growing:

 

 

 

swimming:

 

reading:

 

hooting and hollering and carrying on:

 

anticipating my mom’s arrival next week

cleaning

craving:

staying cool in the midst of a HEAT ADVISORY…ugh!

crafting (a teeeensy bit, here’s one Studio Calico Sneak Peek):

 

and just missing:

 

hope you are all having a beautiful, blessed week!

xxo

s

so i’ve seen lots of talk “out there” in blog/online scrapbooking world lately.

on message boards and blogs, people talking about blogs and whether they should represent reality, or paint a pretty picture of perfection.

one of my friends brought this up recently on her blog, wondering aloud if as women scrapbookers in this industry, it was our responsibility to make our lives look perfect.

my opinion on this subject? a resounding no.

everything that follows is my opinion. that’s it. it’s not intended as a knock to any specific bloggers out there. it’s just my thoughts on the subject matter.

i think that presenting your life as a perfect, beautiful, flawless movie script…well, i think all that does is make other people feel bad about their lives.

i have ten, twenty times more respect for authenticity than i do for false perfection.

i know this much is true. no one has a perfect life. it’s simply not possible.

i have a happy, blessed, fulfilled life. but is it perfect? NO!!!!

as women, we should not be scared to share this. we need to empathize with each other…support and encourage each other. and let’s start by admitting that are lives are simply not flawless.

here’s my reality.

1. my bed is unmade. is most days. what’s the point? no one is here to see it, and i nap every day any way!

2. i’m lonely. i miss my husband and worry about him.

3. it goes without saying that i adore my girls. but sometimes i don’t know what to do with them. i don’t feel like i’m doing enough. organizing enough activities. preparing them enough. being the best mom i can be. sometimes i look at the clock at 3 pm. i know jimmy isn’t coming home and i think WHAT IN THE WORLD are we going to do until bedtime?

4. i wear my hair in a bun every day. no makeup. i wear glasses. i don’t wear anthropologie every day. i wear target.

5.my idea of a big fancy dinner when J is gone is spaghetti. lots of the time we just go somewhere to eat, b/c then it seems like an adventure!

6. there are dirty dishes in my sink.

7. i can’t keep my entire house clean. as pretty as it is, it’s too much for me. i’m actually looking forward to moving to savannah and starting over in a more manageable home. my dream house is actually too much! we do better with smaller homes.

8. i don’t feel like i entirely fit in here. i have a new friend of my heart who i will hate to leave. so glad i found her, b/c i felt like i didn’t fit. it’s hard to try to make new friends, over and over. especially ones that aren’t really receptive.

9. i need to do laundry. BADLY. my entire basement is covered in piles of laundry that need to be sorted and brought upstairs!!

10. i’m not scrapbooking much right now. i just don’t have the drive. it’s not making me throw up (:)) any more, but it’s not making me happy. i look forward to that coming back. but when the babies come, it will have to go by the wayside for quite some time. i am already paring back on some of my commitments. b/c my REAL commitment? is my family.

so there you have it. that’s the truth. and it didn’t hurt to admit it. not one little bit. b/c i suspect most of you can identify with this post in some way. and i don’t think ANY of you thought i was perfect. HEEE! if you have a blog, i challenge you to do a post like this…it’s fun and freeing. 🙂

hope you have a beautiful thursday!

xxo

s

hey y’all!

well, we are in the throes of summer here…swim lessons, trips to the library, movies…lots of fun and trying to stay busy!

i taught a class (with a group of LOVELY students!) here in GA recently. the class used Lily Bee and JBS products, and i wanted to share the layouts.

thought they might be just what you need to kick start your summer creativity!

you can find lily bee hello sunshine products HERE

and HERE.

have a beautiful, sunshiney day!! xxo

s

 

what does Memorial Day mean to you?

cookouts? barbecue? cocktails?

a day off work? the beginning of the summer?

or does it mean more?

what does Memorial Day mean to me?

remembering.

remembering the eight boys. eight men. who lost their lives the year my husband was in the valley of death.

remembering how many of them left and never came home.

and of the ones that did, how many were changed.

remembering.

the memorial services. hearing taps. amazing grace.

hearing the guns fire,

roll called, and when they called those soldiers names?

silence.

remembering.

digging my fingernails into my palms out of fear and grief.

fear that it could be, would be, me. next.

remembering.

the way my heart broke for my friends, and the ones who i didn’t know, but my heart broke for them just the same.

…who lost husbands, daddies, sons, friends, brothers, soul mates.

remembering always.

the way that year changed me and everyone i knew who experienced it.

and how sad i am for everyone who lost someone.

for all the men who made the ultimate sacrifice.

for their bravery, selflessness, willingness to go.

please don’t forget this day. don’t lessen it and make it into something it’s not meant to be.

of course…have fun! grill. spend time with friends.

but please remember the true meaning. please.

b/c if you don’t?
then it trivializes what so many families have been through.

s

seriously. for the past 36 hours? shock i think.

when we came home from the ultrasound tuesday night, i couldn’t get warm or stop shaking.i just kept looking at the ultrasound pictures and kind of zoning out. 🙂

first, before i tell the story, i want to say THANK YOU to you all. for each and every comment. i read them all. every single one. several times. thank you for the love, the encouragement, the prayers, the excitement…well, just thank you for being YOU. you guys are the best.

okay. so i had my very first ultrasound tuesday afternoon (evening, thanks army..after waiting for hours. HA!). jimmy was there, he left work to be there.

i was worried there would be something wrong…no heartbeat, and i wanted him with me.

all along i’ve been praying for a healthy baby, a strong heartbeat, and well, those prayers were answered weren’t they? but i’m getting ahead of myself…

our doctor was a precious young captain. she spread the jelly on my stomach and said…

“okay, let’s see here….there the baby is! yes, this looks like a healthy single intrauterine pregnancy!”

and there was the baby, clear as day, and i said something like
WHEW! I THOUGHT IT WAS TWINS!!!

she started recording the heartbeat and then kind of started to get flustered.

“UH…WHOA…HOLD ON…YEAH, I THINK THERE ARE TWO IN THERE!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!!”

she kind of ran out of the room to get another machine…and at this point i’m crying/ laughing/freaking out…total hysteria. and j has the biggest grin on his face and won’t stop kissing me.

(background: he has a family history of twins in every generation. his brother was a twin, aunts are twins, etc etc)

the doctor comes back with the other machine…and there they are clear as day.

numero uno:

 

and numero dos:

 

and i’m shaking.

my legs are shaking so hard that the ENTIRE table is shaking.

i don’t know what i said.

may or may not have been something requiring a BEEP.

and we were laughing.

and the doctor was laughing…her first twins.

she congratulated us, we congratulated her.

and the girls? were confused. well they know there are two babies, but they don’t “get” it. how could they? i’m not sure I get it. HEE~!

harper said ” WHAT? THAT’S AMAZING!!!”. but i still don’t think she gets it.

so there you have it.

i have been referred to a new OB and next week will have a special ultrasound to determine more.

will we find out the genders? yes. i’m only 3 months pregnant, so we have a bit…but yes.

will jimmy be home for the birth? yes…with plenty of time to spare.

due date? dec. 17.

what does j think? he’s over the moon . hasn’t stop grinning i don’t think.

now i’m focusing on a healthy pregnancy. staying pregnant as LONG as possible and getting those babies as BIG as possible.

i can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

lots of things going through my (our) head(s).

if it’s two girls? FOUR WEDDINGS!

think of the diapers! the wipes…the burp cloths!

new minivan is now a must!

am i going to go crazy? i can’t wait…but i’m scared!

we are THRILLED. and still processing.

and crying with joy and disbelief.

thank you for your love and encouragement!

s