JoBoogie Crafts

Our Family of Five...

It's been a while since I've talked about things other than cardmaking on my blog! I honestly don't have a good excuse except that life is busy and I barely have time to post anything other than about cards and crafts.

I want to try and change that though! LOL

[Maui for our 10 year wedding anniversary. September 2014]

Carl and I have been busy with work and juggling our work schedules to be there for the kids. Thankfully his job as an EMT and my job as a nurse, both working nights, affords us plenty of time to spend with our kids. I've even received comments from other parents at school saying that they thought I was a stay-at-home parent because I'm there so often! LOL

[one of our Christmas card photoshoot pics. December 2015]

These three sure have grown, haven't they? I really have no idea where the time went. J is now NINE. M is SEVEN. And L is THREE. Time surely flies when you're having fun (and when you're a busy mama like me! LOL).

J still loves all things Pokemon, video games, Minecraft, Lego, plain cheeseburgers, french fries and reading books. I can't keep up with his love for books and we have shelves FILLED with his favorites.

M loves Shopkins, Minecraft, Lego Friends, creating art projects, carbs (she thinks she a vegetarian *eyeroll*), pink, glitter, and playing with her friends.

L loves Paw Patrol, Blaze, the iPad, snacks not meals, and following his mommy around. LOL He's super articulate for his age, but he's hard to understand sometimes.

As a family we still love our family trips to Disneyland, going camping every summer, visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium and eating at Vivolo's Chowder House (if ever you're in the area, this is a MUST!!!). We love get-togethers with friends, spending time with family, and yes, I still plan and create outrageous parties for the kids.

Posts about those coming soon!

Thanks for stopping by and checking us out today! Hope you're having a wonderful summery!

being a mom post: Yumbox!

Hi friends!

I wanted to share with you my thoughts on the Yumbox!

After posting a few pics of some of the lunches I've made for J & M on Instagram, I get asked a lot about where I got it, how I like it, and what my thoughts are on it so I thought I'd do a fun little review on the joys of the Yumbox! LOL

I got the 2 Yumboxes from Amazon a couple of years ago. Both J & M are pretty picky eaters and it's always a struggle to find foods that they like to eat and what they like to bring to school. It's often challenging because their school is "nut-free" so that eliminates bringing PB&J sandwiches, Nutella sandwiches, etc. - something they both like to eat. For a while, J also didn't like eating sandwiches at all (he wasn't fond of bread) so it was hard finding lunch options to pack.

Enter the Yumbox.

J doesn't use his very often, but M loves hers. She's always been a "snacky" kind of girl so she likes being able to pick at her lunch and snacks and have many different options.

The other day, I posted this box on Instagram:

Little compartments for different food groups and see that? M loves OLIVES for her vegetable option. Seriously. LOL

The only thing is that there's really no room for a full sized sandwich so I'm thinking about adding one of these to our bento box supply. Also, the boxes themselves are pretty long so they don't fit inside their lunchboxes very well. They DO fit, but not much more can fit as well.

I hope this post really helps! Bento boxes are super fun!

I get some ideas from Pinterest as well as this blog.

Please let me know if you have any questions! Let me know if you LOVE it! :)

** This blog post may contain affiliate links. You don't pay more when you use my link, but if you do (and I hope you do!), I receive a small percentage. It helps fuel my crafting and cooking hobby. And it pays for my blog. :) **

#disneyside: We went to DISNEYLAND! (day 1)

With the hustle and bustle of all of my DT commitments, I really haven't had a chance to update with what's going on in my world aside from crafting!

Back in August, we went to Disneyland!

(family selfie outside of Disney's California Adventure)

I had a chunk of days off in August so I thought we should take the kids to Disneyland! We got annual passes back in January and I knew we needed to maximize our trips to make getting the passes worth it. People ALWAYS ask me and for those who are wondering: if you get an annual pass, you break even after two 3-day trips. Anything after that, you come out ahead! #winning

We only did a 2.5 day trip - we wanted to do a longer one, but sadly, life calls (translation: school started) and it just wasn't in the cards (translation: we broke. LOL).

(M walking around Disney's California Adventure)

So how did we tackle such a short trip? Honestly, we've been to Disneyland SO many times and we have our passes so we never feel like we NEED to do everything in one trip. We ride a handful of rides, wait in a ton of lines, eat the food we look forward to, walk, and then repeat.

We just love being at Disney.

(Heimlich's Chew Chew Train)

So with the selfie stick ban, I'm getting good at taking these selfies, don't you think? LOL

It was our first time going without our DSLR camera and we just used our phones. It was actually really freeing - we didn't have to lug around a heavy camera, we didn't have to keep tabs on who had it or who was responsible for carrying it, etc. Our quality of pictures aren't the greatest, but I'm so happy that we all just had a good time, instead of being so focused on taking pictures. It's all about creating the memories, not just posing for them.

(I just love Cars Land. I'm always so amazed at how REAL everything looks.)

As we were walking around the park, a really nice couple gave us their World of Color FastPasses. How very kind of them! We have never bothered to try and watch a World of Color show - mostly because it's kind of late for the kids and our patience and tolerance for large crowds is pretty low by that time of day, but who were we to refuse the kindness of strangers?

We heard it wasn't the *best* WOC show, but we still enjoyed it.

And the kids got their daily churro and popcorn fix.

For more, check out our Disneyland Vlog from Day 1:

 

I hope you all liked my post today! I'll be back for more Disney adventures SOON!

Thanks for stopping by! :) Have a wonderful week!

Teacher Appreciation 2013

--- CLICK HERE for Paper Issues "Lifestyles to "Die" for" Blog hop! ---

 

Hi All!

Before the month is over, I thought I'd share the quick little gift I made for J's Kindergarten teacher and 2 teacher's assistants:

I can't take ALL the credit! I got the idea a few years ago from a friend who got it from Pinterest. And the best part is that it's a FREE printable found HERE.

I sized it 1/8" smaller on all sides before printing. I also printed on photo paper so that I could mount on a 5x7" piece of cardstock. I had J write his name before sending them off to his teachers with the gift card inside.

I'm sure they received so many Starbucks coffee gift cards, but I'm betting ours turned out the cutest. :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

L's 3 Month Layout

Hi everyone!

So I've been neglecting the blog lately. *sigh* Not really my intention, but you know how it is with the craziness of life, right? I know I know. It's not an excuse, but seriously, I just haven't felt motivated to blog lately.

Do you want to know why?

I'm really loving You Tube.

A lot.

It's much easier for me to record a quick video, show off something, work on something, and upload it while I'm doing something else (MULTITASKING in full effect!)  than it is for me to take a pic of my project, upload to the computer, edit the picture, upload to my blog, blog about it, etc.

It's also nice that I get more feedback and comments with my videos than I do here on my blog.

I also am able to watch more videos than I am able to read blog posts.

Gotta love the iPad and iPhone while I'm doing dishes, cleaning, crafting, cooking, etc!

Anyway, I thought I'd post L's 3 month digital layout...

And with this, I'm officially caught up with his monthly layouts so far. I go back to work on Monday night so it will be really interesting for me to figure out my routine and how I can incorporate crafting into my life again.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! :) Thanks for stopping by!

J's Official Kindergarten Layout (digital)

Go me! I'm actually on the ball with creating J's "School of Life" album.

If you've never heard of "School of Life" it's a concept that I first read about from Stacy Julian's Photo Freedom book. Basically, we, as scrapbookers, create a ton of albums and layouts about our kids - baby layouts, activities, events, etc. But these are layouts that we, as moms, want to keep with us, even when our kids move out of the house to go to school, get married, etc. School of Life albums, are simpler albums that contain layouts about their school years - their official school pictures, class pictures, some art, some activities from school, etc. These are the albums the kids get to take with them when they move away.

So here's my third, official school photo layout for J's official school picture. Here is his Preschool one. Here is his Pre-K one.

(for blogging purposes, the name of his school and teacher have been omitted for privacy.)

My baby is growing up! Waaaahhhhh!

Another thumbprint card

I'm a little late posting this, but I wanted to share this with you.

supplies: CS: Recollections (green), white (SU, Neenah); DP: Basic Grey; Sentiment: PaperTrey Ink; inks: Close to Cocoa (SU!), Rich Cocoa (Memento); markers: SU!; ribbon: Ribbon Carousel

So, if you've followed my blog for a while, I made this card for J's Pre-K teacher on behalf of his class last year. I volunteered to do something similar for M's teacher this year and thought it came out cute once again!

I'm totally digging thumbprint projects lately - I figure that the kids' little thumbs won't be so little anymore (*sniffle*) and it's a great way to capture this age... for gift giving and for memory-keeping. I even have a Pinterest board where I've added some projects I've come across. Check it out HERE and while you're at it, feel free to FOLLOW me. :)

Have a fabulous day!

Announcing Baby L...

Hello and happy official FIRST DAY of 2013!

It's kind of weird saying that. And I know it's going to take me a while to get used to writing 2013 when I write the date on anything! *lol*

Anyway, I thought I'd share the baby anouncement I made for baby L a few weeks ago! I included this with the Christmas cards we sent out.

supplies: digi kit: Project Life Baby Edition for Him (AC Digitals); font: Museo Slab; buttons (from a kit that I don't remember. *lol*)

I picked up this digital kit with every intention of creating a first year Project Life-type album for baby L. I'm actually not too far behind - with the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it's been dificult to actually sit down and create the first few pages of the album. The good news is that I have pictures from his first 5 weeks printed. The bad news is that they're not in the album yet.

Project Life 2012 was a bust for me. We discovered we were pregnant in March of 2012 and when I'm pregnant I'm more tired, and feel SO unmotivated to do anything - including scrapbook! We also went to Hawaii in April so I got stuck on that week and never recovered - although I had every intention that I should!

Sooo, I've been thinking about starting up again with PL for 2013. This time, I'm not going to get hung up on the fact that "I'm behind" or that my pages aren't good enough. Or I need to BUY more stuff to make my PL album better. I'm just going to create to create and not worry about it.

What's weird is that I don't even have a plan. *lol* I don't have a PL core kit to work with. I was really thinking of getting the Seafoam edition when it releases - which I have NO IDEA when that will be. Today is January 1st and it's not even available for purchase yet - WTH!

And then I thought about getting the digital edition... But would I REALLY use it? Do I want my PL book for 2013 to be all digital?

The answer is that I DON'T KNOW! *lol* I like the fact that it's readily available should I want to use the Seafoam edition right now - all I have to do is print out my filler cards and GO. They'll take up less storage space - which is definitely needed because my space will significantly downsize in the next few weeks. BUT, I do know myself and I already have a hard time getting on the desktop to scrap. I only have time now because DH is off for a couple of weeks and the kids are on vacation from school. The daily routine goes back to normal again next week and I don't know if I get time on the computer to digi scrap.

*sigh* I'm going to give myself a couple more days to think about it.

What about you? Do you have plans to tackle Project Life this year?

hello wishlist...

I just realized I had this post drafted up but never got around to posting it... I'll do it anyway now. *lol*

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With Christmas right around the corner, do you have any items on your crafty wishlist? As I get older, I don't really expect many gifts. I mean, I have a ton of stuff already! But, it's nice to get new craft items to play with to keep things fresh, right? :)

Here are a few of the things on my Pinterest wishlist:

Stamps from Simon Says Stamp:

 

Source: simonsaysstamp.com via JoAnn on Pinterest

 

Source: simonsaysstamp.com via JoAnn on Pinterest

 

 

Source: simonsaysstamp.com via JoAnn on Pinterest

 

But who am I kidding, really? Christmas is almost over, do I REALLY need Christmas stamps this year?... How about these?

Frome There She Goes:

 

Source: thereshegoesclearstamps.com via JoAnn on Pinterest

 

Source: thereshegoesclearstamps.com via JoAnn on Pinterest

 

 

Source: tsgstamps.com via JoAnn on Pinterest

 

She would be really cute to add to my Gorjuss Girls Collection:

 

Source: google.co.uk via JoAnn on Pinterest

 

What would be REALLY nice is one of these:

 

Source: amazon.com via JoAnn on Pinterest

 

But seriously, do I NEED one?

And while I'm at it, what about one of these?

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And since it's after Christmas, an update? Yeah, well, I didn't really receive anything for Christmas, at least just for me. Now that we have kids (THREE of them), family and friends focus on giving gifts to them and/or joint gifts to me and DH. Which is fine by me. I don't need much. We're lucky to have a beautiful home, have each other, and our health. Since finances are pretty limited right now because I'm on maternity leave, DH and I agreed to  no presents this year.

And for once, I'm ok with that. :)

It still hasn't stopped me from buying myself presents every once in a while. :)

It's been a while...

Wow, it's already the second day of December and I haven't posted in about a month! Forgive me, it's been kind of crazy here.

Meet our reason why!

Yes, you're counting correctly - we're now a family of FIVE. This is Luke. He was born on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 1201am. 11lbs, 22inches. Yes, you read that correctly: ELEVEN POUNDS.

After almost 24 hours at the hospital, 2.5hrs of actively pushing, he was delivered via C-Section (he knew better than to come out the "natural" way!).

And at almost 3 weeks old, he is fiesty, demanding, and full of SPUNK! Boy, are we in TROUBLE...

I'm hoping to post more, but I can't make any guarantees. Being outnumbered by the kids in the house is totally rocking our world. We're still trying to get into the groove of things. I'm learning to take things one day at a time. And I'm still adjusting to being a mom of a newborn again.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Holidays!