moon ko photography

an anniversary, a birthday and a layout.

Yesterday was my 16th year of marriage with Richard. Probably the smartest thing I've ever done to date was saying, "I do" to that man. The way he proposed wasn't elaborate. He was stationed in Georgia going through Officer Basic Course and I was still in Bloomington finishing up my last semester of college. He would drive 11 hours one way to spend a day and a half with me and then drive back. He came up to see me in October and we were both in his car, saying our reluctant good-byes to each other when he finally said, "Hey, you wanna get married?" That was probably the last thing I was expecting to hear from him. You know, because I still had 2 months before graduation and the fact that he lived 11 hours away. But for some reason, while my head was still comprehending what I had just been asked, my mouth said, "Sure."

There was no ring. Just a promise between the two of us that no one knew about. And for me, that was enough.

Richard's hand-made card that he gave to me yesterday said: Actions speak louder than words. I try everyday to show you now much I love you.

Yup. Totally smart on my part...
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Charlie turned two today. It's going to be weird telling people that he's two and not almost two and not 23 months. But just two. That's just plain weird.
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And the layout:

By the way, he says more now. When you ask him how old he is, he says, "Two!"

Have a great weekend everyone!

yeah. i'm a day late.

This is late (yet again) but I just finished it a few minutes ago for this week's challenge over at 2 peas. The challenge is to use a lot of photos. I used a photo from each month of Charlie over the last year to create this layout.

Thanks for looking and as always, have a great weekend!

I win. :p

I'm not ready for Halloween. But I did a layout about it for 2peas.

supply llist

I used a photo of each child at around the same age wearing the same costume. I loved this costume more than the kids ever did. They cried when I first put it on them. It's one of those costumes that has to be put on over their heads and they didn't like that part. Maybe it reminded them of the birth canal? Oh I don't know but by the time Halloween came around, they were wearing it...

Charlie decided to start climbing out of his crib this past week. We didn't really have problems until his nap time rolled around. A Battle Royale ensued. He fought a good, valiant fight but he lost. I won. I always win when it comes to sleep. Charlie licked his battle wounds and eventually (like, an hour and 15 minutes later) fell asleep.

supply list

After a couple more days of battling his naps, he's come to the point now I'll just say, "Charlie. Nap time." and he turns off the TV, goes to his room, turns on his noise maker, shuts his door and CLIMBS INTO HIS CRIB. Oh yes he does. He's a good little monkey.

Supply list.

Charlie still hits, throws and spits. But he sleeps on command. And that my friends, is a victory in my book. A small one in the big scheme of things but a victory none the less.

Have a great weekend everyone!

All the layouts were done for 2peas.

I'm so late on this one...

One of my layouts made a cover. Well, it's an e-cover but a cover none the less.
:)
Here's the link. And if you want to read more about it, you can click here. Make sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page to see it.

And while you're on Ella's page, make sure to check out their blog. They're doing a giveaway here. And speaking of Ella, I did this (all digital) layout using their digi frames and elements designed by my fabulous friends, Liz and Audrey.

I'm a complete beginner when it comes to digi scrapping.
So please be gentle...

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Poor Maddie...

My eight year old had a tough week. A couple of weeks ago, she got bitten by a spider (we think). We took her to the doctor after the second day when the bite didn't get better and was put on antibiotics. It helped but it didn't get rid of it completely so we took her again this past Tuesday. Well, on Wednesday, she spiked a fever and we took her to the pediatrician's office to make sure she didn't have the dreaded flu and to look at her bite. She had to get the bite lanced. Now for those of you who aren't familiar with lancing (like me), it's when a needle goes into the wound and sucks out all the goop that won't go away on its own. That was not a pleasant experience to say the least. She was still a little weepy when she got home. Then later on in the day, she got hives all over her legs so we had to stop the current antibiotics she was on and get another prescription.
ugh.
She got bitten on her cheek of all places too. It couldn't have been on her leg or arm. It had to be on her face. Of course. And wouldn't you know it that she had her school pictures taken during that time too? Oh, and did I mention that there's a boy in her class that makes fun of her "pimple"? Hey Madeline, you'd better get zit cream for that. Hey Madeline, your pimple is HUGE. She would come home a little upset but she took it all in stride (atta girl!). I guess this little boy goes out of his way to aggravate all the girls from what I've heard. So at dinner, I made the mistake of telling Richard about the boy. I thought he would have some wonderful words of wisdom for her because he's good at soothing and making things all better like that. So Richard tells her Honey, the next time he says something about your bite just say that your bite will go away in a few days but he'll stay dumb forever.

I nearly choked on my food.

So this week's layout is all about my wonderful eight year old girl who has enough sense not to listen to her father this one time...

Have a great weekend everyone!

friday's layout

I used American Crafts stamps for this layout with a bit of ribbon and thickers. Pretty simple but I loved how it turned out. This is my best friend's baby and I sent the layout to her as a little gift.

Sorry this is late but I was at the book signing for Diana Gabaldon, the author of the Outlander series. She's quite a little firecracker, that one. It was so neat to be in the presence of someone famous. I would highly recommend her books but I have to warn you that they are all quite long (600-800 pages). I've only been able to make a small crack into her second book and am having a hard time finding the time to read for more than 5 minutes at a time.

Happy weekend to all and to all a good night!

xo,

-moon

serenity now

This past week was the start of my attic renovations. My attic is completely unfinished...there wasn't even any insulation on the ceilings and there was just a strip of flooring that went down the center. I don't have a before photo but this is what it generally looks like:

It's a very shallow attic but I think it'll be big enough to house my new office and play area for the kids...

The tallest of the attic is going to be 7 feet:

I was a bit concerned about that but then I realized I'll be sitting most of the time I'm up there and the kids don't have a real chance of being all that tall, what with my and richard's genes.
My wall is going up now. I think they're called studs for the drywall?
So there you have it. My attic renovation. I'm so excited about having the space and a space for the kids to play and hang out. I just never expected the amount of noise that goes into any renovation. It's constant banging, electric sawing, wood squeaking and the occasional dropping of the hammer or whatever large took they happen to be working with. From 9:00am-6:00pm. I know it annoys Richard because he's all like, what did you expect? And I'm all like, well gee honey, I don't know. I don't DO any renovations. And he's all like, well you're the one who wanted the attic finished. And I'm like, well you can just shut it. :P

Deep breaths.

I know. I just need to suck it up. It's a small price to pay for something that's going to be completely awesome. I'll stop whining now. Thanks for letting me vent...

On to today's layouts. These were done for 2peas:

Sorry about the horrible photo. I dumped a glass of water all over it and it dried kinda funky and then couldn't scan the darn thing because of the rippling...
And the journaling...

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

thanks, charlie.

I made a post a few weeks ago about how Charlie (who just turned 22 months a few days ago) was obsessed with opening and closing doors AND unscrewing things like goldfish food and mouthwash.
Yeah.
I need to add fingernail polish to that list as well. It's not really a big deal when you think about it but dangit, why did he have to get it all over the rug? The very pale yellow rug that anchors my living room? And why did he have to pick up the red one and not the CLEAR one? And why did I not put the polish up and out of his line of sight when I should know better? Well, I can answer the last one: BECAUSE I'M AN IDIOT.
I just have to keep telling myself that it's just nail polish and that it was really my fault it happened in the first place.

And because I'm talking mostly about Charlie in this post, it's only natural that the layout this week is also about him.
And don't forget to head over to the American Crafts blog to see another one of him in case you didn't get your fill of Charlie this week. Also, visit the Ella Publishing blog for cute free scrappy stuff as well. They've been giving away something everyday and have a grand prize for Saturday so don't forget to leave a comment over there.

All this giving away makes me want to do a give away myself. Hmmm...
Be sure to check in with me next week.
:)
Have a great weekend everyone!

it's a celebrating...i mean an ELLAbation!

Every day this week Ella Publishing will have something new and exciting to give away on their blog. Make sure you download one of their cute little blinkies while you're there like I did.

Have a great Monday!

ETA: Comments are now closed and I will be drawing a winner :)

thanks to everyone who participated...

high school reunion

I had my 20 year high school reunion about a month ago. I'm sure every high school had that one girl...the girl that all the guys wanted to date. The one that was smart and pretty and was liked by everyone. The one that seemed to have it all together. You know which one I'm talking about, right?
Yeah well that girl's name was Vanessa.
It wasn't me. I would be what you might call the antithesis of that girl. The shy, awkward, glasses wearing, wall flower type of girl that no one really knew. But that was OK because you know why? Because I had a really small group of the most excellent girlfriends. Without them, I think high school would've been a completely miserable experience.

So here's to girlfriends-old and new!

Hope everyone in the States has a wonderful Labor Day weekend!