{Happy Birthday, ScrapMatters!}

Hello, digi scrappers!!! What an exciting day today is - the celebration of ScrapMatters' birthday! If you haven't checked out the awesome sale going on this weekend yet, you simply must do that soon. Not only is there a great sale going on, you can also get an amazing collab kit from the ScrapMatters designers as gift with purchase. Wow! Head on over to the store HERE to do some shopping!

Most of you probably came here from Trista's blog: http://tristaree.com/ She has a comprehensive list of all the blog train stops if you need it - very cool, Trista! Now for my freebie. I decided to create a pre-shadowed frame cluster using the gorgeous new collab, Garden Party. I hope you like it!

Download the freebie http://www.4shared.com/file/A8aoDVUS/acmSMBDayFreebie.html

***I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this link works because blogger just decided that I shouldn't be allowed to highlight text to make a link! GAH!!! If it doesn't work, I'll keep trying to get it fixed!

Your next stop on the blog train is Chel's blog: http://scrappingchelcreations.wordpress.com/

Hope you enjoying celebrating with ScrapMatters!

{Big Boy}

This weekend brought a big change for our family - well, mainly for Dixon. Dixon turned two years old at the end of April so we knew that he would need to transition from the crib to a bed sometime this summer. So a couple of weeks ago Cory and I went shopping for a big boy bed. We were hoping to find a really good deal like we found when we bought the girls' beds, but no such luck. But we're happy with what we chose! On Wednesday the bed arrived at the furniture store and on Saturday morning Cory picked it up and brought it home.

Not surprisingly, I had a rather difficult time saying goodbye to the crib. While we didn't buy the crib new ( I bought it and the changing table at a yard sale, for crying out loud!) and I'm not in love with it and unwilling to get rid of it at some point, it still is hard for me to believe it is leaving Dixon's room. This crib held all of our babies, kept them safe and snug, and is a sign that there is a baby in the house. With its removal from the nursery, I no longer have a baby. Wah. This can't be true! Tell me there's still a baby in this house!

Of course I had to take a couple dozen photos of the room and the crib before taking it apart and storing it in the attic. So here is Dixon's room before (please overlook the lopsided curtain rod):

and here he is in his brand new big boy bed! We chose a sleigh bed with storage underneath since his room has a tiny closet. Right now we don't need the extra storage, but as Dixon grows bigger it will come in handy for sweaters, jeans, and seasonal clothes.

Dixon LOVES his bedding. I really struggled with what to do as far as a "theme" for the room. I wanted it to be something Dixon would like but I didn't want it to be the typical boy stuff. I mainly didn't want it to be something cheesy and too youthful that he'd outgrow quickly.

I stumbled upon this bedding when I took the girls to the American Girl store at Tyson's Corner. There is a Pottery Barn Kids store right beside the AG store and we went in just to look around (and get ideas). I saw a fantastic train light that I totally wanted to get for Dixon since he's completely obsessed with trains - especially Thomas. The base was a RR crossing with blinking lights and it had a red square shade. Awesome - not to kiddy looking but something he would love that would give me a starting point for decorating. Then I noticed the bedding on the model bed beside the light. It was the perfect train bedding for my boy: not too cutey-pie but boyish enough for a young kid. Sold. Unfortunately, Pottery Barn wants over $130 just for the base of the train light so that piece did not come home with me. I'm now on the hunt for something like it. If you see a nice train bedside lamp, please let me know!

Dixon loves his new bed. He loves looking at the trains (he even sometimes calls them "Thomas") and pointing out all the different parts, especially the cars riding on the train. I think this is a keeper!

We aren't able to put bedrails on this bed because there is no box spring, therefore no space to put the rail. Dixon fell out of bed three times that first night but until five minutes he hadn't fallen out since. (Yep, I heard a thud as I was typing this post!) I'm sure he'll figure it out quickly. In fact, I'm really impressed with how well he's been doing already!

So goodbye, dear crib. Goodbye nursery. Goodbye baby stuff. I'm going to miss you and all that you signify.

My babies are growing up. I now have two little ladies who are about to go off to school in a few weeks and one big boy who makes me smile everyday. I suppose the only baby thing we have left are diapers and I don't foresee and end to them anytime soon.

My big boy. How I love him.

{Williamsburg}

Each summer we go to the beach for a week with my mother, stepfather, sister Jennifer and her family, and sister Becky and her family. We always have a fantastic time together and look forward to the vacation all year long. But this is almost always our only vacation . . . meaning we don't take any trips as just the Meyers family of five except for day trips to local places of interest. So this year we decided to leave a day early and spend a full day in Williamsburg, just us.

After a late start, horrendous, terrible, nightmarish traffic and a bout of carsickness, we finally pulled up to the Governor's Inn around 2:00 am. We crashed. But with the sunrise came a new day and we were refreshed and ready to enjoy Colonial Williamsburg.

We walked a couple of blocks to buy our passes and then began our journey! We started our day by going into several of the buildings and shops to learn about different trades and ways of life during the 1700's. This woman knew everything you can imagine about turning cotton and wool into fabric. She showed us how to prepare the cotton, how to turn it into yarn, how to wind it, and finally how to turn that yarn into fabric.

Cory and I were especially interested in the gorgeous gardens since we've been expanding our backyard garden for a few years now. We got lots of ideas and inspiration!

One of the best parts of Williamsburg is seeing all the buildings preserved exactly as they were all those years ago and seeing the employees dressed in period attire and talking / behaving as though it were 1783 instead of 2011. There are so many awesome photo opps. These are two of my favorites from our day:

Cory surprised us with a carriage ride - fun! Our driver / guide was fantastic. She told us so much about Williamsburg that neither Cory or I knew before, despite our numerous trips to Williamsburg in the past. For example, Queen Elizabeth visited Williamsburg when she was a girl and rode in the very same carriage we rode in. How cool is that? She also answered all of our questions, and the girls had quite a few! They wanted to know if there were balls during there. Yes, there were. Did Felicity and Elizabeth of American Girl fame really live there? Yes, they did. She even showed us Felicity's house!

As it turns out, only the very, very super wealthy citizens could afford a carriage. It was the equivalent of owning a private jet today. Wow!

And here is Felicity's house. Elizabeth's family lived not too far from here but we didn't get to see her home.

After our carriage ride we continued visiting various shops and learning about different trades. This cobbler is noteworthy not only for his knowledge of making shoes, but because he looked and talked SO much like Russell Crowe! When we left his shop I looked at Cory and said, "Didn't he look like . . . " and Cory immediately finished with, "Russell Crowe!" It was uncanny.

Another favorite shop was the wigmaker's shop. This woman really knew her stuff about hair. I think the girls found it particularly interesting that men wore wigs far more often than women, that the hair was often animal hair, and that peasant girls overseas were paid a hefty price for their hair because foreign hair was believed to be better than American girls' hair. We also learned that the term "blockhead" comes from this time period. Men would have a block of wood carved into the shape of their heads and the wigs were custom made on the block heads. Neat!

Our carriage driver told us to visit the brickyard because they are making bricks for a new building and invite guests to participate. The brickyard is off the beaten path - I don't think I'd ever visited it before. But it sounded intriquing so we made a point to head that way. There were three men under a tent making bricks out of red clay. They explained the process and how Williamsburg has so much clay they are likely to never run out. Behind where they worked were two big pits of clay. They would scoop up a pile, make some bricks, and scoop up some more. It looked like dirty work to me.

Then they said that the clay has to constantly be kneaded to keep it a good consistency. And here is where the fun began. Anyone who wanted to could take off their shoes, hop in the pits and work the clay with their feet! Of course the girls jumped at the chance. It totally reminded me of Lucy and Ethel stomping the grapes!

When they had enough and were adequately covered in clay, the girls headed to big barrels of water to wash themselves clean - which was not easy. Cory helped them and as a result, we got one of the best quotes ever from Sasha. The girls had just been to VBS at church and one of the lessons was about washing guests feet upon entering a home. One time Jesus washed his disciples' feet because no servant appeared to do the task. So Sasha told Cory, "You are just like Jesus. You have a servant's heart." Sigh. I love that girl!

So we continued on our journey and eventually ended up at the must-have photo op for Colonial Williamsburg: the stockades. I still have photos of my sisters and me in these stockades when we were kids. It was rather surreal to see my own kids in the very same ones!

There are also ankle stockades: you sit on a piece of wood and put your ankles in the holes. Cory and I posed for a photo and each of the girls took several pics of us. Funny this is, when I later looked at the photos there wasn't a single one where you could actually see the stockade! So here are our sad faces:

The day was very, very hot and by this time we were all tired, sweaty, and a bit worn-out. So since we were close the markplace we decided to visit one of my favorite bookstores: The College of William and Mary Bookstore. We were pleasantly surprised to discover a local children's author who was signing copies of his historical graphic novels. We talked to him for quite some time and each of the girls picked a book. Clara's is about "super" women in history (and includes the story of Clara Barton) and Sasha's is about key events during the Revolution.

Because we're dorks, we had to do it. We had to take a photo of ourselves in the elevator - the elevator with a mirrored ceiling! Photos like this one always end up amongst my favorites. They are so candid, funny, and, well, us!

All day long the girls begged for a pretty straw sun hat with a fancy ribbon. But at $25 a pop, they were out of the question. So I found these tricorns for a lot less money at the market's toy store and let the girls have one. Cory was not too pleased about this since tricorns are for boys, but I think they look adorable!

By this time it was almost time for dinner and we were ready for a rest. We found some totally cool trees beside the House of Burgesses and let the kids play. I so wish we had interesting trees like these in Pennsylvania!

Cory and I absolutely LOVE the peanut soup at the King's Arms Tavern, so we had made a reservation for dinner there. It is our go-to tavern!

The soup was amazing, as was the entire meal. The lady of the house spent a lot of time in our dining room telling everyone about the history of the building and the tavern. There were also several musicians who entertained us while we ate. It was definitely a fantastic way to end our day!

As we ate we heard the sound of a fife and drum parade coming our way. My photos are blurry since I had to shoot through the old wavy glass of the tavern, but they are neat nonetheless.

And the day was done. Most of Colonial Williamsburg was closed by the time we left the tavern, and we were all ready to call it a day anyway. So we headed back to our van and made our way to the next hotel where my mother, stepfather, and Becky and her family were waiting to crash for the night. I'm so glad we had this day together, a day to enjoy vacation . . . just us.

{ebay}

OK, folks, I need some help! I'm thinking of putting a bunch of stuff up on ebay to both declutter my home and to make some extra cash. I've purchased from ebay before, but I've never been a seller. Sooooo . . . if you've sold anything in the past and have some advice / tips, please share! I haven't the first clue as to how to even begin!

* Do I set up a new account or use my current one that I've used to make purchases?

* How do you price items?

* Do you tag your items a certain way?

* Are you able to choose how long an auction stays live?

* How do you feel about setting minimum sale prices?

* What else do I need to know???

Many thanks! :)

{Soaked to the Bone}

***This post was supposed to publish on Friday, not today. Blogger just didn't feel like publishing anything that day. The berry picking events actually took place on Thursday. Confused? Me too. Over and out.***

Yesterday evening after dinner Cory and I decided to go raspberry picking at his family's farm. I had tried earlier in the day to find berries on the farm (and drug my poor friend all over God's creation trying to find the berries) but we had no luck. Cory was sure he knew where some were growing, so off we went. We dropped Dixon off with Cory's mom and headed into the woods. Cory was right - there were black raspberries galore! We had to blaze a few trails into the thick woods to get to some of them, but it was fun.

And then it happened. Just as we were deep in the woods, thoroughly immersed in gathering juicy berries, the skies opened and turned our northern woods into a rainforest. I'm not talking about a nice summer shower, folks. I'm talking a full-blown, straight down hard downpour. We tried to take refuge under trees until an ear-splitting crack of thunder convinced us that the dirt path might be a tad bit safer place to stand. So we grabbed some giant leaves and made makeshift umbrellas and waited it out. We waited a loooong time. Just when the sun would start to shine and the rain would let up a little bit, another round would start. The girls actually did pretty well under the circumstances. They definitely wanted to leave and complained a bit, but overall they took it well. By the time the rain stopped we were all literally soaked to the bone. Our feet squished in our sneakers, our clothes stuck to our skin, and forget about any kind of hairstyle other than "drowned rat".

We managed to pick four containers of raspberries despite being sopping wet. And there are plenty left so we'll definitely go back. Now I need to decide what to do with them! Do we just eat them fresh? Do I freeze them? Do I make some cobbler, jam, or other recipes? Hmmmm . . .

Here's a photo Cory took on his iPhone. It's really small because I lifted it from Facebook but that's ok. You can't quite make out just how horrible we all look this way! ;)

{Babies}

Last weekend was a celebration of babies. It began with a birthday party for my niece, Emme. My sister and mother went ALL OUT for this party: hand sewn utensil and napkin holders, handmande cupcake liner streamers, a dessert table overflowing with cake pops, cupcakes, chocolate dipped rice treats, and other goodies, delicious food, balloons, and photos of Emme from her first year hung with mini clothespins strung throughout the house. It was quite the party! Lots and lots of people - both family and friends - came to enjoy the day with our favorite little cupcake.

Becky made Emme a cupcake smash cake. She actually made three of these giant cupcakes but the first two attempts ended up as cake pops. The end result? Perfect! Who wouldn't love a cupcake bigger than their head?

It really does seem like Emme was just born. I still remember her all wrapped up in her light blanket to ward off the jaundice that was threatening her when she was just born. She looked like a little glow worm! Now she is an adorable one-year-old who is almost walking and who has a sweet little personality. Amazing.

My other sister, Jen, and her family were here for the weekend to celebrate Emme's birthday AND to have their newest family member, Jayce, baptized on Sunday. Both Jayce and Emme were baptized during a beautiful service. How wonderful to welcome them both to the family of God!

While relaxing at Emme's party, Adam got Jayce hollering and laughing. It was ridiculously adorable to see this big 4 month-old boy (lovingly referred to as "Moose") vibrating with laughter.

Seriously, does it get any cuter than this? Ugh. Makes my uterus ache.

I love how our family keeps growing. It seems that every year or two we add another baby to the mix, and it's awesome! Babies keep us humble, grounded, and selfless. They bring laughter and immense joy to our lives. Thank you, Becky and Jen, for sharing your babies with me this weekend!

{Beautiful Day}

After more than week of rainy, gray, cool days, we have been blessed with a gorgeous hot, sunny day today. There was no way I was going to spend the day inside with the kids, and they were thrilled to soak up some much needed sun.

We decided to pack a yummy picnic lunch and head to a park. We laid out our blankets under a big weeping willow. The girls LOVED the tree. They were excited to hear that it was the same kind of tree as Grandmother Willow in Pocahontas, and they had fun trying to figure out where this tree's face would be if it could have one. It really was majestic; it felt like we were eating in a special garden room with the most amazing canopy ever. Sasha decided we should find a really HUGE weeping willow and build a house beneath it. If only that were possible . . .

Dixon was in heaven out here. He could run and play and get dirty and just be a boy. He kept trying to blow on this dandelion like you do the "wish" dandelions. So cute!

Clara decided to take a bit of a cat-nap on the blanket under the tree. Man, that is totally what I would have done if I didn't have to watch the kids! It was the perfect spot to fall asleep while reading a book. But then she perked up and became quirky Clara again.

There was a wedding at the park while we were there and the wedding party was having pictures taken by a train not far from where we were. What a day for a wedding! I'm sure the bride was beyond happy that she had beautiful weather for her big day given all the rain we've had. After the party moved to a different area we headed to the train. Dixon is completely smitten by trains so I thought he'd get a kick out of it.

Surprisingly, Dixon didn't know quite what to do with himself! He acted like he didn't want to be near the train for a while and just kind of walked around pouting. I think he was just hot and tired. He eventually began to act more like himself and was jabbering about the train. Of course, by that time we were all ready to go and he pitched a fit because he didn't want to say goodbye to the train. Go figure.

After letting the kids play on the playground for a bit, we called it a day. They were all hot, sweaty, and pink from the sun - just as they should be. I had promised the girls we would go to an art store and get some new supplies, so after that stop we headed home.

What a beautiful, perfect day! If only Cory were here to enjoy it with us. Hurry home, sweetie! :)