calendar cuties | may 2014

#download #calendar #may #calender #printable #stationery #filofax #planner

We are having an explosion of green and wildflowers here in the Smoky Mountains. The rain showers have certainly been bringing May flowers for us and during our ride on the property yesterday evening, the wildflowers are bigger than ever. In some places, it looked like a carpet of wild geraniums, foam flower, and wild iris. Just stunning!

And it's time again to download your Calendar Cuties, too.

Find more:

right now | april 2014

Right now, today, I have been 50 for one month and I think it's all going to be okay. It wasn't really turning 50 that was an issue, it was saying the word fifty, it's just as nice a word as forty. It sounds old. And when you tell someone you're fifty, they look at you differently thinking, "50 is old."

That will in no way stop be from making the next ten years really, really good. I AM ready.




april  |  4.24.14

feeling
still very, very sad that our Papa is gone, but learning to move through the grief

on the to do list
a desperately needed schedule for weekly chores, my system is failing me

my guilty pleasure
taking the time to read books for pleasure when I should be doing housework

favorites
enjoying the mud porch...birds chirping, the sweet sound of the creek and a Spring breeze

dreaming about
Zach moving back home, hopefully sooner than later

grateful for
the strength of my marriage and being able to lean on one another 100%



Download your page template here
Here's the post where I share how I created my mini album.


right now 2014 archives
january february march april may june july august september october november december 

5 on the 5th | april 2014

Each month I wonder what could I possibly take photos of that tell our family's story. If you're like me, you think that you've taken all the photos that could possibly be taken.

Wrong.

For April's 5 on the 5th photo project, I focused on art projects that kids have created. I'm glad I did because I don't think that I've ever taken photos of all their creations and it's something I want to do and perhaps even create a mini album of the collection.

What is 5 on the 5th?

5 on the 5th is a project where I capture our family's extraordinarily ordinary everyday moments on the 5th day of each month. It's based on the infamous 12 on the 12th photo project we've all heard of., but I changed it up knowing that I wouldn't take the time or remember to take 12 photos each month,.

I chose the number 5, since we have 5 family members.

I use my iPhone to take my photos and post to Instagram throughout the day, tagging the photos with #5onthe5th. If you do a search, you'll see that there are other IG'ers documenting their everyday moments right along with me each 5th day of the month.

I then post our 5 photos here on the blog, but most people don't. I just like to because then I have a permanent record of what I've documented.

Why should you take on another photo project?

If you happen to be thinking, as I often do, that time is precious and you just don't know that you can add another to do item to your list, I perfectly understand. But let me share this, as I look back on all our 5 on the 5th blog posts I see that I've captured moments that I had already forgotten about, that would have been lost if not for the 10 seconds it took me to snap a quick photo.


But I'm single...newly married...we don't have kids...our kids are grown.

If you're single, or are newly married, or don't have any children and think it's not a project for you...you're wrong. Wrong. I would love to have more everyday, detail photos of my days as a single college student. And I know I want photos of Gordon and I when we're the only ones left at home, I pray we have new, never done before adventures of our own to capture and document.

April 2014


5 on the 5th April 2014 | iloveitallwithmonikawright.com

1 | We have a home full of art projects on display and I am in awe of their talents! They take after their DaDa in the artistic arena. I am creative, but couldn't paint a bowl of fruit if I tried. Just as with everything else, each of the kids has their own personal style.

5 on the 5th April 2014 | iloveitallwithmonikawright.com

2 | Doesn't everyone have a drawing of themselves hanging on the dryer? We have so many art projects and drawings and creations that Victoria just takes it upon herself to find new ways to display them all. This one has been hanging on the dryer for over a year...and it's still there.

The rug used to be in the Nursery and we've given it a new home in the laundry room, which used to also be my craft room. I had desks lined up on the wall under the window you see in the photo.

5 on the 5th April 2014 | iloveitallwithmonikawright.com

3 | The other side of our laundry room has a clay art peace sign made by Zach during a Summer art class and a drawing by Isabella drawn years ago of her most favorite sleep buddy, Princess Kitty. Princess Kitty is now about as flat as that piece of paper and she still sleeps with her. She does not like to think of the day when Kitty won't be part of her bedtime routine. 

5 on the 5th April 2014 | iloveitallwithmonikawright.com

4 | The girls didn't know that I was going with an art theme for #5onthe5th this month, but look at what I spied them doing this afternoon, creating more art! This time they're painting and that's why they're sitting on top of a plastic tablecloth.

5 on the 5th April 2014 | iloveitallwithmonikawright.com

5 | Mermaid and Weaving. Created by Victoria and Zach. Zach's weaving won an award in the county Art Show many years ago. And yes, more laundry room art...at least I am surrounded by beauty while I wash, dry, fold and iron.

5 on the 5th April 2014 | iloveitallwithmonikawright.com

Thanks to all of you that played along and used the #5onthe5th hashtag on Instagram so that I could drop in to peek at the everyday moments of your extraordinary lives you were documenting!

If you're new to the blog and want to know more about 5 on the 5th, read this blog post. If you post about your own #5onthe5th photos, leave a comment so I can drop by for a visit!

January | February | March | April | May

around here


Around here, we've been doing some home improvement projects. If you knew us in real life, that would not seem at all out of the ordinary. We always have a project or two going on, or in the plans. 


We're that kind of family.

We began our life together strolling the aisles of home improvement stores as we began preparing our home {it's Gordon's grandparent's home, where Papa grew up} to live in as a family with Zach six months before we married. Almost 16 years later, and many renovation projects later, we still stroll the aisles together. And instead of little man Zach tagging along, we now have the girls with us.

And even though it seemed that Zach did not enjoy these trips, or even the whole home improvement life his Mommy and Dad enjoyed, he is his own mini-Gordon and creates furniture for his home and for the business he works for. 
Photo Credit: Isabella Wright



A lot of things going on here. 
1. Isabella asked to get a photo of our feet. 
2. I smiled because she asked for that photo. 
3. Gordon is rolling his eyes because she asked for the photo. 
4. He's smiling while grumbling about said photo but concedes to standing still for the photo. 
5. Victoria is cheerfully going along with Isabella's request. 
6. And this all in an aisle in the middle of Lowe's...that's a DaDa's love for his girl!




Choosing her favorite color to paint an accent wall in her room. In case you can't tell, it's boo, her baby word for blue.


Thinking that color-coded drinking cups might help the explosion of drinking glasses in the dishwasher that occurs every Spring and Summer. Can you guess which color belongs to each of us?


Checking on the progress of his Travelall. He says it's looking good. We say we're happy he's happy.

50 until 50 | mini album set-up

#50until50 | mini album set-up

My #50until50 mini album set-up is underway!

I shared 50 facts about myself on Instagram {@monikawright_iloveitall} and most of them on Facebook as well. You can search #50until50 on Instagram and find them if you want to check them all out before I share them in my mini album. My intention with sharing them in that way was that I would be accountable for actually completing the #50thingsaboutme. There were many, many days that I skipped as we dealt, and are still dealing with, the passing of my beloved, and loved, Father-in-Law, whom we all called Papa. 

As you can see, I'm pulling out papers from my collection of Six By Six designer paper pads, stash left over from my stint as a My Mind's Eye Design Team member I do so dearly love their designs and color palettes. 
#50until50 | mini album set-up
At this point, I'm in the hunting and gathering stage and still contemplating how to design the front cover of my chipboard cover. My simple scrapper side tells me just to stick with a simple 6x6 page, but my I-want-to-play-with-paper side tells me to mix it up with different page styles.

Which side do you think will win?

UPDATED | Find the full post with all 50until50 lists here.

simple gift card envelopes

Gift cards are a common gift idea for coaches and teachers, at least in our community, and then how do you present them? We recently attended the Basketball Banquet for Isabella's school team, and with all our collected funds, we elected to purchase gift cards for the four coaches. 

Simple Gift Card Envelope | iloveitallwithmonikawright.com

One Mom took the task of purchasing the gift cards and I volunteered for the packaging duties. A gift bag is too big and, in my opinion, kind of makes the gift card look puny. Hmmm.

With envelope, shipping tag, washi tape, a thank you stamp and ink, and my favorite baker's twine laid out, I got to crafting. I don't think the four envelopes took me longer than 5 minutes to make and I find it to be the perfect combination of practicality with a little cuteness, even for the male coaches who don't have to walk out with a tissue paper and bow explosion gift bag in their hands!

And the bonus was that for all us crafty peeps, it won't cost a thing, because we already have all of the supplies on hand. 

month-in-review | march 2014

The month of March 2014 was to be remembered, at least for me, as the year I turned 50. However, our family has been completely devastated by the unexpected death of my Father-in-Law on March 18th.

And because of that, I've held off on publishing our family facts for March.
How could I ever reduce what occurred to just one line?
I did, though, knowing that we'll always have our memories.

Thank you all for your hopeful wishes, kind words and prayers and blessings for us all.


#printable #download #calendar #monthly # currently #monthly

I didn't know what photo to choose either. And I thought long and hard about whether including a smiling photo of myself was self-centered. Again, I did it though. It's not often that I even like photos of me and I've been trying to do such a better job of trying to get in the picture.

After all, it is with this birthday that the gift of another year means so much more.


Our March
Our girls are just blowing us away with their love of learning and excellent grade cards. And their brother is extra proud, too, to hear that they've both made straight A's two grading periods in a row!

The Cover
Feel free to design your own cover, or download the cover I'm using. I included 2013 for you as well.

free easter art download

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful, the sun was shining and even though it was a bit cool and windy, sunshine always seems to warm my heart. And while the girls were visiting with Nana, I grabbed our Easter decoration bin from the crawl space and got to decorating.

And if a Mommy who designs art prints for her Etsy shop is going to decorate, she's going to need a cute print to go along with that. 

Click on the photo to download.

Free Easter Art Print Download | iloveitallwithmonikawright.com

I know, I know, many of you don't have color printers. So, for a limited time I'll have it listed in the shop for just $10 with free shipping to US addresses. If you're International, the print is still priced at $10, but you will have to pay shipping. 

Buy the print here for just $10 if you don't have access to a color printer.

filofax friday | april 2014

filofax friday | iloveitallwithmonikawright.com

You might remember that I was looking for a way to add a side bound notepad to the inside front cover flap of my Filofax Finsbury a while back. I found a way to do that, thanks to a link my Filofax Friday partner Francine sent me, and last month I shared how you could create your own notepads using everyday white glue and copy paper, you can find the tutorial here.

academic olympian

Last night, Isabella and I spent a lovely evening together in preparation for the Academic Olympics. We first had dinner at Olive Garden, her choice, and had fun conversations that weren't interrupted. Just us.  That doesn't happen very often, I can't remember the last time I had only one of my children one-on-one. I definitely need to make this a priority.

academic olympian| iloveitallwithmonikawright.com

Isabella said that she felt like a tourist because we were taking pictures outside the restaurant.

Academic Olympics is a county-wide gathering of students that excel academically. There are sessions at the elementary, middle schools and high school levels in Language Arts | Reading and Math and then from 5th grade on, Science and Social Studies are added. The tests are two grade levels above the students' current grade level and generally there are 100 questions to complete in one hour.  

Tough stuff, very stressful and another life lesson to be taught when they don't place for a medal. Isabella so wanted to be a winner this year. When I texted that to Zach, after he checked in last night to see how his Sis did, he texted back, "She is a winner." 

They're all winners, even if they are mine.

I have no idea what the criteria for being chosen is, but each of our children have attended the Academic Olympics at one time or another. Victoria went last year in Math and Zach went many times in his school career.

Here's our school's fantastic 5th grade team of scholastic superstars, we all think they're kind of special!

academic olympians | iloveitallwithmonikawright.com

On a side note, we're very proud to say that the girls both brought home Straight A's on their report cards a few days ago. Isabella earned 5 scores of 98 and Victoria received a 98, 96 and 94. They want to go to Joe's Crab Shack for their reward for jobs well done.