Craft Night - Success!

Y'all, craft night was sooo much fun.  I don't even know where to start. Everything about the evening was special and inspired and joyful and soul-filling.  There's something to be said about quality time spent laughing with friends and creating something beautiful.

Our crafting spot was perfect!  Hand-picked flowers in mason jars and a little burlap invited all my girls to come in and create!  A special THANKS to CedarRock for allowing us to use your space.

A "Shine Your Light" parting gift for all the ladies.  Thanks Julia's Bakery.

This group got a sneak peek on our upcoming celebration plan for lil' Lu's first birthday.  

More on that tomorrow...

Handmade name tags for all

The supply table filled with fabrics, scraps, ribbons, yarns and all things embellishment

And my beautiful crafters

When I got home, it was baths for the kids, highlights for the hubs, and bedtime.  But, I couldn't sleep.  I kept thinking about all the different wreaths.  How each wreath perfectly suited its owner.  How beautiful they all were.  It reminded me of one of my favorite songs right now, Beautiful Things.  The melody is unique and the chorus lyrics are:

You make beautiful things, 

you make beautiful things out of dust.

You make beautiful things,

you make beautiful things out of us.

Remnants.  Scraps.  Ripped and frayed pieces of fabric.  Leftovers from other completed projects.  Twine.  Fancy strings.  Ribbon.  Old barn wood.  Made beautiful by crafty hands. 

I didn't get pics of all, but here's a few of our masterpieces…

Thankful for this night.  For good friends.  And, for a God who uses ALL things to make something beautiful.  

A Look at Lucy - 11 months

We are nearing the big 1-YEAR mark, and Lucy is growing and changing so rapidly now.  

Our girl is a definite handful but so much fun.

11 month stats:

20 pounds even, not sure how tall this month (too wiggly)

6 teeth (two bottom and four across the top)

weened herself off the pacifier, just quit cold turkey one day

walking is the preferred method of locomotion

brings items I ask for like shoes or a book

blows kisses (so cute), waves, and repeats sounds

has her momma's dance skills :)

nearly jumps out of my arms each morning when we get to school (makes my heart happy)

eats mostly table food, projectile spits baby food

plays in the toilet every chance she gets

Official pics:

Here we go again with the chair and the monthly stickers.  We'll see how long this lasts.  

Immediate detachment of said sticker...

then examined and celebrated for, yet again, 

removing before posed picture could be taken...

…crumpled and chewed on to ensure complete destruction...

…and finally independent removal of oneself 

from picture spot because she was not in the mood.  

She's sassy, that's for sure.  

She has a definite soft spot for Daddy.  They are big buddies.

We have big plans to celebrate Lucy's first year!  

Info coming soon on our "Shine Your Light" celebration.

Streaming with Sam

Here's a short stream of consciousness post on what it's like 

playing and pretending with our boy these days:

Quietly playing in his room.

We walk back to check on him and find this…

To the untrained eye, this looks like a kid holding a cd case near the backside of a dairy cow night light, but that is not so.  It's actually a camp fire (the night light), and he's roasting marshmallows on his marshmallow roasting stick.  Flaming and burned until they are black, just the way he likes them.  Oh, and no one can go to a campfire without a cowboy hat, so the hat is necessary to the scenario and all who attend.

So, of course, Daddy and I put our hats on and attended the camp out too.

 We got our books out and read scary stories by the fire.  Who knew that Elmo could be so spooky?

And all the animals also wanted to gather around the campfire, so they were neatly arranged so that everyone made a perfect and equidistant circle around the cow, I mean campfire.

 Then, we took turns asking everyone about their day.  Apparently, things didn't go well today for Denny, the elephant, because he didn't make good choices and had to go to the sad board.  Monkey had to do some extra jumping jacks today, and penguin got to be first for Show-And-Tell.  

Never a dull moment!

Calling All Crafters...

The little red-head is nearing the big 1 year, and I've spent countless hours thanking God for how far we've come.  Her story has a shaky beginning, complete with some unexpected medical challenges and a stay in the NICU.  I blogged about those days here.  And while it was difficult, I would not change her story for anything.  I experienced God's love and faithfulness and healing power, and Lucy's birth has become a power chapter in my own God story.  I can truly say I am grateful for the experience.

But, the part of the story I haven't mentioned thus far is how much that experience cost.  Good gravy, medical care doesn't come cheap.  Don't get me wrong, I am forever grateful to every doctor and nurse who helped make my girl well, and they are worth their weight in gold to me.  But the reality is, I'm a teacher, and it doesn't take much to bust the budget.  And, almost a year later, I am still getting bills in the mail.  To the tune of thousands…

Fast forward to Laura's craft night.  She's one of those super cool cyber mom-artists you just know you would be great friends with if you ever met.  I follow her blog and stay up to date on what super cool things she is doing and making.  Recently, I attended her very first craft night.  She hosted twelve women in her home for a fun night of crafting and creating.  And it was amazing.  So fun.  So inspiring.  A food for the soul kind of night.

The next day, surprise, surprise, another bill in the mail.  This time I had an idea.  Maybe God gave me the craft night experience as a way to provide for all these additional expenses.  Wouldn't that be just like Him?  I contacted Laura, told her my story, and asked permission to use some of her crafting ideas and expertise to host a craft night of my own with the understanding that all the proceeds would go toward paying off Lucy's medical bills.  She graciously supported the idea and prayed for a successful evening.  So, here I am, nervously, excitedly, putting it out there…

Craft Night for a Cause

When:  Saturday, March 29th 5-8pm

Where: CedarRock lodge (30 minutes from Murfreesboro, 45 minutes from Franklin)

Cost: $40  (includes all materials and supplies,  just bring yourself)

Food and drinks included in cost

There will be room for 12-14 crafters, and we will be doing one craft, a fabric wreath.  Here are a few examples, but this craft is easily adaptable and you can make it all your own.


I will provide all the encouragement, instruction, and supplies you need.  A variety of materials will be available for you to create however your heart desires.  Please consider joining me for a night of fun.

Come, create, eat, laugh, and leave. No set up or clean up. What's not to love?

Message me here with any questions or to reserve your spot.

A Look at Lucy - 10 months

Things are getting super fun around here these days.  It's been a great month.

The new cool thing to play is "Where's Lucy?"

It looks a little something like this…and it's the cutest thing ever.  EVER.  

And there's something about the combination of Daddy's arms and this giant fuzzy blanket that  can take our girl from mid-stream, red-headed hissy fit to sleeping angel in minutes.  It's magic, really.

Official 10-month photos and stats:

We have a biped!  She's walking wherever she wants to go these days.

Says, "Hi, Momma!"  (In same high-pitched, over-excited voice I speak to her in.  It's hysterical.)

Four teeth.  Two in the middle on the bottom.  Two canines up top.  Strange but true.

LOVES to dance.  Music really makes her wiggle.

Favorite toys: Sam and the kitty piano (in that order)

Strange habits: pulling hair (hers and everyone else's) and tipping over trash cans

Monthly picture time is getting more and more challenging.  Only a few months ago, she would stay right where I set her.  Oh, how times have changed.  Now, I have to fight her from standing in the chair and power-rocking herself back and forth with her whole body.  But, she's happy.  Just like her Daddy and scared of nothing.  But happy.

Oh, and those perfectly placed watch-me-grow stickers?  

Detach and destroy on contact.

It's a good thing she's pretty :)

Valentine's Day 2014

That special day for lovers and little kids who love candy has rolled around once again.  Sam worked on his Valentine's all by himself this year.  And might I add, valentines for kids have come a long way since I was exchanging them in school.  They all come with candy or tattoos or some other super fun trinket.  He slapped some cute stickers on skittles packs and called it a hit.  

The kids' teachers got "I love you because" magnet boards and dry erase markers, so they could write love notes back and forth with their loved ones and post them on the fridge at home.  Sam and Lucy started with the first note about what they love most about each of their teachers.  My son's tech addiction was in full exposure seeing as how almost all his "love notes" were about letting him play with iPads.  Gotta love him.

Cupid brought valentines for all my loves and left them on the table for them to find.

Lucy knew she was cute in her new V-day outfit.

Sam and Daddy had Valentine's day breakfast together, complete with heart-shaped pancakes.

And me, well I'm a very blessed lady to get one of these for Valentine's day…

a heart-shaped lego valentine.  Be jealous.

Truth be told, I also go some new Pandora bling, a home-cooked steak dinner, and a new box of girl scout cookies.  What more could a girl ask for?

Snowpocalypse

The weatherman predicted a doozey of a snow storm for our area.  We were on the line of "maybe it'll be snow, maybe it'll be rain" the whole time.  Our county finally made the call to close the schools at 5:00 am in fear the bad weather would come and students would be stuck at school (which is what happened in Birmingham a few weeks ago).

So, snow days mean snuggle up at home days for this teacher and her babies.  

We started the morning off with some good ole fort-building practice.

What good is a fort without a fortress wall made of snacks?  

Oh, and safety first.  All who enter must wear swimming goggles.  

I had to post this one so all the Sam fans could see 

the full effect of static electricity on the ol' hairdo.

And, since this was Lucy's first snow, I had to have a photo of her enjoying her first experience with the fluffy white stuff.  This wasn't quite what I had envisioned, but it's what I got.  

Just keepin' it real.