1. I’m in the process of creating some patio furniture for us. My dad gave me an old library table that I painted grey and weather proofed. Now I’m hoping to hit up some garage sales for some mismatched wooden chairs that I want to paint in citrus colors. Got this fun color combo from my new love Pinterest. Good for so many things! Anyway, that has been my project of week. And someday soon when the rain stops and the sun shines again we will be able to actually use this furniture. That is of course if we haven’t built an ark and floated away by then.

2. I was making some more of the the shirt pom poms last night for the girls room. The girl were all up in my business “helping”me and I got the idea to make some accessories for them out of the shirts. We made necklaces and headbands out of some scraps I cut. They LOVED them and are wearing proudly. Simple, fun idea for your girlies if you have some old tshirts or fabric.

3. We have a fun weekend ahead of us. My brother and sister in law and their 3 kiddos are coming to stay! We are so excited to have them. We are looking forward to lots of laughs, craziness with 6 kids, food, hopefully swimming, bonfire and good old fashioned family time! Can’t wait!

4. I just ordered volume 6 of the Seeds Family Worship. This one is Seeds of Character, gotta be good! We have volume 1 memorized and I’m happy to say I hear these wonderful little songs of truth being sung through out the house at times. This has been the best way for our family to learn and enjoy scripture. If you don’t know about them already please check them out. Awesome!

5. Mason recently got a nerf gun. It’s something he has been wanting and waiting patiently for since Christmas. This past weekend we surprised him and took him to Target and got him one. His smile and thankful heart were priceless. This is what I try and hold on to when I am being shot at multiple time throughout the day. In hopes of decreasing the likelihood of me being the target I made several targets and put them in various places around the house. Can’t really say it helped me. Really it just increased the “fun factor” in the decorations of our house. More importantly he’s have a blast with his new toy. And I’m seriously considering getting my own nerf gun. The best offense is good defense, right?

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Relax and Enjoy. Do something “summery” and fun!

1. A while ago I recovered a lamp using fabric a dear friend brought back from Tokyo. I love the fabric and the friend who gave it to me. So even if my recovering job isn’t the greatest (which it’s not) the lamp has a new special meaning to me. I got the idea from Design Sponge using the tutorial below. If you have a lamp that needs a new look try this out. I did it in about an hour. Have fun!

http://bit.ly/h7rcw4

2. Just last week I was thinking if I would like to get our kids a play set for the back yard. I hadn’t come to a conclusion yet. And then low and behold what do our neighbors start building in their backyard over the weekend? A play set! A really, really nice play set with all that a child’s heart could want! And better yet this play set came with an open invitation to our kids to play on it any time. Score! We have a playhouse and a couple other things that we have been sharing with them so I feel like we are being neighborly as well. Will we be getting a play set of our own? I think not my friends.

3. Miss T- this girl has become my little shadow. She does everything with me. And I mean everything. Said with slight sarcasm:) Most times I enjoy it. She helps me cook, bake, craft, clean, laundry, iron, water plants, get ready for the day, picks out my clothes and jewelry. She’s learning a lot and one day will be a wonderful wife and mommy which one day I will love to see. Right now I’m enjoying her as my little helper and soaking in each moment. For I know, time goes too quickly and someday soon I may not be so cool to hang out with:)

4. Want an easy craft/decorating idea? Take a favorite piece of fabric and frame it. Before I left Ohio I had the blessing of collecting some goodies from my grandparents cleaning out their basement. One thing my grandma gave me were a bunch of my great grandmas hankies. Not old, ratty hankies but really cute design hankies. I picked one of my faves and framed it up!

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

5. I’ve recently become a convert of making my own laundry soap. One step closer to becoming Amish? Well, maybe. But I really like the results. It’s cheap, easy, all natural which is great for the girls super sensitive skin and it even works! I use the following recipe which I got from my friend Jenn who got it from soule mama. So for now at least we are sticking to this plan. But no worries, still drive around our gas guzzling Tahoe around. No horse and buggy here:)

2 cups (finely) grated castile soap*
1 cup borax
1 cup baking soda
1 cup soda ash (washing soda)

*(we used Dr. Bronners. Half peppermint half plain. Next we will try lavender.)

2TBS per load.

1. miss theia gives me a run for my money each and everyday with her choice of wardrobe. it doesn’t matter what i suggest she will choose the exact opposite. most days she wants to be dressed to a “T” by 7:30 am with dress/skirt, tights, shirt and sparkly shoes. doesn’t matter that we spend most days at home. she doesn’t believe in what we affectionately call and live in most days “comfy clothes”. Today though it was a bathing suit. It actually was fairly warm so she got away with it. If she just didn’t have that smile that melts my heart…

2. i’ve been creating a certain “look” in my head for the girls room and i finally had some time to put it into action. i LOVED how it turned out. i did some painting and embroidering last night to finish things up and here is what i came up with. i love the look of fabric of in embroidery hoops. what is really special is that 2 of these are my great grandmas hankies. she passed away when i was 14 but i still can see her face in my head and remember her smell and the feel of her big, squishy hugs. you know, exactly how a great grandma’s hug is supposed to feel. it is special to me to have some of her things in my daughters room.

3. i had the opportunity to go home to ohio this week to be with my dad after his shoulder surgery. i am so thankful to be close to family that i can be a part of things like this and not wish from a long distance that i was there. the surgery went great and he is on the road of a successful recovery. i so enjoyed hanging out with my parents, seeing my brother and his family, visiting with grandparents and enjoying some “me” time. yes, all in about 36 hours.

4. next week as a family we are taking part in a 6 week program at our church called northview university. the class that brian and i will be taking is called worldview 101. we will be learning how to develop and consistently live out our christian worldview. it sounds good to me, interesting and all. i’m looking forward to actually use my head in an intellectual way. that doesn’t happen too much these days. more than anything i am excited about the opportunity to meet more people. the kids will be in their own little program as well where they will be learning about sharing…hmmmm i think we might be able to use this a bit:)

5. and last but not least…one more piece of our former california life is changed…we have indiana license plates. we are officially official.

1. we constantly have music playing in our home. anything from worship, to hip hop to indie rock to justin bieber (mason’s constant request) you’ll will hear. our desktop computer is in a central location so it is easy to have pandora playing all the time. but i quickly reach the 40 hours a month limit. we recently tried out rdio.com for something different and loved it. it is the same idea as pandora but you can listen to whole albums at a time. basically any song is at your finger tips. check it out. we’ve been having fun rocking out to some sweet 80-90′s music. good memories:)

2. i busted out the resurrection eggs this week. getting the kids thinking about easter and what this celebration is really all about. not the easter bunny and candy that they are seeing everywhere, although this is still fun to do. i was happily surprised how much mason remembered of the easter story. as i was reading the story i was reminded that it just isn’t the easter story but a story of resurrection that we are invited to live out everyday. how lovely. i love sharing this story with the kids using the resurrection eggs.

3. we go through snacks like water. 3 kids and often 3 snacks a day makes for ALOT of snacks. and prepackaged snacks aren’t cheap. it kinda drives me crazy that a such a large chunk of our grocery budget goes to snacks that really don’t fill our kids up, but often what they eat because they are bored. so i’ve been on a mission to come up with an alternative snack plan. i haven’t fully switched over yet but we are getting close to ridding our home of goldfish etc. i’m sure there will be a lot of crying and flailing of arms but i’m prepared. so what will i do instead? well one thing i found are these super easy and good granola bars. these are the best i’ve found that everyone likes. here’s a picture, terrible i know but you get the idea. i always do better seeing what something is supposed to look like.

4 T salted butter

1/2 c brown sugar

1/4 c honey

2 c granola

1 c rice cereal (krispies)

1/2  c raisins (or what ever dried fruit you want)

1/2 c of the long skinny pretzels broken up a bit

1/2 c choc. chips

***combine sugar, honey and butter. bring to boil over med-high heat, then simmer till sugar dissolves (about 2 min). remove from heat. add the dry ingredients to saucepan and coat evenly. Transfer to a greased dish ( i used an 8×8 because i wanted them thicker). Gently press choc. chip into top. Put in fridge for 15 min. Then cut into granola bar shapes.

*** anything can be added to they dry to change up the recipe, almonds, flax seed, wheat germ etc.

4. i made this picture a couple weeks ago using one of my favorite quotes from the jesus story book bible. i painted it blue first and stenciled in the doily on the bottom corner. then i painted on the quote. quick and simple. it hangs above our “time out” chair. coincidental? i think not.

5. we’ve quickly learned that spring break is a BIG thing around here. everyone leaves and goes else where. seriously it is like the exodus around here. yeah, we didn’t get the memo. maybe next year? looking forward to next week of hopefully spring like weather to match spring break.

simple quick rendition of 5 on friday…

1. i’m running in a 1/2 marathon tomorrow! hoping for weather that is semi-decent.

2. my parents are visiting this weekend. very fun to have them both here. and i’ve really missed my dad:)

3. within 24 hours we went from wearing shorts and tshirt outside to watching it snow:( spring where are you?!?

4. my husband has been in and out of town and going non-stop for the last 2 weeks. as of tomorrow afternoon the pace will slow down. so excited to see this man a little more!

5. all in one day we had new friends over for a playdate, neighbor kids over to play and friends from cali over for dessert. i loved sharing our new home with others. my heart is happy!

1. gotta eat green food on st. patricks day, right? green makes anything and everything fun. breakfast and lunch were full of green goodness. we ended up going out to dinner last night so the “green” pizza i had planned for last night is still be requested for tonight. keeping the love of the irish going! hope you did something fun and green yesterday!

2. speaking of green have i ever showed you the piece of furniture i inherited? it has been waiting for me in ohio for some time and now finally has place at the foot of our bed.
this green cedar chest used to be my great grandma’s, who then gave it to her daughter, my grandma. when my grandma passed away my dad took it, thinkingI might like it. smart guy who knows me all too well. it is my favorite color and has the old, vintagey look that i love. but more importantly it has been passed down by some amazingly special people in my life. i love it!

3. i found this cute little jewerly tree on clearance at target last week. perfect timing because i was getting overwhelmed with what to do with all my necklaces and stuff. i still needed something for my earrings so i put together this, with yet another old picture frame i had. i added some wire to the back and wha-la! an earring holder.

4. we went to the childrens museum on wednesday. i love having the museum so close. we can for just a couple hours or for the day. there is so much to. with a membership it has been nice to pick and chose what we want to do each time. the big hits this time were darth vader’s costume and the barbie exhibit.

5. and last but not least we are enjoying a visit from my mom right now. after living with my parents for 8 months, 1 month of not seeing them seemed like forever! it is so nice to have her here. i’m enjoying showing her all the projects i’ve been working on, showing her around our new town and most of all just having someone who i know around. not being around anyone who i know or who knows me has been wearing on me a bit. gotta love mom:) and better yet her and my dad are coming back next weekend!

1. our week didn’t quite start as we had planned. kaia had a rough weekend with coughing and wheezing and generally just irritated. on monday mason already had a scheduled appointment for his 5 year check-up (waaaayyy late) so i brought miss kaia along. doctor was not pleased with the amount of air she was/wasn’t moving. lots of wheezing and crackling after breathing treatments and steroids so we were sent to the ER. not fun, long day, lots of crying but we made it and walked away. so thankful we didn’t have to be admitted like many other kids were. medications we increased, antibiotics given for ear infection and the result is a much happier kaia. it has been a rough go with us sickness wise since we have gotten here. trying to hang in there.

2.i bought a “boredom buster” book for the kids last night on this cute little shop on etsy. it’s book of recipes, fun ideas around the house and coloring pages. lots of great ideas for $5. i also think this would be a fun, cheap birthday gift to share. she also has some other great canvases with scripture on it. lots to took at!

3. all the kids have been more and more confident in praying out loud. love their honesty, sincerity and small words of great faith. last night each of them prayed: theia- that there would be no spiders or bugs in her room. mason- that there would be no tornadoes in texas where daddy is (for some reason he is really scared of tornadoes right now) kaia- that God would bless her body. oh, just love them so much.

4. i’m constantly trying to find the optimal system in meal planning. recently i’ve been using google calendars to schedule what’s for dinner. i’ve made separate calendar just for menu planning.  every 2 weeks i sit down and plan 2 weeks worth of meals and plug them into the specific days. then i make my grocery list according to the meals we will be having. i also have a white board on the fridge to jot down any item we run out of so i won’t forget. i pretty much forget everything if i don’t write it down these days.  so far this system has been working the best for me. what do you do?

5. still have not really put anything on the walls yet. just waiting for… time…inspiration…and time. i want to do some sort of collage with mismatched frames of family pics in the living room. i have a bunch of frames, bought spray paint of several colors i like to paint the frames but that is as far as i got. hmmmmmm?  just not sure if this is what i want to do. any ideas or suggestions out there?

1. i’m addicted to pandora. our main computer is on my new desk “mission control” which is the main room of the house. pandora is always playing. i love it and have about 658 stations that i rotate through depending on the time of day and my mood. good stuff. right now snow patrol station is playing.

2. remember these picture frames i got at goodwill a while pack for a total of $7? well here is one over our mantel and the other i made into a bulletin board type thingy this week for over my desk. i just nailed wiring fencing to the back of it. i’m using paper clips and small binder clips to attach things to it. not bad for some thrift store frames. and much better than their previous state don’t you think…no more scary clown:)

3. my sweet friend julie told me about mpix. a company that prints out good quality photos for a fair price. we are wanting to get something up on our bare walls! this weekend i will be deciding what to print from our family photo session we had back in may before we left chico from the amazing and talented kimberly stone. so excited to see these awesome pictures printed out. and best deal ever mpix is having a sale, 25% their larger prints!

4. we discovered this week we have a small creek along the back line of our yard. i don’t think it is always there but since we have had a lot of rain lately the water was flowing. the kids LOVED playing in the water with stick and throwing rocks. so fun. and then our time ended with two girls falling in the mud and it wasn’t so fun anymore:)

5. we LOVE our new library! it has an amazing kids section with lots of fun programs to attend. today we went to story time which included making a fun snack of leprachaun mix. it’s big, new, clean, comfy chairs, easy to use and kid friendly. everything a mom of 3 is looking for!

1. We are packing boxes.

2. Organizing.

3. Packing some more.

4. How did we accumulate all this stuff in 8 months? Well this is what happens when a girl sits around pondering about the house she will someday have to decorate.

5. Oh, and our most precious cargo. We will be sure not to forget these 3 musketeers:)
looking forward to our last weekend in ohio.

we leave for indiana bright and early monday morning, we would appreciate prayers as we embark on this new adventure!