The One with Insta-Lately April 9th Edition

Lots of little things going on lately that I'll just jumble all in one post as another Insta-Lately edition! Most of these I posted to my instagram, some weren't, but I'm adding them anyway :)

Fox is figuring out how to use the iPad on his own. Time to start downloading some kid friendly apps. Any suggestions? Jane is just along for the ride, as always, interested in doing whatever her big brother is doing!

Jane likes to pull out all of the shoes from her closet and put them on the rocker ottoman. Why? The world may never know.

Mom & Jane snuggles = the best.
Fox was eating his popcorn like a pig. The mess made me mad then, but it's funny now. Or is it?

The view from the bottom of our hill. Sigh. Oh Germany. I love you so.

During one of Chris' lunch breaks we went to the park at the hotel (where we spent many an afternoon while we were living there!) and enjoyed a little family picnic. I live for these moments.

The weather here has been SO WEIRD lately. It was 80 degrees the other day and hailing the next. The little pieces of hail looked exactly like Dippin' Dots! Or ginormous dandruff flakes... :)

It's finally warming up enough to play in the back yard! Fox got some bubbles to blow through a Jake and the Neverland Pirates ship thing. Cool beans. And Jane likes to roll around in the dirt, literally, so here she is bending over showing her little plumber bum after getting messy.

Just the girls!

The most colorful building I ever did see in Dresden!

I posted this for a #tbt - me when I was about 6 months. CHUNK!! And super old school 512k Macintosh computers when my parents worked at Apple.

Jane "mountain" climbing.

My parents are here! My parents are here! They flew in on Monday and we've been running around non-stop ever since.

Today we went to the Nazi Documentation Center and Rally Grounds in Nuremberg.

Fox reeeeaaaallllllyyyyy loves Grandpa. They're always doing activities together - it's pretty much the cutest. Here they're building a model airplane.

Snippets from our day in Nuremberg/Nürnberg.

And that's a little slice of life lately!

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The One with Noble Paiges: 1st Discussion Reminder!

Mark your calendars! THIS SATURDAY - APRIL 12th at 8am Pacific Time I'll be posting discussion topics and questions on this here blog (and Kelsey Noble will have even more questions on her blog along with videos to boot!) about our first book: What I Had Before I Had You by Sarah Cornwell!

 Here's how it'll work:

*The book club will be held every other month to give you plenty of time to acquire and read the book. 

*A date will be chosen every other month to "meet" (this time it's Saturday April 12th 2014!). Throughout that day Kelsey and I will update our blogs with new questions, videos, and such, and we can leave comments, interact, and discuss. 

*If you post anything on Instagram be sure to use hashtag #noblepaiges so your images get in that gallery!

*The next book will be decided on the discussion day and revealed at the end.

*We'll have a giveaway at the end of each discussion day for next month's book - I can't wait to announce our next read!

*Easy peasy lemon squeezy! This is meant to be fun, no pressure, or strings attached!

"See" you Saturday!

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The One with Fox's Favorites at 3.5

Nicknames: Foxy, Foxman, Fox Rocks

How old are you? Gonna be 4 on my birthday. 

What is your favorite color? Green. 

What is your favorite animal? Sharky. 

What is your favorite book? Counting book. 

What is your favorite TV show? Little Einsteins.

What is your favorite movie? Mulan. 

What is your favorite song? ABCs. 

What is your favorite food? French fries. And chicken. And brown sip. (Dr. Pepper)

What is your favorite drink? Brown sip. 

What is your favorite cereal? Red cereal (Marshmallow Mateys)

What is your favorite snack? Fruit snacks. 

What is your favorite outfit? Shirts and pants and jackets. 

What is your favorite game? Playground. 

What is your favorite toy? Sharptooth. 

What is your favorite thing to do? Play toys. 

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swing up way high. 

What is your favorite holiday? Halloween.

What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Cars. Bike. Milk. 

Where is your favorite place to go? Disneyland. 

What is your favorite restaurant? Peter Pan. (???)

Where do you want to go on vacation? Pirates. (He obviously had Disneyland on his brain for these questions!)

What did you do on your birthday? Buzz. (as in, his Buzz Lightyear-themed 2nd birthday.)

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The One with Crop am Rhein 2014!

I got back late last night from my first Crop am Rhein and it was SO MUCH FUN!

I packed up Friday morning and said sayonara, love you bye, to Chris and the kids.

The 4 hour drive to the Hotel Haus Oberwinter in Bonn/Remagen Germany was B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. 

Every single second of the entire drive looked like it could be on a postcard. Germany is so beautiful. I hope I never "get used" to it and it always takes my breath away!

I drove right past Würzburg and could see the Marienberg Fortress way up on the hill. That was a fun day when we explored all around Würzburg.

The day we moved here we flew into the Dusseldorf airport and missed our connecting flight to Nuremberg because our flight took off 3 hours late. We hired a taxi (nearly $1000 later... oh my gosh getting here was such a nightmare...) to drive us all the way to Nuremberg. The route I drove was the exact route we drove in our taxi. I was so out of it from exhaustion in the taxi, but I remember some of the things and scenery and it was fun to see them once again. Not so fun to remember that day of travel though :) I stopped about halfway to get some gas at Esso. We get the military discount at Esso gas stations and what would cost 75 Euros only costs 40 dollars. Nice.

I saw many things that I DESPERATELY wanted to stop at and take pictures of, but I'd rather come with Chris and the kids so we can all enjoy it together. For example, the Limburg Cathedral:

And the, quote, "Chic Outlet Mall at Wertheim Village".

 
I listened to Ender's Game and then Warm Bodies on the iPad (didn't watch, just listened) to help pass the time and I arrived at the hotel around 12:30pm. Perfect! An online scrapbook store (der-scrapbook-laden.de) brought an entire store worth of supplies to sell to the class participants.  It's been so long since I've seen and held and touched scrap supplies in a "local scrapbook store" setting! Usually I just see pictures and order online, but oh to hold them is such a different and rewarding experience! Am I weird? I found Barbara right away and she helped me check in and get settled in my little cozy room. Perfect for my needs!

Nice bathroom!

My bed. My desk. My plant. For a day :)

Time to go outside and take pictures of the amazing scenery!

The hotel is right on the Rhein River, hence "Crop am Rhein". 

Picturesque churches and houses and homes and stores and boats and barges as far as the eye can see! The event goes from Friday to Tuesday. My classes were on Saturday.

I walked all around the hotel and found the empty classrooms, took pictures of people's creative spaces, and there's also a pic of one of the filled classrooms for my collage's sake but I'll talk about the classes in a bit.

Dinner at the hotel was delicious - potatoes, rice, meat, cous-cous! So good.

After dinner we had an official opening/welcoming ceremony. Olga Heldwein and I were introduced as the teachers and it made me blush :) Barbara "cut the tape" with these blinged out scissors!  Everyone creates about 90 of these little "me" cards to exchange and then they put them in books to remember everyone through the years. So fun! Wish I had known so I could have made my own to exchange. Like Valentine's, but for adults!

Someone's awesome mini album made earlier in the day. Then it was off to bed! I'm not a night owl, and actually woke up out of habit at 6am and couldn't go back to sleep so I had a date with Jillian Michaels. (Trying to get back in shape, but that's another post for another day.) Barbara made this photo and posted it Saturday morning on her instagram. I just think it's lovely. Sure the weather could have been nicer, but that's what scrapping indoors is for! We ate breakfast at 7am. A concoction of bread and cheeses and cereals and good stuff :) I met some new friends and chatted away for a bit before I had to go set up for my first class. These are the two layouts that I made using the Studio Calico Sugar Rush kits that they donated 80 of. They are so so so generous!

ME & YOU by Paige Evans

THE PINK BIKE by Paige Evans

At 9:30am my first class began! I introduced myself, "Hallo. Ich heisse Paige Evans. And that's the extent of my German." I got a chuckle from the crowd. I was really worried about the language barrier but nearly all of them spoke English so it was actually a-ok! They were so nice and welcoming and asked me a bunch of questions and it was just oh so fun.

First group of ladies! Say cheese!

After class we quickly ate lunch and then Barbara wanted to get a picture of every one blowing bubbles. Oh the things we do for pictures :) I felt like a kid again blowing bubbles! My second class started at 2:30. Hallo ladies! Every time someone instagrammed a picture of their layout or work in progress and tagged me it made my heart skip a beat.  I took lots of pictures with people and hope I get emailed them cuz I only got a few with my camera!

Thank you so much to Katharina who suggested I teach at CAR since Shimelle is having her baby any day now. Big shoes to fill, I hope the ladies liked the class!!

If you're noticing my hot pink shoes - I wore high-heeled wedges to my first class which about broke my feet so I changed into my workout shoes for my second class. Me and Barbara and Sabine. CAR 2014! After my second class I booked it home so I could be in bed by 10pm. Like I said, I'm not a night owl :) So so so so so much fun! I can only hope to attend again next year!

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The One with Jane's Devil Stare

I don't know where Jane learned how to make this evil devil stare!  But man, oh, man - if looks could kill she'd be an orphan!

Chris sent these photos to me when I was teaching at Crop am Rhein and I nearly died laughing. Poor girl. To be fair, she was woken up from her nap. I would be grumpy too.

 But you know what's even more creepy? This was unintentionally my 666th instagram post! Cue scary music - ooooooeeeeeeeeooooooo! I love scary movies, so I think it's pretty funny. 

Oh Janey girl. Love you to pieces.

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The One with the 2Peas Milestones-Themed Layout & Video

I have a milestones-themed Garden Girl layout and video up at Two Peas in a Bucket today! It started with the official April moodboard:

So spring-y and colorful and happy and fun and lovely. The clouds spoke to me as I just bought a Fiskars cloud punch! Perfect!

Here is what I made:

BIRTHDAY GIRL by Paige Evans

Description: A moodboard with lots and lots of colors! Woohoo! Goodness knows I love using lots of colors and patterns on my layouts! I just got a Fiskars cloud punch and was so happy to see a whole bunch of clouds on the moodboard - it's like my punch was just begging to be used and sent subliminal messages to the designers :) I punched clouds from all of the colors that matched the moodboard from 6x6 paper pads from brands like American Crafts, BasicGrey, Crate Paper, Pebbles, and Studio Calico.

Journaling says: Happy first birthday sweet Jane! It was so fun to watch you devour your cupcake and make a huge mess!

How to: Punch a cloud from all of the colors that coordinate with the moodboard from 6x6 paper pads. Arrange the clouds into piles of like color: red, pink, orange, yellow, green, aqua, blue. Starting at the top of a blue cardstock layout background, begin placing the clouds in rainbow order down the front. Use a glue dot to secure each cloud in place. Add a trio of photos to the bottom right corner. Embellish the clouds with buttons and decorative paper clips (placing like colors on like colors). Design and die cut a title from white cardstock using a Silhouette Cameo machine. Adhere the title above the photos and journal with a white pen on the left side. Drop a rainbow of spray mists around the layout. Stamp the date on a darker color of cloud so it blends in a bit.

Here is the video so you can watch how I made this layout from start to finish:

Supplies: Cardstock, date stamp, adhesive: American Crafts; Patterned paper: American Crafts, BasicGrey, Crate Paper, Pebbles, Studio Calico; Buttons, spray mist: Studio Calico; Paper clips: Pebbles (bows), Studio Calico (flags); Pen: Uniball Signo; Ink: StazOn; Cloud punch: Fiskars; Die cut machine: Silhouette Cameo by QuicKutz; "birthday girl" cut file: Paige Evans; Font: Soymilk

Thanks for takin' a look'! I had fun making this layout and it came together FAST! I was able to film the entire thing during my kids' afternoon nap - love when that happens!

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The One with No More Blogging

As you can tell by my long absence, I think it's time to stop blogging. Too much other stuff going on. Gotta let go of some things. I guess the blog will be one. 

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APRIL FOOLS!!!

The truth is I ran out of time to think of pre-scheduled posts before we left on a weekend getaway, but I'm working on posts of all of those adventures and will publish them soon, hopefully throughout the day (but I'll post them on the actual day we did those events so you'll have to scroll down). So, never fear, I'll be back, shortly! You can't get rid of me that easily :)

I ♥ BLOGGING!

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