A Little Grace and Mercy

Project Life | Week Seven

2012-02-20T00:20:00.000-08:00

I tried to get a little more creative this week, while still carefully staying within my grids. I think I adore project life because I adore grids. Seriously. Isn't it nice when we can fit things into boxes in our lives. Real life isn't quite so clean looking.

This week was messy for me. So to sit down and work on little boxes helped me to process my week.

I like to look at the pages side by side. The week at a quick glance.

But then there is nothing like up close and personal. Realized that neither the hubby nor Daniel is in any pictures this week. Eric doesn't like his picture taken, especially when he is sick. And Daniel, he got behind the camera this week... he took the one of my standing at the bus stop. Not bad for a seven year old.

This week was challenging. I wasn't oozing with humility and patience. I would have done better to dwell on this verse earlier in the week, rather than stumbling upon it when reflecting on the week:

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
Ephesians 4:2

Cami

Linking up this week at:

www.themomcreative.com

http://krisiskreations.blogspot.com/

http://www.one-happy-mama.com/

Project Life | Week Six

2012-02-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

This week I finally focused on storytelling. It is so heavy with journaling that I'm thinking maybe I should have added an insert, to add some breathing room. I haven't done that yet. I'm trying to keep things contained in the double page spread to keep the cost of printing down.

They look a lot different because this is the first week that I haven't done the big 6x12 photo. There just wasn't one that I felt was worthy of the space when I needed the space for the journaling this week.

Here are the pages side-by-side:

Up close and personal...

At some point I might go back and embellish further. But I'm okay with the simplicity for now, especially because the text keeps think looking a bit busier than I'm used to in my layouts.

"A man's spirit sustains him in sickness,
but a crushed spirit who can bear?"
Proverbs 18:14

Cami

Linking up this week at:

www.themomcreative.com

http://krisiskreations.blogspot.com/

http://www.one-happy-mama.com/

Me | Rejuvenation Creatively Speaking

2012-02-12T21:40:00.000-08:00

I got away. I really got away. I packed a suitcase, got in the truck and drove away with my mom. Then I stayed away, for two nights.

Then I came home. Rested. Rejuvenated. Ready to be a wife and mommy again. Which was a good thing, because I came home to a sick husband. Sigh.

While away I worked on some simple projects I had wanted to do, a couple I needed done for Valentine's Day.

Project #1: Conversation Hearts Cover
I attend a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group and we meet this Tuesday. I wanted to have a little something for each of the ladies in my group, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money. Since we've had a lot of sickness in our house I didn't want to bake anything either. So I bought little boxes of conversation hearts. A couple of years ago I turned them into iPods. See this post. But this year I wanted to do something different.

This was so easy. All I did was find a cute card. This card came in a package of eight at Michaels for only $1.50. Then I spent $0.50 on ribbon. I took my hot glue gun and glued on the box of hearts. Then I cut two pieces of ribbon, which I glued on, as well. I wrote a quick note on the inside. Then I tied it up and was done.

Project #2: Heart Shaped Bookmark
These I have had finished for a while, but finally got them photographed. I plan on giving these to another group of ladies at MOPS.

These were super easy too. I was able to use materials I my husband had on hand. I used 19 gauge steel wire and my hubby's wire cutters. All you do is cut a length of wire and then use the needle-nose wire cutters to shape into a heart. They function just like a paperclip and I wanted my friends to get that without my having to explain it. So, I picked a couple pieces of paper and glued them together to make a pocket. Then I slipped one side of the heart over the top sheet to model how it works.

Don't you think that packaging can make or break a small gift?

Project #3: Short Burlap Table Runner
I saw a beautiful burlap table runner on pinterest last week. I had a piece of burlap that I'd received in a box of fabric from my grandma. It needed to be put to good use. Since I've had the same table runner on my dining room table since my husband and I have been married (almost nine years, don't judge me), I decided I should try my hand at a new one...

I don't sew very often, so I was pretty proud of myself for finishing this up. Almost every sewing project I've started is still sitting in my closet of good intentions. But its completion is good testimony that it is a fast, easy project that anyone can do.

I'm not going to walk you through how to make it, but give credit to the blogger whose idea I borrowed (though hers covers the whole length of the table and hangs over the edge). Mine is short, intentionally. I have small curious children who like to run by quickly and something hanging off the end of our table these days just might get pulled down. See the her tutorial here.

Project #4: Homemade Light Box
When I got back home I decided to try my hand at making a light box. We have horrid lighting in our house and I've gotten frustrated trying to take photos of the little gifts I've made for people. I found a tutorial via pinterest. (There are lots out there.) So I gave it a try.

I realized when I was away from my Mac all weekend how good it felt to do stuff with my hands again. I have an obsession with digital scrapbooking. That love isn't going away. I'd been spending all my free moments working on Project Life. If felt good to be forced to exercise some of my other creative muscles this weekend.

And this scripture has been on my mind since the early hours of the morning Friday, before I left for my weekend away with my mom...

"Children's children are a crown to the aged,
and parents are the pride of their children."
Proverbs 17:6

Cami

Project Life | Week Five

2012-02-06T02:41:00.000-08:00

Sliding into the second month of Project Life. And if it weren't for this deep cough that shakes my whole body that has been hanging on all week, I'd be feeling pretty good, just for keeping up so far. Can't hardly wait to link up tomorrow and see what everybody else's weeks look like.

On to things way more fun...

Here they are, side by side. I do love the pop of green.

And up close and personal.

Struggling a little bit to keep things looking fresh. I know, I know, it's only week five, not week 25, but still!

I'm curious, what are you doing to keep from getting into a rut?

Feeling exhausted this week, so I've been focusing on the following verse:

"Be strong in the Lord, and in his mighty power."

Ephesians 6:10

Cami

Linking up this week at:

www.themomcreative.com

http://krisiskreations.blogspot.com/

http://www.one-happy-mama.com/

Project Life | Week Four

2012-01-30T09:22:00.000-08:00

I am still very much in like with Project Life. Last night I was given a little gift of extra time today (I was supposed to go help a friend who had surgery recently, but her mother-in-law is helping out) and so last night I stayed up late and worked on Project Life. I enjoy it so much!

I'm starting to really get a routine going, with what works for me (remember I'm all digital, baby).

Step One: I try to upload my pictures from the week in one fail swoop, rather than uploading each day. I use iPhoto. I create an album of all my favorites from the week.

Step Two: I run through my favorites and decide if there is one that I just love that would work for my 6x12 photo. (I've been able to find one every week so far.) I do any color adjustments, but honestly, only if they are really bad. I don't waste too much time here because I can always go back later, if I have time to fiddle with them.

Step Three: Open a previous PL page that I think is most like the layout that will work for the photos I have. I start replacing the photos with new ones. I change orientation of the photos, but stay within the grids. I am pretty rigid about staying within the grid!

Step Four: Start changing out the "extras" and adding some embellishments.

Here they are side-by-side. I really love them this week. I think I like them because I figured out how to do some things on my own. Those of you who are accustomed to making all your own scrapbook embellishments will likely find my stuff pretty elementary, but don't knock elementary school. I think we learn way more in elementary than middle or high school. I'm going to share some of what I learned this week. Keep in mind I use Adobe Illustrator CS3. Many of the processes are similar to Photoshop CS3, so if you are mildly adept in that, you can essentially do the same thing...

1.) I gave the word "beautiful" a little extra dimension by first typing one, then copying it, changing the color to a slightly creamy brown and putting it behind the white, then off setting it, just slightly. I really liked the result. It made it look a little like the words that everyone is cutting out of their little machines. If I was doing traditional or hybrid scrapping I would so get one of those fancy little machines. They look SOOOO fun!

2.) I love how my scripture card turned out. I made the zig-zag lines by drawing a very thin rectangle (that really looked just like a thick line) and then I used the zig-zag effect, playing with it until I liked the look. I copied and stacked a bunch of them and then added a white background. The little "scrap" of crinkled paper is actually a masked part of a photo. Do you recognize it?? Look at the bottom of the box of produce, yep, that's it, turned upside down and resized.

3.) And there are lots of tutorials out there on how to put type over photos and changing the transparency so that the photo shows through, so I won't go into that...

Then I just loved this photo of my youngest, Gracie, who was helping me get some chores done at the church on Friday - our special day of the week, when it's just the two of us. I love her hair, it's so 80's! She'd had a braid the day before and so she has the "crimped" look. Just makes me giggle.

I love how PL is helping me to push myself to figure out how to do more stuff with the program I use. There aren't a lot of Illustrator tutorials out there. I know most digi-scrapbookers are using Photoshop, but I just love Illustrator and have fun experimenting without the pressure with a job needing to get to the printer.

And I'll leave you with the verse that is my life verse because I believe it to be true (even when I don't live it out fully). Don't you just love being around people whose speech is gracious? I sure do. I want to be one of those people, but honestly, it's hard work sometimes, not just to hold my tongue, but to carefully choose the words so that they are full of graciousness!

"He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious
will have the king for his friend."
Proverbs 22:11

Cami

Linking up this week with:

and

Krisis's Kreations

Me | Right Now

2012-01-29T14:23:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm tired and a little overwhelmed. But sorting through the mound of paperwork cluttering my desk, dusting, and putting away the stray rubber bands, coupons, lost sticky-notes, gift cards, and receipts will make things seem more manageable.

Right now Daniel and I are both getting over colds and our coughs are rough and gravely and sometimes shake our entire bodies.

Right now I am keeping a list of things that I am thankful for. When discouraged or tired I am trying to remember to pull it out and add to the list. It helps to change the direction of my thoughts. It's my own version of the Joy Dare that I read about earlier this month.

Right now I am enjoying Fridays with Gracie. It's our special day when both Daniel and Mercy are at school and I don't have obligations, so we spend the day together, doing chores and playing.

Right now we are trying hard to potty train Gracie. It's hard, really hard. Tic-Tacs (thanks Grandma Cook) seem to motivate her more than anything else we've tried. I keep them in my purse.

Right now I am loving scarves and find myself looking at colorful ones every moment I have alone in a store that carries clothing (which really isn't that often).

Right now I am trying to drink less Diet Dr. Pepper and I am having a difficult time controlling my emotions, my head hurts and I am cranky far more often than is good for any wife or mommy to be. I'm trusting it gets better with time or even my husband will be asking me to resume the habit (he's the one who's asked me to cut back for my health).

Right now (not surprisingly) my sugar-free vanilla lattes are tasting better than ever.

Right now I'm filling in my February calendar and getting terribly excited about a weekend away with just my mom, three days and two nights when I will feel more like a daughter than a mommy. So excited and so ready for it to be right now.

Right now I'm enjoying being able to watch my kids play Just Dance for Kids together on the Wii. Gracie runs up to her big sister after each song and says, "Mercy! Really great job!"

Right now I am spending a lot of time praying about volunteers stepping up to help out with our midweek program at church.

Right now I'm spending time praying about wisdom in knowing what things I can reasonably commit to while still keeping my role as primary spiritual nurturer of my children as my first priority. I'm learning that load level is always in flux as it it perpetually changing. Thinking now about next Fall might seem premature, but it isn't, not really.

Right now I am trying to serve my family more whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables. I'm learning that my taste palette has narrowed theirs significantly. So I'm trying more foods and learning that I like more of the new foods than I assumed I would.

Right now the snow has all melted and things don't look nearly as pretty, but it's easier to get more accomplished in our days.

Right now I am being drawn into Pinterest. I am also realizing I need to carefully limit my time as it seems it can pull me in too deeply and I can loose far too much valuable time in my day doing something not the least bit productive.

Right now I am working on a design job for a client and I am thankful for the extra work, even when it's challenging to squeeze into everyday life.

Right now I am enjoying Project Life, which is helping me to keep up with documenting the everyday life of our little family.

Right now I'm not blogging as much as I had been and I'm okay with that.

Right now life is simple and full.

Right now I'm spending more time in God's Word, but far less than I should be.

"We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."
I John 2:3-6

Cami

Project Life 2011 | Week 1-4

2012-01-22T15:50:00.000-08:00

I am loving the whole Project Life concept. I've jumped on the bandwagon for 2012 and am so far have been able to keep up. (Loving that!)

But when I was clicking through layouts of others who are also doing PL this year I saw a couple of places (or maybe more) that there were others who were going back and using Project Life to scrap previous years. I'm in love with that idea. I think it's so much more doable than what I have been doing... which has been simply waiting for inspiration and motivation to collide. This gives me some place to start. Some way to order my pictures. So that's what I'm doing... grouping my photos from 2011 by weeks, then tackling one week at a time.

Pure genius!

And here are the first four weeks...

Week One: Inspired by Ali Edwards layout found here. Papers: my own.
This week of Project Life I focused on organizing. When chaos threatens to turn in on me I gut and clean. It's what I do. The girls have a lot of stuff in a small space (they share a room). Order makes me feel better, much better.

Week Two: Inspired again by Ali Edwards, but a combination of layouts. Papers: my own.
Mercy loves to feel all pretty, she is all girl. I adore that about her. So the second week of Project Life I highlighted her first foot spa treatment. Her painted toes looked so super cute.

Week Three: Inspired by Pencil Lines layout prompt found here. Papers and pins: my own.
This week I went with a two page spread. The right side reflects the girls' morning habit of watching a video in their pajamas on the couch. The left page reflects a little of the sleep struggles Gracie has.

Week Four: I figured out how to make legos in Illustrator CS3. That was my big accomplishment on these pages. I imagine I will be using the symbol I made again and again, since Legos are such a huge part of our daily life.

And there we have it, the first month of 2011 finally scrapped!

And a sweet friend reminded me of one of my favorite passages this week, I Corinthians 13, also known as the Love Chapter. So completely good to dwell on. I need to be mulling on these words this week:

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
I Corinthians 13: 4-7

Cami

Project Life | Week Three

2012-01-21T20:33:00.000-08:00

I am still really appreciating the order Project Life is bringing both to my scrapbooking and to my pictures. It is so much easier (and less overwhelming) to look at my photos in one week groupings. Love it. Love it. Love it.

This week I have been going back to 2011 and starting to work through the photos I have to scrap them in Project Life style. I have the first three weeks done, but because I don't want to just throw in a few here and there, I'll post them a month at a time. So when I get January completed, then I'll post them. (My goal is to get them done by the end of the month. We'll see.) UPDATE: I got January 2011 done. See those pages HERE.

But on to THIS week's photos and pages...

What a week! The snow arrived and STAYED all week! We just don't get that in Western Washington. So fun for the kids. What we hope for was a snow day, but it turned into much more than that! Yippee! But today the roads were completely cleared. Our yard is still covered in white, but routine is starting up again and I'm sure the kids will be back to school come Monday morning.

But because of the oddity of the week I decided not to do a picture a day, but just took my favorite snow and food pictures (I did a lot of cooking and baking this week, since we were relatively house bound).

Here they are side by side. I love how bright the snow makes the pages.

And up close and personal...

"When it snows, she has no fear for her household,
for all of them are clothed in scarlet."
Proverbs 31:21

Cami

Linking up with:

and

Krisis's Kreations

Family Life | Snow Days

2012-01-18T11:19:00.000-08:00

I have never been more excited about snow. At 5:30 a.m. yesterday morning we got the call that school was cancelled. Since the kids and I didn't need to go anywhere it felt like a mini stay-cation. I happen to L.O.V.E. any opportunity to stay home. So we played in the snow. When Daddy came home early we were especially delighted because he worked on setting up the sled run on our "kiddy hill".

F.U.N. (and cold).

Daddy decided to work from home today. So we celebrated with homemade donuts. I tried making them a little healthier by using whole wheat flour and sugar cane juice sugar. They were still delicious!

"Though your sins are like scarlet,
   they shall be as white as snow;
   though they are red as crimson,
   they shall be like wool."
Isaiah 1:18b

Cami

Project Life | Week Two

2012-01-16T21:48:00.000-08:00

This week was much harder for me. I sat down to scrap and nothing was working. Before I knew it I was wandering around blogland, accomplishing nothing, not even getting inspired, just wasting time. Not good. After a couple of hours I was wishing that I had decided to use a kit, instead of creating all my own elements.

Maybe it's because my husband was watching some show about men who drive big rigs and every other word was BLEEP. Slightly distracting.

Eventually I just buckled down and tried to plunk pictures in. And I'm glad that I'm sticking with all my own design elements. I'm learning to do some new things (like make decorative buttons) that perhaps I'll get to incorporate into next week's layouts. But this is where I landed this week.

And up close and personal...

I'm really excited about next week's layouts. We've had snow the last couple of days, so the kids were out playing in it. I took a hundred pictures, so I should get one or two I love. If not, I'm sure I'll be sending them back out to play tomorrow.

This week I'm linking up with Project Life Tuesday again. I had such fun last week seeing what everyone else was doing. The sweet comments that were being shared with each other was really encouraging. Click the button in the right hand column to see what others are doing with Project Life. Others are doing stuff much more creative than me. Go get inspired.

"When it snows, she has no fear for her household;

for all of them are clothes in scarlet."

Proverbs 31:21

Cami

1000 Gifts | Joy Dare

2012-01-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

All weekend I have been thinking about the Joy Dare {One Thousand Gifts in 2012}. You can read about it here. I found out about it from a friend I taught with in Haiti a decade ago. I keep trying to push it out of my head because I don't like to start things that have already started. And this has already started. It's January 9, more than a week into the challenge. I have a thing about not wanting to start late on anything. It feels like you start out failing, no chance of succeeding.

But God keeps reminding me this is different, this isn't about me accomplishing something, it's about Him accomplishing something in me. Can I really tell God no, because I'd be late starting?

So I'm starting. I won't be sharing publicly every day. I don't really want you to read my journal, and I know you really don't want to. But weekly I'll selectively share, to encourage, to inspire.

If seeing 1000 gifts in your life this year sounds lovely to you, then join me (and lots of others) who are hungry to unwrap the gift of joy.

"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22

Cami

Project Life | Week One

2012-01-09T05:00:00.001-08:00

First week of Project Life done. I did a decent job of taking picture this week, but I didn't journal. I had to rely on memory for that part of the layout. Next week I'd like to be more diligent to jot down my thoughts daily.

Above are the page side-by-side, how they will look in the scrapbook. I have them repeated below, slightly larger, for a closer look. You can still click on them to enlarge them further and actually read the journaling.

My favorite part of the double page spread is the pomegranate section (right hand page). I haven't eaten them since I was a kid in Haiti. Was able to get Gracie and Mercy to try sucking on the seeds, they loved them. This one was incredibly sweet, perfect for a first taste.

I'm noticing that I'm really loving circles in my designs right now. (Maybe it has to do with the fact that I am toying choosing "circle" as my One Little Word this year, maybe.)

I spent some time looking through some of my older scrapbook pages this last week because a friend asked to see them. It was fun to see the progression of my style. It's stayed simple. I'm not a big embellisher, nor am I big of flourish or flowers. But my designs have gotten more interesting. I have gotten a bit braver in my designs. I like that. Sometimes it's been more successful than others. But because it's digital I can always go back and improve my layouts (not that I do, because there are plenty of pictures I haven't yet used).

I'd I'll leave you with God's Word, which will far outlast anything I say or do. I love the Psalms and Proverbs and will be reading through them a lot this year. Though I am not in the habit of quoting Scripture at my children, here's one that gives a bit of backbone to my earnest reminders to my kids to listen and obey!

"Listen, my son, to your father's instruction
and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
"They will be a garland to grace your head
and a chain to adorn your neck."
Proverbs 1:8

Cami

Read | Newby at Home

2012-01-06T09:48:00.000-08:00

I subscribe and follow a lot of blogs. I don't think they count as books, but I do spend a lot of time reading them. Maybe we could throw them in with the devotional books, at least some of them, the ones that are spiritually inspiring. I'm talking about the ones who speak honestly about life, about God and how He desires us to live our lives. Sometimes wrestling with aspects of who they are or who God is, but always coming full-circle, anchoring deeply in truth. I've been trying to spend time on those kinds of blogs lately, because I am recognizing that I need that kind of inspiration more and more the older I get.

One of the blogs I follow is Newby at Home. This post Catie wrote really echoed a lot of my thoughts and feelings right now. I love organization in theory, too. When my perspective on life spins recklessly out-of-control I pick a drawer and organize it. Not a highly practical solution, but intensely therapeutic for me. I do the same thing when my house is a wreck. When my kitchen looks like I haven't cleaned it in weeks (and really it's just that I didn't clean up thoroughly after last night's dinner) I organize the silverware drawer, then I just look at it and breath in and out, in and out. Then, eventually I can tackle the kitchen.

But really it's about perspective... remember I said when my perspective on life spins recklessly out-of-control... really truly none of it ever spins out-of-control. At least not if we believe that God is holding us in the palm of His hand and is in control of our lives. I believe that. I really do, even in the chaos of my life, my real life. So it's about altering my perspective, asking to see as He does.

Catie wrote on her blog, "Life is good though. Really." This was said after speaking to her frustration over feeling like she can't finish anything, because life as a mom is full of interruptions. Oh how I feel that too! Life is good though. Really!

When Mercy got up this morning it was a little later than usual. She was still lying in bed awake when I got home from a MOPS meeting at ten o'clock last night, so she was extra tired this morning. But we still paused long enough to snuggle on the couch before she got her breakfast eaten and daytime clothes on. A snuggle on the couch almost always makes the day better for us. And she said, "Mommy, I love you." Had I hurried, I would have missed that. I don't want to miss that. Not ever.

Three spiritually inspiring blogs that I follow:

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let our gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:4-9

Cami

Scrap | Project Life Title Page

2012-01-05T05:00:00.000-08:00

Today I started to scrap on Project Life. I designed my title page and I love it.

Click on image to enlarge.

Font: Pea MissStaker (I can't remember where I downloaded the font, but it was free)

I really took my time with the layout. I didn't rush through it. I even avoided browsing too much at other people's title page layouts (there are a lot of people doing this Project Life). I wanted it to reflect my personal style and what I love right now. There isn't a lot of flourish. There is a lot of calmness with a sprinkling of joy.

I'm hoping to spend an evening a week like this one, still and quiet, creating, because I feel most like myself doing it.

"My heart is not proud, O Lord,

my eyes are not haughty;

I do not concern myself with great matters

or things too wonderful for me.

But I have stilled and quieted my soul;

like a weaned child with its mother,

like a weaned child is my soul within me."

Psalm 131:1-2

Cami

Scrap | Project Life Basic Templates

2012-01-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

Instead of plopping down on the couch last night and watching something brainless on Hulu I decided to work on the basic templates that I will be using for Project Life this year. It's a new project for me and I'm really excited to get the framework set up before the enthusiasm wains (or life pushes me in another direction).

I have three basic layouts that I will try to stick with. Because I am doing the project digitally, I have a lot more flexibility. But for a unified look to the album, consistency is important.

These basic layouts are modeled after the Project Life pocket page protectors that come with the kit. I will print my pages on 12x12 sheets and slide them into regular scrapbook page protectors.

I've also be thinking about color palettes. There needs to be enough variety to cover all seasons this year and the ability to scrap both feminine, masculine, and neutral pages. I've discovered the site COLOURlovers. Lovely if you want to loose an hour looking at pretty color palettes. (Have I mentioned that my favorite artists are Mark Rothko and Helen Frankenthaler. I cannot explain the affect color has on me. If it doesn't affect you that way, I am truly sorry. The artistry with which God used when creating the earth is astonishing, to say the least.) Here were some of my favorites (after limiting myself to about ten minutes):

Aren't these pretty? How will I ever decide? Which one is your favorite? I'm pretty certain the White Russian RC color palette most represents me. I love the other color palettes too, but that one I think I could live in all year, and still love it when working with week 52.

I've been designing some papers of my own to work with, but I'm not ready to show those yet. It's a fairly new process for me. I have had all the tools to design all the digital scrapbook papers and embellishments. I haven't taken the time to sharpen my skills with the tools I have. I've been having great fun trying out some Illustrator tutorials. I thought I was quite proficient using my favorite program, but oh my, the things IT can do that I can not... YET!

"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array." Genesis 1:31-2:1

Cami

Scrap | Project Life

2012-01-03T05:00:00.000-08:00

I need to create.

I was too busy doing other things to create well this year. When I went hunting for a favorite layout from 2011 I had too few to choose from to feel satisfied. I need that to change.

I know in the very heart of who I am that if I stop creating a little part of me dies and a lot of me suffers. When I block out time to create I am nurturing some of my favorite parts of myself. I am a better wife and mother when keeping a part of my evenings (or the wee hours of the morning) for creating.

Getting to scrapbook for me combines my love of words with my love of color and esthetics. I love the process of creating a page, however it happens. I love that it isn't a hobby that runs away from my family, but one that helps me to look intently at the loveliness of everyday life, the sweetness of gifts of time with my husband, and the beauty of the stories that come from the kids' chatter. Documenting helps me to think on and remember the beauty in our simple and sometimes crazy days.

But like anything, without goals, time slips away with hopes that creating will happen when life slows down just a bit. I'm learning it won't pause, unless I press the pause button. So I want to stop and press the pause button. Often this year.

In 2012 I hope to participate in Project Life | You can read about Becky Higgins' project here. I was exposed to Project Life via Ali Edward. You can see her project here. The faithfulness with which she (seems to) honestly document her family's story is inspiring. I am not purchasing the kit. I'm too cheap for that, but I will do my own version, which may or may not look similar to what everyone else is doing. But the point is that I will be creating a two page layout each week of the year, so that the year doesn't come and go with minimal documenting of the memories I've created.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." Philippians 4:8

Cami

Read | Austenland

2012-01-02T05:00:00.000-08:00

I have been challenging myself to read more. Honestly it's driven by the realization that I watch far too much nonsense on hulu. (We get literally no T.V.)

Photo Credit

I recently read Austenland by Shannon Hale. A fan of Jane Austen myself, I enjoyed the book. The main character has an obsession with Mr. Darcy, the one from the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice specifically. The main character has had a series of failed relationships, seemingly because no one lives up to the ideal man, as represented in the film's depiction of Mr. Darcy. She ends up going to a resort, where the guests are submerged into life during that era, a drama, orchestrated to give the guests the experience of being "wooed" in Austen-era style. And we all wait, knowing she will find love, because the author could not risk disappointing us...

It was much easier to read, even humorous, now that I have married and found my own Mr. Darcy. Having been single, with very little dating until I was nearly thirty, I could see a lot of myself in some of the main character (which is why we read books, isn't it?).

I cannot critique this book with the depth of an obsessed Jane Austen fan. However, the light read (it took me one night) reminded me that regardless of the era, culture, or circumstances to which we are born, we are all Eve looking for Adam. Eve was made, solely for Adam, she was brought to him by God. How romantic, right? But the story didn't end there, it's only part of a much bigger story (though we women often get obsessively hung up on that particular part of the story--I certainly don't like snakes, admitting my failures, or having my dear husband tell God about them).

We love novels because they are like paintings or photographs, capturing one moment. Real. Lovely reminders of the good. Life itself is so much more.

Photo Credit: Andrew Leigh Photography

"The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Genesis 2:18

Cami

Me | Welcoming 2012

2012-01-01T05:00:00.001-08:00

I love beginnings. Fresh starts. A brand new spiral notebook. A new house. A new year.

I start with such superb intentions. Perfection really. But soon the spiral notebook has been written in, and I've had to scratch out a word, or written too fast. The house has stains in the carpet that even a $400 Dyson can't get out (but I still would love to actually own one). My resolution to eat healthy has been replaced with a six pack of Diet Dr. Pepper.

Yet, instead of dread, I rush to the starting line with determination and hope that my intentions are fortified with a bit more will and inner strength than last time.

Once again I stand (or rather sit) at the start, armed with goals and resolve about who I desire to be, of the character I desire to develop and actively push myself towards.

Photo Credit: Andrew Leigh Cook

In 2012:

I need to love God more deeply, spending more quality time sitting quietly in His presence.
I need to cherish, protect, and nurture the gifts God has given me in my husband and children.
I need to create.

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." I Corinthians 9:24-27

Cami

December Daily 2011 | Day 25

2011-12-29T10:24:00.000-08:00

All good things must come to an end and here is my last day for the December Daily. I think last year, my first year, I posted all month. But I have run out of steam a bit and I really want to enjoy this week off with my husband and family. Eric doesn't take a lot of time off and this week between Christmas and New Year's is a forced holiday where he does burn some vacation. So we look forward to it every year.

This has been fun. I'll likely do it again next year. I'm contemplating doing the weekly page along with Ali this year, so I have an album for the 52 weeks in the year. But we'll see. I don't have to decide for another few days.

There are plenty of other things to hold my attention this week. There are Tru Midweek lessons to plan and prep for, a special birthday boy to celebrate (Daniel turns seven tomorrow), a house to restore to passable order, play dates with friends, and thank you cards to write.

I pray as the next year approaches you are continuing to experience much joy with the ones you love.

Cami

December Daily 2011 | Day 24

2011-12-27T18:58:00.000-08:00

December Daily 2011 | Day 23

2011-12-26T15:15:00.000-08:00

I have some great childhood memories. One of my favorites is Daddy writing clues for us to solve; clues that told us where we were going next on our family adventure. I remember arriving at McDonalds for french fries before moving on to another restaurant for another part of our dinner. It's one of my favorite memories of family times.

I wanted to do something special for my family. Neither Eric nor myself is very adventurous or what I would consider "fun". We often talk ourselves out of doing something. But I was bound and determined that I would plan a scavenger hunt of sorts for our family Friday night when Eric got home, his last day of work before his week-long holiday. I thought this would be the perfect thing to kick-off the real holiday, when Daddy was home.

I am so glad we did! The kids had fun, but so did Eric and I. In the future I wouldn't plan as many stops. I had fourteen planned. We did thirteen. We would have been better to stop after about nine or ten. Next year I will plan more non-food related stops.

The kids favorite stop: Target, where we drew names and each bought a gift from the dollar bins at Target for the person whose name we drew.

Free Printable | Kids Fill-in-the-Blank Christmas Thank You Card

2011-12-26T12:17:00.000-08:00

I love the simple act of sending a thank you note. It was something my parents were very intentional about instilling in me. Probably living thousands of miles away from family necessitated the written thank you over the verbal, but I think there was something more there too.

I'm trying to instill in my kids taking a moment, well after the tearing off the wrapping paper, to express thanks. After all, I hope my kids are thankful beyond that moment. A note says that. It says, I'm thankful beyond the obligatory mumbled gratitude.

But I'm honest about the fact that my kids are three, five, and six (almost seven). So, we've gotten creative about the thank you's, so that it isn't such a chore, but fun to express a thankful heart.

I did up two different printable fill-in-the-blank thank you cards. This one is for the gift giver who gave one thoughtful gift. The second is for the grandma's and aunts and uncles who sometimes give multiple gifts. It limits how much writing needs to happen. There is space for a drawing, or a photo (if you are one who is really good at taking photos of your child opening or using the gift they received). Depending on the age of your child, you can help. If they can write the gift giver's name and theirs, that's wonderful. You can fill out the rest. Or, maybe they can fill in all the blanks themselves. Or, as in the case of my three-year-old, she will only be drawing the picture and telling me what to write in the blank.

Download your FREE printable PDF here (one gift thank you) and here (multiple gifts) start helping your kids to realize the value of a thank you note.

Hope your Christmas was lovely!

Cami

I'm linking up HERE.

December Daily 2011 | Day 22

2011-12-22T22:49:00.000-08:00

December Daily 2011 | Day 21

2011-12-22T07:17:00.000-08:00

This actually happened Tuesday night at The Lights of Christmas, but I'm using the picture for Wednesday. I love the story. I love how the story is such a great indicator of what is going on in each of my kids' head during this Christmas season when they are hearing so many legends and ideas from so many sources, not just from Mom and Dad.

December Daily 2011 | Day 20

2011-12-21T08:47:00.000-08:00

UPDATED VERSION: Scroll down to see the first version. This is the second version. I am much more satisfied with the result and probably won't spend any more time on it. The kids want to build an indoor fort, so I'm going to go supervise and take pictures.

(Thanks, Raylene for the help.)

I don't love this page. It needs something. But I'm going to put up what I have, knowing that I can change it when I feel inspired.

December Daily 2011 | Day 19

2011-12-20T06:38:00.000-08:00

Can hardly believe that we are less than a week out from Christmas morning. Our household is tremendously excited.

You'll notice I am still using Vintage Christmas Kit by Persnickety Prints for papers and embellishments. Love how versatile the color palette has been.

December Daily 2011 | Day 18

2011-12-19T14:32:00.000-08:00

My girls were in their first Church Christmas Program. Daniel didn't participate because he hasn't been going to Sunday School. He had no regrets when he saw the only other boy in his class had to dress up as an angel!

December Daily 2011 | Day 17

2011-12-19T14:20:00.000-08:00

Another day...
Still using Persnickety Prints Vintage Christmas Kit as a base for papers and embellishments.

December Daily 2011 | Day 16

2011-12-19T06:57:00.000-08:00

I've gotten a little bit behind, but I'm choosing not to stress about it. I don't want to rush through my pages, just to get it done. We were crazy busy this weekend, which means there are more pictures to go through, and some great stories to tell. I don't want to miss them.

So, here are pages from last Friday's activities. I'm still using Persnickety Prints' Vintage Christmas freebie kit for a color base. I've used papers and elements on occasion too (but not every day). I really like having a color palette as a starting point to tie the pages together.

I'm realizing that the girls tend to be in the forefront of my stories, I need to zero in on Daniel in the next few days. There is plenty to tell there, too.

Who Let the Cow Out?

2011-12-16T12:19:00.000-08:00

I recognize it's a silly title. But I am really proud of my first attempt at using gum paste. Tomorrow night we are celebrating my niece's birthday, along with Daniel's. She loves cows. When I told Eric I was going to try and make a cow to go on her cupcake he got this horrified look on his face. He was remembering the last time I worked with fondant (I was making Gracie's birthday cake). I ended up throwing the whole thing out, even though I had spent a crazy amount of money all the supplies. The money was one thing... but the stressful mommy they had to deal with was something else entirely. Not a happy memory.

I think this turned out pretty cute. (So worth the effort for my sweet niece.) I think it will look even cuter sitting on top of the cupcake tomorrow. I'll try to remember to update this post with a picture with the cow on the cupcake.

December Daily 2011 | Day 15

2011-12-16T00:16:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite "story" so far this month. There is nothing like an "a-ha" moment in parenting. This moment was mixed with this great feeling of achievement and hint of frustration that I didn't think of the successful approach earlier.

December Daily 2011 | Day 14

2011-12-15T09:30:00.000-08:00

December Daily 2011 | Day 13

2011-12-15T07:37:00.000-08:00

I feel so utterly blessed that this little girl is mine. There is so much personality oozing from her. She's isn't like her brother or sister, she's all her own little person. I love seeing that. I love watching her make connections with her friends.

Tutorial | Paper Advent Wreath

2011-12-14T15:36:00.000-08:00

I needed to put together a simple paper advent wreath for our midweek program at church (TRU Story by David C. Cook Publishing). I scoured the web and couldn't find anything. So I decided to use elements of things I saw to make my own.

First, you make the wreath itself. There are lots of tutorials for wreaths around the web. I liked this design the best because it was pretty simple.

Now we have to prepare the wreath for attaching advent candles that we will make.

Okay, now we are ready to make some candles.

I didn't get a photo of making the Christ Candle. The process is the same as the other candles, except that I used white index paper (card stock) and I rolled it using a pencil. Also, I used clear tape to secure the size I wanted. I used a piece 1 1/2 wide and 8 1/2 inches long.

You'll end up with something that looks like this.

But the point isn't merely to make a craft with your kids, though that certainly is fun. The main purpose of this is to have a way to help kids remember the symbols of one of our church's Christmas Traditions. We use an advent wreath at church each week during advent, lighting a candle each week and reading the Scriptures that tell a different part of the Christmas story.

I love the symbolism of the wreath itself, the shape reminds us that God, His love and His mercy last forever, they're endless. The color represents the new life through Christ that we are offered. The use of the candles represent that Jesus is the light of the world. Four candles remembers the 400 years of waiting between the last prophecy of His coming and His actual birth. Even the colors are significant. Purple represents royalty, as well as the color of fasting and penitence. The rose colored (third) candle represents extreme joy, when we break from the waiting to celebrate. The white of the Christ candle represents His purity.

Each candle is lit while telling a different part of the story. Our church has the first candle as the prophecy (hope) of His coming. The second candle is the Magi and Bethlehem. The third is the Shepherds. The fourth is the Angels. And final the Christ Candle itself is lit Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas. May you spend special time this season remembering with those you love the incredible gift of Christ's love.

Family Life | Vacation is Coming

2011-12-14T12:17:00.000-08:00

These days are full. Some of it is really good stuff. But it's full, too full. My head is throbbing from lack of sleep, too many days so far this month. I'm tired, really tired. Vacation is coming and I am so thankful. I am looking forward to a little extra sleep, staying in our pajamas all day if we choose, and playing board games with my kids. This year I know I've volunteered for too much extra stuff (I define extra stuff as volunteer opportunities outside of being wife and mom).

Yesterday I treated myself to an expensive coffee. (Yes, that's a venti!) I have a hard time paying $5 for coffee, but yesterday I wanted the treat. It was the last day of one volunteer obligation before MY Christmas vacation and I needed a little push through it. Today is the last day before my vacation of my other big volunteer obligation before vacation. I'm thinking it's going to take more than a cup of coffee to get through that tonight, so I'm relying on lots of prayer. Again, good stuff, just too much to do in my own strength. (Thank goodness for God and caffeine!)

Kids really aren't the only ones who need a little time off to enjoy Christmas!

December Daily 2011 | Day 12

2011-12-13T07:26:00.000-08:00

December Daily 2011 | Day 11

2011-12-11T22:47:00.000-08:00

I simply love this book, an amazing find from our library. I literally went in with the kids one day last week and pulled if off the shelf because the spine looked fun. Lines that Wiggle is written by Candace Whitman and illustrated by Steve Wilson. Truly wonderful book about getting kids to see the lines that make up things in our everyday. Mercy, my little artist, didn't surprise me, she immediately picked up on the concept and started pointing out the lines, first in the ornaments on the Christmas tree and then on the branches and then the very needles that make up the branches. Such a fun book.

See all of my December Daily pages.

December Daily 2011
December Daily 2010

December Daily 2011 | Day 10

2011-12-10T22:08:00.000-08:00

Mom and Dad Blue

December Daily 2011 | Day 9

2011-12-10T06:48:00.000-08:00

This was such a special day. Mercy was Star Student this week. I think she may have been looking forward to it since Daniel was Star Student last year. Mrs. A. always makes the kids feel so special and she is so amazing at welcoming family members who want to come share the experience, even though it must be quite an interruption. Originally Eric had led me to believe that he might be able to attend. Things at work this week didn't end up allowing it to work out. So last minute I called my parents and asked if they would come help. I had cookies to take to both Daniel and Mercy's classrooms. They were eager to come be apart of it.

December Daily 2011 | Day 8

2011-12-09T23:51:00.000-08:00

There is so much more to this day, but I don't want to go too long before posting what I have so far. I will probably add more pages for this day when I get them done. This day was fabulous. Daniel's first Christmas Concert. Mr. C, his Music Teacher is wonderful!

December Daily 2011 | Day 7

2011-12-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

Another day when I didn't get any photos until the last moments of the day and then just snapped wildly. So much happened today that would have been good to document. It just didn't happen. But my brother rescued me. He posted this one on Facebook that he'd taken of Gracie while he was watching her so I could get some stuff done. Loved it and wished I could take credit for it.

December Daily 2011 | Day 6

2011-12-06T20:27:00.000-08:00

I didn't take a single photo today. I was volunteering at the kids' school and it just didn't happen. I guess that's a bit what December can be like. I decided it was a good time to use a photo taken late November when we were decorating (we always decorate a day or two after Thanksgiving).

December Daily 2011 | Day 5

2011-12-06T07:27:00.000-08:00

I love to wrap gifts. I think this is my favorite page so far this year. I love the wrapping paper I got at my kids' school fundraiser, so festive. And who doesn't love glitter ribbon?

December Daily 2011 | Day 4

2011-12-05T03:33:00.000-08:00

I'm using Persnickety Prints' Vintage Christmas Freebie Kit as the base for my December Daily pages this year.

December Daily 2011 | Day 3

2011-12-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

I'm using Persnickety Prints' Vintage Christmas Freebie Kit as the base for my December Daily pages this year.

December Daily 2011 | Day 2

2011-12-03T13:00:00.000-08:00

I'm using Persnickety Prints' Vintage Christmas Freebie Kit as the base for my December Daily pages this year.

December Daily 2011 | Day 1

2011-12-03T08:29:00.000-08:00

I'm using Persnickety Prints' Vintage Christmas Freebie Kit as the base for my December Daily pages this year. I love the festive, but gentle look of the papers. It isn't exclusively Christmas, which assures me I'll enjoy the pages all year long.

Last year I did one 12x12 page for each page. This year I want to give myself a little more freedom and flexibility. Some days may be one page, some days two, maybe some very eventful days will be even more than that. Some days might even be lumped together.

Family Life | Sister Pictures

2011-12-02T08:21:00.000-08:00

I talked the girls into doing pictures. That means actually getting out of the pajamas they'd been in all day. After I got everything set up the phone rang. It was my in-laws. I'd forgotten they were stopping by. So I zipped off about fifty pictures in about two minutes and hoped for the best.

I think I ended up with some decent ones. Not professional quality, but decent.

Married Life | Deconstructing Walls of Resentment

2011-11-30T07:30:00.000-08:00

Eric goes hunting every fall. He has for as long as he can remember and probably before that. It's what his side of the family does. It's a sacred tradition to them. Because it is a tradition that takes him away from me and the kids for a whole weekend at a time (or longer) I have never been a huge fan.

I'm not representing myself well. It wasn't simply that I wasn't a huge fan, I really hated it. It might be fair to say that it was the single thing I disliked most about who I married. It built this huge wall of resentment between my husband and myself. It was so difficult when he was gone. I was frustrated that it was so easy for him to just walk away and leave us all for a whole weekend, just because that's what his family always did. It felt like no one ever told him that there were seasons that your new family was going to be more important than what you grew up doing every fall. Instead of sympathy from his side of the family I got a litany of reasons why his hunting escapades were good for him. Honestly, I didn't care how refreshed he came back after the weekend, I was more exhausted after his weekend away than I thought I could handle and I didn't feel like anybody cared. It fed my annoyance and built a wall of resentment between me and his family too. By the time his truck finally pulled in late Sunday night I was hurt, angry, and bitter. Not a great combination. And a lot of unhappy moments of me trying to make him "pay" for his full weekend away from his responsibilities while I was stuck with what I felt was more than my fair share.

Thankfully God doesn't allow us to reside permanently in selfishness. Marriage has been a lot like taking a really long lab course in purging selfishness. There have been whole units on the truth that the only thing you have the power to change is yourself. I hated the wall building between us almost as much as hated hunting. At some point I came to terms with the fact that I needed to stop trying to change Eric. I can't change what he loves. I can't change the traditions that he grew up thinking were most important. I don't have the power to change my husband's perspective. As much as I wanted him to choose to stay home and be with his family instead of go off and spend a whole weekend doing only what he wanted to do, I didn't have the ability to make that happen. And when I tried I only added bricks to the wall that we were both constructing between us. I needed to learn how to live with all of who my husband was, even the stuff that wasn't my favorite. After all, I did marry him, for better or for worse. Some women have to struggle through a whole lot worse than their husband leaving to spend time in the woods every fall.

I've changed. I have more changing to do. But as I have changed, the walls of resentment are being deconstructed.

As I've changed I've noticed that I'm not the only one who is changing. He's working at tearing down that wall too. He dislikes the wall as much as I do. He chooses to be home with us more and he goes less often. When he gets back I realize he engages better with all of us because he's refreshed and appreciative of the gift of time away. Now we talk about his going in that kind of language, as a gift.

Gradually other things have changed that make the long weekends a little easier. My parents now live ten miles away, instead of 3,000. I'm no longer completely on my own when he leaves. The kids are a little older (three, five, and six). And finally, I've tried to talk to his family less about the hunting so that they don't feel the need to defend their family tradition.

This fall he was gone for one weekend. While he was gone, and even when he got back, I didn't know if he'd be going another weekend or not. I hoped not, but I didn't really know and had to try not to think about it. Thinking about it just created lots a breeding ground for self-pity, not healthy in any marriage. And now that the season is over, I'm relieved that we have the fullness of his heart back again for another ten months.

We've decided that this year I'm going to follow his example. I am going to walk away from my responsibilities as wife and mommy for a whole weekend and remember what it's like just to be a daughter. My mom and I are planning a weekend away, just the two of us. I'm hoping to return as refreshed and rejuvenated has Eric seems to be after his hunting trips. I can hardly wait. If I'm lucky this will be a tradition that my mom and I will get to embrace as many years as Eric's family has embraced theirs!

Family Life | Practice Reading

2011-11-29T07:30:00.000-08:00

Daniel is supposed to read 15-20 minutes, at least five nights a week. That's his homework, in addition to whatever math worksheets he receives. Some days are trickier than others to get his reading in. Like Wednesdays. Church midweek can make it difficult.

Gracie loves it when he is willing to read to her. We don't do this all the time, because the point really is to be reading to a reader who can help you with the words you don't know. But she loves it when he lets her curl up next to him when he's reading his Hot Wheels Phonics Readers.

I love watching my kids help each other learn.

Family Life | Family Photo was a Bust

2011-11-28T14:00:00.000-08:00

I'd hoped to get some family photos during the Thanksgiving festivities. It didn't happen. I lost my motivation when I decided control over what the girls wore wasn't worth it. Of course they picked out outfits that clashed terribly with each other... pink and grey plaid does compete with just about everything. Then the pink and plaid girl refused to get in the picture. My brother mentioned it reminded him of him as a kid, refusal to participate in what the family was doing it. He said it. We might have all been thinking it, but he said it.

I did manage to get a decent picture of Eric and me. He's pretty cute, though he gets a little annoyed when I intentionally get someone to aim the camera at him.

I like being married.

Simple Gifts | Thanksgiving Treat

2011-11-21T18:32:00.000-08:00

I have the best group of Discussion Group Leaders at our local Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) group. Seriously. I am so thankful for them, and not just because it's Thanksgiving Week!

I wanted to do a little something to remind them that I think they are incredible. This is one of my favorite snack mixes. Pretzels. Bugles. Candy Corn. Corn nuts. Sunflower Seeds. Dried fruit (I love craisons). Sweet and salty and completely symbolic. This is my second year of making these wonderfully simple thanksgiving treats. I got the idea here, one of my favorite blogs. The kids love to help me assemble these. Sampling is their favorite part of the process. Making the tag and tying the bow is mine. I just love how they look complete, ready to remind someone that I am particularly thankful for them.

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Projects | In Progress

2011-11-20T14:58:00.000-08:00

This is what my house looks like when the projects start to stack up. Chaos and clutter. The kind of chaos and clutter that no one really wants to see in blog photographs. I decided to grab my camera anyway, because this is my real life.

Last night when I was trying to use up the last of my apples in a crisp (because we hate to see anything go to waste in this house) I asked my hubby to grab flour and sugar out of the pantry. He told me I should get some canisters for the counter so they'd be right there when I needed them. I laughed and asked, "Don't you think I have enough on my counters already?"

The list of projects in process...

Putting together simple Thanksgiving Treats
Soup-in-a-jar Gifts
Pop-out Christmas Card Assembly
Spiced Cider Gift Mix
Fall Paper Bag Garland

Hopefully I'll have some fun projects to blog about in the days ahead. But before that, I need to deal with the more urgent, less glamorous chores. You know, emptying the dishwasher, sorting mail, folding laundry, ironing shirts for my husband to wear to work, sorting mail, recycling, shredding, clearing off the dining room table so we can eat there once again, and finally, sweeping and mopping the floor before my husband asks if we can get a dog to eat the scraps. I promise I'll be back with much more aesthetically pleasing pictures soon! And if your counters aren't as covered as mine, you have much for which to be thankful!

Family Life | First Annual Mother-Daughter Night

2011-11-06T08:19:00.000-08:00

Eric was gone for the weekend. My parents' took Daniel for the night so I decided we would make the night special with just me and the girls.

We had pizza and watched Pippi Longstocking cartoon episodes.

I love that the girls think that vacuuming is a fun part of special time with Mommy!

Then we had pedicures and painted our finger nails and felt very pretty.

The girls' loved it!

Family Life | Following Instincts

2011-11-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

I have heard a lot of talking in my thirty-something years about that "still quiet voice". There are times when I know that I know that I know that I hear it. There are other times I think I might be hearing it, but am never quite sure and so I pause before responding. Then there are those times that I think I might be hearing it, I respond, and them am rewarded with the knowing that I DID actually hear His "still quiet voice" prompting me to do something specific.

I emailed a friend on a whim yesterday to find out if she wanted me to pick up her son for a play date with Gracie. (Doesn't Gracie just look like she needs someone to play with her?) She said yes and Gracie was happy.

Then another friend's face came to mind and I thought maybe I was supposed to call her and find out if she wanted me to take her little guy too. Really two little friends over isn't any more work than one. When I heard back from her it was a YES, she really needed a little childcare.

I love finding out that God actually used me. It's such a great encouragement to actually respond when you think you hear God's voice. We need that kind of encouragement sometimes. But when it works out so well and your daughter is thrilled to have a couple of friends over it's a double blessing!

Template Tuesday | Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-31T13:42:00.000-07:00

I realized last week that it had been months since I'd done any scrapbooking. I've always gone in fits and spurts, but this was the longest I could remember going. I missed it. My days have been far too busy with other obligations to do anything that felt like it could wait until life slowed down a little. When I realized how little margin I'd left in my life I knew I needed to try and re-balance and re-prioritize. One of the things I wanted to get back to doing is something creative just for me. Not for a pay check. Not because it's a volunteer obligation. Something creative for me.

So here it is...

Over at Jessica Sprague they present Template Tuesday, where they provide a free scrapbook template each Tuesday. I downloaded this one this morning and decided to use these pictures from last night's pumpkin carving session.

And this is the page I ended up with:

Papers and embellishments are from Shabby Princess Fall Kit and Holiday Sampler - Halloween.

Family Life | Gracie Jean

2011-10-30T03:35:00.000-07:00

This layout was made using papers and embellishments from the kit Just My Type by the designers at everydaymomideas.com.

Layout inspired by sketch by Evgenia Petzer found here.

A note for Gracie:
Today was special, Gracie Jean. We connected. You and me. We giggled. I sat in the back of the van with you after we dropped off Daniel and Mercy at Auntie Linda's. We held hands. We chatted. I love being your mommy. Today you showed me all the things you could do as a big girl, like hopping on one foot. And I applauded you because it's a big deal and I love you.

Recipes | Apple & Banana Coffee Cake

2011-10-30T02:51:00.000-07:00

Eric hates to see anything go to waste. A friend gave me some apples last weekend great for applesauce (which I might actually end up using for apple pie filling or crisp instead) which I haven't used yet. It was starting to make Eric nervous. He also noticed I had over-ripe (just perfect for baking) bananas in the pantry. As a gesture of good faith I decided to make a little something, just to reassure him that I would not let them go bad.

He challenged me to find a way to use both in a coffee cake.

No problem. That's what google is for, right?

Nothing at allrecipes.com, but go-to site. But I found a recipe here that I decided to tweak just a bit. I used three apples and left out the nuts because Eric and the kids aren't huge fans of nuts.

The girls helped me. They LOVE to help! After carrying supplies to the counter and watching me dump and mix, Mercy wanted to take pictures. And she did a pretty good job.

The verdict: It looked delicious. It tasted good too, but was awfully sweet. Next time I will double the batter portion (but not the banana or apple). I'll cut back on the chocolate chips a bit and throw in the walnuts (at least on half of it) despite the hubby and kids.

Family Life | Eye Surgery

2011-10-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

We've survived eye surgery. Didn't realize a few days ago what a big deal that would be. But it's a big deal. We had a ton of friends and family praying. Not sure how we would have managed without being lifted up in prayer!

My son has Duane Syndrome. That's not curable. But many of the side effects of it can be managed and even fixed at times. Daniel has already been patching his strong eye to help strengthen his weak one. If a weak eye is left un-exercised it eventually shuts down. Yep, it stops working. Thankful we realized he had a problem before it was impossible to correct some of the damage. He's been patching up to six hours a day. Tricky to do when you want him to be able to avoid patching at school. First grade isn't an age where kids want to stand out and get a lot of questions and possibly teasing. Still, we've been faithful, sticking that patch on the minute he gets off the bus and patching in the morning before he ever gets on the bus, too.

The day after Daniel's last appointment the doctor called. He said surgery was going to be necessary. They were going to need to go in and cut part of the muscle to loosen it and give Daniel more peripheral vision. (He can't see to the side without turning his head.) So surgery.

I had little idea what to expect. There wasn't a whole lot written about kids and this kind of eye surgery that I could see. I didn't feel like I even knew the kinds of questions to ask.

We got through it and I pray fervently that we do not fall amongst the 20% who have to do it again.

The night before we prepared by taking the girls to Grandpa Bill and Grandma Grete's to spend the night. Then we took Daniel out to dinner. We went to Five Guys, his first time. He LOVED it, completely consuming a double cheeseburger with gobs of fries. Loved it. Then we really surprised him and ended up at The LEGO Store. We let him pick out a LEGO set to look forward to during his recovery. He picked out the Space Centre. Good choice.

We left the morning of surgery about 8:15. Eric pulled out his GPS software (he loves any excuse to use it) and we left for Seattle.

We arrived.

Everyone was in good spirits. Daniel was almost excited. They even had building blocks in the waiting room. After filling out paperwork, which included consent forms, he got busy building a train.

Then they called us back. He was NOT happy about putting on the required pajamas. I had to dress him as he fought me, crying that he did NOT want to. I won the battle because I had to. Then the three of us went and sat in the prep area. An attendant asked us some questions, then a nurse came and talked to us. Then the doctor. The doctor needed to examine Daniel before surgery because he'd taken a fall on his nose two days before. (We took him in and it wasn't broken, though it was swollen.) Then the anesthesiologist came in. He was wonderful, explaining EVERYTHING that would happen to Daniel. Very good guy. Learned he had a son a couple of years younger than Daniel, I am pretty sure that helps. Then we walked him down the hall and had to hug goodbye. Daniel FELL APART and had to literally unwrap his arms and shove him towards the nurse. NOT easy to do. All my mommy feelings are screaming at this point.

Eric held me hand and we walked back to the waiting room. I cried. He held my hand. We waited. Finally we moved over to a table where there was a puzzle. I needed a distraction. Every time the door opened and someone came out we looked up. It seemed like forever before the doctor came out and said everything went well. He said they would come get us when Daniel was coming to.

Nothing could have prepared us for that. When we went back the nurse was trying to hold him as he was howling. She instructed Eric it pick him up and take him to the recovery chairs. (Yes, chairs, they just had these awkward chairs that were supposed to be recliners or something. Totally wrong for kids and parents.) Daniel kept screaming and flailing and screaming and flailing. Pain. He couldn't see. Pain. Make it stop. You get the idea. It was as if he was having night terrors. Awful. The hardest thing I have every experiences as a parent to date. I can't count the number of times he asked me to pray that God would take away the pain NOW! He was so scared.

They told us he could leave and instructed Eric to get the car at least four times when they hadn't even taken out the IV. And he couldn't get back into his own clothes until they'd extracted the IV. It would take both of us to get him dressed in this much pain. In addition I was confused by the rushing us out. Originally they said he'd need to eat and drink and keep something down before they'd let him leave, then they were trying to get him out of there as quick as possible.

By the grace of God we got him into the van somehow. They needed their rag back, the one that he was using to cover the eye. All I had was a spare shirt so I gave it to hold over his eye. He screamed and screamed. Eric set up the seat in the back of the van next to him for me. I held his hand. I prayed. I told him I loved him. The only thing that soothed him was music. He wanted Songs from the Playhouse from Tru Mid-week on, loud.

We had to stop to pick up the girls. I called Mom from the van and said we'd be there in twenty minutes and that he was doing really badly and we'd need to make it a fast stop. She was amazing! The girls were waiting in the driveway with all their stuff! She had packed them a brown bag lunch. I'm crying as I type this, I was THAT moved by her thoughtfulness! Every time the girls said anything he screamed he needed it to be more quiet. I tried to reassure the girls that he wasn't feeling good, but that he was going to be okay. (He wouldn't let me take any pictures and I don't know how I could have. I never had a free hand from the moment we went into the recovery room on.)

When we got home we got him to the couch. I called my parents and arranged to bring the girls over. I left.

When I got back home he was up with Daddy putting together his LEGO set! He'd turned a corner! Shortly after one of my dear friends brought us dinner and a gift bag of things for Daniel. He was overjoyed! The distraction was exactly what he needed!

We all slept hard last night. I am so grateful.

The post-op check-up was this morning and he said it looked good. Daniel hasn't complained of double vision, that's a very good sign. We are praying fervently that God guided the surgeon's hand and that a follow up procedure is not necessary! I am so thankful I didn't know it was going to be that difficult going in, and it's a good thing Daniel didn't know either!

God was with us every moment. I cannot imagine what a parent would feel and experience if they did not have the confidence that a greater being was in control and cared about their child.

Week in my Life | Wednesday Update

2011-10-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

Life has been busy. The blog has fallen low on the priority list. I don't feel bad about that. There are a lot of other things happening that are far more important than documenting, at least right now. It's a good choice for our family. My posts have become much more infrequent, which will honestly reflect this season in our life. Fullness.

Daniel has become quite the photographer. I attribute Uncle Andy for the interest. Sometimes I allow Daniel to use the camera at the bus stop and I've been surprised by some of the photos he's been able to get. In the last few months I think nearly all photos of me have been taken by him.

We have been hugely blessed by a wonderful bus driver. I mean that. She is truly special. The bus routes were changed this year and I was nervous about a new driver because I loved our old one. (We L.O.V.E. and miss you Ms. Kim.) But apparently there are two bus BEST bus drivers. And we have been blessed to get BOTH of them. Lucky us!

Our high bush cranberries are out and just beautiful. I love their color. We have them stretched across the expanse of our front lawn to form a hedge of privacy, since the road we live on can feel busy. Love how quickly they grew and love the spots of color in Fall and Winter.

The pumpkins in our garden are ripening nicely. I'm thinking about all the pumpkin treats I'll be making soon. Homemade pumpkin anything this time of year sounds good to me.

We are days away from truly claiming the cat, lovingly named Cutie Pie by the girls, as our own. We've posted her FOUND for nearly thirty days without anyone claiming her. We I have gotten awfully attached. She didn't come home a couple of nights ago and I was worried (remember the sometimes busy street I mentioned). When she finally showed up I was so relieved. Eric laughed and said she was angling for enough sympathy to get let into the house. (She's allowed to sleep in the pantry, but not in the house.)

We had a family birthday celebration on Eric's side. I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and smashed Oreo bits on top. They were delicious and turned out pretty cool.

Happy Birthday to Dad, Lauren, and Stephen!

I got to help out in Daniel and Mercy's classrooms yesterday. I really love doing that. My mom watches Gracie and it frees me up to spend all day at the school. I took my camera this time, but only walked away with one picture, Mercy getting ready to go home. I was too busy making copies and prepping art projects (which I loved doing).

I told Eric I can't walk down a school hallway without thinking about how much I would love to be a teacher. Another life... still wouldn't trade it for the one I've got. Three beautiful kids, the best man in the world, and a God that sent His son to die in my place. Each day is an immense blessing!

Family Life | Questionable Artwork

2011-10-11T01:09:00.000-07:00

The girls were playing nicely. Periodically I interrupted their play today to take pictures. It was one of the few days I could do that because I wasn't focused on several jobs I was trying to accomplish while still playing mom.

Gracie had been drawing on the chalkboard. I innocently asked what she drew a picture of, after snapping this picture of her artwork.

She replied, "Bob," her imaginary friend, "going potty."

I heard a giggle from Mercy. Camera in hand, I turned around and caught this picture.

Love it! Yes, I know, she's my "mini-me".

2011-10-09T16:28:00.000-07:00

I love, love, love that Daniel still hugs me at the bus stop. I don't know how long it will last, but I relish it every time, wondering how many more public hugs I've got left.

Daniel likes to take pictures at the bus stop. He took this one, probably the best recent photo of me. I don't get in the pictures too often.

We had MOPS play date at McDonalds last Thursday. It was was easy. The girls had fun with their friends and didn't complain that I didn't get them happy meals.

I don't get as many of the girls hugging as I used to. Love this one.

Love this one too.

How could I not love this one of Merc?

Gracie was visiting with her friend C. at McDonalds, who happened to be wearing the cutest little dress with pockets. What little girl doesn't love pockets?

Family Life | Monopoly

2011-10-04T07:03:00.000-07:00

We played our first game of Monopoly as a family. Lately I have been motivated to be more intentional about planning family time because of the curriculum we are doing for mid-week at our church (TruStory published by David C. Cook). Our kids are six, five, and three and it worked. Seriously. We played boys against girls. Actually we aren't done yet. We've played two nights. The boys owe the girls $600 for landing on Conneticut Avenue with a hotel. It's pretty much over, they were debating what to mortgage.

There are a lot of educational benefits of Monopoly:

Counting Practice
Waiting Your Turn
Following Rules
Monetary Usage
Patience

My favorite part was spending time with the kids, all of them together, all at once, doing the same thing, at home.

Family Life | Sunday Sundaes

2011-10-02T16:24:00.000-07:00

HomeFront Monthly is part of the TruStory Curriculum from David C. Cook Publishing that we used this last Summer in our church Sunday School program. One of the suggestions of ways to spend together as a family was creating traditions, like Sunday Sundaes. Yum! Who wouldn't think that was a great idea?

We made sundaes with stuff we had on hand this afternoon. Delicious!

Family Life | Waiting at the Bus Stop

2011-09-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

I like the days that it's just me and Daniel waiting at the bus stop. I love this boy and sometimes the best conversations happen when just the two of us are waiting together.

Family Life | Spinning Out of Control

2011-09-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

I don't like amusement park rides. I find absolutely no pleasure in the feeling of spinning out of control. So lately dealing with life has been less about pleasure and more about discipline. Moments are filled with intention. Organization is critical. These seasons are good in life, as long as it is honestly just for a season. I truly believe that. I know myself well enough to know that I cannot live like this indefinitely. But this is my season of life spinning out of control and God is working deeply in my heart and life. God walked me into this season and I am looking forward to the time when He walks me out out of it.

This week has been full and overflowing:

There was a fun friend's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.

There has been waiting at the bus stop except for the day I helped out in the kids' classroom. Then there was the day that Daniel fell apart at the bus stop, insisting it wasn't FAIR that Mercy didn't have to go everyday and he did (Mercy is in kindergarten).

We've been caring for a stray cat. She seems to have adopted us, but we are trying to jump through the right hoops to make sure she doesn't have an owner who is heart-sick that she's not home with them. Though she seems pretty happy here.

I've been working on prepping a newsletter for Sister Connection, an incredible non-profit organization that helps support Burundian widows.

I have been working on wrapping up some design projects for Warm Beach Camp, a local Christian camp and conference center.

I had the MOPS Discussion Group Leaders and Mentors over to the house to visit and work on some crafts.

There was finding out Daniel was going to need to have eye surgery.

There was another week of Tru, our church's mid-week program that Eric and I help out with. Plus, I finally finished up doing some t-shirts for the lead volunteers in our church's mid-week program. They'll get to wear those next week.

I put the girls' tubs of toys up high, so that they have to ask permission to open up a tub. It's one tub at a time, otherwise the mess is unmanageable. Even one tub is crazy messy when I'm already feeling overwhelmed.

Next week is looking just as full. God is walking me through this season. And it doesn't hurt that my mom is right there to help when and where she can. This past week she took Gracie for a whole day when Daniel and Mercy were at school. It allowed me to take a hot bath, go shopping, clean house, and prep some freezer meals.

Thank you, Mommy!

Family Life | Our First Pet

2011-09-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

The cat has been around for a week now. I think she has adopted us. I knew we were stuck when Eric told me to pick up a box of cat food at the grocery store. At any rate she is feeling very comfortable and the kids love her. Not sure how long before me we need to make it official and take her to the vet.

Family Life | Football

2011-09-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking I should save this picture in case she goes out for football in a few years. Can girls go out for football?

MOPS | A Little Welcome Gift

2011-09-19T09:06:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday was our first MOPS for the year.

I am blessed to get to be the Discussion Group Team Leader. One of the things I have been telling my girls (the Discussion Group Leaders) is that it's the little, unexpected things they do that can help to make their ladies feel special. For the first MOPS I thought it would be a good idea to make a little gift for the moms. It takes a lot of work to get out the door with little ones, even when it's preparing to have a couple of hours of mommy only time.

We have over forty ladies in our MOPS group and so I knew I couldn't do anything too complicated, especially since I didn't get to it until the Saturday before MOPS. I made a little set of magnets out of clothes pins, scrap paper, glue, and magnet strips. Then I printed off little "Welcome to MOPS" papers on card stock. It gave something to clip the magnets to and made for a really nice presentation.

I found the idea here. They had a variety of ideas. I went really simply since I had so many to make. (I ended up making 54 sets, which is 270 individual magnets.)

I am having the Discussion Group Leaders over later this week for an open house. I'm going to have craft stations set up so that they can choose a gift they would like to make for their ladies. Not everyone is particularly crafty and this gives them a little help in putting something together that they can pull out on whatever occasion they choose and make their ladies feel special. So check back after later in the week and I should have pictures of my ladies crafting their hearts out. The kids are coming so it will be interesting to see how much crafting gets done. At least there will be much laughter and talking!

First Grade Confidence and Football

2011-09-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

Sending your children off to school has a way of surfacing all the childhood memories of insecurity. For some it's having to read aloud. For some it's the fear of having to sit alone at lunch. For some it's who you will play with at recess. For me it was needing to have one, just one good friend.

Daniel is in first grade now. I went to a small private school with a graduating class of 18. I only had to go through the process of finding a friend in my class once. There are five first grade classes and my sweet son is having to make new friends all over again and it's not easy, especially when he attends a different school than all of his church and MOPS friends. They also changed the bus routes so the buddy he'd made on the bus no longer on his route.

Yesterday he came home begging Daddy to get out his football and play with him. Apparently some boys had been playing at recess and Daniel wanted to practice. Some boys told him he wasn't "in the game yet". I don't know the context or the intent, but Daddy's heart is very tender to the need to be included and so he took Daniel to Wal-mart last night to pick out a nerf football so that they could play football. I don't know who was having more fun, Daniel or Daddy. It was a great way to pile one good memory on top of all those of being the last one picked to be on the team.

The Art Party | My Little Artist's Fifth Birthday

2011-09-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

We don't do a friend party until we turn five. Turning five is a big deal and at that point the social has become so much more than just siblings and cousins.

It was easy picking a theme for Mercy. She is so much like me. She loves color. She loves creating. So when I came across the Art Gallery party at One Charming Party, I knew that we needed to do a variation of the theme.

I always make our own invitations. That's my thing and it I love how it can set the tone for the party. I printed them up at Bartell Drugs and then mounted them to a piece of colorful card stock. This was a great way to use up lots of scrap pieces of paper because I didn't have to have a dozen pieces the same color. Super easy.

Our guest list was quite long by the time we included siblings, which we really like to try and do when the siblings are within a year or year and a half of the guest of honor. We ended up with nineteen kids, ranging in ages from 2 to 8.

Decorations were the simplest I have ever done for a party. The weather was good so we set up tables on the porch.

Even before decorations I was planning the goodie bags. I decided to go with bright colored gift bags. I needed something pretty good sized so that all the art projects would be able to fit in the kids' bags. I did up name tags for the bags, laminating them so that they held up and attached them with colorful curly ribbon.

I started their bags out with a package of sidewalk chalk and homemade play dough. I think I had to make six or seven double batches of play dough to get enough. It's such an inexpensive fun thing to do. I made it a little fancier by making tags that that matched the invites that had been sent out.

Set up was super simple. The weather was nice, so we set-up the tables across the front of our porch. Eric had taken a 4' x 8' piece of OSB plywood and cut it down the middle so that I had two sheets. He reinforced the back by screwing the plywood to 2"x 4's" and then placed them on saw horses. It worked great. I wrapped them with brown packing paper. I placed their gift bags in front of them, along with place tags. It was bright and colorful.

I put all of the art supplies in plain glasses. I wrapped colorful ribbon around the glasses for a little more punch of color. Scissors and glue sticks that would be used for specific crafts were placed at the end of the table for the adults to pass out when needed.

I had a ton of art projects planned. More than would likely be needed for a two hour party, but you never know and I'm an over-planner. I just love how "paper chains" translated to handcuffs at the boy's table. The projects included:

Project One {Paper Chains}
Project Two {Party Hats}
Project Three {Mini-Books}
Project Four {Edible Jewelry}
Project Five {Bean Art}
Project Six {Self-Portrait Journals}
Project Seven {Masterpieces}

One activity I had planned that I was sad to not get around to using, but would have been so cute if I hadn't been distracted by the chaos of so many kids, was a hanging frame for Mercy to get pictures of her and each of her friends who came to the party.

My mother-in-law was indispensable when it came to keeping the big boys out of trouble. They were a whole lot less interested in crafts than the girls. My mother-in-law, who taught fourth graders for years, had them literally running laps around the house and LOVING IT!

One dynamic the party had was the little people. The kids who were two and three we had doing crafts inside. It worked out pretty well. Their attention span was shorter and their crafting abilities at a different level. The were most engaged in the Edible Jewelry and the Bean Art.

Decorations for the little kid table was extremely simple. I used wrapping paper from the dollar section at Target to make a colorful table runner. Crayons were the only art supplies they were given. I did make name place tags for them, which were a hit. I think they all wanted to take them home.

Finally, the food. I kept it SO simple. Cake. Ice cream. Juice.

I made a rainbow cake. I've made one before. If you want to see how I do it. See this post. Loved how it turned out except that I neglected to put in in the refrigerator a few hours before I served it. As a result it started to slide when I had gotten three-quarters of the cake served. But it still tasted delicious! This time I also made cupcakes in six different colors. Those were served to the littlest people.

That was it. Super easy. I highly recommend a craft theme for five year old girls!

Photo Credit: The good pictures were taken by my brother, Andrew. I will be posting more pictures from the party once I've gotten through all 602 that he took for me. I am one blessed sister!

Life | Full and Overflowing

2011-08-30T16:19:00.001-07:00

Life these days has been full. Over-flowing is perhaps a more truthful description. We've had meetings, training sessions, planning, shopping, and most importantly a birthday party.

My sweet Mercy turned five yesterday. We celebrated grandly and then hopped right back onto the busy train. I haven't even looked at all 602 photos my brother took from the party. But this one caught my eye and I love it!

Soon (I hope) I will be back posting.

Our First REAL Family Vacation

2011-08-22T12:38:00.000-07:00

We went on a family vacation, our first one that I can think of that didn't involve visiting family. Family vacations are good. If you've been reading along here for a while you know we took a huge road trip down south to visit family last year. There were awesome things about that trip. Growing up we always spent our summers visiting family. One thing my parents were really great about is stopping somewhere for just an immediate family vacation. It was usually Florida. There is something different, special about a daddy having time with his kids without it being about him being around his extended family. In my opinion it helps the kids to see that we can do fun things just us, that just us isn't only about the daily routine (which frankly is mostly them and mom). I've been asking to do this for a long time, so I was really, really, really, really excited to go. I also love the schedule being completely at the discretion of what is going on in our immediate family. With young kids that makes it so much easier. When you are with others, it's a little harder to just say "No, our kids are too tired, we aren't going to do that now." So this was really great!

We headed east of the mountains towards Spokane. On the way we stopped at The Grand Cooley Dam. The kids the Learning Resource Center. There were tons of hands on things for them to do. We even watched a little movie about the building of the dam.

We stayed in Spokane Valley at the Hampton Inn. It is by far my favorite hotel chain. It's always a little piece of paradise. They have a hot breakfast that satisfies my husband and the kids love getting to choose what they eat. I love the spacious rooms. We happened to get an extra large one because it was handicap accessible. Loved it! I love hotels on vacation. I am really not a fan of camping, which we do most vacations, so this one was special to me.

We arrived at Riverfront Park and headed for the Carousel because the main rides weren't open yet. Great way to start, really tame and not too crazy. The kids loved it.

I discovered I am not a fan of The Spider. It made me so sick. Gracie and I went on that as our first ride and I was NOT feeling good afterwards. I couldn't wait for it to be over. There were no seat belts so I was holding on to her, scared to death she was going to fly out of the ride. SHE loved it and asked to go again. I said no, there were lots of OTHER rides.

The strawberries were a good follow up.

Then the ferris wheel.

By lunch the kids were tired, but we still had a lot of day to go.

There was a bee that was driving Daniel nuts. He kept moving away from it, standing up, dancing behind me.

Gracie loved miniature golf. Guess we'll have to take her again sometime.

They had a play structure that was a HUGE Radio Flyer red wagon. The kids thought it was awesome!

So tired by the end of the day... ALL OF US!

The next day we headed home and stopped at a little railroad museum in Ritzville.

The best photo from the whole vacation was taken by Daniel. He's become quite the little photographer!

From the moment home I felt like counting the days until our next true family vacation. Loved it!

Requested Meals | Chili for a Crowd with Cornbread

2011-08-14T12:13:00.000-07:00

Do you have any meals that get requested?

I didn't until recently and you know, it made me feel really good. I have never thought of myself as a good cook. My husband came to the marriage with more cooking experience than I did and his expectations for a wife's skills in the kitchen felt high. Did you know a proper meal has a veggie and a salad? Who knew? I do now, and I don't always serve a "proper meal" but I am aware now when I don't. And trust me my defenses are up when I do.

So when I asked my friend who I was taking a meal to if she had any requests it felt so good that she immediately said, "Your chili!" She won't feel like chili after surgery, but she said her hubby and daughter would be upset with her if she didn't request my chili. Wow! Flattery will get you chili any time you want it. Might even have to throw in some Ginger Cookies for dessert.

I'm not a huge chili fan, but apparently I have a good chili recipe. I found my recipe in one of my husband's recipe books (you read that right), Land O Lakes Treasure of Country Heritage Meals & Menus. It's a great cookbook. You can buy it used here. I think it must be out of print. We could only find it used a few years ago. When we got married Eric felt like he should leave one behind for his mom when he moved out, since she used it so much.

The chili is super easy.

Chop an onion, green pepper, and one stalk of celery.

Brown one and a half pounds of ground beef with the onions, peppers, and celery. (Takes 10-15 minutes.) Drain the fat.

Then you start dumping in stuff:
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
2 (28 ounce) cans whole tomatoes
2 (16 ounce) cans kidney beans, drained
1 to 2 tablespoons chili powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Stir all that in and bring to a full boil. Then turn the heat down and allow it to summer for 30 to 40 minutes or longer. The longer the better, I've found. Makes ten servings.

It makes a huge pot. The recipe says it serves ten and I'd agree. So take dinner to someone tonight, or better yet, have another family over! Serve with cornbread! Yum!

Party Planning Mode | My Little Artist

2011-08-12T22:27:00.000-07:00

I'm officially sliding into party planning mode. With just a little over two weeks until my little red-headed darling turns five I need to get going. I have the invitation done and I need to get them printed and in the mail. I am getting so excited. Mercy loves to paint and draw and does so for hours on end. (Yes, I know, I am one very lucky mom. But I deserve some of the gene pool credit on that one.)

Here's what the invitations look like, with all the personal info left off, of course. They will just be printed on a 4"x6" matte print at Bartell Drugs so that I can have them ready to send out this weekend. (I love Bartells' One Hour Photo.)

So be prepared for some fun party posts...

MOPS DGL & Mentor Training Mini-Retreat

2011-08-07T09:44:00.000-07:00

Something that is new for me is the opportunity to serve as our MOPS Group's Discussion Group Team Leader. One of the things I wanted to do was a training retreat. Timing is always an issue and we had to collapse what would have been an all-day retreat to a four hour one since our little town parade and fair fell on the same day we'd planned the retreat.

I wanted to have little gift bags for the ladies to help make them feel special and appreciated. Between the DGLs and Mentors I had a dozen bags. I used Mod Podge to monogram the otherwise plain gift bags.

There bags were stuffed, but there were a few items including: a personalized notebook, a package of assorted blank note cards, granola bar, and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

Kim, the MOPS Coordinator also had a few items for the DGLs, which I was able to include in the bag.

I had fun packaging them.

The whole process of planning the mini-retreat was a lot less stressful because I didn't have to do it alone. The MOPS Mentor Coordinator worked with me. She and I gel really well and she was so wonderful to come to me to plan so that I didn't have to drag my kids to her place. She was a wonderful sounding board and graciously tweaked some of my ideas with her wisdom. I am so blessed to get to work with her.

One of the things that is new for us this year is we have the luxury of having a "Back-up DGL". We have six DGLs and only five tables. We've found that our DGLs have to miss from time to time because of sickness, and the thought of having a DGL who could step in when the need arose was really, really appealing to me. We had an obvious choice in our group. One of our DGLs happens to be on Steering, she's in charge of Registration. So she already has had some degree of contact with all of the ladies. She's also a really adaptable person and it just made sense to choose her. It also gives us the flexibility that if we get slammed with registrations the first week (which can happen) to add a sixth table.

A little bit of socializing as everyone was still arriving, over Italian Sodas and fruit.

This was a team building exercise called "All Aboard!" You take a rope and form a circle and have everyone stand inside the circle. Then you tighten the circle and have them do it again, forcing them to get closer and closer every time. The ladies were such good sports about it. The application point was that over the course of this year we need to get closer and closer, uncomfortably close, to accomplish what God has in store for us, but that we want to be in the circle of what He is doing!

The next team building activity I had prepared was tricky. They were split into two teams. Each team was given a letter size sheet of paper and a pair of scissors. They were instructed to make an unbroken circle from the sheet of paper.

Carrie, my "Back-up DGL" was the first to get the "point" of the exercise. Immediately prior to the exercise I had told the ladies how important it was that they understood that they could always ask Linda or me for help this year. I didn't want them to feel like they were doing their jobs alone! They truly were apart of a team. Carrie was the first one to ask me for help. I didn't do it for them, but walked them through the solution! She also immediately wanted to help the other group! She SO got the point!

Sometimes I have a hard time believe that the Lord blessed me with such an incredible group of ladies to work with this year. I had so much fun yesterday. I also felt so exhausted when it was all done. I'm not a natural leader and it does drain me, rather than nourish me. But God made it so clear to me that He was calling me to fill that role this year, so I knew He was going to make up for my lack.

MOPS Steering | All Wrapped Up

2011-08-01T05:45:00.000-07:00

My friend (and cousin by marriage) asked me to help package up some fun treats she got for the women on the MOPS Steering Committee. We had a planning retreat this last weekend and she wanted the women to feel special. So she dropped off the goodies at my place. Oh the treats! The kids saw me wrapping them up and wanted to know who they were for. I told them MOPS Leaders. Their next question was, "Mom are you a leader? Maybe you will get one." Mercy added, "Then maybe you could share some with us."

Maybe. Or not!

My friend got these tote bags too. So we used them to wrap everything up in. I made little tags with the girls' names on them, so they felt a little more personal.

Week in the Life | Saturday's Photos

2011-07-31T07:18:00.000-07:00

Gracie before I left for the second part of the retreat, she was eating a banana. An excellent distraction to my exit.

Driving up Linda's driveway. It's incredibly peaceful, serene, perfect for a getaway.

Breakfast was crepes with fruit inside. Delicious.

Baby T. was happy this morning. Carried held him for most of the morning.

My crepes.

We spent most of the day in the living room talking about what we would be doing every week of MOPS for the first half of the year.

Lunch outside.

I skipped going out to dinner with the girls to get home to this man. I'd missed him. Saturday and Sunday are our only days together and I like being with him. He didn't like me getting a picture of him.

Daniel had some sadness over not eating his cheesy potatoes, so he missed out on dessert. I got home and he greeted me with crying over his food drama. I hugged him and told him I was sorry he had made the decision not to eat his cheesy potatoes.

Week in the Life |Friday's Photos

2011-07-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Mercy got up first. Daniel always beats her up. So we had some Mercy & Mommy time. She used her favorite pen, the one that you click the top for about five different colors. I loved them when I was a kid. She's drawing more and more details in her pictures. Love seeing her artistic skills developing.

Daniel is attached to his baby blanket. He calls it "blankie". It's cozy.

We had some snuggle time on the couch. Daniel took some pictures of us when he got up.

I got busy making food for the weekend. I was going to a MOPS Planning Retreat. So I needed to have dinner ready. I decided to make macaroni & cheese with smoked sausage because it's one of the kids' favorite meals. I try to make Friday nights a favorite food. We always had one of our favorites on Friday nights growing up. Usually make-your-own Pizzas.

I have really bad feet and have been putting medication on my heels daily. Heel balm works wonders, but I have to use it every day or my feet return to their cracked painful state.

Made chocolate chip cookies to take to retreat.

Any my Ginger Cookies. These always get rave reviews. Always an ego booster. But I eat too many of them when I make them. Their my favorite.

The kids played dress up. I overheard Gracie say, "Daniel, you need to find the clickety-clock that goes with this princess one!" She repeated it about eight times until he located the second purple shoe. He is really very, very good to her. I'm not looking forward to him being away at school every day this fall. She is going to miss him like crazy!

These are Mercy's favorite. She got these for her birthday last year from Grandma and Papa Cook. She LOVES how they sparkle. Too fancy!!

I cooked off a pound of bacon for their Saturday morning breakfast. Such a messy job. All that baking done before lunch...

They ate in the girls' room. Corn dogs and apple slices with lemonade.

Painted my toe nails. Rush job, but a little color makes me feel spunkier.

Gracie was dressed up like Wonder Woman. I let them watch an old episode online while I made up my third batch of cookies to take to retreat. She loves it.

Gracie uses a calculator for a phone. She loves this one. She runs around the house talking to someone a lot.

Took the truck with me to retreat so that Eric would have the van in case he needed to go anywhere. I don't like driving it. But driving it reminds me of the early years in our marriage, pre-kids.

At the retreat Kim (the coordinator) had "stations" set up that were intended to get us to slow down, contemplate what the Lord was doing, has done, and would be doing this next year in MOPS. This was an ebenezer type station. We wrote on a rock something we were celebrating that we saw God doing.

Here is the Prayer Wall.

A cross to confess our sins and let them go.

One of the moms brought her four month old. He was sleeping here peacefully, but he sure didn't sleep long. We were some noisy women. I think just last night everybody got their turn holding sweet Baby T.

Some of the rocks...

I mentioned everyone getting their turn with sweet Baby T.

The yummy dinner spread... Taco Salad. Yum!

Our Mentor Coordinator eating the whipped cream straight out of the can. She has a great sense of humor. She graciously opens her home every time we meet for meetings.

Week in the Life | Thursday's Photos

2011-07-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

Cinnamon toast breakfast.

Eating breakfast while watching Clifford.

Thankful the wounds heal.

Happy the camera is out again today.

More Legos today.

Ate too much for dinner last night. Going to to plan chef salad for dinner tonight.

Church keys and memory stick to go print materials for MOPS Steering Retreat this weekend and TruStory Sunday School.

The kids eating apples in the resource room while I gather supplies. They were so good. Proud mommy moment.

Stocking the supply baskets for Sunday School.

The kids love running down the bridge Uncle Kevin built at the Youth Center. We are constantly training them to stop when they get to the end of the sidewalk since it opens up right at the main church driveway.

The lost hours...

We headed home because a friend was coming over for a meeting about TruStory Mid-week program this fall. Realized that I'm not nearly so comfortable taking photos of guests. Felt rude. So I didn't get any pictures but I am regretting it. Three hour meeting, very productive. Her boys played (ages 7 and 4) played really well with Daniel, Mercy, and Gracie. Mercy really struggled with sharing and we had to sit in my room and half a lengthy talk about how we treat guests. But she worked through her feelings well.

Getting his twenty minutes of reading in so that he can play wii. Excellent motivator.

Mercy's creation.

Eric is feeling annoyed with my project. He isn't a fan of the camera. I'm not a fan of having so few pictures of the most incredible man in the world.

Gracie working on Mercy's creation, reclaiming it as her own.

Girl Lego mess.

Boy Lego mess.

Mommy's mess. Laundry that needs to be folded still.

Gracie loves her evening bath.

Used Mod Podge for the first time. Yes, you read that right, the first time. Making personalized notebooks to put in the gift baskets I'm making up for the MOPS DGLs and Mentors at the MOPS Leadership Training Day I have planned for them next weekend. (Angela and Julie, forget you read this.)

It's getting much harder to keep up. Thankful we are more than halfway.

Week in the Life | Wednesday's Photos

2011-07-28T01:26:00.000-07:00

I didn't take as many pictures today. I don't know if it was because my energy level is wearing down, or if it was because I was running out of time. Maybe both. I love seeing what everyone else is taking pictures of. So I'm trying to keep up, even when I feel less motivated.

Clothes ready to wear.

A few morning chores.

Morning coffee. Sugar-free vanilla latte. I heat the milk in the microwave because I hate steaming it on the machine. It takes too much undivided attention and I don't enjoy cleaning the machine afterwards.

Hand-washing some dishes because of dishwasher failure.

Because I don't normally hand-wash, I don't have a regular drain board. Knocked over a glass. It fell to the floor and broke, scattering glass shards through the kitchen. I screamed, "Don't come into the kitchen." We don't wear shoes in the house. I'm the exception because I have problems with my feet, so I was wearing shoes when it happened.

Marinated chicken for the grill, tonight's super. My parents are coming for a celebratory dinner. The big occasion is their 40th Wedding Anniversary.

Let Mercy take the camera and get a few pictures. She's four.

Breakfast Lunch is one of our favorite things. I feed the kids a big breakfast at lunch time. In the Summer they have cold cereal (by choice) almost every morning. But they love breakfast lunch. We had eggs, sausage, and bagels.

Gracie rediscovered her sleep sack last week.

Uncle Andy called and told her that he's coming for dinner. She was so excited she had to tell me. I don't think she thought I already knew.

After reading Curious George goes camping I decided that the kids could have their own indoor "campfire" and "roast marshmallows". Daniel piled up cars for his fire. I stuck the jumbo marshmallows on the ends of the shiskabob sticks that I had bought to use on the grill tonight.

They loved it. The treats were gone in less than three minutes.

The girls played with Gracie's Winnie-the-Pooh duplo set.

Gracie helped me mix up a new recipe, pillow cookies. There are brownies tucked inside chocolate chip cookies. Good, but they make ginormous cookies!

My parents and brother came for dinner. Mom and Dad aren't big party people, so we just had a nice quiet (okay not really quiet because the kids were there) dinner.

Uncle Andy showed Daniel a Star Wars Lego video on his phone.

I wrapped up my night working on the lesson plan for Sunday. We use the TruStory curriculum in the Summer Sunday School program at church. I was late getting the Order of Service written up and needed to focus after the Eric and the kids were in bed.

Week in the Life | Tuesday

2011-07-27T00:36:00.000-07:00

Here it is, Tuesday's layout...

Week in the Life | Tuesday's Photos

2011-07-26T23:53:00.000-07:00

Last night before I went to bed I had my layout done for Monday. Terrific, except for the fact that I didn't get to bed until 1 a.m. My kids felt it today. That makes the third (or fourth) rediculously late night this week (one morning it was 4 a.m. when I fell into bed, that's just 30 minutes before my husband gets up). I am so not a college kid anymore!

Today I am settling for posting the pictures and a few notes from the day.

Cold cereal eaten for breakfast, still a little sleepy. Daniel has an eye appointment today, so it meant waking up the girls, never fun.

Love this picture. Gracie going potty. Daniel brushing his teeth.

Mommy and Gracie with shoes on, ready to go, sort of...

There was hair that still needed to be done. Our favorite hairstyle for Gracie is the front pulled up in one elastic to keep her from having the wild child look. De-tangler is our friend. I love the way it smells. Almost as great smelling as freshly washed hair, and a lot quicker.

Pinto beans in the crockpot for a part of tonight's dinner.

Emptying the dishwasher. I always wait until the kids are up. It's such a noisy chore.

~~Small~~ Large meltdown before we left for the eye appointment. The coat she wanted was hanging on her hook.

We arrive. On time. Yes, that IS an emergency potty seat. And yes, we have been very thankful for it on multiple occasions, but didn't need it today.

Waiting patiently.

Daniel with his cool 3-D glasses. The girls loved seeing him at his check-up with the specialist. Discouraging, after six weeks of patching his weak eye hasn't improved very much. We'll have to go from patching four hours a day to six. I didn't show my discouragement in front of the kids, but I felt like crying. We have not missed a single day and we have never taking the patch off early.

Another eye test.

Daniel chose donuts as a treat after the appointment. Everyone was so excited to get to go in and pick out their own donut at Haggen. Mommy got a bite of each donut in exchange for sharing her pop.

Daniel shared with Mercy.

Back in the car. Can't really explain why I love this picture. It's so indicative of my days when I go anywhere, watching them climb into their seats themselves so that I can climb in after them and get them buckled up.

Got about an hour and a half of design work in while the kids played after we got home. Got a set of jobs from a client that is going to keep me busy for a while. I took a few years off after Gracie was born and am just getting back into the design work.

This is the wild hair child I know and love. She never keeps the elastics in her hair.

I am always rearranging the girls room. I have yet to find a way to fit all their stuff into their small bedroom that I love. So I keep trying new things. This afternoon I decided to try something new.

Ended up with a "restaurant". All three kids LOVED it and it got me a couple of hours of play time with minimal bickering. So worth the work of rearranging furniture in the girls' bedroom!

Dinner was chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice, refried beans, and salad.

This is Daniel's SECOND plate of food... as full as his first. Thinking about how expensive it is going to be to feed him when he is a teenager. He's only six! Notice his mixed up food. A very big deal for him. He earned 1/2 a point for trying refried beans. He ended up having thirds...

Officially ended my day with raspberries from our garden with whipped cream on top. Yum. But let's be honest my day wasn't over.

Week in the Life | Monday

2011-07-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

Click image to enlarge.

Week in the Life | An Explaination

2011-07-25T23:54:00.000-07:00

I decided to do a project that Ali Edwards has been doing for the last several years called "Week in the Life". The idea is to capture and document in photos and words a typical week in your life. I did her "December Daily" project last year and loved how good it felt to document the holiday season. The discipline of taking pictures and making notes every day was fabulous. I never would have been able to keep the details had I not taken the time each day to write it down.

This project seems easier. This week is a crazy one. Typical. I debated not doing it because it's so busy, but then I reminded myself that I didn't want to rush through life and forget all of it because it's a blurred rush. So, this week I am keeping my own record.

You can too. Read up on the project here.

Wildflowers | Just for Me

2011-07-24T02:19:00.000-07:00

My husband and I have an agreement, when it comes to aesthetics, he takes care of outside and I take care of inside. I don't want anything to do with planting and dirt and growing things. No desire. My grandparents and my in-laws don't get that about me, they find much joy in putting their fingers into God's creation. Me? Not so much.

I do love wildflowers. There is something breathtaking about the scattering of wildflowers. The crazy mix of colors always makes me smile. When I see them I think, God did all that, I didn't. Much more beautiful than if I determined where each flower would bloom. So little effort for such great beauty. That's how it is when God does something (and not me).

Eric has listened to me talk about wildflowers for years and this year he scattered these on the front bank by our driveway, to please me. (He prefers planting practical things, like lettuce and squash.) My heart is stirred every time I look at them. (Truly they are the only flowers I notice.)

God has scattered some of his own wildflowers in my life this year. I am trying not to fret about which flowers will take root and grow. I need to remember His mix of flowers will be much more lovely than any flower garden I might have planted.

Throwdown | Mike's Deli Famous Eggplant Parmigiana

2011-07-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

We watch a lot of The Food Network. One of our favorite shows is Throwdown with Bobby Flay. Despite the cheesy intro each week, we love the show.

This weekend we watched the Eggplant Parmesan episode online. I am so NOT a fan of eggplant, but they actually made it look good, breaded and fried. So, this not so creative cook decided to try something new. We loved how Mike, from Mike's Deli peeled and then sliced it thinly lengthwise. Here is a recipe we found online that we used.

It turned out fabulous! Even Daniel (the pickiest eater ever) ate two pieces. Great success!

Children's Book Review

2011-07-15T07:10:00.000-07:00

I love that Daniel has to keep track of his reading all Summer for school. It forces us to be disciplined to read at least five days a week for at least twenty minutes. Really not that much reading, especially when Daniel is not gone nine hours a day, like he is during the school year.

Oink, Oink Benny
Barbro Lindgren | Olof Landstrom
Here is one we will never read again. This is a book about getting away with disobedience. Yes. Disobedience. Doing exactly what Mommy said not to. Getting away with it. Then doing it again the next day. Umm. How did this book ever get printed? Cute illustrations? Maybe something was lost in the translation. Literally.

Fancy Nancy Tea Parties
Jane O'Connor | Robin Preiss Glasser
I love Fancy Nancy and the itty-bit of French that I have fun reading to my kids. The kids always love the fancy words and I love that it expands their vocabulary. This one is full of fun creative ways to have fancy tea parties at home, using plain stuff around the house that you can make fancy. Lots of giggling when we read this one. And since my Mercy has the best giggle ever, I'll be reading this one again and again, just to hear her laugh at my French. (She's not the first to laugh at my French!)

The Tree
Dana Lyons | David Danioth
If I'd flipped through this one at the library (the library was closing ten minutes after I got there and I was madly grabbing books for fresh entertainment on these rainy days) I wouldn't have checked it out. The cover was lovely and reminiscent of a Christian author I like. The book has an agenda, cutting trees is bad and ruins everything. If you feel that way, you might enjoy the book. I stopped reading it aloud before we got to the end. When I finished reading it silently I struggled to understand the plot, not good for a kids book, in my opinion. Almost forgot to mention it won an award, Skipping Stones Honor Award. I'm not giving it any prizes.

No More Cookies
Paeony Lewis | Brita Granstrom
Love it! A mommy who follows through. Too many books this day have the parent fold by the end of the book. Mommy says, "NO more cookies," and nowhere does she change her mind. She does come up with a yummy, much healthier snack when snack time arrives.

If You Give A Mouse A Muffin
Laura Joffe Numeroff | Felicia Bond
We love all these books. Daniel felt empowered to read this one to me, then again to his sisters because he had heard it read last year at school. I love the details in the illustrations. I think we are going to need to paint a backdrop for a puppet show on one of these rainy days we have been having.

Are you making it to the library at all this Summer?

Country Living | Our Own Pet Bunny

2011-07-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

We live in the country.

Days when I see bunnies hanging out in our front yard I am reminded just how lovely country living can be.

This baby bunny has been entertaining my children. I have to keep reminding them not to scare him/her. But he/she seems undaunted by three-year-old curiosity and squeals of delight. He/she has continued to sneak out for a bit of munching and then return to refuge in the foliage.

This is my ideal pet. Outdoor. No effort and responsibility required of me. Most importantly no messes to clean up after. Lots of pleasure for the children.

Blah Day Turnaround | Cake Pops Tutorial

2011-07-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

I'd never made them. Seems like I'm the only one. So when I looked out this morning and saw nothing but dreariness I decided today was the day to try our hand at cake pops.

There must be more than a hundred tutorials online on how to do make them. We decided to start simple, with ingredients we had on hand. The kids (and I) love how they turned out.

The Super Easy Instructions:

Make the cake mix, following the directions on the package. Bake in a pan.
Remove from oven. Allow to cool for about an hour.
Crumble apart into a bowl.
Dump into mixer. Add about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of frosting. Mix completely until it almost looks like cookie dough.
Roll into small (emphasis on the small) balls.
Place in a mini muffin tin.
Put in freezer for 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile melt chocolate according to package directions. I did it in the microwave, so it was SO easy.
Remove cake balls from freezer.
Dip the popscicle sticks in the chocolate and then insert into the cake balls.
Put in the refrigerator to set for about ten minutes.
Pull out of the refrigerator and let them sit on the counter for two or three minutes. I read this helps to prevent cracking of the chocolate as it hardens.
Dip cake balls in chocolate.
Dip in sprinkles.
Allow to set upright. I used some packing foam pieces that our ice cream maker came packaged in. I read that the green foam stuff used for flower arrangements is ideal. I can see how easy that would be.
Enjoy thoroughly once the chocolate hardens!

Fourth of July | Just Simple

2011-07-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

We are a pretty simple family. Fireworks aren't something I grew up. (I grew up overseas.) No big Fourth of July celebrations. Eric's family always goes camping. It's what they do.

This year we were home for the fourth and I requested sparklers for the kids. Simple. Fun. Not a lot of fuss.

Polly Pocket-Action Figure-Play Dough | Kind of Day

2011-07-11T13:22:00.000-07:00

This morning was what constitutes a perfect morning in my world.

Mercy played with Polly Pockets. I broke down and let her spend some of her saved birthday and Christmas money on a Polly Pockets set. I'd held out, convinced she had plenty of collections and didn't need one more collection of toys. I realize I was wrong. She has played with the set she got almost constantly since she got it last week.

Daniel played with his many action figures.

Gracie played with green play dough.