Tuesday and Wednesday (A week in the Life project)

Tuesday:



Homemade sweet potato and broccoli baby food:



Josh isn't so sure about it (I think it's the texture).



Carrots from the garden! Woo hoo!




Thank goodness for crazy glue ... I stepped on this the other day and fixed it good as new!



So much fun ... Joel and I have been playing hide and seek all day (J: "Where's Joel?" Me finding him wrapped in the shower curtain or behind his little hands ... Joel giggling hysterically (and me too!) Love this kid!



Matt and Josh ...



A bubble bath beard (we call them Tow Mater bubbles in our house -- I bought Joel Tow Mater bubble bath - the bottle looks like an oil bottle and has Tow Mater on the front).



Wednesday:

Just to note ... I wasn't really driving in this photo. (Had to clarify that one to Matt).



I read Psalm 121 almost every day ... my Grandpa's favorite psalm and it has such amazing promises!




I dug up the potatoes yesterday too ... and this afternoon while making scalloped potatoes for supper I noticed this one looks like a heart =)



I bought this book today at Walmart ... I can hardly put it down! It's been so long since I read a novel ... I'm so enjoying snatching moments to read!

Monday (A week in the Life project)

These are my favorite photos from yesterday:

Me and Joel at the swimming pool =) Bathing beauties LOL!



Josh having a nap at Grandma's when we went to pick him up after swimming lessons.



A confused tree at our friend's house (thanks for supper Krista!) The tree is blooming ... in September!



So thankful for:

1. Some me and Joel time (swimming lessons) ... love having a designated time to spend just with him every week ... one on one, learning and playing together. This is our last parented swimming class and I'll miss our time together ... have to come up with something creative when our lessons are done.

2. Joel is doing so well ... in our last swimming lessons (a few months ago) he was quite timid, these lessons he is jumping into my arms with no fear from the edge of the pool, and trusting me to hold onto him while we float (especially front float).

3. Good friends. We had a play date today ... so wonderful ... and an surprize meal with them too!

4. Coming home to a clean house ... we have a house keeper she's awesome!

5. Grandma W ... so thankful that I can drop Joshua off (and Joel too) with her. I never worry about the kids when they are in her care. So glad Joel and Josh will get to know their Grandparents and have a close relationship with them. (I never really had that with my Grandparents and I wish that I could have.)

Ali Edwards - I am beautiful challenge

Happy Mother's day! Had such a nice day - went to church and got a rose on my way out, did some housecleaning (sorely needed with all this galavanting and scrapbooking I've been doing), made a card and a layout, played with my boy and got the sweetest Mother's day card from my son and husband. Joel came walking down the hallway looking all proud to give me the card with his Daddy coming behind him. (And I got money to go pick out some flowers for my pots! Yippee!!!)

This layout is my take on Ali's challenge from last week's ezine.
"Beautiful You Challenge: Create a layout that celebrates the beautiful person YOU are today - right now. All you need: (1) one photo of yourself - if you don't have one grab your camera, take your own photo by holding your arm out in front of you or take a photo of yourself in a mirror and print at home. For your journaling, name 3-5 reasons why you are beautiful.
Maybe you have never done anything about yourself before. Maybe it is hard for you to immediately identify what makes you beautiful. Now is your chance. Today, do this for you. Do this for your family and your kids. Let them know why you believe that YOU are a beautiful person.
Note: Think about how many photos you have of yourself. If you are like most women, you are usually behind the camera rather than in front of it. Make sure you are in your albums and YOUR story is being told. No one can tell it better than you."

I also used a pencil lines http://www.pencillines.com/ sketch for this layout. Sketch by Fiona Beckman. Awesome ideas on that blog too!

Thanks for looking!

PenPals - Ali Edwards Challenge

In this week's aezine, Ali Edwards challenged us to go through our stash and purge stuff that we no longer use, or love. And to share or give that stuff away. So, Tannis invited some of us Red Deer girls over for a swap of stuff and then the rest will go to the Crop for Kids in Edmonton in October. Fun times!

Ali also challenged us to use some older product on a layout ... on this layout I used: an old photo (from 1992 - I was 17), the letter brads (have been sitting in my stash a long time), the two green flowers I've had forever, and the flower paper (which was in Stacy's give away pile - Thanks Stacy!) You can see the rest of the goodies I used on my gallery blog.

Just wanted to say a note about the layout ... this is a photo of me and my friend Terri. We've been friends for 15 yeaars now and it all started by being pen pals. I often tell my husband that blogging is like having lots of "modern day" pen pals! I'm sure enjoying getting to know some of you out there in blog land and hope to be friends with you for many years to come!

Ali's Challenge

The challenge this week is to come up with you very own personal creative manifesto. Maybe it is one word. Maybe it will be paragraphs. Whatever it is or becomes, take some time this week to begin generating one for just for you. Create a layout, begin a minibook, or maybe just start writing out your thoughts...

Here's my take! Thanks for looking!

My personal creative manifesto:
1. Motivated by love and led by the wisdom from above
2. Let your light shine
3. I am creative
4. Document life
5. Take challenges
6. It is okay

Ali's Challenge

"This week I want you to take a look at those "extras" that are truly delighting you right now and making you want to create. Make a list and then CREATE a layout that details your favorites. " (from this weeks aezine)

Here's my take on the challenge (I added my essentials too ... which was the last Ali challenge) Thanks for looking!

Joel update: Ouch is his favorite word today (whether it hurts or not) so cute! Missing Daddy at his curling bonspiel - he'll be home on Sunday yippee! We had a delicious meal with Grandpa and Grandma tonight. Joel was pretty funny - Grandma let him try and feed himself spagetti and he had it everywhere but his mouth - she's much more daring than I am, he's wanted to feed himself for awhile and I let him to a point. The visit was nice - for Joel to have grandparent time, and nice for me to have some adult interaction. Speaking of which ... my friend Cara came over this morning with her little man for a play date - a nice way to start the day! Have a great weekend!

Ali's Challenge

"What are your essentials? If you had to get rid of everything and just keep a modest amount, what would be on your list? The challenge this week is easy: draft up a list of your essentials. What do you reach for time after time? " -Ali Edwards-

Here are my essentials:
1. Computer - mostly for blogging and inspiration (but also scanning and journalling)
2. Creative Memories photo chopper thingy - love this piece of equipment
3. Fiskars cutter - especially when I have a new blade!
4. Black ink
5. My swirly stamps and my frame stamps and my little typewriter stamps
6. Black Zig Writer pen
7. Patterned paper ... love stuff with swirls
8. Cardstock ... love using black or white
9. Embellishments ... especially chipboard letters
10. Adhesive ... glue dots and lines, double sided tape runner
11. Ribbon! Love it!
12. Scissors
13. Stapler
14. Corner rounder
15. Bone folder

That's about it. So glad to have found something that makes me so happy and peaceful all at the same time!

Anti-procrastination day

This is a layout I started in November for one of Ali's challenges ... tonight I decided to stop procrastinating and get it done!
Joel update: my little sweetness ... today he had a 3 hour nap (which is very unusual ... I was missing him, but also got a ton of housework done!) Tonight, he asked to go to bed ... we were playing and he said "yougie" and was pointing to his room and then put his head on my shoulder. I said "do you want to go to bed?" His adamant reply "YA". He's definitely got an opinion these days - from the books we read together, to the food he eats, to what he wants to do (usually it's go "brmm brmm" which means lets go downstairs and play with the trains). This is such a fun age, I'm loving every minute of it. Now, I'd better get going to bed because our mornings start early (gotta stop being such a night owl and become an early bird lol)!

PS. Under each of the small layouts is journalling about each individual influence/stage of my creative transformation.

Ali's challenge

Ali's challenge :"This week, locate the definition of your word and copy it onto a 3x5 notecard and stick it somewhere you will see it everyday."

I made this sign to remind me of my words (the front), their definitions(the back) and my goals (on the inside) for 2007 -- it's sitting on my inspiration shelf in my scrapbooking room. Thanks for looking .... off to go create!

Love and Wisdom

motivated by LOVE & led by the WISDOM from above

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
We are ever giving thanks to God for all of you, continually mentioning you in our prayers, recalling unceasingly before our God and Father your work energized by faith and service MOTIVATED BY LOVE and unwavering hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

James 3:17
But the WISDOM FROM ABOVE is first of all pure; then it is peace-loving, courteous (considerate and gentle). It is willing to yield to reason, full of compassion and good fruits; it is wholehearted and straightforward, impartial and unfeigned (free from doubts, wavering and insincerity).

See the following post my reasons for these words!

My Word ...

Ali Edwards asked a question this week on her blog (and in her aezine):

"Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2007?

It can be something tangible or intangible. It could be a thought or a feeling or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. This is not your mother's word or your spouse's word or your child's word - this is YOUR word."

I've been mulling over a few words in my head and my heart since wednesday ... the first was love and the second is wisdom.

First of all I want this year to be all about LOVE -- loving God, loving myself, loving my husband, loving my son, loving my house (by taking good care of it), loving my family and my friends, and walking in love towards everyone in my world. I believe love is where it all starts -- because God is love. I want my motivation to be love this year ... for everything that I do and say.

Second of all I want this year to be all about WISDOM -- I was listening to a CD yesterday with Joel called Anthillsvainia that my sisters gave me for a baby shower gift -- it was a record we used to listen to as little kids. The whole musical story is based on the Prodigal son story and on the "wisdom from above". As much as I want my motivation this year to be all about love, I want to move on wisdom (the wisdom from above).

So I think just maybe, I need to have two words this year ... love and wisdom. Off to go create something with these thoughts! Have a great day blog friends =)