from my home to yours

♪♫ We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year! ♫♪

Sunday Scrappin {& then some}

'Tis the season to be crafty! Or to try anyway. Since we're going back home to visit family over the holidays we haven't done any decorating, put up a tree or shopped much for the kids. We'll do our own mini Christmas once we're back home. When I do get craftsy it helps me get in the mood if I turn up the volume on my Christmas play list or have a movie on in the background.

Between nausea and my gestational narcolepsy I've been slowly, very slowly making progress on Christmas gifts. I still have a list of things to get done and crossing my fingers that something comes in the mail before we go visit family. Today I plan on checking another project off my list so we'll see how cooperative the kids are. If we get it done today I'll update this post.

Tada:
Last weekend I checked one project off of my list and meant to post it sooner but time got away from me. I can't share a better picture or tell you exactly what it is as the recipient of this gift may look at my blog. I was happy with how it turned out.

This week between sinus headaches & continued food aversions I started and finished the bigger project on my list. I got the idea looking at craft ideas on Better Homes & Gardens website but changed the colors and made the circles into flowers for the girls. I am thrilled with how these bags came out. I made two extra for my kids because they were so interested in them. I will say that the bag itself was simple to make but making 14 of them was a daunting task with such a short deadline. I felt like an overworked elf in Santa's workshop. Next year I hope to start more time consuming projects much earlier, like shortly after this baby is born. ;)

Updated todo:
Disclaimer - if you're a family member don't read further. :)

I sat the kids down and got started on our ornament project. Last year they helped make button wreath ornaments for family members and this year I wanted to make it more personal. I had an idea that incorporated wallet pics of each of them but our family photos were delayed so I'll just file that idea away for next year. :)

 

They had fun getting their hands dirty and I'm excited to have another project checked off my list! 

Todo:

• Another project that I can't be specific about.
• Make ornaments with the kids for family members.
• Wrap gifts & mail out.
• Plus everything else on my list to get ready to leave town.

I hope you are enjoying this time of getting ready for holidays whether you are shopping, crafting or just enjoying the holiday movies & music that play this time of year. Click the button above to see more scrappy/craftsy projects.  

Things I Did{n't} Do Today

• Fell asleep after waking up to get Michael ready for school.
• Got him to school on time & remembered to pick him up for early release day.
• Gave myself a case of wife/mommy guilt for not getting much anything done today.
• Watched LOST & am even more excited about the season premier in 9 Tuesdays! 
• Made 1000 mental lists of things that I need to get done before vacation, moving & baby.
• Got tired again.
• Googled old wives tales about guessing baby gender.
• Found out that an ancient Chinese predictor chart thinks I'm having a boy.
  

 

• Wake up rested or figure out how to break Lydia's habit of climbing in bed with us at night.
• Take a shower.
• Clean enough that I could notice what exactly I cleaned today.
  
• Make a well rounded meal.
• Go more than five minutes without complaining about an ache.
• Remember to swap the laundry within 2 hours of putting it in.
• Get up without heading straight to the toilet.
• Manage to stay awake all afternoon.
• Think about food without feeling queasy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a happy thanksgiving, enjoy your turkey, family, friends and pie! Even if you're not in the states, any day is a good day for pie. :-)

Some things I'm thankful for this year:

• My family being together & healthy to enjoy this holiday.
• Two pumpkin pies chilling in the fridge.
• Good friends to enjoy leftovers with.
• Watching the parade with my kids.
• Mashed potatoes & gravy I'll be enjoying later
• My family that I'll be visiting in less than one month.
• Loaded leftover turkey sandwich I'll have for lunch tomorrow

 And a surprise that no one in this house was expecting

• the bun in the oven {not talking turkey} that will make us a family of 5.
• the hope that 'morning' sickness will have an end in sight, hopefully sooner than later.
  

11 Tuesdays Until...

Random Thoughts on Tuesday

This meme is so 'me'. I'm very random. Especially in my thoughts so it works. These are actually random thoughts listed since Thursday. See? Random. But orderly because it's in a list. Best kind of random.

• I was still thinking more about this post that I rambled about a bunch of introspective stuff.
• But then this happened and now all of that introspective stuff is weighing more on my mind.
• I say that I put my family first...but how do I do that?
• How do I take care of them and not just care for them?
• And what am I teaching them?
• my music is random
• 80's Madonna & Cher
• Tupac & Papa Roach
• and more that I can't remember all in 20 min of driving
• ....just when you thought my playlist was random.
• some people just thrive on drama
• they are so loud about not liking it but seem to stir up a lot of it
• i enjoy drama....so long as its on tv ;)
• i just realized it is Wednesday
• and i don't remember where the rtt meme is
  
• so i guess it doesn't matter that it's not tuesday
• i've been sick for a couple of days, bad timing
• but then when would it really be good timing?
  

Menu Planning with ♥

I am a couple of days late on this one. Sometimes my meal planning doesn't fall on the weekends. We get paid twice a month and I try to keep my big shopping trips to twice a month as well. Since I've been meal planning more regularly I often don't have to go any more than that which is fantastic. Especially when you shop at the commiscary and usually around payday when everyone else is as well, along with the shelves being stocked. I totally earn my California Rolls that I buy each visit.

This weekend my planning delay was a little more serious. Well, a lot but it could have been a lot worse. We discovered my husband had a problem with his heart that made itself known in a very surprising and even more unexpected way. Good GREAT news is it was found in time and the doctors fixed the issue. He's home and recovering, life should be back to normal soon. We're still adjusting in many ways but my focus is on food right now. The food I buy and cook and how I cook it and what it contains to be more specific. I've never been one to read food labels but now I will be. We don't eat horribly but there is room for improvements.

Here is my menu for the week:

Southwest White Chili {didn't get to this one last time I planned}

Chicken & Dumplings {didn't get to this one last time I planned}

Turkey & Spinach Manicotti  {check out the comments for suggestions}


Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry {check out the comments for suggestions}


Feta & Spinach Turkey Burgers

Love your

♥

...

Ya know that feeling when you're being stretched too many directions and juggling too many things and you wonder how much you can hold and how far you can go before you just break? Yeah, I was there. Not only did I feel like it was just.too.much. but I wasn't doing any of it well. And if you're going to do something, what's the point if you don't give it your best?

I didn't completely fall apart but sorta fell...in. I imploded. I stopped just about everything for some moments and got analytical and emotional and well the whole thing was a little depressing so I won't go into it. But it was like I just stopped and kinda went into auto pilot doing the things I had to do because if I didn't who would? As I was just trying to function I realized there were more than several things I wasn't doing very well and I was a little surprised about which things I wasn't doing well actually bothered me.

I've been thinking more about my role as a housewife & mom, and a woman. It seems that something shifts when we get married and/or have babies. Just being a woman, being ourselves is somehow now it's own little thing set to the side for another day when we have more time because everyone else needs so much right.at.this.moment. Or maybe that's just me thinking too much again? I don't mean just taking time to get dressed, fix our hair or put on a little makeup {if you enjoy it} but time to do whatever we enjoy without feeling guilty about it. And again, maybe it's just me.

Tackle It Tuesday & Monthly Round Up

It's Tuesday! YAY!!! I really don't have anything to be extra excited about except that Monday is OVER. Which means I'm no longer in shock getting back to weekday routines. And I've been twice as productive on half the amount of coffee. :D

So this morning I decided to finally organize my scrappy storage space. My scrapbooking supplies share a space in my laundry room with of course the laundry, washer & dryer, cleaning supplies, plastic grocery bags, my sewing machine that I haven't tried out since buying it second hand over 6 months ago {eek!} and my Mary Kay products & class supplies. Needless to say it's a crowded space and without much vertical storage so it can get messy pretty quickly.

Lately when I've felt like starting a project I open the door, pry a drawer open and take one look before walking away. It was an overwhelming & frustrating mess that I've been putting off - and maybe hoping it would just take care of itself. A while back I started to organize it, got frustrated and stopped midway so it was difficult to maintain order when there wasn't order to start with.

So this is pretty much what it started out looking like. Lots of stuff crammed into drawers with no rhyme or reason, a rolling tote with random items and a tub {can't see it in photo} of who knows what and a box overflowing with paper. You see why I would leave now right?

So I sat down {very uncomfortably & got to work} emptied out the drawers one at a time, sorted like items and gave everything a home, put it in a garbage bag or in a box to donate. I love the purging process! The mess always looks worse before it gets better! At one point I was knee high in ribbons, tags, adhesive and sharp objects. Lydia was sitting close by helping me out.

I don't have baskets to put things in and they would give too easy access for little curious hands so I used gallon sized bags as my containers. Bottom drawer are my stamps, stencils & other stamp supplies. Middle drawer has ribbon, small embellishments (in black bag with tackle box type plastic containers) and flowers. These items were spread out everywhere they could have been but are now sorted like with like & I think we're all happy about it. :D The top drawer has supplies for projects to do {blank clipboard, mini albums, etc} and memorabilia {cards, tickets, etc} for me to put with photos when I scrap.

The rolling tote has stickers, cutting mats & large pieces of card stock. Also some idea books tucked in. I have several more idea books & magazines that I need to pare down and organize - another projects for another day!

And the mystery tub is now holding my paper. This works well because it won't collect dust, get wrinkled and I won't allow myself more than what will fit in here - which is waymorethanenough, trust me.

I realize this is still quite a bit of scrappy supplies and as I work on projects I'll certainly set things aside to pass along or find things to toss. I'm thrilled that I have an orderly starting point and something to maintain. Now I can see what supplies I have before shopping for Christmas gift projects and my goal really is to only purchase adhesive & cardstock as I run out - use what I have before buying more.

I hope YOU are enjoying your Tuesday! If you have a tackle to share click the top button and if you want to participate or find out more about the Monthly Organizing Round Up click the second button. :D

PS for those interested I will be sharing recipes from my MPM posts just as soon as I find a little time.

Menu Planning

And I really do LOVE menu planning. Last week I had my meals selected, shopping list written and headed to the store. Then my spirits were crushed when I realized I accidentally grabbed a note paper with 5 items written on it instead of my page and half shopping list. Oops! I was a little frazzled in the produce section. I don't seem to retain much info these days so trying to remember my meals let alone what went in them - no way! I can't even keep track of what is in my pantry & fridge. I live by my shopping list, it's my guide at the grocery store and keeps me on track and focused. So I grabbed a soup packet and used a recipe on the back for a pot roast and grabbed the essentials to hold us over for the weekend.

This morning I happily shopped, list in hand - keeping me focused on what I needed & what I didn't {NO ice-cream this week, we have enough sugar with all of the candy in the house}. Because I'm so list oriented I don't assign days to my meals. This gives me the freedom to be flexible. And by flexible I mean it's okay if I forget to thaw out some meat or start the crock pot because I can just choose another meal. Though I have several crock pot meals on the menu for this week. Whereas if I assigned days I would feel stuck to that day - even though that thought process makes.no.sense.

• Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Casserole {hit with the family}
• Beef w/ apples & sweet potatoes {new recipe in my crock pot cookbook}
• Creamy chicken & spinach lasagna {new recipe in my crock pot cookbook}
• Easy Parmesan Chicken {new recipe in my crock pot cookbook}
• Southwest white chili {crock pot}
• Chicken n Dumplings {a favorite that my mom used to make}
• Easy beef stew {new recipe in my crock pot cookbook}

So with six recipes in my pantry plus whatever I do with the chicken in my crock pot right now I'm hoping for easy dinners over the next two weeks {leftovers rock!}.

Menu planning + crock pot = kitchen bliss!

To share your menu for the week or see what others are cooking click the button above!

YAY Blogger!

Have ya'll checked out all of the new features on blogger? There are some changes that made me really happy. :D Last weekend while folding avoiding laundry I made some changes to my blog, switched up my labels and well just goofed around on here. It had been a while since I changed my layout around and after I did I realized I would lose all of that HTML code I spent so much time searching for & figuring out how to put it in - stuff that made my labels into a cloud & whatnot. After failing to find code again. I discovered that blogger now has all of it right there in the edit layout section!

• You can now change the "written by" section of your post
• along with "comments"
• and even give people a quick response option.
• {I didn't add that option so you'll have to write if you want to respond}
• lol
• This can all be done by clicking edit on Blog Post section in Layout

Some other things you can do

• Format your labels into a list or cloud form
• {I think they should make it easier to change labels so you don't have to go through 300+ posts to make changes}
• Or maybe I should just be a little less O about my CDO
• :P
• If you go to Settings, then Basic you can choose the updated post editor
• We can schedule posts!
• there are some other options that I don't understand so it doesn't matter.
• the BEST new function in here
• there's a strikethrough button.
• SO I no longer have to look up code because I can't remember it from 5 min ago.
• YAY!!

Just thought I'd share the super user friendly new features! Happy November!

OH & if you want to smile/laugh/bring back memories/just rock out - check out #20 on my play list. It makes me happy. I can't explain why. I fully acknowledge that probably makes me strange but I'm okay with that.

Sunday Scrap

Wow - I actually did something creative over the weekend & have a picture to share. It's been 2 months and I have missed my creative time. I need to start making more time, scheduling it in. Not only because I really enjoy it an have a list as long as my house of projects to finish/start but because Christmas is coming up and a majority of the gifts we give are homemade and by homemade I mean scrapped. I may try some sewing projects this time around but don't hold your breath folks.

Tada:

Yesterday I decided to make thank you cards for Lydia's party. I recently got a cute cupcake thank you stamp from my Stampin Up rep/friend and after looking for inspiration in the SCS gallery I was excited to use it. Of course mine didn't come out nearly so cute as many in the gallery but I'm happy with it. I used chalk & my blender pens to color the card in, though the light pink didn't show up well on the paper part of the cupcake and not all of the cards look the same since I was trying out different ideas. I think cupcakes are good anytime of year so I can change up the colors and use them for birthdays & other holidays.

{much}Tado:

• Organize scrappy supplies
• Determine what supplies I need for homemade gifts
• Get those supplies & GET TO WORK
• Maybe in the midst of that I'll sort through photos & get more work done on Lydia's 1 year album
• And maybe even get some journaling done
• But not all this week.

To see other scrappiness click the button above.

So....um.....yeah

I feel like my blog has been a little neglected lately. Yesterday facebook was having some issues so I spend waste some time fiddling with my blog. I was going to attempt a post but while there's SO much on my mind, there's not much that is *blog* worthy. I can't make it interesting or funny. And I'm having some issues focusing on any.one.thing. Just writing these three sentences I've ctrl+t'd over to 5 different tabs and alt+tab to a im convo with my bestie.

SOooo....in my uber productivity this morning I read Heather's Random Thoughts Tuesday post and thought "hey I can do random". So here goes.

• Just about everything has been random for me lately. My moods, energy, sleep habits, eating habits.
• I looked it up this morning and there are 59 days until Christmas! o.O
• I still need to make my lists - home made gift list, Mary Kay gift list (can't beat my discount!), packing list for longtripbackhome, card/letter/photo list, kids' gift list, black friday shopping list, baking list?...lots of lists - YAY!!
• This week is Red Ribbon Week at Michael's school. Yesterday was a beautiful day. Today is a rainy one & they're supposed to do the flag picture - he's wearing white so he'll be part of a star or stripe, if they still do it.
• They nixed 'hippie day' from the list of things to dress up in this week. Last year I was very confused & wondered if I was the only parent that said "hippie day + say no to drugs = makes no sense??"
• I found out I wasn't. :D
• Lydia is pretty much potty trained now. #1 & 2 make it into the potty 90+% of the time.
• Would you believe I used to actually be good at math?
• I watched the Soloist via Netflix (<3) It was good, done even better than I thought it would be. Very real, humbling & moving.
  
• I got scrubby with it Saturday - wiping down cabinets, baseboards...you know the kind of cleaning that only *I* will notice & appreciate. It's only Tuesday and you couldn't tell. :-/
• I need more sunny days...in more ways than one.

Well, there ya go. About as much random & focus as I can manage at this point without getting overly self analyzing and pouty. I hope everyone else has sunshine today, in & regardless of your weather forecast.

PS if you want to share some random thoughts click the button at the top of this post & linky there. there are a lot of random people today.

The Urge to PURGE {!!!!}

::SIGH::

I just LOVE the feeling of taking junk out of my house. Whether it's garbage, a lotion I haven't used in whoknowshowlong or toys that the kids have outgrown. Two days agoI finally started catching up on housework from when the sick invaded. I just did the math and realized that was over a week ago. o.O I have done things like dishes & laundry because those multiply faster than I can say "all done!" but I haven't done REAL cleaning. The kitchen & living area were tackled first - floors included. Yesterday I went to the commiscary for food that my family kept whining about for some reason. Apparently they need their milk, apples & bacon.

With much of the cleaning behind me I was free to purge & organize. I know to most that sounds like a chore that's not very fun and you dread it and put it off as long as possible. But for me {because I'm strange} it actually makes me giddy. Srsly. When I had to use 4 attachments to clean the yuck on my windowsill & blinds I wasn't happy but throwing out those old lotions and gave my son the choice to keep one of his two block sets...I could have done cartwheels. And when he suggested that he get rid of one of his two train sets, well I knew he was my son. After doing both kids' rooms I took a break to facebook then tackled both bathrooms. The best thing I threw out today were the bath toys with the holes that fill up with water and then turn into whatisthatgross. Only bath toys without holes will be allowed in this house now.

I think I had more of an attachment to some of his toys than he did. The Barney he got from my mom for his first birthday, when he chose to keep the wooden train set over the plastic Thomas one {from my mom} and even throwing away the cute hippos, frogs & pink duck bath toys was sad because those were gifts from my mom too. But then I realized that he's 5 and can't very well go off to college with Barney and my mom would think it rather gross to keep a pink duck filled with whatisthatyuck for Lydia and was okay with it.

With some recent stuff that has happened in my life and things that are coming up I'm finding this purge therapeutic. It gives me some time with my thoughts and to sort things out in my head while sorting out a cabinet or closet. I still have lots of clutter piles and closets and cabinets and drawers and spaces to purge and even more thoughts to sort out. Because Lord knows I don't clean for the rest of the people in the house, they're just working against me.

Back Up

There's a funky sick hanging out at my house so I've been less than productive...much less than productive. Turns out this morning was a good time to catch up on shows that I've missed and I may have watched a movieortwo yesterday as well. So today out of nowhere my computer shuts itself down & there was a blue screen with lots of technical words I don't understand. You really don't have to know much about computers to operate one. I restarted it - the only thing I did understand on the screen and all was well again. But this reminded me that I should back up my photos. I was over a year behind...now I've run out of CDs so I'm only five months behind. You can bet your hiney that CDs will be on my next shopping list so I can finish the job.

When there is sick, esp funky sick hanging out at your house it's good to have some back up and you take what you can get with no complaints. My son picked up a catchphrase that he likes to say {but rarely follows} "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit". Such wisdom in the kindergarten classroom. Shawn went to the store and got the things on my shopping list {after I cut it down to 1/10 it's original}, let me fall asleep & took care of the kids {but then woke me up with a kiss & I couldn't fall asleep for 2 hours}...you catch the drift. I'm just glad that he's home to help with anything...esp when my throat is burning, my head is all hurty & I'm just blah.

My internal clock is ticking away...no not that clock, well yes that one too on some days when I see little 10 day old babies that are SOsweet&omgmyovariesjustdidalittledance; but the clock I'm trying to ignore. The one that says we're now on the approximate sixish months give or take because the Army can change plans at any moment until my husband is no longer available to be my back up. Because he'll be backing up his battle buddies and focusing on things like safety, sleep & eating. That sixish months is going to fly. Between individual training schools, group training, field training, long nights, block leave {x2}, holidays, special events....whoosh! it's gone.

I've been here before so it's not that new. Except that it is. Last time we had just moved here & I barely knew a sole. Now we've been here almost 3 years and some days I think I know too many people. Last time I had a 3 year old & 11 month old...they were nearly clueless, the oldest knew nothing beyond "daddy's far away at work". Now I'll have 5 & 3 year olds who will notice & ask no less than 2,345 times a day why daddy has to go to regular work {let alone far away work}. There are lessons I learned about things like money & time management...and I'm hoping to remember them before repeating the same mistakes.

Maybe it's just the sick but I think that all ties together somehow...or maybe not. And now I'm not really sure how to close it up either. So this will do.

MPM week 1

Anyone who knows me or talks to me for more than 5 minutes knows that cooking is not one of my favorite past times or something that I typically enjoy. It is more of a necessary evil in my home. It's necessary for me to cook for my family and something that can cause me much stress. But I have figured out that a couple of tools help lower that stress.

• Plan my meals & write up shopping list a day or two before shopping.
• Abuse my slow cooker as much as I can.

If I have a meal that I can put together in the morning and have it ready at dinner time I'm not stressed when the kids are SOOOOO hungry, I've hit my afternoon wall and if Shawn's home he's tired & hungry from working all day. Or if I already know what I'll be making I don't have to figure it out at that challenging time of day and know just when to start cooking.

Here is my menu plan for this week:

Monday - Chicken Tortilla Soup (recipe in my slow cooker cook book) and it was SO yum I had to force myself not to take another bite so there would be some for Shawn when he comes home from training this week.

Tuesday - BBQ Beef Sandwiches (will be putting this in the slow cooker after I hit post)

Wednesday - Chicken & Broccoli Cheesy Casserole

Thursday - Italian Hillside Garden Soup

Friday - Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

Saturday - Lentil Soup with Ham & Bacon

Sunday - Buffet of Leftovers

My thought behind cooking so many soups was that I could serve half & freeze the other half for the next month, get some meals done ahead of time. So I'm making notes on changes in the recipes as I go. The tortilla soup will need to be doubled to freeze any of it. Today is the first day of fall & I am looking forward to the weather changing and making lots of warm yummy comfort food. Maybe I'll learn to enjoy being in the kitchen if I can keep up with meal planning, making meals ahead of time & I just may get another slow cooker to put my oven to work overtime.

Thanks for visiting!

{9.11} 2009

Remember those who lost their lives that day & all who gave up theirs since, remember the heroes from flight 93 & all who freely joined Military service to stand for our country, remember why we are fighting. Everyone deserves the freedom to pursue life, liberty & justice.

Lightening Strikes Twice

...and it's name is Lydia. Maybe that's a little dramatic. I'm sure the odds of a not-quite-3 year old girl finding scissors are much greater than a person being struck by lightening once let alone twice. The odds of said little girl finding scissors twice within a week and going from slight change of hairstyle to what.the.EFF.do.I.do?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? are right about the way things seem to work out for me. That 'murphy's law' - if it can happen it probably will happen and at the most inconvenient time. I don't think I go about my life with an Eeyore kind of attitude but am not surprised when something happens. And it's always something around here - or at least feels that way. Maybe I am more Eeyore than I thought. Hmmm...

So this was the first incident. She found a small pair of scissors in the bathroom & decided to give herself a little trim.
Not a big deal. I gave her some bangs and we all moved on with our lives - noting how 'big girl' she looks without half of her hair in her face.And then yesterday when I had my back turned for 2 seconds. Goodbye bangs. Clean up hair. Wait....that's a lot of hair on the ground. And it's LONGER than her bangs were.....

GAHHH!!!!!!!!! My daughter has a mullet on the left side of her head. alskdjflakfjd WHAT do I do with this??? I'm contemplating trying to 'cover' it with headbands with big bows & flowers to create a distraction while letting it grow out. Or get it 'fixed' and give her a pixie cut, risking the loss of her few curls forever.

I cried last night. Not just over the hair. I told Shawn that one day I would laugh when she calls me up to tell me what happened when her little girl finds some scissors and I would tell Lydia what she put me through as well. At that moment I started to weep. I want to call my mom & tell her what her sweet little angel did - then hear about the time I rolled my hair up in her round brush even though she told me it didn't roll both ways, or the number of times I got gum stuck in my hair...and the other stories that I can't remember because I was too young.

On a lighter note. Here is a picture of Michael yesterday - not cutting his hair {though his would have been easier to deal with} pretending to be a king & building his castle. I love his imagination & creativity.

Scrappin My Baby

Woohoo!!!! :doesahappydance: I scrapped this week! It's been well over a month since I have made time to be creative. Friday night I got together with my stamping group for the first time {I couldn't go last month} and had a great time. We learned some new techniques, ate yummy food & laughed. A lot. It was great to get out & have some me time. Yesterday I was still in the creative mode so I took a day 'off' and scrapped. A lot. I watched Gran Torino so I could finally send it back to Netflix, cried. Then I watched some movies on my watch instantly with Netflix {I ♥ Netflix} Lakeview Terrace, Gigantic and Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist. I was scrapping at my computer so watching a movie on the computer fit in well. The kids played in their rooms a lot & watched Peter Pan and did an errand with daddy. He spent most of his day working on his boat. I think we all enjoyed a relaxing lazy Saturday.

Here are my tada's!:

The picture on the left is what I did at my stamping group. We learned how to make a card with a pull out slide - easy now that I know how to do it. And we made an 8x8 page with some faux embossing. Punching circles {or any shape} of the same color as your background is an easy way to add some texture. The picture on the right is a card I made to start my scrappiness yesterday. I made another card but forgot to take a picture before putting it in the envelope.

I love how these pages turned out - I think my favorite of what I did yesterday. These were pictures I took of Lydia when she was 9 months old. For backyard 'portraits' I think they turned out pretty good. I love the butterfly paper I used - got it at a scrapbook stores 80% off closing sale. Now I wish I had more of it! I used a couple of my stamps to add some embellishments. As usual I still have my title & journaling to do.

These are Lydia's 3 month portraits - and the only ones done by a professional so far. I love the sepia colored close up photo on the top. I stamped a tone on tone background on both of these pages - one with two different stamps and the other with a roller stamp. The large space on the bottom page will be filled when I find the 8x10 that was hanging up...I can't remember where I put it. And I still have my title/journaling to do.

This was a fun spread to do. I'll have to look up how old Lydia was in each set of photos - pretty sure it's a few months apart. In the first page she's waking up Michael from a nap and in the second she snagged his pb&j and went to town. I used a stamp to create a background & cut out silhouettes of the flowers from a patterned paper. I still have journaling to do.

This was the last spread I started and haven't finished. I want to title this blue eyed beauty. My stepmom had fun taking pictures of Lydia laying against my jammies {is it bad that I still have those pants 3 years later?}. I used my blender pen to create a tone on tone background, dug out a sticker & rub on but hit a wall so I stopped. I'll finish this spread up next time I scrap.

My todos:

This is a simple one - SCRAP! I really want to make time weekly for this & get Lydia's one year album done before she turns 3 in October. I am looking forward to completing this week's challenge - main colors black & white. I did one page like that for Michael so it will be fun to choose some photos for Lydia to go with a b&w theme.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. To check out other scrappers click on the button above.

A Day of Milestones

So if Michael turning 5 wasn't enough he had to start kindergarten. Who does he think he is right? Just growing up leaving me alone with Lydia all day and making me set my alarm M-F...I haven't done that in years. Though I haven't really had a need since the kids are up by 6 anyway. Or were. The first day of school was also the first day that I had to wake Michael up in the morning. Bummer right? It would have been nice to enjoy it.

Then it was Lydia's turn to get all 'big girl' on me. It kind of just happened but then she made a decision and there's no turning back. She handed me a dirty diaper, yes a dirty one. After cleaning her up I realized I was out of diapers. o.O So she got a pair of panties until we made it to the store. Before I could make it out she announced she was going to use the potty. And then she did. And then she did 3 more times {including a poo}. And then I was waiting for pigs to fly by my window. Because that just.doesn't.happen. Right? Michael was nearly 4 before he was interested and we struggled. So for my not yet 3 year old to just do it....I was shocked. Of course it hasn't been that smooth since starting, that pig never flew by.

All in the same day that Michael started kindergarten and Lydia decided to go potty, Shawn found a gray hair. Not his first and definitely not the last but it was interesting timing for one to pop up on such a momentous day. Luckily I didn't have an extra fine line...though there may have been a pimple. Is anyone else out there trying to fight aging {or at least slow it as much as possible} while also fighting the signs of your youth in some degree of acne. Typically it's a hormonal thing for me...I'll put Shawn on alert. ;)

So I promise I've been doing more than washing peed on laundry, adjusting to my son being in school full time and scrutenizing my face in the mirror. But that will be for another day. If your child is in school - congratulations, enjoy your time! If your kids go back to school at the normal after summer time then enjoy your time!

One Whole Hand

My first born 'baby' is 5. This is old news around here but I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would start from here. :D

We had a fun 'pool' party for Michael and this year he wanted to have a Transformers theme - he's all about Transformers right now. Before he had the real thing he would make his own out of his blocks, he still does sometimes. I love his creativity!

Some of his friends from school made it & other friends we've made since living here. He was SO excited to have friends over to play in the pool, eat hot dogs & cake and just have fun. With his birthday in the middle of summer vacation & right after a holiday I was thrilled with the turn out! Plus the weather cooperated. The night before we had severe thunderstorms and spent a couple hours going in and out of the laundry room because of tornado warnings. The day of his party was overcast & a little muggy but still warm enough to get wet and have fun outside. :)

Shawn had fun with the water hose, kids were attacking everyone with water guns and there was a silly string fight to top it all off. I'm looking forward to another bbq soon!

Help! I lost "me" & don't know where to find her!

Don't worry - you don't have to call the authorities or anything. Unless they've got one of those quiet padded rooms waiting for me. :D I don't know if this is like a quarter life crisis or just a contagious self retrospection thing that seems to be going around but whatever it is I've been affected.

When I was in high school I had more guy friends than girls, and no I wasn't any extra *friendly* with the boys so don't get the wrong idea. It was just easyer. There wasn't the drama, 'competition', gossip, back biting....none of that drama with the boys. That came after high school when they all wanted me to like them. I kid...mostly.

After becoming a married woman & mom my friendships changed quite drastically and have been exclusively with women, except for their husbands but we were "couple" friends. For the most part I didn't have the drama to deal with in my group of friends back home. That was nice. It was easy. Now it would be refreshing.

Lately there seems to be a drama bug biting people in various circles of friends and I'm just.tired.of.it. But then as I talk to my bestie about the drama I wonder - am *I* part of the problem? Do I thrive on the drama and get carried away in conversation? ouch. It stings to give yourself a hard look in the mirror and not make excuses or justify behavior done with bad judgement.

Can someone take that mirror away please? Or cover it with something maybe? No? Darn.

One of my mom's favorite songs was Man In The Mirror by Michael Jackson. It's on my playlist if you'd like to reminisce or refresh your memory of the song. I know he's talking about making changes of much more significance but it really does all start with ourselves. If we want to make a change in the world on any level we must honestly look at ourselves and change our day to day behavior & thoughts. ouch, that can hurt.

I want to look back on my life and be at least mostly satisfied with the choices I made and the attitudes I had. If you asked my husband he would tell you that I can get some attitude for sure! But I want to have a good attitude. I want to be content with my life, find that silver lining and just.be. Without worrying about what this or that person thinks about any of it, unless they are a person whose opinion I highly value & are trying to help me be the best me I can be. Those people I could probably count on one hand.

I hope that it is in fact possible to have several acquantances & friendships with women without getting caught up in the drama of it all. I know it can happen because I've had it before. So I just need to find it and me again.

Scrapped

Ta Da's: So these are the pages I couldn't share last week. We had Michael's birthday party & the camping trip & I just didn't have the time. I made these pages the week before last when a couple friends came over to scrap while Shawn worked staff duty (24 hour shift). As usual I still have journaling to do and some embellishments to add but they're mostly done. I'm still working on finishing Lydia's album and these are pictures of her at the hospital along with our hospital bracelets and the card that was on her bassinette. I realized when I was done that I used the sleepy baby patterned paper instead of the stork patterned paper (same color scheme) so I'll use the other papers on the rest of the hospital pictures.

To Do's: I'm just hoping to get something done - maybe the rest of the hospital pictures, maybe journaling on pages that are unfinished... I have a busy work week ahead and of course there's always things to do around the house & with the kids. Not to mention the rest of the stink incident clean up.