winter fun crafts!

After a month and a half of no internet we are randomly up and running.... again. Who knows, though, this could be just a 3 day fluke like it was a month ago. 

But I'm not going to dwell on that mess..... I have here a couple of fun crafts that we have done. 

Let me tell you, the first is soooo fun. And oh so messy.

Equal part shaving cream and white glue. Mix and paint!

 It turns out puffy and really neat. When you paint it with finger paints, it creates this fun cracked look.... that was a fun mistake to figure out.

Next is our pattern rainbow. We were going over Noah's Ark for the week and on friday I was trying to figure out an activity for the rainbow. We had learned about patterns the week before so a great way to incorporate this! 

 Cut out shapes and let them go! 

And just another plug for the advent calendar we are doing! Nevaeh has learned so much about the birth of Christ from this lesson plan. You read the same verses over for a couple of days so it gets to their hearts. 

www.truthinthetinsel.com

You go through the Isaiah's prophecy to Elizabeth and Mary's meeting. Then at the end you go through the crucifixion and resurrection to show that Christ was born for a purpose.... for us. 

Again, its $5 but so worth it!!!

amazing kids, glorious season

Ok, when the God says "kids are a blessing", that is a major understatement. 

Nevaeh and Grayson are amazing and God has definitely given me more than I would have ever asked for in my kids. 

Then there's Jason. God did good with him! :) I love going to games and watching Jason coach. I look at him and say, "Look at that sexy man down there. He's mine!" :) sorry for the open-ness... kinda.

Couple all that with this glorious season of Christmas and this mama is so joyous! 

We put up our trees (yes, plural!) last Sunday and Nevaeh was soooooo excited. All weekend she kept asking and asking and asking.... and asking about the Christmas tree. Gray obviously didn't know what was going on, but once the lights were on he was mesmerized. 

Now, when the lights are on, Nevaeh gets super excited all over again and Gray just sits and gazes for 10 minutes. He doesn't touch, but just looks; its adorable!

Here is some cuteness for you...

If we did a Christmas card, this would be the picture!

See, he just can't stop looking!

 Nevaeh telling him which ornaments are which.

Fun kids crafts soon!

Our first advent-ure!

It has been a long 3 weeks without internet. I don't even remember what my mama-projects were and we have done so many fun, little things that I forgot to take pictures.

But the most important kid-time project we started today. A life-group friend found this advent calendar that truly is wrapped around God's word AND is for little kids. The mom who created this started it with her one-year old, so no excuses!

The website is this www.truthinthetinsel.com .

I don't want to give to much away because it is copyrighted and it's 5$. I was reluctant to buy it because we have started a very tight budget, but I thought '5$ for my kids' need to hear God's word'... I think you know which won.

Everyday you read bible verses in your own bible (I think that is important), and make an ornament to go along with the verses. The ornaments are not great and not meant to last through the years. Actually I will probably end up keeping one or two for memory sake, but the rest will be tossed (you make this over again next year...).

The first day (today!) was about light; about Isaiah prophesying the coming of the Light, Jesus Christ. So the ornament was one that you could put in front of a christmas tree light and it shines. 

It was a good 20-30 minutes of talking about rejoicing in the Light and the coming of Jesus. We just talked while we crafted away.

Anywho's, I HIGHLY recommend this advent calendar! 

One of my mama-projects was home-made laundry soap. 

Now, a preface: I have been a tide-girl for a looong time, but it's expensive. I now will never use that again because this really does work and is CHEAP!!! 

bad picture...

The ingradients:

1 cup of 20 Mule Borax

1 cup of Arm n Hammer Super Laundry soap

1 bar of Ivory body soap ( you can use any you like, there are even laundry bar soaps (fels-napa) but one 

          without a lot of greasy moisturizers or scents)

and I added on my own.... 1/2 cup-1 cup of the oxyclean powder (but generic brand)

ps-you can add a couple drops of some sort of oils to add a scent and most everything is in the laundry aisle. 

Ok, the fun part. No pictures though :(, take the bar of soap and put it in the microwave (i don't know if this works with other bars of soap). Microwave it for 90 seconds and it will become this puffy cloud-like substance. Its brittle and I just broke off pieces and put them in a blender with the other ingredients. 

And viola...... All it take is 1-2 tablespoons (depending on size of load). 

BEST PART: it costs only 12$ to buy everything and there is so much of it that it will last me at least 9 months. I didn't make 9 months worth though, I've read that if you make too much and it will start to get hard. 

More to come! Have a great weekend.

Thankful thursday

Today God has given me such an appreciation to be able to stay home with my kids. I don't get the fancy things and we have to sacrifice, but I get to be with my kids. I get to raise them.

Thank you, Jason, for working so hard to make it possible!

Random thought: if the kitchen is clean, the rest of the house can be in shambles and it's ok because at least the kitchen is sparkly.

Mama DIY mini projects

I have a lot of little projects going on and it's been fun!

These two are small and simple but make my house look a little more neat. That's my goal, because I stay here all day, I want to make my house look better and homey one little idea at a time! Oh and make it more functional too.

We are going to be starting preschool within a year. Yes, I am home-schooling, and very excited! And I have wanted to start getting our school area ready. I have the chalk board and of course the next step would be the alphabet. 

I was going to buy something, you know, classroomish looking, but I this was a better idea. Now, painting and I aren't best friends, but it turned out pretty good! 

 My next mini project is so simple. I was getting tired of trying to remember which oil is olive and which is vege. I just painted on chalkboard paint that we had left (primed first) and tada! I can tell which is which! 

I have a couple other projects I'm excited about. A couple sewing projects and gift projects. Plus, I still haven't forgotten about those fun kids projects we are doing!  Have a great couple days!

Knock, Knock

Who's there?
Tank
Tank who?
Your welcome
------Nevaeh's joke for trick or treat!

Did you know that telling jokes is special to Des Moines? I found this out from friends who are not from here when they said it was ridiculous! I was amazed telling jokes isn't a national thing, or even an Iowa thing.

Nevaeh went out trick or treating for the first time this year and she got a good haul of candy... something my hips do not need (yet, I still eat it)! She had a blast, but doing anything with just daddy is always a blast with her.

I'm not a big fan of Halloween. Not because I'm a Christian and it's bad, but because I don't like all things creepy. I despise scary movies, even commercials I have to close my eyes (and plug my ears!). I don't like mascots, Cubbie bear (at I-cubs) will never get a hello from me. You don't think its creepy that strangers come and give you hugs dressed in giant costumes?? I do!

So Halloween and me don't mix well. But, hey, we get free candy out of it and Nevaeh had a great time with daddy.

Here are a few pics of festivity fun and some kid crafts we have been doing. I have some recipes and mama's DIY projects coming up next week, so stay tuned!

I do love to carve pumpkins though!

 Yummy... I don't know what he was eating.. probably pumpkin

 Last year Nevaeh had no fear and picked a handful of grossness. This year, nope, nothing.

 Top to bottom: Jason's, mine, Nevaeh's (left), Gray's (right). Nevaeh specifically asked for triangles and a rectangle. The skin on our pumpkins were, no joke, half a centimeter thick, making it extremely hard to carve them!

 My little ballerina (recycled this years swimming suit) and dragon. 

 My handsome men!

 A good friend planned a huge Harvest Party for lost of ladies and kiddos at church... waiting for the fun to start.

 Yay, it started!

kids crafts

 Target had foam shapes for $1 and I just cut up some construction paper and she did her thing. I also introduced skinny markers to her, and they are wonderful for toddlers! 

 Noah's ark, rip and glue pictures! I asked her what she remember from the story and she said, "It rained for 40 days and 40 nights."

 Today we made leaf turkeys. She had fun picking out leaves and gluing them on. She drew the sun, grass and flowers. She also wrote the "N" for her name (i wrote the rest). 

 Leaf Turkey!

Just be a mom

Ok, so, I am a very driven person.

I want to do things I love.

Graphic design. Art. Writing. Baking.

But my struggle is I want to do them beyond the home.

I recently have been struggling extra hard in this area. I see all these women, most without kids (so that should be a big DUH right there), doing amazing things they love to do. And making it their careers, or living.

I chose to be a mom, an at-home mom that is, at a young age. So doing things I want were givin up to God; I nailed them to the cross. But I am still a human and struggle with it.

One afternoon, I was having an especially hard time and during my quiet time, I stopped everything and asked , well kinda yelled at God ,"What can I do? I want to do things, what?"

Just be a mom.... Those are the very next words that came to my mind after asking that question.

Just be a mom.

It was kinda like that activity in school where the teacher asks you, "what is the first word that comes to mind when you hear this..." I heard that sentence almost immediately.

So over the last couple of weeks, I have spent a lot of time in prayer asking for help in being content. I love being a mom, but I need help to love being JUST a mom.

I know God will give me opportunities to do what I love, but it will never be more than that... Opportunities. And I'm beginning to be ok with that. My kids need me, not me and added stresses. Not me in a minute. Not me after I finish this. They need just me.

And I'm not going to give them any less.

Thank you, lord, for revealing this to me!
Matthew 6:21 WHEREVER YOUR TREASURE IS, THERE THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART WILL ALSO BE.

what do at-home mama's do?

That is a question I actually get asked by quite a bit of people. Whether its my husband, soon-to-be-mom friends, or people I just randomly meet.

I never really had a good answer as to why it's physically/mentally tiring, busy, chaotic, and so much more. I guess the words were never there, or I was passing up the small stuff.

But I found this, and let me tell you... it's brilliant. And all she says doubles with more kids.

Don't get me wrong, though.

I. love. what. I. do. Period.

But this is what's goes on.

I hope you can read it better, click here to go to facebook photo to read it. 

 Keven Drake Write took this photo and wants it go viral.... read and see why! Love it! 

rip and sew

We haven't done a whole lot of crafts this week because the weather has been AMAZING!

I love the weather when it's too chilly for a t-shirt and but not quite cold enough for a jacket, and this week it has been just that. Ok, we've had some pretty cold mornings, but the afternoons have been great.

We have gone on walks galore before the snow arrives, and played at our local park everyday. Tonight, we are going to Daddy's football game!

But here are a couple of things we have done.

Ripped pumpkin. Nevaeh has this weird fetish with ripping things. We have to watch her and our books because she will start to rip it. So I decided to start doing these crafts to incorporate that fetish. 

 Nevaeh mermaid. This morning she wanted to make a mermaid and I had no idea what she was talking about. Jason actually came up with this idea. Cut out a pic of her, and make a tale with the ripped paper. 

 Just rip...

 ...and glue. This also helps kids with fine motor skills, ripping into smaller pieces and teaching them inside and outside the lines. 

Today was the first day WITHOUT cable, and let me tell you, it's kinda weird. I've lived with tv for 23 1/2 years and it's kinda like something is empty in our house. But I know, that will soon pass. I hope.

So, today, I made Gray a t-shirt out of one of my old Hoover shirts! It turned out great! the neck part didn't dip low enough in the front, but other than that, wow. I can't believe how well it did turn out. I'm making Nevaeh one tonight probably. 

Enjoy!

Have a great weekend, God bless.

Zoo getaway

Nevaeh LOVES animals as much as I do. So a trip to the Omaha Zoo was definitely a to do this year. The weather was great, we had a blast and the animals were very photogenic. 

And no, I did not take so many photos that a year down the road you go to organize and you ask yourself, "did I need that many pictures of one monkey picking his nose?" What you see is about what I took!

This monkey was going crazy! 

 Baby! There were tons of baby monkeys!

 Papa Steve came with us! 

 Gray enjoyed watching his sister more than anything.

 Tapir- from Diego. Nevaeh knew a lot of the animals because they were on Diego.  

 Mama and baby. So precious!

 Ok, if Jason would let me and I had the time, I would love to get a Macaw! They are sweet and beautiful! Look at those colors.

 Hip... Hip-Hop... Hip-hop-anonymous. If you have seen the movie Big Daddy, you know what I'm talking about. And that was such a Jason moment! He always recites movie lines.

 Nevaeh's favorite animal... I think.

 I love this photo. This is Lemur who was just basking in the spotlight... literally. 

Beautiful.