Serenity Now

If any of you are Seinfeld fans you can imagine exactly how I sound walking around all day yelling, "serenity now!" a la George Castanza..... Ev has been a total handful lately. So I'm snatching this opportunity to remind myself to take the bad with the good.... even though she has been kicking my @$$ with her toddler-geddon ways.... she still has her cute & sweet moments.... sometimes. ;)

Obviously I scrapped this on a "good" day....ha! Good thing I have this to look back on.

Seriously.... keeping it real.... as I was typing this she spilled a full cup of orange juice on the stairs and then declared she needed lemonin (lemonade)..... while wearing the cutest elf hat on the planet. ugh. I'm beginning to understand why they say sugar and spice. It toggles randomly between the sweetest and most frustrating moments all day long.... 

Like when she did this....

Yes, it's cute. She used her naptime as a chance to evaluate her wardrobe and don every single pair of pajama pants she owns. (9, if you're wondering.) But it's also frustrating because- a.)she typically refuses to wear pants, even to bed (but will wear 9 pairs simultaneously during "nap time"?!) b.)she has destroyed her room (now you see what I refer to as toddler-geddon) c.)notice the photo is snapped through a hole where the doorknob should be? I had to take it off because she locked herself in and then yelled, "I have to go potty Mommy!" in a frantic voice.... she didn't have to go, btw.... (I swear she does this stuff just to mess with me.)

I don't remember any of these challenges with my son. Did I block them out? Was I too busy working to be annoyed with his antics? Are boys just easier than girls? Not sure what it is... but I'm really hoping it's a phase.... or she may have some explaining to do when she sees Santa!

Falling

With December knocking on our door I realized that I have neglected to mention something. I LOVE FALL! After living in SoCal for the past 10 years I had forgotten what fall really felt like. The crisp air. The stunning change of the leaves. Crunching with every step. (I have a silly obsession with crunching leaves.... the only way I can describe how it makes me feel is to say that it makes my soul smile.... strange, but true.) I had every intention of making a couple of layouts to profess my love for my new old love, fall. It just hasn't happened yet. 

Luckily I took photos, so I will share those with you now....

Now almost every last leaf has fallen and we wake up to the spectacular white sparkle of frost on every inch of our yard... a sign that winter is upon us. I say bring on the snow, I can hardly wait. This seasons thing is kind of amazing.

Turkey Coma

Thanksgiving was a huge success. I was a teensie bit nervous about ruining everyone's turkey day with burned gravy, frozen green bean casserole, or the biggest tragedy of all.... not enough food. ;) Thankfully (pun intended) it went off without a hitch. Even when we realized Hottie's turkey was done two hours earlier than expected (this was our first big bird) I reacted seamlessly by sliding the side dishes in the oven. (Because in a stroke of pure genius I had prepped them ahead of time. GENIUS I tell you.) The food was a hit, and even though mine was cold (too busy giving Dez his own kind of feast) I too felt it really was delicious.

It was also my niece Cambry's first birthday. Warmed my heart to see so much family gathered around to witness her dipping her toes in the cake... felt good to be together for her special day.

We've had some fun times together... black friday shopping "together" (on all of our electronic devices while sitting around the table for a day and a half), ping pong tournament (turns out I am a pretty decent ping pong player, who knew?), firework show, Christmas light extravaganza... (almost all of which I was too busy to take photos of)...

I don't have a single complaint about this Thanksgiving weekend. It made me really happy to be surrounded by so much family.... even if it is a lot of mouths to feed. (and there were things I didn't think about ahead of time... like so many cups on the counter!) So glad that we were able to make these kinds of memories for our first holiday in our new home. I will never forget it, and am grateful that we had family willing to travel so far to make it special.

There is something I love about being in charge of the planning, and trying to make everyone happy and comfortable.... especially if it all works out. It's just so satisfying to my soul. Hopefully there will be a lot more big happy holidays to host in my future. I can finally fully grasp what Hottie is picturing when he talks about having lots of kids and a full house for the holidays... and I am totally on board.

Thankful

I have so many things to be grateful for in life. More than I could ever post about on this blog (and who likes a braggart anyway?). Every year I make a layout that includes some sort of list about what I am thankful for at that moment. It's fun to compare from year to year...

Here is 2012's edition. From the silly like Fruit Pop (addictive app) to big-un's like hardworking husbands...it's a looong list this year and I am thankful for that...

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Tomorrow I will be up to my elbows in gravy and cranberry sauce trying to cook a meal for 17 for the first time in our first home. Like I said, a LOT to be thankful for. Hope you all gobble til you wobble!

Scrapbooking the Little Things

I really enjoy scrapping about everyday life. For me sometimes this goes beyond moments with the people in my life and right to the silliest little thing... like a good cup of coffee, shoes, thoughts on work. Maybe these things wouldn't matter to anyone else.... but that's ok. I have my reasons for documenting them, and that's good enough for me.

Here's what I mean...

"One Last Time," a layout about how I felt setting my alarm for my very last day of work. Even looking at the time on that screenshot makes me tired for my former worker bee self....

Homage to the red cup. No idea why I'm prone to buying more Starbucks during the red cup season. Maybe it's just plain good marketing that suckers me in....

Preserving the epic-ness of my job (now I am a stay at home Mom and can look back and remember how cool I once was.)...

Evareux's tiny Tom sparkle shoes. She refused to slip her foot in these cuties even one time... so of course they deserve a page entitled, "The One's That Got Away."...

So, now you see what I mean. Scrapbooking doesn't have to just be about the people in your life. It can be about the silliest little thing.... I'm grateful for layouts like these because when my kids flip through our books there really aren't many pages about me... but these random ones lend insight into my personality and thoughts on random things in life... in a way they are so very "me."

Project Life-ing and It Feels So Good

By now you all know how I feel about project life. I am hooked. I do it because recording the little everyday things makes me happy. I keep up because it's easy to just print out my photos from the week, journal on some thoughts, and toss in a few accents. (Soon I'll show a start to finish PL spread so that you can see my process.) (I will also show you how my supplies are organized to help streamline.) I love that each individual has their very own take on this project. From the elaborate to the super simple, whatever works. This is our life and much like the project we make it what we want....

So here are some of my latest....

Featuring the cover of Aidan's concert program and a goal sheet in which Nakiah wrote he wanted to help me out more since I have a new baby....

And the week before that....

Craft win, skinny jeans, pumpkin spice latte, baby cuddles and finger grasps. It's the good life....

Here are some ones from Sept that I haven't shared yet. Pre baby... seems like FOREVER ago!

So funny to me now that 1 week before having baby the ultrasound tech guessed he weighed about 7.6 lbs... and I journaled, "yeah right." He turned out to be 9.6 lbs. so I guess my instinct was right! Cool to have these thoughts recorded to look back on....

Journaling about my nervous feelings and illness and visit after visit to the doc... details I prob wouldn't remember now only a couple of months later....

and another one...keeping it simple...

Cousins visting means lots of photos and stories to tell. I LOVE these journal cards for that...

 If you want to learn more about this project and gear up to start your own in the new year (although you really can start it whenever your little heart desires... I bit the bullet in Feb of this year.) check out Becky Higgins' blog. She is the creator of this cutting edge scrapbooking phenom. There is tons of inspiration there, including a design team (what I wouldn't give to be on that team!!!!). I encourage you to try this method... and if you have already started then by all means...

Sweet 16

I have the theme song for Mtv's ever so opulent Sweet Sixteen show playing over and over in my mind. Luckily I don't have that kind of teen. I have the kind of teen whose idea of a party is ordering a burrito that's bigger than his face.....

 My kinda kid for sure! (No, he did not finish it. Luckily we talked him out of trying.... no one wants a belly ache for their birthday... unless it involves pie.)

I know you rarely see photos (and thus very few layouts) involving my stepson Aidan around these parts. Really that's just because as a typical teenage boy he spends the great majority of his time down in what I refer to as the batcave... his room. He has all the hookups for xbox and a nice computer and is often online gaming with friends and perfect strangers alike. His virtual dance card is very full. So, not many photos... luckily I managed to sneak some today when we took him out to dinner to celebrate.

For this big birthday Hottie and I felt it was appropriate to get him an iphone 5. He has been having a really great year. He's been doing amazingly well in school (seriously, SO smart).... and has really matured as far as attitude and demeanor (and is starting to get a mustache, so basically a man already) ;) I can definitely tell he is on the cusp of adulthood... he thinks a lot about his future and wants to make consistently good choices. That's all you can really ask of a teen, big picture wise.

Looking at this photo of him lovingly squeezing his baby sister makes me so happy. I can't believe that I have known this kid since he was 7... seems like so long ago but just yesterday at the same time. I can't wait to see what the future holds for him. Happiest of birthday's to you, Aidan.

Fleeting Feelings

Dezi is such an amazingly calm and easy baby. Often times I have to talk myself out of tackling the next load of laundry or random pile of leaves on the floor from Miss Toddler Pants (or no pants, in her case)... it's too easy to put him down and just get a bunch of "stuff" done. Stuff that doesn't really matter at the moment and will be undone anyway the moment I turn my back (where do all these leaves keep coming from?!)

I want to hold him more and soak in his baby smells and fuzzy head and unbelievably soft skin. I want to slide my finger into his tiny Hercules grip and admire the way his lashes look and the way he sorta pouts as he sleeps and breaths out in a little, "ooo-ooo-ooo," sound.

I want to appreciate and document all of the funny faces he makes (this kid is a joker, I can tell already).

 And never let a smile go unnoticed.

I feel like this is one of the advantages of having more than one child. By the time the fourth one comes along you realize why that old cliche is so popular. Where does the time go? Well, I don't have the answer but I do know that if I make the time to slow down a take it in I won't regret it. All that other stuff just gets done eventually.... besides that's what I have older kids for anyway, right? Chores anyone?...

I'm gonna need someone to rake inside at some point.

This Is How I Roll: Thanksgiving Edition

Yeah, this is how I roll. I am hosting Hottie's side of the fam for our first Thanksgiving in our new house. I was so excited a couple of weeks ago when I began the preparations that I sent out this text to everyone to get them excited too....

"Ready to gobble, gobble?"...

Yeah, I'm the guy that spends $2.50 at the dollar spot at Target on a ridiculous turkey hat and then sends out an embarrassing photo but is totally not embarrassed....

I'm also the guy that has a son who immediately steals said turkey hat and claims in for his own....

He thinks we should get them for all of our guests... The apple doesn't fall far, I tell you what!

Everything But The Kitchen Sink

Sometimes I have a layout where it just feels right to throw everything in... Twine. Wood Veneer. Buttons. Vellum. Ribbon. Stamps. Brads. Even a Bingo Chip. Anything goes. This was one of those projects...

I just felt like the page needed to have some kind of action involved... The embellishments remind me of the excitement in her movements and the silliness in her voice... like, hey! look over here! In my mind I can remember the exact moment I snapped the photo... she had dressed herself in a Jessie t-shirt, zebra capris, two different shoes... and was dancing around the living room with her Toy Story plushies giggling about the hilarity of it all.

Lately her personality has really begun to come out. She loves to make us laugh and will stop at almost nothing to do so.... and she gets us every time cuz she is just say dang CUTE!

Captured My Heart. Stollen My Wallet. Thanks Again Crate Paper.

Every once in a while a scrapbook line comes along that makes me swoooooon. My mouth waters. I begin to obsess about when I can get my grubby little paws on it.....

Ladies and Gentlemen I give you.....

by Crate Paper

I must own every. single. shred. of this line. x3

It is stunning (just like their last valentine-sy line, "Paper Heart"..which I am still both using and hoarding.) I may go broke buying it, but I just can't wait to have it in my shopping cart. I am inspired!

Dude, Where Are My Curls? and an Evareaux Sandwich

How come every single time I take this dude to get his hair cut they just chop off all of his curls? I always say, "trim about an inch all the way around, please leave enough for it to curl." 

They always take him from this....

To some variation of this....

I hear the clippers fire up and before I can get back there the damage is done. Don't get me wrong, I still think he is cute (after all he is mine, if I don't think he's cute then who will?)... but why do they always insist on chopping it regardless of what I asked for? Oh well, I guess you get what you pay for... and I am obviously cheap. He said his friends at school didn't even recognize him. Luckily he likes it. Turns out he wants the curls gone just as much as the hair stylist does.

And in other news...

an Evareaux sandwich....

That is all.