Mid-week craft

Today we made a wind-sock
What you will need:
Large piece of paper
paint
stamps or shaped sponges
glue
paper cut into shapes
Stickers
streamers or tissue paper cut in long strips
yarn or ribbon (for top)
tape or a stapler

So I let Autumn decorate the paper with all sorts of materials I had. She stamped on some flowers and butterflies, added stickers, and glued on shapes that I cut out. You can use anything (noodles, crayons, paint, whatever you can find)
After she decorated it I taped it into a tube, them I taped a piece of ribbon at the top and had Autumn help tape the streamers at the bottom. You can also use a stapler in you have one on hand.

Today is a nice breezy day, so we will hang our wind sock on the patio.

Wordless Wednesday

Easter 2011

We had a wonderful Easter. Autumn and Madison were spoiled by their grandma's. It was a fun and relaxing day.

Here is Autumn's Easter basket the night before.

This year we lined up eggs down the hall leading to the kitchen table where there was a cross. Each egg had a letter in it. After Autumn collected all the eggs we put the letters together.

The letters read, Jesus is Risen. I think we will do something like this every year.

Then Autumn and Madison got to look in there "Love" baskets.

We got Autumn a book about the real meaning of Easter. We read that after she opened her basket.

After our morning at home we headed to church, service was awesome. It was such a blessing to see people accepting Christ and wanting to give their lives to HIM.

After church we headed to my brothers house to spend the day.
Here is Autumn with her love basket from her Grammy and Pop, she also got one from my G-ma.

Then we did an egg hunt with Ryan and Autumn. They had so much fun running around looking for eggs.

Autumn checking out all her eggs

Madison opening her love basket. She got clothes and a cute Easter bib

Autumn got some cute outfits and some books and candy of coarse.

The kiddos

sisters

Our family

We had such a blessed Easter and hope you did too.

Coloring Eggs

This was Autumn's first year coloring eggs. She had fun

She wanted Tom to put the eggs in all the colors

Look at those colorful eggs

Hope everyone has a blessed Easter.
He is Risen!!

His Grace is sufficient

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.

Each time he said, " My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness."

So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses,

So that the power of Christ can work through me.

That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses,

and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles

that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

-2 Corinthians 12:8-10

So, these past few weeks I have just really been struggling with Autumn. It seemed like we have been really butting heads. (I know, a grown woman butting heads with a 2 year old!) But, I was just having a really hard time. I was exhausted, overwhelmed, and DONE! Not sure if it is just the terrible two's or what, but I have had a bad attitude and really struggling with her and I just getting along. I was reading this blog of someone who is on my babycenter and just began to cry. The verse she posted the words she said. It was me. Well needless to say is was just a fresh reminder that I need to bring things to Him and only through Him am I strong. Satan is on the attack and he would love to make me feel like I am doing a horrible job as a mother and that I am not good enough. I just need to keep my eyes on Jesus and seek Him in everything. I know I am not perfect but with Jesus I can accomplish great things. Thank you Lord for bringing these words to life and thank you for the two beautiful girls you have given me. May I always remember they are a gift from you.

More fun ideas

I did this activity with Autumn this afternoon. I put down a blanket in the kitchen and took a large plastic bowl, filled it with ice cubes and then gave her a large spoon and a scoop and an empty cup and bowl. She seriously played with the ice for 25 minutes. Then she said "hey lets eat lunch on here". So we had a picnic and then she played with it for about 5 more minutes before we cleaned up. Super easy activity, especially when you can't go outside to play.

Ok so this one is really easy too. It is a shaker, so lets get ready to make some music.
What you'll need:
1 paper plate
about 10 noodles (spiral, macaroni, ect..)
Markers/crayons
stickers
Clear packing tape

All you do it let your little one color the back side of the plate, then fold in half and put packing tape across the entire opening minus one small area. Let child drop in the noodles and seal with more tape. Add some stickers and your ready to make some music.

You can make it even more fun by turning on some music and marching through the house making music. Sounds silly but it's amazing to see the look on their face when you play silly with them.

Don't miss out on the blessings God has for you today.

Craft Ideas for the little ones

So I have decided to start blogging about some of the crafts I do with Autumn so that we can share our ideas with our friends. I will try to post a few times a month and see how it goes. So if your looking for ideas come check it out. Hopefully you can do these with your little ones too.

Today we did a "stained glass" craft.
What you will need:
Glue
water
bowl
paint brush
tissue paper squares
and a piece of construction paper cut into shape of your choice (We did a cross for Easter)

Pour some glue into the bowl and add a tiny bit of water. This will make the glue more paintable. Let your child paint on the paper with the glue and then have then stick on the tissue paper squares. Let dry and your done. So simple and fun.

Here is Autumn's when she finished.

This craft can be done for any season/Holiday. You can do shades of green on a clover for St. Patricks or Shades of yellows on a chick cut-out for spring. Be creative and have fun with your little one.

Weekend Fun

We had a fun and busy weekend. On Saturday we participated in the Pregnancy Resource center of San Bernardino's Walk for Life. It was such a blessing to be there with a group of people who love the Lord and were there to be the voice of the unborn. Life is such gift, now we just need to get everyone else to understand that. We walked a 2 mile route around San Bernardino to bring awareness to the center and also to hope that lives were touched and maybe minds changed about abortion.

It was so hot on Saturday that we decided after the kids naps we would go swimming. What a great day to swim. This was Madison's first time in the pool and she did great.

Here she is sporting her swimsuit.

Daddy put her toes in and she fussed a little. I don't blame her it was pretty chilly

But after a little while she seemed fine

Autumn was born to swim. That girl loves water. Her and Ryan were having so much fun jumping into the pool

Madison was just hanging out in her float. I thought she was going to fall asleep

I think Autumn didn't stop until we left. She was shivering but just wanted to go, go, go.

Sunday was a nice relaxing day. We got a few things done around the house and just played outside. Autumn took Madison for a ride in her car. She finally seems to be enjoying this car that we have had for over a year. She was so scared of it at first but today she seemed to enjoy it.

Feeling totally blessed this weekend. Hope everyone has a wonderful week

Madison-7 months old

Madison you are 7 months old now.

What have you been up to:
You cut your first tooth
You are sitting up so well now
You are trying all sorts of new foods
You sleep on your tummy
You wake up once at night to eat, but we are working on getting you to sleep all night
You are so happy
You love to scream now, when you want something
You can get your paci in your mouth all by yourself
You are such a blessing!

Pictures done by the wonderful Diane loveless photography

We snapped a few pics of the girls together.