seven years ago today!

it seems a lot of reminiscing is going on here! :) well, here's my seven year 2peas anniversary story– it's their 10 year this year so it seems fitting to celebrate my 7th!

seven years ago, we were living on the east coast, in virginia beach- far from our family. the internet must not have been that huge to me at that point in my life, (i mean i know i wasn't addicted to checking my email every 5 minutes, i may not have even had an email account at that time!) as i was really big into sending my family cards with photos of our family. i had been introduced to stampin up and immediately fell in love. i remember going to a stampin up party and coming home and telling chris how much i loved it- he must have thought i was crazy for sure. anyways, late one night while browsing card sites, i stumbled upon 2peas– they had a card section that i browsed, but it was when i made my way over to the black and white section- i knew that was it. i always had thought scrapbooking was sorta cheesy before- but once i saw this gallery, i knew this is the way i wanted to scrapbook. there in the gallery were 3 ladies who inspired me so much- tara, cathy and joy U,– i will always think of them when i remember this story. this was when simple was in it's beginning phases. and so i started out categorized as that. simple. anyways, if i didn't have an internet addiction before, i clearly had one then… i would check the gallery constantly and began posting myself. two years after signing up, kristina emailed, asking me to become a garden girl– i had been a big fan of the girls' work there so i was and am still super giddy about being a part of the team. here's a few layouts i did recently for 2peas:

there you go! i can't believe how much my life has changed since i began scrapbooking, i am so thankful that i stumbled upon 2 peas that late night in february 2002!

February 11, 2009 19

eight is great!

(warning, we write these posts for posterity, as such they are FULL of praise for our kids- read at your own discretion! let the dotage begin:)
what does a dream day look like for a newly minted eight year old? not what you might think.
no race carts, no roller-coasters, no fancy dinners. with the one day a year that was his to write, caleb penned a simple tale: toying around with his best friend (his brother), tackling the marvel universe in 'ultimate alliance,' and spending some quality time at home, his favorite place in the world! in fact, if we hadn't dragged him to church and to the grand opening of dots, i'm pretty sure our little homebody would have been happy to stay in his pj's all day.
caleb is also our little firecracker, bringing a spark of joy, humor and passion wherever he goes. he may be small (and he is, still wearing size six jeans) but he has a large and welcoming presence that makes him a favorite at school and of course, here at home.
for years caleb was the baby of the family, and in many ways we still see him as such. he's just so darned snuggly! despite his propensity for home, caleb easily makes new friends and is extremely adaptable in his play; he's up for whatever suits his playmates, and dives headfirst into their pursuits. his teachers appreciate this gung ho approach as well as it applies equally to his classwork. in this manner, caleb leads in a non abrasive way, if it's possible, he leads by following.
what i love most about caleb is his laugh. it's quick, a little husky and hopelessly contagious, tinged with just enough mischief to make it unmistakably boyish. it's the kind of laugh that draws in all comers, the kind that makes us pray that the well from which he draws it out never dries up.
with caleb, eight is truly great!
p.s. my favorite gift for caleb was the new diary of a wimpy kid. if you have boys, are a boy, or want to understand them, read this book. caleb gives it a thumbs up, and take it from caleb, he knows funny:)

February 8, 2009 13

snow

last week we headed to vegas as chris had a work conference and we have good friends who live there. basically we hung out while he worked. 🙂 on our last day, before we headed home, we went to a nearby mountain to let the kids run around.

stopping at a nearby lodge for a hot chocolate break. this was elsie's first time in the snow. she loved it like she loves dirt.. just laying it in and get all cozy in it!

it's quite tricky shooting in the snow!

the kids had so much fun… unfortunately at the end of our day-as we were heading back to the car, i managed to drop the keys in the snow.. and for a good 4 hours we were locked out. the rest of the story is even more crazy so i'll just leave it as it was quite traumatic for us all… needless to say we are safe and sound and thankful to be back in warm, sunny southern california!

February 4, 2009 14

her first winter formal

all that planning and it went by in a blink of an eye! seems kira and her friends have been talking about dresses and make up and plans for months- then the day finally came! they got ready together at a friend's house and all us parents were there as well. the make up/hair part seemed to take the longest- and by the time the dress part came- they were just in time to be fashionably late! the daylight had gone and indoor light wasn't the best- so we are going to have to make her get all dolled up again so we can take photos! 🙂 getting ready with our good friend delilah- we couldn't have done this without her- she is a stylist and helped kira in so many ways- we are so incredibly thankful for her friendship!

last minute jitters, i think! kira went with her very best girlfriends- the best dates of course 🙂

we couldn't get over at how grown up she looked! i was so pleased as we had troubles finding things that were age appropriate. the plum color was a surprise addition to us and i think she was secretly thinking of her dad and his laker colors 🙂 and just when we think that she's all grown up, that this is the first of many dances, trying to forget that she was shooing us away as she was anxious to get out the door– i hear her in the other room, playing her little nintendo DS- something she hasn't touched in 6 months- and smile. 🙂 we love her!!

January 31, 2009 29

cha one day

on sunday, i spent a day at cha- browsing the booths and catching up with friends, meeting new ones, oohing and aaahing over paper and stickers 🙂 i always feel funny busting out the camera so here are a few things that caught my eye.
at heidi swapp's booth:

one of my favorite things to do is see demos with new product. i shop 99% of my supplies online so if i don't see an example of how to use something, i probably won't buy it. but i got to see and try this new product out and i can't wait to get my hands on it! (invisible line by heidi)

her examples were phenomenal and inspires me to dig in my existing HS stash.
i always love the anna griffin booth. the classy feel of it just makes me happy! this is my favorite of their new releases, riley. they even had chairs upholstered with the circus print! cuuuute!
it was a joy to see this photo i took of the hero bunch at last year's cha- blown up near their booth..as always their make and take tables were packed because they always host the cutest projects!

for my fellow owl friends:

loved the butterflies at hambly!!! and you can see a little bit of the onesies in the upper left hand corner. their booth was of course beaming with happiness!

i adore these letter stickers from Prima! they might be hard to see but the way they look on paper afterwards is adorable! there's a little bit of a peek at the top of the photo.

one of my favorite lines– just happy and cutesy- and called mommy and me! how cute is that!!! from prima..

love the new lines from bella blvd- they had the yummiest displays! stephanie is so creative!

im not a big project person but i KNOW i am going to make one of these for our {JAC} studio! how cute would it be to display our different brides on this turny thing?! adorable!

love the teen lines at making memories- appropriate and tasteful and cute without being overly cutesy.. as is their new travel line!

my mind's eye never disappoints- this penny lane is too cute! i want it all! 🙂

a gooobery pic of me being a nerd about product 🙂 girl friday by cosmo cricket- love it all. so excited to use it.

and i really wish my walls at home looked like this- i want a giant spinner and framed paper 🙂

a lot of the booths had frames like this but sass's whole booth rocked. i love the new mix of brad packs and the papers and embellies- all so cute. look what they had outside their booth. loved it!!

and of course one of my favorite things about CHA- seeing what the marvelous Kim Sabel at KI Memories comes up with 🙂 they have some super cute lines coming out- love the fresh fonts and colors- and the new packaging!!!

this also took my breath away– seeing my friend's layouts covering a wall-(shannon tidwell) she truly out did herself! i think she needs to do this in her own home!
i thought i was going to be able to go to the 2p social- but i got my days mixed up.. bummer! i had a great time walking the floors and have the shoulder ache to prove it! some others i loved but didn't get pics of: doodlebugs new lines- the braddies and papers are adorable! and jenni bowlin has some cuuute embellishments! american crafts also didn't disappoint- consistently good stuff coming from them! and i didn't have the patience to sit and view paris- there were too many (taller) people ahead of me, lol :) i am sure there are more but i can't recall as i had very little sleep last night. i love this hobbY!!! 🙂

January 26, 2009 23

a night out

chris has some family visiting from australia so for a treat, we went to the magic castle! chris and i hadn't been there before and it was fun to get dressed up (they have a dress code- yes me and chris all dressed up is a rare thing!) and be with the family! before we left, we had kira snap this shot of us 🙂

and then i wanted pics of kira and i together- our girl is growing up right before our eyes! she has a winter formal next week that we are not ready for! can't believe that!

chris' uncle and aunt from australia with his parents. we loved seeing photos of all their beeeeeautiful grandchildren and long for the day when all our children can play together in australia! hopefully soon!!

and the fantastic magic castle, hollywood– which was built in 1909 and has featured some of the world's top magicians!

January 21, 2009 24

treats

we are big fans of treats in this house 🙂 oh, someone's coming from out of town, well, we must meet them at DOTS for a treat! oh and she's going to have a baby too? we'll have to wrap up a treat for her! 🙂

hanging out eating cupcakes and chatting. i loved elsie's face in that top photo. it was the first time she met jamie (my friend) so she was a little shy. but she was completely interested in the baby in her belly. she wanted to know if it was a boy or a girl, what the name will be… sigh. she would have been a great big sister, i think!

and after reading her requested bedtime story the night before:
she had a nice long 12 hour night's sleep! evidence:
oh i've missed that little hair flip! 😦

January 19, 2009 13

friday!

lol caleb brought this home from school the other day. his knack for getting to the point cracks me up.

eeeek, that green paper under his is elsie's preschool registration. i can't believe that she's nearly 3. 😦
and recent layouts:it's the deal of the day should you want to stock up on some of the creative cafe paper today 🙂 funny thing about the above layout- i photographed it and took it up to my computer, then realized E had added gems to the paper. i had to photoshop them out.
quoting elsie from the other day:

one of my favorite sticker sheets here.
i am in love with this AC heart paper! this looks super crooked but it's not.
that's it. just trying to give my blog more love, even if with just little things. we have a 3 day weekend filled with 3 soccer games and a basketball game, family coming from australia and a whole lotta relaxing! yay!

January 16, 2009 16

almost three

and chris and i are recalling that the terrible twos are not that terrible– that it's the year 3 that is more difficult!

we had some film that needed to be finished off the other day so we trekked around our town to some of our favorite spots to shoot. she was not having it.

me having to break it down for her 🙂

i think it's hilarious that she can go from one extreme to another so quickly.

finally we give up. and she's more than ready to move on with her day!

trying to just find the patience and take lots of deep breaths. she's not big on tantrums, it's the way she tries to reason with me that gets me. E: 'how come?….why?….i want kix.(i get kix) no i said cheerios…no i want eggs, i said eggs!.. (aaaaaah!!!) sometimes it makes me want to pull my hair out and other times i can't help but totally laugh. love her.

January 14, 2009 15

to market to market

to buy daddy some theraflu 🙂

we didn't quite make it as elsie was busy tending to her baby and i was busy taking pictures. before we knew it, we needed to pick up the big kids from school. she's just delightful! 🙂

January 8, 2009 11