And the award goes to ...

The winner of this fantastic, fabulous punch is Amanda with her 4 babies! Email me at aj_mcgarvey AT msn dot com and I will get you your great prize!

Off to baseball opening day today...here come 3-5 baseball games per week!

GIVE A WAY!

Woohoo!

First, I'd like to thank my friend Heidi over at Sacred and Profane for the linky love -- we're hooking up with her today!

Today, I'd like to give one of you lucky friends this wonderful, fantastic, brand new, yet out of the package, FISKARS scallop border punch. It's all the rage and you know you want it.

All you have to do is tell me if you're a beginner, intermediate or advanced scrapper/paper crafter. Maybe you're not a crafter at all and you just really like to eat a lot of butter. Me too. On the butter part.

Anyway. Enter by 10 am pst SATURDAY.

what's important?

Everyone's definition of important is different. Naturally my family is important, my friends are important, health is important. The major stuff. But, to me, seeing the good is important too.

I like to try and find the silver lining, the positive aspects of things, anything that can make you feel good. I try to not speak negatively and I try to see the cup half full. So, instead of focusing on the virus that made the baby crabby for the better part of a week, I choose to see how he's back to his mostly happy self. :)

The winner is...

The winner for the Elle's Studio tags is MICHELLE! (#5) Email me Michelle at aj_mcgarvey AT msn dot com and I'll get the tags right out to you!

THANKS FOR PLAYING. New giveaway next FRIDAY!

A fun giveaway!

I've been so out of the giveaway loop recently! Heck, who am I kidding? I've been out all of the loops!

Anyway, so I'm sticking my toe in the water and am giving away something simple this time. One set of KRAFT Prompts, Patterns and Journaling Tags from Elle's Studio!

I LOVE all of the items I have from Elle's Studio - super cute stuff! I'd like you to love it too. So, here's your chance to try out these 20 TAGS!

TO ENTER: Leave me a comment telling me who you're going to forward this information onto so that they can enter, too! Leave your entry no later than 5 pm PST on Friday, February 20.

Just a tease

A peek at my baby...

Little things

It's those little things in my life that matter the most.

My still scrumptious 15 month old that shouts "Oyer" when trying to locate his bigger brother (not to be confused with his bigger bigger brother!). He also has a quite enthusiastic "HI!" for strangers and friends alike. That is fun.

Super nice, kind and thoughtful mother in laws that still practice the art of handwritten notes and remember things in your life that others forget. She's a GEM and I'm more than lucky to have her. My kids are really lucky to have her as a "Ma". Andy is the luckiest yet because he gets to call her Mom and has had her for all of his life.

Good friends, book clubs, joy jars and wonderful quotes like this one: "I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing." -- Agatha Christie

Fresh flowers from my ever blooming rose bushes and tiny, itty bitty pizza boxes used as advertisements and pretty gifts all packaged up for Valentine's Day.

Kindergarten music performances make my heart leap and my face smile. LOVE IT!

I am a happy girl. I'm also a girl who may, or may not, be giving away scrapbook goodies this week. ;)

15 months old

First, as much as I don't want to, the above age is not a lie. WAH. it's totally true. My baby, the last child in our family is 15 months old. RIDICULOUS. I'm about to have a tantrum.

Anyway...

Here he is just 1 short year ago.

{isn't he scrumptious?}

What a day!

So, i was going to write yesterday about the day I had. One of those amazing, so full of joy your chest is bursting type of days. I'm still planning on it, though now I am writing about YESTERDAY, but really...I didn't want to bury the picture. This picture:

Anyway. The day started as they all do...kids yelling (my I key is totally stuck by the way. SOME baby, not naming any names, spilled some COKE all over and around the computer. Hmmm....), baby laughing, me covering my head with my pillow. Instead of surrendering to all of the things I shouldn't do (stay in bed all day and throw the kids to the wolves) I got up and did what I'm trained to do: make breakfast lay out clothes, pack lunches, change diapers, start laundry..you know, super stuff.


We headed out for school, taking Cam at 820 am. Andy called to ask if I'd seen the emails from interested parties for our FOR SALE CAR. (Want it? really cool Camry Hybrid for sale!) He was excited and told me someone wanted to offer us a good price for it. I'm elated.


Then, we pull into the lot, i get a good spot and walk cam to the gate. My heart is full, there is a sprng in my step. Cam and i part ways and look forward to being reunited at the end of the day. Life is good, it's warm and sunny. What else do you want?!


The day went on like that. SEVERAL (4!) interested parties in our car. Super good, smart boys. A happy baby. Gave away a bunch of outgrown clothes to a friiiend. NO cooking tonight becasue it's a fundraiser night at Carl's Jr.


I think one of the things that really pushed me over the edge to elation was this. My photo ledges are 90% complete! WOOHOO!

{the whole thing. i love it}

{top shelf}

{middle shelf}

{bottom and middle shelf}

Or, maybe, just maybe, it's because I have a silly baby who insisted he wear a sweatband. I dunno. What do you think?

{Please ignore the mess around the funny baby. in fact, why don't you pretend that I'm a perfect house keeper and that there are NEVER toys scattered about, littering every square inch of floor in our house. And, that every spot that might have been missed by toys has some sort of food there instead. Sounds good.}

Whatever the case, I suppose it doesn't matter. i'm a lucky girl, one of the luckiest, I bet. And I'm going to keep thanking the universe for all that is good.

Beauty

Over the weekend we had some warm temperatures, so we decided it would be fun to take the kids out to the pier at Huntington Beach for photos and dinner.

I didn't get much in the way of portraits, the sun was set by the time we got there. But, I did get this...

and this too...

Also, it's BASEBALL time again. Here are my little athletes at work...

{sawyer is baseball ready!}