On to verse two! I was able to memorize 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a and even my kids learned parts of it. A very encouraging start.
I have loved these verses for a long time and decided they would be good to have committed to memory for all those times I need to cling to these words and the fact that He is all I need, gives me all I need, and will always be there for me. He is the strength of my heart and my portion forever!
I have decided to participate in my friend Nicole’s challenge to memorize a verse a month. I feel like this in an area I need to have some serious growth in. How can I be close to Him if his word is not hidden in my heart? So, here I go!
The verses in 1 Corinthians 13 have been close to my heart lately, as I try to impart them on my kids and also realize how much I need them. I decided to start here. It is a little lengthy, but I really want to have it memorized so I can draw on it as I need to as I instruct my children and have struggles of my own as I try to love others.
I would love to have others join me in Nicole’s challenge!
It’s another rainy day (although the rain has started yet) and I want to cuddle up with my book (I have two chapters left) and a cup of hot chocolate. I can’t read right now, so I went with the hot chocolate. Delicious!
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We have been having problems here with being loving and kind. All of us. I am constantly telling my kids to be kind and to love one another, but I am often finding that the way I am telling them to be kind and loving in an unkind and unloving way.
I made this little reminder today and let the kids stick the hearts on. We put it right above the table where we can all see it and hopefully be reminded by it and meditate on it. We all need it! I like the way it turned out, especially with Valentine’s Day around the corner.
My birthday happened about a month ago and I was blessed by so many people with so much love and sweet treasures!
One of the gifts I received from my dear friend Georgia was the most gorgeous quilt ever! I was SO blown away and excited and shocked! I have made my fair share of quilts but always give them away so to be given one and to be given such an amazing one, I was just so very blessed! I absolutely love it. The colors, the birds and deer and how cuddly it is. It is wonderful. And I seriously think I have used it every single day I have had it. Thank you, Georgia, for my lovely, snuggly, beautiful gift!
Tegan is very artistic. She colors several times a day. We have discussed many times and she will tell you, we only color on paper. Today, she couldn’t help herself. Nine t’s graced her bedroom walls in green marker. Thankfully crayola so I was able to wipe them off no problem. Even the one she informed me was up to high for me to get. She did apologize. I think she was just caught in the moment. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself when I saw it, they are pretty cute.
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I have had a hard time writing anything to put here lately. Life has changed a little bit around here and I am just starting to get back into the swing of things. I think most people know by now, but we are expecting baby number three in June! We are excited and exhausted and hungry and that has been keeping us busy.
Here is our Christmas picture. I loved our tree this year. I love having the house decorated and really really wanted to leave my little village up on the mantle for keeps. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it, though.
I made a handful of things this year and took pictures of none of them. It was lucky they got made. It was a great Christmas and I felt like I did a better job remembering the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Christ our Savior and was able to pass that on to my kids a little more this year as they are getting older.
It just struck me that I will have a 6 month old next Christmas. Unbelievable!
Shane took this picture of Ethan and himself on a walk the other day with his phone and I just love it to pieces. I love it. I love that they were on a walk together and that it is my two favorite guys and just how beautiful it looks. God is good.
]]>We spent yesterday afternoon making a gingerbread house at my mom’s. It has been a tradition she started with Ethan (maybe when he was two) and they have done together every year since. This year, Tegan was included and because of the crazy amounts of candy, frosting, and crazy little children with candy and frosting, I was invited along to help. It was a lot of fun and turned out so cute! Notice their expressions. Tons of candy was consumed.
]]>We began looking around, calling for her. Ethan claimed she ran towards the door. I went looking. I was pretty relaxed about it for a minute or two. Then panic set in. I told the checker we had lost a little girl in pink with pig tails. They called a “code pink” and I lost it internally. What if I never saw her again? How could I ever tell or face Shane? I was done. I was frantic.
A few minutes later (the whole thing didn’t even last 5 minutes), my mom and Ethan walk up with her. She had been trying on shoes. Just like a girl. She will be confined to her stroller for the next 15 years.
]]>Here is Ethan sporting my first super hero cape. We are going to a birthday party this weekend and I have been thinking of making these for a while. It wasn’t as easy as I had hoped and I will definitely tweak it the next time I make one. I tried to follow a pattern, but pretty much ended up doing my own thing in the end. I hope the little superhero enjoys it!
]]>We had a fun Halloween this year. Ethan decided he wanted to be a robot and we put dad to work. He created the most awesome robot costume (who would’ve known Shane was crafty??) and Ethan was very excited. He even won best costume at a party we went to that night. Tegan was a princess, although she halfway through the month of October informed me she was going to be a ghost and she never let go of that, so we might have said she was a ghost princess just to make her happy. They both were very cute and Teg was very enamored with her robot brother.
]]>We went to a little pond the other day to feed the ducks. Something I feel like we should be doing more often. I have memories of feeding ducks when I was little and my kids really enjoy it. Lucky for us, the geese didn’t catch on and we were safe. We had a little picnic up on a table in the shade just before this. They loved it.
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So I love this! Isn’t it beautiful?? Ethan and I went on a date last night and he chose to go to Chik-fil-a (of course). He got a bowl in his kid’s meal. At first I was a little confused and thought it was a little lame. But! It was for science! It came with a few experiments to do with the bowl. Ethan was very excited and wanted to go home and immediately begin doing science. I made him wait until today.
Here is the directions for the experiment in the picture. Even Tegan did it. Ethan actually wanted her to try it! Progress???
Food Coloring Fireworks
What you need:
dish, 4 tbsp milk (whole milk works best), food coloring (3-4 colors), liquid soap, tablespoon
What you do:
Step 1: Fill dish with 4 tablespoons milk and let it sit for 10 minutes.
Step 2: Add a few food coloring drops. Make sure to use different colors!
Step 3: Put a single drop of liquid soap in the middle of your dish.
What happens?? Your milk colors explode! Milk contains fats and proteins in solution. Any change in the solution affects these fats and proteins. The surface tension is the watery film that holds the liquid’s molecules together. Adding soap to the milk weakens the surface tension, causing the food coloring to twist, bend, and swirl.
Way over a 4 year old’s head… kinda over mine. But it sure was pretty and lots of fun!
Thanks Chik-fil-a!
We headed out to Bates Nut Farm last Sunday after church for our annual pumpkin patch visit. This was our 6th year! The first year we went I was pregnant with Ethan. We have tried to meet up with friends there each year and out group has become bigger and bigger, adding friends and little ones each year. It is amazing how much the kids have grown, from babies to toddlers, to kids. Ethan blew me away this year, walking on the pumpkins and keeping his balance. I couldn’t believe how big he was! It was a lot of fun. We picked out pumpkins, had some ice cream, fed some goats. I am loving that we have this family tradition and that the kids love it so much. It is so much fun to watch them having such a blast!
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