{this moment}

One day late. :)

My son A has this friend K who he has known since 1st grade when they were in the same class. They were in the same class again in 2nd grade but K left the school after that. We continue to stay in touch and A gets invitations to K's birthday parties. I'm thankful for enduring friendships.Pin It

Memories photo board

I saw this idea at Ben Franklin in Redmond, oh about a month or two ago! I finally completed this simple project.

Materials needed:
- board - this was $17 at Ben Franklin, yes a little pricey but it was so convenient to have it already painted and just the right size.
- clothespins (I found ones that were already painted white but you could paint your own)
- jute/rope
- duct tape
- vinyl word/phrase - this was $3.99 at Ben Franklin. The vendor is Decorating Your Life. Ben Franklin carries lots of phrases and words at the Redmond store and also the store in Monroe.

Instructions:

1. carefully stick the vinyl word on the board (instructions are on the back of the package)
2. wrap the jute around the board. Use duct tape to hold it on.
3. put the clothespins on.
4. put your photos/postcards/tickets on the board and admire.Pin It

A St. Patrick's Day snack

I pulled together this green snack in honour of St. Patrick's Day at the last minute.

Ingredients:
- green apple
- kiwi
- green grapes

You could also use honeydew melon, green pears, or anything else you come up with.

If you make this, be aware that the kiwis shouldn't be ripe. Mine kept falling off the sticks.Pin It

One Thousand Gifts #298 to 307

298. Cheery mini daffodils that I received, along with a meal from a dear lady from church.

299. Washing my hair again. After my surgery and before my stitches were taken out, I was instructed to keep soap/shampoo away from my incision. This made washing my hair really hard! I would hold a towel over my neck and try to keep the water from running down my neck. Also, turning my neck was hard. I only attempted it twice. Once those stitches were out, I was so happy to wash my hair again.

300. Meal planning again.

301. Nothing like mentioning the word cancer on Facebook to get old friends to call you. :) Hi Carrie!

302. The Bible miniseries on the History channel.
It may not be perfect but I'm so glad that shows like it are being made.

303. Crocuses in my messy yard.

304. The public library which supplied me with ample videos, audiobooks, and regular books to keep me company while I recovered from thyroid surgery.

305. My friend Sally arrived in town from PA. She will be here until June, I think.

306. Showered with so many blessings - meals, transportation, child care, prayer, and phone calls from friends during my surgery and recovery. This particular meal was incredible! Look at all the accompaniments! Pulled pork was the main dish.

307. I'm excited that gardening season is almost here. I hope to plant some peas this week.Pin It

{this moment}

Presidents Parade - a tradition for the 2nd Graders at school.

My little guy was assigned to be John F Kennedy. In this photo he is reciting his facts about the president. He happily wore the suit jacket I found at Goodwill, the white dress shirt, and the tie. He's also wearing a paper campaign button we made at home using an image of an actual Kennedy campaign button. I wanted him to stand out from all the boys in dark suits.

The girl next to him is "Jackie." Note the pillbox hat. :)Pin It

{this moment}

From Monday night's Blue and Gold Banquet. 

C's advancement in cub scouts from wolves to bears.

J is one of the leaders.

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Northwest Flower and Garden Show 2013

Going to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show has become my annual February tradition. Just when we despair of spring ever arriving, this feast for the senses comes along and cheers up gardeners from miles around. There was a special section for Canadians to have their plant purchases inspected by customs (to speed their border crossing) so people travel great distances for this show.

I went by myself this year. None of my friends were able to accompany me. I did enjoy the freedom to look at as many displays and booths as I liked (until it was time to pick up my boys from school).

The display gardens weren't as stunning as in other years. I did love the Hobbit themed one, though. (Remember to click on the photos to enlarge them.)

There was plenty of whimsy, which I love. The theme was movies.
I found someone from the Wizard of Oz.

This garden had a western, dry theme so the designer added some horses.

One trend in gardening which I like is the mini, fairy gardens. Note the bridge:

One day I'll get around to making one.

There was a section dedicated to floral arranging.

I wanted to take this entire arbor home with me.

Here's a closer look:

I love the vintage fabric!

I took lots of pictures of sheds. They are so charming.

This shed with a chandelier inside would be perfect for me!

I love this plant but it din't have a label. I need to look up what it is. So unique!

Lots of pink flowers.

Another beautiful arbor:

My favourite section was the Vintage Garden Market which was like a mini Ruffles and Rust. I came home with a pillow made from vintage fabric, a milkglass vase,

a white mirror, 

and a white and purple dahlia to plant. I traveled by bus so it was tricky holding on to my mirror, my bags, and my camera on a crowded bus! I arrived home tired and happy. A fun outing to look forward to every year.

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One Thousand Gifts #289 to #297

I'm determined to keep counting my gifts even during my current challenge. I am having surgery next week to remove part of my thyroid which has nodules on it, one of which is likely cancerous.

289. Friends who have quickly offered to make meals, drive my boys, and watch them while I have surgery and recover.

290. Living in a city with top notch surgeons.

291. A very short wait time for surgery.

292. Valentine roses from my husband.

293. My husband who shares my desire to create homemade valentines with our kids.

294. 50% off day at the thrift store.

295. Our friend Mary invited us over for Presidents Day and the boys tried out their new zip line.

296. a beautiful amaryllis that is blooming now.

297. my oldest son makes us laugh by falling asleep in unusual places.

This photo shows him asleep underneath a beanbag chair.Pin It

Classroom Valentine Exchange 2013

Valentine's Day is a big deal for school age kids. They look forward to giving and receiving valentines to their classmates as well as making or decorating boxes. This year was pretty over the top for our family.

My boys both love Minecraft. If you don't know what it is, I won't bore you with the details. It is a very popular computer game. We made a "Steve" box which A loves!

I found minecraft valentines on Etsy made by Little Sketchy Cards. I bought only enough for the boys in his class.

For the girls in the class, my husband came up with an idea. LED lights behind red hearts, held in a styrofoam ball with a magnet on the back.

For my youngest son, we made a tank box, covered in camo duct tape.

The top part even moves. His classmates loved it. I had planned to make these bomb valentines for his classmates

but I quickly realized that this would take FOREVER since he has 23 classmates and the amount of candy required would be incredibly expensive. Those are Rolo candies. We made 3 of them for his best friends and then did these "You're a Star!" valentines (with a Starburst candy attached) for the rest of the class.

We were all up late last night finishing up valentines!

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{this moment}

This is actually from the week before but a fun memory.

My hubby took the boys out to get new hoodies.
When they returned, C was excited to show me his new hat.




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One Thousand Gifts #281 to #288

281. my oldest son agreed to throw away all our remaining sippy cups

282. (almost) blooming amarylisses - I had almost forgotten about them. I bought them before Christmas and they seemed to do nothing at all. I suppose they are just slow growers.

283. my youngest son got past 100 Accelerated Reader points! (Students take quizzes after reading books, harder books get more points.)

284. two day to sleep in! (two days off from school)

285. I lost a Starbucks card that had over 20 dollars loaded on it. Yikes! I was able to contact Starbucks and they transferred the amount to another card. So thankful to have that weight off of my shoulders.

286. lengthening days. My boys were able to play outside (in the light) with neighbour boys at 5 pm on Friday.

287. my oldest son unloaded the dishwasher without being asked.

288. that lost Starbucks card was found! We had test driven a car and it fell below the seat. A kind salesperson found it for us.Pin It

Sad Anniversary

I try to be pretty upbeat on my blog but today is a very sad day. Today is the 40th anniversary of the legalization of abortion in the U.S. Did you know that over 55 million babies have been aborted since 1973? It has been estimated that an abortion is done about every 30 seconds in America!

This past Sunday was Sanctity of Life Sunday and I was so proud of my pastor for speaking about the tragedy of abortion from the pulpit. Too many Christian leaders want to avoid the subject all together. It isn't a political issue! It is a moral issue!

I found this encouraging article -  You Can Change Our Culture's Mind on Abortion.

40 Days for Life is coming up in February and I plan to participate again. It has been a lonely ministry for me. I would love to get more of my sisters in Christ to join me to peacefully pray outside of Planned Parenthood on a regular basis. I usually go once a week for an hour during the 40 days which coincides with Lent. If you are one of my local friends, would you prayerfully consider this? There are 40 Days groups in Kenmore and in Everett that have Christians praying in front of PPs.

For those who would like another way to practically help those with facing a critical life decision, there are pregnancy help centers all over the U.S. and Canada who need money, volunteers, and donations of supplies like maternity clothes, baby clothes, etc. They also need our prayer! There are two local pregnancy centers in my area, one in Kenmore and one in Everett.

Let's stand up for life!Pin It

One Thousand Gifts #272 to #280

I'm so behind in counting my gifts! Time to get counting again.

272. A sunny day and a walk around Greenlake yesterday.

273. My boys who enjoy each others company - most of the time!

274. Playing board games with my family. This is C's thinking face!
Our current favourites are Bubble Talk and Pit.

275. Downton Abbey Season 3 on PBS - a great way to spend winter Sunday evenings, watching with my hubby.

276. Our new dishwasher was installed this week and it is so quiet! We can actually talk in the kitchen now! I got a Kitchen Aid from Conklin Appliance, if you're curious.

277. Our family hasn't had a cold or flu yet this year (or in December).

278. My hubby and I went on a fun date last weekend.

279. Hair colour. :)

280. A pleasant, non-pressuring car salesperson. We have started the process of looking for a "new to us" vehicle. Our first stop was a local dealership since I wanted to test drive a used Honda Odyssey. The woman who helped us was so nice and I was pleasantly surprised how easy the van was to drive and park. No purchase made yet. Still shopping.


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Goals for 2013

Happy 2013!!

Do you make resolutions? Some people decide on one word for the year but I've never figured out a good one to encapsulate my goals and plans. I looked up ideas for "one word" and came up with this:

• Joy
• Change
• Simplify
• Trust
• Listen
• Less
• Faith
• Play
• Here
• Fearless
• Discipline
• Nurture
• Patience
• Intentional
• Hope
• Balance
• Give
• Yes

Maybe my word for 2013 could be Intentional?

My goals/resolutions for this year are as follows:

1. Read through the Bible this year. I've read through a large portion of the New Testament before but the Old Testament is a challenge. I'm using the One Year Bible which has an OT passage, a NT passage, something from the Psalms and a passage from Proverbs to keep the daily reading varied.

I read this recently on Ann Voskamp's blog and it spoke to me. Will you spend your days meditating on His Word or your worries?

2. Lose some weight, tone up. What a cliche, I know. I'm convinced that my metabolism went WAY down after I hit age 40. I'm going to try to reduce the carbs in my diet. My friend's husband lost a lot of weight on the paleo diet (which has no carbs) so that is inspiring. What's paleo? Here's a good explanation of it.

I go to the gym pretty regularly but I need to increase the number of times per week that I go, plus spend longer on the eliptical machine or the exercise bike. I bought a Jillian Michaels DVD but it scares me a little. :)

3. I hope to spruce up some rooms in our house. The master bath I hope to repaint and retile. The playroom may be changing. The boys don't use it for playing much anymore. They like to play board games like Stratego, Pit, Monopoly, and create with Lego. The room might become more of an office for my hubby and a craft room for me.  Having a craft area would be exciting for me - to have a place to spread out and work on paper crafts, other than the dining room table. The sad part is that a big section of the playroom contains a surprisingly well organized and well-equipped kid craft area. My kids just don't craft anymore. I will probably find a good place to donate my supplies. Sniff, sniff!

I'd love to know what your resolutions/goals/plans are for 2013! Maybe you have one word?

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Christmas Photos 2012

Well, Christmas is over. That went fast. My parents came to visit us for Christmas. They arrived on Christmas Eve, in time for the service at our church. For the first time since our church was formed in 2006, we had a Christmas Eve service that wasn't held in Seattle. We loved going to a service so much closer to home.

The highlight of the service was the choir. I could have participated but I decided that driving to the evening practices was a sacrifice I wasn't willing to make. They sang three beautiful songs. Maybe my friend Linda can tell me the names? I can't remember what they were other than Gabriel's Message.

Here is our little family. Thanks Anna for taking the photo.

As for waiting to open gifts on Christmas morning, I thought my boys would be much more anxious to get going with the opening but I forgot that they now have Minecraft to keep them occupied first thing in the morning.

My youngest son loves gag gifts.

We even got Grandpa to model the new glasses. I hope all his friends see this photo. :)

My boys continue to love Lego. Here is the Brick Bible - the Old Testament done in Lego.

J got a Canadian Olympic hockey sweater but I didn't get a good photo of it. I'll be getting a dishwasher and a minivan in January so no big presents were under the tree for me. I got some smoked salmon. Yum!

My hubby gave me this beautiful card.

We had our Christmas dinner in the afternoon, at about 2:45 pm.  We had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, asparagus, rolls, and cranberry sauce.

I was very happy with how the meal turned out. I tried brining the turkey following The Pioneer Woman's instructions. To brine a turkey you soak it overnight in water and salt and spices.

The turkey was delicious! My boys both got to have their very own drumstick.

A privilege of being in a small family!

I put together this centerpiece using materials from Michael's (the hurricane candle holder and the candle ring).

We do Christmas crackers every year. This is a British tradition. I'm surprised how many places sell crackers, though. I found lots at Cost Plus World Market and at TJ Maxx and Marshalls. My boys are reading the jokes from inside the crackers.

Crackers always have a paper crown inside, along with a joke and sometimes a small toy.

my parents

On Boxing Day, aka the day after Christmas for you Americans, my parents returned home to Victoria. We were so thankful they were healthy enough to be with us this Christmas.

J's Dad lives very far away and isn't able to visit at Christmastime. This is C talking to him on the phone.

Here's our Christmas tree. I didn't decorate it. C did most of the decorating. He enjoyed it.

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