Fall's Coming!!

I guess fall is really coming. Today, Matthildur went to Kindergarten, Lovisa went to school, I went to work and DH got his first weekend break of the season. I got home at lunch and it was totally quite - I had the house to myself for an entire hour. And it felt good!!!
After work, we got into our car and drove for 3,5 hours to my mom and her husband's country hotel in the south of Iceland. We are running it for them this weekend since it's their wedding anniversary and we decided they should get away somewhere to celebrate. So we are here - and they are not, which is a first, and I have to admit that it feels a little weird. But I hope they'll enjoy themselves. As for us, this evening has been rather entertaining since there is a group of senior citizens staying here, and they just whipped up a little party, with music and singing and dancing. Of course, with the average age well above 70, everyone was tired (and a little drunk LOL) by midnight and everyone was in bed by 1am :) It was a lot of fun, though!!
Anyways, a sure sign of fall is that my designers are already producing the most fabulous fall kits. I've already scrapped three of them...

My beautiful girls in a rare hugging moment. They do hug for the camera when I tell them to - but hardly ever otherwise. It's not that the little one wouldn't like to hug her big sister, it's just that the big sister still thinks she might catch something if she gets overly touchy feely with her little sister. After all, the little sister still produces her fair share of snot. Sometimes she's also dirty, and the big sister hates to be dirty LOL
I used a fantastic new collab from Mystique Designs and MDesigns. It's called Precious Autumn and is available both at OScraps and Digital Créa.

This is my girls again, only the photo is a year old. It's taken in October 2008 and we were on a little weekend trip to a vacation house out in the middle of nowhere. This is on one of the walks we tood - in amazing weather and beautiful fall colors!!
I used Irene V Alexeeva's beautiful new kit, Whisper, available at Scrap Orchard.

And, finally, my big girl when she was little :) This is in October 2006. We lived in Reykjavik at the time and Matthildur was only 3 months old, sleeping in her pram while we took walks. Lovisa, however, at the mature age of almost 4 years old, walked everywhere - and was very proud of herself usually :) This photo was taken while we were on our way back home from visiting Lovisa's great grandmother, Trausti's grandma, who lived across the valley from us, so it was an easy walk.
I used Kristin's ScrapDesign's gorgeous new kit, Crisp Autumn, available at Pickleberry Pop.

That's it for today - or night, since it's 1:30 am :) Thank you so much for stopping by!! The layouts are all linked for full credits.

Mojo's back :)

So yesterday I seemed to have found my scrapping mojo - so cleaning was on the back burner LOL I've got to get some done today, though, I only have 2 days left of my vacation so it really has to be done!! However, I also got some peace and quiet yesterday, since my older girl went to a friend's house and my little one was at Kindergarten. That's an unusual quietness around here - maybe that's why my mojo got back :)
Yesterday, my husband also went back out on sea after having been home since the middle of May. He's been working on the boat all summer, but at least he's slept at home!! As much as I love feeling fall sneak in after the summer, this is one of fall's aspects that I really hate. And speaking of fall, today really feels like fall. It's a dreary and windy day, the clouds are low and the waves are beating the shore. This is what I see from my computer room window...

And a little closer-up of the ocean :)Anyways, I have some layouts I want to show...My precious little girls last Easter Sunday :) They do know how to pose like they like each other sometimes LOL I used Vera Lim's newest kit, Precious Ones, for this layout.

Lovisa Lin will be 7 in December. She is starting second grade tomorrow and I really can't believe how fast she's growing!!! And, she's lost SIX babyteeth!! SIX!!! It's a huge milestone, actually - at least if you ask her. I do miss her full mouth of teeth, though LOL I made this with Shabby Miss Jenn's School Time - it's just out in her store :)

And a little bit of a fantasy layout showing my three year old taking a bath last weekend. She was having so much fun floating in the bathwater :) I used Mystique Designs' Enchanted. It was released at OScraps yesterday.

This last one took me ages yesterday!! Well, not the actual layout - although it did take some time, but this is part of my first ever hybrid project, which is the front cover of my daughter's second grade school folder. I'm rather proud of it, even though I miscalculated the size and almost glued all 10 fingers together while trying to fix it LOL I'm not sure I'll venture into something like this in the near future - but it was fun. Sort of :) I used Edeline Marta's newest kit, School Again, just released at Scrap Artist.

This is the finished project :)

Anyways, better get cleaning LOL All the layouts are linked for credits. Thank you so much for stopping by :)

Vacation

I'm on vacation right now - at least for today and the next few days. My 6,5 year old will start second grade on Thursday and I wanted to be home with her organizing her school stuff, our craft stuff and getting the house ready for fall. Sunday, we managed to move a couple of desks and make a little homework/computer room for both girls and me :) It's kind of cozy, since we'll all be sitting next to each other - me at my computer and the girls at the other desk doing homework or drawing. Today, I tidied up all of the middle floor, where the bedrooms and our cozy homework room is - now all I have to do is clean LOL

My little one started kindergarten last Thursday, after having had 6 weeks off for summer. She loves it there and couldn't wait to get back, really, but she is SO tired after having spent so much time there. She is tired, cranky and whiny when she gets home - so there is a complete relaxation hour for her, just vegetating in front of the tv or with me and a book, after she gets home. It's good for everyone, actually, to get that hour of relaxation, although I am planning on using it to help my schoolgirl with her homework when that starts up in a few days.

Anyways, I'm in a bit of a scrapping dump these days, but I did manage this one, with one of Edeline's newest kits called Vintage Memories. She made it especially for her guest month at Scrappity-Doo-Dah...

This is my three year old picking blueberries last Sunday. Yes, this is what we wear in August here in Iceland LOL - no tanktops and shorts for us, just heavy sweaters and hats!! It's getting slightly chilly and fall is definitely in the air. Here are a couple more photos from yesterday's berry picking trip :)

Evening Inspiration from Elo Designs

Elodie of Elo Designs, just released a new kit called Evening Inspiration...
I made this layout with it showing my beautiful 6 year old at the beginning of June.

More new layouts

I meant to update the blog at least every other day - but my good intentions with this blog never seem to last LOL I do have photos for my 365 project, but - I'm not going to upload them quite yet. I think I'm just going to scrap them and upload them as layouts :)

In the meantime, I have some more new layouts...

My older daughter and I on our adoption day in China. I did this for the first round of Battle of the Creative Teams over at DSA. I'm on Irene Alexeeva's team - and, therefore, used 100% her designs.

My younger daughter on the beach at the beginning of July. I used a new kit from Mystique Designs - which is also my new CT (yeah!!) - it's called Dolce Vita and is Brydka's debut kit at her new OScraps store!!

Doesn't he have the cutest little face? He's my little nephew and he's just as sweet and mischievous as his little two year old face looks :) My sister and her family live a bit away from us, but we went and visited them at the beginning of July. I used Shabby Miss Jenn's newest kit, Little Prince.

This is the lagoon Jökulsárlón, which is in the south of Iceland. It lies at the foot of the glacier Vatnajokull, the biggest glacier in Europe, and is filled with icebergs which break off the glacier. We went there in June and sailed among the icebergs - which is an amazing experience :)

I used Studio Phuong's Play Day freebie - available at the Studio Matters Blog.

This is for the second round of BOTCT - and I used 100% Irene Alexeeva's designs. The focus of the challenge was to use lyrics and all team members had to use the same lyrics. We chose the theme Friendship and used the lyrics to You've Got A Friend In Me. The girls in the layouts are my older daughter and my niece. They met for the first time in May and they were instant friends. This photo is taken like 12 hours after they first met - and 8 of those hours were spent sleeping LOL

My last layout for today is also using Irene's stuff, and this time her newest kit, Frolic Tunes.

This is my older daughter again - and this is a totally posed photo, since I had this layout in my head but no photo to use LOL I usually don't pose my girls - but when the necessity arises you have to do what you have to do :)

That's it for today. All the layouts are linked for further credits :) Thank you so much for stopping by and have a good day!!

New layouts :)

I'm not good with dark colors - and I'm not a Twilight fan - but Irene Alexeeva has such a gorgeous new kit out, that it had to be scrapped LOL It's called Her Lullaby, and it's very dramatic in black, red and white...I made a layout with it, showing my older daughter's happiness while she was on the beach playing with her kite the other day :)It's so much darker than my usual style - but I just loved how well the paper blends with the photo, and I love Irene's fabulous wordarts :)

And Edeline Marta is making her debut at a new store today!! She is going back to her home at Scrap Artist, and I have to say, her style is perfect there!!! Her debut kit is called Make Me Smile

and that's exactly what my little girl does on a daily basis :) She has such a beautiful smile!

That's it for today - I'm off to enjoy the beautiful weather we are having :) Thanks for looking and have a good weekend!!

New kit from Phuong

Phuong Ton just released her newest kit - it's so fun and fabulous!!! It's called Prehistoric - A Dinosaur Kit, and it's available at her SBG store. REALLY COOL!!! Here's my layout with it

I had so much fun with this kit :) The photo (the extraction of my daughter and my nephew) is taken at the entrance of a Dinosaur Park in England in June 2005 - and is meant as the first page of many from that visit.

Vera Lim also has some new overlays in her stores - she makes fabulous overlays. I used one of them here along with some more of Vera's goodies...This is part of my 2007 album, which I'm busy trying to finish up . This is my older daughter in February 2007, feeling really cool in her favorite sunglasses :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

No photos - just layouts :)

Just a couple of layouts to show off today - I sort of like them LOL

My gorgeous little (or not so little anymore :) girl. She was 4 years old at the time - now she's six. And a half LOL I used Lily Designs freebie for the July On the House challenge over at A5D.

And this is my sweet three year old sitting on the beach the other day. It was just such a fabulously extractable photo - and fit so well with Irene Alexeeva's amazing doodled little elves and that pumpkin house, which I absolutely love!!

Lovisa Lin loves to read - so this is a tribute to the magical world of books :) I used Studio Phuong's amazing new kit, Veiled Moonlight - it's just so fantastic that you really have to take a look to believe it!!

And finally, a fun moment between DH and our 3 year old at the beginning of June. They were running around the pier and in the end, she just wanted to run around in his arms :) And they both loved it. This kit is also by Studio Phuong and aptly named Fatherhood.

All layouts are linked for full credits. Thank you so much for stopping by :)

Blog life!

I'm going to try to resurrect my poorly neglected blog - since it's not Valentine's Day anymore LOL There has been a lot of stuff going on in my life for the past 4 months so the blog has been very low on the list of priorities. Now everything is settling down, so I'm going to give the 365 project another go :) Starting yesterday:

July 8 - The Midnight Sun

I took this photo off from our balcony. It was actually July 9th at the time, but since I hadn't gone to bed yet, I'm counting it as belonging to July 8 LOL The time was 1:16 am and the sun hadn't set yet - not that it really ever sets at this time of year.

July 9 - Good WeatherAnother one from my balcony. I like my balcony LOL - it's huge and it's been sitting there, unfinished for almost a year now, until my DH finally put the floor in two weeks ago. Just in time for the fantastic weather we've had :) I love to look at the ocean and the sky when the sun is shining and the weather is completely still.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

...to all who celebrate it :) We don't, althought the tradition is slowly getting imported to Iceland from America LOL I guess we all like to get romantic once in awhile - not bad to have a designated day for it :)

February 11Lovisa Lin and Matthildur Inga dancing on the living room floor :) Lovisa had dance lessons at school the other week and now she decided it was time to teach her little sister the moves LOL They had fun - so did I watching!! Notice the bandaid on Matthildur's leg? She has scratches all over from the cat. They just can't keep away from each other, must be the attraction that youngsters have for each other - at least they keep seeking each other out. And when Matthildur gets a little rough, the cat gives her a little pat with her claws, Matthildur gets a bandaid and then they keep on playing LOL

February 12Trausti got home early this morning afther having worked all night and slept very little for the past 3 days. Obviously he was tired - so when nighttime came around, he decided to let the girls sleep in our bed and they all fell asleep while he was reading for them. Even the cat - but the cat woke up when I snuck in with the camera. I thought this was altogether too adorable to not be the photo of today :) Poor Trausti only got 2 hours of sleep because he went back to work at 10:30 that night - and he's not coming back until Sunday night.

February 13

I didn't take these photos, our au-pair did. She is cooking Chinese for us today. Last night she marinated the chicken wings with some spices she brought back from China on February 1. This smells wonderful - and I've been looking forward to this meal all day :) She took these photos last night when she was making the marinade and after she coated the chicken. Looks delicious!!! And she is busy cooking right now - so the house has a wonderful aroma - mmmm!!!

February 14

Today is my birthday and this is the card I got this morning from my daughters. They also sang Happy Birthday to me all day LOL Their dad took them to the store on Thursday when he was home and they each chose a birthday present for me. When their dad had convinced them that I would maybe not appreciate Playmobile the same way they did, this is what they got me...
Matthildur Inga got me a fluffy pink cat - and she wrote on the card herself, with a little help from her dad :)

Lovisa Lin also got me a pink cat - more of a princess cat, but that's also because Lovisa is pure princess :) She also wrote on the card herself and wrote "To the best mom from Lovisa Lin"I love these - they are so cute :)

That's it for now - thank you so much for stopping by!!! BTW, it's nighttime and dinner is over with. The chicken wings tasted divine - as did the accompanying Beijing style Garlic and Koriander flavored cold noodles...yum!!!

4 Days...

I'm slacking - not with taking photos, but with blogging and blog hopping!! I'll be around commenting today...

February 7

Saturday we went for a long walk and the girls got tired. This is what happens on tiring walks...DH gives them each shoulder to rest on LOL I think they quite enjoy it - all three of them :)

February 8

Sunday was another walk - we went to the beach, which isn't far, with my BIL and his black lab. The girls love them both :) We found this dead fish on the beach - it was completely whole and had probably been washed ashore by the strong tide during the night. We don't usually find whole fish on the beach, just parts of fish in different decomposing stages - so this was an exciting find for the girls. And the dog - who just loved the smell and didn't understand why he couldn't play with it and eat it LOL

February 9

The reason for this photo of Lovisa Lin, is that she is eating vegetables like there's no tomorrow!! I made fish risotto with a fresh salad for dinner and she just ate and ate and ate. Not the fish or the risotto - she just ate the veggies. And she usually hates veggies. This time, she filled plate after plate of greens, tomatoes and cucumbers. It was amazing to watch LOL

February 10
A trampoline photo. It's getting to be part of the girls' nightly ritual to get on the trampoline and jump around for 15-20 minutes after dinner. Lovisa is quite good and Matthildur gets very into it. I think it's a good excercise for them - and it tires them out before bedtime LOL

Missing days...

The weather has been nice around here so far this year. It's actually unusually bright and still and we've had hardly any snow - just the perfect amount (knock on wood!!). But, it's been cold and the girls have had runny noses and sore throats, so we haven't been able to take full advantage of the good days yet.

February 4

So we spent Wednesday inside reading. Lovisa is already an almost fluent reader and reads for joy. She still has to read her school books, though, and when I get home from work we get the books and crawl onto my bed and she reads for me. Usually Matthildur goes and gets her own book to read beside us, and lately the cat crawls into bed with us, plomps herself down next to Lovisa and purrs of all her might LOL It's a very cozy moment - until Matthildur insists to read out loud too :)

February 5

Thursday I had a meeting after work and didn't come home until late. DH was preparing dinner and Matthildur Inga was cleaning up after him LOL It just amazes me how easily kids can squat for a long time!!

February 6Finally, yesterday, we got a chance to go out for a bit of a walk. I actually had quite a few photos to choose from for photo of the day, but decided to use this one. This is Lovisa pulling Matthildur on the sled - which she did for a LONG time to both of their amuzement :) Lovisa was just a bundle of energy yesterday, pulled Matthildur on the sled, then when we came back home, she went sledding with a couple of friends from school - and then she spent the rest of the evening jumping on the trampoline!! Matthildur, however, fell asleep on the sled and then vegetated in front of the TV, watching Astrid Lindgren's Emil of Lönneberga. Matthildur is a bit like Emil - so if you've ever seen the show, or read the books - you'll know she's a handful LOL

Here's my week 5 layout - I used Gina Marie Huff's Life 365 kit and template. I love this kit - totally fantastic!!
And now it's Saturday, the weather is good again - and we are off on a walk in a little bit.

And it's February!!

I can hardly believe it's February already!! The days are getting longer, and the end of the fishing season is drawing closer - which means DH will be home again every night, so everything is on the up LOL I never get depressed during the dark winter months, which is very common here in Iceland, I actually kind of like the dark most of the time. I do, however, love it when the days are visibly getting longer - mostly because it means that summer and warmer weather will be here in not too long :)

We have had fabulous weather for the past 2 weeks or so, bright sunny days, slightly chilly and hardly any wind. I have tons of outside photos, of our glacier, of the snow and of our ocean - but I'm not posting those now. I might keep them as "cheating" photos if I ever forget to take my photo!!

February 1Sunday was a lazy day, and since Lovisa still had a sore throat, we didn't go out much. However, the girls insisted on hot dogs for lunch, so we did venture out to the store to get some. They love it. A hot dog, a bun and lots of ketchup - yum LOL

February 2

Yesterday was not a good day for Lovisa. She has a huge temper, and once in awhile she seems to need to burst - like a volcano :) Yesterday was that day - and she cried and yelled quite a bit (to put it mildly!!). She usually uses some (or any) excuse to get herself wound up until everything is terrible and she does not know how to calm herself down. When she's ready, I just sit with her in my arms and help her breath deeply, until she relaxes and gets some control over her emotions. Thankfully, this doesn't happen very often, but yesterday was especially bad, probably because she was also feeling miserable due to a sore throat and lack of sleep - so at dinner time, when she had calmed down, her eyes were red and swollen from all the crying. I gave her a couple of slices of cucumber and told her to put them on her eyes - which she did, and she found it just too funny LOL But it helped :)

February 3These are the toes of my sweet girls, dressed in woolen socks knit by their grandmother. They got them this morning and insisted I take a photo of their feet in the socks to send to grandma. I did that - of course :) Grandma was very happy when she got the email this morning! Lovisa is in light pink and Matthildur is in dark pink. Matthildur insisted on putting them on herself - so, of course, the heels are in front LOL

Thanks for looking - and thank you for all the comments - I so love reading them :)