A gift for my boys.

A few years ago I came across a friend from High School and we picked up our friendship as if the 10+ years had never happened.  She taught me how to crochet and it is now one of my biggest hobbies.  Crocheting is something I can do while I work.  I can work on a project as the children play or watch a cartoon, but still be able to watch them and interact with them.  I am working on what I think is going to be one of my best blankets.  It is for my oldest son…..but first I will tell you about the other of my best blankets.

 

My boys LOVE video games.  They think that Mario and the rest are pretty cool.  So I wanted to make each of them an amazing blanket of their favorite character.  This turned out to be an amazing journey.  My youngest son wanted a Mario blanket so my husband and I went on to Pinterest and we found this pattern http://www.instructables.com/id/Blanket-MARIO/   I printed it, picked up the yarn and started working. These are some pictures:

 

So after I finished this my oldest son and husband were excited and went to the computer to started looking for pictures of the other characters they wanted me to make.  My oldest son’s favorite character is Yoshi, so my husband played one of the games until he found me a screen shot.  We printed the picture that he save

 

The nice thing about these characters is that they are made out of pixels.  So I used a piece of graph paper and colored pencils to color the proper colors from the picture.  Then we counted how many across and down to make this guy into a blanket.  I am using 2 1/4 inch squares so that I can get as much detail as possible.  This blanket will end up being a bit bigger than the Mario blanket when I am done.

This is the graph paper pattern I made.

and the tiny little squares.

I can’t wait to finish it and post the pictures.

 

I have made a few other blankets over the last couple of years.  Some are baby blankets for friends.  A blanket for me .  Some just for our house to replace some older ones.  Also family and friends.  I love being able to bless people especially my amazing husband and boys.  It is also nice to keep busy and create.

Summer has begun

Every year I love being a Mom more and more.  I count the days until summer probably more than my boys do.  My favorite days are when they are home with me all day~just can’t help it I love these little men that God has gifted me with.

 

I was afraid that as they got older they would pull away and close themselves off from me, but this hasn’t been the case.  We have gotten closer and our conversations are so wonderful!!  So far this stage (the pre-teen and teenage years) are the best!

 

My excitement was uncontainable yesterday, my boys were going to be starting summer break!  I decided to make their favorite meal and prepare a desert.  So we had “Haystacks”  This is basically all the fixings that go into a taco put on top of chips.  My Mom always used Fritos, but I learned by accident that Spicy Doritos are even better.  We ate and had a wonderful family evening that was topped off with Strawberry shortcake.  It was wonderful!

 

I have so many plans for this summer with my boys.  In a couple of weeks I will only be working 3 days a week (just for the summer) which means that I can take them (just them) on adventures and will be able to enjoy just being a Mom to these amazing men.

 

**~Congratulation's to my boys who successfully completed 4th and 7th grade~enjoy your rest!  I love you and am so thankful for you and who you are!~**

~♥~

Changes

Today (8-31-11) I have a change in my life.  I am not good with change….,but this one I think is for the best.  I know that at first I dug my heals in, cried out to God asking why he was letting this happen again, but I have my clear answer now……because it is time.  We watch all of these “fairytale” or “feel good movies”  where the person comes into someone's life to help make a change in them, that kind of explains my job.  I knew when I got into childcare that I wouldn’t get to keep the kids for more than 2-4 years.  My promise to God was that I would do my best to speak his love and life into the children in my home.  The most important thing for me to do is to plant the seed of God’s love into each child that comes into my home. 

I just got done spending a couple of hours with the new children that I will be providing care for and now I am making lunch and waiting for the children who are here for the last time.  CHANGES!  I have provided care for this family for almost 4 years…they came to me with their 7 month old baby and he is about to have his 5th birthday.  They also brought in there 2nd child (we almost lost momma on this one) and with him I got to see a miracle of God healing his Mother. They then had a change in their hearts that they could help more children and started doing foster care.  I was so excited that I would be a part of it, but they (and God) decided it was time for her to be a stay at home Mom. 

Now today (9-6-11) I have started watching all of my new daycare kids.  It is so much fun and they are so good.  We are having fun and learning a lot.  One of the families is from France.  The children speak mainly French, but are learning English.  It is a new dynamic, but fun.  I have no idea what they are saying some of the time, so there is a lot of guessing going on.  The other family has a baby and a 4 year old.  They all played well together and I can’t wait to start going on field trips.  I have one more starting very soon that wasn’t here today.

There is a peace in my house and I feel that this is going to be a good year.  I have learned from the past 6 years and decided to cut out dinner.  I have been cooking dinner for 8-9 people every evening and most of the kids don’t like what I cook lol.  It was very stressful and wasteful.  Starting tonight I will only be cooking for my family.  I see many other changes coming for my business as well, but this is a good thing.

God is in control and he knew it was time for something to change.

I made yummy yummy chicken Monday night :)

Tonight's dinner

Chicken-boneless skinless breast tenders……seasonings:garlic powder, paprika, onion powder (need to buy some onions ), seasoning salt, Worcestershire sauce.  Cooking it at 415 degrees

Garlic mash potatoes….soymilk, ranch (after I take my portion out), garlic powder

toast, broiled garlic or cheese toast is best

Signs that you now have a teenager living in the house

This morning I found myself facing my son’s door that had a blanket tucked under it.  His answer was “to keep the light from the living room out”.  Memories came flooding back of my sister doing things like that  lol then I came up with this list of funny things my Eric is now doing.  He still has 11 days until he is officially a teenager, but these things have been happening for a while now.  ENJOY!!

 

Signs that you now have a teenager living in the house:

food is disappearing from the house faster than you can buy it or make it

your house seams empty and quiet-even though you know your son is home

strange smells are coming from that room (that you are sure someone lives in)

answers now come in the form of grunts instead of words

reminding them to do their chores is a daily chore for you

You find yourself repeating and repeating and …….well you get the point

They decide to (turn in) for the night with out you telling them to…not that you saw them that evening since they are now staying in their room as long as possible

Signs that this new teenager still needs his mommy

You still get bedtime hugs

They seek you out for a visit

T.V. time can mean snuggle time (I like this one the best)

I love you is still ok, as long as said in the house

Your opinion is still somewhat important (they may not follow your suggestions, but they (at this stage) might listen a bit)

 

 

I love to bake!

I don’t know who reads this or if this will be a helpful post to anyone, but I write it anyway .

 

I love to bake! 

 

I have my symphony music playing in the back ground, little guy playing in the living room and I am baking vegan banana bread.

…………

I love to make things for my family to love and of course for me to eat too.  Now when you cut eggs and dairy out of your diet there are some issues….or are there??

A week ago I decided to try to make some cornbread.  It turned out well, should have cooked it in a pan that was a bit more on the shallow side, but the taste was amazing!  Just put applesauce in place of the eggs.

This morning I found that I had some bananas that no one would eat because they started turning brown and I wanted to make banana bread.  I went in search for a vegan website.  I found http://www.chooseveg.com/ and boy did I hit the jackpot!!!  I found all the recipes I could ever want.  Caesar salad dressing, banana bread, banana muffins…..it keeps going from there.  I learned about a great egg substitute called ener-G.  The great thing was that I can use things I already have in my house. 

Several years ago I gave up the idea of ever having French toast again, but I found an egg free recipe that I plan on trying tomorrow. I hope my family enjoys it along with me.

Now to clean up the house and maybe do some gardening and my afternoon workout.  Have a great weekend.

seasons

The sun woke me up yesterday and today.

My moods seam to change with the seasons.  The dark rainy season went on a bit too long this year for me (spiritually and in nature)…..But in the darkness and the gloominess is when God decided to full fill his promises and answer the prayers of my heart.  Right about the time I had given up.  Human nature is to want it now, but God likes to get us ready.  We have to take baby steps.  He will never give us more than we can handle and I do believe that included blessings.  God wants so much to give us all of our needs and wants, but we must be ready for them.  He wants to bless us, but we have to know what to do with those blessings.

As I sit reflecting on what I have read in my quiet times/devotions I realize that even in the darkest times we are never alone.  God is always there he waits eagerly for us to ask him for his love and his help.

As I type this I am watching my beautiful blue sky getting covered up by a very grey cloud, but just on the other side of the cloud I can see more blue…..a promise that the gloom will go away.  Just like the flowers need the rain to grow so do I.  Spring = the promise of summer.

Everyone knows the famous poem “Footprints in the Sand” the line in it that sticks in my mind today is the last one.  “The Lord replied, ‘The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.’” He promises to carry us.  We may not see or feel him there, but he is with us all the time.

Thank you Lord for your love and your promises to always be with me.  For always hearing my prayers and for taking care of me.  Thank you for the lessons I learn in all the seasons in my life.  I pray you show me what I need to fix, change or do differently to follow your ways……..to be who you called me to be.