Summer is Here!

Summer is finally here, and all of us in the Pellerin household have been enjoying the freedom that only comes when school is out. No homework, no tests, no projects. No going to bed at 8:30 and no getting up at 6:00 in the morning. We are all quite happy that it's summer!

At the end of May, our sweet Jack graduated from 3rd grade. His teacher, Mrs. Lewis, was fantastic! I snapped this picture of the two of them at the reception held for the graduates.

Next year, Jack will go to Catholic High for 4th grade. It will be a big transition for him, but almost all of his St. Edward classmates will be there, too. Caroline and Anna both attend Catholic High, so I'm hoping that Jack will see them from time to time.

Mattie-boy turned 6 on June 18th. I can't believe that my baby is 6 years old! He is such a nut - he talks pretty much constantly, loves Star Wars, Legos, jumping on the trampoline, and playing with his big brother. If he could, Matt would sleep in bed with Gil and me every night. He is the light of our lives, and we are so blessed that he is ours!

Here's the birthday boy on his special day!

Matt was thrilled with his cookie cake, and especially the Lego candles.

We had a birthday party for Matt a few days later at Build-a-Bear Workshop in Lafayette. Ten of his friends were there to help celebrate. Everyone went home with a new stuffed friend and a smile!

I'm determined to tackle a few chores before the kids go back to school (gasp!) in August. One of the things on my to-do list is to better organize my studio. It's the one room in the house that I have complete control over. Since mid-June, I've been purging (difficult for me) and rearranging.

I love, love, love American Crafts cardstock, and use it almost exclusively. The colors are gorgeous and I think that the paper's weight and texture are perfect. Until now, I haven't really had a system for organizing my cardstock. What's that you say?! No system??? Yes, you read that correctly. I didn't really know where to start. Light to dark, alphabetical by color name, etc. Well, I came across a fandeck online, bought that sucker right quick, and transformed my cardstock storage.

I assigned a number to each color in the fandeck. I then divided the cardstock into organizers by color and number. If I need a sheet of Fireberry, for example, I look it up in the fandeck, check the number, then easily find it's location on the shelf. It feels so good to indulge the OCD in me!!!

Now for the goods . . . here are pictures of the projects I've been working on lately.

Matt's birthday party invites!

Swimming lessons - I love to create pages about swimming lessons every year!

Matt's above, and Jack's below.

Last but not least, my tribute to Babe's Snowballs in St. Martinville!

That's all I've got for now. Thanks so much for stopping by the blog! We are off to sunny Mexico for a beach vacation in a couple of days, so I'll be back soon with lots of pictures to share. Happy 4th!