Remembering Cali

It has been a year now since our last visit to California. Hannah was born there, though we moved to Kansas when she was three. While Sara Kate had never been there, or even seen some of our family. It was a blast to have us all there together. Now I am not particularly fond of water, but the beach was always a signature Cali stop-off point with friends and family. Despite the thought of ocean waves making my stomach churn... it is magical to see the awe and wonder in the faces of our girls playing with the sand and the water. On this one particular day, after going to the Costa Mesa Marketplace with my mom, buying bikes for the girls, and eating fresh churros and fresh kettle corn... it was a welcome stop off at the beach to watch the girls eyeing the waves, back and forth, like the childhood game of tickle monster played at home... i.e. Daddy. The layout I did today is a glimpse of some of those memories. I included a great family shot we had taken by my mother, and then there are my favorite keepsake pictures of Paul with the girls playing at his feet. And if you are wondering... the hot chick with Sara Kate, highlighted by the pink circle... that is my mommy!! Hasn't she grown up to be a pretty girl... too bad I don't take after her more... hmmph.

We really enjoyed those two weeks with family and friends. With trips to San Diego, Disneyland, and Los Angeles and here at the beach... we couldn't have asked for a better time together. Now I will have to scrap some of Hannah's beach pictures from this same trip . She was quiet the explorer of shells. But more of that soon... enjoy!!

A Sunday Afternoon

Sundays are often relaxing days for our family after coming home from church... considering that our Sunday recipe often calls for a family nap. I always thought I would prepare this shining Sunday dinner for my family, but thankfully Paul has comforted me in encouraging a no-hassle cooking regime for Sunday afternoons which makes it so much more enjoyable to look forward to these rare afternoons. As the evenings become longer and the days mildly warmer Paul is always one to round us up for a late afternoon/evening on the porch while the girls enjoy their quiet playtime in the yard. Sara Kate is most often swirling about like a chirping bird, starting up a conversation of reminiscing about her friends and cousins. While Hannah is more often a shy and flightless bird studying the leaves and bugs, and drawing scenes according to her vision and perfection. I will always be amazed at her ability to draw three-dimensionally... truly she gets it from Paul. It is Sara Kate and I that often wonder of people and places, in the past, present and future tenses. This particular afternoon Paul was envisioning patches of flower beds and ornamental grasses, in addition to painting the outside of our house. The peaceful awakenings of these laid back afternoons, spark something different in all of us... while you can imagine the yearning I had to simple snap pictures hoping to catch a bit of this afternoon's sentiments.

These sentiments have also sparked us all to plant a flower and vegetable garden. Since Hannah is enjoying her plant unit for science so much, we began growing seeds indoors these past weeks, and now, Paul and I are itching just as much as the girls, to pluck them in the ground and watch them flourish. Each day the amazement and wonder that flashes across the girls faces as they watch their pumpkin, carrot, sunflower, green bean, corn and cucumber seeds change shapes and sizes in even such a short time as one afternoon... it is truly a spiritual awakening for us all. We are going to prepare the ground outside Monday evening as a family and place these growing seedlings in their new plots. We will be sure to share the pictures as they (the flowers and vegetables) continue to grow.

Paul and Sara Kate enjoying a Sunday afternoon...

What a blossom she is...
It is truly a prize to watch Hannah grow so artistically... and in many other ways... as you can see her toothless smile...
Hannah and her drawings of a farm complete with a barn, corral and its animals...
These kind of afternoons remind me that it doesn't take much, or anything grand even, to spark the spiritual awakenings that often occur on our front porch together. Whether it's a conversation or just a feeling we share alongside such simple sentiments, it is easier than we make it to grow together, and individually,... in a family.

Other ideas for creating spiritual awakenings as a family...

Drawing and painting
Sing lots of songs
Work with puzzles
Read lots of books
Write in a journal
Cooking and baking (the latter is my preferred method)
Playing pretend
Exploring nature... (animals, plants and people)
Grow something
Making crafts and toys
Helping around the house... with dishes, vacuuming, laundry, dusting, etc.
Watching a thunder and lightening storm
Looking at the stars
Visiting the library... an orchard, museum, bakery, or fire station

As a mother and a wife... taking the time to let these things remain simple and unfold naturally offers the greatest reward... that of seeing our family grow together... just as our young seedlings are beginning to... more soon... enjoy your afternoons!

To sew... or not to sew...

Okay so mom sent me a sewing machine like a year and a half ago and it still sits in its box in the closet. These are the genes I come from... mom sewed her first jumper when she was like 7 years old. As a child I remember she had her ribbons on the wall from projects she had entered in county fairs. Then there is grandma... a whole 'nother stitch in itself... who sews my girls doll clothes. Grandma mentioned once... "Aja the only other craft you have to try is sewing... as if to give me that loving push... as I crawled my way AWAY from that abyss... I find myself now circling that ever deepening abyss of trying another craft... and feeling my head swirl from all the jargon and technicalities that come with the precision of sewing. Maybe its just because I am pregnant... maybe it's a mother bears way of nesting before the birth of a cub... whilst visions of knitting socks dance in my head... maybe I have reached a new level of creativity... heaven I PRAY that' s it! Whatever the cause I find myself daily troubled by the reasons and needs I find for learning to drag the sewing machine out of it's original box and heaven forbid... learning how to simply thread the thing and turn it on-- or do you turn it on before you thread it? And if I don't need another reason to peruse Amazon.com for books already... the attraction of sampling the reviews of every sewing manual there is offers no relief... it's like an itch I can't scratch, or a color I can't find, or a word I can't spell. My only relief has been found in perusing and pondering those things I would attempt to create, via this sewing contraption. Those cute minky blankets with matching burp clothes, matching dresses with little boy tees... oh I can hear the words of mom now... when as a child she experienced the creativity and industry of her own mother as she was sent to school in a matching dress to the shirts of her three brothers. I have to say the patterns they have now... aren't your mothers... or your grandmother's fabrics... I must say. But yet I can see mom spinning from this FULL CIRCLE of grandmother, to mother, to daughter... and to think I could replace some idlesome activity of my two young girls with the industry and creativity of sewing. CRAP... that sells the idea alone. There is a splendid website http://www.loveyduds.com/ that has the cutest, insanely coordinated nursery accessories, that has thrown me off this cliff... now if I could just figure out patterns for such creations. So I peruse my way through http://www.fabric.com/ and learn that this may only be another maddening avenue to spend money. And finally, there is my first visit to http://www.etsy.com/... with a mastermind of craftiness for a hefty price... my only question after viewing the breathless sewing creations sold there... can I learn to knit and sew at the same time? ARRRGGGHH!!

Summer is upon us!!

With the addition of baby Mark in early June I am sure our summer will be an eventful one. With schools getting out and the hot weather beginning our girls can only think of one thing, the "Pool Park". We have a dandy water park in our small town, and thankfully it is kid-friendly for the smaller children. I only hope I can figure a way to acclimate Mark to the sites and sounds of such an experience. Along with the excitement of the water park, Paul and I really want to keep ourselves in a regular routine of reading, learning and playing with the girls. For the summer we have some plans for a more laid-back routine that rolls with our small town ways. Feel free to jump in if you have some ideas as well...

Time with the girls...
Exploration Place in Wichita
Tulsa Zoo
Nature book (illustrated)
Journal/story writing (illustrated)
Playing in the garden tending to the vegetables
Sidewalk chalk murals (Hannah's specialty)
Making some new pen pals (once more... complete with illustrations)
Visits from Grandma (Cali), Great-Grandma (Missouri), and Grandma Shoup (Cali)

Time for Paul & I
paint the house
tile the bathroom shower
start running again... at my 6 week postpartum mark
GO ON A DATE!!

My Time
Read, read, read...
finish Work & the Glory Vol 2
my Neal A. Maxwell library
Isaiah for Airheads
The Zeezrom Syndrome
The 7 Habits for Highly Effective Families
Jane Eyre
As a Man Thinketh
...and maybe an afternoon or two of scrapbooking the girls with their new baby brother.

So what might your summer checklist look like... some fun or sun?! Everyone has to freshen up somehow... shake off the winter blues and the spring buds for a full bloom... of you!

A new venture with "Round Maps"

I love perusing Becky Fleck's newlsetter each month with some great inspiration and ideas for scrapbook pages... and I veered off from my usual two-page layouts to try a round page. Becky Fleck's site http://www.pagemaps.com/ offers some great sketches, or maps I should say, and each month her newsletter comes out with new ideas. Here is my first round page with Paul and Sara Kate at the park... I think I will be doing a sister page to this one with Hannah and Paul at the park as well. Gotta say, I love these maps...!

National Scrapbook Weekend RESULTS

Here are some of my favorite pages from scrapping at the CROP last weekend for the National Scrapbook Day celebration. It was great getting free stuff and spending time with the girls. I am most thankful though that I was actually able to get something done. Thanks for stopping by!!

Me and the girls at the duck pond at the park.

Pumpkin patch in Springfield Missouri fall of 2007.
The girls playing outside at home last fall.
Pumkin patch with some friends fall of 2006.

Trunk or treating with friends at church, fall 2006.

The following posts include more of the pages from last weeks CROP.

More layouts...

Here are a few of my National Scrapbook Weekend stash-of-pages.... These are pages I am trying to catch up on for Sara Kate. She is definitely a cheese for the camera... which makes me a happy mama when I need a photog-fix.

While Hannah took horseback riding lessons... this was the only way to keep Sara Kate from the horses. It worked for a short time... then we played with the donkey.


This is Sara Kate's 3rd birthday last October. I lifted this page idea from a dear friend Brook Stewart on the Scrapbook Nook site. They definitely aren't the pages you would choose for a child's page, must less a child's birthday... but it reflects... mama's kinda taste.


These shots were taken at the Brown Mansion in Coffeyville, Kansas... which has been my favorite place for picnics and photo-ops since our move here in Nov 05. (Summer 07)


Once again this is the Brown Mansion, although these were taken a year before the above shots. As you can tell... this place lends itself to some pretty serene shots. (Spring 06)
More to come!!

Nesting away... with more layouts!

Okay... so nesting may simply apply to the need to prepare the nest for a welcomed new one. And while the nest has been tweaked, twigged and feathered I have felt the need to tend to my creativity and the forgotten memories of our two little girls as well. I have heard it said that the oldest child often gets a large portion of many things, and I must say, this is true of our family scrapbook pages. So I have decided to revisit the stash of pictures that has accumulated over the past three years and highlight a bit more of Sara Kate's childhood. Here is a few of Sara Kate's pages that I was able to finish at the National Scrapbook Weekend CROP.

Sara Kate and mama last spring (2007) Just hamming it up!!

The infamous Spidergirl sleeping (Fall 07) Always a classic!

Sara Kate at 13 months while visiting Hannah's preschool class (Nov 05) This would be a precursor to the loving and nurturing quality she inherited from her Daddy.

Sara Kate's visit to the sunflowers (Aug 07) Kansas offers these beautiful flower patches alongside any highway, though the best are often hidden away.

What can I say...? Its Sara Kate pouting... always a bittersweet moment.... (Fall 07)

I was so excited to bring some of these papers together in our family scrapbook. And interestingly I altered the pictures to black and white so to have free rane with the colors and patterns of these papers. But I found myself also choosing the main colors to match what color would have been seen in the original picture. It's maddening all the way around... but it's my preferred form of madness!!
Thanks so much for stopping by to look!!

Special Delivery!!

Special Delivery from mom in California!! Gotta love my mom, she always makes my day!! Well this day she made the girls day as well. After opening the new bedding from Target that my mom sent, we found a HUGE drawstring gift bag holding the contents. This bag is big enough to hold our whole family and it is partially cloth material as well, so it will last a few rounds. So with mom on the phone in one hand and the camera in the other we definitely had an eventful morning here in Kansas. The bedding is called Green Vine by JJ Cole. It can be found on Amazon.com or Target.com either way you can't go wrong. In the picture here you can't see the pattern as well, but it has vines of vanilla, brown and orange running across it. Man I love my mom!! Thanks MOM!!

Hannah and Sara Kate opening the goods.

"If I could just get this stuff out then we could get in here..."

Ahhh, a cozy hide-out!!

The beautiful bedding for baby Mark!!

Gotta love my mom!!

Baby Shower surprises

Well we all know that baby showers offer a hilarious array of games, along with a few tears for the truly touching sentiments. Many people have enjoyed the diaper game of guess that chocolate bar... and this time Tami was sure to give a big dose of the diaper doo. Some of the great comments made during this game... "I don't think this baby digested any of this food first", or how about "I think this baby needs to go back to the hospital", and my favorite..."I think this baby needs a colonoscopy." And the looks were just as hilarious. I was sure to get a few shots of these when the girls weren't looking... thanks Susan, thanks Lori!! We had a great game of Memory to match those pregnancy terms. But the best part was the candy bar prize that went along with the match. Try to match 'breast milk' and you receive Mounds, or Milky Way. But how about the non-lactating women, then here's some Milk Duds. The laughs were not found short here!!
I wanted to share a gift that had a special touch. My dear friend Deanna can quilt anyone under the table, and she totes four children by her side to boot. Deanna stitched a baby blue blanket with Mark's name on it, as well as, quilting a baby quilt and matching pillow in my favorite colors, sage green and brown. She found some amazing patterns for this quilt... Deanna you truly are a gem. thank you! The baby shower brought a slew of baby boy clothes with bats and balls, dinos and giraffes, and all the bath and car accessories in between. Along with personally stamped onsies with trucks, tractors and crossbones to boot!! Thank you so much girls!!
Lori and Tami really made the day for baby Mark and I. This was such a treat to be surrounded by the girls I love and adore. If I ever have need for a girl's time out... these girls are my picks!!

Teresa, baby Calli and Susan doing the doo!!

Lori savoring her own senses! Not sure I want to know what that is, right Lori!

Deanna's stitched "Mark" blanket.

Deanna's quilting genius.

It was a perfect evening with some of the greatest friends around... thanks Lori and Tami for making it happen. Love you girls!!

Sneak Peek

Here is a quick sneak peek at some of the pages I got done this last weekend. I have 32 pages I was able to finish over the National Scrapbook Weekend (May 2-4). I am so thrilled that I was able to get something productive done. As a bonus, Paul is going on the Father & Sons campout so I will have Friday night and Saturday to get some more done!! Woo Hoo!

This picture was taken at the park near the duck pond.

This is the girls near the duck pond and Sara Kate on the swing. She has an electric quality towards swings!

These are snapshots of Sara Kate from Nov 2005. Each time we picked Hannah up from preschool she found the baby doll! She is now our family's baby doll!!

More soon!!!

National Scrapbook Weekend!! WOO HOO!!

What goes better with scrapbooking than an iPOD? Well a room full of equally delirious girls ready to scrap their lives in a public forum!! I am ready for it all... a weekend of scrapping, friends and delirious music tunes to keep me going... what do you say... pick your tunes?! Mine for the evening will be Eminem to get me started... with some Fergie and a mix of Black Eyed Peas, some Gwen Gwen, and possibly Marilyn Mansion and oh some Nickelback for sure!!!

I am so thrilled for the National Scrapbook Weekend to start... in a few hours I will be up to my neck in layouts... well scrapbook layouts THAT I NEED TO FINISH!! I have about 60 layouts... which makes 120 pages I need create to make a dent in my backlog of photos. Sara Kate really doesn't have as many pages as Hannah. Which may be expected but it drives me to the challenge. The only way for me to stay focused is to create some sort of SPECIFIC To-Do List of layouts. Sooo, letting the planner in me run wild has been my greatest tool to form a list. When there is much to be done... planning it out, is the only way...

Pictures chosen CHECK
Pictures grouped for individual layouts CHECK
Pictures altered to black and white for quicker coordination to papers CHECK
Title or subject for each layout written CHECK
Color coded 1st (yellow), 2nd (green)and 3rd (blue) priority layouts CHECK
Printed 1st and 2nd priority pictures CHECK
Files of sketches and pagemaps organized CHECK
Packed up with cardstock, patterned paper, adhesive tape, staples and trinkets CHECK
Camera loaded... ahhh can't resist the need to remember this weekend CHECK

iPOD charged! CHECK

I am looking forward to creating some round pages this time... with the aid of Becky Fleck's round page maps... also on her website http://www.pagemaps.com/. The events I am planning to scrap are from the last 2 1/2 years. Including last years a trip to California, the infamous Neewollah Parade, pumpkin patches, sunflower patches, the Brown Mansion photo shoots, birthdays, horseback riding, park pictures and the wildly famous... Spiderman sleeping. These are just to name a few... so stay tuned for the posting of these layouts and MORE!!