Celebrate Life 365!

So... for those who know me, you may remember that I am a scrap-a-holic. The problem lately, is that I have been sober. Completely and seriously rehabbed. So the scrapbooking addiction lives on in my heart and mind, but has not been able to translate into real pages or projects for quite a while now. I can blame it on my 4 kids, or my constant need to clean up the house so I'm not embarrassed if someone drops by, or my lack of creative juices due to months and months and MONTHS of not sleeping at night. But regardless of the reasons, I really miss it. SO... I have been lurking scrapbooking blogs. I find darling layouts, look at the things others have been doing, and fulfill my scrapping desires through others. Geekish, I know. Anyhow, there is a point to this confession! I found the best idea on a scrapping website that gave me the inspiration to fall off the wagon and get it all going again! The idea they had was to take one picture every day about the simple, daily routines or the ordinary every day stuff that we forget to mention or take note of usually. Then you mount the picture on an index card or recipe card and write your thoughts about the picture, or why you choose to take a snapshot of that particular thing, on the back of the card. Easy, right? Then, at the end of the year, you have a recipe box full of random pictures of your daily life that help you celebrate the little things that are all around you. I am a little late, since it is already the 10th of January, but I am so going to do this! It's fast, easy, and makes you stop and take time to document the great, simple, and normally over-looked things in your life. I need this. I want this. I love my life. I love my kids! I love our routines! I really should take the time NOW to record and document the things that we do. It's why I love scrapping. I want to have all these memories to cherish and remember when the kids are grown, the house is quiet, and the messes are finally clean. These are the best days of my life so far! I think you all should do this, too! There's nothing better than to see the blessings, humor, fun, struggles, reality, and the love that each day affords us. Here's a link to the article I read, and it has a few ideas and examples of what someone else has done, if you're interested! www.creatingkeepsakes.com/content/view/20171

Baby Gracie!

My little sister, Annie and her husband Justin just had their baby! She was born at 12:04 am on January 4th! She weighed in at 8 pounds and was 19.5 inches long. ( Just a side note... before she was born, we all did a statistics guess where we guessed the weight, height, time of birth, and color of hair. I totally won! On everything except the time, at least! I guessed she'd be 8 pounds, 2 ounces, be 19.5 inches long, and have lots of dark hair. The time I guessed was right at 8:30 pm... but she was a little more difficult than that! But still, only 2 ounces off on my guess! Too bad we didn't have money down on our bets!!!) She has the most beautiful dark hair. What a sweet heart she is. It's so fun welcoming a new baby into the family! I was able to go down to Cedar and see her yesterday. Thanks to Jason for taking care of our kids all day! He should get the Father of the Year award, cause he even took them all to Church! what a great dad my kids have! Welcome to the family, Gracie Kathleen! We love you so much!