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2.07.2011

Back in the Groove

Well, it's Monday morning and I'm slowly getting back in the groove of everyday life, coffee in hand :) I got home yesterday from a great weekend away! I went to my annual scrapbook retreat and had a wonderful time catching up on Ava's baby book. I took Carter with me, so my expectations of accomplishing a lot were very low, BUT I was able to get so much done!! He was such a sweetie all weekend and so very good for me.  He must have known I wanted to get lots of work done or God just chose to give me some serious grace in that department!   He hardly cried, he let lots of people hold him and he slept pretty well.  All in all, I got 22 pages done with an infant in tow.  I'll take it.  Regarding Ava's baby book, am I done??  No.  Not even close.  In scrapbook years, she's only 6 mo old and Carter doesn't exist yet :) My plan is to do a "traditional" scrapbook for my kids, of their first year.  After that, everything else I'm doing is going to be digital.  I want them to have something handmade from me of everything that happened in their first year, filled with thoughts from their Mom (and some from Travis too).  I know you'll find this hard to believe, but after this weekend, Ava's first year book is now turning into two books.  I just cannot edit pictures like I need too!  They're all so cute, I'm having a hard time getting rid of any :)  I caught grief for it all weekend, but whatever...I know I'm setting myself up for the same amount of work for each of my kids, but the rebel in me says "Who cares?  I'm going to do it, just to prove everybody wrong!"  How is that for pure motivation??  I'm determined to keep things equal for everybody...we'll see :)

Anyway, it was great to get SOMETHING done this weekend!  Now, here are some random things I'm thinking today and answers to a few requests some of you have made...
First of all, GO PACK GO!!!  Yay, the Packers won the big game and I had some very happy parents, sister and brother in law last night!  It was a good game, fun when they are close, although I'm thrilled that the Packer's actually pulled it off!  Ava and I wore green for the occasion, but I was too tired to get my camera out :)
And because I love stories like this, below is a picture of Jarius Wynn, whose wife gave birth to their second child, in Dallas, just hours before the Super Bowl.  And like a good husband, he stayed by her side through the whole thing, getting only 90 minutes of sleep before the game :)  What a sweet memory!!  And not too bad that he got rewarded with the biggest win of his life!! 
Last night, we watched the Super Bowl with friends and I brought two appetizers, that I got from that website I shared with you a few weeks ago, http://www.ourbestbites.com/ .  Anyway, here are the pictures of what I made, as well as pictures of the sugar cookie recipe and icing recipe that I've been using for my cookies lately.  You can click on the links to go directly to the recipes on their page.  Everything I've made so far, we have LOVED!  That doesn't happen very often from a recipe site, but this one is gold! 

Here are some cute pictures of my Carter, with my cousin Jenny, at the retreat this weekend :) I didn't take anymore than these three, because everytime someone took him for me or he was asleep, I was working like crazy to accomplish something, anything!! 



What a little heartbreaker! 
Can't wait to work on his album sometime soon :)

And finally, here is a little video I took on my camera this morning of my two kiddos, playing in their room.  This is for the relatives that need a little Ava and Carter fix!! 
 
Happy Monday Friends!

5 comments:

Christi said...

Adorable. I love how Ava is clearly reading the story aloud....:) precious!

petrii said...

Stephanie,
I'm so happy you got to do a scrap weekend. I SO want to do that, but I don't know how to go about that. I love to scrap.

I'm so glad you got so much done. That is something I like about scrapbooking you can do as many pictures as you like. I am the same way.

Have a Blessed week,
Dawn

PS Oh yeah ~~ YAY PACKERS!!!!!

Jason Barthelemy said...

Steph, I think I heard more talking from Ava in the first minute of this video than I ever have!

Anonymous said...

My sister does creative memories..She made awesome first year books for my kids...Abbys is 2 and jacksons is 1,lol....I LOVEEEEE them...and my kids love looking at them too!!

Ron and Peggy said...

I see Ava has no trouble finding something to do while it's freezing outside! BUSY girl. Carter is changing every time I see him.