Jennifer Woodbury

2012 Photos | Week 15 | Apr 8-14

This week started with Easter and ended with the start of our spring break trip to Florida.

For the third year in a row, we spent Easter with Matt's brother and his family in New Jersey.The Easter Bunny didn't deliver the baskets first thing in the morning since he (she?) knew the kids, ranging in age from 1 to 13, wouldn't all wake up at the same time, but he did leave a note. When everyone was awake the girls - all seven of them - went down to the basement to try to encourage the bunny to return more quickly with the baskets. While they were down there they worked hard on creating an Easter cheer. Their efforts paid off and the Easter Bunny did in fact return with baskets full of goodies.

Next it was time to head to the backyard to hunt for eggs.

After Easter the focus turned to preparations for spring break.

Packing for four people takes a great deal of planning and organization. Thankfully Matt knows how to fend for himself in that department.

Saturday was our first day at the beach.

I think this was the only time during our trip that Lucy voluntarily sat on the bare sand. It looks like she is playing in the sand but she actually never touched the sand with her hands; she is splashing in a giant bucket of ocean water here.

She asked Matt to stand at the ocean's edge while holding her, then promptly fell fast asleep.

A late lunch break back at the condo before heading down to the pool.

Claire and I during dinner in Seaside.

For better or worse, plenty more vacation photos are coming up in week 16...

Sunburns, Shaved Ice, and Other Vacation Mishaps

We couldn't totally escape real life on our spring break vacation last week.

There was that first day, after we had already spent four carefree hours at the beach, when Matt mentioned that my back looked a little red and then asked "Wait, did I ever put sunscreen on your back this morning?" Um, that would be a no. Too bad I don't have a picture of my face when that realization sunk in. I'm sure it would have been priceless. If you talk to Ella, she'll be happy to tell you all about Matt putting cool paper towels on my back that night as penance.

There was the one morning when it rained.

On the last night, after we had promised Ella a special shaved ice treat after dinner (it was her birthday the next day), it turned out the shaved ice place was closed. You better believe there were tears. It didn't help that Matt and I had talked this place up to her all. day. long.

My stomach didn't enjoy eating out every day quite as much as I did.

Oh, and it turns out Lucy still hates sand.

No, those moments weren't perfect, but all the moments in between came pretty close.

There were lazy mornings spent playing card games (Old Maid was the family favorite) until it was time to head to the beach.

I was able to finish reading two great books in one week.

The hardest decision we had to make every day was where to eat dinner. Pizza Bar won out most nights because the girls loved their pasta with butter and cheese. (Apparently one of the charms of vacation is paying eight dollars for something I can make at home for one.)

We built sandcastles, hunted for seashells, caught a crab (and let it go), and spotted dolphins out at sea. Lucy even ventured out into the sand a time or two (with shoes on), and let the ocean waves lull her to sleep four out of five days.

At the pool, Matt and Lucy took turns blowing bubbles while Ella played "swimming teacher" with Claire.

And it turns out that homemade birthday cake ice cream on a cone from Blue Mountain Beach Creamery can make you forget all about shaved ice.

Project Life: Giveaway Winner

I wish I was Oprah so I could surprise all 1,034 of you with a Project Life kit, but unfortunately I'm not. The randomly selected winner of the giveaway is:

Congratulations Sandra! I'll be in touch to let you know how to claim your prize. Thanks to Becky Higgins for sponsoring this giveaway!

2012 Photos | Week 14 | Apr 1-7

A few of Lucy's favorite sayings:

• "Ooooh, pwetty!" (She always notices when somebody is dressed up and/or wearing something new.)
• "I coming!" (Said as she is running in the opposite direction with absolutely no intention of coming.)
• "TOP IT!!" (As in, "STOP IT!!" She's always yelling at the top of her lungs for this one, of course.)
• "Mommy-ah" (Her pet name for me.)

Ella has decided it's finally time to learn how to ride a two-wheeler. A couple of weekends ago Matt took the training wheels off her bike and brought her to the school to practice on the grass field. She caught on really fast. On Tuesday after school I took her back to get in some more practice. I was so impressed with her determination. She fell down a few times (see the dirt on her elbow in the first picture?) but never gave up. By the end of the afternoon I told her I thought she was almost ready to try on the blacktop. Her response? "When we do, we should bring a whole box of Band-Aids!"

Something I love right now: the way Lucy reads sitting perfectly upright with a book on her lap and her legs sticking out straight in front of her.

Local Easter egg hunt. (Click through to this picture to see Ella and Claire at the same event - and on the same stone steps - two years ago.) Those scabs on and around Lucy's lips are from a tumble she took on our driveway this week. The poor thing managed to chip a small portion of her front tooth in the process; I'm just grateful it wasn't worse!

We spent Easter weekend in New Jersey and the girls (all 7 of them) spent most of their time outside on the hammock. Claire was too scared to actually get on the hammock so she ended up being the unofficial "hammock pusher" for most of the weekend instead.

Project Life: Giveaway!

I have a few Project Life layouts to share, but first something fun. Becky Higgins has generously offered to give away all of the following to one of my blog readers:

This is basically everything you need to start a Project Life album. I think this would be especially perfect for somebody who has been wanting to give Project Life a try. Almost every member of Becky's creative team is hosting a giveaway this week, so there are many chances to win. Check Becky's blog later today for a full list of all the giveaways. Here are the details if you want to enter:

1. First of all, since these products will be shipped directly from Amazon, the winner must be a U.S. resident.

2. To enter, leave a comment on this post.

3. I will close the comments at 3pm Eastern time on Thursday, April 12th and select a winner then.

And now, a few Project Life layouts. First up is the week of Valentine's Day (Week #7). As you can see, I devoted the entire left side of my layout to Valentine's Day. I really like the flexibility of my approach this year (week-at-a-glance instead of photo-a-day) to be able to focus on certain events like this without always having to add an extra insert. I won't do this every week because I really don't want to lose focus on recording everyday life, but in certain instances I'm finding it works really well.

Here's a closer view of the left side...

... and the right side.

The next week (Week #8) was the week of our February break. As I mentioned in my weekly photos post for this week, I didn't really take a whole lot of photos but I still felt like I had plenty of material to use.

I really liked using this Instagram-style layout (which I created in Photoshop) in one of my 4x6 pockets to fit several photos in a small space:

Finally, here is Week #9 (Feb 26 - Mar 3). I did include one 8.5x11 insert for this week. The front side of the insert is just an enlargement of a photo from the week that I loved.

Here you can see the back side of the insert and a more complete view of the right side of my layout. The back of the insert includes the final draft of the persuasive letter Ella wrote at school asking for a fish. As you can see by the date on the letter, she actually wrote this a couple of weeks earlier but it didn't come home until this particular week and since it coincided nicely with the fact that she actually did get a fish that week, I felt like it made the most sense to include it in Week #9.

Also, you can see that I used one of the 4x6 slots for journaling. I love doing this when I have too much journaling for one of the regular journaling slots, but not enough to warrant its own 6x12 insert.

(Note: Yes, I am still also creating digital layouts for each week, but I decided to just share physical layouts this time around.)

Products used:

InLinkz.com

2012 Photos | Week 13 | Mar 25-31

After looking through my pictures for this week I noticed a disproportionate amount of photos of Claire. Sometimes this happens - when I focus on one child more than the others during a certain time period - and when it does I try not to worry about it too much. I generally find that it all tends to even out in subsequent days and weeks. When I do notice a disparity, it's a good reminder to make a conscious effort to focus on capturing more diverse moments that include the other girls (and me and Matt too). It also makes me really grateful for Ella's teacher, who shared some photos this week of Ella in the classroom during "Bear Days" that I plan on using in my Project Life layout for the week. 

Onto the photos for Week 13:

Reading together before bedtime. I just happened to capture the moment right after Lucy scooted over and laid her head on Claire's shoulder.

Afternoon itinerary according to Claire: "First we will read two books. I will read them to you and then you will read them to me. Then we will color."

It's been a while since I captured a picture of Claire sleeping. They never get old. In this case I walked out of the room for two minutes and saw this when I came back. Like father like daughter... Matt falls asleep on the couch like this just about every night!

"Mom, when you love your blanket, it gets holes in it."

Springtime blossoms.

A couple of iPhone snaps: (1) Claire at her 4 year well check. Few people could pull off a Cat in the Hat gown like she can. She is growing perfectly and weighing in at 35.5 pounds (50th percentile) and 41 inches tall (75th percentile). She took her shots like a champ, redeeming herself for the breakdown she had over her flu shot last fall. (2) I have developed a minor Pinkberry addiction (my drug of choice is Original with strawberries, mangoes, dark chocolate crisps, and honey). The kids think Matt and I are the coolest parents ever because we keep taking them there, but what they don't realize is that these outings are completely selfish on our parts. We just can't get enough.