Project Life Weeks 3 & 4

I’ve been staying current with my Project Life so far and I do love this project!  Due to some less than perfect weather days I haven’t had many chances to photograph my weekly spreads because the lighting has been off.  I gave it a go last Friday and it looks ok.

I mostly used the Seafoam Core Kit cards but added a little bit of Echo Park digital patterned paper that I sized to a 3x4 card to use as a filler.  It is bright and cheery, unlike the dreary start to our week.

My hubby and I had our first date night in over 5 years!  Crazy, huh?  We dropped the girls off with my mom and spent a night in Nashville!  We met up with one of JG’s old military friends and we went to dinner and did a little bit of bar hopping.  We ended the night at Margaritaville.  I love live music and Josh Helms was fantastic!

Week 4 included Aub’s first bad weather day!  She was excited to get a long weekend.

I used another card for Technique Tuesday here (everyday) and the Seafoam kit for the rest.  I found my cats in their usually spot on my bed and was treated to an impromptu puppet show.

I went to Starbucks and picked up their free song of the week offering so I attached it to a blank grid card with a piece of washi tape.  I found some old stamps and used them for the “No School” title.  I went to wake Aub up and found Lolo in bed with her sissy!  They love each other so much and have been having “sleep overs” in each other’s bedrooms on the weekends.  Aub was also invited to her first birthday party and she had a blast!

I love this project so much!  It is forcing me to pick up my big girl camera more often.  I do use my iPhone a lot.  I decided not to fret if I don’t get a photo every day.  It just fill it in with something else.  It is not a big deal to me at all.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Winter Weather

The weather has been an extreme roller coaster of temperatures so far this winter and I think it has some of the wildlife confused!  I have had a ton of robins visiting my yard lately and the freezing rain didn’t keep them away this morning.

Now if only the cardinal and his lady bird would not fly away when I try to take their photos I would be a happy photographer!

Saying Goodbye

4 years ago we packed up and moved from Washington State to Germany.  It was an adventure we were looking forward to and boarded the plane full of excitement and a little bit of anxiety (traveling with a 15 month old, 3 month old and 2 cats adds a tiny touch of stress!). 

We made it and settled into our home and routines.  We were able to travel to some of Europe’s most beautiful cities and stunning countrysides.  We watched our daughters grow from babies to sweet, beautiful little ladies.  My hair has added a gray strand (or maybe 2), I went from my 20’s into the 30’s.  JG jumped into his 40’s.  We struggled as a couple and as parents.  I like to think we ended this 4 year assignment ahead of the game.  At a better point in our lives.  Maybe we all grew up a bit. 

We moved out of our home yesterday and walking away was a little bittersweet.  My girls grew up here.  All of their earliest memories will have taken place here.  They are excited to move back to the United States even though they have no idea how different life will be there.  I am happy they are embracing this time with joy rather than fear.  I wouldn’t blame if they were scared as this is a huge move for a 4 & 5 year old.  Yet, they act like they have done this a dozen times already. 

I have a huge mix of emotions as I type this.  I have loved this assignment, for the most part, and being able to live in Europe was something JG and I wanted to do.  I will miss many things about Germany but I am ready to get back to the USA!  I have grown to appreciate the slower pace of life here and I will imagine that I will miss this sooner than I expected. 

My 5 year old will start kindergarten in August so this move comes at the most perfect time.  We are ending one chapter in our lives and beginning a new, exciting one for our family.  I am looking forward to the future but will embrace these memories for the rest of my life.

Still Chugging Along!

Whoa!  The past few weeks have flown by here.  Our house was packed without incident (yay!) and we have gotten settled into our house with minimal furniture.  My Jeep was shipped back to the USA, as well, and now we are a one vehicle family for a bit. 

I am still taking a photo a day for my Project Life album and even adding my journaling cards as well.  So 5 weeks in and I am still going strong!  I am writing my photo for each day down in my planner and just yesterday I downloaded a free photo editing program, Photoscape, so I can at least get my photos resized and edited to be uploaded to Shutterfly.  Photoshop Elements is just toooooo big to download to my netbook.  Even Photoscape, which is significantly smaller, slows my computer down.

Here are a few of my daily photos:

My cat enjoys the morning sunshine.  I think she is going to miss the huge windows.

Our nearly empty living room after the first day of the movers packing us up.

A little bit of excitement one Saturday in our normally quiet town.  Some faulty solar panels triggered a smoke alarm and the fire department spent about 2 hours taking care of it.  Thankfully, no one was living in the home yet and it appears there is no damage to the house. 

Next week we go on our very last European trip and I am looking forward to the destination but not the 10 hour train ride back!  It makes for an extra long day for everyone.  However, the train tickets are super affordable since the girls ride for free and you just don’t get that option when you purchase airfare tickets.  We reserve seats with a table so that helps with leg room and we all sit together. 

That’s all I got for now.  Thanks for stopping by today and have a great weekend!

Where has January Gone?

So it is 24 days into 2012 and things are moving along for us!  We have been busy finalizing our last few trips here in Europe before we move back to the USA in July, squeezing in a quick trip to Prague, looking at lots of dates for shipping our household goods and vehicle back, checking into local schools for the starting dates and vacations....the list just goes on and on. 

JG received his assignment notification about 2 weeks ago and we will be heading to Kentucky!  I am rather excited as I haven't lived on the eastern side of the US since I left home in 1998!  A few years in Idaho, then a few more in Washington State and 4 years in Germany and I miss being close to my family.  Now we can drive to visit them rather than fly.  Of course, that means we have to fly to see JG's parents in California but we can deal with that.  It is hard having family all over the US though as someone always feels slighted when we plan our vacations.  We cannot possibly visit everyone so maybe now people will actually come visit us.  I love my family but it sure would be nice if we were not the only ones expected to make the trips to vist as airfare for 4 is expensive and since my oldest starts school this fall we have to plan around the school vacations as well. 

I have had a few minutes to get my craft on this month and have been working on layouts, cards and crocheting a baby blanket.  I have a ton of photos to get scrapped or at the very least into albums and that is one project I need to attack before we move!  I am looking into picking up some of Becky Higgins' Project Life products just for this purpose because it should make for quick photo organization...however, that is a whole separate subject.

I made this layout for a recent Club CK 1-Hour Challenge where we were to bust out our scoring boards and use it to make something for the layout.  The papers and most of the embellishments are by October Afternoon for this one.  The ribbon isn't quite as uneven as it looks in the photo because I cannot take a straight close up photo of a layout!  Grrr.  I need to slow down a bit. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I am going to make an honest effort to blog regularly again.

When Did This Happen?

 

What?  You mean my girls are supposed to grow up?  I didn’t get that memo!

This photo was taken just 2 years ago.  Aubrey was 2.5 years old and Lolo was 18 months.  Heck, Lolo’s hair was still too short to pull into a barrette or pig tails.

The only similarity between then and now is that JG is deployed…again!  Other than that I now have 2 little ladies now who are very excited about Halloween, they have been practicing “trick or treating” for the past year and had opinions about their costumes this time around. 

I love watching my babies grow into beautiful little girls but I swear it was just yesterday I was holding newborns.  Next year I will be sending Aubrey off to kindergarten.  I can vaguely remember what life was like before they were born but I don’t think I was as happy or fulfilled as I am now that I am their mommy.