Bits & Pieces

This last week I was so excited to get a package from Amazon: Becky Higgins' Project Life scrapbook kit. I love all the fun materials for scrapbooking in general, but let's face it...time is precious and lately it seems I have less free time than ever. I'd love to spend hours each week pouring over my stash of goodies and coming up with creative and artistic layouts (hmm...perhaps when the kids are older and in school!). Heck, I'd even love to get photos into a basic album! But the reality is that I still have photos in a box from Maddie's FIRST birthday party. Part of my issue is a lack of time. The other part is feeling a bit paralized about it...feeling so "behind" on documenting our lives, feeling like I want my layouts to be perfect, taking forever to pick out "just the right" accessories, not knowing where to start. So what am I left with? Two-year-old photos in a box. What good is that?

My new scrapbook kit comes with a TON of materials, but here's the thing...everything is ready to go! It's all measured and cut out. It all coordinates. There's no right or wrong way to do it. You just write on the little journaling cards, print out your photos and slip everything into the pocket protectors and you're done! Now THAT I can do, even with James in the front carrier! I've realized that I'm better at completing projects when they're in small, do-able chunks. When it comes to scrapbooking, I'm drawn to mini-albums for documenting single events and I love page protectors for gathering the bits and pieces of our ordinary, everyday life. Last year I made a binder documenting "a week in the life" of our family and it was one of my favorite projects to date! This new scrapbook kit is along those same lines...just over the course of a whole year. I'm just taking it month by month, hoping to capture James' first year milestones, Maddie's growth and funny quirks, and our reality for now. I've been keeping the album laying out on the buffet so that I can take 5 minutes and jot something down whenever it hits me during the day.

Getting a start on it...photos, Blazer game ticket stub, quotes by Maddie, samples of her watercolor paintings, favorite new recipes, James' 5 month milestones.

Here are a few photos I've taken over the last few weeks that may or may not make it into the album:

James is pretty much in awe of his sister Maddie. Let's face it, she's darn entertaining! He's always straining to see what she's doing and Maddie is really good at engaging him and calming him down...although the other day she said as James was being fussy, "It's okay, Mommy. Sometimes babies just cry."

When we remodeled the kitchen, this area was designed to be a breakfast nook with a table in the middle. Well, the table hasn't happened yet...and to be honest, I'm quite fine with that! It's become a perfect little play area for Maddie (it is usually not this much of a disaster, but who can be bothered to tidy up when there's so much playing to do!).

The past couple of nights James has been pretty fussy (usually he's very calm and relaxed). The only thing that seems to soothe him is having his legs free and getting a massage (hey, can you blame him? Sounds good to me!)

This is the way James and I spend large chunks of our day together--in the front pack. He loves to be snuggled in tight with his hands in prayer. I just had to try to capture that sweet little face I get to gaze at all day.

Lovin' on my sweet boy. His soft little head is showered with snuggles and kisses all day long. How could I resist? :-)