blur

typically, i've discovered, January and February are my low photo months. when i look through my photos  this year i have more photos of my scrapbook projects than my precious family. yeesh! i prefer to use natural light when i use my camera. even though i have a fabulous flash. so the overcast days don't really help. i have lost track of the number of times when i missed some possibly amazing shots because i didn't have my camera or i forgot to use it. must change this mistake for next year!!

i put a post on my other blog, thinking i was posting on this one. so perhaps it wasn't just the sky that was overcast? yes, just a little busy! perhaps a reading lesson?

it was one time when i fortuately remembered that i had a camera and had a perfect time to use it!!

Kiara got into my valentine chocolates and ate herself to sleep. the pictures are priceless. pat on the back to myself that i did not let those moments pass.


another hindrance to my slack photography is the age of my kids. they aren't as easily to catch in action.






they move quickly!

i was in the middle of taking yet more photos of my projects and squeezed in a few of these special projects!

i am starting to recall many forgotten {or blocked} moments when Aidan was 3. being three is just not a fun age for our kids. {or us, their parents!} not to suggest that Aidan is perfect, but he certainly gives us hope that we will have better days when Kiara is 4! oh the stories she is giving us. daily. sometimes even by the hour. one tough part of parenting is seeing ourselves in our children. seeing those traits that we don't like in ourselves becoming evident in our precious children. oh the irony!

this morning they had a sibling switch! our loveable and goodhearted daughter shone like a rainbow. on the other hand, Aidan took a page from Kiara's 3 year old hand book.

thankfully a 5 year old using some 3 year old behaviours was much more tolerable.  ha!

on the flip side, i'm sure they think that we, as their parents are always amazing. of course they see our perfect behavior. we never get upset. we never need a break. believe that?

today is a reminder that we should accept each other - the good and the not so good. these are precious times. even with the "bad" moments, i am so proud of my kids! they both have some pretty exciting moments and memories that they share. they are courageous. especially with the number of changes they have experienced in their short little lives. i am so often humbled by the love they share with us and how much they demonstrate that bond of love with us.

Aidan had some big goals a few weeks ago. i wasn't sure if he would be as successful attaining his goals as i thought he may be dreaming he would be. i told him that i would be proud of him if he succeeded and if he failed. apparently we had never had such a conversation before. he was surprised. since then he has reminded me of those words i shared. how important for them to be reminded that our love for them is unconditional.

it seems like the teaching and learning never ends. it also goes both directions. their child-like love for us, their parents, is completely unconditional. they truly grasp what it means to forgive. they remind us every day that no dream is too big. i don't think a day ends when they have not showed their true personality and allowed themselves to be true to who they are.

as exhausting and frustrating as some days end, it is still the most amazing experience. i love to look at their faces when they have fallen asleep at night. especially after one of those impossible days. the look on their faces and the tilt of their mouths indicate nothing of trouble in the hours prior. it only exudes sweetness and peace.

being a parent, i have gotten a greater grasp on the love given to me by God. he created me as i am. he understands the frustration of reminding Aidan and Kiara to do (or not do) something 50 million times. yet, he can still look at my face and know my heart. despite the challenges i face each day, the number of times i disappoint him by falling into my own selfish will, he still loves me the same. this is a new lesson for me. i always thought the love God had for me was conditional on my behavior or attitude. there is nothing i can do or think of doing that would change his love for me. or for you. just like the love we have for our own children.

i suspect we have many more life lessons ahead. i prefer to think that life is not a race we run being perfect. instead it is a journey where we understand we are not perfect, but rest in the desire of doing our personal best.

fun memories

Kristian was out of town one evening this week. we had an early supper then the kids and i put on our pj's. after we finished the bedtime stories the three of us curled up on the couch and watched some of the olympics. it was still a fairly early bedtime, but because they got to watch tv after supper they thought they stayed up late! haha!! something i need to remember.

we were watching the figure skaters. to my knowledge it was the first time Kiara had seen this sport. my dear girl who thinks she can just put on skates and spin figure 8's! she thought this was amazing and decided that she will do that one day. it would have been fun to put her in my old pair from when i was her age. i'm not sure what happened to them. they were so unique!

Aidan, on the other hand, thought the speed skating was completely awesome. there is a skating oval in town. it would be fun to take him out to see the skaters in practice. next year we should enroll him in a power skating class. i doubt he'll be taking figure skating lessons, but perhaps Kiara will. considering her parents' genetics she is quite coordinated. and muscular. recessive genes are amazing things.

one talent they both possess is creativity. i was telling someone about his first scrapbook page. in all honesty his first page was better than mine! however he is also still impressing us with his photography skills.

here is one of his photos from today.


are they not ADORABLE?

he taught himself how to use the timer and get poses set up. i guess i can be a good role model after all.

both of the kids started in a program at the new church we are attending. it is a club that meets once a week. Kiara's group is pretty low key. Aidan is in the group that starts to introduce scripture memory. it blows my mind how easily he has been able to memorize. Kiara too, for that matter! she listens while Aidan practices and most of the verse ends up memorized. ironically she learns the words that Aidan gets stuck at....so when Aidan is reciting, she will often interupt him with the answer. given the opportunity to say the verse herself, she can say only the words that Aidan can't.

we will get this photo (among others) printed this week. i will enjoy seeing how he decides to use it on a layout. then i will share it here!

looking ahead

Tuesday. Tuesday. Tuesday.

i know i will be forgetting that this is a 4-day week. yes, i know every week has 7 days. when you have a holiday, it feels like the weekend is longer and the week is shorter. {Monday was a holiday. Family Day in Alberta. thank you Don Getty for wanting one 3-day weekend each month.}

short weeks and long weekends only mean that you still have extra days of fun. except the days of actually getting productive work done is lessened. i always forget that last point until "the week" has begun. interesting.

it also explains why the clean clothes nearly "disappeared" over the weekend.

why the floor is covered with crumbs and other debris that i don't recognize. eewww!

the necessity to de-clutter the kitchen counters.

the plan is to get the neglected stuff done and then complete the week with the plain ol' cleanin' up after each mess! let's hope for some success. i have some classes to kit and another layout to design. i hope to do some fun stuff too this week. for myself i always feel less guilty when the rooms around me are less dusty and we all have more clothing choices in our closets!

can i add "lose head colds" from the list? if only i had control over that. head colds make us whiny. it isn't pleasant.

reminder

so....not a photo of anyone...but i had to share this!

red letter words

with love

note to self:
must take photos of my ever-growing and never stopping kids! yikes!

we've been driving from place to place, appointment to appointment, etc. after 2 weeks of this kind of routine, we are tired of it. although i am thankful that not one of the places was to visit the pediatrician or doctor. we are surrounded by colds, flus and virus'. last year we caught every bug going around and then some. we are more than thankful for the break from illness this winter.

i thought i'd share one of my highlights of the month:



i taught a layout class at a local scrapbook store in January. it sold out in a few weeks and was still being requested up until the day of the class. the class for February has been expanded to two classes. not sure where we are at for enrollment, but it was nearly full last i checked. the first of the two classes is this Saturday morning. it is a bit of a fussy layout, but the part for making roses is actually relaxing. once the first one is made! fortunately the students will need to make a minimum of 6, so they should be experienced by the time they are done. i thought i'd share a photo of them here. i also love the strip of negative ribbon. is that not the coolest treat?!






i don't have any other "heart" photos for Valentines day, so i figured this would do.

somewhere a lover of printed music is probably cringing in pain...the flowers were made from old music books. i made sure the lovers of dictionaries are also writhing in pain too. cut and glued those pages up too! just to annoy a third group, i also grunged up a photo. yes, i crinkled the one edge on purpose. hard to see in the photo, but it is there. all in the name of art. somewhere i am sure i hear a young child cheering.

i hope you enjoyed your day of valentines. my family showed their love to me by letting me scrapbook to my little hearts' content today. love that crew! tomorrow we hope to have lots of fun together....so hopefully no one will mind when the camera tags along too.

life

here is the finished layout that Aidan made a few weeks ago.




i think i need to make a layout entitled "blink". each week seems to be flying by. it seems like the house is cleaned and laundry done, when i realize that it is time to do it again! the past few weeks have flown by so quickly that i had to remind myself that today is only Wednesday. we have a busy end of the week, while this part of the week has slowed in comparison. i find my mind jumping ahead. i suppose that is in preparation and hope that i don't forget anything?

ironically these last two months of winter always take forever to end.

the sun has been vacant for quite awhile. when it does shine we certainly stop to take notice! i also tend to take more photos when the sun is shining.



this is Kiara's recent art projects. they have been learning about the olympics and the mascots. i do believe i know more about the mascots than anything else olympic related! her colouring and attention span has grown so much in the past few months. as well as her creativity. i need to share a picture she made of me. yes! she's already using her imagination and making it come alive with markers. another reminder of time speeding by.
when i was working on my B.Ed. degree we had to take a lot of child development classes. one of them was in the development of the art in children. pre-scribbling, scribbling, etc. Kiara is right in the stage where everything begins with a circle. a fleeting stage! most of her pictures of people look like our heads are suns because she also adds the lines shooting out of the circle. radial drawings. usually when they add the bodies they only add legs, with the arms coming out of the legs. they draw what they see adults looking like from their low vantage point. Aidan never did this. we will see which direction Kiara will follow!

both of the kids started in an AWANA program last month. they are loving it. they are in different classes, and Aidan is being rewarded for memorizing bible verses. Kiara is often in the room when we practice with him, and we discovered that she is learning most of the verses too! great for the 5 year old ego when the words he gets stuck on his 3 year old sister can recite. it's funny. she mostly knows the words that he gets stuck on! last week Aidan earned the red vest. this week he is hoping for his hang-glider badge. then there are wings and jewels. Kiara was not feeling well last week, so she missed her class. i think she will have some verses to practice too.



i downloaded the CD onto my ipod so that Aidan can have access to the stories and verses on his own or if we are in the car.







last Friday i took my camera with me while i waited for Aidans' bus. it was a beautiful clear and sunny day. i particularly loved this one of Aidan running home. see how the camera was able to capture his feet above the ground?! i added a ttv texture and loved it even more.

we are all looking forward to the long weekend. i love that all our regular activities are cancelled and we can live without a schedule.

maybe i can catch up on other projects that have been neglected?!