Advent 2010

Today is the first day of advent all over the world.  The word advent actually means the arrival or to come... its the tradition of awaiting the coming of Christ, when He came to the world the first time and to celebrate that glorious day!  But more so, to celebrate and anticipate when He will come again!!  I hope that you and your family will find fun and creative ways to anticipate more than just the presents under the tree but the true meaning of Christmas.   I am posting my advent day by day family fun calendar tomorrow full of the things that we will do this year to get out girls excited about Jesus' birthday...feel free to steal ideas and make up your own!  This truly is the "most wonderful time of the year."   If there are any things that you and your family love to do to anticipate this day I'd love to hear about it!

"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. " Isaiah 9:2

9 month 3.42 years

SADIE
you are nine months and 2 weeks old and you are starting to really go go go... no walking yet, praise the LORD !  :)  I can barely keep up with your wonder crawl!  You are starting to talk more now, and scream a little too... your first "words" are dah-dah, but you don't yet know who they belong to, everytime you say "dah-dah" I say "where is dah-dah" and you say nothing but smile at me, and Kehnley says "attt woooorkkk!" lol so proud of herself for knowing the answer!  You get pretty up set Sadie girl when you run into something with your push toy, or the chair, or the rocker, or the elphant, or anything you are trying to get going somewhere and its enterupted by the wall or a person or a little dog named Lilly.  You get sooo upset you begin to scream a bit and throw a fit :)  But we laugh and help you and love you through it lol.  Lat night you were holding some fake food from the pretend kitchen in hand and stood all by your self for  while but didnt realize it and when you finally did, you eased back down to your tushie.  So if you want to just stand a while, that's fine with mommy and daddy, we can deal with that!
Your favs:
fav. food - anything you can put all over you or something else!  And your just discovered puffs!
fav. toy - the little radio that plays music you be-bop to it and it's so cute to watch!
fav. show -  you like baby einstien or course, motzart, BUT you laugh at the backyardigans and LOVE the music!
fav. outfit - well you cant really have asay yet, thanks goodness lol, but you are wearing many a fottied pj bc its the only thing that keeps you covered and sleeping soundly!

Kehnley you are almost 3 1/2 but not there yet!  You are so busy busy girl, with all your animals dressing them for tea parties, everything is "wonderful" these days you say "this smells wonderful"  "my bed is so comphy, it's wonderful"  "your eyes look wonderful"  "this sausage is my favorite, its wonderful"  i have to say, you my dear are "wonderful".  You are getting a little mind of your own, if you didnt have it already, you are asking "why this and why that"  and before I can even answer while i am thinking of the right way to say the reason "why" you can not pull on your sisters legs in her bed to pretend she is slidding down the hill"you say to me "mom, tell me, tell me know, you need to tell me why"  Or when i say ' sweetie we can't run and scream at the top of our lungs like sadie or Lilly is trying to get you because (and before i can get the words out that says because it's making my head hurt, but really it's not safe) you say "mom,telll me whyyy" lol.  I am glad that your inquiring mind wants to know so much, even if it means I explain everything in great detal all day as if I am writing a documentary piece about how the world we live in works, what all God has made for His glory, and how not to kill ourselves.  :)

Right now you are learning, thanks to this time change we are experiencing (fall back), how to play quietly in your room until the sun comes up or mom comes and gets you.  You are coloring in your closet right now and I hope you are loving this quiet time in the morning.  I am trying to have routine with you girls and really praying God show me how to organize all the  things that I love and want to do in a manner that it keeps us all on a schedule.  I have  heard something about people thriving on a schedule, or something :)  So that's what I am trying to do!  Being a creative person means you are ill equipt with the skills to be type A and have eveything planned to a T.... but I am trying to find a marriage of both worlds for you and your sissy.  Wish me luck!
Ok a quick list of fav:
fav. breakfast- frozen yogurt pops(i just froze the horizon ones) and toast no jelly just butter
fav. toy - daddy old train set I swear i keep meaning to paint
fav. show - how the grench stole christmas, classic cartoon, moms old fav!
fav. outfit - jeggins and a "winter top" which is anything we just bought you or out of storage from last year that has long sleeves :)  

Work is hard work!

I was looking for something, not sure what and I noticed that Feb 2009 I posted that I was launching stuff for White Bird Press, well i kind of did...and then the company took a big turn, I got really busy with a few jobs and then my 3 year old, and my work at the school was a lot to handle for me to do it well, then I was blessed to find I was pregnant and prep for that took off... life has a funny way of being what you didnt plan it to be.  But in a good way, in the world of thought where I know that all I have is the Lords and His timing is perfect I'm not embarrassed that WBP isnt fully launched on the web yet or that I have yet to make my new business cards or upload images of my work on my website or finish creating my Etsy page.  I am fully content letting it work out when the time is right.  I had a baby girl only 9 short months ago, withing week 2 she and Kehnley and myself then Bry were sick with the stomach flu and then a month or two later I was in the ER with a baby that shouldn't breath, my sister in law had a baby girl, my best friend had a baby, my husband went on a mission trip for  2 weeks, i traveled, i worked, i started a home school teaching job once a week that i have to plan for twice a week, I realized that my time spent as a mom and encouraging others in my same season of life is what God wants me to do right now and not all the things I scribbled onto sketchbook and my to do list... and I am glad to be okay with that.  "whoo do you love" is a sister company that my mom and I have ideas and prototypes busting out of the seams to get out there to the consumer world, but I dont want to miss the few times Sadie lets me hold her and she just plays with my eye lashes, to be at the canvas, the sewing machine, or the computer.  I am typing this so that days when I feel like a failure, or I am disappointed that I haven't done all I planned in the past year, I realise that what I am doing, actually will mater when I'm gone.  Maybe one day I'll have White Bird be all it was meant to be and more, in the mean time...I am going to say it is what it is, and I will get to all of it when the chance arrives. :)

Ok, off to bed, the girls are actually sleeping these days!  Praise the Lord and thank you for B Complex!  This web stuff might happen sooner with a little more than 4 hrs of sleep! Holler!

How to Tuesday: Die a shirt!

I went to the Rit page to figure out how to die the shirts I am going to use to make some turkey shirts for Thanksgiving, BUT this site has pictures... lets face it, you know I'm visual!

SO check it out!  http://www.honeybearlane.com/2010/07/how-to-dye-onesie.html

Enjoy!  I'll post pics of the shirts when they get all good and green... or orange not sure what color to go with yet!

Over and over again...

 "I will sing to the LORD as long as I live. I will praise my God to my last breath! May he be pleased by all these thoughts about him, for I rejoice in the LORD. " Psalm 104:33-34

I am amazed at how I could be reading God's word for so long now and still find something new, I pray that when I am 90 I will still be in awe of the ability He has to reveal Himself new to me over and over again. 

How do I teach my children about the thankfulness that stirs in my heart towards God and all He has done, all He has made?  This is the task I face today.

How will you?  I am yet to find an answer...

Mess-O-Meter

This is one of many blogs i visit frequently.  I dont get all my play and teaching ideas together on my own, and this is proof of that.  I need to remember to let mess and noise be a catalyst to learning and fun.  I usually live by that moto, but sometimes I get sucked into the weird world of moms who think that their kitchen needs to be spotless and home a hum of quiet reading with soft classical music playing... i don't even like classical music that much.  Anyway, here is to the moms out there that let their kids get a little mess, and to my Gran who says " you are more precious than this thing or that"  when her kids would mess something up or heaven forbid break something that was once really important to her.  She knew that they were worth far more...

(Dont get me wrong i think i might have cried when Kehnley broke my little bird pepper shaker, but quickly remembered Gran's words and moved on)

Here are our little messes....

How to Tuesdays...Make Chalk Paint

1.Measure out the 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into a medium sized bowl. You need put the cornstarch in first to prevent lumps.

2.Add 2 tablespoons water and 4-5 drops food coloring and mix until smooth. You can add more food coloring if you want a brighter color. This is also a great activity to teach children about color mixing.

3.Take the paint outside and create your masterpiece!

4.Let your drawing dry before walking on it. It will wash off in the next rainfall, or you can clean it off earlier with a hose. It may be a little lighter in color than traditional sidewalk chalk.

It's raining and cold so we can't paint with Chalk just yet, I hope tomorrow...BUT in the mean time, here is Kehnley having fun with Window colors, her creativity is amazing to me!  Try them out sometime, they are easy to clean up I promise :)