sweet nothings

sitting here sideways in my favorite living room chair, with an upside down klenex box of a makeshift mouse pad, i'm trying to figure out what to title today's post. well, nothing much came to mind after scrolling through today's array of pictures and projects, but it was a sweet day. so there you have it... a whole two sentences about absolutely nothing!

but it was, in fact, a sweet day. i designed my christmas cards, and sent them off to print. sweet! then i zipped out and FINISHED {yes, finished} my christmas shopping! double sweet! i even went to work for a couple of hours to sub for a friend at weight watchers. i'm feeling like i really got some big checks off my list today. my house is a mess, and i haven't done laundry in weeks... but hey, the shopping is done! i think i need a partner. anyone want to come live/work in my laundry room? it's really pretty big, and i'm sure we could make it very homey. no? darn. 

Supplies: patterned paper: Paislee Press: Altered Ego, Sociologie, and Philosophie Kits (oscraps.com); Overlay: Paislee Press VF Overlays; stamp frame and crisscross: Paislee Press Sociology Kit; heart: Taylor Made, Composure Kit (oscraps.com); font: Courier New

i've been on a digital scrapbooking kick the past week. and much to my surprise this morning, my stan layout made it onto the gallery standouts blog this morning. not a bad way to start the morning. plus i used one of my favorite journaling cheats... the blog copy/paste option. i guess it's not really cheating. it's just taking a snippet from my online diary and adding it to a page. but it is a fun way to start with journaling inspiration, rather than a picture. at least it is for me.

Supplies: patterned paper: Paislee Press, Philosophie Kit, oscraps.com (black, red and damask), Leiko Beck, Veteran’s Day Gift Set, oscraps.com (blue); brush and clipping mask: Taylor Made, B Side Kit, oscraps.com; font: Courier New

it's been so rainy here all week. windy and rainy. however we were lucky enough to have relative breaks in the rain (meaning they turned to showers rather than a downpour) after school for a quick picture. i'm not sure why that brightens up my day so much. i guess when it's gloomy out there's sunshine in a sweet smile from my girlies. that kind of sunshine is sure nice when it's only been coming in liquid form for a couple weeks.

Supplies: sheer tag, ribbon, crystal pins, flowers, trim, acrylic wings: Maya Road; patterned paper: Lily Bee (blue), Prima (yellow); tag: Scarlet Lime; paper flower: Tattered Angels stickers: Making Memories

i also had a new article post up at the scrap review this week reviewing maya road embellishments. i figured i'd post a couple of the projects here, and there are a few more over at tsr.  i have to tell ya, i really do love those crystal topped straight pins. i almost want to make a big tack board, just so i could to stick pretty little somethings on it with those beautiful pins. :)

Supplies: ribbon, trim, flowers, crystal pins: Maya Road; patterned paper: Scarlet Lime; card: Memory Box; paper flower: Tattered Angels; tag: My Mind's Eye; rub-on: October Afternoon; sticker: Making Memories

now that it's 1am, it's officially the day before thanksgiving. and since i am one to share stories {often over and over again to the same tolerant souls}... i think i'm going to get my day before thanksgiving down in writing since it's the anniversary of that particular day.

five years ago today, our family were together in our old minivan. it was missing a hubcap because the matriarch of our family {me} seemed to have a repeat problem of hitting curbs. after replacing it several times, we just decided to go ghetto, and leave it capless. {mind you, not that that has anything to do with the story at hand.} we were in our minivan, in process of moving back to washington. we were stationed in florida for a year, full scale move from washington to florida and back in 12 months - oh yah! well, in arizona while visiting friends on the way, torrey suddenly came down with the stomach flu. by the time we got to california, both kids had it.

so here we are, the day before thanksgiving, stuck in downtown la traffic, trying to get home before the holdiay, with two kids puking their guts out in the back seat. as i was dumping one of the full bowls out the window {there was no way we could get off in that traffic} and the man in the car next to me shot me a look i'll never forget, i turned to stan and said, "this is how i always pictured motherhood would be." we both laughed, and drove, and dumped, and laughed, and drove, and made it home just in time to make thanksgiving dinner at my sister's house with two kids that had made it back to the land of the living and eating.

some days i look at my life, with my tongue in cheek think, "this is how i always pictured it would be." and i share it with my husband and we laugh, and keep going, and dump the puke out as necessary.  there is much to be thankful for. God is good, my husband is beyond wonderful and my kids bring me joy {most of the time}. daily life is a blessing on it's own grand scale.

d-day and other details

it finally came. the day you that's been inspiring us to spend every possible moment together as a family. deployment day.  i'm pretty much a live-in-the-now sort of girl. i don't worry too much about what will happen tomorrow, or what didn't get done yesterday. sometimes i feel very blessed to be saddled with that particular personality trait in this military lifestyle. being able to enjoy every last moment until goodbye, gives you that many more precious moments to enjoy.

monday the girls and i took stan out to the base to send stan on his way into harm's way. we got him all checked in, and we ended up with 4 more hours of free time together before goodbye. i'm not sure i've ever been so thankful for the little slice of heaven on the base with the bowling alley and games. they have a whole area with foosball, ping pong, kid's pool table, play area, bouldering wall, etc. it afforded us several hours of playful family bonding. a perfect way to spend together.

there were no tears until goodbye finally hit. and it did hit hard. torrey really took it hard. there's all of the changes that come about in 4th grade have made this a bit of a different monster for her this time. with all the new reasoning skills and a drop of hormones... life seems harder to take sometimes. but with those new skills and hormones, come new ways to cope and see your world that make those hard times manageable at the same time.  i am thankful God only gives us what we can handle! the whole thing didn't hit emma until we got home. that first night brings its own kind of loneliness. thankfully it is only one night, and anyone can make it through one night.

on wednesday torrey and i were talking and she described it this way, "it's not like you're so sad you're about to cry all of the time. it's really only like that on the first day. after that, you're just kind of gloomy." it put to words the first week better than i had been able to describe. so we're trudging along, doing quite well, counting our blessings and checking off days. i am always amazed at how much seeing your blessings makes each day a blessing to be a part of. especially now, but really, for always.

i couldn't decide which picture i wanted for monday's moment in time... so i went with two. stan taking his bags and one with him and the girls. he always gets a little something special for them each time he deploys. this year, he asked a wonderful lady from church, who makes stamped silver bracelets, to make a little something special for them. he had part of a verse from 1 corinthians 13 put on the front, love never fails. and a special message to each of them stamped on the inside. i am amazed everyday at the incredible man i am married to. we're lucky girls... the whole lot of us. there are a few more d-day pictures here.

Supplies: patterned paper: Leiko Beck Designs - Veteran’s day gift kit; stitches: Kathryn Wilson, Eastbourne Kit; poloroid frame: Taylor Made, Composure Kit; staples and tag: Paislee Press, Chasing the Sun; flower brush: Fei Fei’s Stuff, Embrace Kit; dream word art: Paislee Press, Philosophie Kit; font: Century Gothic

with all of the magic moments of the past couple weeks, i've been in the get-these-puppies-on-paper sort of mood. a 10 year anniversary seemed a very good place to start on the paper putting-on path. Especially with the beautiful veteran's day digital gift set from Leiko Beck Designs. thank you oscraps and your designers for your generous support of our troops!

tuesday life started back to normal. the girls both went back to school after monday's craziness. torrey was met with the book order she'd been waiting to get her hands on. the latest installment of the diary of a wimpy kid books. if you have a kiddo anywhere near this age group, you've probably heard much about greg. it's goofy and funny, and reminiscent of the real life humorous awkwardness of jr high from the view of a kid. she had the entire book devoured in a little more than an hour. now if that next sister's grimm book will come out, i think she'll be really happy! :)

wednesday night was a kind of uninspired photo day. so it was a one with the lensbaby & the star thingy again. this time we were trying to get the catchlight in her eye into a star shape. it is in this one... although i'm not sure it's very easy to see unless it's way zoomed in... and if it's really zoomed in you can also see how blurry the picture is. so i guess it's best just like this. lol.

thursday was parent/teacher conference day, and the first day the girls got to talk to stan! they got to have a nice long web-cam chat with him in the morning before conferences. is it silly to list skype toward the top of the list of things i'm thankful?

conferences went well. it's always reassuring to hear your kids are doing ok in the middle of a bit of craziness. definitely another blessing there. that, and they both have amazing teachers.

thursday night torrey went to a slumber party. the perfect opportunity to have some one on one time with emma. she helped me make dinner and we drug out a bunch of scrapbooking stuff to make notebooks for the "treasure box" in her class. the bind it all got a work out, and we got to keep the memories. friday morning, we had a bit more hang out time before picking torrey up, so i grabbed a couple of quick pictures outside.

Supplies: Patterned Paper & embellishments: In Good Company kit by Paislee Press; font: Courier, Chicago House; photo by Becky Van Hofwegen

a quickie page i did today while snuggling under a blanket with the girls. definitely a good way to spend a rainy saturday when you're waiting for the oven repair man. wednesday the oven decided it wanted to join stan on deployment... at least the numbers 4, 5 & 6 on the touch screen did. so we cooked wednesday's dinner in the oven at 330 degrees for 30 minutes. the funny thing is... after not working for 4 days, they decided to randomly start again about an hour before the fella got here. they ust have heard he was coming! good thing it was under warranty!

i got a chance to catch the girls with the camera talking to daddy on the web-cam this afternoon. love stan's big smile... giggling with his girlies. there is so so much to be thankful for.

the calm before the storm

so tomorrow is the day. the start of the countdown to homecoming... in the past 3 days we have celebrated our 10 year anniversary, thanksgiving & christmas. one one time, and two a little early. it's been a bit of a crazy week of icky colds and precious moments all mixed together.

today we did our early christmas. stan gave the girls the little gifts he'd picked out for them. each deployment he's picked out a little something extra special for them before he goes. this year he commissioned a friend of ours to make stamped silver bracelets for the girls with a special message just for them on it. what a daddy! and as i type this i'm watching him wrestle with both of the girls pinned down at once  and lots of giggling. it's sort of a magical calm before the storm tomorrow morning. sweet, silly and perfect.

saturday we celebrated 10 years of beautiful imperfection, faithfulness and love. the man who has loved me through every up and down, but more than that...  he has supported me through trials. encouraged me through desperate loneliness. put up with my incessant practical jokes. given me so much more than i ever deserved. to the man of my dreams... i love you with all of my heart. and just for you... 11 is the new 10. {wink}

emma and i spent nearly the entire week under the weather. lots of nose blowing, coughing and resting. it slowed us down a lot this week, but sometimes there is something good about a week of down time. even if it means you can't breath! lol. just as emma and i have been coming out of the fog, torrey came down with the yuckies on friday... so i'm sure we'll be spending a lot of next week behind the power curve. so the perfect excuse for snuggling on the couch and getting a little extra mommy/daughter time on a hard week.

the school put together an amazing assembly for veteran's day. it's such a special day for the vets and the kids. it made it especially special to the girls this year that it fell before daddy left. not only that, but he was able to actually make it to the assembly, too. double delight! the kids presented a flag to each of the vets made up of handwritten names of each student and staff member in the school. i spent a good part of it in tears. mostly for another family in our school who lost their daddy last year in afghanistan. just another reminder of how some gave all for all of us to have so much... that our lives are so filled with blessings we can hardly stand it, if we only keep our hearts open enough to see them.

to all who have served this great country, or love someone who has or who does... God bless you and keep you, and God bless America.

i had such high hopes for today...

but alas, i got sick and got absolutely nothing done! poor emma was super sick yesterday, and last night i caught some of her germies. at four this afternoon i drug my sorry self out of bed to see how torrey's day at school went. so much for a productive day of scrapping! hopefully tomorrow i'll be back up and at 'em.

at least i will have my blog updated before the clock strikes 12! lol. i am hoping to get a year-in-review photo book made for the inlaws (good thing they don't have internet access!) before christmas, but haven't quite got it together yet! how did the year slip by so quickly? at least i've been able to keep up on the 365 shots! :)

thursday was a late night, almost-missed-my-picture-of-the-day sort of day, so i got a shot of some fridge art by emma. it so much reminds me of me as a kid. tons of tiny little life details all on one little drawing. i think my favorite is that her tongue is sticking out while she's drawing the picture in the picture. so so emma! :)

friday afternoon i helped finish up the gift the school is giving to the veterans for their annual veteran's day assembly. i love how this year's project turned out. i'm sure i'll have a picture of it tomorrow when stan gets one at the assembly. it's such a blessing to see so many veterans come to the school and share with the kids. anyway, i got a quick shot of torrey walking out of school for the weekend on friday for our pic of the day.

saturday we had our annual christmas party at our house, which this year was also a going away party for stan. can't help but feel blessed after an evening like that!

sunday morning emma woke up with a terrible fever. so i stayed home from church to take care of my baby. poor little princess was so wiped out all day, and by evening, i'd come down with the same yuckies. so the two of us spent a good portion of sunday snuggled in a living room chair together.

i was feeling very lucky today to have a picture at all. i hardly had it in me to get out of bed, but nonetheless, i did make it upstairs and on the porch to catch torrey after school in the waning bit of daylight. sometimes it's the little accomplishments that make your day! lol. it's 10pm and i'm feeling a little better. the fever is gone for now, and as far as i can tell, i've been able to write a somewhat coherent post. so i'm thinking i better quite while i'm ahead and say goodnight! :)

dear neglected blog, i still love you

oh my goodness, how did i get so behind... again? in the busyness of daily life, my poor blog has been one of the back burner items lately. we've been keeping very busy getting ready for stan's upcoming deployment and spending as much family time as possible together. So here is my week in review... starting with the cushy kissing reindeer slippers from target's dollar section. who knew slippers could be such fun?!

my wild little pumpkin princess with one of her self-thought-out poses after school. :)

torrey and daddy snuggling up on the couch for a daddy/daughter moment. she's going to have a bit of a hard time when he goes, i think. not that it doesn't have its effect on all of us, but this age for torrey seems to be ushering in the beginning of the tween changes for her... and daddy seems to have a magical way of teaching and growing her up. let me just say a special prayer of thanks to the person who invented the webcam!

darn daylight savings time messing with my natural light options! lol. so there may be two dozen more pictures of my christmas tree as i come into the end of the year! loving that lensbaby creative aperture deal, though.

can i just take a minute to say how much i love my husband? for the amazing man who will do just about anything {even wear green tights} for his girls... i'm pretty sure there's a special place in heaven for that man! we spent halloween night running around our usual stops visiting my parents, grandparents, great uncle, and friends from church as the neverland family - peter pan, wendy, john and tinkerbell. the man in green tights survived the whole ordeal and earned himself some serious points with his house full of estrogen!

being a little behind and backwards on our holidays, we didn't get to the pumpkin patch until the day before halloween. after school on friday, we rushed home and changed the girls out of their costumes and into some regular clothes for a quick jaunt to the pumpkin patch. (hence the eye makeup on emma.) the girls searched the muddy patch for their perfect pumpkins. i have a bunch more pictures here. it was definitely a very fallish day with the leaves whirling around in the wind. makes coming home to carve them with hot apple cider that much more special, though.

now i've gotta zip off to help with a veterans day project at the school! ah, the perfectly content and busy life of a mom. i wouldn't have it any other way!