OMG where does it end? In November I started convincing myself that after the holidays, life would slow down, and I'd have tons of time to just hang out or get stuff done around the house. It seems like just when things start to slow down a little bit, we're into a whirlwind again. I'm not saying some of these activities aren't optional, but how to do we fit in everything we HAVE to do, and everything we WANT to do? This was my schedule for the last week or so:

Good Friday: to CT Vicki's house for party, visit to Aunt Mary who I hadn't seen in 7 years, evening with Lisa
Saturday: opening day at Six Flags - got there early and then spent the whole day there with Lisa & family
Sunday: Easter - activities around home and then back to CT for dinner at mom's and a stop at Lisa's house
Monday: drive Ethan to work, run a bunch of emergency errangs, pick Ethan up, and back to Six Flags
Tuesday: went to the office and met my boss for the first time, ran more errands, scrapped with friends at night
Wednesday: this was supposed to be our official day of rest...what we actually did is escaping my tired brain
Thursday: went on scrap store adventure with Stephanie, out to lunch, and to the park with Esme
Friday: babysat Liam and Grace, went to Yankee Candle factory, took Esme for allergy consultation and to have blood drawn
Tomorrow: back to CT for Lisa's "Post Easter Egg Hunt" and more family visits
Sunday: back to CT AGAIN - this time for Dylan's birthday party
Monday: I'm praying to work so I can finally get some rest!

Lately I've been thinking about how important it is to show people in our daily lives how much we love them and how much they mean to us, and I've resolved to do it more. I started by saying, "I love you," every time I see my niece and nephew. A lot of times I just didn't think about it in the craziness of having toddlers together, but now I'm making a special effort.

Tomorrow I'm going to Vicki's annual Easter egg coloring party so I thought about how I could show her I value her. I made her the topiary, and I'm bringing the scrapbook pages of the kids at events at her house during the past year. She throws awesome parties and I think the pages show how much the kids enjoy them. She is a very loving and generous person and I want her to know she is appreciated!!

A year and a half ago, my mother gave us the down payment for our house. I want her to know how much we appreciate and remember that on a daily basis, so for Mother's Day I'm going to make her a shadowbox with a photo of the house in it, and write her a special message from Ethan and me, letting her know how much it means to us.

I want to remember and appreciate all my blessing each and every day. I want my life to be focused on the positive, and spread the love around.

This is one of the stranger projects I've done, but I think I like it! I wanted to give Vicki something tomorrow - she always invites us to her awesome parties, and we just love her. She loves getting homemade gifts, so after seeing a SBR topiary on the Doodlebug site, I decided to igve it a try. It is super glittery in real life! 

I was just printing out pics to crop tomorrow and I came across this. It looks so sad, but it actually one of Stephanie's and my favorites of Esme. The three of us went to see Sesame Street Live right before Esme turned 2, and this photo is a testament to how much Esme loved, it because she started bawling when it was OVER. She cried bitter, bitter tears when she realized the characters were not coming back on stage. Stephanie and I tried not to laugh, but it was so sweet. She'd been absolutely stoic though the whole show, and then later in the afternoon she'd look at us and say, "Elmo!" in a happy way.  

This is my new favorite pages. I did it for Scraptalk - the project was to use the Chip Chatter letters.  

I'm on a mission to improve my language. I'm working toward changing both my grammar and reducing the use of certain words. The words are: Crap Hell Damn Sucks. My little darling (Esme, age 3) has started to pick up a couple of these gems and I'm determined to nip it in the bud. I hardly EVER swear, so I would probably die of embarassment if we were strolling along in Target and Esme said something sucked. As far as the grammar goes, I am perfectly capable of carrying on a grammatically correct conversation, but during the years between moving out of my parents' house and the birth of the Es, I've become very lazy about it. I recently realized that I need to practice what I'm preaching.

I just got my June issue of Memory Makers, and the details of this year's Master contest are outlined. Last year was the first time I really put all the effort in and actually entered a big contest. The hardest part was eating, sleeping, and breathing it right before I mailed my entry. Actually it wasn't too hard on ME, but I think it might have been hard on Ethan, Lisa, and Stephanie. And I think Kyle may have hoped I'd win just so he wouldn't get so many email attachments begging for his excellent constructive criticism. So anyway, beware family and friends, I do intend to enter this year. I've done some of my best layouts in the last year so I'm excited about what this will inspire me to create!