Favorite Things Party

 I know I have said how much I love Pinterest.....but this place really has some great ideas.  The second thing I pinned on there was a Favorite Thing party.  I loved the idea and was so excited ....I just had to do it...SO here it is. 

First the invite

Then the set up....

I gathered favorites of mine (homemade) and put them together - Bath salts, peppermint bark, and a Dollar find from my favorite section at Micheal's

I put them each in a gift back (Christmas ones) for each guest to collect their favorite things





I decorated the table with my favorite plates and table runner and centerpieces during the holidays





The party....

Thanks Robin for telling me I had to do this....it was all worth it.....such laughs and stories and fun.  We Started off first having to see why we had one name left over....

Directions: Everyone brings their favorite things (5 of them).

            Write your name of 5 slips of paper

                     Go around and tell about your favorite thing

                     Give your favorite thing to the five names  you have

                     Make sure you don't have the same names or your own.....

I added the twist....bring your favorite food to share...boy did we have a great spread....nothing the same.....everything just right.

Once we figured out that Penny had written her name twice.....heee hee Love you Penny I had the chance to tell everyone how I know each one of them and that they were my favorite people.
We each told a story why our thing was our favorite and passed it out.  We all got so excited each time and I know that I got some really new favorite things.
 Here are the ones I received:

Fuzzy Sock ~ Coffee Creamer ~ Dark Chocolate Mint Creams ~ Naked Bee lotion ~ Silicone Cupcake cups

We drank some of our favorite wines too.....

And added a few favorites to the drink menu.....I severed Cranberry Christmas Champagne...Yummy

All in all it was a great way to celebrate the holidays and get us in the spirit of giving...I can't wait to do it again!

Looking back

Now that I am officially 38 (for 4 days now)  I can say I feel older.  It may be the frame of mind I am in.  The place where God is bringing me.  I am not sure but one thing I know is that the 38 days leading up to my birthday, it made me reflect and look back on life and the steps I have taken on this crazy journey of mine.  I have been blessed 100 times over.  I have wonderful parents. A loving husband.  Two beautiful children.  Wonderful family.  Precious friends. And most of all an amazing Savior that gives me these things.  Being kind is sometimes a hard thing for people to do.  I don't find it hard but I do find myself during the hustle and bustle of life not always focusing on being that way.  I am glad I had the chance to make the focused effort to randomly do an act of kindness for those I love and those I don't even know.  The last 17 days leading up to my BIG 38th birthday was filled with acts that allowed me to just do something for someone to make their life easier or full of joy.  And what I learned most looking back......I am truly BLESSED!!!  Here's to being 38 !!!

My sweet boy

My hubby and I

My Sweet girl

UPdate #2 (written November 9th)

So one a day is not working since sometimes the world doesn't present it self with an opportunity. So I have just made a list...some days I do a few and others I pass.  BUT what I am realizing is that no matter what it is that I do, doing it with out being asked is the key...and is what makes the process so much better.  I love the look on peoples faces when I hold the door extra long or let a stranger go in front of me....I strike up a conversation with that person and get to also tell them about what I am doing and that God is the ultimate Act of Kindness, of course He was far from Random.  So here is my list so far.....21 days in and 21 things done.  Feels good. 
1. Treat for a friend
2. Treats for teachers
2. Tea made for my Honey
3. Help in E's Class
4. Help in M's Class
5.  Let a girl go ahead of me in line
6. Hold the door for the parents at church
7. Text nice works of encouragement to someone
8.  Finish out a job for someone
9. Give a memento to someone
10. Clean up Lost and Found
11. Bring coffee to some people
12. help a friend when they did not ask
13. 2nd grade pumpkins with note
14. put the cart back in the store instead of in the parking lot stalls on a windy cold day
15. send a friend a treat with no name
16. compliment a mom in the store when she is with her kids
17. write a thank you note to my parents
18. Hand someone an item they were looking for
19.  Overheard a woman looking for something in the store...asked the clerk and got it for her
20.  Roll in the garbage cans for a stranger
21.  Bring a random amount of coffees to school...give to the first 4 people I see.
Just 17 more days to go....This is so much fun.

RAoK (Random Acts of Kindness)

So of course I love this whole thing and am having fun trying to think of people...but really I am going to try to let the world present the opportunities to me....I want  them to be really random...SO far I have two done for the first two days.  I am trying to make them little things too cuz I know that is what sometimes lifts my spirits most.  Each one I am making sure they know that I want them to pay it forward to someone else....I am asking them to let me know when they do as well.  It has been fun to see what people do as well,  Here is a few of the posts I have gotten that warm my heart.
 "Taking dinner to a friend tomorrow night.",
"Getting a few things from the store for a friend..." ,
"Over the weekend some guy got the crap beat out of him at a house party across the street and I called 911 covered him with my comforter(which is now in the trash full of blood) put ice on his face and me and Shawn kept him from going unconscious while is "friend" bailed once the cops showed up... poor guy I really hope he is OK.. or as much as he can be after all that mess...

Those are just a few.....keep them coming.  I will post a again soon

Random Acts of kindness....My 38th Birthday Wish

I have always loved the thought of paying it forward or random acts of kindness.  I love the thankful thoughts and being grateful is something that my mom really instilled in me.  I have found the new site (well new to me) Pinterest http://pinterest.com/melocoyle/ and am so in love with it...I have always loved looking through magazines and books and getting ideas for projects or just things I love.  I have a big book full of fun ideas to do with my kids, things I love and places I want to go....and now I have that at my finger tips with Pinterest.  So very cool.

 I found this really cool pin ( that is what they call all the items on the site) that really got me thinking,  So my 38th birthday coming up....I decided to follow suit....I love what this one gal did on her blog for her 38th birthday.... http://mixmingleglow.com/blog/?p=1358  I am going to do 38 random acts of kindness...so watch out.  She did hers in one day on her birthday but with my birthday around Thanksgiving....I won't see many people and I will be out in the Sand dunes in Glamis SO I decided to do one a day for the next 38 days....till the day of my 38th birthday.  She asked her friends and family to join her SO I will extend this invite to you.....celebrate a friend, buy a stranger coffee in the line behind you...whatever you wish just one thing for my birthday that would make you feel good and someone else better too.  I have sat down and made a list...and not sure what I want to start with...guess in 39 days or so *(since I will be in Glamis) we will find out.  Thanks and Happy birthday to me....let the Random acts of Kindness begin.

As a Child

As a child you don't realize what a charmed life you have....and then you grow up.   I tell my children every day that life is a blessing and I am glad that they are part of my blessing.  They are my inspirations, my loves ,my life....and this crazy journey would just not be the same with out them. 

Randomness

It is funny.  I Started this blog to document my children's life in a different way.  I am a scrap booker and love documenting the story of my life.  That is why I called this blog The Journey through my crazy life.  BUT for me it has become more than that....It has become more of therapy.  A place to vent, to write my thoughts, to share and sometimes someone will read it and other times.....it is just for me.  My head is so full of stuff and I am glad that I have created this place to dump it all out.

Being a parent is...

Wonderful, brilliant, fun, exciting, painful, hard, disappointing, frustrating, amazing, calming, irritating, the worst, the best and the only thing I want to be. 

Life is too Short

All my life I have known GOD has a plan.  And for a long time I have known, my plan is not always GOD's Plan.  Sometimes you go through life and it makes sense.  Other times it is completely mind blowing and so not what we can understand.  In my life now there are things that work and make sense and that has completely been answered the way I would want him to answer.  Then there is also the many things in life that I say why?.....In my experience sometimes as life moves on these things that happen in your life, God reveals why it happened the way it did and then there are times like today....where He does something that makes you cry so hard and shake your head and make you wonder what His plan could be.  GOD...." For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  We He takes some to be with him so early in our lives we have to know that He needed them more.  Help us all to remember that....and know that one day we can be with that person again.  Thanks for the happy bright light you shown on earth for a while....Heather you will be missed, friend.

Thanks Heather.....See you later

Remembering 9-11-11 (ten years later)

 When I woke up this morning it was like any other Sunday.  E quietly playing the Wii and M still sleeping.  Ten years ago today I was awakened by a phone call.....it was T and he said to me "I am not coming home anytime soon.  Turn the TV on and you will see why."  I turned it on and saw what he meant.  I was pregnant and I held my belly and prayed.  I was glued to the TV the rest of they day...week and the weeks after.  It was an all consuming activity.  My neighbor and I talked on the phone while we watched.  Then one day a few weeks after I got up, turned it off and began a different path of life.  I was going to be bringing a child into this world.  I needed to focus on creating a positive home and world for my sweet child.  I would never forget that day or the lives that were lost.  The people that were hurting...but I knew that I would one day have to tell my child about what I was doing on that day....and I wanted to say I stood up next to my fellow American and I was not pushed down.  I am glad today to say that the images that glued me to the TV have stayed with me.  I have become an American with a purpose to show my children that even a world in which GOD has created sometime bad and unforgettable things happen.  BUT we can chose to go forward and remember and honor those fellow Americans.  So Ten years later I remember.  I pray for my President and the Men and women who risk their lives each day to create a nation where we have the freedom to Speak, pray and most of all BELIEVE in GOD. 

My son held the flag in their school celebration

Ten years later - watching the coverage

Let the madness begin.....2011-2012 school starts

There are many things that fill my brain but right now...the file folders are far more full than the lazy days of summer.  With school back in full swing there comes homework, lunches to be made, personal yearbooks to create and volunteering to be done.  You would be amazed at how tired everyone gets...kind of like a long day at the beach, in the hot sun with no water to drink.  This year is not any different than any year...while most moms are glad to be back at school ( well have their kids back because they get to workout and get things done) I am glad to have the routine.  I could leave the lunch making and homework at the door....The kids seem to like school for the most part.  M more than E.  He is much like me and would rather do his own thing.  They at least look happy on the first day of school.......

It is hard to believe that M is in 5th and E is in 3rd.  I am excited and sad all at once.  I know this will be a great year for them....great teachers and great kids in the class usually help that.  And it is sure going to go fast.  The madness has started but as Becky Higgins says cultivate a good life....I plan to Cultivate a good year as I record this amazing year in my PL book.  I plan to really see each moment and praise God for the miracles he gave to me to take care of and love.

DId the summer really fly by?

It sure did and I am sad that it has come to an end...I did not get to do some things I wanted (like work on my blog) but we did so much and really pictures are worth a thousand words...SO here it goes

Biking by the beach

bowling

Cool Summer days 

CJ turns 1

Alone time with my boy

Celebrating 16 years

Alone time with my girl

E turns 8

8th bday celebration

Timing

I love to have great timing....I am not that good at it.  I seem to always be one step behind or a year a head of things.  Project life has taught me to not be behind or ahead...but to be in the right now.  Time is a funny thing.  I wake up each day thinking it is too early and next thing I know it is too late.  Summer is a time to catch up on things or as E's Karate instructor says Ketchup  hee hee.  Lazy days can be reviving and regenerating but really productive times help me to clean out and declutter and really refresh my life and my mind.  I sat down the other day and decided to really "ketchup" on my PL journal.   Timing is everything....I remember the things and reasons I took pictures.  I know what I wanted to say and why.  I have memories of the things that happened and before it is too late....I have them written down.  Thanks again Becky Higgins for inspiring me and refocusing me on the most important part of my life ....NOW

I do my best thinking in the...

Shower or while driving.  Two places where you don't usually have a thing to write with or should be writing things down.  I try hard to remember so that when I sit down with pen and paper in hand I can jot it down....but it usually doesn't go very well. Just the other day I was in the shower and thinking of all the projects I want to do around the house and with scrap booking.  Hang pictures...clean out this closet or that one, put this here or that there.  Some day my mind and my thoughts will have good timing and I will have a piece of paper in hand when I have a great idea....till then I will keep a pad of paper in my bathroom and in my car so that I can jot it down at the stop light or when I jump out of the shower all wet.....

PL update Mid March 2011

OK so here is it is Mid March 2011 and I have spent the last few days stamping dates and getting journal cards in place.  I have all of February's pictures and most of March...up to tomorrow.  I finished off the Joy of love challenge and in the middle of it, my computer was acting funny, so we did a system recovery.  Unfortunately it meant I lost my emails...cuz I saved them to the PC and not the Internet...OH well.  I wrote down some of the challenges and it helped me fill the days where nothing extra special happened.  For the Month of March I am doing the Joy of Luck.  I love finding new things to take pictures of ....like a gift I treasure and am lucky to have, that I maybe even take for granted...I picked  to photograph my bible...there are people in this world that don't have the freedom and the luck so to say to have a bible to read.  I want to read it more this year....I have been a christian all my life and really don't know the bible.  It is one of my goals.  Another picture I will take is a lucky symbol and then a Favorite material thing of mine.  I think I will choose my scrap stuff or my cell phone....not sure yet.  I plan to have Feb and March developed soon and can't wait to share how it worked.  Project Life is one amazing way to capture the Journey through my crazy life. 

The quest to make PL easy

OK so sometimes I bite off more that I can chew....Not always but sometimes.  AND at first with starting Project Life http://www.beckyhiggins.com/products/  I felt Oh Crap How can I keep this going?  I read blogs and do challenges to help me better my photo taking with the help of Becky and many other wonderful amazing and talented people.  I write notes to help me decide the direction I want to go. January was fun. EASY and really when I look back at previous traditional scrapbooks January, February and March are really not represented well.  There is just not that much happening like it July, August, September, October, November and December with all the birthdays, holidays and such.  NOW, January looks like we do something...and we do - LIFE.  As I think of the wonderful family and friends I have, I am excited to include them in my project to show how blessed I am.  This first day of February I set as my real start date of health...even though I took a picture of myself on 1-11-11 and weighed myself and measured too......all to finish up what happens to me on 11-11-11 - I also sat down and wrote down each day what I want to take a picture of.  AND I really only have 5 days of February that don't have a specific thing.  This is where my photo challenges will come in....on Becky's site she put up a challenge of having us take pictures of what we do....work, play and stuff   of each family member....I think that will be fun...and I can Highlight the people I love in the month of LOVE.  I am also a part of   Kelly Willette's Joy of Love class on line.  We are working with our cameras to learn more about them.  Something I should have done years ago when I first got my camera....Becky linked me to this originally so the challenge is the same....What they do....I can't wait to take that picture of each of my loved ones and what they do......I will post them when I take them.

Really I scrapbooked a whole month already?

It is hard to believe that January is just a day away from being over.  And for the first time in my life I have scrapbook the month before it is done.  At first I was consumed in the what do I take a picture of today.  Then I would write it down....in my calendar.  Upload it to the computer.  Date it and weekly check to make sure I had all the dates...when I did not, I would think of one thing that I would like to remember from this year.  So I took a few random shots of favorite things that my kids are into and plan to keep doing this.  Then I finally sat down and catorgized them out and printed them.  I picked them up and place them on each date they belonged...now all I have to do is write some info and DONE ALL of January 2011 DONE....pictures of the pages to follow soon YEAH  Project Life ROCKS!!!

Project Life....where am I going

 OK, so I have to admit.  Project Life is a way of thinking.  My mind is consumed with what will I take today and how will I make my life interesting.  I read on Becky's blog this am that the simple things in life are what make PL special.  The day to day things that we do are what makes our lives special.  When we take pictures normally we tend to take the wonderful special events in our lives, which of course is what we should do.  Capture the events in our lives that are special and fun and exciting.  BUT the things that happen day to day...it tells a story beyond the triumphs in our life. It tells the personal real story that makes us who we are and what makes our children see that life is not always the way we want it to be....Life is messy and I am excited to see how messy yet wonderful this year will be. 2011 has been a great year so far....all 17 days of it.  Here is a sampling of the first few days...

Cost Co with T



Ice Cream at the Cabin



Mountasia Bday party with the Twins

Madie and Miss Amber

Madie's new colors on her teeth and a Photo Challenge

Hanging with friends

A fun day with my kids

Ethan's Karate Teacher

SNOW!!!!

It snowed in our little town of Castaic on January 2nd, 2011.  What a way to start out the new year.  Funny thing was that we were going to head up to The Coyle's Cabin that day and play in the snow up at Pine Mountain....we decided not to go as the roads were slick and it was dangerous to drive up there....turns out we did not have to.  God brought the now to us.  Yeah!!

Madie making a snowman

These are the mountains

Our family....

Here is what it looked like outside in our back yard.

Having a blast with Cousins

So my kids got to have some firsts this year....E had his first kid sleepover with his cousin and they had a blast.  After a day of playing and sleeping over they came over to our house and continued the play and watched movies and just had a great old time. 

M had a sleep over of a different kind.....her 3 year old cousin Cat.  It was a joy to have such a little one in the house.  She was funny to listen to and they had soo much fun....watching movies, playing dress up, having tea and playing with dolls. 

Here they are watching a movie and then here they are playing dress up....they are so cute together.