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Stephanie Howell

reading, organizing, shopping, momming too close to the sun. Home is wherever the Army sends us.

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Studio Calico revealed their January kit last night.

It includes new SC papers, that are exclusive. 
Make sure to go check it out!
My favorite add-on is Glossary, I know you will know why as soon as you see it.

I wanted to share the pages I did this month.
Hope you are  having a wonderful weekend!!
xo
s

 

Fivemonthsdown

 

New smile

 

Every night

Classic

 

Ridiculous

Jinger Beals

sorry for the horrible quality, but you get the picture!

 

Merry Christmas!

Love Stephanie, Harper, and Sadie

Is This Really My Life?

1. Lately, I can not get harper to take her hands out of her pants. She just walks around with them shoved down the back of her pants. I told her she was going to get germs on them and she slowly took them out and wiped them on the wall. Ewwww.

 

2. Sadie is loving to gnaw on things from Harper’s kitchen (see drumstick below). Her favorite is the fake bacon. I keep finding her chewing on it.

 

3. Harper told Santa he looked like Noah. She loves her Little People Noah’s ark lately and is way into Noah and his beard. She pointed out the resemblance to Santa. Well, duh…doesn’t everyone think Santa and Noah are twinsies??

 

sidenote: silly mommy thought this would be a good idea for a toy for the girls to share. they both love little people and noah’s ark, of course, has TWO of each animal!! perfect, right?? wrong. very wrong.

 

4. Harper found the “free pass”. When ever she does something naughty (i.e. poking Sadie in the middle of the forehead and knocking her over)…she says “i miss daddy” in a sad voice. Hmmmm. Someone is too smart for her own good. I busted her on it yesterday and it was hilarious. Her face was like “shoot!”.

 

Harper, I know that torturing your sister makes you miss daddy horribly, but next time remember that mommy is on to you. Perhaps you should try the classic “i’m sorry” instead.

 

5. It’s clear we have no life. Every time the doorbell rings, Harper says “hmm, it’s either the mailman or uncle a (my brother who lives next door)”. Yep, that pretty much covers it.

 

6. H is into “clashing”. She once wanted to wear a gymboree grey bow dress with a gymboree pink bow hoodie. She kept telling me it matched, so I decided to take advantage of the ‘teachable moment’ and teach her about clashing.

 

In hindsight it probably wasn’t a good idea. I got ready yesterday and she tilted her head and said “hmm, mama you clash”.  And for the record i DIDN’T. hmmph.
well atleast she wasn’t telling me i looked handsome.

 

7. Upon seeing Sadie’s new outfits from Granddad and Nonna, H murmured “just darling!”.

 

I can’t wait until J comes home and some of the stories in my life can include adults. Heee!

 

Happy Sunday to you all, stay warm!
I’m leaving you with a few pics from yesterday, and our wonderful visit w/ Granddad and Nonna.
xo

H upon seeing what was in the trunk (zillions of presents):

 

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Daily Life

I’ve really been working on documenting the every day for Jimmy.

B/c that’s the stuff he really misses.
I sent him close to 100 photos of the girls eating supper, bathing, H brushing her teeth, getting ready for bed, etc.
He loved it. 
So on that note, I’ve been snapping funny little things that I observe. 
I don’t tote the camera everywhere, but luckily our little house is so small
that I can just run and get the camera.

 

Case in point:

 

H is obsessed with these reindeer ears:

 

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And Sadie loves to sit and gnaw on the plastic drumstick from Harper’s kitchen (tee hee)

 

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And Harper has taken to sleeping with this cute little zebra I got when I was pregnant with her:

 

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Yeah, so I clearly kept forgetting to change the camera out of Monochrome mode
from ballet, but the next batch will be in color. I had to snap these quickly.

 

J’s folks are headed in today, and when Harper wakes up here momentarily, 
she will say “OH! SUNSHINE IS HERE! ARE GRANDDAD NONNA HERE??” .
I told her last night that they were coming the next day, so of course she will think they will be here as soon as she wakes up!

 

I have to share what we say to eachother every night when I tuck her into bed.
We pray and then:

 

me: good night, harper
h: good night,  mama
me: i love you, baby
h: i wove you, mama
me: i’m so proud of you
h: i so pwoud of you too, mama

 

ack! i know she’s just parroting me, but that last part really gets me!!

 

one last thing, here are some sneaks of the Studio Calico January kit- enjoy!

 

happy happy saturday.
xo
s

 

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When She Believes

Title stolen from my favorite Ben Harper song.
If you don’t know it, go listen immediately. It’s beautiful, and it’s seriously hard to pick a favorite
Ben Harper song, but this is it.

The reason this post has this particular title is because of this sweet girl:

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and her reaction to Santa yesterday.
Now, for some reason, I’m pretty sure Harper has a connection in her mind between
Santa and Daddy.
I don’t know why.
Perhaps it’s because both are mythical in her mind, or because she really wants to be a good girl for both of them, or because she can’t “see” either of them.

But when we pulled up in front of the mall yesterday, she  could barely contain herself.
She was practically vibrating with energy and excitement and she was talking 100 miles an hour.
She said “santa here, mommy! but daddy not here, right?”
And I told her that no, Daddy wasn’t there.
See, they are linked in her 2 year old brain!

So anyway, she was so over the top excited on the way into the mall,
that she fell on the slippery concrete in her pretty little Hanna Anderson dress
and white tights. Those patent leather shoes are SLIPPERY!!
Her crestfallen little face when she got up squashed any inappropriate notions I might have had
about letting out a giggle.

I assured her that she still looked beautiful, and we went on.
As soon as the double doors opened, she started yelling
“SANNNNNNNNNNNTA??? ARE YOU??? IT’S HARPER!! ARE YOU????”
Let me tell you, the mall walkers and Auntie Anne’s customers LOVED this.
There were so many smiles directed at us.

And when she spied Santa’s cottage,
she started RUNNING and I thought her face was going to split open,
she was smiling so big.
And that’s when I lost it.
Big tears were running down my face,
and honestly they are running down my face as I type this.
It was so pure…I mean is there really, truly anything more beautiful than a child that believes with all of her heart?

The rest of the visit was your normal Santa visit.
Sadie was NOT a fan. But she has major separation anxiety and didn’t like me standing a few feet away and not holding her.
Harper was very reserved around Santa. I guess she was in awe.
She spoke so quietly, he could barely hear her ask for a rocking horse.
And I’m positive that I’m the only one that heard her ask for daddy.

And I’m pretty sure Santa loved the ring pop Harper brought him.
And my heart is still full from witnessing that sight.
And I believe…I still do!

Merry Christmas, friends.
Have a beautiful day.
xo
s

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