the white stuff

Ah, man. Now I have that New Kids On The Block song in my head... "The right stuff."

Going about our day and I realized that white was inspiring and making me happy. Folding a pile of white onesies (Thanks Kit!) Cleaning white bowls after breakfast, purchased this cute white belt, putting together white storage organizers from Ikea. Then I look out the window and it's snowing!! Snowflakes floating so peacefully down from the sky that you couldn't complain about it covering up the red & yellow leaves but instead catch a few on your eyelashes.

I've had this certain item of business on my to-do list for sooooooo long. Now I can finally check it off---Buy white blank books for the girls.

A bit tired of piles of paper of their drawings and scribbles laying around that I wanted to keep but ended up throwing them away. Now I have them all in one tidy place. Dated and signed so we can see the progression. Purchased them at Draw Your World.

Yesterday I had a doctor's appt: Counting down from 2 weeks! She's growing and growing.

I'm uncomfortable but happy. Preparing but not ready. Not sleeping and not sleeping.

Thanks for your comments on my felt book yesterday!

Totally Rad Photo Actions

PLUS: check out the Crafty Steal of the day including Dear Lizzy paper!!

fleeting moments

Today turned out to be such a delightful day! Look at that face... how could it not be?

Life is so fleeting so I am relishing in these moments that pass so quickly. Because she is my whole world & at the moment I am hers.

The cuddles, her chubby hand holding mine, times when she needs mommy's comfort, pitter patter of her feet on the floor----give my life purpose.

Love the new House of 3 kits! Rhonna is incredibly talented at digital design and has me so excited for Valentine's Day already!! I love her calligraphy phrases... they are my favorite... and the doilies banners and and...

photo shares

Just wanted to share some photos that my friend, Maggie Holmes, took of our family... I literally started crying when I got to the photos of Avery & Quincey. I think the emotions were stirred for a couple reasons... Maggie did all the hard work for me, ha. I didn't have to run around bribing and forcing them to listen to me. :P I got to sit back and enjoy the show. But mostly because she captured their personalities completely! I love the one of just Avery because it is SO her--with that sneaky, silly, joyful smile. It's like she's already conjured up in her mind something rambunctious to do once she's done posing.

Classic one above: Daddy making us laugh, Avery wondering what's funny & looking up at Dad (daddy's girl), Quincey content sucking her thumb.

Maggie did an amazing job-thanks! There's more on her blog too...

Avery's headband (Miss Ruby Sue) Quincey's (Motley Handmade)

Stay Tuned for a killer giveaway from my newest sponsor: BLUE MOON Scrapbooking

springy snacks

In case you didn't know, we are snackers... we love to eat All. Day. Long. :) So when I first saw the idea of using a muffin tin to fill with snacks for the day I knew that's just what we needed to keep this little squirrel happy.

Instead of a muffin tin the silicon cupcake cups worked perfect along with a cute Cram Cream tray. Yes, you will find me digging in too.

Another page using the Scarlet Lime kit that I showed a peek of last week but now you get to see the whole enchilada.

I love the new line from Sassafras called "vintage yummy" that's where you find the cute dear paper.

I missed Idol last night. Who did awesome? Kris was my favorite last week! Happy Wednesday!

she is...

She is taking 2 steps at a time!!
She is getting into everything!!
She is l♥vin' cheerios
She is the cutest
She is still learning how beautiful a full nights sleep can be-(aye yi yi :)
She is getting s♥ big

She is taking a nap... so I've got lots of stuff to do! :)

hugs,

e

(headband from etsy here)

I love surprises!

Apparently Dove chocolates are not the only ones that have a magical power! One of my darling blog readers, that is just as fabulous as they come, sent me this painting in the mail! I had been gushing over a blog post she did of her first painting and asked if she could paint one of Q&A. Well, life was crazy-busy & I was being picky as I tried to pick out the perfect picture for her to replicate. Then she surprised me with this beauty & I absolutely LOVE it!

It's sitting in a bookcase in our family room. I love it so much that I wasted quite a bit of time just staring at it. :) She illustrated Avery's eyes so perfectly & I will treasure it forever. Thanks Jana! You should check out her blog & get a painting of your own little sprouts!

Today is a special one for me as you can see here. Just going to reminisce.

Q and A

Don't you love when people give peeks of projects they are in the process of working on... sometimes it's fun, but most of the time it is complete & utter torture. This morning I saw this pile of fabric & thought I would share a peek of pieces from my current fabric+photo project...

I love how Avery is hugging so tight that Q's cheeks are all smooshed.

Kinda like this very minute, since both girls are sitting on my lap. Avery is squeezing Q a bit too tight while Quincey gets a good grip on a handful of Avery's hair & giggles at every photo that she sees on the computer. Please forgive the grammatical correctness of this post since I am literally typing with one hand. :) Another reason I need a MAC computer with photo booth so I can capture our fun blogging moments. ;)

Speaking of my darling Q&A, I have seen on many blogs where they engage in a little question & answer post. That sounds fun since as evidence of today's post, I don't have much exciting things to share. Ha! So, leave a comment if you have any sort of random question for me (or Collin while we are at it) :) and I will answer some of my favorites in a blog post this week.

I'll start with the most popular question:

"What camera do you use?" I shoot with Canon Rebel XTi, or since Christmas, Canon 50D.

Thanks to Santa!:)

PS I need to dig up some baby photos of Collin because she looks just like Mini Daddy!!

Lace border frames found here.

photography by Cleetus

I love rainy days! This morning we've been cuddling up in our pjs and listening to the rain and watching Avery's recent obsession 'Mickey Mouse playhouse.' Of course I am the one provoking this infatuation because I want to go to Disneyland in a couple months and you can't go to there if you don't know who Mickey & Minnie are, right? :)

We took these photos of Avery last week on a rainy day, or rather, Collin took these pics of our little girl. Now I am going to say something that is recited over and over by the mouths of mothers, "She is growing up so fast!" I'm sure I'll be repeating that the rest of my life-but she is. One thing for sure is that she's not growing out of her love for rain boots. First the froggies, now the kitties. If you would like to book a photography sesson with Collin let me know...seriously!

Sundays are a perfect day for baking. Yesterday I stuffed my face with the yummiest pumpkin cookies, not to mention, the easiest recipe...

1 box of 'Spice' cake mix

1 can of pumpkin

& a bag of chocolate chips.

That's it. (Thanks Em!)

Speaking of yummy recipes... Paper Crafts released a new book. Want one? It's full of eye-candy craft projects and delicious recipes. Not to mention that the book itself is gorgeous and you'd want to leave it out on your counter top. (the photo below doesn't do it justice:)

Leave me a comment with your favorite treat or dish you like to make on a rainy day.

it's official

Avery is a big girl!

In her big girl bed!

Yesterday I took apart her crib and turned it into a bed.

It ended up being a full size not a twin like I thought and took up her whole room.

So, we turned to plan B and put together this toddler bed I had bought from Ikea.

She loved it so much she slept-in until 8:17!!!!!! Are you kidding me? She hasn't slept in the past 2 years of her life!

I was happy!

Collin was too! Although I think he might have been a little sad to miss their early morning cuddle-time while watching Curious George and Sid the Science Kid!

I know this isn't the best quality picture-but I love it!

It's so Avery-mismatched clothes, crazy pigtails, mouth wide open because she's either singing, telling me some silly story that I can pick out maybe 4 words, or asking me "what a daddy says?" which she responds by putting her head back and laughing. I taught her that one... and if you ask her what a Mommy says she'll give you a big kiss. :^*

With all of this copycat Mommy stuff I have to be very careful what I say-especially in the car. No more road rage I guess! ;)

I can't remember what I was doing a couple days ago but I dropped something and said, "Oh, man." then I hear across the room... "Ah, mam." Yes, I have to be very, very careful! :)

late night sentiment

Collin and I tag-teamed & tucked our little sweeties in for bedtime then turned on the oven and baked our favorite cinnamon rolls. He's devouring his while catching up on Mad Money and I am enjoying mine while I download photos that I took earlier, licking my fingers between bites.
Today was one of those days where I was exhausted and literally do not know how I made it through. Then I think about what so many people are going through across the country and pray for their strength and burdens to be lifted.

But the ironic part is that finally the time is mine to relax my shoulders and eyes and do anything my heart desires, and what am I doing? Staring at my girls on the computer screen. Remembering how much I love that Avery is always hovering over her baby sis. Remembering how Quincey Rose's smile revives me. Remembering how cute Avery is teaching Quincey the different sounds all the animals make & when Quincey cries, saying "It's okay baby! It's okay!" Remembering their innate bond as sisters. Remembering how precious today is for our country and how important it is to enjoy each day. Savoring the simple moments that I spend with my girls that fill my heart & give me strength for tomorrow.





BTW, mmmmm this cinnamon roll is divine!! :P

Hallelujah!

That's what I shouted when I downloaded my pictures to my computer and was happily surprised to see this one! What? Avery's actually looking at the camera?! Yep. I usually love candid shots but my camera was beginning to forget the beautiful color of Avery's eyes. We have plenty of shots with her running away or kissing baby Q. Thanks to Daddy's help and holding Quincey we got a picture with both of 0ur little girlies.

inquiring minds

"What frame is that you used?"
A bunch of you were asking me about this frame I used on my photos. It's a download from Jessica Sprague's Computer Tricks book. A must have for jumping into the hybrid world! It has some awesome ideas to start using the computer more in your scrapbooking. Applying frames to your photos is a great start! All you do is open the photo and frame in photoshop then drag the frame onto the picture-super easy!!

"What did you use to design your banner"
I used this digital kit and designed it in photoshop.

"What camera do you use?" I use the Canon Rebel XTi.

"When are the 'Shades of Summer' coming my way?"
The rest of the packages went out yesterday. I'm so excited to see you stylin' bloggers in these shades and all the scrapbook pages in my finished album.
Do I look like I just woke up in this picture? That's because I just did. :)


How cute is Karen rocking the shades?! This Southern gal was the first one of over 150 scrappers (I lost count) to start the fun! Yay!!

PS Thanks to Emilie for this adorable scooter onesie! And Camille, Ashley, and Yaya for the precious, tiny bracelet!

Also, I am hosting happy hour tonight at the Creating Keepsakes Message Board (8:30pm MST) so come and play! I will be doing a Die cut GIVEAWAY!!

our lil' kissing monster

Right now my days are mostly spent keeping this cutie patootie preoccupied with anything other than baby Quincey. She wants to give her kisses all day! My favorite thing is that she has to say "bye baby, bye baby bye!" whenever she leaves the room to go get her latest obsession-a handful of raisins or her Mickey Mouse doll. I wonder what our little lady-Q thinks whenever she sees her coming?! :)

The pool was just the trick to getting out all her wiggles.

Let's see how long this picture stays on the blog before he makes me delete it! haha!

*Shades of Summer update*

The first box went out today-thanks to Collin! I ordered nine more sunglasses online that I hope will arrive on my doorstep soon. Then we will get the rest of you girlies involved in the fun. So heads up if you live in the South-this package is headed your way!