streamline my space !!

A year chock full of pregnancies,  sorting through grief,  husband working out of town,  general kid busyness and much more has not really lent itself to keeping up on keeping organized!

What is a self proclaimed, pack ratty procrastinator to do?

Call Amanda at Streamlined Spaces!
And that is what I did.

When you  (or me in this case) just can't seem to get started,  that is where Amanda lights the fire.
She is a professional organizer who loves to come to your home,  and working with you-- streamlines your spaces.  

Before our session she asked me to think about a space in my home that bothered me.   Somewhere that just doesn't seem to work well.   I knew immediately that our bathroom closet was desperately in need of  purging and reorganizing.   It had become a place to dump all things that I believed I had no other place for. 

And so we began.   If you are like me you may be worried that she may come in and just dump all of your precious "treasures".   Do not fear.   She allowed me the process of deciding what I needed to keep and what was really not necessary to have in the closet or at all any more.   She was able to gently help me decide when I was stuck.   Really,  did I need old beat up slippers and long expired laxatives?  NO!

Once we got rolling I was really enjoying myself and the end result was made much more sense and was attractive to the eye as well.

Here are the before and after pics...

Before

  

During

After!!

It was really fabulous to finally make some progress in my home that has been a bit neglected.
Amanda can do the same for you.  She is professional,  purposeful, and punctual.   This took less than two hours.

Here is her Facebook Page with all the details and information.

Click the photo below--

And there is more to come... I was so delighted that I had her return a few weeks later to  help me dig out of a messy desk situation.  

Please give her a call-- you won't be disappointed!

2 months + , say it ain't so!

Since I heart. heart.  HEART!  the newborn stage,  and generally the first year of our childrens lives-- each week that passes means our little one is getting older,  and farther away from that precious phase.
Call me weird.   I've been called worse.

I noticed the feeling when Naomi first grew out of the size 1 diapers.   Then once more when she graduated to size 2 diapers.  And this week when Amazon.com delivered a stash of Size 3.  Well,  forget it,  I just don't like it.

Watching her smile, giggle and try so hard to get her hand to mouth I realize that she is growing up so very quickly.  Faster than any of her siblings did.  I don't know why because I am sure that time is spinning by at exactly the same rate as when Chase was a newborn, but somehow the weeks are flying by.

So today,  instead of being sad about each milestone,  each increased diaper size,  I will celebrate it.
These things are worth celebrating --not being sad over. 

she looks skeptical, but I am certain she is 2 months old (actually nearly 3 months now)

Naomi is wearing a sticker on her onesie-- I have one for each of the first 12 months.

Find them here

Just wanted to share more spring beauty from April's garden.

More later about this very special rosebush.

"He has made everything beautiful in His time" Eccl 3:11

first day/last day. with 178 in between

They hate it,  but i LOVE it !!
the forced smiles,  the too close for comfort posing.
It seems to be a tradition to photograph my kids on the first and last day of school.  Last year,  I documented their school year with a before and after shot of their school shoes.   This year I'll get their precious faces.

First day of school August 30, 2010

fresh, shiny and new.

Last day of school  June 8, 2011 and lots of bed head.

(Juliet and Naomi were still asleep, thank goodness!)

I'm thankful and tearful today that a chapter has closed,  that the kids will move forward,  that we can celebrate a year of emotional lows and highs as a family.

Summer 2011.

Bring it.

Really. Thank you God,  for bringing it.

captured the moment

I received many precious keepsake gifts following the death of our unborn baby last spring.   One of those gifts was a charm from our friend Jamie.   I am sentimental and perhaps at times search for poignant moments, so you can imagine how my heart felt when I glanced down at Naomi while she was nursing and I noticed this:

Her tiny, chubby hand was gripping the necklace I was wearing round my neck.  I had to quickly grab my phone and angle it just right to snap this pic. 

Down on my knees thankful for these moments.

--if you'd like to buy this charm, find it here--