Clique Kits January Kit; Tailor Made

I am on vacation now, which means it is scrapbooking and blogging catch-up time.

So let's get's started.

I have two layouts to share with this month's Clique Kit.

I love this kit to pieces. Amy Tangerine's papers, those large scripted words, lovely stickers that remind me of colorforms of the days of yore, and more acetate script words from Chic Tags. I've been whipping out layouts like...like a thing that makes lots of layouts.

Here is numero uno, in which I document my love for coffee mugs, and the cozy images they create.

And, on a more momentous note,  next is the layout where I capture Sam's first day of wearing Tefillin. This is a big deal for a boy (and his family) about to become a Bar Mitzvah. He will wear those Tefillin each morning suring morning prayers. Which also means, that he will now pray each morning. He seemed excited by this new part of his day, and I think he was pleasantly surprised that everyone at school seemed happy and excited for him too.

It also means, that the big Bar Mitzvah day is coming up soon:

Outside

Summer 2014 is the year we finally got a car, and therefore, it is the year that we finally spent a decent amount of time outside. That mostly took the form of going to the beach and going on some hikes.

These outdoorsy activities are important to me, because they make me feel so, so good; the air; the space; the physical activity. I feel it in my bones.

Nature can be pretty easy on the eyes, too.

Being a boring, old, mother-there are some things I'd like my children to learn as well about spending time outdoors.

1. You don't ALWAYS need a TV or a movie to have fun. (Although, it's nice to come home exhausted from a day outside to an evening of vegging out.)

2. There does not always need to be human created stimulation in front of you that  in order to have fun. 

3. Fun should not always cost money. Except maybe for parking. And post-hike ice cream.

It takes a little practice to learn those lessons. And, my children did not always agree with me about how much fun we were having. But at the end of each outing (if not in the middle), they had to admit that we had some good times. 

Being a boring, old, scrapbooking mother--of course I immortalized some of these lessons with some pretty paper and things.

Is it summer yet?

Sometimes I Repeat Myself. Repeat Myself.

I have a really hard time making layouts that don't contain a story of some sort. Which is fine, because I find I have lots of stories to tell. But sometimes I just love a photo, and I just want to scrapbook it, and there simply is no story. I see other people do it all the time, and the results are fabulous.

Recently, I took a series of photos in front of this very blue wall. I had been admiring this wall over the course of the summer, so I was glad when the boys and I were walking to do some back to school shopping, and they were in a good mood, and I thought I might be able to convince them to let me take some photos. So I led them to this place.

They were somewhat cooperative. Which for them is very good.

I really wanted to scrap this photo, but the story of how it came to be was simple not inspiring to me at the time. Mom wants to take picture. Boys don't usually want to have their picture taken. Mom convinces boys to take picture.

I tried very hard to scrap the photo without any story. But I just couldn't do it! I know it makes no sense. 

So, I told the best story I could, even though it is one that I told before. Almost exactly. Namely, that even though they think I take too many pictures, they have no idea how many times I don't take pictures because I don't want to bother them. And, also, because sometimes we have to get places.

See?

Oh, well. So sue me.

(Please don't sue me.)