Stephanie Howell

i wanted to quickly share my valentine's mantel!!

a valentine's garland

glittered heart (from joAnn), a target dollar soit vase holding a dried peony

a metal doily plate and a little heart tree,heart photo holders (sans photos right now), the glittered/feathered arrangements on each end (still up from christmas- i might keep them there all year), and of course my H,6,and clock collection that is always there.

nothing fancy, keeping it simple. 🙂

i won't be posting lovely things on the weekends, but i might have scrappy sundays sprinkled here and there.

hope you have a beautiful and blessed weekend!

xxo

s

photo of cupcakes from back in the day bakery- these have nothing to do with the post but i do NOT like photo-less posts. haha!

i'm curious. i'm curious who reads this blog. what type of person.

are you a paper crafter? do you craft at all? are you a mom? are you a woman? where do you live? why do you read this blog?

i'm very curious.

oh, i know…i know…we blog for US and no one else.

well goodness,that's true in some ways i suppose…but why would i have a public blog if that was 110% true?

i also enjoy the community and quite frankly (when j is gone as much as he is) companionship this blog creates.

i notice that on the giveaways lots of you come out.

i notice that now and then i'll get a comment from someone saying they've read for years but never comment.

there are many of you (jennifer,tara,shannon) that always comment.♡

lots of times i hear that you want to comment but feel like i'd never read it. i have read every single comment on every single post over the years. and responded to any question. of course i read them. why have comments if i don't read them?:) 🙂

sometimes posts on layouts (those posts take forever to write but i love sharing layouts and think that you probably like to see links for the products) but get the fewest comments.

and before i get a snarky comment…i don't base my self worth on comments or praise. but i think about all of you when i blog.

back when i first started blogging i was very different. i look back and gosh, i complained a lot more. gosh, i was more dependant on comments than i should have been. ew. old blog me kind of annoys me. but it's a learning curve i think…wouldn't you say?

it's funny. i see lots of message board posts saying that blogs should be for scrapbook layouts and that people want more layouts. but i swear those posts are the ones i don't think anyone is interested in on my blog!

why am i asking this? why do i care?

well, first of all, i'm curious. and second, i'm working on some fun posts for february…and i'm debating what i should include.

the emotional posts are worth the work b/c they are my therapy.HA!

but i'm not sure about the craft posts. i think this blog a personal blog,mom blog,army wife blog,home decor blog,but is it a craft blog anymore? hmm. deeeeeeeeeeep thoughts. HA!

so i'm asking.

who are you? why do you read? what makes you tick?

and also i want to say thank you. thank you for reading. thank you for being so encouraging. and thank you for being you!

i hope you all have a beautiful and blessed tuesday!

xoxo

as this week began,we said goodbye to j, he had a short business trip to make.

it never ceases to amaze me that whether he’s gone a year or a week, the girls miss him so much.

saying goodbye (she asked him if he was going to afghanistan with this look on her face…it broke my heart):

and it never ceases to amaze me how much j loves his girls. here’s a text he sent for bedtime:

and most of all, it never ceases to amaze me how EXCITED the girls get to welcome him home. they had MAJOR ants in their pants at the airport:

we haven’t gotten to spend much time together lately at all…and we are starting to feel the effects. so friday afternoon we met up at forsyth park for some quality time.

and if you’ve ever wondered how to spot us as a family, just look for this (note the humor and slight?? panic on my face):

or this:

or look for sadie, who is just a little bit crazy:

and look for jimmy rolling his eyes as harper,sadie, and i do things like this:

can you tell we are all REALLY good at amusing ourselves???

all lucy wanted to do was swing…

you know what i love about my family? how much we laugh and how much fun we have together. we aren’t perfect, but we laugh a LOT and really HARD. it’s the best.

and one more shot i caught…if you ever happen to see this parade of girls with a handsome man caught in the middle(and loving every moment of it)? yep.

that’s my family.

happy, happy monday.

hope it’s beautiful and blessed.

xxo

s