a little something

this is the blog that my friends and family read to hear updates on our little family and to see recent photos of all of us. or mostly our babies!

so this lovely group of people are not always aware of what is happening in my creative or hobby side of my life. which is fine! scrapbooking is not for everyone (sadly!).

so many scrapbooking magazines were not able to weather out the recession. this one is home-made here in Canada. i figured it was a good place to start sending some of my pages to get published.

i had 2 published in their winter issue. then i had 1 published in this spring issue.



this is for our Danish relatives! you know who you are!! remember the oldest buildings we have here in Edmonton? this photo was taken at the park that has some re-creations (and some real ones too) of those "old" buildings.

i sooo did not want to cut up that background paper. i also struggled with what part to cover up with my photo.

it is hard to believe that the photo is nearly 2 years old. those munchkins really are growing too fast. so hard to not get a good photo of them at the park too. i wish it were open year-round.

and that is all. sunny days are in the forecast. so are quieter days. maybe this will mean my camera comes out of hiding more often? i hope so!!

good stuff

a few weeks ago i took over the kitchen table. for an entire day we did not eat at it. instead we had picnics in front of the fireplace. fortuntately it is not an everyday occurence, so no one complained. not that they dared!! haha



because i was creating this.....



i was selected to feature a project on the Making Memories blog today!!!
it was the biggest scrapbooking honor i've had up until now. it was like bringing home the gold medal at the olympics for me. huge! exciting! one of my dreams come true!!!!



i wrote up some brief instructions that also were posted at MM. however i took a few photos along the way and also wrote out some detailed instructions on my scrapbooking blog. go here if you want that info.


anyways...this is a major hilight for me right now. thanks to those that have encouraged me to be brave and step outside of my comfy little world. i'm not Becky Higgins or Donna Downey....but this is exciting for little ol' me!

wish i had thought of that!

check out this project from Hillary at Wee Wonderfuls....
check out her post and look at more detailed photos of this adorable quilt.

happy

i am creeping closer to the magic age. that age when those younger than you say, "oh". and those older than you say, "ah". at least that is what i've noticed. i've also noticed that it happens on major milestone birthdays. 30. 40. 50. and you realize that each day you spend here on earth is definitely a gift. definitely something anyone under the age of 30 is rarely aware of!

years ago, when i was teaching grade fours, one of the students' parents had a birthday. {you have to understand that at that age ANY ONE's birthday is a great big deal!} for fun, we would always ask, "how old". this particular student says, "29". then this look of deep thought crossed his face {and believe me....this itself was a rarity to see those thinking lines on this individual...we ALL know people like that!} while thinking and looking off to the side at something unseen by the rest of us, he adds...."she has been 29 for a few years now..." {chuckle} it suddenly occured to him that a birthday adds a year...every year!

last weekend, my niece asked me how old i was going to be. {she is 6} my fil interrupted and says, "aren't you 19?" now hopefully that was meant as a compliment....lol! going with the "19" facade, i asked her if she thought that was 'old'. to which she also got a strange look and said, "oh yes!" so for the sake of not causing her too much shock, we'll just let her continue to believe that i am 19. she's a smart girl, she'll put all this nonsense together soon enough!

nothing can replace the experience that comes with age.

i'm sure that will be a quote with my name attached some day! haha

but seriously. no amount of money or gifts could make me go back one day in time. i am more confident today than i was a year ago... i have had to make a lot of decisions that have been tough, but i don't regret... i love my kids at this age... even though some days are especially long and exhausting... i am grateful that i was chosen to be their mom, and they were chosen to be my children... i often feel lucky to have found their dad, my soulmate... and here we are....lots of bumps later....still together and willing to go through any more bumps together... wow!

and this is the year that i want to bloom they way God intended me to. how exciting!

maybe i'll come across a poem or scripture that expresses how i feel. for now "Blue Castle" is the long version!

out with the old....

and in with the new!



i want to share a quote i just read:

"Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve.
Middle age is when you're forced to."
~ Bill Vaughn


i know for sure both of our kids would stay up to welcome the new year in. our hope {and dream!} is that they would both sleep until noon as a result!

we sure don't feel forced to stay up. so i'll guess that we are now officially in between youth and middle age....

keeping positive!

my GRAND PLANS for December fell quite short. we finally decorated our cookies {the ones we baked on Christmas Eve day} a few days ago.

Aidan has used icing before. and he knows how sprinkles work! now he is getting confident enough to use his skills for design. he had some very nicely decorated treats. although towards the end of his session i caught him licking the icing knife! thankfully no cookies were compromised...

Kiara is new to all of this. it is tough for me to do the preparing and baking and keep an eye on TWO children. she gets the short end of the stick frequently. Aidan still needs a close eye. but Kiara still needs to be taught. which takes a lot of energy and time! i love the confidence...but she still needs to learn some skills. like....when you add the coloured sugar coating...you don't dump the container upside down and put ALL of the sugar on ONE cookie! maybe she likes over-sugared cookies? probably. that is her pink snowflake sugar cookie in the top left hand corner...



so nice to have Kristian at home and on holidays. i have had lots of extra time to do some odd jobs around the house. and i've had more time to work on my scrapbooking. that has been a treat! i've been doing some thinking on how i could rearrange some things upstairs to include a few of my scrapbook supplies and the kids creative work. they are both now at the age where it could become a rewarding experience for everyone. we may need to think about a storage space in the office and then have the basic stuff nearby. paints and glimmer mist does not need to come out every time...



Kristian knew what he was getting us into when he bought me the cricut. i love his support! all the snowflakes scattered were cut by the cricut. and so were those 2 pink swirls. the snowflakes are actually flowers....but i still think they can masquerade as snowflakes....or maybe that is frozen Canadian brain...we see more snowflakes than flowers in any year. i layered the snowflakes for added dimension. and i used some glimmer mists to add colour. all of those pieces were cut from white paper. yes, i am pleased with myself! i get a kick out of bragging to Kristian about what i have done. and he seems to also enjoy listening and feigning delight and surprise! truth be told he is probably relieved that i am using and enjoying his gift....

those photos were taken of them last year. pretty much one year ago to be exact! hopefully we'll have some more pleasant weather that will make skating more enjoyable. we went out yesterday to sled right across the street. boy were we cold. Kiara discovered this winter that we often have warm air blowing through the floor vents....her vent of choice is in the kitchen! you know she is freezing when she will sit their and let the air warm her up.


in my next post i'll do some reflecting on 2008 and my dreams for 2009.

for now....


Happy New Year!!