Disney Magic: Sorcerer Dylan

What a fun surprise we had recently when Dylan had the opportunity to "open" the Disney Store with a little magic!

We set out for the mall to buy some new shoes for school and accidentally arrived before most of the mall stores opened for the day. Strolling around to pass the time, we were walking by the Disney Store when I remembered having seen photos on social media of other kids getting to "open" the store. Without telling Dylan (in case I was wrong), we convinced him to wait outside the store. We spent the time encouraging him to search out hidden Mickeys in the window display.

So glad we waited! I'm not sure when we'll get this chance again and it was such fun for the 3 of us. Dylan got to dress up like Sorcerer Mickey and do some "magic" to get the book to light up. Then one of the Cast Members gave him a special Mickey lanyard as a gift. He wore it the rest of the day and it now proudly hangs in his room with one from our visit to Walt Disney World last year.

Thanks, Disney, for helping us turn an ordinary day into something magical!

Supplies: Storyboards 1 template and Digi Essentials by Karla Dudley; Bermuda Triangle collaboration from Pixels & Co; Create Something Beautiful kit by Sweet Shoppe Designs; Dude kit by Robyn Meierotto; Peachy Keen kit by Dawn by Design.

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Start of Kindergarten

I've seen so many first day of school photos in my social media feeds this week. Hard to believe Dylan's first day of kindergarten was over a month and a half ago. I took a few minutes last night to look back and put together a page for his yearly photo book of this latest milestone:

He's currently on his first "track out" break from the school year and won't be back in class until early September. The first quarter went well so while we're enjoying a break, we're also looking forward to seeing what the second quarter has in store.

Has your child (or children) started the school year yet?

Supplies: Road to Success kit by Karen Funk; Right Now brushes by Karla Dudley; Bugaboo elements by Deena Carter.

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20 Questions at 5

For the 3rd year, I've asked Dylan the same 20 questions at his birthday. It's fun to look back and see which answers stay the same and which answers change.

I plan to put them all into a single book for him later and started with last year's layout to keep the pages similar, but let them each have their own unique look.

Supplies: Daydream papers and Birthday Bash kit by Karen Funk. Questions list from Reaves, Party of Four: 20 Questions. 

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Preschool Graduation

A week has passed and I'm still in a bit of shock that we had "preschool graduation." The entire idea makes me giggle. I mean, really, they are 4 & 5 year olds. But ridiculously cute in the little caps & gowns and did an amazing job during the entire program which was held at night at a local elementary school. A long day for these kids.

Afte a couple of songs, the director called each child up by name. The staff had asked them during school what they wanted to be when they grew up and the kids had each drawn a picture to match. At her asking, they each stated their answer and shared their picture with the crowd. Dylan's response? A big brother. He drew a picture of himself and his sister dancing he told us after. Melt my heart. Yes, I definitely started to cry at that moment.

Now we have 3 more weeks until he starts kindergarten as his school is year round. Three weeks! Hard to believe we're so close. And, yes, I'm sure I'll be all teary-eyed that morning too.

Supplies: Challenge Me - Vol 1 template by Dawn by Design; Destination Adventure by Robyn Meierotto; Elementary and The Road to Success kits by Karen Funk.

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Baby Girl

So grateful on Monday to hear that our newest little family member is growing and looking totally healthy! Also fun to learn that Dylan was right all along - he's getting a little sister.

Supplies: DHD January blueprint template; Blossom and Claire kits by Karen Funk; Gidget paper pack by Gennifer Bursett; Spring Menagerie collaboration from Design House Digital.

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Strawberry Patch

One of my favorite parts of spring? Visiting the strawberry patch to pick fresh berries. Last year we went over Memorial Day weekend and took my mom & brother with us. We filled two buckets full and I'm pretty sure Dylan ate about as many as he picked based on the red stains on his face.

Inspired by Book Boys by Jennifer McQuire.

Supplies: Linen Line No 3 - Fresh papers by Agnes Biro; Strawberry Patch and Summer Picnic kits by Sara Schmutz; One Year Older kit by Karen Funk

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Friday Freebie: Family template

In honor of International Scrapbooking Day tomorrow, I thought I would share a free digital template. Based off my Family layout earlier in the week, the template features 14 layers and is free for personal use.

Click here to down the 12x12 Family template

Enjoy!

Have you missed one of my previous digital freebies? Click HERE to find them. And, don't forget to subscribe to my feeds so you won't miss future freebies!

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Our Family - the layout

Playing catchup as always on the scrapbooks. :) We had family photos taken in September. This is one of my favorites.

Design inspired by Life is WonderFall by Brenda Cazes.

Supplies: Road to Success and Elementary kits by Karen Funk; Still mini kit by Gennifer Bursett; Pixels & Co More or Less collaborative kit; Destination Adventure freebie kits by Robyn Meierotto and Shannon McNab; Bugaboo kit by Deena Rutter.

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First (Dentist) Visit

Dylan recently had his third - third! - dental cleaning. I'm shaking my head wondering how he grew up so fast. He hasn't even needed us in the room with him since the first visit. He just kicks back, lays still and lets the hygienist work while Trent or I head to another room to get our teeth cleaned. Both the hygienist and dentist have told us he's better than some adults!

I like to think part of it is because his first visit was so successful. I did stay with him that entire visit and the hygienist carefully talked him through each part. Afterwards he got to "clean" the teeth on a toy alligator with a giant toothbrush. He loved it.

Supplies: Destination: Adventure freebie by Shannon McNab; Blossom kit by Karen Funk; I Love Boys by Robyn Meierotto; Adobe Caslon Pro, Arial and Dancing Script OT fonts.

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Lego KidsFest 2014: the layout

Two years ago, we had the opportunity to attend our first Lego KidsFest. When we heard it was returning to Raleigh and knowing we had a Lego obsessed son, Trent bought tickets for the 3 of us to attend again. To say Dylan had a blast was an understatement. Just yesterday morning he was once again studying the event pamphlet and talking about the different areas and what he wants to do next. Still trying to help him understand it was a one time event. Unless, of course, he can convince his aunt to take him when it's in Richmond in October...

We didn't take that many photos this time, but it still took some effort to slim down to a few that I thought helped give a good overview of the fun. And, I'm sure if KidsFest comes again in a couple of years, we'll be some of the first to scoop up tickets.

Have you ever attended Lego KidsFest or another kid focused special event? What was your favorite?

Supplies: Leathers: Sugar Frames by Gennifer Bursett; Courier, Legothick and Stencil Std fonts.

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Disney All-Star Music: Resort Fun

The cold weather and household conversation about our next Walt Disney World trip (nothing planned ... yet ;) ), have me Disney dreaming. And what better to daydream about than enjoying the pool and other fun entertainment at a Disney resort?

I put together this page for our photo book last year to give a snapshot of the fun we had swimming in the guitar pool and playing in the arcade at All-Star Music Resort:

On previous visits, Trent & I stayed at Port Orleans - Riverside. I'm still a bit partial to it and thinking that might be what we do next time. What's your favorite resort?

Supplies: Dude mini kit and Clearly Simple Sans alpha by Robyn Meierotto; Inspire papers by Sarah Sullivan.

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Lowe's Build & Grow: Croods layout

The project that started the boys regular visits to the Lowe's Build & Grow clinics - The Croods Piranhakeet Chomper.

The top right journaling inside the speech bubble features a short discussion Dylan & I had when looking at the photos. Always fun to add a bit of his own words to the pages.

Supplies: Grunge Frames and Noted brushes by Jen Allyson; ABC kit by Sara Schmutz; En Route kit by Erica Coombs; In the Garden by Gennifer Bursett.

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Friday Freebie: 12x12 Collage Template

Happy Friday! Take a lot of photos last night? This month's Freebie is a template to help with that. Originally created for my The Art of the Brick layout, it's a clean 12x12 design for up to 7 photos. The template is free for personal use only.

Click here to download Brick template

Enjoy!

Have you missed one of my previous digital freebies? Click HERE to find them. And, don't forget to subscribe to my feeds so you won't miss future freebies!

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Disney Book: The End

The final page in our Disney photo book - heading home.

I chose to use 3 photos on this page that summed it up perfectly: watching the rain fall as we waited on the Magical Express to take us to the airport (only rain during our trip!), Dylan looking out the plane window just before we pulled away from the gate, and pulling our luggage through the pickup area at RDU.

Supplies: Destination: Adventure freebie kit by Shannon McNab.

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Friday Freebie: Disney Resort Fun

The photo book of our trip to Walt Disney World wouldn't be complete without a page about the fun we had playing at our resort, All-Star Music. All trips need a little downtime and after spending the morning at Animal Kingdom, we returned to the resort midafternoon to do just that. We played games in the arcade (the middle photo cracks me up - my attempt at a shot of all 3 of us playing a racing game. Dylan was in my lap and the mouse ears on his head are just barely visible) and swam in the guitar pool before ordering a pizza for dinner. Simple, fun Friday night in the happiest place on earth.

Supplies: Inspire papers by Sarah Sullivan (recolored); Count on Me brushes by Deena Rutter; Dude kit & Clearly alpha by Robyn Meierotto.

Want to recreate the look of this page? Do it easily with this month's Friday Freebie template. The template features 12 layers including photo masks, arrow head embellishment & title. It's free for personal use only.

Click here to download the Resort Fun template

Enjoy!

Have you missed one of my previous digital freebies? Click HERE to find them. And, don't forget to subscribe to my feeds so you won't miss future freebies!

Planning a trip to Disney with your young child(ren)? Check out my tips for Disney with a Preschooler and how to save money with Packed Fun for Less.

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Hidden Mickeys

On previous trips to Walt Disney World, Trent & I have had fun hunting for hidden (and not so hidden) Mickeys. Dylan was just old enough during our trip in May to play along himself. Once we showed him a couple, he got the hang of it and had fun pointing out any Mickey likeness he saw. To this day he will make a hidden Mickey any chance he gets (3 M&M's = hidden Mickey, 3 slices of cucumber = hidden Mickey, etc). So cute.

As he also is really into the camera and getting photos of certain things, he often asked me to take photos of the Mickeys he spotted. Thus, we have the page dedicated to Mickey in our trip album:

I created a template with a simple grid outline to arrange all the photos. The larger picture of Dylan with the Mickey Mouse ice cream is straight from Instagram.

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Friday Freebie: Meet the Pack 2013

In honor of the start of football season tomorrow for our alma mater - I'm sharing a free template this month based on a page I made with photos taken at Meet the Pack day a few weeks ago.

I decided to use a shot of the stadium as the focal point and added lyrics to the school alma mater overtop. The bottom photos were taken during the autograph session and at our house with the sign we picked up for our front yard - This is our State.

The template features 9 layers including photo masks, journaling and the title & outline. It's free for personal use only.

Click here to download Season Opener template

Enjoy!

Have you missed one of my previous digital freebies? Click HERE to find them. And, don't forget to subscribe to my feeds so you won't miss future freebies!

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20 Questions at 4

It's been a month since Dylan's 4th birthday and since I asked him the same 20 questions I asked last year. Then he was only interested in answering 11, but this year he happily answered them all. I loved hearing the answers. He totally melted my heart when he said I was his best friend.

Original idea pinned from Reaves, party of four.

Supplies: Elementary kit by Karen Funk; Mellow Alpha (tape) by Robyn Meierotto; This Week brushes by Karla Dudley.

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The Art of the Brick

We learned about The Art of the Brick during a visit to the Children's Museum of Alamance County back in the spring. I was excited the exhibit is finally here and open. We spent part of a very rainy day on Saturday in Graham viewing the many sculptures by Nathan Sawaya.

I selected a few of my favorite photos for a simple, clean lined page to add to Dylan's scrapbook. My favorite photo is the one of him (on his toes!) peering up at the guy looking as his reflection in a pool of water. But the best moment was when he spotted the Hugman sculpture (before we did) and ran over for a closer look.

The Art of the Brick combined two loves for all of us - Legos and art. Inspired, we spent a good part of Sunday playing with and organizing Dylan's Lego collection.

See the above photos and a few more in my Art of the Brick set on Flickr.

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Fire Truck Parade

Last weekend we headed downtown to see the Fire Truck Parade. It was part of the South Atlantic Fire Rescue Expo that took place at the Convention Center and, while a relatively short parade, it was perfect for a 4 year old in awe of fire trucks and all big vehicles.

Supplies: More or Less collaborative kit from Pixels & Co; A Little Beachy kit and Fly Away with Me elements by Sarah Sullivan; Dude mini kit by Robyn Meierotto; Spring Freebie Collection by Just Jaimee; Sunny Days kit by Karen Funk.

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