11 months.

My little sweetie pie turned 11 months yesterday!

Next month she will be a year old.

Crazy.

11 months

* the best 11 months of my life

*  you are eating everything, EVERYTHING.

*  whenever we eat anything we always let you try it and you always love it.

*  you are saying all kinds of little words now

*  you like to repeat our actions and our words

*  you think you are so funny (and you totally are)

*  you still sleep like a champ at night, and during your naps.

*  you are soooooo close to walking.

*  you stand by yourself a lot 

*  your favorite word to say is "uh-oh"

*  you squeal with delight every time your daddy walks in the room

*  you are the most amazing little girl I know

Seriously, I can not believe she is getting so big!

She is the most precious gift that I have ever been given and each day with her is a blessing.

xo

janel

a year ago today...

A year ago today, we got THE CALL.  This was the call that would change our lives forever...

(Adam had just had Lasik, hence the sunglasses)

Dear Amelia's birth mother,

Thank so much for initiating that phone call.

Thank you for loving your daughter so much.

Thank you for allowing us to be her parents.

Thank you for giving us the biggest blessing we could have ever asked for.

Love,

Janel

I can remember this day, one year ago, so vividly!!

I was at school, eating my lunch in my classroom, by myself.

The secretary came over the intercom and said that I had a phone call, that it was my husband, and she would put the call through.

I remember begin really scared that something bad had happened since Adam would NEVER call my school to talk to me.

(I can easily answer my cell phone at anytime during the day)

I remember he sounded nervous.

I remember feeling nervous.

He asked me if I was sitting down.

That made me even more nervous.

He told me that we were chosen by a birth mother and that we would be able to meet her later that week.

He told me what he knew about her and that the social worker was 98% sure that she was going to have a girl.

I cried.

I danced.

I called everyone that I knew and ran around the school to tell everyone that I am close to.

I remember thinking that 98% sure wasn't 100% sure but I knew in my heart that we were going to be parents to a little girl...

Today is a great day.

xo

janel

insta-life

Life around here has been full.

Here is a little peek via my Instagram feed.

Good times have been had by all :)

xo

janel

Project Life - Week 2

And here is Week two!  I can't say enough about how this project just gets better and better with time :)  I've decided to have some consistency in my album this year with the date pages.  I am going to only use the paper from the Seafoam kit (it's so easy to use every week when you are in love with it!).  I also am going to use this amazing weekly download from September Blue.  They are so perfect because they are already designed to go with the Seafoam kit, color wise and font wise.  LOVE THEM.

 I got a new date stamp this year from one of my very favorite Sunday School girls.

I have also decided to document my weeks starting on Mondays and ending on Sundays this year.  I think that this will work better for me.

I love how simple my pages are; words and photos.  Nothing too difficult or ornate yet they tell my whole story so it's perfect.

Project Life 2013...I'm a big fan :)

xo

janel

Would you like to know more about Project Life? You can read all about it here. You can also check out more of my Project Life pages right here!

my friend Martin.

Happy Martin Luther King Day! 

For those of you who know me well, you know that MLK is one of my most favorite people of all time. 

I love his love for everyone, his peace, his hope, his purpose to do God's will.

He is so incredibly inspiring.

Let's spend today loving EVERYONE.
xo
janel

Project Life 2013

Well, my Seafoam kit arrived last week so I was able to get my pages together for Project Life!  I am so stoked to be working on this new year with my new kit!  Above, you will see my cover page :)  I still need to take a cute photo of the three of us to insert into that extra pocket but for now, it's empty and Im ok with that.

And here is my Week One spread:

I love the Seafoam kit so much more than I did before, now that I have seen it all in person. LOVE it I tell you :) The colors and patterns are right up my alley.  Elise you are a genius :)

Above are some photos from New Years Eve, a little pocket of sequins, our "one little words" for 2013, a photo of Amelia all bundled up for snow, and a documentation to symbolize Adam and I's new budget plan for 2013.  We are following Dave Ramsey's approach and that quote is one of his (that I secretly laugh about).

This page is just a random assortment from our days of looking at houses (that's a blurred out address and a blurred out contract under the yellow squares), my new planner, my favorite sweatshirt, and a little January calendar which was a free download.  They are perfect for Project Life.  I also loooove those sweet wooden elements from Freckled Fawn.  I've been using them every week so far :)

Well, there you go, Week one of project life 2013.  I'm so excited to be documenting with Project Life again this year.

I'll be posting my Week 2 and Week 3 later this week so check back.

xo

janel

Would you like to know more about Project Life? You can read all about it here. You can also check out more of my Project Life pages right here!

the weekends

The weekends are the best because they are filled with Amelia.  I get to spend the whole day with her, and seriously, it doesn't get any better than that.  Here are a few shots from my morning thus far...

This girl is a mover and a shaker.  We played kitchen, we wrestled with Catalina, we read the sweet love letter that her grampy sent her, we had a dance party to Florence and the Machine, and we practiced climbing onto the couch.
Has it really almost been a year?
wow.

xo
janel

home inspiration

Life has been pretty crazy around here. Adam and I have been looking at houses, figuring out our finances and taking care of a sick baby girl.  During nap times, I have been pinning home inspiration like crazy!!  Here are a few inspirational spaces that I have really been gravitating towards.

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Our little home, right now, is filled with white walls, wood floors, and pops of color and I love it.  I think that is definitely something that I will continue on with in our someday new home.

I am on inspiration overload right now with home beauty.

xo

janel

lately...

Well hello there!!

How has your new year been so far?

Mine has been so busy.

There are a lot of awesome things happening here in my world 

and I can't wait to be able to share it!!

In the mean time I have been:

*  stalking Amazon for the Seafoam kit for Project Life

*  Trying to be as excited about Project Life without the binder and core kit.

*  shopping on Instagram for Amelia's clothes (love it)

*  thinking about starting another blog once Amelia hits one.  I want to just do a 365 of her again with her outfits.  Dressing her is too much fun :)

*  working on mini shoot ideas and set designs for Fresh Art

*  de-cluttering my life

* de-cluttering my blog reader

*  being brave

*  living on a budget and LOVING it.  My husband seriously makes our budget so fun.

*  teaching weaving, pottery, self-portraits, Charley Harper, and George Rodrigue at school.

*  Planning a certain little girl's first birthday party (almost one!!! seriously?!)

*  reading the original Peter Pan and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

(a budget means reading all of the free books in ibooks this year :D)

*  Having super fun nightly texting sessions with my sister in law

*  Pinning house projects like crazy on Pinterest

Just thought I would drop in and say hello :) 

xo

janel

a little freebie

I made this to put in the front of my 2013 Project Life Album.  Someone had shared one similar to this last year as a free download and I used it in my album and loved it. I thought I would put this one up here so that anyone who would like, can drag it to their desktop and use it in their album this year :)

Enjoy!

xo

janel

a 2013 manifesto

Well, I thought that I would start this new year with a Manifesto of sorts.  I wanted to get all of my goal setting in one place, and wanted something that I could print out multiple times and stick in my planner, Project Life album, Bible, etc.  

One "one little word" for this year is Brave, so I have incorporated this into my manifesto.

Here we go:

I'm kind of in love with it :)

If you create a manifesto for yourself, I would LOVE to see it.

I hope to do monthly updates with my progress on these goals.  I miss all of the goal setting that I used to do each month. I need to get back to it. 

2013 is going to be a great year.

I can feel it.

xo

janel