Notes

I look around my home and everywhere I turn there is another sweet note, another sweet reminder that there is a little girl who loves that lives here. I LOVE MOM or I LOVE DAD is constantly written on notes and cards that are made from her enduring little hands. Beautiful fields of flowers drawn and landscaped on a paper. When I was sick a lot from this pregnancy with number three, I would awake to find a picture laid next to me of a butterfly or her and I walking together. She's only five, and her drawings are from a hand of a five year old, but to me they are but beautiful art from the hand of my child. I never worry about the use of computer paper, for to her she is coloring a masterpiece for me or her Daddy. Every picture maybe the same concept and the same color scheme, but to me they are priceless words and pictures written precisely for me. Such a beautiful display of love for another to write out your heart on a piece of white paper. But that is my girl, she loves by writing and drawing and giving. I am so thankful that I many times a day am the receiver of these sweet notes. I pray they will always continue.

Here's a teacher talking...

Being the teacher that I once was, but now continue to be in our home, summer reading is high on the agenda for summer at our house. Since our little one will be graduating K-4 tomorrow night, I am on high alert and looking for book lists of ideas to read before Kindergarten. Again, why not start at Pinterest? I found this great booklist, 100 books to read before Kindergarten from the Woodbridge Public Library in New Jersey. (http://www.woodbridge.lib.nj.us/100books.htm) The list features several sublists, for example: classic stories like The Snowy Day, one of my all time favorite story books or Corduroy, another book I remember reading with my Mom. Reading is just so important, the vocabulary boost that every child can receive just from reading simple picture books is remarkable. In one instance, my girl asked, what's dashing mean? I was able to help her figure it out by using surrounding details of the story, we talked about what handsome means and how well the man was dressed in the photo and helped her get an understanding of the word dashing.
My girl and I are making a list of all the books we are reading this summer, with the name of the book, author and date. I love lists, as you can tell and she loves getting her reading list filled in. I think we are going to do a little prize for reading 25 or 50 or 100 books, etc.
My favorite discovery so far is that there are Little House books for kids! I couldn't wait until our girl was older and start reading books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and low and behold, they have those but in a picture book form. This week we read one about the County Fair, which our daughter is going to be doing some County Fair events this summer and she got all excited about thinking about the Logan County Fair in July. I get just as excited as she does when I bring a bag home full of books we haven't read yet, even my two year old son gets excited to look at the pictures. Some will not hold his attention as long, but even just listening for awhile is so great for him.
For parents of younger children, I know I get so tired of reading the same story over and over, and it wasn't until our girl was older that I discovered at our library they even have a board book section. I would just invite you to go check out your neighborhood library. Dust off your library card or get a new one and check out books. On the agenda for summer at our house, spending as much time outside playing and reading!! I hope you and your children do the same thing!
Blessings!

Couponing--stockpiling

After a year +  of couponing, I have called it quits. Not that I would ever turn down a coupon or enjoy getting an item free, but I have found for our budget, I am going back to my old ways of grocery shopping and saving myself money and time. Each week, while couponing, I was running down to West Liberty to grab my 5 papers for 75 cents each. I'd pour through the coupons, organize them, run through the ads and find where I'd do the best at. I have found that stockpiling for me, just didn't work for our budget. I fear I ended up spending more money to receive the deal rather than saving my family money. Not only was I driving to another town to pick up my papers each week, but I was going to Wal-Mart, Kroger, CVS and Walgreens. There were times I'd drive the 45 minutes to the nearest Target just to get a deal on diapers. I probably used up the money I saved on gas to get me to each place. When I started couponing the purpose for me was doing better on diapers and wipes for my baby. I think I fared better on that and should have stuck to my guns on this idea. What I would recommend, would be to shop at ALDI. I love ALDI. They have excellent selection of produce and items. My brother-in-law used to work for ALDI and he always has said that the products are the same from ALDI as the name brand items, they are just labeled as ALDI brand. We love their chips for our lunches, the produce, I love that today I got a gallon of milk for $1.99 rather than paying over $3.50. (How often do you find a coupon for milk, and when you do, you also have to buy Oreos or Chips Ahoy, which I love, but don't need!) When there are other items we need, then we go to Wal-Mart, because they have the lowest prices. I have taken advantage of Wal-Mart's price matching, which is awesome. I would recommend taking your ads with you and they will price match to the ad. This does take some organization and you must go to a line with a representative and not the self-check out lines. I have gotten great deals price matching and using coupons and even without using coupons. I know this post would probably make every coupon blogger annoyed, but for us, we are saving more money by doing what we've always done than adding more trips to here or there and more temptations to buy those items with coupons. My goal is to do most of my shopping on the outer circle of the store, rather than all the aisles in the middle. On the outer circle of the store are your produce, dairy, meat, etc. Mostly everything else is processed foods and we don't need those in our diets, we definitely eat enough!

Please don't be offended if you are an amazing couponer and fabulous at getting deals! I always loved checking my receipt at the end and seeing all that I saved! I would get a thrill out of doing this, but as I look back on our year last year, I see all that I really did spend (especially when we were taking a financial class at our church) and realized I was spending more than our budget allowed just to get good deals and to stockpile. So the only choice was to cut the spending and minimize my trips. This has helped our budget, my time can be given in more areas, especially around our home and with our kids and we can use the extra money on things we need.

I am turning my scissors over to the other coupon divas and going back to what I know. I am still looking for deals and will use coupons when I come across them, especially on diapers and wipes. But my time is over and I will allow those who can to coupon and for me, I will save money on our budget!

Birthday Ideas

I am loving the ideas on Pinterest! I am sure many of you out there have found fun ideas. I love inexpensive ideas for kids birthday parties or anything really that's Kids Worthy. It has been really helpful to search on there for ideas and then if I can't find what I am looking for, I can search the internet and pin it to my wall. So I don't go through the wondering where that website was or checking my history for hints of my search. It's so great! For my girl's 5th birthday she wanted a Rapunzel Themed birthday, so we decided to go with this super cute idea I saw on Pinterest:

http://www.supermommoments.com/2011/01/tangled-birthday-party-invitation/

Our invitations looked nearly the same, but I found a stamp paper punch that was smaller and $7.00 cheaper than the Martha Stewart one. And since I am not an avid scrapbooker I thought I had better buy the cheaper one. What you'll need to make these invitations: 

Purple cardstock

Golden Yellow embroidery thread (I ran out of this and since we only have Wal-Mart close I used a golden yellow color of thread for crocheting--and that worked wonderfully)

Thin purple ribbon

Stamp or window-like paper punch

envelopes

Here is the end result:

This is the outside of her envelope. She decorated it with Rapunzel (this is Rapunzel when her hair is cut at the end, but the rest had long blonde hair). She wrote Kari 5 on it and then we attached these super cute "Please Deliver to..." yellow attachments from the above website.

She was really pleased by the end result.

Anywhere He Leads Me

One of my favorite people of history would definitely have to be Corrie Ten Boom. Do you know her? Have you read any of her books? I remember seeing the movie "The Hiding Place," as a child and remember being swept away at what amazing things that anyone can do if they have God on their side. She, her sister and father hid many Jewish people in their home during the Holocaust, right inside Corrie's closet. All three of them were sent to concentration camps and only Corrie survived. She survived and even went back to many of these concentration camps proclaiming God's Word. Talk about making beauty out of ashes! When I was in seventh grade, we were required in English class to do a report about a famous historian. I chose her, to the dismay of my English teacher. He said it could not be done, there was not enough material on her life, and it was a waste of time. However, with the encouragement of my parents, I found a lot of information on her and I was able to share about Christ to my class, through her life story. I was nervous, but thankful that God put it on my heart to share her life, a life focused on Jesus and serving Him to my class. She and her family were always a reminder to me during so many hard times in my life that God can use you, no matter what circumstance He puts you in. He has a purpose! The Ten Booms saved many people from concentration camps, praise God, though they had to endure it themselves. Since they were there, they were able to share the gospel with the women they met and I am sure God used them as the voice to change the hearts of many.
One of my favorite devotional books is by Corrie Ten Boom called, "Anywhere He leads Me." http://www.alibris.com/booksearch.detail?invid=11115776693&browse=1&qwork=365432&qsort=&page=1
It's a super easy read, just a few verses and then excerpts from her books that appropriately go with the verses. The one I read yesterday was from the verses of Psalm 119:92-106, which is one of my favorite parts of Psalm 119. Here are the verses:

If your law had not been delight,
I would have have perished in my misery.
I will never forget your precepts,
for by them you have given me life.
I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts.
The wicked lie in wait to destroy me,
but I consider your decrees.
I have seen a limit to all perfection,
but your commandment is exceedingly broad.
Oh, How I love your law!
It is my mediation all day long.
Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
for it is always with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
for your decrees are my meditation.
I understand more than the aged,
for I keep your precepts.
I hold back my feet from every evil way,
in order to keep your word.
I do not turn away from your ordinances,
for you have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through your precepts I get understanding;
therefore I hate every false way.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
to observe your righteous ordinances.
Psalm 119:92-106, NRSV

She goes on to talk about how she was back into Aufseherinnen, a concentration camp for women and there were women guards from the camp Ravensbruck, where she had been imprisoned. She was trying to teach these women about real freedom through Christ, but they looked at her speaking as "simple," for they were highly educated and "more profound in their theology" (pg. 21). She prayed about what to talk to them about and God laid on her heart "Chocolate." She happened to have some chocolate with her, and it was non-existent in Germany at that time. No one could get it, especially at a concentration camp. This is an excerpt from what happened next:
        "The next day I set out for camp full of new courage. There they were, sitting once more in front of me, resistance and distaste on every somber face. But I said, "This is my last visit with you, and so I brought you a little treat--chocolate." How those faces lit up! What a luxury a piece of chocolate was to those poor prisoners! All at once we were friends. Some of them even asked me to write my name and address in their Bibles. When I began to speak, I said, "No one has said anything to me about the chocolate. No one asked whether it had been manufactured in Holland or what quantities it contained of cocoa, sugar, milk or vitamins. You have done exactly what I intended you to do: you have eaten and enjoyed it." Then I took up my Bible and said, "It is just the same with this Book. If I read about the Bible in a scientific, theological or scholarly way it does not make me happy. But if I read that 'God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life' (John 3:16, KJV), then I am really happy. God's Spirit was working. Barriers fell away and understanding and longing were born in the eyes before me, a hunger to hear more of that love that passes all understanding" (Ten Boom, page 22).

How could I paraphrase all of that, you would never see the impact like she had written! I pray I may be more like that, to read the Word of God and enjoy it, daily! I love the words above from Psalm 119 as a reminder of what God has done in my life and how He has kept me from paths that were destructible and kept me on His path. Praise Him for that!

I pray today that you are encouraged by this post and by the life of Corrie Ten Boom and her service to the Lord. What a blessing to share this with you today.

One turns to Two

Never be one again...

No, you'll never be one again

The twos are tumbling on in

Daddy's little (boy) is growing up in the world

You'll never be one again.

-Alabama

Last month we celebrated our little guy's 2nd birthday! It was a great day, his grandparents, cousin, uncles, great grandparents were able to attend (we missed everyone who could not be there), but the day was so great! I found the perfect cake that I wanted to make for him, it was a number 2 shape that looked like a train track. I found the idea on Pinterest. Sometimes I just need to find the idea and go with it. I have never actually cut a cake to shape it, but with the help of my husband and his mad cutting skills, we made a perfectly shaped number 2. Next time, I will use a crumb coating before adding my buttercream icing on top. I used my Mom's royal icing recipe to make the white track. I think it turned out wonderfully. If I show my kids the cake and they recognize what it is, then I feel like my job is done well! Here's how the cake turned out!

Making your own birthday invitations

I love making and receiving hand-made cards. I try to make my kids birthday party invitations every year. This year I had no idea how to make a Thomas the Train invitation and I was not feeling very creative since at this time of the year I feel that I have so much to do. My little guy's birthday always sneaks upon us, considering his birthday is in the early part of January. I am a new user of Pinterest. If you are not on and creating your own boards, you should! Let me know and I'll send you an invite. I have found so many ideas for home decor, homemade ideas for Christmas gifts and fun things for my kids to do. I often see things on websites, and then forget to put it in my favorites and then it is gone forever in cyberspace. So Pinterest is perfect for me, I can now find something I love, pin it to a board and it is there until I delete it! Awesome! I love how I can even organize those pins into categories! I love organization!! Anyway, back to my invitation. I found this one on Pinterest from The Scrap Shoppe. It's amazing!! She really did a perfect job!

 I love how professional looking it was and featured Thomas the Train. I do not have a Silhouette, but I thought I could probably do some of the same features using Microsoft Word or Publisher. I ended up using Word because that is what I am most comfortable with.

Directions for my invitation using Microsoft Word:

1. Changed the Layout Margins to 0.5

2. Went to the tab Insert and inserted a rounded rectangle shape. 

3. I changed the thickness of the line around the rectangle to 2 1/4 thick.

4. I then added 3 text boxes just like the photo above only I made the text box on the left a little longer.

5. I then added all of my text.

6. I added dotted lines around each text box rather than solid lines.

7. I added flags down the middle in blue and red for the  Thomas theme.

8. I then printed it out and added a Thomas the Train sticker in the bottom left corner.

The card stock I used was from Michael's and the cost was $0.49 per sheet and I was able to get 2 per sheet.  Here is the final product, I think they turned out nice. I always show them to my kids and if they are excited about the character and recognize what it is, then I feel that I have done well. 

Have fun exploring Pinterest and enjoy making your own invitations as well.

I did cut off the end of the ticket-like invite. Hopefully you can see it well.