I Statements...

I was writing this post a month ago. Forgot I had it saved.

I am learning to balance work and family and play and creative time.


I think music, pictures, and words all together can be some of the most amazing ways to say what you feel.


I wonder what's on the horizon?


I wish growing up was easier on kids today. I think back to my childhood and what I thought was so hard was nothing compared to what kids deal with now. I miss the playing outside until dark and not being worried.


I save lots of scraps of paper lately. Fun to add to Project Life and mini books.


I always am a sucker when my kids want a book. Thankfully they are big library checker outers(totally made up that word).


I can't imagine not having books to read in the house. We may not buy many, but we do visit the library weekly.


I believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy! :)


I promise to try hard everyday to be patient and try my best!


I love pictures! Mark asks often why I don't do more with videos instead of taking pictures. I love video, don't get me wrong, but for me when I look at pictures and remember it comes from my heart, while watching a video, my head remembers, but I don't feel that pull in my heart.


I scrap nothing lately, but hoping since I figured out a way to do Project Life that will fit me better I can scrap more.

I got the idea for this from Becky Higgins blog post found here.

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

For the 5th grade graduation at Dart and Audrey's school the 4th grade parents are in charge of the reception. Most years it is the same ole same ole. When our group is in charge we tend to change things up all the time. We decided something new needed to be done for this years graduation. Our fearless leader decided on a Dr. Seuss, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" theme.

Our cake, we were a little disappointed as we had asked for hot air balloons on the sides and they didn't do that, but the price was good so I guess that happens.

Our table decorations. We had 20 live beta fishes on the tables. We had the kids put their names in a bowl and then we drew names as to who got to take a fish home. The kids loved it. We also had quotes from Dr. Seuss on the tables.

More table decorations. The fish bowl the kids put their names in along with the requisite "The Cat in the Hat" hat! It's not Dr. Seuss without "Green Eggs and Ham", "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" and "The Cat in the Hat"!

 Shepard is "A Leader in Me" school which includes the "Habit Tree" so it wasn't a graduation without our habit tree. This cake was AMAZING!! The kids and parents all LOVED it. The teachers were blown away by it.

Our fearless leaders "Thing 1 and Thing 2!" Both of them are leaving us so it was fitting that they pose for one last picture!

35 before 36 update!

Almost June and I just realized I never updated May. I have them all written down and updated that, but failed to post it!

1. Get rid of 60lbs. I don't want to lose it because you usually want to find things you lose. Drinking lots of water
2. Menu plan, will save time, money and help with 1. UGH! Not so good.
3. Eat breakfast everyday. I'm horrible about eating breakfast. A little better thanks to working.
4. Get all recipes on cards. I might use them more if I don't have to dig through a box. None unless it was a new one I didn't want to forget about.
5. Get the kids in the kitchen to help cook more. They both usually enjoy it. No
6. Read "Little Women". My name came from the book and yet I've never read it. Not yet
7. Get my first mani and pedi. Nope never had one! Not yet, need to get my nails in better shape. I've not been biting them, but they are in need of a major trim back.
8. Start going to church again. I haven't gone consistently in several years. No
9. Watch "The Wizard of Oz" This movie scares me to death. NO
10. Get to and maintain at least 65 items in my store. I've slacked on my store since starting work.
11. Add digital cards to my shop. No
12. Hold a couple of sales in my shop. Thinking of Christmas in July!
13. Find ways to cut shipping and supply costs. learning how to better price stuff which has adjusted some prices.
14. Add wedding invites, programs and guest books to my shop. No
15. Add American Girl clothes to my shop. No
16. Get my vision of "Colorful Minimalist" into my products and shop. Will blog more about this later. Not much this month.
17. Learn calligraphy. Maybe not the "traditional" style, but I want to explore more with handwriting. No.
18. Learn more about graphic design. Can't afford to go back to school now so I will teach myself some. Pinned lots of graphicy ideas this month.
19. Teach Audrey to sew. I wish I would have learned when I was younger! Plans for it this summer.
20. Make mini books for me and to sell. lots in the planning process.
21. Do more DIY items. No.
22. Do something creative everyday. Even just something small. Been hard since starting job, hoping to get back on track once I get adjusted.
23. Do 12 on 12 every month. Take 12 pictures on the 12th every month. YES!!!
24. Give more handmade items. Even if I'm not the one to make them. No gift giving occasion.
25. Send/give cards every month to someone just for fun. No
26. Project 365. There are several sites for this, but I found a site that will email me a prompt everyday. Slacked some, but caught up.
27. Clean up external hard drive completely. Started good last year and then went downhill. No, hoping to get some done soon.
28. Blog at least 5 times a week. HAHA!!
29. Be less crazy about things like how the kids pick up their room and put away their clothes. Kids are doing better and so am I.
30. Be more patient. I am so not a patient person. Learning patience daily.
31. Declutter. 40 bags in 40 days! You can find lots of info on the web about it. Zero
32. Stop biting my nails. I don't want them really long, but I want them to have a little nail to them. Haven't been biting.
33. Play more games with Dart and Audrey. We have a ton of board games and a ton of Wii games. Skip-Bo
34. Keep inbox and google reader cleaned out. They got out of control several times this year. google reader in good shape. Unsubbing from some emails.
35. Enjoy life more!! Learning to enjoy a different life that involves working a "normal" job.

Thank You!!

To all who have fought, who continue to fight, and who will fight in the future. Because of you and your family we are able to celebrate this day and spend it with our families.

Image found on Google.

Anyone out there????

I have been horrible about blogging and to be honest I haven't even thought much about it until this last week. This last week I realized I miss blogging. I am hoping we are finally getting adjusted to a new routine with me working. Speaking of working, I LOVE my job. I love the people I work with, I enjoy what I'm doing, always learning and never really know what might come up during the day that needs working on. I tell people at least I won't get bored!

We have been EXTREMELY busy with end of the school year stuff and now that the kids are done I'm hoping life will slow down some. We had Choir End of the Year breakfast, Mrs. Weaver's(the principal at the kids school) retirement reception, Mrs. Weaver's garden dedication, final assembly at which Dart got a certificate for Perfect Attendance, and 5th grade graduation. At our school the 4th grade parents put on the 5th grade graduation reception. We went with a Dr. Seuss Oh The Places You Will Go theme. It was awesome, I will do a post about that soon. Audrey also competed in her first gymnastics meet and LOVED it! She is trying more things and basically taught herself how to do a handspring. I have a good friend who used to teach gymnastics who has offered Audrey private lessons, so she will have those and gymnastics at TAG through the summer. I think we might take July off from TAG just to give her a break and they may spend time with my mom.

I have posts in the works for lots of things and really hope to blog more, but I'm not making promises. I'm hoping to get some posts done on weekends so there is something ready for the week. I do miss it though and hope that that will help in me blogging more.

Dart was one of 8 in the school to have perfect attendance. He set a goal at the beginning of the year to do everything he could to get perfect attendance. So proud of him for wanting to be at school everyday! Can't believe he will be a 5th grader next year!

I am asking all you blog readers for prayers for a few friends. First one of Dart's best friends family could use prayers. He has had a rough year and they have had some other not so good news come up and could use the extra prayers and good thoughts. The other is for a girl I went to high school with and that my mom works with. She graduated a year ahead of me in school and has 2 young daughters, in November she was diagnosed with breast cancer. They found it early and started chemo right away. She had a horrible time with chemo, lots of sickness and aches and pains. She went Thursday for her scans and Friday went for results. She and her army of friends and family were praying for CANCER FREE, instead were told the cancer has spread. She is a fighter and will do all she can to beat this evil monster, but this was not at all what she was hoping for. Any prayers for her I know she will appreciate and for her girls. She has a daughter in high school and a 4 year old.

Life

I'm not going to lie, life is kicking my butt lately. I'm still struggling to get adjusted to a new schedule and a new routine. It's not going so well. It's frustrating me. It's making me cranky. It's driving me insane!!! I'm hoping this weekend to get some what back to normal or at least figure out what our new normal is.

I love my job. It's fun, the people are amazing and I'm learning so much! The doctors are an interesting bunch! Despite the moments of insanity I really enjoy it and am glad I get to work there.

I promise to be back more. I think I'm going to have to work on posts on weekends. Or maybe I can get adjusted to a new normal and post them in the evenings.