Saturday Musings

Things have been really busy here so let me see if I can catch you up on everything we've been up to ...

We had a wonderful Mother's Day this year. The twins made me presents at school - little stained glass butterflies and a sweet card from each of them. They love doing art projects at school and I love that they made me something so sweet!

We had a nice lunch with Mom, Dave, Mimi and Willis. Then, we got to go visit Mimi at her new apartment. It was a nice day! Here's a picture that Mom got of me, the twins and Mimi right after lunch. I think it turned out great!



Here are pictures of the twins with their Art Books from school. They were so proud of their books!






And here are some random pictures that I thought you might like to see -

Alex and Paul

Alex trying on his Daddy's glasses!

Meighan playing with Bandit - actually, she was ordering him around, if we're honest!

On Easter, Paul, Alex, Mimi, Meighan and me at my Mom and Dave's house.

Meighan just adores her Mimi - here they are spending some time together on Easter!

My boys looking quite handsome!

My dad and Alex hanging out last weekend at Mimi's new place!

Nina, Alex and Elizabeth - playing with the twins new toys!

Our beautiful girl!

Me and the babes hanging out in the yard enjoying the warm weather!

Meighan and her Grandpa (or Papa as she calls him)!

And here are some recent layouts that I've put together. I've gotten a little behind with my scrapbooking since starting the new job. I'm just trying to get settled in but I did get a few pages done that I love.

This is one using Traci Reed's new Graphically Grunged kit (you can find it at Scrapbookgraphics.com) -

And here is one using one of Deb F's templates and a Dani Mogstead kit which was perfect for these photos!

And here is this awesome picture of Alex again! I just had to put a page together about all his words and his verbal development since starting daycare! This page uses one of Audrey Neal's new templates (at the lily pad) and a Dani Mogstead kit.

And here is one about Meighan's language development using another Audrey Neal template and Wendy Zine's Thrift Store Donations Collab. Kit (at Elemental Scraps)

And this is one that I just love about Meighan using Traci Reed's Serene kit and one of her templates (all found at scrapbookgraphics), There is also a ton of other stuff on this one but its mostly Traci's products!

And another one using Traci Reed's awesome Unbound kit and one of Audrey Neal's templates!

I had a wonderful day today - it is my birthday and my mom took me to Williamsburg for the day to shop and spend time together. It was so nice to spend a day away from 'everyday' life and have some down time. We shopped like crazy and had a wonderful lunch at my favorite, Captain George's! Thank you, Mom, for the wonderful day!! And, thank you, Paul, for keeping the kids so that I could have the day out on my birthday! I had a wonderful time!

I'm looking forward to the rest of the weekend and hanging out with Paul, Sami, Meighan and Alex! Should be lots of fun! I'll try to take lots of pics so that I can share them with you!

Friday Musings

I feel like I say this every time I post but I really am sorry that its been so long between posts. With starting a new job, the kids starting daycare and just our everyday life, we've been swamped and I just haven't had time to come post! But, I'm finally feeling like things are coming together so I thought I'd give a little update.

My new job is WONDERFUL! I am really loving it and feeling great about work again! Which is so great! I love my manager - she is an incredible lady who I am already learning so much from about being a great leader. The team is also great - and I'm finally beginning to get to know some of them and feeling a part of the team! The work itself is challenging and I am really enjoying every minute of my time there! And, frankly, it's wonderful to feel really good about work again!

The kids began their first week of daycare at a daycare center near our house. They're doing so well there - really adjusting quite well. The structure and the activity has been so good for them. They are already blossoming! They're having trouble with the drop off - crying for us, very upset when we leave. But, that is to be expected and they are apparently getting past it very quickly after we leave! The staff is great at the center and I really like everything about it so far!

We had a really nice Easter with Mom, Dave and Mimi Robertson. I even got a few nice pictures which I'll try to get up on the blog over the weekend! The twins had a lot of fun with their Easter baskets. They don't get candy very often so they were in Sugar Heaven!

So, as you can see, things are going well and we're all getting used to our new routine!

Here are a few pages that I did since I posted last. I haven't been getting as much scrapbooking done as I'd like but I am hoping that will change as things calm down with the job/daycare stuff!

So, here they are -

This first one is a square page that I put together using Traci Reed and Kristin CB's new Collaborative kit - Hello Sunshine. Some of us CT ladies put together a square quick page for a QP album using the kit and this was my contribution! It was nice to try a new page size! And, is Alex just the cutest, or what?!?!

And here is another page that I did which is one of my new favorites! I just love these pics of Alex who I rarely get a good picture of! Especially his adorable smile! This page uses a bunch of Jen Beschinski stuff and a Deb F. template and a bunch of other stuff, too! I had a lot of fun pulling it all together!

And here is one about my Megs using Wendy Zine's new Bloom and Grow Kit (that felt paper from the kit is incredible!). I really wanted to focus on the journaling so I tried to keep the page fairly simple. I'm really happy with how it turned out!

And here is one I put together the other night about being a working mother and what I think about it. It's not the best picture of Meighan and Alex but its one of the few I've got with both of them (they don't stay in one place long and don't care a bit that I'd love to get a picture of them together!!). I used Traci Reed's new Love, Mother kit which is incredible!!! So soft and beautiful!

Okay, I have a bunch of clothes and dishes to get washed tonight so I better get to work! I'll be back soon with more updates and some pictures from Easter!

Thursday Musings

Things have been VERY busy here with my wrapping up things at work and getting ready for my new job next week! Yesterday was my last day and I spent today running errands and getting things lined up for next week. I'm really looking forward to my first day! It's nice to look forward to something work related again!

Meighan and Alex are doing great! We seem to have finally all gotten back to normal and they are really enjoying the nice weather we've been having! They are officially obsessed with Elmo and Paul and I seem to be singing/humming 'Elmo's World' constantly since we spend almost all of our time watching Elmo with them! At least Elmo is somewhat educational so hopefully they are learning a lot as they watch! They are such smart little guys - they amaze me how bright they are sometimes!

Here are a few of the pictures that we've taken recently. I'm still unable to post some pictures here on the blog so I used one of Nancy Comelab's clusters to pull together some of my favorites to show you!


I haven't gotten a lot of scrapbooking done because I've been so busy with other things but here is a quick page that I did with a favorite picture of Meighan. The flowers are by my friend, Wendy Zine, who is now designing some GREAT stuff! I'm so thrilled to be a part of her Creative Team! She is so talented!


I was asked to be a part of Deb F's 'templater' team this week and I'm so excited about it! As you may or may not know, I tend to use templates on almost every layout that I do so I am really excited to be working with her templates! I'll be sharing more of my pages using her templates soon. I'm hoping to get a few done over the weekend!

Wednesday Musings

I've got some news to share ... I've been working on finding a new job for the last couple of months and the search went amazingly well! I did quite a bit of interviewing and ended up with two really great offers which was amazing! They were very different jobs - one was with another non-profit and one was with a local corporation. Ultimately, I decided to go with the corporate position, for a lot of different reasons but I'm really excited about it! So, I will be starting my new job in about a week and a half which is really exciting! A bit scary after being in the same place for over 6 years but I'm looking forward to the change and the challenges that will come with that! And I will even be able to use the MBA that I worked so hard for but have yet to really put to use! So, it's an exciting and BUSY time for me!

Here are a few layouts that I've put together recently that I thought you might like to see ...

This is a new one using Traci Reed and Dani Mogsteads new Collaboration kit, Love Sprung, which is incredible! It's DEFINATELY one that I'll be using again and again! And, I think it might be my new favorite layout! I was really excited because it was chosen as Hot Layout of the Day over at the Digi Shoppe which is really cool!


And here is one using Toni Berman's Rebel Rock kit. I just love the cute little relationship that Alex and I have developed recently and I had to do a page about it! He's so possessive of me these days. He wants his Momma ALL THE TIME! And I'm loving every minute of it!

And here is one of some of the birthday pictures that I took while the twins played hard in the Burger King play area. They had such a wonderful time!

Monday Musings

Hi everyone! Things have been pretty busy here, we have a lot going on right now. I should have some news to share tomorrow but I can't say anything just yet! But, its good news for me and for our family.

Meighan and Alex have been under the weather again. Friday night was Meighan's night for keeping us up all night throwing up and then Saturday was Alex's night! It was quite a weekend! But, they seem to be at the end of it so I'm hoping that they'll be all better very soon! I hate to see them sick although they do act like angels when they aren't feeling well!

Here's a quick story about Alex that I think is interesting - he doesn't tend to talk very much. Some but not a ton. Yet, I just know that he's got a larger vocabularly than he actually uses. Meighan, on the other hand, talks CONSTANTLY. She is a chatterbug! Anyway, when he began to throw up on Saturday night, he yelled out "Mommy" and then said "I trow up" when we came into his room. It was so cute and pitiful at the same time! We've never taught them to say the words throw up but he picked it up and was able to say it when he needed to. He's much smarter than he appears sometimes, I just think he isn't as vocal but he's definately still building up quite a vocabulary!

Another Alex thing is that he has recently decided that Mommy is the BOMB! He wants me ALL THE TIME! He sits with me, follows me around, and wants nothing to do with anyone but me. It's so cute and I intend to enjoy it while it lasts! It is such a wonderful thing to see him really fall in love with me. I can see it in his eyes and in his every move right now! And I know that its temporary because one day, not too far in the future, he will suddenly let go and begin to identify more with his Daddy.

At the same time as I'm experiencing all of this, I was reading Anna Quindlen's book Living Out Loud and there was a passage that just resonated with me because of all of this and I thought I'd share it here -

"I am aghast to find myself in such a position of power over two other people. Their father and I have them in thrall simply by having produced them. We have the power to make them feel good or bad about themselves, which is the greatest power in the world. Ours will not be the only influence, but it is the earliest, the most ubiquitous, and potentially the most pernicious. Lovers and friends will make them blossom and bleed, but they may move on to other lovers and friends. We are the only parents they will have. " - Anna Quindlen

I have a few layouts to share that I've done since I last posted. The first is my most recent page and my new favorite! I just had to document Meighan's new favorite things in this layout. I used Jen Beschinski's Paint Drippings which were so fun to work with and I also used Traci Reed's new Blendstrokes. This was a fun one to play with!


And here is another using Traci Reed's new Joyful kit - this one is about Meighan discovering the shawl that she got for Christmas from her Grandma who made one for her and for her baby! Too cute!

And last, but not least, is a spring layout using the Lilypad Spring Kit and Toni Berman's Metal Linkadoo's! (I'm on Toni's CT as a Guest this month and having a blast!).

Okay - that's it for tonight! I've got a ton of stuff to get done before bed tonight!

Monday Musings

Once again, I've been totally negligent in posting on our blog. I apologize profusely but we've had quite a February here and I'm just getting back to normal. We had at least 3 rounds of illness swing through the house, most of us have been on antibiotics at least once and all of us have been SICK SICK SICK. We're finally back to normal so I hope I can be a bit better about updating all of you!

First things first, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my hubby, Paul!!!!! Hope you have had a great day, honey!

And I also have to say HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY to Meighan and Alex who had a birthday a couple of weekends ago! I have pictures to share of their very low key party! We ended up having it on their actual birthday because Alex was really sick on the afternoon we'd planned it. Poor kid! We kept it quiet - we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for presents and playtime, followed by a trip to Burger King for Happy Meals and playing in the play area! They had a blast - perfect birthday for our very energetic (albeit sick) toddlers!

Here are a few pictures from their birthday - I still can't believe they have been in our lives for two whole years! They amaze me! I still can't post anything that isn't sideways (URGHHH) so I am only posting the cute sideways pictures. I'll be doing layouts with all the cute birthday pics so you'll definately be seeing them!

Here is a cute picture of Sami and Meighan after Sami had gotten Meighan to sit still to have her hair done (I can't get her to sit still for 2 seconds but Sami is a pro). Didn't Sami do a great job making Meighan look adorable?

Here are some layouts to share that I've done since I last posted. I took quite a break due to all the ickiness but I did get some pages done. Here they are ...

During February I guest CT'd with Karah Fredericks and had such a great time working with her designs. She ROCKS and I had the best time. This layout uses her Love Is [Darcy] kit and it is a new favorite. Very different kind of page for me but I LOVE how it turned out. I scraplifted one of my friend Wendy Zine's awesome layouts ...

And here is another that is REALLY bright and fun -

And another using more of Karah's products (these solids ROCK and the folded corners are so unique and fun to play with) -

And a Meighan layout using Rose's fun 'My Funky Valentine' kit -

And here's one using Audrey Neal's His Way Papers/Elements about having Boy/Girl twins -

And here's one about the most used word in our house these days - NO -

And another Meighan layout -

And an Alex layout -

And here's one I did for last week's Digi Dare - all about my favorite music -

And here's one about my favorite sisters -

And last, but not least, one using Traci Reed's new Boy Theory kit -

A couple of other quick things related to digi scrapbooking ...

Check out Rose's blinkie contest here. She has some really fun stuff in her shop!

And have you seen Jen Beschinski's paint drips??? Check them out here - they are so unique!

That's it for tonight but I'll be back soon with more to share. Including more pictures of the twins - maybe I'll figure out another way to show you some of the cute pictures we took!

Thursday Musings

Okay, just a quick post tonight about two really fun things happening in the digi world that I thought some of you other digital scrapbookers might be interested in.

First, Audrey Neal is having a contest! It's going to be so much fun. I really hope you'll join in - there are several AWESOME prizes! You can read more about it and get all the details at Audrey's blog. The bottom line is create a layout using one of Audrey's word art quotes (which ROCK!), post it, link your page to the comments at her blog and you'll be entered into the contest! Trust me, you don't want to miss this one!

Okay, and secondly, The Digi Shoppe is under new ownership and that means a big SALE to celebrate. Rose Farver's entire store will be 50% off and anyone that purchases anything from her will receive her new My Funky Valentine kit for FREE!! To get the free kit, just add it to your cart with any of her other products and use the coupon code:roseluvsu when you're all done shopping proceed to check out! You can see this AWESOME kit here. And you can find her entire store here. So, while your shopping the TDS sale, be sure to stop by Rose's store and see all of the awesome things she has to offer. Some of my personal favorites include her Muted Memories Collection, Something Sweet, and her Simple Stuff Collection. Here are previews of these ...

Okay, so there you go ... two great digi things you should definately check out!