Bracket Mini Album of Van Saun Park/Zoo

I made this Bracket Mini Album for Victoria and Emma. It is filled with a bunch of pictures I took at Van Saun Park and Zoo last week. I purchased this great mini album kit from http://www.damboisedesigns.etsy.com/ . I have many items from here and have not been disappointed yet. You can check out Deb's blog as well. http://sayitwithletters.blogspot.com/ . You can view the entire album at Creativity{unbound} where I feature a mini album every Tuesday. http://creativityunbound.blogspot.com/2008/07/tuesday-mini-album_30.html tfl

Van Saun Park and Zoo

Yesterday I decided that since the weather was just perfect we needed to get out and run around a bit. I surprised Emma and Victoria and took them to Van Saun Park. After getting ready, I packed us a nice lunch, drinks and snacks and off we went. They were so excited to go see all the animals. One part of the zoo is screened off and filled with budgies (parakeets). I bought each girl a feeding stick and they got to hand feed the birds. Emma was a bit nervous but not Victoria, she had 2 and 3 birds feeding at a time. Of course, I had to take a ton of pictures. After lunch we looked at the last few animals and headed over to the gift shop where they each got a pair of safari binoculars. Emma is thrilled with them especially after Victoria taught her how to use them. Next we took a ride on the train around the zoo and you can never go here without going on the beautiful Carousel. Victoria rode a dragon and Emma chose a mountain goat. I guess you can ride a regular horse anywhere. lol Outside the zoo, they have 3 parks... one for toddlers and 2 big kid play areas. After about 6 hours of fun, it was time to go home. I told the girls that I haven't enjoyed them this much in a long time. No fighting, no pushing and for me no yelling... it was heaven! Since they were so good, I told them that we can go back once a week and they were so happy.

Van Saun Park and Zoo

Altered Photo Box for Mom

I made this for the Design Team I am on at http://www.creativityunbound.blogspot.com/ where you can find all the info on this project. I usually do Mini Albums on Tuesdays but Kelli and I decided to switch. You can see more pictures below in the slideshow. tfl

Use Your Stash Challenge

I am cutting this one close. There is a challenge over at Use Your Stash and the contest end by midnight tonight. Well here it is 9:21 pm est. The contest was to use your stamps. I had two boxes I got when I bought wallets about a year ago and held onto them because I knew they would eventually come in handy, and they did. My two little ones love to keep little treasures in their room and one of the things they collect are seashells. So I came up with this brainstorm today to use these boxes. They have a magnetic closure on the side. The boxes are a shiny black paper so I tried to find my Stazon White ink but no luck. I decided to use Stampin' Up Whisper White but I only had the craft ink and 2 hours have passed since I stamped this and it is still wet. ugh! lol I lined the inside with a light blue pp that resembled water to me (not sure of the manufacturer). Next I stamped these adorable characters from Stampin' Up Fishy Friends set with SU Black Ink. On the cover and binding I used the Stampin Around Sandy Shells with the SU Whisper White Craft Ink. The final touch was to stamp cherish in SU Black Ink from SU Warm Words set on the same blue pp with SU dimensionals. If you have time, you should stop in and check out the challenges/contests that Corey and Kimmie have at: http://useyourstash.blogspot.com/ tfl

Mini Albums

What can I say? I just love 'em! I always worked on 12 x 12 layouts and felt so pressured by myself. I would stay up all hours of the night just to try and get a page done. As much as I like or dislike my layouts that was not worth it. Now I can get a complete album done in one or two days depending on my day. I was asked to be on a design team (first for me... which was very exciting!) and my job is to make a mini album each week. These little albums have so much meaning for me and I am able to get the meaning across to my kids without much journaling which I like since my printer is not working. Above is the cover of Victoria's 7th birthday acrylic album and top view. You can view all the pages at http://creativityunbound.blogspot.com/2008/07/tuesday-mini-album_08.html . This is where I share my minis each Tuesday. Angela is the owner of the blog and is a wonderful person. We have a great design team but we need to get more people to visit us. If you know anyone who is into scrapping, please forward this link to them. I have done at least 4-5 minis since being on the DT - you can look at the older posts at the bottom of the page and look for Tuesday Mini Album for my other creations. I hope you enjoy looking at my album as much as I liked creating it! Love, Kimmarie

TGIF

Good Morning! I can't believe it is Friday already! Yay, tomorrow we are going to Sandy Hook Beach.... we can't wait. The weather has been so unpredictable lately and it seems like everytime with think it is going to rain, we put off our plans then it doesn't rain. I decided to take a chance and bring the girls to the Secaucus pool on Wednesday. It actually felt a bit chilly while we were there but as you can see from the pictures, the girls had a blast! Sara's friend (my "other" daughter, Jaimie) tagged along. She is so great with my little ones. The girls made up nick names for each other.... They kept the first letter of their name and added ermie to it. So we have, Sermie, Jermie, Vermie and Ermie. They actually got me calling them by these names... LOL Yesterday, the weather was perfect so I took Victoria, Emma and Victoria's friend Gabby to the park then back home to go in our pool until dinner. Victoria and Gabby both had to leave to go to cheering practice so Emma had the neighbor, Ashley come over to swim. All in all, it was a good day. I hope you all have a great Friday. No humidity again so more outside fun in the pool today! Sara has to go to work at recreation, today is splash day.

Monday...Monday

Good Morning! Here is a picture I took on July 1 of Sara, Victoria, Emma and our newest addition, Max. I adopted Max on Sat, June 28. I got him from a shelter down South Jersey when I was visiting family. The shelter people said that he is 7 yrs or older but can't be sure because his teeth are in very poor condition. He was exactly the kind of dog I have been looking for. He doesn't shed, he is house trained and hardly ever barks. It took him the entire week to get comfortable and happy but he finally came around on Sunday. He is running alittle and playing more. He will only eat Caesar food which is completely fine with me.... I am just so happy that he is eating! I made a vet appointment for him for the 18th. He has to have some teeth removed and other dental work as he has gingivitis. He will also have to go on antibiotics. Everyone has fallen in love with our little old man. He loves to go on long walks then come back home and lay in bed with Mark, my dh. Mark trys to get him riled up a bit and finally, Max started to fight back a bit. He is so cute! Bathing him is so easy... that's Sara's job and she loves it! I think Max feels right at home here and knows that we love him. Victoria and Emma each take turns walking him and holding him in the car when we go to the pet store. Sometimes I think Max gets exhausted just by all the attention he gets around here.

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. This is a picture of my 5 yr old, Emma and our newly adopted dog, Max. We had a relaxing day. Mark made a delicious bbq and Sara had some friends over. Victoria, Emma and I played a few games. When it got dark, Mark set off some fireworks and we watched the Macy's fireworks on tv in between. I just finished watching the fireworks that were going off at Giants Stadium. So nice, I could see them from my Florida room window and didn't have to on the stoop and get eaten by mosquitos. Tomorrow's plans are up in the air as it is suppose to rain on and off all weekend. We may hit the shore if it turns out nice, if not we may go to the fair at Giants Stadium with my dad. Well I am off to bed now. Sleep well....

My First Real Blog

I have been trying to find time to start my own personal blog, but there never seems to be any extra time. Well I decided now is the time even though I can be doing laundry or putting away clothes that have been in the basket for 2 days now. I can't vacuum because one of my daughters is still asleep. I guess I could dust or clean the bathroom. Nah, I will just try and figure out this blog. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share with me. I hope you can stop by often and let me know what you think. My goal is to share my personal life and my creations with family, friends and visitors.