the pour-over

confession: we've slowly but surely developed into coffee snobs over here our house.

5 years ago, i didn't drink coffee and neither did tim.  when B was born, we didn't OWN a coffee maker so we took an old one from a friend to have in our house when my mom stayed with us to help us with B.  and so began drinking it in the morning but tim wasn't totally on board - didn't really like the taste.  

i can't even really remember how it start but in the last year or so, tim started drinking starbucks and he put less and less cream and sugar in.  Then he started refusing the coffee that i was making at home.  "it's not strong enough" he'd say.  i bought the starbucks beans.  "this doesn't taste the same."  i cleaned the coffee maker with vinegar 3 times.  "it didn't help."  i continued to drink my coffee alone.

i started hanging out with a new friend who also loves coffee and she had bought her husband a burr grinder for his birthday.  a burr grinder grinds the coffee more uniformly and makes better coffee.  i asked for one for christmas and we got it! "it's still not strong enough."  oh. my. goodness.  forget you, tim.  i'm going to stop trying to make a better cup of coffee.  haha.  but really, i didn't want to be alone in my addiction so i hadn't totally given up my quest.

but then, last week on a playdate at this same friend's house, she made me this stellar cup coffee.  it was so good. when i commented this, she described the pour-over.  of course, i know the pour over but she does it straight into her coffee maker and flicks the on switch to keep it hot.  how to do it?  grind your coffee, put it in the filter, but instead of measuring and pouring out the water into the coffee maker water area, pour it into your kettle.  bring to an almost boil then pour over the grinds in your coffee maker. turn on the on switch to keep hot.  

i started making coffee like this last week.  tim says, "you like this?  it's so strong!"  i put way less sugar in even though he says it's stronger.  and would you believe it?  he LIKES it!  he took a mug of it to work this morning.  YES!  addicted together.  what i've always wanted.  ;)

this is our coffee maker

week 13

 The whole first page is Monday's day at the park!  It was such a gorgeous day!

I reorganized all my PL papers and cards which makes it easier to pick out a colour theme and stick with it for the whole layout and I'm loving the way the cut photo in the bottom left works with the journaling around it!  We checked out another new park on Saturday so in the bottom right, I have a little "pull" tab and there's another pic behind the one displayed.

I find that I struggle with honest journaling with these albums because you have such a small space to write or you have too many pics to have a space for a 4x6 journal spot.  I don't figure out what I want to say before writing, I just start and hope I can fit it on the card!  I want to remember that the day to day can be hard sometimes and this week, B was especially cranky so I wrote a little about it on the cream card in the center.  When I'm keeping up with blogging, I can always print those and add them.

To be added later: I'm going to print my blog post about Dessert Night and insert the pic collage of the 4 of us plus a close up of Ben's face!

week 12/13 : easter weekend

Two pages with a 2-5x7 insert.  On weeks where I have so many photos, I tend to forget about the embellishments and just get the pics and stories documented!  

I tried out some overlays for this layout - AE word, hunt, in the top right and the picture frame in the bottom right is a little hard to see with the reflection but it says hello spring and describes our afternoon in Bellingham.

 Too many cute photos not to add an insert of the kids hunting for eggs!

On the reverse of the insert - Sunday's decorating eggs.  I think I'll add some words about Sunday to the egg dipping photo but I haven't done that yet.

There's still a blank as I need to check my mom's camera and see if she has a photo of dinner on Sunday.  I was sad that we didn't think to get a photo of our family dressed up for Easter Sunday's church service but on the pink card, I've included a quote from B at church.  :)

Monday, we spent the morning at a park and I took so many pics that I included most of them on the next week's layout!

week 12

 I covered the week from Sunday to Thursday and then did another layout for the Easter long weekend.

 Mostly Sunday pics - we were happy to have M, K, and baby L home from Mexico.  Gotta document when we see that girlie!

We checked out two "play place"s this week - we've never been to the Abbotsford one before because it sounded too expensive to be worth it when usually B doesn't like the noise that reverberates through these plastic tunnels and such.  BUT we met up with friends and B and his buddy had a GREAT time! (top two pics) I couldn't believe he was willing to go down the huge slides!  The toddler area was great too so Avery had fun and when she got tired, she sat on my lap for awhile with her soother and bunny.

In the bottom two pics, we went to our friends' son's 4th birthday party - they rented out the whole Captain Kid's in Langley!  Woah!  Fun!  The toddler area is way smaller than Abby so A kept daddy busy crawling through the tunnels and going down the HUGE slide.  The slide is so steep and fast that, at one point, I got to the top with A and wussied out!  Too scary for me!  :)

I used some new hot pink washi tape on 3 of the pics but it's not super cohesive with the floral.  Sometimes, you just can't spend forever trying to fix up the pages or I get stuck and never return!  Haha.

week 11

 Lots of fun this week!  One extra half-page insert and I threw in one of Ben's watercolour paintings as well.

Friends from up north were visiting over Spring Break so we got to spend Monday afternoon and evening with them.  Lots of pics to document.

 This is the back of the half-page insert - just playing at home pics.  Ben's painting was a picture of "a ladder store".  This is his favourite thing to paint right now.

Last page documents mostly a fun playdate in Bellingham at a "play cafe".  I used these gold letters from my most recent Citrus Twist PL kit but I find the little square letters are difficult to keep straight!  Oh well - gets the idea across!  :)

week 10

a rough week with FEW pics.  ugh. and what's crazy is that we did so many fun things this week seeing as i was pumped to have finished report cards.  PLUS, i had this ridiculous page layout to deal with from week 9.  but we see lots of gray and turquoise again!  

not my fav looking 2 page spread

the sandbox and A's legs pics are actually from week 11 but i journalled about "regular" life along with those pics so that they were relevant to this week's layout.  the bottom gray card is waiting for the one instagram from this week to get printed.

aaaand all these pics are from saturday - the day i realized that i no pics from this week!  haha.  at least we had something going on on saturday with friends!  i also geekily journalled about our latest favourite board game in the top left 4x6 spot.

it's weeks like these that would set my back in my 2012 book because i wouldn't want to document the week so i'd leave it and fall far behind.  2013, head down, power through.

week 9

if i didn't care that every layout looked the same, i'd use gray and turquoise for every page!  even so, you see these colours a LOT already in my PL binder. i bought a handful of the Becky Higgins Seafoam Core Kit cards from another PL-er on facebook so this was my first chance to use some of them.  (see "True Story" and "Recorded" cards)

i love the washi tape days of the week for my two instagram pics

i had a few vertical pics that i really liked and wanted to have as 4x6s instead of the 3x4s so i delved into my stack of OTHER pages... but i always find that i don't like these layouts as much.

dessert night...

everything you read in parenting mags says that forcing kids to eat everything on their plates in order to get dessert is wrong.  it's teaching them not to follow their instinctual hunger/full cues.  when B was two or so, i would say, "just eat three more bites" or something to that effect, patting myself on the back for knowing that he shouldn't have to finish his meal.

and then he started eating less.  getting pickier.  demanding dessert.  augh.  so i started putting less on his plate and saying he had to eat it all.  "am i done yet?"  "finish all the food on your plate."  i was going against everything that i'd congratulated myself on a few months ago.  and i was tired of dinner time.  i was tired of arguing over every meal.  i was tired of meltdowns after we'd say that he couldn't have dessert.

new plan!  no dessert.  maybe that was an easy solution for all you healthies out there but tim and i love dessert.  we grew up on ice cream after dinner.  but really, it's not a right at the end of the night.  we made the new plan that friday and saturday would be "Dessert Nights"!

all week, if B asked, "am I finished?", the answer was, "if you're full."  B probably ate about the same amount of food that he'd eat if we were arguing about it.  but dinner was much less stressful for me...and likely for him too.

then friday got here.  B cheered that "tonight is Dessert Night!"  he even ate all his dinner anyways.  and the ice cream tasted better than usual.  i think this new plan could work for us!

our attempt at a family selfie with our cones...but check out ben's face:

he had accidentally poked a hole in his cone - horrifying.

a sneak peek...

can you believe that i'm currently working on LAST WEEK's PL layout?  i'm caught up!  i'm behind in posting however...will aim to do that tomorrow - make sure to check back.  but until then...here's one of the photos i worked on adding an Ali Edwards overlay to today.   

(can't take credit for the photography though - my friends over at Photobooth Vancouver had the camera out during the egg hunt on Easter weekend AND they supplied the candy!)

it's all about crisp

crisp is one of my kryptonite desserts - i can't resist it.  however, MAKING crisp has always been an experiment that just is never quite right.  i'm always trying new recipes and they're never quite what i was looking for.  last night, i found the one that i will make all summer: http://sugarandspice-celeste.blogspot.ca/2010/06/scrumptious-strawberry-crisp.html

i made strawberry rhubarb (rhubarb that was saved in my freezer from last summer!) and it was fantastic!  fruit crisp gives the illusion of being a healthy dessert (fruit and oats!) but don't be fooled.  especially if you break this recipe for 7 servings into only 4!  heehee.  

but it's worth it!  

a swing fiend

a's first time on the big swings!

A loves to go on the swings at the park.  LOVES.  as soon as we arrive, i try to distract her by taking her to the slides or a ladder that she can try but no.  she makes a toddler-waddle, arms outstretched beeline for the swings.  and no matter how long we are at the park for, when we begin to pull her out of that swing, she starts to cry.

the post-swing face

A doesn't have too many words yet and she's morphed our sign for "thank you" (tapping her chin) into meaning "more please".  whatever works, right?  well, lately, she gets on the swing and starts tapping her chin.  at first, i thought she might want to get out so i started to take her out but that set off some major crying.  i put her back in and started pushing her again and off she goes, tap tap tapping her chin.  i pushed her higher and higher but it didn't seem to be good enough so she's screaming crying while swinging.  i looked like a crazy parent pushing a kid who looks like she doesn't want to swing.  as it turns out, i think she just wanted to swing as high as possible.  once i had her almost flipping the swing over the bars, she was happy.  what a girl!  (keep in mind, she was in the baby swing - not these big swings in the photos!)  so i guess we'll keep her swinging until she gets interested in something else at the park.  

superheros are good guys...right?

i'd like to think that i haven't been overly protective of B but the concept of guns has not yet entered our house.  he usually watches shows like Mighty Machines and Sesame Street and his encounters with other kids is mostly parent-involved playdates (with the exception of Sunday School and kids at the park).

somehow, B got interested in knights.  it must have been an episode of Curious George or something but he asked to be a knight this past halloween.  while i tried to talk him into being a lion, i couldn't pass up the cute knight costume that i found at superstore.  he was convinced that he was a bad knight and i tried to tell him that knights were good guys.  we've taken a couple knight related books out of the library since and, as it turns out, knights are a complicated story.  "why are they burning down the walls of this castle, mommy?"  so now the story that i'm sticking with is that some knights are good and some are bad.  but we know that they all use swords.

we recently had dinner at mcdonalds (a new and incredible discovery that the play place is the perfect destination after a very long day) and in ben's happy meal was a scary looking Transformer.  this Transformer shoots some blue thing out of his arm.  "is this a superhero?" asks B.  hmm...i have no idea.  what makes a superhero?  it's really a deep and thought-provoking question that i choose not to worry about at the moment.  ;)  "how does he fight the bad guys?  does he have a sword?"  well, transformers are complicated.

as we walk through the toy aisle at Winners or Walmart (we always make a detour to check out the toys), B gawks at the superhero packaging and scary looking dudes behind the thin plastic window.  "are these good guys, mommy?"  "umm...yep." the one that he's mostly drawn to is The Incredible Hulk.  "why isn't he wearing any clothes?"  "is that his underwear?"  "why is he green?"  "is this a good guy?"  "why does he look so mad?"  "where is his sword?" and while i do my best to answer these questions, ("well, he is usually wearing clothes and then he gets angry at the bad guys so he turns green and muscley and all his clothes rip off...?") the Hulk is complicated.

are you picking up on a theme here?  why are all these guys so hard to understand?  i think it's possibly because i'm trying to describe them to a three year old.  and i know nothing about superheros.  so while i'd like to keep him watching Mighty Machines for the rest of his life, he might be an odd 18 year old.  i guess i should start figuring out my stance on all things violent before i actually need to send B to a time out for pretending to rip all his clothes off in anger, hit avery with a sword, and then burn down the walls of a castle.

week 8

i started doing family visits on Thursday so my photos are lacking as i spent Monday - Wednesday prepping for my student assessments.  i need to remember this next term and ask my babysitters to take some photos for me!  

page 1

page 2
i tried the all 3x4 pocket page this week...

week 7

we had a full week with BC's first Family Day on Monday and then a fun Valentine's Day playdate on Thursday!  i added an extra insert of pics to be able to fit everything in!

two page spread

page one with front of insert

Flipping the insert over...

and page 2 with the back of the insert

tutorial: using .png overlays in ipiccy.com

my PL-ing cousin, rachel, sent me a link to a tutorial on how to use .png overlays on my photos using a free software called, fotoflexer.com.  i've been wanting to start using more digital in my Project Life layouts forever but thought i needed fancier software.

i spent some time trying out this website and while i found the tutorial great, i didn't love fotoflexer.com as i'm used to using ipiccy.com.  i figured ipiccy must have the same overlaying abilities so i checked it out.  they do!  and it's more user-friendly in my opinion.

if you want to start adding .png overlays to your photos - i thought i'd try my first tutorial post! (please click on the photos to see them larger!)

first, head over to ipiccy.com and click the yellow button at the bottom to Start Editing!

here's what my ipiccy looks like - it has kept all my photos that i've uploaded to it!  very handy.  yours will be empty.  click "Upload photo".

this is what your page will look like with your newly uploaded photo:

to add your overlay, click on the fourth tab above your photo (see below in orange) - the Layers tab.  once in the Layers tab, the four buttons will be in the toolbar: Photos, Sticker, Text, and Shape.  choose "Photo".

a new sidebar will appear full of all your photos previously uploaded to ipiccy.  mine is full but yours will be empty.  choose "Add Photo" to upload your overlay.

 when you downloaded your .png file, it may have been in a .zip drive.  your .png files need to be OUT of the zip drive and into the file folder before you can use them here.  i'm going to choose the Ali Edwards "growing" overlay from my file here and press "open".

here is the GROWING overlay in my sidebar! (next to my cute freebie overlay from A Vegas Girl At Heart)

simply DRAG it over to your photo!  easy! a new sidebar will pop up with that new layer.

to make it see through, select the overlay on the photo (as you see it selected above) then go to the sidebar and at the top in "Blend Mode",  it says Normal.  Click the down arrow and choose "Overlay". 

 Your overlay will be see through and you can use the "Fade" to change this.  There are also many other features within this sidebar to play with!

When you're finished in the Layers Tab, click the orange "Done" button in the top right corner and this will take you back to the main photo tab.  Now, if you're finished, click the Disk tab (down the row from the Layers tab) to Save.

That little disk will take you to this page where you can rename your photo whatever you like and save it into the correct file.  And you're finished!  

PL catch up

week of jan 6 - 12

week of jan 20 - 26

week of jan 27 - feb 2

i cut a page in half and added an insert because i had lots of photos to add this week. 

Back of the insert and page 2

week of feb 3 - 9

yes, this is as far as i've caught up to!  i'm almost finished feb 10 - 16.  i'm hoping to power through this week and get caught up to date over the spring break while work will ease off (though I still have lots of planning to do!).  at least the emails will subside a little.  :)