Sharing a little scrappiness

Sadly my husband's uncle passed away this past week.  He'd only been sick for a couple of months, but got increasingly sicker, quickly.  On Tuesday night, he went home to be with Jesus.  I know somewhat of how his children are feeling.  I've been there myself, and although my mother left this world 10 years ago, there is still a dull ache for "all that could have been" had she still been around.  My heart goes out to the family.  I spent a couple of hours yesterday making sympathy cards.  It brought me joy to be able to create something for each of Uncle Peter's children, a little bit of my love and care for them put together with paper and glue.  Here are a few...

I also had some time to finally crack open my lovely April Kit from My Scrapbook Nook, featuring Echo Park.  The picture in the layout is of poor quality, but I guess that's how it goes when you're trying to squish 5 people into one shot, in a gondola traveling high above the mountain tops of Colorado.  The journaling reads: After 35 years of being afraid to try downhill skiing, I took the plunge, and now the whole family enjoys the sport!

Spring Fever, an online crop is happening this weekend over at My Scrapbook Nook.  Challenges, online chatting, and some great prizes are all waiting for you to jump in and join.  I'll be around for tonight, but the rest of the weekend is jam packed for me.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great weekend!

♥S. Pin It

Waiting for change

Living in Manitoba, Canada is always a test of patience and endurance when it comes to ushering out winter and welcoming in Spring.  Winter is a terribly long 6 months at a minimum here.  It's a long, sunless, frigidly cold stretch.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with that depth of cold we endure here, let me enlighten you.  It gets to temperatures as low as -42 degrees celcius.   The wind is so strong that it's actually measured by something called windchill, which maks it feel colder outside than it really is.  It's cold enough that many of us must not only plug our vehicles in, keeping the battery warm, but must also let our vehicle run for several minutes before driving it, to avoid having it stall out moments after leaving the house.  By April there is much conversation about how much longer it will be before the snow melts and the sun is finally here to stay.  By now, everyone in the city is ready for, the change of season.  There are many who are like a friend of mine.  At the first hint of Spring, they begin wearing capris , and flip flops.   I think it's more out of a sense of aggressively willing Spring to come, than actually being too hot for boots and long pants.

On the way home from dropping the girls off at school yesterday morning, I saw these little guys.  I just had to pull over and take a picture. 

I know exactly what they're thinking.  "Hey, I thought Spring was on it's way."

The weather keeps teasing us, Spring is here one day and gone the next.  We hit 18 degrees on Monday.  Now, here we are, two days later sitting at zero, with snow, once again, falling to the ground. These poor geese got the message that Spring was on it's way to Manitoba, only to be slapped in the face with the icy cold reality that Spring is taking it's sweet time in coming.  On the upside, the fact that the warmer weather is only arriving incrementally means there's a lesser chance of major flooding.  There are many, many families in low lying areas of the city near water, and outside the city near the Floodway who are currently working furiously to prepare for a possible flood.  Just a short drive from our home one can see hundreds of sandbags piled high surrounding home after home.   The sight is a sobering reminder that although I want and need more sunshine in my day, and warmer temps to fill the air.  Others want and need mother nature to be kind, slow and steady in bringing on change.  It makes me think of the new Heaven and new Earth that scripture speaks of in Revelation 21:1-8.  That will happen in a blink of an eye, and as much as I long to meet Jesus, and to see the beauty of Heaven, I don't feel quite ready.  I don't want to be like these geese, thinking that I'm prepared, just sitting around waiting for Jesus' return, not using my skills, and resources to make a difference in the world around me.  I want to be more like those living near the water, preparing their home, and their families for the possibility of change.  I want to be reminded that there's still work to do, that God has a plan for me, and wants to affect change in the world around me, through me.  I want to be at work, not idle.  I want to be living out the reality Romans 12.  Spring will come when it's time, and I will continue to follow the call of Jesus on my life, regardless of the windchill factor, the snow currently falling outside, and regardless of the fact that my summer wardrobe is still waiting to be unpacked for another season. 

May you be warmed by the love of Christ wherever you are today, being warmed by the kisses of the sun, or preparing to battle the rising water.

♥S. Pin It

These Two

Growing up, I always wanted an older sister, for as long as I can remember I longed for one.  Sometimes, it was because I wanted someone else on my side (my brother and I use to fight something terrible, I have a scar above my left eye from him hitting me with a meter stick), sometimes it was to have someone stick up to my dad for me and my brother.  Mostly, though, it was just because I wanted a best "friend".  Someone I could share clothes with, talk to about music & boys, and the like.  I love that my girls all have each other.  Théa and Eden are only 15 months apart.  They can be so close at times, like just the other night when they were circling the island in the kitchen chasing each other.  The game they were playing was to see who could get the other one's butt first.  No, I'm not kidding.  Then there are times like a while back when Eden got so upset with Théa, (simply because she was hovering over her while she practiced piano), that she hauled off and slapped her on the back so hard it left a bright red mark for several minutes.  From what I'm told this is pretty normal for girls so close in age.  I'm also told that they will, more than likely outgrow it, and become genuine friends who stick up for each other when outside friends try to come between them, and choose to share clothing, and music, and talk to each other about all things girly.  I can't wait for those days.



Happy Monday all,

♥S.

Pin It

Back at it

Last week was such a nice break from the routine.  Our family trip to Steamboat was wonderful.  This trip is something we began last year.  It's a private bus tour run by a husband and wife team.  They've been doing it for the past 35 years.  It began with a friend we met a few years back.  From the time he was young his parents took him, and his 5 siblings on this same tour.  Now that they've all grown up, each of them are now taking their own families down to Steamboat, and inviting their own friends along.  The bus holds 53 people in total.  Ours held about 12 different families, most with kids between the ages of 3 and 13.  You never would have known there were that many kids, it was so quiet most of the time.  In this day and age of DS and portable DVD players, iPod, iTouch, and even good old fashioned activity books, and novels, there was more than enough to keep the kids entertained during the 24 hour long drive down.  That's right it takes a full day.  We take only 2 dinner stops, and a couple fuel stops, but that's it.  You just have to trust me when I say it's kind of nice to get a point where you're actually bored.

The kids had a blast with all their little buddies during the bus ride on the way down.  D and I got to chat, watch movies, read, and sleep - ahhhh.  Aside from the bus breaking down outside of the very small town of Laramie, WY.  The time on the bus was a nice break from the every day rigamarole.  A replacement bus arrived to rescue us moments after we had finished supper at the local restaurant.  I'm only sad that I completely forgot to take pix of the experience.

With a healthy snow fall every single evening of the week, skiing was fantastic.  For some reason I had had this foreboding feeling about it this year.  Last year was my first year on skies, the same goes for the kids.  Things went very well for all of us, no injuries, and everyone enjoyed themselves.  I think, that because I was pretty ignorant about the whole thing last year I didn't know to be afraid for our safety.  This year, however, I was afraid that something was going to happen.  I had a pretty good feeling that the girls were all going to surpass me in competence and speed.  Because of that, I didn't know how we'd manage, two parents with three kids.  I knew enough about human nature to know that I could not be afraid for both myself, and my girls.  I was pretty sure that if I was alone with any of them, and one of us had had an accident, I would not be able to handle it.  All that fear, was for not.  We put the girls in lessons the first day, just as a refresher for them.  Truth be told, I really thought I should take them again for a day also, but was a little too embarrassed admit it to my family.  Within the first three quarters of an hour all three of them were on the gondola on their way up to the top of the mountain with their instructor little showoffs, lol.  Isabelle (our eldest) managed to fit in a couple of black diamonds before the end of the week.  Me?  I did just fine.  It's kind of like riding a bicycle, muscle memory simply kicks in and off you go.  By the end of day 2 I was no longer skiing greens, but had graduated to somewhat tougher blue runs.  On the third day, while everyone else took the day off to rest up, and do a little shopping in town, a girlfriend and I went out alone to tackle the hill ... in a whiteout.  For real.  It was some of the most fun I've ever had.  The thrill of not being able see much past your own nose, up at the top of this humongous mountain with the wind whipping at your head, exhilarating I tell you.  Evenings were spent hanging out with other families either out for supper or at someone's condo for supper.  One evening we went to a restaurant called 8th Street Steakhouse.  It was divine, the kind of establishment that has a meat display case for you to choose your cut of steak, chicken breast or salmon.  You then cooked your protein yourself (with guided instruction by the servers) on this giant barbecue, adding spices as you cooked.  Mmmm.   I think it's safe to say we'll be returning there next year.

Here are a few pix from the trip

Everybody is back into the swing of things, dance, piano, grade six musical, church and the like.  Looking back on the past two weeks I feel incredibly grateful to have the life I have.  I know there was nothing truly spectacular about the past 14 days, but I think that's the point.  To realize that life is truly a gift, that everyday is a new opportunity granted to us by the One who knows us intimately to leave a mark on this world.  I think, therein lies the real gift.  I read recently  about Wilson Bentley, the first person to ever photograph snowflakes.  It was because of his work that we came to know that each snowflake was individual, unique, and that once it melted it would never be replicated.  Snowflakes, in all their glory and majesty are literally, one of a kind, yet their existence on earth is so fleeting, and completely undocumented, they leave no record of their ever having been here.  Scripture says we are fearfully, and wonderfully made.  Jesus modeled to us that, in all our uniqueness we are to contribute to the world around us, to love our neighbours as ourselves, care for the less fortunate, and to never take our days for granted, as they were never ours to begin with, but a gift from the Father above.    A gift we get to open, and receive every day, whether we're skiing, cooking, cleaning, driving our kids to and from school, working with diligence, or whatever the case may be.  For this life, I am so very grateful.

Speaking of grateful here's a layout I did this week using MME Stella and Rose collection.  I love this girl.  This happened to be the night of her 40th this past November.  I cut the tag, and sewed a backing onto it, and added a button to help reveal the the journaling I added to the layout.  I needed to be able to add journaling without compromising the overall design of the page.

Have a great weekend friends,

♥ S Pin It

April Kit

Here's what's on it's way to my doorstep...

The April Kit from My Scrapbook Nook featuring For The Record papers by Echo Park

Flowers, Bling, Ink, and Chipboard butterflies?  Bring on Spring!
 

And lace and trim embellishments to top it off.

I bet these colours are just going to pop when you see the kit in real life.  Better get some pix developed.   You can order your very own kit here. Pin It

It's Spring Break

It's been a fun, and busy week around here.  For starters we celebrated this girl's 9th birthday on Tuesday.

She's one of those people who won't let anyone forget it's her big day.  She starts reminding us about it at least 2 weeks prior to the day, and everything up until the big day revolves around it.  Here's an example.  Eden (her younger sister): "Théa is today Monday? Théa: "Well my birthday is tomorrow, and it's Tuesday, so what do you think?"  Umm "Whaaaa?  That makes absolutely zero sense.  That's my girl though, loves to be celebrated.  She chose to have the family go to Smitty's for supper that evening.  Here a few few pix:

Her big sis is totally in love with Justin Beiber, and  although Théa's not a huge fan, Isabelle thought it would be appropriate if she had him close to her heart every night :)  Look how thrilled she is, lol.

She was stoked to get the new Much Music Dance 2011 cd.   I love the expression on her face

And her very first pair of jeggings  (although only the top is visible in this shot)  They're cute too - purple.

She makes us so happy.  She's funny, smart, and curious about everything.  She loves to dance, play piano, and sing.  I can't wait to see where life takes this one.  I pray that Psalm 37:4 "Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart" will be true for her all the days of her life.

On the scrappy front.  I spent a little while playing with the gorgeous March Kit from Scrapbook Nook yesterday afternoon.  This kit is so fabulous, I just want to lock myself up in my craft room and scrap every little itty bitty piece of it.  *sigh*  I made this layout of Isabelle with a friend in front of our old house on the first day of school.

Here's a card I made on Sunday for a dear friend who had surgery last week.  Inside was a gift certificate for Blockbuster to help the five weeks of bed rest pass a little more quickly.

We're heading off tothis mountain in a few hours for a week of skiing.

I'll likely not be posting anything new, but will be around the blog-ous-phere from time to time.

Have a wonderful Spring Break all,

♥S. Pin It

Sketch Challenge

Every Sunday Creative Scrappers posts a new sketch challenge, with a prize for whoever wins.  There's always a fun sketch and a ton of inspiration from their DT, and GDT.  For the first time ever I've decided to submit a layout for consideration.  I was desperate to dig into the truck load of goodies I received from My Mind's Eye earlier in the week, but looking at all of it was somewhat overwhelming.  I needed help to get me started, that's where CS comes in.  Here's the sketch:

And here's my take on it:

The pic is of Eden the morning of my birthday breakfast at The Pancake House, my all time fave place to go in the city for my favorite meal of the day.  As soon as the server placed her food in front of her, she just couldn't help but take a like of the scrumptious mountain of whip cream.  I love that she's still young and carefree enough not to care what others watching may have thought of her. 

That's about all the scrapping I think I'll be able to squeeze into this week, as Friday we leave for our week away in Steamboat, CO for Spring Break.

Happy Monday all.  I hope your week is off to a great start.

♥ S. Pin It