JYC2015 Days 5-8

It's time to share the next batch of my JYC2015 pages.  Day 5 probably came together the easiest for me, whereas day 6...let's just say that was harder. My day 5 (Shimelle's day 6) prompt was Christmas cozy.  We were supposed to find things that made us feel cozy and warm this time of the year.  I just bought a pair of silly Christmas light tights from Walmart to be my pajamas, so I jotted down a few little lines about lounging around in my ridiculous pants.  The actual day 5 prompt was about Christmas communications.  I decided to put it off until the 6th because my cards weren't ready yet, and now as I sit here writing this, they are still not done.  I did finally decide on a design on the 8th, and that is when I finally got the page done for day 6.  Here is my Day 5 & 6 spread.

On the day 6 side, I wanted you to be able to get a sense of what the cards will actually look like, so I fused a waterfall pocket to the front of the page protector, and cut up one of my sample cards.  When you lift the front of the card up, you see the family photo that we will be including with the cards in another waterfall pocket.  I attached the waterfall pockets with my fuse tool.

Below the picture, you see the sentiment that will be printed on the inside right of the cards, which is adhered to the patterned paper in the larger page protector. I wanted a little bit of space to mention why it has been hard to get the Card design down this year.  The truth is that it doesn't have anything to do with the design itself, it's the family update.  I usually do some sort of family update in our cards.  I don't like it to be a traditional Christmas letter, because those feel a little pretentious to be coming from me. Not to judge anyone else who does them, but I didn't want to feel like I'm bragging or complaining, and I wasn't sure how to word a letter so that it wouldn't come across that way.  I have done subway art that highlights new developments.  I've done a photo collage of memorable moments, and I've even done a QR code link to a youtube video that highlighted my favorite pictures and had a video greeting from the family at the end.  This year, I didn't have the energy or feel inspired to do anything like that, and it took me a while to reconcile myself to the idea that I would have to do some sort of traditional letter or leave out the family update altogether.

Days 7 and 8 were much easier.  On day 7, I recorded elements of our holiday season that have to do with all 5 of the senses.  I typed it up as a list, and printed it right out onto kraft cardstock, with room at the top and bottom for a little bit of embellishment.

Since the previous spread had been so difficult, I just let this one be as simple as possible.

I made very small embellishment clusters on the top and the bottom of the page and left it at that.

Day 8 was all about the tree, and I kept it simple again with a big photo of the tree glued right onto the page.  Since this minibook has a combination of pages in page protectors and pages that are exposed, I've been very careful about my use of adhesive.  Where I'm working with page protectors, I'm using my ATG gun, but on the exposed pages, every single element is glued down with Glossy Accents.

 At the bottom of the Day 8 page, I added a couple of tags and the number for the day.  I wrote a little bit about the tree itself.

Okay, those are my day 5-8 pages.  I don't want to jinx anything, but I think I might actually get this project done afterall.

#JYC2015 Days 1-4

Can you believe that it is already the 9th of December!  I'm having a little trouble with the concept myself.  The last year...really the last 2 years, if I'm being honest, have been filled with this strange mixture of days that seem to drag on forever and months that hurdle past with hardly a notice.   At least in December, I always find time to notice what is going on around me.  It's helping that I've taken some time to do a less intense job during the holidays, so that I can enjoy the season and look for something better.  

I'm trying to use my Christmas Journal to slow down a little bit, working on it a few minutes here and there after the kids go to bed.  The first prompt in Shimelle's JYC class asks you to write a manifesto for the holiday season.  The inside cover of the book has a subtle pattern, so I decided to write directly onto that page.  My goals for the season are all about spending quality time with friends and family.  I think that we are off to a pretty good start so far.

No paper project would be complete without some embellishment.  In the top corner is a Maya Road chipboard star that I embossed with glitter zing embossing powder.  I'm still not in love with that particular product.  The powder has a chalky finish and it makes a strange contrast with the bright green flecks of glitter in it.  That being said, I like how the little word art cluster came together.

  

In the bottom right, I did a little stamping.  The snow globe is part of my favorite Christmas stamp set from last year.  It has snowflakes, a tree, a snowman, some sentiments, and this little snow globe that the other icons fit neatly into.  Unfortunately, the way that I've been storing my stamps (pulling sets apart and organizing individual stamps in the way that I use them) means that I can't remember the brand.  It's a lovely set though.  I'm also using an American Crafts roller date/phrase stamp throughout the album.

Day 2 and 3 were the the first signs of Christmas approaching and our favorite gifts ever.  I've written on this blog about my favorite present ever, so I didn't feel the need to write a lot more.  I just included a card with a picture of the Silhouette Portrait and a numbered list of information about it.
I had a little bit more to say about the first signs.  I've been doing daily substitute teaching during the holiday season (I was doing long term subbing, which requires all the duties of the regular teacher), so I often have a few minutes during the school day when I can type the journaling about the prompt and email it to myself.  That's been nice because I don't have to be sitting in my craft room in front of my journal to get things done.

The two cards at the bottom of the day 3 page are project life cards that I altered.  For this one, I stamped the snowman from the stamp set I already mentioned.  Then I used a VersaMarker to color in the areas of snow and heat embossed them with white embossing powder.

This card used the snowflakes from the stamp set and a tree embellishment that I printed and cut from Meg Mullens #ThisYear--Christmas digital scrapbooking kit kit.

The fourth day's prompt was all about how we are planning all our holiday fun.  I always do some planning, but this was the first year that the girls were old enough that I felt I could predict what we would realistically be able to get done each day. So far, we haven't had to modify plans because of lack of energy.  We do have a change for next week, but that's just because we found something more fun than the original plan.

The two key parts of the planning process for this year were my google calendar (which I transcribed into excel to get a printable form because...paper!) and my Christmas village, which is serving as our Advent Calendar this year.  Each building in the village is numbered and has the activity we'll be doing that day under it.  I just printed a copy of the calendar and cut it up, then put each day under the right building.

I love the little village, so I decided to do a full size picture of it on the right side of the spread.

It's hard to see from the glare, but I put a little embellishment cluster in the bottom right of this card.  On Saturday, I had a really successful interview, so I decided to go to PhotoScraps on the way home.  It's the last independently owned scrapbooking store in Maryland, but it's a bit far from home.  Added bonus: it's attached to a Tuesday Morning.  I picked up a few papers from PhotosScraps, and then headed over to Tuesday Morning. I finally got one of those bit pebbles alphabet stamps I've been drooling over for years.  I used it to stamp "this year" at the top of the card.  I also purchased the Cozy Christmas collection pack by Echo Park.  I just love almost everything that Echo Park does, so I picked that up at Tuesday Morning too.  The bottom cluster has aqua washi tape to repeat the color from the other two cards, a snowflake sticker from the Cozy Christmas pack, and a little wood veneer star.  

So that's my first 4 days of JYC done.  I hope you've enjoyed seeing what I've made.  Days 5-8 are done, but they still need to be photographed before I can share them.  I'll be back to share those another day!

Bye!

My Multi-Year Christmas Album

Since I mentioned in my last post that I am planning to continue to do my current Christmas project,  I wanted to do an album flip to show you what that album looks like.  You can see it in the video below.  Enjoy!

My Christmas Journal: Shimelle's JYC Class

I have neglected this blog for a long time...a very long time.  I don't really have any excuses for you.  Life just happened.  A lot of it.  When I start to get overwhelmed, the first things to go are the things that are just for fun.  I classed this blog as one of those things, but I have a little bit of time on my hands for the first time in forever (yes I did just sing those last 6 words in my head).  I've decided that connecting with people through scrapbooking is something that I really want in my life, and this is a good place to do it.

I'm not going to make any promises about how long I'll be back on this time.  It might just be for the JYC project, or I might find a simple way to work it back in on a more regular basis.  I'm not sure, but in any case, let's get on with it.

If you haven't heard of Journal Your Christmas, it is a class that is run by Shimelle Laine on her website.  She gives a series of prompts from the start of Advent all the way to the end of Epiphany.  She describes starting the project after a tough year, when she really desperately wanted to recapture the magic of Christmas.  She shared more about the project in this video:

I can't say that I've had a time in my life that I've lost the magical feelings that I associate with Christmas, but some years I cling to the magic a little more than others.  This year, I'll be holding on for dear life.   I was intrigued by JYC when I heard about it in 2012, but I had already started a digital project on my own, and I wasn't sure how a daily project would fit in with what I was doing.  In the end, I decided that it doesn't fit in.

Our holiday scrapbook is a single 8 x 8 inch album that has a title page and 5-10 layouts that document our activities during Advent.  I started it in 2011 for my first daughter's first Christmas, and I like that it's complete.  I like that I've done it the same way every year.  It's not that big of a project, so I've decided to keep that as it is and to do JYC separately.

To avoid letting this project get out of hand, I decided to put it in a bound mini book.  I figured that if I used a binder, I would constantly be putting more and more page protectors into it, and I really just want this to be a small-ish project.  Here are a couple of close ups of the clusters on the cover.

 I don't often put embellishment on the cover of an album, but it seemed appropriate for a mini book, but I know that I will have small children handling it, so I wanted it to be really sturdy.  I glued all the elements down with Glossy Accents, and then I covered the glitter letters with glossy accents too.  I wanted to seal in the glitter so that it won't rub off when the kids are playing with the book.

On the inside, there is a combination of different sized papers and page protectors.  I did a little video to show the inside because there really was too much to photograph.  You can see it below.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I'm up to.  Hopefully you'll be seeing a lot more over the next few weeks.

Valerie

Template Tuesday #12

I know it doesn't tell any big, important story, but I really do love this layout I made for LOAD514.  It doesn't even have a picture of anybody, but I had a lot of fun doing the rainbow effect on the background paper.  

I didn't have any CU brush strokes to share with you, but if you have brush strokes in your stash, you can use the colors in this template as a guide to recolor your brush strokes to get the watercolor rainbow effect.

Download MyRainbowCoalition #64 here.

Template Tuesday #11

This layout is a mix of old and new products, but I think they all went really well with these photos of Michaela.  This memory always makes me smile!

Here's a template you can use to get the look in digi.

Download MyRainbowCoalition #63 here.

I hope you use it and come back to share your work with me!

Template Tuesday #10

I love this layout about the day Michaela met Nana.  It's pretty simple, but has lots of techniques going on.

The background is stenciled on patterned paper with a Heidi Swapp stencil.  The title is multiple copies of cardstock cut with the Silhouette, layered, and covered in glossy accents so it looks like enamel in person.  If you're not into all those fussy details, you can get the same look with this template:

Download MyRainbowCoalition #62 here.

I hope you enjoy!

Template Tuesday #9

Today's Tuesday template is lots of fun and puts the photo on center stage.

Download MyRainbowCoalition #61 here.

The template was based on this layout about Lilah.  It's probably in my top five favorite layouts this year.

I hope you have fun with this template, and come back to the comments to show me what you've done with it!

Template Tuesday #8

This layout was created from one of my Spring 3 Scrappy Boys kits.  I was inspired by all the busy colors of the background paper that reminded me of all the crazy outfits I wore as a child.

I felt like I needed to tone down the ticket paper a little bit, and I did so with a layer of gesso in the center.  If you like this layout, you can make a digital version with this template:

Download MyRainbowCoalition #60 here.

I hope you enjoy!  Come back and share your work with me. I'd love to see it!

Template Tuesday #7

Today's Tuesday Template is simple but I think it's a good one nonetheless.

Download MyRainbowCoalition #59 here.

It's based on this layout I did about Alfred. 

I don't know about you, but it's really hard for me to get pages about my husband done.  It's not that I don't find him interesting (I did marry him after all), but it sometimes seems strange to write about another adult--like I'm talking behind his back. But when I walked into the guest room at his sisters' house and saw this pile next to his side of the bed, it was something I just had to capture.  If he really needs that many books for a week, maybe he needs a Kindle!

Template Tuesday #6

If you have never been to Epcot, I would HIGHLY recommend it, and if you can make it during one of their festivals, then so much the better.  We were there this Spring during the Flower and Garden Festival.  In each of the World's Pavilions, there were little snack sized treats that incorporated ingredients grown on the property.

As you can see, we partook in as much as we could!  I used the layout above as the basis for this Tuesday's template.

Download MyRainbowCoalition #58 here.

Feel free to use it and come back and share your layout with me! Post a link in the comments.

Template Tuesday #5

Happy Tuesday!  Here's a fun and simple 2 photo template for you for today!

Download MyRainbow Coalition #57 here

This template was another one based on a paper layout using a kit from 3 Scrappy Boys. I made the enamel dots myself using purler beads that I melted in the oven. You can make your own too! Here is a tutorial.

Template Tuesday #4

Today, I'm sharing another new template with you.  It was based on this layout I made using the 3 Scrappy Boys March Add On Kit.  The kit was so full of little embellishments that I found myself trying to use as many as I could on the page.  I love the energy of the page that I ended up with.

Download MyRainbowCoalition #56 here

Feel free to download and use the template. Come back and link to the layout you make with the in the comments, I'd love to give it some love!

Template Tuesday #3

This week's template was based on a layout I did for 3 Scrappy Boys.  I loved the end result of the layout, but I wasn't a big fan of all the fussy cutting required to get the effect.

Download MyRainbowCoalition #55 here.

You can get the same design effect with none of the fussy cutting work.  If you want it to look like the circles are all part of the same patterned paper, clip your papers to each circle, clear all the layer styles for all the circles then merge all the circle layers.

I wasn't particularly careful about fussy cutting the circle pattern because I don't really like fussy cutting (have I mentioned that once or twice?), but if that's a look you like, you can get that too.  After you have merged the circle layers (don't forget to clear the layer styles first), hold down control (command on Mac) and click on the thumbnail image of the circles layer in the layers pallette.

You should get the marching ants around the layer.  Create a new layer below the circles layer by holding down control while the layer is selected and pressing the new layer button.

Under the "Select" drop down menu, choose "Modify," and then "Expand."  I would start with 40 px or so, but continue to expand until all the space between the circles is included in the selection (alternately, you could use the selection brush wit the "Add to Selection" option to fill in the spaces between the circles).

Next, fill your selection using the paint bucket tool. Now you have a clipping mask to add a background paper  like the grid you see in the paper layout.

Whether you modify it, or use it just as it is, I hope you enjoy the template and link back to your projects in the comments section!

Template Tuesday #2

Look at me!  Two weeks in a row of templates to give away.  Most of these templates are based on designs from my paper scrapbooking.  I use much more varied designs in my paper scrapping, because it feels like less work to glue down an embellishment that to find it in a digi kit, open the file, and add it to my layout.  Converting my paper layouts to digi templates gives me some new configurations to use in  digi that are my own designs (and therefore more my style) and gives me something to share with you.

Download MyRainbowCoalition template #54 here.

This is another template based on a scrapbook page I made about our big family trip to see my sister-in-law and her husband and go to Disney World.

We got to see the new Festival of Fantasy parade and the girls really loved the whole thing--especially Minnie and Mickey waving right at them!

May & June Round Up and a New Series: Template Tuesday

I know I'm not the first one to think about having a Template Tuesday series on her blog, but I'm thinking if I start a few series, it might be easier to be more regular about posting.  When I started this blog, I was doing a lot of digi scrapbooking.  Over the last few months, I've realized that I'm much more of a binge digi scrapper, while I paper scrap more consistently.  For my Template Tuesday series, I'm taking the designs from my paper layouts and converting them to layered digi templates.

The first template is based on this layout about Lilah's "funny face" pose.

I love those little Studio Calico wood veneers, and there are so many of them in the pack that they're totally worth the price.

You can download the template here: MyRainbowCoalition Template #53

It's also the first day of the month, so it's time to do a round up again.  Once again, I've missed a month, so this will be another combined roundup.  I'm using the roundup tool from Katie Nelson

1. What did I watch, read, and listen to during May and June?
I'm all caught up with Game of Thrones, and I'm so sad that the season is over.  I've been kind of doubling up on Game of Thrones (both watching the show and listening to the books).  At this point, I've listened to all the books so much that I often randomly choose one of the 5 books at a random point and just start listening.  I know that a lot of people might find that a bit disorienting, but for me, it's like listening to a granparent's life stories: you've heard most of them before, so once you have recognized it, you can settle in and it feels like home...well at least that's how I feel.

I'm also listening to the Enchanted, Inc series.  It's really silly, far fetched, and shamelessly ROM-COM, but with everything else that's been going on in life these days, it's nice to be able to retreat to something ridiculous and insignificant.

2. What fun things did I do with friends and family?

The girls and I went to the Zoo in May with my friend Stacy and her son on the 24th.  We had a really great time, and it was fun to watch her teenager struggle to deal with my toddlers going completely GaGa for him.  He might have felt slightly tortured, but he was somewhat consoled by being able to have lots of desserts that day.

The girls and I went to Disney world while we were in Florida, and had an absolutely fabulous time!  Since the trip was so last minute, we used some air miles to get a hotel closer to the parks (partly because we didn't want to just show up on my sister-in-law's doorstep: we decided to go the day before we got there).  We did the entire 14 hour drive in one day, and went right into Magic Kingdom (yeah, I know, I'm insane) because I lucked into fastpasses to meet Ana and Elsa, but we had to be able to make it there for that time.  Both girls were totally excited.  After two nights at the hotel, we stayed with Crystal for a day before we headed down to Miami to see the rest of the family for the weekend. The "real" reason for the trip was that I was picking up the last of my aunt's belongings for her from her apartment.  I have a Mazda5, and I have to say that I HIGHLY recommend that car to anyone who wants to be able to haul a lot of people and/or things without going the Minivan or SUV route. I really should talk about that car more on here some day....Oh, how I love it!



3. What milestones, holidays, or special events did we celebrate in May and June?

I had a fun crop night at Scrapbooks Plus in Chantilly, VA for NSD.  They had a great goodie bag.  I really do love that store.  It's so nice.  I've been there several times since I found out about it even though it's an hour away.  I'm so sad that it's closing (and don't even get me started about 2peas).

The whole family went to the Black Hog (a local BBQ chain) for Mother's Day/my aunt Jane's birthday. There were 10 people at the table with us all there!  Alfred, the girls, and I made paper flower bouquets for all the other Moms and the Birthday girl, and I made my chocolate cake with white chocolate peppermint ganache and dark chocolate ganache between the layers (the Mother's day cake) and our family's traditional birthday cake (devil's food with caramel icing) for Jane's birthday cake.

We decided at the very last minute to go to Florida (without Alfred: sorry he had to work) the week of Father's day, so the day before we left (June 9) we had an impromptu father's day celebration: a pizza picnic in front of the TV and gave him his present: a handmade photo book of my favorite shots from the last year.  That seems to be becoming his traditional gift (the third year in a row)

We spent father's day with Alfred's mother's side of the family, with good food, lots of talking, laughing, and showing off my babies.

4. What progress have I made towards my goals in May and June?

I completed another LOAD: 31 layouts in 31 days.

I finished my application to teach high school in the district where I live, as well as my Maryland certification application.

That's pretty much it.  I've mostly been busy with unexpected things for the last couple of months.

5. What were the good, bad and unusual things that happened in May and June?

In short: Jane.  We've known for a long time that she was sick, and needed a new liver because of a genetically caused cirrhosis, but in between hospitalizations, she was able to do lots of things.  She wasn't even on the transplant list because her condition wasn't bad enough. All of that changed over the last couple of months.   She spent most of May and all of June in the hospital.   The degeneration of the liver caused her to be confused and disoriented, so we've tried to have someone from the family with her at all times when it was possible.

The day that I left for Florida, we thought that she was getting ready to go to Rehab as soon as we found a facility that would work for her, but before she could go, her kidneys shut down. That was both a curse and a blessing, because it meant that her MELD score, which determines your position in line on the transplant list, was actually high enough that she might be able to get a liver relatively soon. I was gone for 9 days, and in that time, she went from well enough to leave the hospital to sick enough that she was at the top of the transplant list, and on June 20 she got her new liver!  We are grateful for the donor's gift that saved her life.  There is a long, hard road of recovery for her, but I'm so happy to be able to be there to support her, in whatever limited ways I can.

6. What were the everyday routines in May and June?

I couldn't describe any part of life as routine right now. I feel like I've won a battle if the kids are fed and the dishes are washed. I don't even remember what my house looked like when it was clean and not under construction.

That's it!  LOL. I hope your life is less stressful than mine, and you're getting plenty of scrappy play time!

Remember that 3 Scrappy Boys is having a subscriber drive this month.  They have some great incentives.

What's killing the sea stars?

This is my favorite animal.

There are a ton of reasons that I love Riftia pachyptila, most of which have to do with their unique biochemistry and physiology that allows them to live on the bottom of the ocean near, even on top of, hydrothermal vents. They aren't the only weird creatures that I love, I have a soft spot in my heart for any animal without a backbone, so you can imagine how my heart sunk when I pulled this issue of Science out of my mailbox.

There is an epidemic affecting sea stars on the west coast, starting with the most vulnerable deep water species, but affecting those in intertidal areas as well.  This condition causes white lesions to form on the animal, the tube feet die, and in later stages the arms start to break off. Several large aquariums on the coast have seen their star populations decimated, as the unknown disease causing agent enters their tanks that are fed by ocean water.

Scientists at universities around the country are using genetic testing to try to identify the pathogen (suspected to be either a virus or a bacteria), by comparing the bacteria present in healthy and sick animals.  Scientists are starting with bacteria because methodology for testing for bacteria is far less costly than that for viruses.

When we were at Olympic National Park in Washington state, we saw the starfish as thick as they are in the picture above.  We lost count of all the stars, anemones, and other invertebrates we saw while we were picking our way through the tide pools.  It's my sincerest hope that scientists will be able to identify and stop this pathogen in time to save this fascinating family of keystone predators.

Round Up: March & April 2014

I've been trying to do monthly round ups this year a-la Katie the Scrapbook Lady,  clearly I didn't get around to finishing March, so I figured I'd do March and April together.  Better late than never...right?

Lets start with March

What have I watched, read, or listened to?

This is the kind of thing that gets lost when you don't do your round up right away, but I'm an audiobook junkie and we had a road trip, so I picked up
Wildwood & Faerie Wars from the library. I usually go with YA books for car rides because they're usually pretty safe for the kids to hear.  You never know what books aimed at grownups will get into.  I liked them both, but Faerie Wars got into a little bit more risque material that I would have liked for the car ride.

What fun things did I do with friends and family?

Road trip!  The whole family got to spend a week with Crystal and Cliff in Orlando.  We went to Disney World and Alfred and I even got a whole day to ourselves at Epcot and Magic Kingdom

What milestones, holidays, or special events did we celebrate?

Casey, Alyssa, Brooke and Jordan all have birthdays in March, so we did lots of celebrating.  Poor Casey lives on the other side of the country, so he had to settle for a card and a phone call, but Alyssa got dinner, cake, and cookies at Mom's house.  The twins had a birthday party at a local skating rink.  It was a ton of fun.  I hadn't been to a roller rink in 19 years, so I was pretty proud of myself for not falling down.  Lilah LOVED skating.  I definitely need to take her to do that again soon. I made the girls' birthday cakes.

How am I doing on my goals?
House? Still under construction
Teaching?  Going well, students improving
Potty Training? Don't ask
Weight? Down (but not as much as I'd like)

Did anything good, bad, or unusual happen?
I babysat Loraine's nieces so she and her sister could go out for St. Patrick's Day.  It was the first time I've babysat kids not related to me or outside of my own home.  Let's just say they took advantage...but not too much

What was our everyday routine like?
Things haven't been very routine around here in a while.  I really want my house back!

And now April

What have I watched, read, or listened to?
The entire run of Game of Thrones (I wish he'd hurry up and write the next book already)
More Murder, She Wrote (I still like that meddling old lady's voice to drift off to sleep to)
I've been catching up on my podcasts again.  I got behind

• The Digi Show: I was so sad to hear that the show is ending.  I'm going to miss it so much
• Paperclipping Round Table: love all the scrabook chat
• The Moth Podcast
• Backstory
• The Daily Digi Digest
• Freakonomics Radio Podcast
• PRI's The World Podcast
• The Splendid Table
• This American Life
• Radiolab
• Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me

Can you tell that I really love my NPR?

What fun things did I do with friends and family?

It's finally starting to warm up a little, so I've been able to get outside and do some yard work done.  Last year I couldn't keep up with it, so we hired a service, but this year I'm going to get back to doing it myself.  I use a push mower, and I figured it was worth it to buy myself a grass catcher for it so I don't have to rake up the clippings.  I haven't used it yet.  We'll see how it works.  I also trimmed back our rose bushes.  It always boggles my mind how much those things grow every year, so every year I cut them back a little more and a little more.  Alfred said that the poor things looked like they'd been bombarded.  With any luck they won't get out of control.

What milestones, holidays, or special events did we celebrate?

We celebrated Easter this month.  Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling too well, so it was a bit of an understated affair.  We did manage to get to church, have an Easter egg hunt, open baskets, and have a family dinner at Grandma's house, but I had long naps between activities.  Thank goodness that Alfred watched all the girls (ours and the twins!)

How am I doing on my goals?
House?  Still in progress...no end in sight.
Weight? Down 10 lbs. (Thanks Fitbit)
Teaching?  The semester is over, final grades are turned in, and I'm ready to start looking towards the future.
Potty training?  Better, but still in pull ups.  I know that I should bite the bullet and just switch to regular underpants, but I hate cleaning up all the accidents and I can barely keep up with the laundry as it is.

Did anything good, bad, or unusual happen?

I did a guest design spot for Susan K. Weckesser, Inc.  that was a lot of fun.  Her products were just beautiful.

What was our everyday routine like?

The kitchen is finally done enough that we spend a lot of our day in there.  We have breakfast, clean up, and watch the world go by out the window until naptime.  Then all bets are off, and there is no routine for the rest of the day.