Our First Christmas in Pictures

We hope your Christmas was Merry & Bright and that 2012 will be too!

~Anika

Halloween!!

Guess what?? I got to dust off my craft supplies! I was able to do some sewing on Halloween costumes and make a couple gift tags for the ladies who take care of my boys while I'm working. Let's start with the gift tag. I only got pictures of one, but they were both the same. (Although the other was attached to a package of Heads & Tails Oreos instead...yummy!)

I was also able to put Ezra's scarecrow costume together. I had planned to make the lion as well, but we found this one and the price was right. Andrew's tin man costume never got finished, but it was good enough for some pictures. So here's our whole Wizard of Oz family.

And the boys in their pumpkins...

~Anika

6 month pictures

I decided to take the boys 6 month pictures myself. I just love how you can capture so much personality in a single picture! Here's what I ended up with...

Enjoy your day!

~Anika

(Using my pictures is a violation of copyright laws.)

Quarterly Top 5 Photos

I am participating in the Quarterly Top 5 Photo Party! Not that I need an excuse to share pictures of my boys, but if I did, this is it! And let's just say it was really difficult to only pick 5!

First up...

I just can't get enough of them in their sunglasses! They don't seem to mind wearing them either.

These silly little smiles get me every time.

Only 4 months old and they are already telling each other secrets!

Ready for a shopping trip. There is nothing better than two happy, smiley boys!

Not only do I love how cute they look in their new winter hats, but their personalities are totally captured in this picture as well!

It's amazing how much the boys have changed over a few months! I had so much fun looking back through all the pictures I have taken of them. Hope they brought a smile to your face too. If you want to join the party, you have until Wednesday, October 5th. Click on the button below for the details.

Enjoy the day!

~Anika

Someday

Someday, I will get to craft again!

For now, these two take up every spare moment - but I am totally loving it!

~Anika

September?!

I'm not sure where the days, weeks, and months have gone. When I started my maternity leave on April 1st, September was a long way off, but it's not anymore! Next week marks the start of another school year. I will be spending my days with 40 preschoolers - no, not all at once! The boys get to stay at home with a nanny 2 days a week and go to a neighbors house on the other 2 days. (I will admit to being quite jealous of Andrew - he has Fridays off so he gets to be home with them then.) I am excited to go back to teaching, but you can bet that when I get home from work I will be a baby hog!

Enjoy each day!

~Anika

New Little Bundle

As I mentioned in my last post, my best friend has a new little bundle! Her daughter is absolutely adorable and I'm sure my boys will be fighting over her before we know it! Now that I know this card safely arrived in California, I thought I'd share it with you too.

And since I can't seem to write a post these days without adding a picture or two of my little bundles...here are a couple shots I caught this past weekend.

Ezra

Ashton

Happy Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

~Anika

You're too Kind

This is a Thank You card I made using...

...you guessed it, more of the Tissue Paper Technique! This was also the first card I used Delightful Doilies on.

I also have to share a family picture we had taken a couple weeks ago.

It's so hard to get the boys to smile when we are outside, they are way to interested in looking around at everything to care about smiling! We took the pictures at our photographers farm and she had her 3 kiddos jumping around and waving burp rags in an attempt to get the boys to look towards the camera!

In other news, my best friend, (the one who surprised me by flying in from California when the boys were born) had her daughter yesterday! I wish I could be there to meet Miss Alexis! Congratulations, Kari and Jeff!

Enjoy the day!

~Anika

The boys at 13 weeks

Last week, I was editing some pictures I had taken of the boys and I realized how fed up I was with my point and shoot camera. After a few days of telling Andrew how badly I wanted a new one, he broke down and we went shopping on Friday to pick one out. We settled on the Canon Rebel T3 and so far, we LOVE it! Even though we barely know how to use it, we are still getting some amazing pictures of the boys. Here are a few shots from today...

Ezra

Ashton

The weather here is brutal - hot and humid with no sign of a cool down in the near future. We have spent most of the weekend in our air conditioned house. Today, we needed something to do, so we decided it was time to bust out the pool we bought for the boys. We set it up in a shaded area of our back deck and got the boys changed into their adorable swim trunks for the first time.

They wouldn't flash us any of those adorable smiles, there was just too much to take in between being outside and in the pool, but they seemed to enjoy it! I have a feeling we will be spending more time out there in the coming days.

Hope you are finding ways to stay cool if you are in this heat wave too. Thanks for stopping by!

~Anika

Happy Together

Just a quick post today to share a card I made for my best friend and her husband for their 5 year Wedding Anniversary.

Yup, that's more of the Tissue Paper Technique on the green strip with the Modern Basics stamps. (I can't stop using that technique, it's becoming an addiction!) I also used Color Couture Volume 4, Fancy Flourishes and some Rustic Jute Button Twine.

We had so much fun celebrating with Jeff & Kari on their hot & humid wedding day!

It sure is amazing how quickly 5 years can go by!

It's hot and sticky here this weekend too, so we are enjoying a couple low key days in the air conditioning with our boys. Hope you are having a fabulous weekend as well!

~Anika

Bea

A little over a year ago, some of our good friends had a daughter and they named her Bea. Sadly, she had Trisomy 18 and her life on earth was short. She now lives on in the hearts of those who were fortunate enough to have known and loved her. A few days before her first birthday, her parents were at our house and her mom happened to look through one of my PaperCrafts magazines. A card made by Betsy Veldman featured a sentiment from the Papertrey Ink With Sympathy: Loss of Child stamp set. She wrote the sentiment on a Post-It. I had been trying to figure out what to get them in honor of Bea's birthday so as soon as they left, I got to work on this...

Sorry about the glare, I didn't have the time (or the patience) to take the frame apart and remove the glass for the pictures!

I used the tissue paper technique again, but this time I applied the tissue over some PTI & Basic Gray patterned papers. And since I don't own the PTI stamp set with the sentiment, I printed it onto cardstock instead. I used Raspberry Fizz ink and a stamp from Dot Spot to add some pink to some chipboard letters I had in my stash.

Enjoy the day!

~Anika

Summer Fun!

I cannot believe how fast the weeks are flying by! Today, I'm lucky enough to have some help with the boys - a relative of mine has twin girls who live just a few blocks away and they came to play with the boys, giving me some time to craft and blog!

This past weekend we went to another wedding. I was so excited when we got the invitation - it was cream with black text and had a bright orange ribbon tied around it. I knew I had to make a coordinating card for the couple and this is what I came up with...

I used the Tissue Paper Technique that was featured in one of Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday challenges a few weeks ago. I L-O-V-E this technique and have used it on several projects since.

A few days ago, my friend Katie and I took our boys for a walk. Her little guy is almost a year old already and next summer when we go for walks, she will be needing a double stroller as well!

I snapped this picture of the boys yesterday while they were sitting in their Bumbo chairs. I love how it looks like Ashton is telling Ezra a great story. He's actually just yawning though!

It's beautiful here today! Looking and feeling like summer, I sure hope it lasts through the weekend so we can enjoy the outdoors on the long holiday weekend!

Enjoy the day!

~Anika

Celebrate!

We had a very busy weekend...2 weddings and a graduation party! I managed to find time to make cards for each event, too! Here's the first one I have to share...

The smudge by the sentiment is from my camera lens. I guess I'd rather have it there instead of on the card itself, but it's still irritating me! I used the In Bloom impression plate on the Aqua Mist layer and wrapped the Vintage Cream card in Jute Button Twine. I am in love with this color combo!

And here is the family at my cousin Jeri's wedding! (Congrats Jeri & Seth!)

The boys were wonderful the entire day! Yes, they are usually good babies, but they were exceptionally good during the whole celebration! They slept through the ceremony, sat contently in their car seats while we at supper, and even tolerated being passed around until 11:00PM while we chatted with family and did a little dancing!

Enjoy the day!

~Anika

*All supplies are Papertrey Ink.

7 weeks!

I will get around to posting cards again, but these days anything that I make is a last minute project that I give away before I have a chance to take a photo of it. You'd think I was a new mom to twins or something! ;)

Our boys are already 7 weeks old! They have each gained over 2 lbs already - that means when I carry them both in their car seats I'm lifting more than 45 lbs. I am going to have some major muscles! We are adjusting pretty well to life with children. I actually don't think things could go much smoother than they are! The days are flying by way to quickly so I am holding on to every moment knowing that September 1st will be here before I know it and I will have to go back to work.

The dryer just beeped at me (I hear that sound a lot these days!) so I best be going. I will leave you with a few pictures of the boys...

Ezra at 6 weeks - 9lbs, 12oz

Ashton at 6 weeks - 9lbs, 10oz

Trying out their sunglasses from Grandma Roxie!

Enjoy the day!

~Anika

Our Family

All together at home after what seemed like the fastest - yet longest - week of my life!

The twins are here!

Our twins arrived on April 14th - two sweet little boys!

L: Ashton Jay, 7lbs 3oz, 20 inches long R: Ezra Steven, 7lbs 13oz, 20.5 inches long.

I'll post more pictures and details once we are home.

~Anika

Less than 24 hours!

With less than 24 hours until we get to meet our babies, I am attempting to finish packing and cleaning, but Andrew told me to take it easy today, so I'm mostly just lounging around, watching TV, and watching my belly wiggle all over the place! I'm going to miss that. I'm going to miss my belly and being pregnant. I'm not going to miss my swollen feet, ankles, and legs!

I managed to do a little something crafty yesterday. (That REALLY made my feet swell!)

We will be filling these containers with mini cookies for the the OB and Radiology departments as a thank you for taking such good care of us over the past nine months. Having always been a rather healthy person, my weekly ultrasounds and appointments over the past 7 weeks have made me feel like I should just bring my pillow and jammies with and live in the waiting room! The last container of cookies is for the hospital nurses...might as well suck up a bit to ensure good care from them during our stay - not that I'm at all worried about that! I also have paper cut to size with scor-tape already on the back so I can write a little thank you to attach to the lid before delivering them - I want to wait to write them so I can include the babies names.

Here's a close up of one.

And before I go, one last belly picture. This was taken last Thursday when I was 37 weeks along and the babies estimated weighted were 7lbs 6oz and 7lbs 5oz! It will be interesting to see how accurate they were.

Hope you have a fabulous Wednesday!

~Anika