Authentic Pursuit

Two Worthy Causes!!

2012-01-29T11:25:00.000-05:00

Hi Friends!

I hope you are having a great weekend! I wanted to take a quick minute to tell you about two people I love and two worthy causes they represent... my mother-in-law, Sheryl Dorsey and my sister-in-law, Nichole Broome!

When I first met her, one of the first things my future mother-in-law shared with me was her dream to one day open a shelter for hurting and troubled young women. Over the past year, Sheryl has seen the Lord open the doors for her dream to become a reality! The facility will be located in Stanley, NC in what was once an industrial facility. There is great cost associated with getting the ministry ready to begin housing women (and in some cases their young children), so one of the ways that the ministry will help defray costs is by opening a thrift shop called the "Penny Thrift." The grand opening of the shop will be on Saturday, February 4th from 8am until 3pm and will feature clothing, shoes, housewares and furniture! If you can't make it to the grand opening, please keep the Penny Thrift in mind when you have items you'd like to donate to charity (especially if you live in the Gaston County area!).

If you would like additional information about The King's Daughters ministry, Sheryl's story or the Penny Thrift, you can visit their website at www.kdmonline.org.

Also, my sweet sister in law will be performing songs from her "New Eyes" album (in addition to a new song or two!) at a benefit to raise funds for her mom's participation in the 3 day, 50 mile MS Challenge Walk. The event is Saturday, February 11th from 7pm-10pm at The Johnson Mansion in Charlotte. In addition to the concert, there will be a silent auction and appetizers, desserts and a coffee bar! Tickets are $15 and are available at the door. You can fine more info HERE about the evening... it's a perfect pre-Valentine's Day date night idea!

Thank You

2012-01-23T11:35:00.001-05:00

A young woman from our church passed away unexpectedly over the weekend. She went to sleep and never woke up. She was only 30 years old.

I didn't know her very well, but I did know that she loved children. She was a regular teacher in my girl's 3 & 4 year old class and had come to babysat the girls for us in a pinch once or twice when Ava and Lilia were much younger. She was always smiling, always kind and always honest with me if there was anything I needed to know about the girl's behavior... and I appreciated that. And even though I thought about it every time I picked up the girls from their class (sometimes my mom picks them up for me), I never told her. It didn't seem urgent.

If I had another chance, I would thank her for telling me that she believed Ava kept having "accidents" at church so that she could get new "cutie panties" as she called them. I would thank her for faithfully serving my girls many weeks of the month so that there was consistency/stability every time they went to their church class. But I can't. I know she loved Jesus and that she is with him now, and for that, praise the Lord! In remembering her, though, I can't help but think of the many others that I need to consciously take the time to thank, to make sure they know how appreciated they are.

I don't believe this young woman was serving the 3 and 4 year olds because she wanted recognition or thanks, but I do wish I'd taken the few extra seconds to make sure she knew that I was grateful for her service.

How many others are there who need to know that I value them and their contribution to my life?

Lord, please help me to keep my eyes open to take every opportunity to express my gratitude to those you've placed in my life, no matter how large or small of a role they are playing.

Preschool Weeks 11, 12 & 13

2012-01-21T12:21:00.003-05:00

We've gotten back into the routine of preschool after taking a long break between Thanksgiving and Christmas! Here are a few of the things we've worked on since we got started:

Week 11: I don't have any photos from that week, but most of the time was spent on review since it had been a while since we had done any formal work. We eased our way back into things :)

Week 12: Our theme of the week was "Birds." I had hoped to take the girls to the Carolina Raptor Center but the weather didn't cooperate that week... it's on our agenda in the next couple of months though. I found a "slideshow" about birds that we went through together (it can be found here), we colored pictures of hummingbirds for our MeMe (Ava & Lilia's great grandmother) and we painted "birdhouses" that I'd found at the dollar store.

Daddy helped the girls hang their birdhouses in the backyard!

During Week 12 we also learned to recognized and write the letters "Mm" and "Nn" and we reviewed recognizing and writing all of our numbers. We also learned to select objects that were the same size and then learned to compare objects that were big and objects that were small.

Week 13: This week we learned letters "Oo" and "Pp" and our math lessons included determining sequence by looking at pictures and determining "first, next, last". We also learned to recognize things that were "short" and things that were "tall" and how to compare the two.

Wednesday of Week 13 was "Winnie the Pooh Day" (according to our wacky holiday calendar), so we "celebrated" by having HONEY nut cheerios for breakfast and watching the recently released Pooh movie with our cousins who came to play that night (it's a really cute movie if you haven't seen it).

"Why are you taking my picture, Mom?"

And finally, these next two photos just make me happy! Over Christmas break, Ava started writing her name over and over...

and then this week, she asked me how to spell her sister's name. As I dictated the letters, she recalled how to write them and wrote it out on Lilia's artwork for her!

We are learning something around here!!!

Detail-Oriented, But Not Into the Details

2012-01-16T16:58:00.000-05:00

I know this doesn't make much sense, but itsummarizes me to a "t". It's this weird dichotomy that I don'teven fully understand about myself -- how I like to have a place foreverything, how I can't let mail pile up or go unfiled, how even my husband's t-shirtsare color coordinated, but yet there is this weird little "thing"that I can't seem to overcome...

It's not a secret that I love to create, repurpose,design, garden, etc. When I get an idea in my head (or more often, when Isee something at Goodwill that just needs a little love), my heart starts pounding! There is a thrill in the bargain-hunting, project-planning and dreamingup of new creations. But sometimes, for me, these things are the mostexciting part of a project. Once I get into the nitty gritty details, mybrain is kind of "over" this project and is already dreaming about thenext one.

But because of my detail-oriented nature, I CANNOT movefrom one project to the next without the ENTIRE thing being finished andcrossed off my to-do list. And without fail, this translates into cuttingcorners all over the place just to get things done! I don't like thisfact one bit, but as I look back over my life, I realize it's a pattern I'vefollowed forever. And when I really think about it, it actually serves mequite well at this particular point while I have several young children. I still get the joy of coming up with new projects, but I don't get sobogged down in the little details that no one will really even see.

Does it really matter if the back/bottom of the pillowslipcover looks terrible?

Does it really matter if the homemade curtain doesn'thave perfect corners?

Does it really matter if the pillow looks like I let my15 month old stuff it?

Does it really matter if I didn't wait long enoughbetween coats the paint chips just a little bit on the $10 laminate bookcase Ipainted because I needed it match another piece?

Does it really matter that the girl's bedskirts aren'tperfectly symmetrical and identical?

Are you getting my point? Almost every single thingI make is good enough, but very, very far from perfect. However, mycreative side is fulfilled AND my kids are loved, played with and educated...by far the most important thing. So I guess as long as the"something that's gotta give" is being a perfectionist in my craftingand creating, then I'm very ok with that!

A Place for Everything

2012-01-09T16:23:00.000-05:00

I really shouldn't be this excited about something like a planner, but I am! I finished the design of mine last week and now that it's printed and bound, I am LOVING it! Graphically-speaking it's fairly plain, and size-wise it's a little large, but it really, really is exactly what I need.

My brain can't handle clutter, so having a separate journal for my thoughts, a Bible stuffed with miscellaneous sermon notes, a calendar/planner full of separate sheets for shopping lists and packing lists and project lists... it all makes me a little crazy (it doesn't take much!). But now I am able to categorize and chronicle everything by year in one spiral-bind "life journal."

The book looks very similar to the spiral bound 100 page notebooks I used to use for taking notes in my college classes. I chose the heaviest-duty cover that Staples had to offer! Here is a little sneak peak of everything I included!

COVER Page: The whole purpose of this project is to order my life in a way that allows me to honor God with how I spend my time and how I care for everything he has entrusted to me. I used a passage from Titus as a springboard for everything I want to remember about my role:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That I maylove Steven, Ava Grace, Lilia & Pate

That I maybe self-controlled and pure

That I maybe busy at home

That I maybe kind

That I maybe subject to Steven

Then they can urge the youngerwomen to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, tobe busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that noone will malign the word of God.

Titus 2:4-5

GOALS Page / PROJECT Page: I like to be able cross things off of a list and to be able to hold myself accountable for the things that are important. On my GOALS page, I have between 4 and 6 entries in each category. My categories include each of my roles: Daughter of God, Wife, Mother / Home Educator, Steward, Friend & Personal/Physical.

My project page has sewing/craft/cooking projects, home improvement plans & organization projects to be completed this year.

CALENDAR Pages: I prefer a month at a glance style spread out over two pages. This format allows each day to contain the responsibilities that are part of that day and that do not change. There is also enough space left over to write in appointments and other to-do's as I need to add them. The spread also includes a lot of space for extra "notes to self," my monthly cleaning checklists and tasks, as well as the bills that are due on the 1st and on the 15th.

Here is a little snapshot: (some of the layout isn't "translating" so well, but you'll get the idea)

January2012

Weekly Tasks Sunday Monday Tuesday

1 New Years’ Day Bible Study	2 Bible Study Launder Downstairs Linens Exercise Education	3 Bible Study Clean Appliances Exercise Wipe Glass Doors Education
8 Bible Study	9 Bible Study Launder Downstairs Linens Exercise Education	10 Bible Study Clean Appliances Exercise Wipe Glass Doors Education
15 Bible Study	16 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Bible Study Launder Downstairs Linens Exercise Education	17 Bible Study Clean Appliances Exercise Wipe Glass Doors Education
22 Bible Study	23 Bible Study Launder Downstairs Linens Exercise Education	24 Bible Study Clean Appliances Exercise Wipe Glass Doors Education
29 Bible Study	30 Bible Study Launder Downstairs Linens Exercise Education	31 Bible Study Clean Appliances Exercise Wipe Glass Doors Education

Notes

Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

4 Bible Study Launder Upstairs Linens Exercise Empty Trash Education	5 Bible Study Vacuum / Mop Exercise Clean Bathrooms Education	6 Bible Study Exercise	7 Bible Study Exercise
11 Bible Study Launder Upstairs Linens Exercise Empty Trash Education	12 Bible Study Vacuum / Mop Exercise Clean Bathrooms Education	13 Bible Study Exercise	14 Bible Study Exercise
18 Bible Study Launder Upstairs Linens Exercise Empty Trash Education	19 Bible Study Vacuum / Mop Exercise Clean Bathrooms Education	20 Bible Study Exercise	21 Bible Study Exercise
25 Bible Study Launder Upstairs Linens Exercise Empty Trash Education	26 Bible Study Vacuum / Mop Exercise Clean Bathrooms Education	27 Bible Study Exercise	28 Bible Study Exercise

			Bi-Yearly Chores □ Clean under appliances □ Wash Windows □ Touch up paint □ Check batteries □ Clean fridge / cabinet tops □ Clean fridge / cabinet fronts

Monthly Cleaning Monthley Tasks 1st 15tj

□ vacuumupholstered furniture

□ vacuumunder furniture

□ replacefilters

□ dustwindows, doors, baseboards

□ dustlight fixtures

□ vacuumstairs

□ deepclean fridge / pantry

SHOPPING LIST Pages / MEAL PLAN Pages: The next spread has a full page excel spreadsheet with one column per week and about fifty rows per column so that I always have my grocery list with me. I use the other page to plan meals and make sure that I can keep track of any ingredients I need to buy as I get my recipes together for any given week.

MONTHLY JOURNAL Pages: This is kind of my own "Line a Day" journal. I can jot down things my kiddos say that I don't want to forget or special memories I want to make sure I can cherish for years.

BIBLE STUDY NOTES Pages: I have two full 2-page spreads for this. I'm so excited to be able to keep track of my scripture reading, prayers & questions in this way.

SERMON NOTES Pages: Again, I'm excited to have this in one spot!

NOTES Pages: I included fifteen or so pages of "lined" paper to keep track of anything that comes along that I need to keep track of! This portion of my previous planners has included everything from vacation packing lists to birthday party planning lists to yard sale "sales tallies." Again... everything in one spot makes me very, very happy:)

So there you have it! 2012, here I come!

Monogramming Pillows with Sharpie!

2012-01-05T16:49:00.000-05:00

In October, I hosted a birthday dinner for my mother in law and had planned to use the card table I bought for the girl's "playhouse" as the children's dinner table for the night. I had seen tons of gorgeous floor-length tablecloths on pinterest and decided I had to make one for the occasion. I don't have many photos of it, but I used a muslin fabric and added ball fringe around the bottom edge (I don't think I've ever talked about my love of ball fringe on this blog, but it is one of my favorite things EVER! Such a simple little pleasure:). We had a wonderful time celebrating my MIL and I ended up using the card table as the cake table... my mom loaned me her true "kid sized" table which worked much better!

I had a good bit of fabric left over from the project, so I used some of it to make throw pillows for two chairs in my kitchen (they go with the desks my hubby made). This isn't a "tutorial" per se since I don't give step by step instructions on how to sew pillows (there are lots of tutorials online using every method under the sun), but more of an explanation of how I used a sharpie, a computer printout and a couple dollar's worth of fabric to make myself some pillows :)

The first part was to set up the monogram on my computer and print it out. The limitation of this is that even if you want to make a large pillow, you can only print as big as an 8.5x11 sheet of paper will allow you. I was making small pillows, so it worked well for me.

Once I had my monogram printed, I used my rotary cutting mat to make sure the monogram would be even. If you don't have a mat like this, you can eyeball it and make it work :)

I then laid my pre-cut fabric over the monogram.

Sidenote: I use my least favorite method to make these pillows. Usually I make envelope style slipcovers, but since I didn't have any pillows in the size I needed, I just used the "sew two pieces of same-sized fabric together and leave an inch to turn and stuff" method. I didn't even have polyfill so I scrunched up quilt batting and used that. I do not love how that part of the project turned out, but it was what I had and I can remake them sometime if the mood ever strikes.

After everything was lined up, I carefully started tracing the lines of my monogram. I went over the entire monogram twice, making sure the bolder, thicker parts of the design on the paper translated into a bolder, thicker image on the fabric.

I then simply sewed, turned and stuffed the pillows. Here is an up close version, or for the life of my I can't figure out why it's turned like this! But you get the idea :)

Christmas Memories 2011

2012-01-03T15:45:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderfully Merry Christmas! I'm in denial that it's all over... I reluctantly undecorated today, but that was just because I wanted to make sure the tree was by the curb before collection day. Now I'm just crossing my fingers that something changes and we get a long, cold winter... I'm guessing I'm in the minority, but I really am happiest when it gets dark early and it is very chilly outside!

Here is a little recap of our Christmas week (mainly for me, since I don't scrapbook!). How fun to experience it all with my sweet kiddos!

Visiting Santa at the Botanical Gardens

The Orchid Conservatory

Waiting in line for the Christmas Eve service at church

With Daddy after the final Christmas Eve service

All ready for bed!

Santa came!

and he brought a blonde-haired bride for our blonde-haired bride

and a curly-headed princess for our curly -headed princess!

Riding bikes in our jammies...

and robe and slippers!

Playing in the rain with our new raincoat and umbrella

Sweet, sweet memories!

He Works All Thing Together...

2011-12-29T21:36:00.000-05:00

Right when I was feeling discouraged about not "doing enough" to create special memories for my children this Christmas, God was at work in big ways! One of the things I'd wanted to do with Ava and Lilia was to plan and host a Birthday Party for Jesus. I'd created a guest list and planned some activities, but because of the sickness and unexpected expenses we experienced in December, the invites never got sent.

Then, a week and a half before Christmas, I got an email from a very special lady whom my girls call "Miss Jean." She told me that every couple of years she and her teenaged children liked to host a Birthday Party for Jesus and that she would love it if the girls and I could join them this year! She had such fun things planned and we had a wonderful time celebrating with her!

As a little sidenote to this story, the same day Jean emailed me, I'd driven past her neighborhood and thought about how it'd been a while since I'd seen her and how I'd like to be able to spend some time with her. God's timing is always perfect!

Here are a few pics of us celebrating Jesus' birthday with Miss Jean and her family and some other friends...

Ava loved painting her salt dough star ornament

Lilia and Miss Jean's daughter painted nativity scenes

Miss Jean taught the girls how to "Pin the Star on the Nativity"

Our friend Miss Jean!

On Hold

2011-12-15T21:00:00.000-05:00

As a child, every Christmas really felt like Christmas. We had many lovely traditions and a continual soundtrack of wonderful music. It was the time of year I lived for, and in a way, I still do. But this year has felt different. I spent all of November shopping and planning and preparing so that December would be nothing but a time of creating sweet memories with my children, husband, extended family and friends. I really did have my to do list checked off by the time Thanksgiving was over. I was ready for the Christmas feeling.

But then, between weeks of sickness and some unexpected expenses, the feeling didn't come. In a way, we've still gone through the motions, attended the parties, sang the songs, looked at the lights. But I've been distracted. I've let worry overcome me, not only worrying about things I can't control (like sickness and unexpected expenses), but then I've worried that because of those things, I'm not doing enough to create special memories with my children, or even more importantly, use this season to point them to the cross.

Last night I heard this song that I can't get out of my head. The chorus says "You don't have to save the world. All that superhero talk is just superficial stuff. If you want to change the world, all you've gotta to is just show up." As Jill Phillips sang, two things hit me. My kids don't need me to make Christmas magical. They just need me. They need me to be in the moment, not lost in minefields of worry. And, my personal celebration cannot hinge on my feelings... it must hinge on Truth.

I trust God. He has proven himself over and over and over to me. I want nothing more than for my kids to trust him. But I realized that the example that I'm setting for them is that it's ok to put everything in life on hold until whatever is provoking the anxiety in me at the moment is "solved." That's not resting in Truth. That is not trust. It doesn't matter what my feelings are telling me. I know what matters. And it's not the lights and the food and the music. It's showing up, even when I don't feel like it.

'Tis The Season

2011-12-02T09:49:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas! I am so, so excited that our season of celebrating is now in full swing! My girls are both old enough to be asking a lot of questions about Jesus' birth and I'm loving all the conversation starters that we are surrounded with during this time of year. One of my Bible study leaders encouraged our group to use everything from the lights to the candy canes to the cookie baking to the caroling as opportunities to bring our celebration back to Jesus. She recommended a terrific book called The Adventure of Christmas by Lisa Whelchel. I ordered a copy and it has already been so helpful in planning out our season. I tried to find a copy locally with no luck, and Amazon was even out of stock for a while, but it looks like they've restocked if you want to purchase a copy for yourself.

Last year I had intended to help my children count down to Jesus' birthday with an Advent calendar, but with a newborn in the house, it didn't happen. In January, I wrote "create advent calendar" on my to do list for the year so I wouldn't forget. I finished it up last week and now we are working our way through it. I sewed 25 ribbons onto a piece of fabric, and then each year I'll be able to make 25 cards of advent activities to tie onto the ribbons.

Many of the activities I've included are things we traditionally do during this time of year, some of them will be new traditions, some of them are books that I want to make sure we read together. This will take the place of our "formal" preschool curriculum for the month of December, and we'll jump back into our workbook in January.

Here is the list!

Read The Newborn King

Read The Story of Christmas

Help Mommy wrap gifts

Read Nana's special Christmas book

Watch a Christmas movie together as a family

Attend a Christmas parade

Make your own snowglobe

Have a Christmas tea party with Grammy

Invite our neighbors to join us for church on Christmas Eve

Take a ride through McAdenville to look at the lights

Visit a live nativity

Read The Crippled Lamb

Read Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Make a birthday cake for Jesus

Host a birthday party for Jesus

Talk a walk through the lights at the Botanical gardens

Take Christmas cookies to Great Great Aunts and Uncles

Celebrate Christmas with our family friends

Go on a special Christmas date with Daddy

Read The Polar Express

Visit the Billy Graham Library

Make cookies for our friends at church

Shop for a special gift for sister

Attend Christmas Eve service with all of our family

Celebrate Jesus' birthday on Christmas Day

*Sidenote about preschool and our curriculum -- I wrote about how I wasn't really enjoying the workbook and I didn't think the girls were either, but not too long after that post, I realized we were going to fast. We slowed down a bit, staying on each letter/concept for about a day longer each, and we started to have a lot more fun! Instead of "doubling up" and trying to finish that workbook before Christmas, I decided that we'd finish up Letters A-M and Numbers 1-10 by Thanksgiving and then take a loooong break from the book. We'll be doing many activities to review those letters, numbers and concepts (there are so many fun projects online, so I'll blog about any that turn out to be blogworthy:), but we'll be focusing primarily on celebrating Jesus' birthday!

I'd love for you to share any special traditions, recipes or ideas you have on celebrating this season!

The Lengths to Which I'll Go...

2011-11-29T12:34:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd follow up yesterday's post with something a little more light-hearted today. I've written a lot about little ways I try to be a good "home economist" and save money for our family... everything from "restyling" leftover pizza to refilling our ink cartridges with ink and a syringe, but this next story might take the cake.

The backstory is that when we started our first "preschool homeschooling" attempt about a year ago (the one I failed at: :), I did something that still leaves me wondering what in the world I was thinking. I had the girls all set up for school at our dining room table, and I had all my curriculum books and activities spread out on the nearest kitchen counter. I didn't have any space left for our large plastic tub of crayons, glue and coloring books, so I set in on the closest available space... the top of the stove burners (ours are the coil kind). I was in the middle of a lesson when I smelled something burning. I ran like a madwoman through the house trying to figure out where it was coming from. I checked the attic, the baby's room, the storage room on the back of our house. Nothing. I went back in and started to panic. At this point I noticed Ava had a bit of a sheepish look on her face and then it hit me... it was the plastic tub of crayons (which of course weren't in their boxes... they were all loose in the very bottom of the tub). She told me she turned the burner on, which to my knowledge, she had never done before and has never done since. Why in the world she chose this time to do it will always be a mystery :)

Anyway, I immediately turned the burner off and saw the mess. I had no idea what to do, but I remembered reading somewhere that if you put glass with melted candle wax in the freezer, after a while the wax will just fall right out. So that's what I did. I put the coil and the drip pan in our freezer. And that's where it's been for a year. I took it out once and looked at it and put it right back in. I figured I would at least keep it until we got a replacement, but even though we talked about needing to get one almost at least twice a month for a year, we never even looked into it.

So that's where the fun begins. I decided it would be kind of funny to order the new coil and pan and give it to Steven for Christmas and pretend like that was his only gift. I figured out the model of the oven and started looking online so I could order it and have it shipped to my mom's house so he wouldn't suspect anything. But MUCH to my surprise, to replace those two parts was going to be well over $100. I was obviously clueless about the cost of replacement parts, but within minutes I had pulled the old coil and pan out of the freezer, determined that I wasn't going to spend $$$ without giving it all I had to get those coils cleaned up.

About halfway through the "clean up," I decided to take a picture. You can see all the melted crayon that remains, and the melted plastic was about 2 cm thick in most places. I pried and pulled and scrubbed.

It took me over an hour to get it completely clean, but I did it. And now I have an "extra" $100 (yeah, right:), but I still have to figure out what to get my husband for Christmas.

Thankful

2011-11-28T08:05:00.000-05:00

As this week of "Thanksgiving" is coming to a close, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on something I'm so thankful for... and that's the refining work of the Holy Spirit in my life through this task called mothering. My mom always told me that I would gain a new understanding of the love of Christ for his children when I became a parent myself, and she was right. But I'm also realizing that parenting has the power to bring my sins to the surface in a way that few other things in my life can or have.

Not only do I see a correlation to my own sin nature when my children choose to disobey me time and time again, but I also see things about my sin nature that I never knew were lurking in me, just waiting for even a small provocation to cause them to come bounding out. How much more I am aware of the choice I have not to sin, to practice gentleness and patience, when, in a moment of frustration, I am very, very prone to do otherwise. I am so grateful that my Savior sees fit to work so hard and exercise so much patience with me, and I want nothing more than to be a tangible example of Christ to my children. But my flesh wants me to get angry when I'm interrupted in the middle of a phone conversation, my flesh wants me to get angry when someone has an accident right as we're walking out the door and we're already running late, my flesh wants me to get angry when my child doesn't cooperate when I really need them to... and on and on and on. But I have a choice to make in those moments, and I may have never even realized just how much "work" my temper needed had God not blessed me with my precious children.

In his book The Pursuit of Holiness, Jerry Bridges writes that "It is time for Christians to face up to our responsibility for holiness. Too often we say we are 'defeated' by this or that sin. No, we are not defeated; we are simply disobedient! It might be well if we stopped using the terms 'victory' and 'defeat' to describe our progress in holiness. Rather we should use the terms 'obedience' and 'disobedience'."

I don't use the terms 'victory' or 'defeat' when I'm talking with my husband about our children's behavior at the end of a day, and it's past time for me to stop using these words for myself. Sure, I am prone to certain sins more than others, but I can't allow that to be an excuse for experiencing 'victory' or 'defeat' in those areas. No, I either choose obedience or disobedience. And honestly, when it's put that bluntly, things get a little more clear for me. So if we use the examples from above, no I'm not just experiencing defeat with regard to my temper because of an interruption, I'm sinning because I'm not letting my gentleness be evident to my child (Phil. 4:5) No, I'm not just experiencing defeat with regard to my temper because of a minor hold up, I'm sinning because I'm not being compassionate towards the needs of my child (Col. 3:12). No, I'm not just experiencing defeat with regard to my temper because my child isn't doing what I want them to do, I'm sinning because I'm not being patient with my child (also Col 3:12).

Certainly there are times when my children's behavior requires correction and consequence, but I cannot allow their disobedience to be a catalyst for or excuse for my own disobedience. And I know that not every mother has a tendency to sin in this way, but we all have our "things" and in whatever way God chooses to reveal them to us (job, parenting, friendships, driving down the interstate, etc), let us be quick to apply scripture so that by saying "no" to one sin at a time, we can grow in holiness to be more like our Savior.

"Every time we say yes to temptation, we make it harder to say no the next time."

-Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness

But the opposite is oh so true as well!

*I cannot recommend Jerry Bridges' book The Pursuit of Holiness enough! You can find it HERE if you would like to purchase a copy.

New Desks!

2011-11-21T11:47:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving Week, Friends :) I'm so excited about all the fun traditions we'll celebrate and memories we'll make this week. I'll be sharing some of our "Thankful" projects later in the week once we've completed them!

Tonight, though, I wanted to brag on my husband a little bit. Not too long ago, I randomly mentioned how I was annoyed by some unused space in our kitchen. There is a spot that was probably intended to be a "breakfast area" but if we actually put a table in the space, there would really be no room to come in and out of our back door (the main door we use). So for two years, the spot has just been empty, other than two of our extra dining room chairs.

Steven asked me if I had any ideas for the space and I told him I was contemplating either built-in desks or bench seats. We started talking about what would be most functional at this point, and I decided it would be great to have desks for the girls to use, as well as a spot for me to sew. We looked at inspiration photos online, talked about what we envisioned and then started pricing it out. It quickly started to add up... we wanted butcher block that we could sand and stain to match our hardwood floors, we would need legs and extra wood for the "lip" of the table, stain, brackets and some other odds and ends. I think our final figure was somewhere around $200.00. There was no way that was happening :)

But, my very optimistic husband said to me "Let's just pack everybody up and go look and see what we find!" So that's what we did. We started out at the Habitat Restore on Wilkinson Boulevard, and while we found MANY things we wanted to take home with us, we didn't find anything we could use for our project, so we left empty handed. I then convinced Steven to go with me into the Value Village and Goodwill on Freedom Drive... we left with nothing except for two flea bites on Steven's left hand. He was not happy about that. He wanted to get out of there. I figured that was going to be it, but he wanted to keep looking.

We decided to drive to the Habitat Restore in Cornelius. The kids hadn't had a nap and were hungry and fussy, so I thought we'd just run in and out really quickly... that didn't happen. I was walking through the tables when Steven called me back to one I'd passed by. I don't know how I'd missed it, but there was a fairly large butcher block dining room table. We immediately started measuring and realized that although the tables would need to be a little more narrow than we originally intended, the wood was gorgeous and really might be able to work. The price was $40, but I was still concerned about all the extra things we'd have to buy at Lowe's. On our estimate, those things were going to be around $90, and I just wasn't sure we needed these tables, even if the price would have come out to half of our original estimate.

Again, Steven worked it all out :) He found the perfect table legs (I didn't really love the ones we'd seen at Lowe's), and my goodness, they were $2 each! The Restore even had the right stain (we mixed a little with some stain from my dad), so that was only $4. We had everything we needed for $56, so it turned into an early Christmas present!

We had to take the table apart to get it in the van... I wish I had a picture of that. We were sardines. But Steven got right to work... that night, my dad helped him cut the table top into two pieces, and the next day, Steven worked hard sanding and staining and constructing my tables. He assembled them the next morning and they are so, so beautiful! We've already gotten a lot of use from them and the only thing I have left to do is sew some pillows for the chairs. Here are some photos from the project... they are from an iPod, so they are a little grainy, but you'll get the idea!

The only photo I have of the space "Before"

Exactly what we need!

Nice legs (actually they're spindles)

Cut down and ready to sand

Testing stain mixes

Nice and smooth

Perfect color!!!

Finished!

Thank you, Steven, for working so hard! The girls and I love our desks!

Authentically Cute: Turkey Dresses!

2011-11-14T15:07:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend I created appliqued turkey dresses/shirts for my girls using bandanas and ribbon. I had a great time making them and would love to make a few more, so if you'd be interested in ordering one, let me know! I'll need to receive all orders by this Wednesday in order to have them made and delivered in time for Thanksgiving. Feel free to leave a comment or private message me to place an order.

The dresses are created using two brown bandanas and they measure approximately 20" in length. They can be worn as dresses from sizes 18 mos to 2T, or they can be paired with leggings or jeans for up to size 4T. I can create them using colors similar to the ones in the photos below, or if you prefer, I can use rich autumn colors like browns, reds, oranges and yellows. Each dress is $18.00.

Preschool Weeks 9 & 10

2011-11-13T22:45:00.000-05:00

The past two weeks of preschool were really refreshing for me. We were able to settle into a better routine and I was encouraged by little glimpses of Ava and Lilia "getting" some concepts I'd been working on with them. I think those things combined with the fact that I had a better plan than I had had the two weeks prior allowed all of us to enjoy our structured learning time more than we had in a while. Here's a little glimpse of what we did during weeks nine and ten!

Our theme for week nine was "Shapes and Colors" and I was able to find some really fun hands on activities for us. In one of them, we used food coloring and water to create primary colors which we then mixed to create secondary colors. I used this color chart as a visual guide.

SOURCE

Here is our experiment all set up and ready to mix!

Wednesday of Week 9 was "Look For Circles Day" (according the wacky holiday calendar we are using!). We took a set of color and shape flashcards to the mall to see how many we could match. Lilia really seemed to enjoy the challenge!

Thursday we had two "holidays" to celebrate... "Housewives Day" and "Sandwich Day". I joked with Steven that in honor of the day I was giving this housewife a break from the kitchen and we were having sandwiches for dinner. Silly joke, but he generously went along with the plan. Yay for me :) I had also scheduled for us to "paint" bread and then make sandwiches, but Wal-mart was out of paintbrushes, so that project had to wait for another day. Who knew food coloring and milk made the perfect bread paint? Thanks to this blogger for the idea!

During this week, we also learned about rectangles and ovals, the letters Ii and Jj and numbers 7 and 8!

Week 10 was full of reading in honor of "Young Readers Day" which was Tuesday. I checked out six Dr. Seuss books from the library and we read and read and read! We also studied diamonds, letters Kk and Ll and numbers 9 and 10.

My Cleaning Lists and A Very Simple Recipe

2011-11-08T15:04:00.001-05:00

Hi Friends! Last week I mentioned that I was excited to be incorporating my cleaning lists into the calendar I'm creating. I've stuck with this "cleaning plan" for about six months now, and it has worked so well for me that I thought I would share it here.

I know there are entire websites and programs dedicated to organization, so I don't want to recreate the wheel. There are binder systems and online record keeping systems and lots of other ways to keep track of "to do's," but I've found that the simplest thing for me is to just have in right in my planner. I created this schedule over the summer when I was trying to figure out what our days would look like once we began preschool. I wanted something that didn't take much time out of the day, but still kept our house clean and well-maintained. This has worked for me!

I don't include tasks like laundry or emptying the dishwasher because those are pretty much daily tasks, and there are also chores that I notice need to be done that aren't on list, so I just do those when I have a quick minute. Thursday's chores take me the longest, and even though I could spread them out a little more, I prefer to do them then so that most of the deep cleaning is done before our weekend "begins" on Thursday evenings. I just love a clean house over the weekend :)

So, without any more unnecessary explanation, here is my cleaning list! (Click the image to enlarge)

The bi-yearly chores are scheduled for July and January... my reasoning is that in July, it's too hot to do anything, so I might as well stay home and clean, and in January, it's too cold to do anything, so I might as well stay home and clean :)

Do you have any special "systems" that you use for keeping a tidy house? Do you make any of your own cleaners (and if so, please share your recipe!). I'm slowly phasing out store bought cleaners and venturing into making my own... the ones I've tried so far are simple, effective and non-toxic (which is the most important part for me!).

And finally, I wanted to share a very simple, frugal recipe! A dear friend introduced me to the wonder of cooking split chicken breasts in the crockpot a few years ago, and it has changed the way I cook. I had NEVER bought anything but boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but she told me I had to buy a pack of split breasts and just try it out. I'm so glad I did!

Typically a pack is expensive (in my book anyways), averaging around $9.00. But pretty often, both Bi-Lo and Harris Teeter put them on sale for .99/lb. That averages out to $3.00 to $4.00 for a whole package. I buy between 6 and 8 packages and freeze them. Then, when I needed shredded chicken, I put the entire package into the crock pot (frozen), cover with water and then cook on high for four hours. When the chicken is finished cooking, I take it out, remove the skin and bones and place all the tender, juicy white meat in my stand mixer. The stand mixer perfectly shreds the chicken (thanks to Pinterest for that tip:). I've used the shredded chicken in everything from quesadillas, soups, casseroles, as a potato topping, on pizza, and, as one of my favorites: BBQ sandwiches!

So, the whole recipe I was going to share is this: shredded chicken (that you've cooked in the crockpot) and your favorite bbq sauce (we love Sweet Baby Ray's). That's it! I usually serve it on hamburger buns with sweet potatoes, bbq beans and fruit, and it's one of our favorite meals. And it's so, so easy!

And one other thing... you now have a crockpot full of delicious, homemade chicken stock. Use an ice cube tray and freeze it all up for the next time you are making soup!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-11-02T16:36:00.000-04:00

My mom and I were walking through the mall today on a field trip (preschool-related:) when she commented on the fact that the Christmas decorations were already up. I don't particularly mind it because I always start counting down for this time of year beginning on the first day of spring in March. I know that for the mall and all of it's retailers, it's all about the $$$ associated with the holiday, but as a Christian, I really don't mind getting to celebrate the birth of my Savior for a few more weeks. I know I can celebrate his birth without the lights and music and decorations, but instead of fighting it, I just enjoy it and let those things remind me of why we are celebrating in the first place. I know a lot of people like to preserve those kinds of things for between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, and there is value in that as well, but I'm not ashamed to say that I've been listening to Phil Wickham's Songs for Christmas album for about two weeks now :)

Ok, that was a really long intro to my topic today, which actually has very little to do with Christmas at all. During naptime, I have been working on my Christmas list and that reminded me of something I wanted to share that I am way too excited about! I've blogged before about how I love using a paper calendar to keep track of our lives, and that I like to think it will be like a little time capsule to look back on in years to come. I have used many brands, many sizes, some weekly, some monthly, some expensive and some cheap. But I have never found one that I really love... I like some of them ok, but none of them ever completely meet my needs (I don't need the address section or the US time zone map or all the wasted space I see).

So, this year, I'm making my own! I am NOT a graphic artist, so it isn't going to be anything spectacular to look at, but it's content is going to be just what I need, and that's what's important. It's going to be a month at a glance style, with each month being spread out over two pages.

Each month will have the following: monthly to-do's, weekly to-do's, birthdays/holidays, weekly cleaning list, monthly cleaning list and space for additional notes.

The planner will also have space for the following: bi-yearly cleaning lists, weekly grocery lists and meal plans, birthday/Christmas gift list, a journal to jot down special memories or things my children say or do, Bible study notes and sermon notes.

I'm so excited because right now I have all of things spread out in different places and I'm so looking forward to having them in one spot. Merry Christmas to me!

Also, one last thing! I blogged earlier this week about how this blog is serving as accountability for our preschooling. Well, now this blog is going to serve as accountability for my Christmas gifting... I'm making about 90% of our gifts this year, and I'm aiming to be finished with them by November 30th. I want to play and celebrate and teach my children all December long without being stuck behind my sewing machine (not that I mind that at all, just not in December:). I have a plan, so I'll keep you posted on how it's coming along!

Preschool Weeks 7 & 8

2011-10-30T22:15:00.000-04:00

Hi Friends! I hope you've had a lovely weekend. I am loving this weather... I've been waiting for weather like this to return since March. I only tolerate the summer and always count down the days until the return of autumn and winter. I guess it's a little ironic that I've always been in my third trimester of pregnancy in the hottest part of the summer... every.single.time. Totally worth it though:).

Today I shared with a friend that if this blog does nothing else beyond keeping me accountable for continuing our preschool journey, then it is serving a very important purpose. The past two weeks have been full of distractions and delays. That, coupled with the fact that the girls and I are quickly tiring of the workbook I chose, and it's been hard to get myself in gear. I'm realizing that we need less workbook time and a lot more hands on activities, but I am committed to finishing the workbook. I'm choosing to skip some of the exercises and supplement them with other activities that reinforce the concepts, and I'm hoping we'll be finished with the book by Christmas break. I know we don't have to finish the book, but there are some valuable parts to it, so I'm utilizing those and not worrying about the others.

I also had trouble getting excited about the theme I had chosen for weeks 7&8. Our theme was "All About Me" and I cannot figure out why I was less than motivated to find fun activities. Honestly, I've been praying through a "blah" time personally, so maybe that was the source of my lack of enthusiasm. I don't have any pictures to record our activities, but here is a list of some of the ways we celebrated "Being Me."

* We talked a lot about how God created each of us uniquely and for a special purpose. We took turns looking for and celebrating our differences.

* We drew self-portraits.

* We played with Mr. Potato Head and had fun talking about all the different features of our faces.

* We read all of Dr. Seuss' "body part" books

Also, last Tuesday was "World Pasta Day" so we celebrated by having bowtie pasta for lunch :)

I did take some time this week to go ahead and plan out my next two weeks worth of lesson plans, and I was pretty excited about some of the activities I was able to put together. I'm looking forward to a fresh start tomorrow, and I'm so glad that His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). He has given me this desire to teach my children, and I know he will equip me for each step of the journey. I can already see how He is giving me a renewed and refreshed enthusiasm for making every moment a teaching moment, both educationally and spiritually. So often, moms can quickly burn out from the million and two questions we are asked on a daily basis, but when I am weak and tired and want to give a flippant answer, He reminds me to stop and take the time to respond carefully. I don't have the strength or energy to do this on my own, but His strength is made perfect in my weakness. His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Pinspiration

2011-10-26T16:04:00.000-04:00

Hi Friends! Have you heard about Pinterest? This great new website has been so much fun to figure out! Basically it's a virtual pinboard that allows you to "pin" anything you see on the internet to keep for future reference. You are given generic pinboards when you sign up, but you can edit them to suit your needs. I, for example, have boards for each season, sewing tutorials, style inspiration, recipes, home decor, crafts and gift ideas, just to name a few. In addition to your own pinboards, you can "follow" other "pinners" to see what they pin.

To pin something, you use the "Pin In" button that is added to your web browser. When you click it, you are given several photo options from the blog or website that you are trying to pin. You select one and that photo is what is added to your pinboard. Then, when you want to access it in the future, you simply go to that pinboard, click on the photo and you will be taken to the original source of the photo.

So, with that explanation behind us, I thought it might be fun to see some of the projects I pinned and then how I recreated or interpreted them for myself.

First up, adding a monogram to my autumn wreath:

This was my pinterest inspiration

and this was my interpretation

This was a .99 project because I already had the wreath,

so I simply added a chipboard letter from Hobby Lobby.

Next up is my pumpkin centerpiece:

Here was the pinterest inspiration

and here is my interpretation

This was another frugal project, too! I already have the

centerpiece, so I just added some craft store pumpkins!

I also found adorable trick or treat bags:

My inspiration

My interpretation

I think a four-pack of these little canvas bags are

$5.00 at Hobby Lobby, and the trim and ribbon were

leftover from another project.

When I saw this photo on Pinterest, I knew what I wanted for Christmas... a white fireplace.

Inspiration photo

Our fireplace before my husband lovingly repainted...

And after!

Here is one of my favorites that is used daily... a DIY dry erase board made from a frame and scrapbook paper:

Inspiration Photo

My Interpretation

This was a frame from Dollar Tree, a .49 sheet of scrapbook

paper and magnets I already had on hand!

And, finally, this is one of my favorites! Except pinterest can't take credit for this one. I'd been wanting a unique Christmas tree stand for a small-ish Christmas tree I put in the master bedroom.

I saw this in Goodwill for $1.99

I knew it had the potential to be perfect

and then, after my great find at Goodwill, I saw this Ballard Design tree stand on Pinterest

So between this and the white fireplace, it's going to be hard to wait until

the day after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas!

This is just a sampling of the projects I've undertaken after being "pinspired" (so cheesy:)! I've also tried some wonderful recipes, found some great information on educating my children at home (I'm going to do a whole blog post on this) and bookmarked projects for the future. Oh, and I can't even begin to count all the brilliant ideas like using a seam ripper to clean a vacuum cleaner brush roll, inserting soda bottles into boots to keep them upright when in storage, using rubber bands as seam allowance guides when sewing and covering paint trays with aluminum foil for easy clean up.

So, if you decide to jump on the pinterest bandwagon, you can find me HERE!

Preschool Weeks 5 & 6

2011-10-17T15:06:00.001-04:00

I think one of the things that is most appealing to me about educating my children at home is the flexibility it will offer our family. I will be able to tailor our school schedule to my husband's work schedule, which changes fairly regularly. And our kids will always be home on Fridays, which is Steven's day off. If they were in a traditional school setting, they'd be gone for a good portion of his day home. Of course there are state requirements on how many days we must "school" (not applicable now in preschool, but it will be later on down the road), but I like to know that if we need to, we can do our classwork on Saturday afternoons when daddy is at work so that we don't miss out on time with him on Fridays.

And another aspect of the flexibility is that we can go at our own pace, and I can change things up in our curriculum whenever I need to. For example, when I did my calendar planning over the summer, I initially scheduled a unit study on firefighters for week 5 and a unit study on farm animals for week 6. But as those weeks approached, I realized two things... one, we needed to take some extra time for review, and two, we were really having fun learning all about autumn. So I rearranged our calendar a bit and we've continued to learn about apples and pumpkins and falling leaves. And we've spent a good deal of time reviewing the concepts we've covered. We also learned some new concepts, including writing forward and backward circles, the letter Ee and the number 4.

One new concept I introduced was recognizing patterns. I drew shapes on our whiteboard to explain "patterins" as Ava calls them, and then let them practice drawing in the missing shape. I also found a leaf sequencing worksheet that we enjoyed.

We dissected an apple and talked about all the different parts. This conversation was meant to reinforce our lesson on the life stages from seed to tree.

And finally, completely unrelated to weeks 5 & 6, I wanted to share a few photos from our trip to Boone, NC this past weekend. We take a trip with family each year and it's something I look forward to for months. We went a little earlier than usual this year, so it wasn't as cold as I like, but the weather was absolutely gorgeous and perfect for spending a lot of time outside.

The girls picked their perfect pumpkins...

We made a lot of attempts to get family photos where everyone was looking at the camera (so not easy!)...

And this little guy spent a lot of time *crawling* around the playground. Come on, little buddy... you took one step... I know you've got lots more in you!

2011-10-12T16:31:00.000-04:00

Hi Friends. I've been in the process of going back through all of my old blogs to edit or delete them as needed and I came across one titled "Will Mary Jo and I Be Friends," which was written in October of 2009. I had just decided to use my mom's very old Kenmore sewing machine to try to teach myself how to sew, so I made a list of projects I was hoping to attempt over the next year. I'd completely forgotten about writing that list.

That Christmas, my parents surprised me with a brand new Brother sewing machine, and I have loved learning how to use it! A dear friend who is an amazing seamstress spent a day with me when I first received it, teaching me some of the ins and outs of sewing, as well as giving me a lot of tools that really helped me get started. I'm so thankful for that. I've also found that the internet is an invaluable resource... anything I've wanted to make, I've simply typed it in google, along with the word "tutorial," and I get tons of results.

Anyway, I decided to revisit that list of projects and was happy when I realized I'd made everything on it except a nursing cover. Here is a little pictorial proof :)

Bib ~ I've made lots of colors, sizes and styles!

Embellished Cloth Diapers ~ yes, and some from "scratch" too

Nursing Cover ~ I was given a beautiful one when Pate was born, so I haven't tried this one

Placemat Set ~ I keep my house neutral and then change accessories with the seasons, so I've enjoyed making new sets for fall and spring. For the spring set, I found a king size fitted sheet at Goodwill (which I cloroxed:) for $1.99 and have used it for placemats, pillow covers, shirts for my girls, a skirt for me and I still have some left. The autumn set was a remnant of upholstery fabric that was on sale at Fabric and Drapery Designs in Denver, NC.

Pillow Slipcover ~ this is also the fabric from Goodwill

Pillowcase Dress ~ I've made a lot (probably too many) of these for my girls, but this one is one of my favorites

Lovey Blanket ~ I haven't made any small ones, but I have made a few full sized ones for gifts

Wipe Case ~ these are no sew, but it was a project on my list that I completed.

Banner ~ I made one for Christmas in 2009

Apron ~ I made one for my niece, but I'd still like to try another one sometime.

Bow Holder ~ I made these two my my girls, and I've had fun filling it up with handmade bows

A-Line Dress ~ I haven't made one of these, but I did make my girl's Easter dresses this year.

Scarves ~ I've made two, but I have a lot of ideas for more styles that I'd like to make very soon.

And that ends the list I made in 2009. Here are a few other projects I've completed.

Flower Bows ~ no sew project. I'm planning to do a tutorial on these soon. They are super easy and can be worn as headbands or bows, or they can be clipped to bags and scarves as an accessory. All of these were made with flowers from the dollar store, where they are a lot less expensive than craft stores.

Bandana Dresses ~ these have become my favorites! I pair them with leggings in the summer and with a long-sleeved tee and jeans in the fall and winter. My girls 3T sized girls can wear clothes that fit them when they were 18mos. Hobby Lobby has so many bandanas that aren't traditional bandana print, and since the edges are pre-finished, they take no time at all to complete.

Window Treatments ~ These have become some of my favorite parts of my decor.

Bathwrap ~ this was a gift for my neice's birthday, and I'm planning to make some for my girls for Christmas.

Carseat Arm Cushion ~ these have become my favorite gift to give new moms. These cushions wrap around the handle of a carseat so that they are a little more comfortable to carry on the crook of your arm.

PJ Pants ~ I made these as Christmas gifts last year, and while they turned out ok, they are probably one of my least favorite projects in terms of the end result. I'm going to try again this year, but I'm going to do a lot of things differently.

All this to say two things:

1) If you are wanting to learn something new, do it! I never thought I'd enjoy sewing so much, even though it's something I'd always wanted to try. I've made a lot of mistakes and had to start over on many projects, but I'm so glad I stuck with it.

2) I'm going to be adding a section to this blog called "Authentically Cute." I'll have dresses and accessories for sale, but you can also place custom orders for pillow slipcovers, placemats and other home decor. And if I don't have a picture of something listed, don't hesitate to ask if I can make it. I've considered selling my items in small, local retail stores, but I don't have the time to create inventory in bulk. But I'd love to do small projects here and there, so please let me know if you'd like to place an order.

Preschool Week 4

2011-10-05T21:31:00.001-04:00

Week 4

Theme: Apples

I finally feel like I'm getting into the swing of things. One of my biggest concerns before I began preschool was how I was going to add it into our schedule. I had tried it once before and given up after a few days. I had been praying about starting again and spent a lot of time talking through it with my husband. I felt like if I didn't "make it" this time that there was no way I could actually homeschool my children once they were in grade school. I was overanalyzing it way too much, but like my wise husband always does, he just reminded me to take it one day at a time.

It has been an adjustment in terms of our schedule, but it's already beginning to feel very much like a normal part of our day. The girls expect that after breakfast and clean-up, it's time to pull their school boxes out. We are only having lessons on Mondays through Thursdays, but the girls are always asking to "play school" on Fridays and the weekends. It is really encouraging to me that they are enjoying it so much. We usually spend an hour to an hour and a half on lessons each day, but we also play a lot of games and do a lot of reading in addition to that. I typically spend an hour or two each week planning for the next week, mainly because I am still figuring out the best online resources for things like theme-appropriate games, crafts, science experiments and math projects. I try to have all this ready before we start our week so that if I need to pick up any supplies beforehand, I can do that when Steven is home to help me with the kids. All this to say, I spend about 8 hours per week between planning and teaching, so all in all, it's not a major shake-up to my life:)

Alright, on to what we did in Week 4, Apple Week!

Monday was Johnny Appleseed Day, so we talked a little bit about who he was and what he did. We mainly focused on the fact that he planted a LOT of apple trees, which led us into a discussion about the life cycle of apples. I found an apple sequence worksheet online that we cut out, sequenced and glued to red construction paper. Activities like this one really help me see the difference between the fine motor skills of a three year old and a four year old.

On Tuesday, after we finished our workbook lessons, we played Apple Tic-Tac-Toe. For the first few times, I helped each of the girls with their strategy, but after a few rounds, I let them try it on their own. Ava is quickly getting the hang of it, while Lilia just likes to put the apples on the board. I've played Ava a few times and she's figuring out how to beat me :)

We had a field trip to the post office scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. In preparation for that, I spent some time showing the girls what information is included on the outside of an envelope. I also wrote each of them a little letter, sealed it and addressed it so it would be delivered to them at our house. I gave it to them at the post office, along with enough money to buy their own stamp. The put their letters in the mail and were so excited to get their very own mail!

On Wednesday, I drew two apples on our white board, and then filled each one in with a handful of apple seeds. I explained the idea that each apple had a certain number of seeds, but all the seeds combined was how many total seeds we had. They both did really well with the basic addition of the seeds, and were especially happy because I let them write on the whiteboard (I never let them have markers... I know, bad mama:).

We also made crockpot applesauce and let me just say... my house smelled amazing all day long. I cooked mine for a lot longer than the recipe called for, but my crockpot is finicky. I didn't mash the apples up very finely, so they were more like baked apples. But they were incredible!!! I only wish I'd had a little vanilla ice cream... they tasted like apple pie filling. Yum!

On Thursday, we had the pleasure of having my niece and nephew over for a visit. We still did our workbook lessons, but we mainly just spent time making memories with our cousins :) Sometimes those are the best lessons of all!

Our workbook included lessons reviewing the colors we've studied so far, the letter Dd, the number 4 and writing forward circles, backward circles and curved lines.

Hiding It In Their Little Hearts!

2011-10-02T23:03:00.000-04:00

One of my sweet friends asked me to share the list of scripture that Steven and I put together to aid in addressing certain behaviors and attitudes when our daughters display them. This is by no means a comprehensive list of everything we are working to instill in them, but it does cover a lot of the areas that we've noticed we need to focus on regularly at this point in their lives.

We do our best to explain each scripture to them when we have them repeat it. We believe that everything in this world is temporal, but that the Word of God "stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8). Even though some of the phraseology is beyond their understanding, we are doing our best to teach them to apply God's word to every area of their lives. As they grow and are able to memorize longer passages, or as new areas need addressing, we'll be adding to this list.

Here are the Scriptures we are starting with:

Glorify the Lord in Everything

"So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

1 Corinthians 10:31

Pray Often

"Pray continually"

1 Thessalonians 5:17

Be Quick to Forgive

"Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you."

Ephesians 4:32

Encourage One Another

"As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend."

Proverbs 27:17

Practice Gentle Answers

"A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare."

Proverbs 15:1

Admit Wrongdoing

"Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results."

James 5:16

Serve One Another

"Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men"

Ephesians 6:7

Be Thankful

"Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Worship Continually

"Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker."

Psalm 95:6

Do Not Lie

"The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in those who tell the truth."

Proverbs 12:22

Obey Authority

"Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord."

Colossians 3:20

Do Not Argue or Complain

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and purse, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe."

Philippians 2:14-15

Have a Happy Heart

"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

Proverbs 1:22

Do Not Fight With One Another

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God."

Matthew 5:9

Practice Patience

"Therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."

Colossians 3:12

Think About the Right Things

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is purse, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."

Philippians 4:8

Do you have verses or passages that you return to regularly with your children when certain areas of sin need to be addressed? I'd love for you to share them in the comments!

Preschool Week 3

2011-09-29T14:56:00.000-04:00

Week 3

Theme: Autumn

It would be an understatement to say that week 3 did not go as planned. Between three birthdays (all of my kids have birthdays between the days of September 19th and September 26th), a birthday party, lots or rainy weather and a grandfather visiting from Southern California, I was just happy that we got anything done at all! My plan had been to spend a lot of time outside exploring nature, looking for acorns, hunting for leaves that were at the very beginning of turning colors, collecting leaves for "leaf math" and sorting projects. But it just didn't happen that way. We did our workbook lessons, but I did a lot of improvising. So here is what we did instead.

On Monday we talked about autumn. We discussed why it is often called "fall" and ways we can tell that the seasons are changing, including geese flying South in a "v" formation, cooler weather and more rain, squirrels gathering nuts and acorns, colorful leaves, etc. We will be looking for these things over the next month.

Monday was L's birthday, so after our lessons, we spent a little time at Chuck E Cheese. We were the only people there... it was P's first time and he thoroughly enjoyed himself :) I love that guy!

Monday was also "Butterscotch Pudding Day" and I completely forgot about it... we'll have to try making it another day.

On Tuesday, we made a handprint wreath in autumn colors. My girls LOVE glue. This thing should be able to withstand any time of destruction that comes it's way.

Wednesday was so rainy, so although it was "Miniature Golf Day" we were stuck inside. P got a little set of golf clubs for his birthday, but we got those a few days too late so that was another holiday we didn't get to "celebrate". In keeping with our theme, we read about autumn in a book called Seasons while we colored!

On Thursday we talked about how it's sometimes a little more difficult for birds to find food when the weather gets cold, so we attempted to make birdseed feeders to put out for them. I apparently did something very wrong and it was just a huge mess. I'm going to let the girls fill my regularly bird feeders and we'll revisit the subject then :)

Friday was the day of the children's combined "Curious George" birthday party. We woke up to torrential downpours and flood warnings in our county. I was panicking because the celebration was at my parent's house... outside. The weather reports said it would be raining all day and night, so we prayed! And the Lord graciously gave us a beautiful evening and wonderful party!

We let the girls open one of their gifts on Friday morning... it seemed appropriate, considering the weather.

We had a lot of cake...

And P wasn't sure about so many people singing to him at once :)

All in all we were so blessed with a wonderful birthday week! I love that my kid's special days are so close together... it was chaotic but so much fun! And now we get a whole year before we do it all again :)

Because we didn't get to do as many activities to study the changing seasons, I'm probably going to do a little tweaking of our theme weeks and spend a little more time on the subject in October or November.

In Week 3, our workbook covered the colors brown, black, white and gray. We also practiced writing slanted lines and curved lines, studied the letter Cc and the Number 2!

I can't wait to share all we've done this week... it's Apple Week!

Preschool Weeks 1 and 2

2011-09-25T23:36:00.001-04:00

Alright, I've explained a little of our curriculum under the "Our Current Studies" link, but here is a little more about what we've been doing during our first three weeks of preschool! For this post, I'm going to split it up by week, but hopefully from here on out, each week will have it's own post.

Week 1

Theme: School!

Since the whole concept of a formal "school time" was new to my girls, we started the week off by talking about what school was and what we would be doing. Steven and I took the girls shopping so they could pick out their supplies, I introduced our workbooks and some other school tools we'll be using through the year and we took "first day of school" photos (they did not turn out well at all so I'm going to try it again when the weather gets cooler and the leaves are turning). I also asked the girls some survey questions about some of their favorite things. I plan to do this on the first day of school each year to keep a record of how they grow and change! Their answers were priceless.

Steven and I went to dinner without the children that week... we used that time to write out a list of behaviors we will be working on this year, and the scripture we wanted to teach the children about each of those. The list is really long, but it became a fairly comprehensive compilation of scripture that we can point our children to throughout the day. Initially it was going to be our "homeschool rules" list, but it became a lot more than that. It covers everything from why we wait our turn to speak when I am teaching (Colossians 3:12) to why we are to do everything we do for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). This list is on our fridge to keep it front and center for me and Steven, even though the girls can't read yet.

During Week 1, our workbook covered the colors red, yellow and blue, Letter Aa, the difference between left and right and the Number 0.

Week 2

Theme: Homekeeping

We used this week to introduce a formal "Task List" for each of our girls. Their tasks are still pretty basic, and even with their best effort still often look "undone," but they are taking pride in their work and learning about the responsibility of being a part of a family. I made their task lists using magnets, clip art and mod podge... they are pretty basic and I'm already realizing several things I wish I'd done differently, but that's for another day. They work for now, and the girls like moving their magnets from "To Do" to "Done."

I spent a little time with each girl working with them on the correct way to make their bed. They were both really proud of their finished product :) It didn't hurt that in keeping with our theme, September 11th just happens to be "Make Your Bed Day." (I have no idea who comes up with these "days" but it surely gives me a lot of activity ideas for my preschoolers!)

A part of having responsibilities in our house is the opportunity to earn money for their work. Our view on this is that each of our children have certain tasks that belong to them for which they can earn money, but they also have jobs that we will ask them to do just because they need to be done to keep the house and family functioning optimally. We want to teach them about money management from the very beginning, so that means introducing them to the 10-10-80 plan. This just means that we teach them to give 10% back to God through the local church, to save 10% for long term purposes and to spend the other 80% on specific needs and wants.

I wanted a 10-10-80 bank for them, but couldn't find one that suited our exact needs (i.e. my need for things to look pretty even if it's just a toddler's bank...). So I decided we could make a craft project out of it, and I'm happy with the way they turned out! I bought everything we needed at the dollar store... an unfinished craft plaque for each of the girls and three sets of empty salt and pepper shakers.

The girls painted their plaques.

And then I hot glued the salt and pepper shakers to the board, added "Give, Save, Spend" tags and wrote their name on their board.

The jars are small, but it will take a while for a few coins to add up. And when they do, we'll take a trip to the bank... a whole learning experience in itself :)

In addition to our weekly theme, we attempted to celebrate "Chocolate Milkshake Day" (total fail... we were given a blender and apparently I didn't assemble it correctly... chocolate milk instead:) and we successfully celebrated "Play Doh Day" by making our own. There are a million recipes online, but my sweet grandmother had included her recipe in a cookbook she made for each of her daughters and granddaughters, so that's the one we used. It turned out perfectly!

During Week 2, our workbook covered the colors green, orange, pink and purple, distinguishing top and bottom, Letter Bb and Number 1!

Alright, Week 3 will have to wait for another day :)

New Blog Address!

2011-09-24T10:23:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the first post of my "new" blog! I'm excited to share my new blog address... please update your bookmarks if you subscribed via the old address!

I've written a little more about this blog in the links at the top of the page. I'm going to be slowly reposting some of the posts from my former blog once I can go in and add watermarks to the photos, as well as to decide whether it's a post worth keeping :)

Thank you to my mom and my sweet husband for encouraging me to journal my way through our first year of educating our kids at home!

Camaraderie

2011-01-13T17:45:00.007-05:00

Sometimes, when I hear a word that I don't hear very often, it will get stuck in my head. I will "hear" that word over and over in my mind, and it will "pop" into my thoughts randomly throughout a day (or days...). Kind of like songs that won't go away :)

Anyway, I've had the word "camaraderie" in my head since yesterday, and it won't go away. So I looked it up on swagbucks to see if my understanding of the definition was right on... and it was. Mr. Webster describes it this way... "a spirit of friendly good-fellowship". I also found this definition... "Goodwill and lighthearted rapport between or among friends; comradeship" (Free Dictionary).

This word perfectly describes the kind of relationship my hubby and I want to foster among our children. We don't want them to just be siblings who have no choice but to live under one roof... we want so much more for them. We know this doesn't just happen magically, and does require intentionality on our part as their parents. We are mentored by a couple families who have done this well and are regularly gleaning anything they have to offer. But I'm curious if any of you have come up with creative ways to work on this with your kiddos. We spend a lot of time in our house talking about (and practicing!) sharing, being "kind and loving" and saying "I'm sorry"... but beyond this, I'd love to hear thoughts on fostering friendships between your kids!

Christmas Smiles :)

2010-12-28T21:50:00.013-05:00

Because all of my babies have been born in the same week in September, they have all been three months old at their first Christmas. I decided to go back and look at photos from each of their first Christmas mornings... oh, I just love having babies at Christmastime!

Ava Grace, born September 26, 2007

Lilia, born September 19, 2008

Pate, born September 24, 2010

Things I Learned This Christmas...

2010-12-27T18:28:00.002-05:00

Postage for postcards is almost half the price of regular stamp. That equals being able to send a LOT more Christmas love to our friends and family!

Black mary janes and winter coats are one of my favorite things about having little girls.

Church is so much fun (and chaotic) when the kiddos get to sit in the service with us.

If I intend to make Christmas gifts next year, I should NOT wait until December to begin thinking about the projects.

The whole Santa thing can be quite perplexing for moms and dads who want to keep the focus on Jesus, and it can lead to little girls who think Santa is actually going to be at their house when they wake up on Christmas morning. We ddn't really explain Santa to them, but Ava picked up on more than we thought she would this year, so there was some confusion in our house.

I love having three month old babies at Christmastime (see tomorrow's blog for more about that :)

This beautiful white Christmas was stunning, just like something from a coffee table book. I know my Grandad was celebrating in Heaven, but I wish he could have seen this view from his recliner.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I hope all of you had a sweet Christmas! And now, may you have a very happy new year!

Because I Don't Blog Enough...

2010-12-20T10:13:00.003-05:00

my blogs are always way too long, this one included! But here we go anyway...

A couple of weeks ago, I was at Bible Study and the leader was going over some dates to remember. I grabbed my planner out of my bag and began to jot everything down quickly so I didn't miss anything... and when I looked up, I was the only person at my table writing anything... everyone else was typing it into their smartphone! I don't have a smartphone, so I can't say this with absolute certainty, but I think even if I had one, I'd still carry around my trusty old paper calendar. It's always been one of my favorite things about a new year... transferring birthdays and special events over from one year to the next, being able to look back literally over the pages of our life. I have most of my calendars dating back to college, maybe even a few from high school, and they are like little diaries. So even though I don't think Santa will be bringing a smartphone on Saturday, if he does, you'll still find me lovingly carrying around my 2011 calendar to help me chronicle the year :)

And now an update on our clothing drive... this thing was bigger than I could've imagined, my friends! This photo shows about 2/3 of what we took, and we could not have fit one more bag or box in our car! But even more exciting is that my sweet friend Julia decided to have a clothing drive and she got the word out and and was able to take a big load to Crisis Assistance Ministry, too! And then, one of her friends decided he would facilitate a clothing drive at his Bank of America office! How wonderful is this!?!? Thank you so much to each of you who contributed... and for those of you (NW Charlotte friends/Meckers) who didn't have a chance to go through your closets but would like to donate, Steven and I could make another trip to CAM the week after Christmas.

I found a SUPER easy tutorial HERE for Christmas Eve pajama pants, so I've made several pairs for gifts and for my own girls. I "faux appliqued" (read: my applique technique is just awful!) a Christmas Tree and tree skirt on some tops that match, but I don't have a picture of them yet. I'm hoping they make cute Christmas morning pictures :)

This month has been super busy with Christmas parties and get togethers, but one of my favorites was held last night! It's my favorite because this yearly event is one of my oldest memories... dinner with the Broome's and Poteat's was a Christmas Eve tradition since I was a little girl. Now it's the Broome, Poteat, Broome, Gompers, Bizzell and Summerville dinner the week before Christmas tradition, and it's even sweeter now! The moms were best friends since middle school, were in each other's weddings, had daughter close in age, we were in each other's weddings, and now we have daughters who are close in age and are fighting over babydoll strollers... but hopefully, will one day be in each other's weddings :) Here is a photo of all the grandkids in one chair...

And finally, I LOVE this little guy's smile! It melts my heart!

I hope your family has a wonderful Christmas week, and if you have a chance, we'd love to see you at one of Mecklenburg Community Church's eight identical services... click the link for the dates and times!

Baby, It's COLD Outside!

2010-12-06T11:56:00.002-05:00

That song is one of my favorites this time of year! I always thought if I had a winter wedding that it would be the perfect last song of the night at my reception... but I got married in June on one of the hottest days of the year, so that didn't work out too well :)

It is seriously cold here and I love it... the early, dark nights; pots of chili simmering all day; boots, coats and hats being a necessity! But as much as I enjoy bundling up and heading out in the frigid weather, I can't help but think about people across our city that don't have even basic essentials to keep warm. I got really burdened about this last Friday night when Steven and I were driving the girls through uptown to see the Christmas lights. We weren't too far from the bus station and we saw a boy who looked ten or eleven, with either his mom or sister who was holding an infant under a blanket. The boy had on pajama pants, a t-shirt and tennis shoes. His arms were in his shirt and he also had it pulled up around his mouth and I could tell he was freezing. Steven and I were at a loss for what to do because we didn't have any extra coats or blankets in our car. We drove around and decided to drive back to see if the family was still there, figuring that even Steven's shirt (Steven didn't have a coat with him), though it would have been too big, would have at least helped keep him a little warmer. They weren't there when we got back, but I haven't been able to get this off my mind.

I know WSOC-TV does a huge coat drive in January that benefits Crisis Assistance Ministry, a local organization that my church also plays a big role in helping support. But the middle of January is too far away! It's cold NOW! So, I'm going to go through our closets and pull out some cold weather stuff and take it to CAM on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week... and would like to take some things for you if you'd like to join in donating. One thing I love about CAM is that the items in their "Free Store" are just that... free! There is no reason that a child can't have warm clothes this year! So, friends and family, if you have stuff to spare/share, leave a comment or send me a message!

I'm envisioning my van FULL, people! Don't disappoint me!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-28T23:06:00.002-05:00

Hello Hello! My family had such a sweet Thanksgiving and I am so thankful for the abundance of blessings in my life, especially God's grace. I hope each of you had a happy day spent with the people you love most!

Today, I was given one of the greatest gifts ever and I just had to write it down so I would never forget the details! Steven was at work and I was in the kitchen emptying the dishwasher. My girls were in the family room watching a movie and had been quiet for about ten minutes. Ava Grace came into the kitchen alone and said to me, "Mommy, why did PawPaw have to go to Heaven?"

I did my best to answer her question on a level that her three year old mind could understand. I explained that our bodies weren't meant to live on earth forever, so when our time on earth was finished, if we loved Jesus, that we would go to live with him in Heaven. That answer didn't satisfy her, and she kept asking question after question and it gave me the gift of being able to plant the seeds of salvation in her little heart! I know there is so much she can't comprehend yet, but just being able to answer her questions and talk with her about Jesus' grace and his love for us was amazing! This was even more amazing to me because we hadn't talked about her PawPaw all morning, so this was obviously something that was just on her heart and mind today.

We missed PawPaw very much this Thanksgiving, but how sweet that his legacy is causing his great-granddaughter to give thought to the things of the Savior he loved so much!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And since I never know how long it will be before I blog again, here are a couple other things!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Steven and I spent many hours loading this (twice)...

our in-house artists created this!

We originally asked them not to use the sidewalk chalk on the side of the house (and the windows and flower pot and deck rails, etc...), but it kept them so entertained and quiet while we cleared our jungle of a backyard that we decided to let them go for it. I mean, why not, right? :)

Steven's father was in town from California to celebrate with us, so this was his first time meeting his grandson. Three generations of Gompers men...

And lastly, I made my girls matching dresses for Christmas and would like to sew more of them. It's just that my girls only need so many dresses :) Soooo, if you know a little girl who might like a pillowcase dress and you would like to order one, send me a message! You can choose a different fabric or ribbon color, too!

Making Memories / Keeping Memories

2010-11-16T16:49:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure how I'm going to handle the whole dating thing when we get to that point (or even how we're gonna "handle" it as a family :), but this I know... this kind of date is alright with me! Steven took Ava Grace to "Daddy/Daughter Date Night" at Chick-fil-a, and let me just tell you, she was so proud! She dressed up in a skirt and flower bow and had a great time being treated like the little lady she is. Our local CFA is so great, and we so appreciate them hosting an event like this, complete with wait staff, live music, tablecloths and candles. Steven is pretty intentional about spending one on one time with our girls, even if it's just a quick trip to the store, but there is something special about sitting across from each other and just talking, so thanks, CFA, for encouraging that super important time between daughter and dad!

And I wanted to tell you about an ongoing "project" of mine that has become even more meaningful recently! I realized a long time ago that I'm never going to be a "scrapbooker"... I don't know why I don't enjoy it since I like to do a lot of other things along those lines, but I just don't. So, I had to figure out another way to collect and safeguard important memories from mine and Steven's lives as a married couple, and the childhoods of each of our babies. I decided the best way to do that was to buy boxes to hold things that will remind us of sweet times in our lives... I've already filled most of the boxes up, so I'm going to need bigger ones soon, but at least this is a start.

Things I'm going to keep in each box are birthday invitations and cards, a copy of our wedding program and invitation, a copy of our family Christmas card from each year, a copy of memorial service programs from people we love who've gone to be with Jesus, souvenirs from important events in their lives, and special pieces of artwork. These pictures are from Ava's box, but Lilia and Pate's have most of the same things in them. I hope that this will be meaningful to them as adults and that it will help them share part of their childhood with their own children... I know I loved to "plunder" (as my grandmother called it:) through my mom's things from her childhood, so hopefully one day I'll have lots of stuff for my own grandkids to "plunder" through!

Family of FIVE!!!

2010-11-08T12:57:00.002-05:00

Hi Friends! We've spent the last six weeks adjusting to being a family of five! It's been so much "easier" than I thought it would be (if you can call living in any household with three small kids "easy"), and I'm so proud of how well Ava and Lilia have done in their role as big sisters. My hubby has been a trooper, helping me in every way without me really even having to ask, and helping to keep our routine in check :) And Pate... well, he's definitely my most laid back baby yet, and he is already on a GREAT sleeping schedule! I thought it would be months and months before chaos and numerous nighttime feedings subsided so that I'd be able to/feel up to doing anything hobby-related, but I'm getting the sewing machine out this week and have been planting winter flowers and working in the yard over the last few days. Good sleep is a good thing!

And since it's been sooo long since I've updated the blog, here are a few photos for our family out in California to see :)

Ava and Lilia on Lilia's 2nd Birthday

Pumpkin Patch Time!

Pate, 2 weeks old, already a fan of the electric guitar!

Our first mountain trip as a family of five!

Two adorable ladybugs on Halloween!

Why 'PATE' ???

2010-09-12T17:08:00.006-04:00

I believe it is safe to say that the final countdown to our baby boy's arrival is really underway! Unless this little one decides to come a few days early on his own, we are planning to be induced during the week between Ava Grace and Lilia's birthdays. And my favorite part... if all goes well, baby brother should be home to celebrate his oldest sister's 3rd birthday! I can't imagine he'd want to miss out on any of that fun ;)

At some point soon we'll be posting that 'Baby Pate' has indeed arrived so I wanted to go ahead and share a little background on his name... a name that has great meaning for us! His full, given name will be 'Steven Pate Gompers', but we do plan to call him 'Pate'. I've often blogged about our dear friend Tiffany Pate who went to Heaven in March after a battle with breast cancer. She was such an amazing woman with a beautiful faith, and she really did change mine and Steven's lives by believing that God wanted to use her to orchestrate our meeting. If you don't know our story, or hers, I've written the following blog entries where I shared the details of her role in our lives. It still astounds me to this day.

"Full Circle"
"My Beautiful Friend Tiffany"
"Update on Tiffany's Journey"
"Our Divine Romance"
"Some Precious Memories"

The week before her death, Tiffany sent a text message to me that simply said "This one's a boy," and we never doubted her, even though our ultrasound was still weeks away! Steven and I pretty quickly started talking about boys names, even though we usually wait on ultrasound confirmation before making "name lists". It didn't take long before we settled on 'Pate' in Tiffany's honor, and although we contemplated many names for his first name, we decided that "Steven" just fit best (for obvious reasons :).

We cannot wait to meet our son! I'm still overwhelmed at how everything is playing out as our family grows and how meaningful it is to me that every time I speak his name, a special part of me will be remembering my precious friend. We love to tell our Pate's story to anyone who wants to hear it, because ultimately what is happening is that we are sharing sweet Tiffany's story in the process... a story that must be told over and over as a proclamation of God's unmistakable greatness!

Magazine Rack Restyle

2010-09-05T11:34:00.028-04:00

Earlier in the summer, I mentioned that I'd kind of "trash dived" from my next door neighboor when I saw this in her toss out pile...

She told me that in a former life, it had served a purpose like this...

I had seen this little doll cradle on Pottery Barn Kids...

but was definitely not willing to justify the $59.00 price tag.

SO...

with a little sweat equity and $4.00 in materials...

I now have this... ready for two sweet little girl's birthdays at the end of September!

Even the pink fabric and batting for the bedding was gifted to me by a friend who was cleaning out her own craft closet!

Now of course, my version of the doll cradle doesn't rock (which my hubby so lovingly pointed out :), but I didn't think that would matter too much to my two lovely ladies ;)

Divine Encouragement

2010-09-02T12:12:00.003-04:00

The past weeks have been difficult to say the least, but our tender Heavenly Father has proven himself faithful to provide what I can only call divine encouragement in some moments when I needed it most.

For those of you who might not know, my sweet grandfather passed away after a relatively short, very unexpected diagnosis of Pulmonary Fibrosis. His disease, we believe, was caused by a heart medication, and although no one is ever ready to say goodbye to someone they love, the whirlwind nature of his diagnosis and ultimate death has left all of his family and many of his friends very grief-stricken. My heart has especially been broken for my grandmother, his wife of 55 years, as she must now establish a new sense of what normal will be for her life. I've cried many tears, not even being able to imagine what it must feel like to lose her soulmate and best friend. She is surrounded by her three daughters and a wonderful church family, but I recently joked with someone that since my grandfather's retirement many years ago, the only time that my grandparents really spent apart was when my grandmother when to the beauty shop to have her hair and nails done... and I think sometimes my granddaddy even joined her there :) So to say that her world is drastically different, no matter how filled with loved ones who are going to take great care of her, is quite an understatement.

This has been so heavy on my heart, knowing that nothing I can do can fill her void. But that's where I cannot pass up the chance to share one of those divine moments that I experienced as I've wrestled with this.

Last weekend was my dad's birthday, so my mom decided to take my grandmother and my dad to our favorite spot in the mountains for a few days. Steven and I decided that we would take our girls to Blowing Rock for the day on Friday so that we could play in the park and then meet up with our family to celebrate my dad at dinner before driving back to Charlotte that night.

We made it to the mountains right at lunch time and every place in downtown had a wait out the door. So we headed back to 321 and Steven pulled into the first restaurant we came to... I didn't want to eat there, but decided to just go along rather than speak up. Steven and the girls loved their food, and mine was only ok, but oh how glad I am that we ended up at this particular spot.

When we walked in, the hostess took us to a booth in the back. We quickly started working to get the girls settled with their bibs and cups and silverware so that we could order with as little chaos as possible. We were seated next to a woman who appeared to be about my mom's age, and she was dining with an elderly lady wearing an adorable hat. I could tell they were talking about us, but I couldn't hear them. They kept looking our way and smiling and then talking some more. I was a little bit annoyed actually because I felt like their "stares" were a bit over the top.

Anyway, once we had ordered, the younger lady started chatting with us about our girls and asking about the baby that we are expecting. I made polite small talk with her while trying to keep my kids quiet and in their seats. At one point, Steven excused himself to go to the restroom and the woman looked at me and, without blinking, said "So, are you going to homeschool your children?" I immediately thought it was really an odd thing for her to say, since nothing we had talked about would have given her the idea, that yes we do, in fact, plan to homeschool our children. But that question opened a whole world of further conversation. She shared that she had four boys, now aged 18 to 30, but that she'd homeschooled them and actually gave us some great things to think about from her years of experience!

But then the older lady, who had mostly been silent, began to share with us what a blessing it was to be close to family. I'm not even sure why she brought it up, but she quietly shared that her husband of almost fifty five years had passed away two years ago, and that it had been so, so difficult for her. Then she started sharing how only the Lord had brought her through, and that he truly was a most gracious, perfect husband and defender for the widow (Ps. 68:5). Her face just gleamed as she shared how faithful He had been to tenderly take care of her.

I did not want to eat in this restaurant. I did not want to have a conversation with the strangers at the table next to us. But I absolutely needed to hear what these strangers shared. The timing was divine. I shared my heartache over my own recent loss and my concern for my grandmother. The lady encouraged me straight from scripture. She rejoiced at the Lord's goodness, and seeing the hope in her eyes gave me just the peace I'd been longing for as I grieved at my grandmother's loss.

In addition to this encounter, Steven and I recently received an unexpected email about his ministry at a time when we really needed the encouragement. Couple this with the fact that even though I listen to Christian radio almost daily, I'd never heard the song "Homesick" (Mercy Me) until a time of my own personal loss, I just cannot help be but overwhelmed at God's perfect, divine timing. He is so faithful to take care of us! I am so thankful that in good times and hard times he is there, cradling us and holding us up. He is so good!

Whew!

2010-08-05T17:05:00.003-04:00

We've been really busy since the last blog :) Here are a few of the things that have kept us occupied this summer...

*We spent a wonderful week at the beach with Nana and Pop and Uncle David, Aunt Nicki and Cadence!

*We pulled out our finest Hawaiian duds for Luau Night at Chick-fil-A!

*We had a love/hate relationship with the fireworks on the 4th of July!

*We spent time just being adorable (at least in our mom's opinion:)!

*We gave new meaning "The Naked Chef"...

*We had loads of fun playing at the "waterpark" (also known as the fountain at Birkdale)!

And while my girls have been enjoying the summer, I have been wishing the hot days away and dreaming of Autumn. I was ready for this season to be over the day we got home from the beach in June :) I'm not much of a hot weather lover, but especially when I'm expecting a little one (funny how all of my babies have been born/due in September, meaning that I'm always in my third trimester during the hottest part of the year). But it will be cool soon enough, and with that will come the demands (no matter how wonderful) of having a newborn in our house... so I am trying to just make as many memories as I can with my two girls before we add a brother to the fun.

I have also been driving myself slightly crazy with the most ridiculous "nesting" to-do list that I've ever come up with in any of my pregnancies. For laughs, here are a few entries from the list:

* Sell truck / purchase minivan (done)

* Purchase twin beds for girls (done) / build headboards for beds / move girls to "big girl room" (done)

* Organize every single toy in our house by category and store in closet (done)

* Paint two extremely large / heavy wooden chairs

* Touch up paint and spackle nail holes in every room of our house (done)

* Make window treatment for nursery (done)

* Make/purchase birthday gifts for Ava/Lilia/Cadence in case I'm in hospital on their b'day's (done)

* Clean out every closet in house (done)

* Clean cabinet doors and baseboards

* Repaint masterbath walls

And can I reiterate that this is just a FEW of the entries? I've lost my mind. But I'm slowly knocking things of the list, and I've promised myself that whatever isn't completed by Sept. 1 is just going to have to wait until after the baby is born and I'm feeling up to working on some projects again :) Our due date is Sept. 28th, so I figure I can give myself a few weeks "off" before the baby is born. That's not unreasonable, right? ;)

Easy Easel ReStyle

2010-06-15T22:32:00.002-04:00

Several months ago, my mom showed up with this fun prize for the girls...

a triple function art easel from Ikea! One side is a dry erase board, the other is a chalkboard, and included was a huge roll of art paper that rolls over the top for coloring with pencils and crayons! My girls love it, but because they were probably a little too young at the time to understand that there were distinctive surfaces for markers, chalk and "colors" as they call crayons, we ended up with a pretty unappealing easel. Add to that the fact that it was natural wood and the art tray was primary red, it just wasn't matching our playroom (soon to be turn girls' bedroom) at all!

But thanks to a can of white spray paint, some leftover chalkboard paint, a little mod podge and a sheet or two of scrapbook paper, we now have an easel to be proud of :) Thanks, Nana!

Have any of you repurposed anything lately? I'm about to attempt to restyle an old wooden magazine rack into a baby doll cradle for the girls... I found the rack in my neighbor's trash pile, so I guess now I can honestly say I've dumpster dived. I asked permission first, though ;) And since Baby G is due right around the time my girls will be celebrating their 2nd and 3rd birthdays, I figure I better get a jump start on having their gifts ready... ya know, just in case we're in the hospital on one of their actual birthdays :) I'll let you know how the cradle turns out!

Has It Really Been That Long

2010-06-10T23:46:00.002-04:00

Today, I was reading a friend's blog and saw a link to my own blog... and it said that my last post was THREE weeks ago! I'm seriously stunned that it's been that long because I feel like I updated it yesterday, but obviously I did not :) But considering we've celebrated seven family birthdays since my last post, and we've also just been "busy" enjoying summer, I guess I've been a little preoccupied. And since this blog is a memory book of sorts, I decided I'd post a quick recap of what we've been up to...

We've now ridden Charlotte's new mass transit line, The Lynx, and decided that it was fun... once. We took our ride after it was too dark to see much, and then we actually rode it from one end to the other, and back, accidentally. And so all the babies were tired, as were their mommas and daddys and nana and pop. But it was a fun adventure and we can say "we did it!"

{Ava Grace was ready to ride!}

{Lilia just wanted to explore and run around the train... much to my dismay}

We let the girls make their concert debut on the big stage at Freedom Park. This is when I really wish I had a camera with a great zoom lens :) I remember coming here with this great friend and her sweet sister when I was a kiddo... we'd come with our families and bring picnic blankets and listen to these girl's dad play with the Charlotte Symphony. Those were the days!

{Steven let Ava Grace take center stage}

Ava Grace floored us all when we went out for Japanese/Sushi for dinner after church recently. They offered her chopsticks with a rubber band and she went to town and somehow managed to eat all of her chicken AND rice with them. She cleaned her plate.

{Ava Grace was quite proud of her newly acquired skills. And she's got skills}

We've been swimming a lot... but mostly "swimming" just includes standing on the top two steps of the pool and pouring water from one cup to another.

We moved in with my parents for a night when our air conditioner went out. We tried to tough it out for as long as we could, but ultimately we gave up and packed up and headed their way... and they graciously shared their cool with us. And my dad awesomely diagnosed the problem and repaired it for the cost of a $19.00 part. Now I just wish I hadn't spent a whole weekend imagining the worst that we were about to need to spend thousands to replace the whole unit. That should teach me something :)

{It actually got hotter... it topped out at 89 degrees... yuck!}

Steven and I celebrated our wedding anniversary... I could not be any more grateful that I get to spend my days with him!

And finally, probably the biggest reason I've neglected this blog... I've been sewing at every chance I get. I've challenged myself to learn one new skill every week, so I'm been sewing all kinds of different projects... most of them gifts for wedding showers, birthdays and adorable little girls. It's been a great diversion because right now we are a one-car family and my freedom to get out during the day is pretty limited. We have Steven's truck on consignment with a local car dealership, so if you know if anyone looking for a sweet new ride, LET US KNOW! It's time to move into the minivan phase of life, but we want to get his truck sold first :)

Oh BOY!!!

2010-05-10T12:48:00.007-04:00

Hi Friends! I hope you all had a terrific Mother's Day! Mine was super, especially considering that now I know that not only am I mom to two precious little girls, but to a little man as well!!! My hubby and I found out last Wednesday that our sweet baby is a boy, and we are just ecstatic! We took Ava Grace with us to the ultrasound, and she was excited about her "baby brudder" too :) She just doesn't know how much her world is going to change when he joins in the fun in September! I'm going to need all the help I can get... and three year olds are great for "get mommy this" and "get mommy that" kind of errands :)

When I was pregnant with my oldest, I didn't have a doubt in my mind that she was a girl. The second time around, I didn't have a strong feeling one way or the other. But this time, I believed all along it would be a boy. So when I got a text message from my precious friend Tiffany that simply said "This one's a boy," my feeling was confirmed even more. That message was sent one week before Tiffany passed away and I'll always treasure the fact that she too believed (or confidently already knew) that I had a son on the way.

I've talked a lot about Tiffany on this blog, so if you've read past posts, you know how significant a role she played in my life and why she was guest of honor at my wedding. I have always been grieved that, somehow, we didn't have a picture taken together that night. Well... I was recently flipping through all the photo proofs and found a candid shot of the two of us chatting after the ceremony! It's not a posed picture, and I can't even see her face, but regardless, this picture is just priceless to me!!!

Just Keeping It Real

2010-04-27T18:27:00.003-04:00

What do all these have in common?

(Side Note: All of these pillows actually make it onto the bed once every three weeks or so...)

There is a war going on in my bedroom and I fully intend to win it. These lovely little guys are called house centipedes and, from the research I've done on how to keep them out, it seems like they are just a fact of life when you live on a concrete slab in the South. The good news is that, supposedly, they are allies at keeping spiders at bay, but still, when I woke up the other day and one was crawling on the wall above my bed, I honestly about lost it. If I can't keep them out of my whole house, I'm gonna at least make my bedroom off limits. I was already sleeping with flip flops right beside my bed for the six times I have to get up to go to the bathroom in the dark in the middle of the night (thanks, little baby in my belly:). I'd seen them scurrying about and I didn't want to step on one *shudder*. But I didn't think they were wall climbers (or bed skirt climbers)... obviously I was wrong. So, today I armed myself and I sprayed along the baseboards of my room and I sprayed around the base of my bed. Stayed tuned. I'll let you know who wins this very important battle.

In other news, there isn't much. In the last five days, I've made a brief trip to Hobby Lobby, church and my parent's house, so no fun adventures to report. It's just too dang hard to get out much with a 1.5 year old and a 2.5 year old. But I do love my kiddos, so I'll just enjoy the slow pace and savor the time with them :)

A quick thanks to my readers who've ordered pillowcase and bandana dresses in the last week! I'm excited to get them made and shipped out (or delivered)! At some point soon, I'm going to do a dress giveaway in celebration of Memorial Day... I'll let you know when I finalize the details!

Alright, friends, have an awesome Tuesday night!

Work and Play, Play and Work...

2010-04-24T22:42:00.004-04:00

Today, while I made these...

my girls made this...

and this.

I told my mom that I'm not sure it's even worth it at this point to pursue learning to sew. The girls nap for two hours a day, but since I'm pregnant, regardless of what needs to be done, I rest when they rest. Otherwise the second half of the day is loooong for everyone. And then with bedtime at 8 o'clock, I'm not really excited at the thought of pulling out all the materials that close to my own time to "check out" for the night. So that leaves me with attempting to sew while keeping them occupied and more importantly, keeping them away from the pins and scissors and snips and from unrolling all my thread :) I can manage to sew a straight line, but I have so much I want to learn (even basic stuff like how to sew from a pattern). But that takes a lot of patience and at least a bit of concentration, two things which run a little low when the sewing machine and the kids are both "on."

So that brings me to a question: moms of toddlers... what kinds of things do your kids like to do when you are working on housework or other projects? Any creative ideas would be much appreciated :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, friends!

10,000 Flushes

2010-04-22T08:49:00.006-04:00

I've really got to learn to keep my camera handy to document the fun little random things that happen when you have kids. In this case of this "adventure" though, the photos would have to have been of my dad and my husband, outside on our back deck, with all kinds of crazy gear, trying to "fish" two rubber duckies that had been flushed in the potty...

I know you other moms can sympathize with me on this... one day, I didn't get a shower before the kids woke up from their nap. I figured that the girls could just play in the master bathroom while I took care of this "chore," so I took out every single thing that I thought they could get in to... the trashcan, all decorations, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc. were in my bedroom floor. But I left their bathtoys so they would have something to occupy the 6-7 minutes it would take for me to shower and dry off.

They were *quietly* playing and then I heard sound #1: the slamming of the ceramic toilet lid. That was quickly followed by sound #2: flush. (Which was followed by sound #3: my screaming because the shower water was now scalding me.)

I poked my head out of the curtain and asked Ava Grace if she had put anything in the potty before she flushed it... to which she proudly answered "Duckies!" Ay yay yay. I quickly scanned the toys and thought, "Yep, she flushed the duckies. Everything else is here and accounted for."

These duckies were not the big kind, so I hoped that they would just make their way on through to their watery grave, but we quickly figured out that that had not happened. Dad came over and tried and tried to "move them through" with some odd contraption, but ultimately the boys ended up having to pull up the toilet to get the duckies out. Yuck. We treated my parents to dinner that night as a "thank you" for not having to call the plumber and we had a long talk with Ava Grace about what is eligible for flushing in our house. And this was the end of the story... or so we thought.

The toilet seemed to work ok for a day, but then it started acting crazy again. I swore (which I don't do, but I did) to my dad that they must have not put the wax ring on right because there was ABSOLUTELY no way that 1)the girls had been in the bathroom to flush anything again and 2)that Ava Grace could have flushed anything else when she flushed the duckies. So I convinced Dad and Steven to get another wax ring and pull the toilet up, again, so they could "get it right this time" :) They decided to just double check to see if they could see anything else that might be stuck in there. Well, apparently in Ava Grace's mind, penguins are duckies too. Because sure enough, the hard plastic penguin we'd gotten from McDonald's a few weeks earlier was you know where. Stupid happy meals. And from the look on Dad and Steven's face, well, let's just say the penguin was way harder to extract...

So now, as much as a two year can, I believe Ava Grace really does understand what to flush/not to flush. And she likes the "responsibility" of flushing after she uses the potty. And if it were up to her, she'd flush four or fives times afterward, just for fun.

But since we are on the subject, however weird it is, let me just say that whoever invented the "automatic flush" has obviously never had to potty train a little girl. By the time I get layers of toilet paper on the potty and get her situated, the potty is inevitably ready to say "times up" and flushes on her. To which she screams and jumps off, regardless of what is "happening" at the moment. Because we all know public potty automatic flushes are way less delicate than the potty at home. So, to combat this and keep my little girl unafraid of the big, bad public potty, I've just started wrapping the sensor with toilet paper too... it will not get the best of me, or Ava Grace.

I Might Be Addicted...

2010-04-19T12:41:00.008-04:00

I hope you all had a lovely Spring weekend! We did... it was filled with lots of yummy food (I think calabash shrimp and bbq are gonna need to go in the baby book as what I craved this time around), some park time and we even got to see some friends we haven't seen in a long, long time! (Side Note - right now I'm listening to Ava Grace "talk" to Nana on the phone, telling her that "Oh, I meant to call Poppy." Sorry, Nana :) Anyway, today we are just gearing up for a busy week. I always like to spend Monday making lists of everything I want to try to accomplish each week. I usually only check about half of the stuff off, so the next Monday, the leftovers just get moved to the new week. But at least I can see if I've made any progress:) And if I don't write something down, it will actually never happen... out of sight, out of mind.

Check out these fun swings at the park... they make me want to ride a roller coaster! Except that probably won't be allowed considering I'll be almost in my third trimester by the time our beach trip rolls around this summer.

And the reason I mentioned addiction in the title...

I made a couple more "pillowcase dresses" for the girls over the weekend. My aunt, who owns the SUPER AWESOME store in Denver, NC called Fabric and Drapery Designs, gave me a couple of remnant fabrics for my birthday. There was just enough to hem four squares and then sew them together using the same concept from the bandana dresses I made last week. I made one for both girls, and seriously, if I had more fabric (and it was at all practical), these would be all my kids wore. I figure the time where they will want to wear handmade dresses will be short-lived, so I might was well take advantage of it now :)

And I'm just going to throw this out there... now that I'm feeling a little more human (thank you, second trimester), I would love to make some "things" for friends and family. If you need paci clips, custom burp cloths, fabric covered travel wipe cases, bandana/pillowcase dresses, placemats, simple pillows or even a birthday cake (random part of the list, huh:), send me an email and I'll see if I think I'm up for the challenge!

Frugal Wallet Wednesday (A Day Late:) and Other Randoms

2010-04-15T16:52:00.007-04:00

I meant to post this yesterday (like a lot of things I had good intentions to do), but I guess the overcast skies drained every ounce of productivity from my body. I did manage to dress myself and the girls (thanks to my hubby's offer to take us out to lunch) and I did make my bed, so I guess those things count for something... maybe.

Anyway, inspired to keep up with my cousin's sweet wife Lindsey (who has been making some amazing creations with her new sewing machine!), over the weekend I decided to make some dresses for my daughters and I thought I'd share the results as a Frugal Wallet post. The reason... each dress cost about $2.50 to make and took all of 20 minutes each to sew! Now, some of you may definitely raise your eyebrows at the thought of dressing your kiddos in bandanas, but when I found this tutorial online, I had to give it a try. They were seriously so easy to make because the bandanas come with pre-finished edges, and now I'm planning to pick up a some navy ones and some red ribbon for 4th of July dresses! I don't have any up close photos, but here are a couple I snapped of the girls while my parents were grilling our dinner on Tuesday :) (Thanks, Mom and Dad!!!)

Last Wednesday was my birthday, and honestly, it was one of the sweetest ever. After a impromptu date with my hubby on Tuesday night, my mom treated us all to brunch at Mimi's Cafe on my birthday morning. After brunch, Steven took me to do one of my very favorite things... we walked around the garden center at Lowes, and I actually got to buy some things rather than just looking around! I've planted a LOT of flowers in the ground, but this year, I decided to try my hand at building all my containers with plants that I selected (rather than just buying the pre-filled ones). Here are some of my favorites right after planting... and I cannot WAIT to see how they fill in! My Dad offered a lot of guidance, and considering how good his yard looks year after year, I'm sure it's going to be awesome when everything starts blooming:)

Some Precious Memories

2010-04-01T16:38:00.008-04:00

Last night, after a long, very courageous journey fighting breast cancer, my precious friend Tiffany Pate met her Savior in Heaven. There are not many people on earth who played a more integral role in the outcome of my life up until this point than did Tiffany, and I am so grateful to have called her spiritual mentor and friend.

Although my grief is coupled with joy that Tiff is no longer in pain and she is with Jesus, I know that my life will not be the same without her presence. And I know that so, so many people feel the same way. As much as I will miss meeting her for long breakfasts or getting her short, sweet text messages reminding me she was loving me and praying for me, my greatest sadness is that my children won't know her on this side of eternity. I have so many letters from her, many that I honestly believe changed the course of my life, that I will share with them as they get older, but there are so many other details that I want to be able to recount to them as well... I'm sure I'll add to this list as memories come to my mind, but these are the some of the things I've been reflecting on today...

* Tiff wholeheartedly believed in the power of prayer and I know she prayed some very specific things over my life. At one point, when I was in a relationship that was not God's best for me, Tiff boldly (and with passionate tears) proclaimed that to my mother and myself. I honestly believe that her prayers, coupled with the prayers of my family and another spiritual mentor, caused the abrupt, but very needed, end to that relationship.

* Tiff was one of the most selfless examples of Christ's love that I've ever personally known. Even in her journey with breast cancer, all Tiff wanted was to love people and share Christ with them, so that He would be glorified through her life. I never heard her once utter a complaint about pain associated with her disease. Of course we talked about it and we cried through it together, be she never verbalized any self-pity or anger.

* Tiff loved her family passionately and the only concern she shared with me regarding her cancer was that she might not be able to see her sons, Landon and Ridge, grow into manhood. She adored her husband Brian, and she recounted their love story to me numerous times when I needed encouragement, that yes, one day, I would fall in love.

* I don't think I've every known anybody who arranged to have more family portraits made than Tiff... I'm so thankful that Brian and the boys now have that tangible memory of her!

* If Tiff believed something to be the truth, she boldy proclaimed it and didn't let the seeming craziness of it stand in her way! Once, when I was contemplating an opportunity to attend college after completely my junior year of high school (rather than having a senior year), she wrote me a very long letter basically commanding me to quit being afraid and just trust that this was part of God's journey for my life. And then, years later, when she looked up from her seat at church and saw Steven Gompers leading worship and firmly believed God told her that he was my future husband, she immediately called and left a message on my parent's answering machine stating that she knew we would think she was crazy, but that she had met my husband and she was confident of it! She then proceeded to pray for six months (and just *randomly* carried around a picture of me and Ridge) until she felt the timing was right to approach Steven about me and for us to be introduced. I've written a much more detailed account of that mind-boggling (at least to me!) story here...

* Tiff loved my babies... she called me often to offer to babysit them for a few hours here and there just so I could have a few moments to myself. My girls both adored her, and Ava Grace asks about Tiff every day. Everywhere I look in my house, I have reminders of her... monogrammed sippy cup sleeves, burp cloths, diaper bags (Tiff LOVED monograms!), baby dolls galore, and even some expired debit card she gave Ava Grace to have for her "money." When Ava was two months old, I had an event to attend and the only person I could even imagine leaving my baby with (besides my mom, who had to attend the event too), was Tiff. She sent me six or seven text messages that night with pictures of my sweet baby, knowing that as alike as we were, I was probably worried sick, even though I trusted her implicitly. And as my girls grew, she still sent me pictures every time they stayed with her!

* Tiff was passionate about God's Word and the power it has to transform lives. I remember sitting across from her in Chuck E Cheese right after I moved back from Atlanta. We were talking about scripture and about her passion for seeing people really grasp it's depth... she got so excited she slapped her fist on the table and started talking really fast and loud and I thought she might starting preaching to anyone who would listen right then and there! Because she was so soft-spoken normally, I'm sure I was very wide-eyed at that moment!

* Tiff was the Guest of Honor (for obvious reasons:) at my wedding. I remember going to her house before the wedding so she could show me the gorgeous dress that Brian had surprised her with. I will probably always regret that we missed an opportunity to have our picture taken together on my wedding day. I have photos of her there, but I so wish we had one together.

Oh how thankful I am to have been your friend, Tiffany Pate. Your precious heart was one of a kind.

Frugal Wallet Wednesday

2010-03-24T18:10:00.006-04:00

If you are a couponer, then you probably already know this, but just in case, it's Triple Coupon week at Harris Teeter! Any coupons up to $.99 value will be tripled! I don't have a huge stash of coupons right now, but I definitely found some worth printing from Coupons.com... and while I'm at HT, I'll probably go ahead and stock up on Totino's pizzas while they are on sale for $.88. I know, they are terrible for us, but every now and then they are such a yummy treat :) Everything in moderation, right?!?

Any readers have any frugal tips this week?!?

I Wish I Had A Picture...

2010-03-23T20:16:00.006-04:00

I really wish I'd taken a picture of my hands today before I washed them fourteen times and cleaned up supper dishes and gave my kiddos a bath. It will just have to suffice to say that they were pretty much covered in cyan, magenta, yellow and black... ahem, yep, printer ink.

I know it's no surprise to any of you, but if I can "do it myself" and save a few bucks, you know I'm gonna. So after being out of printer ink (and printing everything at my mom's house... thanks, mom :) for, oh, six months or so, I finally decided to pick up an "Inkjet Replacement Kit" from the drugstore. I'd read online how the process works and figured that a little mess was worth the almost $50.00 I'd save, and well, let's just say I did it, I can *print* stuff now, and the verdict is definitely still out as to whether it was actually worth the savings. Here's why...

1. The lady in the picture wasn't wearing gloves, and the instructions didn't say to put the gloves on, so even though they were included in the kit, I figured I didn't need them. I was obviously wrong.

2. I learned a LOT in the process, so even though the first time was definitely a painful (literally) trial and error, I'll know what I'm doing next time and it would be way quicker and WAY less messy.

3. I got REALLY confident the more I did, so by the time it was time to fill the yellow, I was hardly paying attention. I plunged the little needle into the inkwell and starting filling... only to have ink come rapidly trickling over the side and everywhere. When I started seeing green (again, literally), I realized I'd put the yellow in the cyan and had put enough in to, well, no longer be able to print blue :) But I guess that really doesn't matter, since the only thing I really ever print is coupons... and as long as they scan, I could care less what they look like. But, if I need something in color that needs to look good, I'll be back to bumming ink from my mom's computer :)

So, all that to say, I tried it, I have LOTS of ink refills left from the kits, and I'll definitely do it again for that reason alone, but when it's gone, I'll probably just cough up the cash for ink from Staples. Or at least be a little more careful and wear the gloves :)

Frugal Wallet What ???

2010-03-15T20:27:00.008-04:00

So, it's been a while since I blogged... I think even for me, almost three months is a record (not that anyone but my mom is complaining about or keeping track of the lack of blogging :). Anyway, after the last few times I'd balanced our checking account using Microsoft Money, I kinda felt like a fraud for ever having had a recurring post called "Frugal Wallet Wednesday." That's probably because I've sent Steven out for takeout so many times in the last ten weeks that it makes my head spin... but I guess I could cut myself a tiny bit of slack considering the first trimester of pregnancy with kiddo #3 has been less than kind to me! I have been pretty worthless in the couponing, meal planning, grocery shopping, money saving ways I used to care so much about... but I'm seriously hoping that over the next 29 weeks, I have loads more energy and a lot less nausea. I guess we'll see :) I think I've cooked twice since I found out we were expecting, and both of those times I just made very large pots of soup that my hubby could eat off of for days on end. I'm really lucky though... he hasn't complained once.

All that being said, my fingers are crossed that very soon I might feel like doing something besides sleeping every time my kids sleep... something like learning how to use the awesome sewing machine my parents gave to me for Christmas. For about two weeks, I had it out every day, making bibs and paci clips and even a dress for Lilia... they were all really elementary, but I was improving. I haven't even attempted anything in weeks though, so I'll probably be starting at the very beginning, for the third time :) I'm pretty sure I don't even remember how to thread the bobbin. When I first got the machine, I had these dreams of never having to buy a baby gift again and being able to make all my girls' clothing and learning how to sew well enough to make window treatments for my Aunt Lisa's clients at her Lake Norman store (Fabric and Drapery Designs), but at this point, I think I need to work on mastering a straight line :)

So, if I have any readers left out there, I'd love to know if you've found any great ways to save money or tried any super easy sewing crafts (or crafts in general) in the past three months that I should know about!!! Let me know!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T23:14:00.005-05:00

From our family to yours, we hope this day is filled with beautiful memories! We are so blessed to celebrate the birth of our precious Savior with so many friends and family! We love you!

Frugal Wallet Wednesday

2009-12-23T14:11:00.007-05:00

When our Christmas card from our sweet cousins in Macon arrived, I thought, "Oh, that really would have worked!!!" They made their photo card into a postcard, which meant a little less postage and no need for envelopes! I had often wondered if picture prints could be considered postcards, but since I wasn't sure, I decided not to try it out. But next year, I'll definitely be going this route. I didn't send out nearly as many cards as I would have liked, and I even hand-delivered many of them to save on stamps!

But with amazing sites like Picnik providing all the free editing tools I needed to create my own picture cards, I'll do the same in 2010, and wait for a free print offer from snapfish, vistaprint, winflash or one of the other print sights. This year, I was able to get 50 free from winkflash... I just had to pay $.99 for shipping. It did take me a little while to figure out how to use Picnik, but once I did, I was pretty pleased with the result, especially considering how much I did not have to spend on pre-made cards!