Happy Birthday to my sweet little Izabelle!

When you were born, you were so tiny…only 2 pounds, 6 ounces. Your due date was December 22nd, but you came early.

THREE months early!

I love to look at this photo of you…only minutes old. Your daddy’s hands around your tiny body.

I remember the blessing that my dad, Grandpa Wolfe gave you with Brother Fillerup. Did you know that Brother Fillerup (Dr. Fillerup) is the doctor that delivered me when I was born? How neat is that?

I remember my Grandpa & Grandma Crabtree, (your great-grandparents) came to visit you in the hospital. I remember when Grandpa held your tiny body in his hands and said,

“Isn’t it glorious that inside this tiny baby girl lies the keys to create generations?”

I sat in awe, and pondered how amazing it was that you survived, and because you survived, you will have children, and your children will have children.

Generations. Grandpa was right, it was, and still is a glorious thing to ponder.

I remember feeling confident that you would survive and grow to be a woman with children of your own.

And you have grown.

You grew into a beautiful baby, then an adorable toddler…

…a cute kid…

…and a gorgeous girl.

I love you!

Happy birthday my sweet, sweet girl.

xoxo, Momma

Izabelle was so excited to get her braces on last June. She’s not as excited these days…brushing, rubber bands, tightening, etc.

But from my point of view, her braces are AMAZING! Izabelle has only had her braces on for a little over a month and her smile has already changed!

I love this girl! I was born to be her mom. Izabelle is such a unique, spunky, creative, witty and beautiful girl.

Lately, Izabelle has been my little shadow. She walks with me, cooks with me, crafts with me…best of all: she talks to me…I mean really talks to me. She tells me about her everyday comings and goings, about what’s annoying her at the moment, she shares her ideas and she tells me about her dreams.

It is my wish that her and I stay close.

I know the day will come when she won’t want to spend so much time with me…when silly best friends and teenage boys enter the picture…but for now, I am loving every minute spent with her.

xoxo, Christie

Wow. This week FLEW by!

I was a bit sick. OK…I was a lot sick. But I’m on the mend now and headed to a theme park with my hubby and kids this weekend.

A great way to recover, don’t you think?

I was going to be all crafty and wait to share photos of Izabelle’s Halloween Birthday Party until after I had lovingly scrapbooked the photos…that didn’t happen.

Life happened instead (life likes to mess with me a little sometimes).

Izabelle wanted to make cupcakes that looked like hamburgers for her party. She decided that her cupcakes would be a little more Halloween-like if she added a “tail” and turned them into rat burgers.

Needless to say, her friends thought the rat burgers were pretty darn awesome!

Izabelle and her friends made white chocolate ghosts, homemade slime and candy sushi during the party (thank goodness I had my mother and sister there to help).

I though the kids would want to take most of their treats home….boy was I wrong.

They were pretty hyped-up on sugar.

Some of the braver kids wanted their photos taken with the dead witch.

Ah, kids.

Izabelle’s party was so fun (and very exhausting for mom), I’m sure she is already planning next year’s party.

Spookified Izabelle:

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I’m looking forward to catching up on your happenings very soon.

I hope that you have a fabulous weekend!

Can you believe that I created THREE layouts for a friend and did not take one photo?

I know.

Crazy, right?

Here is a layout that I remembered to take a photo of:

I love Izabelle’s sweet smile, it is especially big when she is playing in the snow.  I can not believe that the snow will be arriving again soon.  It’s already pretty darn chilly here at night.

How is the weather you way?  Are you enjoying the gorgeous Fall colors? Here in Idaho they’re brilliant!

For Izabelle’s birthday yesterday, she picked out a special Rasberry Lemon Cupcake from Cocoa Bean Cupcake Cafe.

We purchased five additional flavors at Cocoa Bean, including: Strawberry Red Velvet and Cherry Chocolate Cheesecake (among others).

Izabelle’s mandatory 10th Birthday photo:

Today is another special person’s birthday…my Grandmother, Louise Crabree.

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In other news…

It’s starting to look a little “spooky” around these parts.

We’re getting ready for Izabelle’s Spooky Birthday Party next weekend.

Here’s a few photos of what now resides  inside our apothecary jars:

Have a fabulous day!

xoxo, Christie

Memorial Day.

Not just another day.

A heartfelt Thank to our Armed Forces

past and present

who have faught, died (or lived!)

to keep the US a safe Country

a free Country.

I am humbled by your sacrifice

you are truly appreciated.

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Spring cleaning.

Today I’m feeling it.

I’ve already deep cleaned the microwave and the outside of my cupboards…

Next, the refrigerator and the oven.

Wish me luck (haha).

I created the above layout using the new Bo Bunny “Jazmyne” Line.

I was inspired by The Color Room’s Palette #8:

It’s not an exact match…but pretty darn close.

In the photo:  My Parker & Izabelle with their sweet little cousin Kayla

I miss that girl and her darling baby sister, Addie.

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Be grateful today.

Enjoy time with family and loved ones.

I just picked up the Sweet Shoppe Collection by, Collage Press.  The Sweet Shoppe line is just perfect for Birthday Photos!

I decided to create a page using a photo I took of Izabelle on her 8th birthday:

I hand stitched the word “EIGHT” and used the die-cuts that came with the Sweet Shoppe Collection, it also came with the big circles -what a fun line!