New Fish Tanks

Sam, Alex and I went to Walmart the other day and they decided to spend their allowance money on new fish tanks for their room. Alex chose the purple one with a very large god fish. Sam chose the green with 6 little tiny fish. (Could they be more different!?!?!) :D Alex's fish is named Lava. Sam's are , Volcano, Joey, Henry, Sammie Jr, Speedie, and Angel. Gotta love the family pets. :)

Saturday Morning Breakfast

Adam left for work this morning around 9:30 am; the girls and I decided on such a cold morning, it was time for some blueberry pancakes. :D This is a pic of my plate...with blueberry tea.



Sam stood by the pancakes waiting to flip them. Alex mixed up her English Breakfast Tea with some milk. :) (It's fun that they both have distinctly different taste buds.)
Alex's were done first. So, she took them in to watch some cartoons...I mean it is Saturday after all. :p

Sam was busy flipping them and smiling when she did it right.

All of the pots and pans were out of the oven because after breakfast I would be baking. The oven was pre-heating.)

Last minute I offered them Whipped Topping. (like at Cracker Barrel :D) They jumped at it. A great morning and then off to play outside they went. Good Times.

Homemade Play Dough

Sam came home frustrated the other day. During Art Club she finally got to work with her favorite medium...clay and they only gave the children about 30 minutes. She was so sad. (She loves sculpting things.)

So, with the girls having today off, I made some homemade play dough for her to make things as long as she wanted too!

They loved that the dough comes off the stove warm. (I love that their isn't any color in the dough...and I won't find pieces of orange and red all over the place.) :)


You just put it in some containers and it keeps for up to three months!

I've included the recipe for others who might like to try this with their children. :D Enjoy!

Homemade Play Dough

3 cups of flour

1 1/2 cups of salt

6 tsp. cream of tartar

3 tbsp. of oil

3 cups of water

Dissolve the salt in the water and then dump the rest of the ingredients in the pot. Stir quickly as it will turn into dough really fast. (I had the ingredients already measured out in seperate little cups ready to pour in when it was ready.)

Knead the dough for 1-2 minutes until it is play dough consistancy. Viola! Play Dough! (If you want colors, seperate the dough and add food coloring. I've done this step before...only to wind up with a mess...so...we stick to plain and let them paint it once it dries. Two crafts in one.)

PS...although not toxic...it could make a child or animal sick to their stomach to eat this...there is a lot of salt in it!!!!! Just a warning!

New Artwork

We finally got up our new artwork from James French! We just love it. It's called Lock and if you are interested in seeing or purchasing any of his artwork you can visit him at www.thejamesconcept.com. :D

More Homemade Goodies

Two nights ago I finished this bag. I just used fabric I had in my storage tub under our bed. It was a fun project and I got a new purse/tote to use. :D

Growing up my Mom used to make these clover rolls for sides at dinner. I just found a recipe for them and added my own healthy twist with three kinds of flour. I can't wait for my Mom to see this picture...she loves these rolls. ;)

Homemade Pillows

Inspired by my Sis-In-Law, Andrea, I've gotten my sewing machine back out! :D This is such a fun and useful hobby. Today, while shopping, I picked up a single yard of fabric on clearance for $4.00 a yard. Shockingly cheap for the weight of this fabric. I brought it home and in exactly one hour...I had 2 new pillows for the ottoman. Fun, Fun!

I'm getting ready to redecorate the kitchen a bit and I've decided on a deep red as accents to both our living room and kitchen. Bringing together both rooms. ;) Making these pillows was a great way to get started!

Thanks for the inspiration Andrea! Much love. :)

Alex Turns 9!

Our baby girl, Alex turned 9 today! We can't believe how old our girls are getting. It's just amazing. After blowing out the candles on her strawberry "little debbie's" cake :D she squealed...this was the best birthday ever! LOL

All weekend long starting on Saturday morning...Alex got her way...as Sam's birthday gift...she woke up early to play with her sister (she really loves to sleep in...so this was very generous on her part. :D) Alex got to choose where we ate...where we sat at the theater (they saw Alvin and the Chipmunks again while we watched Juno)...she was on cloud nine when Daddy brought in the blue slushies!
She was so excited when we took her out shopping last night. Grandma and Grandpa had given her $10. for her birthday...we chipped in $25. and she got a new Tomb Raider game and she couldn't hardly wait to play it. She and Sam jumped in the shower together...they didn't want the other playing the game first! Oh, man...do you remember being that excited??? We actually had to make them eat their Taco Bell like it was broccoli and peas! It was really fun.



I kept coming in to see all the levels and Lara's cool house with all of the "sweet" rooms! :D LOL To hear your children talk in a different style than your own is so funny. Everything is sweet this or there are knuckles clashing to symbolize something they did that was awesome! Too funny. I love being a mom!:D

Snowy New Year

I just had to take a few pictures of our weather outside today. :O I can not remember a winter with more snow than this one. It's just shocking. When I opened our garage door...the snow was up to my knees and I had to start shoveling before I could even take a step outside.

Talent Show at Church 12-31-07

Happy New Year Everyone. :D Last night we had a Talent Show at our church. It was amazing to see all the talent our little NTC has! AMAZING!!!! There was comedy, singing...dancing...a body movie (a scene acted out with music and no words...this brought tears to everyone in the congregation)...and artists got to show their beautiful works. And they were all truly...beautiful. I didn't take a ton of pictures because I knew how they turn out because of the size of our church, but here are a few of the highlights we did manage. :D
Mom Conn was the first member of our family to show her talent. We got to see her picture of Ian, and two watercolors. Everyone was just amazed by how great they are. (Of course!) :p Then she shared her testimony about art and picking it back up and I cried. What a beautiful story of God's ability to restore that which was lost!

Next came Sammie. The audience ROARED with applause when she finished! She was so nervous and still had incredible timing and hit every note. We were so proud of her.

I put Alex's pics first because she was called back up at the end to lead us all in the song, "Awesome God". :D The minute she got up on the platform everyone went..."Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." She did so great...we were so proud of her as well. Heather Ramsdell commented later, "Sure we asked her if she wanted to be on the kids worship team and she said...no. Then she ends up leading us all. Now if that isn't just like God to call out her gift. LOL". Like I said it was just an amazing night.


Heather Ramsdell's daughter Gabe sang a veggie tales song and had others join her in the end. (This kid can sing too...great control.) Sammie is in there somewhere. :D

This is Don Curry ya'll! LOL He was so funny...we all laughed and laughed. This was obviously a skit, but holy cow was it a good one.

Meghan, Mary, and Jae-Jae did a skit on Christians Who Don't Do Anything (another song from veggie tales) and Adam played the music for them. They were so funny...you can just make out Adam in this picture as he is smiling so much I had to try and get a pic of it. They were a riot!:D

Here we all were in practice.

Who were the people to go on last, last night? Adam and I. It's becoming a tradition for us at this point. We were the last to be water baptized the year before...and last night I sang a solo for the 1st time in 30 years. Adam played the music for me. He is the most wonderful husband ever. I mentioned to him that I think I would like to do Live For Today just this week. His only opportunity to get the music ready was Saturday night. He spent the few hours we did have finding the right beat, preparing the chords and creating the right sound to play. It was such freedom to get to sing again...and not just in my living room. Woohoo! God is just so good.:)

This is the most special gifted man I have ever known and I am so privileged to call him my husband, my friend, and my partner for life.

Happy New Year ya'll. Posperity, living life more abundantly and happiness, this is my prayer for all those we know and love. God Bless.