As the Years Go By

Easter is almost here again, and all of the world seems to be teeming with new life. Here in Western Washington hundreds of acres are a kaleidoscope of colors with tens of thousands of tulips in bloom. Every year since my girls were knee-high, we've had a tradition of kissing a particular stone frog at one of the tulip gardens. After looking through the photos this year, I went through some of the photos of springs-gone-by watching the girls grow up before my eyes. This layout features two sets of spring photos seven years apart, capturing the little moments as the years go by.

"Tradition" layout supplies:

Glitz Design "77" papers: Feather, Kaleidoscope, Bits & Pieces

Glitz Design "77" 6x6 paper pad

Glitz Design "77" Titles & Accents sticker sheet

Glitz Design "Carpe Diem" Alphabets & Words sticker sheet

Glitz Design "77" Giant Rhinestones

Glitz Design "Carpe Diem" washi tape - mint chain

Glitz Design "Hello Friend" Crepe Trim

other: card stock, vellum, calligraphy pen and ink, gray ribbon, mini clothes pin

002.365

I ordinarily try to take a photo of the girls on the first day of the new year. But with the dance of fog and sunlight yesterday, I put off our New Year's sister shot until today. I cannot believe how much they've both grown since last year. 

"Only friendliness produces friendship. 
And we must look far deeper into the soul of man 
for the thing that produces friendliness.”
-G.K. Chesterton

Project 365+1

With Stan off on another deployment, I thought I'd try my hand at another year of Project 365 (+1 with leap year this year). I hit a road block last year about half way through and just couldn't manage to finish out the year, though I made it through the previous two years. With the girls growing like weeds (Emma's grown an inch in the past two months, and they're both only two inches shorter than me now) I wanted to be sure to keep Stan updated on the daily life of his little ladies.

Welcome 2012

I read this quote the other night while reading my latest Chesterton book, The Defense of Sanity, and it reminded me so much of my daily battle with tidiness, I thought my husband may enjoy this little epigraph of me.

"Perhaps it would be the exaggeration of eulogy to call me a tidy person. But I can always pretty satisfactorily account for all my possessions."
-G.K. Chestertson

Traditions

Another busy summer has come, and is nearly gone, and because I've been a little behind on the ol' blog, I wanted to get a post up here before another month has gone by. {Leslie- This one's for you...}

Years ago I saw the idea in Creating Keepsakes Magazine to have a "Back to School Fashion Show". So every year, for the past seven years, we've kept the tradition alive at our house. I'm pretty sure the girls have grown several inches since school got out in June, which meant all new clothes for those longer legs and arms. I guess the who part of the gig I'm having a bit of trouble with is just the fact that this is year seven... which means I have a Middle Schooler this year. You try your best to savor every moment along the way, however it still seems like the whole of life slips by entirely too fast. So here's to another year of savoring life's little moments before they're gone.

{Emma's favorite outfit}

Another mile-marker this year hit when the girls grew out of Gymboree {sigh} and into the beginnings of the junior's section. It's a bigger transition for me I think, and definitely a little tougher to find cute yet modest clothes for girls. Any store or brand recommendations for modest junior/big kid clothes would definitely be welcome! I think we did pretty well just picking through the selection at a variety of stores. Ahhh, the new and exciting adventures that come with each new age bracket!

{Torrey's favorite outfit}

I watched the fog roll into the valley this morning carrying it's reminder that the end of summer is nigh. The last few days of season to soak up the sun and relax with a good book and a cool drink will be exchanged for cozy sweaters and reading by the fire. But life is full of drawing the line between things, seasons and stages and eras... and I'll leave with a quote by Chesterton:

“Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.” 

-G. K. Chesterton

365 for a New Year

Wow! It's easy to get behind when you go on a nice long vacation right before the holidays! So for the sake of giving myself catch up time, I decided just to start my 365 pictures for 2011 fresh. Now that I have all the time in the world to catch up on the last six weeks of 2010, I can focus in on the new year.

What better way to start the new year than with a frozen moment in time. The girls on the very first day of 2011... oh how fast the time goes! Wasn't it just yesterday when they were little? It never ceases to amaze me just how much of a blessing they are each day. They've changed my life in every way, and I'd never exchange it for all the money in the world. There are blessings beyond description that come from being a mom... I am thankful for these two big blessings.

(just for fun... the girls 04.2006)

Speaking of blessings, I couldn't go without this one... I love this man with a love beyond measure. He is my partner in life and in faith, my most trusted companion, my best friend, the love of my life. I am the luckiest girl in the world because of him.

For a few of photos, I found quotes the seemed to fit with the picture and the mood of the day...

You have brains in your head
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose
You're on your own
And you know what you know
You are the guy who'll decide where to go

- Dr Seuss

A snippet of a layout for The Scrap Review article on the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner... (just a hint: I thought it was very cool!)

Everyone is in awe of the lion tamer
in a cage with half a dozen lions
everyone but a school bus driver.
-Dr. Laurence J. Peter

A morning without coffee is like sleep.
-Unknown

(The inspiration for today's picture of the day... from a West Elm catalog.)

everyone loves eskimo kisses

i figured i'd post a few projects i've been working on lately for lasting memories using basic grey's eskimo kisses line. love this super cute, almost scandinavian style, line. of course, it's always good getting a few of last year's christmas pictures scrapped before this christmas rolls around!

forgive the picture heavy post today... i'm playing catch up, as usual! :)

and for my past few days of project 365... i was out getting a few pictures of emma after school when stan got home from work. so she sweet talked him into getting into the picture with her. i'm always amazed how much they look alike when i see them in pictures. i always think torrey looks more like stan, but there's no denying the two of them belong together!

loved this cute little laughing shot of torrey in her new retainer. shows off her sassy, sweet personality that seems to be growing up by the minute!

emma was running (more like jumping) around after school and picking flowers in the backyard. she stood still long enough to get a couple of pictures. i was surprised how much blue was still left on the hydrangea at this time of year. there are a bunch more pictures from the past few days here and a few more detail shots of the scrappy projects here.