Gratitude: Day 20

On cold winter days, I am thankful for popcorn and movies.

Sometimes it is so hard keeping two little babies happy AND occupying a 3 1/2 year old. Today was so cold! Too cold to go out and play. Perfect for popcorn and a movie midday.

Gratitude: Day 18

Harry Potter!

Woo Hoo! So super excited for this. I am going tonight to see him... at 12:20am!

Yep, I am officially nuts! I will be SO TIRED tomorrow. Hoping that my littles sleep well tonight and in tomorrow. I can't wait... Just a few more hours!

Gratitude: Day 13

Him.

That sweet, wonderful, loving man. I am grateful for him. He has given me a family and a home, and it all started 6 years ago today.

Today I am grateful for him. Happy Anniversary babe.

Gratitude: Day 12

Board Games.

I love being able to pick out a game and let him go. It gives me a few minutes peace and entertains him at the same time. I really needed this today.

Gratitude: Day 11

The Men and Woman who are serving and have served our country.

I am so grateful for your bravery, honor, and sacrifice. I am so grateful for your strength, determination, and fearless heart. I am humbled by your fortitude to march into danger for those of us who are miles away. I am so grateful that you have chosen to serve, so that I can rest easily in the safety of my home.

(John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Today, I am so grateful for you. Thank you.

Gratitude: Day 9

Scrappy Time.

I am finally getting some time to do some creative time. I will try to get some pictures up of my December Daily that I have been working on... hopefully tomorrow.

Gratitude: Day 8

Monday Night Football.

Yep. That's right Ladies, I said Monday Night Football. You see, I am married to a sport fanatic! He loves all things sports... which I typically hate. But, on Monday's we have these little football books that we purchase every year from the local Sertoma Club. It is for their annual fundraiser, and all the money goes towards helping those with hearing loss, which is right up my ally. (I am an SLP by profession)

But, besides being charitable, these little books bring on something else. I get to participate in sports with my hubby. We check our numbers every week and during the entire game, we try to figure out what needs to happen to get "our" numbers that week. If we win, we get 50 bucks! Pretty Cool hu?

But the best part is that we are sharing something he loves together, and he actually talks to me when the game is on!

So today, I am grateful for Monday Night Football!

Gratitude: Day 7

Sunday.

Sunday in this house means that Daddy is home... all day long. He works on Saturday, so Sunday is the first day of "our" weekend. Since he works so much, (he is in the restaurant business so it's usually about 65+ hours a week) it is extra nice to have him home.

Right now it means... an extra set of hand to help, Daddy and Matteo bedtime stories, family dinner, weekly shopping trip, sleeping in a bit, less diapers for Mama to change, a shower for Mama, help feeding babies, and falling asleep next to him...

And Matteo gets to nap with him too! Along side of Bella :)

I am very grateful for Sunday.

Gratitude: Day 6

Bedtime.

Today was a rough day in this house. It is bedtime for the littles. For that I am grateful.

Gratitude: Day 5

Books.

This is the one that I am currently reading... Well actually re-reading. I started it before the girls were born, but was not able to finish. So I am starting it over again. That's okay... it's THAT good.

This particular book makes me grateful for many things. I get to leave "my life" for just a little while when I read it. I am able to travel to a different time and see things from someone else's point of view, and I love that. But it also does more than that. Right now.... It makes me thankful that:

1. I am a woman born into a time that "I" have a say what happens in my life.

2. I have control over what happens to "my" body... most of the time... pregnancy was a doozie!

3. My thoughts and values are just as valid as my husbands.

4. My children have good medical care

5. Indoor plumbing... Hot showers... Central heating and air... Electricity...

I am so grateful for these things, and reading books like this help me realize this even more than I ever knew.

Gratitude: Day 4

"Write it on your heart that everyday is the best day in the year"

-Emerson

For today, I am grateful.

Gratitude: Day 3

Cousins.

As things around here continue to be crazy and I continually attempt to adjust to this new chapter in my life, I am so thankful for my family. I love that my sister's children are close in age to my little man. I love that they love each other so very much and love to play together. I love to watch them grow and cherish the simple things in life, the things I remember enjoying with my siblings when I was their age. I love that a simple pile of Fall leaves brings as much joy to them as Christmas morning. I am grateful that I was able to witness this and capture it for years to come.

Gratitude: Day 2

Silence.

I know that Silence is something that many often find awkward, but for me... I love the sound of it. I don't have much silence in my life right now.

My day is full of:

Crying babies

Hungry babies and a 3 year old

Barking dogs

Phones ringing (so grateful that the election is over on this front)

Games playing

Movies going

Doorbell ringing

Craziness

My car is full of requests:

"I want to watch a movie"

"I want to listen to my music"

"Mommy, can we go eat at Miss Donald's (McDonald's... I just can't seem to correct that one, I just love it :)

"Mommy, I want some of YOUR water"

"I can't reach it"

"Mommy, I need help"

...it goes on and on...

So, when I have a moment of pure silence, I revel in it. I take the time to hear my own breath as it comes in and out of my body, listen to the sound of the heater as it warms my house, and sometimes if I am really lucky, I can feel the heart beat of one of my precious babies as she sleeps on my chest.

Gratitude: Day 1

So I know I haven't been around much lately... Okay, at all, but I really want to try to get back into blogging, and I thought this might be an easy way for me to start back up.

This is an idea found on Scarlett's blog, which I found via Studio Calico, one of my favorite places to hang out when I get a free minute. (Really don't get much of that lately, but I try)

I have found that I have an abundance in my life right now, and I would like to try to remember it, cherish it, and embrace it. Thus, I am going to try to write it down... every day.

I may not be able to complete this in its entirety, but I really am going to try :)

So here it goes... day one....

Right now, this is my focus. It is what my life is all about. It encompasses almost every minute of my day, and most of my night. It is these two new sweet and healthy girls...

And their little "big" brother.

Catch up!

Yikes! I know I said it before, but man time is flying by me these days. I really need to get it together... and soon.

So today I am going to do a little catch up. I haven't posted my class layouts in... well... I think it has been three months. I am SO sorry girls!

Here are the layouts from January. I would start with December, but I don't have photos of those layouts yet, and it is dark outside. I will try to get them up tomorrow.

This is the first one from January. I used Maya Road Mist in Sunflower with some die cut stars to create the background. I really like this shade of yellow, very bright and cheery. All papers are American Crafts, the Junior line. I originally wanted to do a sports page with these papers, but I just loved the brightness of them. It ended up screaming "Birthday" to me. By the way, this is Matteo on his second birthday.

This is a close up of the stars and the title. You can see the stars that I used were just simple die cuts from Quickutz nesting shapes. Easy Peazy.

This next one turned out really well. I used Fancy Pants for the entire layout. I added some felt die cuts, the kind that you find at your local scrapbook store in their die cut systems. It cut through the felt better than my home die cut machine.

For the title, I used Doodlebug flocked paper. It was white to start off, but the flocked design was really difficult to see, so I inked it very lightly. This made the design pop right of the paper. I love the effect.

Here is a close up of the felt snowflakes. I didn't use any adhesive to adhere them. I simply stitched them in place where I wanted them.

These next two layouts are from February's class. This first one consists of two new lines from Three Bugs in a Rug. They were both pretty "themed" lines, so I flipped them over and used the "B" sides. In the end, they went together pretty well. I haven't had a moment to get the photo's in them yet, but soon.... I hope. :)

Here is a close up of these cute pins from Heidi Grace. They are old pins, but still really cute.

This Journaling tag is Jenni Bowlin. They are some of my favorite journaling tags ever. My stash of these is running low. I may need to make a new order at Two Peas soon.

This is the last one from February. It is clearly a Valentines Day layout. I used two different lines to make this layout, Fancy Pants and Making Memories. It is a simple layout, but I think it will be really cute when I get Matteo's Valentines Day photo's in it. I always get him a cute little Valentines Day shirt to wear on Valentines. This year, I got a steal on this one... only $3.00! Gotta love it!

Here is a close up of some of the stitching.

Okay, now I need to find December's layouts and get those photographed. Then I will be caught up. Well, I have some layouts for Green Tangerines kit club that I need to get up too... but that is another post. So, for now, have a great night. Thanks for stopping by.

When does life slow down?

It seems that now that I have a little one, life is traveling at mach ten. I don't even know where the time goes, it is just gone. It is like some crazy sci-fi movie around here. Do you ever feel like that?

So, onto some scrappy stuff. I haven't posted much scrappy stuff lately, so here is a few to wet your palate. I recently became a designer for Green Tangerines kit club. It is really such a blessing for me, as I have always wanted to do this. I love it. This kit was actually their December kit. Their kits run a month behind, with the idea that you will already have tons of great photos to scrap for the month when you get your kit. This is what I made with this kit.

The first layout was actually photos from Halloween. I loved Halloween this year. Matteo was so excited. He is actually the reason why I dressed up. Matteo said, "Mommy, I be Mickey and you be Minnie." How could I say no to that? So here we are.

This next one is one of Matteo's new favorite pastimes. He loves board games, and he loves to count everything these days. So, the Hi-Ho-Cherry-O game is a new favorite in our house. I love how he can "get into it".

Here is a close up of some of the embellishments. Aren't those Jillibean buttons to die for?

This is the one card that I made with this kit. I love the little Green Tangerines original cards. I actually used on on the layout below too. This one is for home.

This is my favorite layout from this kit. I love the color combinations, a subtle grey with a few pops of color. Plus I have to say that I just love these photos of Matteo too. I know I am biased, but I don't care. heehee

Here is a close up. I use Maya Mist in silver on the card stock to give a bit of shimmer, but not too much. I hope you can see it clear in this photo. It was a bit difficult to catch.

This is the last one. It is my only single pager. I don't know why, but I don't do these very much. I think I just really like to use more photos, but I do like this one. This photo was shot this past Fall during our family photo shoot with Skye. She does such a wonderful job. I can't say enough good things about her.

I think my favorite thing about this layout is how the red just pops off the background, and of course I used another one of those exclusive Green Tangerines labels. This time I used the family one.

Well, that is all for me today. I do have some other layouts to share, but I have to wake up the little sick boy. If I don't he won't sleep tonight either, and I can't have another sleepless night.

Wordless Wednesday... Board Games...

Don't worry, I am not only going to be doing wordless wednesdays, things have been really crazy around here... I am hoping to get in another crafty post later as my little one is home sick today. :(

Another Wordless Wednesday... Tubing...

Seriously, how cute is he?

2009 Wordie...

Here is my Wordle from 2009. It is so nice to see all the things I hold dear to me up and center.

Wordless Wednesday...

I haven't done this in a while, but would really like to get back into it. So, not so wordless, but here it is... Matteo saying, "I want a towel on my head like Mommy." Nice hu?

My one little word... Cherish

This year I am going to try to commit to "my" word more. Last year, I think my word was a bit to harsh for me. I needed it in the beginning of the year, but it didn't "fit" as much as the year progressed. This year, I am choosing... Cherish.

cher·ish (c̸her′is̸h)

transitive verb

1. to hold dear; feel or show love for to cherish one's family
2. to take good care of; protect; foster to cherish one's rights
3. to cling to the idea or feeling of to cherish a hope

There are going to be many changes in my life this year, and I want to embrace them, remember them, and enjoy them. For me, I think this word will embody that feeling and goal for me.

So, what's your word, if you so choose to choose one? Leave me a comment and let me know what it is and why you chose it. I would love to hear about it.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful New Year.