About our family...

After about a year and a half of marriage came the birth of our first son. We were ecstatic. Nineteen months later we were blessed with our next son. We were overjoyed. One night my husband and I were driving around (instead of bedtime routine) because we were tired. In hindsight there is great irony there. We were listening to the local christian radio station. They had a show about adoption and God moved in our hearts.The foster to adopt program is amazing! With a two and one year old we began our foster to adopt journey with our first daughter. Our oldest, the two year old, had been praying, "Dear God, could you please bring us one baby boy ber(for) Daddy and one baby girl ber(for) me?" God listened. God laughed. The adoption agency/CPS called:"Do you still want twins?" they said.

"Why, do you have them?" I said. "Yes, but it is straight foster for only two weeks." they said "OK." I said after a consult with my loving husband"Pick them up at the hospital tomorrow." they said."Hooray!" I said. From the beginning we let them know if we could adopt the twins we would love to. So if you are doing the math we were blessed with a 3 year old son, 1 year old son, 6 month old daughter, and newborn twins. What a wonderful way to savor each day. We didn't have to worry about when all five are in high school, not a thought about potty training 3 at a time, not a worry about college $, just enjoying each day. What a sweet time in our lives. We don't know how many seconds/minutes/days we have with any of our love ones, so you better enjoy. This rich process of adoption made us realize how to be thankful for each second. As our favorite song says, "I've no less days to sing God's praise than in the hour I first began." Making a long story shorter, we were able to adopt our twins, too! We have recently added another set of twins and enjoy each day as that story unfolds. So for now are singing God's praise with each action and thanking God daily for his grace and sense of humor. The kiddos are now 8, 7, 5, 5, 5, 6mo. and 6mo. We are priveledged to home school. Although we particiapate in many activities our favorite place is at home.

color sorting and a snack...

These trays are designed to make ice cubes that fit inside a water bottle, but they are perfect for sorting. Great for learning colors, patterns, fine motor skills, pouring, and maybe a little snack. A fun inside activity for children 2 - 6 years old. Two year olds do a little more eating while the six year olds tend to get a bit more creative.

This kid-friendly activity works well while I am working in the kitchen. They are entertained in their seats and I can get the dishes loaded without tripping over my little ones.

Color Sorting Cereal Supply List:

water bottle ice cube tray OR regular ice cube tray

scoop or spoon

colorful cereal

bowl

Graham Cracker Trains

Never attempt this one on an empty stomach. (LOL) The kid's imaginations were rolling as we made these "gingerbread" creations. This activity is great for fine motor skills, sensory, and of course the sweet tooth. After protecting the table with paper each child gets a plate and a spreader. A popcicle stick or butter knife work well to spread the icing. Give them a little icing, access to the graham crackers and let the fun begin. For a bit of extra fun I let them squirt the icing. If you don't have a decorator tip on hand just place the icing in a zip lock and snip a small hole in one of the corners. Make sure you keep a few wipes or napkins on hand because along with this fun comes messy hands. Shopping List: 1 can icing 1 box graham crackers 1 box graham cracker sticks Supplies: Plate

zip loc bag scissors popcicle stick OR butter knife

A little girl's fancy tea party...

A fancy tea party can be a lot of fun without a lot of work or cost. I enjoyed visiting other blogs with great tea party ideas before I got started. One of my favorite ideas from Melissa is wrapping paper in the center of the table. This added a nice level of fancy along with making clean-up a cinch. Brightly colored paper would have been lovely too, but the girls choose this elegant white design. Since I needed a little more width I added of paper from the kid's easel on each side. Tape it and all fears of damaging the table were eased. Next we added a few sand candles the kids had made(never to be lit) and cut out multicolored tea cups. Each place setting was fit for a princess. I layered one large piece of paper, a 12X12 scrapbook page, and one while 9X11 printed with their initial. The girls helped me cut out the purple envelopes that we used to enclose princess stickers. A trip to the dollar store added a tiara, wand, princess pen, party horn, and tea set to each placesetting. The last envelope is filled with glitter. A quick wave over the girl's head added a little tea party sparkle! Each place-setting was about $3. The place-setting doubled as the craft set-up and party favor display as well as a stunning display. :)

Once all of the girls arrived we began making the placemats. I added gluesticks and scissors to the table and let their imaginations create. (My oldest girls has been using her place mat as a sparkle oasis.. each morning she rubs her arms over the placemat to add a little (or as much as possible) sparkle to her day.)

As the girls completed their mat we moved them to dry and the girls to washed up as we brought out the cupcakes and pink tea (lemonade). They each got to ice their own cupcake with the four different colored icing cups that we put on the table. I just added a little food coloring to each bowl to create the new colors. One tub of store bought icing easily made enough for all four colors. Some of the creations were quite fancy, while other were blissfully messy.

Once the girls finished their snacks they headed outside to play. Once we added make-up in the mix the girls transformed from the sweet princesses to .... well.... uh...something else. :)

Since this was a party that the kids worked hard to earn, I asked if it was worth it....overwhelming YES!

Coming Soon!!

This blog is coming soon. Please check back in a few weeks!