I'm HOME!!!!

SO HAPPY to be home. I had the best time, learned so much, and am so glad I got to go. And now I'm equally as happy to back here with my boys. I'm just not me without the four of them. I got in around midnight last night, and when I walked in the door I first found Brian asleep on the couch after trying to wait up for me. He woke up and asked me to look on the counter, and when I did...I saw my birthday gift! Brian got me my own Cuttlebug (which I know probably doesn't mean much to you non-crafters out there~ so sad!)!!! This machine embosses on just about anything~ paper, metal, acrylic, chipboard... I used it to make the wings and heart for the crosses I posted a couple weeks ago. I'm always borrowing Tracy's, and she's always so gracious to let me...but I'm sure she'll be just as excited as I am that I got this. I'm pretty sure Brian is the most thoughtful, wonderful husband out there...in my opinion, it doesn't get better than him! And what makes him even sweeter is that he did a little paper-crafting himself for me~ see the yellow card in the picture? I know it's hard to see the details, but he used the Cuttlebug to emboss some hearts and "Happy Birthday" on that paper! What a guy!

And now, my three little monkeys. I missed these little guys so much, and our reunion this morning was pretty fantastic. I know one thing for sure~ I'm very, very loved. :) We're all playing hooky from our normal responsibilities today (they all got to stay home from school, and I'm only going to unpack and do laundry~ the cleaning can wait 'til tomorrow) so that we can snuggle and play. I found them playing some kind of game in the bathtub that involved them making pretend coffee (thankfully, they kept the water turned off!), and had to snap a quick pic. Yay! I'm home!

Last Day...

Yesterday was our last day in California, and it also happened to be my birthday...could this sign be any more appropriate? Not that I was too overly excited to turn 32 (gulp),
but what a great place to celebrate!

Here is the Create Joy team in front of this AMAZINGLY beautiful tree...wish you could have seen the whole thing. It was a GREAT climbing tree~ how much I would love to have this in our backyard for the boys to climb and play in!

The girls took me to a Disney-themed restaurant to celebrate~

these Mickey Mouse waffles were just as yummy as they were super cute!

And now, for my favorite last-minute findings at CHA...I have never been

so inspired in my entire life...I can't wait to get in my craft room and go to work.

But first, I'm going to need to go shopping for some more supplies! Yay!

So much great stuff...my head is still spinning a little...

Wow...

What a day! This pic is actually from the end of our day. Tracy and I got to scoop all of these Prima flowers (as much as we could get in 10 seconds) into a bag for placing an order with them. That was lots of fun...we do love these flowers, we thought it would be fun to dump them out on the bed for a picture. Yes, I know. We're dorks. :)

And THIS...this was the highlight of my day. I am a huge fan of Heidi Swapp...she's an amazing designer who has her own line of products (check out www.heidiswapp.com), which I LOVE, LOVE . Her new stuff is incredible, and we be featuring lots of it in the coming months! Happiness, I promise. Anyway....I had been watching out to see if she was going to be here, and today she was! And she was just as cute and fun as I thought she would be. Love, love this girl!

Today was great~ busy. We were up late last night making final decisions on what to order, what to pass on, etc. Today we spent the entire day placing those orders, which was fun, exciting, and a little overwhelming. We feel great about what we've chosen though...there are so many new trends and techniques that WE CANNOT WAIT to show to our customers. It's going to be fun, different, inspiring...amazing. We've placed orders with a great variety of companies, some familiar, some new (and really cool!)...Sassafrass Lass, Chatterbox, Fancy Pants, Pebbles, Heidi Swapp, Jillibean Soup, Cosmo Cricket, Bo Bunny...and lots more!!!!! Tonight we are sitting down to plan what product will go with what project, making lots of plans for the next several months...there is so much swimming in my head~ I don't want to forget anything. :)

As a bonus, I got to have dinner with my dad tonight! Most of you probably don't know this, but he travels to California nearly every week for work. How cool is it that I got to meet up with him tonight? We never get to have dinner, just the two of us. He took me to a very nice restaurant, and we talked and had a great time. :)

Hopefully I will be posting from home tomorrow (most likely it will be Thursday!) b/c we get in late tomorrow night. We're hoping the weather doesn't affect our flight too much...say a prayer!

Creative Overload

I'm posting from sunny California this week! The Create Joy team is at CHA (Crafters and Hobbyists Association), which is basically like Market for scrapbookers. We're placing orders and getting inspiration for our spring/summer class projects, and it is SO MUCH FUN! I feel like I've found my mother ship. :) Happiness. Here are just a few of my favorite things I have found...I don't want to show too much though~ it will ruin the suprises we have in store over the next few months.

This is a pillow made with this

amazing sticky canvas, painted, distressed...so very cool.

How much I love that Tim Holtz...

this was part of one of his booths...

I love his stuff. Amazing.

This is one of my favorite layouts...

I can hardly wait to get home and get busy in my craft room!

And here is a Tim Holtz bag...I wish you could see it in person. I guarantee

I will be carrying something similar to this very soon!

One thing that has thrilled my heart has been the huge amount of really great boy stuff! Before I even had my boys I was always drawn to the more boyish stuff, to the brighter colors (I love blues, oranges, greens...robots, monsters, arrows, etc.). I think this layout is greatness! Can't wait for you to see what we have ordered!

On a side note, I am missing my boys BIG TIME. It's a very weird feeling of "this is great!" and "I'm so homesick" at the same time. Both my mom and Brian have said that Hunter keeps saying, "I wanna see Mommy" again and again, which breaks my heart. I hope he knows how much I want to see him too. I miss all 3 of my monkeys, and the big monkey too. :) When I'm not with them, I feel lost, no matter what I'm doing. Please pray that the weather is okay for Wednesday so I'm not delayed getting home!

11 Years...

...of wedded bliss. :) I really can't believe that we have been married for 11 years. Time flies when you're having fun, right? Yes it does.

I don't remember not having Brian in my life, and don't want to imagine life without him. I'm so, so thankful for him and the husband he is to me, the daddy he is to our boys...he's pretty incredible.

So thank you, Brian, for loving me the way you do. Thanks for always knowing how to make me laugh just when I need it. Thank you for always knowing just what to say at exactly the time I need to hear it. Thank you for supporting me, for loving me unconditionally, for always putting your family first.

Tonight at dinner Brian asked me where I thought we would be in another 11 years. That seems so far away, but then again, so did today not that long ago. In 11 years, I will be almost 43, he will be 43, Harrison will be 19 and in college, Hud will be 15 and gearing up for his driver's license, and the Hunter Man will be 13 and in middle school. Doesn't that seem so weird? The one thing I do know is this: I will be just as in love (and more) with this man and my boys as I am today, and I can't wait to see what God has ahead for us.

Hud

With all of the birthday stuff going on lately, it seems like I haven't posted about my Hud Man in awhile. Tonight we were trying to find something that started with the letter "O" for show and tell tomorrow, and decided to get crafty. I have this really cute owl stamp, so we got it out, and Hud stamped, colored, wrote the word "owl" and cut it out, and did a super great job! He had so much fun that he wanted to make another one. And so he did. He's going to be really proud to show his artwork to his friends at school tomorrow.

I'm so thankful that all three of the boys seem to love art as much as I do. Hud made this snowman at school last week, and was so excited to get to bring it home. It is now proudly displayed on our pantry door. If you can't tell, his favorite color right now is purple. :)

I'm so proud of this little guy...he is just the coolest kid. Funny, compassionate, artistic, super smart, incredibly thoughtful, yet so tough at the same time...he just rocks (and I'm not biased at all). He's my one who just randomly tells me he loves me and gives me extra hugs and kisses, and seems to know if I'm having a bad day. I'm so thankful that all three of the boys are affectionate and very protective of me (even Hunter already), but I always tell Brian that Hud will be the one to take care of me when I'm an old widow someday. :)

Lately I keep thinking about how he's starting kindergarten next fall, and it makes me a little sick to my stomach. I know he's ready, I know he'll do great, but wow, I'm going to miss having him home with me. Not quite ready to share him with the rest of the world just yet. :)

Obsessed

I know it's only been a couple days, but this kiddo is living and breathing that skateboard. Once he sets his mind to something, he doesn't give up until he's mastered it. There are a lot of kids who skateboard on our street, and a couple of them came by yesterday to give him some pointers. Very cool. :)

Caught a couple of cute shots of him outside this morning...here's my favorite.

Harrison is EIGHT!

How did that happen?!? And how do I make it stop?

That also means that I have been a mommy for eight years. Seriously? Wow.

His main gift, and something he has been begging for for a couple of years now, was a skateboard (and all protective gear)...I'm having to let go of my fear of serious injury and just let him do his thing. It's time to accept the fact that with three boys, we're going to be making some trips to the ER. God help us. :)

Harrison buddy, being my first means being my guinea pig in so many ways...I know I haven't done everything right, but you are an amazing kid nonetheless. I'll never forget the first time I held you and realized that I was a Mommy. That I was your Mommy. Then the worry and fear that came with you getting sick and spending your first night with us in the NICU. Then the unexplainable relief when I got to hold you again, knowing you were going to be okay.

It was then that I knew love on a whole new level,

and knew that I would never be the same.

And it's been the best thing ever.

I look at you and see so much of me, some of your dad, a lot of your Papa...I never thought I would have a blonde-haired boy, and I love it. I love your smile, I love your independence, I'm proud of your intelligence...and after seeing "Hotel For Dogs" with you today, I was reminded of how much I love your heart. At the end when things got a little sad before the super happy ending, I looked at you and caught you wiping away tears, and then caught you smiling as things worked out just as we hoped they would. I hope you always stay just like this. :)

So happy birthday, H. Know how very loved you are by all of us.

We can't wait to see what this year holds for you.

Happy Birthday Hunter!

How in the world is it possible that my baby is two? Time is moving way too fast. We celebrated Hunter's big day with an Elmo-themed party at home with our family and friends, and it was a crazy, chaotic, fun time!

My mom made the Elmo cake and all the cupcakes...aren't they cute?

I LOVE, LOVE this one of Hunter with Mimi and Papa! Sorry I caught you with your eyes closed, Mom, but I still think it's a great pic! Is it just me, or does my baby look way older than he should in this one?

This baby loves a party...I love that he is social and friendly to everybody, even those he doesn't see very often. :)

I thought that he would be really into opening presents this year, but I was kinda wrong. He LOVED the presents, but wanted to take the time to play with each thing before moving on to something else...made the process a little long, but we managed!


Sweet boy, we are so very thankful for you...you have brought the most wonderful completion to our family, and we couldn't imagine it without you! It's hard to believe that you've been with us for two whole years, but at the same time, I can't remember a time when you weren't right here with us. I can't wait to see what this year brings you...you are growing up, talking like such a big boy, showing so much personality...I'm thankful that you are such a snuggler, and hope you stay that way. I love it that you are so crazy about your big brothers, and hope that all 3 of you always feel that way about each other. I love that you are so attached to your nite-nite and paci...I know it's time to start letting the paci go (you can keep that nite-nite as long as you want!) but honestly, I'm not in that big of a hurry. If it keeps you little for just a while longer, then it's okay with me for now. I love you so, so much. Happy, happy birthday.

Happiness

I've been wanting to add some red into my craft room, and came up with this today. I have to say that I am so excited about how the heart and wings turned out that I can hardly stand it!

Normally I'm way more insecure about my work...but this came out exactly like I pictured it in my head. That never happens. Let me know what you think...

Project #1

Here it is...I had mentioned in my previous post that I had some projects going on in my craft room that I was ready to finish and get out of there. I had a sudden burst of creativity this morning, so I decided to take advantage of it and get this done.

I used an unfinished cabinet door, some paper, and some spackle (painted) to make this. It's my first attempt at something like this, so I guess considering that I'm happy with it. I know the bottom cross is crooked...I kind of did that on purpose so that the two crosses didn't look exactly alike. It's really bugging Harrison though. :)

But anyway...I'd love to know what you think, but be kind...I'm no artist. Now onto project #2...

Feel like I need to post....

...but there really isn't much going on, at least from a blog perspective. I'm home this morning, playing hooky from church. Haven't been feeling super fantastic these past couple days, and decided to spend today resting and gearing up for the way-too-busy week ahead.

I was kind of dreading get back into the normal routine after the holidays, but have to admit it's kind of nice now that we've got the first week back behind us. Here's what that first week looked like:

~Harrison started back to school Monday w/ just a small amount of grumbling. He has become fast friends with a kid named Kaleb who moved here just a few months ago, and he is all H can talk about. I'm looking forward to meeting him and his parents at H's birthday party in a couple weeks so we can start having him over.

~Hud and Hunter started back to school on Tuesday, and were very happy to go back. They learned about the letter M and the color purple this week, and came home with several beautiful art projects. :)

~Create Joy Workshops is back in full swing this week. I spent Tuesday and Thursday working at Tracy's, getting ready for our new winter and Valentine's Day classes. Have to admit we have some pretty cute stuff...you need to check out the website~ http://www.cre8joyworkshops.com/
If you've never tried one of our classes, you need to~ hope to see you soon!

~Brian headed back to work for his first full week since Christmas~ it was so great having him home more...now he is gearing up for a really busy several months. Lots going on at NRHBC.

~Friday night Brian and I met our friends Brent and LeeAnn at the movies to see Twilight. LeeAnn and I had already seen it, but wanted the guys to see it too. They endured the movie the best they could (sacrificial love at it's best!) and we had a great time together. Just wish we had had time to go for coffee afterwards so we could have actually talked more, but had to pick the kiddos up by 9:30. We are really enjoy this friendship...it's fun, easy, genuine...they are quickly becoming very good friends.

~I have a couple different projects in the works in my craft room, that if they turn out as I hope they do, will soon be hanging in a couple different spots in our house. If all goes well, I will post pics soon!

~Next weekend my baby will turn 2, and my oldest will turn 8. They're both getting way too old. The weekend will be fun though~ twice the celebrating!

Ok, now you're caught up on all things Hatcher. I'm sure your life feels complete now, huh? Ha ha. :)

Happy Thursday!

I'm sure you've probably seen these E*Trade baby commercials...they are greatness. Whoever the marketing people are at E-Trade are geniuses, because these make me laugh hard, and now I'm considering checking out this online stock thing. ;)

If you haven't seen these yet, here is the newest one (and if you have seen it, watch it again, 'cause it's guaranteed to make you laugh):



and this one is my all time favorite:



Funny, funny stuff.

The Next Bobby Flay?

Maybe. Hud LOVES to help me cook, and he's really good at it. He's already mastered cracking eggs, and helps me measure (great for teaching math, btw)...it's something we really enjoy doing together.

For Christmas, my mom and dad got the boys this Disney Cook book (called Disney's The Magic Kitchen Cookbook, if you're intersted...I highly recommend it!) that has tons of fun recipes that my kids will actually eat. Our first attempt was tonight, and we made "Pizza Planet Calzones" (from Toy Story, if you weren't sure). They were delicious, and Hud did a great job, and was super proud, if you couldn't tell from the picture.

What's on tomorrow's menu, you ask? Pumpkin Patch Pancakes. Yummy. ;)

2009

Is it just me, or does that sound really futuristic? Way more than 2008 did...but I'm not sure why. Shouldn't we be buzzing around in Jetson-style spaceship-y things by now? Just wondering.

I've been listening to my friends and family talk (or reading their blogs)about their new year's resolutions, and finally have decided to jump on the bandwagon. What can I say? I'm a follower. Not proud of it, but it's true. Usually I don't make resolutions, b/c I feel like I'm just setting myself up for failure, but today I've been thinking about what I would like to see happen in 2009, and have come up with a few things. So here I go...

In 2009 I plan to:

1) Scrapbook Smarter. I love to scrapbook, and have made a career-of-sorts doing this for others...something I am passionate about and love very much. However, the combination of taking care of class commitments and side work with the quickly piling up stack of my own photos/paper/embellishments, etc. have quickly overwhelmed me to the point that I just look at it all and walk away. Because of that I am now roughly a year and a half behind. Not horrible, you say? Multiply that times three books. Yeah, that's way behind. SO...my plan for this year is to get the boys caught up through 2008 in their individual albums, and then from 2009 on I'm only doing family albums. No more doing things times 3...it's repetitive, time-consuming, a little pointless, and exhausting. That does mean that Harrison will have more albums than Hud, and Hud will have more than Hunter overall...but my hope is that they will just be thankful (someday, or that their sweet wives will be thankful) that I did it, that they won't be counting who has more books. We will see.

2) Take better care of myself. Overall, I am in good health, and am very thankful for that. I'm a healthy eater, for the most part, but I am terrible about going to bed at decent hour, and that has taken a toll. Also, I don't exercise as much or as hard as I would like. I'm constantly on the go, and rarely sit and relax, watch very little tv, and the boys definitely keep me in constant motion, so that all helps keep me from being a couch potato, but I know I can do better. I have a membership to our church's awesome workout facility, and am committing to using it way more. It will be great for my energy level, will get me toned back up, and feeling fantastic. Bring it on. :)

3) Stop multi-tasking. This is going to be the hardest one for me, but probably the most important. I know it will be impossible to completely stop, but I'm going to try. I am constantly on the phone while I'm checking email, or catching up on my dvr while eating lunch, or working while the kids play in my craft room, etc. It's time to stop. Starting this week I plan to do one thing at a time, to be more scheduled with my housework, to get down on the floor and play with my kids every day. My hope is that I will be a happier, more relaxed Jac. It's time to slow down a little, and enjoy life a lot.

4) To REALLY know God's Word. I think my relationship with the Lord is pretty great...I spend lots of time talking to him, whether it be in the car, in the shower, in bed, at the table, wherever. I love praise and worship music, and listen and praise often. Never enough, of course, but I don't think it ever would be. What I don't do is spend enough time with my Bible. I don't have enough Scripture memorized, and that really bothers me. So that is going to change starting now.

That's it for me, and I think that's enough. I hope all of you have a wonderful, fulfilling, happy 2009/

A Beautiful Day...

...in January. It is 80 degrees here today~ Texas is so weird. But we took advantage of the weather to take the boys to the park for a picnic, and had a great time. So glad we were able to get out and have some fun, because tomorrow the high is about 40 degrees. Weirdest weather ever.