What a Goofball

Do you ever scrap any of the silly quirks your kids have? They have so many, especially in the toddler years... I love that scrapping something like this ensures that I will never forget how she played soccer with a basketball and called it volleyball. She is confused, but sporty... I'll call it a win!

I felt like these arrows from a recent Studio Calico kit were perfect for conveying the confused message. What do you think?

Brotherly Love

This makes me so happy....

and Dezmond has no idea how lucky he is...

That is all.

Until We Meet Again

I've really been missing our Disney days lately. Maybe it's because this is the time of year when we would typically go weekly... or maybe it's the constant reminder of Minnie and friends (Evareaux is still obsessed)... maybe it's my deep desire to have a big vacation on the horizon (fat chance, lady)... whatever it is, I miss this place......... so it was time to dedicate another layout to Disneyland.

...probably seems silly to have a project about this. But I love the idea that as someone flips through my scrapbooks they can get to know me... even on layouts that aren't "me" focused.

And I am truly grateful for the amount of time we were able to spend in this magical place. I heard someone say recently that adults who are overly fascinated and captivated by Disneyland were a bit pathetic and had a need to recapture part of their youth. I don't know about the pathetic part.. but I would say that for me the Happiest Place on Earth is somewhere that I spent so many happy years of my life visiting, because of this I will forever hold it dear. I saw it through my children's eyes. Instead of focusing on long lines and overpriced food I honed in on the attention to detail, the art, the pageantry, the fun around every corner..... besides, I don't see anything wrong with recapturing one's youth from time to time.... it keeps us young at heart.

Patty Cakes

This kid loves a good game of patty cakes. He giggles, and giggles, and giggles....

PS- Hopefully you just ignored the fact that my hair looks like absolute hell.... it's been quite a week... and it's only Wednesday. :) Not letting the way I feel about my hair in these photos keep me from posting them. Instead I am just proud of myself for handing over the camera to Nakiah (who does a great job playing photographer, by the way) so he could snap some of me interacting with the babe while playing his favorite game.

Project Life Wrap Up: Part Two

Finally, the end of 2012. :) Hey, we're still in January folks, so I really don't feel that bad still showing you 2012 and not even physically starting on 2013 yet. There are just so many things happening around here! (got the "stomach virus" again. yes, again. Apparently it's possible to recover and then immediately recontract it for a fun filled few days of round two.... so all of that "decontaminating" I did totally screwed me over. Lesson learned... never clean. done and done.) Anyway, since this is going to be an epic-ly long post due to the amount of pages I am about to share I will get right to it.....

The week after Thanksgiving meant some much needed down time, Dezi's monthly photo shoot, and some wild color choices on my part. (The bolder the better, I say.)

Tons of photos to include as we get into December....

Still trying to include the every-day-not-necessarily-holiday-moments... since I have my December Daily (in theory) to record those things in detail....

So much journaling to make space for, lots of stories to tell! Almost no room for the date.....or perhaps I almost forgot to include it, you be the judge. :)

No denying we were in holiday mode. Still loving gussying up journal cards with washi tape & using mostly instagrams & those Amy Tangerine letter stickers. I know I'll continue this for 2013....

I also have a full page insert for Christmas Eve/Christmas, 12x12 front and back. Photos galore. :)

Possibly my favorite week of the year ;) when our special visitors came to town....

So, as I stated earlier, I haven't started 2013 yet. But I fully intend to... and will very soon. Before this last year I was always very intimidated my the idea of project life. I know that's not the intention of the format... but the idea of recording an entire year worth of memories week to week seemed like a huge commitment and way over my head. I'm so glad that I took the leap and jumped in with both feet. Not only has it been an intensely effective way for me to document this past year, and one that I really have not had much of a problem keeping up with... but it is something that I have no doubt I will cherish even more in years to come. I'm still very passionate about this process.... and I will share my approach with you soon.

Bad Times and Extreme Hair Cuts

My kids came down with the flu... or what I'm assuming was the flu... (I was reminded by the doc that they were never diagnosed... guess I just came to that conclusion based on the fact that they were throwing up all over the place and crying and coughing and. well. it was coming out of everywhere. but. maybe the doc is right. maybe it wasn't the "flu.") I got sick too. It was no picnic. (It is impossibly difficult to take care of two kids plus a 3 month old when you are that ill.) Luckily the kids are bouncing back well after a couple of rough nights and the baby has managed to avoid more than a cough (knock on wood, it would break my heart if he got this.) My biggest challenge has been keeping the house decontaminated and keeping the kids out of the babies face. No small feat, let me tell you. They are constantly up in his grill.

So today I spent all day cleaning and trying to ignore my aching bones and queasy tummy. There is something about the flu that makes me want to scrub every square inch of our house at the first sign that it might be over. Hopefully all will be well by the weekend. We were planning on going somewhere fun with the kids. Now I'm just thinking staying here and holding down dinner sounds more realistic.

And because I can't just tell you all about our illness and then go on my not-so-merry way I will show you this.... A layout I made with before and afters from Nakiah's haircut...

 Pretty extreme, right?

Project Life 2012 Wrap Up: Part 1

I wrapped up my project life 2012 a couple of weeks ago and I thought I'd show you all how it turned out. But in an effort to not overwhelm you with tons of pages I figured I split it into two posts. 

 I used washi tape and gift tissue paper for the top of this side...

Aidan's bday week. I added the dates later....

  

Thanksgiving week required an insert....

Here's what it looks like behind the insert... included a little bracket I used during one of our epic ping-pong tournaments. Fun to remember the nicknames we gave everyone and who won.

Left side, back side of the insert... I kept lots of space for journaling....

 So that's it for now!

Growing

I'm trying to grow as a person. Not just physically (actually, if I think about it I'm trying to do the opposite of growing in trying to shrink, but you get what I mean) There are other areas where I am attempting to grow as well. One would be my skill set. I signed up to take the Maggie Holmes beginner photography class. It's not cheap, but I've wanted to take it for years and I felt like there was no time like the present. (especially since this is the last time she is doing it online)

I feel like there is a HUGE (uuuuuge!) learning curve when taking photos of your layouts. While I am lot closer than I was when I started this blog, I still have a looong way to go. Like for this layout...

I'm proud of it, and wanted to show it to you all... but I hesitated because the color is off and because the white patterned paper actually reads grey here it doesn't look as nice on the photograph as it does in person......

Hopefully taking the class and putting in some time to practice will pay off.  Learning to use my camera to it's full capacity was on my goal list for 2013. So glad I am attacking this list! Here is a photo Nakiah took after I adjusted the settings in an attempt to start practicing Maggie's first lesson...

Not bad, eh? I'm managing to complete two resolutions/goals in one. Photography upgrade and getting in the photo....... go, me! And now that I'm thinking about it I told you that my goals for this year were on the personal side... that's some bs. I'm gonna share them with you soon...... and give you my reasons.

Feets Don't Fail Me Now

In an effort to get rid of my pregnancy weight......... and then those extra 20 or so that I had on from before I even got pregnant (whoopsie doops) I've been eating right and exercising regularly. This means I'm back to running! And because I am a freak and must go balls to the wall at all times I pulled the trigger and signed up for a half marathon. at the end of March. in 12 weeks. with no fitness foundation. Sooooooo, that should be fun.

Up until the past couple of weeks I'd been feeling pretty bad about myself. This is a great solution. Races make me feel amazing, like I can accomplish anything I put my mind to. In the mean time I get into shape and am forced to balance training with real life activities. 

Here are some of happy runner me....

 So fast, I'm blurry! hahahahahahahahahahahaha

not. fast. at. all.

I look at these photos now and laugh. I never scrapped them or anything because I was disappointed in how fat I felt I looked. LAME! I WISH I was that "fat" now! Well, soon. Soon I will be only 20 lbs. overweight instead of......... like. 40. And not too long after that I won't be overweight at all! Time to kick butt, baby! Feets don't fail me now!

Note to Self: Stop being so hard on yourself! You suck!