Courtney's Quest

my laughter inducers

2012-01-21T16:42:00.000-08:00

i love how much laughter my kids bring into my life. i don't think i've ever laughed as much in my life as i do with my children.

for example: this month's fruit of the spirit is self-control, and one of the activities suggested to us was the marshmellow test. and, being quite curious on how my tots would do, i set up our flip video and saw what happened when our 2 and 3.5 year-old faced temptation! it's a little long, but there are funny things that happen throughout the test period.

if you want to see the "official" version on youtube i was trying to model, here's a link: http://youtu.be/QX_oy9614HQ

leila did really well. and if it weren't for her hilarious bathroom break, i wonder how long she could have lasted! ;) we did the test again, and macy did a little better as her sister tried to keep her from eating her marshmellows...but, she still ate them. i think the test is designed for 4 year-olds. and the kids who practice self-control have been found in the long-term to be better goal-achievers and do better on tests and other good stuff. it'll be fun to test macy when she's older!

and my second funny video to share is of macy singing the mulan song. we just saw it for the first time at christmas and the girls love it. it's one of my disney favorites! macy already knows the song and requests i sing it to her often!

(if you want to know what song she's singing, you can see a video of it on youtube:
http://youtu.be/ZiLOVazwnWM)

my silly, sweet, funny, keep-me-on-my-toes, precious girls who make me laugh! they are such a joy!

kiddo kraft - JANUARY

2012-01-15T11:57:00.000-08:00

I don’t know about you, but my fridge is a piece of art in my house. I didn’t say PLACE for art, I said PIECE of art. Yes, it is a place for art, but, it’s also usually chunked up with pictures of friends/family, inspiring things I’ve printed out, pictures my kids have drawn, meetings/schedules, cooking ideas, and MAGNETS galore!

I feel really silly now that I describe this and I have no photo-evidence to show you, because, well, you see, with the new year, I got a little bit of the pick-up bug. And since it’s so easy for my fridge to become overwhelmed with treasures, I tackled it and toned it down 5 notches. It’s still FULL of all those wonderful things, but it’s organized now – for the moment (it never lasts long). btw, i blame my GRANDY for the obsession with covering the front of a fridge. haha! you should see hers - but, it's not as bad as mine! ;)

(yes, this is the cleaned up version! lol and notice my dishwasher doesn't escape either!)

To hold up all those wonderful fridge treasures, you need some strong magnets to handle the piling of new things over old things. Not to mention, the Chinese delivery magnet isn’t that cute or that strong.

Therefore, the kiddo kraft of the month I’d like to share with you is: STONE MAGNETS.

I've done this craft three times with different groups: once with my family, once with a gaggle of teenage girls on a church retreat, and once with my MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) group. And, they’ve all liked it. And, I’ve done it with my kiddos – while making some alongside them, too.

SUPPLIES:
-JOANN’s clear stones – found in the floral area. My grandmother and aunt discovered that they liked those best because they were clear all the way through and the picture shows up better without iridescence.
-cardstock, any color your heart desires
-stamps, with SMALL (<1 inch) designs
-ink – the Stazon brand dries quickly and is not water-based, so it might work better. But I’ve used just plain old inkpads before, but they need to dry
-colored pencils, markers, gel pens, crayons – or whatever you want to color with
-magnets – the circular strong ones (they are usually cheaper at hobby lobby – and with the 40% off coupon, it’s a good price)
-glue – hot glue, aleene’s, something strong – but QUICK drying, or else the wetness could seep through the cardstock and blur your inking (been there, done that) AND clear lacquer or Diamond Glaze glue for gluing the cardstock to the glass stone.

PROCESS:
-stamp your desired design several times on construction paper with some space in between them. You want to do it a couple times so that you can choose the best one!
-after it dries, color it in however your creative juices so stir you. Don’t just think about the design, try coloring in the background only – see how different the looks can be! Let it dry if you use gelpens or markers!

-chose one of the clear stones and place it over your colored design and trace around the stone. Cut it out!

-using your choice of CLEAR glue for the glass, dab a big blob on the stone (enough so that it’ll spread and cover the entire surface) and press it onto your cut-out and dried design. Press down on it to watch the glue spread and cover it all – you don’t want any missed spots. You can wipe off any excess that squeezes out. And let it dry.
-after it’s really dry, glue your magnet onto the back of the cardstock. Now, sometimes it matters which side of the magnet to leave facing out – so make sure you test your magnets to know which side will be attracted to the fridge!

TADA! You have a cute, personalized, original mini-artwork to hold up all your fridge treasures!

When I was doing this with Leila, she actually used a greeting card to color and made it into magnets.

There is a caution to these magnets though – I do not allow these to be within kiddie reach, because, if they are dropped enough, they will break! (been there, done that)

'cause a noodle mustache is how leila rolls!

'cause princess clothes over monster jammies is how macy rolls!

happy day! blessings & happy crafting!

courtney's quest: wading in the current

2012-01-10T12:11:00.000-08:00

wow - i happened to notice that my last official "'Courtney's Quest" was several years ago! yes, i know that i have blog posts, but something other than my kiddo kraft, my kids, or my emotional outbursts about our adoption process is hard to find. it seems as though the Quest's focus has been diverted! the underlying current of it is still there, but it's not put into actual, visual WORDS!

so.

(writer's block)

wow.

so that's why there haven't been any Quest postings! just kidding. just need a second for the juices to start flowing in the right direction.

-

i went swimming monday in my street. okay, not so much swimming as wading, but still, one doesn't usually need a boat to travel on pavement. apparently the sky decided to release all 5 or more inches of rain that it had selfishly hoarded last year and back-door drop it all over town yesterday morning.

the thunder and lighting were fun to watch...in the safety and comfort of my home - behind walls and snuggled in my slippers. but it didn't stop. at first the rain drenched us and poured in sheets off our roof into quickly filling street gutters. but it didn't stop. then the trashcans (thankfully they were emptied before the storm) began being knocked over and were carried away in the current. but it didn't stop. then the water stopped draining and the streets began filling. but it didn't stop. as the water rose, driveways became angry streams emptying their deposits into a overflowing pool of dark, cold, turmoiled water. but it didn't stop. then street curbs disappeared, as did front lawns. but it didn't stop...until it stopped raining. ;) but it wasn't over then.

even after it stopped raining, water kept flowing and seeping from all the places of the earth that were regurgitating from the over drowning. the damage was done. it took several hours for the water to recede and the soaken trees and roofs to stop crying.

(source: www.yourhoustonnews.com)

after living in a drought for over a year, it was a blessing turned into a curse. we weren't prepared for it. too much of a good thing was as detrimental as too much of a bad thing - in this case.

i'm thankful for the rain. we needed it. maybe not everything at once...but i'm sure the ground didn't choke on everything that fell from the sky yesterday and some of it did feed our thirsty trees and foundations (etc.).

i actually waded out into the dark, earth-debris-filled "river" to save our trashcan from floating down the street. but fear (and cold rain) stayed my legs from venturing too far out to help other less fortunate trashcans. [i will admit, the thought of alligators crossed my mind - don't laugh TOO hard at me!]

there i was, red raincoat on, leggings pulled up, flip-flops held tightly to my feet by my frigid toes [yes, i live in texas and i wear flip-flops in january], glasses thoroughly caked with rain droplets in the middle of a dirty street swelling with water and angry at itself for being trapped. what was i doing out there?! saving one runaway trashcan?!

so - here's my application: one can't help but think about the world - standing in the current - what the world is telling me to do, not do, accept, ignore, be PC about, embrace, etc., etc., etc. if i get out of my house and jump into the trouble, i'm gonna get dirty. i'm not inside where it's safe and comfortable; i am putting myself in harm's way. others will peak out their windows at me and question my sanity and probably say things about how dumb/weird i am. some may call out to me and tell me what i should be focusing on instead and "helping" me be safe/normal.

BUT...

I DON'T WANT TO BE SAFE! there is work to be done! hands to be dirtied! service to do! a rescue mission to join in on! truth to be spoken and demonstrated! the LORD to be followed! isn't that more important that being comfortable/safe and not worrying about the troubles/bad things/dirtiness mucking up and ruling the world?!

i'm ashamed that i wasn't brave enough to get over my silly fears and recover some of my at-work neighbor's trashcans. i was instead looking back over my shoulder to my house and thinking about that i should go back inside where it was safe, dry, and my children were watching me from the window. here's the thing though - THEY WERE WATCHING ME! they saw me take care of OUR stuff. if i'm gonna be in the water, i need to be committed and not only look after my interest, but others. (think beyond just a trashcan here.) i can't just go out there and serve at 50%, or what i can offer cause i'm busy with other stuff. half-way or self-focused devotion is par for the course - nothing remarkable - the norm. not only because God has called us to more than self-focus (which is a good enough reason), but because my children are watching and learning from me.

i don't want to just being in the current when it's easy, safe, convenient - i want to do it when it's dirty, cold, lonely, ridiculous, hard, counter-cultural, and downright loving!

love,
courtney
aka - trashcan surfer

p.s. there were reports of alligators in some of the flooded areas (near the bayous). ;)

merry christmas! part 2

2011-12-20T18:43:00.000-08:00

so apparently macy needs an opportunity to share christmas blessings too. ;)

translation: "the angel said, don't be afraid. i bring you good news of great joy...that will be for all the people...for all the people" luke 2:10ish

translation: away in a manger & i got chocolate on my pants & craziness & MERRY CHRISTMAS!

translation: wish you a merry christmas & happy new EARS!

merry christmas from MACY! :)

merry christmas!

2011-12-20T11:48:00.000-08:00

merry CHRISTmas from leila. ;)

the big sweaty 3-0

2011-12-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

the temperature gauge in my car read 80 degrees this afternoon. it's december 15th. doesn't mother nature know that it's supposed to be cold-ish? this whole putting 4 blankets on my kids at night to keep them warm last week TO pulling out the crocs and tshirts and sweating inside our house this week is confusing...and unChristmas spirit-like. after our long, hot, DRY summer, i was looking forward to being cold. maybe we'll make up for it with a looooooong spring?! here's hoping. ;)

so, you guessed it - it's beginning to look a lot like...THIRTY! that's right. the big 3-0! i'm joining the three decaders this weekend. my sweet, wonderful, fantabulously generous husband organized a birthday party for me two weeks ago (to avoid the christmas party conflicts of others, sweet thoughtful one) - so i've felt like my birthday's come and gone already. and it started with a BANG with an AWESOME skating party!

my most favorite birthday party/memory was my 10th birthday skating party at Applebee's Skating Rink in Tyler. and james recreated it for me and some of my friends at the Dairy Ashford Roller Rink in Houston. it was sooooo much fun! the adults AND the kiddos had so much fun. me most of all. ;)

i think i've accomplished more than i thought i would by the time i turned 30. and as for the things that i didn't get to do, i find that i'm more than okay with the unattained plans/goals/hopes - it's funny how your perceptions and goals change when you have kids!

(i love you!)

so - before i turn 40 (wow, that sounds OLD - of course 30 used to sound old!), i would like to:

1. ADOPT one, if not two children (that sounds easy enough...but i'm discovering that it's not)

2. spend some time working in the field with some of my church's missionary families

3. have a totally awesome 10 year anniversary trip with my wonderful husband

4. shark dive with my sister (and mom can watch safely from the boat)

5. stay unemployed - i LOVE being a stay-at-home mom (that was NEVER something i thought i would ever say!)

6. read the entire Bible - more than once ;)

7. grow (not horizontally or vertically - but mentally and spiritually and relationally)

8. be more open to the things God wants me to do that i may be resistant to...the not easy stuff

i think i can do them, Lord willing! gotta have goals, right?! i'm working on 4 of the 8 so far, so i'm already almost 1/2 way finished and i have 10 years to go!

30s are gonna be GREAT! God is so good!

this post can't be all about me, or else the grands will be sad and mope about not seeing the babies, so, here are some HILARIOUS videos.

(that's hilarious)

leila and macy have love love LOVED the Larryboy and the Bad Apple audio story CD we got at Chic-fil-a, and they loved it even more after we borrowed the DVD and watched the story. it talks about temptation and that we need each other to fight it. and leila knows everybody's temptations: daddy-cookies, mommy-craft stores, macy-TV, leila-non-stop playing, honey-fabric stores, brittany-purses and shoes (yikes - she's got us all pegged!). and the girls sing the temptation song soooo stinking hilariously!

and, what video blast would be complete without a little dancing. macy and her floppy crazy dancing legs!

so, thanks to those people who brought me into this world and raised me and loved me and beat me (just kidding) and showed me what kind of woman i want to be. about a 1/3 (or more) of my life has probably been hard on you or me or both, but here i am - and who knows what's to come! i'm glad you'll be with me to find out. ;) God has truly blessed me and made masterpieces out of my messes and i'm filled with anticipation about what's coming and having more of the big picture revealed to me!!!!

kiddo kraft - december

2011-12-11T04:53:00.001-08:00

ho ho ho! merry christmas! i mean, whoa whoa whoa - it's almost christmas!!

we've got 2 weeks before the anticipated day, and i cannot wait! except for the fact that i haven't finished our family tradition of making each other handmade ornaments! yikes! i wish i could say that i'm not a procrastinator, but it would be untrue. (i started my ornaments last week... heeheehee.) but, i'm a little persnickety in my ornament choice, because i have to wait until i get inspired. you see, i'm not usually a pattern girl when it comes to ornaments - i let the sites and sounds and hobby lobby atmosphere inspire me at their whim. BUT, i have my idea and i'm slowly working on it.

AND, the girls have been working on theirs too! the kiddo kraft of the month is: ORNAMENTS!

just as i have to make a handmade ornament, i want the girls to get the opportunity to participate too...on their own level. (sorry to spoil the surprise, Baer family - act surprised.) using easy, small-finger acceptable items, the girls have made (mostly on their own, with a little help from their mama) their own ornaments to exchange at christmas.

the first thing we did was DYE noodles. we used these instructions for dyeing our noodles: http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/pretty-pasta-1019797/

what a fun process that was! the girls had fun watching the noodles change colors and making our own colors was fun too (who's too young to learn that blue and yellow make green?!).

we used SALAD macaroni for our bead-noodle choice. after they had dried...and we waited a couple days...and the girls loaded them onto pipe cleaners as they saw fit. i bent one end with one noodle on the end, so they wouldn't accidentally push them off the end of the pipe cleaner before they were finished stacking them on. they had fun mixing all the different colored beads together in a big pile, instead of picking one at a time from the various bowls i laid out for them. ah, creative chaos. ;)

after they filled up a pipe cleaner, i wrapped the ends around the pipe cleaner itself (into a circle shape) and tucked the pointy ends under the nearest noodle. then i tied two ribbons - one for the loop to hang it on the tree, and another one for a little bow covering my empty space.

wha-la! a dyed-noodle-wreath ornament! they look good enough to eat - well, maybe not, but they look good enough to spruce up my family's handmade ornament trees!

we also made some necklaces with our "beads," and macy had fun loading up her long string of yarn with colored noodles!

so hop to it, friends, and get busy making something new with the kiddos for the christmas tree!

kiddo kraft of the month - november

2011-11-29T13:12:00.000-08:00

no, i didn't forget november. i was thinking maybe i could get by without feeling guilty about not posting a craft...but it plagued me. the kids and i have done a couple fun crafts, but i think i'll wait to post them for the december craft. BUT, in preparation for december, my last-minute self kicked herself into gear today and got my advent activities planned out.

so, the kiddo kraft of the month is - advent calendar - activities!

i already have 3, yes you read that right, THREE advent calendars. one was fabric-crafted by my mother (below). one was paint-crafted by my mother-in-law (above). and the other was given to me by my grandmother and was used when i was a child.

since the girls are "older" - i use that loosely :) - 3 and 2 years old, it's time for us to do more than just put things in pockets or hang things on the tree daily. my goal is to have a jesse tree when they're REALLY a little older...but i have adored this idea and finally did it!

so, whatever advent calendar you have - whether pockets or little doors that open or numbered gift bags under the tree or envelopes with the day of the month. make an advent activity for the kids to enjoy this december! some can be silly and fun, but i also want to make some that are serious and season-spirited.

so, here is my list of advent activities (planned with my december calendared events in mind, of course) for my family for each day in december:

(1) Mail Christmas cards
(2) Make a birthday card for Jesus. Put it under the tree.
(3) Make rice crispy treat gifts for ministers at church
(4) Go skating
(5) Play date with friends
(6) Make daddy something special for his birthday
(7) Pray for our future adopted daughter/sister & draw her a picture
(8) Build a fort from blankets & sheets - Read a Christmas book in the fort!
(9) Flashlight tag
(10) Breakfast with Santa
(11) Make cookies
(12) Pick someone to call and say, “I Love you.”
(13) Give to those in need
(14) Make paper snowflakes
(15) Go look at Christmas lights
(16) Watch a Christmas movie
(17) Tickets for a live Christmas show
(18) See live nativity performance
(19) Sisters shop for xmas gifts for each other & wrap
(20) Christmas party with friends
(21) Christmas with nana & pawpaw
(22) Eat dinner by candlelight
(23) Pack for Christmas at Honey’s house
(24) Open Christmas Eve gift from geegee & granddaddy
(25) Read Christmas story from the Bible

so each day, the girls will open up the date-appropriate door and take out a piece of paper naming the day's advent activity on it. and, before the end of the day - we will do whatever's listed! each day is a surprise to them - but preplanned by me and james.

my list is just the collection of ideas i came up with by myself and from other websites. when the girls get older i want to do bigger and more meaningful things, too. but i think this is a pretty fun list to start the tradition. and maybe when they get bigger i'll let them plan some of the activities!

here are some sites i pulled information from and/or have great ideas:

http://wearethatfamily.com/2008/11/our-family-advent/
http://www.thrivingfamily.com/Features/Magazine/2011/advent/digital-version-advent-calendar.aspx (<- i downloaded this and it was really cool - but a little too advanced for my little ones)
http://www.kidscraftweekly.com/advent_issue.html
http://ohhappyday.com/2007/11/advent-calendar-ideas/

above all things, i want to make sure that my children know that we are celebrating JESUS' birthday and why His birth is worthy of celebrating. i hope i'm not the only one whose child is fixated on the crucifixion of Jesus (that's the story Leila always requests to read from her Bible - sweet thing.)

season's greetings!

thankful waiting, hoping

2011-11-23T04:43:00.001-08:00

in one week it will be one YEAR since we've begun the adoption process. in two weeks, i'll be 6 MONTHS since we've been on the waitlist for our daughter. i don't know how i feel about that...other than a little restless, because in my heart i know that i'll still be counting up at this date next year. i'm definitely going to be practicing patience in the near and not-so-near future. and, i'm thankful for that - as crazy as that sounds.

i haven't had to wait for much in my life. everything seems to have fallen in place as i had hoped. aren't i blessed, right? well, how much more blessed will i be when something i have longed for comes into my life at a time undetermined or able to be influenced by me?! and it is my hope, that through the wait and unknown, that i will be refined, molded, and have the opportunity to prove my faith in Him who loves me and is with me through everything.

because i know that i am not alone through this waiting...that He is with me. hugging me through every frustrated change, catching my heart-aching tears, pointing out my goal when my head hangs in disappointment, encouraging me when i question our course of action, and holding my hand and squeezing it when i would want to buckle and pout and explode at the injustices or insignificants being demonstrated as significants.

so, i'm okay. really, i am. as much disappointment and hunger i must feel for our future daughter, i can't imagine what the children in orphanages experience while never knowing if they'll be the next one to be chosen to have a forever family, or if they ever will be. Hope. the fulfillment of that Hope must be one of the greatest blessings ever.

here's to Hope. here's to waiting. here's to thankfulness for them both, in my life and in others...mostly in others.

happy thanksgiving!

october kiddo craft...continued!

2011-10-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

i had so much fun with the candy corn handprints, that we continued painting around here!

the first thing we did was to paint one of our pumpkins with many many many colors...till all the colors were mostly mixed together and the whole thing looked orange with sporadic dark purplish paint, lol.

we let that dry for the evening, and this morning i pulled out some of my random craft supplies and this is what the girls came up with:

leila named it tinker-pumpkin (or sarah).

and, every halloween, i've painted the girls' feet to make ghosts...and this year was no exception:

and my observation from this exercise - leila has my high arch feet and her daddy's toes, and macy has her daddy's flat-footed low arch feet and her daddy's toes. funny. :)

kiddo kraft of the month - october

2011-10-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

happy october, precious ones!

knock knock.

who's there?

boo.

boo who?

don't cry it's only a joke.

(that's the one knock knock joke that leila (3) knows and i don't think she ever gets it just right)

so, it's that wonderful fall-ish time of year again. we had a brief cold front tuesday and wednesday, but it's back in the 90s again after only having one day of having my window cracked open for the cool breeze. que sera sera - it's houston.

i love halloween time! i love pumpkin hunting and the crazy (not scary) decorations and all the cute costumes on the kiddies. i love that it's the one time of year that the neighbors will open their doors for you and not hide inside and pretend that no one's knocking. i love that people answer their doors with genuine smiles instead of curious suspicion. i love that people will speak to each other with more than a "what do you want" attitude. isn't that funny? and i love that for the next month i'll be telling my kids that they cannot go ring the doorbells on all the neighbor's doors just to see if they're home. ;)

so, the kiddo craft of the month is super simple and super sweet: candy corn prints!

i did two things with our candy corn prints: a door decoration and halloween cards.

so, you paint your kiddo's hand in three colors, bottom to top: yellow, orange, then white. then you try to convince them to keep their fingers together so that it kinda looks like a candy corn shape when you press it on the paper.

for the cards, i had each girl put one hand print of the cover (2 total) and inside i wrote something like, "trick or treat - we prefer something sweet - happy halloween - love, leila and macy"

for the "wreath" i had each child put one hand print in the middle of 4x6 strips of black paper. 9 total. then, i wrote one letter of "H A P P Y" on the top of the hands and one letter of "H A L L O W E E N" under the hand prints. i taped them together with orange yarn. it's not the prettiest thing, but it'll do. :) since i had painted their hands, i figured why not do some more prints and figure out something to do with them. so, that's what i came up with. you could probably think of something better. ;)

so, tada - candy corn hands! precious!

and, we already had made some halloween placemats, too!

i just used some halloween ribbon that i had leftover from a craft last year and ran it through my sticker-maker - and, whaBAM - instant stickers for the girls. can you tell leila's a little OCD and has to have everything lining up just right? oh, so young to be so ordered! lol!

too easy and too much fun (and a great time-killer for those late afternoons where the kids need something to do and you can't overly supervise them). [look in 2009-september archives for craft post of placemats - it's not letting me post the link]

and, we'll probably do the painted footprint ghosts that we've done for the past 3 years again too...because it's just too fun: [look in 2010-october archives for craft post].

happy safe halloween. i'll be posting costume pictures as soon as Honey finishes making leila's. it's gonna be CAAA-uuuuute!

who's your neighbor?

2011-10-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

since leila turned 3 this summer, she's been able to attend children's class at church. it's been great - she loves it. she's picking up all sorts of Biblical wisdom, and she's been using it to TRY and keep her younger sister in line - ha! even so, the wisdom may be SLOWLY sinking in...cause she still has some sharing issues.

so, last week we talked about the good samaritan and who's our neighbor. we've been talking about it and trying to figure out ways to practice being a good neighbor this week. so today in the car i ask her, "Leila, who's your neighbor." and leila replied enthusiastically, "EVERYONE!" but then she whispered quickly, "except straaaaaaaaangers." so - obviously, she's mixing mama-isms with her Bible-isms! but, she's honing her memory skills! she's been working really hard on memorizing her weekly Bible verse for her wednesday night class:

it's been dress-up month around our house, it seems. anything the girls can get their hands on, they want to dress up and pretend. last week macy refused to take off her snow white dress and play shoes, so - she wore them to the library for story time. i kept hearing moms say, "were we supposed to dress up for halloween?" lol. no, that's just how my kid rolls - oh, and of course we all had to wear our super capes out the door together, too. (mom too...)

so there's definitely been a variety of clothes and non-clothes combinations:

tin foil hats - a little "signs" if you ask me - james asked if they were to protect their brains from the aliens!

doctor leila, checking on her patient

chef, ballerina, mermaid SUPER macy

again, mermaid super chefs

and their cute halloween shirts made by their HONEY

do swimsuits count! cause we dressed up for the beach in them!!!!

and of course, the birthday girl got to be a fairy at her party...again, thanks to Honey. ;)

if it weren't for my mom (Honey), the girls would lead pretty dull, normal lives. naw, i'd still put underwear on their heads. ;) and, if it weren't for my girls, Honey wouldn't have models for all the clothes and costumes and fun things she sells!!!! ;) (not that they're very cooperative models...)

kiddo kraft of the month - SEPTEMBER

2011-09-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

it looks like a lemon, it smells like a lemon, but it's an orange. NO. it's not nearly autumn. i refuse to believe it (apparently next friday, the 23rd, is the first day of fall). it's a 100 degrees outside, the greenery is brown because of the lack of rain not hibernation; so it's summer. you could fool me, mother nature, but i would sure love for it to feel, smell, and look like fall!

because it has STILL been obnoxiously hot and dry, we still stay indoors. if we go to the park, it's before 9am to prevent burnt legs on the playground slides & swings, oh and sweating to death. so, i have some stir-crazy kids on my hands that need new stimuli.

so, the kiddo kraft of the month is: OLD MAID!

i picked up some dollar store items for benevolence needs...and, who can resist $1 toys for the kids who've been lugged around the store without throwing a fit? my discovery - card games! i thought i'd give them a try since leila is 3 now (and that was the recommended beginning age on the box), and i quickly discovered after one round of old maid with her, that it was a big HIT.

of course the dollar store cards were cute, but how fun would it be to make our own? so, that's what we did and now leila pleads for me to make more playing cards. i think we've made 3 homemade card decks - one disney princess version, one PBS characters version, and our family pictures version!

it's so easy to do this and the kids had a BLAST searching on the internet for their favorite characters and in my pictures folder on my computer for their favorite family pictures.

how i did it:

in Word, i changed my layout to LANDSCAPE and made 3 columns. also, i changed my margins to .5" all around and centered everything. i copied and pasted my picture or image and resized it to fit the width of one column AND to have enough room under it for it's matching image. you know you've got the right size when you can fit two pictures in one column with one/two spaces between them (so they're both equa-distance in the column). get it? here's a picture:

so, after i got the top picture sized correctly, i would copy and paste it below. then i had my standard size eyeballed for all my other images! we made 7 pages of 6 cards each, and that seems to be enough for 2 or 3 players for sure! - i made 2 old maid cards, just in case she changed her mind and wanted another card to be the old maid.

we got smarter and smarter the more times we did this. after we printed them out and cut them out to the same size, we noticed it was hard to see what cards were piled under the other cards in leila's hand - SO, i pulled out the crayon and made different colored shapes in the top LEFT and bottom RIGHT corners - and matched them on their corresponding cards. (of course while i'm writing this i cannot find the other sets of old maid cards to show you - leila probably dragged them around the house somewhere to play with them!). it made a HUGE difference. leila could even recognize the red square on the one dora card and then look quickly on the tops of her cards to find the other red square (which was on the matching dora card hidden in her hand!).

and for the family picture version we made, i actually include different colored/designed frames around the pictures (Insert - Shapes; Grouping - send behind text). again, after i figured the sizing, i just copied and pasted and made sure the matching cards had matching colors and designs.

it definitely helps! i hated playing the store-bought versions because i had to look at the entire card to figure out where my match was in my hand. it was even harder for leila who's slow and had to lay them out in front of her every time because she couldn't see the card faces and they didn't have the quick-find symbols in the corners.

ANOTHER lesson learned - a big messy one - was that on photo paper, ink doesn't stay on the back side. i tried to make the cards all cute and put a solid design on the backs (to make them cute AND so we couldn't see through them) - BUT, the ink came off while we were playing!!!! it's all smeared and our fingertips are still being inked bright PINK! so, if i do it again, i'd just print them on cardstock (like the other versions i made) and print the design on the back of those cards - no more photo paper! lol.

we've had so much success with this game that leila has gone to play it at others' houses. we got to spend some time with a friend of mine who broke her leg and can't be out of bed very long - and so we brought leila's old maid game and they had a ball playing it together (being still!).

OH - and how fun is this - leila gets to pick her own old maid for her cards! for the pbs version, it was swiper the fox from Dora the Explorer. for the princess version, she first picked the witch from sleeping beauty, but it scared her so much when she found it in her cards, we had to immediately throw it away and use the Beast instead! and for the family pictures version, she picked a picture of herself picking-or-pigging her nose. how...cute? :) happy playing!

elephant in the room

2011-09-05T04:29:00.000-07:00

if we had gone about it the traditional way, we'd be having a baby soon. but, since we chose a different route, we have a fish now, instead.

what?!

it's easy to see why some people would not want to openly discuss their adoption plans. the beginning is just like a pregnancy - you're excited, nervous, exploding with joy and want to tell everyone you meet because you're so thrilled. however, there is no time frame for the big "delivery," and people ask you about how the adoption's progressing all the time, which makes it kinda sad because there's hardly EVER any news - just waiting in the unknown. you get to see a pregnant lady's progress right there on her person, and the obvious end is in sight. an adoptive family, however, is stuck in progressless land. it could be worse - the Lord has blessed us with two wonderful little girls to keep our minds and hearts busy in the interim. but there's still that elephant in the room, that absence - of a belly bump, of another beating heart, of the child you know is coming but her presence is a mischievous peter-pan shadow that disappears as soon as you look for it - and it hurts to have nothing to hold on to while you wait...for...who knows how long.

so, enough of the sad stuff! we started the adoption process over 9 months ago, and we've been on the waiting list for 3 months! an old coworker said to me after hearing about our adoption plans, "there is definitely a spot in heaven for you." to which i replied, "salvation is so much easier than adoption." and it's proving to be soooooo true, little did i know! ;) if only adoption was believe and RECEIVE! ;) but - waiting makes the receiving so much richer, right?!

well, in regards to a FISH, we now have a little red beta named Marlin living in our house. the girls and i rushed off to spend a week at my mom and sister's house north of fort worth. since everyone in my family has a pet except me, the absence of one in our home is often brought up. so my mother dug out an old fish bowl and encouraged my children to ask mommy and daddy for a fish. my sister was pushing a bird at us - but thankfully the sign at the store said they were not pets for children under 5 (whew!). in a rare moment of conceding, i said okay!

when we got back to houston we talked with the daddy and he just rolled his eyes and asked where the fish bowl had come from. SO - now we have a fish as a new, small member of our family. leila went back and forth about the fish's name: Dorothy and Nemo (which i adamantly told her that her fish would NOT be orange, regardless of what she named it - because i don't have a positive history with goldfish), and the final decision was Marlin.

welcome to the family, Marlin. hope you live a while, and, no offense, but you're not nearly enough to even distract us from the elephant still in the room.

kiddo kraft of the month - august

2011-08-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

we've been at 100+ temperatures for almost 3 weeks straight. everything is dying outside (green-wise, that is) - which is extra sad because i have a brown thumb in general, so NOTHING has a chance. you've never seen so many brown lawns before. we're fighting to keep what grass we have from caving into the dead zone - but we're on water restrictions, and we're trying to be good neighbors (even though we're trying to save our foundation, because we don't want to have to repair that AGAIN!).

so - even though it's a zillion burning degrees outside (even the kiddie car shopping carts at HEB are too hot for the kids to sit in after noon!!!), my girls still want to go outside and play. if we do, i try to go right after we eat breakfast, because by 9:30 i'm roasting and, as leila says, "ALL HOT & SWEATY!" but, if there's a breeze in the afternoons, it's not horribly oven-like (even though it still ain't cool).

well, since i'm da mama, sometimes i bring out my camping chair to sit in while they play with chalk or babypool or whatever outside. they kept crawling up in my chair and soaking or dirtying the canvas seat, so i had an idea - THEY need their OWN chairs!

i was at garden ridge hoping their swimming stuff was on sale (which is wasn't), but i saw these cute kiddie plastic chairs and my mind just raced with NEEDING to buy them. :)

so, our kiddo kraft of the month is: personalized plastic chairs!

the chairs were 4.99 (again, not on sale - boo - when i bought them), i bought some coordinating ribbons (yeah - on sale at Hobby Lobby at 50% off), and some vinyl (on a roll at Hobby Lobby near all the cricut stuff).

using my cricut, i cut the girls' names in cardstock first so that i could center the letters correctly the first time. Then i cut the vinyl (small enough to fit on the rim of the chair's back) and stuck them on, replacing one cardstock letter at a time! (i cut at 1" height, 3 speed, 5 cut depth)

next, i cut out the desired lengths of ribbon (mine are 6" each, 11 of one ribbon and 10 of the other). i tied the ribbons on, alternating styles, on the rungs on the back of the chair.

whaaaalaaaaa! super quick, super easy, super fun, and super happy for the kids to put their own rumps in their own seats when they're all HOT & SWEATY!!!! (or they may stay inside and they can just lounge in them and play with them.)

leila's verdict after seeing them for the first time: "Mamaaaaaa - what'd you do?! they look so cute!"

VACA!

2011-07-31T10:27:00.000-07:00

(sunset - nuevo vallarta, mexico)

we had a fabulous vacation in Puerto Vallarta with my mom, sister, and grandmother this month! one week of sunny skies, kid-friendly pools, beach, mommy&daddy outings. we initially didn't think we were going to do a big vaca this year with all the adoption whatnot, but with the country's adoption changes, there are some new considerable delays now, so we aren't as concerned about saving up vacation days for next year anymore.

that is leila's representation of our family on vacation with her "darbie" dolls!

the GIRLS! (4 generations! oldest, nearly 79, the youngest, nearly 2!)

james and i usually go on vacation to get away with each other (not the kiddos), but since it was a great deal for us to go and we'd have some awesome babysitters (my family) there so we could go off and do some adventures by ourselves, we decided to give it a try! and we had a blast with the GIRLS! (poor james was our only testosterone on the trip!)

beach! (and sealife!)

boat rides to our adventures

enjoying the beach and the waves

tubing in the lazy river

snorkeling with these big angelfish, and stingrays, eels, jellyfish, & all sorts of neato sealife!

it was beautiful there...like paradise. too much fun! we're thankful to be home (and survived the girls' first planeride with absolutely NO issues at all).

now i'm ready to plan our next adventure.......God's leading us somewhere......we can't wait to find out what He's cookin' up! ;)

kiddo kraft of the month - JULY

2011-07-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

what? another kiddo kraft post after the other one was posted just days ago?! YES - cause i totally goofed and realized i should have posted my july 4th craft instead of my silly birdhouses! since it's the first day of july, you still have time to do this (or something like it) if you so desire!

ok. so i saw an idea a while ago and have wanted to try it...so i did. it's not as cute as last year's 4th of july craft (http://courtneysquest.blogspot.com/2010/07/kiddo-kraft-of-month-july.html), but, it was fun to make & practice for other ways i can use this method in the future.

the kiddo kraft of the month is - BLEACHED (and painted) 4th of July TSHIRTS!

see? not as cute as last year, but the girls helped put on the red stars and i did all the bleaching while they were napping. so we both got to get our creation-juices satisfied. :)

don't get scared. this was pretty easy and fun to experiment with. if you have a WATER WOW doodle book pen or something like it (that's what those blue and purple pieces are to the right of the tshirt in the picture), that would be uber helpful. so, i bought our tshirts at Hobby Lobby for under 4 bucks each (with a coupon it could've been cheaper!). i had stencils (and made any i needed), random cardboard pieces (that i hoard for just such a craft as this) to stuff inside the tshirt where to prevent the bleach or paint bleeding through the tshirt, and paint (i just used acrylic and it worked/washed fine). i bought blue shirts, the bleach turned the blue white, and we used red paint - to make sure our RED WHITE & BLUE would be represented.

i traced inside the stencil with the WATER WOW pen (filled with bleach) and made a THIN line. i say THIN, because the bleach spreads and gets thicker. (see the picture below, the outline of the star:)

while the big star was drying, i worked on the stripes on the bottom of the shirt and on the sleeves. for leila's shirt, i spaced out the stripes (pictured below). for macy's shirt, i made them closer together. again, the bleach spreads, so keep that in mind when spacing anything close together. i used my long crafting mat to use to draw the lines...it helped. it was long enough and had some weight to it to stay down while i was dragging the lines across the bottom of the shirt. but a ruler would work too.

after it dried, it was ready for the girls! i made a star stencil using an exacto knife and cut it into a piece of cardboard. i gave them a small sponge to dip in the paint and instructed them to put the paint inside the blue star while i held the stencil down tight.

of course, macy follows directions very well and put her sponge down in the blue star that had her M in it (see below)! lol! but her sponge wasn't full of paint, so it wasn't so bad.

as you can see (in the picture above), i gave their letters a little pizazz by outlining them in paint.
after the paint dried for about a day (or two?). i washed them and they came out just fine (but i DID turn them inside out).

happy Fourth of July! let freedom ring!

kiddo kraft of the month - JUNE

2011-06-26T18:18:00.000-07:00

sorry i'm so late and so uncreative AGAIN this month, but it's been crazy around our house this June! why have we been so busy? well, i had been (1) finishing up our adoption dossier, (2) working on some new artwork, (3) leila had her 3rd birthday, (4) 1.5 weeks of VBS to help with, (5) beach trip!, and (6) mom came to visit for 2 weeks (and hurt her back - and was laid out for the second week - boo!). and i didn't even get to sneak in the father's day craft i had planned...maybe next year. :(

but, i am excited about my new artwork! i made one (8x8) for my sweet young friend who just graduated from high school. she made a beautiful quilt with jack and jane fabrics for leila's birth, so i just had to make her something special for her special milestone!

Commit to the LORD whatever you do and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3

and the second (12x12) canvas print i made for my mother's birthday. she's reinventing her life and her home, so i thought she needed something new for her sewing room.

SEW much fabric - SEW little time

anyways! so, here i am sneaking in at the end of the month to share with you a crafting tip that probably anyone who likes craft stores knows: stock up on the $1 craft basket stuff!!!!

this month's kiddo kraft is making use of all those $1 stock-ups that i've had around the house for "rainy" days (we finally had one this past week!!!!!).

the kiddo kraft of the month is: BIRDHOUSE PAINTING

i had bought maybe 8 of the $1 mini-birdhouses from joann's fabric store...and they have definitely come in handy! as soon as we got home, the girls had to paint a couple. and then we had a playday with a friend's son, and he had a blast painting his own birdhouse to bring home.

and we've used different techniques with different painting sessions. with one we used paint brushes. with another we used sponge brushes. another we used sponge squares. we also did some finger painting, handprinting, and glitter painting too!

for the ones the girls gave my mother and sister, i put a couple coats of polyeruathane on them because she will probably put them outside. this is a super cheap craft and super fun for the girls to experiment and have fun!

rollercoaster to the wilderness

2011-06-17T11:46:00.000-07:00

there hasn't been a kiddo kraft post yet, and father's day is a couple days away. i had an idea, but life has been nuts-o around here. it's been a roller-coaster! something will get posted...eventually!

so, bring on the rollercoaster:

HIGH
my mom visited us this week! there was yummy food in our bellies because she was cooking and macy got to have some much-needed one-on-one time with her honey. and leila got to have her mermaid birthday playdate cause her honey brought all the mermaid tails for her friends to dress up in!

LOW
my mom is leaving on tuesday. i love it when my mom visits, which doesn't get to be as often as it used to. we have so many laughs and precious memories are made when she's here.

HIGH

leila got to go to her first Vacation Bible School this week and she LOVED IT! crafts, singing, story time, playground, snack, dancing on stage - super fun!

LOW

leila's mama (ME) got to be a VBS leader to 17 rambunxious 5-year-olds - which totally ZONKED me for the week. they were precious and full of smiles, but EXHAUSTING - i am energied OUT! i need an energy reboost - stat!

HIGH
we're on the waitlist for our adoption as of 6-7-2011!!!! that means that our dossier is in D.C. being approved by the united states government and will soon be on it's way to sit and wait in Ethiopia for our turn to be given a child referral.

LOW
there have been more policy changes in Ethiopia regarding adoption processing - and there are now limits to the number of adoption cases they will process a month PER AGENCY (less than the fingers on one hand)! :( this is crazy - and will add YEARS to our wait.

i just started a new bible study, One in a Million - Priscilla Shrier, and it talks about the wilderness that God led the Israelites into after their Egyptian captivity. it was a purposeful journey that He planned for them. the promised land was not a 40 year journey; they could've been there in a month by walking straight there! but God used the wilderness to show them their potential when challenged and so that they could see HIS glory & recognize HIM for themselves.

well, after sitting through class last night, i couldn't come up with an application for the wilderness in my present life. but, low and behold, after learning the new news about the adoption processing delays, i feel a wilderness coming. God has brought me to the edge and is going to be doing some refining over the next couple (or so) years...and I know my eyes will see Him for myself - and i will have a wonderful story of miracles, provision, change, and blessings to share with everyone! like the Israelites, i really really really really want the easy path and to be comfortable, but i know God has great plans for me, plans to prosper me and not harm me, so i will lift my eyes unto the Lord and gladly embrace Him and follow Him into the wilderness...the unknown...

dear wilderness,

part of me fears you. i like to be in control, have a schedule, check my boxes and move on to tomorrow knowing exactly what's in store.

there is also a part of me that wants to just sit and pout. i mean, if this is what God has led our family to do and we are faithful in obeying, but barbed wire springs up blocking the way, that just isn't right! why NOW?!

there is also part of me that knows that the enemy is just up to no good. he seems to stick his pointy head in when God's good is being sought. i say, "bring it on, buddy, because God already won this battle." so while i follow God through the dry times on my way to the goal, the enemy is gonna be frustrating me and making me want to complain and give up - but i won't!

so, wilderness, i just want you to know, that i will go forth. i will walk with courage. i know there will be trying times and i'll just want it to end, but, as long as God is leading me and refining me and allowing the sand to smooth my rough edges and clean my eyes to SEE God and all that He is and what His power can accomplish in/through me, i'll go forth. bring it.

affectionately HIS,

courtney

adventures in potty training & immigration

2011-05-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

before i jump into "potty" talk, i gotta share...we have ALL our required documents - which is soooo wonderful because i was blogging about a week ago and i wrote some of my sadness down (but i didn't post it because i thought it would be complaining). but, as i have good news, i'll share it too, because my sadness and longing is just as much apart of this journey as is happiness and excitement:

someday. someday. someday. someday.
peace. joy. happiness. no more sorrow. someday.
i gotta be ready. i gotta be ready. i gotta be ready. someday.

thinking about my little girl in africa. wishing our immigration approval from the US would come. ready to hurry up and wait in a queue instead of in blank space of nothingness.
waiting. hoping. praying.
heart burning. arms yearning.
silence echoes around the quilted place of my heart.

okay, so i was in a rotten place that day yearning for our daughter, but with the arrival of our immigration approval, a new sense of excitement and eagerness overtook me to the point of wanting to cry tears of happiness and to dance a little jig! i know my SOMEDAY isn't here yet, it's a long way yet...but our someday will come and our little girl will be with us!

and, going through this process with a nearly 3 (in 2 weeks! ahhhh!!) year old is very fun. we've talked about leila's adopted sister for at least 6 months now and she is getting it in her own way. it was the most PRECIOUS thing the other day when, out of the blue, leila asked to pray during the day and she said a prayer for her sister! and since then, she's begun to pray for her often and that mommy and daddy can bring her home soon. a girl after my own heart!

sooooo - on to potty talk. so, macy has begun to potty train herself. she's nearly 20 months old and i had NO INTENTION of trying to potty train her for at least 6 months or more (because i've spent the last 10 months trying to get leila potty-trained!!!!). but, almost 2 weeks ago, macy said, "poopoo." i asked her if she wanted to go potty, and she said "yesh." so, we went and sat on the potty, and low and behold - weewee came out. and she hasn't stopped requesting to go potty since then - and being successful at it. i was amazed, and to tell you the truth, NOT READY! but, i'm not pushing her...just letting her tell me when she wants to go.

well, this afternoon, i was folding laundry on the couch and leila and macy were off playing separately somewhere else. normally, i don't worry about macy playing for periods of time by herself, because she's very happy and good at doing so. however, (can you see something devious coming?) leila ran the newly laundered washcloths into the bathroom for me and i heard her talking to macy in there. leila came back to me and said macy was going potty. WELL - since i hadn't taken off her diaper, i was a little skeptical and just figured she'd be sitting on the potty fully clothed and reading a book. i was 1/2 right.

i walked into the bathroom to a scene of toilet paper everywhere and OVERFLOWING from the toilet which macy was sitting on (clothed and diapered). i had just replaced the toilet paper roll that morning, but there was less than 1/3 of the roll still intact.

MACY!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING????

"potty," she said.

i was not happy, but it was also quite funny, so i ran and got my camera.

after i got her off and (don't judge me) salvaged some of the dry toilet paper from the top of the toilet bowl, i tried to flush the rest...WHICH resulted in clogging the toilet. so i had to plunge it out before it started leaking over the toilet rim. GREAT! so, i don't have to worry about them clogging the toilet...with anything BUT toilet paper! lol

so, moral of this story is - put the TP out of reach. :) AND, if YOU use my bathroom, use the TP from the roll and not the miscellaneous pieces folded on the top. ;)

kiddo kraft of the month - MAY

2011-05-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

well, i think i'm going to cheat this month on the craft and share with you my secret mess-free activity that i've done with the girls since they were maybe one year old - AND it requires only a dishtowell for clean-up.

the kiddo kraft of the month is - WATER PAINTING!

lame, i know, but i tell you, this activity has been a hit with the girls and it makes them think they're painting when i don't have the time to do real paint and all the clean-up AND it requires little overseeing - so i can unload the dishwasher, etc., etc., and i know they're safe and not reeking havoc with their craft supplies (or eating something that shouldn't be consumed...[oh sweet toddlers!]) while my back is turned.

materials: construction paper, paint brush or foam brush, container (i've used coffee mugs when they were younger so they couldn't knock it down easily and just a plastic container these days), and water

so, basically, i give the girls a brush and some water and let them go to town "painting" the construction paper.

they splat it, let little drippy drops drip on it, use brush strokes, cover the paper completely or just do doodles - i mean, there's lots of techniques they can experiment with. sometimes leila likes to paint her hand with water and make wet hand prints (and footprints, too).

so, yes, this is a super duper easy smeasy activity, BUT it's been a mommy & kiddo favorite for years!

after they finish painting, i just dry them and the floor/table off and let the papers dry to reuse another day!

super low cost craft - pennies!

happy spring (or summer, if you're in the south like me) and happy water painting!

MAY DAY! MAY DAY!

2011-05-05T12:31:00.000-07:00

warning warning! we have a swimmer on our hands!

and not just a swimmer - a floater, too!

leila started swim classes at the Houston Swim Club, and after going everyday for two weeks for 30 minutes a day, our little girl likes to swim and can float by herself for at least 20 seconds! that may not sound like much, but considering she didn't like getting her face/head wet for the past nearly 3 years, that is a BIG accomplishment. so now we're trying to be awesome floaters to be safe in the water and are going weekly to fine-tune her mad fishy skills.

i'm not gonna lie - the drowning dreams have begun! :( oh, the anxiety that comes from being a mother and caring for one's sweet children.

oh, and here's the catch-up from easter. we had a lovely time thanks to all the grandparents. leila's upgraded to "expert" egg hunter and macy is resigned to be the "excited but not overly interested" egg hunter.

what easter trip to the great-grands would be complete without a visit at the fabulous tyler caldwell zoo?! it is seriously my favorite zoo. it feels like the animals (most of them, at least) are living in real habitats, not just pens and they are very viewable. not to mention the parakeet house where the birds are very friendly and you can feed them seed-sticks and leave knowing that you've had your sweet bird fix but you don't have to go get one for a pet (ahem - brittany).

it's been a great first quarter of 2011! i can't believe the time is zooming by so quickly! all my weekly activities are closing out (boohoo) and the summer ones are slowly getting in motion (yeah!).

hugs & kisses. :)

oh, and as for the adoption update. have just ONE document remaining before we can ship our dossier to ethiopia. i put a call in today to immigration to see what the hold up is...so pray that we get our approval notice ASAP!

hoppy (early) EASTER!

2011-04-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

yes, this is a little early, but for the grandparents' sake, i've gotta put up some pics. it is amazing how the girls have grown since last year! and, thankfully, they don't mind the easter bunny! while other kids stare wide-eyed and scream and run - my girls run to big, furry people-in-animal suits!

so, today at our church was the annual community easter egg hunt. the girls had a blast (even though they were stunned into INACTION by the multitudes). they wore the dresses their honey made them (my mom's blog/shop is listed in my friends' list if you want to see some of her work) and they used their custom easter basket she made last year, too. everybody ooooo-ed and aaaaaaw-ed over them. my mother is so talented!

i know every mother thinks their kids are beautiful, but - my girls are RADIANTLY beautiful. and their eyes...they have their daddy's gorgeous eyes!

so, as spring/summer is upon us...i am grateful for their growth, their vivaciousness, their growing vocabulary, and even their goofiness that incites sisterhood laughter. we are so blessed!

as for our adoption update, we have all our paperwork except the one from immigration. as soon as we get it, our dossier will be off to D.C. to be authenticated before departing for Ethiopia. so ready to hurry up and "offically" wait! ;)

kiddo kraft of the month - APRIL

2011-04-07T18:07:00.000-07:00

(i love these girls - such sweet sisters!)

i've delayed posting the kraft for this month because i planned on doing this project with my MOPS (mother's of preschoolers) group and i didn't want them to peek at our craft.

but before i start THAT - i wanted to give a "garden in pots" update. so, apparently i planted winter veggies, and they probably won't live very long into the blazing texas heat - BUT, the peas, carrots, and basil has been growing! the lettuce peeked out and has since stalled and hasn't changed much. SO, the next time i plant seeds, i'll have to check the SEASON to plant them! but - i'm still hoping that they'll produce SOMETHING. the girls LOOOVE LOOOVE LOOOVE watering them and touching them and seeing them grow. so, it was worth it!

so - onto our kiddo kraft of the month. do you know what special holiday is coming up in a couple weeks?! it's one of my favorites. EASTER of course - cause i know you've seen all the pastel colors and candy peeps all over the place. but Easter is about more than a bunny that hides candy-filled or dyed eggs! it's the most significant day of celebration because it has ETERNAL significance. because Jesus died, was buried, and then ROSE from the grave - we ALL can have a hope for a KINGDOM future! what does that mean - it means that if you love Jesus, he's making a home for you in heaven! can i get an AMEN?!

my family exchanges handmade ornaments at christmas time. and one year, i gave everyone an easter egg ornament and told them, "we wouldn't celebrate christmas if it weren't for easter." of course, lots of teasing ensued (duh, courtney, we wouldn't celebrate easter if it weren't for christmas, duh.), and no one has let me forget it - BUT IT'S TRUE! why would we celebrate Jesus' birthday (Christmas) if he didn't do something AMAZING AND UNFORGETABLE AND AWESOME (Easter - resurrection & salvation)?!

so, the kiddo kraft of the month is - resurrection eggs. this is a GREAT tool to teach children about the easter story. i've seen this a dozen different ways, but this is how i chose to put everything together. and can i tell you, ever since i made it, leila asks me every day to tell her the Easter story! it involves most of her senses (seeing, tasting, touching, smelling), and there are questions i ask to engage her in the story. technically, it is more fun to open one egg a day the twelve days leading up to Easter Sunday, but we just couldn't resist opening them all!!!!

These are the items and their quantities that you will need:

1 (dozen-sized) egg carton

12 plastic eggs

1 “Resurrection Eggs – The Easter Story” cover paper (you can just create it in Word and print it on pretty paper)

1 Bible verse cardstock paper (i'll post the verses, again, you can create it in Word)

1 8.5x11 Easter story & Bible verse page (i'll post this, too)

*Arrange the eggs in the egg carton by the color arrangement of your choice. Number them in order, by using a permanent marker to indicate numbers 1 through 12 on the bottom or top (i did bottom). *Glue the cover paper on top of the carton and use the extra scraps to decorate/cover the egg carton (where the brand wording is, if you care to).

*Trim and glue the Bible verse cardstock paper into the underside of the carton lid.

*Fold the easter story page to fit in the carton (this is a great way to share the easter story with a family who doesn't know about Jesus - so they don't have to look up the Bible verses, in case they don't have a Bible, etc.).

Here are the contents of each egg (i bought enough to make 80 sets, so of course i got a good deal on stuff - however, feel free to improvise or change what you need to fit your budget):

Egg 1 – perfume-sprayed cotton ball (1)

Egg 2 – artificial leaves (1 bunch, mine had 3 leaves)

Egg 3 – oyster crackers (13 - one for each person who ate at the last supper - or you can just put a few, whatever!)

Egg 4 – money (3 - i used fake money, but you could put in some nickles or dimes)

Egg 5 – branch of thorns (1 - cut from my roses)

Egg 6 – wooden cross (1 - bought in 6 pack from Hobby Lobby)

Egg 7 – dice (2)

Egg 8 – nails (3)

Egg 9 – sponge (1 - cut a little square from a regular-sized sponge)

Egg 10 – piece of gauze & cloves (1 gauze & 5 cloves - or you could use another spice)

Egg 11 – rock (1)

Egg 12 – (EMPTY!)

this is what i have written on the BIBLE VERSE CARDSTOCK PAPER:

These eggs will aide your family in discussing the events leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Starting on the twelfth day before Easter Sunday, open one egg per day, read the accompanying Bible verse, and discuss the egg’s contents.

Egg 1 – John 12:1-8

Egg 2 – John 12:12-13

Egg 3 – Luke 22:7-20

Egg 4 – Mark 14:10-11

Egg 5 – Matthew 27:27-31

Egg 6 – John 19:17

Egg 7 – John 19:23-24

Egg 8 – Mark 15:25-32

Egg 9 – John 19:28-30

Egg 10 – John 19:38-42

Egg 11 – John 20:1

Egg 12 – Matthew 28:5-9

this is what i have written on the EASTER STORY & BIBLE VERSE PAGE (it's gonna be long, sorry, but i don't know how to attach a document on this site):

RESURRECTION EGGS – The Easter Story

EGG 1 - John 12:1-8

Do you remember the Christmas story – when Jesus was born? That is really when the Easter story begins. In a stable in Bethlehem, a child was born. And that little baby was very special – He was God as man, and his name was Jesus. When Jesus grew up, He taught people about God and how much He loves them and how they should love each other. But not everyone agreed with what Jesus was teaching and many wanted him gone forever. Before Jesus went to the city of Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish Passover, he stopped to spend time with some of his friends. While he was there, Mary took a very very expensive jar of perfume, worth a year’s wages!, and washed his feet with it. Her generous act was a way of preparing Jesus’ body for what was to come. Smell the perfume and imagine how much Mary loved Jesus!

EGG 2 - John 12:12-13

The next day, the great crowd that had come for Passover heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!” (‘Hosanna’ means ‘Save!’) Jesus began his last week on earth by riding into Jerusalem on a donkey under a spread of palm branches, with crowds hailing him as their king. They didn’t understand that he wouldn’t be a national leader, but a spiritual savior. When it became apparent that Jesus wasn’t going to fulfill their hopes, many people turned against him. Take the leaves and wave them in the air like you would have if Jesus was riding in front of you!

EGG 3 - Luke 22:7-20

Later, Jesus sent his apostles Peter and John to find a place for them to observe the Passover meal. Passover was a holiday observed by the Jewish people to remember Israel’s escape from Egypt when the blood of a lamb painted on their doorframes saved their firstborn sons from death. At the table, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup of wine, sharing it among them. He wanted them to remember his sacrifice (his life and his coming death) for the forgiveness of their sins. Take a cracker, eat it if you want, and imagine Jesus handing it to you and how kind his eyes are as He shares it! Would his eyes be easy to forget?

EGG 4 - Mark 14:10-11

Remember when I told you that not everyone liked Jesus or what he was teaching? Well, would you have guessed that even one of his beloved twelve apostles would turn against him? Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. Because they wanted to get rid of Jesus, they were happy to hear this and promised to give Judas money. So Judas watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them. Count the coins. What do you think Judas cared about more: Jesus or money?

EGG 5 - Matthew 27:27-31

Jesus knew what was going to happen, but he didn’t stop it because wanted to save those who loved him. After Judas gave him over to the soldiers, Jesus was arrested, beaten, and sentenced to die on a cross. The soldiers led him away, took off his clothes, put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They teased him saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” The thorns dug into his skin and made him bleed. Ouch! After the soldiers finished mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. Carefully, touch the thorns and feel how sharp and prickly they are! Where did the soldiers put the thorns on Jesus?

EGG 6 - John 19:17

Jesus was so weak from being beaten and pushed around. But the soldiers made him carry his own cross as far as he could – which wasn’t very far. So a man from the crowd helped him take it to the top of Golgotha. (A cross is a wooden structure on which a prisoner was attached to hang until dead.) Hold the cross in your hand and imagine it being even bigger than you. Would it be hard to carry?

EGG 7 - John 19:23-24

At Golgotha, the soldiers divided Jesus’ clothes among them, except for the most valuable piece. They all wanted it, so they cast lots (maybe by using dice) to decide who would get it. Pick a number between 1 and 6, pick up the dice, shuffle them in your hands, and roll them on the floor. That was how the soldiers tried to win Jesus’ clothes.

EGG 8 - Mark 15:25-32

It was nine in the morning when they crucified Jesus. One nail in his left hand. One nail in his right hand. Maybe another nail through his feet or legs. It was a very painful for him. A sign above his head read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. Those who passed by said mean things to him and made fun of him. Some of Jesus’ friends and family stood close by, very sad, crying and trying to comfort each other. Pick two nails and intersect them into the shape of a cross.

EGG 9 - John 19:28-30

Jesus was on the cross several long, painful hours. Eventually he said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so someone soaked a sponge in it, and lifted it on a stick to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and died. Have you ever sucked on a wet washcloth? Do you think Jesus was able to get much to drink from the sponge?

EGG 10 - John 19:38-42

Jesus’ friends, Joseph and Nicodemus, received permission to bury Jesus’ body. The two of them wrapped his body with spices in strips of linen, according to Jewish burial customs, and placed it in a cave nearby. They rolled a large stone in front of the cave opening to close it. From sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, the Jewish people celebrated the Sabbath and could not come visit Jesus’ tomb. Smell the spices wrapped in the cloth. Is it a strong smell or a weak smell?

EGG 11 - John 20:1

On Sunday morning, very early in the morning, some of the women who had traveled with Jesus to Jerusalem went to his tomb to bring spices and perfumes as a sign of respect and love. But, they were surprised to see that the huge stone had been rolled away from the tomb’s entrance. They were very confused! Take the rock in your hand and imagine it is the size of a car. How many men might it take to move it?

EGG 12 - Matthew 28:5-9

The women looked inside the tomb and it was EMPTY – JESUS wasn’t there! An angel appeared to them and said, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said…[Go] quickly and tell his disciples…” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They ran to him and worshiped at his feet. They were so happy to see that Jesus was ALIVE! Look inside the egg. Why was Jesus’ tomb empty?

After facing much opposition for his teaching, Jesus was crucified, buried, and three days later he rose from the dead! Jesus is King over life and death, and he now reigns in our hearts and has a place in heaven for us!

[that was the front of the page, the following is the Bible verses, sometimes shortened, related to each day]

RESURRECTION EGGS – The Easter Story – Bible Passages

Egg 1 – John 12:1-8

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany…. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair….But one of his disciples…objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” …“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

Egg 2 – John 12:12-13

The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!”

Egg 3 – Luke 22:7-20

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” …They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”…And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” …

Egg 4 – Mark 14:10-11

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Egg 5 – Matthew 27:27-31

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

Egg 6 – John 19:17

Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).

Egg 7 – John 19:23-24

[The soldiers] took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” … So this is what the soldiers did.

Egg 8 – Mark 15:25-32

It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!” In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

Egg 9 – John 19:28-30

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Egg 10 – John 19:38-42

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus...With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus….Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Egg 11 – John 20:1

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

Egg 12 – Matthew 28:5-9

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.

EGG CONTENTS

Egg 1 – perfume

Egg 2 – palm leaves

Egg 3 – cracker

Egg 4 – money

Egg 5 – thorns

Egg 6 – cross

Egg 7 – dice

Egg 8 – nails

Egg 9 – sponge

Egg 10 – spices & linen

Egg 11 – stone

Egg 12 – EMPTY!

Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose from the dead. He broke the power of death – it can no longer keep us from our God in heaven! All those who believe in Him will not be eternally separated from God, but now have opportunity to be with him forever!

****

so, if you've got time to put this together, it is a great tradition to incorporate into Easter. AND, it is a great gift to give to some friends who may not know the story behind Easter. if you want to do it one day at a time, you've got to start next Wednesday! :)

God bless you & if you have any questions, feel free to ask me - about the resurrection eggs, Jesus, or if you need prayers. and if you want me to e-mail you my Word documents, let me know!

kiddo kraft of the month - MARCH

2011-03-10T10:59:00.000-08:00

aye! and luck of the irish to ya!

we've been having so much fun this month so far! i haven't really thought about st. patrick's day before or had reason to participate in it's celebration, so after receiving some cute activities from The Mailbox magazine, i decided, why not introduce the kids to lephrechans? so for the last week, after coloring her little paper green men, leila wakes up in the morning saying, "where are those lephrechauns hiding?!" and she goes off around the house to find her 4 leprechauns: square bo, duck, scare lion, and paul (leila named them, not me).

our kraft of the month isn't lephrechauns, but i wanted to share them with you anyways. here's the link to the ones we used (not sure if it'll work or not): http://www.theeducationcenter.com/tec/af/nl/tec/core/efile/CompanionDetailViewer.do;jsessionid=335E12F2EF5706309EA73BD7B92A82C0?isColorVersion=false&DETAIL=02_fm11pre_hands

so lephrechauns are green and, boy i tell ya, all this new spring growth blooming on trees is like a neon sign in a dark, lonely alley - just breathing relief and shining out brilliantly! so, i was thinking today as i stopped into the home depot for some nails and sponges for a MOPS craft (random combination, ey?), why not plant some seeds with the girls?

so, the kiddo kraft of the month is: GARDENING!

my grandmother and mom are probably busting out laughing or shooting in a sharp gasp of surprise right now because - i have a BROWN thumb, but more than that, i'm an "inside" girl. as soon as the mosquitos start showing up (which will be soon - boohoo), i'll be running INDOORS for cover, because those little suckers love my blood!

but - the girls LOVE being outside, and i think our recent trip to the rodeo and one of their hands-on learning stations planted this idea in me before we even went to home depot. not to mention, my bud nicole made this awesome little boxed garden in her backyard and my mother and grandmother both have super duper awesome gardens. at the rodeo, they had a station with dirt and sunflower seeds where they encouraged everyone to take a little cup of dirt and plant the seeds in it and take them home. well, our little cup is already sprouting little sunflower seedlings! leila loves checking on it!

so, what you'll need is either (don't laugh at me) some pots and some soil OR dig a patch in your backyard (that receives full sunlight - depending on what kind of seeds you're going to plant) and go to the store and buy some dollar seed packets and try your hand at sprouting seedlings! the kids loved digging in the dirt and dropping in the seeds (let alone how interesting the different seeds actually looked like). and of course, watering the plants is always fun - and messy!

so this is not really a "craft" per say, more like an kiddo activity; so here's the craft part: make some seed markers so you know what you've planted where!

materials:

*different colored milk jug tops

*wooden sticks (tongue depressor type)

*hot glue

*permanent marker

i wrote the name of the seed on the flat side of the cap and drew a picture of the veggie we planted. that way, the kids can work on letter recognition/reading and/or picture recognition (depending on the age of the child).

on the stick, i wrote the date i planted them, the seedling sprouting date, and the harvest date on the stick, so i can help them with the time concept. "when's it going to grow, mommy?" - well, since we know target dates (according to the package), i can explain it to her.

i then hotglued the jug top to the top of the stick and then stuck them into the cooresponding plant pots! (hopefully far enough away from little fingers who won't pull them out of the ground!)

(yes - i put veggies in pots - don't laugh!) ;)

the girls had an absolute blast helping me plant the seeds. there will probably be a bunching problem once they start growing because they helped SOOO well, but that can be fixed when they start growing. maybe i'll even transplant some of them to the GROUND and continue growing them from there! miracles do happen!

anyhoo - so i want to encourage you (who are at least in post-freeze areas of the country) to get outside with the kids and start getting dirty before it gets too hot and the bugs start feasting! lol! OH - and i'll let you know if anything grows or matures enough to harvest!

happy planting/watering/harvesting (or eating dirt, like macy did)!

leila, my little jacob & other misadventures

2011-03-06T13:27:00.000-08:00

so, do you know the story in the bible where, right before jacob and esau are reunited (years after jacob stole his brother's birthright and deceived his father, etc.), jacob wrestles with a man (who is God), and during the "fight" jacob says in Genesis 32:26, "i will not let you go unless you bless me" - you remember that?

so, there's a kids version of that story that the girls have watched, and this morning before church, the girls were laying on their beanbags when out of no where, macy lays on leila and won't get off. leila tells her sister, "macy, get off me. macy, move. macy, move off me!" macy is clearly enjoying antagonizing her sister (she's only 17months old!), and all of a sudden leila yells: "BLESS ME!" i was choking up laughs because it was so stinking hilarious! leila was exacerbated and through that story, she thought that "bless me" was a phrase to say to initiate movement on her opponent's part!

of course, i pulled macy off her sister and continued to laugh my guts out. leila smiled after that and wasn't as annoyed by her sister anymore. :)

so when they're not bugging each other to no end or stealing whatever the other is playing with, we are having fun.

just last week all four of us went to the houston livestock show and rodeo and had a BLAST! i had told leila about all the things we could see or do there and she was so anxious to actually get there and do everything!

two things of particular importance to her were the pig races and the camel ride. of course, i thought she'd chicken-out on the camel ride once she saw how big and high off the ground it was, but nope, she didn't flinch, and so, i had to get on the camel with her. i guess i didn't realize, myself, how tall they were - and i probably won't be riding another one again. and it didn't help that the camel bucked while we were on it in response to some loud blasting music coming from a stage presentation right next to the camel area. yes, you could say i was scared for my life, and that of my child who was barely holding on to a little bar on this big beast's back.

so, live and learn: animals closer to the ground are safer? like baby goats and sleeping pigs. ;)

and other fun activities that don't require interaction with things with teeth, like farming:

the rodeo was a hit! next year macy will be as enthusiastic about it too.

some of the other fun things of late:

leila thinks she's a princess now. yikes.

and macy is miss independent/drama queen. fun.

and they're both pretty crazy/funny kids. we're so blessed! they definitely keep us on our toes with creative ideas like wearing rainboots and floaties during windy weather OR rowing a "boat" with paper towel rolls and playing pirates.

if this is life's adventure, i'm loving it!

"There Is No Me Without You"

2011-03-01T18:30:00.001-08:00

i recently read a fascinating book about Ethiopia and one woman's life spent rescuing it's orphans. it was non-fiction (not one of my favorite types of books), and it read like a story and a history book rolled into one [go figure, right - haha!].

i would love to encourage everyone to read it so that you could learn about the orphan crisis in Africa, specifically from the point of view of Ethiopia, and what AIDS has done to the continent and what "we" have done to allow it to spread/reign/impoverish/orphan/disable/etc. because of our lack of knowledge of the disease and the political choices of national leaders and the pharmaceutical companies, and etc.

BUT - what i absolutely LOVED was that there is HOPE displayed in that ONE person CAN make a difference. AND DID and DOES! one Ethiopian woman opened her heart and home to DOZENS and DOZENS and DOZENS and DOZENS of children (health status unknown) who were dropped off at her home by the police, remaining relatives, or strangers, or no one.

http://www.amazon.com/There-No-Me-Without-You/dp/1596912936/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299034777&sr=8-1

here are some quotes i earmarked which struck me at the time of reading them:

p23

"Who will offer grief counseling to twelve, fifteen, eighteen, thirty-six million children? Who will help them avoid lives of servitude or prostitution? Who will pass on to them the traditions of culture and religion, of history and government, of craft and profession? Who will help them grow up, choose the right person to marry, find work, and learn to parent their own children?

Well, as it turns out, no one. Or very few. There aren't enough adults to go around. Although in the Western industrialized states HIV/AIDS has become a chronic condition rather than a death sentence, in Africa a generation of parents, teachers, principals, physicians, nurses, professors, spiritual leaders, musicians, poets, bureaucrats, coaches, farmers, bankers, and business owners are being erased.

The ridiculous numbers wash over most of us. This is happening in our time?..."

p98

"...Steep gender inequality across Africa and Asia empowered men to summon, to deceive, to compel, to purchase sex from, to rape, to marry young, to marry multiple, and to cheat on girls and women. A survey by French epidemiologists of young women in cities in Kenya and Zambia showed 6 percent of women were infected with HIV by age fifteen, 13 percent by sixteen, 20 percent by seventeen, 24 percent by eighteen, 30 percent by nineteen, and 40 percent by twenty."

p134

"A child cannot live without a mother or father. A mother or father cannot live without the child."

p204

"'My colleagues compare AIDS in Africa to the Holocaust," he says [Dr. Mark Rosenberg - Atlanta-based Task Force for Child Survival]. 'They imagine we will be asked by future generations, 'What did you do to help?''"

p268

"So Haregewoin understood adoption like this: In the epoch of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, a few families from foreign countries were throwing lifelines to individual children. The life-changing opportunity was not without a price, which the Ethiopian government weighed carefully: the adopted children would lose their country, people, faith, language, culture, and history. A child could end up the sole Ethiopian for hundreds of miles; another, the only child of color in his or her school. But the adopted child would gain the one thing on earth arguably worth more than a homeland: family. While most African nations did not turn to intercountry adoption as an option for orphaned children, Ethiopian officials had decided that for the infinitesimal minority of African orphans who could be raised by foreign parents, the trade-off was worthwhile and they would not block their path."

p413

"By February 2006, according to UNICEF, more than five million children had died in the HIV/AIDS epidemic and 2.3 million children were living with HIV/AIDS.

Eighty-five percent of those children lived and died in sub-Saharan Africa."

p427

[words of adoptive father to his adopted children's living family in Ethiopia upon meeting them] "We will raise the children to know Ethiopia and to love their first family. We are all one family now."

this book opened my eyes to SOOOO much. i am so grateful for the telling of Haregewoin's story and the story of Ethiopia and of HIV/AIDS pandemic. i find myself very ignorant of things that are very important. after reading this book, i might have changed some of the "preferences" we filled out on our adoption forms, but, it is what it is, and i know that God is going to bless us with the child He has chosen for us regardless of my new knowledge.

already, there is no me without our future daughter. i find myself thinking of her daily and praying for her by name (the one that breathes light and joy in my heart, the one we've chosen for her) and for her birth mother and father. sweet girl, i yearn to have her in my arms but know it is a long time yet before that dream will materialize. she's worth the wait, and i'm so thankful we've been led to Ethiopia to find her! it is a fascinating country with rich culture and an amazing history (did you know that the queen of sheba could have been from ethiopia - and might have been one of king solomon's wives?! and in biblical times, the best myrrh or frankincense (i can't remember which one) was requested to be bought from Ethiopia?!). it is great - i love learning new things about Ethiopia - it's history is much more interesting than our own.

----

anyhoo, i just wanted to share this with you because it was truly interesting and eye-opening for me on many levels.

----

regarding our adoption process. we're still working on our dossier. immigration is processing our CIS paperwork and i'm about to send off our first shipment of documents to austin to be authenticated by the secretary of state. i am sooooo ready for the paperwork to be complete and it be on it's way to Ethiopia, BUT - it'll be soon enough...and then we'll just be waiting from that point, maybe another 12 months or so before we are matched to our daughter. so, here's to being patient and prayerful and enjoying the current blessings God has given us!

----

We can do no great things, only small things with great love. ~Mother Teresa

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. ~Anne Frank

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale

There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread, but there are many more dying for a little love. ~Mother Teresa

kiddo kraft of the month - FEBRUARY

2011-01-30T17:49:00.000-08:00

(who needs a window cleaning service? i've got two that work for free)

****

feb, R u a r? y?

(that's how my mom taught me to remember how to spell february)

i can't believe it's februray! that means there are 2 weeks until valentine's day! i'll admit it. i'm one of those girls who pretended to hate it while loving any attention from it. i was born to be loved on! and what girl doesn't love some flowers?

so, our kiddo kraft of the month is: a bouquet of candy heart flowers

i was trying to think of something fun to do with candy hearts and found all sorts of fun ideas, but i wasn't impressed with the quality of the stamping on the ones i saw in the store. so after turning down the valentine's isle at Hobby Lobby, that's when i saw them and the idea hit me: candy heart-shaped foam stickers - i could make a bouquet out of "candy hearts," sort of.

supplies:

foam heart stickies

pipecleaners

ribbon

plastic cups

masking tape

foam sticky sheet (non sticky is okay too)

cost: (everything at Hobby Lobby & i paid an additional 30% off)

$4.99 pack of candy heart foam stickies

$3 for 3 rolls of 4ft of valentine's ribbon

$1.99 valentine assortment of pipecleaners

process:

*for BIG flowers, twist coordinating pipecleaner around 3 white pipecleaners

[lived and learned, it won't stand up without some extra pipecleaner support!]

*arrange hearts and unpeel the sticker on the ones that are going to attach to the pipecleaner and press the twisted pipecleaner on both

*stick coordinating hearts on top, sticky side to sticky side

*stick two other petal hearts together with their pair and set in place on the flower

*stick small heart on flower, making sure to grab the two hearts that aren't attached to the pipecleaner as well as the ones that are

*tie a small length of ribbon around the flower's stem

*for LITTLE flowers, twist coordinating pipecleaner around 2 white pipecleaners

*arrange hearts and unpeel the sticker on all three (face down) and press the twisted pipecleaner down the center of the flower

*cut a small triangle of craft foam (i used sticky craft foam) and press it over the pipecleaner making sure the long angles attach themselves to the two petals not holding on to the pipecleaner

*stick the coordinating hearts over all three petals

*tie a small length of ribbon around the flower's stem

*punch three small holes in the bottom of a plastic drinking cup

*thread the pipecleaner stem bases through the holes

*cut of excess pipecleaners and tape the remaining pipecleaner stems to the inside of the cup (so they will stand straight and not flop around)

*glue or stick (i used my sticker-maker machine) valentine ribbon around the cup to make it look cuter than just a drinking cup ;)

tada! the girls' bible class teachers are gonna get a hoot out of these cute candy heart bouquets!

----

REGARDING OUR HOMESTUDY: we passed! it was easy-smeasy. thank you for your prayers! our God is an awesome God! we're working our way to our daughter one step at a time. until then, we're enjoying the ones He's already blessed us with. ;)

watch your STEP!

2011-01-24T11:31:00.000-08:00

there's a big step of our adoption process coming up: HOMESTUDY! after over 40 days of waiting for the call from our social worker, she's asked to do our meeting at the end of this week! i'm so excited, but then my excitement turns to - on no! are we READY?! we've got smoke detectors to install, and the bathrooms defintely need a good cleaning, and what kind of things i need to think about as far as my responses to all her questions about me, my past, my marriage, my parenting style, etc. etc. etc. i need a cheat sheet. :)

i told my bible study group and MOPS group last week to pray for the homestudy to be scheduled quickly, and low and behold, God answered all of our prayers - super rapido! THANK YOU, GOD! it's so funny that i'm so impatient for everything to be done when i know we have maybe another year until we are referred to our future daughter. but i am ready to just hurry up and get the waiting started!!!! knowing that i have done everything i can possibly do will make me feel so much better and more peaceful knowing that EVERYTHING will be in GOD's HANDS - because there's absolutely NOTHING i can do after all this paperwork stuff! i am thankful for that, because i know He'll do everything better than i ever could and he knows who our daughter is and has picked us out for each other. TRULY, A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN! what a great sentiment to carry us into the Valentine's season. :)

for now, i'll get busy cleaning the house and fretting over things i'm sure don't matter and enjoy my current daughters being crazy and loving!

--

macy has been learning to talk. getting her to say words on video is a little tricky though. ;) she says: mama, dada, leila, hi, bye, hush (to my mother's dog - not us), more, eat, apple, book, up, baby, no-no, uh-oh, did it, shoe, and others i'm sure i forgot.

and here's my sweet leila singing "Mighty to Save" - which she BELTS out at kids worship at church. i've heard from more than one teacher that she sings very very very very loud - and that they LOVE IT! ;) i don't think she knows the difference between singing and shouting - but her heart is as pure as can be - a light of God's handiwork!

and here's the video she learned it from at church (LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!!):

one of my favorite lines from this song that really speaks to me during this great adventure we've embraced is the following:

i give my life to follow
everything i believe in!
now i surrender!

joyful heartache?

2011-01-13T12:08:00.000-08:00

this has been a hard year so far. funny, it's only day 13. i feel like the enemy is really attacking us...my whole family. and boy am i trying to put up a good fight and being positive and hopeful, but it is downright difficult.

james 1 tells us to "2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

but i don't find joy in heartache-filled trials or that of the suffering of those i love. i feel sad or mad or helpless, not joy.

i know the joy comes with the morning...after the trial is over and i can look back and see what God has led me through and how much better i am after suffering through it. is that what james is referring to, or does he mean to be joyful (present tense) in trials? if so, i've got work to do - but that's not surprising.

something that makes our current trials more painful is that i have absolutely NO control over any of them. that's the kicker. me...control-freak...can do NOTHING at all to help, to make it easier, to get things going the right way. people are suffering and i am incapable of doing anything. not because my desire isn't there, but because there is absolutely NOTHING i can do. it's like watching a video of a live feed 100 miles away and there's a person lying injured in the picture, but you have no phone, no car, no way to help them. you get to sit and watch - HELPLESS.

i know that God is using my present events to grow me and those i love. i just hate going through the growing pains. BUT - i will not let the enemy discourage me. i know who's really in control and i know that HE is looking out for me...and He'll get us through and He will love me and walk with me (probably carrying me) the entire time. i guess that's my joy. it may not look like a smile and a gleeful song, but that'll be my joy.

kiddo kraft of the month: JANUARY

2011-01-09T06:39:00.000-08:00

i need to learn to plan ahead...i feel like i'm always trying to catch up! this month's craft is going to be cheating just a bit, as i used it from Christmas gifts and for MOPS (mother's of preschoolers) crafts for the moms. BUT - that's okay, right?

this month's craft is pretty cheap and can be a lasting memory that serves as a fun decoration in your house or as a gift to a family member. depending on the kid's ages, they can do all of it, or just some of it.

the kiddo kraft of the month: tile art!

[traced the girl's hands & filled in with different designs (close up near end of post)]

tiles are super cheap and come in a variety of sizes and colors at your local hardware store. you can color directly on them with permanent markers (AFTER applying a layer of satin varnish), use a drawing done by the kiddos and modpodge it on, modpodge a favorite picture, use stickers (kiddie ones or ones with quotes), modpodge scrapbook paper, or use whatever you want!

[birthday gift for MIL - abbreviated Proverbs 31 & used scrapbook paper]

cost:

6x6 tile @ HomeDepot - $.48

DuraClear Satin Varnish @ Hobby Lobby - $2.67 (use a 40% off coupon!)

Mod Podge @ Hobby Lobby - $6.99 (use a 40% off coupon) - choose gloss or matte, depending on finished preference [glossy or not as glossy]

****IMPORTANT****
it takes up to a month for modpodge to fully cure, so don't lay anything on it very long - even when dry, including other tiles, or it could stick and mess up your project! i wrapped mine in wax paper when giving them to others.

-
instructions (paper on tile):

*Spread medium coat of modpodge on tile & quickly place paper
*Gently smooth out any bubbles under the paper while pressing it onto tile (press hard!)
*Let dry for at least 15 minutes
*Apply coat over paper
*BE AWARE of the direction of your brush strokes, as they will be somewhat noticeable
*BE AWARE that new bubbles may appear, so quickly and gently tend to them, but don’t mess with them too much or your paper will tear or you’ll gunk up the modpodge
*LET LAYERS of paper DRY before topping with new layers
*Let dry for at least 15 minutes

*Apply another coat of modpodge & let dry for 15 minutes (aim for 3-4 topping coats, depending on time)
-

instructions (drawing on tile):

*Use VARNISH as base coat, spread lightly and cover the area you will use permanent markers on - this is a MUST! (markers don’t stay permanent on tile without it & will fade/smear away/change colors/etc.)
*Let dry for at least 15 minutes
*Write on tile with permanent markers & let dry for 15 minutes
*BE AWARE that markers will NOT wash off varnish, so practice on a blank piece of paper if you’d like

*Apply another coat of modpodge & let dry for 15 minutes (aim for 3-4 topping coats, depending on time)

[special gift for sister given with wire easle, full of words describing her]

[close up of handprint tile which i colored in with varying designs]

[MOPS craft, used scrapbook paper and quote stickers]

[i printed Pop-Pop's sugar cookie recipe (in last month's kiddo kraft post) on scrapbook paper & modpodged it on cute Christmas cookie paper and gave them to all the women in my family]

there are several shapes of tile. this one is 4 x 6" with a lip at the bottom. i think it was a little over a $1, but it was peferfect for a picture!

there are endless possibilities to this craft. coasters? any ceramic tile shape (crosses)? whether the kids draw, make handprints, draw picture on paper and modpodge it permanently to tile, create a mosaic, or find a picture of a beloved grandparent gone to heaven, etc., there are many fun things to do with tile & modpodge! and try whatever idea comes to mind!!!! don't limit yourself to my few ideas.

happy crafting!

our little light and honor

2011-01-04T11:40:00.000-08:00

i just finished listening to this month's Gladney Center for Adoption confernece call online, and my face is tear-stained and my heart is aching. They described the care our future daughter will receive at the foster care center -- and it was soooo good, they even mandate tummy-time! it made me so happy, yet so sad at the same time because i can't be there to take care of her myself. i am so thankful for the caliber of care they describe, but i am torn because i want to be the one to do it.

i thought this would be easier, since it's only the beginning, but it's not. i know she's not even born yet, but the idea of her is enough to make her alive in my heart. she's the light at the end of the tunnel, but it's a long, bumpy tunnel. the end can't come soon enough for our beginning.

---

and then i watch videos like this from all the adoption blogs my bud kandy has led me to, and my heart yearns for the baby that is missing from my arms...

God has given james and i hearts open to such a wonderful way of family growth - and it's my heart's desire, my need to fulfill a purpose in my life, to love a life that i had absolutely no part in creating, but is a child of God who will be my child! as we are adopted as God's children, with full rights, my LIGHT will be my child, completely! what a priviledge - what an HONOR it is to be her mother and father! God is allowing His child, our sweet little LIGHT and HONOR who probably isn't even born yet, to be our child...temporarily, this side of eternity!

kiddo kraft of the month - DECEMBER

2010-12-16T17:51:00.001-08:00

yes, i realize it is the middle of december and christmas is t-minus 8 days away...i had good intentions of doing a real craft with the kids (besides the christmas craft kits from Hobby Lobby), but - life has really taken over in the form of paperwork and paper chase. if you don't know yet...my family has started the adoption process, and i've been running around like a madwoman trying to get all our paperwork finished or in the process of being submitted before the end of the year. so - i haven't had the time or mental energy to think of something "great" for the kids (besides the aforementioned craft kits).

so - the kiddo kraft of the month is - SUGAR COOKIES!

what better way to celebrate the holidays with kids than to make a mess and eat it up along the way?

i'd like to share with you my great-grandfather's recipe that has been used every Christmas (and other holidays and events in between)

Pop-Pop's Sugar Cookies

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter (softened)

pinch of salt

2 TBsp vanilla

5 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

cream butter & sugar, add eggs - mix well

add vanilla, then flour and baking powder.

mix it up and make into a stiff dough (this may require refrigerating for several hours (depending on which part of the country you are in and the temperature outside)

roll out dough and cut into shapes with cookie cutters

bake 8-10 minutes at 325 degrees

(we doubled the recipe last night and we got, maybe, 6 dozen cookies - depending on size of cookie cutters?)

***HINT*** when rolling out dough - roll it out BETWEEN 2 sheets of wax paper, lightly floured on both sides of dough. can't tell you the mess this saves and how easy it is!!!!

merry christmas. i pray that your family honors the One behind the special holiday - JESUS! may God bless you and your families!

****

p.s. grandparents are the BEST!!!!

2010-12-08T18:32:00.001-08:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

thank you, thank you, now i thank you...

2010-11-23T17:25:00.000-08:00

i realize it's been a while since i posted just about my family and what's going on. truth be told - there's a LOT going on (behind the scenes) which has been keeping us uber occupied. and, in the limelight of life, there's a lot going on for anyone to see, too!

leila has upgraded to a toddler bed. we were nervous about her transition and that she would be hesitant, but NOPE -- she likes her "big girl bed" and hasn't looked back (nor has she gotten out of it by herself yet even though it's on the ground!!!!).

leila has been doing better at potty-training, but she's still on her own timeframe. we use a potty sticker chart with goal spots on it for incentive, and so far we've gone to the science museum to see dinosaurs and to the zoo to see baby elephants. our next target will allow us to go to the children's museum. we'll see if she's motivated to use a pull-up by that point...or panties?! she's a 2 steps forward 3 steps backwards kind of girl, whose 2 steps forward are like carrying a sumo wrestler. :) BUT - that's okay. i try not to get too frustrated or push her too much (just naggingly reminding her where IT goes).

macy has been walking all over the place, and even tries to run (to her determent). it is so fun to see her charge around the house crying, "ROAR" and chasing us. ;) she's our little lion. and her teeth prove it - they're so sharp - and there seems to be many many many more on their way that are making her act a little lion-like. ;(

but she is such a little sweetie pie with a big personality who LOVES to play with her sister (and whatever her sister is playing with)!

there is so much to be thankful for (including icecream with daddy), but this year, i am thankful for family & the hope of those who need...that their need, whatever it will be, will be met - because God works to meet it...through His Spirit, through others, through the power that comes by trusting in Him. and i want to be a vessel to someone to meet a need that God has called me to change!

whereas i used to look at having young children as a hindrence to me working in the community and reaching out to those in need, i now try to find opportunites for us to serve together! this week we went to the food pantry at our church and helped hand out food to those in need. leila (and her new best friend, lilia) handed out the turkey gift cards while the adults loaded up cars with baskets full of food. friends & serving - it was so much fun!

there is so much to be thankful for - we are so blessed!

---

(and i'm a little late on this post - but here are my little Halloween insects: Leila "MACY-bee" & Macy "Ladybug.")

kiddo kraft of the month - NOVEMBER

2010-11-13T15:18:00.000-08:00

(cheeeeeeeZ)

sorry i didn't get this posted sooner. this month's craft will be a great thing to have for the long car rides that accompany Thanksgiving traveling! i borrowed this idea from a super crafty mommy friend of mine, erin (http://lookwhaterinmade.blogspot.com/). of course now i can't find it on her blog, but it's full of funnnn things (and she's uber talented in all sorts of medium).

let's make I-SPY BAGS!

the girls have been interested in these since i put them in the car with them. Macy (1yr) mostly likes the swooshy noise the little balls make. Leila (2yrs) actually looks to see what's inside. when she gets older, i'll attach a card with a picture of the items on one side and the words printed on the other. SO - the kiddos will have something new and interesting to tick away some of the long car-ride minutes on the way to nana & pawpaw's house!

time: 45min-1hour

supplies:

fleece (for back): 9" square

fabric (for front - or fleece, whatever): two 2.5" fabric strips 9" long, two 2.5" fabric strips 6" long

lightweight plastic material: 6" square

plastic pellets or bean bag filling

sewing machine & thread & scissors :)

little items to spy in the bag

[ideas to put inside (50+, cause i didn't include enough): hairbands of different colors, animal or other neat shaped beads, sequins, toy rings, letter beads or wood shapes (to spell child's name?), rubber bugs, figurines, paperclips, creature tube items (buy at Michael's with a 40% off coupon), jingle bells, colorful cord/yarn, pom-poms, buttons, dry noodles (different shapes), large pills (advil?), small pictures of family members' facesdifferent shaped items, penny, those junky toys from the 25 cent machines at Cici's pizza, and any other random things you can find in your junk drawer that aren't too big.]

cost: $3.99/lb bag (@ hobby lobby) for pellets, $X for toys inside, used fabric scraps

process:

*(we used instructions from a website [if the measurements of fabric or whatever are different, go by those b/c my mom & i just made it up as we went along - lol]). BUT, here's a video that is better than any of my written directions. (mom said what they did to sew the window was easier than what she did. we strip-pieced our window piece together.).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=363_tDhS7Cs

*take a picture of your treasures (so you can print it out for the little ones who can't read so they know what to find in the bag - cause you're not going to remember what's in there!)

[lived & learned: if you use fabric, use it only on one side. the fleece really keeps it from slipping around their little laps.]
[lived & learned: the little plastic balls we used were a little heavy, so we'd probably try the little styrofoam bean-bag fill balls on the next ones.]

OOOOOORRRRRRR

CHEAPER & EASIER IDEA (for those, like me, who don't sew): use an empty plastic bottle (not too big! remember, they're for little hands) & use rice for the fill! i-spy BOTTLE! (glue the lid on though, or it'll be a wicked mess!!!!)

ANOTHER IDEA?

make a themed bottle/bag with small items for special holidays or events (Christmas, Valentine's Day, Zoo/Safari, School, Farm, Princess, whatever!). check out oriental trading for the jumbo bag of small toys...or look in their sale section for out-of-season small toys.

other examples/references:

http://www.squidoo.com/I-Spy-Bags

http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2009/02/eye-spy-bags.html

http://blissfullydomestic.com/2008/i-spy-bags

http://www.ehow.com/how_5133169_make-spy-bag.html

http://www.sugardoodle.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1654&Itemid=5

HAPPY TRAVELING!

i'm thankful for a healthy family, sticky & smiling kids, and a wonderful husband who is the answer to my childhood prayers!

kiddo kraft of the month - OCTOBER

2010-10-22T18:04:00.001-07:00

yes, the month is halfway over, but i had trouble deciding on a craft for the month. and then when i decided, i had to wait until i visited my old-faithful pumpkin patch at a church in my neighborhood.

so, we hit the orange garden this morning and nabbed some sweet small pumpkins for this month's kiddo kraft: ghost-feet pumpkins!

there are tons of ways for kids to help with decorating pumpkins (without sharp utensils), but this is one i've done for 3 years now with Leila, and she got to help out this year, besides lending her little feet to the paintbrush.

time: 5-10 minutes (not including drying time)

supplies:

*paint brush

*white paint (used the washable crayola paint)

*craft glue

*smallish pumpkin

[lived & learned: i misjudged the size of my kiddos feet, so pick a pumpkin that is a couple inches taller than the length of their feet so that the ghost is more easily recognized and you can see most of the footprint on the belly of the pumpkin]

*accessories: googly eyes, small pom-pom for mouth, black marker, or whatever

cost: minimal, if you have art supplies on hand. basically, the cost of your pumpkin(s)

process:

*coat kiddo's foot in white paint & press it on the pumpkin (TOES down!)

*repeat around the pumpkin

*let dry

*decorate with googly eyes, pom-pom for OOOOOooooo mouth, OR just use a black marker (i dotted the glue and leila placed the accessories on herself)

*let dry

TOO EASY, and a fun little way to get the kids involved in halloween decorating!

BOOOOO-ya, baby! even macy got involved and sat through me painting her feet. BUT - i had to draw the line at googly eyes on her pumpkin because she kept trying to eat them.

there are sooo many variations to this project that you could do, so have fun with the kids and their special pumpkins!

flipping your fins you don't get too far...

2010-10-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

so this post is in honor of my sister, Brittany, and her flamed passion of "The Little Mermaid" in Leila. she loves anything 'mermaid' - books, stickers, figurines, movies, music, whatever! and every random while, she'll bust out singing a song from one of the mermaid movies. like this:

at first i have to try and figure out what she's singing, but then a couple verses later, it's easier to pick up. she's so animated and adorable. AND full of self-praise. lol

happy BEE-day Macy!

2010-10-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

my sweet Macy is officially out of the months and into the years of life. it has been one fast year...some days seemed long, but the months were short. it is such a blessing to have her in our family. she brings a whole new dimension to family that i could never dream possible...and i am so glad.

for her birthday we had a BEE-day party and invited some friend her age (without siblings [except one] - haha, that meant for fewer bodies massing in my small house). they were so cute together! we gave macy a ball-pit for her birthday, so all the babies enjoyed getting in the balls and looking at each other (and drooling). and snacking on puffs and cheerios.

her birthday cake experience didn't disapoint. she had purple icing all over her mouth and she even tried to poke the candle with her finger before we quickly blew it out.

it was a fun playtime with friends! and i'm happy that i have a whole year to worry about another birthday party. what will the theme be next year?! hmmmm....not worrying about that yet!

happy birthday my little tongue-sticking-outing, crazy head-shaking, sweet little Macy BEE!

AND big sister leila had a fun day too. besides eating cake with one of Macy's party guests, i took leila and another friend to see Veggie Tales LIVE.

she was so desperate to walk up to the stage and meet them. she kept saying "i touch them" over and over as she inched her way towards the big veggies. she LOVED it. :)

kiddo kraft of the month - SEPTEMBER

2010-09-15T12:32:00.000-07:00

i've missed half of september! i've delayed doing this project because i need an extra set of hands to help wrangle kids when painting.

the craft of the month is PLACEMATS!

leila is ready to sit at the table with us, but i don't want her ruining the tablecloth with her food-covered digits (and the table is too ugly to leave uncovered). i had been looking for some on my weekly visits to walmart, target, grocery store, and dollar store, but didn't find anything much (besides dora, and we don't do dora yet). SO - i figured, let's make our own!

time: 20-30 minutes (depending on preparedness & whether painting or coloring)

supplies:

*two sheets of construction paper (or one big sheet) OR big fingerpainting page

*computer-printed clipart of child's favorite characters (i.e., sesame street, clifford, veggie tales, little mermaid, nemo, sid the science kid, etc.)

*(2 sheets) clear contact paper 19"x12"

*scissors

*gluestick

*stickers

cost: no clue! i had contact paper (bought at walmart for a couple bucks?) and everything else!

process:

*google & print pictures of child's favorite characters

*tape together 2 sheets of construction paper, or use the double size, or use a fingerpainting page

*have child color on construction paper OR paint on fingerpainting paper (let dry)

*trim construction paper or finger painting paper to fit on your table (i rounded the edges because i have a round table) and leave 1/2 inch of room from top of contact paper to edge of paper

*glue pictures on both sides of paper

*add an array of stickers (for I-SPY games when they've finished eating and you haven't)

*pull off adhesive back of the contact paper and lay sticky side UP on flat surface

*DO THIS!!! lay your picture down onto the contact paper. DON'T try to start from one end and smooth it to the other end cause that will cause bubbles (see my big air bubbles that won't work themselves out and pretty much streaked big lines across the whole placemat?). it works better when you just lay it onto the paper and press from the center out!

*lay the second piece of contact paper down sticky side up and carefully line up the contact paper and press down from the center out. LAY IT DOWN DON'T connect the ends and move to the other side.

*trim the contact paper leaving at least a 1/4" around the edge.

leila is LOVING her new placemats. she wants me to tell her stories about all her favorite characters. and she likes me asking her to find all the different stickers during I-SPY. she even carried it around the house all day yesterday.

if i had a color printer, i would have printed out color pictures. BUT the benefit of black and white is that you can use a visa marker and color on the contact paper and then it will wipe off! i also added LETTERS and NUMBERS so we could practice those, too. and i wipe off the placemat after eating and it's as good as new (and my tablecloth doesn't have fingerprints). i'm going to make another one with this fingerpainting piece leila made:

i have a happy kiddo at mealtimes who will eat up her veggies so mommy will "tell story" about the placemat characters!

perspective

2010-08-31T04:39:00.001-07:00

i'm back. my absence betrays that statement, but i'm somewhere between being present and being busy-out-of-my-mind.

my trip to the dominican was much needed. even now, i find it funny that i went to work & serve the people there and help them, when i know the one that was truly affected was me. God is so marvelous like that - even when trying to be selfless, He turns it around and blesses you, heals you, and recreates you in the process. i don't know if the people we worked with will remember their few days with Americans or what we tried to teach them, but i know i will.

because of my experience there and getting to know and immediately loving our missionary family, i felt as if i have carried their hopes back with me. their obvious hunger for connection between us, for more than just monetary support, but for relationship. so i, along with my team, presented our recent trip to the rest of our congregation, in hopes that they will see the needs of our missionaries and begin to think of them as the best God has working for Him who are famished for God's people's interaction, for encouragement and support.

http://www.sugargrove.org/audio/2010/20100815v_wm.html (please ignore my southern accent that i didn't realize was so pronounced until i heard three seconds of me talking in this video).

i can't imagine being alone, cut-off from my family for years; trying to do the best for my family with little; and still being joyful, mission-focused, and laughing with sincerity. AND having a heart purely for God. i take for granted my access to my family, friends, and a supporting Christian network. their faith is PURE, impenetrable, and fire-tested & beautiful. what a privilege it is know people like that. what i can learn from them!

and i figured my presentation and discussion with the congregation, the missionary committee, and the elders were the end, but the Spirit kept feeding me hunger to do more, so that led to another mini-presentation to the small group leaders about taking a missionary under their wing and developing a relationship with them throughout the year (a service-project for the entire group, if they wanted to look at it as such). i e-mailed every missionary, and the response i received from them about my project made me cry: they were soooo excited and hungry for the opportunity to converse with Christian brothers and sisters. you see, all along, they've thought they were part of us when might have just considered them the "them over there." some eluded to being lonely and needing encouragement, to the point where i felt ashamed of my own lack of initiative and perspective to love those who have given all to serve the Lord and then asked so little in return.

so, my perspective has changed. my heart has been broken in places where loves need to break through built-up hardness and selfishness, and new relationships have been formed that i know will be mutually beneficial and FUN!

kiddo kraft of the month - AUGUST

2010-08-03T19:20:00.000-07:00

so, there are no kiddo fingers involved in this one, but you could if you wanted to...(give them an ink pad and some paper and create fingerprint bugs to use for decorations)...but i digress. this craft of the month is made for the kiddo's STUFF!

i've been a cradle-roll Bible class teacher for the last quarter, and i can't tell you how frustrating it is when you're trying to change 9 babies' diapers, and there are no TAGS on the BAGS! it takes more time to figure out whose bag is whose than it does to change the baby! ;)

SO - the kiddo kraft of the month is a personalized DIAPER BAG TAG!

time: 20-30 minutes, depending on your creativity

supplies:

*self-sealing laminating pouches ($5.99 for 5: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002Q0YD28/ref=oss_product)

*decorative paper with small designs

*coordinating plain paper

*glue stick

* embellishments (stickers, small die-cuts, whatever: anything flat and cute!)

*PAPER CUTTER! (need super precise measurements for this one)

*recent picture of kiddo, head measuring between 1"x1" or 1.5"x1.5"

*fine marker or pen

cost: $1.20 for tag per kid (& cost of any craft supplies you don't have on hand - i had everything)

process:

*cut a piece of decorative paper to 5 2/16"x 3 14/16" (this is based on the size of the pouches i bought leaving AT LEAST 2/16-3/16" around the paper to the edge of the pouch)

[lived & learned: Leila's had only 1/16" allowance and didn't seal all the way.]

*fold paper in half (taco-ways) and make a sharp edge

*cut a piece of plain, coordinating paper to 2"x3"

*write kiddo's name, your contact number, birthday (you wouldn't believe how many times people ask how old a kid is), & whatever else you think is important for someone to know who's taking care of your child (i.e., if he/she has peanut allergies, uses an asthma control medication, needs glasses to see far-away, etc.)

*cut the recent picture of kiddo down and frame their face

*use a little glue stick to stick the decorative paper together, glue on "name paper," picture, and embellishments

*follow instructions on pouch, making sure you have enough allowance to the edge of the inside of the pouch

*go put it on your kiddo's diaper bag, backpack, lunchbox, or whatever!

*make it your own, come up with your own ideas!

now there's no more, which kiddo's bag is THIS dilemma for those taking care of your precious one(s)? i love the idea of adding a recent picture because a person may not remember your kiddo's name, but the face is undeniable! YEAH! and you could either make another one, because it's so CHEAP if the picture no longer strongly resembles the kiddo, OR use some clear packing tape and put a more recent one on top of the old picture on the tag (a little tacky, but who really cares THAT much?)

YEAH for new, personalized, CUTE diaper bag tags!

DR Bound 07/15/2010

2010-07-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

one week from today, i will be in transit to the dominican republic. i'm going on a mission trip to serve with the missionary family that my church supports: the Lopezes. the 5 people on my team aren't leading this trip, but are following the plan of the 16 others from a tennessee church we're meeting with in the DR. we've been busy gathering donations for our medical portion of the trip and i've been gathering gifts for our missionaries and bible school supplies (in spanish are not so easy to come by), and we're planning a short bible lesson on the creation story, BUT most of our time has been spent waiting for our time to go. and i'm just ready to get there and DO! i feel like the speaker in Isaiah 6:8: "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'"

there aren't many times in my life where i lack hesitancy, but this is one of them. i'm just ready to be of service and make even a pin-prick of a difference in someone's life outside my little bubble of a world. i know it is going to involve a lot of sweat, heartache at the living conditions, enthusiasm for the people who are thirsty for soul-watering, and love that comes from a Power greater than anything on earth. i am ready...come hurricane, sickness, or loss of luggage, i'm ready Lord, send ME!

please pray for me, sherry, scott, elizabeth, lisa, and the north jackson church team members and that we will do the good works the Lord has planned for us!

kiddo kraft of the month - JULY

2010-07-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

the craft of the month for JULY is a flag-print tshirt or onesie!

time: less than 5 minutes
-

supplies:

*white shirt or onesie (the girls geranimal tank cost $3.50 and the faded glory white onesie was $2.00 at walmart)

*red and blue acrylic paint ($.98 each at walmart) or the more expensive fabric paint

*foam brush (or paint brush)

*piece of cardboard

*kiddo's hand or foot

cost: less than $5 per shirt

-
process:

*prewash your clothes.

*lay-out the shirt with a piece of cardboard between shirt layers where the paint will be pressed.

*put a blob of BLUE paint only on a paperplate, keep foam brush nearby, and have a wet washcloth or rag ready for quick clean-up duty.

*paint the LEFT hand or foot of the kiddo in BLUE and press it to the LEFT side of the chest of the shirt.

[lived & learned: the footprint works well for kiddos who can't keep their hand open (less than 18 months?) also, try to keep the kiddo's fingers closer together when pressing on the shirt so it doesn't take up too much space.]

*clean that kiddo's foot or hand off with the wet cloth immediately so it doesn't get on anything it shouldn't.

*send kiddo away to play while you put a glob of RED paint on the paperplate and use the cleaned foam brush's edge to create the flag's stripes.

[lived & learned: the lines look more like a flag if they're closer together, so try to leave just a little bit of space and not a lot like i did. 2 lines below the hand or footprint look better than 1.]

*set aside to dry out of kiddo's reach

happy 4th of july! let freedom ring, flags fly, and may little hands & feet of our kiddos be blessed by the sacrifies of those who protect our country!

may God bless you!

POST 4th UPDATE: here's the girls wearing their shirts!

[lived & learned: i washed the shirts inside out, post-wear, and it didn't fade too much, but the paint on the ribbed shirt did bleed a little. so it was a good thing i washed them inside out!]

TWO years for #1 & TWO teeth for #2

2010-06-18T11:59:00.000-07:00

leila is two years old. i can't believe it. the past year has zoomed by in the face of me having two tots at my knees everyday. she's more and more like a little person who talks and has extreme emotions and who is learning independence and decision making and consequences. but macy's always there reminding me of her babydom and that she's still in it, for the time being.

we'd been practicing and practicing before leila's birthday for the big candle blow-out. i sure didn't want any burnt eyebrows or wax eating going on, so beginning in the morning with her special breakfast waffles, she had candles. and then again for dinner in a cupcake. and she didn't disappoint with all her practice. 1, 2, 3, BLOW - and she blew out all her candles all by herself. and boy oh boy did she LOVE the icing! i don't think she's had much of it, and you could tell, because that's all she wanted all week long - "cupCAKE?"

she even got a cupcake at her target photosession - which started off her brief love-affair with icing. it was everywhere. we could barely get her to put the cupcake down so that we could get a picture of her smile! she wore the apron & chef hat my mother made her.

then a couple days after her birthday, we had a little birthday playdate where we invited 3 of her little friends over for a cooking celebration. my mother made personalized aprons for each child and they had the following cooking activities to keep them entertained (and make my kitchen a MESS): making a sprinkle mix in their own sprinkle shaker, cutting out sugar cookies, decorating cookies, and making squid-dogs (hotdogs stuck with uncooked spaghetti noodles). of course there was a lot of playing with leila's new play kitchen and all the other toys around. the kids really seemed to enjoy the sprinkling (super super HUGE mess) and eating the squid-dogs at lunch time. and they each got to take home their baked cookies to share with their families. it was super chaotic and fast-paced, but i think it was fun.

little macy was a guest at the party too, but she spent most of it playing with her nana.

nana found out real quick all the fun changes in macy's life. she's crawling all over the place and she's pulling up and standing on everything! it is hard to keep up with that girl!

not to mention she's drooling and chewing on everything because her first two teeth came in! and those things are sharp! she's so adorable with her little teethers!

poor thing though, she's sick (me too!). i took her to the doctor today and found out she's got the makings for a double ear infection, so we're staring her on antibiotics. i thought it was more teething that was getting her all stuffed up, but it turns out there might have been other bugs giving her issues. please pray for her recovery (and mine too!). she's coughing and snotting and eye-watering as i type.

oh, and another first belongs to leila: she got her first haircut! her hair was nearly 12 inches long and it needed a little trim, so honey thankfully took the scissors and we distracted leila with "The Little Mermaid" on tv. she sat relatively still with Ariel keeping her attention and we lopped some of her baby locks away. it's only fitting that a birthday girl gets a birthday haircut!

and because it's been plenty hot in H-town, we've tried, when it wasn't smoldering out, to get some water-time in. i've got some super water babies. and of course, we try to remember our sun hats whenever we're in the sun (thanks to my mom!).

OH! and a #TWO post wouldn't be complete about telling you about leila's #2 on the potty! after umpteen times of listening to Elmo talk about it and practicing sitting on her sesame street potty seat, leila finally told her daddy that she needed to go "poopoo potty" and she dropped her deuce in the toilet. we were sooo psyched! we have a potty song and a potty paper where she gets to put big stickers on it anytime she goes in the potty. go leila! here's to Elmo panties in our future!

(anything i mentioned my mother made is for sale, btw, in case you're interested! http://butterflikisseswithhoney.blogspot.com/)

blasting into summer!

2010-06-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

i can't believe it's been over a month since i posted. it has been super chaotic around here...with a VACATION for the hubby and me to BOauSTON, MA, and summer starting and mother's day and a birthday party to plan. it was a blur of activity!!!!

let's start with macy. little bee has been growing and moving faster than i can keep up with her! she's gone from sitting alone to scooting/army crawling to sitting herself up in a matter of weeks! she's all over the place and definitely all over whatever leila is interested in. it's like holding back a racing horse in the stalls when macy gets her eye on leila's toys! what foreshadowing into my future!

she's thankfully come around to reading books. but she has her favorites: texture books, lift-the-flap books, and books with mirrors. granted, her attention span is super short, BUT we're progressing. hopefully one day she'll pull them off the shelves and put them in my lap and say, "Mama read please."

and another learning experience for me about how leila and macy are different: painting. leila has always liked playing with paint - NOT macy. she looked at it and wiggled her feet a bit and tried to crawl away, but she didn't want to push the paint around. she got so madddddddddd....snot even started pouring out her nose she was crying so hard! ;)

baby girl is so big now that she doesn't want her bath seat in the tub anymore. while at my mom's house, she apparently screamed and yelled to get out of it...and throws a fit if we try to put her in it. she's a "big girl" now like her sister and gets to sit up during bathtime. everything is progressing so much faster with macy, that i'm not ready!!!! leila stayed in her bath seat until she was almost 1. macy's out at 8mo. she's 2 months ahead of her sister in crawling too! she's just racing to keep up with big sister.

here's baby girl at bible class. she is surrounded by dudes. poor macy is the lone chica for now...hopefully her little girl friends will start graduating to the cradle roll bible class with her soon! i'll be teaching her class this quarter, and i'm super excited about it (but not other babies' dirty diapers)!

ahhhh, it's so wonderful to have a baby...one that i can still rock in the embrace of my arms. but i'm so glad she's not an infant, though!!!!

leila is as crazy as ever. she's seriously got the case of the TWOs...maybe not terrible yet...although some moments are creeping quickly into that direction. her words are getting better and she picks up new ones and uses them correctly all the time. i love it when she says "delicious" when eating or says "beautiful" to her drawings or after we comb each other's hair. she can be quite sweet when she wants to be, and quiet loud and whiney just as easily. but i just want to hug her and kiss her and keep her under 2 years old forever. she can still fit into my arms and sit on my lap while we read books and she quickly gives me kisses and hugs and says "i love you, mommy." the world hasn't gotten to her yet. i love her innocence. it's easily seen in her new favorite past-time: running around the house in her diaper screaming "NAKED!"

she's such a cutie pie, even if it takes 50 shots to get one where she's looking AT the camera AND smiling. i'm NOT looking forward to her professional picture session. yikes!

my number 1 doesn't know it yet, but her number 1 and number 2 special potty events will be going into the toilet soon. we're going to give a trial run next week to see if we can get her potty trained. the past two days we've been watching "Elmo's Potty Time" to her delight and she's begun to tell me "poopoo potty, mommy" - which means she's already done the deed but wants to sit on the potty after the fact. small steps in the flushing direction!

now on to some highlights from james and my trip to Boston. why Boston - well, i chose it because #1, it has an aquarium, and #2, we've never been there before - definitely prerequisites for my travels. we had a wonderful week in the very historical city. the highlights for me were the freedom trail segway tour, the aquarium, the whale whatching tour, and getting to see a friend of mine from college i hadn't seen since my wedding. james liked going to fenway for a red sox game (even though it was raining and 50 degrees, i might add), and he liked to aquarium too. the food was pretty good...i can't recall a bad meal. and we ate at dunkin donuts every morning.

segways were awesome to drive!

loved the flower hat jellyfish

saw 8-10 whales feeding

seagulls wanted some too

this dude was on the bottom deck

james, jenni, and shane @ 5WITS

jenni and me at FENWAY

red sox won - even in the rain

we had a great time. i'm ready to figure out our next vacation! ;)

Busy Bodies!

2010-04-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

wow, it's been a long time since i've posted! life has been pretty chaotic, but whose life isn't, right?! between family being in town, james being out of town, and events on the weekend, i'm exhausted! BUT-it's a good kind of busy! ;)

macy is now 7months old and trying to roll everywhere, "pull up" on things (mainly, people), put food into her mouth, sip out of a sippy cup and cups with straws, sit up in the wagon on walks, say "mmaahh" and "bbaahh," walk in her walker, and hold her own bottle. it's a lot of stuff. i didn't mention that mommyitis has started. yikes. of course you want your child to want you, but not when you're trying to make dinner or go for a potty break, ya know?! ;)

and today was a special day because it was her dedication at church. we got up on stage and pledged to raise her for the Lord and the congregation pledged to help us in that goal. it is pretty sentimental...and we even wrote a blessing for her as well (i'll post it at the end - her name is spelled out with the first letter of every sentence.)

it was equally another fun first this afternoon because james suggested we take her to the community pool for the first time. she was in from the bottom down and screamed at me! (it was a tiny bit chilly...) but after the inital temperature shock, she enjoyed splashing and wiggling around in a little tube-seat. she was absolutely adorable in her pink-skirted swimsuit with a seahorse on it. super cute!

leila, of course, equally enjoyed her time at the pool. it was her first time to accidentally go under. we were in the baby pool and she tripped, but i think she only lasted maybe 2 seconds under water before i scooped her up again. she seemed most bothered that there was water on her face! silly girl. but it wasn't the first time she got in the pool this summer. earlier this week, before the humidity reared it's ugly head, i pulled out the baby pool and she jumped right in! if only it was as easy to get her into the bathtub!

playing with water outside is one of her favorite things. whether it's from a garden hose or in a big plastic pool, she just wants to get wet! and of course it's nice to have a little one who reminds you to go outside and water the newly planted flowers! if it wasn't for her, the flowers she and my mother planted a couple weeks ago would already be browning! maybe she'll get the green thumb and sewing skills that apparently skipped a generation!

have i mentioned that james is the best daddy for my girls? i did a session at a youth group girls' retreat and my topic was "family." i talked about my experience with family and God's view of family, and it made me realize how blessed my family is to have such a loving father at its head. he is always excited to see the girls, play with them, feed them, bathe them, be silly with them, read to them, change their diapers, etc. etc. etc. and he does it with great love and patience (most of the time!). we sure do love and appreciate him!

here's Macy's blessing from her dedication at church:

Beloved daughter, we have so much hope for your life and pray that you:

Model a life of integrity with a Kingdom purpose. Always remember that you are fully loved and will never be alone. Cherish your uniqueness and pursue your passions. Yolk your thoughts and words to the fruit of the Spirit.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Encourage and be compassionate to others. Invest quality time with your family, friends, and those that have been neglected. Give thanks in all seasons of life and forgive genuinely. Honor your commitments and be joyful and disciplined in your work.

twinkle, twinkle little stars

2010-03-20T04:15:00.000-07:00

i realize that most of what i talk about and think about is my children. i was at a baby shower last night, and most of the girls talked about their experiences (breastfeeding, potty-training, bad behavior, etc.) with children. there were a few women who had no children...and i felt bad that our conversation left them out, even though they laughed along with everyone else. i guess we talk about what we know and what we're doing, and most of us are spending most of our time with the little ones "ruling" our lives. and you know, that's okay...because that's the season our lives are in! they are the little stars of our lives, and who wouldn't want to talk about things so cute and precious and naturally hilarious?!

anyhoo...i've been meaning to post some videos, so here are a couple. here are my little stars, notable, little leila singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

and here's little macy being tickled to screams by her daddy:

my girls are so entertaining! between the silly things i catch them doing and smiling like little hams (until the camera comes out) at anything and everything, i can't get enough of them. there aren't enough pictures i could take or moments of video i could capture to do their lives justice. but i try! granddaddy once asked me what i do with the hundreds of pictures i take of the girls. i look at them and save and savor them, of course! God has given me two of the most wonderful blessings, and He has entrusted me to be their parents...i want to remember and savor every precious moment...and when i start to forget, i'll have hours and hours of material to stir my heart and swell my life with memories of great love.

memories like this one: macy's first haircut. unfortunately it was done by me, but it just had to be done! poor macy's hair has grown faster down the center of her head; therefore, i had to do something about the mohawk-donald trump comb-over that was happening. her 6 month pictures are next week, and i didn't want her to have an ocean wave of hair overpowering her precious pictures! she doens't look too happy about it, but i think it's a definite improvement.

and another wonderful improvement: the WEATHER! spring has sprung, meaning: flower weeds, bumble bees, cool breezes, and walks around the neighborhood and to the park! i've been taking the girls almost everyday in the wagon (macy sits in her carseat) to the park to swing in the baby swings. the hats my mom makes for the girls are a big hit with all the other moms out there, because my girls are so adorable in them!

so here's to the little stars of my life and the joy they bring.

sweet girls are a handful...of sweetness!

2010-03-07T03:47:00.000-08:00

it's hard to keep up with the girls sometimes. i feel like leila's pulling me in twenty billion directions and poor macy is dragged along for the ride. i thought it was silly of me to think that i wouldn't have time with macy to bond...and partially, i was right. it's leila that demands most of my attention and macy gets to watch us (which, thankfully, she enjoys). it's funny because when macy and i are alone, i don't think she's as happy because she really enjoys the entertainment that leila provides. go figure.

macy has turned out to be pretty easy afterall (as long as leila the entertainer is nearby). she loves watching people and being around others. i should have clued in earlier, but after the ladies retreat where she didn't cry once all day and dozens of people held her, i knew that this little one is content as a peach on a summer's day if she's around people (not just me, mind you).

she's also a little wiggle-worm. macy bee can't be still for very long. she's always got to be moving...whether that's on the floor or in her bed, she's always wiggling and trying to chew on things (her feet, her blankets, whatever).

at five months, she's a little charmer. and upon reflection, as a second child, either she's a really good baby or i'm not as stressed out as i was with leila. i got tired of trying to put her down for her naps sweetly (i.e. being rocked by me or by the swing), so i just started putting her to bed and walking out. she cries for a couple minutes and then goes to sleep! it's so wonderful. i love this milestone! sleep, for both of us, is so much better!

oh, and she's having so much fun now bouncing in her jenny jump up. she doesn't do a whole lot of jumping (just little push-up bounces), but she does like to spin around and we play peekaboo.

what a ham macy is! she must get it from her sister!

macy is so blessed to have such a nice big sister (right now). leila's always ready to go fetch macy a diaper, pick up her toys and return them to her, and stack things out of macy's reach onto her face. although not always willing to share HER toys, leila's learned not to take things from macy without finding a suitable replacement. we'll see how that continues when macy can fend for herself!

and thankfully for me, james is always willing to help with the girls whenever he's around. he's my sanity saver after a long day with the girls. yes, they are sweet and wonderful and bring fullness to my life, but they are a handful and wear me out! especially at the end of the day when my energy meter's on empty...daddy takes care of the little energy ball and they have their own special time together. ;)

my girls are pretty wonderful...i can't believe i'm already thinking ahead to a couple months when leila will be 2 and to macy sitting up in the wagon with leila!

p.s. there aren't any videos these past couple of posts because they take so much longer to upload and edit than my pictures do...maybe someday i'll have unlimited time to make everything exactly as i want it to be? probably not.

Everyone, Try Something NEW!

2010-02-11T18:39:00.000-08:00

leila and macy have been so busy doing so many new things that i can barely keep up! from food to new play things, my girls have been having so much fun (and mommy and daddy too)!

by hitting the 4 month mark, macy reached her milestone to begin trying "solid" food! and she started like a champ! at first she wasn't overly excited by the texture of her non-liquid food, but she quickly got the hang of getting MOST of the oatmeal cereal in her tummy (the rest made it on her face and bib).

leila has had two new foods lately! other moms would probably say i waited too long to let her try these two, but hey, at least she gets them now!

#1 - CHEETOS, the messiest "chips" in the world

we tried to teach her to lick her fingers to get the cheese powder off, but she needs a stronger lick to really make a dent in her cheeto-rific palms.

#2 JELLO, the second messiest (and staining) dessert

it got all over her hands, face, tray, the floor, and even in her hair. and i must be out of jello practice, because the longer it was in my fridge, the more liquidy it became and more like paint for leila to play with. fun fun.

now onto new playing experiences! macy has upgraded into the jungle jumper/exersaucer. she absolutely despises laying down in her swings or carseat, so the jumper-exersaucer is perfect for her. she's upright and there are plenty of things to look at and chew on on while in it (not to mention she can watch big sister playing around her!).

macy also has these cute new rattles that are perfect for her little hands and great to chew on too! and who can resist a baby in her diaper! so cute!

leila's new playtime activity is "DOH!" she loves play-doh and all the fun little tools that go with playing with play-doh. of course, leila wants mommy to play "DOH!" with her...everyday!

i guess i need to take a lesson from my own kiddos and take up new things every once in a while. of course, my new thing can be finding new things for my girls to enjoy. :)

1/3 a year under the belt, number 2

2010-01-24T18:05:00.001-08:00

That's right, Macy is 4 months old! What a whirlwind! Let's see...she lifts her head 90 degrees while laying on the floor, sits in her bumbo a little wobbly, sleeps through the night, blows raspberries like you wouldn't believe, laughs in response to tickling or us laughing at her, talk-talk-talks in ahhhs and gaaas, brings toys to her mouth, rolled over once (but i'm begining to think it was an accident), and she has totally stollen my heart because she's such a CUTIE!

Leila is now almost 20 months old! We're working on teaching her how to jump and annunciate better because she repeats everything we say...but we can't always understand her when she says the word later. She's our little parrot. I'm amazed when new words or two-word phrases come out of her mouth. This was the second week in a row that I gave her the check to put in the collection plate at church, and this morning she said "money" clear as day as we were preparing to put it in the tray. There are so many other words and phrases that I can't keep track of them all! I just wish that I could be more perseptive and understand all these things she says that she's obviously learned but just can't communicate them clearly yet. It's a bit frustrating from both ends.

Both my babies are the sweetest, cutest little treasures. Everyone smiles as they see them coming (sometimes because of the crazy hair Leila is sporting). Macy has a charm beyond that of being a beautiful infant...she has the gift of happiness and making people's days by simply smiling at anyone who gives her a little grin. Her whole face lights up with her smile...it is simply heart-warming to be a recipient of her joyfulness. I am prayerful that this is a character trait of hers that grows and stays with her always.

Leila is a sponge. She learns every single day, and I feel it is my responsibility to feed her and teach her and introduce her to new things. Because my brain can't possibly handle being creative or even intelligent every day, I look for neat resources to inspire me. One was finding a calendar of random holidays/celebrations. Once such day last week was Hat Day. So, we all tried on different hats! It was silly, but fun and different. Don't know if she learned anything, but...it was fun. Another day we learned about was National Bird Day. Leila and I looked on the internet and found soundbites of bird songs and pictures of different birds in our area. Of course, then we had to find videos of puppies on youtube to entertain us, too. Everyday is something new!

So, the four of us have been having good times together these past four months. Leila likes Macy, Macy loves Leila, and James and I can't get enough hugs and kisses to and from our sweet girls. We are truly blessed. In light of the tragedy of the Haitian earthquake, it really brings to light the frailty of life and the tremendous blessings that we have, namely, each other.

2010 here we come...

2010-01-07T18:39:00.000-08:00

(merry belated christmas, and...)

happy new year! 2010. wow...who would have thought we'd break into the double digits of the 21st century? yikes! i was born in the early 1980s, i graduated from high school 10 years ago, and i was baptized in 1995. my children are going to think i am a dinosaur when i tell them i like 80s music...and they'll say, "you mean in the 1900s?!" but for now, they can't talk, can barely walk at times, and life is barely more than the day-to-day routine of our home. actually, leila is learning to talk a LOT. she says new words everyday...and pretty soon she's really going to be expressing herself EVEN more. (which is good and bad, because as a friend of mine says, "once they start, they never shut-up!") regardless...i look forward to her improving verbal skills, and hopefully it will rid us of some of the WHINING!

Leila is a great big sister so far, though. she shares things (most of the time), wants to take a bath with Macy, help change her diaper (sometimes), lay next to her in her crib, kisses her, makes sure Macy comes with us from room to room as we play. i am so blessed...and am prayerful that her thoughtfulness towards her sister lasts.

(kissing baby sister while sharing an after nap cuddle-fest with softies)

speaking of baby sister, little Macy is growing all the time. it has been pointed out that she's a little chubby. well, it must run in the family - but actually, she's petite for family babies! she also sports a rockin' mohawk. it's like the longest hairs on her head only grow down the center of her head. heehee! hopefully that will change and we'll figure out what to do with her do. we thought Leila's hair was crazy!

Macy is also getting so much better with her neck! she loves to sit on my lap and watch Leila play. she's even pulled herself to a sitting position from my inclined legs! she's so strong!!!!

she's definitely going to keep me on my toes...just like her big sister. ;) speaking of big sister, we're trying to do some learning time everyday...and it usually involves crayons. i bought her these cool stackable/animal-faced crayons and she played with them for an hour and a half STRAIGHT in her high chair!!!! isn't that unheard of for toddlers? isn't their attention span supposed to be 5 minutes???? it was definitely fun to watch her play with them AND it gave me a bit of a reprieve during the day too. if only she could be so enthralled with them everytime we played with them!

let it snow let it snow let it snow

2009-12-11T11:47:00.000-08:00

macy has totally changed her daily sleeping patterns and has become a bit more high maintenance. for some reason, she just wants to be held all the time. i can't imagine why! :) she sure lets us know in a hurry that we can't sit down and hold her, but that she wants us to stand up and face her outwards so she can see everything. crazy kid! ;) and we do it because we love her, of course.

macy has also graduated to the bathtub...and big sister leila likes to watch, and occasionally, get in and help. what a sweet little girl she can be (most of the time). i'm so glad she's wanting to help and is not mad that i have to take care of macy all the time. leila will truly be a great big sister as she grows older (if the current trends continue).

when she's not helping with little sister, leila is playing with her dolls or toys and wrapping them up in blankets. she is so sweet! the other day after her nap, i caught her wrapping her crib toys in her softies! there was a rare moment where i caught her smiling on camera!

speaking of big sister. since she's older and can walk and "talk," she got to go out and play in the SNOW last week when a christmas miracle hit Houston. she liked it okay until she fell into a puddle and got soaked with freezing water! there's my little Grace for ya.

honey came down for a quick visit and had tons of fun with the girls. we are so thankful for her relationship with the girls. she is always teaching leila new things and helping out around the house. (james' tummy is always happy when honey comes to visit!)

while she was here, we celebrated james' 31st birthday. she cooked him the same twice-baked potatoes that she made him last year in which i put candles that melted (if you scroll back to the post in december, i'm sure there's a picture of his blue-wax potato). this time i wrapped the ends of the candles in foil so they wouldn't melt into his food. live and learn. oh, and leila got her daddy a new book...hopefully they'll enjoy reading together and share lots of hugs because of it. and of course, daddy let her help open it!

now back to the little one. little macy had slept about 4 nights through and then she decided she needed to wake up at least once again. so, our nights haven't been solid sleep, but still not bad considering she's 11 weeks old and she goes back to sleep after feeding. it's such a blessing to have sleep and have two babies in the house. ;)

she has continued her fondness of talking. i tried to capture it several times, but she kept getting fascinated with the flashing red light...so this one is the best one i could deliver (and it's got some big toots in it too!)

2 months - 2 kids - happy 2 be 2gether!

2009-11-17T17:35:00.000-08:00

it has been an interesting 2 months. i think this momma's sanity was saved last week when i finally got out of the house and had a night with the girlfriends. it definitely was a recharger! i love my girls, but it is definitely more work to stay home and take care of them than it ever was at any of my jobs. but it is the most rewarding by far...and those times that leila gives me a kiss unsolicited or just holds on and hugs me, or when macy stops and really focuses on my face and gives a BIG smile of recognition and some coos - that is worth everything!

a lot has happened since my last post. we celebrated halloween, and leila got to go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. everyone thought she was so precious (even if they couldn't automatically know that she was a ladybug!). macy stayed at home with Honey and waited for trick-or-treaters...but next year she'll be getting all dressed up and hit the streets with us, too! leila was such a hoot! once we told her we were going out - she was ready even if we were not! anything outside is a big hit with our little bug! now we have to make sure that she doesn't go up to people's doors when we go on walks - that was a one night event, but how do you explain that to a 17-month-old?!

Honey came to visit us, and of course that means lots of fun and entertainment for leila. she brought us a little slide which leila absolutely loves. she loves climbing up the slide and coming down...gracefully or not! she is such a ham!

our aunt brittany came to visit last weekend, too! she and leila had some good quality time together (leila's namesake). and it was entertaining to watch brittany get repulsed by macy's little poops! ;)

speaking of my little Macy Bee, she is really starting to interact and respond. whereas she is definitely turning out to be a more smiley baby, she still has a lot of grumpy awake time. she is so strong...and i am predicting that she will be rolling and crawling long before her big sister learned. we'll see!

i sure love my little girls! they grow so fast!

an applicable Bible verse we discussed at ladies' Bible class this week that touched my heart was Isaiah 40:11, "He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young." Lord continue to gently lead me and my children!!!!

mommy and me (and baby)

2009-10-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

so we've survived a month! it's been a bit stressful at times with Macy being "sick" for almost 2 weeks and now she's got a bad case of baby acne that has spread slowly from her cheeks to her chest and back (just in time for those 1 month professional pictures, of course). not to mention leila's super bad case of diaper rash. this momma's tired! (and daddy, too!)

(the beginning of the bad acne :( )

(that's a dish towell wrapped around her to get her tushie some air and not mess on my carpet)

it's fun to observe the differences between my two little ones. during infancy, they both made lots of noises at night that kept us up, but macy's are like a honking bird. macy is very strong...when i lay her down for tummy time, she acts like she wants to roll over...she lifts her legs and hips and turns. it took leila months and months and MONTHS to try that. macy is a little bit more testy during awake time whereas leila seemed more content to just hang out and look around. macy loves falling asleep on her daddy and stretching out everywhere. :)

so life's pretty good. i can't wait for us to start getting out into the world so i can spend time with my friends, but i'm trying to be careful with who i expose macy to because of the h1n1 virus and the fact that she's already been sick and had a fever so early in life. i know this is just a short time to be so cautious, and it's worth it, but i'm getting cabin fever!

i love my girls!

so to keep things interesting, we've been doing a lot of colorful activities indoors (because of all the rain and mosquitoes). we've done some leaf art, finger painting, coloring with crayons, and holiday crafts. fun fun fun! just trying to think of new things to do...that's the hard part!

(macy's feet!)

Hello MACY!

2009-10-03T18:24:00.000-07:00

the much anticipated arrival of our second little one finally came...against her will, but it happened nonetheless. Macy Leigh Albright was induced at 39 weeks on September 24, 2009. it was 6 hours of mostly painless labor and a quick 15 minutes of getting her into this world. definitely easier the second time around! she weighed a surprising 8 pounds 1 ounce (the doctor said i was hiding it very well, thank you very much), and i think the hospital messed up her length, because i doubt she grew an inch and a half in a week when she was measured at the doctor on thursday. ;) so...around 20 inches?

leila is already a great big sister. she waves at and blows kisses to her little sister and watches patiently while we change her diaper and while mommy feeds her. i sure hope it lasts!

the first week is a little hazy...my mom was here wrangling leila (mostly outside picking up random leaves, acorns, and sticks)...and i can't remember much besides constantly feeding the little sweetie. guess that's how it goes. but i have tried to take lots of pictures so that even when i don't remember, i'll have pictures to document it!

i think she's like her sister in many ways. macy looks a lot like leila, has similar infant mannerisms, and apparently has the same hiccupping problem that leila had too! ;)

i'm going to try and do as much as i can to nurture macy through her infancy and nurture leila into more toddlerdom fun. i can already feel that one child is easier than 2, but 2 will be more fun (eventually!).

for fun, here's a video of leila (pre-Macy) running from daddy at bathtime.

beach blanket bingo

2009-09-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

one of the last things we wanted to do with leila before macy arrived was to take her to the beach for the first time. since i've been feeling relatively well and my contractions haven't been regular, we decided to take a chance and drive to galveston. i don't think i had any expectations for her behavior, but if i had, i wouldn't have been surprised by what she did. leila is fearless. what does she do when we first put her down: goes straight for the water to play and sits to play with the sand. :) an old beach pro.

we had a great time! we only were there for an hour and a half, but it was enough to wear her out for the ride home. speaking of tiring, that's been happening a lot lately. with all her new adventurousness and mobility, she is not only wearing me out, but herself! (thankfully!)

of course, the moment i take my eyes off her, she's into something!

hopefully my next post will be a welcome to our newest addition: Macy Leigh.

Count-down to Sisterdom

2009-08-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

in preparation for leila becoming a big sister (in 4 weeks), we've been engaging in doll play pretty much everyday. besides feeding them and kissing them, i caught her reading with them. i really hope she is as sweet when macy arrives.

leila has learned some new skills...specifically, mastering her ring stacker. we've had it forever, but she finally understands what it's for! granted, they don't all go on in order...but eventually she'll get there!

every once in a while, i have the energy and motivation to surprise leila with something new. after her nap one day, i surprised her with two ziplock bags filled with two different colors of paint inside. she got to touch, squish, and stomp on them to see the colors move and mix. the novelty of the idea was probably more interesting than watching the new colors develop, but she liked them nonetheless.

so, while waiting for macy to come, james and i are trying to soak up as much leila-time as we can. it's going to be a big transition, especially with leila being so young, but we're excited nonetheless. it has been an amazing 14.5 months getting to know leila and receiving her love and laughter in return. i wouldn't trade this time for anything.