I have parental guilt or is it a midlife crisis?

Where has the time gone? Remember when you were little and time seemed to drag on. As an adult I'm amazed at how time flies by, especially since there are kids in my life.

I was recently browsing through some blogs and felt twangs of guilt because of so many things I've never done or missed opportunities with the kids. The blogs are by what I call super moms, because I really don't know how they do all they say they do. These are women who cook, sew, paint, scrapbook, and take amazing pictures to document it all. "They're only little once! Make the most of it." And it looks like they are succeeding.

Talk about beating myself up...does anyone else do this to themselves? I'm not inspired to be so creative anymore. I used to have all these grand ideas of things I wanted to make and do. Now, a sick feeling comes over me because of all the things I wanted to do for my family that never happened and of course it often hits me in the evening so there goes the sleep. I recently was at the throes of dreamland when I realized that I haven't used our video camera in quite some time. The waves of guilt crashed in and I was wide awake for a few hours, until about 2:40 am, give or take a few minutes. I literally had a stomach ache for a while.

Do my kids feel loved? I'm pretty sure they do. Actually, I know they do. I can try harder to do more stuff for them. But I think maybe that doing stuff with them is at least as important, if not more so than doing stuff for them. What will they remember? What will they take with them into adulthood, or when they become parents?

I will try and relax about this. What good does worrying about what I didn't do do? I think it's good to be aware of opportunities to be with my kids and do what I can to make the most of our time together. It's true that they are growing up so fast. I heard it frequently when the kids were in diapers but it didn't register. But it is so true.

I'm proud of these kids. This is from our recent trip back to the midwest. The boys were a little surprised at how the farm looked but went right to playing and exploring. There hasn't been anyone there for 3 years now. This picture was taken in front of the old chicken house. The first one above is from 2004. Our family spent many summers there when the boys were little. This is the farm where my husband grew up, helping with the cattle, or in the garden or with the chickens. It was good to go back. This is the old Ford that is still on the farm. Someday, it may run again. I'll try not to worry about it though.

Where Have I been?

It's been a busy spring! Mostly revolving around baseball. I've learned to really appreciate the relaxing aspect of watching baseball. When I'm sitting in my chair or in the bleachers watching a game, it means I'm not doing laundry or cleaning or cooking...you get the picture! When I'm at home, I see all the things that need attention and it can get overwhelming. At a baseball game, I can watch my kids play, chat with friends and enjoy the weather. Here's a photo of one of our boys from last June. He's the one rounding 3rd base in the maroon jersey.
Because of the amount of time I spend doing baseball stuff, no time left for creative things. I'm ok with that because the boys really enjoy the sport and my husband and I enjoy watching them. The ink and cardstock will be there later...
Thanks for stopping by!

A Christmas card

This cute little snowman card is from the gifts I gave to friends and coworkers at Christmas time. I wanted to post something- anything- to keep things moving here. The set is retired from Stampin' Up. All supplies used are SU, plus a Sukura Gelly Roll glitter pen for a hint of sparkle on the snowflakes. The snowman is cut out and popped up on an SU dimensional. By the way, the gifts were bags of homemade caramels- always a hit!

Have a great day!

Peggy

From a recent class

I had a great time teaching a stamping class that included 2 pages and a card. It was a small group of women from a church we attended for a while. It's always fun for me to figure out what to do, then prep everything, then go and get everyone excited about being creative. Here's what we did:A simple card- could be a valentine- using Stampin' Up's "Season of Friendship" stamp set, and a retired set called "Love It" for the hearts, and the scallop edge punch. The layout for the scrapbook page we did next is from the new SU catalog. We used "Big Deal Alphabet", "It's All Good", and some of the new "In Colors"- kiwi kiss and pacific point on kraft cardstock. The other ink colors are close to cocoa, tempting turquoise and rose red- they go well with these colors. The journaling piece of cardstock was punched with SU's spiral punch. The picture is son #4 and dad on the first day of kindergarten- don't look too closely because I mistakenly wrote first grade. I wouldn't have noticed but was corrected by my son- he said "Just look at the shoes!"Lastly, we did a "no stamping" page and used just paper, and a computer-printed saying on the circle. The layout is from a gal that is very creative and does gorgeous stuff that she sells on ebay. The designer papers are from SU (can't remember the name) and baja breeze cardstock. The photo is of son #2 and #3 on the farm in Iowa back in 2002. I purchased the felt flowers from Target- dollar spot a while ago- yey! They match almost perfectly.

Thanks for stopping in. Have a great day.

Yippee!

I won! I haven't had any time to use my limited digital scrapbooking/photoshop skills lately...but I have a prize that might motivate me.

On this amazing blog, which I go to often for inspiration and to see what's happening,
Emily Giovanni is celebrating her blogaversary. I ended up winning one of the prizes- a gift certificate for some digital goodies...what a great Christmas present! Go check out her blog if you have a chance!

Have a great day- I'll see if I can whip something up with my new goodies!

Some Thanksgiving cards

I had a little bit of extra time on my hands so I had to stamp. I cased one layout from the SU! mini that has this stamp set in it, "Season of Friendship", which I had to have because of it's versatility. The other card has the same colors in it, and is basically the same. All supplies are Stampin' Up, except the brown ribbon in the first one- can't remember the brand name, but I purchased it at the LSS.

Stamps: Season of Friendship (holiday mini catalog), Enjoy Every Moment; cardstock: more mustard, really rust, chocolate chip, whisper white; Autumn Vine designer paper; ink: more mustard, really rust, chocolate chip; other accessories: scallop edge punch, gold brad, pumpkin pie grosgrain.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family in the area. Great food and fellowship- I couldn't ask for anything more. Well, maybe another day or two of vacation with the boys and hubby...I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving as well. When I stop and reflect on life, I find I have many things to be thankful for. When I do this, it helps me have a more appreciative attitude which in turn spills over into my outlook on life and how I treat others or react in various situations. So, I want to keep this mindset as I'm out and about during this Christmas season.

Have a nice week, and thanks for stopping in!

Is it really November?

Where, oh where does the time go? Our 4 boys keep growing, and it seems to be going by so fast. This fall has been very busy with school, soccer and not much else. I haven't been taking pictures to document what we've been doing during these last weeks- that needs to change.
As some of you may know, soccer is my FAVORITE sport, so to see the boys doing well and enjoying the game makes me very excited. I should try and get some photos of them in action. Son #1 was playing in a recreational league and did an outstanding job on Saturday in their tournament. His team took first place- it was a very exciting game. The other 3 also had games- one win, one tie and one loss. They all played well, had fun and demonstrated good sportsmanship.

I must add that the kids are doing very well in school. They're all pretty motivated to get their school work done in class when the teacher gives them the opportunity. If not, they finish it shortly after getting home. The evenings have been busy with soccer practice so they know the "work now, play later" mantra is a good thing. When one is at practice, the others come along and can play football or run around, or something else that catches their eye.


Not much time to stamp these days...I did manage to squeak a quick one in for a friend. All SU stuff. This is my therapy!