Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

Harry Potter Birthday Party Ideas

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

Gabe’s birthday is looming on the horizon. We aren’t doing big parties anymore so I feel like I can put more time and effort into the party instead of spending all the money on goody bags!

One of these will be printed up and put in a frame:

I’m going to be using this printable Marauder’s Map for the invites: It’s free and so very cool!

We’ll be hitting up the thrift store for a HP book or two to make this cute-yet-cheap banner.

Instead of a fancy cake, I’m going to give everyone a plain cupcake and let them decorate their own. I’m thinking I’ll set up a “potions” area where all the sprinkles, candies, etc, are with a sign that reads “pick your poison”. Tee hee.

Last, but not least, we’ll serve some type of butter beer. Still looking for the perfect recipe.

0
Posted in Decorations and Design, Family |

Celebrating

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

We didn’t celebrate much, growing up. We had very little money and very many people. My step-dad was an alcoholic. He ruined every holiday so eventually my mom gave up trying to make anything feel special. I missed that and knew I wanted to do things differently with my boys.

Over the years, I’ve found there are many obstacles to celebrating. Some feel that if you are on a strict budget, then you can’t celebrate anything. Some feel that they aren’t creative enough. Some feel guilty that they don’t deserve to celebrate; it’s somehow frivolous. Some even feel it’s not very Christian to celebrate: our time, energy, money could be better used elsewhere. Or, my personal favorite, many feel it’s too much work and not appreciated, so why bother in the first place? I’m sure there are more!

I’ve struggled with many of those things over the years.

I’ve learned to say POO to all of them.

No, actually, I’ll go one step further; I’ll call those out as excuses. Lies. Little things that fester and grow until they become yet another way joy is stolen from our lives. I decided, years ago, to go ahead and make some more room for joy. For celebration. When was the last time you truly celebrated something or someone? For some of us, it’s a learning curve. But it’s so worth it!

Here are my thoughts on celebrating…

Budget: We live in a culture of big spenders and it’s super hard not to get swept up up, or beaten down by it. I could go on and on about this, but suffice it to say there are a lot of great, cheap ideas out there. Today, for instance, we celebrated Valentine’s Day and I hardly spent anything. I picked up a few goodies for the boys on Christmas clearance and stored them away. Walgreen’s had a couple of great candy deals that I took advantage of. I made cute little goody bags by using pinking shears to cut down plain brown paper lunch sacks which I then decorated with stickers. I decorated the table with my white tablecloth and any white and pink decorations I had on hand, with my wedding cake topper serving as the centerpiece. I pulled out the good china and utensils. I scrounged up two pink paper napkins (the last!) and opened them, and put them catty-corner on table with me decorations on top – just enough splash of color. I cut the bacon in half and arranged them to look like hearts. I made heart-shaped pancakes. I sprinkled a dash of pink sugar on the pancakes. Chocolate-dipped strawberries were on the side. Done. I can honestly say I maybe spent $10 and the boys were absolutely in awe. It can be done!

Creativity:For some reason, we tend to think that we have to come up with ideas totally on our own. So not true. Great artists throughout history study and replicate the works of artists who came before them. There’s no shame in that. They let a work inspire them, they put their own twist on it, their own interpretation, and then they go from there. We should follow in their footsteps. Honestly, this excuse is just that: an excuse. The library is a great resource. The internet: Pinterest.com, google, blogs, etc, etc, etc. There are so many ideas out there, just waiting to be found!

Guilt: There’s so much suffering in this world. We have so much and are blessed beyond measure as it is. How can we sit here, with a banquet spread before us, with gifts, laughter, and joy, when so many are without? If this is something you struggle with, I encourage you to dig into the Word of God. His Word is FULL of celebrations, and banquets, and remembrances. Celebrating is good. Joy is good. Rest is good. God has given all of these things to us. Pray, read scripture, and ask God to speak to you in this area.

Worthwhile: Oooh, I’ve struggled with this! Sometimes (who am I kidding, MOST times), things do not go as planned! I often feel stressed when I’m trying to pull together a large meal. I’ve got this needing to be stirred here, and that needing to be flipped there, and on and on, all at the same time. Or something totally flops. Or, Maybe the meal and decor and gifts all work fine, but the day ends and all I’m left with is a big mess to clean up. It can seem like a whole lot of work for a whole lot of ‘nuthin. But then I remembered all those birthdays and holidays of my childhood that went by with barely a blip. And I know it’s all worthwhile. I remember that it’s a joy and a privilege to serve my family and bring joy into their lives!

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

Now, a few little tips…

Decide to celebrate!
Plan it all in advance. Gather your ideas a couple of weeks in advance. If there is anything you can make, assemble, decorate, clean, etc, do that as far out as possible! It will make the day-of go so much more smoothly! Don’t forget to stick to your budget, and don’t feel badly about delegating when/where you can!
Doit! Forget perfectionism and strive for excellence. Keep a cheerful, celebratory attitude and no one will notice if this is a bit overdone and that’s drooping a bit, or those two whatevers don’t match exactly. Let yourself have fun, too!

Now, with all of that said, here are a couple of pictures from our breakfast not-quite-perfect-but-perfect-for-us Valentine’s Day celebration.

Bacon Hearts!

0
Posted in Decorations and Design, Family, Just Sayin' |

Nobody Said it Was Easy

Sunday, February 12th, 2012

Lovers - 1869 by Pai Merse Szinyei

Come up to meet you, tell you I’m sorry
You don’t know how lovely you are
I had to find you, tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart

Tell me your secrets and ask me your questions
Oh, let’s go back to the start
Running in circles, coming up tails
Heads on a science apart

Nobody said it was easy
It’s such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh, take me back to the start

I was just guessing at numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart
Questions of science, science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart

But tell me you love me, come back and haunt me
Oh and I rush to the start
Running in circles, chasing our tails
Coming back as we are

Nobody said it was easy
Oh, it’s such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I’m going back to the start
- The Scientist by Coldplay

0
Posted in Family, Favorite Quotes and Lyrics, Sunday Musings |

Bringing Beauty to the Home

Saturday, February 11th, 2012

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I really take pleasure in not only “running a household”, but in making my house a home. A house is a place you store your stuff, make meals, do laundry, and sleep. A home is a haven, a respite, a place for rest and restoration. It should be our tiny little corner of the world we were know we will be loved and accepted. It should be an external glimpse into an internal reality. Not everyone feels homemaking is important,but I believe it’s a worthy goal with eternal implications!

Claude Monet - Lunch (in Monet's Garden)

0
Posted in Family, Favorite Quotes and Lyrics |

2011 Review

Sunday, January 1st, 2012

This is a tradition carried over from my last blog:

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? Used a pressure canner

2. Did you keep your New Years resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I always resolve to try and eat healthier and exercise more. And I do a little bit better every year. (That’s what I posted last year and it applies to this year as well!).

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My friend, Genevieve, gave birth to her third child, Molly. One of my cousins had a baby…but we didn’t know she was coming until two weeks before the baby was born!

4. Did anyone close to you die? Yes, Ben’s dad passed away in August.

5. What countries did you visit? None!

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? A rigorous focus on my family. I want to be a better wife, mom, daughter, sister, etc. I’m hoping to spend more time with family and host more family get-togethers.

7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? July 29th; it’s not only Luke and Brad’s birthdays, but we also closed on our current home on that date. August 9th; the day Ben’s dad passed away.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Getting in the habit of spending time with God in the mornings.

9. What was your biggest failure? I didn’t lose those last 10 pounds!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? None, thanks be to God!

11. What was the best thing you bought? Our new home. Not only because we like the house and land, but because we felt led by God throughout the entire process. Our new blender is pretty cool, too.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Ben. This has been a tough year with many surprises and uncertainties and he’s weathered it all like a champ and has stayed strong for us. He also attended a 9-day wilderness medical training in February and passed the exams with a high score.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Does the U.S. government count?

14. Where did most of your money go? We had to cut a $17k check to the bank just to simply get out of our last home. That was painful, but we saved that money at God’s prompting and felt like we were following him, so it wasn’t as difficult as we thought it would be.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? 1. We’re excited about the path God has been leading us in regards to downsizing and paying off debt. 2. Although I HATED the idea of leaving our church back in Imperial, we have found another church that we are really excited about.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011? None but Jesus by Hillsong

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? About the same, I’d say. There have been ups for all the downs, I think.
ii. thinner or fatter? Mayyybe a pound or two lighter.
iii. richer or poorer? Richer. Even having spent so much on getting out of our house, this mortgage is so much less AND we’ve learned a lot about how to live on less.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Spending time with God, blogging, and taking pictures.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Facebook. Seriously limiting my online time this year. Same for television.

20. How will you be spending the Winter? Exercising, reading up on gardening, bees, and chickens, reading to the boys.

22. Did you fall in love in 2011? I continue to fall in love with Ben and the boys.

23. What was your favorite month of 2011? July. It was crazy, but we really saw God come through for us.

24. What was your favorite TV program? The Office is still our favorite. Jericho was awesome, as was Survivors (BBC).

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Nope. Not a hater, such a waste of time.

26. What was the best book you read? The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven was really good. It really encouraged me to look past the physical and pray for/against the spiritual.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? None but Jesus by Hillsong, Charlotte Church Christmas songs.

28. What did you want and get? A little house on some acreage, a Blendtec.

29. What was your favorite film of this year? HP7.2

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Went out to dinner. I turned 31.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Losing weight.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? Just getting by, but tired of that look.

33. What kept you sane? Prayer.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? None, unless you count Ron Paul. But he’s not a celebrity – he’s the real deal.

35. What political issue stirred you the most? The election is on the horizon. We are behind Ron Paul all the way.

36. Who did you miss? Chelsea moved when we bought our new house and I miss her.

37. Who was the best new person you met? I’m excited about our new neighbors!

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011: Even when we follow God, our paths aren’t necessarily direct from point A to point B. Sometimes it appears we are drifting or rambling. If we simply wait on God, he’ll get us to where we need to be, in his time. We may not be moving fast enough for our likes, but we should serve him no matter what, no matter where we are, and he’ll use us.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: “There is no one else for me,
None but Jesus,
Crucified to set me free
Now I live to bring Him praise.”

2
Posted in Faith, Family, Just Sayin' |

You Are Loved

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

I wrote this in Luke’s journal today and felt compelled to share it. Maybe someone else needs to hear this simple message.

Sweet Luke,

I love you, Bubby. I just wanted to let you know that today. I think Satan gains ground when he’s able to convince us that we are not valued and loved. Fight this with everything you have – call on God to protect and defend your heart. Read the TRUTH to remind you.

You are loved by imperfect parents, grandparents, and many others. Our love – or lack of it – should never distract you from a greater truth…

…you are loved by an almighty, everlasting God.

He shaped mountains, put the stars in their place, and numbered every grain of sand…

…and he loves you.

Not with a weak, imperfect, human love, but with a fierce, never-ending, deeply sacrificial love which no water can quench.

God is with you always. He’s never distracted, never too busy, never bored, never tired.

He longs for you to know him and share in his plan. The God of the universe wants to give you a place and an inheritance in his kingdom.

Never doubt his love.

– Mom

0
Posted in Faith, Family |

Pretty Science

Friday, November 4th, 2011

The boys and I found a spotted salamander sleeping on our porch yesterday. We decided to try and keep him. I made him a little home in one of my decorative jars…and decided I kind of like how it looks. After some research into what Salamanders eat, we decided to dig up some worms. We found so many that I began thinking of keeping all of them to see if we could establish a little worm farm to keep old Sal fed all through the winter. I found another decorative glass container and the boys and I got to work. The boys are thrilled with their new “pets”, I’m pleased at how much we’ve all learned about salamanders, worms, habitats, etc, and I love how pretty our little habitats turned out!

Sal's new home

The worm farm

For more on keeping worms: this post

0
Posted in Family |

Meet Sal….

Friday, November 4th, 2011

Sal, the spotted salamander

0
Posted in Family |

Weekly Updates: 9/18/2011-9/24/2011

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

On Friday we left early for Indiana. Back in February, we’d purchased a Living Social deal for an indoor water park in Indiana. Our drive up went smoothly and we were at the hotel after dinner. I LOVED driving through the Indiana countryside; quaint farmhouses and Amish buggies in every direction. We dropped our luggage off in our room and then suited up for the water park. We lasted about an hour and a half before calling it quits. There was plenty to do, but the water was freezing and the boys were reluctant to go on half of the slides.

Breakfast on Saturday was really good – probably the best hotel breakfast I’ve ever had! We ate, then packed up the van. The boys decided to forgo the water park and play arcade games instead. They never get to play games like that so they really, really enjoyed themselves. We spent the next few hours checking out the local stores. The boys browsed a toy store, Ben purchased kettle corn from a vender, and then we dropped by an Amish bulk foods store. I purchased a few things, and came away wishing I’d bought more. Their prices were awesome. We finished up our time in IN by eating at an Amish-inspired restaurant. We were stuffed!

After lunch, we hit the road again. We made great time to Illinois, checked into our hotel room and then decided we might as well head over to IKEA since it was still early. With list in hand, we were able to find and get everything we needed in a little over an hour and then we ate in the IKEA cafeteria.

Sunday was spent sleeping in, checking out, and then driving home. It was nice to arrive home early in the day; we always seem to get home late and so arrive tired and grumpy. We actually had time to unload the van, unpack, and put everything away! Productive!

0
Posted in Family, Weekly Updates |

The Boy’s Room

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Since I’m stuck with taking all my photos with my cell phone camera, I’ll just post about one room at a time.

Here’s the boy’s room. I still have big plans for this room including paint, curtains, ledges for displaying Lego creations, a table and stools, and a central lighting fixture. Until then…

Bunk beds made by hubby

These are the bunkbeds that Ben made. The plans can be found on Ana White’s blog. Ben attached them straight to the wall on two sides and came up with the ladder on his own. They are STURDY and will probably last a lifetime. And they cost about $200. I don’t know of any other high-quality bunk beds that cost that little.

View from the doorway

The shelves are from IKEA – as are the bedding, the rug, and the curtains (that we have yet to hang). Perfect for their industrial-style bedroom. Do you like the lamp on the chair? Yeah, this old house doesn’t have a ceiling light and their little lamp just isn’t enough. Can’t wait for that to change!

Wall opposite their beds

My step dad made those simple shelves for me when I was a kid. They’ve held up really well and go perfectly in the boy’s room. The table and ledges are going in that spot as soon as they are done…

Doorway to left, closet to right.

Here’s our current Lego bin. I see a second one in our near future. Luke is Lego crazy. Eventually, the bookshelves will go in this spot, with some neat shelves hanging above them. The Lego bin and clothes hamper will fit under the table we’re going to add.

Closet

Years ago, when we were preparing the nursery for baby number two, we realized we needed to buy another dresser for Luke. I was too cheap and didn’t want to buy something flimsy/ugly so we decided to just trick out the closet and keep all of his clothes in there. That was two houses ago and we feel like we’ve struck gold in that department. Dressers just take up room. If you can add shelves and drawers to a closet, instead of using a dresser, you open up so much space! We have 2 wire shelves and 6 drawers in the closet and we fit all of their clothes and a LOT of their toys in that small space. Dressers are overrated!

So that’s the boy’s room, for now. Aside from paint and a light fixture, we have everything else – just need to get it finished. Then we’ll at least have one done room in the house! :)

0
Posted in Decorations and Design, Family |
« Older Entries