Here's a picture...

... of our little guy that shows just HOW much he loves his kitties! I took this a few weeks back and have been wanting to post it here for you guys to see! He really does love his kitties! He always tries to cuddle up with them whenever one is brave enough to stick around. Miss Hissyfit really is good about staying put whenever Evan comes over to sneak in some cuddles and to give her some pettings. She is such a scaredy cat, but the bravest of the three when it comes to braving Evan and his high-pitched meows or flying wooden blocks... ! Have a good day everyone!

I came in third place!!!

I made it to the TOP 6 at "The Next Top Digi Scrapper" contest over at peppermintcreative. I am so very excited! This is so cool! There really was only one winner for each level (the contest was divided into two levels: level one being the "everyday" scrapper, level two being designers and more established creative team members). Because everybody was so curious, they decided to post the winners AND the next top five scrappers for each level. I am so excited!

Evan is doing great! He is such a fun boy! It is still so very hot over here, so we are mostly stuck inside the house. Sometimes, in the afternoon, we hang out in the backyard since there is usually enough shade for the little guy by then. Despite the heat Evan usually makes it fun for all of us. In the early mornings we usually walk down to the store to take care of our grocery shopping. There are two little constructions sites, a place to rent tractors and a place where tractors pick up farming supplies, along the way. I am sure you can imagine that Evan has a blast each and every time we walk by those places, especially when we take our time and let him look around for a while!

It's late over here in Germany, so I will go for now. There is so much more I'd love to share, and I am hoping to find the time to do so in the next few days. Have fun everyone!

Yay!!

Check this out! I am one of four winners of the "best snapshot" contest over at www.designbydani.com. Yay! That also means that I won a $25 gift certificate for her store. I can't wait to spend it, Dani Mogstad has such wonderful products! Plus the photos of the winners will be used as inspiration for upcoming kits! I am so very curious to see what they come up with!

The "Next Top Digi Scrapper" contest is in it's final round now. Here is my entry for this week:

Until the end of time...
Journaling reads:

Last night Charles surprised me with the most wonderful at-home date ever! He sent me out to pick up some Italian food while he set up the living room with what must have been a few dozen candles. Everything looked so cozy and romantic! After I came home with the food, he led me to the candle-lit living-room, knelt down in front of me and said:

"JennyBear, do you want to spend the rest of your life with me?". I said: "Yes!", and kissed him. But that was not all. He asked me again: "JennyBear, do you want to spend the rest of your life, and beyond with me?". The second question filled me so with gratefulness and love that I could only give him a kiss for my answer. I will never forget this evening!

I love you, Charles Matthew!


Credits:
Miss Mints “To my mother” Kit. Title is Michelle Pearsons “flowerpink” background from the ultimate digiscrapper collab Kit. Stitches are from Shabby Princess' “Splendid” Kit and Miss Mints “Denim Ink” Kit.

Fonts used:
Times New Roman, TopSecret, Young Love ES, FG Astrid, Antique Type, Lucida Sans Unicode, Mael, MA Sexy

This was the challenge:
THEME: Let's Give 'Em Something to Talk About! Yes pictures are important keepsakes, but so are our thoughts, words and feeling! For your final assignment you are going to be journaling a dialogue. Whether it be a conversation you had with your husband or kids, or one you overheard from the next room or in line at the grocery store. The topic and choice of photo is completely up to you. It can be spontaneous (if you are able to remember and write it down!) or planned. Feel free to sit down with a list of questions and interview your kids! The tv show 'Kids Say the Darndest Things' comes to mind. Anything goes. Remember I am looking for direct quotes here, not a summary. NOTE: Conversation may be a 'simulated' or imagined conversation between pets, if you so desire.

The winners will be announced on Monday, July 24 at peppermintcreative.com. They will also announce the five next best winners. I am so curious to see if I made it to the top five! It was certainly challenging at times.

Have fun!

First Peanutbutter and Jelly Sandwich ever!!!

Evan had his first pbj sandwich today. Aldi's weekly sale was about popular American food products, so we picked up a jar of peanut butter to let Evan have a try. We could have probably found it somewhere else also, but never really thought about it. He liked it, A LOT! It was so cute watching my little German-American boy eat one of the most popular snacks in America for the first time in his life. He'll be getting plenty of those after we live in the States again. I tried to find a website I could link to, so that you could see what kind of things are considered "typical American" by the average German, but unfortunately they already show next weeks sale instead of this weeks. While checking on their homepage I found out that Aldi actually started having branches over in the States!!! I couldn't believe that. As far as I can tell they only have them on the east coast though, so far. But still. Charles and I are desperately hoping that they will expand and also come to Washington State, so that we can keep shopping there even after we move away from Germany. We do most our shopping there, and at its competitor Lidl. Their products are awesome, really great quality. I found this article on Wikipedia.com. It explains the basics of aldi, and was very interesting to Charles and me. They talk about some interesting facts, like how you have to put a quarter into the shopping cart to use it, which is typical for Germany anyways. It must be so weird for Americans though. I don't think any other store does that...? Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyways. Evan and I had a great day! We played all afternoon together. He had so much fun going through all his toys - train tracks, building blocks, stacking cups, his books, his huge dump truck, ...! Later in the afternoon his grandma came up with some cherries from her backyard. It was the first time Evan got to eat cherries, and he loved them. He interrupted playing and sat down next to the bowl of cherries, eating them so fast I couldn't even keep up with taking the pits out. Such a cute little guy! I just wish he'd sit and play in his little pool, so that the heat wouldn't be so unbearable for him! We're only in July though, so he'll have another two months to change his mind about it. We'll see!

Have a good day!