Five for Friday

1. Austin got baptized on Sunday.

I meant to take a photo in the sanctuary afterwards, but after visiting with well-wishers and then being hurried home to get lunch ready for our guests, I quickly set Austin up in front of a tree and took this one.

He is by no means perfect (and he'd probably drive me nuts if he was!), but I'm so proud of the young man he's becoming. He's making some great choices and so far, the teen years are looking pretty good!

2. It's back to school this week....  so we had our 2nd Annual Back-to-School feast on Tuesday evening, complete with make-your-own-pizza, baked doritos, watermelon and a chocolate cake for dessert.

To get off on the right foot with their new teachers, we made some butter crunch to hand out. Between the three of them, they have 11 teachers. Crazy! Here are a few of the treat bags...

I used Papertrey Ink stamps (Happy Trails, fillable frames #9) and dies (spiral notebook, happy trails.) The ribbon is Offray & the patterned paper is Scenic Route.

Jonah and Austin started back to school with their staggered entrances on Wednesday afternoon and Sage on Thursday. Usually, I've taken a shot on the front steps of the three of the, but this year, I decided to take some individual shots to change things up a little.

Here's my new fifth grader:

My new eighth grader:

And my new third grader:

So, we've met the teachers and are off to a great new school year! I start back on Thursday, where I'll be subbing choir at the high school that morning.

3. In getting ready for school, we've made a few online orders from Old Navy and Children's Place for some new clothes for the kids. I also went shopping the other day and picked up a few new things at Reitman's... I got this top (which I also got in solid red and solid black-- they had them buy one get one half price), as well as $40 black cardigan with the same length of sleeves for $12.50 and a fabulous red, black, grey and white scarf.... I love it so much, it almost makes me want to go back to work! LOL!

4. I've been getting ready for a fundraising crop I'm hosting later this month. It's to raise funds for my upcoming mission trip to the Congo with a team from my church. I serve as the team translator for French.

If you're local and interested in coming to my crop, the dates are Friday, Sept. 21 & Saturday, Sept. 22 and the cost is $40, which includes snacks, door prizes and lunch on Saturday. Feel free to email me for more details at pennercl@mymts.net.

5. And I have been able to carve out some crafty time in my scrap area. I don't have anything to share right now, but I'm hoping to get a tutorial made for the supersized herringbone technique that I posted last week, as per several requests and post that soon.

Have a great weekend!

Thanks for looking!