Simon Says Stamp- Stamptember 2014

Today I want to share the last project I have made using the Simon Says Stamp Lots of Snowflakes stamp set.

I had a list of projects I wanted to create with these stamps. Some I got finished, others didn't, then a few ideas just took off and I ended up with projects I didn't plan. Yesterday's project was one of those type projects and so is today's.

I love how sometimes you plan your projects and then sometimes creativity totally takes over and takes you in a whole different direction.

This piece is probably my favorite of the week. Small, but so full of potential. I have no idea where it will end up this holiday season, but I know it will be used. 

It may actually be my jumping off point as I plan my Christmas cards & December Daily album. I love the colors and the old dictionary pages, the red and green mixed with the blue & white, & the old text paper. It just seems very me. 

The actual size was meant to be 3x4, but the "Merry Christmas" banner piece hangs over the edge, so it is probably more like 3 1/2 x 4. 

I started with watercolor paper and used Broken China Distress Ink & Perfect Pearl Mist to watercolor the background. I then used Broken China Distress Ink and the ink blending tool to ink the edges. The darker blue splotches were made by rubbing the Broken China Distress in pad onto an acrylic block and then spraying it with water. I then stamped the ink directly onto the piece. 

The trees are from Tim Holtz/Stamper's Anonymous Reindeer Flight Stamp Set & stamped in Peeled Paint Distress Ink. I stamped a few of the smaller snowflakes, from the Lots of Snowflake stamp set, in Versamark and then heat embossed them in a white and silver glitter embossing powder. 

The "Merry Christmas" banner was made by covering a scrap piece of cardstock with old dictionary pages. The Merry Christmas sentiment is from an older Hero Arts stamp set and was stamped and then embossed using a combination of American Crafts Rouge embossing powder & PK Glitz red glitter.

I added iridescent sequins and then added the "Merry Christmas" Banner across the bottom with foam tape.

Thank you so much for stopping by this week and thanks again to Simon Says Stamp for generously sending my such an amazing stamp set to work with. 

Simon Says Stamp- Stamptember 2014

I love fall with all of the beautiful colors and crisp cool breezes. When you add daily creative inspiration, like Stamptember, into my favorite season I am over the moon excited!

Today's project started as a card using the smaller snowflake images of the Lots of Snowflakes set. 

I wanted to use the smaller flakes as the base for the card & then add larger, fussy-cut flakes for the accents on the finished card.

I randomly stamped the smaller flakes with Versamark & then heat embossed with a white & silver glitter embossing powder that I have had in my stash for years. 

Once I completed the base, I stamped, silver embossed, then fussy cut a few of the larger flakes. As I started to lay out the design I decided that it just seemed to busy, so I scrapped the card idea altogether. 

Instead of wasting the card base, I decided to cut it into two pieces and use them for inserts in my Project Life or December Daily album.

The resulting 3x4 cards are fun and I look forward to using them in my album.

The cards were not quite 4 inches wide, so I decided to cut them & add elements that made it look more intentional, rather than just a fix. 

On the first card I used a ribbon to cover where I cut the card in half. The glitter flakes and star came from the dollar spot at Target a few years ago. The snowman is one of my favorite older small stamps from Hero Arts & was stamped then watercolored with Twinkling H2O's. 

For the second card I removed a larger section of the stamped piece so I could stamp "Wintertime", which is from an older Hero Arts stamp set. The small blue flake is from the SSS Lots of Snowflakes stamp set. I then added washi tape to the white background card. To finish this card I added iridescent sequins and flicked the whole thing with Perfect Pearl Mist. 

Both cards were edged with Broken China Distress Ink before they were mounted to the background pieces. 

The Wintertime card will definitely end up in my PL album, but the more I look at the other card, I think I might end up making additional cards and using them on the boys Christmas presents this year. 

I have one more small project to share tomorrow using the Lots of Snowflakes stamp set. Here is a small peek. 

Wordless-ish Wednesday

We interrupt this week of new Stamptember projects to share a picture of my constant scrapping companion.

He really cares nothing for scrapping & creating, but he likes to be nearby with toys. I enjoy listening to him babble and chatter to me and his toys as he builds and plays.

 He leaves behind a mess on the playroom floor that is almost as big as a mess as my scrap desk. He is boy after my own messy heart and great company when I am downstairs in the playroom/scrap space.

Simon Says Stamp- Stamptember 2014

Thanks for coming back for today's project! Today's project is a little more simple & less time consuming than yesterday's banner.

I am always in need of tags for packages & handmade gifts in December. As I was making the dictionary text snowflakes for yesterday's banner I decided to cut out a few strips using the Sizzix/Tim Holtz Rosette Snowflake Decorative Strip Die. I found out that you do need to cut two strips in order to make the full rosette snowflake. So I ended up with four complete snowflakes after running eight dictionary text strips through my Big Shot. I also ended up with two small snowflakes that should be sandwiched on either side of the rosette snowflake when it is all glued together.

I did adhere my dictionary text to cardstock scraps before cutting it into to strips to die cut. The dictionary paper is really thin and needed the cardstock for stability.  Before folding the rosette snowflakes I added Distress Ink in Old Paper and Broken China to the pieces. I then folded the flakes & used a glue gun to attach the rosette to one of the snowflakes, filled the center of the rosette with hot glue to hold it together, then covered the center with another snowflake.

The finished tags look like this.

I used manilla shipping tags that I picked up at Hobby Lobby years ago. The "Merry Christmas & Happy New Year" phrase is from an older Hero Arts stamp set (CL538). I stamped a mid size snowflake from the Lots of Snowflakes stamp set in Broken China Distress ink on some cream colored cardstock, then fussy cut each one. I attached one snowflake on top of each of the Rosette Snowflakes using foam tape. I then adhered a pearl to each of the centers and then used Star Dust Stickles on the edges of the snowflakes underneath. 

Here is a close up of one of the centers, that shows the stamped snowflake from the Lots of Snowflakes stamp set.

I adhered the rosettes to the tags using hot glue because of how heavy the finished flakes were. To finish the tags I added gems, pearls, & ribbon to the top of each one. 

As you can see I am always conflicted about how to attach ribbon in a tag. I usually try it both ways before deciding which way I want to use it. I plan to leave these like this until I begin attaching them to the packages this Christmas. Then I'll decide which way looks better. 

Please leave any questions in the comments section. Tomorrow will be a Wordless Wednesday post of my sweet, babiest boy (I have three of those stinky, little boy people) & then Thursday I will be sharing another blog post using the Lots of Snowflakes set. 

Here is a sneak of Thursday's project.

Simon Says Stamp- Stamptember 2014

I was lucky enough to be chosen to receive an early release of a stamp set from this years Simon Says Stamp Stamptember release. The stamp set I received is called Lots of Snowflakes (SSS101443).

I have no idea how the sweet people at Simon Says Stamp knew how much I loved snowflakes, but somehow they got lucky with the set they sent, because it was perfect. I really love this set and can't wait to create even more winter projects with it. I am thinking it will used heavily in this year's December Daily Album.

The first project I wanted to create was a banner that will be used either in our home or in my library at school. I am leaning more towards using it in the library, if I can find/ or make a large snowman to hold it. For the time being it is hanging across my Expedit shelf in my scrap space.

This banner started with some blue scraps of cardstock, some dictionary pages, and some old Rusty Pickle chipboard stencil letters. I have been really into using up scraps and other bits and pieces that have been in my scrap space for a while. All the above mentioned materials have been around for a long time and I am glad I could find a new way to breathe life into them.

        

In these two close ups you get a better idea of what the banner looks like and how it was constructed. I covered the chipboard with dictionary paper, from an old dictionary (one of the perks I have as a librarian...access to endless amounts of old book paper). After it dried I covered the letters with Distress ink in Old Paper and then added a mix of Ranger Star Dust Stickles and Distress Rock Candy Stickles. The text snowflakes that are stitched between the letters are from the Sizzix/Tim Holtz Snowflake Rosette Die. They too have a little shimmer from the Stardust Stickles and a touch of Broken China and Old Paper Distress Ink. 

 

Now for an even closer look at a few of the banner pieces. Up close you get a better look at the Lots of Snowflakes stamp set. Each flag was cut with the jumbo fishtail die set by My Favorite Things. Then the snowflakes were stamped using Broken China Distress Ink. It isn't the best ink for stamping, but I love how it bleeds and moves when water/Perfect Pearl Mists are added, so it is perfect for my stamping needs. On top of the ink I added lines and dots with my Signo White Uniball broad tip pen to give the snowflakes a little more definition so they would pop off the background. After attaching the chipboard letters with Ranger Multi Medium Matte, I added gems and iridescent sequins from my stash to each of the banner flags. I also flicked Biscotti Perfect Pearls over the finished pieces before I sewed them together into a banner. 

I am looking forward to having this fun, sparkly banner hanging around this winter. If you have any questions about how I created this banner or the products I used please leave your question in the comments section and I will most definitely answer it. I enjoy getting comments & questions. 

Come back tomorrow for tomorrow's project "Christmas Tags" using this same stamp set. 

Here is a quick preview. 

A Cocoa Daisy Layout--His Will is Strong

The pictures I hurriedly snapped this past rainy Monday (see this post), reminded me of a layout I had yet to post.

I am still amazed it rained on the first day of school. The rain plus the fact I was dropping all three boys off at three different schools made taking beginning of the year pictures difficult to take. To save time I decided to just use my phone to snap a couple before the boys got in the car.

Carter picked up Jude who was running around in the carport. Jude LOVES "side" as he call the outside. Anytime we go outside he is determined to get down and take off. So this time when Carter picked him up so I could get a shot of all three of them, Jude was not a happy camper. In both pictures he is wiggling, squirming, and protesting in an effort to get down.

His squirmy protests reminded me of a few months ago when the same thing happened on the last day of school. On that particular occasion, I was lucky enough to capture a few good shots with my big Canon camera. But then I tried to get a few pictures with my phone to share on Instagram and Facebook. The layout below shows the resulting chaos.

For this layout I used the May 2014 "Here I Am" Cocoa Daisy Kit . I also chose the title after considering Ronda Palazzari's One Little Word for May 2014 "Will".

This layout makes me laugh and is such a great snapshot of Jude at this age and how his brother's react to his new need for freedom. Jude loves to outwit the big boys and to wiggle and whine just enough to get his way with them. The big boys, as you can tell, find this behavior quite frustrating.

Oh how these boys keep me on my toes! Luckily, I usually have my phone close by to capture our everyday crazy.

Back to School

Towards the end of July the five of us begin to get tired of one another. By the time the middle of August arrives we are crazy tired of being together. Since Jess and I both teach, we spend all summer at home with the boys, which gives us so much time to make memories, but eventually the summer gets long and we are all ready to head into a more structured schedule.


 I am always amazed at how much my boys grow and change over the summer break. All three of them grew taller and after Carter's physical (he is going to play football for the first time) I realized he had also put on almost 7 pounds. No wonder my grocery bill has been going up! We have entered the "They will eat anything that doesn't eat them first" stage of boy raising.. Fabulous.


 Each year I take a beginning of the year shot of the boys and a last day of the year shot of them. It is always fun to look at the two most current photos and see how much they have changed. In this case the end of the 2013-2014 school year in May (daycare, 2nd, and 4th grades) compared to the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year this past Monday, August 18th (daycare, 3rd and 5th grades).

The first picture was taken on the last day of school and the second picture was taken Monday as we all headed back to school.

This year it rained on the first day of school, in August.. Weird. I can't remember a time when it has rained in all my years of attending or teaching school. So this years annual back to school photo was taken in the carport instead of by the dogwood tree in the front yard.

Taking these type of photos are a reminder of how quickly time passes. On one hand I want the school year to pass quickly so I can have a summer to spend with the boys. But on the other hand I hate feeling like I am wishing my days away. I treasure each and every moment with these three and the idea of them growing up and driving, having girlfriends, and then moving out and leaving makes me sad right now. It all seems to go by so fast.

It really is hard being a Mama with her heart walking around outside her body in these three.

Not a Wordless Wednesday

They say every summer has a story. Five weeks into our summer & this is our story...

Two baseball playing all-stars. One on a 7-8 Little League Pitching Machine team, the other on a 9-10 Little League Minor League (live arm) team. We have played in the morning, afternoon, & night (still playing at midnight...3 TIMES!). We have played in the blazing sun, the pouring rain, & wrapped up in blankets & jackets. All within the past five weeks. 

 Little brother has been happy to go along as there have been toys, snacks, his tennis ball & glove, and did I mention snacks? He has been up early, missed naps, been up past bedtime, & has done it all remarkably well.

The big boys have loved every minute of playing and still aren't done. There is one more State tournament to go.

I love watching my boys make memories, make friends, and become better ballplayers. I love watching little brother watch and imitate his big brothers & want to be out there in the middle of it all.

These are the moments I live for. The moments when my boys show me who they are & what they love.

I love them and the things they are passionate for. I'd follow them and their dreams to the ends of the Earth.

This is what we do

Over the weekend I snapped this picture of Jude watching his brother play baseball. This photo reminded me of another picture I had taken in May 2007 of Ethan watching his cousin, Brittany, play  t-ball.These two photos say so much about our family and who we are.

Jude- July 2014

Ethan- May 2007

I knew when I married a coach that I would have children who participated in sports, which was fine with me. I grew up a ballet dancer and a band member & completely lacked an interest in sports and more importantly, lacked athletic ability.:) My younger brother on the other hand was blessed with athletic ability and as he grew up I sat through many a baseball game. I loved watching him play and especially enjoyed summer ball when my dad coached him.

Fast forward to today with our three boys. We spend a great deal of time at ballgames. Basketball in the fall and spring and lots of baseball in the summer. I love that this is who we are. We show up to almost all of Jess' high school games, during the school year,  to cheer on Daddy and his players, then on Saturday's we are there to cheer on Carter and Ethan as they play basketball. During baseball season we are at all the boys games encouraging them.

There are so many great things about being a sports family, but the absolute best part of it is that we are all there together making memories and cheering each other on. I know as adults my boys will look back on these years and the biggest memory I want them to have is that their family was there supporting them and loving every minute of getting to watch them play.

This is what we do & who we are. Love my sweet family!

Use your Stash- #1

In about two weeks my very best scrappy friend and I will set off for our annual girl's weekend in Arlington, TX. Every year we shop the Great American Scrapbook Convention and then shop in and around Frisco and Allen, TX. Lots of time to relax (we are both teachers and are ready for a break from school), catch-up, and laugh (lots). This trip does my heart good and I look forward to it every year.

About this time each year I get an itch to use up lots of the stuff I currently have, because we always pick up new stuff at the convention. So today I am going to share a card I made and sent to a friend using mainly scraps from my stash of scrapbook supplies.

I used ribbon pieces I keep in a small jar on my scrap table, sequins I have had for years, a "hello" wood tag from an older Cocoa Daisy kit, and new stamps from the May 2014 Cocoa Daisy Kit-"Here I Am"

Card Sentiments II Stamp Set

I love keeping this cute little jar of ribbon scraps on my table. The jar itself is from a Woodwick Candle I used up a long time ago. The ribbon pieces are small enough not to stick back in the jars of other longer ribbon pieces. 

Sequins seem to be a big trend right now in scrapbooking and cards, so I dug through my stash and found some that I've had for a long time. So long in fact I am not even sure of all the manufacturers. I know many of these are from Queen & Co., back when the company first started, and the others may be from Wal-Mart. After I made this card I actually divided these sequins up by color to store them in a travel medicine container (the one's that are divided by the days of the week) & plastic baby food containers. This will make it easier to find the color and style of sequin I want to use. 

Here is my finished card & it's interior.

Have you used your stash lately??

Hugs! Olivia

Adventure

The layout I am sharing today was made using the October 2013 Cocoa Daisy Kit“Sweater Weather”. 

I started out with the April Sketch seen here and it kind of took off from there. I love sketches; they just make scrapping easier for me, because I don’t have to think about the design. Instead I get to focus more on the story I want to tell and the pictures I want to include. Cocoa Daisy puts out great sketches each month for their sketch challenge  and I also print off the monthly Page Maps sketches and keep those in a binder that it always close at hand.

This layout includes 9 pictures that I took over a twenty-four hour time period at my parent’s house. It was a quick trip and actually may have been less than twenty-four hours. My parents live two hours away and this particular weekend Jess’ basketball girls were playing in our High School Basketball District Tournament, which was taking place about 45 minutes from my home town. So after the finals Saturday evening, which we won, the boys and I drove to my parents for the night.  

I grew up on 90 acres of open land with lots of trees, ponds, and creeks. I know every inch of those 90 acres from constant exploring as a child.  The way Mom kept an eye on my brother and me was to yell across the pastures every once in a while as we were out exploring.  As long as we answered her yell, we were good to go. I do the same thing with the big boys when we visit. I love that this tradition continues for my boys.

When we are home visiting the boys feel a great sense of freedom and they take full advantage of every minute of daylight. It helps that they have cousins right across the pasture to play with and that my Mom has a no technology policy at her house when the kids are all together.  They literally wear themselves ragged playing.

Jude hasn’t figured out how much freedom he has quite yet. He loves to explore Mom and Dad’s large yard, lounging dogs, and have the attention of his grandparent’s and older cousins. He has also taken a ride or two on the go-cart while riding in Mama’s lap and loved it.

This layout captures the busy and the worn out.  I think it still lacks a little embellishing, but I still love it. Right now it is still sitting on my scrap desk. It may get a little more embellishing or it may just go into an album.  I have yet to decide. 

Happy Scrapping! 

Aspire and Dream

Yesterday I shared my love for Ronda Palazzari's monthly One Little Word's. Today I want to share two more layouts, one for January 2014 word #79 Aspire & one for March 2014 word #81 Dream.

For Aspire, I wanted to share how proud I am of my big boys and the amazing people they are becoming. I am the first to admonish them when they make mistakes, but I am also their biggest champion. My mother heard a speaker on American Family Radio speak about raising children and shared some of the wisdom with me. The biggest thing I took away from our conversation is that many parents spend their time trying to raise great children, when in fact parents should be trying to raise their children to be great adults.

That really resonated with me & it is exactly what Jess and I try to do on a daily basis. We want our boys to be able to leave our home and be responsible, Christian young men. I don't always feel like we are accomplishing it, but I am always willing to get up the next day and try it all over again.

Jeremiah 29:11 is a verse that we use often in our house to remind our boys that God has even bigger plans for them than we do & that his plans are more important than any we can make for them or that they can make for themselves. They just have to be willing to be patient and listen to the Lord.

This verse was my jumping off point for my Aspire layout, along with sharing with the boys what I hope they aspire to do in their lives now & in the future. 

For this layout I used the January 2014 Cocoa Daisy Kit- Blueprint along with stamps from Technique Tuesday and some labels from My Mind's Eye. 

My second layout was for the word Dream and I knew immediately that I wanted to scrap pictures of all three boys sleeping. The biggest obstacle for this layout was picking a single picture of each boy to use from the 4,580 sleeping boy images I have saved. That number might be a slight exaggeration, but not by much, because I love catching the innocence of them as they are sleeping. 

There are not enough words to describe how much I love this layout. I am thinking that this one may end up hanging in a shadow box in the house somewhere. Such a calming layout and beautiful pictures of my little boys. Such a brutally, sweet reminder at how quickly time passes. 

For this layout I used the January 2013 Cocoa Daisy Kit- Pemberley, some older Heidi Swapp ghost shape stars covered in Slate and Silver Alcohol Inks, a Technique Tuesday stamp, and some small wood veneer stars from Studio Calico.

Magic & Calm

Hello All,
It's been a while! February and the first part of March are always super busy with all the high school basketball that we watch. We won our State Basketball Championship again this year. It so amazing and a stressful journey to win in back to back years. I feel this journey deserves a post all its own, so I will leave the details to another day with maybe a layout or two :).

Today I want to share a couple of layouts I have made based on Ronda Palazzari's One Little Word. Ronda puts up a new word each month on the fifteenth and I have been playing along here and there for the past few month's. She has the uncanny ability to pick words that touch a cord in me and usually makes me immediately think of a photo and story I want to tell. I can honestly say that many of the words she has picked have led to really heartfelt journaling on my pages. It is amazing how a simple word can pull such emotions from within you, such as this one I did in September 2012 based on her word Unlock.

The two words/layouts I want to share were from December 2013 #78 Magic & from March 2014 #80 Calm.

When I saw the word Magic I knew immediately that I wanted to right about the Magic of the Christmas Season as seen through the eyes of Jude, who had just turned a year old. There is nothing better than watching a young child taking in all the wonder and sparkle of Christmas.

I love this picture of Jude, you can definitely see how magical this Christmas season was for him. These are the moments I treasure and I am so glad I scrapbook them for the boys when the are older. They may not remember these times, but they will have the memories from my thoughts and stories. 

I made this layout using a Page Maps sketch & the February 2013 Cocoa Daisy Kit Double Feature. Calm is so very overrated at our house. The boys are very busy, all the time, and unless they are sleeping or entranced by technology there is always some sort of activity going on. Luckily all three of them get along really well & I usually find them playing altogether or at least playing in the same room. I am also very glad that we have a basement playroom that houses the video game systems, a pool table, and the majority of their toys. It is great to send rowdy, big boys downstairs to play on days that it is too cold or wet to play outside. 

I have two more layouts to share using some of Ronda's wonderful words, so please check back tomorrow to see Aspire and Dream.

Until tomorrow!

Wordless-ish Wednesday

Snow days are very rare in Arkansas, even more rare is a Martin family photo. Thanks to my mom for taking this picture of all 5 of us together.

Twelve things on the Twelfth-- the Love Edition

Last month I posted a "Twelve Things on the Twelfth" list for each one of the five of us. I then simply took the pictures and lists I blogged and made them into a layout using the January 2014 scrapbook kit- "Blueprint" from Cocoa Daisy.  Here is the end result. (Please pardon the less than stellar photos, winter is not a great time to photo layouts.)

I rarely do two page layouts anymore so this layout was nice change for me. It was also came together very easy since the journaling was already complete and all I had to do was print and add it to my layout. 

On to this month's "Twelve Things on the Twelfth" blog post. Since it is February each list will include things that we love right now. I plan to use this month's Cocoa Daisy kit "Color Swatch" to scrap this layout as well & make it a two page layout similar to January's. 

He loves:

1.  reading the paper everyday. He always reads the sports first.
2.  basketball this time of year, lots of games, preparing the team for district, regional, and state tournaments.
3. reading basketball blogs to see what people are saying about our team & other teams throughout the state. It's a big bonus when bloggers post links to games he can watch online of possible opponents in the state tournament.
4. Sportscenter. I go to bed earlier and when I turn on the TV the next evening it is usually on ESPN from the night before.
5. watching the boys play basketball, but gets easily frustrated with their playing, the coaching, or the officiating.
6. cherry cokes from Sonic.
7. coconut popsicles.
8. lazy days/evenings in front of a roaring fire.
9. rocking Jude to sleep.
10. watching sports with the boys and talking about the games and plays.
11. visiting with people. He is very social and approachable and enjoys talking with others.
12. his family more than anything else in the world.

She loves:

1. reading, mostly middle grade/YA fiction, but trying to get back into reading adult fiction as well. 
2. her job as a middle grade librarian.
3. watching her big boys play sports & watching them grow as players from game to game & year to year.
4. watching Jude try, say, & learn new things.   
5. the time she has carved out of her schedule each week to blog & scrapbook. The creativity is a stress reliever & very enjoyable.
6. the fact that she is lightening up and making friends. She tends to be more reserved and family driven, so friendships are few and far between.
7. heels and boots, but right now her right foot is hurting because of them (stress fracture maybe?).
8. cooking, but doesn't have a chance to do as much as she'd like to because of the busy schedules.
9. to cross stitch & has a number of patterns waiting for her.
10. a clean house, but it is hard to keep up with. Too many mess makers, not enough cleaners!
11. Pinterest for creative & decorating ideas & Instagram for photo sharing with friends.
12. her family of crazy guys!

He loves:

1. acting silly and having an audience to watch his antics.
2. playing sports & is good at most things he attempts to play.
3. to play ball outside, even when it is cold.
4. being a water boy for Dad's ball team because he gets to sit on the bench.
5. wrestling around on the floor with Jude and letting him jump all over him.
6. to argue. Not his parents favorite activity.
7. to read, but prefers a lower level book instead of one that challenges him.
8. play ball with Ethan, but gets irritated when Ethan won't play by his rules.
9. snow and is upset we haven't had more snow days this year.
10. playing games on the Wii, Xbox, and Kindle.
11. math. It is his favorite subject and he is capable of doing lots of problem-solving in his head.
12. his family even though his little brothers can irritate him and he thinks his parents aren't fair sometimes. 

 He loves:

1. to play outside in the leaves.
2. to irritate others and thrives on watching their reactions. 
3. to work puzzles, crossword and word finds, and read What do you see, hidden picture books. 
4. playing ball with Jude.
5. to read and snuggle up with his Mama.
6. sneaking into the living room to have his Daddy rock him, even though he knows we know that it is only a ploy to stay up later.
7. technology.
8. leave his clothes on his bedroom or the bathroom floor.
9. show others what a good big brother he is.
10. to be the water boy on his Dad's team, but his real favorite is being on the court with the girls during the pregame shoot around.
11. that he is 31 days away from being 8 years old.
12. his family and is glad he is the middle brother.

He loves:

1. being the center of attention.
2. going to ballgames, but is over it all by halftime & lets everyone know he is ready to go.
3. playing with Carter and Ethan & following them around when they are playing without him.
4. climbing. This is going to be a problem.
5. anything round, because in his mind it is a ball.
6. rocking on the rocking horse that I had as a little girl.
7. to dance.
8. taking a bottle at night even though his brothers were not allowed to have bottles at this age. 
9. flipping through board books and chattering as he does it. Another reader in the making.
10. throwing almost all the balls out of his ball pit and leaving them out for someone else to pick up.
11. to eat, almost anything. He also loves to pat his fat belly afterwards.
12. his family and is happiest when everyone is home with him. 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Four out of five Martin's are loving basketball right now. The other Martin loves all the basketball, but needs a nap, a maid, a driver, and a massage. Some days I can't keep up with all the crazy!