Summer is just around the corner

Summer is really sneaking up on us quickly this year. It really doesn't seem like there should only be two days of school left in the school year, but that is the case and when school starts back in the fall I'm going to be sending both of my kiddos off to school. Kathryn will be in the fourth grade and Paul is going to be starting kindergarten.

As far as summer plans go, we really don't have any. I would like to be able to take a vacation, but that isn't something that we are going to be able to afford this year. So, instead I hope that we will have the opportunity to make some day trips to different attractions around here.

And then there is the fact that my youngest niece is going to be having her first birthday this year. She was born in July of last year and had to stay in the NICU for about two weeks after she was born because she had jaundice and also some difficulties breathing. However, now she is a happy, healthy and plump ten month old. She has just cut her first two teeth and is crawling really well now. I suspect that she will be walking before we know it.

This is a layout that I've just done with some of her pictures from when she was a month old. She has been a very expressive baby from the start and I afraid that is going to mean problems for mom and dad somewhere down the line.

For this layout I used Bundle Sweet Castle by Pati Araujo

Through Sickness and in Health

As the day gets closer that Tom is going to have to have his six month follow-up PET scan and his follow-up appointment with his oncologist, I am starting to feel a bit of scan anxiety (for those that haven't ever had a loved one go through cancer treatment, that is anxiety that the scan will not be clean.)

In going through that, I've realized that being married is not always what we really think that it is going to be. You think that all of the times in your relationship are going to be as happy as the day that you were married and this is simply not the case at all. In this past year I've seen the entire gamut of emotions in my marriage. There are the times that we are closer than we've ever been and then there are the times that I feel like I just want to give up, but I won't because that isn't what a marriage is. On those days that are the hardest for me, I will work on our wedding album, that I still haven't gotten done, despite the fact that we are only two months away from our 8th anniversary. This creation is one of the pages that will be printed in the final book, whenever I get it done.

A couple of my favorite wedding pictures with some of the lyrics from the song we used for our first dance "From this Moment" by Shania Twain.

For my layout I used The Orient Express by Nini's Notions

My Crazy Life

This month has been crazy busy for me so far. First of all, it started with a baseball game for Paul and spending time with family. Tom has had a doctors appointment this week and goes in at the end of the month for his six month PET scan (please pray for no light ups).

We are also nearing the end of the school year so that has meant more school activities as well.

Paul lost his first tooth on the 30th of April, making him official five and a half before he lost his first tooth. 

Oh and who can forget iNSD. I was able to get a lot of scrapping done during those events and I had a blast as well. It was one day that I can honestly say that I really spoiled myself.

Today's layout is about my birthday celebration last year at a local Japanese restaurant. One of our family traditions is to let the birthday girl/boy pick what restaurant to eat out at. I love Japanese food so this was my natural choice. Does your family have any interesting birthday traditions? I'd really like to know so leave a comment if you like.

Some pictures from my birthday celebration last year.
 For my layout I used The Orient Express by Nini's Notion.

Sometimes it is Too Much

Sometimes it feels like we are able to live our lives on an even keel and then other times it starts to feel like the odds are not in your favor. That is pretty much where I am right now. Yesterday I found out that my mother's dog, Sarah, who has been a part of our lives for the last fourteen years passed away.
I've also been dealing with a lot of pain from my TMD and that has been making it impossible for me to get a full night of sleep. It is wearing on me quite rapidly.

But still, there are things in my life that are very valuable to me and things that do make it possible for me to go on when it feels like the odds are quite against me. I'm lucky to have my two very beautiful children and my husband that does try my nerves sometimes, but is good to me overall.

I love thinking about those great times in my life when I'm struggling because that is the best thing that I can do to get through those dark moments. Easter is one of my favorite times of the year and that is why I choose to scrap pictures from Easter just after I found out that I was pregnant with Paul and when Kat was just three years old.

You were so cute during our Easter egg hunt this year. With every egg that you discovered, you had to run and show it to Nana.

For my layout I used Spring Pretty by Michelle Pieters.

One Year Ago Today

It never ceases to amaze me that our lives can be completely and irrevocably changed in just one minute. It was exactly one year ago today that we got the call from a surgeon that changed the lives of everyone in our family forever. It was the call where the surgeon called to let us know that the preliminary biopsy results from my husband's lymphectomy were back and they showed Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

This set into motion a series of events that I really wish that I could wake up from and realize that they were a bad dream, but that just isn't something that is possible. The only hope that I keep these days is that he is able to stay in remission and cancer will just be a part of our past. Financially, we've been almost devastated and our relationship has really suffered as well. But I know that we are both stronger people because of it and there isn't a day that I'm not thankful to get to spend time with Tom and the kids.

Those happy, carefree moments aren't something that we are really able to enjoy all that much now though because of the constant fear of cancer returning and having to go through it all over again. That is one of the reasons that my scrapbooking is so very important to me because it allows me to relieve the carefree moments and forget about our struggles for a little while.

My newest page is of some pictures that were taken five years ago of Paul and I on his first Mother's Day. I believe that the colors in Amanda Thorderson's Wax Nostalgic were perfect to go along with the mixture of feminine and masculine in my layout.

A couple of pictures of Paul (and me) on his first Mother's Day.
For my layout I used Wax Nostalgic by Amanda Thorderson

Kathryn

I really don't think that most parents are as lucky to have a daughter that is as wonderfully special as Kathryn is. She is nine years old now and wise well beyond her years. She does have her moments when she seems like your typical nine-year-old girl, but most of the time she seems like a young woman that is stuck in a little girl's body.
She is really into music and is learning to play the violin right now (she won't be old enough to start in the school orchestra until next year). She is a member of Girl Scouts of America and she is also an aspiring vet. I just know that she is going to have an amazing life as she continues to grow up.
The pictures in this layout are some that I took last week at the park when I was taking some Easter pictures of the kids and also my friend's kids as well. They really are the perfect images of her because they show that she is hard and soft at the same time.
For my layout I used Wax Nostalgic by Amanda Thorderson.

Easter thoughts

The Easter bunny came to visit my kids on Sunday and I certainly hope that he visited yours as well. Not only did Kathryn and Paul end up with an Easter basket loaded with toys and lots of candy, they also go to have an Easter egg hunt with A's kids at my mother's house. I think that Easter was a great success for all seven of the kids.

You see, spring break and Easter this year were hectic for us because I invited A's kids to spend all of spring break week with us. That meant a very noisy house for a family that is used to just the four of us being here.

On Good Friday we took all of the kids to Jacobson Park so that we could get some Easter pictures of them and the picture in my layout is the best one of Kathryn and Paul.

For my layout I used Spring Pretty by Michelle Pieters.