2012 in Review

It has been one year since my last post.  All year I have contemplated how much of my kids personal identifying information that I wanted available on the internet for anyone to see.  I just could not come to a peace about everyone knowing their names, birthdays, etc.  I also couldn't find the time to address the older blog posts where I freely gave out that info.  Well this Christmas break gave me time and opportunity for a new plan of action for this blog.  If you know our family, you will know who the 'characters' involved are.  If you forget, a picture and their internet name are listed to the right of the blog.  Thanks for bearing with me as I searched for a peace about how to share our family safely.

This year we has brought...

March:  Miss Creativity turned 9 along with her good buddy HL

April:  Little Man, Blessings second son was born and spent 1 month in the NICU.  Praise God he appears the picture of health now.  Sweet blessing!

May:  Miss Musical turned 7 and requested a pirate party...  Pinterest to the rescue.  I had a great time making the hat and decorations.  What a cute Jolly Roger she is!

June:  Princess celebrated her 1st birthday in Pinterest style.  We had a small but decorative party.  Her cake and pics were done by two great girls in the E. Family.

July:  My anniversary gift grandbaby Leelee turned 4.  We had fun at her birthday bash, princess style.

August:  Jojo hit the big 16!  He has a permit...just waiting on mom and dad for the license.  Practice, practice.  He also attended Quest this year and started votech for Electrical.  Busy year for Jojo.

September:  Little Fairy celebrated her 5th birthday princess style too.  She had everyone dress up and do 'princess' type games.

November:  My Blessing is 22 now.  She still lives about 2 1/2 hours from us so we don't get to visit often.

December:  We count our blessings with all our family!  We hope you had a Merry Christmas from our family to yours.  Remember Christ IS the Reason...

Cool J Man's 18th Birthday

It's official...we have raised 2 to adulthood, only 5 to go(!) When I think of homeschooling I remember we've done it for 18 years with only 18 more to go. Children are such a blessing. They keep us young chasing them and become our friends as they get older.

J man  is now 18! What a birthday week...he drug the celebrating out for five days. On Friday night we had his party, complete with a volleyball cookie, volleyball cupcakes (thanks for the help D!!), and LOTS of chocolate doughnuts. While I was out running errands I got a call "Mom, Dad and I decided we need you to buy 1000 chocolate doughnut for the party tonight!", my reply "hmmm...a thousand you say? I'll see what I can do". I stopped at Sams and showed up with two cases of chocolate and one of powdered equaling 216 total. That plus the 48 cupcakes, gallon of ice cream and huge cookie were plenty of junk food.







Where's that ball??

All our friends bless us with a quick group shot (or 5!)

We are cracking up as My beloved runs, dives, and slides right into our picture...


Our dear friend A found her knight in shining armor at the party (ha!)...


J man  went on to Sunday being sang to at church. Monday receiving birthday texts starting at 4:45 AM(!)and cards/gifts from grandma and Leelee. Finally on Tuesday he received all his chosen birthday foods. We had eggs, bacon and hash browns at 5 AM and Chicken Enchiladas at dinner.

What a blessing and joy to know our child has arrived at adulthood, loves the Lord, and chooses to follow HIM.

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." 3 John 1:4

My new addiction...in a positive way!

I have always loved to CRAFT. I come by it naturally...from the time I was little my grandma D and I were making something together. Her specialty was EVERYTHING! She refashioned clothes out of necessity, before it was popular. She sewed, did ceramics, plaster paris, quilling, floral arranging, oil painting, and about anything she could make with a glue gun. Some of my favorite stories was listening to her going to the dump, salvaging furniture...junk...to bring home and recover.
As I took out my Christmas tree this year, tears flooded my eyes. There were the bread dough Raggedy Ann ornaments, the hand painted, ceramic Santa Clauses, the tree skirt, and so much more that Grandma made. It reminded me of a place she filled in my life. My buddy, my craft partner. She is missed! I haven't crafted as much in the years she's been gone. However I recently met a new craft buddy...

Pinterest

...while this buddy can't meet me at my house, she does have some awesome ideas to share! I am loving the inspiration to just make and do again. Life is fun when you're dreaming what your next project will be. I may be dreaming big, however I have been doing too! Here's some things I've made and done from Pinterest:

Fun snowmen handprint ornaments with the whole family...

http://momscraftyspace.blogspot.com/2010/12/five-little-snowmen.html

A comfy, new baby carrier for free...

http://monkeysewmonkeydo.blogspot.com/2010/03/make-your-own-moby-wrap-tutorial.html

Finished both my big girls fleece blankets, loved this edge, tried it, but didn't end up using it...

http://nebraskaviews.blogspot.com/2011/09/easy-no-sew-fleece-blanket-edging.html

I am still using the idea...still thinking...still dreaming...still looking forward to my next project.

Let me know if you'd like for me to invite you to follow any of my Pinterest boards. I'd love to hear what you are making.