Cute Library Totes

Summer is officially here and in our house that means summer reading programs!! I have so many fond memories from my childhood of spending hours every summer at our local library. It helped, of course, that the library was air-conditioned and only a 4-block bike ride from my house.

I'm so glad Little Miss has inherited my love for books, and it seems Little Man is following in his big sister's footsteps. Our recent trips to the library have produced stacks of books so large, we can hardly carry them all home. In fact, we live within 10 miles of two libraries and are planning to take advantage of both reading programs this summer! That's why I was so excited for us to make these fun, library tote bags (an idea I adapted from something I saw in a magazine).

First, I purchased the needed supplies. I am NOT a "crafter," so the simpler the better...that's why this was perfect. All we needed was some canvas tote bags (I found a package of 3 in really fun colors!), iron on decals (optional), and fabric markers or paints.

I let Little Miss and Little Man choose the tote bag they wanted, then they set to work unleashing their creativity on one side of the tote.

Little Miss is quite the artist and filled every inch of hers!

On the other side I affixed their chosen iron-on decals...so easy! (Can you believe this is the first time I've done an iron-on? I told you I'm not crafty!) I used the fabric markers to personalize each tote. For example, "Little Miss's Books." (This picture was taken before I wrote their names.)

As a bonus, the totes will also serve as a place to keep all our library books organized. In an attempt to reduce lost library books and save Mom's sanity, when a library book is not being read, it is stored in the tote which has a special place in each of their rooms. That way, when we're ready to head to the library, we know where all the books are (in theory at least).

They were pretty proud of their totes. (Little Man is growling like the lion on his bag in the above picture.) And, even though I'll probably still end up carrying all three totes--full of books--from the library on each visit, they've created something they are proud of and ready to use. If it helps keep us a little more organized along the way, all the better!

For more fun, summer reading program ideas, head over to visit my friend Lora at My Blessed Life. She has some great tips!

Happy reading!

The Wonderful World of DISNEY!

Well, it's been awhile since my last post. I had good intentions...really. But it seems the end of school and the beginning of summer brought parties, projects, and activities that took precedence. So, almost two months later, here it is--highlights of our trip to Disney World.

At the end of April we surprised Little Miss (on her birthday!) with a trip to Disney World. We literally left that afternoon. Not only were we going to Disney World, but she would fly on an airplane (the first she would remember), spend the week with her grandparents, aunts & uncles, and cousins, AND get to visit the Magic Kingdom with them all! Not a bad surprise for a 6-year-0ld. (I'm not sure who was more excited, Little Miss or me!)

Here are a few highlights from our trip:

We made it to the Magic Kingdom!

The boys

Our top priority: Seeing the castle!

The kids LOVED exploring Tom Sawyer's Island

What's a trip to Disney without meeting Minnie Mouse?

Downtown Disney was awesome, too!

The Honey I Shrunk the Kids! playground was a huge hit...Little Miss
loved the fact that this giant dog nose really breathed! Gross!

The Winnie the Pooh ride was awesome...even
while we waited in line there was plenty to do

Mary Poppins!...Little Miss was so happy to meet her...and
I was so proud that my girl knew who Mary Poppins is...not all the kids
there did (such a tragedy in my opinion!)

I LOVE this picture. The expression on Little Miss's face is priceless!

New friends :)

What exciting trips do you have planned this summer?

Little Miss is 6!

I can't believe it's been six years already since I first held my baby girl. At the time I knew my life was about to change, but I had no idea how much! I knew I would love her more than anything, but I had no clue what that would look like. Now I have a small idea, and here are just a few things I adore about my Little Miss...

• She has a great since of humor; my favorite moments are when she cracks herself up and giggles uncontrollably.
• She snuggles better than anyone I know.
• Her imagination knows no bounds.
• She writes fantastic stories (and illustrates them!)
• She loves to learn.
• Her world is black & white...if it's right, it's always right, if it's wrong it's always wrong.
• She has a big heart.
• She is intensely loyal to all her friends.
• She is a deep thinker.

Happy Birthday, Little Miss! We love you!

Rapunzel Party

I'm a little behind in blogging...with moving, birthday celebrations, a special vacation (more on that in a later post), planting a garden, and end-of-sch00l-year festivities there's been a lot going on, and therefore a lot to catch up on. Even though Little Miss's birthday party was a month ago, I ran across so many fun ideas while planning it that I just had to share...

As soon as we saw the Disney movie Tangled, I knew we had found the theme for Little Miss's birthday party...Rapunzel. There was just one problem...in the three weeks between viewing the movie and having the birthday party, we were also purchasing a house and moving. To make things even more exciting, our closing was delayed for almost two full weeks. So from the time the movers showed up, I had exactly 9 days to plan a Rapunzel Party fit for a princess. Fortunately, a lot of the "idea work" had already been done.

As is often the case, budget was another factor. Since we had just purchased a new home, cash flow was at a minimum. So I began the search for quick, easy, and affordable ideas. I stumbled across new inspiration at SuperMomMoments.com. I loved her simple, yet elegant ideas and attention to detail.

Armed with Super Mom ideas, my own creativity, and a budding almost-6-year-old artist I set out to tackle the tower. While I loved the idea of the invitations at SuperMomMoments, my choice was clear when Little Miss impulsively colored a picture of Rapunzel in her tower one afternoon. What better to adorn our invitations than her very own creation? We scanned the picture, I added some fancy font work, and viola...an invitation masterpiece for all her friends.

Little Miss's original artwork

I kept decorations simple by making these cute little lanterns for the stairs leading to the party area (i.e., the basement). This was perfect since I don't consider myself particularly crafty...I bought some purple lunch sacks (purple of course being Rapunzel's signature color), borrowed a heart-shaped paper punch (I think a sun or moon would have looked better, but I had to use what I had!), and purchased some LED no-flame votive candles at Hobby Lobby.

I also found a template for this fun banner on SuperMomMoments. (For those who've seen the movie, you'll recognize the design from the town festival scene.)

Snacks were inspired by the town festival scene as well...crackers, cheese, and fruit. And what would a Rapunzel party be without pretzel braids? Speaking of braids...I found the idea for the adorable wig pictured above here. It was a perfect addition to our little princess. (Although, in the spirit of full disclosure, it didn't last through the party...remember the part about my not being very crafty? Let's just say my workmanship left much to be desired...but it was cute while it lasted!)

My favorite part of the party was this Wanted poster of Flynn Rider that my brother-in-law so graciously drew for me when he was in town earlier in the week. Three guesses where I got the idea...yep,SuperMomMoments to the rescue again!

The kids loved trying get pin the frying pan right on Flynn's nose. I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or adults. (And to make it even easier, I downloaded the frying pan template here.)

I found so many amazing cake ideas online, but since I was running out of time and already spreading myself thin I knew better than to try to take on a tower cake. I ordered this one from a local bakery. The girls loved it, and it tasted yummy, too...win, win!

Everyone seemed to have a great time, and most importantly my Little Miss princess deemed it "the best day ever!" (Worth it all, right there.)

Moving Day!

My Least Favorite Thing to Do: Waiting

I've had to go back and read my last post several times in the last week as we have still not moved into our new house. Isn't it funny how our perspective can change from the mountain top to the valley? The mountain is the same size, whether you're looking up at it from the bottom or at the summit looking back over how far you've come. However, it seems so much more intimidating from the foot of the mountain than it's peak. And once you've made it to the top, that doesn't mean it's smooth sailing from that point...there's another one just around the corner waiting to be climbed.

That's where we are now...after a year and a half of waiting, praying, searching, and hoping, we finally found our house. We were not only on top of the mountain; we were on top of the world. It is a great house and we were getting it for a great price. Suddenly, we turned a corner and there was another mountain to climb. This one doesn't necessarily require much action on our part...it's simply more waiting. Waiting on others to do their part. Waiting on the process to be completed. You may not know this about me...I don't like to wait. I find it more exhausting and taxing than actually doing something.

But alas, we wait. There's not much else to do at this point. So here we sit....waiting and praying. I must continually remind myself what I wrote before about God's timing being perfect. I still believe that...it's just difficult to remember it. It makes it more difficult that our delay appears to be caused by negligence and oversight on the part of others. That makes it even more difficult to wait. But what else can one do.....simply wait. I've always loved this song, but it means more to me now than ever before...

While I'm Waiting
by John Waller

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Takeing every step in obedience

While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait

I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

Timing is Everything

Two years ago my family and I set out on a journey. We knew it would be quite the adventure, but little did we know we were in for the ride of our lives!

At the time, Little Man was about 6 months old and we knew our little starter home was quickly becoming too "cozy." It was time for a larger home. We also wanted to settle in a different school district before Little Miss started Kindergarten. It just so happened that the small community in which our church is located has great schools, so that became our destination.

It was spring, which I knew is a good time for the real estate market. I figured we could put our house on the market, sell it, and find something to settle in by Fall. (I am a planner...it's just what I do. Even when something is beyond my control--like selling a house--I still need to have a plan.) God must have had a good laugh at that one.

By the time we had our house "market-ready," it was almost September. (You know how it is with small kids...the simplest task like painting a closet becomes a tw0-week project!). I became increasingly frustrated because things were not moving as quickly as I'd hoped, but we finally listed it and had a sign in the yard to prove it! Now it was in God's hands (as if it hadn't been before), and He came through as He always does. We had a contract in less then 3 weeks. Alright! I thought, Now let's get this show on the road. Let's buy a house and get settled.

We looked and looked and looked, but we didn't find what we were looking for. We weren't looking for anything extravagant, but we knew this would be a long-term house for us, so we were kind of picky on some things. And it just wasn't there. We even started looking in other communities, hoping to find the right house. We talked about removing things from our "The House Must Have This..." list, but when it came down to it, we weren't willing to budge on anything. We were getting down to the wire and needed a place to live, so we found a nice duplex to rent right behind our church. We had made it to the area, now we just had to find a house.

We moved into our rental at the end of October 2009. We had signed a 6-month lease, so I resigned myself to the fact that we would be there at least through the winter. I was sure, though, that come Spring we would find our house!

Spring of 2010 arrived and I frantically looked for our house. I scoured the Internet. I drove through neighborhoods. I looked at foreclosures that were in desperate need of repair and thought, Well, maybe we could make this work... I dragged Hubby through house after house that, honestly, I knew wasn't right before we even went in it. I was determined to find our house!

I grew increasingly frustrated, wondering what we were doing wrong. We had prayed about this for years (long before we actually put our house on the market). We firmly believed the move and the timing were right. Why weren't we finding our house? I begged God. If He would just tell me what lesson I was supposed to be learning I would be happy to learn it so we could move!

I took the month of June off to go down south for my sister's wedding and enjoy some time with family. It was not long after returning from that trip that I found the lump in my leg. I began seeing doctors, getting scans, and waiting for results. The whole time, I was still looking at houses. As a matter of fact we found one in July and another in August that we seriously considered making offers on. But neither felt quite right so as disappointing as it was we held off.

My surgery was the end of August, and it wasn't until my recovery that I realized what a blessing our rental was. There were no stairs for me to climb. The duplex and the yard were maintained for us. It has a large handicap-accessible shower in the master bath (who would have thought I needed that when we moved in?) It was literally .5 mile from our church, which was so convenient for those who blessed us with many meals and helped with childcare. The list goes on. In leading us to this rental (which we picked because it was one of two that had a fenced yard for our dog), God had provided for our needs before we even knew they were needs.

The rest of the year was spent recovering from surgeries, undergoing radiation and physical therapy, and finally simply enjoying the holidays with family. At the start of 2011, we declared it to be The Year of the House. This was the year, we would find our house! There was just one small problem...because of the mountain of medical bills, we had to dip into the money from the sale of our house which, of course, had been planned for a down payment.

We still had a sizable amount for a down payment, but we had to adjust our price range a bit from what we had originally looked at. We hadn't found what we wanted in the higher price range, we had no idea how we were going to find what we wanted now. It would have to be God.

A few weeks ago a house that had been on the market since Christmas dropped $29,000. I had noticed it before, but knowing it was out of our price range didn't pay much attention. When the price dropped, it got my attention. I made an appointment to go see it, even then thinking I probably wouldn't like it. I had seen so many houses and not liked them, I was skeptical. But this one was different. Not only did I like it, I kind of loved it! There were a few little things I wish were different; we know we're not going to find the perfect house...but this one came really close!

I called Hubby and we went to see it the next day and made an offer that afternoon. We heard it was a short sale, so we were prepared to wait a few months for a response. We had a response in 24 hours and negotiated a price. We are set to close this week and MOVE on THIS WEEKEND!!

It occurred to me a couple of months ago that had we found a house last Spring, my first memories of it would be surgery, recovery, cancer, and treatment. Instead, I am thankful for our little duplex which was such a blessing through such a difficult time. Now I can leave those difficult memories behind in our "temporary" home. I can start fresh in a new house and a new neighborhood.

One more thing...our house is just a few streets from where we've been renting. Little Miss will stay in the same school and already knows three girls in our new neighborhood). God got us as close as possible to our final destination. We simply had to wait for the right time. I'm so glad we did.

"There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the sun"

--Ecclesiastes 3:1