My other blog (she has another blog?)

I originally started two blogs, one for my family and one for my scrapbooking, but the last time I posted on my scrapbooking blog was 5 years ago! I decided to remedy the situation and now I'm working to keep a fun log of favorite scrapbooking pages and ideas and tools and whatnot. If you're interested (or just bored out of your mind and have nothing better to do at the moment), go check it out at willscrapbookforfood.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

Muhammad-al-Eli

Eli and Caroline and Patrick really like to brush my hair, but none of them are particularly good (i.e., gentle) about it. After finishing up with a particularly painful brushing Eli asked me if it hurt when I brushed my own hair. I said, "Yeah, but not as much because I expect it. It's like when you punch yourself, you can't really do it so hard it hurts because you expect it." Eli said, "I can punch so it hurts!" and he immediately punched himself straight in the face. Well, you sure showed me, Eli!

Family photos with mischievious children...

Although we had family photos over the summer in Estes park, our kids grow by the day (practically by the second, judging by their food consumption and outgrowing of pants) AND I needed to update their individual pictures. Since everyone "turns" in the winter months I like to do it all in one fell swoop: family photo, individual yearly photos, and material for Christmas cards. We had our good friend Cami Chapman do them for us, and I'm pleased with how many cute ones we got!

 One of those "All because two people fell in love" beginnings... First we were crazy about each other, then we had four kids, and now we are just crazy.

Awww, Patrick is old enough to pose by a river and not fall in - so big! *tear!*

I maintain that Eli is the handsomest. Like, EVER. In the history of ever.

This is a common look from Caroline when she's embarrassed - the only thing missing from this expression is her looking out the corner of her eyes.

 How can you resist this guy?!

 Wicked cute!

 There was some serious wrestling by Patrick and distraction by the parents to get Ethan to sit semi-still for this shot.

 In the end we ditched him because he was determined to throw himself off the boulder and own the hill. I'm holding the frame in one hand, Ethan in the other, out of the shot.

 But I still love him. And he still loves me (and my teeth).

My handsome dudes

 We didn't do it! We were framed! Very cutely framed!

 Framed or not, Caroline's too cute to be found guilty.

 ALL my handsome guys.

 

Cami is the same talented friend who did Ethan's baby photos, so if you're in Pueblo and need some nice pictures snapped, call her!

The Help, injected with honesty

You know in "The Help" (by Kathryn Stockett) when Aibeleen tells the little girl she watches, "You is good. You is smart. You is important."? It always makes me want to cry because I can see myself on both sides, being like the mother who is distracted by inconsequential things instead of using her energy to wisely raise her daughter, and being like Aibeleen who is truly busy yet trying to instill in the girl a sense of self-worth in spite of sometimes difficult circumstances. Yes, I can be distracted by inconsequential things, like crafting far too late into the night so my kids get TV and candy in the morning while I get a nap; on the other hand, I spend nearly every waking minute with 3 of my 4 kids so there are more moments than I can even count where I am reading to them, talking with them, playing with them, cleaning with them, eating with them, encouraging them, lecturing them, and loving them. 

To make the most of some of our quiet moments, and to counteract some of my negligent moments, I've taken a note from Aibileen and been whispering encouraging words to my kids as I tuck them in bed. Caroline, especially, since I catch myself saying nice things about her, but things that are not necessarily something to aspire to, like, "You're my pretty girl." Caroline, don't go getting the impression that I am basing your worth on how pretty you are! I'm not! But I'm your mom, and I think you're pretty, so I say it. So at bedtime I say things like, "You are smart. You are important. You are special." She nods in agreement with each one, which warms my heart. Last night after I'd whispered to her and was leaving the room she added, "And difficult," and nodded with her satisfied little smile. Now THAT is the truth, Caroline, that is the truth.

Perhaps craftier than I thought...

 A friend walked into my house yesterday and appreciated these colorful curtains. I was happy because I LOVE these curtains, they were a big part of bringing more bright colors into my living spaces!

I said, "Thanks! I made them from some clearance fabric I found at Hobby Lobby." She was surprised and noticed that the pillows were homemade, too, so then I started pointing out all the things I've crafted that decorate the one room we were standing in… it was crazy! The family sign over the door.

The wreath on the front of the door. The pillows on the couch. I knitted the blanket on the couch. I painted the frames that are all around the room.

I whipped up the cafe curtains over the sink, and made a cute pink accent stripe around the window.

I was feeling pretty good about myself! Most of the projects have slowly spanned the last 5 years or so, it's not like I suddenly began crafting 6 months ago and have transformed my home, because that's simply not true. But the slow accumulation of homemade items combines to make a unique and fun (for me) place to be! Later this weekend, hanging out with Kari, we were sitting on our rears doing nothing while the kids were playing well and quietly together - why waste time? Let's do more crafts! So I went to get the materials from my house for a new Valentine's wreath I've been wanting to start, and in collecting the material I came across materials for old projects I never got around to finishing! So instead of a from-scratch Valentine's wreath I ended up completing these 3 beauties:

A Valentine's 3-D thingy. I painted an old scratched-up frame from Goodwill (got the cheapest one I could find, less than $2). The Zebra background is scrapbooking paper, on hand (and stolen from my sister Kari, so REALLY free for me!), the roses are simply scrapbooking paper cut into a circle, then cut a spiral into he circle and wind it up from the inside out, then hot-glued on. SO EASY, you wouldn't believe it (especially for how cute they turn out!)

A decorative tray. I salvaged an unfinished wood breakfast tray from Goodwill (maybe $2? It was YEARS ago), painted the edges and mod-podged scrapbooking paper cut and/or torn to make the interior picture.  The tree on top has sequins glues on as ornaments, the wording was cut from Cricut. All the items were already on-hand, I didn't buy anything special for it, so I'm gonna say $2 for this bad-boy. It's sitting on one of the chairs I re-upholstered myself :)

This nice charger I got on wicked clearance at BBB after-holiday sales. Originally $10 it was only $1! I hand-cut "joy" and cut the rest from Cricut, then mod podged it together. The paper and mod podge were on hand, the Cricut was borrowed from my sister, so the whole project was seriously $1.

I guess I need to dig through my craft stash more often, I know I have more half-finished projects lying in wait for a quiet afternoon!

Visitors - the Pre-game

Joe's parents drove over to visit us for a few days, and we had lots of fun! For one, they always bring us lots of stuff. Exhibit A:
Cutest dollhouse ever! They acquired it from a garage sale in anticipation of Caroline's birthday, but since they won't be here for her actual birthday they wanted to enjoy the gift of giving and see her play with it while they were here. Caroline was very please. Eli, though, was over the MOON, he was far more enthusiastic! It was fun to have the two of them open it together (Patrick was at school and Ethan was napping).

Exhibit B:
Bikes! Bikes! And MORE bikes! Patrick's new one looks like a dirt bike, but is really pedal power.

 

Check out the enthusiasm!

 

Patrick's new red bike meant Eli could use Patrick's old yellow bike, though he's back to insisting he needs training wheels. Oh well, soon enough... in the meantime, he goes 200 mph!

 

Caroline's bike was brought down last time and she's put a few thousand miles on it since then, but they DID bring a 3-wheel scooter and a smaller bicycle for when Ethan grows a bit! So many modes of transportation in one garage...

For another thing, Debbie and I went shopping and I got 2 cute pairs of shoes, a nice skirt, about 5 adorable shirts, and enough books that it took 3 grocery sacks to carry them. The only place you can shop like that and still get out for under $75 bucks was Goodwill, one of my favorite haunts! Secondhand stores are the best - get a sink, get Halloween costumes, get materials for gifts to make, expand your library, and get some really adorable stuff. By adorable stuff I mean I got shirts from Charlotte Russe and Old Navy for $3 apiece, and I would be shocked if the shoes were not brand spanking' new - there's not a scuff mark on the outside or toe indent on the inside! It's not regular outfit-your-whole-wardrobe shopping, of course, but sometimes (like this time) you can get some serious steals.

 For a final thing, we had a very nice time just being together. Ethan loves to play peek-a-boo, and grandma loves Ethan, so there was quite a bit of that going on.

 And finally we had to get some shots of the kids with the grandparents. They're getting so big!

Awww, look at that Joe! He's getting so big and grown up! I'm scared for the day my boys are taller than I am.

 And look at that grandma Debbie! She's getting thinner than ever. She's been on the Ideal Shape diet this past year and this amazing woman lost 105 pounds! More details o that later... but Holy cow, I get grumpy when I need to lose even 5.

 Now I call this the visitors pre-game because over Thanksgiving we'll have upwards of 20 people in our two houses, so this was a little practice run on getting things to run smoothly. Wish us luck!

Oops, and Dollar deals

Was yesterday a post based on pictures that didn't actually have any pictures? Well, try reading it again - THIS time I actually put pictures of the nook on it! Hooray hooray! I like the yellow paint in the room much better in person, it never photographs well. Maybe I'll have to repaint so you'll be even more *impressed* by my rooms when I take pictures - anything for you, that's my motto.

In other room news I posted (many moons ago) a picture of Caroline's tree that I painted on her wall, and it looked pretty bare. I eventually hung up shelves like the original idea I'd pinned, and I also stumbled across wall stickers from the Dollar Tree - there were 2 different styles of butterflies and I bought 2 packs of each, not sure which theme I wanted to go with, but in the end I enjoyed mixing the realistic butterflies with the plain pink ones. I seriously wish this was MY room, I love hanging out in there!

Then I found this very cute metallic fairy wall sticker - add a little magic to a boring space of wall between her door and her closet.

For the boys' room they had dino wall stickers! Big & little dinosaurs, plants, and footprints to create your own scene. This scene wasn't created by me, but I figured Fun (which is the Function) over Form.

Here's a Triceratops stabbing a T-Rex in the Achilles tendon.

In the case of my boys, they recreate the scene daily - the stickers stick well enough to move again and again without sticking SO well you need a razorblade and some Goo Gone. All in all, from cute butterflies to aggressive dinosaurs to sparkly fairies, I'd say "head to your local dollar store! It's a couple bucks well spent!"  You may need to search a bit, these were in the same isle as dog food and pet care. Worth the browsing!