July!

My July layouts always get the red, white, and blue treatment.  It just feels like the right thing to do, you know?  This one took about five minutes.  I stuck a piece of plain blue cardstock on the calendar and used the white calendar page as a border.  That velvet-dotted red paper is an old one from Doodlebut Design that I had in my scrap pile, and the polka-dot ribbon is very old; in fact, I think I ripped it off an unsuccessful project and saved it.  And it was the perfect size.  Then I stamped some little blue stars on the blue cardstock using Stayzon Ink.  I like the blue-on-blue effect. 

The photos?  Those are a few we snapped this weekend during our visit to beautiful Winterset, Iowa.  These were taken at the Clark Tower in City Park.  Jacob loved it: "Mom, there's a castle!"  And it is pretty cool.  I can't believe I had never heard about it.  More on Winterset soon, but I will say, I highly recommend a visit there if you are looking for a road trip.  So much to see and do. 

And speaking of so much to see and do, I should mention that this week is full of fun holidays and events, in addition to the important one, Independence Day.  For a certain four silly girls, this week has long been known as Cult Birthday Week.  And then there's a high school reunion happening.  Plus parades and fireworks.  Jacob tells me there will be cake for mommy: "Pink cake, with strawberry ice cream.  And we're going to decorate the whole house.  And there will be train rides for the kids!"  I think my child may have a future as a party planner. 

So, in honor of CBW, here's a photo of me and my girls, the last one of the four of us all together, which I'm sad to say was five years ago:

From left to right: Holle, Jackie, yours truly, and Melissa.  Aka: The Cult. 

And I just realized that posting a photo of myself now versus five years ago doesn't do a whole lot for my vanity, but in the words of Stevie Nicks: "Time makes you bolder, children get older, I'm gettin' older too."  And I'm thankful for it.