If at first you don't succeed...

I have a friend , whom I adore.

I don't see her often, in fact hardly at all.

We send messages through FB, follow each others pinboards, and send emails to stay connected.

But if we happen to be in the same city we try to see each other.

She has been my scrapbook  cheerleader and inspiration for well over 5 years now.

She said some things to me when I was just starting out that have stuck with me all this time.

1.  If you don't put yourself out there, you won't know what you can achieve.  Rejection sucks but it happens.
2.  Scrap what you love.

So I put myself out there recently and applied to the Bella Blvd Design team.

I decided to apply because it is one of the paper companies that I love.  In fact I had been hoarding some of their paper for well over a year.

When the call when up I went to my stash and thought, "well I certainly don't have to buy anything to try out for this call."

And in staying true to me I put together 4 layouts that have been on my mind for some time. I look at them and they make me smile.  I love the paper, I love the photo's but most importantly I love the stories.  Here they are:

Life lessons...Things I've learned along the way...the hard way.

Tactor-tractor, J having fun on his uncles tractor during our Vacation.  I love  how he pronounces tractor.

Little brother, Thoughts on J being a little brother.






















 Pumpkin pulling determination, Mr Independent pulling at least 40 pounds of pumpkin.

There you have it folks, me putting myself out there.  I didn't make the team but I'm okay with it.   Maybe it had something to do with my blurry photo's  HA!!!!

Thanks Lisa for your friendship and inspiration!!

Staggered tears

My Biggest is off to Junior Kindergarten this year.

 3 hours away from home each morning,  to meet new friends and learn new skills.

Here in Ontario, JK has a staggered entry.  On Tuesday we went to meet his teacher and his resource teacher, both lovely ladies.

And if i were not concentrating so hard at keeping my composure I'm sure I would have enjoyed the process for my little man more.

We have been playing up school all summer long.  I have talked about it since I registered him for Kindergarten last February, where I cried amidst all the little ones saying their morning prayer and signing our National Anthem.

We have taken him to the playground at the school during the month of August to acclimate him to the environment, where I may or may not have had tears of joy and pride in my eyes when we peaked into the classroom and guessed at which class might be his.

I called the school last Monday to confess my Mommy fail for not attending the School bus safety training with him.  I may have choked back some tears when I was expressing some of my concerns to the resource teacher, who kindly suggested that I bring him in 5 days earlier than scheduled just so he can check things out.

And upon meeting the teacher and resource teacher, there were some moments when I knew I had to stop talking just because the words were going to come out in a blubbery mess.  Said teacher patted my arm and said I would be fine.

I will be fine and I know he will be fine.

It's just that he is my first to go off to school and as his mom,  I reserve the right to worry and shed tears of joy and sadness.

I have my reasons, we all do.

So next Tuesday is a big day for him.

His first day in the class for the entire three hours, with a few little friends.  I'm excited for him for that day.

And the following Tuesday will be his first week at school with the entire class.

The day after, he takes the bus for the first time.

Dear Lord, Please help me really enjoy those moments and help me get past the anxiety of the bus because I have worked so hard at getting him excited for this.  And please forgive my selfish tears.

I know he will be great.

And if there are some bumps along the way?  Par for the course..

He's going to make history that kid of mine.  I just know it.

Nighty night.

Better late than never

So July ripped through my life like a hurricane, as did the deadline in August to get my layout done for project 12.

If you can believe it for the first time in 18 months I didn't get it in on time.  

I still really love this project, mostly because it is about life.

Those special random moments that happen as you are living.

I also love that it is a double page layout that I can almost always fit in pictures that otherwise may have not been scrapped.

I got my act together this weekend and whipped out my layout.

Here is a reminder of the sketch:

 And my take on it:

I have to admit that July didn’t seem to be my best month on record for a few reasons.  I was missing some family members and I was working ALLOT!  I tried to do fun things with the boys but truthfully we just spent time in the backyard.  Mom was at Sam’s for a good chunk of the month and I found myself exhausted trying to do everything myself.  I hit a stop with my weight loss journey and I tried daily to find the good in everything but I found this month more difficult to do so.  I snapped out of it near the end and July seemed to brighten and lighten up.  Here is what Facebook had to say:

July 1 at 12:41pm In light of the holiday, I am taking a break from counting calories and making a yummy dinner and dessert. Not sure what yet but I certainly have enough to choose from! Have a happy and safe holiday! ♥ 

July 2 at 8:41pm watching Michael dance as Daddy jams. The boy has MOVES ♥

July 2 at 9:55pm Bruce is watching his favorite movie. Groundhog Day. He is denying that it is his favorite, but not convincingly. ♥

July 6 at 10:50pm At the risk of sounding dorky, I really miss the John Tesh radio show on my drive home. ♥

July 7 at 2:34pm The great thing about having boys is that they can "go" anywhere. :) ♥

July 11 at 3:11am 3:30am and sleep is eluding me. No huge surprises there. ♥

July 11 at 7:21pm My eyes are burning. This Momma is off to bed with the kiddos tonight! ♥

July 13 at 7:36 Nothing like a major corporate visit to help in ones weight loss journey! Small scale victory this morning! ♥

July 14 at 9:43pm All hell broke lose at bedtime tonight....odd. ♥

July 16 at 7:51am I gave my child a Popsicle for breakfast. In my defense it was homemade and only had berries yogurt and orange juice in it. ♥

July 17 at 7:46pm Two things that made me smile today...donating too big clothes and The Bigs playing in the pool in our living room sans water. LIG.  ♥ 

July 18 at 2:45am Too many things keep me awake at night. ♥

July 18 at 6:44pm my back is just not what it used to be...I'm creaking like an old lady over here! ♥

July 18 at 8:36pm Two things that made me smile today; Jack calling "Mickhoool" to come downstairs and play and the boys hugging each other at bedtime. ♥

July 19 at 6:18pm Thinking about you lots Kulapate. RIP. ♥

July 23 at 9:14pm Carey Hart...Hot. Corey, not so much. ♥

July 24 at 5:20am Happy Birthday to the best mom ever!! You are loved. ♥

July 26 at 7:57pmNew favorite thing that J says: "G'night Mummy." So sweet. ♥

July 26 at 8:00pm what if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday? ♥

July 29 at 6:58am The great thing about being a parent is that you get to be puked on in the middle of the night...repeatedly. ♥

July 29 at 7:16pm Just cleaned my desk. And by cleaned I really mean hid things in storage containers in no particular order. I will be kicking myself when I go to find things. ♥

July 30 at 7:55pm Raise your glass if you are wrong in all the right ways.  ♥

July 31 at 1:37pm Can we talk about my child that keeps throwing up in the night? ♥

 And that my friends was July.

 In other breaking news, my baby starts JK tomorrow.  

 I verklempt when I was checking his bus schedule and nearly stopped breathing. 

 Okay that may be a slight exaggeration but still....

 Happy Labor Day Friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Excuse my absense.

I have been spending these last few weeks of summer with my boys.

Life is fleeting and I don't want to miss these moments.

Happy Last day of August!

Thank you for needing me

Both of my boys were stung by a wasp this morning, presumably the same one.

There were some tense moments when they arrived home crying from a nice morning walk with Grandma with fears of allergic reactions since J has a few food allergies. 

He seemed to be the trooper though, barely crying and carrying  on in his own carefree  way.

M on the other hand was making funny tongue movements, and his thumb swelled like it was a balloon.

I think what was more shocking to me than the fact that they got stung, was that M let me comfort him and hold him while he cried.

He even said " Mommy, kiss the bobo better."

I suppose you are wondering why this is surprising to me?

M doesn't let me comfort him when he gets hurt.

Ever.

Today was pretty much the first time in over two years that I felt I could do my job and try to heal a wound or wipe a tear.

The funny part was the whole time he was crying I was thinking , "wow, he is letting me help him; wow, he is letting me apply some ointment; wow, he wants me right now."

Thanks for needing me today honey.   Your Mama needed to be needed.

Honey

For the longest time J thought my name was Honey.

I would walk in the door from work and he would call out "HUUUUUNNNNEEEEEEY!"

It was and still is so stinkin' cute.

More and more as he is growing though, the special honey greeting is falling by the wayside.

It makes me a little sad because it made me feel special. 

He has replaced it though with another special name.

Mommy.

Love that kid.

Nighty Night.

Go your own way

I have been bookmarking images from the WWW to  Pinterest for quiet some time now.

Mostly home decor ideas, scrap ideas, recipes and kid crafty stuff.

I had yet to use an image as a jumping off point for a scrap page untill yesterday.

When I saw this image along with this image I knew I wanted to use it on a page but I had to stew on it for a bit to figure out the story I wanted to tell.

Yesterday I figured it out and came up with this:

I have to admit, it is one of my new favorites.  I love the map paper and I love the photo of M.  It is soooo hard to get a picture of him looking at me so when I do I really cherish it.  Especially in his Indiana  Jones hat.

I also had allot of thoughts and feelings that I wanted to get down on paper about an upcoming appointment he has and of course his foray into the academics in September.  I wanted to get on paper how much I love him now and always and where ever life takes him I will always be here for him.

I hid the journalling because I was feeling pretty emotional when I wrote it.  I also tucked it into a little envelope in the corner for him to read one day.

Any great Pinterest inspiration to share?  Link me up!  I'd love to see what inspires you!

I'll be back tomorrow with another new favorite of my littlest!

Happy Thursday!