"It Feels Like Winter!"

It is 55 degrees this morning! I cannot begin to tell you just how excited we are! FRitW and MT were 'freezing' and raced back inside to find sweatshirts and pants.
As he came in the house for breakfast, I overheard FRitW say, "It feels like winter!" and it does.


Apparently his feet aren't cold...



I think our record hot summer is finally coming to an end. High temperatures have been in the mid 80's to low 90's the last few days. Since that has been our low temperature for 2 months, I am feeling positively chilled! The temperature shift has been sudden but truly welcome.

MT's sweatshirt still has Junior Ranger badges from Carlsbad Caverns and Mesa Verde

Our record hot summer results:
From June 1 to August 31, a total of 92 days - 73 of those days had temperatures above 100 degrees The 19 that didn't had temperatures in the high 90's.
27 days had temperatures over 105 degrees.
A local meteorologist measured the ground/soil temperature on the morning of September 1st: 118 degrees
Overnight lows have been between 85 and 88 since early July.

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You...

Today is just a teaser. I've been missing from my blog lately and thought I’d give you a glimpse of posts to come.



During the summer, most of the extracurricular activites stop, so we focus on school. I suppose that means I have more time and therefore should have plenty of time to blog, but somehow the more relaxed schedule means I don't get much blogging done. Now that our normal 'school time' schedule is back, I will try to be more faithful.

Unfortunately, since I didn't blog about our activities in a timely manner, and since I blog as a record for myself and as a way to share our lives with distant friends and relatives, I will be going back and sharing photos from spring and summer. So if you have to read a 4th of July post in December – well - I apologize in advance.

We've played outside, built inside, watched the sun rise and set over balloons, and added a new family member. It's been a fantastic summer! And I'll be sharing it all with you!

September Stamp of the Month Mini Blog Hop

Welcome to our inspirational blog hop, where we are sharing creative ideas with you showcasing this month's Stamp of the Month from Close to My Heart. The Stamp of the Month is called "Limited Edition". It has 21 images and is available for just $5 with a $50 purchase!

I have some wonderful fellow Consultants joining me in this hop, which works as a circle. So, begin 'hopping' and feel free to leave comments along the way!

If you arrived here from Cherri's blog, you are on the right track.

Once again this month I did a scrapbook layout. I used the Level 2 Typeset paper pack to showcase the "Limited Edition" stamp set.

My layout is based on "Unified Whole" on page 68-69 of CTMH's Cherish scrapbook book. I trimmed around the dinosaur's head so it overlaps the frame. The Juniper colored B&T papers in the Typeset paper pack were perfect with the greens in my dinosaur photos. (Click on the photos to see a larger version)

Below you will see my absolute favorite stamp in this set: the tiny words - what, where, and date (the set also includes who and when). I used them on the library card image (also from the stamp set) to record the details on my accordion fold photo book. After filling in the what, where, and when I second generation stamped the word 'recorded' in Cranberry ink. I thought it looked like a file from an office - once the info was entered into a database, the secretary might have stamped it 'recorded'. (A little silly, huh? - but it made me smile!). The closure is a canvas badge button stamped with the clock image from 'Limited Edition'.

Below you can see my accordion fold photo book open. There are also pictures on the back. The idea is based on a layout in CTMH's Magic book (page 118-119.) The Magic book makes it simple to add fun elements and extra room for lots of photos to a basic 2 page layout like the Cherish layout I used.

To make my journaling tag, I used the tag stamp and the library card stamp again. A little black floss and a Juniper button finished the tag, which slides out of the pocket so you can read a few details about our trip. I also used the little corner detail from 'Limited Edition' over and over on my layout. I don't know that robotic dinosaurs are an elegant photo subject, but the little scrolly corner gave my page an elegance I really like!

Supply list:

Level 2 Typeset Paper Pack

Vanilla Cream Cardstock

Cherish Idea book

Magic Idea book

Limited Edition Stamp of the Month (September)

Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads: Juniper, Black, Cranberry, Vanilla Cream

Canvas Badge Buttons

Colonial White Waxy Flax

Green Button Assortment

Embroidery Floss - Neutral Assortment

Thank you for stopping by! The next stop on the blog hop is Sheila's blog. Enjoy her creative use of this stamp set!