Notes from the Plumb Tree

Canvas Art Print

2012-01-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

I titled this post "Canvas Art Print" in a truly loose sense of the word.
Also, I should have titled this post:
"In Which I Make Something So That We Don't Get Robbed".
Also, it was also a project in which I learned a lot of "that didn't work out at all" lessons.
Also, I'm not even sure that the following qualifies as "art", although it is on a canvas, and it is a print that I adhered to it. Yes,yes, wrinkles and all. I feel that I could have gotten those out better.
Also, I feel that I have used the word, "Also" far too many times before this post has even really gotten started. So I'll stop.

I decided to make an old-timey print to go next to the door pointing down at the kid's shoe boxes.
So why should I have titled the post, "In Which I Make Something So That We Don't Get Robbed"?
Well, our amazing house designers decided to put the alarm box right in front of the window next to the door instead of around the corner in the hall. I mean that makes sense. Now we can advertise to the world whether our alarm is off or on. Great.
Hey, robbers, just look through the nice window by the front door, and decide if we are worth it today or not.

I decided it needed to be covered, and a canvas fits nicely over the top and can be quickly removed when needed. It just lifts on and off. Well, for about two weeks, I just had a blank canvas hanging over it.

Lets not talk about how many people (including my husband) wanted to know why there was a random blank canvas just chillin on my wall. It's the new kind of minimalist art, you know.

Alright so here's how I did it. First I created this little piece in photoshop.

I read a post on how you could run tissue paper through your printer and then adhere it to the canvas as an art print. I got it from pinterest. I found it intriguing and decided to try it.
First I cut a piece of white tissue the same size as an 8.5x11 paper and trustingly ran in through my printer to print this photo on it just as the nice lady said it would work.
Lesson 1 learned. Tissue paper does not run through a printer now matter how you feed it. It always tears.
So I read another post and method.
Lesson 2 learned. Even when taping it to a piece of paper to give it weight, it tears.
Dang pinterest. That's two pins that show how "easy" printing tissue paper is down the tubes.
But they were not dealing with an amateur and I don't give up the ghost easy.
I had a brainstorm. What if I cut out a piece of heat and bond, ironed it to the tissue paper, and then ran it through the printer?
That was sufficiently stiff enough and solid to make a nice print. Then I peeled off the backing as you can see below.

Then I laid the tissue paper now backed with the heat and bond down on the canvas. This part is even better.

You see, since I used heat and bond, I can iron it right to the canvas. Yep. It totally stuck and worked. No glue needed or messy Modge Podge.

I just smoothed out the wrinkles as I went. I feel that I could have done better at this. Next time I will.

Then I took black paint and painted the sides to finish them off.

Then I totally, should have stopped. It looked great. But no.
I was still following my pinterest tutorials in part. I really didn't learn the first time did I?
I broke out the Modge Podge to give it a shiny top coat.
Dumb. Move.

The Modge Podge totally smeared the black ink. It didn't smear the color though so maybe if I didn't have any black in my art this would have worked. I was blotting the smears up with tissues, and salvaged it (kinda), but it's not as pretty as it was before I made that mistake.
Lesson 3 was learned.
This picture makes it look worse than it actually is because the photo is also blurry. It's not that bad, but I can see some purplish streaks where the black smeared.

Anyhow, the alarm box is hidden and this sign hangs right over the kids shoe boxes by the front door so the saying has a dual purpose.

So now you know a few things. I'll tell you what you know now.

Don't blindly trust all tutorials on the intra-net, people. Even the nice lady who says it totally works and puts up some really nice pictures on her post may not be telling a truth that works for your printer.

You can cover up an alarm box with a canvas so you don't get robbed. Well, actually, I'm not guaranteeing the whole "don't get robbed" part. But at least it won't be because your alarm box shows.

Modge Podge smears black ink. At least in my printer with the ink I have to buy. So maybe test that out first.

And Heat and Bond can save the day. I dearly love that stuff. I go through rolls like nothing flat for all kinds of things.

So there you have it. Another method for adhering some art onto a canvas. My version.
Go ahead and pin it to pinterest so someone else can follow it and swear that this really nice lady doesn't know what she's talking about.

Sunshine

2012-01-27T22:18:00.000-08:00

So this week, the theme was sunshine for my verse and photography. Isn't it funny how when God is teaching you something, everything seems to point to that lesson?

This was a rainy week. It was cold and grey. And I thought, "Yeah, Jen. Great job picking a theme for Sunshine in January. You really thought that one through, huh?"

Actually, because it was cold, wet and grey, the theme for sunshine and my current thoughts for the week ended up being perfect. I love you, God. You SO knew, didn't You?

I am reading a book called "The Good and Beautiful God" and in Chapter 2, it talks about how God is good. All the time. No matter what.

The author speaks about how he had a child who was born with a severe chromosomal disorder and she died before age 2. He said that He discovered that God is always good, so God was not punishing him or his wife or his child, but that God had and has a purpose that it is a good one.

Even in that grief.

Good things and Bad things happen to both good and bad people and there is no apparent distinction to why or who. Good things don't come because we did something good and visa versa. This cause and effect doesn't play out in reality and God's goodness isn't dependent on these circumstances. Yeah, yeah, sure, I know this, but actually, I play this mind game in my mind all the time. Maybe I'll do something right and God will reward me with a lottery win. Wait, my car just died? Maybe I'm doing something wrong and I'm being taught a lesson. Actually, God doesn't play that way. Well that seems strange. Um, huh? Well then, HOW is He GOOD? Explain puh-lease!

Rather God's unwavering goodness comes not in circumstances but through them. Those differing circumstances are going to come to all people good and bad regardless of what they do. But God is still good. Often His blessings and goodness reflect in internal blessings, such as peace and joy, rather than external . Sometimes it's knowing there is the hope of heaven and of an omnipotent God who sees a plan clearly when we cannot. One day all will be revealed. God is good. He is constantly working out His good plan. The chapter ended by challenging us to sit everyday for 5 minutes and be still and reflect on God's goodness and to notice God in His creation and beauty around us.

Now remember it was a cold, wet and grey week. The verse I was reflecting on was one on sunshine and there certainly wasn't a ton of beauty outside that I was seeing. My normally pretty yard needs to be trimmed to the ground ready for Spring but right now it's brown sticks, since I haven't done it yet. Not much pretty sunshine to reflect on there.

But one morning, I had to take Tone to work.

It was early. And foggy. And cold out.

But as I was driving back, the sun came through.

Everything was transformed. I was on a particularly high part of the road and I could see the fog stretched out over the fields and the black trees sticking up through the golden light.

It was gorgeous.

And today. The sun came out for a half hour. I ran outside and snapped this picture of my rose bush which is mostly sticks with just a few leaves and a couple roses hanging on. The sun was shining right through those tenacious peach roses.

It was gorgeous.

I have also had a very heavy heart this week for friends who have had a very hard blow this week. I have been constantly in prayer as things appear very dark. The darkness of the world outside my window reflected the dark mood and grief I was feeling all week for my friends. I am thankful for beautiful glimpses of light which remind me that God sees and knows and has a good plan. Though the dark clouds still surround, I know that the sunshine is bigger and brighter and right there, just on the other side.

For you see, as the Isaiah verse above says, nothing is hidden from God. Nothing on earth.

The line in the verse, "I equip you, though you do not know me" is about King Cyrus who God used to help His people though the king did not know God. God uses every grief, every joy. Every person, for His purpose and ultimate plan.

You could read the verse two ways. "There is none besides me" can seem commanding and assertive and if you see God as a God who punishes and gives blessings on a whim, it can be frightening. Or you can read the verse differently. "There is none who is as good as me. I see all. I am the light that shines. Trust me. I will use all for my goodness. Even when it's not even good, I will use it for your good. I am God. I have a plan."

God's light is so very beautiful when it shines in darkness. It's so very good. It's full of life and healing. It breathes of peace and joy. There is no one like my God (as the verse says). No one is as good as Him.

No one else can take darkness and make it beautiful and transform it like He can. It turns out that focusing on the fact that no one is like my God and on sunshine on a cold, rainy and heavy week can be a perfect theme.

And by the way, I highly recommend the book, "The Good and Beautiful God" by James Bryan Smith. You will see God in a wonderful way.

Two Littles Came to Visit Too

2012-01-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

These two little girls came to visit my house too for Katie's birthday. But they deserved a post all their own.

For such little things, they sure make a splash wherever they go.

Molly, left. Zoe, right.

Tessa wondered why there were two. One was enough in her mind.

She likes to poke them.

Mostly their eyes which is super safe and nice for them.

Zoe is happier than Molly who was quite upset with life most of the time. However, they both got quite wore out and then Zoe wasn't having it either. Here is a picture of Zoe in a happy moment.

She's already sticking her tongue out at me.

She should know that it's probably best to stay on my good side.

Ainsley was fooled by the happy moment and got sucked in. She asked to hold her.

This is what happened.

No matter. We repositioned Zoe to a happier angle, and Ainsley got her happy again by talking to her and playing with her hands.

And poking her cheeks.

Hey, whatever works.

Hunter tried holding Molly. He should have known better. Molly thinks life is against her at this point in time. He's pretty proud though of his little cousins. His smug face says it all.

Even though Molly isn't thrilled. Hunter still can't resist giving her several kisses on the head. He really loves his cousins.

Poor Molly. It's becoming apparent who is the more sensitive one already.

Good luck with that in Jr. High.

A Birthday Visit

2012-01-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

Katie, Brad and the twins visited a the week before we left for Oregon. Katie's birthday was on the 11th and she wanted to celebrate with her sisters.

Here is something my sister loves: CAKE.

So I asked my kids what kind we should make. Hunter thought she needed a bear cake. Ainsley thought a cat. The flavor was already established. Yellow with chocolate frosting, Katie's favorite.

They fought.

Then Hunter came up with a genius plan. Put animal crackers on top of cupcakes and have all the animals!

So I made carnival cupcakes for my animal loving sister.

I literally finished the banner (which took two minutes with a pair of pinking shears, red gingham fabric, my sewing machine, some kabob sticks, and a dab of hot glue on the ends to attach) two seconds before she walked in my door.

I thought they turned out cute and were special for Katie's birthday, but quick and easy for a mom of three littles who was throwing a party literally last minute. I got the picks from Walmart around Easter and had been hoarding them for such an occasion.

Seesters. The birthday sister on the right just had twins.

Not too shabby.

We sat around, ate a good dinner, ate cake, put the kids to bed, played some games, had Katie's best friend and Krista and Thomas over, and laughed our heads off.

You should have seen Thomas attempt Mad Gab. Straight up funny right there. In contrast, Krista whooped our behinds at that game.

Happy Birthday to my sister who is now a fellow mom. Good luck with that.

Happy Birthday to my friend.

Thanks for letting me be born first, because we all know that I'm bossier and I like it that way.

Thanks for being the silly one because we know bossy is already taken.

Thanks for your rich sense of style which we clearly both got at a young age.

Thank you for boosting my self esteem in high school when I got that really really short haircut by getting yours cut the same way a few months later. We were totally in style.

Clearly, you wanted curly hair just like me. Mom needs to pull back the reigns a bit on the amount of curlers she thought you needed to achieve the amount of curl I own. I believe you more than nailed it.

And then copying me yet again after I got my headgear by getting your very own facial reconstruction piece a couple years later. They were straight up sexy.

Thanks for sending me cards that are completely random for no apparent reason except for the love of randomness.

Happy Birthday Katie! We love you!

White

2012-01-21T15:26:00.000-08:00

While we were in Oregon, they had their first snowfall of the year. We were lucky enough to be there for it.

We had the most gorgeous drive one morning in the new snowfall. These pictures were shot with my iphone through the car window.

While snow is just covering up the ground underneath, in contrast God says that our sins are completely gone. Not just hidden.

Gone.

He doesn't see a sinner when He looks at us. He sees a saint.

As a person who regularly beats myself up for the things I can't seem to get right, it's good to know that those things are forgiven ahead of time and has no bearing on how much God loves me.

Because I'll never be perfect. I'll never get it perfectly "right".

Every sinner has a past. Every saint has a future.

Every sinner has a future. Every saint has a past.

God loves me just the same.

Red and white make such a contrast. I love red barns, but on the white snow, the contrast was amazing. They showed up ever so much more than a black barn could.

I think red against white is such strong imagery.

God's love for me is so strong. The imagery is appropriate.

I have a former Catholic friend who says it's so strange to be taught that he is a saint not a sinner.

Saints are those special elite few who managed to achieve some sort of perfection.

But God says we all are saints if we love Him.

We all have equal access to Him.

Not just an elite few.

Even when we mess up.

Again.

He sees us as pure white snow.

Forgiven.

Again and again.

It's not a free pass to keep doing wrong.

But rather that kind of love is is strong motivator to keep doing right.

Fear is a bad motivator. Love is a stronger one.

That's some kind of love right there.

PS. This post is for week one of my 52 week scripture photo theme. See this post for more themes.

Scripture Photo Theme a Week

2012-01-20T23:21:00.000-08:00

So last year around Valentines Day I thought I would try home date nights once a week and Tone got right on board. We may not have been able to do 52 over the course of the year, but Tone and I certainly made a valiant effort and we spent a lot of time together in the evenings. We are still trying to do fun things in the evenings. This month saw us standing in the living room in front of a cheesy video learning to ballroom dance. REALLY cheesy video.

That was not a joke.

It really happened.

It was fun too. I never knew I was quite that awkward.

So while I am not giving that up this year, I decided I liked a weekly challenge and wanted one for photography and for scripture memory.
You've heard of the 365 pictures in a year thing by know. Or a picture a day. I know you have because it's EVERYWHERE. I realized in loading my pictures recently that this is not my problem. I loaded "the good" photos of the last year and just January through June I had around 1650 pictures. That was not a typo. I really took that many photos that I want to keep. Clearly I need to focus my pictures for more quality not quantity. One can always get better.

I am a creative soul and I wondered if I couldn't somehow combine those. To which I say:
Sure you can! So I picked out 52 verses to memorize and think about during the week and a photo theme to go with it during the week. I hope to post a lot of them here. Clearly, I am running a bit late since I didn't start January 1st, but who said you had to start on the first? It's still January. I also would like to mediate, write a journal entry and do something creative with perhaps a scrappy journal page each week. Some of them will land on the blog. Here are my scriptures and photo themes for the year.

Feel free to play along on your own blog or on instagram. I think this will be really fun. Some of my pictures will be taken with my fancy camera, but I also take a lot of photos with my iphone and post to instagram. If you don't have the instagram app...you should. And then you should follow me @jennyplumb. Then we can be picture buddies and be super cool like that. But if you don't have instagram, then you should know that my instagram pics also post to my facebook. And if we aren't facebook friends...

...well, doggone.

You're just gunna have to wait for my blog posts.

Off to see the Grands...

2012-01-19T11:07:00.000-08:00

We got home today from visiting Oregon to visit the Grandparents. We visited Tone's grandparents and his Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jack and also my Dad.

Traveling always means getting up before it's light to be at an airport around 4:30am. The kids don't love it, but they like the adventure of going new places. Here they are peaking out of the window to see if our airplane had arrived. Tessa loved going around the airport pulling a little backpack on wheels and waving "bye bye" to us. For added humor, her shoes squeak like dog toys when she steps so we don't lose her.

We arrived in Oregon feeling good at about noon on Sunday.

The rest of Sunday and Monday we spent with Tone's family. Tuesday we visited with my Dad. Wednesday we were up at the crack of dawn again to fly home.

It was SO good to see my dad again since Tessa had gotten so much bigger than the last time we saw him. Hunter and Ainsley chattered away at the restaurant and Tessa was her usual pain making trouble at the table. We shot the breeze and he brought the kids little toys which delighted them. It didn't take long for my kids to get reacquainted and Tessa let him hold her which is kind of a big deal for her. We would have gone up to his house but he lived up the hill and we kinda got snowed out so he came down in his truck. Welcome to Oregon.

It was also good to see Tone's grandparents. Grandpa Bernard married us (along with my pastor) and he did a little speech on the importance of passing on our Christian heritage. Well, here we are doing our best to pass on that great legacy to our three children. I had a wonderful time listening to his stories at night. He had plenty of them after 38 years of pastoring before retiring. He is full of humor and grace but calls a spade a spade. He's a really wonderful man who married an equally wonderful woman and I only hope to be similar when I am 87.

Monday we had a big lunch with Tone's grandparents at Tone's Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jack's house. I love Tone's Aunt Lisa and we are blog and facebook friends. Her blog is full of good recipes and thrifting fun. Isn't it funny how one can get to "know" someone through the internet? It's a wonderful tool for that sometimes. I didn't get any photos of Lisa or Jack who entertained Hunter for quite a long time building a Lego contraption with gears. Bummer. Grandpa especially loves games so we finished it off with a game of triple Yahtzee. Lets just say Grandpa and Grandma may have slowed down physically, but they are still sharp as a tack. Here is Grandpa getting a Yahtzee!

Grandma doesn't like this picture of herself, but I like it because she read to Ainsley quite a bit while we were there and Ainsley was mesmerized. Grandma Audrey was a teacher for 29 years and she has the BEST reading voice. It almost mesmerized me while I was listening!

It was a short two and a half day visit and we were off again at 4:00am Wednesday morning. It snowed or rained the whole time we were there. We had to go home via Salt Lake City because of loaded flights, but we were still home by noon. We seem to spend a great deal of our life in airports. Is it worth it? Most people tell me that they wouldn't do it. Flying standby with four littles is not for the faint of heart.

Yes, of course. This weekend was spent full of family that I love. It reminded me why I do what I do with my children. I want to leave a legacy, and I want my children to know the people who have impacted Tone and me in leaving that legacy. So: Totally worth it.

Thrifting day

2012-01-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

I hung out with my sister last night.
I arrived and she was looking like this.
I know. I've pretty much hated her my whole life. Just kidding. Let us embrace her gorgeousness together, shall we?

Source: kristajacobs.blogspot.com via Jenny on Pinterest

I, on the other hand, had forgotten to change out of my grungy yard shoes and was wearing a comfy old sweater that had seen one too many years on it. Doggon it. I sucked it up and went shopping with her anyways. I'm not gunna lie though, I may or may not have kept on my pretty wool coat the whole time so at least the sweater was covered up. I have a "little" dignity still. I blame it on being so excited to get out of the house kid-free I ran out the door without checking my apparel. However, I was still totally conscious of my shoes the whole time.

She bought this navy and orange shirt last night. We happened to be perusing the whole three stories of Forever 21. That place always sucks me in and spits me out.

Source: kristajacobs.blogspot.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Today we went thrifting together. I decided in my outfit choice I better bring some A game after last night. Because when you go thrifting in dingy old shops, that is an occasion for your A game. Clearly. I got the new striped sweater, belt, and burnt orange beret last night too. All three for less than $20. Total. It's why that store always sucks me in and spits me out. I can't resist under $10 prices. We discussed that we both have very different styles. There is no way I can pull off the streamlined look Krista can, and I'm much more eclectic.

And she can't wear hats. Or beanies. So there.

I tried to get Ainsley to take a fashion photo of me too. Here's mine. Does it compare to Krista's?

In defense, Ainsley can't aim or hold a camera steady and a little person wanted up. There may or may not be a cracker on the floor behind me and a little kid trike bumped into my legs.

Totally fashion forward. It's the new trend in fashion photography.

So what do we have going on here? Braids? A beret? Stripes? Are we hippie, French, confused?

I dug it. I felt like it was going good.

Maybe someday I should attempt to tame Tessa's hair. Someday. I already use adult conditioner on the back and even that doesn't really help for long. That kid has the coarsest hair for a bondie!

Anyhow,

I also felt that my suede wedges would go great with my wide flare pants. I LOVE these shoes and they were definitely a step up from the yard shoes I wore last night.

Anyhow, what did I find today? A little china cup and saucer with yellow daisies on them in a stand for $2. A washboard to hang in my newly organized laundry room for $5. I totally splurged on my metal lunchbox and matching plaid thermos for $10 (Actually, that's a steal, but $10 is a lot for me right now). I was feeling good about my treasure hunt. The kids managed to score some free trinkets from the nice lady (dinosaur and plastic teapot) and some .50 books. They were delighted.

This was the last score of the day. I know. You are wondering why. It's a plastic horse with an old broom handle bar stuck through his ears. Straight up quality. Well, Tessa likes to rock. There is one of these at church and she rocks it as hard as she can and won't get off for the other kids to use. I, however, have been unwilling to purchase her a new one for the price. Though I really, really, really, wanted to get her one for Christmas. I found this bad boy for $4.99. Score to the lady in the weird orange hat and hippie wedges!

Here I am feeling definitely pleased with my purchases today. All in all, a good day with my sister, and successful day in the thrift stores. (Again, a blur. 4 year old hands remember?).

Meh. Forget it. Fashion blogs aren't for me (though I do enjoy a good read on them).

I'm going back to playing with the baby.

PS. I'm not skippin church today. I wrote this last night to post today. So there.

Getting it together...a Freebie for you!

2012-01-07T21:46:00.000-08:00

It's the new year.

I am a total list maker. It really helps me stay focused when I have a list. Otherwise, I forget just about everything. Is there anyone else with me? However, I have noticed that by making lists, I have to give myself some leeway room for um, not actually finishing the list. Ha! Anyone else with me?

I made a weekly planner page from my vintage graphics collection. There are spots for Chores around the house, appointments, dinner options, and purposeful moments you want to take to live a life on purpose (ie, bake cookies, read a book, go on a hike, etc.). I also added the quote, "I will hold myself to a standard of Grace, not perfection" as a reminder that life doesn't always go on schedule and it's never perfect, but we are only held to a standard of Grace that God gives. I plan on using it. It prints out super cute.

You want to see it? Here you go:

Here it is chillin on the front of my fridge. I took this pic late tonight after I finished making it and slapped it up there. Even though this is a horrible picture, I promise you, my fridge took on a whole new level of classiness in between the kiddie artwork and animal magnets (not shown).

I know it's hard to read my writing on this picture, but I've been trying to stick to a cleaning schedule for about a month now and it's not going too bad. It makes sure I get to all the areas in the house but I only have to do one bigger chore and one tiny one a day.

Monday: Do all the laundry in the baskets and fold after kids are in bed, water plants
Tuesday: Put away the laundry and clean bathrooms (people come over on Tuesday nights, those bathrooms have to get clean!)
Wednesday: All surfaces dust or wipe down. (Includes kitchen counters and cobwebs), take out trash
Thursday: Vacuum the carpet, wash the sheets on the beds
Friday: Mop the floors, Organize one thing (closet, drawer, kid's clothes, etc.)
Saturday and Sunday: Catch up on what was missed and rest.

Many days I don't get to the cleaning assigned for that day, but there is a deep cleaning method and a quick method, and I try to at least do the quick one. As long I don't only do the quick method every time, the house stays clean underneath all the messy kid clutter that seems to pile up everyday.

I told you there was a freebie for you. You can print out your own page that I created for you HERE.
Yay! Have fun staying organized but remembering life isn't perfect and nobody said you had to be either. There is no standard for perfection anyways. For some it's never having a messy dish out, and for others, it's ignoring the dishes to take a time out for the kids. I've found that when it comes to the household, it's a place for family so some discretion needs to be used in which should come first because neither can at the same time. I've learned through years of feeling sometimes like a ragged failure that that's totally OK and has no bearing on whether I am a great wife and mother or a child of the King. Though clearly, by making this, I am trying to achieve this year a higher level of order out of my often chaotic household.
Enjoy!

Linking up to Life Made Lovely, Today's Creative Blog, a Bowl Full of Lemons

The Magic of Christmas

2012-01-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

Oh what? Christmas is over.

Yeah, I know, but I'm always running a day late and a dollar short. I just need to throw up my pictures from Christmas day so that if my computer ever goes AWOL at least I'll have my pics saved someplace in the internet. And here you thought I was blogging for your viewing pleasure. Pish, I have no idea what would give you that idea at all.

Someone woke up right on time on Christmas. Hunter has been getting her up in the morning, lifting her out of her crib and bringing her to me. Aren't siblings a beautiful thing? It means I can enjoy my warm bed for at LEAST 20 more seconds...which I relish. I really do.

All the kids went out with us and we checked out what Santa brought. Tessa was completely delighted with her barking, walking dog. Watching her giggle and giggle was the best Christmas present ever!

Here they are with one of their two gifts that they got from us this year. Well, technically, one was from Santa and one from us, but I believe that all my blog readers are above the age of 8 so letting that cat slip out of the bag will not spoil Christmas for any of you I hope. If so, two things:
What are you, 8?
And: I believe I stated at the beginning that this post was for posterity's sake anyhow, and therefore, selfishly written. And I happen to know Santa is a fake. So there.

Clearly, Legos are a big hit this year. We put the grandparent's gifts under the tree too, so they still had quite a bit to unwrap.

Tessa quickly figured out that wrapping paper had cool things inside, and she was all up in everyone's business to see what was in there. If we didn't get back to her turn quick enough, she would start ripping into one of my presents.

For an 18 month year old, she made out alright this Christmas.

I believe I stated that we were cutting back this Christmas, but the kids still managed to litter the whole living room with new toys, paper and boxes. I took a picture of the aftermath, but honestly, that's too embarrassing to want to add here for all posterity's sake. The amount still feels pretty ridiculous for all our efforts to try and cut back this year.
Whew, that's over, moving on to the New Year....shooting for being less materialistic seems to have come with a steep learning curve.

Out with the Old....

2012-01-01T21:47:00.000-08:00

Today.

The New Year.

Every year I am challenged to get rid of something old that may be holding me back and to try something new that will move me forward or make me better. I suppose I have a couple of practical things, but what really comes to mind when I think about the last year was how much I grown spiritually, and I like the current path I am on.

So the new is to keep on keeping on.

This year I have seen such amazing growth in how my husband and I are both teaming up to be intentional about how we make choices and raise our children to reflect who we are following after.

God.

Some of the choices have been a stretch, some of been an epiphany ("why did we not do this before?"),
and sometimes it seems awkward since we've "never done it that way before."

Ainsley got a new bike for Christmas and we took her out in the front to learn how to ride it. Tessa thought the greatest thing in the world was to run after her laughing her head off. Wherever, Ainsley went, there went Tessa about three feet behind.

A few things came to mind looking at these pictures. Ainsley never went too fast that Tessa couldn't keep up, Tessa never got tired of running after her and thinking it was SO MUCH FUN, and also, how completely ridiculous it looked. Like a baby duck following the Gander.

I could draw some correlations here in how I've followed after God.

Ainsley is super duper cautious. In fact, she was barely creaking that bike along. Tone has always wished for a dare devil kind of kid that could be on a dirt bike by age five like he was. He struck out with cautious Hunter, and clearly, Ainsley isn't going to be that kid either. Poor poor man ( but the over-protective Mother in me is somewhat gleeful though that my kids aren't on some sort of death wish hunt like Tone was at that age). Anyhow, Ainsley always went slow enough for Tessa to keep up. I think God works the same. He pushes us at a pace where we can always keep up if we stay focused on Him. And Tessa had a definite bead on her sister. The curvier Ainsley rode (lets just say stearing is not a strong point yet), the more fun Tessa thought she was having as she shrieked with laughter running after her. With Tess, Tone's still got a chance.

Also, Tessa looked ridiculous. I was very amused by the third born child I birthed who has some wacky gene from who knows what wackadoodle side of the family. I'm not sure how that could have possibly have been fun. At first I thought it was funny. But she kept doing it.
And going.
And going.
Then I thought, is she playing with a full deck of cards? Truth.
(Admit it. Sometimes secretly you think these things about your kids. The horror!)

I've discovered following after God is addicting like that. It becomes more and more addicting when you are doing what you are doing because you see Jesus right in front of you and He is the focus. Pushing myself to run just for the hay is boring. Take it from an 18 month year old...chasing a bike now, is awesome fun. Pushing yourself to do good Jesus things when you are looking at the action rather than the person is lame and you'll get tired. It's the "try hard, do good for a while, fail" syndrome. Raise your hand if you've been there, done that! (By the way, mine was up). But when I focus on the One who saved me and look at Him and His attributes, those things just sort of flow from me and I am not feeling like it's a whole lot of work, but it's a whole lot of joy. And when others around me see some of the choices, well, it's counter cultural. It looks ridiculous. They wonder if I'm playing with a full deck of cards.

So for New Years, I want to keep my focus. I don't want to focus on a resolution or the action, but rather on the personhood of Jesus. This last year, there have been many actions and choices made but they've come from a direct focus. I've been challenged this year, I have been transformed as I look at Him and what it would be like to be like Him, and I want to keep that focus dead on.

Happy New Year!

Vintage Alphabet Name Banner

2011-12-31T11:30:00.000-08:00

So I told you that I made something all vintage-y goodness cute for Molly and Zoe. I know. I made you wait a whole day so that lazy girl here could process pictures. Actually, lazy girl decided on a whim to redo the colors of her kitchen and all the knick knacks and artwork. So I did.

When I say "on a whim" I meant it. I decided about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and had it stripped bare and was sewing curtains and mogde podging up a storm and had a new kitchen by 10pm. I just need a couple new things to pick up tomorrow to finish it. Namely, some spray paint and I'm good to go. Oh, I digress. This post was supposed to be out that gift I made for the twins.

Let me preface this by saying that I love all things vintage with bright colors. Let me also say that I may just be the only one in my family that does which creates some unique decorating challenges. Tone likes new, white, and natural wood. That's kinda tough for the vintage in me. I like chippy, old, bright paint and things with some patina on them. Having lost that battle from day one of marriage I thought maybe in my kids....

No.

Ainsley and Hunter like those cheap bright character type of Disney decor that you see everywhere. My heart cringes every time they ask to redo their room in that stuff. So far, they have been allowed a few touches in their room of that stuff and it's kept them happy. I do realize at some point I will lose the battle. I still have some hope in Tessa....oh who am I kidding? So far it's three against one.

So what am I do to? Force this insane desire for vintage on my sister's new kids. Duuuh! I mean they are only a week old but with my current batting average, I had better get a head start and quick!

I decided they needed name banners in cute vintage alphabet characters. I found these cute book pages for free download on the intranet, people, and the love of all things bright and old jumped out of me and I made a snap decision to make these IMMEDIATELY.

Yeah, did you feel it too?

I mean look at them!!! Be still my beating heart.

I'll share the vintage love. You can find them at this link HERE. There is one for each letter and some extra animal pages too.

You are getting the picture by now that creative juices flow in a big jolt all at once and I make impulse decisions to do something about them, right?

Anyhow, I downloaded the pictures and picked the ones I wanted. Then I printed them on a 5x7 size though they are square shaped so they ended up being 5x5. I cut them out and that meant that they would fit perfectly four to a page on a standard square sized piece of scrapbooking paper. I cut three kinds of printed paper into four equal squares and then mixed and matched until I found the design I liked. I made the edges of the scrapbooking paper kinda fancy with scalloped scissors and a small pennant shaped triangle cut out of the bottom.

See the hedgehog? I know. Slay me now. So adorable in all his prickles. Zoe had the best pictures. She had a turtle, a zebra, an owl, and elephant in a hammock and the hedgehog. Luckily I had some polka dot and striped 12x12 scrapbook paper that worked perfect. How did I attach the book pages to the paper. This is the best part:

I sewed it.

Glue makes the paper curl, but sewing it makes it sturdier and keeps it perfectly flat. Plus it adds another cute dimension. Just make sure to turn the tension down to a slightly lower number on your machine. The thread tended to make loops on the back when I didn't.

What did I use to string them up? A bit of eyelet lace. I sewed the cards right down onto the lace. You can sew fabric and paper together. I do it all the time. I also couldn't resist making a bright flower out of the leftover bright paper and sewing on a big orange button. Since these were boyish or neutral colors I was using, I wanted to make them look feminine with the lace and flower, though there is no pink in the girl's room so these will match just fine.

Anyhow, I love how they turned out. They make my heart happy. You know what else turned out well and makes my heart happy? These two girls. Oh yes, I thought I would sneak in another proud Aunt picture of them in Christmas stockings at five days old.

They turned out well. Very well indeed.

Linking up here:
Life Made Lovely Blog, Gingerbread, Today's Creative Blog

Grey Dotty Shoes

2011-12-30T15:03:00.000-08:00

What is an Auntie to DO when TWIN nieces are born?

Pish. That's an easy one. Sew some shoes of course. They are G-I-R-L-S!

A girl's got to have some darling shoes in her wardrobe.

I'm starting these girls on the wayward fashion path...fast. Three days old and they had these bad boys in their closet. Everyone else can buy them the cute, cuddly and far more practical soft sleepers. This Auntie doesn't roll that way.

Success.

I wrapped them up with a darling little thing-a-ma-jig of vintagey goodness that I will show you in a tutorial this week. Guess you'll have to wait for that. I actually have to write the post.
I know...you hate me because of the suspense. I'm still not writing that post yet. Today I feel like "Miss Laziness". Deal.
I have no idea what to call these shoes. I can't call them the Zoe or the Molly because that would be favoritism. And if I have a favorite, you'll never know. So for now...the Grey Dotty Shoes.
However, I am going to write "grey" in the far more trendy way. No boring "gray" for me. I'm a cool, trendy Aunt like that.

Unashamed plug: If you want to be cool trendy too, you can buy them HERE in my shop. (plug over)

Here are the babes just after their bath. I gave Molly her bath and changed her poo diaper and for that I was definitely NOT on her fave Auntie list for the afternoon. She'll get over it. I gave her cool grey shoes. I love how babies look like little old men the first couple weeks. Full of wrinkly, smooshy goodness. They smelled good too after that bath and their hair went all poofy on us.

However, after that rousing bath, they were conked out. We nestled them together and I attempted to get some pictures in a pretty dark house and the light was not so great. However, I did manage to capture this one. I know you think I totally posed it.
Did not. I swear it.
Picture time was over, I was putting my camera away and we noticed Molly had reached over and grabbed Zoe's hand.

Oh Golly!
Be still my trendy, beating Auntie's heart.

All I want for Christmas...

2011-12-25T15:14:00.001-08:00

Is a little bit of this....I may just be in Auntie heaven.

2011-12-23T11:15:00.000-08:00

Hoping your holidays are Merry and Bright and filled with the goodness of God's Love.

PS. Since we didn't do any Christmas cards, maybe we'll shoot for just sending out a very select few New Year's Cards. Maybe....

Zoe and Molly are Born!

2011-12-21T17:07:00.000-08:00

Katie went in Monday evening to be induced. The twins were finally born this morning at 4:39 and 4:59am. It was a long labor, but she had them naturally, with the help of some drugs and an epidural. She rocks, right?!

Here is a picture of Zoe Marcia right afterwards. I think she looks so much like Brad.

Here are the girls a little bit later. Molly Rose and Zoe. Aren't they the cutest holding hands? Zoe wants to eat them. They are blond haired, blue-eyed babies, but they don't look exactly alike. Zoe is a bit thinner and their mouths are different. However, they definitely look like sisters.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be there because I didn't know what to do with my own kids. Tone is working and doesn't get home until Christmas Eve. We are driving on Christmas Day to go see them and I can't wait! I am sure you will get an overload of pictures here after I am able to take some pictures in person.

On a Roll

2011-12-17T19:56:00.000-08:00

We are on a roll...literally. As you can see, the annual Christmas sugar cookie chaos has begun. They are prepped and ready to go. It's not a very original tradition, but it's a big deal to the kids. And I'm not gunna lie, I like a tasty sugar cookie myself.
The day we got the tree, they were asking to do sugar cookies. That was the first week of December. Clearly, this is a fave tradition. I like to do them closer to Christmas and since it's a whole afternoon event, I really have to gear up for it. Thus, I usually do it the week OF Christmas. They got the cookies a couple days earlier than most years. They should count their blessings.

This year I thought that I would let them try rolling out their own dough. It actually didn't go too badly. I know. It blew me away too. I was gearing up for a dis-as-ter.

Ainsley was thrilled to get her own dough pile to decide which cutters to use and Hunter couldn't be a bossy dough hog. Win win.

They were covered head to toe in flour. I'm really not sure that aprons helped a whole lot, but they thought that they were completely necessary.

We seriously need to cute his fingernails. Eww. Sorry about that.

What was Tessa doing? Causing havoc. Asking for raw cookie dough to eat. Basically being a pain. She considers herself one of the big guys. She doused herself in flour and had to lose the shirt.

She was being the typical 18 month old. She was thrilled to be on the counter. After she swiped too many cookies though off the cookie sheet, we put her down. She was thinking it was a free-for-all. It wasn't.

I have about 150 cookie cutters. Lets just say there was plenty of extras for Tessa to play with on the floor.

Doesn't Hunter just look thrilled with himself? He was.

Usually Ainsley has a brief attention span. She stuck with it. All afternoon. I thought that was quite amazing.

We then decorated them with confectioner's sugar icing and sprinkles. That was a mess, but oh, so fun!

Here is the finished product. They are definitely kid-made. These won't be going to the neighbors, but I do love myself a tasty sugar cookie.

This last picture isn't the best, but it was under harsh kitchen light. I don't know if you noticed, but these pictures started out with nice afternoon natural light and ended up at after dark under harsh inside lighting. I told you this takes all day. Technically, it took four hours from making the dough to finished. That counts as all day in my book. I mean as a mother, who has just a free four hours most of the time? Bwahahaha! I just made a joke. Four hours. Bwahaha!

Whew! One tradition down for this year.

Miracle Babies

2011-12-15T21:57:00.000-08:00

As Christmas approaches, I have been thinking a lot on God's miracles and blessings to us. Here is my miracle baby. Tessa will always be a symbol of a miracle in my mind. I am still connected with the online worldwide group of people who have children born with the same type of tumor Tessa had. For every child who does well, there seem to be just as many or more who don't. Just this last week, I had news that two of the children I had been following passed away right after birth from complications of their tumor.

When we first heard of Tessa's tumor following a 19 week ultrasound, I was told the goal was to get her to 32 weeks without her heart failing. The tumor usually grows at a rate that is similar to the baby's growth. But God stepped in. Tessa's tumor basically didn't grow from the day they found it until the day she was born. It just stopped growing. It must have been growing at an incredible rate before that since it wasn't picked up on the 12 week ultrasound (I have a clear picture with no sign of it), but 6 weeks later, the tumor was large and obvious. But when the prayers for her started, with floods of people praying for us, the tumor didn't grow anymore. I know what happened, God did it.

Two years before Tessa was born, I suffered a miscarriage that I grieved for a while. I wanted a third child but didn't believe that was in the cards for us. I know in God's way, He was caring for that child too. That was another child that God loved just as much. I wrote this poem for her.

Little one,
I ache that it won't be my finger you will grasp,
As you take those tottering first steps.
But awed that you will be grasping the gentle finger of God.
You were here in secret mystery,
And left taking with you a mother's hope.
But not her love which is connected by an unbreakable cord.
Instead of being born in innocence and into pain,
You are carried gently to a place,
Where the dirt of the world will never marr your soul.
But rather your soul and self,
Will become all that it's meant to be without contamination.
God takes joy over you,
And all the intricasies of who you are.
You are His delight.
He spent as much time creating you,
As someone who spends years going gray here.
With an eternal purpose.
And you will bloom and grow in a place of perfect love,
Becoming all you were designed to be.
And one day, I will meet you, my wonderful child.
God's perfection in you.
I will run to my child,
And hold you as I have been waiting to do.
I am always your Mommy.
And I so love you.

I believe God cares for our children infinitely more than I ever could. His blessings are wrapped up in giving and taking. I can't understand, but I do believe and know this.

I have been reflecting on what God's blessing must have looked like for Mary, the mother of His miracle baby. Besides the obvious that she clearly was pregnant and not married in an extremely conservative community, God certainly didn't make the delivery very easy on her either.

It took about a week to get from Nazareth to Bethlehem. A week! On a donkey.

Okay, I've spent some road trips largely pregnant and it was only four hours in a cushy car and I was miserable. I've also ridden a horse for only an hour and my legs were sore and jelly for quite a while afterwards. I can't imagine the misery of being very pregnant hunched over the back of a donkey for a week. In all the Nativity books you see the two of them on a lonely road together. However, I bet they had to travel with all of Joseph's family since they were all from Bethlehem and the line of David. Did they help her? Did the ostracize her as getting what she deserved for getting pregnant out of wed-lock? And when they arrived in Bethlehem, did they ditch them for rooms for themselves? Were there a whole bunch of people who couldn't get a room? If so, did they graciously give the pregnant girl the only place left with a roof, or was it just mass chaos with every man shoved into corners with every man for himself? At any rate, however, it panned out, Mary must have been uncomfortable, longing for a place to rest and a place for animals was hardly ideal.

Lets just say I grew up with farm animals. Shoved in the corner of one of my animal's dirty stalls with the huge stench would hardly be the place I would want to go through the agony of labor. I had 12 hours of hard labor and no drugs with Hunter. I was at the end of my rope and miserable. Compound that with an aweful place to give birth with crowds probably around everywhere and stinky animals and I can't think of a worse situation. Did someone in Joseph's family assist? Was there women around to help? Or was the "sinfulness" of an unwed mother giving birth enough for others to leave her alone to birth Jesus on her own? When he was finally born, there was still no better place for Him than a feed box close by. God certainly has a strange way of doing miracles. Then God chose to only announce it to a bunch of poor shepherds just outside the city. That was good enough and the Savior of the world has now come, been celebrated, and now is still lying in a feed box. We could say God wasn't choosy when He chose to announce His Son's birth, but I would say that He WAS. We just place too much importance on status to understand the choice.

However, we all agree that Jesus's birth is a miracle. There was a star, some kings and expensive presents, a divine intervention so that he wasn't killed by Herod, and a mom who was a virgin.

It makes me reflect that often when God gives a blessing, it's often not in the way we have planned on our "happiness meter". Anyone who preaches the "health and wealth" gospel surely needs to read the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The way up, is down.

God had in her complete dependence and humility and Mary submitted. And out of that came the biggest blessing the world had ever known.

In giving me my four miracle babies, God is taking me on the biggest journey of humility I have ever been on. I am finding that in following God, submitting can be painful. But it is also hopeful. It is joyful. It is wonderful. Because God is there. He is rooting me on. He is celebrating with me. Sometimes I have to pay attention that He is throwing a celebration because who would have known it was a party when only a few "shepherds" show up? Sometimes I don't tell people about my Tessa's miracle. But who will know about God's blessing if I don't? The shepherds told everyone they saw, and I am saying it too. Tessa's name means, "harvester". It reminds me of the verse that says the harvest is plentiful but the harvesters are few. I am just a humble Mommy who has seen God's miracles first hand. Apparently; small, insignificant and humble Mommies can change the world. God thinks so.

The adventures of Lizzle

2011-12-15T18:10:00.001-08:00

We have an elf who has been up to many adventures this month. The kids named him Lizzle. I've only taken a few cell phone pictures of his shenanigans. Here are a few to enjoy.

They are loving the new "Elf on the Shelf" and it's killing them that they can't touch him or he loses his magic and won't return the next day.

I'll have you know that when Daddy is home, Lizzle does more daring things like fly an airplane from the ceiling fan.

He also rode a zipline from this fan to the light over the dining room table. However, this made me notice that the fan was extremely dusty and so I took the vacuum hose and attempted to vacuum the blades. This made Lizzle take a nose dive to the floor as it dislodged his zipline. Thankfully, he returned to hide again the next night. It was in front of the kids too. They were horrified. However, the only rule is that you can't touch him and since I didn't technically TOUCH him per say, he returned. Whew!

Hunter has been unsure whether Lizzle was really magic or not.

He informed me that he snuck into the kitchen and touched Lizzle when I wasn't watching. Then he waited to see if he returned. When Lizzle was in a new spot the next day, Hunter was triumphant in announcing that he had out-tricked me and that Lizzle was a fake since I didn't know he had touched him and he still returned. Hunter has a way of being a super realist that takes some fun out things.....Thanks bud. Ainsley, however, is pretty convinced he is truly magic.

This one took forever. Nobody saw him for a long time before we saw him peeking out of the wreathe over the fireplace mantle.

He even turned an artwork piece of Daddy's into a reindeer.

Lizzle has also made a star and was sitting on top of the Christmas tree holding it. He was seen clobbering stuffed animals in a marshmellow snowball fight. Tessa found him first that day and it took the other two a while to figure out that the marshmellows were supposed to be snowballs. Mostly, because Tessa ate a lot of them and it wasn't so obvious what was going on by the time we discovered what she had done. It's hard to imagine a snowball fight when there are only a couple marshmellows left. Haha! He has also just been hanging around in random places. Today he emptied Ainsley's jewelry box and was wearing all her jewelry and a hair clip. I may discuss having a tea party with her barbies tonight with Lizzle. He might go for it. Even though he is a boy. He seems like a pretty good sport so far.

Simplifying Christmas - Somewhat

2011-12-09T22:34:00.000-08:00

So Tone and I read "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan and "Radical" by David Platt and we were challenged to do more each advent day focusing on the meaning of Christmas and less on presents and such. We were also challenged to spend a lot less money on ourselves and more on others. Anyhow, I found these darling little ornaments you can make for a "Jesse Tree" from this link from printcandee and we are hanging them on the tree each night and reading the corresponding scripture. The kids find them in their countdown boxes.

Here is a picture from the link. Cute aren't they?

Source: printcandee.com via Jenny on Pinterest

I also have this really awesome advent calendar which has a little book for each day that tells the advent story in beautiful pictures.

On the side of it are scriptures which we are memorizing. You should hear them belt out, "And He shall be called, Wonderfuuuuul, Counseloooor, Almighty GOD, the Everlasting Father, the Pwince of Peace!" They sing it Handel style since I showed them how it should be sung on Youtube. They love it.

We also read every night from my Christmas book collection. Some of the books are not uber spiritual but just for fun. You just have to have some fun and magic as well, right!?

Just because we decided to refocus a bit this year doesn't mean I simplified my decorating because that is a huge family night that is special each year. One addition I added this year was this photo wall. I found plated silver plates at the Dollar Tree and spray painted them cream and added black chalkboard paint in the middle. Then I printed the kids in their Santa hats that I have taken every year and attached the pictures with magnets. All three kids have worn the same Santa outfit as babies. It's hard to tell who is who.

This one below is actually Hunter. He was pretty cute....and looked just like Tessa. It's uncanny. My bookends are so much alike in looks and personality.

Here is our tree this year. No presents yet. And it's on a the table. Can you guess why? I'll give you a clue. Unbreakable ornaments are on the bottom 2 feet. (And no, my floor is usually not this clean at all).

This picture was taken on the second day the tree was up. She had filched Baby Jesus out of his basket stripped him naked and was grabbing an ornament on the tree. It took about three days to train her to not touch the tree. We lost four ornaments which were saved with super glue. 18 month olds and trees aren't a good mix but thankfully she knows now to leave it alone. The only Nativity set low enough this year to touch is the kid's Veggie Tales one. Keeping it classy!

My older two have decided that the best thing to do is turn on the fireplace (yeah, we are city slickers who turn ours on with a switch) and lay by the tree with lights on. Tonight they were watching "Mickey's Christmas Carol" before bed - a favorite of mine.

I thought we would decorate the mantle with some fun graphic words that celebrated the meaning of the season. I found a few prints off of pinterest, put my favorite two in frames, and I wrote the kid's favorite verse with dry erase marker on the picture frame glass which has been backed with burlap type fabric.

The main way we have decided to refocus on Christmas is to tell the kids that they only will be receiving two gifts from us this year and one family gift to share. The rest of the money that we could have spent on them will be donated to World Vision's Gift Catalog where each child got to pick out something to give. One would think that the kids would have been super disappointed but they were not at all. We had spent all of November focusing on what we were thankful for and writing it down every night and discussing how they were much more blessed than others. They were really eager to pick something out when it came time for Christmas. Hunter picked a goat, Ainsley a sheep and we gave two chickens for Tessa. We printed the pictures of what they gave and hung them up.

Source: donate.worldvision.org via Jenny on Pinterest

Tone and I spread out all the presents the other night along with the presents sent to us from Grandparents and other family and we realized they were still making a haul. There was absolutely no need to buy them more and it was far more fun to be able to spend a lot on someone else.

We also counted up the amount for stamps and realized $60 for our Christmas card list could be better spent elsewhere. Guess what? For the first time in nine years, we are not sending out cards. I kinda feel a little like the Grinch but's it's kind of a relief and everyone we know is already connected through this blog or Facebook. But we did take our kids to pick out a present for our church's Mission Christmas toy drive. Anyhow, a Christmas letter always feels to me a little like bragging.

Christmas has not lost any joy or magic by toning down the presents and materialism this year. We feel that we still have much joy and magic but by refocusing we have actually added to the meaning and joy of the message of God's gift. We are always a bit stretched during the month of December, but this year it's not because we spent such an excess on ourselves, but because we have spent the same amount but a lot more of it on others.

And just in case this post sounds like we are bragging, ummm, no. I am actually super humbled this year by refocusing and looking at the amount we have spent on ourselves each year, and even so, how much we still are. This little bit of giving stretched us a little and in some ways, that is a bit sad. We decided to try it and experience the joy of giving when we are stretched even just a little. By giving a little more, I feel more materialistic than I did last year when we didn't give near as much. I think God is teaching us this holiday season.

But we haven't gone super spiritual and taken the fun out of Christmas too. For one thing, I don't think Christianity and fun belong in separate sentences. The kids are having so much fun experiencing the season. Today we did a big Christmas craft and we are baking, watching Christmas parades, putting Baby Jesus under the tree, playing with the Nativity set, caroling, and experiencing all the usual fun bits of the season. And we TOTALLY are doing Elf on the Shelf with our elf up to all kinds of tricks. Call us heathens now.

However, a highlight for me was that last night, Ainsley walked into the kitchen while I was cooking dinner and initiated a conversation with me about God's reason for being born on earth. She had mostly figured out the Gospel message from our various conversations, but during the course of our conversation last night, it clicked. She could explain it herself in cute little four year old vernacular and it was absolutely precious. I know that later she will need to believe for herself outside of what I have told her, but right now, she has the faith of a child and completely believes that God loves her, was punished for her, and is her friend forever and she will be with Him forever. God, and how He loves us and who He is, is a part of our daily conversations all the time in our household. I truly believe that He should be first and foremost in conversations and decisions in our house, but in a nonlegalistic and natural way.

This is going to be a very fun Christmas season and so far has proven to be a meaningful one.

"God Bless Us Everyone!" in the words of Tiny Tim.

(Since we watched that tonight, I guess it's on the brain.)

Holiday pictures

2011-12-04T21:05:00.000-08:00

We always do a family picture of the five of us in my Aunt's yard on Thanksgiving day. We have done it for the last six years but this year we spend Thanksgiving in Missouri with Tone's family. So we missed our family portrait shot. However, I did have the presence of mind to at least get a picture of the kids in the leaves before we left and then another picture in Christmas outfits today. So Tone and I aren't in it this year...there is always next year.

Tessa was in rare form today and cheesing it up for the camera. I think Ainsley is cold and Hunter lost a front tooth this week making him extra cute.So I thought I would get a couple pictures of just her alone. I promise she really does have two hands. I just didn't want to ruin the moment and fix her sweater. Moments like this with 18 month olds are very fleeting. Very, very, fleeting.

I got six shots off of her grinning and chuckling her head off before she was done. So here is one more for ya. I know. I think she's kind of adorable too. But then you don't have to live with her mood swings.

She likes to shout, "DONE!" as loud as she can when she is over something. And when she shouts it she means business and has certainly decided in her little mind that it's OVER.

Yeeup. She's done and all business.

Crazy!

2011-12-03T13:59:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts this last week. I have been out of town for ten days with family and now I'm playing catch-up.

This picture below is a good portraiture of my life right now. I had my hair up in an intricate mass of twists that looked awesome until I took it out two days later. Dang massive hair!

Let the Christmas Season begin!

Actually my husband and I have done several things to simplify this year and reflect on the true meaning and magic of the season. I'll snap some pictures and share soon.

Hunter's First Pet

2011-11-19T19:36:00.001-08:00

So Hunter has been begging for a pet since he was like 2 years old. We travel a lot and are often gone for weekends so a dog or something normal wasn't going to happen. So my Aunt found a baby garter snake in her yard and gave it to Hunter. It was instant love between a boy and a snake. Bonus! It only eats every three days so we can go away for weekends. It's very tame and doesn't bite. It's a perfect first pet for Hunter. He named it Stanford.

Fall Picture Photo Shoot

2011-11-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

I got to take pictures of my dear friends this week. We went to a local park where the leaves were gorgeous and took some family photos. It didn't hurt that they are such a cute family either. It made getting a pretty picture pretty easy for me.

Did I mention that my friend is due in February with their third baby. Yes, I know. Shut the front door! I ain't lyin'. How does she look like that???? Ah-may-zing. Personally, I think that it's inappropriate for her to go out in public like this. I mean it makes the general public feel bad and like fat cows in comparison and therefore it shouldn't be allowed. Mmm, hmmm. Sheesh!

Little Missy was not into the whole picture thing. She would rather play in the leaves, run away and is constantly on the move. She made me work for it.

Whatever. I think I was still able to get a couple shots that made her look like the cutie she is.
Well, my, my, my. I see we have a future model on our hands.We had a fun time. Photographing kids at this age is always a real trip. And a workout trying to stay a few steps ahead of wherever they might run next. And a good exercise in acting like this is the most fun you have ever had so they don't have a meltdown.

All in all, I think the photo shoot worked out since nobody had a meltdown and I got a bunch of cute pictures. It's hard to go wrong when the background is this pretty and the people this good-lookin'.

Katie's Baby shower

2011-11-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

Katie was given a lovely baby shower for the twins. Isn't she cute? At this point she still had two months to go. Katie is not an uber girly-girly, so she is still doing the girl's room in green and yellow with bees and dragonflies.
My brother's wife, Christin, even flew in from Washington DC. She is on the left and I am feeling pretty good in the middle of all these tall women. I would just like to point out though that in order to pull this off, I am wearing boots with a significant heal, and all but Christin are in flats. Usually, I feel quite dwarfed in this kind of family lineup.
Yay for sister time!

Baby Leg Warmers Tutorial

2011-11-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

I am a big fan of leg warmers on babies. They are easy for diaper changes, they keep the legs warm in the winter, look great under little dresses and protect the knees when crawling. Tessa has modeled them for quite a few months now. They were especially great when she was crawling. They also make great baby shower gifts.They are so ridiculously easy to make that this may not qualify as a "tutorial", but I made a couple for my sister's twins, so I thought while I was making them, I would take pictures and share with you all. First you start with some big girl or women's knee socks (FYI, Target has women's knee socks in millions of patterns and colors for $2.50 each right now).
See where you cut them? Right after the toe and the heel. You throw away the toe and heel. But keep the middle foot part. That part you fold in half to make a cuff.
Then slide that cuff up and onto the raw bottom edge of the leg part of the sock.
It should look like this.
Pin them together and sew them around the circle.
This is the part where you could use a serger and finish the edges. Or be lazy like me and...not.
Remove the pins, flip the cuff down and you have leg warmers. Here are the two pairs I made for the twins.

Wow, that was easy. They took me five minutes. Tessa has so many of them, and we love them. See?

Pumpkins - Yeah, we did some of those

2011-11-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

The pumpkin lineup. Mine is still uncarved on the porch. Why, you say? Because I knew that I would be carving two of the three and that was enough for me. Tone always spends hours on his own and can not be depended on for reliable help with the kid's, haha! Hunter is was MOST dissappointed I did not carve a third for myself. But my hands and wrists were shot after doing the kid's. What's in there Mom? Do I have to pull it out? Yep. But she didn't. After pulling out two whole slimy seeds, that was enough for her. Mommy did it.
Hunter's warty, one-eyed monster with claws and Ainsley's cheery face.
Ainsley's pumpkin needed a flower in it's "hair". Clearly. This is Ainsley we are talkin' about here.
They were so delighted with their creations. I missed the picture at night where they are all lighted up. Eh. Next year.
After spending hours on his, Tone did not miss the "light up" picture. He had to post it and represent on Facebook you know. Hours of carving like this shouldn't go to waste. It's good for at least a Facebook post brag.
Spooky!

Tessa - The Flower Fairy (well we tried for girly)

2011-11-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

Here is the only picture I took of Tessa actually standing up in her costume. She would see me with the camera and high tail it in the other direction. So don't blink. You might miss it. I mean it's quite a carefully crafted shot. NOT.So I thought that we might put her in a chair or something to keep her contained for a picture. All she wanted anything to do with was the Harley trike. Well, that really matched the frilly costume and made for a great picture setup didn't it? And this is the only of her smiling. As soon as she saw that I was taking pictures and not pushing her, she started screaming at me to push her around. Photo session FAIL.

So then we pushed the trike over on the grass so I could get a picture with all three of them. She was mad the entire time that her little trike was stuck on grass but at least she wasn't running away from us.

Although it's not like the other two were helping with normal poses. Forget it. No cute pictures of the three of them THIS year.

We had a BBQ in our front yard with a bunch of people over on Halloween night and we had a fire pit in the driveway with a big table for food spread out. Tessa settled in quite quickly to her favorite lawn chair and snacked away. She really wasn't into her pretty dress at all. But food...she was ALL about the food.

Shocker of all shockers though, she did leave the hat on all night though. Remember, this is the kid who loves accessories.
Well, Tessa, we tried. We really, really tried. I have the lack of pictures to prove it.

My Buddy

2011-11-12T20:52:00.001-08:00

Last night Hunter snuggled with me on the couch before sending him off to bed. At 7, he still wants to curl up next to me when watching movies, jump in my bed the morning to warm himself up next to me, and would even liked to be picked up if I could manage it more. His favorite time of the day is when I tuck him at night and he tells me what his favorite part of the day was and we have a little chat. I am well aware that he might outgrow this soon, though luckily he is showing no signs yet. He still let's me kiss and hug on him. It's so bittersweet having your first baby grow up.

Ainsley - Cindrella prissy

2011-11-12T12:00:00.000-08:00

Ainsley wanted to be the green pig on the game "Angry Birds" until she found out she could wear "real" makeup if she was a princess. Well, that sealed the deal on that. Here we are primping on Halloween with curled hair and my makeup on. I'm sure there is a fine line between raising a child with a healthy self-esteem and one that is vain. I'm pretty sure I haven't nailed that fine line yet. For the sake of making myself feel like an awesome mom, I'm going to say we were working on her healthy self-esteem this Halloween.Her makeup is so very light, but she is so incredibly impressed with her looks at this moment in time. You ought to have seen her flounce and pose her face in front of that little mirror.
I am going to say that half of the flounces that she thought were "pretty" were completely RI-DI-CU-LOUS. The worst was the "eye bat" that she thinks princesses do. She looks incredibly slow when she does that. I thought the lip pucker though was kinda cute. Anyhow, you put a girl in front of a mirror....
Here is her "best" pose. I snapped several of these and by the end her dress is held up to her chin. Since this is a public blog, I'll keep her modest for the general public. You can see now why the polka dot leggings were completely necessary.She was not short of dramatic poses.I had to tell her I had enough pictures when the poses started getting ca-ca-ca-crazy!Yep, she worked that Cinderella costume.
That's my middle, drama-queen, uber-feminine, girly girl. You go Ainsley!

Hunter's Costume - The Angry Bird

2011-11-11T15:23:00.000-08:00

So I am blogging all of Halloween in a few posts because I took WAY too many pictures. Then I also filled up my computer so I had to delete and move photos to make room for more. Pretty lame, huh? How does that even happen? Oh, wait. I know how.

I take WAY too many pictures.

Anyhow, I made his costume out of felt and just kinda "winged" it. No pun intended. He was mostly thrilled with the stuffed belly and his red mohawk. You have NO idea how much shampoo it took to get that out....
He made an "angry" face when posing. It's hard to get a normal face out of him on a normal day, much less Halloween.

He thought his costume was a huge success. As long as he thinks so, I consider it a job well done.

She likes to Accessorize

2011-10-29T21:23:00.000-07:00

I think I mentioned that we put a mustache from the party on Tessa and instead of screaming at us, she just walked around with it on. She didn't want to take it off. Good girl. She is taking after her Aunties and Mommy who love the accessories too.

What? Don't you think Tessa has the serious detective look nailed?
The whole next day she kept trying to reapply used up mustaches from around the house. And the tie here? We put it on before the party and took it off when we put her to bed that night. I knew she would leave it on all day.At one point setting up, I couldn't find the bag of "jewels" (fake necklaces) for the Guard Dog/Robber game. I found them a while later. Tessa was wearing every one. She was not about to let me take them off either. She drapes as many necklaces as she can find around herself just about everyday and walks around with them. Safe? No. Major choking hazard so I have to watch her.

This next photo has nothing to do with accessories besides the fact that she loves her Auntie Krista and snuggled in when she held her. I sure do love having my Sis and Brother-in-law right up the road from me.
I want to post more from this weekend, but my computer is telling me all of it's memory is full and I can't edit or add photos. Which is why the photos in this post are not edited which is bugging me. Slight photo addiction here? I'm off to delete and move pictures to the external hard drive because it's killing me to not have the photos posted yet of my sister Katie's baby shower.

Angry Birds, a Mohawk, and a Crumbled Resolve

2011-10-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

I've been gone this a lot this last week visiting family, so the blog posts have not been forthcoming. However, here is a small quick post.

So Hunter needed a haircut. Like super super bad. So while I was cutting it, he realized we could make a sweet mohawk. I was thinking, "heck no!", when I realized how close we were to Halloween. Because I am the coolest Mom ever, I graciously allowed the mohawk until Halloween. Then because I am the craft addict that I am, my wheels started turning on what sweet costume we could do with that mohawk.

This was the beginning of my crumbled resolve to not make Halloween costumes this year. You see, last year, we found about 20 - 30 costumes at a $2 each on the after-Halloween-clearance, and between my mother-in-law and I, we bought out Walmart and filled up their costume baskets. So I said, no way am I spending money on one when they can just pick one from last year.

Then I found this. I didn't have a fighting chance. Hunter is a COMPLETE Angry Birds game addict. Instead of the hat, Hunter can spray red hair coloring in his hair and have the mohawk. I'm off to the fabric store for a lot more red felt in the next couple of days.

Source: google.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Then Ainsley asked if she could be the green fat pig (if you've played the game, you know what I'm talking about). I convinced her a princess was way more fun.

Hunter's Secret Agent Detective Party

2011-10-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

So last night we threw Hunter his first "themed" big boy party since he is turning 7 on Wednesday. We did a Secret Agent Detective Party and it was SO fun to put together. I took a ton of pictures, but I did try to narrow them down for you in this post. I just had a really hard time since the party was pretty detailed oriented. I'm just going to go ahead and post a ton and even so, these are just the highlights.

First is the invitation. I figured out how to do red reveal on photoshop and they turned out great!

I promise you could read it a lot better than this shows. It was impossible to read with out the red cellophane and pretty easy once you laid it on top.

It says:

You are Invited!

Future Secret Agents: You have been specially selected to attend an advanced class in super spy and detection techniques on

Friday, October 14th at 4:30 pm.

Where: Hunter Plumb's house.

Why: Hunter's 7th Birthday party

Upon graduating you will have mastered the skill of observation, sneaking around, pizza and cake consumption. Black clothing would be appropriate but not necessary. At 6:30 we will send you back into the field prepared to fight crime and fight badguys with a license to nil.

Please RSVP to reserve your spot in the academy.

See you then!

I put magazine strips around water bottles to look like newspaper wanted ads and headlines. Question marks were written on the cups and napkins and everything was in black.

We have a vintage flight map framed in the playroom so we moved it into the main room and made it into a crime scene map.

On the desk I had the first activity. The kids got to make their own ID badges. They picked two silly words from two boxes and put them together to make their code name. They also picked a super spy strength and put a thumbprint on the badge. We had clear labels of all the words printed ahead of time so as they picked them, we matched them to the labels and fixed them to the badges. Some of my favorites were Quacking Clown, Blue Pickle, CooCoo Moose, and Silent Walrus. The kids thought this was SO funny.

Some of the super spy strengths were Cracking codes expert, Silent sneaking, Spy weapons expert, Ninja quickness specialist, etc. We had to have 8 adult ones made up ahead of time to be the suspects in our clue game.

To the left of the table I took down more pictures and hung up a "Most Wanted" wall with vintage wanted posters printed off the internet. I hung black streamers and a footprint, magnifying glass and question mark from the light fixture (which doesn't really show here).

The cake was a magnifying glass with a fingerprint in the middle. Don't mock it. Tone said 50 points to the person who could guess what it was as I was making it. Hey, the black frosting was NOT squeezing evenly out of the tube making it really difficult! We were both cracking up while decorating this cake as it was just not turning out like I had in my brain. Oh well.

There were footsteps taped to the ground from my front door all the way to the coat rack and bench were I set up a safe that had been broken into. Tone made the safe from a cardboard box and some hardware salvaged from an old bench I had. We played a "Clue" game during the party.

We started with dinner which was pizza and fruit. I guess I could have been creative with the food but we are talking kids here, and I actually wanted them to eat it. After that, we did badges and rounded them up for games. Here are the games.

The first game was called Guard Dog and I had a bag of fake jewels that sat behind the red chair. The Guard Dog sat in the chair and got one chance to turn around and try to tag the spy sneaking up to steal the jewels before the thief could make it back to the line.

This simple game was a BIG hit.

The second game was Laser Beam. We have a really long hallway, so the kids stood at one end and Tone and I taped red crepe paper to the walls to be laser beams. The kids had to get through without touching them. We kept adding more and more and the kids had such a fun time trying to get through. The hallway was completely filled with red lines when we were done. It was pretty tough, but some of them were pretty agile.

The big event was next. Tone and I created a "Clue" game that young kids could do. We told them to go to the safe where their Spy Detective tools had been kept so they could be "real" secret agent detectives. Unfortunately, the tools had been stolen and the thief had left a note and some clues in a folder in the safe instead. The thief had rehidden the tools in a suitcase and if they could figure out where they were hidden, then they were "real" detectives and would have earned them. Here we are explaining the game and reading the note.

Inside the folder were three red reveal decoders, the typed note and their first clues.We divided them into three teams of three kids each and they had to follow clues to find the bags with their symbol on it (thumbprint, magnifying glass or question mark) in 7 rooms of the house. They also had a little notepad and pen that had the suspects (adults at the party - whose badges we had pre-made), the tools that the safe was possibly opened with (shown in a vintage suitcase), and the rooms that the tools had possibly been rehidden in. They checked them off as each room held clues that eliminated them.We read the clue on the white strip of paper to find the next room to find the next bag of clues. Then we found the bag with our symbol and inside was a red reveal paper which we read with our decoder. Each room told us three things to mark off our list (a suspect, a tool, a room) in a silly way. Then they followed the clue on the white paper, which was also in the bag, to find the next bag/room. To keep a better flow, the order was different so no team was in a room at the same time.All the kids ended back up in the living room with their last clue and there were two left of each thing (tool, suspect, room). That clue told them to find a clue on the bottom of the tool that opened the safe (which was the crowbar). On the bottom of the crowbar was a clue that "silly secrets" had the clue to where the tools were hidden behind their name badge. "Silly Secrets" was the clue to the actual suspect "Crazy Whispers" who had a folded up red reveal clue in the back of his badge. That clue gave clues to where the suitcase was hidden in the kitchen cupboard.The kids quickly found the old black suitcase and we pulled it into the living room where they were "Wow"ed with their goods.

They each got:

A Fedora: This was the big item but they were only $5 at Walmart!

Silly disguise glasses

A fake mustache

A flashlight

A magnifying glass

Handcuffs

Fake money bills

A little notepad for taking notes

Then they posed with their new detective tools. Have you ever seen anything cuter?
We ended with cake and presents of course. Hunter wanted Funfetti cake. It was tasty!

Even our littlest spy, Tessa, was dressed up with her little black tie on the whole time. She loved it. We thought we would tease her after this photo and put a mustache on her and to our surprise, she didn't want to take it off.

This is quite possibly my most favorite family picture. EVER.

It was quite possibly the best birthday party I have thrown. EVER.

Hunter asked if we could do it again next year as soon as it was over.

Ha!

The Big Fresno Fair

2011-10-14T21:52:00.000-07:00

So we decided to hit the Big Fresno Fair on Wednesday since it was free entrance with our homeschooling group.

They ought to just name the fair this sign below, since that's pretty much all there is to eat there:I refuse to eat such over priced gross food. Though it smelled amazing the whole time we were there. I just like taking pictures of all the bright food signs without actually eating anything. Note to self: Never go to the fair hungry.

Nope. With my iron will in check, we had the kids do other amazing things such as milk a fake cow and then watch the real dairy cows get milked. Whoo hoo! Isn't the fair amazing! They were mildly impressed and then started asking for food.
We were ambling along looking at all the other livestock when we walked up to the sheep pen. Mama Sheep, right next to fence, was birthing. Really truly. It crossed my mind that this was supposed to be new life and a miracle, but really all I was thinking was,

"That's really super gross."

Then she had another one. Twinseys. I just thought I would share some of this loveliness with you after she's cleaned it up a bit and he doesn't look like a yellow sticky blob and you can recognize it for a lamb. You're welcome.
Standing by the sheep pen I had a "celebrity moment". Kinda.

I met a blogger in real life. How about that? She recognized me, and we said "HI!", because we read each other's blog but have never met. Joni totally made my day. I love that kind of thing!

We did a lot of walking, watched a magician, played on an amazing play structure, saw some of the exhibit buildings...and the kids were begging for rides at this point. And food...but I still have my iron will in check.

Moving on, we decided to pay $14 and let the kids ride 7 rides each. Random number but it seemed good at the time.
Yep, 7 rides a piece ended up being perfect.On the way out, I had Tone take a picture of me with the creepy clown trashcan. Because clearly...if there is a creapy clown trashcan, one must do this kind of thing. Tone didn't even ask questions. He's used to my strange picture ideas.We forced the kids back across the whole fair, to the car and past all those amazing food signs and smells (this is the part where our kids are doubting why they were blessed with such stingy parents and being vocal about it) and we drove straight to Burger King where we bought other really unhealthy stuff but at a much better price off the dollar menu.Did I mention the really amazing ride pictures you can get there too? Even on my poor little point and shoot camera? (I was NOT dragging my good camera around the fair all day with kids).

I would go to the fair just to take pictures of the signs. Does that make me a dork too?
So the five of us got in and out of the fair (parking, tickets, rides, and attractions) for $14. I dare you to do any better.

Thankful Jars Centerpiece

2011-10-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here is an idea for a fall centerpiece that I am doing with my children. The jars and round vase are once again from the Dollar Tree and I just cut up brown slips of paper and stuck them in the vase. We stamped "Give Thanks" to tags and attached them with twine to the top and stamped leaves on cardstock and glued them to the front. We put them in a tray and the kids artfully (?) put leaves, nuts and fake gourds around them from a bag of leftover flora and fauna from random projects I've done. They loved helping decorate.Every night at dinner we tell Jesus something we are thankful for and write it down and add it to the jar.
Hunter's first thank you was, "I am thankful for my sisters." Then he told me all the reasons why. Some were because they played with him and because Tessa was so cute. He was sooo sweet describing them!

Ainsley was thankful for her Barbies. But when asked why she said, "Because Hunter plays them with me."

That was nice, but then Hunter retorted, "No I don't!" (As IF!)

So she said, "Oh. Huh well, then it's because Tessa plays them with me." (Tessa doesn't).

So Ainsley is a little confused still but in a roundabout way she's also thankful for her siblings.

Then we prayed and thanked God for the things we put in the jar and called it a wrap for the night. We have until Thanksgiving. Hopefully Ainsley will get a better handle on this.

Seeing the Moment Monday

2011-10-10T12:00:00.001-07:00

Source: photographyconcentrate.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Two years ago, my first DSLR camera was put in my hands. I was scared to death of it, but I wanted it so badly. I wanted to take pictures that captured those precious fleeting moments that were passing by unrecorded every day and I thought a decent camera would help with that. The first time I pushed the shutter button (which was pointed at Ainsley eating lunch in her high chair), I almost dropped the camera when it made the shutter noise. It was heavy, expensive, and awkward in my hands...and I was hooked. I remember looking at the picture it took and thinking, this picture is wonderful and captured an everyday moment so much better than any of my other attempts. There was my first everyday moment captured on the good camera.

I NEVER looked back.

I spent the next two months pouring over photography blogs, photography sites on the web, reading books, watching DVDs that showed me how to work my camera as I shot alongside the person on the screen. I got the dial off of automatic and learned to shoot mostly in manual and set all my own settings to capture the light and movement just right. I learned and am still learning to be artistic in my pictures. I learned to take three times as many as I think I might want and to just keep shooting because you never know what you might get. And then...

I felt comfortable with it. I could adjust without looking at any of the buttons because my eye was looking through the view finder. Then, I could concentrate on the art rather than the camera buttons, and I started to have fun trying different camera settings, different camera angles, and I started to capture those little moments that fly by so very fast when you are living life to the fullest with little ones at home. And little by little my pictures got better and better and better. At this point, I have pushed my entry level camera to it's fullest and feel that I can't get much better quality out of the camera I have. At this point, the quality of the shot isn't in the camera settings (which I know very well now), it's with the photographer and my vision and whether I can capture what I am seeing behind the camera. Daily I am being challenged as my three wild kidlets run around and practically dare me to get the shot. Yes, I pose them, but I also realize that the best pictures are sometimes just because I let them BE.

Seeing the Moment Monday is all about that. The tiny, precious, fleeting moments that make up life and what it is about. I am trying so hard to live each day to it's fullest and to make sure that enjoying them and my husband is the greatest priority of my day, and I don't want my children to grow any bigger. And every day they do just a little bit more and the camera is my tool to freeze them and the moment and make it into one of importance just because I chose to take a picture of it.

This is also why I blog. All my life I kept a journal. However, I found that a blog is so much better. I am a very visual person and it's the partnering between photographs and words that I found true "love". Photographs say more than words could ever say, and yet, I often need words to explain the "why" of the photo and to remember the circumstances that surround it. A blog is the keeper of my memories and moments that I want to cherish before, "POOF", they're gone. This blog has become an excellent exercise in "seeing".

I decided to share on Mondays a moment in the last week of a simple event that I chose to see and capture with my camera. This last Thursday, I was recovering from a week of a house full of people and I had cleaning to do. Ainsley, however, was begging for a bike ride and the kids ran out front and grabbed their bikes while I went out to get the mail. Rather than shuffle them back inside, I stayed out because I knew that letting them enjoy the outside was a bigger priority than clean floors. My camera captured some delightful moments between the three of them.

This first one is my favorite. They thought Tessa needed a kiss.

Ainsley also never goes anywhere without her "Nanny" blanket, so she stuffed it in the back of her bike. This picture speaks so much to me about her.
They decided to tell each other secrets. How cute is that?

They apparently had so much to share with each other.

Then Hunter said, "Hey Ainsley, you wanna go cruise?" And just like that they were off to the corner together.
Then they realized they forgot Tessa who just sits and waits for someone to push her around since she can't push yet. Hunter ran back and pushed her to the corner too and lined them all up together.
They sat like this for a while until they got bored and ready to cruise again.

And then up and down they went.
Hey, it's a traffic jam! They thought this was so very funny!
Oh my! They are just so delighted with each other.
You see why carrying the camera around made a normal moment into a precious one? Riding bikes are quite common around here, but using the camera, I was able to capture and record the little precious parts that make life meaningful and happy. Without the camera, I'm not sure that I would have even noticed - at least not with the same attention. The camera forced me to "see". I have found that ordinary moments are full of meaning and giving them notice and enjoying them is what truly makes life extraordinary. This is what makes me addicted to photography and blogging as well. I'm telling a story as it unfolds and it's by purposefully stopping to notice all the beautiful parts, I realize the story I am telling is really, truly one that is extraordinary and I feel blessed beyond measure.

I would love it if you would share your own moments with me. It is for this reason I blog and enjoy photography so very much. Doing a link party is a first for me, but since I have several blog readers I thought perhaps I would try it. I would love to see your own special ordinary moments. Please share. It could be a photo of a special time captured between two people, a moment to yourself, a quote, a favorite object or place in your home, or anything else that shows how an ordinary thing can be a special, happy thing. Feel free to grab my blog button to add to your post if you choose to link up. However, I have no rules to linking up. I would just be happy to see anybody joining me this week!

Krista and Thomas

2011-10-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

So this has been a BIG week around here...at least for me. My youngest sister and husband have been living in Texas since their wedding a year ago, and this week they moved back to California. And not just to California, but FIVE MINUTES FROM MY HOUSE! Okay, maybe it's ten, but I just love these two and am so over the moon that they live so close. We've hung out almost everyday since. I'm loving it!

I took their engagement pictures about a year and a half ago here in Fresno and this was one of my favorites. They are probably two of the cutest newly weds you will ever see.

Another bonus about sharing this picture is that I heart Faces is showcasing hands, not faces, this week. Since this picture is one of my favorite holding hands pictures, I decided to share it.

The Whole Shabang

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

I thought I would show you the whole living room since it's all ready for fall. The whole shabang, if you will.

I liked this fall quote and put it up on my mantle chalkboard with some old spectacles.

"Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn."

~Elizabeth Lawrence

The leaf garland was made from buying a couple bags of fabric leaves from the Dollar Store that were super lightweight and had some shimmer. I sewed them in one long string and hung them up. They are easy breazy.
We keep Tessa's board books in a line on the hearth. She pulls them out constantly.
I sewed up a khaki and ruffle pillow for the chair so the flower print doesn't take over. Tessa uses that other little rocker everyday. She loves to sit in it or use it as a stool to get up on the couch. Baskets under the coffee table coral the baby toys. However, we are about to pass those on since she has mostly outgrown them. Yay for reclaiming my living room from baby things!
So back to the flower print chair. People either love it or hate it. I love it with the cheery flowers in vintage print but most people think it's too busy. But then for those who say so, I think their house is too sterile. To each his own. I made the cover a while back and I'm constantly taking it off to wash it. The chair was given to me when Hunter was born and it's denim underneath which doesn't match at all. In fact everything in my house is mostly a hand-me-down and slipcovered in some way. I'm cool with that.
Here is the whole living room in all it's crafty, hand-me-down, slip covered glory. I say when you can't afford new, cover it and call it good!
My handy husband also helped a lot with this room. He built in the bookshelves and cupboards by the fireplace, he made me the shelf over the couch, he laid the flooring, and he made the frame for the mirror over the fireplace. He supplies the bones, and I add all the extras.

Teamwork. We do it well together.

Start Taking Pictures....

2011-10-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

Monday I am going to share with you why I have a blog and how I got started taking pictures. It all has to do with capturing the simple moments in life.

I would love it if you would take some pictures of your happy simple moments and link up with me on Monday and share them. It'll be my first "link" party. I'm not sure that anyone will actually link, but if you do I would LOVE to see them and peek into your happy simple moments!

Oh! Please say you will won't you?!
See you on Monday then!

Lacy Lampshade

2011-10-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

So I took this lampshade idea with crocheted doilies.

Source: flickr.com via Cherish on Pinterest

And then I combined it with this idea from anthropologie. Well, actually, I just tried to recreate the white flower with some smaller buds in white.

Source: anthropologie.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Then I meshed it together and came up with this lampshade. The doilies were from the Dollar Store and I just sewed up the flowers and pinned them on.

So what do you think? I am pretty much in love with it and don't plan on remaking this again. Plus, I don't think this poor shade can take another remake.

Lampshade: DONE.

Fall Decor

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

A "HARVEST" paper banner, black silhouettes, white pumpkins, crows, black baby boots, and some natural elements like nuts and twigs are about all I do to decorate for fall. I don't like decorating with orange as I don't like the color so it's not really allowed much.I ordered this handcut black paper silhouette from etsy because it had two girls and a boy under a tree in it. I thought it would be cute representing my family under the "Plumb Tree" and I was really impressed by it when it arrived. I have yet to find a permanent home for it in the house, but I hung it here for some fall decor to match the rest of the black going on on the shelves.
What? Oh yes, I DID redo the lamp shade yet again. I'll show you that tomorrow. I promise that this is for the LAST time since I am so in love with it.
This couch looks clean right? About 2 minutes after taking this picture, some little children were grabbing the throw pillows and having a pillow fight. I sent them packing. Outside kids!

Ready for Fall

2011-10-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

We are ready for Fall around here. In my entry way, the scarves and winter hats are lined up and ready.This is day 1 of a tour of little things we have done around here to get ready for fallish weather.
I hung that chalkboard sign up last year and have yet to erase the message. It's kind of my daily mantra that I have had for a long time.

"Worry doesn't empty tomorrow of it's sorrows. It empties today of it's strength."

~ Corrie Ten Boom (holocaust survivor)

The thing about a mantra is that if you have seen it around your home for months on end, you really start to live it. I find that my life is a lot less about worry and a lot more about making each day count.

So at any rate....we are ready.

Now if only the weather would cooperate. It's over 90 still this week and it's the very end of September. All fans in the house are still blowing full blast.
Oh well, I guess that means we can elongate boat season for another couple weeks and get a couple more runs in before putting it away for the winter. There is always a silver lining. Remember my mantra?

P.S. I typed this post on Friday. This week the weather temp has dropped. Hurrah!

A Series in Red - Tabitha Red Boots

2011-10-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

And last but not least in this series, I thought I would finish with this picture. Something about tiny houses in the country with wild flowers, red paint and a front porch makes me swoon.

Source: kellymccaleb.tumblr.com via lorna on Pinterest

So I created some country boots in a deep rich almost burgandy red. I know I said I was going to go "all red" on these, but something in me said it needed the lace at the top. I still think that it makes the shoe.

The material is actually a fine corduroy but I added a white lace ruffle at the top and a chiffon flower in the same hue of red to add contrasting textures.
I am going to be adding these to the shop. Unfortunately, I can't sell this particular pair as I made a small mistake in them and I'm not comfortable selling them. However, since I am adding this design into the shop, you can still order them from me.

My next posts are about how we decorated our house for fall. We've been crafty creative around here lately. My kitchen table has not been cleared off in a while from all of our crafty busy-ness. I need to get on that.

A Series in Red - Color Blocking

2011-10-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

So I follow fashion a little. I read fashion blogs and browse magazines, and I have seen over and over this year color blocking. Now I don't think color blocking really belongs on baby shoes as it's very modern and vibrant with clean lines and not much in the way of flowers or ruffles or other cutesy details like that. However, in the spirit of challenging myself, I thought I would try it. At any rate, if you've ever watched fashion week, most of the stuff you see coming down the runway you wouldn't be caught dead in on the street on a million years. The ideas sort of get filtered into more practical styles before you see it hit your favorite department store brands.

Lets just say this post is in the vein of challenging myself, and trying out a style and color scheme that doesn't necessarily translate to the masses.

I started with this picture which gave me an idea for blocking the colors on the shoes and a color scheme.

Source: ofunicornsandpixiedust.tumblr.com via Jenny on Pinterest

The crimps in the skirt prompted the crimps across the straps below. The belt here inspired the gold square buttons.

I put them on Tessa and they weren't as bad as I thought they might turn out. Did I get a picture though? No. No I didn't. She promptly fell forward into a crawl and that was the end of that as I couldn't get to her to stand up again for me. This was my best shot with the hand and all in it.

Oh well, I hesitated to blog these anyways since they were an attempt to try something very different and aren't at all what I would normally create. I think they are too much for me, but at least I tried something new. The next post (and last) is very much solidly back into my regular style.

A Series in Red - Hearts

2011-10-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

It might be a bit cliche. Okay, it's a lot cliche, but honestly, this picture made me think of some scraps of white fabric with hearts on them.

Source: etsy.com via Jenny on Pinterest

So then I made these. Super sweet and sassy.

They tie around the ankle and look just adorable with jeggings or tights.

These were made in 12 month size at 4.75 inches long. They also have white rubber bottoms instead of microsuade. I have two more posts in this series and then I am done for a while. However, the etsy shop is up, running and hopping right now. It's managing to keep me pretty busy in the last two weeks so it's time to stop designing and start filling orders.

A Series in Red - Savor Beauty

2011-10-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

It's Monday. I just wanted to remind you to go out and...

Source: etsy.com via Jenny on Pinterest

How about another pretty art print from this artist?

Source: etsy.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Aren't these art prints gorgeous? I absolutely love and them everything else in this etsy shop.

Anyhow, inspired by the bright colors, I made some very bright shoes.

They are bright, they are fun, and because they incorporate so many colors, they can match so many different outfits. I'm not so sure I am selling them. Tessa could use them. However, if you beg I might make a deal since they don't fit her yet. They are size 4 and 4.75 inches long.

Have a happy Monday!

Scouting

2011-10-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

I'm broke. Do you want to know why? This last month was start up month for both scouts and ballet. I hope Tessa never wants to do anything. Ever. Because we can't afford three. No, just kidding, we'll scrape it up from somewhere, but gee whiz! Extra curricular stuff is dang expensive! So they each can pick one and one only. Hunter picked Scouts this year and Ainsley picked ballet and tap (a combo class). By the time I paid for Hunter's uniform, book, yearly dues, and Ainsley's ballet shoes, tap shoes, leotard, enrollement fee and first month fee, I was quite a bit poorer. I hope they plan on being in these things a looooong time so I don't ever have to pay start up again, just upkeep costs throughout the year and not WHAM BAM right at once.

Hunter is thrilled to DEATH to be in Scouts and it is right up his alley for his personality. He's kind of a type A, overachiever, without much of an athletic bone in his body. So Scouts is perfect. He can earn badges and beads and belt loops while being with other boys working on projects and being in the great outdoors. Whoo hoo! Perfect.

Plus, gee whiz, he looks so grown up in his little uniform. Not to mention I remember my brother in this same uniform and Hunter looks the spitting image.

He's been wearing his hat around just for fun and everyday he bugs me about learning everything in his book for his first Bobcat badge. But honestly, if you think Hunter is into it, you ought to hear his Daddy as they do the book together and discuss it. There are two people around here who are taking this pretty seriously.

You know what I would have loved to hear from Hunter? Maybe something along the lines like, "Gee Mom, I will love you forever because you and Dad spent tons of your hard earned dollars on me even though we'll be eating Top Ramen now for a couple weeks." (Actually, what am I typing? The kid loves Top Ramen oddly enough).

Nah, I got this today:

"Mommy, why didn't you sign me up last year so I could have earned all the Tiger stuff too? How come I missed out on that whole book and now I have to start at Wolf? I really would have liked to have done it all last year too. You totally should have Mommy."

A couple of things should be noted from this:

One, the clear gratitude.

Two, he clearly is in the right place for a type A kid.

But I'm not bitter. Not bitter at all. Both kids are thrilled, loving the extra time spent just on them, so I consider that a penny (or a mountain of cash) well-spent.

And so it Begins...

2011-10-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

Ainsley started dance class in September. I love watching these little girls try and get their positions just right as they follow their teacher, Miss Veronica. Ainsley on the end is the only blond haired, blue eyed kid in the bunch and the skinniest one to boot. These girls are all just precious to watch.

Ainsley listens very attentively for the whole hour and just adores going. She is a big time participant and tries to do everything just so. They also teach tap during the hour lesson. I didn't get a picture of that though because Tessa had a major meltdown and we went outside for most of the lesson. These pictures aren't the best quality because I had to take them through a one-way window.
I absolutely love watching little ballerina's in their cute awkwardness as they learn to dance do the steps and positions. This studio teaches them the french words and positions and steps already (most don't at this age I've found), but does it with cute songs and activities. The stricter lessons are good for my "out-to-lunch" daughter who could use some structure.
Then she came home and showed me her moves from class. The positions, the twirls, the little songs. She's in love with this thing called "dance".
We also cut her hair this week into a little pixie bob again. It looks so much thicker and healthier and she likes it because it doesn't tangle. I like it because most of the day she doesn't look like a little orphan that got dragged in off the street anymore. This little girl is getting some refinement lately.

I'm gunna be honest. She could use it.

All Red Shoes

2011-10-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

Just in case you were wondering if I ever have designed an all red shoe in the past....

...that would be yes. Yes I have. Here are some examples:

The Sophia Shoe in red velvet (designed last winter and available in the shop here).

The Leilani baby boot. Ok, not technically all red, but pretty close. One of the first boot patterns I ever made. Should I bring it back?The Evangeline shoe. I designed these last Christmas and they are available here.
The Amelia shoes. The first pair of red shoes I ever designed and no longer available.
One thing I have discovered when incorporating red in shoes in past experiences, it's such a bright color, it's hard to get a design to look right when it's incorporated. That's why two weeks in a series in red is such a challenge to me. I do have one more design coming that's in all red (not just a red accent). It's an all red boot. I'm pretty much in love with them.

And the Twins Are....

2011-09-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

Katie had another ultrasound today. She found out for sure what she is having.
Here is hint number 1:

Source: crushculdesac.tumblr.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Here is hint #2. I just love this etsy shop and all of their cute prints.

Source: etsy.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Right.

So you guessed it. Pretty obvious right? Twin girls. How exciting is that? They were hoping for at least one girl as their first wish. I guess they hit the jackpot.

I guess it's fitting that I posted pictures of uber girly shoes today. It's the day for GIRLS!

Series in Red: Coral, Red and Sparkle

2011-09-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

Source: blog.mandylynne.com via Jenny on Pinterest

If yesterday was a little too masculine for you, then today's couldn't be any more uber feminine. I am a BIG fan of this artist's blog and I "oo" and "aw" at every single post. The downside when comparing is, she is a master with photography and photoshop and my photos just don't hold a candle when held side by side. But regardless, it was the colors and sparkle in the photo that inspired these shoes.

I had some pretty coral vintage cotton fabric that wasn't pink and wasn't orange but somewhere in between in a beautiful coral. I made a couple of red satin yoyos with sparkling jewel center that reminded me of the sparkle coming off the wheels of the bicycle. A little bit of eyelet lace peeking out just adds some extra sweetness like her white dress and blowing scarf in the photo.

And here you are. Sweet little uber girly shoes in size 6 months (4.25 inches long or size 2). They are available in the paypal link below on a first come basis. $35 for the pair with $2 shipping.

That's also it for the weekend and I'll pick this series back up on Monday.

Enjoy your weekend!

Coral, red and sparkle baby shoes, size 2:

Series in Red: Tweed, Spats, and Roses

2011-09-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

Source: pzrservices.typepad.com via Jenny on Pinterest

For this next post, I simply went off of a feeling I got from looking at this picture and the one below. The pictures were in hues of greys and it felt very masculine and heavy with strong lines and contrast. And then there was that fun bit of red color that would turn an ordinary drab photo into one of contrast and interest that draws you in.

Source: one-of-those-things.tumblr.com via Jenny on Pinterest

So my thoughts drew on the color, contrast, and the masculine feeling to think up these shoes. These are possibly the most loosely related to the pictures, though these pictures were the inspiration for them. They are made from a heavy, knobby grey/black tweed and I put a white masculine toe guard on the front with buttons that remind of spats to add high contrast. To add in the fun feminine element that makes the photos above really stand out, I made the toe guards have a scallop and there is a red rose on the front.
They seem very tailored and old fashioned to me - almost turn of the century. They would be darling with some vintage clothing for a photo shoot.
These are small and in a size 2 (6 months, 4.25 inches long). This pair is available below using the paypal link on a first come basis. Since they are one-of-a-kind, they are being sold for a little more than they would in my shop at $35 plus $2 shipping.

Tweed baby shoes, size 2:

Series in Red: Polka Dots Shoes

2011-09-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

Source: musingsinfemininity.tumblr.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Seriously, I don't think that any series in red is complete without black and white polka dots with red accents. You just don't get more iconic than that right? I would love a skirt like the one up above. Worn with red heels of course.

It's not just in clothing styles: How about this cute little table for two? I would be very happy sitting here. Maybe with a good book or companion and some yummy coffee.

Source: onbluepoolroad.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Anyhow, out I pulled my black and white stash of fabric which I have used only for black and white shoes. The limited color choice of only black and white has worked well since one pair happens to be a best seller in the shop: The Little Black Dress Shoes. However, this is red week, so we are going bright!

This time I made them a more elegant ankle strap bootie, and gathered up and piled on a bunch of red satin. I wanted to stay away from cutesy flowers and make this style a little more up-town as polka dots can go either way but often very quickly get too cute for me. These ended up perfect in my opinion as darling for a baby, but still elegant.

While I could actually add these to the shop as the materials are more readily available than on some of my other shoes, I'm not sure I want to because the gathered red satin is pretty time intensive. I think for now, this is the only pair I will be selling. They are size 12 months or 4.75 inches long (approximately a size 3 or 4). The paypal button below will let you purchase them if you are the first buyer.

Series in Red: Sea Foam and Red Velvet Shoes

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

Source: glamourdaze.blogspot.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Isn't this above photo just gorgeous? It's a vintage Vogue photograph and I just love it! I've wanted a red swimsuit cut in a vintage style for a while now. Anyhow, what really grabbed me was the colors. The blue is just a perfect sea foam color. Not quite a sky blue, but infused with some teal and yellow-green. I immediately thought of some perfect hand-dyed vintage fabric that was this perfect color. I love the color because it's a perfect happy blue. Not sky blue, not a bright teal, and not quite green either.

I wish you could see here, but since the fabric is hand-dyed, it has lovely shades and slight pretty color variances. This first photo seems to have gotten the shade pictured just right. And because I loved seeing the texture on the ladies hats, I decided to add in some texture by adding a swatch of red velvet across the toe. I gathered the swatch with a vintage button sewn on.
These shoes are very fun and happy while being a bit luxurious. They were made in size 6 months or size 2. I can see them worn with some jeans and pretty floral shirt.
As I said before, this little pair is available for sale. I am only making the one pair. Since they are special and one-of-a-kind with unique trimmings and fabric they will be selling for $35 (just a little more than my shop shoes which are made of supplies which are more readily available for duplication) plus $2 shipping. Click on the secure paypal link below to purchase:

Sea Foam and Red Velvet in size 6 months:

Like a Fat Kid With Cake

2011-09-26T17:44:00.000-07:00

I gave her a lollipop.

It was banana flavored.

She doesn't get much sugar so this was a special treat.

She smacked and smacked on it and would not put it down.

It was like I handed her the moon. I've never seen a kid so happy.

Or a mouth so sticky. But could I pry it out of her little hands?

No. No I could not.

It was like a fat kid with cake.

Or a skinny, sugar-deprived one year old with her first lollipop.

It was THAT good.

Series in Red: Gingham Shoes

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

Source: southern-cinderella-mc.tumblr.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Here is the first photo from "A Series in Red" which is a series of posts about shoes I am making from various inspiration on the web. They are one-of-a-kind and I am not sure that I will make any more than the one pair. I loved the above photo which spoke of summer fun, vintage appeal, gingham, and hues of denim blue and red gingham. Of course, I am a "vintage-loving, spending time on the lake dock" kind of gal anyways. Don't those ladies look like they are just having so much fun together? Lake days are my favorite.

The denim in my shoes I created is just the perfect shade of dark denim like my favorite pair of jeans worn cuffed. I had some red gingham fabric from the 70's that I made into a little flower and I added a pop of the same fabric to the insole of the shoes. My favorite part of the whole thing though is the vintage binding in white that goes across the toe. This was scored from a vintage stash that also held the red gingham. Isn't it precious?

I put them on Tessa briefly for a quick picture so that you can see how cute they really are. They are made in 6 month size (4.25 inches long), but Tessa has really small feet and still wears size 2.

As I said before, this little pair is available for sale. I am only making the one. Since they are special and one-of-a-kind with unique trimmings and fabric they will be selling for $35 (just a little more than my shop shoes which are made of supplies which are more readily available for duplication) plus $2 shipping. Click on the secure paypal link below to purchase:

Gingham baby shoes, Size 2

A Series in Red

2011-09-25T17:18:00.000-07:00

Source: friendsoftype.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Every now and then I get stuck creatively. I've been stuck for a while and I wanted to challenge myself so I am doing a series this week (or two) called "A Series in Red".

I picked a color: Red. Then I pinned to pinterest some interesting photos in red that for some reason or another grabbed my attention. The photo might have been all red or with a tiny pop of red, but somehow red had to be included. Then I designed a shoe around that inspiration. This is how I create shoes anyways, I see something that inspires an idea, but this was a more concentrated challenge. I think only one pair designed so far is ALL red. Most just have a pop of red.

I have so far created seven with about four more in my head that I just have to sew up and bring to fruition. Many of the shoes are made from vintage or one-of-a-kind materials, so I am not going to necessarily add these styles to my shop as I may not be able to duplicate them. Some are really cutesy baby shoes, and some are more abstract and conceptual. I did this as an art form and not as a money maker. I hope to list one pair a day until I am out of ideas or over the color of red (whichever comes first. Ha!). However, I will offer the one pair I made here on my blog at the end of each post with a paypal link. There will be one pair in one size up for grabs if anyone wants them. The size will either be 6 months or 12 months as these are my most popular sizes.

I'm working on my first "A Series in Red" post and it'll be up tomorrow at noon.

See you then!

T is for Tea time

2011-09-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

Ainsley is learning the letter "T" this last week (we aren't doing the alphabet in order) and I thought we would have a little tea party with real tea, cream, and terrific triangle toast (toast with jam or brown sugar and cinnamon cut into triangles). Hey now, the tea was cold and decaf and the cream was coffee creamer to sweeten it so it was kid friendly. They snarfed it all down.Hunter decided his green shirt wasn't fancy enough and went and put on his costume uniform shirt which looks like Daddy's. Ainsley started off with purple wings and purple sparkled skirt, but at some point she chucked the wings out of annoyance. Also, a tea party is hard with a one year old toast-swiper.I think it's funny how into this Hunter got as well. I think he mostly just wanted the good food and knew where it was at. However, he was NOT sticking his little pinky up when he drank like Ainsley.

A little one year old then swiped my chair. Oh well, my knees were on each side of the table anyways so I didn't really fit.
What's so funny, Tessa?
Oh, Hunter's teasing her as usual.

I thought we might work on manners. What was I smoking thinking that some manners were going to magically rub off just because it was a tea party? Ainsley licked the plate. All over. Several times...making sure she got all the sugar up. So ladylike.It's Okay though, because I may, or may not have, licked my fingers to get yummy jam off before I thought about it. I guess I know where they get some of their manners.

Tessa of course, had to stick her hand in the creamer to check it out.

Growing up and to this day, my mom always had us set the table the right way before every meal with utensils in the right spot and folded napkins. Me? I kinda slap the stuff we need down and hope I get it all on before the kids see me and start trying to sneak food. I try to get them to help set the table, but it's super chaotic right when I'm getting food on, so right now, that's not always happening. I'm letting you know just in the spirit of being real.

And in the spirit of being real about dinner time, you know how they say that families that eat together have good quality time and bonding? I don't think they mean families with all young children. We eat together, but it's not our best quality time. It's training time.

"Eat your food."

"Lean over your plate."

"You're dripping."

"Don't use your shirt, use your napkin."

"Sit up closer to the table."

"Don't tease your sister when we are eating."

"Yes, you have to eat ALL of that."

"Smaller bites, please."

I try valiantly to make conversation that the kids can enjoy, but really and honestly...it's mostly training. I'd love to know at what stage it stops being training and starts becoming quality.

Shoot, maybe we DO need more tea parties.

New Girl, New Blankie

2011-09-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

My apologies for another post with kids in the same outfits, but I took a series of photos on Wednesday morning that lent itself to several different posts. I was actually taking pictures of a fun activity we did, and I'll share that tomorrow. While I was setting it up though, Tessa was following me around, tottering on her newly found legs and pulling her blankie behind her. I couldn't resist some pictures. I thought I would share some of her with her blanket which now needs to go everywhere with her. My other two became attached to their blankets (Ainsley still very much is, and Hunter still often has his at night), and wondered if Tessa would .

That would be a yes.

Here she is with it in October of last year rolling around. Boy, was she a chunky baby, and she has slimmed down and gotten so tall and skinny (that would be a family pattern).

The funny girl can barely walk yet and she insists on carrying her blanket everywhere which gets caught all up in her legs. Usually, she's carrying it as high as she can under her chin with both hands while she tries to get across the room without tripping on it or her own feet. Something that is still hard for her to do WITHOUT the blanket. Silly girl!
She likes to just put her head on it and rest whenever she gets tired.
Tessa is a climber which is makes the blanket even funnier. She pulls it up behind her everywhere she goes. There is a little rocker which sits in the living room, and she pushes it around and uses it as a stool to get up on furniture. Somehow, she manages to get her blankie up there as well every time.
Ainsley still NEVER forgets her blankie ("Nanny" as she has always affectionately called it for some unknown reason) and has even snuck it into her Sunday School Class when I wasn't paying attention. It also travels with her everywhere around the house. Here we go with girl and blanket number 2. And if I forget to put Tessa's in the car with her, she tries to steal Ainsley's.

You can probably imagine how that goes over.

For the sake of my sanity, I try to remember.

Almost Big Enough

2011-09-22T12:36:00.000-07:00

The kids were doing Ainsley's favorite letter computer activity on starfall.com and Tessa also wanted in on the action. Like really bad.
Ainsley can't maneuver the mouse very well yet, so she points and tells Hunter what to do and Hunter does it for her. Starfall.com is amazing and I credit both of my children learning their letters through this online program of activities. It's really cute too with catchy little songs.
Finally, I pushed a chair up so Tessa could see too. She still wasn't tall enough.
But she kept inching closer and closer.
She can almost grab the mouse now and the keyboard.
I didn't get a picture of the last shot of her standing up on the chair and grabbing for the computer because I was rescuing both her and the computer while Hunter was yelling at her.

It was awfully cute while it lasted.

After that she sat in my lap to watch.

Better viewing for her...and safer.

Camping at Hume Lake

2011-09-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post pictures of our camping trip a couple weeks ago. We had a blast with our same group of friends that went last time at the beginning of the summer. We chose Hume lake which is also a church camp and resort type of place with camps for all ages around the lake. We stayed in the state campground an easy ten minute bike ride to the main camp (two minutes of you aren't trying to bike with kids with training wheels). I grew up going to church camp there.

We walked down to the elementary camp because I remembered at one point they had a playground. Not true. It is no longer there, but they did have a cool tire swing and a fort with a raft you can push across to it.The little girls were content with a pine cone and their own stump.We didn't know it when booking our trip, but it was search and rescue demo weekend at the lake with fire fighters, rescue helicopters doing demo lifts of people out of the lake, guard dogs, and other such fun demonstrations for two days. The boys (small and big) were absolutely thrilled.
We watched this helicopter life lift a dummy off the ground and on board. Cool!Ainsley thought it was mildly interesting but was more interested in picking wild flowers and pretending to marry Marty, one of the little boys with us. I'm not too sure that Marty was all that interested though.Tessa's main attraction was the sand toys in the dirt. It kept her messy and happy most of the time.Hunter has not been sick since the last time we went camping and on day two, he was throw up sick again. He slept it off in the afternoon and was better then next day. The best line of the week was when he finally emerged from the tent and told me,

"Mommy! I just CAN'T be allergic to camping!!!"

Oh poor kid!
The other highlight of the weekend was when I went to tuck Hunter tighter in his covers late at night. He was sound asleep and as I pulled them up around his chin, my hand closed on something smooth and damp that was about the length of my hand. I thought it was some plastic toy. I picked it up and it wriggled. I screamed, dropped it, grabbed a light and saw a salamander crawling across the sleeping bag. I caught it again and put it in a dishtub for the boys to find in the morning and enjoy. They all thoroughly did.

Note to self: Always zip the tent fly during the day. You never know what might meander in and share you bed with you at night. I was rather creeped out crawling into my bed imagining all the possibilities after that.

You know what I heard about 10 billion times the next morning?

"Mommy, don't you think a salamander would be a great pet?"

"I wish I could have a salamander."

"Don't you think the salamander is cool as a pet?"

"How do you take care of a pet salamander?"

"Mommy, I wish I could have a salamander as a pet."

Needless to say, about midmorning I made the boys let him go in the bushes after explaining why wild animals don't make good pets.

All Hunter's wheedling refused to move this Mommy's heart of stone.

And I don't even feel the slightest bit sorry.

Touch of Sun

2011-09-20T09:55:00.001-07:00

Over at I Heart Faces, the week's theme is "A Touch of Sun". The sun was right behind the tree in the picture of my sister and her husband lending the picture a magical forest feeling. They are so delighted to be having these twins. I told you in an earlier post that they would be finding out soon what these two are. Well, they didn't cooperate on the ultrasound, but it looks like it's most likely a boy and girl. Yay for one of each!

This post is linked up to I Heart Faces photo challenge:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-09-15T11:53:00.000-07:00

These little cookies are super addicting. And tasty. And perfect with coffee. Coffee with some pumpkin spice creamer added to it (or is that a bit overboard?).

It's still 90 degrees outside and I'm posting a recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Can you tell I'm in a mood? Is it too early?

Nah!

I got this recipe from a friend, who got it from some healthy food source.

Wait! Don't stop reading! I don't make healthy food when baking as a general rule, and I eat these because they don't taste healthy at ALL!

Is that so wrong? Don't judge.

And talk about easy. Three little measly ingredients. Four if you count the little bit of water you add.

Mix one can of small pumpkin pie mix with one box of spice or carrot cake mix. In my picture I show a large can because the store was out of small. Ignore that. Add some chocolate chips to taste. Add about a 1/2 cup of water or so, so that it is the consistency of cookie dough.Spoon onto a pan. Cook ten minutes at 375. You will have to add 2 to 4 more minutes than you would when making a normal cookie because it takes the centers longer to cook on these things.Poor yourself some coffee and gorge. Hey, they are supposed to be somewhat healthier than a regular cookie though I can't tell by the amazing taste. I just say that's a reason to eat a couple more at a time, right?

RIGHT.

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-14T22:47:00.001-07:00

Not only did I take my sister's maternity pictures, but I had a blast Labor Day weekend visiting my parents in Monterey. My parents and kids got in on the purple dinosaur action too.We had a beach day at my favorite beach in Monterey. Tone and I got engaged at this beach, and I've swum here since I was six years old. So you could say it's special. Auntie Katie took Tessa for a spin on her shaky legs (but as of today, she can walk the length of the living room by herself!).
We all helped build a sand pile that Tessa tried to pull down as fast as we all could pile it up.
Hunter and Brad were really the only ones brave enough to spend anytime in the icy cold water. The water on my side of the USA is super cold all year long. Bummer.
I still put my feet in. Tessa really wanted in, but she was thinking it was like nice warm lake water. Wrong!The beach was so crowded on Saturday and it had a very festive atmosphere. There wasn't much beach as the tide was all the way up so the kayaks, party tents and beach goers were all smooshed together. There was even a wedding going on up on the grassy point.Ainsley spent forever launching herself off of this wall into the arms of Uncle Brad - whom she just happens to worship. The top of it which is as tall as Brad's head. No fear.

Then we walked up the steps to the snack shop. Ainsley got a gumball. She was thrilled. She was hoping for pink and got red which I told her was just dark pink. Good enough for her. She stuffed it and had chipmunk cheeks. She doesn't have pants on because she was playing in the water.

We also got ice cream and onion rings at the snack shop on the beach. Tessa LOVES ice cream and yells for it!

We met up with my stepbrother and his wife at our favorite pizza place in Monterey - Gianni's! It's soooo good! They came for a couple days too over the weekend. It was a full house!

On Monday we went to Happy Hollow Park which is a preschool park with rides and a zoo. All of the kids just loved it! The carousel and mini roller coaster was a big hit along with the little monkeys in the zoo.

I don't know but the beach, snack shops, gumball machines, gourmet pizza, carousels...don't they just scream summer to you? It certainly was a fun last blast of summer for the year.

So I was gone from Thursday to Tuesday. Then I was home for two days and then we turned around and went camping on Friday over the weekend. I'm mostly unpacked but now I have three weeks of laundry washed and dumped on my bedroom floor to now fold and put away. I need a vacation from vacation! I'll post the camping trip soon.

Katie's Maternity Pictures

2011-09-06T23:34:00.001-07:00

I took Brad and Katie's maternity shots this weekend. I thought I would share just a few of my faves. She is 23 weeks and hopefully finding out on Monday's ultrasound what these two are.

When we got to the park the first thing we saw were these huge purple dinosaurs. Guess what we made a straight beeline for? Because clearly...if there is a purple dinosaur....

One must definitely ride it. For the twin's sake.After getting off the dinosaur, we decided to take at least one normal shot before we got sidetracked again. It's my sister and I so that was probably a good call. We make silly dumb photos look GOOD....and therefore mostly forget to be normal.

Two onesies for two little babies.

Brad is making it look like she is having four. But it's actually not a litter and just two.
We had to get the heart hands shot that is like the "token" shot that every single photographer who has ever done maternity pictures has done. You know it's not a photo shoot without at least one cliche shot. Here ya go.

We saw this tree and I said, "Yes, yes we must take pictures THERE." Good call. It was the fattest, most amazing tree ever with the sun right behind it. I took several shots with this setup but here is my very fave.Then I got closer to the trunk and took more close ups.

We ended the shoot with lots of silly shots around the tree trunk. Here is just a sampling for ya. I think they will be fun parental units for sure.

There were a ton more goodies from our shoot, but you get the idea. She's adorable and they make a cute couple.

P.S. Yes, she's only 23 weeks. I know. This is why we didn't wait until the end to take the maternity shots. We were going for cute.

32 is a great year...so far

2011-09-05T23:58:00.000-07:00

So I turned 32 on Friday.
I am feeling like I am old enough to be 32 and that makes me just feel old.
However, this year my birthday has shaped up to be one of the best ever. I figure the year should be a pretty good one then too, right?

Monday night my girl friends took me out for dinner at Cheesecake factory and then a little fun shopping at Forever 21. Actually, we left when the store closed at 10pm. We probably saw every piece of clothing and jewelry that was displayed in the whole huge 3 story store. I guess we don't get out much. We all have young kids. We have an excuse.

Tuesday morning was Tone's last day at home before leaving for work for a few days so he and the kids got up and made me breakfast in bed. This picture below is what they brought me in the morning. Can you see all the kid legs surrounding me? They were certainly making sure I had my breakfast and felt loved.

I certainly did. See the mimosa and coffee with whipped cream? My morning was off to an excellent start. Yes, I am wearing a green t-shirt and heart pants to sleep in. I feel that matching pj's at night are optional. In defense, that t-shirt is super soft.

Then Tone paid for an afternoon spa day downtown while he watched the kids. My face (a facial), pretty toes (pedicure), and muscles (hour massage) thank you, babe. It was amazing!

Then it was a night out at Chevy's. Chosen because kids eat free on Tuesdays. We were put in the back with all the other families with young kids. That was probably a good plan because dinner out with children isn't exactly a "date" and they eat so little it's best to eat on a free night. Yay for birthdays!

The birthday continued because I have been visiting my family over the holiday weekend, and have so much more to share with you about all of our fun.
Including my sister's maternity pictures I took! I've just been gone for five days though so I'll post more when I get them edited.

A Moment for Pigtails

2011-09-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

Today was a proud moment for me.

Today was the first day Tessa wore her hair in pigtails for more than 5 minutes. She wore them like this all through church.
*sniff* That's my girl!

Tessa has much coarser hair than Ainsley. It's thicker and coarse like Hunter's and mine. Ainsley has thin fly-away hair that she wants so desperately to get long like Rapunzel's or at least like mine she says. Here is Ainsley's hair on her second birthday where she had about the same amount that Tessa has now. We called her "Cindy Lou Who" from the book, "The Grinch".

I would say Tessa has her solidly beat in the hair department. For the record, Tessa is 14 months.

I think Tessa will be doing a lot better than that by her second birthday.

Sorry Ainsley. And get used to the competition...on everything. It's kinda a sibling right of passage.

Her Boogie Woogie Shoes

2011-08-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

Tessa has been trying to take her first tentative steps the last couple of days. She goes three of four, maybe five steps and then drops to the ground. We had some places to go today where she was going to be outside a bit, so she needed shoes. These are my personal favorites even though I know soft soles are best for learning walkers. However this is the only pair she has that she can't really yank off and I was in no mood to search for shoes today.Besides, how can one resist bright red tennis shoes which are teeny tiny? I can't. She has very small feet just like the rest of the family so they are especially small and cute for a one year old. I adore these on her. That and the fact she also has a bright red cheerleading looking type of dress that she wore with it today.

Go Te-ssa. Go Te-ssa.

She was quite wild today and attempting to walk more than ever before. I blame it on the red shoes.
I was trying to fold laundry and put it in the basket to put away. Tessa thought the basket looked like a great climbing toy.
In and out. In and out, she went. And yes, those would be fresh clean clothes folded in there.
They are not that neatly folded anymore. Thanks so much Tessa. Luckily it's the kid's clothes so guess what? They are not getting rewashed but are going in their drawers anyways. I'm beyond caring.

I really don't think she much cares anyways.

*Sigh*. Chores with children takes a 1,000 times longer, but they are such a fun distraction.

"A" week

2011-08-29T21:10:00.000-07:00

Last week was the first week of school for Hunter and Ainsley. Hunter is in second grade this year and Ainsley is doing pre-K with me. I'm not a big fan of preschool though everyone I know seems to be. That's OK, but it's just not for me and I'd rather do it at home. It seems to take us about 2 and half hours each day to do all the subjects and that includes electives like Bible, History, Science, Art, Spanish and Music though we only do one of those each day (with the exception of Bible which we open with every day). It's amazing how much faster you fly through the subjects with only one student even though he's doing harder work than he would be doing at school.

Hunter has an extra grammar book and reader this year and his comment after the first day of school was, "Mommy, are we going to have to do that much work every day???" That would be a yes. And I'm not feeling sorry for him since he gets done by noon. Sheesh.

Ainsley is doing a letter a week with some simple activities and also shapes, colors, patterns, numbers, sorting, etc. This week she learned "A is for a, a, a, a, ALLIGATOR!" It's only effective if you scream the alligator really loud and make his big teeth chomp while you do it. Apparently at least so if you are four years old. She gets big yellow pocket charts on the wall for her letter of the week.

Friday is art day, so we did apple printing in honor of her "A" week and the first week back to school.
They really loved being messy in the red paint. Of course.
Hunter made sure that his were all evenly inked with no blank spots showing. That's my typical type "A" boy.
When the apples dried, they drew on them and made them into apple characters. Hunter's apples all ended up being monsters and pirates.
Ainsley said all of her's were princesses and fairies when she was done. And then she drew on the ones I did on my page and made them "better" as you can see up above. Thanks for that vote of confidence, Ainsley.
What? Oh yeah, I did a page too as the "example". Or maybe just because I like art too. And why not? My kids really look forward to Friday as "art" day and it's the highlight of their school week.

Lets be honest.

Mine too.

Friday is also "pizza and movie night". Tone is always working on Friday nights so as a treat, we get Little Caesar's Pizza for $5 and watch a new kids movie on Netflix. It's a fun end to the week and they look forward to it. It has become tradition and solves one dinner when he is gone.

Friday is shaping up to be a great day in the week.

Unlocking Forgiveness

2011-08-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

Today I am writing a more heavy post which is a break from my usual lighthearted posts on my life of crazy with three kids or DIY crafty posts. However this has been a week where serious thoughts have weighed on the soul and I would like to share what I have learned.

But...

Not just this week.

This is a journey of learning that God has been taking through for several years now and is in many ways my "journey of the wilderness". It's a journey on forgiveness. I won't say what it was that I am forgiving, but just know that it was a wrong that left a very deep painful scar across my heart that could drown me in anger and bitterness but for God's grace.

But then this lesson carries over into all other areas. It carries over into my parenting. Forgiveness pays a big part in how I discipline my children and how they respond to me. It carries over into my marriage and plays a part in how I love my husband and how he loves me. It carries over into my friendships and any other significant relationship of my life.

Because if you've lived life for very long, you've had to forgive and in turn ask for forgiveness. Let me share with you what I have learned in my wilderness wanderings while God has gently led me into what it means to forgive. I will share what I have learned in two easy ways.

What forgiveness IS.

And what it ISN'T.

Forgiveness IS:
1. Releasing the need to feel bitterness and resentment.

One wise college professor once told me, "Bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die." Yikes!

2. Releasing the right I feel I might have to exact justice and get revenge and leave that for the Lord. Vengeance on my behalf is His and His alone. Romans 12:19.

3. Extending love and grace from God in all my dealings with the other person. Grace is getting what we don't deserve. And but for the grace of God, we ALL deserve punishment, yet He extends love and forgiveness which we don't deserve. With Christ in me, I can do the same, since I too have been forgiven much. (Romans 12:20-21) It is refusing to return evil for evil or insult for insult.

4. Wishing the other person WELL. I pray that the other person is also fully redeemed and made new in God's love and grace. To wish them a life filled with the joy, love, and blessings of the Lord. This is God's desire for all people and should be our desire as well. It is treating them as a precious person that God created and loves.

5. Continuous. Not allowing anger to fester and a continual act of submitting the wrong done to me to the Lord and choosing to love instead. Sometimes we are wronged so deeply, that it's something we like to harbor inside and have a difficult time giving up. So it's a continuous process we take to the Lord.

6. Submitting my wounded pride and setting aside my self and letting God's picture of love, redemption and salvation for all mankind fill my heart instead. It means realizing I am a sinner too.

7. Limitless and should be extended each and every time a wrong is committed. Matt. 18:21-22

This is what Forgiveness is NOT:

1. Saying that the wrong done to me is Okay or excusing it away. It is not justifying why they did the wrong that they did. If you can justify it or excuse it, then there is nothing to forgive in the first place since no wrong has been done. People always have a "reason" for doing what they did, but that doesn't make it right or excuse the fact that it was done from a personal choice on their end to do the wrong thing (no matter what the outside reason). In forgiving we are acknowledging that a wrong has been done to me and choosing to forgive anyways. It is not letting someone off the "hook" for being responsible for their wrong doings.

2. Saying that you must trust the person or allow yourself to be put in a position where you can be hurt by them again. Trusting again may not be possible in some situations. Trust is gained through mutual love and respect and forgiveness does not guarantee that. Sometimes it has to be gained back again or it may be permanently broken.

3. Dependent on whether the other person asks for it or shows remorse or repentance. They may never, but forgiveness should be offered anyways. Romans 5:8 says, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." He offered forgiveness before we asked and so should we towards others. However....

4. Forgiveness is not RECONCILIATION. There is a big difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. Reconciliation takes two parts. Forgiveness extended from the one who was wronged; and repentance, remorse and a heart change on from the one who wronged. We can only offer our part which is forgiveness. In a similar way, Christ offers forgiveness to all, but only those who repent are reconciled to Him in a relationship.

5. Forgiveness is not denying the other person the opportunity to make it right. If they are genuinely showing remorse and asking for forgiveness, then reconciliation should be offered and second chances. Though this can be so very difficult, you can not turn your back and walk away if there is true repentence. Which is not, "I'm sorry this happened to you", but rather, "I am so sorry I did this to you and would like to make it right."

6. Forgiveness is not excusing the person from the consequences of their sin. Consequences are a natural part of sin and part of God's design to reach our heart and soften it. If you don't believe me, try reading, oh I don't know, THE WHOLE OLD TESTAMENT. The whole book is about consequences for Israel's sins against God. However, I will say this: There is a big difference between allowing natural consequences to take place and taking revenge for ourselves. So tread this water carefully. Or think about this: If your child disobeys you and you forgive him, does he then get out of whatever discipline you've thought up for him because of his disobedience? Of course not, that would be dumb parenting. Most often a natural consequence is loss of trust and responsibilities or privileges. Forgiveness doesn't negate this.

7. Forgiveness is not a denial of emotions. There is still room for grief, sadness, feelings of loss and betrayal and anger. But it is taking these emotions to the Lord and telling Him all about them rather than letting them turn into bitterness and revenge. Just read the book of Psalms if you don't believe me. The whole book is a study on this example. David was more emotional than a Jr. High school girl, and yet God was pleased with him because he submitted to God in the midst of those emotions.

To be honest, learning what forgiveness is NOT was just as useful to me in my personal growth as it was to learn what forgiveness IS. And just because I know this doesn't mean that I can easily DO it. I have found that I walk in circles sometimes thinking I have finally forgiven only to be caught off guard in moments of bitterness. Some times I'll go whole months without a thought about it, and then I get caught up somehow and feel I have to start all over again. Yet, I have found that though I think I am wandering aimlessly through the bewildering wilderness sometimes, God is slowly unwrapping my heart and exposing more and more tender layers deep within and exposing them in His gentle way with me. He is so gentle and kind when He walks and talks with me and I cannot wait to meet Him. Yet there is nothing else that has ever had to power to probe so deep within and change me.

"My heart has heard You say, 'Come and talk with me.' and my heart responds, 'LORD, I am coming.'" Psalm 27:8

Art and Books for Birthday Gifts

2011-08-26T21:32:00.000-07:00

I think this is the season for more than back-to-school buying. We seem to be in the middle of an influx of birthday parties as well. As the invites keep coming in, I had a moment of panic. AAAK! I love each one of the kids to whose party we are attending. So how do I stay in budget and bring a gift that looks like some thought was put into it without breaking the bank? Also, most kids I know have such varied interests and too many toys anyways. What to DOOOO????

Enter idea number one for an elementary school aged child.

The art station with art supplies.
Since it's back to school time, the art and school supplies are pretty cheap and on sale. My kids LOVE to color and create and for the most part, so do most kids. So I bought crayons, markers, colored pencils, scissors, glue, watercolors, and fun lead pencils from the big school bins at Wally world. Then I found at Target the little buckets for a dollar and the plate for $.50. Yep. That was 50 cents. I hot glued the buckets down to the plate and then filled them with the goodies. Ta da! An art station. It's fun and thoughtful, but it doesn't break the bank. Wrap it up in some cellaphane and you are good to go. The big test was whether it passed muster with my kids. Since they both wanted it, I think it's a pretty good gift.

When it comes to buying gifts for anyone under 3, I usually panic even more and don't have a clue what to do. I mean what do little ones really like that they probably don't have already? So I thought about Tessa and her very very favorite thing. Books! So I bought Tessa's very favorite books for the little girl turning one tomorrow. We've read these two more than any others.

Over and over and over.

As you can see, Tessa thought these were hers when I brought them out to wrap them.
I wrapped them up in cute printed butterfly brown paper and tied it off with twine. I cut out a tag and attached an easy hair clip I made to it to give it some flourish. Rolled roses make darling hair clips so it's more than just a gift decoration.At any rate, I feel good that I am giving a gift that is more than just a junk toy that will end up in the corner in a couple days and bring more clutter into a home. I feel good that I am giving a gift that encourages the mind and creativity. I may just stick with this kind of gift in the future. I don't think art or books ever get old.

At least I hope not.

Linked up Here:

A bowl full of lemons

Home Stories A to Z

Life Made Lovely

Family Photo Wall Pennant

2011-08-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

I have a family photo wall on the biggest wall of my living room. Tone made me that shelf when we lived in a little town house with no fireplace mantle and I needed a shelf to satiate my need to decorate a mantle. Now it's a shelf on which to put my favorite photos of my kids. This week I decided the shelf area was looking stale.

So I moved the canvas photo of my three kids in front of the widow frame mirror so it's smack dab in the middle and decided it needed a fun little pennant that said "family".

Sidenote: By the way, I get the BEST deals on photo canvases at www.canvaspeople.com. I buy from them all the time with the coupons they regularly send me. Just go to the website and sign up.

Ainsley and Tessa wanted in on the craft action of course.

Because with the weather outside still being solidly in the 100's, it's still feeling like summer to me and a pennant screams my summery mood.

Ainsley helped me arrange the colors.

Then I cut the word, "family" on my die cut machine in a typewriter font.

I sewed the triangles to a piece of ribbon on my sewing machine.

So I kinda artistically draped it over the window frame mirror like so.

And then taped it really professionally with scotch tape.

Because I do things the professional way when I comes to my home....whatever.

And I'm loving that that frame is crooked (so my kids may or may not sometimes jump on the couch and knock the frames...even though it's strictly forbidden)

We have airplane knickknacks everywhere tucked around in our home.

It kinda just happens when you marry a pilot.

So it's not something you would ever see in a model home, but in my home it totally fits. I'll probably get tired of it before fall is even out and I'll switch this shelf all around again with some other crafty whatnot.

And this, my friends, is why my home will never look like a model home....oh that, and I have three small children.

And using Random.org to come up with a winner for the giveaway, it told me comment #11 should be my winner. So.......

That would be Lisa Plumb! Hooray!

But I'm planning another giveaway for next month so if you missed out, there will be another one soon!

A lamp shade redo

2011-08-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

I just redid my living room lamp...again. I believe I posted about it in August of 2009. Welp, I am fickle and have changed the colors of my living room up in the last couple of years and the red no longer matches but just bugs me as the glaring red thing in the corner.I stared at it one too many times and so yesterday, I made a snap decision, walked across the room and just started ripping the old stuff off. Hunter was pretty disturbed that I was just ripping something up on a whim. He should know by now what an impulsive mom he has when I get in a certain mood. I didn't have an exact plan, I just knew that I couldn't stand it a second longer. I then was forced to make a creative decision and pulled out some khaki fabric and went to work. I just laid the lamp down and traced around the side and cut out four.
I am on this bird decorating kick lately, so the thing had to have birds on it. So I free hand drew a little bird template.

I am using Heat and Bond fusing and then cutting out bird shapes with leaves and twigs. The nice thing about this is...no sewing. It only takes scissors and a hot iron. And if I get tired of it later (because I will), it just peels off and I can put on something different.

Then I have a confession to make. I didn't have fabric glue. So I'm doing what I have done many times before when gluing thick darker fabric...resort to wood glue. It actually holds and works great. And because I am an overachiever, I slabbed it on with some sort of putty knife.Yeah, you were afraid it wasn't going to lay flat, right? Actually, wood glue works great for smoothing out bubbles. I used hot glue for the twine and lace which hide the seams.So now I don't have the big red THING in the corner. This is much softer and more "me" (at least for now).

So here it is all done. It's a much better match and it makes me happy so that's all that truly matters in a home, right?

Now tomorrow I might just have the itch to rip something else up. We'll see. One never knows around here....

Linked up today to:

Bowl Full of Lemons

Life Made Lovely

Hero Worship

2011-08-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

I have two sisters and so when I ended up with two girls, I had grand visions of the girls sharing a room and playing girly dress-up together and sharing girly secrets and shopping and gossiping and crafting and...and...and.

Nope.

And while I'm sure that this day will come, the reality is that right now, they are way too young. Tessa would much rather pal around with her brother, while Ainsley could care less if Tessa is around. Ainsley flits around in her own world and when she tries to engage Tessa, it ends up more in a fiasco of tears because Ainsley has no idea how to entertain a baby. Ainsley has great intentions...they just don't usually pan out well.

Hunter, on the other hand, is the best babysitter ever! He is the reason I get showers and I don't stink most of the time (all of my friends should be thanking him now too). True statement. He is marvelous with her and he dutifully entertains her all day long for me. In the morning, he waits for her to get up and begs to take her into the living room so he can play with her. He is just absolutely delighted by the fact that she is in his day.

He's always hoisting her around under her arms and taking her around the house or moving her to safer locations. He's my extra set of eyes and lets me know what she is up to (or into usually). We all find Tessa delightfully funny with her antics, but Hunter especially giggles at all the right times. He knows just how to pull those deep belly laughs out of her too. He seems to know the right amount of roughness that she can take and how much is too much. Yesterday saw Hunter pushing her up and down the sidewalk in her little car as fast as she could take it.In return, Tessa follows him around the house, destroys his elaborate toy designs and projects and creates quite a nuisance for herself. Hunter doesn't complain too much unless he is the middle of a big floor project with blocks, tracks or legos. However, Tessa has given him her first smiles, laughs and steps. It's true hero worship on her end.

The only time Hunter zones out is when he is playing a computer game (which we limit because he is super duper addicted). Even then, Tessa just couldn't leave Hunter alone and HAD to know what he was doing up there. She must be in the "know" when it comes to Hunter at all times. At one point she had both feet up on the chair bottom craning as high as she could to see. This is how she acts around her brother. It's quite possibly the cutest thing ever.

I am quite proud of how much Hunter adores both sisters (and visa versa) and is entertained by them for hours. Yesterday and today we purposefully didn't go anywhere and the kids played and played and played together all day long. It's important to me to cultivate that family closeness and to enforce the fact that siblings are forever friends and we work hard on that around here.

I'm just super glad it's actually working.

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