a blur

Boy oh boy has this been one crazy, yet amazing, month.  I have been very absent from the online world.  It has been a good break for sure because I have been living life.

Here is a little snap shot into the past month here.

*  We voted

*  we celebrate my AMAZING mom's birthday

* We saw PAUL MCCARTNEY!!  Omg, that probably deserves it's own belated post because it was just amazing.  I loved it.  It was an awesome surprise birthday present for Adam :)  

*  Adam celebrated his 32nd birthday :)

*  He was also in and out of the ER three times this month with crazy symptoms and even the ICU (which was scary) but praise God, he is home and feeling so much better.

*  Amelia had a Christmas Photoshoot with Fresh Art Photography (favorite)!

*  We went to my friend Marie's wedding where I got to see all of my besties :)

*  Adam's sister came for a visit!!!

*  We decorated the house for Christmas :)

*  and most importantly, Miss Amelia FINALLY became a MacLean (legally).  Amelia was officially adopted on National Adoption Day this month!!  November 17 was the BEST day ever  (Again, I will write a whole post on this soon)

(look how happy she is here with us and the judge)

*We also had a HUGE party for Amelia's "Gotcha Day!"  We had a photo booth, and a cupcake truck and it was a perfect way to celebrate Amelia.

What a blessed month.  We definitely had some ups and downs but the Ups outweigh the downs by thousands :)

Hopefully, I can get back into the swing of blogging in the next few days.  I was planning to just close this little blog indefinitely but I received a couple of really encouraging emails and I am excited to be back.

Thank you to everyone who has stuck around through my little hiatus :)

I love you all!

xo

janel

Custom Wall Art

My sweet friend Jordan is selling these ADORABLE custom wall-art pieces in her Etsy Shop now :)

Check out the one she made for Amelia!

You know I am a sucker for all things Tribal Print and I love it in black and white.  The best part about this deal is that it's only $5!!

A custom piece of art, for $5.  

LOVE IT!!!

Here are some other examples...

I am so in love :)

You should definitely snatch one of these up for your cutie, or at this price, grab a bunch for personalized holiday gifts!!

You can grab yours here!!

xo

janel

done.

It's FINAL!!

After 8 and a half loooooong months, this precious little girl is FINALLY a MacLean.

Her finalization was yesterday, on National Adoption Day at that.

It was amazing.

We partied and celebrated all night.

I will have more to add later but for now I just want to go and hold my daughter :)

A HUGE thank you to everyone who has prayed for and supported us during this adoption process.  You mean more to us than we could ever express.

thank you

thank you

thank you

xo

janel

8 months

Amelia turned 8 months old last week.

I seriously can't believe that she is already 8 months already but at the same time it seems like we have had her forever.

Time is flying by.

It has been the best 8 months of my life :)

Amelia is:

* crawling!!  Hello, our life has changed forever.

*  clapping

*  growing so tall

*  waving "hi" and "bye"

* giving the thumbs up.

*  she loves exploring new things

*  she loves animals so much.  We have been trying to make it to the zoo as much as possible so she can see more and more types of animals

*  she loves to be read to.

*  she loves to laugh and if you laugh she will mimic it immediately.  You can literally go back and forth with her for over 20 minutes.  It's so cute.

* she is so engaged and bright, and talkative, and inquisitive.
She's so wonderful.
She is the happiest, most loving baby I know :)

xo
janel

November

Happy November!

This is such a huge month for us.

HUGE I tell you.

*  Amelia's Finalization

*  Amelia's Gotcha Day Party

*  Adam's birthday

*  My mom's birthday

*  Guy Fawkes Day

*  Decorating for Christmas

*  Seeing Paul McCartney

*  Seeing Regina Spector

*  Black Friday shopping

*  a wedding

*  Thanksgiving

* an Art Show Reception for my students.

I am excited!!

xo

janel

Project Life catch-up

And it's time again for another round of Project Life catch-up.  The pages were done on time, I just have been so bad about photographing them and posting them!

Still loving this project.

Still kind of obsessed with it.

Here we go :)

Week 40

Week 41

Week 42

Week 42 continued.

AndI finally finished my Volume 3 cover page :)

love love love.

xo

janel

Halloween 2012

This weekend was full of Halloween fun.  Friday night was my sister's annual Halloween Hoopla.  It was a blast as always.  I got to see "my girls" which made everything even better :)

Adam and I were Sherlock Holmes and Professor James Moriarity (Holmes' arch rival).

I am super proud to say that I sewed my very own cape, with hood and it took about 20 minutes.  Score!! I love it and will totally wear it again.

My adorable sister as Little Red Riding Hood.

My favorite ladies!

And then last night was the city wide, Family Fun night.  It was super cute and will be really fun when Amelia can actually play all of the games and ride the rides but it was fun seeing all of the cute costumes.  Plus, I don't think Adam or my dad minded playing all of the games for Amelia :)

Amelia went as Frida Kahlo.  Another hand-made costume :)

Family Portrait!

We won the "Monster Stomp" aka the cake walk

AND... she won first prize in the Halloween Costume contest!!!  Yay Amelia!!

She is the cutest little Frida Kahlo ever.

Here she is as a self-portrait :)

What a great fun-filled weekend.

Im sure we will have more Halloween photos to share soon!

xo

janel