A couple new pages

Josh comes home soon and then it's the weekend!! I'm ready! I'm not sure why, but somehow the weekends are even more longed-for after shortened weeks. I'm sure it's all in my head!
My toe is slowly improving. As long as no one steps on it (like Jasmine did yesterday), it isn't hurting much now. I'm still trying to take it easy so it can heal, and it's still purple and swollen, but I can tell that it's getting better. Thank you, Lord!
Here are a couple layouts I've done in the past few days that I could finally post yesterday (one of the perks of being on the CT at thedigichick; I get access to the kits early, but can't post them until Thursday, when they are available for purchase).





(a side note: for anyone who knows that Dad and I don't usually mean 2 when we say "a couple," for once I meant it!!)

Midweek Post

Jasmine's doing great in her little bed! I'm so pleased. Bekah's been sleeping more soundly too. I'm not sure if she senses that Josh and I are there, or if she sees Jasmine sleeping in the next bed, but either way, I'm very relieved. Now if we can just get them to be okay with us sleeping in the next room over...that's the next step!
Two nights ago, Jasmine fell out of bed and landed on our mattress. She said "excuse me! help?!" so Josh helped her back up. A minute or two later she fell back out of bed, and said "not again!"

Josh asked about my "you have to wait four more weeks" post about the new color of the living room. I wasn't being mean, just lazy. The room wasn't cleaned up yet so I couldn't do pictures, and I thought a "completely after" instead of "midway through" was more dramatic. But here's a tease:

The walls aren't really quite this shade, but it gives you a hint.
And this is the lighter half of the room, behind the cute girl doing the Saturday Night Fever dance :)

Phillip's Picture

Last weekend, I brought my camera to my family's house, and gave the camera to Phillip. He loves getting a chance to use a "real" camera, and loved the added challenge of manual focus. Here's one of my favorite pictures:
(the "Bekah Jane" page two posts down are more pictures he took, in case you wondered!)

Oh, and I broke my toe last night. I've broken one in the past, but forgot how intensely a broken toe hurts! I taped it up this morning and am wearing shoes that will hopefully protect it from toddler feet! OW!

Weekend Fun

Yesterday we dropped the girls off at Josh's parents' and spent a bunch of hours painting the living room. It looks incredible!! I'm going to wait on "after" pictures until the couch and loveseat come in, though. So just 4 weeks ;)

Joshs' parents and grandma are coming for lunch today. It's fantastic motivation to make sure the house is actually picked up! And after the painting and all the moving that goes along with that, there's plenty to clean!

Go check out this link! I guess I'm not invisible after all :)

Princess Bed

Jasmine has been sleeping in the 'big bed' with me since, well, since she was 5 months old. Bekah's been sleeping in her "castle bed" for the past few weeks now, and as long as Josh was in the room, she usually slept through the night. (we think she woke up a couple times, would look over and see him there, and go back to sleep, because the couple nights he slept in our room, she woke up howling).
But it was time. Wednesday night Jasmine kicked and hit me in her sleep. She sleeps through, unless she has to get up to go to the bathroom, but she isn't always a restful sleeper.
So Wednesday evening we went to a furniture store and looked at beds to see if she liked them. She liked them but wasn't convinced she'd sleep in it. So we went home, and that evening and all day yesterday, we talked about the idea of a "princess bed" and her getting her own bed.
Last night we went to Toys R Us and looked at the Princess Beds they have there. She liked it and wanted us to buy it, but wasn't convincing that she'd sleep in it.
So I kept talking to her, and eventually she was pretty convincing that she would sleep in it. I decided we'd enforce it, even if she changed her mind...I wasn't going to buy a bed that she'd ignore come nightfall.
Well, she loved it! She helped us put it together (Bekah tried to help, too!) and then was bouncing off the walls. She couldn't wait to go to bed! She brought 'Essla' (Cinderella) to bed with her, she wore Princess Jammies, and she went to bed very easily! It took awhile to get to sleep, but it worked!





And here are a few layouts I posted yesterday :) I had a fun week!

Invisibility Cloak

I know, it sounds like a good thing, doesn't it?

Our car has one. Some days we'll be out driving and it really feels like no one can see us. So I'll "push the button" to make us visible again (if you want to know where yours is, it should be next to the dashboard clock).

Last night Josh and I went to see 27 Dresses at a theatre that officially opens tomorrow, but for these three days they're having "older" movies for $2 a ticket, and popcorn and pop for $1 each. So for $6 we saw a movie and got popcorn and Coke!

The movie was cute. It had some great lines.

But I related to Jane too much to truly enjoy it.

I'm an ISFJ personality, and one site I read said this:

ISFJs are often unappreciated, at work, home, and play. Ironically, because they prove over and over that they can be relied on for their loyalty and unstinting, high-quality work, those around them often take them for granted--even take advantage of them. Admittedly, the problem is sometimes aggravated by the ISFJs themselves; for instance, they are notoriously bad at delegating ("If you want it done right, do it yourself"). And although they're hurt by being treated like doormats, they are often unwilling to toot their own horns about their accomplishments because they feel that although they deserve more credit than they're getting, it's somehow wrong to want any sort of reward for doing work (which is supposed to be a virtue in itself). (And as low-profile Is, their actions don't call attention to themselves as with charismatic Es.)
So I guess I'm not the only one to get overlooked!

I have yet to find the "invisibility button" on me to make sure I turn it off once in awhile. I think this is why I did the "Hug A Redhead Day" and do the occasional "All About Me" page...I need to remind myself that other people really do see me once in awhile!

Meeting Hannah

Joanna, Ben and Hannah came by for a couple hours today. It was so cute! Hannah is a few months older than Bekah, and the two of them just stared at each other for a few minutes, both just up from their naps.

Then they warmed up to each other.
I was practicing with my new lens (which doesn't have automatic focus...how'm I doing so far at keeping them clear??) Jasmine likes to show me whatever's in her hands, and Bekah likes to show you her...
And my little model...

Jasmine wanted no part of the photo shoot, so she ran away from me. Hopefully she'll let me soon!

The Mush, The Wind!

Jasmine's current favorite song sounds like this, when sung on Veggie Tales:

I want to dance
I want to groove
I want to feel the rush of the wind
Under my shoes
I want to dance

But coming from her mouth, it sounds more like this:
I want to DANCE
I want to FOOS
I mean the ship
The mush, the wind
under my SHOES
I want to dance

(rats. the video didn't work. How disappointing. Sorry!)

Follow-Through

I realized something yesterday.

One of my big weaknesses/lazinesses is following through.

I love to see things "finished." I love the feeling of having it done. But there are things that go along with finishing things, that I'd rather not bother with.

Laundry: I don't mind collecting it, washing and drying it, and folding and sorting it. But I hate bringing up the baskets and putting the clean clothes away. Because the "important" stuff is done!

Cooking: I enjoy cooking. Trying new recipes. But I detest having to wash up after it!

I enjoy weeding in my little garden. But usually I just leave the weeds/grass in piles next to the garden, instead of putting them in the mulch pile.

When I was in school, I'd have an assignment to write a story using 20 vocabulary words. I'd write an elaborate story, get all 20 words in, and suddenly "and they lived happily ever after" or some other, equally sudden ending.

Josh says I should journal about it (pray about it and ask for God's insight into why and what I should do about it). But that, too, is a matter of following through...isn't it enough that I figured out this little quirk about myself? ;)

Belated Pictures

I'm sorry I haven't posted these before this. We had our pictures taken a few weeks ago, and the pictures turned out beautifully. If anyone's in the area and wants a very personal, very inexpensive photo shoot, talk to me. I can hook you up ;)

So here are the best of the best. I've scrapped a couple of them already and will be doing a bunch more over the next several weeks, but I thought I should go ahead and just post the pictures!



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God Bless America!

Jasmine loves to say 'God Bless America' whenever she sees us hanging the flag. And since we've told everyone we know about her "Goodbye! God bless America" story, she added that to her goodbyes now as routine.

I love our lilac bushes. Last year neither had many flowers, since they'd trimmed it down the fall before we moved in. But this year it is full of beautiful, fragrant flowers. Mmmmm!
I haven't done well about posting layouts I've made recently. So I think this is a good chance to catch up! Here are layouts I've done for my newest Creative Team gig, working with Fee Jardine's incredible stuff.

Dining Room Is Done!

Josh still has to put up the pullbacks for the curtains, but other than that, it's completely done. I'm so pleased!

Before:
Not a fantastic picture of the whole room, but you can see the mismatched chairs (we had a silly goal when we got them all, pre-marriage and in the first year afterwards, to spend $2.50 or less per chair. They worked, but it was time to change that). The wall color is fine, the same as the whole house...but not a ton of personality. And the curtains aren't all the same length (which we don't get. They should be; we bought them all together! maybe one or two shrunk in the dryer???)


And here's afterwards:



And the table, sans tablecloth:

So how'd we do? :)

Conversation 101, Prof. Jasmine Virkler

To carry on a proper conversation, learn the following three questions.
1. What are you doing?
2. Why?
3. Why not?

Use them at will.

Example:
Jasmine: "My milk's all gone. More please!"
Mama: "Okay, Jasmine. Thank you for asking so nicely."
Jasmine: "What are you doing?"

Challenge!

I'm doing a challenge for TheDigiChick this weekend, since today is {Inter}National Scrapbooking Day. The challenge: to take an old layout, one you were never quite happy with, and redo it. You can come check it out here!

I chose this layout to redo:
Not only is it ooooold (in digiscrapping years, anyways), it was one I was never really quite happy with. So this was my chance! Here's what I came up with:

So how'd I do? :)

Blog Header

I have a new header!! Both are from pictures this week, but one was before the dining room was painted, and the other after it!

Here are the credits, with links, to all the things I used for the header. I know most of my readers aren't digiscrappers, but I want you to know anyways, I used one thing from each of the current designers at TDC. There are more coming soon, but the designers in the store at this minute are all represented (I think!) :)
Amanda Heimann (lace)
Andrea Burns (vintage color action)
Cinzia Loosemore (Bekah's frame)
Darcy Baldwin (blisterdates)
Dani Alencar (backwards staple)
Jen Ulasiewicz (rose)
JanaM (tied string)
Jeann Gaidecki (Jasmine's frame)
Jofia Designs (blue paper)
Karah Fredricks (glitter frame)
Karen Lewis (stitching, not available)
Kimberly Giarrusso (family sticker)
Marsha Zepeda (smile quote)
Mira Designs (bobby Pin)
Sarah Jones (button, not available)
Scarlet Heels Media (glittery leaf)
Shannon Lee Carlson (blue flower)
Tamra Burwick (knotted ribbon)
Tracey Lee (pink fabric flower)

Speaking of the dining room, how about some pictures?
Here's what we were working with. Excuse the mess...I decided it made the pictures better. You know, like they make sure the person is only smiling in the "after" pictures of a makeover, like they weren't happy with the "old" them.


And here it is afterwards:



The new table and chairs arrive Monday. The curtains are in the dryer, though I'm kinda hoping to get new ones.