I took her straight to the dog shower and had to soak her to melt her snow dingle-berries.

Right now Blake is sitting next to me playing the acoustic guitar- a medley of Green Day, Chili Peppers, Nirvana- I can’t tell you how cool it is to hear my son playing my fave bands.  Anyway, Zoey hates the guitar.  So she is laying next to me and growling the whole time.  We laugh at her about that too.  Poor girl.

Have I mentioned that Blake has started writing his own songs?  So so cool.

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I have realized that I am not using this 365 project to improve my photography at all.  In fact I am going the other direction.  Because I am taking more shots, I tend to treat it like a point and shoot and just grab and shoot.  Oh well.

Today we took the kids to get their passports.  They had been playing outside it the snow so they are all a mess of hat heads.

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I find that I am using the “Project Life” as less of a scrapbook and more of a place to put everyday things that tell our story.

Like my birthday cards from the boys

I have done a few pages of regular scrapbooking lately and it feels good!  To get the stories down before I forget them

Because I do.  Forget, that is.

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when this happened today, Andy and I looked at each other and said, “crap”

not good

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There was some serious snow fort building going on in the front yard

the tongue out in concentration always cracks me up.  I do the same thing

And while this was going on, a girl sat at the door and watched

She is not feeling 100%.  Some kind of stomach issue.

And then look, a brother comes to say hello

And then another one

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And then Shiloh decided to kill her toy

And then the boys went sledding and Eva and I stayed home to clean house.

That’s a wrap on our Saturday.

I took advantage of J’s sale the other day and bought some goods.  How fun to add pink and flowers!

I am pulling out old supplies and trying to get organized before I even start.

For a while I started just putting my pics in albums

I don’t even do that anymore

If you ever need a reason to start again- pick up an old book and take a look at how fast time passes

Little Cole eating a stick at the farm

And making silly faces after his bath

Obviously I was what one would call a “simple” scrapper!

I could go even further back, but then I start to get a little teary.  But here is one that is fun- me and my brother

and then me and my big girl dog Barley

I am starting with some pictures that I already have.  Well let’s face it, I have a ton of pictures from a long time ago, before I went digital.  But these are the most recent ones I have that were actually printed- and they are from Halloween 2008.

So there you go, my journey back to pictures and cardstock.  I will keep you posted as I go!

Last night I pulled out Blake’s book to see how big he was compared to Eva, since they were/are both chubby babies (he was bigger). Immediately I had three boys surrounding me, and a baby on my lap. They all wanted their books, they wanted to look, to read what they did. Cole cracked me up when he saw a picture of himself in the hospital shortly after being born sleeping all wrapped up, a brother on each side. He said, “Oh my gosh- they were trying to mess with me when I was trying to sleep!!” They weren’t. They were soooo happy he was here. It’s good for them all to be reminded of that.

Cole was sad that Eva doesn’t have a book. I am too. My kids each have their own 8×10 and then we have a bunch of bigger 12×12 books of everyone.

We sat and read things that we had all forgotten. And I realized that if you don’t get the info down, away it goes.

Today I read this on Heidi Swapps blog. Exactly what I was feeling.

I found myself browsing through my iphoto library today for a few quiet moments.(gasp, a quiet moment??) I am working on a couple of big projects…2 of which are still in the ‘mental’ part of the creative process, and I was scrolling through the last 2 years of my life in pictures trying to some how capture my thoughts and emotions. The last few days, I have been going back through old albums pulling out random pages as I am preparing for a special little presentation I am giving at Creative Escape. I have been filled with emotion as I have stepped into the ‘time machine’ I like to call my scrapbook library. I have laughed and cried, over and over.
I look and notice the resemblance between my older kids, and the current looks of Capri and Connor.
I marvel at how much has transpired, and how fast time seems to pass.
I am grateful for the things I have written, for the images I have captured and the time I took to create pages upon pages of precious memories.

As I read the insight, and descriptions I have written, I am constantly amazed that I didn’t remember thinking or feeling that. without these pages- these photographic journal entries, those thoughts would have been lost. It’s inspiring me, and motivating me to be even more attentive to my passion, and my favorite pastime of scrapbooking –I think it’s important. I love taking the time to collect my thoughts, and put them down on paper. I love telling the story, and trying to create a scrapbook page that takes you back to that time.

So… it’s raining, a perfect day to stay inside and get some stuff done.

And because no post is good without pictures…

These dogs love the farm

She is so funny

I love this garden

A bunch of organic produce right in the backyard

My mom is a lucky girl