Runivus

As of yesterday, Kenny completed his 5th year of his running streak. Kenny started this adventure after some coaxing from a cousin, who had created the running holiday "Runivus." Which pretty much is just a day that begins your running "streak". Streak running isn't when you run naked, it means you run every day in a row. Kenny's streak is FIVE years. And you won't believe that there is actually a club of streak runners out there. And people have streaks up to 20+ years!! Amazing, huh! I think the whole things is CRAZY. Kenny has run through a lot of things in the last 5 years...vacations, extreme heat and cold, Shane's birth, my hospital stays, injuries, etc. But he is still doing it. Cheers to year #6!

Close To My Heart -- May Newsletter

The Summer '09 Idea Book has arrived! Have you got your hands on one yet? If not, let me know. You will want to check out all the new and fresh products from Close To My Heart.

National Scrapbooking Month Constant Campaign
Tickled Pink
Join the National Scrapbooking Month celebration in May with this special Tickled Pink offer. It's a darling scrapbooking kit that includes the new D-size My Acrylix I Am stamp set, textured cardstock, B&T Duos paper (2 with glitter!), Mini-Medley Accents White Daisy collection, a foam texture tool, and an instruction brochure for creating two beautiful two-page layouts. You will be Tickled Pink during this campaign. Offers run through May 31st. While Supplies Last!

To get your very own Tickled Pink scrapbooking kit:
*Place a minimum order of $60 in stamp sets (excluding K-size or Stamp of the Month) and receive it for FREE.
*Purchase the Tickled Pink scrapbooking kit at just $34.95.
*Sign up as a new Consultant between May 1-May 31 and receive a kit for FREE.
*Host a gathering with a minimum sales of $400 and receive the kit for FREE.

Scrapbook and Share Contest
National Scrapbooking Month is all about you! CTMH wants you to share your story, so put together your best two-page layout featuring…you! Send a JPEG photo of your layout and a description of how it is highlighting you, your life, your passions, your hobbies—whatever is the best way to tell your story. Send your photo and description to scrapbookandshare@closetomyheart.com and you will be automatically entered into the contest to win $150 retail in Close To My Heart product!

Here is one more way you can win! Through May 31st, Jeanette Lynton (CTMH Founder) will be giving away one Tickled Pink kit every single day! Just visit www.scrapbookandshare.blogspot.com, (you can view all the submitted layouts there) and post a comment on any of the pieces of artwork. CTMH will collect all the comments each day, randomly draw a name, then Jeanette will be posting the winner on her blog the following day. How simple and easy is that!?

Upcoming Events
Click here to see all my upcoming workshops, view pictures of many of them and get details on each one. I have card making classes, scrapbooking workshops and even a Photo Star workshop coming up. Space is limited, so RSVP soon.


May Stamp of the Month
Be Yourself (set of 14)
Beauty and individuality come in all shapes and sizes -- take your pick from these strong confident words and striking silhouettes. Available through the end of May only!

Discounted Products
Shop online at www.jessicabooth.myctmh.com for discounted CTMH products. You will find a variety of paper packets, accessories and discontinued items at great prices.

Team Challenge -- Crohn's and Colitis

As many of you know, I have battled both Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease since I was 16 years old. I am currently maintaining fairly well on a small dosage of a steroid called Entocort. Though I would love to not be on it at all, the other options aren't pretty. I am happy that the Entocort is doing its job. I do pray that some day in my lifetime there will be a cure for Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.

Today, by a pure mishap I met a heroic women who is running two half marathons and trying to raise $10,000 for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. Her Husband has also struggled with both Colitis and Crohn's. Please visit her website and consider giving to her wonderful cause. Let's all help find a cure for these debilitating diseases.

Craft Club

Our monthly Craft Club met last night. Tia showed us her talents for painting, papering and modge podging wood items. Here are the two things I made. I used the new Bella paper packet from Close To My Heart's Summer Idea Book which "arrives" on May 1st! All other products on the pieces are from CTMH as well. I'm in love with the little birdie. Thanks Tia for your inspiration!

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Last night Kenny and I decided to check out the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. We got up this morning and took a little drive up north. The sun was partially out which made for nice picture taking weather. It wasn't very warm, but at least it wasn't raining! Shane really enjoyed smelling the flowers. He also really liked the tractors that went by for tours and the big kites they had flying. We even got to see our friends: Julie, Dama, Lucas and Ellie!

He got his lawnmower.

Shane and I made a stop at Fred Meyer this afternoon. I realized that I might be able to find a lawnmower for him. At first it didn't look so good, but a nice lady found them for us. I had told Shane what I was looking for and he was really, really excited. When we found it he told me to put it next to him in the cart seat. Then he wanted the box to be next to him for the ride home. He giggled every time I told him we were going home to play with his lawnmower. When he was mowing he asked if he could mow the flowers. I think he really thinks he is cutting the grass like Daddy. He is one happy little mower.

Video of Shane

This first video is Shane acting out a book called Swing. One night he had asked for Kenny to act out the book. After that night he wanted to get into the action and now can do it all on his own. He motions have gotten even better since this taping. We do it EVERY night now.


This may be considered mean parenting on our part. For a week or so, Shane had been asking to read a book called Albert and Amy. It is all about opposites. The last page says "Albert is sad." and "Amy is happy." One night while reading it, Shane burst into tears when I said "Albert is sad.". I thought he had hurt himself. After he was calmed down, I read "Albert is sad." again. More crying. I quickly figured out he crying was for Albert. Kenny grabbed the video camera and I read it one more time so we could catch it on tape.

Sneak Peek....

We had family pictures taken Easter weekend and we just got a sneak peek of them. I can't wait to see the rest of them!!!

Hat Day

Shane desperately hates when the sun is in his eyes. This afternoon we were headed out the door to stroll over to the neighbors to play. I grabbed his Mariner's hat and told him if he wore it, it would keep the sun out of his eyes. He has never wanted to wear it before. Low and behold, he wore it for 3 hours straight. Guess he figured hats had a purpose if they block that darn sun out of his eyes.

Tickled Pink Has Arrived

May is National Scrapbooking Month and Close To My Heart is celebrating it with a wonderful kit called Tickled Pink. It's a darling scrapbooking kit that includes the new D-size My Acrylix I Am stamp set, textured cardstock, B&T Duos™ paper (2 with glitter!), Mini-Medley Accents White Daisy collection, a foam texture tool, and an instruction brochure for creating two beautiful two-page layouts. If you aren't a scrapbooker you can use this for any other project like card making or altering. I had so much fun putting it together. I have been wanting to scrapbook more about myself and this kit helped me do just that!


To get your very own Tickled Pink scrapbooking kit:
*Place a minimum order of $60 in stamp sets (excluding K-size or Stamp of the Month) and receive it for FREE.
*Purchase the Tickled Pink scrapbooking kit at just $34.95.
*Sign up as a new Consultant between May 1-May 31 and receive a kit for FREE.
*Host a gathering with a minimum sales of $00 and receive the kit for FREE.

Offers run through May 31st. While Supplies Last!

The Events of a Sunny Sunday.

Another sunny weekend in the Northwest! Spring fever is truly upon us! As well as those dreaded allergies. This morning the family headed out to Magnuson dog park. Dodger had to stay in the car due to his poor social behavior. Sadie on the other hand got to run free and frolic in Lake Washington.

Thanks, Sadie for showering us with the cold lake water!!

Shane got to hit the playground afterward and do some kid observing and playing.


Later in the day we got ourselves a new lawn mower. Which has quickly become Shane's new most favorite thing in the world. (It use to be the vacuum). Since he doesn't have his own sized lawn mower (yet), he had to improvise and bring out his vacuum. He watched with saucer sized eyes the whole time Kenny mowed the lawn. He narrated every move that Kenny made and continued to tell me how the lawn mower sounded. We may have a novelist on our hands?

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

This week I finished The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. Man, what a book! It was slow going at first. I actually started reading it in December. I just wasn't getting hooked, so I put it down until a few weeks ago I picked it back up. I finally got into it, though it was still a really long and hard read. Probably one of the hardest I can remember in a long time. It was full of twists and turns. Very mysterious and most of the events in it just caught me off guard. When I finished it, I kept walking around shaking my head in disbelief. I don't read books over, there are just to many out there to read, but I could see myself reading this one over again. I think there were a lot of little details that I didn't catch the first time.

I would recommend it, though it was a long haul. It evolves dogs, which was part of the reason I did like it.

Shane's Perfect Morning

I think if Shane could tell me he would say this is his idea of heaven. Watching "Signing Time" while sitting on his favorite thing to play with, the vacuum. He gets 30 minutes of TV a day. He chooses to watch "Signing Time" usually right when he gets up in the morning. The afternoons can be hard because mean old Mom won't let him watch it again. He knows 30+ signs at this point. Which come in very handy since he knows about 5 words right now. If that. Some day he'll talk and I'm pretty sure when he starts to do that we won't ever hear the end of him talking. Since he "talks" non-stop right now with out "words", I'm sure he'll be a talker when he has them.

Spring Card Making Class

These are the 4 cards we'll be making during the spring card making class this Saturday. I have 2 spots still opened if you would like to attend. The class fee is $5 for all 4 cards!

If you can't make it to this class, but are interested in attending a workshop visit my Event Calendar at http://jessicabooth.myctmh.com/.

Another fun day!

This morning Shane, Dahlia and I visited the Kids Quest Museum. They have an area for birth to three year olds. Plus, a water area, the front of a semi-truck, a music area and a science area. They had so much fun. I must say the water area was the hit of the day. I loved watching them try to figure things out. You could really see them problem solve together. They were soaked through by the time we left.






On a side note...I got part of my garden planted this afternoon. A big thanks to Betsy for the starts. I have 4 lettuce plants, 3 red lettuce plants and 3 spinach plants. I planted my little container garden to the max. I'm going to have to expand this year to more then one container. I still need to get a tomato plant and I really want to try carrots. How fun would it be to watch Shane pull a carrot out of the ground for the first time!!!