....for this Word from my time with the Lord this morning (and thought maybe you could use it too!)
1 Peter 1:18-19 "...you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a perfect lamb without blemish or spot."
i know each of us have a myriad of things to be thankful for...but seriously, is there anything more amazing that the blood of Jesus, shed on our behalf. oh how i need to be reminded to meditate on this amazing gift and walk in its reality.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
thankful...
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
choices...
i could be doing something about this...the three gigantor baskets FULL of laundry waiting to be folded...(not sure why the picture is posting sideways...or why i am stooping to the level of including pictures of laundry on my blog).....
Monday, November 16, 2009
ten smile tuesday...early!
disclaimer....this is FULL of pictures....FULL of fun....FULL of smiles!
the girls i enjoyed four fabulous days at grandmommy and poppy's house...we missed day, but in the meantime we had tons of giggles, visited lots of friends and family, and thoroughly enjoyed the break from the norm. we also gave daddy the chance to accomplish a few long overdue tasks around the house!
1. before heading to the lake, my friend jamie and i had a morning of sewing. she and her little guy came over...bringing along sewing machine, fabric and the ingredients for a yummy sundried tomato and basil pizza for lunch. i taught jamie a few little things with sewing and also managed to finish a few little projects...a stuffed taggie alligator for kate (not pictured) and one crayon tote (still need to do another)--and i will be adjusting the measurements to make it a bit smaller. i also have a pic of the elephant taggie animal i made for kate last week.
3. we had a GREAT time...visiting great grandparents and introducing jillian to some of them for the first time!
G.G....so thankful we've gotten to see G.G. so much since she moved up this way!
7. jillian having the chance to meet one of her namesakes...miss jill! actually, this was a smile for all of us...as the girls, my mom and i all enjoyed jill's visit! (thanks for making the drive up jill!). as you can see from the first picture, jillian had lots of grins and quickly fell in love with miss jill! see this post for more on why jillian got her name...
12. coming home to daddy! it was a gorgeous saturday afternoon...so upon arriving home daddy and his girls did lots of running around and playing in the backyard!
13. a fabulous play-date with a delightful friend this morning. i am so thankful for genuine, willing to admit their imperfections, relying on God's new every morning mercies kind of friends. the girls had a blast playing with their friends....and i very much enjoyed hanging out and having some good, honest, deep conversation about God, mommy-hood--the joys and struggles, and walking in grace with my friend.
14. and since most of the other pics were of the bigger girls...here it is...the obligatory jillian picture. isn't see precious!? hard to believe that in one week she'll be three months old...wow!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
ten smile tuesday
finally...some smilin' on this ol' bloggity blog...not sure where the past couple of weeks have gone. in fact, sometimes i wonder where the whole month of october got off to...or september for that matter. i can hardly believe it is almost Thanksgiving...and then Christmas...whoa!
1. all things "A"...i decided to start some structured crafting and alphabet time with kate...starting with, of course, the letter "A"...A is for alligator and ambulance and anchor and ANTS...we had lots of fun with "ants"...ant sandwiches (PB&raisin/cranberry)...making our own paper ants. kate had a blast tracing the circles for the body and helping me glue the parts...she really, REALLY like glue...did i mention that she is two...seriously, what is it with two year olds and glue? i only have a picture of elizabeth making an ant though...and she insisted on coloring her ant white....whats that? did i hear you asking why? well...because she was so delighted to find a use for the white crayon that she wanted to throw in the trash last week because it "didn't work" on her coloring book. what a funny girl!
2. chubby little hands...that stay chubby for far too short a time! (these are kate's little marker lovin' hands, by the way...it kind of cracks me up that she automatically grips crayons and markers correctly...something we are still working on with elizabeth...she is definitely our fine and gross motor skills girl while libs is all about the verbal development!)
3. an impromptu and sweet lesson from Jonah. background story: in the mornings i have been trying to spend time during breakfast telling the girls what God is teaching me/talking to me about during my quiet time before they get up. yesterday we had just sat down and i was opening the Bible to tell them what i was learning when kate started repeatedly asking me to read Jonah..."Jonah, mommy...read JO-nah!" so i did...and then we whipped out the gigantor sized sheets of paper daddy brings home from work, i drew some a "big fish" with jonah in his belly...and we colored while talking about Jonah 2:9, "Salvation belongs to God"...such a sweet moment. (and lest you think it was all sweet and perfect theology, i was trying to emphasize that only God saves, and then asked elizabeth various questions, like "does money save us? she would say "no", and i would say, "You're right, salvation belongs to..." and we would all together say God. that worked until i offered the question, "Does candy save us?" elizabeth thought for a moment and responded, "yep mommy...i think candy does save..." so much for that! :)
5. incredibly tasty homemade artisan bread...our creative activity at MOPS this past week. SO good...and SO incredibly easy. the dough stays in your fridge and you simply pull off a hunk, shape it into a ball with a gluten cloak, let it sit on your counter for a bit, and then bake it in a steam oven...and voila...bread in just minutes! the recipe came from the book, "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day"...which is definitely being added to my Christmas list!
6. hand-me-down Crocs for the girls...sometimes it is the little things. but seriously, they are loving their matching purple "monster" Crocs (they came with silly monster figures stuck in the holes)
7. time alone with the big girls. i've had chances a few times in the past week or so to take just elizabeth or just kate out for an outing or some errands...what precious time to be able to spend alone with each girl.
8. tasty salads for dinner. i will admit it...if mike won't be home, i really don't usually cook...this past week he worked several evenings tying up loose ends on a project, so i bought a rotisserie chicken at costco and (okay...i'll confess) one of their prepackaged spinach salads, and voila...healthy tasty dinner for me. true confessions...the girls just might have eaten PB&J or yogurt each of those nights (and whichever they didn't have for dinner they probably had for lunch). good thing mike is home for dinner most nights to encourage me to cook! and i really do enjoy cooking...but mostly when someone else at the table will truly appreciate and enjoy it (and honestly, kate is in a phase where it is a constant battle to get a healthy dinner down...a battle that is a big overly wearying and not worth it to fight on my own when i've already been home alone with them all day!)
10. crafting...crafting. i discovered this site...and have thoroughly enjoyed browsing through it, feeding my creativity...adding far too many projects and ideas to my already limited time! i did, however, find the time to do a bit of sewing one evening after the girls were in bed...some embellished burp rags for a friend's new baby girl...and a taggie elephant for jillian's Christmas stocking. i'm hoping to get some more fabric cut and projects ready for sewing, as tomorrow morning a friend is coming over with her new (first ever) sewing machine, and i am planning to teach her a few things (which is laughable considering i don't know all that much!...but like i tell her...you really don't need to know much to do some really cool things!)...and hopefully crank out a couple more stocking stuffer projects!
and i could go on...but i won't because in just a few minutes a sweet little girl will be waking up, ready to eat and cuddle and snuggle. and besides that...i really need to do some packing since the girls and i head out for a quick trip to the lake tomorrow as soon as our sewing morning is finished...must pack and finish some cleaning around the house!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
i give....
okay...i am going to concede to the reality that there just won't be an official "ten smiles" for this week. BUT, i will share a few pics of our little monkey and cow...and perhaps some snippets from last week.
*as i mentioned before, H1N1 struck, taking me down...we think both of the girls had it as well, but thankfully their symptoms were very mild. mike became the main caregiver for jillian, and thankfully both of them avoided the sickies! actually, getting sick was good for our family...it gave mike some much needed time off at home...a chance to unwind and relax and bit...and best of all, a chance to bond with jillian in an incredible way! and, as for me, i had a chance to rest...
*while the really cold weather throughout october, mike's big project at work, and then the sickies interfered with our plans to do a pumpkin patch or the ZooBoo...we did carve pumpkins on halloween morning, and the girls and i made pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting. YUM!
*my mind is FULL to the brim and overflowing with crafty projects for Christmas stocking stuffers for the girls (good thing i have SO much time for crafting...HA!). i made the "mistake" of perusing etsy one evening, and oh my, my mind was filled with ideas for each of the girls...crayon wallets, baby doll slings, an elephant shaped lovey and elephant taggy animal for jillian, bibs...and on and on! i did find some time last night to do a bit of crafting...some burp cloths for a friend who just had a sweet baby girl a few days ago (hooray for another girlie buddy for jillian!) and another baby girl who was born a month ago.
*jillian sleeping through the night! right as i came down with the flu, jillian decided to begin sleeping through the night...what a considerate little girl! she is now consistently going 10 hour or more stretches at night and settling into an awesome routine during the day. she is SUCH a contented and joyful baby...what a blessing!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
{family love}
just jillian
and the video proof of the coos and smiles and sweetness...











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