Thursday Musings

There has been so much going on since my last post ...

The kids are growing up so fast, doing so many adorable things - learning to count and trying to learn their ABCs. They are just so smart that they amaze me daily! I love them so much!!!

Work is going well. I'm still loving my new job and enjoying every moment of it! We are still waiting on our relocation offers but I hope to have it in hand tomorrow. I'll keep you posted. Paul and I visited St. Louis to get a feel for the city and some of its amenities. We ultimately decided that we could live there although we both agree that we don't love it! It'll all come down to the offer and how difficult it is to say no to what they offer.

We've been doing a lot of work on the house, trying to get it under control again. Since having the twins, we've been pretty lax about keeping it up. Most of the problems are cosmetic so we have been/will be painting and decluttering like crazy! We've decided to start upstairs and work our way down. So far, the upstairs is 90% done except the problems with the shower which are just too much for us to take care of ourselves. Once its all done and looking better, I'll post pictures so you can see how great it ends up looking!

I've been trying to spend a lot of my free time getting some scrapbook pages done. I'm really lucky to be on some great creative teams so most of these layouts showcase those wonderful ladies' designs ... I am also really excited about a new opportunity that has come to me since I last posted. I am now a Bella with Bella Scraps Magazine which is a new online magazine for digital and hybrid artists. It's a wonderful publication that had its first issue debut in January! One of the layouts you'll see in a few minutes is using the fabulous kit that came with the first issue. Bella Scraps Magazine is the 'baby' of Holley VanDenBerg who I originally met when she was editor of the Digital Artisan Guild and asked me to write an article for that publication. I wrote an article about a Love Lessons album I've been working on for the kids and when I saw that she had a new publication coming, we connected and she asked me to be a part of the Creative Team. It's a wonderful publication and you can find out more about purchasing it here.

Anyway, here are a few of my recent creations ...

Using MandaBean's Owl Love you Forever Girl kit over at Sweet Shoppe Designs.

Using ChereKaye and Amanda Heimann's Winter Wish Collab kit over at The Funky Playground

Using MandaBean and Robin Carlton's Lullabee Collab kit over at Sweet Shoppe Designs

Using Bob and Willis by MandaBean and Lauren Grier, Rad Girls by MandaBean and Penny Springman, And I Quote ... Life by MandaBean - all at Sweet Shoppe Designs

Using the Scrapbook Graphics Collab kit for January, Impressions of Anticipation

Isn't Sami beautiful??? Not only is she beautiful on the outside but also on the inside.

We're so proud of her!

I did this one for the most recent Oscraps blog challenge using Audrey Neal's Blockbuster Template, Happy Holly Days kit, & Christmas Trees, Lauren Reid's Nelly kit, Ribbon from Oscraps' O'Jolly collab kit, and Vicki Stegall's Wrap Me Up Grunge Two(ALL at Oscraps)

Using MandaBean's Fizz Toady kit (Sweet Shoppe Designs)

This one is using Mirranda Reinhardt's new spring kit which is so beautiful!

(can be found at Scrapbook Graphics)

And, now I want to share some pages that are VERY special to me and part of a project that I'm determined to finish this year - a heritage album. This one will focus on the Robertson side of the family. I'm also beginning work on one for the Phillips side. My grandmother gave me all of the family photographs for safekeeping and I've been slowly scanning them in order to archive them as they are very precious. I've also been doing a lot of records searching about the family and trying to uncover more about the areas of my family ancestry that I don't know about. And, lastly, I'm using the information that I obtained through my Saturday afternoons with my grandmother prior to her death last year where she told me about her life, our family and made so much of our family's history come to life. It's been really helpful to me to work on this book because I still struggle with the fact that she is gone and I miss her so much. It's helped me to work on a project which honors her and her memories as well as all of the people she loved. I'll be sharing more of these pages as my goal is to do at least one page for this album each week (more would be even better) and then I will compile them all into a hardcover book when they are complete. I'm so excited!

This is a beautiful picture of my grandmother and I used this page to tell more of her story, particularly her childhood.

This is a photograph of my grandparents when they were newlyweds. This page tells of how they met, fell in love and spent so many years together. Their marraige and its longevity was and is amazing to me. (This is also using the kit that I mentioned earlier which came with the January issue of Bella Scraps - it is a Christine Haskell kit that is absolutely beautiful).

I love this photograph of my grandmother, her parents and her siblings. It's one of the few photographs that I've seen of all of them together as adults. It was taken in 1967 at my great grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary! (And, Dad, if you're reading this - I PROMISE to mail you the originals back.)

This is a picture of my great grandparents, my grandmother's parents. This page tells the story of their meeting, marraige and life together. It includes several bits and pieces of the stories that my grandmother shared with me to give me insight into her parents who died when I was young.

This is another rare photo - my grandfather with ALL of his siblings. It's the only photo of all of them that I've been able to find. I think its wonderful and I really wanted to showcase it!

And, last, but certainly not least, a page about my grandparents and their wedding. Or weddings, to be more accurate. We found out years after their marraige that they'd actually run off and gotten married a year before their 'real' wedding which is the wedding date we'd always been aware of. My grandmother told me that they ran off to Elizabeth City, NC with two friends who'd done that and knew where to go! I went searching online records and found their marriage certificate in NC and it does show that they did indeed run off and marry in NC in 1939! I love that they did that and am so glad to be able to document it in this heritage layout!

Okay, that's it for me tonight. I need to go get watching LOST which premiers tonight. It's been WAY too long since I've been able to have my LOST fix!

Monday Musings

I'm not even going to apologize anymore for being such a terrible blogger. I am just going to try to do the best that I can!

Things are going well here for the most part. I'm really enjoying my new job although its keeping me VERY busy! I'm working a lot of overtime getting one of my first projects off of the ground and I'll be traveling quite a bit in December to get it completed. We've also been invited to St. Louis for a long weekend to take a tour, get a feel for the city to help us determine if we might be interested in relocating there when my firm's headquarters moves there next year. We're staying open to all the possibilities at this point! We'll see what happens and I'll keep you posted!

Meighan and Alex are doing great. Getting so big! Alex's obsession with Spiderman continues - he's now acting out scenes from the movies and carrying his Big Spiderman action figure and his Spiderman bucket around with him almost constantly. Meighan is obsessed with drawing and with carrying around tons of 'stuff' - she's our own little bag lady! They are beginning to count and although they aren't always consistent, Alex counted to 8 the other day which totally shocked me! Sometimes its 1, 2, 3, 6, 8 and sometimes its another combination. And at times they get it right! It's amazing to watch them learning all these things we take for granted.

Here are a few recent pages I've done for your viewing pleasure ...

Halloween Musings

Just wanted to post a quick hello and wish you all a Happy Halloween! We've been having a blast this year getting ready for Trick or Treating. Alex decided he wanted to dress up as Spiderman who he is TOTALLY obsessed with right now and Meighan chose a hot pink leopard costume! They are too cute. Here one of my favorite pictures from their fun night tonight!




It was a blast to see them really get into the spirit (and the candy LOL) of Halloween! I have a lot of updating to do - tons of pictures from the pumpkin patch and more. So, I'll be back soon to do that!
I'll also be back with more Halloween photos once I've had a chance to sift through them and do some editing! Hope you had a great Halloween!

Wednesday Musings

Here are some pages that I've done recently that I'm really proud of ... I've had a lot of great things happening with my digital scrapbooking life. I was asked to join Chere Edwards Creative Team which is TOTALLY a dream come true and I'm having a blast! You'll see TONS of her stuff in the pages that I post tonight and in the future. I've been Guest CT'ing with Shabby Miss Jenn this month which has also been an incredible experience! And, I was asked to be a part of the Oscraps Challenge Team which has been such a great way to stretch myself and try new things! Anyway, onto the pages ...

Okay, that's it for now but I have several that I'll post later in the week after the products used on the pages have been released!

Saturday Musings

Okay, I'm back and I'll try to do a quick update. Things have been really busy here.

Meighan and Alex are doing so great. Getting so big that they amaze me. They both know their colors and love to test themselves. They are talking more and more everyday which is just amazing us. Alex has been in a 'I no like it' phase which is his response to pretty much everything. We come into his room in the morning and his first words are 'Me no like sun in my eyes.' We're reading Goodnight Moon (as we do every night) and he sees the page about the stars and looks at me to say 'I no like stars.' He even says 'I no like puppy' which is not true because he ADORES puppies. He's just in a place right now that everything is not up to snuff - he cracks us up! The hilarious thing is that each time he says his I no like line, Meighan runs up and screams "ME YIKE IT" no matter what it is! So funny! She "yikes" pretty much everything! She is such an adventurous eater and always up for whatever we have planned. Alex is a bit more cautious. Meighan loves to do daredevil kinds of things but Alex is not interested in things like that. They are a funny duo!

They are really beginning to actively play with each other and entertain each other which is so much fun to watch. They chat with each other, argue with each other (Me Mommy/Daddy, NO ME MOMMY/DADDY is a current favorite argument), and play games together. They are learning a lot of songs at school and love to sing them together. They are so much fun!

I have news to share in terms of work. I was considering a move to another company recently but was offered a promotion at my current job that I couldn't resist. So, I'm staying where I am for now, doing something entirely different which is very exciting! It's so nice to finally be able to use that MBA that I worked so hard for! I'm loving my new role but I'm still getting integrated into it and figuring it all out. It's a very exciting time in the group that I'm working in right now and I'm very happy about my decision! The decision will also mean good things for us financially which is a wonderful feeling!

We are working on getting our house in order, so to speak. Trying to get organized and get some of the projects completed that we've been wanting to finish with the house - such as painting and getting some of the clutter cleaned out. It's a lot of work but I think we've finally decided that we really want to make the most of this house. I think the arrival of the twins as we bought the house got us a bit off track in terms of our responsibilities as homeowners but I'm excited that Paul and I are going to commit to getting this house more organized and liveable! I just have to remind myself that it will not happen over night and that we need to be realistic about our progress!

Well, I think that is it for now. The twins are with my mom and Dave (they spent the night with them last night) and I want to get some things accomplished before they get back home!

Here are a couple more pages that I've done recently ...

Tuesday Musings

I have a lot to update you on but I am not feeling well (I have the flu) so I won't get into everything tonight. But, I feel bad that I haven't posted in ages so I wanted to at least post a few of the pages that I've done since I last posted and let everyone know that we're all okay, just really busy! I'll try to come back this week and do a 'real' post to update you on what we've been up to. In the meantime, here are some pages for you ...

I know it's been awhile but I've been pretty out of sorts for the last few weeks. My sweet Mimi passed away on August 16th and I've been having a hard time dealing with that. I miss her so much. She was an amazing woman and I still can't imagine a world without her. She was my last remaining grandparent and the one that I was closest to so it's been a really difficult time. Her memorial service was last weekend and it was really nice. The service really gave everyone a sense of what a wonderful person she was to everyone who knew her. For the service, I made the program which was full of some of the wonderful pictures that we have of her with her friends and family. It really did help me to cope with her passing away to pull this together for the service. There was a cover, two collage pages and a list of what the service included. Here are the cover and collage pages ...

Other than trying to adjust to a world without Mimi, it's been fairly quiet here on the homefront, well, as quiet as it can be with two toddlers in the house.

Here are a few pages I've done since I last posted that I have to share -

Thanks for continuing to visit despite my not posting as much as I hope to! I will do my best to be more consistent!