As 2011 Approaches.

Like many this year I have decided that resolutions are just not for me. They often end up broken and I become disappointed in myself. If I'm being truthful I haven't made any in a couple of years. I just didn't really think about it until someone asked me what mine were and then I'd get a little embarassed that I didn't make any.

I am looking forward to a few days off and spent with my family.

Ringing in the new year with my hubs.

Thinking about my sister and her hubs saying good-bye to a loved one, and missing her babies.

Grateful for all the blessings in my life.

Wondering what the changes of 2011 will bring.

Happy New Year!
May it be filled with love, health, peace, and happiness!

I'm gonna miss this.

These pictures of Q always make me laugh. He was only 21/2 months old and already had so much personality. This layout is for a challenge and is about how I'm going to miss those sweet baby days. Well I already do. TFL.

Young Love.

I did this layout for a challenge. Some very old photos of my hubs and me at our high school prom. I love these photos, they always make me smile.

Meet Snorkel Boy

My son is a clown. He loves to have silly pictures of himself taken. I'm not so sure that he discovered anything more than shells and seaweed on this particular swim, but I know he had a blast anyway.





I love these papers by Crate. They are the brook collection. tfl.

Snug as a Bug.

A picture of my sweet nephew M again. He was all bundled up for a walk to Tim Horton's I think. I've been trying for two years to use this paper.

You Being a Mom.

I always knew that I wanted to be a mom. That I wanted a fairly large family. Six kids to be exact. We settled for three. What I didn't know was how badly I wanted to share motherhood with my sister. How much I wanted cousins for my children that were not only relatives but friends as well. People that they would connect with through out life no matter where it takes them. I wanted her to share what I was going through. The love, the laughter, the tears, the joy. Everything. Eight years and three kids later she finally joined me on my journey. I remember that feeling, becoming an Aunt. How they melted my heart, how proud I was/am. I know that she knows she's a good mom and that she knows I know she is, but sometimes I know it's important to tell those you love what you feel. Yesterday I had a party for Q and I invited my nephew M to come. He was so well behaved, much more well behaved than the TEN excited, hyper, yelling, five year olds I had the pleasure of having in my home for three hours. He was happy, polite, and friendly. He said, "Bye, Thanks for coming!" to all of our guests when they left. He was just so cute. A reflection of great parenting. I am by no means saying that the other children are not parented well because I know they are, but let's just say that Q's teacher's are getting really nice Christmas gifts this year. lol. I just wanted you to know that I think you are an amazing mom, even on the hard days, and you have two wonderful little boys who mean more to me than I will ever be able to tell. xo

Holiday Cheer Card.

I wish that the photo showed the purple in the card a little better. I'm not even sure you can tell it is purple, silver, and sparkly black but IRL the colour combo is really pretty.
I made this card from sketch 163 on Mojo Monday's Blog.

Hallowe'en 2010.

This was probably one of the best Halloween's on record. Despite the snow still lingering on the ground and the chily temperatures, the kids had a blast running from door to door. They said trick-or-treat and thank-you at EVERY DOOR(because in my house you have to ;O)happily, they made small talk and jokes with the elderly, and at times were asked as many as THREE times if this was the kind of chips they liked. (Q lol) We were out for about a hour and a half the first round and another forty-five minutes on round two with Cassidy and her friend. You can always depend on C to keep it going. At home we ran completly out of candy. That was a first. It makes me a little sad to see one of my most favorite holidays come and go. The years are limited I know. Here is a picture of my little Nerd, Scream ghoul, and Pirate.

My 5 Year Old Says the Darndest Things.

Today Quintin brought home his class picture. While we were looking at it he told me who everyone was.

Me: and who is that?
Q: That's Timmy(name changed)
Me: is he your friend?
Q: Yes, but he cries a lot!
Me: Oh, why does he cry?
Q: because he raises his hand to answer questions the teacher asks, and she picks another human.


Heeeeeeeee. He is toooo flippin' cute sometimes.

Hiking.

We can often be found hiking one of the many trails found around town. We like to try out different ones and are always looking for different trails. Q likes to find sticks for the dog as you can see.

Saying Goodbye.

It wasn't a good day, it wasn't an easy day. That day in August when my only daughter had to say goodbye to her best friend. It was hard to watch. That pain, the tears, the fierce hugs, the quiet strength, the hope. It broke my heart. It breaks a little harder every time I read her doddling that say's I miss Nat, or Nat + Cass = BFF.

Their story began a couple of years back when the little brunette moved back to Canada from her Dad's posting in Germany. They became fast friends, spending afternoon's after school and weekend's together. Then I dropped the bomb that we were moving and Cassidy would have to change schools as we would no longer be in that school district. After we moved they saw eachother almost every weekend. Here or there, they never cared. At the end of the school year last June Cassidy came home from their house and announced that they were now moving. Across the country. They would be separated by over 3000 miles. So we made the most of what we had of the summer, taking Nat on trips to the beach with us and having extended sleepover's. Cassidy went to farewell party's and waterpark's with them. That dreadful day crept up on us. Their final farewell lasted over two hours and the girls were not the only one's who cried.
Nat is a special kid and I will always hold a special place in my heart for her. I made her a mini album of all the fun things we had done over the past years so she could remember. We exchanged emails, and promised to write and see eachother whenever they came to town(they have family here). One day they may move back. There is hope for that. I just hope that during the miles and years that will separate them that they won't change to much or outgrow eachother.

Wow it's been a long time. Over the past few months many things have taken the place of posting on my blog. Life happens and while I wish I had made more of an effort I also know that my family and sanity have to come first.
Update.
During the summer vacation one of my brew became a teenager. Which I might add he is quite proud of. He has since started the 8th grade.



Another got a massive hair cut, said good-bye to her best friend who moved away, and started the sixth grade.



And the littlest one started kindergarten and resently turned the big 5.



I have been working lots of course, but recently took some time off to visit with my brother who came to visit all the way from Fort Nelson, B.C. over our Thanksgiving holidays.

I have managed to find some time to scrapbook and will be posting those layouts over the coming posts.



For now I hope you enjoy looking at some of my artwork.

Two Goofy Girls!

These two are so much fun. Hanging out and being silly. They always have a good time.

Isn't he cute?

My sweet little nephew J.

HE

IS



FIVE!

I know honey, I'm stunned too.

He's Starting School.

I'm not so sure he's excited about it.

*update* While the first week was really hard for him, he has since settled in nicely. He now looks forward to going.

Smores.

He loves them.

Because I think of you often.

The month of July has for the past eight years felt like a roller coaster of emotions. I jump for joy with the kids when they are off school. With the sunshine comes some extra happiness , especially when it is not too hot and humid and paired with being off work. I get excited to go new places and try new things. All of which makes me think of my brother. I think summer was his favorite season. Maybe this is why the month of July is the month in which he died. Certainly as the anniversary of his death approaches it makes me think of him more and more, but I wanted a page that reflected the truth that he is always with me in my heart, and that I think of him often.





Journalling reads.

I often find myself thinking about what it would be like if you were still here. Living. I wonder if you would have a family of your own. I wonder what you would be doing with your life. I wonder what kind of relationship you would have with my children. With me. Would we still fight like cats and dogs? Would we still talk till the wee hours of the morning about everything and anything?

I often find myself thinking about the past. Our childhood, our teenage years, and finally the few years we shared as adults. I find myself clinging to memories wondering at times if they are truths to our past or figments of my imagination. Were the tea parties and water fights real. Did you really torment me when I was 13? Did you really stand outside my delivery room door waiting for Drake to enter this world?

I often find myself thinking back to that day. The day you left this world. The day our lives were turned upside down. The day you never came back. I fight the anger, but it resides in me. I struggle with moments in time, the ones where I think you belong. I embrace the peace, because know you have it.



I miss you.

Memory Box with Matching Album.

This is a gift I made for my boss who is getting married next week. She is going away to a resort which is why I chose to use this paper pack. She can choose to either keep the album in the box or use the box for any mementos she wants to keep from their wedding.

This is the cover of the box. it will fit an 8x8 slightly cropped picture of them.



Cover of the book.








Back cover.













Most of the pictures will be 5x7 with a couple 4x6's.
book, box, pp, cs, stickease, and some embellishments by CTMH.

On a side note if you have found me again you will notice that I have changed my blog name. Of course when I changed my ULR it also wiped out some info I had on my blog, and deleted my old blog name so I can not be found using it. That also means any links will no longer work.

A Happy Easter.

I sat here for quite awhile tonight with so many different things to ramble on about, then I thought better of it. So, with my ramblings and thoughts saved for another day I will focus on the celebration that is only two days away. We will be going to my Aunt's for Easter this year. Something I haven't done in many years. I haven't stepped foot inside her home since my Grandmother passed away over a year ago. The thought that it won't be the same makes my heart hurt but, I hope it will make her smile to have us there. I'm hoping to fill her home with the joy and laughter of my children. It has been far to long since her home has had that. The weather will be beautiful, much like today's +25 degrees. May you all have a beautiful and blessed Easter.

You know how it is. You either make time to blog or it slips. Mine seems to have taken a giant leap off a cliff for all the blogging I've been doing lately. I guess I haven't been particularly creative these days either. But tonight I need to vent a little. I could tell something was on my hubby's mind the minute I got home from work. He had something to tell me. Those of you that know me know that I haven't had a relationship with his family in about two years. Let's just say I'd had just about enough of the controlling argumentative environment that always seemed to hang over our time together. So I put an end to it. Of course there is more to the story than that but these are my biggest issues. So tonight he drops the bomb. "My old man sent me an email about getting together to talk things out." By "talk things out" his stepfather means I yell at you for an hour and you listen. ugh. I know that it hurts my dh to not have a relationship with his mom. Even his stepfather. I know it bugs him that they play him and his brother against each other. I know he hates it when they tell him what to do and how to raise our kids. I know it hurts him that I've been this stubborn for two years because I'm sick of their crap. I also know that when it comes to them he clams right up. If I'm going to do this I need him to take charge of the conversation, to tell them how he feels and that if this time it doesn't change for good that it will be the last. I don't know how to get that to happen. I don't want to disappoint him, and I certainly don't want him to be angry at me for saying no. So, I guess at the moment I have no choice but to go ahead and have our little "chat". Anyone experience anything like this???

Three Words.

GO TEAM CANADA!!!!!!!!!

15 Minute Scrapbooker?

It seems to be that I have somehow managed to morph into a 15 minute scrapbooking machine over the weekend. I've avoided scrappin'(except for my monthly scrap day)since I started my new job. It just seems that by the time I go through photos, choose papers and embellies that somehow over an hour of time has elapsed. Then I still need to put it all together... So after a nice 3 day break from work I decided that some scrap time was exactly what I needed. Before I started I knew I wanted to keep it simple. To "bang out" as many pages as I could in just a couple of hours. The result? 4 REALLY simple 1 page layouts. All of these pages took no more than 15-20 minutes to complete.

Snow Day


Working Girls


These 2 Melt My Heart


That Look


just incase you wanted to see it


This last page I made a couple of months ago. It took about the same amount of time so I thought I would include it too.

Moment In Time


Have a great day!

Just Me and First Photo Shoot.

During some recent scrappin' time I made these two layouts. This first one is an old picture of me. I thought for a long time about a title for this page, but being as young as I was I have zero memory of it. All I know is that I was going to the park. So my friend suggested "just me" and I like it. I think it's a sweet picture and really wanted to scrap it for awhile. I used Cherry Hill LOP from October Afternoon. I think the colors in these papers are stunning. You'll notice my beautiful wonderful lovely new toy. The Topnote die. Love. Thanks to my sister for the great gift.



This second DPS is of my oldest son's first photo shoot. These photos were taken over 12 years ago and I've been struggling a bit with doing my oldest two children's baby albums. I think I've been trying to make it look like it was done 12 years ago. lol. I've decided that not every page has to have a story. Some defiantly will and others like this will just tell their own story. These papers are sasafras. They look like a baby blanket that belonged to my DH. Super cute and bright.







I hope that you all are having a wonderful New Year. All the best in 2010!