weekend review . . .   July 27, 2008

friday night it was all about kristal:) at least that was what the cake said. actually, we were celebrating her birthday. and she rocked her 4 creations in like nothin’ flat that were due that night for gg assignments. i so wanna be like her when i grow up.
we missed janice:)
i started kitting for my class. note to self: do not teach the same month you are on vaca twice:) after hand cutting 80 butterflies and tiny flowers, my hand was numb.
saturday- my dad, bro and dh got to work on our front yard. we’ve been meaning to add curb appeal for oh, the last 2 years, but then our beautiful mari happened, and that somehow was shelved?!? they were working for 6 hours, tearing out all of our weeds, old plants, and flowers on the 3 beds of land between the driveway and the lawn area. i was given tasks running errands like getting food, replacing tools that broke, etc. i did get to have one on one time with emi for a few hours, and that was awesome! that girl just cracks me up these days! miss emi then got to have an impromptu weekend with my parents. she will be home tomorrow in time for lunch and her playdate:) daddy and mari had an evening together, since mommy went to see, him in concert! and can he R.O.C.K. omgosh, i cannot wait to go see him again! given i wasn’t sure who he was when i agreed to go, when PO set it up, i am so so happy i did! i LOVE two of his songs, the one SYTYCD with twitch and kherington, and the one that david archuleta sang with one republic. it was *couples night*, be careful of the num nuts around you, and if they’re tall, well, they’re just prickery! those are some of the best lines from the night, and some were directly from jm. suzy, rocio, janice and i laughed so much, omgosh!!! today, after church [and surprise surprise, guess who lasted until just after communion w/o having a meltdown...YEP, our now 20 month old did!], janice joined me in prepping for my class. with everything going on this week, it has been challenging to say the least to concentrate. cannot say thank you enough nanice!!! and, suzy for cutting butterflies with me friday, and offering to come down today:) we jammed, and got it all prepped in 8 hours! oh, and the BAGS. that is another story!!! when buying ziploc bags, make sure you read the dimensions. so i thought i was all good- i bought 117 bags- 3×39 gallon bags DOES NOT = 117 bags - 3 gallon x 39. ugh! so, i ran to target in search of those 2.5 gal. ones. no luck. big lots. nope. dollar store. zero. back to the drawing board. called my mom, she is going to target tomorrow to hunt some down. how come i come back home, search some more thinking- for the last garage sale i had another box stashed somewhere with them. YES- found them about 10 minutes after janice left tonight. my dh and i just cracked UP.
i was so relieved/excited, thought i would just finish them tonight. and then sweep and mop the kitchen up. [MOPPING- story for another day LOL] NO. watched SATC reruns and now of course am on here. totally played hard and then worked hard this weekend. just totally missed my mari time and my dh time. and then, i realized, we’re yet on another vaca coming up in 1 1/2 weeks. seriously, where does the time go?
i LOVE my family. i LOVE God. i LOVE and admire my dh. i LOVE and adore my sweet/sassy girls. i LOVE my friends. i LOVE my life- inside my bubble.
i LOVE having a true network i can call my friends. i LOVE that they do not tally. do NOT keep score. that they are simply there to be my friend, love, and support me.
you know who you are!
go ahead and say it.
SAY what you need to say!!!

blessings,
erin

bubbles.   July 24, 2008

they come in many shapes and sizes. i first think of blowing bubbles with the girls and being mezmorized just watching them track and pop and play with them.
there are other kinds of bubbles, too. for instance, i live in one. it is filled with my amazing family and friends, a network that i can truly know i can count on, for a lifetime. it has taken me almost 37 yrs to find this level of trust, unconditional love, and support, and i couldn’t be more thankful. i’ve had to cut out many toxic people in my life, and finally. . . i truly feel at peace with it.
just in that moment, that i find peace, within my bubble, one of my oldest friends’ bubble has just burst. or life as she knew it. her middle son, tanner, who is just now 3 years old has been diagnosed with a very rare [i'm talking his case is the 5th reported in the entire WORLD] and potentially fatal disease, called Juvenile Xanthrogranuloma (JXG). it’s a skin disease that manifests itself as lesions and can occur on various areas of the body. it is a rare condition, in and of itself, however, tanner’s condition is critical because his granulomas are in his airways, causing his lungs to partially collapse. normally, this condition where the lesions are found on the skin, goes away in 3-5 years on its own. this is day 17 he has been airlifted to stanford, and all we can do is pray.

please, join me in saying a special prayer for tanner.

blessings,
erin

random things that make me happy.   July 11, 2008

1. all the [little- and i say this in quotes, cause u know those are the ones that matter most] things that my dh does for me, and our girls. the readjusting his schedule so he leaves the house super early to get his workouts in, so he can spell me and we can have family time before the dinner/baths rush towards the evening. the [tips] he gives me to help my stress. LOL.
2. the fact that SHE finally updated her blog.
3. super cold iced tea on hot summer days like we’re enduring.
4. miss emi helping to show mari how to drink her miso soup with a big girl spoon during dinner, and the nonstop giggles that followed.
5. NOT cleaning and getting dinner started the moment my dh walks into the door. playing with the girls FIRST instead.
6. extra hugs.
7. my bro making his 60 day mark.
8. HER heart and HER spirit.
9. HAMBLY’s new blue.
10. the baby crawling her way into one of the suitcases tonight, as we’re unpacking and repacking. photo to arrive soon…

happy thursday! or friday:)

anyone?   July 8, 2008

hello miss, k! we miss you! if anyone has seen our sweet friend, kristin…
oh, i don’t know, in atlanta, mississippi, chicago…or wherever she is now, please let her know she is very much missed!

our summer [some recap, some current]   

um yeah, so seriously JUNE, what JUNE? that was a total blur.
besides end of year kinder and daisy parties, and several birthday parties…
since my parents were out of town for father’s day- celebrating our cousins’ graduating from highschool, we celebrated differently this year.
after church, we had lunch, played and then napped:)
then, thanks to nicole, we went to see sesame street live, elmo grows up!
mari lasted longer than we thought, and emi thoroughly enjoyed it, trying to guess what he was going to try next.
we had dinner at the sonoma chicken coop, and enjoyed their mini fondue dessert:)
after school was out, we could all SLEEP in! while mari didn’t at first, she caught on pretty quickly after 2-3 days. we enjoyed leisurely playdates where we woke up, and figured out where we were going that day, and then met friends. sometimes, we went to the local park, sometimes we went swimming, to the zoo or to the local discovery museum. emi had one week of bible camp in the mornings, while miss mari and i enjoyed her speech therapy sessions and little gym classes.
daddy got in 2 golf rounds, and has been able to totally unplug. he never did that for himself until mari came along. so happy he can do that for himself.
i had alot of fun scrap nights, and met a new friend, becky fleck. she is seriously hilarious, and we all had a great visit with her.
finished designing my lo class for july 29th, here. helen from MLS is sponsoring it, and will be attending, so it will be alot of fun! hope to see you there!
and cannot remember our last days of june, leading up to my bil’s wedding. will work on that:)

how is your summer going?

quote of the day.   

souza said,

dance like no one is watching.
love like you’ve never had a broken heart.
live as though heaven is on earth.

best man speech.   July 6, 2008

love that my dh shared this toast. he did an amazing job, love you, b!

I want to dispel some rumors. First, I did not drop Kevin on his head when he was a baby. HE, rolled off the changing table. And yes, I was involved in him getting the scar on the brige of his nose, but how was I to know that he would go “over” me when we were playing goal-line stand. Kev, my daughters thank you for letting me experiment on you. Jenn, my family would like to thank you for taking damaged goods.

Weddings remind me of one of my favorite Bible passages, no not the 1st Corinthians cliche. I’m talking about Ephesians 5:22. For all you non-Biblical scholars it goes “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” Good stuff, right? I mean every married man knows this works like a charm, right? Verses 23 - 24 continue “For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” Paul would have made some marriage conselor.

But in all sincerity you have to continue to verse 25 which says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her…” See as husbands we are to sacrifice everything, even our lives, for our wives and if we are loving our wives to that extent then our wives should be submitting to us knowing we only act out of love for them. Of course we husbands never sacrifice everything even if we should and wives don’t always submit even when they should, but we have Christ who sacrificed everything on the Cross for us as a picture of what marriage should be.

7.5.08.   

kevin + jen = married. it was beautiful. family oriented. so much fun!

dh was his best man. miss emi and mari were flower girls, along with lauren, jen’s niece. at least 2 out of 3 of them made it down the aisle!
before and after the ceremony, they took pictures. at the park, at the church, and outside. they couldn’t have asked for a better day! totally took care of the kiddos too! they brought sandwiches, cookies, drinks and more for them for all of their down time. you know me, i had my cooler all prepared, but all i had to bring was mari’s milk and her diaper bag! thanks auntie jen!
dh and i had about 30 minutes of us time during the reception. which was just amazing! miss emi went with the kids to the preschool area of the church, where they had hired the teachers to watch the kids for up to 2 hours. LOVED that! they had games, watched movies, and played on the equipment. miss emi was content going back and forth between the equipment, and watching CARS. and this just shocked us! miss mari found a new friend…auntie cathy! she was wondering all around the dance floor, then, found uncle lloyd and auntie cathy’s table. she took one look at cathy and put her arms up in the air [her sign for pick me up]. cathy did, and they were inseperable until we left. dh went over to spell cathy, and after about 5 minutes, mari went around table to table looking for her, until she found her. cathy is a nurse, and we think has many calming qualities like my mom, and believe that is what drew mari to her. so proud of you miss mari! thanks auntie cathy!
the cake was so yummy and her decor so her! beautiful. simple.

my dh, his bro kev, and sister karen.
now off to find one of just the bride and groom. wish me luck.

more stories coming this week:)

happy sunday!

blessings,

erin

p.s. who has seen sneak peeks for CHA? i cannot wait!!!

recent creations and a break . . .   July 1, 2008

what else can i say about my sweet girl suzy? at one of PMP’s NSD or ANNI events, i asked one of the mechanics to just start shooting, so that my daughters will know how truly crazy i am at heart. this was just one of those moments. i had no idea she was going to mount me! love ya girl!
just in love with KI lace paper right now! this butterfly one is frosted:) yum!
we had such a wonderful easter this year:) after church, we got the house ready for our family and friends and a visit from the easter bunny! bok bok LOL!
this was for an assignment using pink paislee stamps! just love the basic grey with it:)
tfl.

still cannot believe it is JULY 1st. we have such a busy july, so i will be taking a blog break. be back when things settle down:)

weekend, FULL.   June 29, 2008

seems like i just posted that? it was another very full weekend, for us all. we all had so much fun doing our own things, and then today, had a wonderful time at the little gym, celebrating her grandson’s 2nd birthday!

thursday, after little gym camp, miss emi went home with my mom and had some awesome one on one time, just with her and my dad. their backyard is so spacious, and they filled it with a bball court, swing/slide set, and water/sand play area for the girls. they are so fortunate! daddy golfed and even though he didn’t have a good game, he had fun. he caught up with my cousin’s dh, so all was good there.

friday, after miss mari and i had our play time, daddy took over and i cropped my heart out! didn’t start until about 10pm, after our giggles and wiggles were out LOL. i finished one of my assignments, so i felt productive at least:)

saturday, i took miss mari up to my parents to join her big sis. we had a nice picnic lunch, and then i headed to suzy’s for bf’s class and more! dh had my bil’s bachelor party that day/night. they played bball for 2+ hours [and no one got hurt LOL], they had lunch, then bowled, then took in an A’s/giant’s game [the giants WON!!!], and then who knows what they did. what i do know is, they were so freakin tired from all the physical stuff, who would’ve thought? LOL. just happy that no one got hurt!

today, i slept in:) dh went to church. the girls and my parents came home just in time for lunch. after that, my parents’ took off, and we celebrated tanner’s bday:) then, we played, had dinner, and now it is chill time for dh and i:)

hope you had a full weekend, too:) whatever that means for you and your families!

blessings,

erin