type of car/vehicle he wanted and Marcus chose a truck. After a quite dismal finish from the races last year and getting some tips from fellow Pinewood Derby "fathers", Mitch got to work in building the car. He worked on it for a whole week and we even bought a scale so we can be sure that it was right on the money as far as weight. Mitch didn't want to spare any details. 

The picture above is where Marcus' car fell in the line up of cars to race. The orange one next to him would be the over all winner and by the looks of that vehicle, we are leaning towards a leaner/flat car for next year's race. 

Here are some photos of the first heat of the race for Marcus. He was able to do three rounds in the first heat, getting one 3rd place and two 2nd place finish. 

During the second heat, he won all of his races which made him really happy and proud. The sad thing was that mom was chatting away and didn't even know Marcus was racing till it was all done (bad mom!) So to compensate I had Marcus show me two thumbs up and took this shot. He was still beaming with excitement and joy at this time so I'm glad I captured that part. :)

And here are my two awesome guys. It was definitely a group effort and I'm happy for both of them. Side story...Mitch was really getting into this and was equally proud of Marcus' car. He even got a little too proud when, as we were coming out from the car to go into the derby, he asked "where's MY car." I think it's kinda funny how fathers get into these things as much, if not more than their sons. 

And after the race, Marcus placed 9th (middle rank overall) and he got an award for "best workmanship"

It was definitely a great day for racing and for some father-son bonding. 

Till next time,

Grace