There Shall Be Dancing!

This past weekend we traveled by car up to Nebraska and South Dakota to attend our niece's wedding. Sophie, Piper, and Riley were great travelers. Before we had kids, our trek to Nebraska took only one long 13.5 hour-day. Now that we have three little kids, we break the trip into two days and stay overnight at a hotel. The girls enjoyed eating complementary cookies in bed while watching a movie. (free cookies and DVD rentals are wonderful hotel bonuses).

The wedding was held at a beautiful outdoor chapel in the pine covered hills of Rapid City, South Dakota. During some free time, Judd took us to Dinosaur Park atop one of the tallest hills. Judd used to visit this park as a child. This particular dinosaur sits at the very top of the hill and on lookers in the town below see his silhouette against the sky.

 The girls had to sit on Dino's tail for a cute photo op. The Black Hills are visible in the background.

Sophie wanted to keep hugging the dinosaurs and wished she could take the big guy home with her -- or out to lunch. Riley maneuvered well and handled the long steep stairs back to the ground level just fine.

Leah and Jarrod were married on Saturday and Sophie was their flower girl. Sophie's dress was so pretty and she did a great job walking down the path and throwing petals.

The reason I particularly love this shot of Riley and Sophie at the reception hall is because my late Grandma Etta Cole used to stand just like they are, with her hands behind her back. Riley recently started copying everything Sophie does because she adores her big sister.

Jarrod and Leah make an adorable couple. Leah looked stunning in her exquisite gown and her hair was beautiful.

The Mother and Father of the Bride were so gracious and hospitable.

Sophie and Andrew (the ring bearer) really hit it off. They were inseparable. They danced together for a long time and Andrew even asked Judd for Sophie's phone number -- Sophie is 4 years old! (I'm not ready for this.) I changed Sophie out of that gorgeous dress and into this one so she wouldn't spill food on it. She is going to be a flower girl in my friend's wedding in a few weeks and needs the flower girl dress to look pristine. Check out Sophie and Andrew as they dance. I think they thought they were on Dancing With the Stars. Andrew was so sweet and really wanted to show off for Sophie. At the 1 minute and 34 second marker, he even shows her his 'Risky Business' moves.

Not to be left out, Riley joined in the reception fun by twirling hundreds of times to the DJ's music.

Back in Gordon, Nebraska, no trip to Grandma and Grandpa's would be complete without a walk around the farm to see the cows, cats, barns, and equipment.

Riley is intrigued by the cows.

"Cow says, 'Moo!'" repeats Piper.

Shortly after we started our drive back home, we had to stop the car for the cowgirls and cowboys who were relocating a herd of cattle to another pasture down the road.

We had a great trip and enjoyed seeing friends and family. Cheers to Leah and Jarrod!

Sophie's New Clean Heart

I love my family. Judd, Sophie, Piper, and Riley are my world, and I thank God for giving me such a wonderful family.

Because I have a relationship with Jesus, it is only natural that I would want my children to also.

We attend one of the largest and most incredible churches in the U.S. - Church On The Move. Several weeks ago each child received a CD as they left their church classrooms. As the disc plays, a story is told of good vs. evil - a loving King who fights a dragon. The story is dramatic and hold kids' attention. After the story ends, one of the pastors explains, in such a simple way, how the story parallels God's love for us. God loves us so much he sent Jesus to die on the cross so He could exchange our sinful heart with a new clean heart; then, we're part of His family and belong to His kingdom. The pastor leads the listener in a prayer to receive Jesus and His gift of a new clean heart. Finally, a fantastic upbeat song plays about Jesus being alive and being our King.

Sophie loves this CD. She's listens to it several times a day, asking questions here and there, and singing the song repeatedly. Yesterday, on our way back home from our road trip up to Nebraska and South Dakota, Sophie danced around our hotel room. She made up praise songs to Jesus. If she caught Judd or I looking at her she said, "I'm just praying to God and singing to Him." When we got in the car Sophie asked us to play her "Jesus" CD again. She wanted to listen to it four times in a row. She asked Judd and I questions about being born with a sinful heart. When Judd told her that we asked Jesus for a new clean heart when we were children, she was ready to pray. She prayed aloud following the prayer on the CD and shouted, "Hooray! I'm so proud of myself for asking Jesus for a new clean heart!" Hooray! I'm so excited! Jesus will never leave me!"

I was so thankful God allowed Judd and me to experience this salvation prayer with Sophie. It was a real and eternal decision. Sophie's decision means everything to us. Maybe you understand this, maybe you don't - but it is as (or more) important than the day I gave birth to her. What a gift - knowing Sophie belongs to Jesus - forever!

Fences

Last spring Judd and I finally bit the bullet and built a fence for our back yard when our twins, Piper and Riley, started walking. It was quite an undertaking and I told you about that here. A year has passed and we decided to re stain our fence with a richer stain having red toner in it. We bought this exterior oil toner stain from Sherwin Williams.

It took us eleven hours, three gallons of stain, and 6 mini rollers to complete this project. Our hands feel like they are stuck in permanent gripping positions from holding the mini roller brushes that long.

Here is the "before" picture. My primary concern when building the fence was to make sure it didn't turn gray. You can see the natural stain we chose last year did a great job sealing the fence, but I really wanted more red tones.

During...(unfortunately, I did get a little sunburned on my neck -- Aloe Vera plant to the rescue).

Almost finished -- Piper enjoying family time outside.

In the background you can see how gray it would have looked had we not sealed it when we built it. The gray fence is our back fence -- built by the neighborhood developer before we bought our lot and built our home.

It was a lot of work and hopefully we won't have to do this again for several years. We are very happy with the results.

Trampoline Hindsight

Several weeks ago we purchased a trampoline for our girls to play on in the backyard. I researched various sizes and brands and read a lot of reviews. We ended up buying the 15' trampoline with enclosure sold at Sam's Club. We sunk the trampoline legs down into the ground to make it level and reduce the chances the Oklahoma wind could overturn it. That may sound funny to you, but just after a small tornado passed over us two years ago and homeowners emerged to inspect the damages, we heard our neighbor yell, "If anybody is missing their patio furniture, we found it in our driveway." We lost sections of our roof and ended up having to replace the whole thing. With that in mind, we buried our trampoline poles in the ground.

Our girls love jumping on the trampoline - especially Sophie and Riley. It was a hit at Sophie's birthday party earlier in the month too.

However...


Hindsight is 20/20...


As Spring came the rain fell, and the grass grew taller and taller beneath the trampoline. It never dawned on us that if we buried the trampoline legs, we couldn't move it to mow the lawn beneath. We have a self propelled lawnmower and Judd had to fold the handle down and crawl under the trampoline to mow the grass.

Judd is a good sport. I laughed so much watching him scamper around like this. It was hilarious seeing him try to pull the starter cord while the mower handle was folded down. What a great guy!

Would you rather chance your trampoline ending up on your neighbor's roof during the next storm, or would you rather sink the legs in the ground and have to use a lawn mower designed for a Pygmy?

DIY Party Banner

My friend, Tessa, loves to eat Mexican food. She may love it almost as much as she loves the man she is about to marry. Tessa's upcoming bridal shower will have a Mexican fiesta theme. I was asked to create a banner of some sort. I thought about using take out menus from local Mexican restaurants but realized the font size would be too small to read once the banner is hung. Plus, take out menus are not very colorful. I'll tuck that idea into my back pocket for some future project.

I found some pictures of Papel Picado - hand cut paper banners crafted from tissue paper. Images are created within the cutouts - all by hand.

Using the photos above as my launching point, I decided I had neither the time nor the skill required to actually cut out 15 feet worth of images, from tissue paper, by hand. If I tried, the banner would end up looking like a cluster of snowflakes - at best - if you squinted, and tilted your head, and jumped up and down. Also, living in Oklahoma, I doubted tissue paper on thread would hold up to wind gusts we experience here. As I am typing this, the tornado warning we were under expired. The sirens sounded a while ago, but now the storm has passed over and a beautiful rainbow can be seen out my breakfast nook window. Tissue paper ain't gonna cut it, baby. Yes, I could pay the $20 + shipping and handling for a real strand of Papel Picado, but what fun is that? I'm a do-it-yourself kind of girl and thrive on finding beautiful decorating ideas and making them myself for less money.

So, I perused my local Hobby Lobby and purchased bold, bright 12" x 12" textured card stock paper from the scrapbook supply section.

I cut the pages into 9" x 6" pieces.

Then I hand cut pointed edges on the yellow sheets, curved edges on the pink sheets, and cut the edges of the blue pages with fancy design cutting scrapbook scissors.

Alternating colors, I sewed each piece of paper onto yellow grosgrain ribbon.



Finally, I tied on two handmade tissue paper flower pom-poms.

Viola! I hope she likes it.

This banner took me about an hour to make, with Sophie's "help", and only cost $5. Hobby Lobby didn't have their card stock paper on sale this week, but the ribbon is was only $1 - half off the 18 ft. spool. I recycled the tissue paper from my birthday presents.

Sophia Coco Turns Four

We celebrated Sophia Coco's fourth birthday this past weekend with a garden theme. I baked two kinds of cupcakes - yellow and strawberry. The buttercream frosting was piped onto the cupcakes using my new Wilton #1M decorator tip. I placed donut holes and pink marshmallows on skewers because they reminded me of fairy wands or bouquets of flowers.

Each cupcake had a sucker (flower), green sugar glitter (grass), and green sugared candy (leaf). The swizzle stick rock candy reminded me of hollyhocks and snapdragons.



Sophie wanted her own cake instead of a cupcake. She has very specific ideas for decor, style, flavors, and presentation (I wonder where in the world she gets that - ha!). She asked for a pink, two-layered cake with white icing, pink sugar glitter, and a butterfly. I bought two 6" round cake pans at Michael's along with the non edible butterfly.

I gathered paper lanterns and handmade tissue paper flower pom-poms of various sizes and colors. I tied them onto a 5/8" dowel rod which Judd suspended from the air vents in our ceiling using fishing line and paper clips. (eat your heart out, Macgyver) Small flower garlands draped below.

I took my inspiration from this amazing paper lantern/pompom collection here.

I displayed pictures of Sophie and included little information tidbits about her which allowed people to get to know her even better. One card displayed Sophie's favorite foods, another card listed her favorite places, another her favorite colors, and the fourth shared her favorite activities.

Sophie had a wonderful time jumping with her friends on the trampoline which was her birthday present from us.

Her sweet friends looked on as she opened her gifts.

Of course we sang happy birthday as she blew out her candles.

It was a fantastic party. Sophie felt celebrated and special as she turned four years old.

Spring Pictures in the Park

This morning was a beautiful spring day in Tulsa. We met up with Grandma Cole at Woodward Park and the Tulsa Rose Garden at 9:30 am. Getting all five of us fed, dressed and ready for pictures that early on a Saturday morning was quite a feat. The park was full of tulips and daffodils. We presumed we'd beat most of the professional photographers who's subjects may want to sleep in on Saturdays. Unfortunately, there were numerous photogs snapping pictures of families, engaged couples, dogs, and the natural beauty of abundant blossoming flowers.



Piper - Grandma Cole - Sophie



Riley and Sophie meander down a path.



Running down a hill = bliss!







Look! The duck is dipping under the water!



 




These pictures were taken with our painfully slow and outdated digital camera. Grandma Cole took lots and lots of pictures with her fabulous camera. I can't wait to see all the incredible shots she got -- including some of my wonderful husband who, somehow, managed not to be in any of our pictures. We had so much fun romping around the park today and are glad we captured these moments with pictures.

Birthday Balloon Wreath

In preparation for Sophie's 4th birthday, I decided to make a balloon wreath for our front door. Sophie was my special helper on this project.

During our trip to Hobby Lobby, we purchased a 50% off straw wreath for only $2. We used 325 balloons of assorted colors and sizes. These were $1.99 per 100 balloons. The curling ribbon was $1.99 for a spool containing four different colors and prints.

I bought 2 packages of floral pins for $1.47 each at Hobby Lobby. I ran out of pins and bought 2 more packages at Walmart for $1 each.

I left the plastic wrap on the straw wreath to keep it from shedding all over. Sophie and I pinned the balloons all over the front of the wreath. We overlapped the balloons and turn them this way and that. Each balloon was pinned on individually. I finished it off by pinning on a few curly ribbons.

I think our party guests will feel welcomed and ready to celebrate Sophie's 4th birthday next week.



The total for this project was about $15. This wreath will be used again and again for many birthdays yet to come. Plus, Sophie and I thoroughly enjoyed working on it together. I found this birthday balloon wreath idea at How Does She?

Mommies Have Birthdays Too

When I became a parent almost four years ago I quickly learned that I was Mommy - not Jennifer. Parenthood requires a level selflessness and service I had never known before. Unfortunately, as a stay-at-home-mom with virtually no social life, I forgot about me. Most days the only adult I talked with was my husband when he got home from work. Blogs, email, and facebook kept me feeling some semblance of connectivity to the world outside my immediate family as did attending church. Like many adults, my birthdays in recent years have gone by with little fanfare and barely a blip on my own radar. This year was different.

Last month I decided to temporarily go back to work full time. I wanted to make money and blow the cobwebs out of my mommy brain. I wanted to feel professional again and have a reason to actually get dressed in pretty clothes, fix my hair, and do my make-up. I wanted daily interaction with other people and tangible accomplishments resulting in more than a clean house and laundry. A friend of mine and elementary principal at a nearby Christian school asked me to take over a third grade class for this second semester. I love teaching third grade and knew this was an opportunity for me to teach, for fourteen weeks, and earn money my family needed. I look forward to being a stay-at-home-mom again - at least until my girls are older. Maybe when they are all school-aged - if I don't homeschool them, perhaps I would go back to work. I'm just not sure I would figure out how to balance the demands I place on myself as a good teacher with the kind of wife and mother I want to be who provides nutricious meals, a clean home and quality family time.

My girls are being watched in the home of a fantastic former preschool teacher who now stays home with her own toddler daughter. Lauren is the wife of a nearby church's youth pastor. My girls absolutely love going to her home.

I've been putting in at least fifty hours a week and keep telling myself it is only for ____ more weeks. I'm down to only 7 more weeks! I love teaching, but had no idea having three small children and working full time would be so hard. My house is the most disheveled it has ever been and we pick up frozen pizzas or take-out a couple times a week now because Judd and I simply can't do it ALL. Judd has really stepped up too and become Mr. Mom. He drops the girls off on his way to work and picks them up on his way back home. For dinner he usually feeds them crockpot meals I've put together.

With the crazy whirlwind I have been in lately, I honestly didn't even know what day of the week my birthday was on this month. My friends and husband have just gone above and beyond in pampering me as they celebrated my birthday - which is today. Last week, Jackie - one of my best friends - took me out to dinner. Friday, at school, the other third grade teacher - the incredibly sweet Ms. Sharon Fine - organized a surprise birthday party for me with some of my homeroom moms and both of our third grade classes. Then, my former high-school classmate at dear friend - Kym - organized a little get-together for me at one of my favorite restaurants today. Kym lives in Texas and I live in Tulsa, OK. She planned this long distance. What an amazing person - and willing to fly up here just to celebrate my birthday then fly back home. One of my friends - Kelli - drove two hours in order to be here for my birthday luncheon. My two other friends, Jamie and Rebecka were willing to give up their valuable time with their families to celebrate my birthday with me.

When I got home from my outing with friends, my husband - Judd - had just finished baking me a homemade-from-scratch (no box) double layer chocolate cake with homemade frosting. It was so moist and scrumptious! I'm actually a little jealous that he baked a cake that was so much prettier and tastier than any chocolate cake I've ever made.

Hearing my sweet daughter, Sophie, singing happy birthday to me, made my heart smile.



Top all of these celebrations off with a zillion birthday wishes from facebook friends and I am ending my birthday with a (very) full tummy and a heart overflowing with love and gratitude for everyone who helped me feel special and loved. I celebrated Jennifer - not Mommy...at least for today.

DIY 3D Valentine Photo Card

Three-year-old Sophie attends a Mommy's Day Out program twice a week. In preparation for their upcoming Valentine's Day party I decided to make personalized photo cards with a 3D effect.

I took a couple of pictures.

Next, I used Picasa to edit my favorite picture and add text.

Then, I exported it to Walgreens to have 4 x 6 inch prints made. Using the promo code BEMINE40, I purchased 20 prints for $2.46 (including tax).

Next, I used a little piece of double-sided tape to attach the Snicker's candy on the photo for the 3D effect and taped the photo onto cardstock for stability. Finally, I punched a hole in the top right corner and added a little ribbon detail.

This is my version of the valentine card I saw at craftomaniac.