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

Mending

We've weathered your first flu bug together, and I think its made you realize that mama doesn't just have time for your sister.

When daddy came home from work this afternoon, and he held out his hands to you for a little snuggly hello, you ignored him and began fidgeting with the locket around my neck. Daddy was a bit surprised. I have to admit, so was I. Daddy is your hero!

Maybe, after the last three days, mama's become a hero in your books, too. That makes me proud.

And relieved. A part of me was (is) afraid that on some level, you're going to think or believe that I like you less than your sister. Its insecurity, I'm sure it is, and its a hope. I hope you don't grow up believing that, because it isn't true. Just read through my blog and you'll find it isn't true.

I think you are finally beginning to feel better. There is color in your cheeks again, your busy, easily distractable personality is coming back to life (though there is no twinkle in your eye yet), and your sweet smile- scrunched up nose and squinty slits for eyes- is on its way back. I fed you formula tonight and you held it down! 6 ounces of it! That's remarkable, considering earlier this afternoon you weren't even able to hold 2 ounces of pedialyte.

In the morning- cereal!