7 this Friday (well, Thursday). On Saturday

I'm overwhelmed with CHA prep but wanted to do my Friday fives.  But then my eldest daughter went and turned 7 on Thursday, and then had a slumber party on Friday, so my Friday Five post ended up a Saturday evening random. 
1.  Morgan is 7.  I canNOT believe it.  I can still smell her, that baby smell.  When we moved into this house there was a countertop in our kitchen that hung out a bit and we were so thankful she wasn't tall enough to bump it yet.  She's shoulders above that spot now.
She complains her legs hurt all the time.  Growing pains.  I think she just likes to shop for new pants!  :)
She reads.  She writes.  She's an artist.
She's also growing her hair back out.  Not super long, but longer.  Mama is happy about that.
She lost those 4 teeth in September, and goes back next month for 4 more.  This time on the bottom.  It's time to work on that future mouth (although I might get an Orthodontic consult before having the bottom teeth pulled).
She loves to bake.  She tells me she wants to be a chef when she grows up.  She also tells me she wants to be a rock star, a doctor, and a teacher.  Her future is bright!

2.  Speaking of birthdays....  this is random but I love shopping at amazon.com.  One of the reasons I love doing so is because of that brilliant marketing tool where they offer suggestions of things you might like to purchase.  I often add things to my wish list based on these suggestions.  There are such fun products out there!

The suggested purchasing led me to buy this book last week:

It's called Your Birthday Book.  It's a keepsake journal.  It has pockets to store memorabilia or invites/cards, it's like a baby book where you can jot down details about the birthday party, but the part I was most interested in was the interview.  It has a question and answer section that is going to be so fun to fill out and look back at over the years.

Yes, I'm a scrapbooker, and yes they have baby books, but I thought this would be a fun addition to the memoirs, so I picked one up to check it out.  I love it so much I'm going to get a second one for Payton's birthday.  It doesn't bother me at all that I"m starting on years 5 and 7.  The first three are just records of the party, etc., and they are still young enough I can fill in some details for the other years.  But it goes to age 18.  Check it out!   

3.  As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I'm knee deep in crafty.  Morgan's birthday and her slumber party put a hitch in my craftalong, but she had such a great week that I'll just go without sleep until next Friday.  ha!  I'm busy with my Studio Calico kit, Countryside and State Fair too, Scrapbook and Cards Today Spring assignments, and new lines from Crate Paper.    Have you seen the new Crate Paper?

I'm busy working with Emma's Shoppe right now. 

Check out Emma's Shoppe and Toy Box.  Themed without being themey, with plenty of neutral options and fun new embellishments too. 

Two more lines from Crate Paper this Spring are Portrait and Neighborhood.  Portrait is the most beautiful wedding Collection I have ever seen.  Hands down.

Check out Portrait and Neighborhood in this post.  My projects will be shared on the blog next week, but I'm also sending work to CHA.  I'm SO honored to be working for this talented company.  It's a dream for sure. 

4.  I've been Tweeting.  I feel weird talking about crafty play by play and what my kids are doing on Facebook.   Does anyone else feel weird doing that?  I feel like my dad and real life friends aren't going to care about that stuff, so I feel awkward mentioning that type of stuff there.  Working on it.  I'm actually suffering in all aspects of social networking.  I don't blog like I should, post family photos in a Facebook album like I should (note to self, start winter album before spring!).  It's often hard to balance and organize everything.  Part of that is because my kids are busy.  Part of that is also because crafting doesn't pay my bills.  Health insurance does.  Gotta work for the man and earn that paycheck too.  Balance.  A companion to my word for the year, Focus, I do believe.  I have to find a way to balance the haves with the wants.  NEEEDS.  Crafting is definitely a need.

5.  Finally, to sum up random....  we are already thinking ahead to what we want to do as a family this summer.  We've been going to the Northern Oregon Coast for the past few years with friends, but this year we are doing things a bit differently.  My family plans to hitch up the trailer and head South.  We want to go to the Southern Oregon Coast, maybe play on the sand dunes, and then head to Northern California and check out the Redwoods, take the kids to the Trees of Mystery and meet Paul Bunyan.  :)  My girls are getting old enough that the fun educational adventures can now begin.  I'm excited to teach them about our world.  Next year we plan to head back to Disneyland, but we are thinking to drive this time.  Take the trailer again.  Head to San Diego and Sea World and the Zoo while we are at it.  San Francisco too.  A very a la Griswold type adventure.  I'm actually looking forward to it (and saving my pennies now).  Even though they were barely 5 and just shy of 3 when we went to Disneyland the first time, the girls still talk about it, and we are anxious to go back.  If I get into the Master's program I'm looking at, I'll probably be ready for a break by then too.  In the end, we deserve it! 

That's it, for this Friday turned Saturday evening post.  You should know I will be back very soon.  I have Studio Calico sneaks to share, CHAW11 product to share, Project 12 to share, lots to share.

Have a great night!  Davinie