Scrapbook Therapy

I'm spending most of my time resting and recovering from a nasty cold. I've done a whole lot of nothing the last two days and plan on continuing that routine until I have to return to work. In the mean time, I hope to get a little scrapbooking done. I finished these two layouts today.


Looking through all the old family Christmas pictures brought back so many memories. All of the memories I have of my family before my parents divorced are good. I'm not sure if I was just too young to remember anything bad happening or if it really was the bliss I remember. Looking through the photos of the smiling faces always makes me wonder what might have been if my parents had stayed together. Perhaps it would have been worse, maybe it would have been better. I guess it's pointless to wonder, but it's just one of those things I think about occasionally.

From our family to yours,

Click on Me!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas so soon?!?

I'm not ready for Christmas yet! I had such big plans, and each of them went awry. I designed the cutest Christmas tree greeting cards that I wanted to send out to everyone, but couldn't find the time to make them.
Today I found this project by Kelly Brayan and am wishing I had just a few more weeks before Christmas to whip some up for the grand parents.

I also had the big idea of making a family clander to send out, but I am all out of energy. I woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat and throbing head, but still had to go to work. I still have some shopping to do and am hoping I'll have the energy to do some baking. It can't be Christmas without my favorite Cranberry Apple Bread!
Erin and I did manage to put together little gift bags for most of the family and some friends. Unfortunantly I didn't get any pictures of them.
On a happy note, today is our last day of school for two weeks! We are a tiny bit behind, but we'll catch up when we start again. I'm also on vacation next week and am looking forward to doing a whole lot of nothing!
Despite the cold and fatigue, I can't help but feel grateful for this beautiful life. I have a wonderful husband, beautiful daughter, an extended family that loves me, and a group of friends that make a girl feel truly special.

Two nights ago I sat on the couch crying buckets, telling David I wanted to send Erin to public school because I'm not good enough to home school her and moaning about the house work piling up and the laundry that won't stop appearing out of no were. I sobbed that no one was taking care of me. Poor David looked at me like a deer caught it headlights. What can I do to make it better, he asked. Give me a list. I'll do whatever it takes.

This is what happens when I don't take/make time for me. When I allow my days to fill up with schooling and laundry and forget that I am not a robot. I can go on like that for weeks at a time, but always there comes the crash at the end. I'm searching for ways to break the cycle. Perhaps it will require making a list which is something I've never wanted to do because no one is making me a list, but if that is what he needs to help me out so that I don't become wifemom robot #32157, then I will make the list.

Proving it to myself.

I'm meeting with my friends again today to do an additional photo shoot. I was not happy with the shots from the last one. As practice, I took Erin out yesterday. Granted, she's beautiful which makes getting a good shot super easy, but I did expirament quite a bit. Overall I took about 200 shots and walked away with twenty or so that are "keepers". Here are just a few. I'd love your thoughts/opinions.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Today is my grandpa's 90th birthday. If you'd like, hop on over to his site and give him a great big birthday wish. While you're at it, send him some get well thoughts too. I called him this morning and he's got a nasty sounding cold.
I've said before how amazing my grandpa is, and I'll say it again. He's one of the nicest, kindest, most soft hearted men I've ever met. He taught me so much about life that I know I am who I am because of his influences.
So, here's to you grandpa! Have a happy birthday and I hope you feel better very soon! I love you!

Tonight I'm remembering the Christmases of my childhood. Aunts and uncles, cousins and siblings gathered at my grandparents house to open presents, eat, and while the adults watched football, my sisters and I would head outside to explore the country always with grandpa's BB gun in hand. We would usually spend the night which required us to help grandma pull out all of the blankets and build a pallet on the living room floor. Before bed we would play games like Skipbo, Pick Up Sticks, and Bejeweled with grandma and grandpa. I will be missing that this year, as I miss it every year.

"The meaning of Advent and Christmas is thus the coming down of God's love. This love alone revolutionizes our lives. Only God's love, not the elevation of human souls, can effect a transformation of the world. Those who mourn the futility of their own efforts receive the comfort of the love of God. Those who are meekly obedient to his will are filled by the love of God, not as a prize to be won after death, but as redeemed life for this earth."
I recommend reading the entire essay which can be found here.
Taken from Yielding to God by Philip Britts as found in "Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas"

Long and Eventfull

The day started with Erin and I arguing. Lately, our days begin like this. She loves to question and argue. When she is older, I will probably love debating topics with her, but for now it's annoying. We always manage to get through it and she always apologizes in the end, even if I have to make her. :O) After arguing and school work we went to lunch with a friend. The friend we went to lunch with is a super sweet lady who happens to have MS. She's been asking me to go to lunch or coffee for a while now and I just never did it. Finally today we went and Erin got to meet her. Erin was so helpful! She got her drink and her order for her and helped her walk to the car when we left. It was a side of Erin I don't often see. It gave me the tiniest spark of hope that some of what I am trying to teach her about being kind and generous is seeping through.
After lunch we went Christmas shopping for my niece and nephew. I just can't resist buying them new clothes. Normally, I would want to be the super fun, buy the coolest toy aunt, but not for these two. They love getting clothes way more than they enjoy getting toys. They are both very particular about what they wear and always make sure their outfits match. It makes clothes shopping for them so much fun.
After shopping, it was off to Home Depot for the Christmas tree. We found the perfect one and will set it up and decorate tomorrow.
The day ended with us making the cutest little snow men out of tube socks! I found the idea last week and knew I had to make them. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Like a Virgin

Again this Advent I am reading "Watch For the Light". Today's reading was "To Be Virgin" by Loretta Ross-Gotta.
The intensity and strain that many of us bring to Christmas must suggest to some onlookers that, on the whole, Christians do not seem to have gotten the point of it. Probably few of us have the faith or the nerve to tamper with the hallowed Christmas traditions on a large scale, or with our other holiday celebrations. But a small experiment might prove interesting. What if, instead of doing something, we were to be something special! Be a womb. Be a dwelling for God. Be surprised.
I identify with this, the last paragraph, not because I have been able to be a womb and be satisfied with just the being, but because I have been guilty of the doing. I mistakenly assume that without the tree and gifts, carols and lights, and even the reading of this Advent book, Christmas will have no meaning. I search for meaning in what I can bring to Christmas forgetting that Christmas is about what God brought to us. My prayer this Advent season is that I will make room for that gift and that I will let that be enough.

Just A Few

The photo shoot when fairly well. It was freezing cold (go figure) and windy. Trying to keep a just-over-one-year-old focused on a camera is extremely difficult. I took over 300 photos to get a handful that I think will pass. I don't know if I am just too critical or what. The lens I used for most of the shoot is a piece of crap and will be sold on ebay or maybe not, I'm trying to decide if I want to burden anyone else with it. I'm scouring Amazon for a better zoom lens now.
For some reason the second I am put on the spot I forget everything I know about photography (not that I know all that much.) Several of the photos were ruined because I forgot to put on the hood and others were runied because I wasn't watching the light meter! That's basic photography! It's like my brain turns to jello or something. It's completely frustrating!
I'll stop with the frustrated rambling, here are a few photos from the shoot. Honest opinions are always appreciated.


I love the concept of this one with the parents on the bench and the baby sitting in front of them. Execution wise, it needs some work.


I love the candid faces in this one, and the baby turning away from the camera was reality in almost every picture. I swear he knew I wanted a picture and was determined not to give me the chance to take it!






A family on a hay bail, what's not to love? :)


A little nose picking is okay for the Christmas portrait right?