What we love... about each other

4 years ago I did a cute, quick little Valentines He/She loves mini book project .  A picture book about each family member and a few things about what each of us happened to love in 2011. I was looking back at the book and the pictures this past week and I realized how much we've changed in just 4 years. I'm so glad I made that little book at that time as now its serves as a point of reference for me.  So I figured since tomorrow is Valentines Day,  It wouldn't hurt to update this project digitally here on my blog. But instead of writing down things we love now in 2015,  I made this a family project and I asked each one what we love about each other instead...

What do you love about Dad?

• Me-     "How much he loves us and how he makes me laugh "
• Chris-  "That he raised us to believe in ourselves first and foremost"
• Danny- "How much he supports me in all that I do"
• Mikey- "That he does what he has to do for the family"

What do you love about Mom?

• Jerry-   "How shy you get sometimes"
• Chris-  "Your friendship, Momma"
• Danny- "That you cook for me and always there for me"
• Mikey- "That you're super creative and that you make really good food for us"

 

What do you love about Chris...

• Jerry-  "That he's what a big brother should be"
• Me-     "His heart and sunshine smile"
• Danny- 'The advice he gives me."
• Mikey- "How he teaches me things and helps me with homework"

What do you love about Danny?

• Jerry-  "That he gives you who he is. He's real"
• Me-     "His empathetic heart"
• Chris-  "His laugh and cute personality"
• Mikey- "That he will still play with me even when he doesn't want to sometimes"

 What do you love about Mikey...

• Jerry- "His smarts, intelligence and his laughter"
• Me-    "That he will still hold my hand in public"
• Chris- "His creativity and art"
• Danny- "His funny personality and that he's my friend"

                   
 
What we love about Lulu...

• Jerry- "She's been a good dog"
• Me-  "She loves being my walking partner"
• Chris- "She's a great cuddle buddy"
• Danny- "That she plays with me outside"
• Mikey- "She's adorable and that she loves us"

Awww... this was a lot of fun and so much more important than chocolates and gifts for all of us to take the time to reflect even on the little things that we love about each other on a daily basis to keep us strong.

I just want my 4 guys (and Lulu) to know how much I LOVE them and everything about them not just on Valentines day, but every day of the year. How everything I do, I do for them and to see them happy in life.  I wouldn't be complete without them.  Thank You boys for loving me back the way you do!


From my corner to yours... may you all love and be loved today and always.


Happy Valentines Day! 
XOXO

Foto Friday- Updated Christmas Card books

Christmas is over and its time to put away all the decorations. Thankfully, I took it all down earlier this week with the help of my boys in record time of under an hour! It was so great... Aaah! As much as I was loving my garland this year, it was nice to see the house all back in order.

But the one thing I don't just throw away are the Christmas cards I love getting throughout the holidays. They usually hang on the back of our front doors during the holidays for everyone to look when they come over, but I hate the thought of throwing them out just because. So I used to put them into an album, but as of 2012 I found this idea and started putting them into my own Christmas Foto Card books. Its was a super easy idea and it was a practical way to bring them back out every year to look at just because.

So I wanted to share with you my updated version of those books just in case you were looking for a new way to store and keep your Christmas cards.

For many years,  I've ordered our Xmas cards through Costco because they've offered some great options and are priced just right. The last 3 years they have given customers the choice to order 4 free calendar picture cards with your order and I took them up on it each time. They came in handy and I always kept one for ourselves. So as I was putting our cards away this year, I found all 3 years worth of calendars and decided to use them as the title card covers for my books.


Once again: Super easy.  All I had to do was update the book I had made books for 2012 since it didn't have a cover yet. And since I hadn't done a book for 2013 yet, I pulled out those cards and this years cards, punched holes at the top instead (for a flip book effect), and put the calendars as the covers with the colored rings (available at the dollar store). And I did it all in less than 30 minutes. Perfect!




I also added to the end of each book our Xmas card for that particular year to make sure we remember what we sent out.

For 2014 I wanted something very different for our Xmas cards from what we had done before. I wanted a smaller card, simple and crafty so I made them myself by using my own computer graphics, craft paper and good old scrapbooking skills.  I loved it and will probably do it again.  But because I didn't order our cards this means I will not have a picture calendar to use for our 2015 book. Oh well, it just means I'll just have to come up with something new. Can't wait to see what else I can discover to do.

You can also add anything extra you'd like to them. For 2012 I added a Christmas card that Mikey had hand drawn for the family and it was too special not to include.  This year I included the envelope our SIL's family card came in because it was so cleverly and beautifully addressed. She has great writing anyway, but I loved the idea and the detail involved.

 There's 3 more years to add to the collection. 

I'm going to have to get a bigger basket next year, but they look really nice on display.

 

Ready to preserve your Christmas cards?

From my little corner to yours...Have yourself a crafty weekend!

#Novenas2014

These pictures represent last night which ended our successful 2014 Novena season. Although we're missing a few regulars in these pics- our spirit and joy still represents all who made them happen.

This year was special because I noticed something in particular which has meant more to me than ever.  This year our kids and even non-Colombian husbands were the ones asking for them, participating and urging them to happen. Wow, I loved this!

It was special because I noticed that they knew it was that time of year when they got to see this group of friends again. They looked forward to going to someone else's house each night for 9 nights. They even knew who's house was who's this time.

Our kids knew that we would pray and sing in Spanish (whether they understood it or not), that we would share food, laughter and some good old fashion games and prizes.

More importantly they now know that this is part of what makes THEIR Christmas time special. Its not just about the gifts and the craziness, but about getting together with people we love and truly getting to know that Christmas is all about. I believe that they too will fondly remember these Novenas as part of their childhood just like we have....A priceless gift for all us indeed.
 

Thank you once again to all of those who hosted a Novena, 

and to those who came and joined us it was great having you there. 

We truly had a blast!

From my little corner to yours..."Ven, Ven, Ven" and  Feliz Navidad! ;)

XOXO

Project Life - December Daily and the finished project

Today is the day I finish off Project Life for 2013 for you all, and I'm so excited. I can finally take this weight off my shoulders...well kind of?  You see, I've already started my 2014 Project Life album so I'm still at it. Documenting life really never ends as I tried to explain to my hubby last night, but that's the beauty of PL as well. Its easy enough to continue doing without a lot of pressure.

Ok so as I mentioned yesterday, I wanted to share the month of December separately because I actually combined my normal Project Life along with a second project called December Daily. This is a project that Ali Edwards does every December 1st- Christmas Day. The gist is to concentrate on one story or moment each day that may or may not have to do with the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Its just a way to document the holidays differently. Ali does this project completely in its own 6x8 album but since this was my first year doing it, I did not want to complicate my life anymore than necessary so I decided to make this a part of my Project Life Album. I would just be documenting something daily instead of weekly within my normal 12x12 page protectors. No problem.

To differentiate these pages I started this section with its own cover page. Simple and honestly not super decorative but it worked and it was done. I'm always about just getting it done.

Ali gives you page ideas and one of them was to write a letter to Santa, so that's what I did. I added this letter on the back side of the cover page to set the tone for the rest of these pages, and I added a collage of our lights and decorations for this year. I think I'm going to do that every year just to see If we end up doing things differently.    
                                                                                    

I started my daily pages by doing 2 days per side so here are days 1 and 2.  I started day one by taking a picture of the very first X-mas card we got in the mail. I love getting Christmas cards and I thought it would be nice to remember that Jerry's boss was the first one to get her card to us. Day 2 was Cyber Monday and I wanted to remember that for the first time ever Jerry and I actually took huge advantage of some really great deals that day and got a pretty good jump start in our holiday shopping. I really felt like this took off a lot of pressure and holiday shopping was fairly stress free this year and that felt sooo good. I hate last minute shopping. Definitely something to remember.

 

I'm not necessarily going to talk about each day to spare you too much detail, but I hope you can see that I really did try to document one simple thing that would make that day special to us from our new Elf on the shelf, a Starbucks coffee treat, an attempt to make a new holiday decoration to a special day for Mikey.

  

So day 7 I dedicated a whole page to Mikey's B-day...it just had to be that way. The next few days were kind of jammed packed so I had to resort to my collages to get a few more details in, but I was happy with that. Another picture I think I will also do annually will be the wrapping paper I will be using that particular year. It will be fun to see the different themes or colors used under the tree.

We had a jammed packed weekend including 3 Xmas parties one Saturday night along with another celebration the following day.  That following week I missed one day, but I wasn't going to worry about it. The rest of the week was busy with the start of our novenas, more food binges,

 and school holiday functions for the boys.

 

This last week before Christmas got a little tough since that's when my mom had her accident and things got a bit chaotic and stressful. We tried to keep that holiday spirit going by attending the remaining novenas and using them a source of prayer for my mom and her recovery, and we tried to make Christmas Eve as special as possible for all of us. It proved to be a special week for me to remember all the love and support our friends provided us. True friendship at its best this week and I couldn't have been more grateful to be in their company during this time.

Chrismas Day took its own page as there was all kinds of fun to be had as we spent a little bit of time with all our different family members throughout the day. And I ended up finishing up the week with New Years Eve antics we wont soon forget.

An overall note about this December Daily: One thing I was pleasantly aware of, if you look back, you'll notice as I did that I really spent a lot more time documenting in words as much as I did with pictures. Much more than I have done all year to be honest, and that has given me such immense satisfaction...more than I can express! I've always been really big on journaling, but I've definitely been lacking in that area throughout the year, and this project helped me remember just how important journaling is to this whole process. So I've made it my goal for 2014 to concentrate on definitely including a lot more journaling in my pages. 

And here is the last page of my 2013 album.

Completing this page made it official for me. It was finally done!!!

Woohoo!!!

But the story definitely doesn't end here. As I start working on 2014, I'm already implementing some changes to reflect some things that I've learned from doing the project this past year. I'm learning what works and what doesn't to make this experience better or maybe just different...again, we'll see. 

 Thank you all for coming back post after post to go on my family's picture journey along with me. 

 I apologize as I know that there are only so many pictures any one person can look at a time, but I appreciate your patience and sticking with me throughout the year.

From my corner to yours...hope you'll be back for 2014!

XO

Merry Christmas 2013

There's so much to catch up on, but for today...

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 to ALL NEAR & FAR!!

XOXO

Goodbye to 2012!!!

This year has gone by at an incredible speed! Don't you think so?

I have been trying to write this post for the last few days unsuccessfully trying to sum up this whole year, and as I sit here on New Year's Eve stressing about getting this post out before midnight, I've realized that the reason why I usually do my yearly recap is to talk about the things that have happened and that I never posted about, but I'm pleasantly surprised to see that I've done a much better job than most years in writing about as many events as possible.  A testament that my blogging consistency is building over time...something I've been striving for. YAY!

So there is no need to stress! The year isn't over yet and there is no rhyme or reason to any of this, right?!

In short summary I can easily go back in my archive and realize out of many things that:

• I have challenged myself and been challenged physically, I started running and reached goals I never thought I could, but I did because I tried
• My boys have each hit milestone birthdays and each has had moments to highlight
• Our family has welcomed new family members through weddings, and a new baby girl is on her way to us, and we couldn't be more excited
• We got to take an amazing vacation we never thought we'd take 
• and many other things in between...

I can also see that I truly put my word of the year CREATE to work All year long:

• I have created not only a variety of projects with my hands for myself and others, but my sewing machine has become my best friend and one of the best investments I've ever made.
• I created and recreated some aspects of my own personal style which has been incredibly fun to do
• I I have created special settings and moments with the help of new ideas and sources
• I was given a variety of chances to create opportunities to practice my photography which were unexpected and yet so rewarding!

Ultimately, Its been a successful year, and we've been blessed in many ways, but it wouldn't have been complete without its challenges as well, but for now that will all be over tonight. 

Tomorrow will be the start of a new year. A clean slate...

2013 will bring new challenges to endure, new victories to conquer!

But for tonight I am writing this in a different fashion and posting at unfamiliar time.

I am writing in real time, in the middle of celebrating with family and friends we can always count on, in ways we will always remember...

With traditions we have been brought up with and are sharing with our children...











We are ringing in the New year together as we should be...

Goodbye to 2012!

May 2013 be life changing, adventurous, and prosperous in all possible ways!

May it be special for us all!



So from my corner to yours....

10..9.. 8..7..6..5..4..3.. 2..1...

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

XOXO

Our Danny Boy....

Is 13 
Years old today!!!!

We officially have a second teenager in the house!

Oh no!!


How did he get here soo quick!






The truth is we've come such a long way with Danny. We knew he was special from the minute he was born, and our life with Danny has been a ride in itself.  He is our Aspy baby and we were blessed and honored to be chosen to have this little boy in our lives.  We thank God for all the love and joy he has brought to our lives as well as the difficult moments we've had as they have only helped us help Danny become the boy that he is today.

My sweet Danny, I remember when:

• You'd keep me up all day with your 15 minute cat naps
• We would cry together on the sofa when I didn't  know how to console you
• You had us running after you through parking lots
• we'd have to leave parties with you crying
• you'd take off ALL your clothes when you went to the bathroom...George Costanza style, lol!
• you'd have to hold a toy figure in your hand all the time
• you were our little Peter Pan in the backyard
• you'd swing in circles for hours at a time...
• I felt the weight of the world lifted off my shoulders when we found out why you were doing all of these things
• We lost you at the park...one of the worst moments of my life!

But when we found you, everything changed for us! We hugged you more, we watched you more, 

we understood you more and if it was at all possible....we loved you soo much more! 

To love you has meant to:

• accept and understand that you are going to see and do things a little differently
• help others understand this too!
•  help you expect the unexpected in life and know how to deal with it
• help you get through life just like everybody else
• give you the same experiences that any other boy would have
• expect the same from you than the other boys
• not give you any excuse not to succeed
• allow you to gain your independence as you grow up
• help you depend on yourself 

To love you JUST the way you are with all our hearts!!!

Danny you have amazed us when you:

• can tell us exactly when a movie is coming out and who the actors are and what other movies they've made
• can memorize movie lines verbatim
• can know exactly where my keys and my phone are at all times
• can recognize what kind of pizza there is just from the smell and from miles away!
• you give up what you want to do to make sure Mikey is ok
•  
• when you enjoy things we wouldn't expect you to ever enjoy 
• you know yourself enough to know what you need or don't need
• found yourself around a big middle school without our help
• we told you about having Aspergers and your reaction was to giggle because it sounded like it has the "ass" word it in it!
• you took this knowledge and learned to be proud of all the great things you can do because of it

You amaze us when you tell us and show us that you love us back with that beautiful silly smile you've always had!

Daniel there are not enough words to tell you just how much we all love you. You have taught us things about life and ourselves that we wouldn't have learned otherwise. You have made us better people, and we couldn't be prouder of the young man you are today!

So instead of crying as I write this,

 I am going to celebrate You this day!!!

We are all celebrating with you today, Lil' D!!!!

 Happy 13th Birthday Danny Boy!

WE LOVE YOU!

My projects for 2012 >>> #1 - Christmas Card Books

One of the first projects I usually try to start off with every year is doing something crafty with the Christmas cards I receive during the holidays. Our family and friends make such an effort in sending these beautiful cards out (homemade, picture and otherwise) that it just seems ungrateful to throw them out and worse yet put them away where no one will ever see them again. Don't you agree?

So in the past I have scrapbooked them in various ways into my Christmas albums, but I just haven't had the time or energy to do that in the last year. This year I decided to do something that many people are doing with their yearly cards... Christmas Card books.

Its soo easy yet still creative...Perfect!

They are just a neat way of keeping them together year by year, and you can put them out during the holidays for you and your family to look back on.

As I mentioned in my last post, I went on a little weekend getaway to Palm Springs with my family. We had a great time. A great time doing nothing much!! We rested, walked, the boys rode their scooters, we went hot tubbing, and I took the opportunity to start my creative process out there.

I went  prepared with all the necessities to take advantage of the free time I had.  I took the following things: 1.) My cards per year (including one of my own family Xmas cards, of course) 2.) a hole punch, 3.) paper cutter 4.) adhesive or glue stick 5.) 2 book rings per year 6.) decorative paper, stickers, embellishments, etc.

There are different ways of making these, but I got my inspiration from the ones my SIL has made (see her post here). But I am also a fan of Becky Higgins and last week she directed her guests to this eighteen25 blog-site  that had a FREE download and easy print out of a cover to complete my books. I've always said that scrapbooking and crafts are all about sharing ideas, so thank you to all these ladies for sharing! 

I didn't have any chip board or poster board, so I took a simple file folder (anything that is sturdy enough for a cover), and since I had 2 years worth of cards to make, the one folder was enough for both. I cut each of the file folder side in half (8 1/2" x 5 3/4") and decorated each front/back with decorative paper. I then cut out the print out and pasted it on top of each front cover.

I decorated each cover by stamping the year on each one, and added embellishments

Then I took each year's set of pictures and hole punched two openings on the left side of 

each picture that lined up to each of the red striped lines of the print out.

. 

I bought 1" red book rings to add to the X-mas feel, and put each card in random order through the holes. I also tried putting smaller cards in the front, but random nonetheless.

Instead of book rings, you can also use red or green ribbon to hold your book together.

  And you finish it off by putting on the back decorated cover, 

and voila you're Christmas card book is done. 

 

 For my 2011 cards, I took the same print out, but just added some different paper 

and touches to make it a little different.

Here are my finished Christmas books for both 2010 and 2011. 

I did both in less than 2 hours (if that).

They didn't take very long to make, but I took my time looking over the cards, appreciating each one, and enjoying each step of the project, especially the decorating of each cover. It had been a long time since I had done something like this, and I truly enjoyed making each one. It felt good to have completed technically 2 projects in one. After sharing them with the boys, I was able to put them away and enjoy the rest of my getaway feeling accomplished for the weekend.

I hope that I have inspired you to make similar books with your Christmas cards. Remember that you can print up as many of those printouts to do as many books as you need. Or you can come up with your own covers. Its all about how creative you feel like being and how much time you have.

 *The truth is you can make these books for just about any occasion you get cards for (showers, weddings, birthdays, etc.) Now that I've done these, I might even do these for each of my boys birthday cards they've received over the years.
Oooh, good idea!*

Either way, I am onto choosing my next project to work on and I will share my progress as I go along.

Thank you again for stopping by, and just know that I always appreciate your thoughts and sentiments. They mean soo much to me!
 
Happy Friday to everybody, from my corner to yours...