I found it!

I wanted to post this poem earlier because it is how I feel this Christmas, but I couldn't remember where I read it. Turns out it was on Stacy Julian's blog.
Here it is:

Funny, Funny Mother!
See Mother.
See Mother laugh.
Mother is happy.
Mother is happy about
Christmas.
Mother has many plans.
Mother has many plans for
Christmas.
Mother is organized.
Mother smiles all the
time.
Funny, funny Mother!

See Mother.
See Mother smile.
Mother is happy.
The shopping is all done.
See the children watch
TV.
Watch children, watch.
See the children change their
minds.
See them ask Santa for different
toys.
Look! Look!
Mother is not smiling.
Funny, funny Mother!

See Mother.
See Mother sew.
Mother will make dresses.
Mother will make robes.
Mother will make shirts.
See Mother put the zipper in
wrong.
See Mother sew the dress on the wrong
side.
See Mother cut the skirt too
short.
See Mother Put the materials away until
January.
Look! Look!
See Mother take a
tranquilizer.
Funny, funny Mother!

See Mother.
See Mother buy raisins and
nuts.
See Mother buy candied
pineapple
And powdered sugar.
See Mother buy flour, dates, pecans,
Brown sugar, bananas and
spices.
Look! Look!
Mother is mixing everything
together.
See the children press out
cookies.
See the flour on their
elbows.
See the cookies burn.
See the cake fall.
See the children pull
taffy.
See Mother pull her hair.
See Mother clean the
kitchen
With the garden hose.
Funny, funny Mother!

See Mother.
See Mother wrap presents.
See Mother look for the end
On the Scotch tape roll.
See Mother bite her
fingernails.
See Mother go.
See Mother go to the store
Ten times in one hour.
Go Mother, go.
See Mother go faster.
Run, Mother, run!
See Mother trim the tree.
See Mother have a party.
See Mother make popcorn.
See Mother wash the
walls.
See Mother scrub the rug.
See Mother tear up organized
plan.
See Mother forget gift for Uncle
Harold.
See Mother get hives.
Go, Mother, go!
See the faraway look in Mother's
eyes.
Mother has become
disorganized.
Mother has become
disoriented.
Funny, funny Mother!

It is finally Christmas
morning.
See the happy family.
See Father smile.
Father is happy.
Smile, Father, smile.
Father loves fruitcake.
Father loves Christmas
pudding.
Father loves all his new
neckties.
Look! Look!
See the happy children.
See the children's new
toys.
Santa was very good to the
children.
The children will remember this
Christmas.
See Mother.
Mother is slumped in a
chair.
Mother is crying
uncontrollably.
Mother does not look
well.
Mother has ugly dark circles
Under her bloodshot eyes.
Everyone helps Mother to her
bed.
See Mother sleep quietly
Under heavy sedation.
See Mother smile.
Funny, funny Mother!

Ha!

This is just too true to life because no matter what, the bulk of the Christmas workload always falls onto mom. I don't ever see that changing unless Christmas gets cancelled.

New Header

I am so BAD about updating the look of thinks around here! My header was looking a bit too much like fall which seemed just wrong with the new year just around the corner. For a quick fix I used one of Doris Castle's beautiful new Toppers to create this one. Now we look a bit more wintery around here!

Caught!

I stole some time yesterday to do a bit of scrappin'. It has been a while and I was going through withdrawal! I just love these photos of my parents. That's probably because this is just so them. My dad typically does not want to waste even the littlest bit of my mom's cooking and he typically gets this look from my mom when he does it.

Again....OH to have more time!

http://www.heatherbaileydesign.com/Booties.html

These are too stinkin' cute! They remind me of my all time favorite baby shoes which are Robeez. Baby Rachel got this pair for Christmas. Aren't the just the cutest?

I would REALLY love to make some of these bitty booties!

Yum!

Can you say yummy AND easy? Check it out: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/6901/peppermint+creams

Oh to have more TIME (and energy)

Well our Christmas festivities are over and my brain feels like mush. In typical Trish fashion, I left too much stuff to do at the last minute (i.e. WRAPPING a bazillion gifts) and it totally wiped me and took away from my celebration of Christ's birthday. I have vowed that next year will be better and I am starting earlier. I suppose it will help that next year I won't have a time-consuming infant in the house either. Even still, I did enjoy our Christmas and I think my family did, too.

I am embarrassed to admit that I have a few Christmas cards left to address and mail. There are TWELVE days of Christmas, right?

Off the subject, I was surfing a bit this morning and discovered this fun looking project. I think it would be a great project to do with the kids we could use up fabrics scraps we already have in the house.

It also reminded me of this site I saw the other day. Makes me want to "go yo-yo." She even has a really great tutorial on her site on how to make these.

Oh to have more time!

Wishing you a productive day (wishing it for myself, too)!

Merry Christmas!

I popped on the computer this morning for just a few moments. I just wanted to wish everyone a merry Christmas. I hope you have a very special time surrounded by friends and family remembering the birth our precious Savior!

A reminder as to what Christmas is all about!

Death by Chocolate

Can you tell that I am craving chocolate today? Perhaps it is because I was reading the Scrap Girls newsletter and this recipe was in there.

Death by Chocolate

*You need 1 box of your favorite brownie mix
*1 container of cool whip
*6 crushed heath bars, or you can get the pre-chopped heath bars in the chocolate chip section
*1 box of instant chocolate mousse, prepared as directed (or you can take *4 of those pre-made chocolate pudding cups and mix it with cool whip or a package of dream whip. I like this way because it is FAST and you can use the new dark chocolate pudding by Swiss Miss!)
How to prepare
Bake the brownies as directed. *Optional: When they are slightly cooled, poke holes in them with a fork and pour ½ cup of Kahlua over them (Only recommended if no children will be eating this!)
Prepare chocolate mousse.
In a large bowl (preferably glass so you can see the scrumptious layers), crumble half of the brownies.
Layer the brownies with half of the chocolate mousse.
Then sprinkle half of the crushed heath bars on the mousse (or use 1/2 cup of the pre-chopped package), then spoon half of the container of cool whip on the crumbles.
Repeat these steps, using the remaining brownies, the remaining mousse, the remaining heath bars (or 1/2 cup of the bagged kind) and then the remaining cool whip.
Refrigerate for a few hours so the tastes really blend together...

Doesn't that sound YUMMY?
I am thinking that this would be a great recipe to have in my stash. It is not fancy, but I bet it would go over really well at a get-together.

I was also talking with a friend today on the phone and asked her if she would share her cheesy potato casserole recipe with me. Now I know why it was so delicious. Let's just say it is not a low-cal recipe. I'll share it, too.

Cheesy Potato Casserole

2 lbs. Frozen cubed hash brown potatoes
1/2 med. onion, chopped
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
2 can of cream soup (i.e. cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, or cream of celery)
Pint of sour cream
1/3 lbs. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Mix all together and place in a greased 9" x 13" pan.
If you like, crumble a sleeve of crackers on top and drizzle melted butter over it.

Bake at 350 degrees. The original recipe says for 50-60 minutes, but my friend said that if her potatoes are still frozen, it takes closer to 90 minutes.

I am going to make this on Christmas day to take over to my in-laws.

Happy eating!

The Christmas shot

We FINALLY shot our Christmas card photo this evening in my makeshift basement studio. They more I try to shoot photos at home like this, the more I realize that I truly DO NOT know what I am doing when it comes to studio photography! Natural light is just SO much easier. But I am pleased that we got a relatively decent shot of all of us. We just couldn't get baby Rachel to keep her head up, though. I am amazed that we even got this. The toddlers were totally wound up and bouncing off the walls. Abi would get so excited watching the little light on the camera flash for the time delay that she kept throwing her arms of into the air and saying "yay!" That wouldn't have been so bad except her hands were always blocking someone's face. Oh well, it is a huge weight off of me to have this done!

We have lots of festivities this weekend to get gifts ready and wrapped for along with food to prepare. It will be fun, but I am sure that I will be quite wiped by Monday! Have a great weekend!

Ack! Monday!

Here it is - Monday morning! There is so much to do that I don't even know where to begin. I need to clear my head and start making some lists so that I can get on top of all there is to do this week.

I did do a little scrappin' I think a little scrappin' is good for the soul. I need a bit of creative release for my sanity! These pages are are pretty simple because they are both done with quickpages from Doris Castle. This first one is from her Everyday Wonders Album. I think this is my all time favorite from Doris so far. I love the mauve and brown. It has always been a favorite color combo for me. This kit has such sweet details from newsprint to glitter! The "M" cards are my own from my Antiquated Alpha Cards.

This second layout is also done using a quickpage from Doris. This one is from the Gathering Hearts collection which I think was a limited edition kit from ScrapArtist. It is BEAUTIFUL isn't it? This is a photo of my mom holding Rachel until she is fast asleep. Isn't it sweet? This was also taken on Thanksgiving day. I used a Virtual Photographer filter on the photo to soften it and give it this unique color in one fast step.

I am off now to make my TO DO list and see what I can get done today!

Have a great one!

My son is "Dog Gone Cute"

Or perhaps he is just a goofball! My daughter Anna loves to get creative with the camera. She must have told Patrick to pose or "say cheese" and this is what he did. Anna filled up my entire memory card playing around on Thanksgiving day. Most of it was video....really bad video. Even thought the quiality wasn't the best, I did get a kick out of it. In twenty years from now, we will ALL get a great big laugh out of it!

We are having a lazy Sunday afternoon. Barry and the kids are watching a movie and I decided to steal a little scrappin' time. I wanted to use this new kit by Doris called Doggone Cute, but didn't have any dog photos handy. No matter, the kit is cute and versitile enough to use with this photo of my son, too.

New Stuff!

I have really been limited on my computer time this week. When you add in all the extra Christmas festivities and preparations to my normal daily workload, I'm busy. Really busy! I am feeling behind and I am feeling tired. The tired part is because of my baby girl's sleeping habits. I keep telling myself to enjoy this time because it will pass quickly. So I am trying not to wish it away but just enjoy it taking the bad along with the really good.

Thursday night I hosted my very first online chat at Scrap Outside the Box. I was intimidated by the thought of it, but it ended up being lots of FUN. As part of this, anyone who does a layout using my Festive Foil Alphas by next Thursday (12-14-06) and posts it in this gallery will receive a special bonus from me. This coordinate with my newest kit called Gelled Joy. I'll have to post more about that later, though, because I am out of time. I have to get the kids around because we are going to a Philharmonic orchestra "Holiday Pops" concert this afternoon. Although I went to these all the time as a girl, the rest of my family has never been to one. It should be fun. I keep telling my girls that I am trying to "culture them up a bit."

Catch ya' later!

Checking in

I haven't had much time at the computer lately, but I thought I would check in. It always seems that there is SO much to do this time of year. I have gotten the bulk of my Christmas decorating done, but I have several boxes to sort through still. After 18 years of marriage, I have decided that we have accumulated quite a bit of Christmas stuff and it doesn't all really look so hot anymore. Pulling out the Christmas boxes has seemed like more of a chore to weed through the junkier stuff that I hesitate to put out and the treasures that I love. So I am taking quite a bit of time to sort and organize this year. Even though I am not done, the tree is up with the train around it, our special nativity is in place an the stockings are hung on the mantle. So my kids are happy. I have yet to snap any pictures, though.

This picture is of a living nativity at our church yesterday. Isn't it cute? I am a bit prejudiced, though, since my daughter is Mary and my son is the angel. I realized on the way to church yesterday that I FORGOT MY CAMERA. Can you believe that? And I call myself a scrapbooker! I considered turning around to get it and make ourselves late, but my van was on empty and I didn't think I could make it home and back to town on the gas I had. Luckily, a friend at church had her camera and was sweet enough to snap a couple of shots for me. I am so thankful. You know it may be the ONLY time I get to see my son as a perfect angel. :-)

HAPPY ADVENT! I just think this is SO COOL! One of my fellow designers at ScrapOutside the Box created a really fun advent calendar to share. What is unique about this one is that when you open each day's door, the goodie you get is a scrabook freebie! My little donation to this can be found on the 19th which just happens to be one of my daughter's birthday. Click on the image above to read more about the calendar and get the link to it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes, I realize Thanksgiving was yesterday, but I was too busy celebrating and spending time with family to pop onto the computer until today.

My folks came over and brought tons of yummy food! My mom and I split the menu, but she always takes the lion's share of the work. Which is quite alright because she and my dad are wonderful cooks! We feasted and visited and even played Dance Dance Revolution on the Playstation (had to do something to work off all that food!).

At the last minute, we realized that we hadn't taken a family photo! So with Anna already in her nightgown right before Mom and Dad left, we plopped everyone down for a couple of shots. They all got impatient with me while I fiddled with my camera and I was wishing we had done this when there was some extra daylight as I really hated to have to use the flash. For you camera geeks, I bumped up the ISO to compensate, so this can out a bit noisy and grainy. But I am happy to have a big family photo of us all.

I put this layout together using my new Thankful Tree Scrappin' set and Paper Pack. I couldn't wait to use it! I have several other layouts in the works with it, too.

Hope you all had a great holiday and didn't eat too much. No one is probably reading this because you are all out shopping! As for me, I plan to stay home and do some decorating.

Teach THANKFULNESS while you scrap!

Scripture Challenge

Ahhhh....life is good. Dinner is done, kitchen is clean, I am home with just my oldest and my youngest children because my dear hubby took the other three to a VeggieTales Night at church, so I have stolen some extra computer time. I did just get a phone call from a friend who is there at church to give me grief for not coming, too. I have to admit I felt a wee bit of remorse, especially when she told me Larry the Cucumber was actually there AND he was really playing the tuba. I guess my daughter, Abi, was just speechless. I can't wait to see the pictures.

But, I decided to do a bit of scrappin'. The layout here is for the November scripture challenge at Scrap Outside the Box. This is my friend's son who I did the photo shoot with last week. I thought this photo was perfect to go along with this scripture verse, especially the word "praise." I kept the layout simple to focus on the scripture and the photo by just using a few papers from my Sweet Potato Pie Paper Pack.

Hopefully this will help me break my scrapper's block. I haven't done much scrappin' lately and the ideas just aren't flowing.

Check it out! My Night Lights Scrappin' Set is the Kit of the week at Scrap Outside the Box!

1st Photo Shoot

Last week I got the opportunity to shoot some photos of a friend's kids. She approached me back when I was about ready to deliver Rachel and asked me if I would consider photographing her kids. She wasn't real excited about the prospect of taking them to Penney's or Sear's for photos and was hoping for some outdoor fall shots. It sounded like fun to me, but had trouble finding a time to do it. We feared that we had missed our window of opportunity because the weather had turned grey and most of the leaves were gone from the trees. BUT last Thursday was beautiful: sunny and warmer, so I called her up and we had a spontaneous photo shoot. I have to admit that I had no idea what I was doing. Other than snapshots of my nephews, I have never seriously tried to photograph someone else's children.

I scoped out my property before they arrived and took some test shots with Abi and Patrick so that I had some idea of what I wanted to do. It was really fun!

I finally have gone through them all in Photoshop and they are ready to burn to a CD. I can't wait to give them to her. I hope she likes them as much as I do. I can see many things I can improve on, but overall I am pleased with how they turned out. I think the kids look adorable!

To see the rest of the shoot, check out the album here.

Scripture Challenge

I am hosting a scripture challenge at Scrap Outside the Box along with fellow designer, Jill D. She and I both created a piece of scripture word art (as seen at the left here). The challenge is to create a scrapbook layout using one of these and post it to this gallery.

The links to download the FREE word art and more information can be found in this forum.



As a bonus for posting a layout you will receive a special bonus from Jill and I:


So lets see those scripture inspired layouts!

Ya' want fries with that?

I was hunting for somethibg in last year's archived pictures and stumbled upon these three taken at Burger King. Now, they're not the greatest, but they made me chuckle because my sister-in-law and I still refer back to this day as "The day when fast food was NOT fast." so I HAD to scrap this. You see, every Sunday after church we all go out to eat as a family. Between my in-laws and my brother-in-law's family there are now 14 of up with baby Rachel. It can be a little crazy getting a big table for all of us, and keeping all of the little cousins well-behaved through the meal. My mother-in-law suggested we try the fast food route.
Here's what I wrote on the layout:
A: When you take the whole family to Burger King on a Sunday after church. In an effort to have a quick and easy lunch, we decided not to go to one of our regular sit down restaurants. I think Burger King was chosen because Grandma Mary had coupons. We placed our order and they said to go ahead and sit down because our order would be a couple minutes. No biggie - we did order for 12 people. We had no idea that a few minutes meant THIRTY! One of our regular restaurant choices would have been faster. Needless to say, that was the LAST time they got our Sunday business! 8-2005

Oh, and the kids were much harder to keep under control in this kind of setting.
This really fun little scrapbook kit is called Fries with That and is from Atomic Cupcake.

The joy of a sleeping baby!

It is kind of ironic that I am posting this layout now. You see, I am typing this one-handed with a fussy NOT SLEEPING baby Rachel in the other. At least I got to experience the wonderful peace of a sleeping baby this afternoon when I snapped this.

I was able to put this layout together quickly using a quickpage from Doris Castle's Sweet Baby Album. Boy, these quickpages are SUCH a blessing for a busy mom!

By the way, Rachel is officially 6 weeks old (as of 8pm tomorrow). Time flies! And it hasn't ALL been fun, but it all has been a joy! Her siblings seem to have all adjusted to her presence in our home. Even Abi has stopped peeing on the floor and is using the potty consistently once again. Yay!

Speaking of Abi, as of last Saturday night, she is sleeping in her big girl bed. She threw a stink about being in her crib and Barry let her be in the bed. We have tried this before, but she wouldn't STAY in bed. She has decided she dislikes her crib and the threat of putting her back in there has worked wonders. She is doing GREAT and she looks so sweet in that big bed. I am dying to snap a picture of her sleeping there, but haven't wanted to turn on lights to get the shot and risk waking her. I may just have to stage a photo and get her to pretend to sleep. How else am I going to be able to scrap this momentous occasion?

Feeling quirky?

I was when I created this fun little deck of cards. I gave them a worn, antique flavor, but I wanted them to be just a little fun and offbeat, too. They are neutral enough that they will go with a variety of kits and layouts. Shoot, they could easily be colorized to match just about anything. I think they would be really fun to print out and used on an altered art type project

My 5 year old son, Patrick, saw these on the screen and was completely taken by them. He is totally into his alphabet and phonics right now. What a blessing! My first two children were so NOT like this and teaching them to read was painfully slow for all of us. Patrick is such a refreshing joy in this area! I may just print him out a set to play with!

Oh, and they are on sale just like everything else in my store this week!

SALE!

Scrap Outside the Box is having a grand re-opening. In honor of it, my entire store is 30% off. Just thought I would let you know.

6 HOURS and a SALE

Yes, my baby girl slept 6 whole hours last night - in a row! But I am so used to dealing with her every 2 or 3 hours that I kept waking up and checking on her anyway. :-) I am still ecstatic because it gives me a glimpse at that light at the end of the tunnel. SOMEDAY she will sleep through the night and I will get a full night's sleep. Forgive my excitement, but I have been pretty tired, so this feels big even if it only happens one night.

In other news, I have gotten a couple more things into my store at Scrap Outside the Box. First I created some yummy papers that I put into a paper pack called Sweet Potato Pie. I can't wait to get some Thanksgiving food photos to use this with.














I also put together a set of Jiffy Scraps using my Night Lights Scrappin' Set. I will let you in on a little secret: both the scrappin' set and the jiffies are ON SALE today and they are 50% off!















I have a couple of other things on sale too. Both my Quilted Comfort Jiffies and my Cherished Times Brag Book are also 50% off. But today is the last day for this.

I personally am feeling a bit behind on my own scrappin.' I even just realized that I am behind on my photo taking. I don't think I have taken any pictures of baby Rachel this week. Shame on me. She is changing so quickly, too! That's on my to do list for today.

Consider it pure JOY

It is 5am and I have been up with baby Rachel since 3am...

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."
James 1:2-3

This was the key verse during my Thursday morning women's bible study. This was also the day when I forced myself to face the fact that I think Rachel is a colicky baby. I have been down this road before. My last baby, Abi, who is now almost 3 was a classic colicky baby. From about 6 weeks old to 3 months old she would get into a crying jag every evening for no apparent reason and nothing settled her. It was a long couple of months.

Rachel is a bit different. I think her problem is that she swallows a lot of air when she eats and is uncomfortably gassy. But I haven't figured out how to give her enough relief and sometimes she just cries and I am helpless to settle her. [sigh] She is only 4 weeks old and I worry she is going to be a baby that I can't take out anywhere for fear she will start screaming. I do not look forward to being trapped with her at home for several months until she matures past this. Perhaps my concerns are will not come to pass.

That verse from James has kept playing in my head. "Consider it pure JOY..." According to this, I should be joyful when my little blessing is screaming NOT frustrated. I keep asking God to teach me because I am having difficulty with this. The rest of the verse goes on to say that the testing of your faith develops perserverence. I do get that and I can see how life's struggles do just that, but what I can't seem to really understand is how to have that JOY in the midst of it. I am going to keep praying for God to teach me about joy. I want to really understand the joy of the Lord that is not dependent upon your circumstances unlike happiness which is dependent on your happenings.

Hopefully the ramblings of the sleep deprived mom make some sense. Rachel seems to have settled to sleep and I am off to grab some sleep of my own. Sweet dreams....

God is in the details

I love this quote. It was said by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a brilliant architect who is also credited with saying, "Less is more."

When I put together this layout of photos of Rachel at 10 days old, this was the quote that popped into my head: "God is in the details." You can't help but marvel when looking at this wee little person so fresh from God. She has been created in tiny perfection. This can only be by the hand of God!

This page was created using parts of a scrapbook kit I have in the works. I started it well before Rachel was born, and I just can't seem to find the time or the brain cells to get it done. With being sick, I am finding that my brain has turned to mush. I am struggling to keep on track with the kids and the housekeeping. Creative stuff is just totally difficult to focus on right now. I am praying for God to take control of my details.

Really Rough Week

I have been trying to complete this post all week unsuccessfully. Like I said...

It has been a rough week. Sunday evening I started to feel bad - really achy and chilled like I had a fever. I went to bed early but couldn't sleep because I felt so bad. By morning I had realized that I had mastitis as my one breast was incredibly sore. Fortunately I was able to get in to see my doctor on Monday. He determined that I was in the early stages of mastitis and I have a sinus infection on top of it. No wonder I felt so lousy! The real bummer is that my hubby went out of town Monday leaving me alone with 5 kids for 9 days. Fortunately, my kids have been pretty good and my older girls very helpful. I stayed in bed all of Monday evening and night and woke up on Tuesday feeling WAY better. Because of this, I didn't rest enough and by Wednesday afternoon, I felt awful again and the antibiotics and Motrin were not helping at all. So, I crawled back to bed and pretty much stayed there all afternoon, evening, and the following day.

Today, I still feel kinda bad, but I am so sick of being in bed so I am up and trying really hard not to overdue things. It is so hard though when there is so much to be done and it is all staring you in the face and calling your name. (Literally, the kids do call my name!)

On a funny note, Tuesday was my son, Patrick's, birthday. His big sisters taught him how to play one of our PS2 games (Sly Cooper) and because of how lousy I was feeling and the fact that it was his birthday, I let him play for hours which is not the norm. And if I wasn't sure if I had let him overdue it, the next day he was running around the house playing with his little sister when I overheard him say, "You have just one more life, Abi, and then your dead."

The layout here I did earlier this week. This picture is one that my 9 yo daughter took of me without me knowing it. I only discovered it when I was going through my recently downloaded photos. We were looking at some really amazing rain clouds and I thought this verse was very fitting.

It reads: "To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:25-26

The layout was created using Doris Castle's Dreams kit. I love the rich color of the background and all of the papers in this.

Coming soon...

Well, baby Rachel was a bit high maintenence today. It wasn't that she was horribly fussy, just fussy anytime I tried to sit her down. So, I spent a good portion of my day with her in my arms which makes it difficult to get a lot of household chores done. So I created this brag book of jiffy scraps today so that I could feel that I accomplished something. I used an existing kit of mine called the Carpet Bagger Scrappin' Set to put these pages together. These are 6" X 4" pages designed to print and place in a little brag book style photo album. I want to put one of these together for myself to keep in the diaper bag. I think the kids would love having this to page through when we are out and they are restless. Plus, I don't normally carry any photos in my wallet so I can use this the brag on my kids a little, too. ;-)
This should be up in my Scrap Outside the Box store very soon.

Here's a fun site a stumbled onto. It looks like a great resource!

Is this it?

When it comes to having a new baby, there are many ways it affects a family and there are many things to think about. I have have decided that there is a VAST difference between a man and a woman's brain here. As for me, I am concentrating on how I can get back into a routine of managing our home, teaching the kids, and gaining back a bit of normalcy all while tending to a baby who wishes to be cuddled 24/7. My hubby, on the other hand, is obsessing over our family vehicle. His concern is warranted. We currently have a minivan which we love. It is supposed to hold 7 passengers. I believe that for that to be possible, at least 3 of them would have to be diminutive elves that do not require car seats. We have packed all 7 of us into the van and it is quite a feat just to get everyone smashed in and buckled. That back seat really wasn't designed for 3 people, especially in car seats. [sigh] So the hunt is on for a larger vehicle. My husband is fighting the big van. This is reminiscent of when we first started looking at minivans right after we had children. He thought he was too cool for one of those, too. Eventually the convenience factor won out and we got one. Well, it is time to move up again, but question is to what. I am pretty convinced that the big 12 passenger van is the best choice, but my man is stll holding out hope for 8 passenger Yukon XL. I just keep praying for wisdom (and perhaps a large chunk of money to drop from the sky) to know what the right decision is. This photo is one that is in the running right now. A local dealer just got this one in. Perhaps we can take it out for a drive with all of the kids loaded in it today.

Anyway, my brain is so full today! I finally got baby Rachel asleep on my lap and I am going to try and lay her down and be more productive,

Crazy!

I was doing a little surfing this morning and discovered this photo. It cracked me up and I decided that I need a sign like this hanging in my house. Things have felt a bit crazy around here lately. I probably just have too much on my mind right now. I can't even begin to list it all. The real crazy factor is that it is raining and my energetic preschoolers are bouncing of the walls today.

I was feeling so ambitious today, but yet it is already mid afternoon and when I look around, it doesn't seem that I have accomplished much. [sigh] What a downer! As soon as Rachel gets done eating and goes to sleep I really need to kick into high gear!

Oh, the joys of motherhood!

I have to say that I have been a bit frustrated with the behavior of my 2 yo. Ever since baby Rachel came home. she has been whiney and misbehaving. She has also been choosing to boycott the potty. I have been trying to give her plenty of attention, but some days it is hard because she is just not fun to be around. But then I discovered this photo that my daughter took last week. In it I don't see that obnoxious child, but instead I see an insecure little girl and it reminded me of how vulnerable she is right now.

The journaling on this layout reads:
Abi, ever since we brought your baby sister, Rachel, home, you have been whiney and obnoxious and misbehaving. I have been at my wit's end with you, but then I look into your eyes and realize that you are so vulnerable right now. YOU have been the baby in the house for 2 1/2 years. You have been able to monopolize my lap and much of my attention. Now, you have to share that place with your baby sister and you are insecure. I will remember this and give you an extra hug today.

I used Doris Castle's newest kit at ScrapbookGraphics called Spiced Cider. I like how the warm colors compliment the photo.

It's Monday

Why are Mondays so hard? I am having trouble getting my head on straight and figuring out what needs to get accomplished this week. It doesn't help that I overslept and didn't get up until 8am, therefore I had to share my morning quiet time with 5 children. It wasn't exactly "quiet." I had a bit of difficulty doing any bible study or quiet reflection! Oh well.

I really have the bug to do some organizing around here. It's like I am doing delayed "nesting." I had the urge to do these things pre-baby, but certainly didn't have the energy. I still am not at full strength, but things are way less tiring because I am not carrying a baby around 24/7. Plus I get rest every 2 hours when the baby needs to eat. ;-)

Friday, I decided to make a dent in my out of control, messy school room/office. I COMPLETELY cleared off my desk. I usually have it piled high with papers and stuff. I have decided that this is going to be this room's "shiny sink." Any of you who are "fly babies" will know exactly what I am talking about here. I will at minimum keep my desk clean and shiny and hopefully the cleanliness will soon spread to the rest of the room. Perhaps, today I can pick another small area to clean.

Oh, and here's another layout I wanted to share. This is a photo that hubby took of me and baby Rachel. She was JUST born and the doctor had placed her on my chest so I could see her. This is a quickpage from Doris Castle's Pure Love album. I thought the colors looked great with this photo and it was so quick to do!

Rachel has been eating lots today, so I got another one handed page done. These are shots as I was on my way out the door to the hospital. I had an 8:30 appointment to be induced.

This page was completed using Doris Castle's Precious Moments kit.

Well, here I sit typing one handed while feeding baby Rachel. You would swear she has a built in alarm clock that tells her that it has been exactly two hours since her last feed. I really can't complain though, because she has been a very good dispositioned baby. It probably doesn't hurt that she gets no shortage of attention around here.

Yesterday, she had her first doctor's visit. Obviously she is eating well because at 9 days old, she has already gained 8 ounces and grown 3/4". Yay! She actually SLEPT through her entire exam with the doc! He poked her, listened to her and looked her all over, but she was just a sleeping rag doll. She didn't ever wake up when he pried her eyes open and shined a light into them. After he was done and I was getting her dressed, she opened her eyes and looked at me like "did I just miss something?" Too funny!

I am trying to get myself back into some sort of routine with the baby, the house, the kids and the schooling. I have a long way to go! This week has just flown by! Hopefully next week will be a little better. I have had it pretty easy this week because I was not supposed to drive and had to say no to stuff and cancel appointments. It has been SO NICE just being home. It is making me think that I really need to limit the running around that I usually do. That can be tough with managing our apartments, though. Perhaps I need to have just a couple of days that I leave the house and fiercely guard my other days at home. The other great thing this week has been that my "peeps" from bible study have been bringing me dinner every night. That has been SO GREAT! Although I have been teasing them that I am never gonna lose the baby weight because they are feeding me too well! Good friends are such a blessing!

I managed to put this layout together rather quickly the other day. This is Doris Castle's newest kit called Sweet Decadence and she included a couple of quickpages with it. It was so pretty and I immediately thought of this photo when I saw it. My daughter snapped this wonderful photo of my mom holding Rachel for the first time. Isn't it great?

With all this eating that baby Rachel is doing, maybe I will get a jump start on her baby book!

Reviving the art of one handed scrappin'

So what do you do when you have to feed a hungry baby and want to be efficient with your time? You do it in front of the computer and scrap one handed!

This first layout was really fun to do with Betsy Tuma's Aa to Zz PSD Templates which are on sale right now at Scrap Outside the Box. I may just have to do an entire album with these templates. They are so EASY to use!
Layout Credits:
Betsy Tuma's Aa to Zz templates
Papers by Doris Castle
Mo Jackson's Crepe Paper flowers
Mo's Charm alpha
Mo's Betsy's bath - old tag
Mo's Designer DooDad labels

The tag at the bottom reads:
Rachel
meaning little ewe; one with purity
Little label reads:
2 days old

The top photo is of Rachel laying all cozy in my hospital bed and the bottom photo is of her dressed and ready to come home from the hospital.

This other layout is of Rachel's first bath at home. Yeah, she wasn't lovin' it! My daughter snapped these photos. I just love what she captured in the main one. So pitiful!

Journaling reads:
Rachel's very first bath happened shortly after her birth and took place in the hospital nursery. She got her first bath at home when she was 5 days old. Since she is not a fan of even being undressed for a diaper change, it was no surprise when she began to holler about being naked AND wet. Poor thing! We made the ordeal a quick one and she settled as soon as she was covered in her wrap-me-up hooded towel.
October 1, 2006

Layout Credits:
Backgrounds, ribbon trim, duckies, tub charm are from Mo Jackson's Betsy's Bath
Letter "b" from Mo's Caroline.
Stitches from Mo's Stitches One.
Water splashes are my own (from Splash City.)

Rachel has been a great baby so far! She only fusses when she is hungry and when I change her diaper. Although she eats like clockwork even through the night, she doesn't keep me awake any longer than it takes her to eat. As for myself, I am not supposed to drive at all this week which has forced me to cancel appointments and just stay home. It has been great and allowed me to rest. I was able to avoid the c-section and had a regular delivery so my recovery has been relatively easy. I am SO thankful for that!

My little ones have not been the best behaved since I came home from the hospital, but they are adjusting and everyone adores Rachel. My older girls argue over whose turn it is to hold her. Patrick doesn't pay much attention to her at all and Abi just loves to talk to her and "pet" her. Now, if I could just get Abi to stop wetting her pants, I would be a happy camper. I know it is common for toddlers to have potty training issues when a new baby comes into the house, but this is the first time I have experienced it first hand. I have cleaned quite a bit of pee off the living room carpet in the last few days. [sigh] I just hope this passes soon.

Announcing...

Our little girl has finally decided to come out and meet us! Rachel arrived after a full day of coaxing last Tuesday evening. Both of us are now happy to be home and are doing well. Thank you all for all your prayers!

***EDITED TO ADD***
In my postpartum, brain-dead state, I forgot to mention that this was created using one of Doris Castle's Baby Announcements from www.scrapbookgraphics.com. I just tweaked the photo to match and added the text. I was gonna create my own, but this one was just WAY too cute not to use!

Tomorrow is BABY day

Unless I go into labor before then, tomorrow is BABY day. I am scheduled to go into the hospital tomorrow morning to try and get my labor going. Hopefully that will work or I will be facing a c-section. Doctor doesn't think it would be wise to wait any longer though with my gestational diabetes and all. Wish me luck and I would greatly appreciate any prayers for a safe delivery for baby and I.

I have also include a couple of recent LOs I have done that I thought I would share. The left one used several fun photos that my oldest daughter took one morning at breakfast. I used Doris Castle's Enchantment kit and her Stroke of Art brushes from www.scrapbookgraphics.com. The one on the right was done using the American Cancer Society Calendar of Hope charity mega kit that I talked about in Saturday's post. And yes there ARE five children in that photo - one's still in utero, though. :-)

I will probably be pretty quiet for a while since I expect to be in the hospital and I don't have the luxury of a laptop to keep things updated.

God bless!

Charity kit and crop

I just thought I would share about this mega kit that was created to raise money for the American Cancer Society. One of my fellow designers at Scrap Outside the Box has been deeply touched by brain cancer and wanted to do a charity kit. As it turns out, many of the Scrap Outside the Box designers have been affected by Cancer of their loved ones and wanted to do something to help others suffering from the same difficulties. We decided to create this lovely kit and donate the funds to the American Cancer Society. I, personally, haven't lost a close family member to cancer, but have still been touched by it. I just found out this morning that a special man at our church passed away last night. He was just diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer last Thursday. I am deeply saddened and I can only imagine how devastating this is to his family. So, anyway, I am so glad that I was able to participate in this mega kit, too.

Scrap Outside the Box will be hosting 4 special crops today to promote this kit at 10am, 2pm, 6pm, and 10pm (EST). There will be prizes from all over the digital community.

CREATING KEEPSAKES WILL BE JOINING SOTB Rachel Thomae of Creating Keepsakes @ 2 p.m. and Jessica Sprague of Creating Keepsakes @ 6 p.m., 10 p.m. EST
There are also crop freebies available, posting bonuses, a layout contest and a participation contest. More details and the links to the downloads can be found here.

I am hoping to be able to attend at least one of these crops today. Although, I would not be too disappointed to miss them if it was because I went into labor. I am still trying to be patient and wait for this baby in God's perfect timing...but it is so hard :-)

Waiting for baby...

STILL waiting for baby. I do really think God is trying to teach me patience! Just like all of my other babies, I have seen my due date come ...and go and still no baby, no labor. [sigh] That's ok; it's not like I don't have anything to do. I went to see the doctor yesterday. They did another ultrasound and the baby is measuring 7 lbs. 6 oz. Perfect size! She is moving just a bit less than she was, but everything still looks just fine. My doc doesn't want me to go past a week overdue because of the gestational diabetes, so if by next Tuesday I haven't gone into labor, she wants to try and get something started or do a c-section.

Yesterday, I was feeling productive and got some cleaning and organizing done around the house and on the computer. I burnt a bunch of photos onto DVDs and cleaned them off my hard drive which is making things run SO much better. I also decided that I should package up these jiffy scraps that I created several weeks ago. I have a bunch of fall papers that I created and these are made with some of my favorites. There is something about the cool crispness of fall that makes me want to wrap up in a cozy quilt. With these, your photos can do that, too! Ü

Just for fun, I did this:

I don't know that I truly see the resemblances and I used a really bad photo, but I am just happy to see that there are some gorgeous women in the bunch! Ü

Hopefully, I will have baby news to post soon. Hope your day is great!