{DSD 2010!}

It's officially DSD 2010! What is that, you ask? Digital Scrapbooking Day! If you are one of my fellow digi scrappers you know all about this "holiday" and are itching to shop the great sales and scrap all weekend. If you are scratching your head and wondering what on earth I'm talking about, keep reading . . . and then explore ScrapMatters to get started on your digi scrap adventure! :)

This year ScrapMatters is having an AWESOME DSD weekend full of sales, special events (speed scraps, chats, and games), and even a mega Design Team Collab kit that you can get for free! Check it out:

Want to see the kit in more detail?

Isn't it gorgeous??? The rich colors and detailed elements (plus check out all those alphas!) are perfect for all your fall layouts and for those everyday moments that are so important to document. You should see the stunning layouts and projects that are being created with this loaded kit already - they are just fantastic! The best part is that you can have this entire kit for FREE with any $20 purchase at ScrapMatters during the DSD celebration!

So to kick off this fun weekend of scrapping I'm participating in the ScrapMatters blog train - you can pick up LOADS of goodies by hopping from blog to blog! You likely arrived here from Becky's BLOG. I'm giving you a pre-shadowed frame cluster using "Many Thanks". I hope you like it and can use it to preserve some memories!

Image is linked to the download.

The next stop on the train is Lori's BLOG and I know she has something great for you!

Make sure to stop by ScrapMatters and stock up on all the high-quality, original designs there while they are on sale! Happy DSD everyone!

{Surprise!}

Yes, I'm really blogging! It's been almost two months since I've blogged, and my last few posts haven't even been about my family. The reason for my slacking? Well . . . I've simply been focusing on other things. Lame explanation, I know, but it's the truth.

Anyway, I'm not even going to attempt to recap all the news of the past few months. That would take way too long! So I'm going to start with the here and now and just move forward.

September is always an exciting month for my family - not just because it's the start of school and a new season, but because it's Sasha's birthday month! The countdown begins on the 1st of the month and the excitement builds as the days tick by. So I asked Sasha if she wanted to do anything special for her big day and she immediately said yes. She wanted to get her ears pierced.

Now, I must preface this story with some background. Earlier this summer Sasha decided she wanted to get her ears pierced, so her Nana, Daddy and I took her to Claire's to get it done. We were so excited! I kind of wanted her to be a bit older, but she seemed ready and I gave in. Anyway, she was nervous and I had to keep reassuring her she would be ok. Nana even got a second ear piercing first so Sasha could see it was no big deal. Long story short, we ended up leaving with her ears bare. She totally flipped out and left in tears.

So when Sasha requested getting her ears pierced for her birthday, I was hesitant. She insisted she was ready this time and it was just about all she talked about for the days leading up to our trip back to the mall.

Well . . . once we were in the store and I had filled out all the paperwork Sasha once again let fear consume her. So little Clara (who just turned five) hopped up on the chair and got hers pierced.

Check out her sparkly blue flowers!

We asked her if it hurt and she replied, "Just a little bit." She didn't flinch, cry, or complain one single bit. What a brave girl. I was able to eventualy talk Sasha into sitting on my lap to get hers done. The ears were swabbed with alcohol, the dots were made with a pen, and her hair was clipped back. And that's as far as she got. I think she turned every head in the store with her screams and cries, and she thrashed her way out of my arms onto the floor. The poor girl is simply terrified of anything that might cause the slightest bit of pain.

What was supposed to be Sasha's special birthday treat turned out to be Sasha's special torture and Clara's surprise gift. Go figure.

On her actual birthday - which was Thursday - I took cupcakes to her school during lunch. Clara and Dixon and I stayed with her for her lunch time and I could tell she was in her glory. I soaked it up because I know it won't be long before my presence in her school will be a source of embarrassment. ;)

She decided she wanted to go to Cluggy's and Red Lobster that evening, so that's what we did.

All three kids got sweaty, dirty and exhausted - and they all slept really well that night!

Today we held her birthday party here at our house. Her past two birthday parties have been major events - a farm party for her 5th and a wedding party for her 6th - so this year she had a simple pizza party. She and her friends painted pumpkins and pummeled a pinata, but the rest of the time was spent playing in the backyard, eating pizza, and just having fun.

How I became the mom of a seven-year-old is beyond me. I'm only 25! :)

Happy Birthday, Sasha Rose! I look forward to another year of ups and downs with you - you sure do know how to keep us on our toes!

{Birthday Blog Train!}

What a celebration! This weekend the fabulous digital scrapbooking store, Scrap Matters, turns 3! I fell in love with this store shortly after it debuted, and it continues to be my favorite digi site on the web. The community is so incredibly positive and upbeat and the gallery inpires me every time I visit. Plus, the designers . . . my goodness, do the designers ROCK!



So in honor of three amazing years of bringing the world creativity and inspiration, Scrap Matters is having a birthday bash all weekend long. See my previous post for the details! Today the designers and creative team members are giving away freebies made with Cupcakes & Candles, the huge birthday collab kit that you can get FREE with a $20 purchase during the birthday celebration! You probably came here from Val's blog. If you have missed any part of the train up to this point, you can head to Scrap Matters to get the entire blog train list.



Before I give you my freebie I will share one of my favorite birthday memories. Every girl looks forward to her Sweet 16, right? It's the big year when something magical is supposed to happen to turn a girl into a young woman . . . maybe it's the right to get a driver's license, or date, or just be considered more grown up. Anyway, 16 is supposes to be big and important and is worthy of a huge celebration. Well, my 16th birthday just happened to fall on Easter Sunday. No big party for me! All my friends were obviously with their families for the weekend and I had no one but family to "party" with.



It turns out that I have a pretty amazing family. We used to go to a family cabin in the mountains every Easter and Thanksgiving and spend the day there eating, playing games, going on hikes, and watching for wild turkey and deer. This Easter was no different. We packed the trucks and headed up the bumpy dirt road to the cabin. When we arrived, my aunt and uncle had been there for a few hours already to get the woodstove going and heat the cabin for the rest of us. I walked inside and . . . TA-DA!!! There were streamers and balloons throughout the cabin and a sign that had a Happy 16th Birthday message on it for me! Everyone in the family was in on my surprise and it made me feel so special and important. My birthday turned out great - perhaps even better than had I spent it with friends.



And wouldn't you know it, my next "big" birthday - my 21st - also fell on Easter weekend? That's a whole other story . . .



OK, now for the portion of this post you are all here for! Here is my gift to you today: a frame cluster perfect for any birthday photo OR any celebration photo you may have! Think about New Year's Eve, graduation, and other events where you celebrated with others.




You can grab the cluster HERE. I hope you enjoy it!



Your next stop on the blog train is the fabulous Stefanie's blog. Enjoy picking up the rest of the freebies, and don't forget to celebrate with everyone at Scrap Matters all weekend long!

{Birthday Sale!}

Make sure you head over to Scrap Matters starting tomorrow - FRIDAY, AUGUST 6th - for amazing sales, fun games, and great prizes! It's going to be a birthday bash not to be missed!

{FREEBIE!!!}

To all my digi scrapping friends out there, I'm giving away a template on Sarah Bennett's CT blog today. Here is the template:

It really is a 12x12 template - I used a white background that you obviously can't see - whoops!

Anyway, check it out and get the download link HERE I included an example layout using the template there as well. Hope you enjoy it and USE it!!!

{Dutch Wonderland}

Sasha and Clara both had another successful school year, so Cory and I decided to treat them to a special, fun-filled day at Dutch Wonderland. Neither Cory nor I had been there since we were kids, so we were excited to see how much had changed and how well we remembered the park.

The girls were ready to be princesses and entered the castle gates very excited to ride some rides! The first ride they chose was the Space Shuttle. I happily stayed on solid ground with Dixon to take photos. My daredevils scored the front seat!

Next up was the froggy ride.

A few rides later and it was time for the ultimate . . . the ride Cory and I remember best . . . the FUN SLIDE!!!

I lost count of how many times the girls raced back up to the top for another slide downhill. I went down twice, too! FUN!!!

Then it was time for one of my personal favorite rides - the Flume. Sadly, I couldn't participate because Dixon couldn't ride, so I just took more photos.

Cory was in his glory!

Both the girls LOVE roller coasters, and there are two at Dutch Wonderland. They happily rode them both!

While Dutch Wonderland is completely geared towards the younger kids, there really isn't anything for kids Dixon's age to do. He was big enough to ride a couple of the rides, but because he isn't walking yet the ride attendants wouldn't let him. Boo!

One thing he definitely CAN do is eat ice cream! It was a hot day, so this mid-afternoon break was refreshing. Sasha's blue raspberry ice turned her entire mouth Smurf blue by the time she was done. She was a bit mortified when she finally saw her reflection in a mirror!

There is a nice little waterpark that cooled us off even more. It was a bit tough to keep track of the girls as they ran around from slide to slide, but they had so much fun and we managed to snap a couple pics, too.

My boys. I adore this photo! Such joy!

This girl could have stayed in the water area all day. Aside from hitting her head on one of the slides, this was a perfect afternoon spent.

And my boy thought these water spouts were neat-o. He kept sticking his head in them and trying to catch the water. I think he was just so hot that the cool water was heaven for him!

By the time we were done, he was tuckered out. He fell asleep about 30 seconds after I sat him in his stroller. As it turns out, this was a mistake. He has been battling a nasty case of diaper rash ever since due to sleeping with his wet swim diaper on. Poor guy. I feel so bad for him and learned to NEVER leave a wet swimmer on him again!

While Dixon slept, the girls and I took the Skyline across the park and back again. It was a nice way to relax and see parts of the park that we had missed. We even caught part of a diving show!

While up in the air we caught sight of the Princess, Prince, and Dragon behind stage getting ready to perform. Sasha and Clara kept yelling, "Hi Princess!" and they all looked up and waved to us. The girls thought that was amazing!

We had the obligatory carousel ride.

And a few fun pictures to remember the day.

We went back to the Fun Slide, and this time there were different attendants who let Cory take Dixon down the big slide. He LOVED it!

Our final ride for the day was on the train.

Farewell, Dutch Wonderland! What a fun way to spend a summer day!

We actually left the park just before an ENORMOUS storm hit. We were actually driving on the highway and looking at huge black chunks of sky trying to see if there was a funnel somewhere. It was one of the most ominous looking skies we've ever seen! It poured SO hard and we were grateful to find a restaurant to stop at and get out of the rain.

If you get a chance and are in the PA area, head to Dutch Wonderland. It's a great family spot!

{Just the Highlights}

In an effort to share with you some of the things that have been happening in the lives of the Meyers clan during the past month or so since I've blogged, I've decided to post just the highlights. One photo of each of the more standout events and that's it. Let me tell you, narrowing it down to just one photo was hard! But here we go . . .

My grandmother, Mom-Mom, has been a member of the Calamity Kitchen Band for as long as I can remember. It's been a while since the band has played together, and in fact, only two of the original members are still in the band. My Mom-Mom is one of them. Her church has a Mother - Daughter banquet every Mother's Day and this year her band was asked to be the entertainment. Fun! She was really nervous, but they all did great! It was very entertaining. In between songs they would tell jokes that were hi-lar-i-ous. I have some great video of their performance, which is cool because this was their last one ever.

Mom-Mom is the pianist. She also did all the speaking for the group. Proud of you, Mom-Mom!

Sasha had a couple of field trips this spring and I was able to chaperone one of them. Her class walked down the street to our local bank and learned about money and how banks operate.

On May 15th, one of my cousins got married. It was a beautiful wedding - the bride was stunning! We went to State College for the event and got to spend several hours with my dad's side of the family who we rarely get to see. I wish we could do that more often!

Clara enjoyed the end of another preschool year with a class party at a local park. They played, participated in games, and had a picnic lunch. Because Clara's birthday is in the summer, we sang Happy Birthday to her and had cupcakes. That was followed by the graduation ceremony (Clara determined she wants to be a mommy when she grows up) and a candy scramble.

A couple of my friends and I took our girls to a tea house for a very special and very girly tea party. We each had our own pot of tea (or hot chocolate) and an array of gourmet tea sandwiches and scones. The girls were in heaven!

Perhaps the most important event in our recent lives was the birth of Emme. I'm still wrapping my brain around the fact that my little sister is a Mommy! Becky is proving to be an amazing mom and Emme is a fantastic baby. We are very blessed to have this little girl join our family.

After a loooooong year of dance classes (three hours of studio practice every Wednesday evening), the girls finally ended the dance year with a recital. This year Sasha danced in two numbers - jazz and ballet - and Clara tap danced in one number. Thankfully, they were in the same recital this year. They both did a wonderful job and looked adorable in their costumes. We're so proud of them!

This Thursday Sasha graduated from kindergarten. She had a great year and absolutely loves her teacher. We were thrilled that she was recognized as being one of the top readers in her class. She loves to read and she spends just about every waking minute writing stories and illustrating them. She has learned so much this year! We are extra proud of her because she is one of only two or three students in her class who didn't pull a single ticket all year for discipline problems. She may not always listen at home, but she listens at school! Love you, Sasha!

Yesterday we took the kids to Dutch Wonderland to celebrate the end of their school year and the end of dance. I promise I will be back soon with some pictures!