inspiring momma...

i want to share a blog with you today from a friend i met through MOPS. her name is courtney, she is a wife, mother of 4, and has a heart seeking out the lords will in her life. she is preparing to leave on a missions trip to africa, with an organization called Sweet Sleep, in about a month. i would love for you to read her story. truly inspiring. please join me in praying for her trip and if you can, support her financially too. i know God is doing great things through her. alright enough of my own words.... click here for courtneys blog.

thursdays...i pinned it, i did it

this past week, brenna and i did a little craft together. the kids LOVE to do "projects" and i found this cute one on pinterest. click on the picture to see other fun kid crafts i have pinned.

clothespin horses/zebras

what you need:

corrugated cardboard

three clothespins

yarn

paint

hot glue gun

first i cut out the shape of the body then brenna did all the painting. we didn't have black paint so her zebra became very colorful. i love it even better than black and white.

after all the pieces dried, we clipped the legs onto the cardboard. we did not glue them because we wanted to be able to position them differently. then i glued the head to the body and glued the yarn on for the mane and tail.

raelyn was at school while we made them, but she has enjoyed playing with them as well.

i love how this art teacher took this idea and ran with it in the classroom. so fun.

thankful for:

mrs. marshall loving my son like he is her own

people that have journeyed before me

baby kittens that don't have to be bottle fed any longer

our church starting up an AWANA's program and that the girls love it so much

ww: she's a pretty good shot

psalm 18:32-36

he is my strength! my devos were a great reminder to me this morning. i wanted to share. when i write it down, type it out, retell it, it helps ingrain it into my sometimes shallow head.

³² It is God who arms me with strength
and keeps my way secure.
³³ He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he causes me to stand on the heights.
³⁴ He trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
³⁵ You make your saving help my shield,
and your right hand sustains me;
your help has made me great.
³⁶ You provide a broad path for my feet,
so that my ankles do not give way.

some days i feel like my ankles are giving way and i'm about to fall. lately i have been feeling so much weight about raising FOUR children. about molding their hearts most importantly and their minds. what an enormous sometimes scary job. the awesome thing is that i don't have to do it on my own. i don't have to climb this mountain or fight this fight (which lets be honest here, sometimes raising kids can feel like a mountain or fight) on my own. the LORD is my strength, he will help me every step of the way. i just need to REMEMBER this and call on his help.

thank you lord for giving me a broad path to follow and helping me to pull back my bow as i raise my kiddos. (side note: it is archery season here in TN and dave and the kids have been practicing in the back yard. pulling back the bow and hitting the target is no easy feet. I'm so glad the lord gave this visual gal that little picture this week) thank you for gifting them to us. thank you for never intending for me to do it alone.

some where along the way i stopped listing the things I'm thankful for. after reading the book 1000 gifts i felt challenged to do so. fall is right around the corner, most people love fall. i actually have a had a hard time with fall in the past. not even really letting myself enjoy it because i knew winter would be here soon. i have florida blood still and don't enjoy the winter yet. so as these seasons are changing i need to be intentional on thanking my LORD for all the things he does and gives, big and little, hard and easy, they are all from him.

thankful for:

Gods word that spoke so clear to me today

having the windows open

three out of four kids in school and a napping baby gave me time to clean the shower

friends to share meals with

for teachers who genuinely care for my kids and love them...more than i could ask for

Gods promise that he will guide me and give my just what i need to love and raise our children

baby coming soon...

to see more photos from this maternity session click here.

i pinned it, i did it

so sorry friends.... if you know anything about me or have been coming to my blog very often, you know i will probably have many typos or spelling errors.... last night i just realized my "I pinned it, I did it" title was wrong.... so from now on it will hopefully be right. sorry. forgive me, and now i will state my disclaimer..... if you read this blog, you will always find some sort of grammatical error i am sure. forgive me, I'm only a mom with very little time to blog let alone proof read :) have a good weekend... i finished my book. i hope that the little greeneville theater will still have the help out. i heard you cry a lot. i like to cry at movies. looking forward to it.

thursdays...i pinned it, it did it!

double crunch honey garlic pork chops.

ok so here's my take on the recipe... it tasted delicious but it was a little more time consuming than what i am used to doing for a regular nights dinner prep with 4 kids all needing something different, homework and regular house keep up. maybe for some of you that wont be a problem at all. i def would recommend at least trying it to see if you like it. i also had a kitchen FULL of dirty dishes after this one. oh well like i said it did taste really good. maybe i will do it again for a special occasion.

ps... sorry not a lot of blogging happening this week. the stomach bug has still be going through our house. the strangest bug ever. dave was sick most of last week and it finally got me this week. i was hoping to come out victorious against the bug but i guess not. however i have had lots of time to sit in my bed (besides running to the toilet in a mad dash) to read The Help. i started it this summer and just never got enough time to really dig into it. well, i'm almost done now and hope that i can still catch it in the theaters when i feel better. have any of you read it?

thursdays...i pinned it, it did it!

upcycled tshirt scarf/necklace

this is what i did with the rest of the tshirt from yesterday. i am just loving these! in fact i have made about 13 of them. i am going to do two craft sales this year, the end of october and beginning of november. im focusing on making new things from old things... and this project was just perfect for that.

here is my original pin and a link on how to make your own. i have seen different ways to do this. i do mine a little different from this tutorial. i cut my strips all the way through instead of leaving them hooked together at the one end. so easy and such a fun unique way to dress up an outfit.

so go have some fun. make a scarf or head band and let me know if you did.

upcycled head band

all you need...

old tshirt

scissors

then if you want you can add a cute homemade rosette as well.
all i did was cut the sleeve off a womans shirt. i say woman's because the sleeve size was just right for joris little head. lay the sleeve flat and cut a strip the width you want. you can usually get about two headbands from each sleeve. its that easy... no sewing. then you just slip it on a cutie little head and smile at how easy that was. i added a little fabric scrap rosette to jori's with a safety pin so i can use it where ever i want. there are tutorials for fabric rosettes all over the internet and they are super easy as well. click on the link above for just one way... i use hot glue instead of fabric glue.

one thing i need to say is i have not come up with a solution for the babies stretching them out to much. if you pull on the tshirt material to much it becomes all stretched out and will no longer stay on babies head. but hey you were gonna just get rid of the shirt anyway right? if you know of a way to solve the stretched out to much problem let me know.

jori 13 months

holy moly... as i write this jori is just a week away from being 14 months! so we will do a little catching up.

jori did a lot of growing up from 12 months to 13 months... more so in the personality department then actual physical growing. she seems pretty tiny to me but we just had a check up yesterday and she was 22 lbs and in the 75% for weight so i guess she is not that tiny, maybe just seems that way because the other kids are growing like weeds.... we went to a place called Fun Expedition last week and the kids wanted to do the bumper cars. earlier this summer, realyn wasnt tall enough, but just last week she was! man, they grown fast.

jori is becoming more and more playful and silly. i love to see this little side of her.

she loves her daddy most of all!

she loves to play with the big kid toys and not her own, or pull all the granola bars out of the cabinet. not sure why, but she likes those best.

she says "hi" to everyone that says hi to her.

she has 8 teeth.

she is mostly weened from the bottle. i still give her her morning milk in a bottle. she like it better that way.

she is a pretty good eater.

she battles with constipation :(

she loves her blanket, i dont let her carry it around during the day but as soon as she gets it in her crib she snuggles right up with it.

she still uses a paci at bed time, still trying to keep her from sucking her thumb.

she loves to read books.

she LOVES shoes and socks. she will find a lone sock on the floor and bring it over to me to put on her foot. so funny.

she loves to walk and be independent.

she loves to be outside and take it all in.

she loves dakota and our cats.

she LOVES it when the big kids pay attention to her and play with her. she seems to be really fond of garret right now.

she is content to sit in her high chair and watch a little tv. the other girls never did this, although garret did at this age.

one not so lovely thing is she can throw a full on temper tantrum. if you pull her away from something she wants she will fall to the floor and lay flat out. not a ton of screaming but def a protest. not sure how to handle this with her being so small. the other kids never really had temper tantrums like this, especially this young. praying for wisdom on this one.



finally a picture of her cute little teeth. i think that wraps it up. dont you just love her cute headband. i'll tell you about it tomorrow.

great weekend

this past weekend was a good one. felt like a normal one. we seem so busy sometimes and our weekends just seem to slip away with us each doing different things. this weekend was the annual Warrensburg Yard sale! warrensburg road takes us out to camp and each year the weekend after labor day, all the houses and businesses on this road do a HUGE yard sale. miles and miles of yard sales! now these are windy country roads so we throw the kids in the back of the pickup truck and drive slow til we spot something we want to check out closer. we gave the kids a few bucks to spend and headed on a treasure hunt. i was so excited this year because i was looking for a few specific things. i am going to do two craft sales this fall and was looking for a few pieces to help with display and to create fun new things out of old forgotten things.

thursday and friday before the sale, the kids werent feeling to well. we had the stomach bug pass through our house. determined as dave and i were we still took them all on our little adventure. while we were out garret got sick twice, and we had an emergency port-o-potty visit but nothing could put a damper on my day. even sick kids. ha, they were troopers that is for sure. we probably owe them some ice cream or something :)

i got some great finds and was thrilled with the prices i got it all for as well. i wish i had a picture of what warrensburg looks like during this weekend. it is the best! old country yard sales.

sunday the kids and i all stayed home to make sure we werent going to get anybody else at church. all the kids seemed to be doing much better and by the afternoon we took advantage of an AWESOME day and went for a little hike with some friends. we stopped at subway and got some dinner to eat up on top of the mountain.

this was the first time jori used the hiking pack. remember how little she was when we took her on this hike last time?
we made it to the top!
look at that view. what a clear beautiful day.

the lighting was great for a few quick pics of the kids.


hope you all had a wonderful weekend too.

thursdays...i pinned it, it did it! DOUBLE FEATURE!!!

side walk chalk paint! this idea was all over pinterest in the summer time. here is link to my original pin... it is so fun and so easy. perfect for the cooler days and nights ahead. you probably already have everything you need right in your pantry.

muffin pan or small cups

cornstarch

food coloring

and water

-mix equal parts cornstarch with water...i mixed 2 tbls cornstarch with 2 tbls water. this was the perfect amount for the muffin pan.

-then you add your food coloring. as many drops and combinations as you want til you get your desired colors.

- stir up the mix... if the mix is hard to stir it means you need to add a little more water. add small amounts of water until you get the right consistency. trying to think of a consistency to tell you what to aim for..... um maybe like half & half?

- then take it outside and have a blast. we used old craft paint brushes and let the kids "paint" all over the concrete. it doesnt matter if they make a mess. it all washes off super easy.

fun colors

jori even liked it :)

AND.... i made something totally yummy, my kids even liked it. our friend had given us a ton of zucchini fresh from their garden. i had them sitting in the kitchen for weeks thinking i was going to make some zucchini bread with them. but, im not much of a baker. so they just sat there.

then i found these YUMMY looking zucchini cakes and even had all the ingredient at home to try them as well. they were so good. i was pretty proud of myself for making something so "fancy". ha ha probably not so fancy to most people, but it took a few extra steps than what im used to for just a side dish. however, it was pretty easy and quick. they are on this weeks menu to have them again with dinner friday night. you got to try them out. click here for the full recipe and a much better looking picture of the delicious cakes.

wordless wednesday

baby summer

check out sweet baby summer on the b wid blog. oh how i miss my "babies" being babies.

brewer family

another sweet family on the b wid blog. check them out.

thursdays...i pinned it, it did it!

so my goal is that each thursday i will post a blog called "i pinned it, i did it!" if you have ventured onto Pinterest at all, you might be addicted to it like me and so many others i know.

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes.

(i took that description directly from my friend Leah's Blog, who is also going to share her projects she has pinned. you need to check out her blog and sweet little family. click here for Leah's Blog.)

since i had so many lovely things pinned on my boards i thought i better start doing some of them. time to stop looking at all the pretty things and make some of my own. i will share crafts and recipes i have done.

so today i am going to share a little home decorating idea i found.

click here to see the original idea. if you are not familiar with pinterest, you can click on any pin (picture) and it will take you to where it originated from, so you can see how to do it yourself.

so here is my take on it :)

i scored these awesome old bicycle baskets at an antique store and just fell in love with them. didnt know for sure what i would do with them. i used one on my Command Center wall you can see here, and the other was just waiting to be used for something creative. i loved this idea of using garden wall baskets for storing toys and books and thought i could use my other bicycle basket. love how it turned out. so easy, just hammered a nail in the wall. and cost me nothing because i already had the basket. isnt it cute?

happy pinning AND DOING!!