Welcome to Camp Half Blood

I can't believe she is eight. Eight, I tell ya.  Baptism here she comes.

Even though none of the party guests had read the Percy Jackson series (Neve was warned that would happen) they still managed to have fun at our Greek mythology/Percy Jackson party.

I will let the photos and video speak for themselves. I had so much fun putting this one together.

Bookmaking tip anyone?

In case you didn't know. All of these collage pages end up getting bound in a hardbound book for my family at the end of each year. In case you are thinking about doing something like this, let me share with you a little tidbit that I figured out along the way.

See these here two pages above here?  I wanted the block of photos to act like one big design element.  So I blocked them all together.  The problem with that is that when they are bound up you loose about 1/4 inch on each page in the center into the ditch (where the pages are sewn or glued together).  What I do to remedy that is leave some extra on the sides and when I crop them down to 8x10's from the one large page I use when designing (16x10 inches), I exclude the open edges and grab a little of the other side's image.  Can you see the extra in the middle?  That way when they are printed the should match up pretty close.  Clear as mud?

Another way around the ditch is to just put things there that don't matter if they can't be seen after binding.  Here I chose a couple of pictures (the bear and the view from the people mover) where I could loose the middle of the image without loosing anything important.  Then I used the accent color to fill in the other area, just in case it does show up after binding.  

I learned this the hard way so hopefully if you are doing/considering doing books like this, you can save yourself some pain!

p.s.  I use blurb to print my books and really like them.

p.p.s  My daughter's dance studio has wifi now.  Just think of all the things I can do while waiting for an hour for Maren to finish her class.  Kiera on my iphone and me on the laptop.  Quality time.

Trying to get caught up

Want a peek at an adorable baby?

go to Snap Pea and check her out.

Onstage NY Dance Compeition

Check the video. The first part is Neve's team's first performance and they are adorable, but a little rough around the edges. Neve should be easy to spot with her red hair, but just in case she is toward the front in blue. Thanks for the footage, Amanda.

Maren's comes next and her team is a little more experienced (this is their third performance). Maren runs from the right to the left in the beginning and is wearing green under her summer shirt. After the run she is on the very left in the middle row.

Church ball (without all that aggression)

Neve may not have been the best on the team, but she sure had fun hanging out after dance on Friday night with her friends from church. Thanks Coach Dan for putting this all together and being so sweet with our timid middle child!

Woohoo. Almost caught up on bookmaking and blogging. Must be February. Oh crap, it is March already.

Big Bike

This kid is ready for a big girl bike. Starting the process. 

Must get her riding on the big bike before Kindergarten starts in the fall.  

I love this age.

Almost spring

Mother Daughter date

 

Maren used to be my only girl.  Last Saturday she got to be my one and only for a few hours.  We spent the morning hanging out with a bunch of 8-11 year old girls and their moms.

We made felt hair clips and played a game.

We heard a great talk about the importance of dressing modestly.

Then,

We watched our girlies rule the runway in their darling adorable (yet modest) clothing.

We ended the girls morning out with a great lunch.

Thank you Stake Primary Presidency for a great morning with my first born.

Getting a little extreme

In case you didn't know, we love to read here at the Callaway house.  So much so that I put myself on time out from reading (unless I am on vacations) because I get so neglectful.  Neve is the worst offender.  She often lets us turn out the lights and think she is asleep, and we find her at midnight on a school night with her little light under the covers.  They can't clean up, eat or speak to humans when they are immersed in a good book.  Which is always, every day.

A few weeks ago the girls were late walking home from school and I went out to see if I could see them coming down the street.  I saw them way off in the distance.  I still had time enough to run back inside the house and hide in the front bushes to take these paparazzi style pictures.  No wonder they were so late coming home.  You can't make very good time when your nose is buried in a book.

But, mom.  We do this all the time!  Huh?  Crazy girls?  That isn't making me feel better.

Lazy Sunday afternoon

What better way to spend an after church afternoon than hiking around?  Can't beat a trail poop and a dead rat.  Anyone game for this Sunday if it isn't raining?