Willow Tree Angels

My collection of Willow Tree angels began several years ago, when one of my closest friends, Val, gave me one for my birthday. It was the angel of happiness and I was absolutely delighted with her.

I received my second one from Val the following Christmas-- an ornament-- the angel of beauty. And for almost every birthday & Christmas since, I have gotten an angel from her as a gift.

I love my collection of angels. I think that they are beautiful and wonderfully crafted. But what I think I love most about them, is that when I look at them, I think of Val and the treasure that our friendship is to me.











I made the mini-album with 5”x6” chipboard, Daisy D’s patterned paper and a We Are Memory Keepers decorative eyelet. I cut a brown hair elastic and attached it to the back with a We Are Memory Keepers snap, so that it loops around to the front to keep the album closed. I used Jessica Sprague’s Echoes of Asia digital kit to add frames to my photos, and I added text as well in my Microsoft Picture it Publishing.

My joy journey

I had to stop at my church yesterday to take care of some R.O.X. stuff. While I was in the library, this book caught my eye.

I started reading it this morning and liked what was written in the introduction:

"If you were to define joy, how would you do it?

Scripture gives us clues. For starters, Nehemiah 8:10 tells us the joy of the Lord is our strength. First Chronicles 16:27 tells us that strength and joy are in God's dwelling place. John 16:24 tells us to ask and we'll receive so that our joy will be full. John 16:20 promises that our grief will turn to joy.

No matter what definition of joy we use-- abundance, happiness, fulfillment, whatever-- our relationship with God is integral to true joy in our lives."

Not up to very much today. Cameron's taking the van (his truck broke down at the farm and he need to go and work on it) so Jonah, Sage and I are chillin' at home. (Cameron suggested I walk to get Austin at lunch and then walk him back afterward, but I sent a lunch along with him, because otherwise we would really be chillin', because it's freezing outside!)

Tuesday

Not up to too much today.

Had a new friend over for coffee this morning. Things we have in common: both teachers who aren't working right now, both moms, both Christians, and both... scrapbookers. So needless to say, we had lots to chat about!

I got my scrapbooking space rearranged last yesterday. I stole the shelving unit out of Sage's room and reorganized all my stuff. Went through my stuff and created a pile to give to Carley, our babysitter.

Here are some pictures of my "new" space:





I'm quite excited about this. Everytime I go downstairs and look over at my area, it makes me smile! And here's the layout I created this afternoon there:

I used pictures from when we went to my mom's to help her set up her tree. (It came out a little orange in the scan-- it's lighter irl!

Tonight we have Bible study. Not terribly excited about going. We're (Cam & I) are in a group with three other couples. But the other couples are all in their late forties/early fifties with kids all grown and out of the house. (One couple has grandkids Austin's and Jonah's ages.) Anyway, just not feeling like I'm connecting well with them-- even after a year and a half. Kind of wishing we could be in a group with couples who are in the same stage of life as us.

Anyway, enough rambling for today...

A word for 2007

When Ali Edwards challenged me to choose a word for 2007, the word “joy” immediately popped into my head.

I think there were a few reasons for this.

Three years ago, at our church’s women’s retreat, we were put into small groups for the weekend. In my group, we were asked to speak God’s word sitting to the person beside us. Cindy Penner spoke the words to me: pure joy.

This totally resonated with me. Not because it’s what I felt I had or expressed in my life. But because, that was my desire. To be a person who has pure joy.

When attempting to define joy, I found most of the definitions to contain the word happiness. Which I get. But I also think that joy is something more. Something deeper. Something lasting, that isn’t dependant on circumstances. It’s just there, regardless of what’s happening around us.
Along with the word, I thought I’d choose a verse to go with it to be my verse for the year. So, I went to Bible Gateway to search for a verse. And found 333 references for joy in the New Living Translation. When I started reading some of them, especially in Psalms, I found something interesting:

Almost all of the verses that resonated with me connected joy to God. Being in God’s presence. Seeking Him. Trusting Him. Being full of joy in Him.

So, this is my word for the year: joy. And though I’ve chosen seven verses (so far) that I’d like to meditate on throughout the year, my chosen verse for 2007 is Psalm 16:11: “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.”

This is what I want to be: a woman of joy. Not because my life is great and everything is going well. But because I'm finding joy in being in God's presence and in trusting in Him.

The right thing to do

Do you ever have those moments where you don't know what the right thing to do is?

Not a moral or ethical dilemma.

Just unsure what's best for my kids. My husband. Me.

Tonight, Cameron and I were suppose to go to a Congolese fundraiser supper at our church tonight. It was time to get ready. We'd just gotten home from picking up Cameron at the farm and stopping at Giant Tiger to pick up milk and some panties for Sage (we're potty training!)

Jonah had fallen asleep in the van and when I carried him in, he wanted to be held. So I indulged him.

Then I mentionned that Carley would be coming to babysit. And he started to cry.

Normally, it wouldn't have bothered me. I'd have thought: "He'll get over it and be fine."

But tonight, for whatever reason, I couldn't. So I called Carley and cancelled. I don't think she was very happy about it.

And I felt bad.

Then Cameron questioned my decision and said he'd been looking forward to going with me.

And I felt bad.

And then my brother called and when I told him, he reminded me that Jonah would have been fine 3 minutes after I left.

And I felt bad.

And when I suggested to my kids that maybe I should go, Austin said: "No, I want you to stay mom."

So I stayed at home with them this evening.

Not sure if it was the right thing to do or not.

Sometimes it's hard to know what the right thing to do is...

Good things

Here are a few things that I've enjoyed over the holiday season:



Hanging out with this guy for a couple of days (believe it or not!)

This is my older brother, Trevor, who took this photo himself with my camera and told me that he wanted to see it on my blog. So, here you go, Trev.



Spending time with my nephew, Noah. He's Trevor's 3 1/2 year old son and is adorable. I think what makes him even cuter is the fact that he speaks in French 99% of the time. Trevor insisted that I speak to him in english and by the end of the second day, Noah had replied to me in english once(which was also very cute!)



Spending time with friends (ALWAYS a favourite thing to do!) This morning, I had coffee with Anita and she took this picture of our girls. I think it looks like they're doing some sort of interpretative dance, but they were really just chasing each other around the living room.



Playing games with my kids. Jonah and Sage got Dora YUM and Diego Lotto for Christmas from their uncle Trevor and they've been quite a hit. I've also played Battleship with Austin (also from Uncle Trevor) a couple of times (he creamed me yesterday with no help!) and I taught him how to play Yahtzee last night (a huge favourite of mine from when I was a kid!)



Scrapbooking with Austin tonight. He's been telling me for a while how he's good at scrapbooking and hinting that he'd like to scrapbook with me. So tonight, after supper, we went downstairs to my scrap space and made the above layout together. I was surprised that it wasn't as frustrating as I thought it would be-- it was fun and a great way to spend time together one on one.

Christmas in Winnipeg

On the 27th, we went to Winnipeg to celebrate Christmas with my mom. My older brother, Trevor, and his son, Noah, flew out from Montreal to join us.

We stayed the night at the Canad Inns on Pembina Hwy and a had a great time enjoying their pool. Here are a few of my favourite pictures that we took there:



(I'm not sure why Cameron wears a shirt in the water. Trevor asked me if it was a religious thing. Not to my knowledge...)



This little girl looks so good in a bathing suit! (Although Trevor felt the need to tease her about her thighs-- he said I should put her in speed-skating!)



This little boy is so adorable-- love him!



We had such a blast going down the waterslide! Jonah and I must have gone down it together at least a dozen times!

Merry Christmas!

Our kids were up this morning before 8am-- we were done opening gifts by 8:10am!



How awesome to see the happy expressions on Austin's, Jonah's and Sage's faces when they opened their gifts!







Wishing you a merry Christmas filled with wonderful moments and things!

Mouseless

Our computer mouse died last night (or was broken by a certain seven-year old!)

I couldn't believe how many times I went to use the computer, only to remember that I couldn't!

First thing this morning, we went to pick up a new one.

When we were leaving the store, Jonah, who's 4, said: "Mom, did we get a pet?"

(I guess he heard me tell the lady I wanted to buy a mouse!)

Christmas concerts

Austin had his school concert last night. I knew it would be hard to take pictures of him and his class on stage, so I tried to get most of his class to pose in the foyer.



Here's a picture of him as they were getting on stage.



It was the best one I got. He was in the last row with four or five rows of kids in front of him.

So the school concert is done. Now I'm looking forward to his church concert on Sunday morning.

The cheetah

In the middle of October, Jonah started pretending to be a cheetah. He’d run or bear crawl around the house and make a “ming” sound with his “paws” together in front of him.



He’d talk about being a cheetah or about cheetahs in general a lot. If I called him “Jonah”, he’d say: “Um, Mom, I’m a cheetah” & want me to address him as such.

A week or so before Halloween, I told
Jonah that I had a cheetah head that he could wear. “A cheetah head?” he asked.

When I explained that it had cheetah ears, he said (rather indignantly while touching his own ears): “Mom, I have cheetah ears.”

Then, on Halloween, he suddenly wanted to wear the cheetah head. And wear it. And wear it. He wore it to bed that night and for the rest of the week. He wore it to church and the whole week after that.



And for the month or so following
that, he’s hardly taken it off.



Since it’s made of polar fleece, it
has doubled as a toque, which has been
good on cold days. And I guess inside, well, it’s just lots of fun to wear…

I’ve really enjoyed watching Jonah play this way and make believe—he’s definitely the cutest little cheetah I’ve ever seen.

Putting up the tree

We put up the tree this morning. Other than some frustration with the lights, it went pretty smoothly. A few things got broken but I had crazy glue on hand, so it was all good.

I also had my camera on hand...

Step #1: assemble the tree.



Step #2: put on the lights.



Step #3: put on the ribbon & ornaments.



Step #4: pose as a group in front of the finished tree.

Fire!

Okay, well stinky smoke anyway...

Maybe I wasn't meant to have a dishwasher...

Cameron finally got it hooked up and running last week, so today, I loaded it up and ran it after lunch.

A little while later, Cameron smelled smoke. He ran to the kitchen and opened the dishwasher. After some searching, he found my son's favourite sippy-- melted with a huge hole in it! I guess it had flipped out of its spot and landed on the heating element during the power dry cycle.



Jonah's pretty sad about his favourite "dinosaur sippy cup" but I promised that we'd buy him a new one at Walmart tomorrow.

I just feel bad because I was mad that Cameron didn't go back to work after lunch-- now it turns out it was a good thing he was here!

Good day

Without a doubt, my favourite day of the week is Sunday.

We start with church in the morning, followed by R.O.X., which is one of my favourite hours of the week.

Sometimes, we invite others over for lunch. Other times, we just spend the day in a lazy way.

Yesterday, I invited my 13 year old friends, Carley and Annika over for lunch. We had pizza, pop and brownies. While Sage and Cameron slept, Austin and Jonah played computer and Carley, Annika and I made some Christmas tree ornaments out of patterned paper:

After the ornaments, we made Christmas tags. Then we had grilled cheese sandwiches and chips for supper (a healthy day, I know!)

After I took them home, Austin and I watched Amazing Race. I read and chatted on the phone with a friend until 10pm and then finished off my day watching Studio 60.

At church in the morning,Cameron fixed the boys' remote control truck. It got this cool picture of it. (I took it on the portrait setting on my camera.)

LOOONG weekend

It's a long weekend for us this weekend.

Austin had a three day school week this week and is now enjoying day 2 of his 4 day long weekend.

Actually, he's had three long weekends this month already.

But, it's good.

He and Jonah play together well. They like to watch TV (so I rented them a Scooby Doo video), play computer, chase each other around and play.

And once in a while, I can even get a good picture of them (in their Christmas sweaters!)

SSD

It was Super Scrap Day (SSD) at My Scrap Shoppe this past Saturday in Winkler. Such a great way to spend a day: scrapbooking from 9am to 9pm.



I love being a part of the design team for MSS and it was fun to spend time with a couple of my fellow design team members: Anita & Jen. And with MSS's owner, Marcy. She did a great job organizing the day!

My friend Susan was able to come and join us after lunch, which was really good!



I got quite a few layouts done, which was wonderful (never sure how much I'm going to accomplish at a crop!) Here are three of them:

Favourites, part one

This season, I have five favourite TV shows, which are conveniently aired on two different evenings.

So I basically watch TV two evenings a week.

My favourite show right now is Grey's Anatomy. I started watching it mid-second season, but have borrowed the first season from my friend Susan. I'd still like to watch the complete second season sometime but it's 28 episodes long!

On Thursday nights, I also like to watch CSI. The original one set in Las Vegas.

Then ER. I've been watching this one for almost eight years-- I got into while I was pregnant with Austin and they aired repeats in the afternoons. (Hey, better than soaps, right?)

On Sunday nights, I like to watch Amazing Race. Actually, Austin and I like to watch this one together.

Then, at ten, I am really liking a new show this year: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It's very good.

That's my top five. What are yours?

This weekend

I got to spend this weekend doing two of my favourite things: scrapbooking and hanging out with friends.

Tracy (with Mary's help) had planned a scrapbooking overnighter at the Pembina Valley Bible Camp.

Marlo and I drove there & back together. It was Marlo's first scrapbooking overnighter (my second!) and she suggested maybe bringing some games along. I told her not to bother-- no one would play them.

"You mean, we actually scrapbook the entire time?"

Yup.

And that's exactly what we did. From 6:30pm Friday to 2:30 am Saturday morning (4am for Marlo!) and then from 8:15am to 4:30pm Saturday. Breaking only to eat and visit the washroom!

It was such a great time!

I'm such a copycat!

Anita created a slide show on her blog.

So of course, I had to make one, too. (Check out the sidebar!)

It's of some of my favourite scrapbooking layouts from 2006.

Hope you like it!

Halloween 2006

Our Halloween this year was a snowy one! (It snowed Monday all day, so there was quite a bit of the white stuff!)

Of course, this didn’t deter our trick or treaters this year.

Austin dressed up like a spy for school. Jonah was a cheetah (he slept with the head on last night and he’s still wearing it this morning) and Sage was a horse.

A Christmas gift update

I went to Walmart to look at the Lego that Austin does want for Christmas.

The bad news: it's a $80 set.

The good news: I bid on a set on ebay last night and won and paid less than $38!

Fall pictures

My friend and fellow Design Team member at MSS, Anita, takes the most wonderful Fall pictures of her kids. When I was scrapbooking at her house last weekend and drooling over her photos, I realized that I hadn't taken very many fall shots of my kids yet.

It was a nice day out yesterday, so before we had to pick up Austin from school, I took Sage, Jonah and my camera outside and took a bunch of pictures. These were my two favourites:

Ooops!

A Christmas present related story:

Okay, I picked up some Batman lego for my oldest son yesterday at Walmart and forgot to hide it!

(I know, I know, what was I thinking? It was crazy busy with coming home from Walmart, going to pick up Austin at school, coming home again and then rushing off to skating.)

So, while I was out last night, he looked in the bag it was in and saw it!

This morning he said to me: "Mom, why didn't you hide the Lego?"

I felt so bad.

Until he told me I didn't get him the right one.

Oh.

So, I guess it was good he saw it and told me-- much better than having a disappointed kid on Christmas morning!

A little stressed

I'm feeling a little stressed right now.

Trying to get everything done around the house. Laundry, cleaning, organizing, dishes, baking, etc.

But also trying to carve out some me time, to do the stuff I like to do. Scrapbooking, reading, watching TV, getting together with friends, chatting on the phone.

And added to that, my responsibilities with R.O.X. that are much more than I wanted for this year-- and seem to be increasing.

So, I just need to take a deep breath and pray that everything that needs to get done will get done.

And that no blood will get shed.

Kind of cute!

Yesterday, Sage was sitting in the bathroom, trying to be a big girl. I was sitting with her and we were singing songs to make the time pass a little faster (she's not quick!)

And she sang a song from Sunday School about "God made the world, God made the world, God made the animals..." and then she said: "God made the chickens" and it wasn't totally clear, so I said: "Kittens or chickens?"

And she said: "Chickens!"

And I said: "Chickens? Yummy!"

And she said: "No, Mom, chickens don't say yummy. Chickens say bawk, bawk!"

Isn't that cute? Did I mention that she's two and one month? Anyway, I thought it was very cute.

The day before, same place, same purpose, I asked her: "Sage, do you love mommy?"

And she said: "Yes."

And I said: "How much do you love mommy?"

And she said: "Two."

(Which, because of her age, I took to understand that her reply meant "with all that she is.")

Love that girl!

I love to read

Ever since I was a little kid, reading has always been one of my favourite things to do.

I remember my dad coming into my room and threatening to turn off my light while I read in bed. “Just to the end of this chapter,” I’d request. But then, it was so hard to not start the next one!

Now, as an adult, I still love to read. But it has to be fiction. I have a hard time reading non-fiction (and I don’t like to read newspapers, either!)

But give me a good fiction book where I can totally sink into the story line and I’m happy. If I had to pick a favourite genre, it would probably be Christian Adult Fiction. My favourite authors include Francine Rivers, Karen Kingsbury, Angela Hunt and Dee Henderson. My favourite books are the ones that both entertain me, but also inspire me to be a better person in some aspect of my life or personality.

I also like to read Chick Lit books. Ones where I can just enjoy the story line and relax.

I also like to read scrapbooking magazines and idea books, which include most of the journaling that other scrapbookers include on their pages.

I’m thinking this will still be something that I will be saying when I’m old and gray: "I love to read."

Ali's Challenges

Ali Edwards has started an ezine newsletter in which she offers challenges each week.

The first challenge was to make a mini-album of your five favourite things right now. Instead of a mini book, I made a 12x12 layout:

favourite five

The second challenge was to document a month in the life of everyone in your household. Here's the layout I did for that one:

this month...

The third layout challenged us to explore our photographic process. Here's the layout I made for that one:

photography

I wanted to post the images here of the layout, but blogger seemed to be having a bit of trouble this morning, sorry.

I've been enjoying these challenges-- especially as I'd like my kids to get an idea of what I was like while they were growing up-- not only as a mom but also as a person.

Something fun

I got this from Jen's blog:

YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet and current street name)
Coco Nelson

YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather or grandmother on your mom's side, your favorite candy)Antoinette Skor

YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME: (first initial of first name, first two or three letters of your middle name) L-Nic

YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
green panther

YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)Nicole Winnipeg

YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 2 letters of mom's maiden name and first 3 letters of the town you grew up in) penle biwin

SUPERHERO NAME: (your favorite color, favorite drink) green milk

Priceless

Austin came home from school with a bunch of papers in his backpack.

Every Monday, the kids in his class write down what they did over the weekend. So he had a few of these pages.

Among them, I found one that talked about the Terry Fox run that I participated in a few weeks ago. It said: "My mom won a race. My mom was happy. My mom told me. My dad took pictures. I like mom."

Awwwwwwwwwwww!

Isn't that the sweetest thing?

I asked him if I could keep it. He said yes.

I thought: "I want to keep this forever, but how will I remember to what it was pertaining?"

Then it hit me-- make it a part of a scrapbooking layout.

So I did:



And look, he even drew me at the bottom with Cameron taking my picture-- and my hands are up!

I think this is really cool

Watch: free hugs campaign

Look what I did!

We moved Sage into a "big girl bed" this week.

I have been waiting for two years for this moment!

I finally got to decorate her room "girl".

So, I bought bedding at IKEA in spring and the walls looked a little bare, so I did this:

I was actually inspired by Vicki Boutin's layout in the October CK. I used Wallies, IKEA stickers and MM flower stamps and paint. There are also a few glow-in-the-dark stars, too.

I made the fairy princess out of cardstock, rhinestone brads, wire and KI paper. The head and hands were from a birthday card that Sage got in the mail from her Uncle Chris & Auntie Cheryl. When she saw the card, she said: "That's me!"

So now she thinks she's flying on her wall!

Custom scrapbook

On Saturday, a woman from my church came over and commissioned me to make a scrapbook for her sister.

So exciting!

I love scrapbooking. When I started over 3 years ago, something just clicked. It was like: "This is the thing I've been waiting my whole life to find."

Then, I thought, how great it would be to make some money doing what I love. So I started lpdesigns. I've been selling my cards in three local businesses, I've had a few of orders for cards & invitations and I've created two scrapbooks for our church when pastors have left.

And now I have this order.

I'm hoping this will lead to more. It's so great to be able to do something I really love to do and get paid for it.

Ready for kindergarten?

For her birthday, Sage received a Dora backpack from her friend, Annika.

She was absolutely over the moon!

She puts it on with her jacket and says: "Go ride on Daddy's schoolbus."

I guess she figures she's ready for school.

Sorry, hon, another 3 years to go!