the small simple things

Today, I am taking the time to notice the small, seemingly simple things that bring me joy:

1. My (almost) daily indulgence: grande, soy, extra-hot, no-water chi tea latte

2. Cooler weather beginning to emerge

3. A new magazine in the mail

4. Fall TV

5. Picking up newly developed photos

6. My new orange cinnamon candle

7. Watching my kiddos give each other hugs and kisses before bedtime

8. Looking forward to a new scrapbook class: "Yesterday & Today" with Ali Edwards

9. My squeaky-clean kiddos just after a bath

10. Looking back at photo and scrapbook albums

11. Looking forward to creating December Daily Albums with some friends at church

12. Seeing that someone left me a comment on my blog :)

13. Longhorn Football

14. A clean house

15. The joy I get from taking pictures

16. A great book on the bedside table

17. Seeing that one of my favorite blogs has been updated

18. Dinner with friends

19. Singing in church

20. A package on our doorstep

21. Driving up to our house and seeing the Fall wreaths on the door and the little "Welcome" scarecrow

22. Catching up with friends on Faebook

23. Finding the perfect quote:"Draw on the walls, Believe in Magic, Laugh A Lot, Celebrate Every Gorgeous Moment, Read Every Day, and Entertain you Inner Child!"

24. Laying my head on my husband's shoulder

25. CANDY!!

My philosophy plus scrapbook album organization

After my last post, I received a few emails from friends letting me know that they would definitely be interested in learning more about scrapbooking, and more importantly, about creatively documenting their lives. There is a part of me that thinks "Why should anyone listen to what I have to say?" "What do I have to offer that hasn't been said a million different times in a million different ways?"

So I take a deep breath, push the negative self-talk aside and remember that we ALL have a unique voice, a unique perspective.....we all have something to offer.

Today, I'm going to focus on my system for Scrapbook Album Organization. First off, let me say that I am NOT a chronological scrapper. I don't feel the need to be "caught up" with my albums, and in fact, I don't even like thinking of scrapbooking in those terms. I scrapbook because I enjoy it....it is a creative outlet, a way to connect with other creative women, and a way to tell our family's story. So I scrapbook whatever inspires me at the moment. That may be Sienna's recent first day in pre-school or it may be her birthday party from 2 years ago. I don't go in order, and I am much more likely to scrapbook a story rather than an event. That means that along with the requisite Christmas, Birthday, Easter, Pumpkin Patch layouts, you will also find layouts about my feelings when I was pregnant with my second child, the relationship between my two kiddos at various stages in their lives, what I was thinking on the day of my wedding, what my kids are into these days (what their rooms look like, what they are wearing, what they are watching on tv) and lots of pages about the relationships that are important to us. These are the pages that I think will be the most important to my family 10, 20, 50 years down the road.

So because I don't scrapbook chronologically, it is much easier for me to use 3-ring albums rather than post-bound. That way, I can slip a completed layout in its album wherever and whenever I would like.

I view my scrapbooks as a way to tell a deeper, more meaningful, more complete story than I would be able to tell through photo albums. That means, that I like to journal a lot on my pages and I like to record my true feelings about certain events in our lives, rather than simply putting Christmas photos on a page with candy cane and Santa Claus stickers (not that there is anything wrong with that, it's just not my particular style).

My albums are organized like this:

Light Pink = Sienna: each time I complete a layout that is dedicated to Sienna, it goes in her own album....once one album is full, I move on to another light pink album

Green = Grant: same system as used for my daughter

Red = The People We Love: these albums are full of layouts that document the important relationships in our lives (layouts about our friends, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc..)

Black = Places We Go & Things We Do: these albums contain layouts that are about our Family as a whole as opposed to layouts that are geared more toward an individual child...this is where you will find the layouts about our trips to Seaside, Florida, our family's love of pizza, Easter celebrations, etc...

Hot Pink = All About Us: this is the album where I put layouts about the relationship between my husband and I as well as layouts about our childhoods

Here is a photo of our albums on the shelves in our living room.

So far, this system is working out pretty well for us (thanks for all the ideas Stacy). Please let me know if you have any questions or if there is a particular topic you might be interested in hearing about. And here are a few layouts:

This one goes in Sienna's light pink album.

This one goes in Grant's green album.

it's my "thing"

So some friends and I were talking this morning about what we are passionate about.......what our "thing" is.......the stuff that wakes you up in the middle of the night, the activity you would do even if you didn't get paid to do it, the thing that everyone else thinks is completely crazy, but that you absolutely love. 

For some of us it is cooking (not me), for others of us it is gardening (not me), for some it is cross word puzzles (again, not me). For me, it is definitely scrapbooking and photography.......and all the things that go along with that: blogging, journaling, connecting with other women, learning, editing, making art that is meaningful. I just LOVE this stuff! 

Yet what I realized, is that I never feel like I am terribly good at it.......I look at other women and am in awe of their talent, but I would never put myself in the same category. I make mini books and scrapbook layouts, and then immediately put them on a shelf or in their proper album.....they are usually only viewed by members of my immediate family (and even then only seldomly).

What I know for sure, is that I love taking words and photos and paper and turning them into art. I love looking back over the things that I have created, and my deepest hope is that I will inspire someone to get out a box of photos and just start gluing.......no internal critic allowed!!

So here are a few of the layouts in Grant's scrapbook.  Definitely not magazine worthy, but they will mean something to him one day and that is all that matters!!

gearing up for Fall

Now that Fall is officially upon us, and the weather will (hopefully) be cooling down soon, I have lots of to-dos on the "List."

(1) Get out the Fall decorations from the attic and begin putting them up throughout the house

(2) Make a batch of pumpkin/cream cheese muffins

(3) Start collecting leaves on our walks around the neighborhood

(4) Schedule Christmas card photoshoot

(5) Scrapbook more!! (December Daily album, Birthday books, Summer layouts)

(6) Hang up new picture frames from Canton and the collages that I paid an arm & a leg for framing at Michael's

(7) Buy a few new items to spruce up the living room....this is the room that bugs me most in our home....something just doesn't feel "right" to me = needs a color scheme to pull it all together

I am also sending up lots of prayers about how I can achieve my dreams for the future. I have a passion for documenting memories, for making art out of our every day lives, for capturing our every day moments and preserving them in a way that is meaningful, creative and fun. I find myself waking up at night with ideas that I want to pass on to other mothers......like-minded women that might be interested in creative ways to capture their own memories. 

I want to teach!!

There, I said it :)

The only problem is, I have NO idea how to go about achieving this dream. No idea of where to begin or how to fit that part of my life into the part that is a part-time stay-at-home mama and a part-time criminal defense attorney??

Yet I am trusting in the Lord to lead the way........trusting that He will open up opportunities and guide me in the right direction.

I am open for suggestions :)

soccer season

Sienna is not quite old enough for soccer at Lakepointe, but that doesn't stop her from going to Kaleb's practices and games, and jumping on the field every chance she gets!! She loves her cousin Kaleb so much and wants to be just like him.

A hug for her favorite soccer player as he comes off the field for a water break.
Grant spent most of the practice trying to dig in the trash can :)
LOVE this shot....Sienna gettin' in there with the boys! Can you see Grant peeking in from the other side of the goal? Hilarious!!

unexpected fun

So last night, the kids were in desperate need of some outdoor fun, so I packed them into the car, drove to get Daddy from work, ran through Sonic to pick up a healthy dinner :) and we all headed to Harry Myers Park. 

The plan was to have a little picnic, and then walk down by the lake to watch people fishing and let the kids run around.........I knew the water wouldn't be on at the water park, so Sienna and Grant just ran around in that area pretending the water was on. 

Just before we decided to drive down to the playground area (after much pleading from Sienna), Johnny leaned on one of the poles and the water began spraying in every direction scaring the daylights out of all of us!!! We all started laughing our heads off (except Grant who was a little overwhelmed by the water at first) and then they just went wild. They had such a great time running, and chasing each other and having a blast! 

We had no dry clothes and both kiddos were soaked, but they had the water park to themselves, the weather was perfect, and it turned out to be a great night..........an unexpected treat for all of us!!