Creating the Good Life...

My Heart is Soaring

I've got that good all over, bursting with love and oh-so-very-happy to be a momma feeling.

 

 

 

This little Princess makes my days so much fun!  She is really into princesses at the moment...really just into the tiara and wand...she LOVES the wand.  My mom got her a book called Tea for Ruby for Christmas and she just loves it (at first she fixated on a page where the little girl gets her hair pulled....it's ALL she would talk about...and then it was the cover where she is pouring tea on her doll...for days it's all she wanted to look at...but she wants to read the whole thing and has moved on to saying "TEA WITH THE QUEEN" really really loud at the end of each page.)  She will happily sit in the big chair in her room with her tiara on and her wand, turning each page, tapping the open pages and saying "TEA WITH THE QUEEN!"  It's heart-breakingly cute!

The other morning she was doing this when she started spitting in her hand and rubbing it all over the wand.  I told her it was yucky and she sighed really big and said "I'm cleaning it!"  (I totally spit wash their faces.....I know...gross...I am sure that's where she gets it from!)

The Machine is rocking out on his reading!!

 

 

Last week at assembly he got his 30+ words award.  Today he got his 40 word AND his 45+ word certificate.  He now knows all 45 words they would like Reception/Kindergarten kids to know by the end of the year.  This morning we went through is envelope of words and he knows 62 words with out hesitation.  He is really reading books now (beginner books) and is so darn proud of himself.  He takes it very seriously and tells US it's time for him to read or practice his words.  Love Love Love that little man!!

We have taken a "no TV and no Wii" during the week stance (we got so lazy over the holidays....and in our defense we were snowed in for DAYS and DAYS).  It was a battle at first, but the kids are now back to playing with each other and doing things together....love it!  Couldn't be happier with the two little people we were blessed with!

I've been a busy little bee day (all week really.)  Just came back from a good long run. It was SO RAINY and WINDY....but I did it! (It started with little snow flurries shortly after I got back.)

I have started walking on Mondays and Wednesdays with some other moms at Dean's school.  We have such a great 3 miles route that we do twice (all on the school grounds...complete with a little lake we go around.)  I've really enjoyed getting to know the other moms...making some good friends and keeping fit...love it!

I have booked us into my favorite B&B in Normandy, France for the first week my parents are here this summer.  Spike has taken over planning the Ireland trip we are doing with my folks at the end of their month with us.  We met a great couple in Berlin who are from Ireland and have offered to help us with our itinerary (with lots of little know spots to visit and places to eat.)

We got a package from Elana and family last night....some very cute clothes for Addie, some awesome Vans for Dean and 7 boxes of Fruit Stiks for ME ME ME.  I am totally and completely addicted to them.  We were shopping (at Target) one night and she bought a box for a trip they were taking.....I proceeded to eat the WHOLE box as she was driving me back to my mom's (actually I kept one in my purse to let Jimmy have a teeny tiny bite of...just so he could see that we really had to go back to Target the next day and get MORE!)  Please do not ask me to share these with you....Elana can't keep us all stocked with them, so these are going to be my little treat!

I have (finally) been scrapping my little heart out. I have had so much inspiration and SO MUCH fun the last few days.  I have done four layouts (plus article) for Scrapbook Magazine, done my Pencil Lines and created an album for a class I taught last night at Your Touch of Craft.  I have LOTS of new teaching dates, so really will update my side bar.  I have steered clear of too much teaching because I just didn't feel in a creative groove...but now feel the flame burning strong.

Speaking of classes and workshops, I am teaching at a full day workshop sponsored by Your Touch of Class (and co-organized by Sara...love her...well love them both!)  Book now to avoid disappointment!  DETAILS HERE

And Speaking of Pencil Lines (and noting that I started this post at 1 in the afternoon after putting Addie to bed and finishing now at 8:47 PM) here are my layouts for the last two weeks:

 

Love those pictures of Addie on her birthday. 

 

 

Love this picture of Mom and Addie and LOVE how Addie calls her "Grannie-Granster" and says it PERFECTLY!!

OK, one more thing then I am off to watch a movie with my dear hubby....

Have you seen this digital layout Anna did?

 

She is totally rockin' the digi scrapping!!!!  AND making the most amazing templates...go download them all!  She came over last Friday and gave me a fantastic lesson on digital scrapping.  It is NOT as hard as it looks (well....that is to say I thought it would be totally super impossible.....mostly because I can not stand (I mean really can't stand) faffing around on the computer unless I am getting serious results.)  Anyhow, I loved my lesson (she taught me all the tricks) and I have done two layouts that I love (for scrapbook magazine...sorry can't share now.)

OK, really off now!!

XO

Back to life, back to reality...

We finally seem to be over our jet lag...man did we struggle this time!!  In true Dean fashion, he wasn't at all phased that days had suddenly become nights and nights had become days (it's an 8 hour time difference from Seattle to London.)  Addie on the other hand (and to be fair, Spike and I) found it extremely difficult to make the shift.  For four or five nights we were all up between midnight and four or five AM....NOT NICE!  Last night we all slept through though!!! YEAH!!

So now we are ready to welcome 2009....lots to look forward to this year!

And how cute is Addie in her new 2009 gear?  My mom got her those super cute stripe-y pants and hoddie and Matt and Trisha (my brother and sister in law) got her that fab little Patagonia fleece.  Kathy got her that amazing new bunny (which is actually a bunny....not a bear which she is insisting is a bunny.)  She has called the bunny Mia.  As of the new year, Addie is NOT taking her "bunny" (really the bear) out of her bed.  We decided we spend WAY TOO much time (very tearful anxious time on Addie's part) trying to locate the "bunny".  When she gets to playing she just drops it (or stuffs it somewhere) and then when she "needs" it, it's all out panic and crisis.  My dad can attest to what a HUGE problem this is (he spent a LOT of time locating it for her.)  So we are keeping "the bunny" in one place, but letting her tote around any other cuddly toy she wants.  She has Mia, the new bunny from Kathy, and Beatrice the super-cute-corduroy-dress-wearing bunny, a Christmas present from her thoughtful cousins in Minnesota (both Jelly Cat  which are the BEST....love the funky outfits and shoes they add!)  Hoping the transition from "the bunny" to "a bunny" goes ok!!  Her "nu nu" (i.e. pacifier/dummy/soother) are is also staying in her bed....so ready for her to be done with the nunu.

Addie and I started Mother/Toddler swim lessons on Wednesday.  She absolutely LOVED IT!  She was the star of the morning...jumping into the pool with abandon, laughing and saying "more more" every time she went under water.  She is just the right age for it. (I tried it with her when she was just over a year and it was a disaster....she loved the water, but wanted nothing to do with the group activities.)  On Tuesdays we are doing a long play session at the Nursery school at Culford (where Dean goes.)  It is meant make a smooth transition for pre-school.  She is so excited and asks everyday "I'm doing to school Right, OK."  (that' sher new thing, "Right, OK"  The "OK" said as a confirmation of the "RIGHT"....not as a question....so cute!)

Dean started school on Wednesday.  So glad they always go back midweek...this morning he was so tired and ready for the school week to be over.  He has to start five days a week now....I am so sad....loved having that extra day with him!!  Tomorrow he starts a new term of tennis lessons, which he is so excited about.

I nearly have us all settled back into our routine...but still have some stacks to clear and things to sort.  This morning (over a piping hot cup of coffee from Spike's new (awesome) coffee maker) I finally got the last of our Christmas cards opened and read....we had a massive amount of mail waiting for us when we returned.  I love all the pictures and letters that come at the holidays...think I will have another go through them this afternoon!

I must run off (literally go for a run) and get my Pencil Lines layout photographed and sent off.  Really looking forward to getting back into Pencil Lines and getting ready for all the classes I have coming up.

I will leave you with just a few pictures from our very snowy time in Seattle:

 

We had another birthday party for Addie on the 27th....so fun to be able to have our family and friends celebrate with her!  Every picture from that day has this tongue action....she was so smiley and beyond happy....yet every time the camera came out, so would her tongue...MONKEY!!

 

We were totally upprepared for snow...and then so snowed in we couldn't get out to buy gear....so the old cotton cloves with bread bags around the hands!!

 

We built a total of three snowmen...this was Addie's (the above pirate was of course Dean's.)

 

This was Christmas Day...the snow was nearly waist deep on little Add.

And until I get the rest of the discs uploaded...that's all folks!

XO