More play time before school

These days I have to get my play time in when I can, between school assignments, my kids, and a husband working more than 60 hours a week. So when I made the cards the other day, I knew I had to follow it up quickly or I was going to lose that creative spirit. This time I used one stamp set that has never had ink and then another that has had little ink. I've also been trying to use my markers more just to get more practice in. On the second one I really tried to get out of my comfort zone a little with the embellishments. I'm not sure I really like them, or that they add to the value of the card, but it's different from my norm, so that's good. Regardless, I had a nice day stamping yesterday. And today it's back to the grind...

Stress Reducer

Sometimes life is so stressful that it makes it difficult to be creative. Lately I've been so wound up that instead of taking the time to make cards or scrapbook, I've just sat around and done a whole lot of nothing. Well, this weekend was really stressful with my mom's surgery on Friday, but I forced myself to start something at least to take my mind off the worry, and I'm really glad I did. I always forget how soothing it is to create something. I don't have anything in mind for these cards, just that I haven't made cards in forever and my card supply is getting pretty low. But I've had this set for awhile and haven't inked it up yet so I thought it was about time to change that. I love the simplicity in these cards but they're still cute. And I really love changing up the colors and getting a card that's a little more whimsical, definitely more my style. Now I think I need to go be creative again so I don't lose my mojo.

Practicing avoidance

I'm really good at avoidance. It is very easy to assume the position of an ostrich with my head in the sand when life gets hard. It's especially easy when the problems are occurring for family members who don't live nearby; since we don't have to see them often, it gets placed in the back of my mind and pushed to the way side. But there always comes a point where you can no longer avoid reality and it all comes crashing down. That moment began for me last night. At the beginning of December, my mom was diagnosed with colon cancer. She is scheduled for surgery this Friday to remove the tumor and remove the lymph nodes for biopsy which will determine how aggressively they have to treat her after the surgery. Schedules being what they are, I pretty much only talk to my mom once a week, and other than the days that she's had that have been really bad, it's been pretty easy to avoid thinking about the implications and get on with my every day life. And now, of course, with the surgery so close, it's become too difficult to avoid and I'm discovering all these emotions that I had buried.

My mom and I didn't always get along. Like most teenagers, I really detested my parents. At the time, I was angry at them for not being perfect. That all changes when you have children and you struggle to do your best. It definitely gave me perspective on all that my parents were able to accomplish with the five children they had. My mom was responsible for a lot of the good things about me: my intelligence, my foundation in my beliefs, my compassion and drive to be a good mother among other things. Of course she also passed on the scrapbooking gene, so I definitely have to be grateful for that. I know from talking with her that this journey she is on has really shown her how much she is loved. I may not be as eloquent as I would like to express how I feel about my mom, so I will just keep it simple. I hope that she knows that I love her with all my heart.

And now a request. I would ask that you keep my mom in your prayers this week. We may not all believe the same things or practice the same religion, but I believe that our Father in Heaven doesn't care how you come to Him, as long as you do. My family is going to be fasting and praying for her on Friday for her surgery to come out well and for her to recover quickly both from the surgery and cancer. If you feel so inclined, please join us. I know that through faith all things are possible and I have the greatest faith in my Father in Heaven that my mom will be cared for and will be restored to full health.

Christmas

Christmas this year was fairly difficult for me. I'm normally pretty enthusiastic all during the month of December, going all out to decorate and doing a bunch of fun things with the kids. This year I just didn't have it in me. We decorated a little, but definitely not anywhere near what we usually do. As we approached Christmas, it seemed to bother me more than normal to have the kids start talking more and more about what they were going to get. Every time Jason asked me what I wanted for Christmas morning (since I'd already gotten my big gift), I would get irritated at the thought of him buying me anything else. Finally I came to the conclusion that what I wanted most for Christmas was for him and the kids to make something for me; I wanted them to really put some thought and effort into it. At some point I will have to photograph what he came up with because it was really great, and I'm really lucky to have such a wonderful husband. The kids attitudes got much better and so Christmas morning was really enjoyable. As we were going to bed the night before, I told the younger kids that I didn't want to be woken up until 7 am at the earliest. Well, my alarm went off at 7 and right behind it I could hear my door banging open and Lindsay telling me it was time to get up. Jason and I got up a few minutes later but Bailey was a little harder to persuade. The kids had a really tough time entertaining themselves while waiting for their pre-teen sister to rouse herself out of bed.

 
 
In our family, the kids aren't even allowed to go downstairs to see what Santa left them until they're all together and mom and dad are ready so they're always pretty anxious before then. Finally they got to come down and open their stocking gifts and I popped our traditional Christmas breakfast into the oven--cinnamon rolls. After we ate, we had to hurry up and get ready for church were I really enjoyed the program that morning. I've always been inspired by music so hearing our wonderful choir sing Christmas morning was a great treat. After sacrament meeting, we were heading out the door when the relief society president pulled me aside to inquire about my mother, and poor Lindsay had just about had it. She was just beside herself in her desire to get home and open her gifts she was literally pulling me away from the conversation.


I think when it came down to opening gifts, she was not disappointed as our kids each received some pretty cool gifts.

 
 
Jason had also received his Christmas gift before Christmas, but I had a few little things for him to open and then had each child make something for him that I framed so that he could have things from the kids on his desk at work. Lindsay illustrated a picture of our dog, Charlie, begging for food. Cole made Jason a Star Wars comic that was short but funny. And Bailey took a photo of her dad and put a troll over his face which had him almost in tears he was laughing so hard.

 I think my favorite part of Christmas is getting to spend the time with my family goofing around with each other. Another of our traditions is that we put silly names on the gift tags, so before someone opens a gift, they have to read the names on the tag out loud. This is the first year that I had the kids come up with the names on their own and it was pretty entertaining. One year I really should write down the silly names we've come up with because it is pretty hilarious sometimes. We also try to be funny with our gifts. For instance, the last few months, Bailey and her friends have begun watching a "My Little Pony" cartoon on television, so of course we've been teasing her mercilessly about it. As I began wrapping gifts, I found some old "My Little Pony" Christmas wrapping paper that I had bought years ago for Lindsay and wrapped all of Bailey's presents in it. And of course I gave her Pinkie Pie, her favorite pony from the show. I know that all too soon my kids are going to be grown and won't be with us each year on Christmas, which makes me enjoy these days so much more to just laugh and be goofy with my little family.

Crazy December

December is always craziness for us and this year proved to be worse than usual. In addition to our son being diagnosed earlier this month, my mom has also been in ill-health, so I had a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit as much this year. We only half decorated the outside of the house and didn't do some of our yearly traditions this year, but we still enjoyed our Christmas since we got to spend a lot of time with family. I'm going to be posting this stuff out of order since I'm not done editing my Christmas day photos, but this is what we've done since Christmas.

 

 The day after Christmas we loaded up the van and drove to my mom's house. We were bummed to learn that my younger brother wasn't going to be able to be around the same time we were so we didn't get to see all the nieces, but we did at least get to hang out with Josh's family for a bit.

 

 

  

Lindsay and Ella are only a year apart so when the kids get together, they are pretty much inseparable. They used to bicker when they were younger, but they really get along well now that they've gotten a little older. It's nice to see my kids really bond with their cousins even though we only see them a couple times a year.

 Hannah is really funny about Bailey. She calls her "Big Girl" and is pretty much attached to Bailey's hip when we're around. I love to see what a caring and loving girl Bailey is with her young cousin.

 

I knew when we were going out to Cali that I wanted to do a quick shoot with two of my favorite girls and I came up with a few cute shots considering I did it in really high contrast lighting in my mom's front yard in about five minutes. These two are such sweet sisters, I just can't get enough of them.

 

 Ella was a super pro when I told her I wanted to take photos. We got out there and she posed and smiled nicely, it only took a couple pics to get a great one of her.

 

 

Hannah is ever the goofball, so it was a different story with her, but I couldn't help but laugh at the poses she was giving me to work with. She's such a funny girl.

 

 The day after we got there, we met up with Jason's family at the Irvine Spectrum where we hung out all afternoon.

 

We met them at the Barnes & Noble and Dianna was shocked when we got there that Bailey was about her height. If she hadn't been wearing boots that made her a little taller, I think her niece would be the same height. Definitely by the next time we're together Bailey will outgrow her aunt.

While we were hanging out at B&N, Lindsay looked awful cute in some of her Christmas gifts.

We found this hat at a stall at the Spectrum and Cole was in heaven.

Of course we also found a stall that had really cute flowers for your hair so the girls got to pick out some accessories too.

I couldn't resist snapping one of my sister in law by herself. Since she travels all over the world, we hardly get to see her any more so it was really nice to spend some time with her.

And I know Jason always has a great time hanging out with her.

Especially when he gets to take shots at her. I think every time we get together they have to take a shot like this because we have one taken years ago when Jason was still a teenager. Now we can't even get them to pose that way without laughing.

Of course I got to have my fun with my husband when I was telling his family about all the grays he has (hey, I have all the other problems with old age, he has to have one I don't have!), so I got his mom and his sister to inspect his hair for the grays for me.

The kids were happy that Grandma and Grandpa were with us when after mom told them she wasn't buying tickets to the carousel G&G bought them tickets to the carousel and the Ferris wheel. It's always nice to have G&G around to spoil the kids.

It was nice to hang out with them for the afternoon and I know the kids really miss their extended family since we see them once or twice a year.

We all made out like bandits too with gifts from them, the kids all got activity books and gift cards to spend and Jason and I got a nice meal one night this week while the kids were gone with their gift cards to us. Of course I could have done without the A's pillow pet that they gave my husband; I had a difficult time allowing it in the house. Now I'm just trying to think of creative things I can do with it. At least it's an American League team, anything to do with the Giants would have to be burned first to make it look better (sorry, Matt, no Giants stuff for J!). But I think they were equally happy with the gifts we gave them which made us really happy. So while it was a whirlwind trip, it was nice to see our family and celebrate the holidays.