I am scrapbooking!

And it really, really makes me happy. If I only had one day left on earth, other than hug and love my family, I would truly want to spend it scrapbooking....  putting down memories that will last forever. It has been a long time since I made stuff just because I wanted to! And, these are my few days a year when Shannon (my best friend from Florida) and Sherrie (my awesome friend from Iowa) come to town to just make stuff!!  I LOVE IT!!  We are at my house this year so I did not have to move or pack a thing (TOTALLY ROCKS). It is just nice.

And, I got done one thing that has been hanging over my head for about 10 months....  I am a very laid back, non-chronilogical scrapbooker (because being behind made me feel like I was having a stroke), but I do these AWESOME Letters to my Dear Sweet Child boxes for the girls and I had not gotten Kalli's done for LAST year!  It just hung over my head, and now it is COMPLETE! I am just thrilled.

I also did Kaya's for THREE (she turned four only a week ago) and I have both of theirs prepped and ready for next year. YEAH!  I am just thrilled. Now I feel like I can create for the love of the memory and the story. It is going to be a fun few days.

And, if you are reading this, thanks.  I know I am slacker blog girl of the year....  but life is busy and most of all GOOD. I hope to post some projects soon and do a newsletter....  but with teaching and the girls, I am just doing the best I can! Hope you are having an incredible 2009 so far. Even in hard financial times, I know we can do little things to capture memories. And it will make your heart feel happy!

All right, these darn pages are posting all out of order, but you get the point....  just a small booklet (you get 21 of them in the Dear Sweet Child Letter Box) to capture some basic memories year by year - nothing earth shattering or award winning, but I cannot tell you what I would give to have found even just one of these in my Mom's belongings after she died.  I did NOT start at the beginning of their lives, I started when I found the books. Do even just one little things this year whether your kids are 3 or 30 and you will be grateful that you did.

 On the back cover of my booklets...  I put a couple photos about their birthday that year. So in one simple place I have photos from Kaya's 3rd birthday, some random photos of her at 3, and notes on the way she was at three. It also includes a letter from me. Short, sweet, and to the point. Man, I love this project. Have a great weekend.

What a Happy Birthday Party!

I am super tired after a long and fantastic day...  but I had to post just a few (of the 360 I took today) photos from Kaya's Rainbow Cookie Cupcake Party (with a little High School Musical thrown in). That is what she picked and I made it happen. It was one of those parties that was either going to be fabulous or horrendous and happily, it was really wonderful. Everything about it worked...  from the dress I appliqued for Kaya with a big 4 on the front and a backwards 4 on the back

To the aprons we had the kids stamp/paint their names on (they were not bad quality for what I paid). got them at Oriental Trading...  they were small, but decent and the kids LOVED them. 

 

Every time Kaya saw me about to take a picture of her, she was PROUD to shoot up her four little fingers...  it was just so cute. She is SO EXCITED to be four!

This is a shot of some of the 84 cupcakes and 48 cookies I made last night (from box mixes, NOT from scratch)

 

I am SO HAPPY I picked up this little tower thing at JoAnns with a 40% off coupon. I was really on a tight budget for this party...  but this was a very good decision and my friends promised to borrow it from me because I would NEVER pay $13 for something I was only going to use once!

The decorating in the bags with the tips was a HUGE hit. I mean, they LOVED it!

Even Kalli's boyfriend (long story there...  but they went to school together at age two and have called each other boyfriend and girlfriend ever since, and he is such a nice kid) decorated cupcakes and had a really good time.

We found out that my neice, EJ has a hidden talent for Cake Decorating that did NOT come from my sister!! 








Kaya was gracious and kind and loved every present...  even every piece of clothing. She held every single thing up for me to take a picture. It was just sweet. I could not have planned it more perfectly. She was great and shared everything right away with her sister and friends...  I wish she could always be so appreciative.

The cake (purchased by my Mom's best friend Mrs. J because I was not going to have a cake since we had all the cupcakes and she said we needed to have a cake to blow out the candles on. So, she brought a stunning cake in Kaya's rainbow theme.

And, without knowing, Mrs. J's daughter, our good friend Mari, had her husband pick up the candles and he got trick candles (yeah, for a four year old - I am SURE he did not get them on purpose) so she blew her little heart out trying to get them to stay out and the room filled with smoke from them. She was so cool about it and she just kept making these faces and blowing. Her dad starting helping her and it was just really funny. Neil took out some of the candles when they seemed to be out, and they started again IN HIS HAND and someone noticed...   they almost caught a balloon on fire. Mari was so mad that her husband got those, but MAN, it made us all laugh and Kaya was the best sport about it.

Here is Kaya loving Mrs. J. This lady makes my world a much better place. I wonder if my Mom knew what an amazing gift she was giving me by picking Mrs. J as her best friend. 

And it ended with an awesome Karaoke event to HSM2 in the basement on my dad's big screen TV with two of Neil's mikes set up so they could sing together...  they were jumping around and just really really enjoying it all. I loved it. I was so proud and peaceful even amongst the chaos that goes with having 16 kids painting and decorating cupcakes and getting out and spreading out every toy you have in your home!  It felt fantastic and I felt like this was something they would never forget. I never had kid parties when I was little. My best friend threw me a surprise party with friends for my Golden Birthday (turning 14 on the 14th) and I thought it was amazing. Even on a tight budget this year, it turned out better than I could have dreamed. I am SO LUCKY to have good friends who take great care of me (by cleaning up the ENTIRE mess from the cupcake decorating while we did presents) and brought amazing things to help me (food, cakes, etc). My sister provided so much stuff.....  it looked so nice and stayed in budget and best of all, was what one kid called, "the best party ever." Cannot ask for more than that. I feel very tired and very very very blessed beyond measure.

For Kaya to wear at her party this weekend!!

I got this idea and was dying to do this for Kaya for her birthday. I picked up the dress and a shirt that coordinated for only $11.40 at Kohls. I used the coordinating polka dot shirt like material for the applique so it perfectly coordinated. I printed the 4 off my computer for a pattern, used Heat and Bond (from Threm O Web where believe it or not I worked in 1998) and my sewing maching to make this fantastic. I am so excited about it. It will look incredible on her. And, I have the 4 backwards on the back so when she is walking away from you, it looks like you are looking through the shirt at the backwards 4. It is adorable and I cannot wait to see her in it on her party.

Happy 4th Birthday Kaya Sikora Blankenship

You are stunning and I love everything about you. 

 

I hope you enjoy every single minute of being four my baby. 

Kaya's last day as a three year old...

I am stunned that in a few hours my baby will be 4!! 
How did she get so big? These are a few terrible quick photos of a few pages I made (darn, why did I not go digital sooner so I had her birth digital instead of in boxes in the basement???).

This is her still in my belly - we are at the hospital checking in.

These are her first photos. We missed these with Kalli because she was an emergency C and Kaya was a planned C (so much calmer the 2nd time). I love these photos. I love them so much that looking at them hurts my heart.

 

And this is Kaya meeting my Mom. My wonderful Mom who I miss SO MUCH every day and especially on special occasions that I know she would have LOVED. She loved her grandchildren more than earth. Thank goodness she was here to see them be born. But I cannot help but think about how much I wished she had at least made it to see Kaya turn one. Much less four. And, how can it be that she has been gone that long??  Ugh. It breaks my heart.

Sorry for the glare on these photos..  I have too much to do to take them out of the page protectors, but you get the point.

 

And this is her this weekend more than excited to show me her BIG OLD FOUR fingers. I beg her daily to "stay little" and she says, "But Mommy, I have to turn four and then five and then six and then thirty seven like you." And when I pretend to cry she adds, "But don't worry, I will still love you and waffles when I am four." 

Ahhhhh, I love that kid and I love being her Mom.

 

I hope you have a day full of love

No matter where you are, I hope you know that you are loved. I am not a big fan of mushy "Hallmark" holidays, but I do love when life encourages you to make sure you take time to tell the people you love that you love them. Sometimes we forget to make the time to simply let them know. I hope you let someone know today how much you love them.

Our very own ice skating princess....

Kalli took ice skating this winter instead of winter indoor soccer to try something new. She loved it, and she did a great job staying on her little feet! I told her I would not take her home until she landed a triple Lutz...  she thought I was insane. I got out my BIG lens (70 - 210) which I had not done since I went digital. It worked SO WELL at the rink, and I am stunned at myself for not getting it out sooner. I loved it and the pictures were great. Here are just a few of the tons I took that day:

 

And never one to miss out on a photo opportunity....  Kaya wanted me to take some of her: 

  

And I caught her cheering on her sister giving her the THUMBS UP while yelling "Go sissy. Go faster. You can do it sissy!!" I love that Kaya has spent her lifetime on the sidelines with Busia. Never complaining, just cheering on her big sister. 

  

On the way out of skating, we ran into Kalli's boyfriend since she was 2 years old (they met and fell in love at daycare when they were both 2). They are both so much taller now...  and they are even shy around each other now. It was cute and sort of sad that they both grew up so much. 

  

And, here is the downfall to having a zoom lens on the camera. Kaya desperately wanted to take a picture of me....  and I moved as far back as I could, and this is all she got: 

  

Hope you all have a great weekend. 

A couple more birthday party shots

Here is a good one of Mindy getting kissed by her kids...

 

Dad and Matt

 

The four of us....  this photo reminds us all of the four of us at the SuperBowl a couple of years ago (what a happy memory that is, even though the bears got killed and it poured rain)

  

 Here is a cute one of papa and Kaya with the cake that I missed posting the other day

And here are a few of the kids and Auntie Mindy at the mall. She always spoils my kids at the mall. Merry-go-round rides and ice cream. The things we love but cannot afford. It was an all around great day full of happy memories.