Valentine Treats, Clocks and more!

I went visiting teaching last night and had a wonderful visit with the sister whose photos I took with her baby a little while back. Her hubby is in the RCMP training and stays at the training facility all through the week - only making it home for the occasional weekend. I'm not sure how I would handle that. My husband will more than likely be starting a new job on Monday, and I'm kind of looking forward to missing him a little, but him being gone ALL week, and most weekends? I think I might find that pretty rough. Especially if I had a new little one to look after, like Leah does. Crazy. I find things to admire in every one I meet. Since it's February, I made these little treats for my visiting teaching sisters, as well as for my kids' school and church teachers. The ones for the Visiting Teaching ladies obviously don't have the little Valentine cards of the girls in them - but other than that they are the same. If you want to see how they are done, you can look here.I've also been busy altering a couple of simple things for my scrap room. I altered this clock (it only took a few minutes) to hang on the wall. I love how the lime green contrasts with the blue and the ribbon I made from some fabric I bought from Wal-Mart. I love it! (Even though the bow is crooked in this photo - LOL!) I also used the same ribbon to hang this photo frame I bought from our local Dollar store. It holds 2 5X7 photos, and it's nice and big! It fits so nice in the spot I've got it hanging. I wanted to display a wedding photo (since I realized I haven't had one displayed in years!) I didn't want 2 photos in the frame, though, so I altered it with some patterned paper, a Heidi Swapp flower, a circle cut from patterned paper and a clear bauble sticker over it. I stamped "Together Forever" in the middle of the circle, and tied a co-ordinating ribbon around the photo to tie it all together. It was made using stuff I had lying around (except for the $1 frame) and I LOVE how it turned out!
But wait! That wasn't the end of the fabric! I went fabric CRAZAY! Well, not really - I just changed the fabric around my craft blocks to match and bring everything together. You can get a better look at the fabric in this picture. I bought about 1/2 a meter of fabric and I've still got about half of it left. I'm sure I'll find some fabulous use for it yet! ;)

While I was taking photos of all my new creations - my 3 year old asked me if I would take some photos of her. How could I resist those eyes? Honestly - she has her daddy's eyes, and they melt my heart. I even got her to LOOK at the camera for a change. What a treat! She is a bright ray of sunshine in our lives - so lively and sweet. You've never heard a giggle until you've heard this one start! Her giggles are completely infectious! I LOVE listening to her. She is such a sweetheart.

Oh, and a quick resolution update:

I had a GREAT "mommy" day today. I prayed this morning for an abundance of the Spirit in my home and for an increase of love and patience towards my family. I knew that I had to do my part for that to happen, so instead of TV, I turned on some fun music. I did my workout early so that I could spend some quality time with my 3 year old while the older kids were in school. We sat down and worked in her preschool book, then played a fun clean-up game together. We laughed as we did our Friday chores and screamed as daddy chased us with the vaccum. Afterwards we danced around the kitchen to Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" until lunch time. It was a positive mommy day for me and I have been so blessed to have my prayers answered so obviously!

After lunch I treated myself to a haircut (now I'm a bob-girl!) because I've been doing well on my other resolution (getting into shape). I'm down 9 pounds (soooo close to that 10th pound, but hey - it's that time of the month and I'm retaining water folks) so I'm counting it as a success. At least I didn't put on any weight this week, I LOST a pound. I'm doing well with my exercising (haven't been able to run for more than 2 - 4 minutes at a time yet) and I've been getting a TON of water. I feel really great! I've also been steadily losing inches - though not enough that I notice a big difference in my clothes yet. I'm not getting discouraged, though. The weight won't come off overnight - but slow and steady will certainly win this race. It's what I'm counting on!

Well, I've got some work to do (i.e. scrapbooking - ha ha! That OTHER resolution) so I'll get going. I want to say how much I LOVE and appreciate you all for bothering to stop by here. I can totally feel the love and it gives me a boost I can't describe. So THANK YOU for coming by! Have a great weekend!