April 30

Remember a while back where we had a "family vacation day" and we did nothing - no cooking, cleaning, work of ANY kind, and just spent the entire day together playing? Well we did that again today and it was so refreshing and fun!

We took the kids to a new strawberry farm and got over 11 pounds of berries in way less than an hour's time. I do have 5 kids, ya know :)   I am so excited about eating these all up. There are like nine million recipes I want to try! They had a little frozen shop in the place we went and they had the BEST strawberry frozen yogurt I have ever tasted. Seriously! We ate said frozen yogurt before lunch, which we ate at some hole-in-the-wall place called "The Gator Cafe". No - there was no gator at The Gator Cafe just in case you were wondering :)

Our original plan was to go to the beach when we finished up with the strawberry thing, but my wonderful husband made a suggestion to change those well laid out plans. This is something that I don't typically go along with, but since it was *family vacation day* I was trying to be flexible. For at least a little while, anyways. So he suggested that we go to the river where people go canoeing, kayaking, and tubing. I had been there before and I was already worried...but, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, and much to my surprise, it was beautiful. There was a great sandbar, and the water probably didn't go above my ankles for a long ways out. Did I mention that I have 5 kids? What more could a momma with 5 kiddos in tow ask for than a sandbar with ankle-deep water for 50+ feet on all sides? That's right, a sister and a husband tagging along to do the hard work :) Like putting up the sunscreen tent, oh yeah, and APPLYING the sunscreen to 5 kiddos, and helping me keep an eye on all those kids. Do you see why I haven't attempted to go near any large body of water in the last two years? (Well, besides the oil spill!)  It was such a great day and we are so excited to go back soon!

I will leave you with a few pictures for today:

I am so proud of this "accidental picture".  Can you see Claire's reflection? LOVE it!

Chloe was serious about playing with the sand :) Do NOT come between her and her bucket, mister!

Caleb is so stinkin' cute! That's all boy,  right there!

I wish some of these pictures would have shown you the beautiful clear sky we had today! Stay tuned though because I will be scrapping these very soon! They are high up the to-be-scrapped priority list.:)

April 29

I have been spending way too much time on the computer lately, working on classes and stuff. But today, I promised myself not to get even turn it on until I had cleaned the bathroom, did all the laundry, held and snuggled my babies and took way too many pictures :) Ahhh! Sigh of relief. All that and then some.

Caleb and I made the famous Potato Soup for lunch together and I even cleaned the kitchen immediately afterwards. Woo hoo! We completed our schoolwork before noon, which has been nearly impossible for the last two weeks and we read together for a while.

When the babies laid down for their nap, I let Caleb and Kagen play in the waterhose and in the baby's pool. I got the Dawn dish detergent and squeezed nearly half the bottle out for them to have a cold bubble bath. They loved it!

I love how you can see the water spraying here!

You'd think I used the whole bottle of Dawn with all these bubbles.

Could it be any better to be a boy?

My cheeks hurt from laughing at these boys playing together today!

April 28

This morning I had to go fill out paperwork for my kids to get in to see a new dentist. My mother in law kept all of the kids for me so I was able to be in the car and listen to music for about 20 minutes without someone fighting in the backseat :) Yay! I had an awesome time praising and worshipping this morning, in the confines of my van, with my radio blasting! I love times like this, when no one's watching and you are free to just be and feel and know who you are in God, and what He means to you without interruptions. We all need that kind of refreshing and renewal at some point in our day. It keeps me grounded and gives me that little push during the times I feel like I can't take any more! Surely you can relate!
Well I just have to share this amazing song and the part of the testimony that I heard this morning that put me in this mood to just praise and worship, and just be plain thankful. Thankful for a cancer-free husband. Thankful for healthy children. Thankful for a nice home and a hard working husband. Thankful for redemption and the freedom to share my faith. Thankful that God didn't see fit to send those horrible tornadoes here to my town. To my home. To my family.

Okay, well the lead singer of Sanctus Real, Matt Hammitt, and his wife have a blog about their newest little boy who was born with a heart defect of some sort. I don't know all of the details, but you can check out the whole story here on his blog, and you can also listen to the most AMAZING song. (The picture below shows where to click to listen to the song. I had a hard time finding it, so I circled it in red, and wrote "click here" on the picture so you'll be able to find it easily.)  It's called All of Me. He wrote it about his little boy, and how he has to give all of himself to his son, regardless of the outcome. There are so many personal situations that this song can be applied to, and I am claiming it today as my song. I hope it speaks to your heart, too.

April 27

Do you ever want to learn how to do something new, and think you have it figured out and you are so proud of yourself and then you look a little closer, and you compare your stuff to someone else's and then you aren't so sure of yourself anymore? Well, I have definitely felt that way as I begin to try my hand at designing for digital scrapbooking. When I get interested in something it consumes me -- night and day until I get it figured out. I am not a very patient person when it comes to learning. That being said, I have learned that all of those feelings of self doubt are normal, and I am coming to terms with my inexperience. One of my classmates in the Art of Digital Design class shared a great article about the beginning process of becoming a designer. I am just going to take the main statement but the full article can be read here.
“What nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish someone had told this to me . . . is that all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, and it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

Isn't this so true? I love it! I printed it out and hung it on my bulletin board to remind me that it's okay I am just a beginner and I shouldn't be so hard on myself! Maybe this little article will help you, too!

No picture of the day today, but I do have some Visualize Inspiration for you :)

I added this to my sidebar, so go check it out!!! I added lots of cool pictures today :)

April 26

I just figured out that I could import my old blog to here :) How awesome is that? I have been so tempted to delete it, but I just couldn't bear to actually do it, until now! And it was so super easy! I just saved my old blog to my desktop, clicked on import blog on this one's dashboard, and picked the file off of my desktop. It automatically transferred all of my old posts. That is seriously exciting to me. haha! If only it were that easy to actually post...

Well, I am just going to forewarn you, I am planning on making some changes to my blog. I want to revamp it to include my logo and more links of what I like to look at here on the world-wide-web. I think you'll be very interested to check out some of my links! There are tons of good ones! Stay tuned as this will be an ongoing process!

For my picture of the day today, I have a couple of photos of the kids playing outside in the kiddie pool. This is serious cuteness!

Claire & Kalyn -- I love the expression on both their faces. They look so happy here!

Chloe - Does it get any cuter than this? She is a little ham!

Caleb and Tyler  playing with the waterguns :) Oh, to be a boy!

April 25

The post for today is being highjacked by my hodge-podge collection of all of sewing projects. They are in no particular order, except that they are grouped by the type of project. I would be happy to answer any questions you have about the things I've made :) I am going to try to update this as often as possible to include my completed projects. Enjoy!

BURPEES
I need to make things. With Fabric. With Paper. With Pictures. With Food. With My Hands. I would love to be able to spend more time sewing, but since time is not what I have a lot of lately, I settle for little opportunities to make little things, like this yummy stack of burpies that totally want to make me have another baby. NOT! But they are really cute! I love how easy they are to make. I can usually make one in about 20-30 minutes, depending on how many distractions are requiring my attention :)

All of these fabrics except the green polka are from Heidi Grace who also happens to design scrapbook paper. I just love how colorful her stuff is.

These are the first burpees I ever made. They were for a friend who was having a boy. I loved the turquoisy (my made up word) bluish greens and browns together in this fabric.

PILLOWCASE DRESSES

I love going to Etsy to look for crafty ideas :) One day while I was searching for hats for the twins, I came across the cutest little pillowcase dresses. I had only heard of the idea one other time, when my friend Emily was telling me about them. I was immediately in LOVE! I knew I could figure out how to make them on my own, and after googling pillowcase dress tutorial I was in instruction heaven. This is the very first one that I made for Kalyn.

After having her try it on, I realized it was probably a bit too short to wear on its own as a dress, but it would be super cute with some leggings underneath. So I made another one :)

And then when I saw how cute it was, I decided that it would be really cute with a pair of jeans, too. So I made another one. Again :)

She's such a cooperative model :) She loves it when I make her things. She says that she will wear them even if she really doesn't like them, because it makes her feel special that I made them. Don't kids have the best way of putting things? So I guess maybe I should make a few for the twins next.

I've never seen a five pound jack-o-lantern look so cute :)

Here's our family picture from Christmas 2009. It's the only good (and it's not that great anyway) picture of the twins in their Christmas pillowcase dresses (that were more like shirts because I did not measure properly before cutting the fabric :( hehehe!)

We will be back to your regulary scheduled programming tomorrow :) I needed a break to get my house back in order from all the Easter festivities this weekend! Thanks for understanding!



April 24

Happy Easter!!! I love Easter, not only for what it means to me as a Christian, but also for what pure joy it is to be surrounded by all of the people that are important to me. Especially my kids. Something about a "holiday" just makes an ordinary day extra-ordinary. I am so blessed to have such a close-knit family, even on the side of my in-laws :) haha! In all seriousness though, I get along great with my inlaws and I love them as much as I love my own family. So, I made this quick layout of my husband's family. We hardly ever take pictures together, or even as couples so I made sure I got pictures of everyone today.

Click to see larger in a new window!

Credits: Template: Tiffany Tillman 52 Templates #10
 Papers: Joy Ride Cosmo Cricket; Chrysantheums Spring & Summer 2011 by Crystal Wilkerson

I can't wait to print this out and give it to my mother-in-law! She actually framed one of my layouts that I did of the twins and has it hanging in her living room. That is so awesome! I totally love going over there and seeing that she thinks it's good enough to display on her living room wall.

Hope you all enjoyed Easter with your families, too! I am planning to do scrapbook pages with my kids, too so try to be patient with me :)

April 23

So I am feverishly working towards finishing my kit for my Design Class at JessicaSprague.com, and while the class has been great, I still feel like I don't have a clue what I am doing most days that I am trying to design stuff. Scrapbooking, yeah, I feel like I have that part down, now in both Photoshop CS5 and Elements. But I also feel like I need more education and experience under my belt! So what's a girl to do? Google it!

I have now started taking classes at ReneePearson.com and I am completely loving them!!!! Laura Coyle is a fantastic teacher and I am now the proud owner of yet another Adobe product, Illustrator CS5. I really should have bought the bundle...

I am also signed up for a class with Tiffany Tillman, which starts at the beginning of May. It's called Scraphic Design and it's all about design principles and techniques. I have taken her Summer Templates class and I am really impressed with her work, too. The layout I did yesterday was made from one of her free templates that she gives away on her blog every Thursday.

So again, I took no pictures today :( But I have hundreds of ideas for them stored in my head, thanks to the visual and mental stimulation I am receiving in all of these fabulous classes! I would love to have any of you join me in the message boards and on this journey to becoming a designer!

April 22

Okay, I know I promised a couple of days ago that I was going to take pictures at the park. Well, let me just tell you how that worked out for me. :( Not so great! I go to the park with my sister, my husband, and my friends all the time, but never have I ever, gone by myself - as the only adult - with five mobile kids.  Now I know why! Now that the twins are both mobile, and more often than not, going in completely different directions at any given time, it is incredibly difficult!

There were a couple of extenuating circumstances today, too. We had an extra kid, my sweet small group friend's little boy, my two boys and my twins. Kalyn, who is my right hand helper was at my Mom's salon getting her hair done. My oldest boy, who is 6, and a B-O-Y, which basically disqualifies him instantly as being any real help was having too much fun playing with his friend to help out mom. :( And then there's the 4 year old who can think of nothing else but escaping the minivan faster than his brother and his friend, so that he can beat them to the jungle gym ya know? hehehe! Ahhh, the simple life of little boys...I digress.

So Chloe is going one way, as fast as her sweet little feet can carry her, right toward the HUGE climbing thing with a bouncy bridge and what seemed like nine dozen different 10 feet high drop offs and slides...AGHHHH! And then you have poor, little scaredy cat Claire, who is deathly frightened by the construction noise going on the school behind the park. And let's not forget my Moms's warning that there had been gang activity at this park, and she thought it dangerous for me to go alone with all the kiddos. Really mom? I have lived here 4-EVA and I have never heard of such in this area. Don't you just hate that? Not knowing that there was something else to be feared, and then you find out? And no matter how unworried about it you were before, you can't be that unworried again? Yeah, well that's where I was today. Or yesterday, I mean.

So I told you all that to tell you that's what I love about scrapbooking :) Make sense yet? Probably not, so I will explain further. Haha!

I can bottle up all that anxiety about the crying, attached-at-the-hip, fearful baby, the completely adventurous and elated baby, the two little boys who were having a contest to see who could swing the highest (on the opposite end of the park) and the random jeep with a strange man that is parked and eerily watching, the rumors of gangs, etc. and just focus on this little guy:

Click to see larger in a new window!

Credits: Papers - Crystal Wilkerson's Oh Boy! Party Time & Party Time Extras

Template - Tiffany Tillman 52 Templates #9

It's amazing that in the midst of all that anxiety, I was even able to take pictures, right? Let alone take the time to scrapbook them :) But seriously, this is what I want my kids to remember, that I took them to the park. That they loved going to the park. And that I can't wait to spend time with them again. So are you wondering why none of the other kids made it in the scrapbook for the park day? Again, that's the beauty of scrapbooking. If it's not in the scrapbook, maybe they won't remember. Haha! I heard a quote once that said, "Be nice to me or I'll crop you out of the scrapbook." Okay maybe I am the only one who thinks that's really funny, but I totally did that today. Kagen was the only one cooperating with me, so he's the one that got featured!

April 21

Do you remember my post about Kalyn and the hot rollers? I did the CurlyQ I love you page here about our experience with them. Well, she has been begging me to let her get a perm so her hair would always be curly like mine. And I finally gave in :)

 My mom did it this morning and it looks great! I was a little concerned how she would do with the change and how she would react if she didn't like it. Never fear -- we both LOVE it!

I love that her personality allows her to fit in any situation. She can hang with the boys, getting dirty playing in the mud, and wear her pajamas all day long. And then she can go straight to being all girlie girl, fancy schmancy and you'd never know she was playing in the dirt with mud on her face 30 minutes prior. She's such an amazing little girl, beautiful beyond words, and I am so lucky to be her mom.



Well I guess I'll be wearing my hair curly for a while now, too :)