Better late than never...right?!?!

I'm jumping on the whole "thankful" bandwagon a little late but they always say, "better late than never." So, I'm starting my Attitude of Gratitude posts today :)
Today, I'm grateful for several things (I've got to make up for being late).
1. I'm thankful for the great hobby I have of scrapbooking and for the great friends that I have all over the world because of our common obsession, I mean...interest we share because of our scrapbooking.
2. A garage, yup, I'm thankful for my garage. When I was growing up and my parents built a house the garage was one of the last things that was finished. I remember my mom saying, "I'm so thankful for a garage." She said it over, and over, and over...for months! It wasn't until recently I fully understood why she kept saying that. It's been snowing here in Idaho for a couple of days and WOW, it's so nice not to have to scrape windows and strap kids into their car seats when it's snowing, raining, or freezing cold outside.
3. Of course the thing that I am most thankful for and that I'm thankful for everyday is my family. I have the best hubby that works so hard so that I can stay home with the kiddos and treats me better than I deserve. How couldn't I be thankful for my kiddos?...I have the best 3 kiddos in the world. I am so lucky to be their mommy!!!!
I'll sign off with a layout I created about being a mommy.

Austin's first Birthday...scrapped

I finally have a layout to share :) This is one of my favorites, hopefully, you'll enjoy it too!

A Perfect Fall Day for a Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday I took the 2 little kids on an adventure to the pumpkin patch. It really was an adventure because we got lost and when we found the pumpkin patch we found out the event we were going to was canceled and we had missed the message somehow. Anyway, our pumpkin patch visit turned out to be one of the best! There was a small group of kids and it was the perfect grassy field filled with rows and rows of pumpkins. It was the perfect pumpkin patch for Austin to visit. Kayleigh got to learn about how pumpkins grow and go in the straw maze. Austin got to crawl all over the piles of pumpkins and wander through the patch at his will. I left my camera home...*gasp* BUT I did have my moms in the car and I was able to snap a few quick photos :)

On the way home we stopped at Porters and I got some of this: (the Apple Cider line by Imaginisce)

and this:

 

And this:

I can't wait to get some pictures printed and get started!

It's been way too long...

...since I shared a scrapbook project! I mean WAY too long. I didn't do a lot of scrapbooking while I was pregnant, or when we were moving, or when we lived in the apartment. So, now that my baby is 1 and we're finally settled in the new house. Here's a couple of simple layouts. I have a few more but I can't share them...yet ;)

Back 2 School (a little late)

The kids started school just over a month ago. We're finally settled into a routine...we had a great summer but the kids (and the mom) do so much better with a routine. Cole is in 3rd Grade. He's doing great. He was so worried about starting 3rd grade in a new school but he's done so well and is making friends and loves his teacher. The first day of school he brought math homework with multiplication. I was a little worried because he didn't do any multiplication at his other school. He struggled with it for a few days but now he gets them done in no time! He's reading chapter books like nobody's business and will read Horrible Harry book...or two...before he goes to bed at night.








Kayleigh officially started school with the Idaho Virtual Academy on the 1st of September. She is doing awesome! If you don't know about virtual schooling here's a little run-down. IDVA is a public school so there is no tuition. She has a teacher that we call, email, that does her state testing, and organizes field trips. She doesn't "go" to school. We do her schooling at home. She does some of it on the computer but as a Kindergartner most of her schooling is done "offline." So far, we are doing great with it! She started on the 1st grade curriculum not long after school started and she amazes me everyday at what she can accomplish! She is so smart, we are so proud of her!
Before school started I took them out and took some back-2-school pictures. We started the tradition when Cole went to Kindergarten. This year we did things a little differently and instead of going to the school to take pictures we went to a few places around town. I love how they turned out.

I'm glad I took a picture....

I'm glad I took a picture because its not going to happen again! Last weekend we went to the Bair Reunion in Leslie. We left Thursday night so the kids could spend some extra time playing and visiting with Nana and Papa. We left home thinking that I would sleep upstairs in Nana and Papa's house with Austin and Justin would sleep in the tent with Cole and Kayleigh. Somehow (I'm still not sure how it happened) we all ended up in the tent. (Notice I didn't say *sleeping* in the tent). The kids finally decided that they would go to sleep around midnight and then Austin was up at 2:30 an then they were all up with the sun at 6:00AM.

Although we had a good time at the reunion and visiting with family. It's not a night I'd like to repeat. I think we'll let Austin get a little older before we attempt another campout.

I can't believe it's been 1 year

I can't believe it's been one year since Austin joined our family...and what a busy year it has been! Not long after Austin was born we decided that the house we were living in just wasn't working for us and we needed to find a better fit for our family. So at the end of September we decided that we needed to put our house on the market. We listed our home with a realtor the first week in October and it SOLD within 2 weeks. We were shocked, but also so excited that it didn't take long and we could begin looking for another home. We looked for a while and decided that we didn't like anything that was avaliable at the time so we rented an apartment.
We moved out the first week in November. We squeezed what we could into the apartment and the rest went into storage aka...Grampy's shop. While living in the apartment we kept watching for the right house to come on the market, nothing seemed to be the right fit. We knew that what we really wanted was to build a house. We didn't see how it could happen but late in November we found a lot and a contractor that could make it all work. In December they started building our home!!! We were so excited! We came to see the progress on our house almost everyday and counted down the days until April.
During our stay at the apartment Austin grew so fast! He is such a good baby. He started sitting up, scooting around, and almost crawling in the short time we lived in the apartment. We moved out of the apartment on the 28th of April and moved into our home on the 2nd of May. By the time we moved in Austin was crawling all over the place. He was so excited to have more room to roam.

We had a short time to get settled in and then summer came, school was out, and we got busy! The month of June was consumed with baseball games, scouts, picnics, and reunions. We were so excited to celebrate Austins birthday (we don't have any kids birthdays in the summer).

We planned a fun day as a family for Austin's birthday. Justin had 4 days off for the 4th of July weekend. The morning of Austin's birthday we got up and packed a picnic lunch and headed for Tauphaus Park. Our first stop was the zoo. The kids had so much fun! Their favorite part was the monkeys. There was one monkey that came right up to Austin and played with him.

After going to the zoo we went down the street to the park. We ate our picnic lunch and the kids played on the toys.

(Despite the sad look on Austin's face he really did have a lot of fun. He was just upset about mom making him hold still for the picture.)
The kids also got some time to play baseball with Daddy.

After playing at the park we went shopping for Austin a birthday present. We looked and looked. Austin doesn't really like toys so shopping for a birthday present for a 1-year-old who doesn't like toys proved to be a little bit of a challenge. We ended up buying him some new jammies, a couple of books, and a tent with a whole bunch of balls to put in it. (A ball is one toy that he will play with.)

After spending the whole day in Idaho Falls celebrating we came home for cake and ice cream with the Adams' side of the family. Austin got his very own cake...WOW, that was a huge HIT. We had to take it away from him so he didn't get a tummy ache. He made a HUGE mess but he wasn't about to miss out on the cake!

At the end of the day we had a tired, happy, full one-year-old little boy. Even though it's been a crazy busy year. We are so happy to have Austin in our family. There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't put a smile on our faces!

Happy Birthday Little Buddy...we love you!!