Travelingmama

Today has been the busiest day!  But somehow I squeezed in a few minutes for this quick card for Kristina’s color challenge.  I’m hoping to make another one later if I find the time.

Our friend made us the yummiest lunch EVER.  It’s a Moroccan dish called “Burmash.”  It’s one of the dishes that will be taught at our friends’ cooking school, Savor Maroc.  We are helping them put together a cook book which will be filled with traditional Moroccan dishes plus some of our absolute favorites! 

I also have a bunch of girls coming over for tea and stamps, so I have to run and get ready!  Catch up with you soon!

Yes, that’s me.  Buried under heaps of fiberfill and fabric…

Don’t get too excited thinking that I’m producing some fantastic project.  I wish I had something to show you that would blow your socks off…

But, no, the sewing items are infinitely more interesting than the pillows that now grace my kids’ beds!  (But don’t tell them because they are absolutely thrilled with my ridiculously novice skills!)

If you think I am exaggerating, you seriously have to try this recipe.  The cake is dense almost like a brownie while the frosting is delicate and fluffy with a hint of mocha.  Divine!

I was so excited to recieve an e-mail from one of my very best friends yesterday- especially since she just found out that her first baby is going to be a boy!  So, of course, I couldn’t wait to make her a card!

When I saw Kristina’s color challenge this week I got all giddy inside!  Don’t you just love those booties?  Too bad Martha always makes projects like those look SO easy!  LOL!  My girlfriend, Kelly, and I decided to make ornaments one year that we had seen in one of Martha’s magazines.  They looked SO simple- just pins, styrofoam balls, and beads.  Hours later we were still beading those silly ornaments and eventually made one each.  About two years later we were laughing about our “Martha” disaster and Kelly confessed that she still had all the supplies… no second attempts were ever made!

The kids joined me at my stamping table this morning.  We were having so much fun together that I decided to make a second card just so I could sit and enjoy them a little longer. 

Hailey went with me yesterday so she could see the baby’s ultrasound.  (They do one every time I go.)  She thought it was so funny that she could see his “boy parts.”  I was just so happy they were still there!  Anyone else ever worry about the Doctor making a mistake with the gender? 

 Third trimester, oh my!  It’s the beginning of the end, hooray!  Some days 12 weeks feels like an eternity, but I know he’ll be here before we know it.

I cannot wait to count his little toes and hold him for the first time- on the outside!  12 weeks and counting!

For more see The Diaries of the Travelingmama

Warm chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven… delicate sugar cookies painstakingly decorated with buttercream icing… freshly brewed deep and rich coffee… all just a few scents that make me feel at home…

What about you?  Is there a scent that makes your house feel like home?

The air is cool and crisp, the windows open with a warmth from the sun gently awakening us…  Kids piling into the bed to relax with us while we forget for just a few minutes that time is watching over us.

Eventually we all get up… afterall, there are cartoons to watch, coffee to make, and the stamp table beckons…

 I sit and play with Taylor’s weekend sketch with English cartoons from the satellite filling the empty space…

And finally get around to photographing my Mojo Monday card…

It’s a sanctuary for our little tribe and we welcome the day with joy…

It seems strange to say that I’m just realizing that my little boy is no longer a baby, but there just seems to be something different about him recently.

I’m not sure if it’s the fact that his vocabulary seems to have tripled and the length of his sentences have become paragraphs…

Maybe it’s his sense of humor- he is always making us laugh with his quick responses and silly faces…

And he’s suddenly grown… forget those 3T clothes!  Oh, yes, and he reminds us daily that he is NOT a baby anymore.  No, no.  He is a BIG boy now.  But I won’t listen.  He’ll always be my baby, even if I have to let him be a big boy too.

It’s Friday afternoon and the air is filled with the intoxicating aroma of couscous.  Glazed onions and raisins… fresh vegetables brought from the farm only hours before…couscous steaming on the stove… it’s like heaven!  Most Fridays we are just thieves, stealing whiffs of another’s Friday meal, but not today! 

Our friend came and prepared couscous for us and we all ate greedily, spoonful by spoonful.  With bellies deliciously happy, we spent the afternoon looking forward to leftovers!

I had an absolute blast making this mini scrapbook.  I loved the album Kristina had on her blog last week, but since I’m limited to the supplies I have on hand I didn’t think I could make something like it.  Then I saw this tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers and remembered that I had a little bit of chipboard left over from the Christmas ornaments we made last December at the Girls’ party.

I LOVED the colors from the color inspiration this week from Kristina.  I had to laugh at myself a bit, though, when I opened my paper pack and discovered that every bit of my really rust was still in there.  I had just never seen how I could use it before! 

Here’s a pic of the inside of my mini album.  I’m going to have to go through our recent pictures and have them printed up so I can finish the rest of the pages.  Yeah!  A mini project!  LOL!  This part took me a while because midway through glueing and creating the mailman brought two slips in the mail for packages!

We were all totally pumped to open our boxes from Grandma!  The kids were literally jumping up and down!

And Grandma did SUCH a great job!  *Thanks, Grandma!!*  Usually we ration our “American goodies” but we went a little nuts this time… which items didn’t make it through the afternoon, you ask?  Well, first the snack size Peanut Butter M&M’s needed to be opened.  And then the Summer Sausage (YUM!) made an appearance at the lunch table along with the Wyler’s Pink Lemonade.  Afterwards the kids and Jack went for the Peeps while I went for the Circus Peanuts (I keep telling myself that I’m getting too old for those things, but they are SO fun to eat!) 

Well, I guess I better run and go put the rest of our treats in a hiding spot before everything else is gone!