art journal - "magic"

Interesting word for this week. Magic. There are so many magical things about life. Spring, a toddler discovering snow for the first time - trying to pick it off her finger only to watch it disappear the second she trys to touch it, fresh snow on trees, watching a momma cardinal feed her babies, children laughing, watching my daughter walk everywhere just for the joy of the new accomplishment, my wedding day, how God's word speaks directly into my life, watching His plan for me unfold, watching how He changes hearts, the reward of trusting Him with everything in my life. All of these things are magical to me. But as I sat down, I chose to focus on the magic of "the first kiss." I'm thinking of my first kiss with my, now, husband. That evening was magical. I think it's the night I fell in love with him. The electricity ... the rush ... the la la land it put me in. There's something magical about young love ... especially when it's real and mutual and not lust. But the magic doesn't stop. There's also something magical to the commitment love that we have for each other. It hasn't been an easy 10 years, but we're richer for it. Our love is deeper. And we both know that no matter what, we're in it together until death do us part. There's peace and stability and magic in that too. It's not a I-take-you-for-granted commitment of love, but a we're-built-on-a-strong-foundation kind of love. Beautiful. But I will never forget our first kiss.

I'm a little disappointed in the scan of this ... you can't see the silver pen - girl is wearing a bracelet, necklace and earring and all the magical scrolling things are silver ... this page looks better in person. Background is pastels, I used bubble wrap to print the polka dots with acrylic paint, the bodies are scripture to reflect how my husband and I bring a foundation of faith into our relationship ... it turned into a funny little page. I like it.

saving for something special ...

Okay ... I'm going to do a little plug for myself. I'm saving up for a really nice camera. I want to do fancy things that my faithful point-and-shoot won't allow me to do. It's been three years ... I'm still using my first digital camera ... which I was hesitant to move to in the first place ... I used a film SLR for several years, and I desperately miss it's features ... however ... I can't bring myself to go back after experiencing the instant gratification and convenience of digital. SO ... I have a little envelope with a picture of the camera I want on it ... I would love the Digital Canon XTi, though I would be very content with the XT. It's about $100 - $150 difference. So ... my goal is the XT. I have several new bookmarks in my etsy shop (they're going like hotcakes both locally and on etsy. I do custom orders if you want to personalize them), I have one mosaic mirror left, and my portraits make a fabulous keepsake for that someone special!! The pictures below are a sample of the bookmarks I can do. Only three are available at the moment. You can check them out through my etsy shop link to the right. Examples of my portrait work can be found on etsy as well as the commissioned portrait section of my flicker site.

Help me save for my camera! I would be in heaven.

he's a little hottie ...

Oh my goodness, my 5 year old has girls writing him notes!! He received both within the same week ... look how cute. One little neighborhood friend gave me a little card to deliver to him, and the other came from a little girl in his preschool classroom ... Abby wrote, "I want to give you this flower because you make me laugh. Love Abby" She gave him this little white rose!! How cute is that?

I said," Aidan! You have two girls writing you?!?!"

He says .... "Arrrrrgggghhh" with his fists up by his ears like he's in agony.

He's so humble. Too cute.

weekend getaway ...

It's Wednesday and I'm still dreaming of the weekend I just had. It was our annual girls getaway weekend with my mom and two sisters ... oh ... and one boy ... my 5 month old nephew tagged along. I intended to take pictures of our weekend, relaxing in front of the fire, scrapbooking, reading, watching movies ... ahhh ... but all I took pictures of was my adorable nephew!!

Will and Aunt Mandy We did color Krista's hair ...twice (she's the mom of little Will)
Photo session success!

When I got home on Sunday, the boys were playing in the snow ... the first thing they said to me was ... "Mom, can we have gum?" (I carry the gum stash in my purse).

Me: "Sure. Did you miss me?"

The boys: "No." And then they proceeded to tackle me, pile up on me, fight for my lap, and plead for tickles ... I'll take that as little boy style, "We really missed you mom and we're so glad to have you home!" It feels good to be missed.

Over the course of two days I swear my daughter grew up! She prefers walking over crawling all of a sudden, can stand from sitting instead of making it over to something to pull up on ... AND she welcomed me with a big, "HI!" "HI!" Oh my gosh ... could it be her first word? It's so good to get away ... and sometimes it's just as good to come home ...

She's also developed an interest in her babies! She drags two of these around ... arm around the neck/strangle style ... poor babies. We've never had baby dolls around here before ... she talks to them and everything! Cute.

Wistfully watching big brothers play in the snow ...
Life is good ... and spring is right around the corner! I'm so glad winter always turns to spring ... aren't you?

art journal - "fly"

Wow ... what a week. I've been able to take a couple of minutes today and finally put together this week's journal page. I believe when we embrace who we really are - we are beautiful - and our soul can really fly.

I actually started over from my first ugly attempt. I glued a black and white printed tissue paper over my mistake - you can see the colors through the white areas. One of the four butterflies reflects the decision to be yourself, not a cookie cutter of everyone else. I also stapled a transparency over the entire page and journaled on top with a white paint pen.

emotion part two ...

this could have been my journal page for emotion ... see yesterday's post. mom's are amazing aren't they? able to read a story, hold a screaming baby, cook dinner (and burn it) ... all in a single bound. amazing.

art journal - "emotion"

the word prompt this week was emotion. i started this page last weekend, at which point i was in a rather confused and desperate state ... looking for answers to some tough questions. the week has ironed itself out, by god's grace, and fortunately i finished the page yesterday in higher spirits. i often wonder what the page would have turned out to be if i had done it on a different day. the outcomes are seemingly endless ... you can see all of the interpretations of the different word prompts in this art journal flickr group ... it's just amazing!!

a night on the town ...

wicked last night was fabulous!! what a great story line. if you ever have the opportunity to go it's so good. i love the theater. i love the city. i love the lights and the energy. the oriental theater is amazing.

blurry, but cool ... it makes the city look busy - i think i was trying to take the picture while walking ... dumb. i happen to like this mistake!

i thought these stairs captured part of the personality of the city.

more personality ...

so cool. you can tell i don't get downtown much.

go. it's a great story!

happy valentines day!

Well, our family apparently knows what valentines day means. One of the morning's best quotes ...

Hunter says to Aidan ...

"Since I'm so generous ... I'm going to give you one of my fun dips!"

... Oh my. I think his motivation was out of love for his brother?!? Kenny and I just burst out laughing.

On the other hand, I get to extend my valentines day through Saturday because of the sacrificial love of my husband!! It started this morning with this
And a waffle iron I already knew about ... ooooooohhh just what I always wanted! Not. But my man's intention (besides getting to buy a new appliance that only he will use) is to make me a late breakfast in bed Saturday morning. You see ... I get to be out on the town Friday night with my fabulous girlfriends for dinner and WICKED!!! He's manning the kids so I can sleep in on Saturday and then enjoy a leisurly breakfast in bed ... I'm sure it will also include children climbing all over me and the breakfast tray, sharing my breakfast from my fork ... however ... the dunkin' donutes coffee is mine.

One last picture of the after-school-valentines-party-spread. I asked Hunter to give me a smile for the picture ... his response ... "Ex-cuse me?" Can you see the attitude? Oh good grief ... I thought he was 7, not 13!?!

Much love! xoxo

art journal - "balance"

The latest word for the art journal challenge is "balance." The journaling around the edge of the page says, "I could never balance all of my roles and responsibilities and things that require my time without the firm foundation of my savior and king. It's on the days that I embrace his love for me, I am balanced." (I aim to embrace this daily - but so often fall short.) On the left I indicated many of the roles and things that require my energy and time. On the right I indicated a message I received recently that spoke directly to my heart and soul of the love and care of my savior. I am balanced when I rest in God's love for me.

artist at work ...

It's so fulfilling to complete a commission. I'm always surprised when I decide a portrait is done ... just a couple of hours earlier it feels like I have days of work ahead of me and then all of a sudden, it looks complete! It's so funny, it's just one of those things ... here are a couple of pictures ... one of a work in progress and one of the finished piece!!



Edit: You can see other examples of my portrait work on my flickr site . You can also see a few of them in my etsy shop. Let me know if I can do one for you!

snow day and thankfulness ...

A view from Kiana's perspective ...

I'm ready to quit being mommy today. It's not so much that all three kids are home for the whole day - I enjoy having the all home ... in the summer time ... when they can be rowdy outside rather than in the living room. Actually ... the boys are doing great. We have a system that started yesterday (no school yesterday due to voting at the school). Our system is they earn one penny everytime I catch them making a good choice. That could include kindness, thoughtfulness, cheerful attitude, etc. They get three pennies if they obey mom the first time and they get three pennies for accepting my first answer when they ask for something like candy, or another cookie, or whatever. So rather than listening to "please mom oh please! why can't i have another one. But I waaaannnt one!" Ugh. They get pennies. I pay up at the end of the day or they can choose to roll their pennies over the next day. Yesterday ... they didn't get it. They ended the day with 3 pennies each ... and decided to roll them over into today to try for something silver ... like a dime or perhaps even a quarter! today, by noon, they're up to 14 and 15 pennies. It's beautiful - they get so excited about earning a penny and have resorted to informing me of their good choice if i didn't catch it. It's working and there is peace in the home ... except for child #3. How do you motivate a toddler?

This one makes me want to quit today ... just for one day ... I think she saw me through the crack in the door because she got even more mad after the picture ... oops.

I told the boys they could have a star wars movie marathon today. Unfortunately they only lasted through 1 1/2 movies. I never let them watch more than one movie in a day. I just think they can be more creative with their time. Hunter couldn't believe it. It's called mommy survival.

They get to play lego starwars II on the playstaition for longer than their 30 minute limit instead ... wow ... I'm sounding strict! I have boundaries, but at least I'm flexible under extreme circumstances ... ha. We made pumpkin muffins, yum right out of the oven, maybe I'll let them have three in one sitting ... why not, all the other boundaries are thrown out the window today!

I wanted to share one other thing that struck me yesterday. I was driving home from the pediatric neurologist (long story - everything is fine) and was thinking about one of the questions he was asking about my daughter.

"Can she grab things and hold onto them?"

"Yes"

"Can she release them?"

"Yes, sadly ... but I guess in your profession that's a good thing right?"

"Yes, the ability to release an object is a very very very good thing."

I was suddenly struck at how for granted I take the fact that my daughter can throw things from her highchair or drop the very item she's asking me to pick up for her over and over and over again. It's a great game to her, an annoyance to me, but a very significant "good" sign of a healthy child to a pediatric neurologist. I drove home feeling so grateful that she can drop toys or take everything out of her bed and drop them on the floor and then cry because she can no longer reach her blankie. And I felt a little guilty for taking it for granted. There were several parents in that waiting room whom I imagine wish they could answer "yes" to the question ... "can she release the object?" I'm grateful for the blessing of a healthy child with whom I only have to deal with some food allergies and the planning and watchfulness that goes along with that.

I guess I don't want to quit being mommy today after all ...

art journal - "daughter"

The word prompt from the art journal challenge this week is whatever we want ... so naturally - since the week and weekend has been filled with everything "Kiana" due to her birthday, and I'm dealing with the normal every-single-second-of-the-day demands of an infant-turning-toddler, who also happens to be getting both one-year-molars, AND wants to be held every waking moment for the last three weeks ... I chose the word daughter. The journaling is much of what I did for her little tribute in her birthday post. No time to be super creative and think outside the box!! I think I'll do a page for each of my kids right around their birthdays' regardless of the word prompt for that week. I do enjoy my boys too - I realize there are a lot of pictures of Kiana lately. Boy pics to come too! :o) She's always right here, discovering everything for the first time ... I don't want her to be the third child with no pictures documenting her babyhood. I don't think we have a problem there ... Anyway, here's this week's journal page. Did you know you can scratch designs into a photo if you wet the photo first and then use a sharp object (ball point pen) to scratch or write a design directly on the photo? Cool!

birthday party pics ...

So the party for the birthday girl was last night. 21 family members came out to help her celebrate. Thank the Lord my parents offered to have the party at their house! What a special girl. Just thought I'd share a couple of traditional birthday pictures of a one year old party girl! Due to Kiana's dairy allergy I found a recipe for dairy free chocolate cake with fluffy white frosting also dairy free! It was a hit! Kiana's first piece of cake ever!!

Before ...

During ...

After ...

Nice party ... she's so cute.

one year old ... where did it go??

It was a snow day today ... really really beautiful. The boys were home from school so we thought we would try to document some of Kiana's birthday ... originally Hunter was going to bring Kiana to school for show and tell ... because it was her birthday (and because he simply adores her and needed a good excuse to show her off!) So the day was pretty uneventful ... but documented nonetheless ...

Good morning!! It's my birthday!!

First to the bank and a couple of groceries ... especially bananas we go through bananas like water ...

Oh no!! Mom please not the craft store!! Oh pleeeeaaase!! We're going to die!!!! Yes, my toes are bare, shoes and socks stay on for about 1 second. I hate them.

This was one of my first birthday presents from my friends, I love these! ... Please oh please will someone help me open my graham crackers? I'll eat through the wrapper if it have to ... I've tried it before ...

Practicing walking ... I'm getting so good at it and I like it! But crawling is so much easier.

Oh my goodness. I can't believe it! Kiana is one year old today! She is so turning into a little toddler with so much personality and little quirks that are just hers. There are so many things I love about her.

She has introduced pink into our home, I used to avoid pink but now I can't get enough of it. She brings tights, dresses, barretts, mary janes, ruffles, patent leather, cap sleeves, did I mention pink? to our home. When I give her a kiss, she almost always leans in to get more. I love her warm breath on my cheek when she rests her head on my shoulder at bed time. I love whispering truths into her ear just before I lay her down, that's she's beautiful on the inside and the outside, that she's loved and loveable, that Jesus loves her and that I love her. I love that she dances when she hears music, anytime, anywhere. I love her smile with all the little spaces between her 8 teeth, her little nose all crunched up, and her eyes get all squinty. I love that her eyelashes are so long they practically touch her eyebrows. She delights in fitting into small spaces like baskets, boxes, drawers, and nooks between the couch and wall causing me to freak out because she was there when I left the room and somehow disappeared when I returned. She gives these adorable wet open mouth kisses. I love how excited she gets when you present her with a graham cracker. I love how independant she is, fearless to climb a chair that has rungs like a ladder, loves to explore even if she knows you're not following her. She knows what she wants, I love that. Her blue eyes sparkle. Her world is filled with people who really love her. She's such a blessed little girl. And we are so blessed to have her in our lives. I know God has a great plan for her - she's a gift to our family, straight from heaven. I can't wait to see what her passions are, what interests she gravitates to. I believe strongly that the desires of a child's heart that consistently crop up or are articulated as "when I grow up ... " are a window into the purposes God has for them as an adult. It's a reflection of how they're wired and created deep down inside. I'm looking forward to watching Kiana blossom into what God created her to be in the coming years. Life is rich. Happy 1st Birthday little Kiana!!!