I think I am going to listen to Christmas music early this year.
Have a keep your hands warm by the fire and drink hot chocolate kind of day,
Sofija
Family Life
Have You Packed Your Box Yet?
This week is collection week and this morning we dropped off the shoe boxes we packed a week ago. What I like most about this family tradition of ours is that it enables my kids to think of others before they start the holiday season. I take them shopping and they pick out things they want to put in their box. And believe me, they would love to keep every single item they buy. Yet they have to give it away. My hope is that they will always live their lives like that, thinking of others first. Probably not going to happen, but a mama can try, right?
Between the AHG and our Cub scouts troop we had 59 boxes. They barely fit in our trunk. Below is a rare appearance of my son Shane. He usually does not like me to take his picture. Today he felt generous and gave me permission to put this picture in my blog.
Here is Lori from Calvary who has been working with Operation Christmas Child for the last several years. She remembers us when we show up.
After we dropped the boxes we got cookies and hot chocolate and wandered around the Calvary campus. Calvary is Albuquerque’s biggest church, with 15, 000+ members.
Do you have any fun family traditions? Angel Tree comes to mind as another way of shopping for other children first. The gifts go to children of prisoners. Or the toy drives that fire fighters do every year.
-Sofija
Thankful for This Week
Friends,
It has been one of those epic weeks for me, the kind that couldn’t be possible more full and packed with all sorts of goodness. Not the kind where you get any school done worth mentioning, but a whole lot of life, which is just as important.
Monday I organized a Operation Christmas Child shoe box packing party for our local American Heritage Girls (a Christian version of Girl Scouts) group. I have been in charge of organizing this for several years now. I enjoy it immensely, but it does take a certain amount of planning on my part. This year we packed 45 boxes, more than the last two years. Very happy about that.
On Tuesday I finally finished creating a Facebook page for this blog. I have been wanting to do that for a while, so this was a welcome accomplishment for me. After I did the recent photo shoot with my friend Emily, I finally felt like I had pictures that communicate what I want for my blog and Facebook page. Thank you Emily for realizing my vision!
On Wednesday I woke up to a the news that a longtime friend was coming through town that day. I hadn’t seen her in 12 years!! I got to see her for about an hour; she was making her way to Phoenix to sell at a craft show. She brought a friend, and another friend who lives in town joined us, so the four of us had a great time catching up over a cup of tea.
On Thursday I took my oldest daughter to the orthodontist. We are now entering the world of braces and navigating how to do it in the best possible way financially. I went for a consultation and the news was not good. However one bit of positive news was that we won’t be starting treatment next year, and by waiting hopefully some things will straighten out. That is what I am praying for anyway. 🙂
So on this Friday I am thankful for living right by one of the biggest highways in the US, which has enabled me to see several dear friends passing through.
And I am thankful that we have access to the best dental care possible.
Now I am looking for my husband coming home from a work trip and doing absolutely nothing tomorrow.
Have a great weekend!
Sofija
More Pictures From the Photo Shoot
Here are some more pictures we took in addition to the ones for the blog. We asked the girls to play ring around the rosie.
On another note, this blog has a Facebook page now. You can find it here.
Have a great day,
Sofija
Photo Shoot
Friends,
I’m so exited about the above picture I will use as a header for my blog. I have been envisioning my girls holding a banner like this since last summer. Well, summer came and went and I never got around to it. Last Saturday we finally lined up our schedules and drove up to the mountains. That is the only place around here where grass grows naturally. We had two objectives: take pictures for my blog and me take pictures of the photographer and her family. Thus I had three more cutely dressed girls at my disposal.
Aren’t these cute? I love the two little ones holding hands…
Have a great day,
Sofija
Photography by Lonely Mountain Photography
Styling by Sofija Burton and Emily Mulder
Photo Shoot Sneak Peek
Happy Sunday to you all.
I missed my Friday post because I was trying to get ready for a photo shoot. I realized I wasn’t quite ready so we pushed it to Saturday. Friends, I loved how it turned out. I didn’t end up using the Christmas banner I have been working on, but I got some really cute pictures for my blog. Here is a sneak peek.
dress: Gap
knee high socks: Gap
hat: Gap
clogs: Gymboree
More pictures coming soon.
Have a lovely day,
Sofija
Photography by Lonely Mountain Photography
Styling by Sofija Burton
Making Things
I have spend the last two afternoons crafting. It has been so long since I have made anything that I forgot how much I like it.
I’m making this for a photo shoot tomorrow. I’ll be sharing more soon.
Have a lovely day,
Sofija
Teavana
Friends,
It is Tuesday and I am just now writing my first post. I have been seriously lacking inspiration. I do have ideas, I just don’t know how to put them in writing.
It is rainy and cold here today; so I thought I’ll warm up your day with some pictures of my girls drinking their new favorite tea: blueberry-pineapple.
Have you been to Teavana? It is a chain originally from Georgia. Recently they opened up a store here in Albuquerque. Their genius is that they have free samples outside their store. Ice cold tea in the summer, and nice hot tea in the colder months. Didn’t take much for my girls to get hooked; they probably gobbled up half a gallon in samples.
Have a lovely day,
Sofija
P.S. This is not a sponsored post. I just like their tea.
Fall in my Backyard
This is the view from my balcony. We are blessed and did nothing to deserve it…
On another note, we are still recovering from Thursdays festivities… For some reason I was more conscious of my neighbors further away from us this year while trick or treating. I noticed we have a lot more elderly than I realized. I saw one older women who was taking care of a quadriplegic adult. Now I wonder how we can offer help in a non intrusive kind of way… Makes me think of some friends at our church who have been faithfully delivering Meals on Wheels for years with their kids in tow. That is an easy way to connect with the elderly and brighten their day. How about you, do you have a chance to interact with much older people?
Have a lovely weekend,
Sofija
Random Creepy House
Friends,
For the life of me I can’t get a post together. It has been one of those days…every time I start writing one of my children interrupts me. Fights, tantrums, bruises, you name it.
So this post is really quick. I took the picture Saturday after our lunch date at the Grove in Albuquerque. We parked on a street with a lot of run down Victorian homes. This one seemed kind of abandoned and creepy. I thought it fitting for the week of Halloween. Maybe I should be bring the kids down here for trick or treating….Maybe then they would behave better. Hm… 🙂
-Sofija
P.S. The food at the Grove was really good. Locally grown, organic, and tasty.
Teach Where You Live 