Their Self Portraits

Today for our art time we talked about self portraits and then the kids drew and painted their own. I'm hoping to do this at the beginning of every school year, to see the progression over the years of their skills and also how they physically change as well.

Savannah has always been my little artist. She's one that would always just jump right in, and always felt comfortable drawing, painting, and coming up with some new art project or creative endeavor. She had no problem getting started on this project.

Mirian has always been a little more self conscious. Whether she is comparing herself to Savannah or has a bit of perfectionism in her. If she can't get it just right, she starts to loose it. I was really proud of her today. She almost lost it drawing her hair, because it didn't look like her hair in the picture she was trying to copy. But she pulled herself together and ended up one proud little girl in the end. She told me. "I took my time and drew like a 3rd grader!" Which she was so proud of. She knew it was one of her best drawings and was super proud of it when she finished.

Isaac didn't quite finish getting his all painted before he decided that he would rather take a bath instead. He did a great job though trying to draw all the parts of his face, and then part of his body with arms.

This is Caitlyn's self portrait after she declared it finished and decided to take a bath instead. I asked her to pose for a picture with it later tonight, and this is the face she shared.

Now I just need to come up with a place to hang them. That's one of my favorite parts, having artwork created by my kids brightening up our home.

A New Little One

For the last 6 days I have been enjoying the sounds, smells and joys of having a brand new tiny little life to take care of. Belén Joy joined our family Tuesday August 16th. She was healthy and beautiful at 7 lbs. 13 oz and 19 1/2 inches tall.

I was induced being 6 days over due, and everything went well and smoothly. After weeks of on and off labor, we found out that I just had so much fluid in me that she could never really drop low enough to engage in full blown labor. When I walked around, gravity would help out and we'd have labor and be miserable. As soon as I laid down at night or any other time, she would float away and labor would stop. It wasn't until they broke the water that she finally came quickly.

It's always amazing to me what an incredible thing it is to give birth and to create a new life. To be amazed at her tiny little perfect body that has all the amazing, miraculous systems and functions. To me there is no greater truth and testimony of a supreme being and creator than to see a brand new baby laid on my stomach and to sit in wonder over the next week at how truly amazing creation is. There truly is a God, and I'm always humbled at every birth, that I get to be a part of his amazing work.

Since then I have enjoyed her newness. Her fresh smells, her jerky movements, her open bird mouth, her desire to suck on everything, her hours and hours of sleeping. She has been perfect. She's only cried 3 times that I can count in the last 6 days. Right when she was born, once while changing a diaper, and the other day when they poked her foot for the 3rd jaundice test. Even at night when it's time to eat she just makes little noises trying to search for her food. We will see how long that lasts.

The kids can literally not get enough of her. They are constantly battling for "their" time to hold her. She didn't get much sleep the first day, because they kept waking her, wanting to hold her, touching her, and just being smitten with her. Isaac has been the most smitten. Savannah, just wants to be a little mother to her, which I happy about. She'll be a great help to me. The last 4 days they went home to Star Valley with Beau, to see his brother who just arrived home from his mission. So she's been able to have at least 4 days of peace, quiet and rest, before they return once again to smother her with love.

It was also a unique time, as Beau and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary in the hospital. (Keep in mind the circumstances of this picture and why we look so amazing. :)) Time has flown so fast, as we looked back at all that has happened in 9 years. We realize how truly blessed we have been. We have been taken care of so well, and have had so many wonderful opportunities and experiences. The greatest one being our 5 wonderful children. Families are really what is all about and I am so thankful for mine. I am always amazed at how I could not have picked a more perfect man to marry and have be a part of my life. He is amazing in every way, and every day I love him more. I can say that the last 9 years have been the happiest of my life, and I know we only have many more amazing ones to come and that makes me so excited.

Life is good. It is beautiful and there is so much to enjoy and look forward to. I hope to slow down, and fully enjoy each of these moments, and those things that really matter the most.

What do you do while waiting.

We are still waiting for this baby. Five days past due and definitely teaching us patient. It has been rather frustrating. There have been days of full labor contractions to make you miserable all day long, feeling like she might actually arrive that day, to only have them stop when I go to sleep at night, not to return for another day or so. So what do you do while waiting?

You build a tree house in your backyard. Ok I didn't build the treehouse, my amazing husband did. I was impressed. He got it all finished in two days, here you see it in the works and already being used and played on with the kids. It has been a great way to get them outside. I love looking out and seeing Mirian up their coloring, or Savannah reading her books. You hear excitement and adventure as they are all up there in their own creative worlds living out an adventure ad midst the trees.

It's something I've wanted for a while, and Beau realized he had enough scrap wood around that he could throw one together. So while feeling a need for a break, helping out at home on those days of never ending contractions, he got to work, and now we have a little bit of heaven in a tree.

My favorite part? Finding my husband sitting up there in the evenings in the peace and quiet just sitting. (I have yet to attempt to climb the rope ladder at 9 months pregnant to enjoy the view myself... hopefully here soon I can join him.)

Scrapping for Me

It always seems that once I finish a huge design project all I want to do is scrap for myself. To scrap for the fun of just creating a layout to remember those great times as a family. Lately I've been resorting back to the 4x6 size. I love it because it's so cheap to print .13 cents instead of $1.25. I can buy a huge 4x6 album, and just slide them in the sleeves. Lately though I've been doing them as a two page spread. I LOVE it this way. I feel like I can get quite a bit recorded about an event and show off quite a few photos in the process. Here are three recent ones I've done.

Caitlyn's Third Birthday

A Ward Campout. I'm also trying to go back a few years for memories that I haven't ever recorded about but I know my kids would love seeing the pictures and reading about them.

The Stake Picnic - 2011

They go really fast and quick and I feel like I'm making some progress on recording our every day life, which is the stuff I want to remember.

My husband is wanting to relax for the evening, so I'll have to post supplies later. If you want to know where something is from leave a comment and I'll get that info to you! :)

August Club

Finally I get to now share my huge project I have been working on literally for months any time I had a spare minute, which seemed to be few. My new Joyous Collection is the new ScrapGirls Club for August. It's a killer way to get LOTS of scrapbooks supplies for really, really cheap.

You get all of the above for $9.99 which usually costs you $28.22 when all of the items are bought separately in the store. But we now also have some club member's only benefits which now give you this JIF 6 kit and a JIFFY Album for free.

So by the time you get all of your club items for the $9.99, it would have cost you $40.87. Not bad savings huh. It really is an amazing deal for all that you get. A cheap way to stock up your digital scrapbooking supplies during this time when we are all very tight with our money.

Here's a few layouts I created using the club.

My favorite part of the whole club? The rubber stamps. I had a blast making them and had tons of fun scrapping with them. Once it was finished and finally launched on the 1st I have now been able to relax, breathe easier, start getting ready emotionally, mentally, and physically for this baby who should be showing up anytime here. We're getting excited. The kids ask me everyday when she's coming.

Small Moments

I am not a lover of cold cereal, and rarely buy it. I would rather have a hot, filling breakfast and less sugar. But I admit, the last few weeks of this pregnancy, I have given in. So today on the spur of the moment, we made better use of some of it. :)

Journaling Reads: "The other day I had bought some cold cereal, and today Caitlyn kept wanting to snack on it all day, carrying it around. I told her she had to wait till snack time and then we could eat some. I decided we could even make it fun. So we pulled out the yarn and made our own cereal necklaces. The kids loved it. I encouraged them to create a pattern as I’ve been trying to get into a “every-moment is a school or teaching moment.” Isaac did amazingly well at creating his own patterns even though he isn’t in Kindergarten yet. The only bummer was Caitlyn fell asleep and missed out on the whole thing, so we made her a necklace anyway. It doesn’t take much to have a few minutes of fun. I just need to look for more of these small opportunities to do something with my kids."