i’m up early this morning. my eyes are swollen and i’m exhausted.

but it’s so worth it. what a historical,momentous event.

one of the most evil,repugnant,horrible men in history is dead.

he orchestrated something that changed my life, and everyone else’s lives,forever.he brought our country FEAR. and sorrow. and he was full of ugly black hate.

there are no words for the kind of person he was.

on the other hand, this man…

there are simply no words that can adequately express the pride i have in this man.

there are no words to tell you how much i love my soldier.

just like there are no words to tell you how much i fear for him.

i cannot properly convey the way my heart feels about him.

the way my heart loves every service member in our great country.

they leave. for months, years at a time. they miss birthdays,anniversaries, holidays, weddings, funerals.

they miss seeing their children walk, talk, graduate.

they miss their wives, husbands. many marriages crumble b/c the army (the military) is a powerful mistress.

i had to work for a long time to accept that jimmy loves her. and sometimes i feel like i’m playing second fiddle.

she is his heart.

there are no words to say how grateful i am that men and women are willing to do what he does.

because i never could.

i’d be scared.horribly scared.

so grateful for all of our strong,courageous,steadfast troops.

but that’s not all…there just aren’t any words to tell you the enormity of the gratitude i feel.

there are no words in the english language to describe the anguish i feel for all of the lives lost.

for all of the families that have lost husbands,wives,mothers,fathers,children,siblings…lost a piece of their hearts.

i pray that this brings them some peace. i pray that they know how much they are loved. and lifted up by prayer. and how much i wish i could take some of the sorrow off of their soldiers.

because, after all, if you are a military spouse…this is what you live in fear of.

there are no words to say how that feels.

but today, since i can’t quite make my fingers type the words that will perfectly put onto this screen the way i feel…i’ll simply say this.

thank you. to j and every man and woman fighting for me. for my girls. for our future. thank you.

never have i been prouder. xo

really? almost six months? almost HALF A YEAR? whaaaa?

i forgot how FUN five months is.

they are champ sleepers. three solid naps a day and about 10 hours at night.all my children were/are like this. i am CONVINCED it’s their daddy’s genes.

they spend lots of time playing and laughing and bouncing in their jumperoos.

lucy left,cate right on the lawn at the biltmore..laaaaahdihdah.

they are so happy and smiley.

lucy left, cate right

they LOVE interaction of any kind. especially when their big sisters pay attention to them.

lucy left,cate right

and they love being in their bumbo chairs right now. usually they face eachother and clasp their feet together. SO sweet.

they are always touching:

cate left,lucy right

always cooing, blowing bubbles, shrieking,kicking, sucking hands (sometimes each other’s hands!)

lucy left,cate right (for the record, it took a while for me to figure out who was who in this photo)

such good babies. always up for an adventure. such good troopers. they go go go. up a mountain, to a restaurant, in the car, to the stores…

cate left,lucy right

and everywhere we go we get stopped. j and i play a guess how many people talked to the babies game.

at the biltmore i had them both in my lap while j took the bigs for a restroom break. when he came back i had him guess and i think he was surprised by my answer of a dozen or so!

but the biltmore is full of people! and they all wanted to know about my girls. 🙂 and i love to talk as we all know.

so let me tell you about them.

lucy:

is such a low key, go with the flow, easy,affable baby.

she’s so content to just play. and smile. and eat.

she rolled a few times and hasn’t been interested since. the size of her thighs may or may not be affecting her mobility.

clearly the girl likes to eat. she’s a big,heavy baby!

i finally took the plunge and trimmed off the horrible comb over she had going on top. now her hair is a sweet,dark,even peach fuzz. i love rubbing it.

she has a tooth trying to get through on the bottom.

is a SUPER messy eater of oatmeal (they eat oatmeal once or twice a week at this point).

loves to be held, especially by her daddy.

gets kicked in the face about 93890980 times a day by her spazzy sister but doesn’t cry about it. she just kind of looks at her like…are you crazy cate??

fits in some of her 9 month clothes.

LOVES sleep. when we put her in her crib she GRINS at us. like “FINALLY! THANK YOU MOMMY!!!”.

loves to bat at her toys that hang from her playmat.

cate:

eats like a champ suddenly. can now finish a bottle before her sister, eats her oatmeal like a maniac.

rolls non-stop. this is not an exaggeration.back to front,front to back,back to front. it’s ridiculous.

always arching her back, pushing off of something with her feet, head back…out.of.control.we are convinced that she wants to crawl.

is still very finicky. she likes things a certain way. and that way only.

is drooling so much right now,it looks like she’s foaming at the mouth.

loves to wring her hands.

screams like a crazy monkey when she’s mad.

can still fit into lots of her 0-3 month clothes.

9 out of ten times if a baby is crying, it’s cate. bless her sweet, cranky little heart. 🙂

but she also smiles the most radiant, happy smile.

they both do. 🙂

i love them so so so much. it hurts my heart. and it’s so FUN.it’s getting more and more fun every single day.

happy friday!

xoxo

s

hey sweet readers! yep, it’s that time again…time to share my studio calico kit work. the may kit is called lawn party and it’s just as happy,springy,and chic as it sounds.

this month i got the pink lemonade and paper lanterns add-ons. and don’t ask me to pick a favorite b/c i can’t. i love them both equally. 🙂

i also got SC patterned paper b/c this is pretty much my favorite SC exclusive paper ever. Doilies,butterflies,chicken wire? HELLOO!!

i already owned almost all the shop items this month, so i used a bunch of those too. in addition,i already had several bits+pieces of the other addons,so you’ll se some of those.

this month was majorly short on time. with easter, j on leave, vacation…i just didn’t have more than a couple of days with my kit.

booo.

with that being said, i am super happy with what i did have time to make. i just love spring colors and patterns. spring has always been my most favorite season.

here’s what i came up with:

almost 5

8 1/2 by 11

made using:

lawn party(patterned papers,alpha)

pink lemonade(rub-ons,ephemera,brads)

clear skies-(border sticker)

shop extras(crate chipboard)

making memories slice&studio essentials cartridge

i know i already mentioned this, but i love the doily paper this month. i sent kelly some images of my vintage plastic doilies and she came up with this awesome paper.

love love love. love it even more since there’s chicken wire on the b side. reminds me of visiting our farm.

this layout is pretty basic. collage style, made using iPhone pics that miss H has asked me to take of her daily ‘ashion.

love the hambly rubons.

like a mirror image

12×12

made using:

lawn party

this one is super “graphic/clean” for me and i love it. these photos are so stinkin’ cool and i really wanted to showcase them.

the butterflies reinforce the mirror theme.

sunshine

12×12

made using:

lawn party (paper,flags)

paper lanterns (alpha,chipboard accents,border stickers,crepe paper flowers)

happy colors for a layout about a happy girl. i trimmed the crepe paper flower with scissors so that it was smaller and would layer easily on the flower.

that grin

12×12

made using:

lawn party (floral paper,alpha,flags,pinked filters)

pink lemonade (black dot paper,lace,mini alpha)

clear skies(border stickers)

shop extras– crate paper chipboard accents

apron lace punch

i love this layout. it feels sort of vintage to me, which i love. i had NO idea what to do with the filters, to be honest. i’m not a crumple them up,dye them, mist them type of gal.

so i just used them sort of as vellum…and journaled on them. easy peasy.

this month we got to choose a SC member and lift one of their layouts. i chose the one below by SusanC.

as you can see i lifted the general design, and i loved the ribbon threaded through the holes of the die cut. i mimicked this by running lace through the holes on the chipboard film strip.

thanks so much for the inspiration,susan. your layout is absolutely gorgeous!

huh. looking back at this post i realize i used this piece of crate paper from the main kit:

on every.single.layout. literally. on all four. wow. i knew i loved it but i didn’t know i was obsessed. HA!

hope you have a beautiful,blessed thursday!

xoxo

s

*my mission statement (if you will) when it comes to parenting*

let them play with dolls.or trucks.or whatever it is that makes them happy. but let them play.

don’t teach them to be obsessed with weight,or looks,or their hair. don’t tell them they aren’t smart enough. or pretty enough. or good enough. tell them they are everything. anything. the sky’s the limit.

don’t demonstrate the behavior that their self worth depends on what someone else thinks of them.

let them know it’s wonderful to be SMART. that playing dumb/ditzy/cutesy isn’t cute. i remember reading a survey of elementary age children a few years back. the question was, is it better to be smart or sexy?

overwhelmingly? the response was sexy.

tell them that class and elegance and grace and BRAINS? that trumps sexy any day.

dress your girls like little GIRLS. not women. not teenagers. why in the world is there even a tee-shirt made in child size that says “made you look”? why are there teensy hoochie clothes at almost all the stores now?

it’s not that i dress my girls in “little house on the prairie” chic….i mean, we all know harper loves her skinny jeans. but dress your kids like KIDS for pete’s sake. WHY WOULD YOU WANT YOUR CHILD TO LOOK SEXY? it enrages me.

i say NO. hell no. to these things that are available for CHILDREN. i say no to booty shorts, low rise jeans,padded bras (FOR KIDS???? YES I’m YELLING),slogans across the chest,”juicy” on the booty.

there are so many good points brought up in this article.

the title of it? Parents, don’t dress your girls like tramps.

i could have written that myself. heck, i wish i would have.

let your children be children.

right now is the time for sticky hands, muddy toes,make believe,fairy tales,imagination,finger paint.

heartbreak,fear,wanting to look a certain way, insecurities,”does my butt look too big in these jeans?”…that comes later.

i know for a fact that we are going to argue over clothes one day.

just as my daddy used to say to me “isn’t that a little short?” with a raised eyebrow…we’ll say the same to our girls.

and they will huff and puff and roll their eyes to the heavens and stomp and sigh and gnash their terrible teenage teeth,

but they will leave the house with their dignity in tact.

and then said dignity will probably be stuffed into a backpack and they will do the old switcharoo…i know b/c i invented that trick…

but that’s later.

now?

let them be little.

be a mommy to them. not their best friend. you don’t need their approval. you don’t need to be frightened of hurting their feelings if you tell them NO.

don’t be deterred what all the other kids parents are doing. that has nothing to do with you. with your beliefs.

stand strong. love strong. hug strong.

what you are doing,teaching,demonstrating…

will have a huge impact on the women they become.

and even when they are having those brief lapses of judgement, those ugh-look-what-my-mom-made-me-wear-but-don’t-worry-i-have-something-cooler-in-my-backpack-moments, may they maintain grace,class,composure,and BRAINS in that teensy miniskirt.

i know that i’ll be keeping MY composure by remembering the years when lacy socks,patent leather soes,and smocked dresses were the clothing of choice.

yes, let them be little. 🙂

p.s. aren’t the dresses BEAUTIFUL? i mean, they are truly the prettiest dresses we’ve ever owned. my amazingly talented friend maggie made them. did i mention she’s amazing?

first things first, here’s a winner for the my shadowbox creation giveaway!

True Random Number Generator Min:1 Max:274 Result: 6

that means that this is the lucky winner:

Those frames are beautiful, as is your layout of the babies. Thanks for a chance to win. Enjoy your vacation!

Reply April 19, 2011 at 07:41 AM

Kathy- you didn’t leave me an email address, so I hope you see this! Email me at harpersmama8(AT)gmail(DOT)com…and if i don’t hear back in a few days I’ll have to draw another winner. 🙁

❤

so we are back after a week in the mountains of asheville. and even though i didn’t want to leave, it sure is nice being home and sleeping in MY bed and using MY shower. 🙂

there’s no place like home, after all.

the trip was FANTASTIC. really…the perfect family vacation for us. it had the perfect amounts of good food, nature, relaxation, exploration, and FAMILY TIME. which i treasure so much.

i have to give a shout out to my two “virtual tour guides” kimber leigh and heather. thank you guys SO much for all of the suggestions…it wouldn’t have been half as amazing as it was if it wasn’t for you!

we had one rainy day where we didn’t leave the cabin all day…and j said that was his favorite day. 🙂

we stayed in chalet quietude, a sweet cabin about 12 miles from asheville.

it had gorgeous views

 

 

 

 

 

and amazing morning light (which of course only *i* saw…well,technically i guess the babies saw it. HA!).

 

but my favorite thing about the cabin was being TOGETHER in a secluded, quiet location. it was wonderful…j grilled every night and we had family dinners.

wine,food,smores,more wine…perfect.

we hiked the blue ridge parkway, visited looking glass falls in the rain, visited the biltmore, ate in asheville, shopped in asheville, and left without getting to do LOTS of other things that were available…just not enough time! we’re already planning a trip back in the fall.

i will have to share photos from the BRP and the biltmore in another post. the photos alone warrant their own post, nevermind the stories! 🙂

this week i’ll share more pictures and words about our trip and the family favorites that we found.

the trip was initally much more for J than me. he’s the one who loves biking,hiking,running…just being outdoors WAY more than i do.

but i have to admit, it was the perfect place to visit.

have a beautiful saturday!

xxo

s