(Lack of) Summer Scrapping

In some ways it feels like summer vacation just started, and in others I am counting down to back-to-school. We are in week four of summer break here and, while we claim not to be as busy this summer as we were last, I still feel like we are doing an awful lot of running around.

The boys and I are gearing up for an extra-long weekend trip to my parents' house. Hubby is running low on vacation time (and hanging on to some just in case a can't-pass-it-up Disney deal comes along!), so he will be staying home with the four-legged children. He'll be happy to leave the windows open, even though the forecast is calling for 90 degree temps. The Battle of the A/C is a common one in our house, as I live with one of the few men in this country that is not bothered by heat, and thinks it is perfectly acceptable for the temperature inside the house to reach the mid-80's. I do not find this acceptable (if we didn't have central air, that would be another story). But I digress...

I actually went three weeks without doing a single scrapbook page. For me, this is a long time. I finally managed to get some pages done in the past week, on the days that we didn't have the windows open and the humidity pouring in. I refuse to scrapbook when it's humid, as my paper gets warped and it's a generally unpleasant experience.

Anyway, I feel better that I got some pages done. When I've had any length of a break from scrapbooking, the first page back always feels like a "fix." I don't care what it looks like, I just revel in the fact that I got one done. Of course, since I'm leaving town, this latest burst of scrapping energy will be short-lived, and I'll have to get myself back into after I get back.

In the mean time, here are my latest pages, most of them for my youngest son's album.

Papers: DCWV
Punch: EK Success
Letter Stamps: PSX

Papers: Provo Craft
Stamp: Stampin Up
Cricut Cartridges: Mickey Font, George & Basic Shapes

Papers: DCWV
Stickers: Paper Studio, Stickopotamus
Cricut Cartridge: Lyrical Letters
Sketch: Amy Alvis

Papers: DCWV
Stickers: Paper Studio
Sketch: Amy Alvis
(This page really is straight. The stitching program just did something goofy with it)

Finding some Mojo

It figured that once I finally had a stack of nearly 500 photos to scrapbook, I lost my motivation. Maybe it was feeling intimidated by finally tackling the Disney album, or simply getting lured away by other distractions, but I couldn't seem to bring myself to work on any pages, even when I had the time.

Fortunately, earlier this week I had a brief burst of scrapping energy and cranked out a few pages. The boys are out of school for the summer (see yesterday's post), so it will be a little harder to get to any scrapbooking, if for no other reason than one of them will frequently be camped out at my work table, playing on my computer.

While I have a few minutes on my computer, here are my recent pages. As usual, there is nothing fancy about them.

Papers: DCWV
Punches: EK Success
Rubons: Making Memories

Papers: Scrap Book Wizard, Paper Studio
Punch: EK Success
Cricut Cartridges: Mickey Font, Lyrical Letters
Other: Stickles
(I duplicated this layout for my other son's album, only reversing the side the title was on)

Papers: K & Co., Stamping Station
Letter Stickers: Frances Meyer
Brads: unknown

Papers: DCWV
Punch: Martha Stewart
Cricut Cartridges: Lyrical Letters, Tear Drop
Brads: Paper Studio

School's Out!

Today was the last day of school for my boys. I definitely think they are happier about this than I am. I am looking forward to taking a break from the daily routine (although I take great comfort in my routines...Monday is Laundry Day, you know). I am happy to not have to set my alarm for the morning, but I will get frustrated when I don't get myself moving to get to the grocery store before lunchtime.

The challenge of every mom in the summer, I suppose, is to keep the kids fairly occupied without resorting to eight hours a day of TV watching/video game playing. There will be several weeks that they will have something to do for at least part of the day, whether it's Cub Scout camp or vacation Bible school. There are plenty of things I could do with them. We have memberships to the zoo, the museum center, and the theme/water park. However, none of these places is much less than twenty miles from our house, and with ever-increasing gas prices, hopping in the car for an 80-mile round trip is less than appealing.

Added to the mix of keeping the kids entertained is keeping them relatively quiet. My husband works from home three days a week, with much of his job consisting of conference calls. On the occasions where I can convince them to get away from the TV/wii, their activities tend to be noisy. They are boys, after all.

Today, though, I should celebrate my fourth-grader getting straight A's and my kindergartner doing well also (primary report cards are much less concrete, as I'm sure many of you know). I will also celebrate getting to sleep in tomorrow (although the boys will still be up before 7:00am, I'm sure. It will take them a week or so to shift to a later sleeping schedule).

Tomorrow I can dwell on the fact that in just eleven weeks, I will finally have two children in school full-time.