she's 8!!!

My oldest baby girl somehow turned 8 yesterday, how we got here is beyond me she was just 4 years old and then whooosh here before me is this amazing young lady who is totally beautiful inside and out :) She insisted that she would be bigger when I picked her up from school than she had been in the morning. heehee I love kids so so much! she handed out these cupcakes ( below) to her class to celebrate; rings for the girls and gummies for the boys. When I went in at the end of the day to see how it went all of these little second grade kids had chocolate crumbs and icing on their little faces and passed me on the way to their lockers saying " thanks for the cupcakes Mrs. Muckosky" and " I loved my cake, Emy's mom" I had to giggle, they didn't need to say a word to thank me, the evidence was all over their sweet faces lol! I LOVE it!

some of Emilea's good friends were eager to jump in for a quick pic. I could really tell that they had all made her feel like the most special birthday girl

and of course her sisters tried in their little ways to make the day special...well Tiara did anyways. Kaiella actually tried with all of her might to hijack it lol! Every time we have had a card or gift for Emy to open, and even when it has been time to sing and have cake she jumps in with "it is MY birthday... I am a grown up now" we keep telling her it will be another time for her special birthday, but she is convinced that she has left 2 years old in the dust. LOL!

We went out to Boston Pizza with our really good friends Kris and Kristie and their three boys to "party" and she got to stand up on her seat while the staff sang to her and gave her a HUGE brownie for dessert. A good good 8th birthday I would say.

**oh and I have to add a quick note for our family: she really enjoyed opening gifts and cards that were sent from some of the grandparents and friends, so thank-you guys very much for your kindness it really made her feel loved from every corner of the globe!

hi

hello there and happy Friday ( said with a *whew!* at the end) the week always seems to zip by too quickly but I am happy to see Friday come just to know that the whole family will be together for the weekend. what do you like about Friday? tell me, just for kicks :)

quick note to let you scrappy folks know that there is a new color challenge posted for this week on my CK blog come on over and play!

I'll be back later today to load my photos and get some happy moments posted from valentines day. have a good one

my valentine

this is him.

my valentine

my bestest friend

the greatest Love of my life

he is my voice of reason in the hard times

and my giggles in the sad times,

he is my party just about anytime

this is my Cam

and he rocks my world every single day :)

Happy Valentines Day! :)

cool scrappy learning!!!

I just wanted to share a great tutorial video for learning to type on a path in photoshop. HERE this is one of my favorite cool techniques and goes great with the CK blog challenge for this week to get creative with the shape of your journaling. Have fun!

a great big GOD

There is this catchy song that my kids sing at church and it says " my God is a great big God...and he holds me in his hands" I just had to snap this photo through the airplane window with my little cell phone and pray that it turned out! Looking down over the wing as I flew from Colorado to California on this clear sunshiny day was one of those moments that takes your breath away. As I looked below at this beauty and wonder how could I not know without a doubt that my God truly is a great BIG GOD!!! The same God who created these mountains, and painted the sky so very blue watches over me. The same God who sprinkled that powdery soft snow and dotted the sky with sparkling stars holds me in his great big hands. When life gets tough this is something I try to remember, oh how good it feels to be held safe by someone so very mighty.

creative journaling challenge

finally back to weekly challenges on my CK blog, this week I shared a new layout and we are talking about being creative with your journaling shapes. Lots of fun! come on over and and play with me!!! I will chose someone to feature on the site who really embraces the spirit of the challenge

our good friend

A big happy welcome to our good old friend Bear!!! I love this big guy so very much. We adopted Bear from the animal shelter when he was just under a year old. There has always been a beautiful peaceful spirit behind those big brown eyes. Then Tiara was born premature and Bear, being almost 2 and a half was still such a pup and SO big. We had to make the tough choice to give him up, two babies with lots of needs was just too much. We were so happy when our good friend Kimber took him in and Bear became a very important part of her family. Now almost 5 years later Kimber is moving and for the moment has no place for this sweet boy. So we are dog-sitting for awhile!!! He is just a delight, and has been really good for Tiara , the other girls just adore having him here too, but the effect he has had on her day today was pretty special. We had a fun family day welcoming our pal Bear. We even all went outside a few times with him for a big run in the back field although it has been about -43c! ( my calculator says that is -45 F) So funny a few people were asking me when we were in California, how we even go outside in weather like that LOL! I kept telling them, it's OK, just our eyes are uncovered. So I took a couple of pics today to share the bundle :)

this is how we do it! lots of happy fun

new day

just a quick note to say thanks for the emails. After our day yesterday We dicided to forget about trying to get to preschool or gymnastics and just stay in for some good quality time. Tiara and I are having a lovely day cuddling and drawing together. thank goodness for fresh new days :) lots to smile at !

have a great weekend

feeling the tough stuff

I don't say very much here about Tiara's troubles but some days, like today, are just really tough. Tiara has severe sensory issues and deals with some crazy anxiety these days. Not every day is like today but I am just left feeling emotionally drained at the end of it all. We started our day when Cam moved a towel in the bathroom and she just lost it completely ( this is not out of the ordinary) she really needs to know what to expect and where things will be, needs to feel in control of her environment. We deal with at least one crazy screaming fit every day. Today was different, today was intense all day long. After the towel incident was resolved ( 15 minutes of screaming on her part followed by 10 minutes of holding and talking while she cries softly) it was the feeling of her clothes that set things off ( panties had no bow and the outfit was different than yesterday) and all kinds of fears and worries about the appointment we were going to ( which we were a half hour late for of course), then her seat belt on her stomach, followed later by her ballet suit feeling wrong and being afraid about going to dance class , and on the way there nothing was right ( she couldn't go into her class so Kaiella and I danced instead...got to try and make the best of things). I Love this little girl so incredibly much and it is so so hard seeing her struggle through life like this. This is so intense.. And if it is exhausting and emotionally draining for me, I can't imagine how it feels to live inside of her body. I have always been up for challenges in parenting, they make me a better mom and a better person. But today this is hard, today my heart is so sad. Thanks for letting me share my day honestly. To learn more about sensory integration dysfunction you can read here or Google it. There is a lot of information out there. We are only beginning the journey to find answers.

on the radio!

I had so much fun last month with the ladies at Disc talk radio doing an interview for their hullabaloo show. Pattie had all kinds of scrappy questions for me, and we had a great chat after the interview was over too. Come for a listen and get to know me better! the link is here : you just have to register and listening is free. I am in the second half hour of the show! a BIG thanks to Deann and Pattie for a fun visit :) if you get the chance to explore the site over there I know they have some really nice goodies for becoming a member and there are a lot of really inspiring interviews to listen to!

have a lovely day my friends!

Emy's adventure

check out Emilea's CHA adventure HERE....she loved it!

one hot day!

We were so happy to get some really nice hot weather for our last day in California. Emilea had asked to wear capris and a tank top each day and it just wasn't quite warm enough. So she was really thrilled to leave her sweater and pants behind in our room. We ate ice cream outside and went for one more walk to downtown Disney before packing up to head home. It was the perfect end to a perfect trip :) I know I am getting ahead of myself talking about the end of our trip before sharing the beginning but with it being -42C here today this picture of Emy in her summer wear was looking extra lovely to me. Our vehicles may be frozen but our hearts are warm! LOL! happy Tuesday

hey friends

hey there, head over here for more CHA pics and a few thoughts from Phoenix airport. Had an amazing 9 day trip, and glad to be on the way home to my baby girls. I know there is no RSS feed at the other blog YET so I just figured I should keep sending you over until that is up and running! goodnight and happy Monday for tomorrow :)

Hello from CALIFORNIA!!!

Cam, Emilea and I are having a lovely time together here in California. It has been pretty cool out but the sun came out to warm us up today! We watched the parade with Brittany Beattie and her sweet family last night and met up with Leslie Miller and her guys today. Emilea is lovin' all things Disney...the wilder the better for this girl! and the time alone with 2 parents is so great for her. she holds both of our hands and wants to walk all together skipping and swinging arms, telling us over and over "this is a happy happy time!"...so much fun. I will give better CHA and vacation updates on the CK blog, it's a little hard to figure out how to balance both blogs so I will just write all of the good stuff over there until I get a new balance figured out I think. I hope you will come over and join me there.