Life gets so jam packed full of necessary activities that I often worry about how I will provide opportunities for the memories that become magical…especially at Christmas time. I’ve been dodging the Santa question for a few weeks trying to keep him alive for at least one more year….
“Mommy, is Santa for real?”
“That’s what they [...]

Today is Nathan’s 2nd birthday. In this picture he is signing “hot” because of the flames on the cake. After his first slice was finished he verbally asked for more by saying one of his first words…”cake!” I guess it was a hit!
We sure do love you Nathan!!

There is every possible reason to be stressed out. My step mom is dying, finances are tight, I have a pile of work to get done. But today, despite all of that, I do feel peace. I have hope. There is more to life than all the messes around us. We have wonderful and deep, [...]

A few days ago my step sister called with news that my step mom was at University Hospital in Cleveland. The intense clinical trial to treat her cancer is not helping and our dear Cyndy has taken a turn for the worse. This came as a shock as we all have been very optimistic that [...]

Check out Mary’s new DVD promo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=368WYRz5W9A
For the past five years or so I’ve been doing a few designs for Mary here and there and want to help get the word out about her new DVD that’s in the works. She’s a wonder woman with a mind that never stops ticking.

(Looking for an environmentally correct Christmas shopping tip?)
I’d really like to know how much the average American family spends on Christmas. Way back—a buzzillion years ago, before children—when we were both working full time plus I was building my freelance business at night, I bet we spent around $1200 every year. I would not have [...]

Now when we go to see Grandma, we will have to go over the river and through the woods! My mom is nestled in her new, beautiful, little home that overlooks a woods and meadow. We went over yesterday to help get furniture in place and I was stunned by the million dollar view out [...]

We have the clock over the fireplace, the yellow lamp, the cow jumping over the moon, the telephone, the cat, the mittens, the little house, the socks, the bears, the chairs, the bowl full of mush (aka oatmeal), the windows that look over the noises everywhere, and even the mouse. The only thing we are [...]

In the past three weeks our drier died (ching-ching), the garage door spring snapped (ching-ching), we had to have new brakes put on the van (CHING-CHING!!), the muffler on Paul’s car broke and the windshield cracked the whole way acro$$! To top it off, the burgeoning weight of health insurance squeezes the life out of [...]

A few moons ago when I was an art director at Crossway Books, one of my projects was to do the production and implement Jack Stockman’s vision for his Advent Book. My children were not even a twinkle in our eyes at the time, so I never could have imagined how much they would love [...]