Christmas in March

Well, I am feeling a bit behind. All last week I was fighting off sickness, telling myself that I was NOT going to get sick and that I could just keep going at my normal pace. With all of the hats that I wear and things that I do each day, I really don't feel like I have the luxury of getting sick. I did battle with my sinuses all week, dealt with pain and pressure in my ears, and pounded down my headaches with constant doses of ibuprofen. Even still, by Friday night I was exhausted and my left eye was bloodshot and pussy. Ick. I woke up Saturday morning and the eye was matted shut and I decided that I had to get to a doctor before this new development spread through the whole family. The verdict was a sinus infection, 2 ear infections and conjunctivitis (pink eye). So, I isolated myself as best as I could from everyone over the weekend and took my antibiotics.


I think I am finally seeing the light at the end of this dark tunnel although I am not quite through this yet. The good new in all of this is that during my personal quarantine, I was able to sneak in some scrapbooking, something that I haven't been able to find the time for in months. Yay! I didn't realize how much I missed it. I think it is like a drug. I had it out of my system, but now that I have gotten another taste of it, I am hooked again. Now, the trick is figuring out when I can sneak time into my day for scrapbooking. That's a challenge.



So, this is why we have Christmas in March. I started going through my photos and this sweet one of Samuel sleeping in his Grandma's arms at one of our Christmas get-togethers called out to me. I can't resist those flushed cheeks and pudgy little fingers. (Materials used for this page can be found here.)




Here is a page full of other misc. photos from the same Christmas party. I thought it was easiest to just put them all into a big collage frame like this.

(Materials used for this page can be found here.)

Then Santa came to another big family get-together we went to. Since we don't make a huge deal about Santa in our house and don't go to the mall to get the photo on his lap, this was Samuel's first time to meet the big guy. I don't think he knew quite what to think. At least he didn't start screaming, but he kept a wary eye on him the whole time he was one his lap. I like how this photo captures that. (Materials used for this page can be found here.)



So, that's about it for me. I'm just hoping that I can get back on track and doing what I need to get done along with some fun scrapbooking, of course.

I scrapbooked!

I actually scrapbooked! It has been WAY too long since I have found the time to do this. Sadly, I have been slacking at taking photos, too, which is pretty bad since I have a fast growing baby in the house. I do, thankfully, have some photos. I just wish I had more.

The days are full beyond measure and I am constantly have to be selective with what is on my to do list because there is no way to get it ALL done. For my sanity, I cannot neglect the household management. It takes less than a day of ignoring the household chores for this place to turn into quite a sty! I have also found that I need to keep something creative in my day to keep my sanity, too. It is just so easy to say I will do that [creative thing] after the laundry is done or this clutter is dealt with. BUT, sadly, the laundry is NEVER done and there's always more clutter. Sometimes you just have to turn a blind eye if you ever want to do anything fun. I think the key is finding that place where the messes aren't overwhelming and the fun still happens.

Anyway, I took the time to go through some photos yesterday and I scrapbooked this one. Yay! It is of my baby at the zoo last week sitting on Gramp's lap. I think he is looking so old. It is amazing how much babies change in just a few short months! Speaking of the little guy, he is sitting on my lap as I type this and trying desperately to reach the keys. Gone are the days where he would sleep peacefully on my lap while I am on the computer. I suppose that is why I have found it so difficult to scrapbook. If you are interested, all the credits and details of this page can be found here at Cottage Arts.

Edited to add:

I get irritated with blogger. It always does weird, inconsistant thigs with my formatting. Today it doesn't want to leave a space between my paragraphs. Other days it will put 4 or 5. Anyway, sorry about that.

25 years ago today...

On this day 25 years ago...I had my first official date.

This boy from my church had called and asked me out and I said, "yes." After I hung up the phone and came into the family room where my parents were, the questions began.

"Who was that?"
"What did he want?"
"A date?!?"
"I'm not sure we can let you do that."

It had never occurred to me that they wouldn't let me date. I suppose the whole thing was a surprise to them since I really had not shown a huge interest in the opposite sex. I can still remember their discussion. My mom pointed out to my dad that this was a nice boy from church. My dad simply stated that there ARE no "nice boys." I do think the fact that they had known the boy and his family for years at church helped and they relented and decided to let me go.



So, the next Friday, I came home from school and spent the entire afternoon deliberating over the clothes in my closet. I was clueless as to what to wear. I can still remember the outfit I finally chose: jeans, a pink and blue striped polo and a white cardigan. In retrospect, it was pretty bad.



I anxiously waited for my date to arrive. When he finally did, I was surprised to discover that he had a friend with him who was going to drive. I suppose that he was even more nervous than I was and brought his buddy along for moral support.



I don't recall all of the details of that night, but it did include a lot of driving around aimlessly trying to figure out what to do. I believe we ended up eating at Pizza Hut and walking the mall. The whole evening had an overall tone of awkwardness! It is probably a miracle that there was actually a second date after that one. But there was. Although things may have been a bit rocky at first, I continued to date this boy all through high school. We went to our proms and school dances together. We hung out and went to movies. We grew into adulthood together.



If it had not been for that awkward date 25 years ago that took place on the day after my 15th birthday, I wouldn't be the wife and mother I am today, I wouldn't be the same person because I ended up marrying that nervous boy. He is now my husband, father of our six children, and best friend.




Happy Anniversary, Barry!

It's been a fun time - let's shoot for at least 25 more!

Scrapbook Page: Barry and I at my Junior Prom. Credits can be found here.

Monday...Monday

It is Monday once again. Here I sit, still in PJs because I overslept and needed to feed the baby and grab what little quiet time I was able to before jumping into my day. My littlest ones are still in their PJs, too, watching Franklin on PBS. Am I proud of this? No, but life doesn't always go the way we plan. This is not ideal, but it will work for today.

In just a few moments I will go lay down the sleeping baby nestled in my lap after feeding to contentment, Then I will start breakfast to cooking and rally my troops to start making things happen - productive things (hopefully). We are all a little under the weather fighting off some germ that is making us tired, stuffed up, coughing, and incredibly achy. The forecast is good for today and I am hoping to open up the house a bit and let the spring breezes blow the sickies right out of our house. Perhaps we can even motivate ourselves enough to take a little walk and look for some signs of Spring. Finding little green things poking through the ground and listening to the commotion of all the birds that have returned will certainly lift our spirits.

Scrapbook page: A photo of Rachel taken at the hospital on the day her baby brother was born. Credits for the page can be found here.

Been Quiet

I know that I have been quiet here on the blog. I have been around, but every time I think I should create a blog post, my mind goes blank. I have no idea what to write about. I could blather on about my day to day life filled with baby stuff, housework, and the challenges of raising 6 children. But does anyone want to actually listen to all that? So often I feel that I have nothing truly significant to share here. Perhaps it is just that this little baby of mine is taking more than milk from me when he nurses; maybe he is sucking brain cells, as well. [teehee]

Speaking of nursing, I have been, however, using that sit down time to pour my creative energies into scrapbooking. So, I guess I will share that.

Here is a page I created yesterday. Doris Castle, whose creative team I am on and create layouts for, has made these wonderful backgrounds called Seasonal Enchantment. These are perfect for the fantasy-type pages that are prevalent in the online scrapbook galleries lately. I don't usually do stuff like this, but I thought I would give it a shot. Here's what I came up with:

This is a photo that Elizabeth took of Abi last October. I love her sweet expression. I removed her from the background of the photo and placed her in this land of fairies instead. Credits for this page can be found here.

Hoping you all have a fantastic day!

Thankfulness

I am thankful for this sweet little baby boy nursing at my breast. Thankful that he is who he is, that he is healthy, and that he can be nourished so easily this way. Thankful that I don't need to purchase bottles and formula. Breastfeeding costs me nothing but... my time.


Time feels like a precious commodity right now. So much of mine is spent caring for this littlest child of mine who loves to eat very frequently. Of course what goes in must come out so there are multitudes of diapers each day. I feel like nearly ALL of my time day and night is spent with him in arms. And while he is in arms, I am still one-handedly caring for the needs of the rest of my family as best as I can, wiping noses, refereeing childish battles, helping with schoolwork, cooking, and to minimal extent cleaning. I spend so much time sitting and nursing my little guy that I still have some time left over to scrapbook, which I am thankful for, as well.

Here are some of the fruits of this nursing time:

Although you can't really see it on the computer, there is journaling over the left side of the photo.

It reads:

It was love at first sight when Elizabeth gets to hold her new baby brother, Samuel on the day he was born She was hesitant to give him up and let someone else have a turn with him. February fourth, two thousand and nine.

Credits for this page can be found here.

This one was taken the day before Samuel was born and I was 9 days past due. Credits for this page can be found here.

Samuel has fallen asleep in my arms and I am going to try to lay him down and fix breakfast for the rest of my family and maybe sneak in a shower (I hope).

Life with Baby Update

No news is good news, right? Sorry, I have been a bit quiet on the ol' blog. As you can imagine life has been a bit busy since we brought baby Samuel home. Even though he is a really good baby, he LOVES to eat frequently which takes quite a bit of my time. I still have not got my routine adjusted to accommodate this.

I did manage to create a couple of baby announcements. This was accomplished by creative multitasking while I nursed Samuel. I figure if I have to sit to feed him, I may as well also use that time to create, too.

I couldn't really decide what I wanted, so I made two versions. I think the top one is my favorite, though. Credits for each one can be found here and here.

I also have some other photos to share. These were all take on Samuel's 6th day.











This last photo I used to create this scrapbook page:



Credits fr this page can be found here.

Scrappin' for Distraction

Well, my hormones are surging, but no labor as of yet. I feel tired and not like doing much of anything. To say that I am ready for labor to start is an understatement. I have been doing quite a bit of scrapbooking today. It is a nice distraction from my current discomfort.


This first page uses a few shots of my daughter playing basketball. Credits for the page can be found here.



These next couple of pages show off my daughters' new play kitchen that they got for Christmas from their Grammy and Gramps. The one shows when the got it and the other shows it sitting our kitchen at home. Credits for the pages can be found here and here.




Tomorrow I will officially be a whole week past due for this baby. I am finding it somewhat depressing which probably has a lot to do wit these crazy hormones. They are wreaking havoc with my emotions right now. I just have to keep telling myself that I WON'T be pregnant forever (it just feels like it right now).

Baby still on board

Yes, it is 5 days past baby's due date, but baby does not seem ready to come out and join us. I visited my doctor today and had another ultrasound and they checked this little one over real good and he or she seems to be fairing well. So, I am waiting.....waiting.....waiting. [sigh]

In other news...I actually took some time this evening to scrapbook a page! I just have to do that now and then so I don't go crazy, you know. This is a page to document this particularly trying time we are having with my 2 year old. Her strong-willed behavior goes beyond anything that I have seen with my other children. Just when you think you may have 2 year olds figured out, God throws you a curve ball!

The journaling on this reads:
Jan. 3, 2009
Rachel,
You are the cutest, sweetest little girl who tests my patience to the very limits. One moment you will be happy and charming and then something won’t go your way and you turn into a screaming banshee. The incessant screaming is enough to make me want to pull my ears off just so I won’t have to listen to another moment. We are working hard to calmly bring you through this phase of your life remembering that a “soft answer turns away wrath” (Prov. 15:1). Someday your strong will & determination may serve you well. Until them, I pray we survive it!

Credits for this page can be found here.

Quick post with a scrapbook page

Thought I would share this scrapbook page I worked on this weekend. It felt so good to sit and do something creative on the computer. I haven't done that in a while. I am hoping that I can sneak some more scrapping in after the baby arrives. Of course it will have to be done one handed while I am on nursing duty, but I can live with that.

In regards to this page, it has one of *my* baby pictures. Here I am at 10 months old. I still remember that skunk. Her name was Flower (like the skunk from Bambi). I had her for years. Check out that avocado green and yellow flowered chair. Can you tell this was taken in 1970? Credits for the page can be found here.

I just realized that I still do not have any 2009 calendar pages in my planner. That's not so good. Instead of buying some, I am going to try and make my own. I think it will be fun to put a little creative energy into my planner since I refer to it so much. I am going to try and at least get a couple of months printed and clean out my planner book. I try and share when I get done.

More Sleepless Scrappin'

Another scrapbook layout completed during my restless night. The text reads, "There is no better comfort than in the arms of a sister." That seems fitting for this photo of my one and only son with 4 sisters, huh.

The page can be found here with credits if you are interested.

Sleepless in Indiana

I think God prepares you during pregnancy for the sleep deprivation you face with a new baby. It must be a hormonal thing, but if I wake up in the middle of the night, I have a terrible time falling back asleep no matter how tired I am. My body is exhausted, but my mind kicks into overdrive an won't let me rest. Unfortunately, my bladder has been waking me most nights (another pregnancy thing), so I have been up a lot.

Last night I decided to get up and do some scrapbooking and make good use of my awake time. This is one of the pages that I completed. The photo was actually taken by my daughter. I have become quite lazy with the camera lately because she has spoiled me by taking tons of photos - and the are really good. It is so nice to have a bunch of great scrappin material right at my fingertips. I love the expressions of my girls here. It just makes me think of sweet companionship. The page can be found here with credits.

My "baby" is 2!

My little lady had a birthday yesterday so I decided to take her outside in a attempt to get an official birthday picture. Did you know that 2 year olds are active?!? I have more blurry photos than anything else because she didn't want to sit still for me. BUT I did manage to snap this little gem of her looking up at my into the breeze. It shows off her crazy wild curls and sweet face perfectly. So, I had to scrap it, of course.

The page can be seen with credits here.

Tomorrow we are having her birthday party here at the house which will be mostly family. So, today I will be cooking and cleaning to get ready.

1st Dentist Visit

I had to take my littlest one to the dentist today. About a month ago I noticed that one of her teeth was turning gray. I can only assume that she bumped it. I called our pediatric dentist and they thought he should take a look at her. So, Rachel has the honor of being the youngest member of the family to go to the dentist.

Her tooth is in good shape, but it is discolored enough that the dentist thinks she has about a 50% chance it will "die" and need to be removed. We see him in a couple of months again and need to watch it.

Rachel's strong-willed personality reared its ugly head and she was NOT cooperative about having someone poke around her mouth. It took 2 nurses and me to hold her while the dentist checked what he needed to. Thank goodness, it didn't even phase him a bit when she kicked and screamed and he was very fast. A princess sticker and a Dora toothbrush seemed to make it all better. You can see her in this scrapbook page showing the toothbrush off to her brother. Her big sister, Abi, is quite jealous and demanded to know when she would get HER Dora toothbrush.

Credits for the page and the journaling can be found here.

I'm a Gallery Stand Out!

Just had to share...the Abigail page I posted yesterday was chosen as a Gallery Stand Out at DigiShopTalk. There are so many layouts posted at this site that most do not get much attention or many views. So, it is really cool when somebody takes the time to call attention to one and show it off.

The Eyes Have It

Even though I have plenty of other things to do, I got hit pretty hard with the scrappin' bug and took a little time out to create this page.

I discovered this photo sitting on my hard drive. My daughter, Elizabeth, took it a week or so ago. I loved what she captured in my 4 year old's eyes. I decided to colorize and tint it for this page. That is the actual color of Abi's eyes; I just erased the tinting there. That is also how I did the cheeks and the slight color in the dress. Credits for the scrapbook page can be found here, if you are interested.

Today

I spent a some bits of time here and there the past few days putting this scrapbook page together. Scrapping is such a great way to feel somewhat productive without expending much energy. Energy is something that has certainly been in short supply. My "to-do" list is enormous, but I just haven't had the oomph to get much of it done. I've had a bit of running this week that has taken me out into the heat, too. Today, however, is gorgeous and I wish I felt more like taking advantage of it. Anyway, more info and credits for this page can be found here.

Today is also my 20 year wedding anniversary with my hubby. Sadly, he had to go out of town on business and desert me, but he promises to make it up to me. Happy anniversary, sweetie! Can't wait to hang out with you for another 20.

Storms of Life

Lately, God has been talking to me about storms - both literal and figurative. Our Indiana weather has been kinda weird lately. We have had an unusual amount of storms. Many of them fairly fast and followed by the most glorious rainbows I have ever seen. Usually we are lucky to see a couple of rainbows a year and even those are faint. These have been vivid double rainbows along with a light golden rainfall at sunset. Magical!

I've talked to several people who have commented on our strange weather. I wouldn't really give it much thought except that I have had several dreams relating to storms. Now, I am a person that rarely remembers her dreams. When I do, it is usually unusual random bits and fleeting images that drop from my conscious mind by the time I am fully awake. Recently, I have had these vivid dreams with actually story-lines that I remembered clearly after I woke up. I know it may sound strange, but I feel like God was speaking to me through these dreams about trusting Him through storms. I get the feeling that it is not just just through stormy weather, but also through the storms of life. In ways, this kind of worries me because I don't want to face storms in my life. Who does, right? But no matter what happens, I do trust that God is watching over us and will not give us more than we can handle.

Last week in the bible study I am part of, we were studying the Psalms. They are beautiful. Our leader passed out pieces of paper and asked each of us to take about 10 minutes and write our own personal psalm. At first, my mind was a blank, but as I thought about it, I knew I had to write about trusting God through the storms of life.

This is what I wrote:

"When life is joyful,
I will trust you, Lord.

When life is difficult,
I will trust you, Lord.


When storms approach,
I will trust you, Lord.

When the winds howl,
I will trust you, Lord.

When the ground shakes,
I will trust you, Lord.


When everything crumbles around me,
I will trust you, Lord.


When there is nothing but darkness and despair,
I will trust you, Lord.


When the storm clouds pass,
I will trust you, Lord.


When the sun breaks though,
I will trust you, Lord.


When the blue sky reappears,
I will trust you, Lord.


When the rainbow fill my vision,
I will trust you, Lord.


I will trust you, Lord,
in all things."

Being a scrapbooker, I felt like I needed to create and page for this. I know, its a weird obsession. If you are interested, credits for the page can be found here.

Here's a cool breeze...

I was going through some older photos and found some I love, but had not scrapped. This one should look refreshing on these hot July days. Here is Rachel back in February. This was really one of her first time to ever play in the snow. I usually just sent the older ones outside and kept her inside. On this day, we bundled her up and took her outside to play. She totally loved it. She was especially into eating the snow and icicles (as you can see here). I love seeing her in this snowsuit because it is the same one that all three of her older sister wore as babies. (Patrick had his own that had NO pink on it.) This page uses all Cottage Arts goodies and credits for the page can be found here.


This other page is also from last winter - December 26th to be exact. I love this shot that shows Abi's excitement playing our new Wii. She had been Wii boxing against her big sister, Anna, and knocked her out. The best was watching Patrick (6 years) and Abi (4 years) box against each other. They both get really into it, flailing their arms and kicking their legs. We tried to explain that moving your legs has no effect, but they couldn't help themselves.
This page uses ScrapbookGraphics Impressions of Laughter collaborative kit.

A Bit of Scrappin'

I've done a bit more scrapping recently. It is something I can sit and do when I am feeling tired, so I have gotten two pages done.

This one uses a picture I have shown off here on the blog on two other occasions. Can you tell that I really love it? When I saw this fun background by Julie Mead (Cottage Arts), I knew this would be a great photo to use. Extracting Abi on the swing out of the photo was a bit time consuming because of the chain and her wispy hair, but it was worth it. I am really pleased with how this came out. Credits for the page can be found here.

This other page a did a few days ago. It captures my littlest bringing me a flower which is a new thing that she has learned. It is just so sweet. Credits for this page can be found here.

I want to thank you all for the kind words and well wishes in response to my announcement. It is wonderful to have others excited with us about this new baby! My sister-in-law even wrote the sweetest entry on her blog. Not many people understand our conviction to leave our family planning up to God. I figure that I am only human and not always real smart, but HE is the creator of the entire universe, all-powerful, and all-knowing. I think He just might have a better idea of what is best for our family. ;-)

Several people have asked me about my due date. I haven't seen the doctor yet to get her official date, but according to an online due date calculator, we are looking at January 25th. I am in my 11th week. I'm experiencing the typical nausea and tiredness, but everything seems normal so far. Thanks for all your sweet words of encouragement!