First Time

My track record has been pretty poor lately. Sorry for that!

There are a couple new layouts that should be added to my Pinterest in the near future; for now, I'll share my most recent layout (which I haven't uploaded yet, so look for it late tonight or tomorrow).

Back when Addison was still a little baby and we were trying to cope with her Colic, we brought her to the lab in Arcola to see if her blood work would turn up anything (because at that point, we had no idea what was bothering her so). Of course no little ones like having sharp objects stuck into their arms (or tied around their arms, for that matter), but she was a trooper. The girls at the hospital (naturally) thought Addison was adorable. I don't think its often they have little ones grace their lab, so it was a highlight in their day to see someone so sweet and wiggly.

To reward Addison for her bravery, the lab tech gave her a purple stuffed teddy, and its been a favourite stuffy ever since then. I just had to scrap it!

I absolutely love how this layout came together. I love the papers together, and the colors are gorgeous. I began with the half circle banner (which is from Carta Bella's Merry & Bright collection), and based the colors I chose on the colors in the banner. I also began with a sketch that I found on Pinterest.

What I love most about this layout? The clustered elements. It draws your eye in and keeps your focus on the picture and keeps it there. Next, it would have to be the colors and how the patterns weld so beautifully together.

I hope you enjoy this layout as much as I do!

Take care, and until next time...

~a

Hide and Seek

Long time no see!

You should drop by my online gallery- I've got a new layout up. You can find it here.

This layout was done for the latest sketch (#160) over at LCTS, which you can find here.

And, once again, this layout (and sketch) has been added to my favorites list. It was so simple and quick to put together! The ideas started flowing as soon as I sat down to get to work. When that happens, beauty is hard to resist!

Addison, the moment we got to Shining Bank (where our annual family reunion was held), began to play hide and seek. She hid behind a tree and began counting. This picture is one of my absolute favorites, as well. I'm incredibly happy I caught this moment on film- now I can share the beauty with you!!

Our family reunion happens every August long weekend, and that weekend was no exception. In the next layout, which will be posted in the next few days, you'll see some of the wild weather we experienced this past summer- from flooding to tornadoes (which isn't common for areas this far north).

But, that's all I can share about that for now!

Take care and thanks for dropping by. I appreciate it!

~a

DIlemma

Hey peeps, I have a dilemma, and I would love your help (or advice- or both!!)

I attempted to write a post previous to this one, and found out (unfortunately), that I have no more space to add photos to this blog. Unless, that is, I buy more storage. I am not up for that. I found out because I have some exciting news to share, and a picture is necessary to the news I want to share. I will tell you what the news is, because I just can't keep it to myself anymore, but there won't be a picture to accompany it. I don't want to wade through the mounds of posts I've made in the last year trying to locate the photographic item I want to share.

On the other hand, you'll just have to go out and purchase what I am about to share with you. Ha!

I bet I've got you wondering now, LOL.

I got published!

One of my layouts will appear in the next issue (which is out on new stands on the first) of Canadian Scrapbooker magazine. GO out and buy it and look for me! I'd love that!

And, since I have no more photo storage, I am unable to show you my most recent layout, which is sketch #159 over at LCTS. However, you can find it at my online gallery.

Maren (and now Addison) are in this phase where everything is 'theirs'. Maren's 'my' phase has expanded to include the word 'friend' now, so everything and everyone is 'her friend_______...' Its pretty darn cute! I love it especially when she asks about 'her friend daddy'. It warms my heart knowing she thinks that way of her daddy. I just hope she feels the same about her mama!

Till next time,

xo

~a

Spoiled Rotten

My birthday this year was probably the best one I've ever had. Seriously. I was spoiled.rotten. by the bestest husband in the universe!

On Friday night, we had dinner at Jubilations, a dinner theatre at West Edmonton Mall. To sum it up in one word: fun!! Dinner was delicious, and the show was superb. (We saw the musical version of NCIS, for those that are interested).

Saturday, husband let me shop: I needed new clothes and bras and undies, so I hit up Old Navy for some new clothes, and La Senza for the rest. For dinner Saturday night, we went to the Melting Pot. For those that live in the Edmonton area, and want to have a romantic, out of this world FONDUE meal, go to the Melting Pot. I have a few pictures from our romantic meal:

First up came the cheese fondue

I didn't get a picture of the salad, which came before the entree, which was an oil fondue

the flowers Kyle bought for me (apparently you can have them arrange flowers for you, and placed at your table before you get there).

Your picture is also taken during your meal, too, and they give you a copy of it, placed in a nice photo folder. Here's the picture they snapped for us, just before dessert.

Oops- what's left of our dessert. I highly recommend the brownies with milk chocolate fondue. In my humble opinion- and please excuse me- but its better than sex. No word of a lie. I had three plates of it. All complimentary, by the way.

This last picture was taken just tonight- the girls sang me happy birthday. We put candles in each of our cheese cakes (that was my birthday cake) so that the girls could blow out their candles, too. It was actually kind of funny watching them try to blow it out. Addison somehow blew hers out, but poor Maren (in the purple jammies) couldn't blow hers out. (The cheesecake was delicious, by the way). Hit up Costco for one of those...

In other news, Friday happened to be reveal day over at Lets Capture These Sketches. You can find sketch #156 there.

Here is my take on this awesome sketch:

I had a lot of fun working with this beautiful sketch. I think its one of my favourites! For a little added interest, I stamped the white card stock in the background- I felt that it was too white. I used SU ink in Summer Sun. The hearts are also stamped using the same ink.

My new favourite colour combo (after making this layout) is red and teal- what a gorgeous combination! Yummy! THe one piece of teal card stock is stamped using SU Not Quite Navy ink. Looking back at it now, I kind of think I should have stamped the other teal piece of card stock with the same stamp and ink, but at the time, I like the contrast.

When we took the kids to the air show in town this past summer, one of them fell to sleep in daddy's arms. I think it was Maren, but my memory has become a bit rusty. Anyways, I love this picture and just needed to scrap it! The journalling reads, 'we love to snuggle with you!' The chipboard 'favourite things' helped to reinforce our love of snuggling with the girls, as did the hearts.

Some of you may be wondering how things for me have been going in the recent past. I thought I'd share a bit of an update with you.

At the beginning of September, Kyle and I began seeing a marriage counsellor, to help us break the communication barriers, and improve our relationship. Its helped us out immensely! During the course of our counselling, it became apparent that I've been suffering from Post Partum Depression. I knew that I had it- my ob/gyn told me I was displaying symptoms already when I was pregnant. We let it go, because I couldn't take anything while I was pregnant, and the symptoms worsened after the kids were born. Mind you, Addisons' colic and terrible constipation for their first year didn't help matters, either. Every doctor I talked with after the kids were  born wouldn't listen. They kept telling me I was just stressed out, anxious, and they didn't necessarily think it was PPD. Not until my counsellor asked me about it. She encouraged me to see my family doctor again (which I did- and brought along the depression scale questionnaire I filled out at the beginning of counselling as proof that I did indeed have depression- which she says is severe).

I've been on medication now since the beginning of October, and honestly began to notice a difference immediately. I've progressed to the point where I'm doing things again that I haven't since before the kids were born. I feel like myself again; human again.

I am also researching different discipline/raising methods in regards to the kids. I've began to implement  1-2-3 Magic- which is working beautifully with the kids, and I seriously want to read Raising A Spirited Child. (Though I'd like to read 1-2-3 Magic, too). Any other material/child rearing methods are definitely welcome!

Lastly, we received news today that Kyle is diabetic. Things went south again after I got straightened out. It seemed like we switched roles. As soon as I lost the grizzly bear persona, my husband picked it up. I strongly encouraged him to talk with his doctor again, and have blood work done, and this is the final result. His fasting glucose levels are slightly above what the doctor would like to see, but no matter how high or slightly high it is, its still diabetes.

Life is about to change drastically for us! But, in a good way! Its unfortunate Kyle has diabetes (its hereditary), but now that we've had this wake up call, it'll do us all some good, I think. Once I"m done this post, I'm going to print out some diabetic friendly dinner recipes. Even though it'll be a few weeks till we meet with the dietician, there's no reason why we can't start making lifestyle changes now!

Sorry for the novel!

~a

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween everyone! Did you little ghosts and goblins score a lot of loot tonight? Mine sure did! We filled an entire Walmart reusable shopping bag- to the brim- with goodies! My word- they still have goodies left over from last year! All this sweet goodness will last us the next couple of years, I think. Did you stay warm while your little gaffers ran from door to door? We nearly froze- the wind is bitter!! We've all got wind burnt cheeks! I'll have pictures up here one of these days. It'll probably (most likely) have to wait until next week.

As promised, here is one of two DT assignments that were due recently. The other will be posted in the next day or so. Hopefully it'll be posted before the weekend, which is shaping up to be another whirlwind adventure for this gal. Only this time, it'll be solely for dear husband and I. Its my birthday, and he's treating me to a weekend for ourselves. I'm so happy that he heard what I said when I would love- just once- to have a birthday that wasn't all about hunting. I have the best man in the universe!

Don't you just love the simplicity of this design?! I sure do- it came together so quickly and effortlessly- Heather did a remarkable job on the sketch behind this layout. She's such a talented lady! You can find the sketch by going to her blog, Miracles Momma Designs. But, you won't find it there tonight. Check back in a few days, and you'll certainly find it there! I'm getting this up early because I'm certain I won't have the time until next week to jump back onto the computer. There's no better time like the present!

Lipstick

Phew! I just checked Lets' Capture These Sketches' blog to make sure the reveal post was up, and thankfully it WAS! I was worried that I'd be posting this layout a little too early. The girls and I are heading into Edmonton for another whirlwind weekend adventure- I have a hair appointment today, and then a {tasteful} boudoir photo shoot as part of Kyle's Christmas present tomorrow. The bad/devilish side of me has wanted to do one of these for eons, and I've finally worked up the courage to go and do it! Thankfully, they don't have to be super risqué or x-rated. They are actually fairly...tame, for a lack of a better word. They are as sexy as you want them to be. I'm pretty stoked about it!

After my photo shoot, my girlfriend and I are hitting up the town, since we're both going to be dolled up for our photo shoots (she's having lifestyle photos done). Its going to be a blast!

So, back to sketch #155. I had so.much.fun. working with this sketch! You can find the sketch over at the LCTS blog site here. I twisted and turned the sketch to fit my layout and the amount of pictures I had. And...about those pictures. To begin with, I didn't have any more pictures than the one of my lipstick (which has sentimental value, by the way--its the lipstick my make up artist gave me while she got me ready on my wedding day!!) I wanted to include a couple pictures of my girls with their lipstick on to help illustrate the story better. Since I'm fairly certain I had nothing with them wearing my actual lipstick, I chose a couple of pictures just of each of them- for all I know, they could have been wearing lipstick in those pictures! (The pics were taken the same day, I think).

The banner along the bottom of my focal photo is actually supposed to be stacked pictures (in the sketch), but once again, I didn't have enough pictures to support that. So, I improvised, turning the photo cluster into a banner, and turning the centre square into an embellishment. To resemble thread or string that the banner is adhered to, I used pearl rhinestones instead of actual ribbon, and I love how it looks! Really kind of girly, flirty and flattering.

I used a few bits of scraps on my layout- the blue polka dotted paper is scraps, and the title work and silver circle peeking out from the side of the picture are also from scraps. The half circle is a pull tab for my hidden journalling. The rest of the paper is Recollections and basic card stock (in kraft and black). The green patterned paper is K&Co. Lastly, the brown banner at the bottom, sporting the 'bribery can be flattering' sentiment is MS.

As always, if you use the sketch, I'd love to know, so I can drop by your blog or website and have a little look see!

Till next time,

~a

Blow

Hello! How is everyone doing? Life seems to have picked up once again, and I haven't had the chance to sit down in the scrap room to get any playing done in a while. Tonight is the first night in a week (or longer, maybe!!) since I've been in here! The kids are all snuggled up in bed, and I'm unwinding with some much missed scrappy time. Kyle's got to be up early again in the morning, so he's gearing up to hit the sack, too.

After much deliberation, we decided to bring Neruda in to the vet to have her de-clawed. My kids were typically her favourite targets, though every once in a while, she'd try and take a swipe at Kyle, too. We've also been noticing that some of the carpet on the stairs has been pulled away from the wall, and we suspect it was her that did it.

I brought kitty to the vet yesterday, and picked her up today, and in the meantime, Gregory got his vaccinations, too. Its a good thing we brought her- turns out Neruda had ear mites (eew!!), which was taken care of when they updated her vaccinations. I don't think its been shared with Gregory- kitty and Gregory don't have much to do with each other. She hates him with a passion.

Neruda's been pretty mellow today- not venturing too far from her pet carrier for too long. She did cuddle with me on the couch for a solid half an hour this afternoon, but once I moved, she went straight back to her pet carrier.

In other news, I have my (late) newest DT assignment for LCTS. This is for sketch #154, but I changed it up some. Instead of having strips of paper laying horizontally underneath the photo (which, there should also be two photos), I turned them vertically. I like how it looks so much better on my 8.5x11 layout. The circle embellishments were cut from scrap patterned paper I had kicking around (which, I find helps reinforce the 'blow' theme), and the title work was coloured with chalk ink (I used wooden letters from Walmart). I think I've used the 'o' elsewhere, so I used another circle from the patterned paper I previously mentioned for that particular letter.

Its fairly simple, but I love it.

The story behind the pic: Addison was the trend setter here, and made it a cool thing to blow your nose. It wasn't long before Maren jumped on that band wagon too, and before I knew it, they were asking for kleenex all the time. Or, if I didn't catch them soon enough, they'd have wads of it pulled out of the box, and strewn all over the floor. LOL In the picture, I had stuffed a wad of it back into the box.

The cool thing is- when Addison asks to blow her nose, she *really* blows her nose! I don't know many kids that catch on to the whole nose blowing thing that quickly!

Well...now that I've procrastinated some...its time to start the next DT assignment!

Have a great night, everyone!

~a

Great Shots

I got so many good shots of the kids the day we hung out in the garage cleaning up over the summer! Here, Maren is helping her daddy sweep the floor. I love that little tongue hanging out of her mouth!

The latest sketch (#26) is up over at Heathers blog; you should go and check it out! Seriously, the design team is fantabulous! The designs they come up with are incredibly creative, and Heather's sketches are beyond amazing! They are a lot of fun to work with.

As always, if you decide to use Heather's sketch, please let me know. I'd love to see how it inspires you!

And, once again, all the papers here are scraps (and incredibly ancient), except for the green card stock base. The ribbon isn't a scrap either- it came from a bargain basket over at DeSerres. Seriously, I love that store! I could definitely go crazy there...

Another layout will be coming up in the next few days...until then, take care!

~a

Hop Scotch

Hi everyone!

Have I mentioned before the 'sidewalk that leads to nowhere' that was located in our backyard? I say 'was', because its now been torn out. Or, most of it. When we put the shed in the backyard (yes, we bought a shed and had it delivered a couple of weeks ago), Kyle used the sidewalk blocks to level it. Now, we have to re-seed it before the snow flies, so next spring we'll have new grass growing in!

Before the fence was put up, the original owners used the backdoor as their main entrance- which, if you think about it, is a real nuisance, considering you're entering right into the kitchen/dining room. But, that's just me. To other people, its no big deal. There was no grass in the backyard either, so they parked back there- hence the sidewalk.

After it was further developed and closed in, the sidewalk just plain didn't make sense. Why leave the sidewalk when it leads smack dab into the middle of your backyard fence? Silly, if you ask me, but it lead to tons of hours of fun for the girls. They loved taking their sidewalk chalk out into the backyard and play with it. The first thing they always asked for was hop scotch (after I showed them what it was all about one afternoon). Having that sidewalk was a bonus for me, too- I didn't have to worry about my little toddlers playing out in the driveway or along our street, where it is quiet, but local traffic is a constant worry for me.

At first, I didn't really want to cover up as much of this picture as I did, but in the end, I wound up really liking it. I wanted to mimic the numbers in the hop scotch in the picture, so I used my Cricut to cut out the numbers. (I searched high and low for sticker numbers that weren't minuscule or monstrously huge, and apparently I have none! Cricut to the rescue!!) I thought the floral background worked well to highlight the outdoors- even though there were scant flowers growing in my backyard. One day I will remedy that!! (At a time in the kids' life where it isn't fun picking all the heads off the flowers anymore, or playing in the dirt...)

For the title work, I traced out wood veneer letters that I found at Walmart (because the package contains only one of every letter in the alphabet) onto foam and cut them out. To cover up the pencil lines, I used a sponge dauber and inked the outer edges of the letters with SU's Cherry Cobbler ink.

All the papers used on this layout (minus the kraft base) are from my scrap stash- including the papers I used to cut the numbers with.

In a lot of ways, the season change is welcome, but in some ways, I'm sad to see summer leave us already. The kids sure have enjoyed the changes the weather has brought- they loved playing in the snow, and just the other day Maren asked when it was going to snow again. I cringed a little at the thought of cold weather and the white, fluffy stuff, but told her it was coming soon enough. Halloween has me excited enough as it is; don't get me started on Christmas! I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year. Its going to be so much more meaningful for the kids! Eeek! I can hardly wait to put up the tree and decorate!

What are you looking forward to at this time of year?

~a

Fascinate{d}

I love this shot of Addison. It was kind of a fluke, really, but a happy fluke. I get all giddy inside when stuff like this happens!

We were out in the garage helping Kyle clean up and sort through the loads of junk and garbage we've got kicking around, and after a while, the kids discovered daddy had some of his old toys kicking around the garage. They also discovered there were some neato things in there- such as sand paper- which is what Addison is holding in this photo.

Everything on this layout is from scraps- in one way or another. The orange and gold flower sticker is actually a 12 inch border strip (K&Co) that I cut into four strips (all varying lengths), to get more mileage from. The white netting is packaging from toys that I bought from Walmart for the kids' prizes (for their weekly chore charts). You'll see it popping up on a few different projects in the near future!

The flower I am especially fond of. It came from a cheapo flower arrangement that my MIL bought the kids for their bedroom when they were first born. Truthfully, I was never keen on them (there were three), but now they seem to have grown on me a little. Now that the kids (aka Addison) tore them all to  shreds (except for one). I kept some of the flowers from one of them, and plan to incorporate them into my layouts. Here, you can see one of them- I used a black rhinestone for the centre of the flower.

For the title work, I threw together some sticker letters (I don't know where they came from- my sister gave them to me!), but the green banner is MS. The phrase sticker in the top right corner is K&Co.

All this was done for sketch #153 over at Lets Capture These Sketches. If you get the chance, head over there, and see what the design team has come up with. If you choose to use the sketch, let me know- I'd love to see how it inspires you!

~a

MOnster Jam

I have another layout to share with you tonight! Apparently I forgot to post this one!

As you may recall, we went to the Monster Jam truck show over at Castrol Raceway this past summer. Kyle had to be in absolute heaven--his idol, Grave Digger, was at the show. Unfortunately, his real idol, Mr. Dennis Anderson, wasn't in attendance. He wasn't driving the Grave Digger truck.

Boo.

We still had a good time, though. My BIL and Kyle's friend (and swamper) tagged along with us.

This layout was made using sketch 24 over at Miracle's Momma's Designs. It is a two page sketch, but I whittled mine down to just one. I had enough pictures, but they weren't the best quality, so that's my excuse for making it only one page! LOL

There was a baby boy sitting in front of us with his older brother, mama and daddy-I couldn't resist taking a picture of him and include him on this layout. He was such a happy little thing- and when his ear muffs were put on- he really went to town. He sure liked the sound of his own voice, that's for sure! (My guesstimate, when Kyle asked me, was 6-8 months old. His mommy confirmed ((she overheard us talking about him)) and informed us that he was 7.5 months old). Sure stinking cute!!!

I also couldn't resist including the pictures of the girls sleeping on our way into the city that weekend. Even though they weren't there in person with us, I know they were there in spirit! (I especially love Addison clutching her Manny toy while she slept. So cute!)

Dr. Addison is in the House

Daddy took us all out for lunch today, and while we were out, Addison began to give her 'Germy' a medical check up- checking his ears and throat ('say aaahhh'). The funniest part: when she told him "good girl". LOL

The last few sketches that have come from Lets Capture Our Memories have been so fun to work with- and this one is no exception. There were two reasons I wanted to {finally} use hexagons on this layout: first, because I haven't used them yet (and they are on my scrappy bucket list), and because you'll find them in that pillow right behind Maren's head.

To see what the rest of the design team did with sketch #149, head on over to LCOM

If you decide to use this sketch on one of your own layouts, let me know- I'd love to see what you do with it! I know I had a lot of fun working with it- I hope you do, too!

And There You Have it

I'm bushed tonight. What a great day! The air show was amazing, and the girls really seemed to like it. The F-18 Hornet scared poor Maren, but we were prepared for it, so she sat in daddy's lap and he covered her ears with his hands. The way he cradled her made her feel so safe, I think, that she wouldn't let him take his hands away from her ears. She wanted to stay that way. And then, she fell asleep. So adorably sweet! Pictures will follow tomorrow. Promise!!

I just wanted to share one quick layout with you tonight, then I'm going to bed myself.

This is another 'just for fun' layout. I used the week 4 sketch for the monthly sketch challenge over at scrapbook.com. I also submitted this layout to Scrapping the Music- the 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' challenge. All because sweet Sharon suggested it. {Thanks, Sharon!!}

Addison and I were checking things out way up in the sky. She was telling me there were clouds, and birds, and the moon...I'm not sure what I was pointing at (because I can't remember), but I was pointing something else out to her that lives way up there. She likes referring to things up there as 'up sky', and other times its, 'up so high'. So, I mixed the two, and came up with 'the sky so high'!

And, the little 'joy' tag--just a little subliminal message there. Addison really is my pride and joy, and I wanted to let her know, in a subtle way, that's what she is to me.

Every single piece of patterned paper on this project is scraps. The strip that appears to be white, is actually light blue; it and the red/dark pink are from the Sweet Nectar 6x6 paper pad, the green strip is SU (a christmas paper pack), and the green/teal is Autumn Leaves card stock. The journalling spot was stamped using Old Olive SU ink on a scrap piece of Sweet Nectar patterned paper, and I spruced up a dollar store wedding tag by punching a circle and stamping the word joy on it (from the mini phrases SU stamp set) in Basic Black ink. The flower is Prima.

Oh! And the butterfly- its one I printed off the internet. It was used as a template for this layout, and I decided to hang onto it in case I ever wanted to use those particular butterflies ever again. At that time. Since I've been re-organizing the craft space and cleaning it up again, I just figured I'd use it and get it out of the way. It worked perfectly on this layout- the colours were just right.

While this was in the works, I really struggled with it. I didn't know what direction to take it, or which direction to let it naturally take on its own. After ignoring it for a few days, and pondering it, I was ready to tackle it again, and it (wonderfully) came together rather quickly. And, the final product is swoon worthy, IMHO. I just love it...

I'm starting to think that I'm loving...loving brights against white backgrounds. I can't get enough of it. I want to do more and more, and I've been trying to figure out what I could use for white backgrounds, since I've run out of white card stock. Ha. I've actually been reverted to using the sheets that come in the page protectors when you buy new post bound albums. Anyone else do that? For the time being, that is...

Well, its time to go, but I'll be back again tomorrow.

Till then...

~a

UR the BEST

159* the robin that had quite a bit to say this morning
160* the kind gentleman that asked if I needed help lifting bags full of pea gravel
161* this:

While I was peeling potatoes for supper tonight, Maren came up to me and hugged my leg, and said: "you're the best, mama"


I hope it wasn't my ears playing tricks on me, because it sure sounded like that's what she said.

One can only hope- and hope- right?

I'm kind of intrigued by the notion of following a sketch when it comes to scrapbooking. It began with joining MMD's design team, and now has expanded to another site (when inspiration is lacking); and so when I came across got sketch? I decided to try following a sketch (the most recent one), and after thinking on it for a few days, threw my inhibitions to the wind, and will submit it!

Here it is!

Its dark, I know, but I'm a nut when it comes to taking pictures of my projects, and will sometimes take them at 10:30 at night (or whenever I finish them), because I don't want to have to worry about getting it done the next morning (because 1- I'm too excited about it; and 2- I might not get around to it the next morning).

Addison has been practicing how to do her somersaults. Being the cautious child she is, she isn't brave enough, and hasn't learned to push herself completely over yet, so I help her do it- to the excited 'do it again!' pleas. And, what totally melts my heart, is that she must hang on to Kiki and not let it go. You'll see her kiki (blankie) in the bottom left side of the pics.

162* hearing the children playing at recess and lunch (a couple blocks away)

Colors

89* STAR air ambulance in places that need it!!

I've learned, through FB (though I rarely use it anymore), that our old home just got STARS service, and a helicopter, as well. What a blessing for them! The accidents that occur over the winter months make it possible to get patients to Regina, or further, quickly and efficiently. Yay for SE Saskatchewan!!

90* listening to the rain falling
91* naps when they're needed (and sincerely desired)
92* hot water
93* hot showers
94* lotion to repair dry and cracked skin (and it smells pretty, to boot!!)
95* bath and body works
96* costco (for some of the kids' clothes)
97* CARTERS department stores (for what I *can't* find at Costco for the kids!!)

(who else loves Carters' brand of children's' clothing???) eeeek! they've got to be my favourite store to shop at for the kids!


98* a break from the hot weather we've been having the last couple of days
99* knitted slippers (especially since they're either Oma's or grandma's)
100* encouragement- through word and/or deed

I just realized that the girls are both in 'their' colours in these pictures. LOL. When they were born, we put Addison in purple (winter coats, gave her purple sucky's, etc.) and Maren wore pink. (There's a good clue for you to figure out who is who!!!) Neato. Now we don't even think about who wears those colours anymore. Now its just natural to us, I guess!!

Don't you just love the goofy, *&%^$-eating grins that are on Miss Addisons' face??! It kills me, and I just want to pinch those adorable little cheeks of hers!!!

I'm so in love with some of these pics, I've got to scrap them!

Look at that, I've made it to 100! Woohoo! That one hundred went ridiculously quickly! Here's to the next 100!

I've mentioned it before, but failed in my attempt to do it, so I'm trying all over again. A dear friend of mine started it. I am not sure where she came across this, but I'm happy it inspired her to try it out herself. Its now inspired me to do it myself.

The goal is to record 1000 things you are thankful for.

She reached her goal, and has surpassed it! And, I love reading her posts, and about her life, and about what things in her life she's thankful for. I am way too often pessimistic and negative, so this is a fantastic way for me to try and break that habit. Maybe in the process, I'll become more optimistic and positive.

I also think incorporating my 'thankfuls' into my scrapbooking projects will help me stay on the creative side (and think-outside-of-the-boxiness) of compiling that list.

Who knows, maybe when I reach that goal, I'll continue on, like K has done!!

Maybe, next year, instead of doing project 365 as project 365, I'll make it project thankful, or some variation along those lines. Or, I'll stick with the 'pay it forward' idea I've been toying with.

And, to kick off the next one hundred, here's 101...

101* the great idea he had, that I hope he carries out! (Its helpful in more ways than one!!)

Baby Bum!!!

I have an infatuation with my babies' bums. They're just so cute, I can't help but pinch them!!

But, who doesn't, right?

Just like I have an infatuation with kissing my children. I just love them to pieces, love the way they feel, smell...

And, once again, who doesn't????


It dawned on me yesterday that I need to scrapbook my love of my babies' bums.

Yeah, it sounds kind of strange and weird, but let me explain.

Ever since the girls were itty bitty, I would pinch their bums and squeal 'baby bum!' as a way of playing. I still do it, and they giggle every time I do it. Their daddy has gotten in on the action now, and he's got Miss Addison telling him that the 'baby bum' is his 'baby bum'. Its just too adorable!

Such a quirky little trait, but that's just a mama's love for her girlie's bubbling over and flowing out...

The picture for this came to mind when I began thinking about scrapbooking my love of my children's derrieres...


And, now that I've sat and actually looked at the quote here, I've realized that my children naturally will probably never be 'pale faces'. 


Its early in the season still, but they are already a shade darker than their mama. And, she's been spending just as much time outside as they have! Apparently they got their daddy's skin- he can just look at the sun and turn a gorgeous shade of tanned. 


Me? 


I burn. Turn red as a lobster. In a short amount of time. There's no happy medium. Just white. And then lobster red. Hmm. And then slightly, barely noticeably, is it really there? not-so-white. As a kid, I spent soooooo much time outside, I was freaking brown (there's pictures somewhere to prove it), but no more. Bygone days are bygone. 


Oh well.


And, this picture? Its going to end up somewhere on the layout I'm going to make of my children's 'baby bums'! 


Cute. Right?


I think so!!

Bought Out

Fields is closing out here in town. I found out after I mentioned to Kyle yesterday that we really needed to head out and find some summer clothes for the girls. (It was such a gorgeous day, and they were playing outside, but all they've really got to wear are sweat pants and long sleeved shirts. Not appropriate for such a gorgeous spring day!) All they had (at that point) were a couple sun dresses that their grandma M had bought them. They desperately needed more than that- more t-shirts, shorts...

So, we went to check it out, and splurged way more than we ought to have, but I'm happy the kids finally have some summer clothes. I'd still like to find them more, but I'll work at it slowly. I'm finding it hard to shop at walmart for the kids these days (the place I normally frequent for most of our needs). They must be in an 'in-betweener' stage, because size 4 is big on them, and I can't find anything smaller than that to fit them. It could also be that walmart is just too disorganized and not stocked well enough, too.

(Of all the posts I've made here, do you see a recurring theme centring around my love of walmart? LOL...just thought I'd point that out...and, I hope you realize I'm being sarcastic, because what I feel about walmart is *far* from love)

But, I like that their t-shirts and other things are always marked down and on sale- $3 here, $3 there, and you can get a lot of clothes for a decent price! I just wish I could find something that's not too ridiculously big on them (for right now).

We found a lot of great things at Fields- cushions for my kitchen chairs (which coordinate beautifully with my colour scheme), a growth chart for the girls, a cute little sign for the kids room that says 'enchanted'...now I'd like to find a few more {star} accents to go along with it, because I feel like it just isn't enough. What do you think? Walmart might possibly have what I want...

The girls got nerf balls to play with, they got bubbles and cool bubble wands to play with, they got those hand clapper things (they love those to pieces)...*I* got my anniversary present (which husband never bought for me). I picked out some really pretty jewelry. I bought myself another pair of sunglasses, for lounging around home with. That way, I don't always have to run out to the Yukon to get my other pair. I bought some really cute napkins- because there'll always be a need for those; rooster dish towel and table cloth (because we all know how much I ADORE roosters! And, if you didn't know it, go check out my pinterest 'for the love of roosters' board. You'll see!) (you can check it out here). I also picked up some nail polish for myself. Now that spring is here (and since I gave my MIL all the old nail polish), its time to make the toe nails look all pretty again- especially since its the season to live barefoot again!!!! Wahoo!!!!


Mmmm...I'm trying to think what else we bought, but I'm coming up dry. I do want to go back, because I spied a really great bowling set that the kids are just going to go nuts over! OH and speaking of going 'nuts' over things--Maren spied the toy section, too. She plopped herself down on the floor, and played with a musical toy (a piano type thing), and didn't budge. She sure wasn't happy when I told her it was time to go home. Oh dear...every time I re-play the whole scenario in my head, I can't help but giggle. It was too funny!

I took the toy away from her, and she was so mad, she crawled away from me, crying. When she saw that I had gotten near her again (I was following her), she'd crawl off again. And again. And again. Finally I caught her and picked her up. The whole thing reminded me of trying to catch a spider to kill it, but keep missing it. Know what I mean?? Poor thing, and I felt kind of bad because she was enjoying herself so much, and being so good, but it really was time to get going. We had spent enough money, and I didn't want to spend any more there! (I may talk myself into buying that piano toy for the kids, though I think its a little too young for them...) But, if it makes them happy, then I'm happy!!

My most FAVORITE catch of the day were these (I bought two):

Suction cups do come along with these utensil trays, but I don't want to stick them to the wall (tiled) or a window or anything like that. The idea to use these came from a desire to buy spice racks from IKEA that look generally the same as this. I have a cupboard that's full of spices, and its kind of disorganized and annoying to me, so I thought this would be the ideal solution! I'm pretty excited about it. I know I haven't mentioned anything organizational/beef up the humble abode-ish lately, but it still is something that I want/plan to slowly work at.

The container back there with the packages- really needs an overhaul. Its all the gravies, etc. and I loathe having them in there. Its so jam packed full of different packages, I don't honestly know whats in there. (Kyle has to have his gravies. He adores gravy!!!)

So, this is the plan. We're going to screw the spice racks to the inside of my spice cupboard so that things stay nice and tidy. I do need to find different baskets/containers to hold the rest of the spices in. The ones that I'm currently using are going to get in the way. They're just too big. Or, I'll just opt out of using containers at all. Just as long as it isn't a nuisance to try and find that one particular spice you want to cook with! I might go with dish racks that are graduated- as long as they are small enough to fit inside this cupboard.

As you can see from the first picture, my top shelf is devoted to tea and hot chocolate, coffee, etc. It isn't used that often, but it could use some sprucing up, too! I wonder how?

51* closing out sales
52* a beautiful day (and today is supposed to be even nicer!!)
53* bonus checks that save us (financially)- especially since we're in the midst of spring break up
54* spring break up--
55* --which means more time with Kyle!! (and also smaller--waaayyyyyyy smaller pay checks)
56* really pretty jewelry, even if *I* had to pick it out
57* spice racks!!!
58* toys that make the kids happy
59* that spring break up usually (hopefully) is never too long
60* time for myself

My Little Star

My dearest Addison; obviously the trip to grammy's was necessary. We both had a much needed break away from each other. I don't mean to say that we don't love each other, but we sure needed some time to breathe and allow our hearts to grow fond again for each other.

I don't know what happened while you were gone, but the change in you is incredible and absolutely welcome. I had noticed the day or two before your departure that you were becoming more vocal; so, your vacation may not have had anything to do with your dramatic change. It could have just been starting to come around at the time you took your vacation. Maybe your vacation just facilitated the change in you better.

On the other hand, maybe it was your vacation that allowed this new, vocal, outstanding, incredibly brave girl to suddenly emerge. I love listening to you talk. I admit, I have a hard time understanding you most of the time. I have to listen closely to you, and I have to think hard while you're talking. Your c's and k's and ck's sound like t's. You often forget an 'r', or other letters, so knowing exactly for sure what it is you're saying it sometimes tricky. Your th's are sometimes translated as 'f's...

I'm not trying to nit pick and make a big deal of the way you're talking. You're still a toddler and you're still learning, and it is super cute. I've always thought other children that talked the same way were the cutest things on this earth. Period. And, I still do. I wouldn't change a single little thing about you. I am enraptured with every little thing about you. From those striking blue eyes, to that single, lonely dimple of yours, to the way you pat my back when I'm holding you in my arms, to the way you love to snuggle in and just cuddle...the list is endless...

The point I am trying to make is that I am happy you've gone through this transformation, and I hope you stay this way. Don't ever lose your twinkle, little one. For, you are my little star- the little star that twinkles and shines bright and makes me thankful.

Mama loves you. Very much.

38* personal transformations
39* little stars that twinkle and shine bright
40* i'm thankful for the ability to be thankful and to have things to be thankful for!

And, on a totally different note, remember how I mentioned that sometimes, there are projects that we step back from and totally allow ourselves to be awed by? This is it!!

****SWOON****

Her "new thing" these days: Kissing my phone. When her "song" is playing on you tube.

 So, she's obviously in love.

But, is it with Jason Aldean, or that particular song he sings?

Because we all know how much Addison loves her tractors! (and her fave song is about tractors!)

21* the cute things they do and say
22* their soft skin
23* the way they smell after their bath
24* a new month

***By the way-- happy May everyone!!***

Lips

Its been characteristic of you since birth. And, I love it.

Things that simply just make me smile.

4* bottom lips that unconsciously like to stick out, forming what's affectionately called the 'pouty lip'