winter wonderland

It snowed! Beautiful snow. And it wasn't even a school day, so we can completely enjoy it!

It didn't take long for the snowballs to start flying. Gotta love mason's hair in this shot.

Grant bracing himself for the impact of the Bub's snowball.

And Grant's plan for retaliation. 

What I get when I ask this kid to smile for the camera. Nerd. :)

The area behind our house is absolutely beautiful when it snows. All the houses in the distance blend in with the snow so it feels like you're in the middle of a snowy winterland, definitely not smack dab in the middle of San Angelo.

I often wonder if I were to live in a place that had snow far more often if i would become desensitized to its beauty. And I think I might. And for that reason alone I'm so thankful to live in a place where the rarity of such beauty forces me to take notice. 

Of course we had to try a little sledding with whatever resources we had on hand. From this picture you might assume mason was jetting down this hill at remarkable speeds. I actually think he might have been a few inches per mile shy of stationary. 

Hello, Mr. Blue Eyes. I love you and your perfect snowball. 

Again, don't let the expression fool you. While the trash can lid did move a tiny bit faster, we basically failed in the sledding department. 

Well, I don't know if you could call anything that causes those smiles to be a failure. :)

I just love him. And that's why this picture is here. 

little prayers

I just found this picture from Grant's Christmas program. Take a minute to enjoy all the sweetness...

New Years Day Project

Why, hello there, neglected blog of mine. It's been a while. And it will probably be a while before I do this again, but it's new years day, I have no shoots to edit, my children are being entertained by the wonderful gadgets and gizmos Santa brought them, and Troy is at work. So, I thought I'd use my camera *gasp* for personal pictures *double gasp* to share a project I'm working on.

So, as we all know, I'm rather addicted to all things crafty.
I am.
Right now in particular, I'm addicted to anything in the smash booking genre of crafting.
And that's really a lie.
Because, Smashbook is really one very small line of products from a company. I have branched FAR outside of that said line of products. But the basis of the newest strand of my crafting addiction is rooted firmly in the idea that the more odds and ends you have, the better your book will be.
And by those standards, I should have one amazing Smashbook.

Anyway, I wanted to make something that would utilize a lot of the, uh, tools and resources, I have accumulated over the last several months so I came up with a project.

It's kind of like a pre-made journal-scrapbook-calendar thing. I'm making a two page layout for every week starting this week of course. And the book I have takes me to June.

Now, before I start sharing all the wonderfulness, let me preface it all by saying this: I know myself. I know that right now in the middle of my glorious holiday break, it seems as though I will indeed be able to keep up with this idea, and I really truly hope I will, but, like I said, I know myself. More importantly, I know that the spring means one thing - STAAR test. When school starts up, I will be sucked into the vortex known as STAAR prep, and I know that I won't have a moment to breathe. BUT, one must dream! One must have goals and hopes! And one, especially one like myself, must absolutely have some bit of joy in the midst of their insane lives. And I think, completing this journal-calendar-smashbook thing will be that for me.
and if not, well, it's been fun making it today! :)

Now, do you wanna see?!

Each week/layout has:

A Bible verse, most of which have come from the corresponding week of the book, Jesus Calling

A place to jot down the things I'm thankful for that week

A place to write down any cute, memorable, silly or special things the boys do

And a place to write down times and miles. This means I have to, like, actually run, of course. I thought maybe the blank paper laughing at me might motivate me to, ya know, actually RUN. 

I got this cute little Instax camera for Christmas. And I'm determined to not let it sit dusty all year. So, each page has an empty spot waiting to be filled with a snapshot from the week. I might be most excited about this. The film is kind of expensive, but one shot a week - that'll be cool to look back on. And it's a reason to use the camera and a place to put each picture. That picture is from this week. It goes along with the next section. 

Each week also has two To Do list items. These tags are in the cutest little kraft paper baggies. I love all things made of kraft paper. It's a bit ridiculous.

One side of the adorable To Do tag is a major to do list item. Like this one. Thoroughly cleaning our room - closets, under beds, dressers, nooks and crannies...you get the picture. I'm hoping that by Spring Break I'll have done each room in my house...then the list changes into things like fixing/replacing things, doing things for others, and Sprinkle of Grace things. This week I already did my To Do. While Troy was out of town, I completely rearranged all our bedroom furniture, replaced our bedding and cleaned the room like crazy. Felt amazing. 

The other side of the To Do tag is something fun. Like movie night, or game night or buy something pretty for the house, or actually do something I pinned, etc. I'm actually thinking these will be the harder ones to check off. But surely, one item a week is possible!

So, anyway... if nothing else, I smile flipping through the pages I've made thus far. And I'm using all the beautiful hodge podge collection of things I've made. We'll see how it goes from here!