I stumbled across this post on Pintrest, and was so moved I wanted to share it with you :) It is only a 5 minute read. Drops of Awesome, it will make you feel empowered and capable as a mother and a Child of God. It is really beautiful. Enjoy!

http://www.daringyoungmom.com/2012/12/19/drops-of-awesome/#

Leave me a comment if you liked it too. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Day 3 wheat box update...

So we created the "wheat-box" on Tuesday morning. Nathan and Logan played and played in it all morning- literally for HOURS! Then, Olivia came home from school....

And they played some more.

Then ALLY came home from school, and they played some more.....

THE NEXT DAY- Day 2- First thing in the morning, 'Can I play in the wheat box mom?'

Nathan and Logan not even dressed and playing already :)

Hours later, still playing....They were still playing last night at 4:30 when I made them clean up for dinner!

TODAY- Day 3- STILL playing in the wheat-box! Who knew?

The wheat box

So, this good friend of mine told me that when her husband was young, and it was too cold to play outside, his mother dumped a bucket of wheat from her food storage into a bin and they played in it like a sand box.

Well, today, Logan says 'mom- what happened to our sandbox?' and I told him it was too cold for sandboxes, and then I remembered this idea....I dumped out my wrapping paper bin, and filled it up with wheat. It's been an hour and Logan is still playing in it :)

I love this picture because it really captures how thrilled they both were!

Nathan thought this was TOO cool! He kept looking at me like 'you're sure this is ok mom?'

Nathan tried eating it...once...then quickly realized it wasn't very good.

This is one seriously happy little boy! Score one for mom- Thanks Ashley for the idea!

Bags II

I had enough scraps from the 

kids church bags, so I made 

each of them a tote bag for their 

Leap-pads/Leapster. 

Hopefully they will keep them safe and somewhat protected.

Dress-up

Today the girls were playing dress-up....

This is what they did to the horse...

And this is what they did to their little brother...

I totally remember dressing my little brother David up like a girl, I guess it's only fair, every little brother has to go through it! :)

And by-the-way, they were super-heros-

 

TO THE RESCUE!!!!

2012's Labor of Love

It doesn't feel like Christmas if I don't have a "labor of love" to make for someone. This year, with my dad's passing, I decided this would be my labor of love. I brought home 2 great big bags of his shirts and turned them into 13, yes-13, quilts. One for my step-mother, one for each of my brothers, and one for each of my dad's grandkids. They turned out beautiful, and I am thankful that I had the time to think and reflect on my dad's life and his love for me and my family as I made each one of them. 

This is only 11 of the 13 quilts. (I am still working on finishing mine)

Pajama pants for the kids.

This was a last minute gift idea that I saw on Pintrest and tweaked it a bit to make it my own. I saw them on Pinterest a few day earlier, and couldn't stop thinking about them, so on Christmas eve day, I decided that I had to make them, and went to Walmart, bought the fabric and got started. They turned out awesome! Ally said it was her favorite gift, and I was really glad that I decided to make them. They are totes for the kids to take to church.

Inside they have a spot for a notebook, crayons, and colored pencils, also some other miscellaneous pockets for whatever they wanted to stuff in there.

This is the inside of Olivia's bag. I love how they turned out. I even made a pattern so I could make them again. The first one took a few hours, but by the 3rd one, it was only like 45 minutes. They were easy and fun to do.

These were my niece/nephew ornaments for the year. I think I made 30 of them. They were fun to make, and I loved the way they looked on the Christmas tree.

I made some scrunchies for Ally- because clearly I am stuck in the 90's and I think that scrunchies are cute and also highly functional :)

I made each of the girls charm bracelets. I saw some at the store for $10 each and I just couldn't spend that kind of money, even if they would love them, so I made them some instead for about $1.50 each. I even added some little bells, so they jingle. Ally said this was her other favorite gift. I love to hear that!

Some new hair flowers for the girls.

I made the girls these fun scarves. Ally even made one for her Aunt Susan. They were fun and easy, and turned out super cute. They both match the new coats that they got for Christmas.

Perhaps one of these years I will do a completely homemade Christmas. I love to make my gifts, it gives Christmas more meaning for me.

Christmas 2012

Here are a few Christmas photos from this year-

Logan and the Christmas tree. Note that there are no ornaments on the bottom half...Nathan kept taking them off and after a few days, I stopped putting them back on :)

Ally and Livy in their new Christmas dresses from Grandma Laing. Thank you Grandma- you made to pretty little girls feel like princesses :)

 

Christmas Eve dinner

Christmas Eve jammies- the kids get to open 1 gift on Christmas Eve and it is always new pajamas. This year I made them flannel pants.

Christmas morning. (there really wasn't that many presents, Craig and I tried to make it look like a lot for the kids sake :) But they were still spoiled!

Santa brought Olivia a leap-pad.

Logan got a Leapster from Santa and this flashlight from daddy.

Ally in her new Christmas outfit, with a new scarf I made for her, and a necklace that Olivia made for her.

Ally's Christmas spread. She also got a Leap-pad from Santa, some new clothes, a new coat and snowpants, some new church shoes, and some homemade stuff from mommy. The kids all got this horse, which again, came from a garage sale- I think it was $8.00 or something wonderful like that!

Olivia's Christmas spread. She got a Leap-pad, some new clothes, boots, an entire ream of paper from her brother, a new coat and some books, plus a fishing pole to go fishing with daddy- or to fish off the banister at the top of the stairs :), and some homemade stuff from mommy.

Logan's Christmas spread- complete with a homemade sword and shield from a special uncle :), a Mr. Potato head family, a Buzz-lightyear bouncer ball (from a garage sale), some new clothes and a fishing pole, so he can go ice-fishing with daddy soon.

Nathan's spread. The books and blocks were hand-me-downs from cousins, and the ball popper and activity table came from garage sales. He got some new clothes and a Tonka truck from Santa.

It was a wonderful and blessed Christmas.

Gingerbread houses

Christmas Gingerbread houses.

Happy Birthday Boys!

The boys had a shared birthday party this year. Logan turned 3!

And Nathan turned 1!

The boys both got IKEA train sets.

Logan got a CRUNCHER! (That's what this dinosaur is called) Thanks to our cousins :)

And Nathan got some balls, that I bought for $1 at a garage sale (I love garage sales! These balls were still in the original box, and they were a HUGE hit!

But the trains won out as the best birthday gift! EVERYONE, daddy included had a fun time playing with them.

Logan wanted an apple pie, instead of a cake, so we had apple pie and ice cream. It was a great party!

Happy Birthday to my 2 handsome sons!