Here’s another layout I made for AMM’s November kit.
Journaling Reads:
Nathaniel, seeing this sweet face of yours crunched up into so many pieces breaks my heart. It makes me want to pick you up and smother you with kisses. Hug you so tight that you can feel my heart beating on yours. It makes me want to protect you for the rest of your life. Make sure no one can ever cause you harm. Make sure you will never feel sorrow or loneliness or heartbreak.
But I know that I can’t stop those things. I know that you will have your share of sad moments and I will just have to pray that they are short and far in between. I can’t stop some of these bad things from happening to you.
But, right now, while you’re still so tiny and feeling so much sorrow, I can scoop you up and hold you close to my heart. I can still turn that sad face into a happy one.
And, for as long as I can, I will do it over and over again.
This was for Ali’s class and for AMM.
Journaling Reads:
1. I love reading. I can read just about anything. I can read for six, seven hours at a time and never get tired. 2. I kept daily journals from 1984 to 1992. I still cherish those journals a lot. 3. I have a funny dance that I do when I feel really happy. 4. I used to drink twelve diet cokes a day before I got pregnant. 5. I am afraid of the dark. 6. I grind my teeth. I have been doing it since I was a little girl. It used to drive Yona crazy. 7. I can touch my nose with my tongue. 8. Getting my eyes fixed was one of the best things I ever did. 9. I am not a morning person. 10. I wish were a better driver. A less scared one. 11. I absolutely love your Dad with all my heart. 12. As soon as I learned how to read in English, I started reading books in English. I used to ask Yona and my mom drive me all over Istanbul just to find a store that sold books in English. 13. My first computer was a Commodore 64. I didn’t get a real computer until I was in college. Now I have six computers, almost all of them are Macintoshes. 14. My favorite meal is coffee and graham crackers or bread and cheese. Or chocolate. Yes, it’s a meal. 15. I have been clumsy all my life. 16. I always wished I could draw really well. Or have some artistic talent like my mom does. 17. When I was a little girl, I was really shy and I cried a lot. 18. I’ve always loved math. Solving puzzles. Figuring things out. I still love it. 19. I watch a lot of TV. I like the noise when I work. 20. I loved living in New York City and still miss it often. 21. I love listening to opera. 22. I am not a fan of feet. But I like mine. 23. I think good friendships are rare and should really be nourished. 24. I think music can bring sunshine into the darkest day. 25. I have half-written two novels and am working on the third. 26. I love watching Broadway shows and the theatre. 27. I have always enjoyed learning new things and miss school a lot. I plan to have a PhD. someday. 28. The first time I went camping I was twenty-nine. I loved it. 29. I always wished I had blue eyes. Or green. 30. I love taking photos.
This is using AMM‘s November kit.
David, in just a few months, you are going to be five years old. I can’t believe you’ve already grown up so much and I am amazed every single day at how much you’re maturing.
You are one of the kindest boys I know. You always share your toys with everyone. You say thank you and please and I’m sorry. You are generous and loving with your little brother and love to give him hugs and kisses. You shriek from excitement when you go to school and when you come home.
The littlest things can make you so happy. Like having graham crackers instead of oatmeal for breakfast. Like going to the grocery store with Daddy. You always say things like “You’re the best Mommy ever.” or “I had a fantastic day.” You’ve been practicing your letters and can write most of them perfectly. You can spell your name and my name and Daddy’s name and you’re working on Nathaniel’s too.
You can count all the way to a hundred and you practice constantly. You have mastered the Wii and the Tivo remote and the iPod video. And the games on my iPhone. You make jokes all the time and laugh out loud. You snuggle under the covers with me and hold my hand.
You say goodnight words every night. Three kisses and three hugs. I love you, I’ll see you in the morning, Don’t let the bed bugs bite and I love you with all my heart. Every night.
I have no idea how I got to be so lucky. How I got to have a son as incredible as you. But I am thankful for it every single day. I love you, my son.
With all my heart.
I made this layout for A Million Memories. And for Ali’s Yesterday/Today class.
It’s a photo of me when I was little. Here’s what the journaling reads:
I look at this picture and I see this little girl who looks like she’s having a good time. It’s her birthday. Maybe the third one. She doesn’t look sad to me. She doesn’t look like life has broken her yet. I want to take her into my arms and give her a hug.
I want to tell her that she’s going to go through some rough patches in her life. That she will be teased mercilessly, rejected by her so-called friends. She will feel lonely and sad and some of these feelings will stay with her for the rest of her life. She will feel an insurmountable need to run away. To start fresh. She will think that she can’t trust anyone to keep her secrets. She will pour her heart out to her diaries. For years. She will feel like if only she could leave and start over, another life, another place, she could fix it all. She will be loved but it won’t feel like it’s enough. There will be years of feeling small and feeling sad. Alone.
I want to give her a hug and tell her to just hold on. To have faith.
Because on the other side of this sorrow and loneliness, she will find an amazing life. She will make forever friends. She will find a man who loves her as deeply as she loves him. She will have two amazing children and feel more love than she imagined possible. A successful career that she actually enjoys. She will travel. She will experience life. She will discover art. And photography. And writing. Books will save her life over and over again. She will be loved. Truly loved.
I want to tell this little girl her life will be amazing. She will have to go through some turbulence to get there but it will be worth every second of it. I want to hold her and say:
Hold on, little girl, it’s all waiting for you on the other side.
I made this layout for the second week of Yesterday, Today class I am taking at BPS. Here are all the words:
Yona, I want you to know that I forgive you for throwing me into a tub full of water when we were sitting in the bathroom together. I forgive you for taking my five-dollar bills and giving me two one-dollar ones and telling me how I was better off since I had two bills and not one. (Maybe that’s why I ended up being so good at math.) For calling me complaint box my whole life.
For making me write all of your French homework. (It made me an even better student.) Stapling my hand just to see if it would work. Waking me up many nights so you could squeeze in bed with me after peeing in yours and making me get up first so you could make the bed over again. (I still don’t tuck the sheets in.) Pushing me under the radiator. And under the swings, which caused me to split my head open. Kicking me so many times when we slept in the same bed in Israel that I split my head open. Again.
Hitting me. A lot. So hard that I could see each of your fingerprints on my skin. I forgive you for not wanting to hang out with me. For making fun of me. For making fun of my glasses. (It’s karma that you ended up needing them too.) For making fun of my ears. (I still wear my hair down.) For always making me take the shots at the doctor’s first. Just to see if I would cry. For making fun of me. (This one deserves two entries.) For making me feel even more lonely because you were so popular. (Ok, that one wasn’t really your fault.)
Yona, I know that you did so many things to make me cry when I was little and I know that you wished you had a brother and not a sister. I know you were annoyed by so much of who I was and I know that as we grew up and moved away from each other, you came to regret some of the not-so-nice things you did to me. But I want you to know that you do not have to feel bad anymore. You are fully and completely forgiven. I don’t want you to spend one more minute feeling bad for anything you’ve done or regretting anything you haven’t.
I love you with all my heart, my wonderful sister, and I forgive you.
the other side
Yona, I want you to know that I thank you for driving me for hours to the other side of town just so I could buy my favorite English books. I thank you for sending me so many letters and cards from Canada that I felt closer to you than we ever had. For always having faith in me and my abilities. I thank you for teaching me how to read. (It is, by far, the greatest gift anyone gave me.)
Thank you for talking to me until the wee hours of the morning, over and over again until I realized that it really wasn’t just me. Thank you for writing that amazing book about us and for apologizing. (It’s not the apology that I needed, just the acknowledgment.) Agreeing to come with me so I could still go skiing even though mom and dad didn’t. For buying me a present with your first paycheck ever.
For coming to visit me just so we could spend ten days together, just you and me. Leaving your family behind so we could really bond. (Though they are always welcome here.) For cooking those amazing dishes and making the salads and getting my son to eat edamame. For sending me the recipes to both gateaoux salami and the salty biscuits I love so much. For convincing me that we and our kids can be very close to each other even if we’re an ocean apart. (And I know you mean it.) For telling me how proud you are of me and how brave you think I am. Always telling me the truth. Supporting all of my ideas, even if they are crazy. Reading my blog. Loving my kids. (And they love you so much, too, how could they not?)
Yona, I know that with you in my life, I will never ever be alone. I know that you are forever there for me and will always be on my corner. I am so thankful to have someone like you in my life and so honored that you’re my sister. I want you to know that I appreciate everything you do for me, everything you are and I am so thankful for all the moments we get to spend together. And for having you in my life. I am so lucky to have you.
I love you with all my heart, my wonderful sister, and I thank you.
Here’s another one from the A Million Memories Kit for October.
Journaling Reads:
i forget too often
how much fun bubbles can be
how much joy they bring to you
i always think
it will be too messy
but then when we start
you have so much fun with them
this is so i remember
how much you love them
and make sure
we blow bubbles
much more often
Weekly layouts is a weekly feature focusing on simple layouts with photos and journaling. It’s posted on Tuesdays.
The next few week’s layouts are from the October kit from A Million Memories.
The journaling reads:
a few weeks ago
i realized that maybe you were
finally old enough
to use the exersaucer
i worried you might not like it
but figured we’d give it a try
as it turns out
you love it
even though you’re still
a little too young for the toys
i think you just like
the feeling of standing up
and looking around
i am just happy
to see that smiley face
Weekly layouts is a weekly feature focusing on simple layouts with photos and journaling. It’s posted on Tuesdays.
Here’s the journaling:
if someone had told me
years ago
that i would end up with
two boys
i don’t know what i would
have said to them
would i have been happy?
did i want boys?
or did i want girls?
as it turns out
having boys was
the best thing i could wish for
my boys are kind
sweet
loving
generous
and they hug
with all their heart
just like their daddy
i am so thankful
/c
for my boys.
Weekly layouts is a weekly feature focusing on simple layouts with photos and journaling. It’s posted on Tuesdays.
Here’s another simple layout. Just about the photos and words. And a little bit of border punch fun.
Journaling Reads:
david, for the longest time
you weren’t into dress-up at all
you never did it at school
never asked for it at home
i figured you were just one of those
kids who didn’t care for it
i was wrong
yona sent two costumes for you
the last time amore was here
buzz lightyear and the hulk
now you wear them at least
twice a week
so i guess it wasn’t that you weren’t into it
it was just that we didn’t have the
right costumes
thanks so much auntie Yona.
Weekly layout is a series that focuses on simple layouts that highlight words and photos. It’s posted every Tuesday.
I did this to commemorate my recent cooking adventures. I like doing these layouts that are just about photos and words. I have an upcoming class on this sometime next year and decided to focus on it and see what I can do.
Journaling reads:
I can’t cook.
No I mean I really can’t cook.
I haven’t cooked a single dish in fifteen years.
But, now that we have this amazing kitchen. These beautiful, growing kids.
I think it’s time to learn.
So now we have weekly family dinners.
One recipe at a time, we’re all learning to be adventurous.
To trust Mom.
And, guess what?
As it turns out, I can cook.
Just fine.
I made this layout as part of a member lift at A Million Memories. You can see the original layout and the other design team lifts in the blog
Journaling Reads:
Dear little boy. In three days you will be four months old. The last few months have been wonderful, exhilarating, and tiring. In the last few weeks you’ve been more demanding than usual and you are really unhappy if we’re not holding you all the time. You’ve also gotten used to falling asleep when nursing and refuse to sleep any other way. This has started to take its toll on me and I am feeling more and more worn out.
When I found out that I would start working in four weeks, I decided it was time for us to work on our sleep behavior.
For the last two days, I’ve been spending every waking moment with you. I’ve been watching the clock and the signs to see when you start fussing so that I can put you down immediately. I have been leaning into the crib to give you kisses, hugs, and love. I have been rocking you. Whispering to you. I have been talking, praying, crying.
I love you so much, Nathaniel. I know that you can do this and I know that this is the right next step for both of us. For all of us. David’s been patiently watching both of us as we struggle through this and he’s been playing on his own, being quiet when asked to, and hugging you every moment you’re awake. It’s wonderful to be so loved especially as we strive to find our peace.
Even though you’re not alone for a moment, this process is really rough on me. It hurts me physically with my aching back and splitting headaches. It hurts me psychologically to have to separate this bond between us a little bit. And it hurts me emotionally to see you shed even the tiniest of tears.
But I know that this is the right next step for us. We both need sleep. When we’re rested, we both feel happier and we can bond much more deeply. I have faith in us, my boy, I know we can do this. I love you with all my heart. – August 2009
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projects for twenty twenty-six
projects for twenty twenty-five
projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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