Children

So today I was probably way too hard on my children.....Kade had a terrible baseball game.....just watching the strikes roll buy....I told him I wouldn't buy him a corn dog unless he would swing the bat.....Keira wanted to wear clothes that didn't match....I told her people would look at her funny....made her cry and she told me she didn't like me.....I wouldn't have liked me either.......

Then I start blog reading and come across Amy's talking about something she saw on Oprah and The Invisible Children This is seriously sad.....we had a missionary at church who had been in Uganda and he brought photos and videos that he had taken of these children....these precious children...... these children who live daily in fear....these children who daily have nothing.......

So I'm pretty disgusted with me right about now......worried about strike outs and matching clothes....how easy it is to get caught up in the wordly 'junk' and forget how amazingly, wonderfully good I have it!

Off to hug my kids....................

Freestylin!

I decided to take the challenge posted by the incredibly talented artists that created the Freestyle Book for Autumn Leaves. The have a cool blog http://www.autumnleaves.com/freestyle/ where they have issued challenges to lift pages from the book. I don't have the book yet - :( but I was able to see and lift this great page by an artist named Severine (what a cool name!) Her's is titled 10 and mine is titled 7. The papers and embellishments are from a Jenni Bowlin kit which featured tons of fun Heidi Swapp stuff this month.

This was a really fun layout to create! Thanks Severine for your inspiration!!

Cuz I Can

I love 3 year old wit and wisdom.....you never quite know what you're going to get.

Tonight I was asking Keira if she wanted a shower or a bath...she told me to guess. "Shower?" Nope "Bath?" Nope "You just want to stay dirty and stinky?" Nope - I want to get in a tomato "What?!?!" I'm just kidding you Mommy, cuz I can.

I love it....nothing is impossible to a 3 year old mind...and this girl....well I'm sure if there was a way to get into a tomato...she'd figure it out!

I Tried Out for the CHERRY ARTE DT!

I love their papers!! If you haven't seen them you have to visit their site and check them out!

http://www.cherryarte.com

I made this tooth box for Kade from an Altoid Tin. He's started loosing lots of teeth and I thought it would be a great way to save them. He thought it was pretty "tight"....


It would be really cool to make it on to a Manufacturer's Design Team. I LOVE being on the Altered DT at ScrapAddict. The kits are amazing.....if you are reading this and you are not on Felicia's Altered Subscription yet...what are you waiting for??? There are some really cool kits coming up that you are not going to want to miss out on.

Joy and Sorrow

Today is my dear husbands birthday! Finally 36, finally the same age as me so no more "older woman" jokes. The kids loved giving him some new clothes and I got him a watch.....he of course asked for the receipt before he went to work just in case he decides to exchange it -- :)





Today is also a day that is filled with sorrow. It was a year ago today that our friend Tim was killed in a traffic accident. Greg and I were there with him, so there's joy in knowing that he is now in eternal joy, but even knowledge can't fill the gaping holes in your heart. Please pray today for Tim's wife and son....I can't even imagine their grief. As this day has been getting closer and closer I have been wondering what it would be like. I have a knot in my stomache, a huge lump in my throat and tears that are ready to roll. Truly the feelings are the same as they were the day it happened, although the shock has worn off. I know there are so many others feeling the same way today. Please just pray.

Let's Hear It For Wednesday!

What a gorgeous day it is here in SoCal. Worked in my vegetable garden this morning for a few hours.

Well, that's not my vegetable garden but it's pretty, huh?? Planted tomatoes, corn, zucchini, pepperocini, cucumbers, red and yellow bell peppers, jalapenos and some chives. I still have one raised bed that's empty so I think I'll try some experimental plants, like the chocolate beauty peppers or tomatillos that I've never been able to grow!


We survived Easter. Last year we had 60+ people here but this year I just wasn't up for it. I guess quite a few people were bummed since we've been holding our shindig for the last 3 years. One person even bought a chocolate fountain to bring. We ended up just doing family, which was about 20 of us and that was plenty. Maybe the big deal will happen again next year.

The birthday fairy must be smiling on me. Greg's birthday is tomorrow and he is the hardest person to buy for. His watched quit working yesterday so he had the battery replaced and it still didn't work!
Good news for me because now I'm going to buy him a watch. He said he'll get it himself but I am doing it! I think he'd like something like this.



Well that's all for now - have a peace-filled day!

Days 8, 9 and 10

Well, I am very bummed at myself that I am behind on my art journal entries........

But, I have kept up on the goal....in fact a Dr. visit on Friday showed excellent blood work and a little bit of weight loss.

I think in my effort to get caught up I have abandoned some creativity on these 3 pages and have totally not done justice to Rhonna's artwork.....Sorry Rhonna!!



I hope you have a peace-filled Easter everyone!

I Really Want to Meet This Woman!

Don't you just look at her and think she would have so much life experience to share with us?

I would totally love to sit down with her in Havana and drink some really black coffee and listen to her share stories of what I am sure is a very colorful life.

About ten years ago I was just three miles of the coast of Cuba, maybe just three mere miles away from this woman who has for some reason captured my imagination today!

A Little Behind But Still On Track!

I'm behind on the pages for my 21 Day Challenge journal but not behind on my goal!! I've been eating better!! In fact, today I actually wanted a tuna sandwich for lunch instead of a Big Mac with the kids!

Easter Vacation has officially started at our household. Both of the kidlets and I will be home next week. We're going to see if we can get daddy to play hooky with us and go do something fun!

Here's a great thought to start the weekend....Keira got it on a button at church

Seek Peace.....Live Peace

Into April

Welcome to April!

Do you ever have embellishments, papers, ribbons, etc. that you are going to 'save' for something special? I do....so while working on my Day 6 I thought "I'm special, I should use this on me!" So I did!! I broke out some of my coveted Basic Grey Urban Couture paper and some really cool leafy brown ribbon I picked up. Boy it felt good cutting into that! Now I only used a little...but this is all about baby steps, right??

Day 7 was so fun to do! I painted!!

I am so excited about having this piece of my artwork to enjoy after this is all done. And I am pretty doggone excited that it's been a week and I am totally caught up! That doesn't happen very often.

On homefront news, Kade decided to find out what happened when you take a piece of broken glass to an antique hutch....yes...he carved into my hutch! I have no idea what possessed him but he now has learned about sanding out scratches, fine sanding and varnishing. After working for about 4 hours on it yesterday I said to him, "Bet right about now you're wishing you hadn't done that." The look on his face answered for him. It took all the restraint I had not to snap pictures of him performing his penance...but I didn't.....

Have a great week!