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.