July 2020 CKCB Kit-Challenge #2

This month, Master Forger Clair has taken over the reins at the blog and has given us a beautiful kit to curate as well as a couple of challenges to play with.  I was tasked with Challenge #2:

You can choose to take this literally, and scrapbook about the 'adventures' you have had in your own back yards; or you can take it a little more loosely and talk about the local adventures that you've in your local area. While we're not able to travel as widely as we normally can, it's nice to focus on the fun to be found closer to home.

I actually did two layouts for this challenge.  The first one is just so so but meets the challenge in a more direct way.  I scrapped some photos of my family making S'mores in our backyard.  It's a two page layout that features lots of product from my Color Add-On Kit as well as some neutrals. 

One of my goals this month is to use up those large block letters from my kit.  They've actually appeared in several CKCB kits over the past couple of years.  There was only one letter of each and I hate that!  LOL!  I chose a grid design for this two page layout. 

If you came to my blog from the CKCB, then the above layout is not the one that you viewed for this challenge.  I did a second layout which I truly love.  I played with my stencils, inks, spray, paints, etc and created a layout of my youngest child "tolerating" a photo session in our backyard.  This poor girl has sat still and posed for me as I learned how to use the manual functions on my Nikon DSLR. 

Lots of details added to this layout.  I even broke out my sewing machine.  I decided I hated that lower right corner of my layout, so I tore off that corner and added a scrap of the neutral patterned paper from a previous layout and I used my sewing machine to tack it down fully.  Then I decided it needed a line in the upper left hand corner as well.  LOL!! 

You can see my gel medium and stencil work a little bit more in this photo. 

The extra line of stitching that I added.  ;) 

So, this brings me count from my July kit up to ELEVEN layouts!  Thank you for stopping by my blog today!  I hope that this beautiful Saturday finds you well rested and ready to take on next week!! 

CKCB Layout #2

I have made it my goal to dive right into my July 2020 CKCB kit and use up ALL of the patterned paper that I put inside it.  Let's see if I can pull it off!!  I know it's a big kit!  I have my second layout to share with you today! 

Garret got his very first Driver's License while we were on vacation in June 2012. In fact, getting his Driver's License was one of the main reasons we went home at that time.  Daddy was getting ready to go to Korea and we decided that I needed a second driver in the house.  I cannot tell you how glad that I am that we forced Garret to get his license because I ended up unable to drive for 6 months.  Yikes.

I really like that striped paper that I had included in my kit.  Ironically, it was NOT a full 12x12 sheet because I had fussy cut an element from the A side of the patterned paper a long time ago for another layout.  Then I shoved the sheet back into my Studio Calico patterned paper file.  I layered some tags, a piece of the blue cardstock from Layout #1, and one of the Project Life cards from my kit behind the photo.  I even managed to use up one of the "meet me" phrases from the Thickers in my kit!!  Go me!  I  finished it off with some spray ink splatters!  It's a simple layout but I like how it turned out! 

How are you ladies doing with your kits this month?  We are one week into July!  I hope you are making some progress!! Thanks for stopping by!

More of the school stuff….

After that day at the pond, the boys had to learn to use the new microscope purchased for this school year.  We had SO much fun finding the bacterium!!!!


I’m totally going to miss having them here.  I have been homeschooling since 2000, when we pulled Tyler out of public school at the end of first grade.  This has been an enjoyable time of my life, one I was looking forward to seeing through to completion.  However, that isn’t what is going to happen.  I can only pray and hope that this is what Tyler needs.  I ask that each of you pray with me.
Seth and Emily made Eagle Lapbooks during this first unit of the year.  That was great fun.


On Friday of this past week, Seth and Emily did their first chemistry experiment.  We are making crystals.  I currently have 7 petry dishes on my window ledge growing crystals. They are really excited about them.  we got the stuff to complete the experiment from Home Science Tools online. 
Tomorrow we start a new unit…we’ll be talking quite a bit about the Temple that Jesus knew.  We are *supposed* to build a model of it but I bought books and a DVD instead.  It was next to impossible to get the items needed to make it here without spending an arm and a leg for postage. 
Hope to chat soon….

Our Boys @ age 7

Someone asked me tonight if Seth looked like the other boys.  In her opinion he looks different.  HMMMM….I think there’s a family resemblance but I also think all of my kids look different.

TYLER June 2000


GARRET Jan 2002

SETH September 2009


You decide. 

Games September 19

This season, we are BUSY on Saturdays with three games!  Last weekend, the Garret’s game was in Ramstein….so it was pretty close to home.  That makes life easy because dh got called in on a case and was gone.  thankfully another mom was able to get Garret to the game on time since I could NOT be with Seth and Emily at their soccer games AND drive to Ramstein too.  LOL

Emily’s coach getting The DREAM Team into position. 



Emily and one of the dad’s on the team! 


End of game tunnel to run the players through….Emily is trying to figure what on earth those crazy adults are doing.  ;)

I didn’t get ANY pictures of Seth’s game. 
Garret’s game….

He didn’t get much playing time last weekend, but here’s some pix from the game.



There were a TON of injuries this game….at least FOUR pretty bad ones requiring a stretcher.  YIKES.  Our team won the game 28-20.

Wanna Play Some FOOTball?

Yeah, me either!  LOL….
Garret’s first football game was this past weekend in Mannheim.  His team lost but played a great game (not that I’d know that from my own knowledge because I so don’t understand the game but I’ll learn as we go).
Garret in his practice jersey

Yes he IS that skinny…no, I don’t starve him.  He eats his weight in food daily (ROTF).
Garret’s game jersey is #22 for this game (he traded another team mate jersey’s so this coming weekend’s game will be played with another #.




Um…yeah, I think that’s enough pictures for now!  LOL

How about soccer???  OK…how about some cute kids playing soccer? 
Seth’s on the right side of this picture looking down.




Miss Pouty

Coach talking to her and another player….giving them their jobs.


 
OK….I need to get moving.  There’s Mount Washmore on my bed and in the baskets all over the house.  It’s Friday Night Movie Night and I hope to enjoy a movie with my wonderful hubby and kids later. 
NOTE…if you are in one of the above pictures and don’t want the image on my blog, let me know and I’ll remove it.  Please note, that my blog is private and only shared with people I trust.

The Tower!

I can tell you that I am absolutely glad I did the tour and climbed this tower.  Would I do it again?  NOT ON YOUR LIFE!  293 stairs up a narrow, marble staircase (SLIPPERY!!!) and I am afraid of heights.  LOL!!  But I wanted my kids to see this phenomenon for themselves! 
The outside of the tower is absolutely beautiful as you can see from my pictures.  The inside is dark, narrow and slippery…scary slippery!  LOL.  I almost fell several times. 
Do you know why the tower leans????  Here’s a quote from the official website-in English:
The inclination
The problem of the inclination is the one that over the centuries has most fascinated and intrigued visitors, art lovers and experts and that has made this monument so famous all over the world.
All this is also due to the fact that the reasons for the inclination of the building are still fairly mysterious.
The experts have discussed for a long time, especially in the last century, whether such inclination might be due to the static problems of the building while it was built, in other words whether the incline of the Tower was an effect that the builder had deliberately wanted to achieve or if conversely it was the consequence of an unpredictable or otherwise progressive subsidence of the ground.
In the last century, the increasingly accurate measurements of the building and the surveys of the subsurface conducted with a wide range of devices, combined with historical and archival surveys, have shed some light on the matter. The Tower was presumably initially designed as a straight building; however, it must have begun to subside right from the first stages of the building work. The subsidence was due to the special morphological features of the ground, composed of several layers of clayey materials and silt, run through by groundwater levels at about one metre deep. These conclusions can be drawn from an observation of the soil, and the corrections made to every floor of the building. What is certain, based on the scarce information we have, is that over the centuries the oscillation of the building was minimal, since it must have eventually settled on the ground. This situation is corroborated by the accurate survey conducted in 1817 by two English experts, Cresy and Taylor. A few years later, in 1838, some event must have occurred which must have abruptly accelerated the oscillatory motion of the building, bringing back the need to carry out some decisive protective work. On that date, based on historical and aesthetic needs, it was decided that the bottom of the tower had to be cleared of the mantle of soil that had been hiding it for centuries. This work, that caused the Tower to lose its balance, involved the demolition of the buildings and constructions that stood next to the Tower and above all the draining of the brackish water that always surrounded the entrance of the building. The subsequent measurements showed that the inclination of the Tower had increased by approximately 20 centimetres: in the 267 years between Giorgio Vasari’s surveys in 1550 and those of the two Englishmen in 1817, the inclination had increased by just five centimetres. The leaning movement kept accelerating for a few years after the work of 1838, then decreased again to about one millimetre a year. During the XX century, better information and improved technical instruments, along with the support of governmental and safety authorities, led to a proliferation of studies, surveys and even special projects.
I took the following photo from one of the windows on my way up:

No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get this photo to lighten more than this without completely washing out the background:

Finally got to the top:

BTW, we were only able to take the older children into the tower.  I am eternally grateful for this.  I think I would have had a heart attack if Seth and Emily had been up there with me.  It’s dangerous.  Seriously.




Looking down the inside of the tower you are supposed to be able to see straight down, but they were doing renovations and so we couldn’t.  Here’s the bell.





This next picture….look really close at the hedge, if you can see the orange shirt, that is Pat.

NO?  Try this: orange-Pat, yellow-Seth, Pink-Em



After the beach and dinner that night, we walked up to see the tower at night.



Cathedral

Baptistery:

I have my dh to thank for the night photos.  He did these without a tripod or they would have been crystal clear! Next post is of the beach near Camp Darby.