SCRAPBOOKING

Part of my new year's resolution is to create 'something' once a month. An achievable goal - something i shouldn't fail at. Here is a great start: I put together an album about my trip to Anaheim last month.

a few pages from the album

This is the cover of the album.

How it began. My desk and a stack of 180 photos.

55-32 a win . . . for all of us.

Ashton had a game today. Always sweet when your child's team wins. Even better when your husband is the coach. BUT much more memorable when your other son who is with Grandma in Las Vegas, calls to see how his brothers game went. Something i want to remember forever. A moment which I'll keep in my heart.

She gets it from me.

I believe she gets this from me. But then again, i have to admit she has her own sense of style.  The blouse above is in fact a size 1-2 year old dress from Cinnamon Girl. She actually wore it as a dress at a wedding in Napa Valley when she wasn't one yet. (photo below taken May 4, 2004)

When she put this dress on last week she said, "Look mom, i made my dress into a shirt!" Okay, not bad,  a little tight, but she believed that she looked great! 

To understand this . . . I've always wanted a girl. Given we have 2 boys, stuck with jeans and shorts, no hair pins, no pink, and no dolls. So when Jadeline came along, I told myself she would wear dresses, I could dress her in pink (she loves pink and purple), I could brush and braid her hair, and we could craft and create together. She can be high maintenance - because i did that to myself. Bobby reminds me all the time, "You wanted a girl, there you go. She's a real life doll!" So now I have a daughter who dreads wearing jeans, who can live in dresses and tights every single day, who can't live without a headband in her hair, and when her mother insists that she must wear jeans - Jadeline has that crazy fashion sense to put a dress on over her jeans!

*Note: You must wonder why i have her 1 year old dress hanging in her closet? She gets a cinnamon girl dress every year. I've bought them or its passed down from her cousin Kimi. I plan to do  a little project with them.. just haven't got around to working on that quite yet.

NO FAST FOOD!

I decided to add something to my New Year's Resolution. We decided that we would not eat any type of fast food. Goal: no fast food for one month. (That includes McDonald's, Wendy's, BurgerKing, etc). 6 days and its been a great start. We even made hamburgers at home to get over any hamburger fix. Its not just a great health change, but a great habit to be creative with meals and snacks. I thought it would be hard when we step out and do errands, but its funny how we remind each other - "we either go now, so we can come back to eat lunch, OR leave after lunch." 6 days. . . 25 more days to go...

Ughh!! and sigh....

Sometimes work can get in the way. I know i need to be patient because it provides a wonderful and comfortable lifestyle for my family and I. But there are days when i would love to just be at home. . .  to do all this: 

I am so wanting to create stuff. I have a bunch of new fabric to sew up. (above photo taken by Jadeline who spotted the bolt of fabric that i have - the pink flower one). I had my camera in fabric depot; to entertain Jadeline, i told her to find the fabric i have at home and take a picture of it. Great eyes!!

Hunter got left over prime rib! Yum!!!

Yes, its snowing - AGAIN! I woke up at 330pm today and it was snowing! 

And sometimes I just want to stay home to do this. I inherited Ashton's Nintendo DS, to play Guitar Hero. It is addicting. I'm struggling playing on hard. Jadeline is playing her Little Pet Shop on her DS.

 

Resolutions . . .

New year - new resolutions! Last year, i was very hesitant to start a list of resolutions because i thought I was setting myself up for failure. But i did anyway, and i did pretty well.

• Maintain an organized craft desk. DONE. Kept that up, rearranged it, and bought a few used pieces to keep me organized.
• Scrapbook a page a month. KIND OF DONE. I chose to scrap a few pages a month to allow other craft projects. Sewing took a lot of my craft time.
• Be healthy. DONE. I thought i would just do the vitamin thing. Instead, started working out, and had a trainer with boot camp.

This year, i have a little different goals - and something more achievable so i won't fail.

• EXERCISE. Did i really type that? But if i can do some sort of exercise at a minimum of once a week, its a start. Anyhow, i actually love the energy it gives me.
• CREATE. scrap/quilt/bead something once a month. *project must be complete*

Just 2 this year. I want to keep it simple. Lets see  how that goes...

Happy New Year!

We spent New Years @ the Austin's. It was fun, entertaining, and intoxicating. ;) It is different to what I grew up with - spending time with family and a lot of fireworks. But New Years spent untraditionally for me is something I am getting use to.

Last year, I had my word for the year which was "embrace." Looking back, it was the perfect year for embracing our adventures. I had one child in elementary school, one in middle school, and one in high school. And to make things much more interesting, my husband works the opposite hours i do. So in my world, I'm at home just 4 nights a week to do homework with the kids, have a family dinner just twice a week, and somehow fit in date night 1-2 times a month. And while the husband works during the evening, and Jadeline in school till 11am during the week, i find the time for creating.

This year, I'm taking the word, "PATIENCE." As my life continues on, i plan on taking each adventure with a breath, I bite my tongue, and remind myself that I have that patience to do this. . . .