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5 on friday.

Published by Aubrey

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!
st patricks day

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!

holy granola!

Published by Aubrey

Holy granola.i made this simple granola.

it is relatively cheap to make.

it makes a lot.

you pretty much can put whatever you want in it so be creative (any dried fruit, flax seed etc).

and best… it is yummy.

yogurt, granola and honey is like a staple in our house so this is a crucial recipe.

here it goes…

4 c oats

2 c  of either coconut, wheat germ, crushed graham crackers or a mixture would work

(whatever you have on hand to give more texture)

2 c sliced almonds

1 1/2 c craisins

1/2 c veg. oil

1/3 honey

2 tsp cinnamon

*** toss they dry together, pour the honey and oil in and mix. add cinnamon last.

bake on greased cookie sheet for 25-30 min at 350

toss it every now and then so it cooks evenly

enjoy!

making a home.

Published by Aubrey

brian is out of town for a week. we are half way through and i’m happy to say things have gone really well. i’m thankful that i feel so safe and comfortable in our new house so quickly. awesome answer to prayer. so like many times when brian is away the creativity is level is flowing extra high and lots of projects get done. i did some decorating this weekend and it was so fun. i like what i have so far but you know there is always more to be done and that is what is so great about decorating….a constant process!

the kids and i made a trip to good will and bought these for $15.

photo.JPG

i disassembled them and painted them and several others we had.

in one room i made this collage with some of the pictures i ordered from mpix.

also picked up a tray and wooden candle stick from goodwill, did some painting and gluing. added the paint can to add some weight while it was drying.

and came up with this. i got this easy idea from my friend danielle. i added some colored pom poms for color. these also are great to be counted, lined up, made into shapes and most often thrown at each other:)

in our entry way i did this. love how the enlargements turned out.


also did some decorating on the table, not completely happy with this yet but once again…it’s a process.

gotta love the official “time out” chair in the pic:)

so that is it for now.

5 on friday.

Published by Aubrey

Number 5
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?

thankful thursday.

Published by Aubrey

Love, Venetian Style
even when dealing with sickness AGAIN there is much to be thankful for.

1. kids that make drive me crazy at times but make me continuously laugh out loud.

2. dear friends from all over that will pray for me/us at a moments notice.

3. a new pediatrician that rocks and an ER experience that went smoothly.

4. a husband that knows me so well, like a new pair of shoes will really help me get through this week on my own:)

5. early mornings to myself. a good sweat. hot coffee. time alone with to think and listen and pray.

girls masterpieces.

Published by Aubrey

i did a fun project with the girls on sunday that i am using to decorate our new house with. i bought some canvases at hobby lobby (new favorite craft store), cut out letters of sayings that i found and lightly glued them on the canvas. i used a glue stick, just a little because you will be peeling the letters off at the end. once i got the letters in place i let the girls paint the canvases. i chose the colors i wanted each of them to use and let them do one color at a time. but other than that i let them do their thing. once the whole canvas was painted i carefully peeled the letters off. and this is what was left.

i think they turned out great. minus the fact that i put 2 of the a’s backwards on the one. sigh. oh well. the green and pink one is hanging in the girls room and the other one is in the foyer where i can see it coming down the hallway. this is perfect place to see the saying “keep calm and carry on” when i am often coming down the hallway after refereeing, disciplining or answering my 2378 question of the day.

if you are looking for a fun project for your kids and cheap but creative way to decorate with this is great project!

5 on friday.

Published by Aubrey

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:)

ShakeItPhoto Photo
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:)

Playing in the backyard.

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!