My Week In Photos

My week started with a trip to the zoo with my little man and sister, Alex (newly in town to prepare for her wedding in a few months). We had a great time, feeding the giraffes, watching the monkeys and elephants and seeing the sea lions swim about. 

 The next day started my preparation for yard sale Saturday. It started in my closet, as suggested by Erin Rooney Doland in her book,"Unclutter Your Life In One Week." I took it all out, cleaned the closet, then figured out what would go back in, and what would make its way to a trash or yard sale. 

 This picture captures my victory. My son is fighting naps, even though once he gets to sleep, he sleeps for several hours. This particular day it took me 3 hours to get him to take his nap, thus, my victory! 

 Thursday was a difficult Mommy day. My son was cranky and demanding, so by bed time I was spent, but it was this time before bed with giggling boy that made it all worthwhile. 

 Friday was a crazy day as was Saturday, Saturday holds no pictures as my phone was stolen. I was not a happy camper, and still am not adjusted to life with no cellphone! 

 Today is Mother's Day, so happy Mother's Day to all the moms reading this!! Here is my Mother's Day orchid :)! 

 My husband has been busy around the house today, but I was able to do a little kitchen experimentation with this pasta salad. It was super yummy and I want to share it with you! 

 Here's the recipe(ish): I didn't exactly measure :) I used a mix of Farfalle & Ziti pasta that I cooked to package directions. Then I poured some olive oil on it as it cooled. I then added minced garlic, grape tomatoes (halved), chopped fresh spinach, sliced back olives, sliced string cheese, artichoke hearts (poured just a bit of the juice from the jar onto the mix), added salt, pepper & italian seasonings. I then mixed 3 tablespoons of cottage cheese, cream cheese and half a cup of grated parmesan and microwaved for 30 seconds. I mixed it together with 2 tablespoons of pesto and folded it in with pasta/veggie mix. I then poured a half cup of parmesan on top then mixed it all up. Try it out!  Enjoy!!!

Cooking with Mommy

Today was a first for my little man as he helped mommy cook tonight! We tried a recipe my friend, Amanda, posted on my Facebook. You can get it from this photo.

Here's my boy putting the seasonings into the bowl after I measured them out.

Now he is mixing them together.

As I cut the veggies he put them into the bowl. You can see that he ate of few of the peppers.

I did make a few changes in my method of the recipe. Instead of putting the chicken in the baking dish and then adding the other ingredients, I mixed the seasonings and oil in the bowl and then tossed in the chicken to get an even coat. The veggies were added after the chicken to the bowl. I also only had orange and red peppers so didn't end up using green. This is one to try, it had a great taste to it and was fairly easy to do quickly, which is always nice. Even better than the recipe was Bubba's help. Its his introduction to cooking!

Busy Book

This week marks the first of my 3 sisters to get married this year! We have been gearing up for this first trip across country. We are flying and need a lot of activities for my 2 year old son. He can share the DVD player with his sister and watch movies, or play games on the iPad, and I even have some books and coloring but I wanted something new to entertain him, so I started making a busy book. I have seen several on Pinterest, and thought they looked fairly easy if I used felt, well I definitelly underestimated the project. Its not as nice as I would like but its done! My sewing machine revolted against the felt so I did mainly hand sewing and gluing.

Here's a list of what I did:
Jonah and the Whale Zipper Mouth
Monkey & Elephant Button Balloon
Marble Maze
Velcro Shapes
Bead Counting from 1 to 10
Seat Buckles
Joseph and the Colorful Coat Snaps
Go Fish - with Magnet Pole
Moon & Star Snaps
Rocket String
Lock & Key


In the end I didn't put anything on the front and back flaps, I figured I could add it later. I bought a yard of blue felt and had more than enough which was good because I didn't anticipate having the sewing from one side show on the other, so on some pages I gluded or sewed another piece of felt on top to avoid the other page showing through.
I started by cutting the pieces of felt like a book so it was 17x11 inches - including cover it was 4 pieces (I actually started with more but decided to pair down).

I started with the center page (a double page of buckles) all other pages are single pages.

I put each page together individually, then sewed it all together.

For the animals and people, I printed out coloring pages and used them as templates for the shapes.

For the fish, I sewed washers in between two matching pieces of felt instead of just sewing the washer on the outside.

I found chalk worked better on felt then my regular fabric marking pens

I used a magnet in the red pocket to hold the lock down a little bit better. I tried tying it at the top like the other things but it kept getting tangled and falling out the top. This isn't perfection but works better. I'm no professional, just a mom trying to keep her kid entertained. Truth be told, if I can do it, so can you!!! Go get to it!

Just a Few Precious Moments from my Day

I know every parent loves their kids but today my little bugaboo was being especially cute and I was able to capture two great moments! He just recently celebrated a birthday and received a belated birthday greeting this past week. It came with a giftcard, it was good timing because his second Buzz Lightyear from Disneyland broke and life without Buzz would be unbearable. So we got his first official Buzz Lightyear - the big one for big boys. He was so excited to get it today and couldn't wait to get it out of the box. We had to make a pit stop at grandma's work so we could cut it out ASAP! I captured the delight on his face as we left the store. He has a "smile for a picture" face, and this is it. I love his cheesy personality, maybe its because I'm a bit cheesy, but its super cute on him :).


Later in the day we headed to his yearly doctor's appointment. As we waited for the doctor, my little man just lay on the table reading a Mickey Mouse book. Truly precious and priceless. I always wanted a lot of kids, but everytime I catch a moment like the two captured here, I feel beyond lucky to have the one amazing kid I do have!!

I may not have the most glamourous life, but it sure is sweet!

Cravings

Matthew 5:6 – Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

One of my lifetime favorite drinks is a peach tea that was sold on post in Heidelberg, Germany when I was in high school. After graduating from high school and moving back to the states I didn’t see that drink again, despite any cravings I had. Fast forward twelve years and low and behold a fruit stand along the drive to my grandparents’ house in Jackson carries that same tea! Let me tell you, the bottles I got over the months of frequent drives up and back were very much enjoyed and savored. Finally, my cravings were satisfied; that tea hit the spot unlike any other beverage could, because I loved it and had not had it in so long.

We all crave things - certain foods and drinks are our favorites, but our cravings go beyond the taste buds. Either we hunger for things of this world: fame, money, success, acceptance; or we hunger for things of God. The word used for righteousness in this passage is dikaiosune. It literally means righteousness of which God is the source or author, so this craving is not just a general sense of living right, but is actually a hunger for being like God! The funny thing about craving things of this world is that it is never enough. In contrast, when we hunger for righteousness, we will be filled. God is enough! Yet somehow we still struggle with desiring things of this world. Take some time to pursue God, the more you spend with him the more you will crave and be filled.

What do you crave?

Only Be Still

Exodus 14:14 - “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

It seems sometimes the only way to get good customer service is by being an assertive, and sometimes downright rude! We have been conditioned to push for our way, and to fight for our rights. It’s so pervasive in our culture that it’s just a natural response in certain situations. Unfortunately, this conditioning has left us at a spiritual disadvantage.

When we look at what Jesus did on the cross we see an example of someone else’s act meeting the requirements for our lives. It’s our inaction that makes the cross so powerful – we don’t have to earn it, we just have to accept it. This principle is true for our entire walk with God. It doesn’t mean we become lazy people that just sit on the couch and watch television all day waiting on God to boom in with a great plan. We do need to take initiative in life, but it does mean that his ways are higher than our ways(Isaiah 55) and we must submit to his direction. In moments in life when we are being treated unfairly or slandered, we must trust that God will take on our defense. He will stand for us with his all mighty power. Our human methods will only carry us so far, it is God who will fight for us.

We read in other passages (Psalm 46:10) that it is in stillness that we will know God. How often do you take time to be still? Are you making room in your calendar to wait on and hear from the Lord? Where are you fighting battles in your life that are not your responsibility to fight? Seek direction from the Lord and find rest for your soul (Jeremiah 6:16). When we are doing God’s will, we will be at peace and rest(Matthew 11:20).

A Theme Emerges

2013 has just begun and already a theme has emerged! Travel is the word of the year. In 1994, Hugh Grant starred in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and I'm close. Two days before Christmas my father-in-law was hospitalized and 14 days later he died. So after traveling 5 hours to see him this passed week, we will go again Friday to be with family and friends at his memorial. Now I am someone who is no stranger to traveling. In my 34 years I have been to 27 different countries. Getting on plane or going on a road trip is not something that intimidates me, but since my initial voyage my life is changed. Now I'm doing with the family. My family includes my husband and I but also my 26-year-old special-needs stepdaughter, my diabetic 21-year-old stepdaughter who spends her life in and out of hospitals, and my soon-to-be two-year-old son. It's an undertaking to say the least. Before news of my father-in-law's terminal illness, we knew this year would be about travel. I have three sisters all of which are getting married this year in three different states within eight months of each other. This will be interesting! I'm in search of busy books ideas and other travel apps and toys for little kids. I'm going to master this traveling with tots thing, and be an expert by 2014. Journey with me, if you're ready, here we go...