The Busy Lives of Moms

Hi there! I've been a bit out of touch lately...with my computer anyway! I've been putting in some overtime at my full time job, being a mom! I wish that there was some way of calculating the hours spent in the pursuit of my latest career. If only there was someone I could bill time & a half for all the hours I spend awake during the night with someone sick, coughing or wanting to eat. This past week, both of the kids and I have been sick. I haven't felt as bad as the little ones, thank goodness! After days & nights of coughing, Delaney seems to be doing pretty well. I ended up buying a second vaporizer, so she & Jake could both have one in their rooms. Jake's coughing is taking a little longer to go away. But I'm hopeful he'll be back to normal in a few more days. I'm thankful that Delaney hasn't had to miss school.

But amongst all this coughing, she did have a special project to complete. This Friday is the school Art Fair. Delaney decided that she wanted to make a wire sculpture of a ferris wheel as her entry. Personally, I was hoping that she'd choose a simple project that she could complete by herself. But alas, my child tends to go overboard with her projects. When I mention this to people, they continually remind me that she's a lot like her mother. Hmmmm...I have NO idea why they would say this.... :) Yes, I know I have some perfectionist issues.

In the end, the ferris wheel turned out great. Delaney had drawings of what she wanted. We discussed the project and got some great ideas from Grandpa, who if he was left alone with this project would have it completely motorized within a few days. With Dave's and my help, Delaney cut & bent wire, adding sparkly beads and colorful embellishments all along the way. I'll post some photos of my girl with her project after the Art Fair.

Of course, me being me, I volunteered to design some signs for the Art Fair. I've never met a volunteer project that I could totally ignore. So after a few extra hours fighting with my printer, I hauled out my old laser printer today, and finally finished my part of the project this afternoon.

It's amazing to me how moms can do so much. I have no idea how I get the things done that I do. I guess lowering my housekeeping standards has allowed me quite a bit more time each week! But I'd better stop adding things to my to do list, my standards can't get much lower than they already are! I just have to stop every once in a while and laugh at all the chaos....baby toys strewn all over the living room; wire, tools, beads and hermit crabs living on my kitchen counter; projects for the scrapbook store stacked on the treadmill.... Is this really the home of a control freak who likes everything just so???? Yes, it is, but now, she works at home part-time, has two kids and more projects going on at once than people should be allowed to have!

I take my hat off to all you other moms out there...one, two, five or six kids, it doesn't matter! Take a few minutes, get a shovel, make a space on your counter, and mix yourself a cocktail! You deserve to sit back & laugh about all those things that have changed since you've had kids. It really isn't as bad as it looks!

Wordless Wednesday

One of the MANY pictures from the kids' "photo shoot" at Sears. We had them taken right in between his 1st Birthday and her 8th Birthday. I love this one! He's really excited that sissy is kissing him, even if it doesn't look that way. He gets that look on his face just before he does the Cabbage Patch with his arms....it's his way of showing how excited he is about just about everything! I'll post a slide show of these pictures soon, they're just all so cute I can't seem to whittle them down to a manageable amount!

Happy Wednesday!

Happy 1st Birthday Jake!

Sorry, I've been away for a while! Jake & I were sick last week so I couldn't get any computer time. We had a great Valentine's Day and I managed to get some scrapbooking done. I'll share some layouts soon! I did manage to put together a slideshow of Jake eating his cupcakes. I used SMILEBOX. It's free as long as you don't mind seeing an ad with your slideshow.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

My Mighty Four

My bloggy friend Ann is having her regular Virtual Girls' Night Out tonight and she had her Mighty Four posted for us to read. So here's mine:

My Might Four

4 Places I Go Over & Over

1. Delaney's School
2. The Gymnastics' Place
3. Haggen
4. Starbucks

4 Places I'd Rather Be

1. The Hyatt in Kauai
2. Sunriver, Oregon
3. Cannon Beach, Oregon
4. Disneyland

4 Things I Wish I Could Eat Everyday (calories be damned...)

1. Creme Brulee
2. Filet Mignon
3. Omelet packed with cheese and all sorts of great filling
4. Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake....Dulce de Leche or Vanilla....mmmmmmmm....

I'd love to see your Might 4, post them here in the comment section or let me know you're putting them on your blog & I'll come by for a visit! Have a great weekend!

Layout of the Week Valentine Party Invitation

Hi there! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I promise to post a photo of our cupcake-covered boy soon! He had a great birthday, thanks for all the good wishes!

I'm busy working on some invitation for the scrapbook store today. Here's a photo. This one was my sample. I did end up making the type bold so it was easier to see on the final invites. I just thought you might want to use it as inspiration for a Valentine card or two. The background paper is from LUXE's Trinket collection. I chose 4 different papers from this collection and made invites from each one. I think it's fine to use a variety of paper for your invites. Don't worry about them not all being the same. The recipients usually don't compare their invites anyway, but even if they did, I think they'd love the variety. And using a few different papers keeps it interesting for those of us doing the creating. I tend to get bored making 50 of the exact same invites.

Here are the details, if you want to copy them. The background paper is 4" x 5 1/4". I mounted a 4" x 1" black strip to the background paper with glue stick. I did lay the vellum next to each sheet before gluing the strip down, just to be sure I was adhering it in the correct spot. The vellum overlay is cut 3 3/4" x 5". I used Microsoft Publisher to design the vellum overlay. I created the overlays on an 8 1/2" x 11" page. I created a text box 3 3/4" x 5" with margins of 1/4" in the box. I centered the text both vertically & horizontally and used the font Gaston (the extended version). I thought Gaston looked great with the black lines of the Trinket papers. I copied and pasted the text box three times, so I had a total of four boxes on my page. I printed the pages on my ink jet printer. I cut all my papers on a large Fiskars rotary blade cutter. It makes a nice clean cut without the "fuzzy" edges you can get from smaller cutters.

I laid my vellum on top of my background paper with black strip attached. I placed 2 1/2" pieces of dark pink ribbon and black sparkly ribbon over the hole. Next, I used a Making Memories paper piercing tool to create a hole directly in the center of the black strip. For the final touch, I placed a heart shaped brad in the hole. I loved the shape of some bronze brads I found in the bulk embellishment section of the store. But the color wasn't my favorite, so I took a cardboard box and pushed all the brads I needed into it in rows. Then I sprayed them all black with a satin finish black spray paint. For just a little extra effort, I had perfectly matching embellishments.

To hold everything in place, I used a couple of mini-glue dots under the vellum. I didn't want my vellum & ribbon to spin around the brad.

I used black envelopes for these invites. A silver pen was perfect for writing the recipients' names and return address.

I hope you try this technique for creating your next invitations. It's a simple, cost-effective way to create something very personal for your friends & family. Stop by your local scrapbook store to find the perfect papers, ribbon and any advice you need. If you're in the Portland area, stop by Whimzee's Scrapbook Studio, we'd love to help you find everything you need for your next event. Check out our blog for more creative ideas.

Layout of the Week Happy 1st Birthday Our Little Jakey

Wow, I really can't believe he turns ONE today! Such a cute boy. This photo was from last August. This year has really flown by. Now we're watching him, just waiting for him to take off walking. He took one step a couple days ago. He'll stand on his own and take just one step before getting down & crawling where he wants to go. So look out, any day, we'll be chasing him everywhere!

Happy Birthday Sweet Jake! Even though you should't be celebrating until late tonight....considering you were born at 11:37pm! I guess it's ok if you have your cake a little earlier in the day than that!

I'll be sure to take tons of messy cupcake photos, so check back soon!

Wordless Wednesday

He turns ONE on Saturday....YES, I will shed a tear....or 10!

My First Award

I was presented an award this week by Annette from Under the Loupe. Annette lives in Australia and is a designer of some of the most beautiful jewelry I've seen. Be sure to check out her blog when you get a chance!

The rules for the award are:

1. Put the award up on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.
3. Nominate at least seven other blogs.
4. Add links to these blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

I have selected my favorite blogs that I regularly read to receive this award:

1. Ann Again...And Again
2. MA Info
3. Julie from the Cool Mom Guide
4. Sometimes Lucid
5. A Latte in the Morning
6. Sunday Scrappin'
7. On the Other Side of the World

Wordless Wednesday

Because we all have dreams...

Celebrate Inauguration Day!

One of my favorite blogs, Ann Again...and Again, just posted her new obamicon. Here's mine! It's fun to upload your photo, your kids' photos, your pet's photo...as many as you like. They're a great way to celebrate Inauguration Day!

I made ones for Jake, Delaney & Dave too! They're a hoot!

I love the pomp & circumstance in Washington, DC and I can't wait watch it all on Tuesday.

Click this link to make your own, then write & let me see your obamicons!

Layout of the Week Big Sister...Little Brother...

I put this layout together using the Vita Bella collection from Little Yellow Bicycle. I love how well it matches the shirt Delaney was wearing to have her 2nd grade school pictures taken this day. I took the photos of her & Jake after she came home from school that day. Big sister and little brother, I love these pictures. I used 3 12 x 12 sheets to create this look. I cut the foiled page in half and placed each half over half of the other two pages. The green frames were created from the backside of a paper from this collection. I used foiled and fabric stickers with love & family sayings to complete the layout. The fabric stickers are tags and I added American Craft ribbon to each tag. I used an 8 x 8, a 5 x 7 and wallet size photos printed in a lustre finish from Costco for this layout. I was a little crooked in my picture taking, but I think you "get the picture".

Moments like these, frozen in time, are my favorite things to scrapbook. With close to 7 years between my kids, I am very well aware that the baby stage goes by so quickly. I leave my camera out on the table in the nook, so it's right where I can grab it to snap photos of Jake & Delaney every day, if I want. I used to have it on the nesting end table. But Jake tipped the little one over on himself yesterday and he clears off the big one every chance he gets. So I'm down to one end table with nothing on it. Every time I have to tell him, "NO!" and move him back to his toys, I take a deep breath and remember that I will miss this stage in 7 years. It even brings tears to my eyes just to type this. I try to live in the moment and soak up all of his "baby-ness" that I can everyday. Thank goodness he's a good cuddler, because Mommy wouldn't have it any other way!

When the snow began...

Now that the snow in Portland has been gone for a couple weeks, it's almost impossible to believe these pictures are for real. We woke up on a Sunday morning to discover it was snowing hard. It continued to snow all day long. We drove to our friends' house to pick Delaney up from a sleep over with her best friend and watched the kids sled down the street. After we returned home, we went sledding in the church driveway across the street. Delaney went all over the front yard making snow angels and Dave walked across the street to take this picture of our house. Look closely, you can see how hard it's snowing! We were very surprised when the weather forecast said the snow would be with us for a while. Our schools ended up being canceled all week, which made for a 3 week long Christmas break. It's nice that Dave is working at home now, so the four of us hung out at home together.


Just a few days into the "Arctic Blast," as the news people called it, the sun came out. Delaney & I headed into our backyard to build snowmen. It was so cold and dry, that the snow wouldn't stick together enough for snowmen. So we decided to go back across the street to sled. I took this picture at the end of our yard. The pond was a bit frozen and got more frozen as the cold lingered on for 10 more days after this. I'm sure everyone who lives where it snows and ponds freeze over every year think this is no big deal. But in the Portland area, we NEVER see anything like the storm we had in December. It cracked us up to look out at the Canadian Geese who winter in our pond and see them walking through drifts of snow on top of the pond.

During the time we were "snowed in," Jake got 4 teeth in one week! It was a tough week for him, but it was nice that we were more or less trapped. We did chain up our SUV and were able to get out to check out movies from the store up the street. But in our area, the roads aren't plowed or sanded until you get to the main roads, so it's better to stay at home than end up in a crash with someone who doesn't think they need chains. I do think we're weather wimps around here, but as long as I have the option to stay home, it's fine with me! Maybe next year Santa will bring more plows to Portland and then we'll have to join all those other places where snow doesn't close down whole cities. But until then, we'll hang out at home sledding and making hot chocolate!