hope and a future

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

not really quite sure where to even begin. my heart is so full of emotions right now. about a week and a half ago i found out that the vice principal at the kids school was being moved to a head principal position at another county school. the principal there was having health issues and had to resign unexpectedly. i was very sad when i found out this news. Mrs. McCoy had become my friend this past year while we had had our struggles with garret. i felt like maybe all that we went through last year was so that i could have met Mrs. McCoy. i have so much respect for her. she was a great vice principal, so personable, so caring and a heart for the lord that just drew me to her.

so jump up to today, garret comes flying in the car with a HUGE smile on his face. he tells me, " you know how mrs. mccoy got moved to a new school, well mrs. sunshine (his third grade teacher) is going to be the new vice principal, AND mrs. Marshall (his second grade teacher) is going to be my new third grade teacher." at this point i am crying like a baby. he kind of gives me a funny look and i realize i need to tell him im crying because im happy! i reach over the seat and give him a huge hug. GOD IS SO GOOD! i tell him this through my tears and then i call dave, mom, and my good friend. i could have called everyone one on my contact list, i was so excited. Mrs. Marshall was garrets second grade teacher for the second half of the year. you can read all about her awesomeness here. :)

although i had been asking God lots of whys lately i feel i got my answer today. and it had been there all along, right in his word in Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. "

his plans are better than mine, when i get sad because things aren't turning out like i had planned he has something already in the details and this time around his plans have just blown me away. i will still miss Mrs. McCoy but i know that this is a good move for her and Gods plans are just the same for her. to proser her and give her hope and a future.

looks like we are destined to be VOLS fans after all.

LORD, thank you so much for your amazing hand in our life. I felt it so clearly today. You are all i need, you are an amazing God.

bwid photography

i cant believe it has been over a week since i blogged last. :( time to catch up again. i did a photo shoot this weekend. it is up on the bwid blog. check it out.

hope to be back soon. im thinking of a new weekly blog post i want to do called "i pinned it, i did it" where i share some of the ideas that i have pinned on pinterest with you all. what do you think?

comparing...

oh man, how often do i find myself comparing my life with someone else's. it's such a bad place to be. i think the blog world can sometime be this place for me. a place where i compare myself to other moms: crafty moms (wish i had the time or money to do what she does), artistic moms (wish i had her talent. she is such an amazing artist), homeschooling moms (does it mean i dont love my kids as much because i dont homeschool them), moms who love the lord (oh i wish i had the grace and peace this mom displays as she walks through trials), cool bloggers (wow they have a TON of followers), stylish moms (they have the coolest clothes and hair).

the lord himself goes before you and will be with you: he will never leave you or forsake you. do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. deueronomy 31:8

now dont get me wrong, there have been many times i feel blessed by reading another blog, there are so many talented christian moms out there with great blogs... the problem lies within myself, when i start comparing myself with them. when i become discontent with who and where i am, with what i have done.

cast all your anxiety on God because he cares for you. 1 peter 5:7

i know the Lord does not want me in the place, so i dig into the word and pray that the lord shows me what to change and what im doing ok with. so that i am right where he wants ME to be.

when i called, you answered me lord; you made me bold and stouthearted. psalm 138:3

i think i have been struggling with this more than usual as it has been back to school time and i read how SO many ladies are homeschooling now. many of my personal friends have decided to homeschool. i totally respect them and they have amazing families and smart, social, God loving children.... so then i feel guilty for not doing the same. i called mom the other day, just pouring my heart out to her, feeling like not a good mom because i sent my kids to school.... she had great words for me.... she said, "bon, do you feel like the lord is telling you to homeschool or are you comparing yourself?"

at this time in my life, i feel it is the lords will for our kids to go to school. now that a few days have passed and i have spent more time in prayer about it, i feel very confident in that decision...... the issue here in this post is not about homeschooling or not, it is about me learning to not compare myself to others and then feel discouraged by the comparison. it is about doing what the lord has planned out for me to do, and doing it with joy and peace and contentment.

do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. you need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. hebrews 10:35-36

so here i am slowly learning that each of us are different, given different talents, interests, and loves and my job as Bonnie Widmaier is to do those things that the lord has already built into me to bring him glory.

i hope that no one ever leaves my blog comparing themselves and feeling discouraged. believe me it is not all fun birthday cakes and crafts all the time here at our house. we are real, my kids disobey, i raise my voice to often, i spend to much time on the computer.... you get the point. the awesome thing is, is i dont have to be perfect and i dont have to do it on my own. that is the beauty of what my Lord has done for me. he shows me grace and forgiveness.

Lord forgive me for comparing myself. hold me right where you want me to be.

the lord tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. isaiah 40:11

wordless wednesday- watching the rain

brenna took this last one :)

lego party for garret

we kept garrets party much simpler than jori's. he just invited a few boys from his school, they played outside, the built legos, they ate cake and just played together.
i made the lego head cake. it is just three layers of cake from a small sized cake pan, i used the left over batter to make a few cupcakes. so to make the top of lego mans head i just cut a cupcake in half. i used food coloring to make the yellow icing and then tried my best to get it all smooth. not perfect but good enough. then i melted down some chocolate for the smiley face. after the chocolate was melted, i got out some wax paper and i just took a spoonful of chocolate and tried to make equal size eyes and a smile. after getting the shapes i liked on the wax paper i put it in the fridge for a few minutes and it was hard again. i did it about three times before i got the eyes the right size. also i had to let the smile harden back up again around a bowl so that it would match the contour of the lego mans head. does that make sense. feeling like im making it sound harder than it was.
the boys entertained themselves outside in the tree fort, flying back and forth on the zip line and jumping on the trampoline.
then we came inside and we gave each of the boys a little lego set that built a car. dave and i helped the build their cars if they got stuck. they really enjoyed this. i love watching their little minds and hands work to build things. i loved legos when i was a kid too. brings back memories.

after all the cars were built we raced them! the stairs going up to the second floor of the addition have this perfectly built in "slide" or in this case, race track.
they raced them for a long time and then dave set up legos at the bottom of the track they tried to hit and knock over, like bowling. many times the cars would fall off the track and the cars would burst back into about 50 pieces and we would all search high and low for the itty bitty head lights, but they sure had a ball.
then it was time for presents.... you can tell when your kids are growing up when the kid opening presents isnt being mobbed by the rest of the party to see what they got :)
and then it was time for cake AND DR. PEPPER. we hardly ever let the kids drink soda, especially soda with caffeine, but somewhere, somehow he tried dr. pepper and decided it was his favorite. he very much enjoyed this special treat :)
wow, i just cant believe how grown up he is getting. i loved hearing the boys play upstairs together. i know garret enjoyed having some boys in the house, that is for sure.

we love you garret, happy birthday!

alright, i think i am officially partied out.

2,920 days old

in other words he is the BIG EIGHT years old. oh my sweet, strong, smart, active, loud, adventurous boy. we are so proud of you and who you are becoming. we pray for you daily that the savior that is in your heart will shine out and be a light to the people around you, that the holy spirit that is with you will guide you in making right choices, and that feel and know the love of your family every second of every day. you make me so tired and so happy all at the same time. i guess that is what a mothers love is all about. i can so vividly remember holding you for the first time. you were just absolute perfection, the most beautiful baby i had ever seen. your dad and i were completely crazy about you... and we still are today. keep up the good work. we can't wait to see Gods plan for your life. remember to love Him with all your heart and seek after him and he will lead you to great things. guess what?............................love you. love, mom and dad

and they're off

just like that, like a blink of the eye and have two strong, healthy, excited kids walking to school... TOGETHER. together is the best part. garret and raelyn are so excited to be going to the same school and seeing each other during the day. i love that garret is just as excited as raelyn is that they will get to go to the same school. last wednesday was the first day of KINDERGARTEN for raelyn. she was SO excited. she has been counting down the days since her last day of preschool.....in her little mind it has been a REALLY long summer.
garret is now a 3RD GRADER! wow that seems so old. i have to admit though i was way more nervous about garret starting 3rd grade than i was about raelyn starting kindergarten. after the rough start we had last year my heart has just been so heavy for him. i just keep praying. i heard once... "pray until you no longer feel anxious" so i have been on my knees for my son a lot the last couple of days. garrets teachers name is Mrs. SUNSHINE! no joke. how can you go wrong with a name a like that. i think she will be a great match for garret... and just keep praying.



i let brenna take a few pictures with my camera the day before and she had the settings all messed up. i didnt have time to change them all back so the pics are blurry, but i kind of like how they show the action, excitement, motion and hurry of the morning.
walking to the car!
i parked and walked the kids into the school for their first day.
raelyn walking into her classroom. her teachers name is Miss. Amanda and she says she loves her already.
she is cute and young and i have only heard great things about her.

wow... such a big change in our family to have two children in school. we love Doak Elementary and the staff there and feel blessed to have our children in a school where we know the administration love the Lord. cant say that about to many public schools. no school will be perfect but we feel blessed to have them at Doak right now.

party: the rest of the details

the dessert table. i love just one little candle on the cake. sweet.
marshmallow pops, also sweet. this is super easy to do. you get the meltable chocolate, melt it in microwave, i added some pink food coloring (but it made the chocolate a little harder to use), put stick in marshmallow, dip marshmallow in chocolate and then dip in sprinkles. brenna helped me with this project, it is that easy. they sure do add fun and color to the party and for cheep.
dollar store amazingness.... these straws are actually the inspiration for the whole party. when i saw them at the dollar store i fell in love and so the orange and pink flamingo party was born. i didnt want to go the luau route so i needed to be selective on what all i got from the dollar store.
i made each of the girls a flamingo shirt using printable iron-on paper. you can get it at any office supply store. you print your image right on the paper from the computer, in my case it was the flamingo, then you just iron it on. i ironed it on to another colorful fabric and then used Wonder Under (the lazy woman's way to applique) to "glue" it to the shirts. have you ever tried this stuff? i love it.
we had build your own cold cuts sandwich with lots of toppings to choose from, dill pasta salad, watermelon and cool jello salad, the perfect kind of summer dinner.

singing happy birthday to our girl
brennas flamingo shirt. also in this picture you can see the party favors. super easy again.. a cup of strawberry applesauce, a cup of baby oranges, some smarties and an orange pack of chiclets gum. i am a big fan of party favors that will actually be used or eaten instead of just junkie toys. food always seems to be a winner :)

so thats it... and in just 2 days we get to do it all over again for garrets 8th birthday. nothing quite as fancy, but a party to celebrate our awesome son. he wants to have a lego party so i have been searching pinterest for lego party ideas. so many fun things. trying to keep it small this time around though.

hope you enjoyed. we sure did.

party : water fun

because it has been so hot here i wanted to have lots of water activities to keep all the kids cool. we got the little pool for jori for her birthday and filled it full of water guns and an awesome inflatable flamingo from the Dollar Store. i love that place. they actually had lots of little flamingo things i used for the party.

we had a slip and slide hooked up
did a water ballon toss ( i love jori walking right through the middle of it) obviously the games were all for the big kids :)
i also made these fun sponge balls. i found them here. they were fun to throw at each other and jori had fun splashing around with them in the pool too. i think i am going to bring them inside and use them in the bath tub. dont want all those sponges to go to waist.
we also had the water wall set up that the kids and i had made earlier in the week. it was a much cooler night and we enjoyed ever bit of it and the cooler breeze that came with it.

orange and pink flamingo party: invites and cake

i am going to do the birthday party in a few posts because i have lots of pictures and i little projects i did that i want to share. this post is all about the invitations and cake. i created the invitations in photoshop and then just jazzed them up a bit with scrapbook paper and buttons. i have not scrapped in awhile so this was fun for me to play with paper again. :)
i found some cakes on pinterest that were my inspiration for the cake. i just loved the ruffle and the color fade.

the ruffle was super easy. i just cut about a 12 in piece of fabric and then very quickly took a needle and thread and did a very loose running stitch and then just gathered the fabric to make the ruffle. way easier than getting out the sewing machine like in the tutorial i found.

actually making mine wasnt that hard. i used two white cake box mixes, split the batter and added food coloring to make the colored layered cake on the inside. then for the outside i just quartered my frosting and added food coloring again to make my different colors. it was pretty easy to frost as i just followed the lines of the layers of the actual cake. i started with the bottom layer and worked my way up.
jori enjoyed her cake again. love that messy frosting face just soaking up all the action going on around her.

and a pic of our fam after the party. we all had a really fun time.

water wall

ok folks... last week was tough here at the wid household. i didnt have anything planned out and things fell apart. kids were fighting with each other, they were bored, i became addicted to pinterest, and everything went downhill. we had had such a good summer and it all came crashing down last week it seems. i was searching my brain for fun things for the kids to do and we did a few art projects (i will show a little later) but i also found this idea on pinterest.

a water wall! we dug through our recycling bucket, got some big scissors, an old piece of wood, some screws and a screwdriver.

we cut holes in the jugs and buckets and then screwed them to the wood to make a little fountain for the water to trickle down through.

they helped with all the steps, even jori. we had to pull screws out of her mouth and take the scissors away from her just a few times. :)

so here it is.... the kids had fun playing with it and watching where the water would go. if you add a collection bucket at the bottom they can just keep playing and playing. it has been really hot here so this helped us stay cool too.

here is the link i found to make your own water wall....