she:

1.is reading.i’m so proud of her. the teacher in me has wanted to push it, but i haven’t.i’ve just made sure she knows the letters, and their sounds…and i’ve been patient b/c she is so easily frustrated. the other day it finally clicked that if you put the sounds all together it=reading, and ever since she’s been reading lots of words.

♥

2. is ready for kindergarten. she LOVED the orientation the other day and keeps asking if it’s time! she is blessed by attending a fabulous preschool with a phenomenal teacher who loves to teach…and this has gotten her ready.

♥

3.is obsessed with tangled. amazon recommended i buy it today and i though “while i love you with all of my heart, mr. amazon, this time you are one step behind me.”. harper knew the day it was coming out and we bought it as soon as WalMart opened. she’s watched it at least eleventy billion times and is always singing “skip the drama stay with mama…motttthhhhher knows BEST!”. hahaha

♥

4.loves the show “coming home” and watches with me regularly. last sunday, a soldier daddy surprised his boys in a treasure chest. so now she keeps asking me if her daddy is going to get in a treasure chest? ha! i haven’t told her yet that the clip of j surprising her when she turned 3 is going to be on the show. i can’t wait to see her face.

♥

5.is very into drawing and crafting. she’s always wanting to make something.

♥

6. turns five in a few weeks. we are planning her birthday party…”may flowers”. she has LOTS of input, this one may be a bit over the top since i haven’t gotten to plan a party in a year. 🙂

 

she:

1. is really, truly very scared of tigers right now. that’s why it made me giggle that she wanted this photo. i’m surprised she even got close to that thing! the other night, she saw a hat at the bottom of her bed and freaked out. j went to soothe her and asked what was wrong and she said she thought it was a tiger. ?!!?!? he’s now told her tigers are only in afghanistan, which should make it interesting when he has to deploy. eek.

♥

2.is obsessed with the care bears for some odd reason. she is NOT into movies at all, she won’t sit through one, but she sure does love the care bears. especially “twue hawat”.

♥

3.LOVES her sweet little one day a week half day preschool she attends. LOVES it. she’s out the door before i can even get her ready. because of that, she will be in m-f half day preschool in the fall. i would have not thought harper was ready for this at three, but sadie? was born ready.

♥

4.is a super picky eater. harper, mama+daddy eat almost anything, and lots of it. not sadie. she licks the bread, eats the cheese, and maybe nibbles at an apple. picky pickerson. but dessert? now she LOVES that. she has such a sweet tooth.

♥

5.makes me play “marry you” by bruno mars and “the cave” by mumford&sons about 9238402348 times a day. and dances her face off every time.

♥

6.loves playing “mommy” with her baby doll. her teacher tells me she is very compassionate/mothering to the other children at school. heee!

 

she (cate):

1. loves her bumbo

2. and sucking her hands

3. and arching her back like a maniac, she’s THIS close to rolling back to front.

4. HATES tummy time

5. eats so much more than she did even last week. she beats lucy on lots of bottles!

6.only naps in the swing (as does lucy…survival mode,baby.- what in the JOSE am i going to do when they are too big??)

 

she (lucy):

1. makes me giggle. she always is smiling and making hilarious facial expressions. especially in the kate gosselin wig. who knew when i bought that thing that it would provide us endless entertainment?? everyone needs one of these. i mean…HAHAHAH. i’m laughing out loud right now at LC in a KG wig. brilliant.

2. spits up like nobody’s business.

3. is HEAVY. or dense as j calls her. biggie smalls.

4. rarely cries. so low key.

5.loves grabbing and holding cate’s hand.

6.is probably ready for solids. i’m just waiting longer with them than i did w/ the bigs. probably in a while, when they are close to 6 mos.

 

she: GOOD GOLLY GOSH THERE ARE A LOT OF SHES IN THIS BLOG POST!

1.is very content with where she is right now. taking care of her family, making things, loving.

♥

2.is joining weight watchers again asap. it’s time to start feeling better about her body and health.

♥

3.is losing hair in CRAZY amounts.it’s gross. she can’t wear her hair down b/c it’s so thin. she had this problem after every child, but this is double bad. having her thyroid checked soon to make sure nothing is wonky.

♥

4.got a SLICE YESTERDAY! yayayayay! she is obsessed and has cut approximately a million billion shapes and letters already. she is planning to make the girls tees this weekend by cutting fabric and making iron-ons.

♥

5.is going to look for someone to help her clean. she has the rest of it down, in a great routine…but she needs help with the house. she doesn’t want her children to remember her as always cleaning. she wants them to remember more important things.

♥

6. is feeling so much more spiritually content and nourished since she attended church this past weekend for the first time in a long time. her whole family was happier after they went.

 

he:

1. is so damn funny. please look at this picture. i saw the “little jimmy’s sign” and died laughing. i told him to pose for a photo and he did this AWESOME face and pose. HAHAHAHAH. oh my gosh. this is his “Waaah Wahhhhhhhhhhhh” face. the best.

♥

2.is way into listening to the avett brothers and arcade fire.

♥

3.watches american idol with me every week and has the best commentary ever. “if chris martin and bradley cooper had a baby with a voice like rod stewart, that would be paul.”…”what? is jacob wearing lady pants?”….”that haley is very “rawr-y”. i bet she’s a biter!”.

♥

4.is obsessed, i mean OBSESSED with getting an iPad. even more so once he figured out how awesome angry birds would be on it. and i’m still a bit bitter that he stole my iPhone and finished all the angry birds levels. WHO DOES THAT?

♥

5. has an injured knee. he hobbles around like an old man. i feel so bad for him. a lifetime of football+the infantry has been so hard on his body.

♥

6.is planning a getaway for our family before he goes overseas. we are thinking of somewhere mountainous/a lake area. beach=not fun, too much work w/ this many little ones.

 

have a beautiful friday and don’t forget the gussy giveaway below!

xoxo

 

eight years ago,

if someone told me that

eight years later

we would have four girls under five

six deployments under our belts

if someone told me that we would have,by now, lived in four states

in seven houses

i would have laughed. and maybe there would have been a little bit of a tremor in my hand. a tiny falter in my smile. not visible or apparent to anyone, but there nonetheless.

my  heart might have raced.

i might have thought…really? no. that can’t be right! we are going to have TWO children! one boy and one girl!

he’s not going to have to go away that many times. because i don’t know how to do anything by myself! i can’t live at fort drum because i don’t know how to drive in the snow!

i can’t have a baby without him there!

i know he’s in the army, but west point isn’t the same as the real thing. i’m scared. can i do this? am i meant to do this?

and if i could tell me back then what i know now i’d say

yes, you can do this.

because first of all it’s not *you*.

it’s *us*

with the love of a good man and our father above

you will have more than you have ever dreamed of.

you will learn to be independent.

you will fall in love with four little girls, each one of them very different. and all four of them incredible.

that first deployment? will be scary alright. as will all the ones that follow.

but you will do it. you will learn to dig your car out of snow, you will survive. and you will feel so much stronger because of it.

you will learn how to put your heart into all seven homes. how to make them “home”. you will learn that pictures on the wall and books on the shelves don’t define where home is. no, not at all.

home is where the two, three,four, six of you are (depending on the year). sometimes home may consist of some of you in one place, and one of you in a makeshift shelter in another country.

but you will ALWAYS be connected by love, respect, and commitment.

you will have a baby without him there.

but it’s not as scary as it sounds. and he will walk in two hours later and you will be okay.

he will take care of you. and his girls.

always.

he will be honest, faithful, brave, strong,truthful,and protective.

oh, and really really funny. you will lose track of how many times he makes you laugh so hard you cry.

he will hold your hand, rub your back, or GIANT pregnancy feet. he will guide you into a room with his hand on the small of your back and never leave your side.

he will talk you through some of the most scary moments of your life.

whether it be first time labor, cutting your finger to the bone with a new chef’s knife, or not knowing if he will come home to you alive.

all it will take from him will be an “i love you, it will be okay” to calm your heart.

also? he will be the best daddy EVER. ever. hands down. your little girls will grow up with their hero for their daddy.

sure, you will frustrate each other.

his tendency to justify the reason he did or say something instead of simply saying “i’m sorry” will anger you.

your tendency to say “NOTHING” when he asks what wrong will anger him.

but you will learn to talk through these things.accept them. and grow.

simply put?

today is the best thing you will ever do. best choice you will ever make. today starts a miracle.

and at that point eight years ago my heart would have calmed.

i would have looked into his brown eyes and smiled. and said “i do”.

it was the beginning of a beautiful,crazy,scary,hilarious,terrifying ride.

and the Lord had (has) so much more in store for us that we could have ever imagined.

happy 8th anniversary, james carr howell.

thank you.

thank you.

thank you.

i love you.

s

 

 

happy (scrappy) sunday, y’all! today i have an older random layout to share, plus some more scrap-related Q&A.

this layout is one i’ve never shared. i made it about 2 1/2 years ago for a memory makers book i was asked to be a part of. the layout somehow was lost and never made it into the book…

and oh how i love this layout.

i hear people talk lots about “using new product” and having to buy new things…but i love timeless beautiful papers and products. like these below. i just feel there’s nothing trendy or dated about it.

i actually really love the design of this one and will have to scraplift myself soon. wish i had this still. 🙁

patterned papers: basicgrey, october afternoon

bingo card: JBS

alphas: american crafts

buttons: autumn leaves

stickers: basicgrey

journaling card: october afternoon

these photos were the day jimmy left for his afghanistan year long deployment. i can’t look at them without getting a lump in my throat.

how much we’ve changed, grown, and experienced since then.

now…on to the questions!

 

really? what in the jose?

was i not just finding out i was pregnant? huh. strange.

anyway, here we go.

at four months:

 

 

 

they are the lights of our lives.

i can’t get over how sweet they are. they are “those babies”. you know…the ones i thought didn’t exist. the ones that are laid-back for the most part, the ones that you can put down awake and they’ll put themselves to sleep.

but then again…when you get hauled all over town, when you are in a family this crazy, i guess you have to be that way. ha!

 

Lucy:

is losing all of that beautiful black hair. we always joke that she’s losing hair+her head’s getting bigger…so it’s a lose/lose situation as far as the hair goes. ha!

she is getting SO big. she has about six rolls from her diaper to her knees.

she’s quieter than her sister, doesn’t “talk” as much

but oh does she laugh…especially when you tickle her neck. uhhh…necks. 🙂 she will laugh laugh laugh.

is almost in a size 3 diaper.

sleeps really well and is generally very good-natured.

burps SO loud, it makes us laugh.

loves the mobile, loves music

hasn’t rolled yet, but is close to rolling from back to front.

hates tummy time.

loves sucking her hands

 

Cate:

is still kind of bony, but has quite the belly.

still teensy.

but LOUD. very screechy, verbal.

can roll from tummy to back.

sucks her hands like nobody’s business.

in a size 2 diaper, not close to 3.

still a slow eater, but getting much better

giggles when i smile at her.

BIG smiler, laughs less than Lucy.

full head of fuzzy hair. we joke that she almost has more than lucy now!

loves the mobile and music

cries more than lucy

sleeps a bit less than lucy.

 

 

they both

LOVE their big sisters. they just stare at them and smile and “talk”.

light up when i come in the room. not going to lie, i love that.

are on a schedule together. sleep, eat, you name it…all at the same time.

love baths

like (ish) car rides

love walks in the strollers

are starting to notice one another. cate spent about five minutes yesterday staring and cooing at lucy. lucy? not interested.

are looking SO much more alike. it’s uncanny.

and i love them so much my heart aches.

happy 4 months, sweet babies. 

supplies:

patterned papers,banner tag, chipboard accents: crate paper

tag: american crafts

alphabets: american crafts (teal), sassafras (green)

butterflies: studio calico

doily tags: martha stewart

punch: fiskars

 

I freely admit it. I totally scrap-lifted myself with this page. And why shouldn’t I? 🙂
It’s my go to design when I’m not feeling like thinking about where to place all the elements, or when I’m generally exhausted and brain-dead…like I am these days.

This design (sometimes slightly modified) has served me well over the years. Here’s how I’ve used it in the past:

  
 

 

it works. and can be adapted easily. and i think these pages all work, and look different.

although like i always say…i would be SHOCKED if my girls were looking through our albums one day, sharing memories, and one of them said. UGH…here’s that same layout placement again. GOSH!

hahaha!

i hope you have a beautiful sunday!

xxo

s