What I'm Crushing On Right Now...

Through A Lens Photography - http://www.throughalens.com/ - for these amazing photos of my girls

Anything Mary Engelbreit - http://www.maryengelgreit.com/ - can't wait for the new products that she has coming out soon!

I love the ladies at Eighteen25 - http://www.eighteen25.blogspot.com/ - they constantly amaze me and inspire me!

Amanda at Shindig Parties To Go - www.etsy.com/people.shindigparties - she just created the most amazing party printables for Megan's graduation party in May - she is soooo talented! Thank you Amanda!

Celebrity Crush for years - Hugh Grant (would love to see him making more movies!).

Better Late Than Never!

We had so much fun hosting some of the volunteers for Art With Heart over for a Christmas party. This was their sweet table (don't know why I didn't take a pic of the food table). I think the kids enjoyed everything though and it was great to have them over!

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake

Above is my St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake that I made tonight thanks to a recipe I found on www.tidymom.net - love her blog! We've lived in the St. Louis for over 4 years now and until we moved here, I had never had this delicious dessert! Sooooo good! Try it for yourself!

http://tidymom.net/2011/ooey-gooey-goodness/

Saying Good-bye to the Old and Hello to the New

A new year, time for new goals, new dreams, new challenges, and new changes.

We've had a difficult time the last 4 1/2 years at this assignment. During the time we have spent here, Stephen has been "deployed" (stateside though!) for 6 1/2 months, had approx. 12 months of TDY's all together, spent a year remote in Korea, and has changed jobs at Scott AFB. We've also lost both of his amazing grandparents and just said good-bye to his mother the day after Christmas. Hannah was on 8 different meds or med combos before find the "right one", she's had 2 different jobs, and made it through 3 miserable high school years here. Megan has had 3 jobs, survived lots of high school drama, and went through a friend losing a brother much too young. I have been lonely here - probably the loneliest I've ever felt - as I went though the motions of setting up a home, dealing with my husband being gone, teaching the girls how to drive by myself, working through Hannah's medical issues and a scare with Megan, and losing such dear people. It wasn't quite what we were prepared for coming here. It's been a few rough years for our family, but I can honestly say we are looking forward to 2011.

We are blessed that Stephen is currently home (and it looks like it will remain that way!), Hannah is in her second year of college and is doing great with her medicine, and Megan just graduated early and starts community college in a few weeks. We have new goals and expectations for each of us this year: (1) to find a church home that we all enjoy worshiping at, (2) to watch Hannah finish up her associates and figure out what she wants next, (3) to see Megan start into college on her own in the fall, (4) trying to sell our house this spring and figure out what will be next for us - will Stephen retire from the USAF or will we take another move? We have so many new things to figure out and challenges to overcome, but we are looking forward to what this year will bring.



Happy 2011 everyone! I hope that the year brings you just what you are looking forward to as well!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas! - 2010

Over the last year I have redecorated most of my house. I decided that the "country" or "country primitive" just wasn't me. I love bright colors and all things Mary Engelbreit make me smile. My only concern was that it would be "too much". I think I have found a happy medium though and am now loving our home. Of course different colors and such in the every day decor meant that Christmas would have to be adapted to incorporate the bright colors as well. This is what I have come up with. The picture above is in the kitchen above my refrigerator.

Our family room is now painted red and the pic above is over the love seat. Lots of touches of ME!
I've collected Eddie Walker figurines and these are a few of my favorites at Christmas (of course with a ME print over the fireplace).


Our hutch has the beginnings of a ME Christmas collection!

The living room has my new favorite wall - both of our girls senior pics (thanks to Through A Lens!) are the highlight in here next to the tree and ME pillows!

Our staircase with the newly made garlands!

I love to decorate with food and since we will be hosting all the college/high school kids from my daughters charity ( www.artwithheartonline.net ) for a Christmas party, I thought why not use Christmas candy for decor (I'm sure it will disappear at the party!).



Our Christmas tree - complete with my ME ornament collection, my husband's Air Force collection, Hannah's Mary Moos & Smores, and Megan's Cherished Teddies. Lots of ME bags and wrapping paper as well. So that's my version of Christmas this year! I'll try to add more pics as things come together! Hope you have a very Merry Christmas with your family!

Not feeling it!

So I sat down today to start a new scrapbook project. I would love to make Halloween scrapbooks for my girls - you know with pics of Halloween's past! Hannah's 19 & Megan's 17 so I have plenty to do. The thing is I haven't scrapbooked in SOOOOOOOOO long, I'm having trouble getting started! I have all the cute Halloween Doodlebug papers, stickers, ribbons, etc., etc., but am feeling so out of my comfort zone. I know this sounds so silly when my girls each have a bookcase full of scrapbooks, but I am just feeling overwhelmed! I bought 8x8 books (and I think that is part of my problem - isn't not a size I usually work with) and have pics, but need motivation! Oh, what to do, what to do???

Playing Catch Up

I've been home for about a week now from my vacation to Ione, WA. I went to spend times with dear friends. My friend, Michelle, recently bought a gorgeous home there and our friend Pam and I flew out to enjoy some time together with her! After our time together, I have decided that "girlfriend" vacations should be mandatory for every mom! We had so much fun together and it was so nice to relax for a few days!



When I got back, I hit the ground running trying to help Hannah get everything ready for the quarterly fundraiser night at McAlister's & Coldstone. We've added "Art With Heart" merchandise now and it seemed to be a big hit with the kids. I am so impressed that after 6 quarterly fundraisers these kids are still so faithful about coming out and volunteering their time! We have some great young adults that bless us every time they are together! They wound up raising $478 for St. Louis Children's Hospital Art Therapy Program and collecting several bags of donations! We are so proud of them!