Easter 2012: Part Two

In case you missed it, click here to read Easter 2012: Part One

After a wonderful worship service at church, we headed over to my parents' home for lunch. As usual Selah fell asleep on the way there. Nursery always exhausts this little one! 

Love her open mouth!

But she soon woke up to enjoy time with Aunt Jackie for a few minutes before all the big children went out for my dad's challenging egg hunt! 

beautiful girls!

My dad always hides the eggs in such tricky spots, so this year Scott hid some camouflage eggs I found at the Dollar Store for "Grandpa Boo-Boo" to find! He actually found several of them! 

The kids enjoyed the challenging hunt -- finding eggs up in the trees, wedged in the woodpile, and one even hidden high in the basketball hoop! 

We even got to spend some special time with Aunt Dorothy home from college for the weekend!

matching poochie lips! ;)

Love these girls!

We ended this full day by having an Easter dinner with some friends from church. Heather and Josh are great hosts and made a delicious meal! The evening included yet another egg hunt, and the kids had a blast finding eggs with their friends. This egg hunt was a little different -- each kid was assigned a color they had to find. This way the eggs could be hidden according to the difficulty required for each kid's age! That was Sarah's brilliant idea! The kids did really well with this approach, though they often pointed out their friends' eggs once they spotted them.

Sarah also had the great idea of filling the toddler/baby kids eggs with goldfish crackers. Selah loved that!

And our friend Josh took some great pictures of Selah during the egg hunt. I have to share two of them with you. Isn't he talented?!!

Even though Easter is over, I just want to encourage you to read this article by Beth Moore called, Glorious Resurrection Day: He's Already Up! I love how Beth ties creation in with the resurrection -- just as God called "Let there be Light," in the beginning of time, and there was light, on Easter morning He called Christ from the grave saying, "Let there be Light," AND THERE WAS LIGHT! 2 Corinthians 4:6 says, "…for God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

So thankful for His light, and for a special Easter with friends and family!

Easter 2012: Part One

Happy Easter!!!

The last few years we traveled to Michigan to be with Scott's parents for Spring Break and Easter. Unfortunately, that didn't work out this year. While it was nice to have a week of relaxing and a trillion projects around the home, we missed spending time with Scott's side of the family and all the traditions we normally participate in. We had to be purposeful about making time to do holiday events  on our own, starting out with dyeing Easter eggs!

This year we tried something new we saw on pinterest -- dyeing our eggs with kool-aid!

I'm not sure if we will end up going back to the traditional vinegar next year, but it was a fun experiment! It certainly smelled a whole lot better using kool-aid. :) Most of the colors turned out really vibrant, but the purple turned into a horrible gray color. We tried to fix it by putting it in the red and then blue, and it turned a weird brown color! Quite a funny egg. :) 

writing everyone's name on the eggs with a white crayon

waiting...

almost done!

stickers!

the kool-aid colors -- yellow, red, blue, purple, green, orange

We also tried a brand new Easter craft this year: a resurrection garden centerpiece for our table. My friend found these instructions and generously gave us all the grass seed and pots needed. We had fun watering our little garden everyday, and the grass grew tall around the crosses. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of it before my brother squashed all the grass (after Easter, thankfully!), but here is a picture of the one from the "Velvet on the Page" blog. Ours ended up looking very similar.

Easter morning, our girls were excited to wake up and find their baskets of treats. Scott's parents always hid their baskets, and Scott enjoyed passing on the fun by hiding the girl's. :) He hid them in pretty easy spots, though! 

bright-eyed and bushy-tailed

candy!

yummy!!!

 Selah's basket was hidden under the kitchen table -- where she loves to hang out!

We spent the rest of the day worshiping our Savior at church and then celebrating His sacrifice with a family lunch and dinner in the evening with friends. Since this post is already super long, I'll post pictures from the day's activities in another post... Easter 2012: Part Two. :)

Chain Bracelets

My sister Melissa and I haven't had the opportunity to craft together in such a long time! Maybe now that she's done with tax season (she's an accountant's assistant), she'll be able to resume our Friday craft dates! :) I'm hopeful! There was a night a little while ago that she and her hubby came over for dinner, and we decided a quick, easy, and cheap craft was necessary. I had seen an idea for making necklaces and bracelets out of chain and ribbon on the blog "On Clever Mode" and it fit our crafting qualifications exactly. Doesn't her bracelet look pretty?

Link to original tutorial at "On Clever Mode"

We had tons of ribbon in my stash to work with, but we had to make a quick trip to the hardware store for the chain. First we ran into Home Depot. We tried to look as inconspicuous as possible, even though we were entirely out of our  element, but since we were sniffing the air and remarking of how the store smelled just like our Dad, I'm sure store employees noticed us right away! ;o) 

We walked with purpose down the main drag until we saw an aisle sign that said, "Hardware." We were so excited to find chain in that aisle -- and we didn't even have to ask anyone for help!!! However, we didn't see any chain that looked nice enough for jewelry, so we decided to look in the lighting department, thinking perhaps they sold different chains near the lamps (for pull switches??? -- c'mon go with me here!). A kind employee stopped us on our way over and asked if we needed assistance. Melissa kept chugging on, wanting to prove we could do this on our own, but considering our lack of time, I decided to explain our plight to the nice guy. I started rambling about looking for "pretty chain" to weave ribbon through to make a bracelet. After a few moments, the nice young man put up his hand to stop my speech, saying, "Hold on. You lost me at 'pretty chain!'" The poor guy didn't know what to make of our crafting venture, but finally got a grip enough to tell me that the only chain they sold was located in the hardware aisle. Sigh. 

Not ready to admit defeat, Melissa and I headed over to Lowe's to see what they had, and thankfully we quickly found the chain we needed (in a package of 10 feet for $10), and we were soon on our way. Since each bracelet only uses one foot, we could make ten bracelets out of this package. Not bad! (oh, and by the way, I've since found this same chain available in gold at our local small town hardware store for purchase for about $1.30 a foot - they cut it for you in the amount you need).

Because the chain wasn't pre-cut, we had to enlist the help of Scott to cut a couple one foot sections. Since he didn't have the greatest wire cutters, he had to huff and puff a bit... and links went flying every so often. I'd recommend a sharp pair of cutters (and maybe safety goggles) if you decide to try this!

After we got our chain cut, the men left us alone to craft our hearts out. We looked through my ribbon stash and each found something we liked. Melissa picked a satin ribbon and I picked a grosgrain style. We each used 3 feet of ribbon, but because the satin was much less bulky than the grosgrain, we both had quite different results.

ribbon stash!

*Please click here to see the original tutorial at "On Clever Mode" for detailed instructions.* 

We started the bracelet by tying a knot at one end of the chain, leaving about one foot hanging on the end (to tie a bow later). Then we weaved the ribbon through each link of the chain. It was interesting that the satin ribbon slid through the links, barely adding any bulk. In fact, at first Melissa thought she was doing it wrong. But as she kept going over and under through the links, the bracelet took shape. Once she got to the end of the chain, she tied another knot to secure the ribbon. We then wrapped the bracelet around her wrist and tied a bow. Great job, Mel! :)

perfect for spring!

The grosgrain ribbon on my bracelet was much thicker, and since it had a print on one side, I had to twist it to make the print stay visible. Because it took up so much more ribbon to do it that way, I had to ask Scott to re-cut my chain to be about 7-8 inches long. I think it turned out nice, though! It only wraps around my wrist once (instead of twice like Melissa's and the original tutorial), but I kind of like that look. :)

So there you have it. Did you know you can buy crafting supplies at hardware stores? You should try it and let me know if you get any funny looks and comments like we did when you go searching for "pretty chain!" ;o)

With all my leftover chain, I'm thinking about trying this necklace next from "Blue Cricket Design." It looks like the same technique, only with much longer pieces of chain and ribbon.

Happy Crafting!!!

Selah's 10th Month!

Finally am able to post Selah's 10 month pictures, a week or so before she turns eleven months. ...and I don't even want to think about the fact that she'll be a year old in May! How could this year go by so fast? If only pregnancy went as fast as a baby's first year. Funny how that is!

During this month, it has been fun to watch Selah's personality shine clearer. She is a little spit-fire, not intimidated by her sisters at all! She crawls after them wherever they go, and gets mad if they try to carry her away from their toys. She loves to copy people: singing "Ahhhhh" with her Daddy, slapping the table back at Grandpa "Boo-Boo", and even mimicking my tone of voice. The other day as I spoke with frustration at Brooklyn who was crying that we forgot her doll at home, Selah watched me speak sternly to her sister. When I finished, she turned to Brooklyn and yelled at her in baby-talk, waving her arms in an animated fashion. It was so hilarious, she cracked us all up, lightening the mood! I think Selah is going to be the "peanut gallery" in our home, always needing to add her two cents!

While she's not walking yet, she loves to practice by taking steps between Scott and I. When we start that "game," she never wants to end. Even after ten minutes of back and forth, she wants to keep going! When she crawls, she goes over anything that is in her way, keeping her focus on her destination. She never sits still, and changing her is a real chore! A couple at church babysat her recently during a teen activity, and it took both of them to get her pjs on! She refuses to cuddle, but has to crawl up to me for hugs every so often. It's cute that she still wants some lovin' in between all her play. And I was blessed with being able to rock her to sleep a few weeks ago. That was a rare moment that was fun to treasure!

We are all enjoying this exciting stage of babyhood, and thanking God for each precious moment

...and praying for patience in the frustrating, whiney moments of teething! (This girl is poppin' her sixth and seventh tooth already!!!)

 

Love you, baby. Stop growing up so quickly! 

Thoughtful Days

I have Selah's 10 month pictures and some recent projects I'd like to post, but I'm not sure I'll get to it this week. One reason is our family laptop is acting up and we have to take it in for a check up. :( Scott thinks the fan needs to be replaced since it is overheating. So thankful that it is still under warranty! Please pray that it is a quick fix. Now just to find time to drop it off...

Also, my mind has been so preoccupied lately. The parents of the little girl I babysit gave birth to the most adorable little boy on March 17th, and then a week later, God took baby John home after he unexpectedly contracted a fatal virus. My heart aches for my friends, and I'm finding myself praying for them constantly. Why is it that it takes a tragedy to bring me to a place where I learn to pray without ceasing? As Bekka and Eric walk this unfamiliar path of horrible pain, pray for Scott and I to have the wisdom to know how to come alongside and walk with them, bringing comfort and perhaps relieving a small measure of the deep ache they feel.

I'm thankful that God is present and showing His goodness in these dark days. A song that I've been listening to over and over is "You are Good" sung by Nicole Nordeman from one of my daughter's lullaby CDs. I found it on youtube if you'd like to listen. I promise you'll be blessed.

When the sun starts to rise
And I open my eyes
You are good, so good.
In the heat of the day
With each stone that I lay
You are good, so good.
With every breath I take in
I'll tell you I'm grateful again;
When the moon climbs high
Before each kiss goodnight,
You are good.

When the road starts to turn
Around each bend I've learned
You are good, so good.
And when somebody's hand
Holds me up, helps me stand
You are so good.
With every breath I take in,
I'll tell You I'm grateful again;
'Cause its more than enough
Just to know I am loved,
And You are good.

So how can I thank You?
What can I bring?
What can these poor hands
Lay at the feet of a King?
I'll sing You a love song.
It's all that I have
To tell You I'm grateful
For holding my life in Your Hands.

When it's dark and it's cold
And I can't feel my soul,
You are so good.
When the world is gone gray
And the rain's here to stay
You are still good!
So with every breath I take in,
I'll tell You I am grateful again.
And the storm my swell
Even then it is well, and You are good.