Christmas Crafts

The boys and I have been making almost every ornament I have seen in a magazine or on a website that is at their level of ability. Yesterday we made these light bulb and felt snowmen. I had to do a lot of the work, but I let them draw the eyes and pick their colors, spread the glue and place the scarf on the bulb. I can't figure out how to hang them, though!



This is the runner we made in our Mom's Group. My friend Lisa picked out the fabric and pattern, and my friend Michelle cut out all the fabric for all of us. So, I really just sewed my pieces together. Lisa, bless her heart, took them home with her and was just going to do the next step. Well, she ended up finishing them for us completely! What a blessing! I am ready to make another one ... probably because I only did a fraction of the real work that is involved!


For the past 3 years in my mom's group we have been doing an ornament exchange. Last night we exchanged and here are everyone's ornaments. April made button wreaths, Shannon made card stock stars, Megan made hand-sewed embellished mittens, Julie made a bird's nest on a branch, Amber made a glittery wire star, I made a wishing spool, and Emily made a miniature stocking. It is always so much fun to see what everyone makes!



These are my ornaments from last year (I can't show the one from the year before, because it broke and I had to throw it away ... it was too fragile ... Aaron warned me of this). And, the kids made the craft stick and button snowflake ornament.

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by Merranda and Tabitha.
Here are the rules:
1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog (copy and paste 1-6).
3) Write 6 random things about yourself (see below).
4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
5) Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6) Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1. Some family traditions that I grew up with that I am continuing with my own family are summer strawberry picking and jam making, playing the Statler Brothers Christmas CDs at Christmas time, and making chocolate chip cookies and letting my kids eat the dough, but I let them eat WAY more than my mom EVER did.
2. Aaron and I first saw each other at Wal-Mart. About a year later, he came through my checkout and asked me out. We even worked together there for a little while.
3. My first car was a brand new tan 1996 Chevy Cavalier. After getting my license on my birthday and having a family party at our "house" (we were living in a trailer home while our other house was being built), my parents took me up to our new house and had my new car sitting in the garage with a big red bow on top. It is the kind of car I used while in behind-the-wheel, so I felt very comfortable driving it.
4. Aaron and I honeymooned in Chicago about 3 months after our wedding. We were in college and for Spring Break Aaron planned a surprise trip to Chicago for us for a few days. I had no idea we were going. We stayed at my parents' house the night before (I thought he was assembling a headboard for our bed). My sister packed for me and helped him pick out a dress for me. We got in the car to go to church and he kept on driving. We went to the Amtrak Station and he had everything ready to go. He even had a typed out itinerary with certain things crossed out for me to only have a vague idea of what was going on. It was amazing! And, we did it on the cheap. We used our student ids to get into places for reduced prices, and we walked as much as we could instead of using a taxi. We even walked all the way back to the train station with all our luggage (what a haul!), but now we have a story to tell. Our favorite part was probably all the different foods we tried while there.
5. Aaron and I were going to get married on Jan. 1 of 2000, but in fear of the Y2K bug turning off all the electricity around the nation, we opted for the night before ... just to be safe! Funny to think about that now.
6. I love being a part of the delivery of a baby. I insisted on being part of the birth of sister's first born. I was amazed! I didn't feel so much that way about Ethan's delivery. But, I do look back at Emmett's and have positive feelings about it. (I even had it video-taped and I have watched it a handful of times). Sometimes when I think about wanting to have another child or not, I think about the awesomeness of going through another delivery. When my sister had her baby girl and when other people who aren't even close to me have their babies I feel like I missed out on something because I wasn't there in the delivery room. I can't really explain it. I just LOVE it!

Okay, I am such a new blogger and all my friends and family live close to me that I don't even have 6 people to tag. The only other blogger I know is Sue, so I will tag her! I'll tag Jessica, too, so that maybe she'll get into blogging again!

I've Still Got It

Ethan was in another room today and I walked in to help him. When I walked in he started talking and then looked up at me. He stopped what he was saying and said, "How did you get so pretty?" He melted my heart! All day I had my hair down with a black sweatshirt on and had just taken it off to reveal my plain white t-shirt and pulled my hair back in a ponytail. I said, "maybe it's my ponytail." Being the boy his is, he said, "What's a ponytail?" Then he looked at my sock-covered feet and said, "I can't see your toes." I said, "they aren't pretty right now." "Why?", he asked. I said, "because I am not wearing flip flops very much now that it is cooler." He thought about it and insisted I should still make my toes pretty, because he likes them that way. He asked if I put pink stuff on my toes if I would wear my pink flip flops. What a little sweetie!

I Cor. 10:13

It has happened once again. This morning I was reading from a few different books--I am great at starting books but rarely finish them--and I came upon the same verse in both books.

Last week, as I was reading from Teach Them Diligently the author referenced a scripture verse that could be used in many disciplining situations:
I Cor. 10:13. I jotted it down but forgot about it.

This morning I was reading from Be Angry, but Don't Blow It!. The author quoted a Bible verse: "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." I Cor. 10:13. I thought to myself, "This is a verse I need to put on a notecard and place in my house." (The number of notecards I have posted around the house is growing, and Aaron jokes with me about this. So, I am sure he'll be happy to know I have found another). I finished the chapter I was reading and grabbed Teach them Diligently. I remembered I had a verse to look up from the last time I was reading it. I opened my Bible to the passage and discovered it was the same verse I had just read!

This is always so exciting to me and initially so hard for me comprehend. But, then I remember it is God who is revealing this to me and ask myself WHY I am so amazed ... he is God, afterall.

Here I am reading one book about how to work on an area in my life that needs correcting, and at the same time trying to figure out how to use God's word to bring correction to my kids, never thinking the two paths would cross. I just found it amazing this morning that God revealed this truth to me to use in my own life and the lives of my children.

From My Devotional

This morning as I was reading from my book, Be Angry But Don't Blow It, by Lisa Bevere I came upon something she wrote that I wanted to share with all who read my blog.

"Though this present world may be filled with depravity and perverseness, darkness cannot shroud or overcome our light. Look up at the stars of this universe--they punctuate a sky of darkness with such beauty that on a clear and starry night it is never the darkness we notice but the small beacons of hope that pierce it. When God looks down at this creation of darkness, it is the light of His children that He notices. Hold high for the lamp of His Word and shine it forth as a beacon of hope and truth for generations to follow."

Funny Little Story

My parents own land with many a blackberry bush. So, every year about this time Aaron and I and the boys go picking. Today my mom and my nephew Carson picked. She said there are a lot of berries in the woods, but it would be poky picking. So, she offered to keep our boys while we picked. I asked if she had any food we could eat for supper, too ... presumptuous I know. She said she did. As I was cleaning up my kitchen I found that I had a bag of green beans I had received from my in-laws that I had not eaten yet as well as some cucumbers. So, I peeled the cucumbers and made the cucumber salad I grew up with. In the process I almost added a zucchini to the salad but realized it wasn't a cucumber right as I was ready to peel it. I also washed the beans and snapped the ends and called her to ask if I should bring the beans for supper, forgetting I had made the cucumber salad. She said that I could bring the beans, but didn't need to since she had made cucumbers already. I said, "I did too!" She said, "I only did because I had to use them up." I said, "me too!" I said, "yeah, I almost added a zucchini too and realized it at the last minute." She said, "Me too!" We got a kick out of it and I thought maybe someone else might think a little garden humor was funny, too.