I've been tagged!

My dear friend Heidi at Blue Eyed Blessings, tagged me to play along and share a little about myself.

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To:

1. Going to church on Easter Sunday
2. My sister and her family coming for a visit in the morning
3. Meeting my bestfriend's new baby boy at the end of May
(she lives in New Zealand)
4. Seeing Beth Moore live in Portland
5. Beautiful warm weather
6. Going to the gym
7. All day scrapbooking
8. Seeing the last Harry Potter movie

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Kept Grace home from school because she said her tummy hurt
2. Watched silly shows with her on Discovery Kids
3. Prepared a lot of meals
4. Worked on MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) stuff and attended a meeting
5. Washed dishes
6. Laundry
7. Did school work with Grace
8. Taught Jilian how to count to 3

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Stayed focus on God and my family
2. Buy all new clothes
3. Lose the last "baby" wieght
4. Spend more time outside
5. Be more patient with my family
6. Play with my children more
7. Take a vacation on my own
8. Go to Europe

8 Shows I Watch:

* Sidenote * I don't watch TV, it really depresses me. We are a movie watching family. My top 8 movies are:

1. Pride and Prejudice
2. Harry Potter (all of them!)
3. The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring
4. The Pirates of the Carribean
5. Like Water for Chocolate
6. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
7. How to Make an American Quilt
8. Friend Green Tomotoes

8 People I Tag:

1. Sarah @ Foster Family Four...Sarah's Story
2. Sally @ My Three Soons
3. Laura @ Ava Grance Lindgren
4. Michelle @ Michelle's Blog
5. Jolene @ Gracias a Dios
6. Kelly @ Not for human consumption
7. Aj @ Aj Schwanz
8. Janey @ Janey & Co.


And, of course...anyone else who wants to play along!

The sweetest thing...

I'm tired and ready for bed, but I wanted to share that the last two days Jilian has done the sweetest thing. It seems she got used to having "sissy" around during Spring Break because once Grace is dropped off at school, Jilian spends the day asking "where sissy?"..."where sissy?". Then when we do pick Grace up from school, Jilian is so happy to see her, says "hi sissy" and gives her a big hug and kiss. It just warms my heart to watch their relationship grow! And sad at the same time that Jilian is so big already!

Not tricky but silly!

In honor of April Fool's Day we did the day backwards, well our meals anyway! When Grace woke-up this morning I told her she gets lunch for breakfast, breakfast for lunch, dessert for dinner and dinner for dessert. She said "mom, you're fooling me!" She was surprised to see the peanut butter and jelly sandwhich and applesauce on her plate for breakfast and eggs and french toast in her lunchbox! It was fun to change things up. It gave me an excuse to bake a pie and I ate a lot less dinner after a piece of pie!

Grace with her lunch for breakfast

Spring Break....

Yup, this week is Spring Break, so I guess that means Spring is here, but when I look outside, it doesn't look like it! Hopefully the sun will visit soon. I am excited to have a week "off" from getting up at 6am and the rush of getting Grace off to school but this week is another lesson in patience (even trying to write this post, I have had to stop twice to watch something funny the Veggie Tales did and am currently fighting with Jilian to use the keyboard). I am glad to have the freedom to go do some fun things, maybe a trip to the beach or the zoo, with the girls and not have to worry about being done by 3pm but at the same time it is hard for me to admit that not much will get done this week. Anyway. Enough of my complaining, have a WONDERFUL Spring Break! :-)

I've been crafty, again...

Hi there! This month Heidi has challenged us to use buttons (again one of my personal favorites). I'm in the s-l-o-w process of changing Jilian's bedroom theme, from sea to land. So, for this month's craft challenge I decided to create a button tree for her room. I need to add some brown or blue ribbon so I can hang it on her wall, but other than that, I'm done. Hope you like it!

The Tree

Close-ups of the buttons

Scallop Punch Craft Challenge

My friend Heidi has started a monthly craft challenge and this time around we are challenged to use a scallop punch (one of my personal favorites!) in a craft project. I've fallen in love with the crafty paper banners, so I created one for St. Patrick's Day titled, "Lucky Irish". I took a couple close-ups of the scallop embellishments I am particularly proud of. Enjoy!

The Banner


I created a pin-wheel and adding a scalloped embellishment on top.


My favorite use of the scallop punch, punching a scallop out of coordinating paper and adding a button to make a fun embellishment.


I took the scallop and folded it in all four directions so it would pop off the tag. I added a paper flower and brad in the center.


Took the scallop and cut it in fourths, used three of them to create a clover! How clever is that?!

Sickness Hits

Just as I thought we were going to escape the tummy sickness that has been overtaking Newberg, poor Grace woke up not feeling well this morning! Fortunately, so far, it doesn't seem to be too bad but it is never fun to have a sick child. This is yet another lesson in patience, as I of course, had plans for the day to "get things done" but now I must be mommy and nurture Grace. But hey, I get to watch a movie in the middle of the day and not feel guilty about it! :-)