Holidays are different in Alaska...

Ha...I have to tell you, when we first moved here, Jeff worked for the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation. He got a call one day from a woman who wanted to come visit Alaska from "the lower 48." She asked alot of questions, and then asked about whether she could spend US currency here. Well, of course you can since we are actually one of the 50 US states.

But, we do things differently here, that's for sure. We can actually go visit Santa at his house (see my post from June 2009), Easter egg hunts are really hard outside since there's still snow on the ground, and fireworks on the 4th of July are REALLY hard when the sun hasn't gone down. Sooooo, we have fireworks at midnight. And even then, the night sky isn't totally dark. Fireworks just aren't very spectacular in Alaska...even at midnight.

The Mama...part 2

We had a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L day today. I kinda wish we had gone to the fair...until Jeff told me the traffic was backed up about 10 miles. I guess most of the area thought it was a good day to go to the fair. So, we'll just plan on going one day RIGHT after school and come home after dinner.

The beautiful day gave me the opportunity to take some pictures of layouts that weren't scanning well. I thought the first post should be the "Sammy" layout I mentioned last time. This is the perfect example of Erica being a daredevil...just like me. Hopefully the weather will hold out this week and we'll get some more pictures of us on exciting rides. Until then, enjoy!

That's the mama in her...

Jeff and I often joke about "That's the mama/daddy in her" whenever Erica does or says something odd...whoever gets it out first, usually. One of the things I will own up to is Erica being a daredevil. She loves rides and doing exciting things, just like me. That's definitely the mama in her! I've posted before about her liking roller coasters. She can't wait until she's tall enough to ride Wild Fire in Branson, Mo (maybe next summer). And I can't wait! Jeff won't ride them with me, so I either go alone or with Grandpa when he's with us. Now I have Erica to go with, too...YEAH!!!

This year at the 4th of July picnic (and last year at the State Fair) she climbed the rock wall and rode Sammy the Slippery Sockey Salmon (Erica says there's a "slammin'" in there, too...but I couldn't make it fit on the layout, sorry). Last year her arms weren't long enough to ring the bell at the top of the wall, but this year they were. I saw a layout with the pictures at an angle in a Scrapbook Trends Magazine and thought it was perfect to show the progression of Erica climbing the wall. And adding the coordinating circles reminded me of the steps she took up the wall. She practically ran up the wall, what a hoot! And she got low and held on tight to that slippery salmon. It bucked her off a few times, but she rode it a LOOONG time.

Weeeeelllll, like I said, my scanner is acting up, and I couldn't get the salmon layout to scan. The black squiggles at the bottom are supposed to be the year, but I guess the scanner didn't like that part of the layout. Oh, well. I'll have to upload the other layout later...hopefully in the next few days...sorry!

Our little turkey...

Ha, more fun at Erica's expense...isn't that the best part of being a parent? OK, maybe not the best part, but it's sure a fun added benefit.

Erica was invited to a bowling party earlier this year (wow, I'm not as far behind as my last post made it sound). I think that was the first time she bowled without the wii (she's better with the wii, by the way). I couldn't resist the title on this layout. I journaled that while she didn't make any strikes, she's still our little turkey. Boy is she gonna kill me when she's old enough to care about this...hee, hee. That said, she did tie for the high score on her "team."

I made this layout at an all-day crop a week or so ago. The bowling balls and pins are made from a Cricut cartridge (Nifty Fifties).

School has started...

Well...today was the first day of school--Third Grade. Yes, I got pictures, but no, I don't have my camera downloaded yet. I need to get into a good routine for scrappin' and bloggin'...I'm trying.

Grandma and Grandpa are in town this week, so Erica's first day of school (and first week) is a bit different. We still did our standard tradition of going out for breakfast, but this year she didn't go to Faith for their drop off. And the pick up was a little different since she didn't take the Faith bus, either. But she's easily adaptable...the first day was AWESOME.

Until I get this year's first day done, and the pictures downloaded, here's a studying layout from almost a year ago (wow, I can't believe how far behind I am...I guess Project 12 made me feel like I was getting things done, but I still like to do the individual pages). Anyway...here it is. A total scrap lift from Scrapbooks Etc, including the papers (October Afternoon). I saw the page and wanted to do kite flying, but I didn't have any pictures, so I used these to "get 'er done."

P.S. I'm having scanner problems...not all my layouts are scanning well. For some reason the scanner wants to crop the layouts into smaller pictures. I need to pull my camera out in good weather and take pix, I guess...blah, I'm no good at that, either. Guess I'll get some more practice.

Soccer Stars

This should've been a post I made last month cuz it's a digital layout. Nicole called and asked if I'd help her make a layout for the Coach Pat and Coach Ben. Of course I would!!! She came over with a bunch of pictures from one of the other moms...and I had the team picture (or a partial team picture since Erica and Bella were camping during the official picture day). This is another template from Scrapbooks Etc. It was perfect for the 13 girls plus the team picture. We put a puffy soccer ball in the center block. This is the one we gave to each of the parents since Coach's daughter was helping and all the girls loved her so much.

By the way, the team WON the Boys and Girls Club tournament for U10. It was a double elimination tournament. The girls lost one game all season--to the leprechauns--and tied one other game to a team they played four times during the season. The leprechauns were undefeated all season. In the tournament they beat us on our second game. We had to play them in the last game and figured they'd beat us and we'd be in second. We beat them and then had to play them again 30 minutes later to determine the final winner...we beat them again!!! We couldn't believe it! The girls did awesome!

Mamma's Pride and Joy

Well, the last post was such a chuckle at Erica's expense...this one is full of my pride for her. One of our favorite family games is Cribbage. Erica actually learned how to play before I did...and she's better than I am, too! But Jeff usually beats both of us, and not by a little bit. Then, one day in March, it happened...Erica beat Daddy!!! And I got it on film. I just love the look on his face.

And then there was the Alaska Run for Women in June. It's a 5 mile run to raise money for Breast Cancer research. Jeff was shooting, so Erica and I joined my Vegas Girls and their kids on the run...we were planning on walking, though. And then Erica decided she wanted to run. No, she didn't run the whole thing, but she ran alot of it. I was sooo proud of her. Now we're training to run a 5K. I told her she could have my ipod shuffle after she ran her first 5K all the way.

My wacky daughter

Sometimes I wonder if we have kids just for entertainment purposes. The things Erica says and does just crack us up! Let me share some of her personality with you:

I can't really remember what she was doing when I took these pictures. Forget for a minute that she's a total ham. What really makes me roll on the floor is her mittens hanging out of her hat like floppy ears. WHAT is THAT all about?!? I think that's the DADDY in her! It's got to be...cuz I don't think I'd ever do that... And this story I had to hear second hand...and every time Jeff tells it, his eyes water from laughing so hard. Here goes: It was crazy hair day at school and Erica asked me to give her three pony tails. I did, but it really didn't look very crazy, so I matted each one...now THAT'S crazy! The problem is I didn't know it wasn't crazy hair day at her Elementary School, only at her before and after school center. Oooops! You can't tell from the pictures (or I couldn't when I first took them), but Erica was not happy with me. In fact, she told Jeff, "I didn't ask for this hair...I'm going to be totally humiliated." And as if that wasn't enough, it was the tone in her voice that just put it over the top for him.

Hello...anyone still out there??? I am...finally

Well, it's been 6 months, but I'm alive again. Work has finally calmed down and Erica is done with soccer until next month. So I took some time to scrap (instead of cleaning). YEAH...a whole day of scrappin yesterday, what a blast. I've also scrapped a few Saturdays in June and July with Nicole (thanks, girl!) and have some pages to share from that, too. So...here ya go.

First, here's a layout from a Basic Gray kit that I finally added some pictures to...this was a kit from last October.
And two more layouts that I did last November with pictures...but to be fair, it's a Christmas layout and I had to wait to get the pictures added. Yeah, THAT'S my excuse.And last, but not least, Erica's first hunting layout. I actually scrapped this earlier this year (March, maybe) and JUST got it scanned.