Sunday, January 30, 2011

A little love.

Stella kept asking me when I was going to put out our Valentine decorations.  I promised her that I would get to it.  However, I have been feeling a little under the weather.  I came down with Strep throat this week and I was miserable.  Then to top it off, I had some major dental work done.

Some how I had to find a way to put up the Valentines.  Oh wait.  I really don’t have much by way of V-day decorations.  I have never really been one to love what is available.  I decided to make my own.

This is what my dining table looked like after the holidays.

winter

winter centerpiece    snowflake jar 2

I love how simple and white my table has been.  And then….

I added some splashes of red.

XO bocca

This is what it looks like now that I added a little love.

Valentine table cr

I used some wrapping paper to make my banner and the hearts.  I picked up the paper on clearance after the holidays.  I was excited when I realized how great it would look for Valentines.

I also broke out my computer and made a few printables. 

A few love notes to my family.

love notes

Some truth to live by.

love is spoken here   glitter

…and then the words to “Our Song.”  I picked up this red frame at Hobby Lobby.  I fell in love with it and new that it would look adorable for Valentines.

Frames

Entry Way

After I started to feel a bit better, I had a little party here at the house.  I invited some girls up for dinner, and was so grateful when I woke up that morning feeling more like myself.

Dinner was delicious, but dessert was even better.

framed cupcakes

Salted Carmel Cupcakes the recipe can be found here.

Don’t they look delicious?

cupcake 1    cupcake 2

Well they were.

Now that I am feeling better I hope to find a little more time to record great moments on my blog, and I just might get 365 caught up.

I am grateful health has found it’s way back to me, and I am enjoying having reminders of love sprinkled throughout our home.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

On my mind…

With the new year at hand, I seem to have a lot on my mind.

on my mind 

I previously shared my goals for 2011.  I am proud of myself for working on those goals, and thinking of them most every day.  Even tonight while eating a home cooked meal Jex said, “Mom, I noticed one of your goals is 4 home-cooked meals a week.”  I replied, “yes.”  He said, “I can tell it is important to you.”

…and it is.  Not so much for the reasons that some would suppose.  I do it so we share time together.  I do it so we share conversation.  Recently while watching a talk show (which I never do), I happened to catch an author who was sharing her book about the importance of home-cooked meals.  The host of the talk show replied, “we don’t have time in this day and age to cook for our family.”  The author replied, “you have somehow found 2 more hours in your day for the internet, how is it that you can’t find time to cook and share a meal with your family?

Family meals are almost always torture for me.  Our children hate grown-up food, and I refuse to make them something different.  I am striving to make it less about the meal and more about the conversation.  Any ideas?  Any recipes?  I am open to suggestions.

Speaking of watching a talk show.  Do you want to watch more television in the winter?  I sure do.  I want to sit here and eat double stuffed Oreos while I watch re-runs of the Cosby Show.  What I really should be doing is running and drinking some water.

I was watching the Cosby Show late in to the evening one night this week.  I was taken back at how mild the show was compared to what  is on television today.  My, how desensitized we have become.  Satan sneaks up on you quickly, doesn’t he?  I think I might have to start watching the Cosby’s more often.  Good Ole Bill has some great ideas for parenting.

necklace

This is one of 2 new owl necklaces that I got for Christmas.  This one is from my M in L, and the other from my Bestie; Krysta.  The simplest things can make my day.

I recently read a few items around the web that have me thinking.

First is this little article, the grapefruit syndrome.  You just have to read it to understand why I can’t stop thinking about it.  It makes me think about how quick we can be to judge.  I know I am guilty of this.  It is even worse because we feel that it is okay to judge our own loved ones.  I do believe that moving past the small things such as grapefruits and how we eat them is what has kept my marriage so strong.  It took me a while to learn this.  I am working on this with my children as well.  I am trying to be less of the monkey who picks and picks at her kids, and more like a lion who encourages them to be brave and able to do tasks on their own.

I love my husband. (just had to throw that in there)  What?  It is on my mind.

I also love my little Tess. She is the world’s happiest person.  She is always smiling.  I hope she brings that element to our family dynamic for years to come.

Happy

Oh, got a little sidetracked.  The second thing I read on the web went a little something like this:

 “it’s not the fingerprints on the wall that need my attention, but the people who put them there.” 

I am working on this.  I tend to get in a mood when I clean and get lost so deeply in it that I forget about all else.  I also plan my cleaning days and have a hard time stopping or changing my plans.  Like today when Stella asked me, “Mom, can you come have lunch with us.”  I said, “no, I have some things to do today.”  Guess what those things were?  Yes, you guessed it.  I learned a valuable lesson today.  I am working on it.  I plan to have lunch tomorrow to make up for my anxious brain that couldn’t see that lunch with them was more important then mopping the stickies off the floor.

I did watch this little video clip tonight and it  helped me feel less guilty.

It reminded me that I need to keep moving forward.  There is no time to look back, only time to fix my mistakes. (take the time to watch this, it is well worth it)

stella tucked in

Did you know one of my kids favorite things is for me to tuck them in?   Especially Stella.  She counts on it every night, and it breaks her heart if I don’t do it.  It is about the only thing that can send her in to hysterics.  See… it’s the little things.  I can do the little things.

One of the little things that I could do better at is listening.  I really need to stop what I am doing and listen.  Do you shake your head and do the uh-huh thing while they ramble on about how many Lego pieces they have?  I find myself doing it a lot.  I plan to fix this.  I plan to listen better.

Speaking of listening.  Do you have people in your life that you will never forget?  I was recently thinking about a client that I had in beauty school.  Her name was Mertle Munk.  I have a hard time remembering my kids names, but I will not forget Mertle.  She was completely deaf, but so completely capable.  She was a very strong woman.  She had children and raised them to be wonderful people.  I remember asking her how she could hear her babies crying.  She told me how her husband would wake her at night, and during the day how she would check on them often.  Even though she could not hear her children, I am sure she was a great listener.  I happened to be in those first few years of marriage when I met her.  I remember her reading lots of books, and sharing lots of great tips on marriage with me.  She was a wonderful listener.

I loved Thursday afternoons when I got to do her hair.

Today, I realized that I want to be better at keeping the promises I make to myself.  I worry about following through with promises that I make to others, but less about the promises I make to myself.  I should value myself a little more than that.

I also discovered something about myself today, something that I have really grown to love.  I thrive on being different.  I love doing things differently than everyone else.  Sometimes, I find anyway other ways to do something than the way everyone else does it.  This can be good and bad.  Sometimes it can get me in to trouble.  On the other hand, I learn more about myself when I do.  Why do I love this characteristic?  Twenty years ago, I would not have been caught dead doing something other than what my friends were doing.  I like that I now value my own opinion more than my peers.  I enjoy standing out a little bit.  I wish I would have realized in high school that being different is a good thing.  How do I teach my own children this?

Dare to be different

I have been thinking a lot lately about what it means to me to be a Mormon.  It is one of the most important parts about me.  One of the parts that I wish I shared a little more often. I am a Mormon, and it means everything to me.  I am also an average person that experiences trials and receives blessings just like every one else.  I can blend easily with a crowd.  I am an ordinary American woman.  I do, however, belong to the Mormon faith.  I love that it sets me apart.  It helps shape who I am.  I wish more people understood this about me.  I wish they understood that I am just like them in so many ways, without the pre-conceived notion of what a Mormon really is. 

I wish that people who meet me and don’t know I’m Mormon could see that I am different in a marvelous way.  That they would be intrigued about what makes me different. 

…and that is what is on my mind.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

What I did this weekend.

Look what I accomplished.

I have the scrapbook bug.  I haven’t got this much done on my scrapbooks in quite a while.

Isaac Summer 2009 copy

Isaac summer 2009 2 copy

These pages are for Isaac’s personal book.  The book he will take when he leaves home.

Two year old birthday Isaac copy

Two year old birthday Isaac 2 copy

…and because I didn’t want to make them lug many many books when they leave I only scrap 5 spreads a year for each child.

Isaac Fall 2009 copy

Isaac Fall 2009 2 copy

Here is how I scrapbook:

Family books for me and Jonathan, with every memory and picture recorded.  I now even include my blog entries in these books.

Baby books from newborn to one for each of the kids.  I include these pages in our family album to keep for myself.

Season albums for the kids from one to college.

Season albums include:  A spread(meaning to pages adjacent to one another) for: summer, w inter, spring, fall, and birthday.  These pages highlight the most significant events for each season. This helps to cut down on the amount of scrapbooking I have to do.  I also had visions of handing my son’s new wife all his albums for the last 2 decades and watching her croak when she had to find somewhere to store them in her little newlywed apartment.  See, sometimes I do think ahead.

Winter Isaac 2009-2010 copy

Isaac winter 2009-2010 2 copy

Can you believe I got 4 spreads or 8 pages done?  I can’t.  My kids must have been really good this weekend.  Actually I planned ahead, and made sure they had something to do.  I will fill you in on what that was tomorrow.

For more information about what I use for scrapbook software click here.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Birthday Gift Idea for 2011

I like to pick one birthday gift.  One idea that I have to come up with.  One time to go shopping.  One great idea that will be used.   Last year, it was aprons and cake mixes.

This is the little beauty that I came up with for this year:

Tray cr

Isn’t it cute?

I am loving that this will get used.  It is not some Barbie that will be put in a bin somewhere at the back of a closet only to be pulled out when a really good friend comes over.

I have picked several different cards and envelopes to choose from. 

cards cr  envelopes cr

I also love that this is an opportunity for kids to write and express.

notes cr

I also made some personalized stationary, and couldn’t resist adding some Monograms.

stationary cr  Monogram cr

A little bag of embellishments were necessary to adorn the envelopes.

 bagged cr   embellishments cr

  A little bit of ribbon never hurt anything.

Ribbon cr

This is what the tray looks like without all the embellishments.

empty tray cr

Isn’t it adorable.   Spray paint and scrapbook paper, and it will look adorable on a desk. 

I do believe I want one of my own now, and lets not even discuss how many times Stella has asked for one.

What are you giving for gifts?

I love giving gifts.  It is so fun to wrap it up and give it away.

wrapped cr

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Snow Day 2011

This year seems to be a repeat of last January.  Last year, about this time, we were:

warm by the fire

as the kids were subjected to a snow day, and so sadly did not have to go to school.  Yeah Right!! It is time to party.  We got two more snow days this year.  We have been the recipients of an Artic Blast.

Artic Blast

Luckily the roads were bad enough that Jonathan got to stay home also.  It started snowing on Sunday afternoon.  We happened to be at the Bradford’s, and when we decided to leave there was not even an inch of snow on the roads.  When we got to our exit, the only main road that leads to our neighborhood was so backed up that we new we were not making it home.  We did not know when we would get home.  We went back to the Bradford’s, and let me tell you it was a little scary.  There are some crazy winter drivers here in the South.  We are experts you know, we grew up in Utah.   (wink wink)  

winter table

Luanne’s outdoor table starting to get covered.

Around 6:00 we decided to give it a go again.  The roads were worse, but there were less drivers, and we were finally able to get off the exit and up the street to our neighborhood.  Unfortunately, we live on the steepest hill in Arkansas and there was no way were were getting up it.  We are so grateful for our neighbor who bought a 4x4 truck this year.  He was able to come and pick us up, and the little blue van had to wait near the entrance to our neighborhood.  We were so grateful to be home.

Today is Tuesday, and here we still sit and enjoy one more snow day.  Do you want to see what we did?

WARNING:  Picture overload, but if you don’t like it then I might advise you not to read my blog; it is always picture overload here at J & A and Co.

Well first of all, we had to find enough snow gear for everyone.

mess

Lets just say that made a little mess.

Once bundled, the kids mainly just had their mouths full of the soft fluffy snow.  The couldn’t get enough, and I didn’t have to feed the kids.

eating snow

The kiddos enjoyed building a snow man with Jonathan, or as we like to call him “Blockhead”.  He used a rubber maid container to pack it down and build it with.  I really like his look, and have been thinking about making my own headband out of deer antlers.

snowman

build together  daddy 1

Jex build  Jex buid 2

work together

Isaac collage

I enjoyed taking pictures of the kids, and always love the way it looks with the crisp white background, reflection from the snow, and even a bit of sun.

Tessa CR

Tess and Dad CR

Stella CR

Jex cr

Isaac CR

After our finger felt like they would fall off there was only one thing left to do; give the kids pedi’s and make cookies.

Isaac pedi

It has been a two great days of  movies, popcorn, wrestling and laughter.  I decided if the kids get some days off then so do I.  I refrained from my normal Monday cleaning, and though I have stayed on top of the messes; I have really enjoyed being home with out many responsibilities.

Here’s to wishing tomorrow was a snow day also.  However, it is not; time to get back to the normal every day grind.

Peace and blessings of warmth your way.

and as promised my 2 scrapbook pages to go along with our Snow day.

Winter Snow day 2011 copy

Winter Snow day 2011 2 copy

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