Christmas Crafts

If you don't know me well, then you don't know about love for crafting. I've passed on the love to my daughter. She isn't quite as much in love with crafting as I am, but she is very creative.

Here is one of our crafts this year for Christmas. We colored our jumbo Popsicle sticks green, though you can buy pre-colored ones, then glued them together to make a triangle. Then used good old Elmer's glue to stick on all our lovely ornaments...pony beads. Katie made three, one is on our tree and two will be gifts. Notice the pattern she created? Like her non-traditional square at the top of the tree? Like I said, my girl is creative!

Here is another craft, more pony beads! This time with a pipe cleaner, which I cut in half so it would be a mini wreath. We also made some full pipe cleaner wreathes. Katie loved this craft. "It's like making jewelry momma."

 Here is a craft idea I took off Pinterest.  The whole time Katie and I were making our darling bird feeders I wasn't sure if they would come out ok.  I was terrified we would have a major Pinterest fail.  Fortunately, even though I did not fully follow the instructions, they still came out great!  They made fun gifts and the birds seemed to like them (ours are already gone).  Here's the link to our "recipe" for the bird feeders.  I did quadruple the recipe, so we made A LOT of bird feeders.

Winter Bucket List

The Fall Bucket List was such a big hit in our house, so here we are again: a new season and a new bucket list. My girl was super excited to come up with another list of fun things she truly wants to do during the winter months. Some need to be done before December is out. We don't have a problem with that. In fact, we've done a lot of these already! Perhaps we will have to do some of them again. Enjoy our bucket list!

What are things you like to do during the winter months?

Fall Bucket List

Yes, I know this post is a tad late....

Remember when these were all the rage on Pinterest and Facebook?

When we vacationed in Cape Cod this summer, Katie had 3 items she was dying to see. A lighthouse, seals, and A windmill. Well, once we saw all three of these, she thought our vacation was the complete (but she wasn't ready to go home yet, we would have lots more swimming at the pool to do first).

So for fall I decided we should come up with a bucket list, just like for Cape Cod. Katie was excited when we got to mark things off our bucket list. We'll have to work on a winter bucket list now!

The Guardian

This quote from my devotional really spoke to me.
"You are the guardian, assigned to your child by God, to protect that young heart from poison and infection - even if (especially if) it's coming from you." -A Daily Word for Parents with Ron Hutchcraft

We are the guardian of our children.  It is natural as a parent to feel like a guardian.  We try our best to keep our children safe.  "Don't jump on the couch" "Hold my hand in the parking lot" These are just two of many things I say daily (even multiple times a day) as I try to keep my children safe.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

Proverbs 4:23 NIV

A great reminder in my devotional is we are not just the guardians of our children's physical safety, but their emotional and spiritual safety as well.  Honestly, I don't always think about my children's emotional safety.  First reaction to something not going as I planned is yelling, be it from fear or anger.  This can't be good for my children to feel safe emotionally.

Spiritual safety is on my mind often.  I pray for the children daily.  I don't think about the poison from my mouth that I am probably injecting into their hearts.  I have to remind my self of this verse often: "A gentle word turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." (Proverbs 15:1 NIV) May the love I have for my children flow from my mouth with gentleness.

They do know I love them, which tells me I must be doing something right!  I mean, just look at this picture from when we went out for lunch.  They couldn't get any closer if they tried! (and yes daddy is taking the picture and sitting by himself on the other side of the booth)

Life is all about choices

We talk to our daughter about making good or wise choices, but do we think about that for ourselves?  Do we think about the choices we are making as parents?  as adults?  as humans?  I'm writing this from a mother's perspective (since that's my current job/life right now)

Choose to enjoy this stage. Whatever stage your child/children may be in. Enjoy the drooling infant who is destroying his outfit as he blows out his diaper with yet another explosive poop. Enjoy the energy and intense emotions of your preschooler.  Enjoy the empty house as your children are off to college, though you miss the noise right now, I hear you get used to it.

Choose to have a positive attitude. Even when the house is a mess. Even when the baby didn't sleep. Even when your toddler is throwing a fit in the middle of the grocery store. I guess I'll throw in being thankful under positive attitude. Take another look at your life when you are in your funk/bad attitude, maybe you are missing something.  Maybe you do actually have lots to be thankful for and you are just missing out on life because you are choosing to focus on the negative.

Choose to listen to uplifting music. Turn off the kid music and put on some country or worship music. Encourage yourself with your tunes, choose music that makes you happy & put you in a good mood.

Choose who you will serve. Yes, as parents we serve our children.  Sometimes it is so draining.  I always have to remind myself, I'm not just a servant.  I ask myself: Will I serve the Lord in all that I do? Will I serve my kids, knowing as I do I'm raising them (by example) to be upstanding citizens? I'm talking more than just good people, but a child of God.

Choose to rely on God's strength. There is so much out of our control as parents. "How do you do it?" asks a friend. Well, #1-prayer and #2-a strength that only comes from God. These two truly help me get through the day to day monotony that being a mom can sometimes be.  God's strength is how I can have a smile on my face even when I have children melting down and I'm sleep deprived!

Sunflower art

Using a similar technique to the one previously posted, Katie and I made coffee filter sunflowers (Thank you pinterest). To make the "water" in the "vase", I marked a water line that Katie and I colored it in. Then Katie glued on blue paper that she had cut (a great way to practice her paper cutting skills and get those fine motor skills going).

I love that these beauties now decorate our kitchen. I'm thinking of sending to a special aunt who I know LOVES sunflowers. We just need to enjoy them a little more first.

Hydrangea art

Our hydrangea is blooming and looking gorgeous. This is definitely one of the highlights of all our summer blooms.  Can you see why these are Brian's favorite flowers?

We made coffee filter flowers at playgroup one week and that fun idea has stuck in my head. So this week Katie and I made a hydrangea using a similar technique. 

We each took two coffee filters each.  Then I  asked Katie what colors we should pick. She very thoughtfully said, "Blue, purple, and a little pink." So those are the markers we used to color our coffee filters.  Next we "painted" our coffee filters with a paintbrush and water to get the tie-dye effect on our coffee filters. After letting them dry, I pinched the coffee filters in the middle and put all four filters together to make a large hydrangea bloom. See our finished product below with a bloom from our bush.

Thank you playgroup for the fun art idea! 

Sorting game

This game has been years in the making.  Yes, years.  I've been saving caps here and there.  Caps from milk cartons, caps from those pouch baby foods and caps from apple cider.  I started when Katie was about 18 months.  So yes, about 2 years in the making...I should have a lot more collected, but I didn't want to have too much!  Anyway, I also saved a cylindrical container to keep all the caps.

Now that Katie won't try to eat the caps, I've actually busted out this "game".  The muffin tin is well, just the muffin tin we use to make our muffins, nothing special there!  I let Katie sort the caps however she wanted.  She first sorted by color. Then I made some suggestions, like to sort by size or shape.  Katie had so much fun and asked to play again the next day!

Here is my girl, so proud of her hard work.

Ok, so this wasn't really a game.  Katie even caught on to that pretty quickly.  I did end up turning this into a game.  Here's how.  I would place one cap in half of the spots and Katie had to find a match to put in the other side.  So, orange cap would get a matching orange cap.  See that lonely yellow cap in the photo above.  Katie was confused how to find a match for that.  I suggested she look at the shape, not just the color.  We talked about different ways to sort. Well needless to say, I felt like I had a good educational game moment and had to share it!

Have you had any of those moments recently? Had any in the past you want to share?  I'd love to hear it!

Valentine's Day

I'm not that crazy about this holiday, but with kids it is so much more fun. Katie has been counting down to Valentine's day since I decorated our mantle about two weeks ago. 

My next step was to decorate the kids' bedroom door.  After writing down different reasons I love my children on hearts (sorta look like conversation hearts, no?), I laminated them (thank you Danielle), then taped them up on the door.

Another fun thing we did in preparation for Valentine's Day were some fun crafts.  Thanks to Pinterest we had plenty of ideas!

Now the actual day had come.  Here is Katie's valentine. It was waiting for her on the kitchen table. She was so excited when she saw it. We had to immediately open the lip balm and then she had to trace the letters.

This was our valentine breakfast.  The heart shaped bacon I'd say was a Pinterest fail but still delicious!

Last thing, my little valentines

Snow experiment

Have you asked yourself this question: "What do I do with my kids while stuck inside with all that snow coming down around us?"

Here is one thing we've done.  A snow experiment.  Katie was so excited to be "playing" with the snow in the house.

I (mom) scooped up some snow from near our front door to fill a container. Once I came back in, Katie and I had the following conversation:

Mom: "What do you think is going to happen to the snow Katie?"
Katie: "Its going to melt."

Mom: What is it going to turn into when it melts?"

Katie: "A car."

Mom: "Ok.  Let's see what happens."

After a few hours we checked on the snow to see what was happening.

"It's shrinking!"

After nap time we checked the snow again.

"It turned into water mommy!"

Katie thought it was so neat that the snow turned into water.  She then asked, "Can I drink it mommy?"  Well, why not.

When asked what she thought of it, Katie said, "It's good, but it's COLD."

(yes, we stayed in PJs for the whole day)
What activities are you doing to keep the kiddos entertained during our multiple snow storms?


 

Mom of 2

I've had some time to reflect on what its been like these last 3 months of being a mom of two. Here are my first reactions to this new adventure. I love it.  Its hard.  I can't imagine only having one.

I love my job. Being a mom has always been my heart's desire. God granted me the desire of my heart with the birth of my little girl Katie 3 years ago. I didn't know it was possible, but I truly do love Josiah just as much as I love Katie.  Who knew there would be so much room in my heart?  That being said, being a mom of two...is hard. Every day is super tiring. Trying to meet both of their needs while sleep deprived, yeah, that's hard. There is always something, laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking...the to-do list is never ending. Though life is hard at this stage, I can't imagine what it would be like without Josiah. Brian and I were talking about how much easier life was with just Katie, yet we know that our life is complete with Josiah in it.

Mine is not the only heart that has grown.  All of our hearts have grown. The love we have for each other has grown.  Brian and I love each other more.  Katie is definitely in love with her little brother.  We can even see how Josiah loves his big sis.  Watching the two of them laugh at each other and make each other smile makes my heart happy.  How could I have a life with only one?

I'll end with some fun pictures of us enjoying the recent snow.  Only a few inches, but enough to enjoy!

2014 in Review

What a year!

Biggest news: We went from a family of 3 to a family of 4.

We found out we were pregnant on the same day Katie turned 2. We celebrated my mom & my mother-in-law turning 60. We found out we were going to have a son.  We took a trip to Miami to visit family while Brian had a conference.  We enjoyed watching our son grow inside of Becca.  We watched Katie grow and learn what it would mean to become a big sister.  We welcomed our baby boy into the world. We then said goodbye to Becca's parents as they moved south less than two weeks later. We spent our first Thanksgiving with friends instead of family.  We hosted Christmas for the first time & loved it, but it was a lot of work! Rang in the new year with both children asleep before 9pm giving us a few hours to enjoy before our new adventures in 2015.

Resolution: Spend less money and spend more time