WoWW!  I have found it so hard to keep up to both my sites I don’t know what to do with myself!

http://www.AboveRubiesStudio.com

is doing so awesome and I LOVE working on it that I forget about this site! lol

It doesn’t mean lots and lots hasn’t happened or that I haven’t been recording memories.  Or that I haven’t been learning and growing in God’s grace alone….but alas this site has been a tad neglected!

Let’s see AboveRubies has been so much fun.  I’ve been going to scrapbooking stores and expo and classes every weekend it seems for the past few weeks.  Sean has been the world’s greatest husband/business partner/stay home daddy when mommy goes Man I could EVER ask for.  We’ve been having a blast planning out the new site design. (of course not without it’s share of disputes ) October is going to be the awesome launch of the site including the Cricut Cutting Guide I have been working on for the past month and a half and still lots more to do.  I have over 350 cuts done so far and I hope to add at least 200 more, but we’ll see how far we get.  I know I will have to add updates as time goes by, but it’s a really helpful start and I know it will help any and every Cricut user out there.  If you don’t know what I am talking about and never heard of the Cricut, go over and check out AboveRubiesStudio.com and you can see what all the fuss is about with the crafting tutorial videos I try to put out every week at least.  So fun for me! God has really blessed me with this and just the pure enjoyment of it alone.  It gets me giddy to check my email and see a positive comment from someone who learned something from a video I did.

Being Mommy is the world’s BEST job EVER, but there is something about Scrapbooking and doing these things that really help to de-stress me and enjoy time for me outside of reading the Bible or study book.  Plus it’s really great to actually scrapbook all the fun things that are going on in the lives of our family and my children!  My GOODNESS does time go by fast!?!?  I forget to write half this stuff down and it’s driving me batty because I just want to keep up and ALWAYS hold onto and remember these times in life!!!!!

These kids of mine, oh they are so precious and the sweetest gift from God ever!  If I haven’t said it enough already, I will say it again.  Being a mommy has taught me more about God and His love and the relationship He wants with us more than anything else in the past 25 years of living.  Every time I see my kids I’m reminded of that in one way or another.

Funny story I will tell quickly, this summer Bensen LOVED to go out and play in the “pool” which was a $15.00 8′ long 2′ deep pool from Target.  But he loved it so much and we all enjoyed it too, but the one afternoon I decided to take him to the Splash park in Pottstown with some friends.  So we got out his bathing suite and in his cute little 19month old voice said “pool, pul??!??!!” I said yes, we’re going to go play in the water and splash with your friends.  So we got all ready to go sunscreen on Jena in her car seat and he goes running for our back door. (Pool was in the back of the house) and I said no no buddy, let’s go this way.  He hesitated at first but came running with a smile, then I opened the car door and oh boy…look out world.  I said come on let’s go to the pool and Bensen started crying and having a total meltdown.  He didn’t understand that I was taking him to a bigger and better pool than what we had in the backyard.  He didn’t understand that the car was to take us there, all he knew was his little pool in the backyard and that was what he wanted.  He cried for the whole 8 minute ride to the park and of course once he saw water and the “slides” it was all better.  But my goodness that made me think a lot about my life.  How GOOD God really is to me.  How often I am that toddler throwing my temper tantrum because I’m thinking God isn’t giving me what He said He was because I have it in my mind the “pool” I want.  But God says, “No, come my child!  I have something better for you”.  It really is amazing how God works and how MUCH He loves us and cares. And let me tell you, this is only ONE of the stories I could tell you about this…I just want to give a little something here!

Jenavieve my girl, one, she got her ears pierced on the 1st of September!  It is so stinkin’ cute I LOVE the little white gold studs my girly is now wearing with her pinkly painted toenails!  I LOVE having a daughter!  She cut her first tooth the day I was in Hershey with Becca.  So silly how she now scrunches her nose and giggles through it now! Love  it!!!

Jenavieve is now fully standing up and shuffling around and to things.  She is loving being mobile and is much more content with her life since she discovered the power of her scoot! lol  She goes all over the place now, which is both good and bad!  The standing up in her crib is what gets me.  I absolutely love and adore every morning going into get the kids and they are both standing in their cribs facing each other and almost “playing” or “talking” to each other.  They really entertain themselves and each other quite well it’s AWESOME!!!

Bensen and his talking, I just love it!  He’s a blabber that’s for sure.  He looks and you and “talks” so intensely and he knows exactly what he is saying.  Some words are getting much clearer and we can usually figure it out, but it’s non stop with him.  Singing too, both the kids love to sing and listen to music.  Steve Green’s “Hide ‘Em In Your Hearts” silence my kids anytime anywhere!  I am not kidding, I can remember distinctly being stuck in traffic on our way to New Mexico last summer when Bensen was about 8 months old, turning on that cd and silence filled the car instantly.  That CD is like a magic off switch for the kids!  Now it works the same on Jenavieve!  You turn on the DVD or the CD anywhere and they are content as can be.  Bensen now does the motions to ALL the songs, and the one song on the DVD the girl is baking cookies and he calls it the “cookss” song.  Soo cute!  He “Keeps His Tongue” by holding onto it.  “Jesus Grew” as Bensen points his hands up to the ceiling and stretches arms out wide.  We know what love is and points to his head heart and Jesus.

I love being a mommy if I haven’t mentioned that recently!  There is so much more I could babel about with my kids really that’s what this blog is all about…me keeping track of them and helping to continue to preserve those memories that slip by so fast you don’t know what happened.

Always remember to praise God and to Enjoy the Moments!!!!

Well, since I haven’t written in who knows how long….I thought it was about time I write about some of the latest achievements around here!

As of today (7/25) Bensen figured out how to climb out of his crib using the basket on his dresser.  OYY!  So now to decide if I make him stay in the crib or switch to toddler bed, but still teach him to stay there untill Mommy says he can come out.  My only concern with switching to toddler bed is that he will fall out of it because of how much he flops and rolls in his sleep. I just don’t want an accident like I had when I fell out of my bed as a child.  Still, he has to learn to stay where he needs to stay until it’s time to get up, with or without rails!

And while we are on the subject of climbing, today Jenavieve also climbed up onto our little kids sofa!  She has standing there pulling herself up onto it.  First of all, she’s never made herself stand up by pulling herself up before, (she’s just barely crawling) but really, she got herself up on it!  My crazy climbing kids!

Another new milestone for Jenavieve is the fact that last week she decided, I’m going to eat cereal!  That’s right, after weeks and weeks of giving her a few bites and her freaking out about it like she was being fed poison, she is NOW eating it!  She opens her mouth as soon as the spoon is near and she chomps her cute little lips down on it and eats up an entire bowl of rice and pears!  It’s so cute!  She’s so good about it too!  And really started at the perfect time.  She took cereal in place of milk at the time of Erin’s wedding and didn’t make a peep about it!  That totally helped me out since I was so busy and Sean could just feed her.

While I’m talking about it, Erin’s wedding was awesome and I am so glad it’s over!  I did a lot of stuff for that wedding, which was awesome because it gave me so many ideas of things I can put into Above Rubies Studio!  Here’s a list

• Favors
• Place Setting Cards
• Table Numbers
• Just Married Signs/Saying Signs
• Glass etched vases
• Center pieces
• Seating Charts
• Slide Shows
• Much much more! So cool!

Above Rubies is awesome, I am so happy to be working on it like I have been.  I recently entered a contest and as of today am in the lead by over double of the second place person.  The contest ends today, so we’ll see if anything changes in that time!  I’m so excited about it!!!

Well, I guess that’s all for now.

It’s so hard to keep up sometimes.  There is amazing things that God is blessing me with everyday!  These babies are so beautiful, healthy and growing up too fast.  (almost makes me want another one soon!…I did say ALMOST)

I love the sweetness of this Saturday Morning.  Jenavieve it watching a tv show so intently while holding her little doll, even a little giggle comes out once in a while.  Bensen wasn’t ready to get up yet, even though he climbed out of bed, he went back to it and I am on the sofa, drinking a lovely Dunkin Donuts coffee that my wonderful husband brought for me!

Ahh… My life is SO good and SOOO blessed!

Praise God for ALL you do for us!

We had so much fun today!  Thanks to all my fun shopping as AC Moore we ended up winning tickets for 4 to go see Thomas the Tank Engine at Strasburg Rail Road.  We had so much fun together!  I can’t wait unti the kids get older and we start doing more fun family things!

Bensen was so into the day, it was great!!!  I would have never gone on our own, but thanks to God’s good gifts to us and AC Moore, we had an amazing family day together.  This was actually the first time as a family of four we have done any kind of big event.  It was just so neat to see Bensen so into it!  Check out a few pics…

Our family of four waiting to ride on Thomas :)  So much fun, did I mention that already??? ;)

I love this shot of Bensen!  Thomas in the background and the awe of the day through a 18 month old’s eyes!

Bensen and Daddy watching Thomas pull out, Bensen held onto his toy Thomas train the WHOLE day!  When we left the house this am we gave it to him…He played with it the hour and a half there, held it the whole day while at Strasburg and then didn’t even want to put it down to eat dinner and played with it most of the trip home.

We truly enjoyed the day.  We rode on Cagney and another litle wooden cart electric train and went into the gift shops and I got my little pressed penny to add to my penny collection.  My favorite soveneire from any place, and it usually never costs more than 51 cents!  I just love collecting them, it’s a great way to keep something small and in scrapbook or something and its great! I love it!

After Thomas we went to Cici’s for the pizza buffet which totally excited me, I love that place and there aren’t any close to our home, so exciting for me.  We also stopped by Best Buy, Border’s and AC Moore and had fun looking and getting inspiration for future projects we have going on.  Wonderful for Sean and I! :)  I even bought a Xyron sticker maker for only $13 today!  Totally excited me!

Ok, well that was our super fun day!!!!!  I am still on a high and just jumping around our house like I’ve had too much sugar or something… it was truly such a blessing to me though that I have this wonderful and cute little family of 4 and we got to have this wonderfully fun day together and I can’t wait for them to grow and do more as they get older!

Praising God for these wonderful MOMENTS and ALL that He has given us that I haven’t even recognized!!! Praise Him Praise Him!

I totally had a fun day! Today was one of my bestest friend’s bdays so we hired sitters and had an AMAZINGLY fun day! We went out for a nice lunch to Olive Garden and shopped the day away! We only “made it” to three stores! NOT ENOUGH TIME! So sad. But so fun! We got some really great clothes for ourselves, Becca got this adorable dress and I was all over this shirt/shirt outfit! And as always, great conversations and just having fun being together! I hope she enjoyed her birthday! She is such a special friend to me and I really wanted her to know how much she means to me!

I’ve been so behind in wanting to keep up…I keep saying this, I want to do this so badly, yet I’m just having such issues doing it.

Bensen is becoming hysterical when it comes to singing. I love it so much! These moments are going by so fast, I don’t have a clue how to handle it!

We sing Deep and Wide, he does all the hand motions and sings “Deept” for the entire song. God is So Good he points up and sings Good, good good. This is the Day, of course he chooses just to sing the word Day. This Little Light of Mine is still my favorite song because he won’t let satan “woofft” it out and blows on his finger so cutely! I just love him to itsy bitsy pieces!
Of course with all this cuteness also comes a new level of will and “stinkerness”. He’s really learning his will and loves to test me. Daddy he’s much quicker to obey then myself and I can’t quite figure out why. He still is so good when it comes to sleep/nap time. All you have to do is ask him if he wants his binky or to go night nights and he either goes back and stands at his crib or rubs his eyes and holds his cute little hands up to you for you to pick him up. He is so precious. He now loves to be outside “shoushide” and loves to play with these glass beads from a stepping stone I had out there. They are like his little treasures. He loves to play with the garden hose or his little bucket of water. His 4 wheeler is a favorite and he is such a dare devil on that thing it practically gives me heart attacks. He has figured out how to stand on the handle bars and reach for things, or he stand on the seat and presses the red button and rides around while standing on the seat. He’s also mastered standing on the handle bars and reaching his hands up in the air and clapping. Scares me to death!

So anyway, I guess that sums him up right now and all his sweetnesses, (of course one little blog post is never enough!)

Miss Jenavieve however, she is almost 6 months old already!  Where has the time gone?????

She is developing her own little will too.  We now call her our Screetching Teradactal because whenever she is upset or wants something she goes into this high pitch screetching fit.  She just started to get a light flick on the cheek for it and she usually stops, looks at you like “why did you do that to me” and then lets out a real cry of discomfort for about 10 secs.  Then she is usually onto the next thing to look at or try to pick up.

She is so good at picking up her binky and putting it in her mouth.  Her fine motor skills really impress me.  Great with toys and little objects and she’s good because she doesn’t put a whole lot in her mouth.  She still loves to have her blanket right next to her face which now that it’s summer months is becoming a problem with sweat.  Most naps she wakes up sweaty, stinky and wet, but oh well!

These kids are such sweet hearts!  I wish I could write down all the little moments that melt my heart each and every day!  Like when Bensen holds Jena’s hand or walks in the room with a BIG smile and says “Hiiieea”  the way he says Jena or Jenaveive’s big open mouth smiles and belly gigles!

Just the other night it was late,  everyone was in bed, Sean and I were watching tv in our bed and the kids woke up.  They both came into our room and layed in bed and watched tv with us.  It was the most heart melting moment!  I just grabbed both of my babies and held them tight and kissed their head and praised God for giving them to me!  How good He is to us!!!  A few nights later I was out and came home after the babies were already in bed.  I couldn’t help but sneak into Bensens room and give him a kiss!  Sean soon followed behind me and it was the sweetest moment standing at Bensen’s crib with Sean’s arms around me and we prayed together in a light whisper for Bensen and Jenavieve.  How much I love them and want to raise them to fear, love and trust the Lord.  It’s so hard!!!  Oh how much I love these times though and how I want to remember them and make them last forever.

If I can enourage anyone to take time out of there day just to enjoy the moments, do it!  Enjoy The Moments has almost become my new closing to any blog post I write now.  Just a reminder that there are a million little moments in every day that too often we forget to stop and look at, let alone embrass and hold dear.  I have a hard enough time remembering things on my own, but if I can just stop for a few moments each day, reflect and PRAISE GOD for all He has given me and these Wonderful moments I have right in front of me. WOW!  What a wonderful day it can become!

I really am sitting here on the sofa completely zoned out.
I had some tests done at the Reading Hospital this am and since the blood work they did had to be done while fasting, I passed out soon after the 8th vile of blood was drawn! Fun times fun times. I am just so tired and while I want to write I’m not even sure what all to say once again.

I’ve been reading for a while during kids nap time this afternoon and loving this book “The House That Cleans Itself” by Mindy Clark. It’s really giving me some great tips for getting the house in order. I got a really great start on the kids room “zone” today too. I’m excited I got a lot of their winter clothes put into boxes and organized. Also, a little secret about me is I LOVE to buy kids clothes at the end of season sales for next season. Both kids practically have all the clothes they will need for the fall/winter season already, and they are in bins in their closet. I just can’t resist buying kids clothes a head of time. My favorite two places to buy kids clothes, Children’s Place and Target, both do seriously awesome clearances and I buy stuff for as cheap as $0.49!!! LOOOVVVE IT! Total weakness!
So, I got a lot accomplished today with that. I also did another 3 dozen votives for my sister’s wedding. Only 6 dozen more to go!! Woohoo! I really can’t wait to post a video on how I’m doing them on AboveRubiesStudio.com…it’s coming it’s coming! Actually I am really hoping that Sean and I will be able to work on the site tonight and do some videos together.

I read all of Psalm 66 today and wanted to leave you with verse 20
“Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me!”

I was reading Psalms this morning to Bensen during breakfast, and I sorta did a rewind after he was finished. I went back and really started reading into Psalm 73 in a “deeper” light. How awesome is Psalms? I think that and Proverbs truly are my two favorite books of the Bible! I’m selfish, I like to see other peoples struggles and watch them cry out to God and then see them go to Him! That’s exactly what Asaph did. Admitting how he slipped and how he was basically jealous of others and their riches and even their wickedness. He felt like giving in and basically saying “what’s the use God?” Then in the end he admits his foolishness and arrogance. He realized he was like a beast before God, which is what I am so often! And it’s not always easy for me to admit that either. What inspiration to me to see him come back to God and to say,
“Nevertheless, I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.” (vs. 23&24)
Then verse 26 - “My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever”

I feel so blessed to have picked that to read to Bensen today. I hope it blesses you too!

Well there has been so much going on recently that I haven’t taken the time to write like I have wanted to.

I don’t really want to take the time now either. I want to take my spare time and read more of what God is teaching me in His word right now…so I decided to hop on just to write out a few verses from Psalm!

Psalm 119:33-40

Teach me O Lord, the way of Your statues, And I shall keep it to the end. (*at least I pray to dear Lord*)
Give me understanding (*Father I need it*),
and I shall keep Your law, Indeed, I shall observe it wth my whole heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it. (*Truly is amazing how delightful Your paths are!*)
Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness. (*How easy it is to always want MORE*)
Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, (*Lord blind me to all that I try to cling to*)
And REVIVE me in Your way. (*Dear Father, renew my every part to run to You and Your righteousness*)
Establish Your word to Your servant, who is devoted to fearing You. (*oh to be even MORE devoted!*)
Turn away my reproach which I dread, For Your judgments are good. (*God everything You are is so Good*)
Behold, I long for Your precepts, Revive me in Your righteousness.

Here I go again with excuses excuses for not blogging or journalling! Oh well! I will just leave it at that!

LOL

Oh Wow! I am SO excited that I found out about the 10% off Sure Cuts A Lot Cricut Software !!! Just add the Sure Cuts A Lot Coupon Code: 3847758 to the following Link: Sure Cuts A Lot

I am making so many wonderful and awesome things with this software! I am so excited!

I have so much to post about this stuff later, but I just wanted to save the link and post it here for anyone who is looking to get it this sale is great!

Here is a list of just SOME of the Features of the Sure Cuts A Lot system!
Features

* Works with the Cricut Personal, Cricut Expression & Cricut Create MachinesTM
* Works with your installed True Type fonts (That’s Right, Most of the Fonts that are ALREADY on your computer, PLUS….
* Works with thousands of free True Type fonts
* Works with hundreds of free True Type Dingbat fonts, just look Google free True Type Fonts for examples
* Import SVG files to allow you to use your own custom artwork
* Weld overlapping letters and shapes together (this is amazingly awesome to use for so many things!)
* Select styles, including Shadow and Blackout, to change the look of your letters and shapes
* No special cartridges required - That’s right NO MORE EXPENSIVE Cricut Cartridges! (This Software is less than many of the cartridges available and does several thousand times over what one cartridge can!)
* Cut additional shapes from the “Sure Cuts A Lot” Library.
* WYSIWYG Interface - What you see is what you cut
* Availble for Windows and Macintosh OSX
* Save your design layouts, so you can save your work to allow you to make changes over time
* All 1.x updates are free