so, I was wondering...

is it wrong to buy a gift for your twin girls' upcoming birthday because you secretly want to have the toy for yourself?

Just wondering.

sacrifice

Good and happy things seem to fill up the list of things for which I'm thankful.

When I read these verses the other day, I was reminded that thankfulness ought to be a sacrifice. It should cost me something.

"Giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me."

-Psalm 50:23

::
"Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God. "

-Psalm 50:14

It's really difficult for me to be thankful for the things in my life that seem, well, inconvenient and not-so-pleasant.

This kind of thankfulness hurts. I fight it every time.

This is my prayer--that I would not wait until I've seen the bright side of some inconvenience before I can whisper to Him...
"Thank You, Jesus."

thanksgiving preschool activities

I spent the evening preparing for the wonderful group of moms and kids who come over for Friday Preschool. I couldn't help but get excited, because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!

Tomorrow morning we'll read books, sing songs, play with beanbags and probably get a little silly.

I found this cute craft here . It's one of my favorite websites for preschool craft ideas. After lunch we'll make some sort of rendition of these cookies.

I'm just wondering what's going to happen when I put this tray in front of 18 children.

hope

One of the things I enjoy about the fall is the coziness of spending more time indoors. My journal entries are always plentiful during the colder months.

As I venture out with my kids I love to watch all the leaves fall to the ground. In reality, it would be quite devastating, had I not the hope that life will soon return.

"But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him

and cause him grief.

Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,

he will have many descendants...for many will be counted righteous."
--Isaiah 53

'Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease."
--Lamentations 3:21-22

the little things

...enjoying time spent at the kitchen sink once again.

It's the little things, isn't it?

happy stripes

Apparently no one is wearing striped tights this season, because I can't find them anywhere! I've looked in stores and online and they're nowhere to be found. Hanna Andersson has a great selection for little girls, and they usually have a few for women, but not this year. I love to wear multi-colored striped tights with my black mary janes. They make me happy. I googled "striped tights" and several questionable sites came up. Apparently the two-tone striped variety has a very distinct buyers market--not quite the look I was going for.

oldies but goodies

I still have the Hi-Ho! Cherry-O game that I opened on my 9th birthday back in 1983. My kids and I played a few rounds this afternoon after nap time. Would you believe that after 26 years, all of the cherries are still in the box!?

Many of my favorite board games from childhood have been revised and updated. It's a little disappointing, to say the least. There's just something about those old game boards...sigh. Then I had this thought: what 9 year old girl these days would enjoy getting Hi-Ho! Cherry-O for her birthday? My, times have changed!

evening play

When the voices of children are heard on the green,
And laughing is heard on the hill,
My heart is at rest within my breast,
And everything else is still.

"Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down,
And the dews of night arise;
Come, come, leave off play, and let us away,
Till the morning appears in the skies."

"No, no, let us play, for it is yet day,
And we cannot go to sleep;
Besides, in the sky the little birds fly,
And the hills are all covered with sheep."

"Well, well, go and play till the light fades away,
And then go home to bed."
The little ones leaped, and shouted, and laughed,
And all the hills echoed.

--"Nurse's Song" by William Blake

bruschetta pasta

Last week I racked my brain to think of a meal to bring a friend who recently had a baby. I simmered roma tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic and red onion for about an hour to make a sauce, purchased fettuccine noodles from the refrigerated section of the grocery store and called it Bruschetta Pasta.

I placed the ingredients in this mini burlap sack that I found stashed in my every-growing collection of gift bags. I opened the package of noodles and placed them in a zip-lock bag, added a few cherry tomatoes and extra basil leaves in another zip-lock, and some Romano cheese in another. I used one of my Farm Chicks Labels to write out the instructions and tied it off with some raffia.

I get a little nervous when I cook for other people. I'm always afraid they won't like what I bring over. What meals have you prepared to take over to a friend's house? I could use a few more ideas.

pumpkin pie play-doh

A couple of my friends have asked me for this recipe, so I thought I'd post it here on my blog...

First of all, it's not my recipe. I found it on this great site. I'm excited to try the chocolate, gingerbread and sparkling peppermint recipes, as well.

Here's the recipe I used:

Pumpkin Pie Play Dough

5 and 1/2 cups flour
2 cups salt
8 teaspoons cream of tartar
3/4 cup oil
1 container (1 and 1/12 ounces) pumpkin pie spice
orange food coloring (2 parts yellow, 1 part red)
4 cups water
Mix all ingredients together. Cook and stir over medium heat until lumps disappear. Knead the dough on floured surface until smooth.

One thing you need to make sure you do is KEEP STIRRING! Treat it like custard and stir the entire time or else the dough will scorch. It will be sticky at first, but after about 8-10 minutes, the consistency will start to change quickly and the dough will form a nice ball and pull away from the sides of your pot while you're stirring. The recipe calls for kneading the dough on a floured surface when you're through. My dough seemed fine without the flour.

Have fun!

goodbye summer

"Ah, when to the heart of man

Was it ever less than a treason

To go with the drift of things,

To yield with a grace to reason,

And bow and accept the end

Of a love or a season?

-from "Reluctance" by Robert Frost

Autumn is my favorite season, hands down, but this past summer has been quite memorable.

Nothing amazing happened. Just lots of little things--lots of sweet memories all wrapped up into one memorable season.

We vacationed, camped in the backyard, swam, roasted marshmallows, barbecued, rode bikes, planted a garden and read lots of books.

But I'll miss little bare toes running around in the green grass.

I'll miss walks out to the garden to cut a few flowers.

I'll miss the smell of summer air.

I'll miss sitting on the swing out back, kids climbing all over me.

goodbye, summer...

guest post

I'm over at 4 Reluctant Entertainers today sharing a few thoughts on entertaining moms and little ones in my home. You can find my post here.

...and Happy Fall!

my love

Phil and I were able to go away last week. We stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast in Leavenworth, WA, for the first couple of days. The rooms were so cozy with lots of great amenities like bikes, backpacks, coffee makers that grind coffee beans before each brew and old typewriters.

We spent the rest of the week in Seattle enjoying beautiful sunny weather, the U District, Mars Hill Church, IKEA, The Melting Pot, coffee and holding hands.

leaf alphabet cards

Wouldn't these leaf alphabet cards be fun to have?

I say "to have" and not "to make" because it looks like making them would require a lot of time, effort and patience on my part! But head on over to marthastewart.com if you're feeling ambitious. :)

blackberry marzipan coffee cake

I tried this recipe this morning for the first time and all I can say about it is, "Yum, yum, yum!"

Blackberry Marzipan Coffee Cake with Almond Streusel Topping

Beat the following ingredients together on medium speed, about 2 minutes:
2 cups flour
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cups butter, softened
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg

Almond Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup cold butter
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup sliced almonds

Cut butter into flour and sugar using a pastry blender until crumbly. Stir in almonds. Set aside.

Also have set aside:
1/2 package (about 8-ounce size) almond paste, finely chopped
1 cup blackberries

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a square 9 x 9 pan. Spread half the batter in the pan. Sprinkle with half each of the almond paste, blackberries and Streusel. Repeat with remaining batter, almond paste, blackberries and Streusel. Bake about 50 minutes.

You won't be disappointed!

hee hee

This made me giddy.

here i am

Been away for awhile, but not without good reason. Summer days keep us outdoors, enjoying the warm sunshine. Here's what I've been up to these past few weeks...

turning 35

celebrating 10 years!

working in the garden

[kind of] helping my husband build this pergola over our patio

hanging out with my kids--the boys finished up these tie dye bandanas this morning.

estate sales

Yesterday I stopped by a couple estate sales with my friend, Brooke. I found this great chair and paid only $15 for it. It was marked $25, but Brooke is a great negotiator. It goes so well in my living room since I added this shade of blue as an accent color around the room.

And I was equally excited about the contents of this box!

My mom and friend, Jenny will appreciate this...it contains about 100 colored and laminated file folder games!

I purchased a file folder game book years ago when I began teaching and didn't realize how time consuming all of the coloring and cutting would be.

These will come in very handy this year as we homeschool. My boys will enter First Grade and Kindergarten, and I was praying about gathering enough activities to keep my almost-four-year old twin daughters busy while I'm working with the boys. So much work went into preparing all of these games. I'm very thankful to have found these.

home

We had a wonderful time in Southern California visiting family. My sister-in-law, a terrific hostess, planned wonderful meals and activities for our family of 6. We swam in her pool, played at the beach, enjoyed the zoo, the circus and Disneyland.

Later in the week, we met up with my husband's family in Big Bear and spent a great weekend staying in this cabin. After such a busy, fun-filled week, it's good to be home!

off we go!

In the morning we'll be heading out the door for a family vacation.

Destination: Disneyland!

Our family has been blessed with an all-expense-paid trip (including airfare) to So. California and Disneyland. We've been counting the days and we're thrilled that tomorrow is the day! The kids are excited to take along the hats that their Auntie Emy brought back for them last Fall. My girls have never flown and my boys don't remember their "lap child" days, so this should be an adventure for all 6 of us. It was so much fun to pack these little surprise travel backpacks for them.

...be back soon

pillowcase shirt

I used this tutorial to make this darling shirt out of a pillowcase.

I've never sewn with elastic thread before, so I faced lots of challenges along the way. Just before giving up, I found this site with great tips on shirring fabric. As it turns out, my length and width settings were off.

isn't this beautiful...

"Mommy, I picked strawberries for dinner."

notice the dirty toes

july 4

Happy Fourth of July!

I love three day weekends...I really do. But this year our car quit working the day before everything closed down for the Fourth, so we'll spend Thursday-Monday morning at home with no car.

I was kind of bummed at first, because I felt like I was just throwing things together for our company this afternoon. I went through my kitchen drawers and cupboards in search of red and blue serving platters and linens. After scrounging around the house this morning, I found this old blue quilt and a red gingham curtain panel for the picnic table.

I placed little American flags in a jar of beans (my husband's idea), and there you have it...we're all set for company!

strawberry picking

We spent the morning out in the warm sunshine picking delicious strawberries!

There's just something about kids in a strawberry field that makes me smile.

Happy Summer to all of you!

a touch of blue

When we moved into our little house 2 years ago, I was so thankful that the previous owner had exposed and refinished the hardwood floors and chose great colors to paint the walls. I fell in love with the green walls in the kitchen...perfect for bright red accents! The living room walls are a pale yellow, which I don't mind, but with our stuff in the room, it just wasn't doing anything for me. I had this idea of removing most of my neutral tones and adding little touches of blue around the room. I had a few things around the house that I brought together--a blue throw, bird eggs, old blue books, and a great poster of the Puget Sound. I really like how it turned out!

I got this 5' x 8' rug on clearance at Pottery Barn a few years ago. It contains so many colors and serves as a great palette. I'm glad I was able to use what I already had to do this little make-over.

This was my friend, Emily's idea. We found this map of the Puget Sound awhile back in a little town called La Conner. She has one just like it that her dad cut into pieces and backed with foam board. I thought this was a great idea! However, when I got it home, it was much too long to fit above my mantel and I didn't have any spare walls besides. I tucked it away for future use.

The other night, I wondered if the map would fit above the fireplace if I trimmed off the top and bottom edges...it did! I backed it with foam board and, instead of fastening it to the wall, I just leaned it up against the wall.

Here are a few things I gathered from around the house.

I love walking into my living room now. It feels so bright, so fresh!