January 16, 2011

Yesterday, our family (minus Jesse & Angie) gathered at Mom & Dad's to honor Dad's 75th birthday.....what a milestone!!!! His birthday was actually on the 12th but since Brian & Andrea live so far away and Brian is working in the evenings during the week, we try to hold these functions on the weekend.

As with any get together we have hosted since "the boys" arrived in May & July of 2008.....it is never boring, lol. Now that they are rounding the corner to the ripe old age of 3 they are two sticks of dynamite ready to explode at any given moment.....and they often do. Sometimes, it is an explosion of laughter and other times an explosion of a tantrum.

Here are some photos from the afternoon........our guest of honor with his hip new MP3 player!!!


























Here are a series of 5 photos where Caiden (thanks to Tanti's prompting) turned in to a vicious dinosaur and proceeded to attack Trevor. I love the look on both of their faces in this first photo. Caiden mustering up all his dino-powers and Trevor is like "um, Tanti....are you going to save me?"



















And, the attack of the Caidendinosaurus begins.....


















Classic!!!!!!!!!


















Trevor attempts to use his Spidy-powers to stop the Caidendinosaurus from attacking....


















Hee-hee, I love when I snap at just the right moment.....this looks like slo-mo!




















Trevor LOVES his trucks!

















And, he REALLY loves his CARS! Here we have Doc Hudson, Sheriff, Ramon, Tex, another Ramon, Lightening McQueen, Sally & Mator.....the entire cast from the movie, Cars! He is just a little obsessed :)

Okay, this one is kinda gross but it is just so TREVOR....mouth wide open being a goofball! He was eating lasagna in case you were wondering.

And this is classic Caiden......on the opposite side of the spectrum from Trevor (most of the time). Don't get me wrong, this boy can let his presence be known, too. I love this photo and cannot wait to scrap it!!!!

That was how January 16, 2011 was lived.........who could ask for anything more?

~Helen~

Praying for Tuscon, AZ Community

My computer was down all last week and I spent much of last night and today (after church) catching up on some CT responsibilities. There is much I could blog about but only one thing keeps coming to my mind again and again and that is the community of Tuscon, AZ.

Yesterday, this community was brought to its' knees when a gunman opened fire at the Safeway grocery store where Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, was hosting a public event called Congress On The Corner. Six people lost their lives including a 9 year old girl. A little girl who was born the day one of this country's most memorable tragedies.....9/11. I find it so incredibly hard not to think of the fact she came in to this world on a day filled with violence and left this world in yet another act of violence.

Briefly watching the news coverage yesterday has left me recalling the event that took place in my church in 2009. An event that made world news as well. While everyone reacts differently during times like this and everyone has their own feelings I can say without a doubt that I know a little of what the Tuscon residents are going through tonight. Right now they are probably still numb and in shock. They are gathering together..........uniting..........drawing strength from each other as they try to sort out their emotions. Over the next few weeks as news stations move on to other headlining events, this town and everyone affected are still going to be in some stage of grief. It will be a very long time, maybe years, before a sense of normalcy is regained for many. However, never again will they be the same. You just can't remain the same person when evil comes so close and leaves behind his destruction.

However, we can overcome the pain and sorrow....the loss of security....the sense of hopelessness. Through Christ we can overcome it all. My prayer is in the words of this song by Fee. A song with lyrics inspired by the event of March 8, 2009. I pray as everything has fallen apart for these families that they have the hope that is in Christ Jesus....that they allow Him to provide them strength to carry on.



EVERYTHING FALLS
Fee
You saidyou'd never leave or forsake me
when you said,
this life is gonna shake me
and you said
this world is gonna bring trouble on my soul
this I know

Chorus:
when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
you're the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on
you keep holding on

when I see
darkness all around me
when I see
that tragedy has found me
I still believe
your faithful arms will never let me go
and still I know

Chorus:
when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
you're the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on
you keep holding on

Bridge:
Sorrow will last for the night
but hope is rising with the sun
(it’s rising with the sun)
and there will be storms in this life
but I know you have overcome
You have overcome

Chorus:
when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
you're the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on

Chorus:
when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
you're the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on
you keep holding on

Happy New Year!!!

I am back!!! The last few months of last year (lol) were just a blur. I went on a deep cleaning spree in my home and the results are beyond what I could have imagined. You really don't grasp how the clutter around you effects your mentality until it is gone and you have a clean & organized living space. I walk in my front door everyday now and go "ahhhhh".

With a new year comes a new word to focus on. I have decided on the word {habits}. It seemed as I progressed through the year 2010 my horrible habit of procrastination was becoming more and more evident....in my home, my health, my weight, my spiritual growth and even getting out the door to arrive places 'on time'. That is something I have never had a problem with. Well, it was seriously grating on my nerves. It just seems the right fit to choose the word {habits} for 2011. I want to change the bad/negative habits to good/positive ones.

I sat down and made a list of 11 {habits} I wish to focus on in 2011. Of course, if you know me well you knew I would scrap a layout about my word and list. Here it is.....

























Each photo corresponds to something on my list. My list (in no particular order) is:

1. Keep up with Project: Love, Me layouts each week (more on that project in a bit)
2. Call 1 person a week and check-in - ask for prayer requests
3. Snail mail 1 person/month a "thinking of you" card
4. Set $$ back each week for my Vegas trip (Digiscrap-apalooza)
5. Have quiet time/Bible time each day
6. Clean out car once a week of clutter
7. Keep to a daily house cleaning schedule
8. Blog personally a minimum of once a month
9. Keep up with CT responsibilities each week
10.Have gifts for special events 2 weeks ahead of time
11.End 2011 knowing I did my best change my {habits}


Project: Love, Me - this is a weekly scrapbooking challenge I am participating in that will help me document "me" for the entire year. Life is screaming by at break neck speed anymore. I don't know how it is even possible I turned 40 in 2010. The fact is, I did and the time is not going to slow down. With this project, which you can read more about HERE, I plan to dig deep down and record the things that make me, me! In 10, 20 or 30 years from now I can pick up this scrapbook of 52 layouts and recall what my dreams were....what made me laugh.....what made me cry.......what angered me in the year 2011. It will also give family members coming up behind me a piece of myself for them to remember me by.

Here are the first two layouts I have done for the project. The first is the opening page of the scrapbook..........the "pre-prompt" page.

























This is the page I created for Prompt #1 (there will be 52 prompts all together). Our first prompt was to create a page of what we dream about now....in the present day. I realize the font I used is very hard to read but I truly love it (Saint Andrews Queen is the name of it). My chosen "dream" was to reach a healthy weight and why. It is very hard to put your feelings out there like this but at the same time, so rewarding.
























I will be back with more since once of my new {habits} is to blog more often. For now, I must go get laundry folded and put away.

xoxo