Following Suit

I finally changed my header to a scrapbooking page, too. Even non-scrapbookers had them. It was time for me to catch up.

I Passed!

Tonight was the last night of my cake decorating class. Here is my final cake:

(Meems - I'll be bringing this over for you, tomorrow. Hope you're hungry.)

The class was fun and all, but I don't think I'll be taking "course 2 & 3." Not for now anyway. I'll just play around with what I've learned.

First Day of School

This weekend, I found a garage sale on my block that had a bunch of school workbooks. I bought a few pre-K and K ones with the future possibility of homeschooling in mind. This afternoon, I had nothing planned with the kids, so I decided to let Z try one of the pages from a getting ready for Kindergarten book. He could do it! I, of course, talked him through the page, but he understood and was able to figure it out. Here it is, my 2 1/2 yr old's first schoolwork page:

I am not starting homeschooling just yet, but I think I'll have to find some more pre-k activity books for him.

Not to exclude the genius of his little brother, I handed Ca a pot holder today, and he put it on and said, hot or "ah-ts" as he says it. He knew what it was for. And yesterday, Chris had set out his socks for church on the living room chair and left the room. He came back to find them missing. He told me that Ca had run off with his socks, and I told him that I saw him put something in the dresser drawer. Sure enough, Ca had put Chris' socks back in his sock drawer. Thanks for cleaning up, kid.

It's a BOY!!

Ok, no, we didn't have another baby, but I finally did a page from Z's birth. I'm taking WAY too long on each page. I just love adding lots of details. I guess one day, when I'm old and gray (when the world runs out of hair dye) I'll catch up. TFL!

Girls Night In

Tomorrow night (friday), I'm hosting a girls night. You don't have to get dressed, no money, no babysitter, you don't even have to leave your house. And if you live out of town, don't worry about it. You can still come. We are meeting in a chatroom to hang out. So get your kids in bed, get out your snacks, throw on your pj's, and meet me right HERE at 9:00pm. Password: GIRLS NIGHT See you soon!

Funny Clowns

Today, in my cake decorating class, we learned how to make clowns. She even showed us how to make clowns laying on their belly and falling off the cake. I'll have to try those another time. I know it's a little rough, but here's my clown cake. It would have looked a little better, but it took about 3 minutes after I got home before Z stuck his finger in it. I was tempted to photoshop it, but I didn't.

So if you're needing a cake for anything, and you don't mind it being a little homemade looking, I'd be happy to make it for you. I need the practice and I certainly don't want to keep making our family cakes every week.

On Father's Day . . .

We got the camera out . . .Daddy and his boys

Still is impossible to take a picture of two toddlers.

Angela highlighted my hair. It turned out REALLY highlighted (can't tell as much in this picture). How do I tell her I hate it? JUST KIDDING, ANG! I LOVE IT!!Thought this one of Z blowing the train whistle was cool. I took a bunch of pictures of him with his train set. I'm sure this will go on that page.

Kuddos To Pastor T

Have I told you how much I love our church? The music is wonderful, the preaching is excellent, the childcare is bliss.
But . . . , that's not what I'm blogging about. I wanted to blog a little of my sermon's notes from this morning's sermon because it gave me insight to something I had never seen before. So sit back and open your Bible with me to Matthew 3:17.
"And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
2 things every child needs to know from their parents:
1) That they are loved.
2) That they are pleasing.
When a child knows these 2 things, they can take on the world. God said these things of Jesus right before he was led into the desert to be tempted by Satan.
I John 2:15-17:
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." NKJ or in the Message:
"Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity."
Those 3 things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life were what Jesus was tempted by in the very next chapter, the very next verse after God said he loved him, and was pleased in him.
Matt.4:3 "The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." - the lust of the flesh
Matt.4:5-6 "Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." - the pride of life
Matt.4:8-9 "Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." - the lust of the eyes
Jesus was able to overcome the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and pride of life because he knew his Father loved him and was pleased by him.
Equip your children with the strength to overcome the world. Make sure they always know that they are loved and that you delight in them.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

I've Determined . . .

. . . that it's impossible to take a decent picture of a one and two year old together. IMPOSSIBLE!
Here's my attempt:

WOW!! That's green!

Did I Bite Off More Than I Can Chew?

I did finally decide to go to that cake decorating class. I debated a long time because I was having to go alone, but I'm glad I went. It was at Hobby Lobby and in the classroom, music was playing the whole time. This first class was non-interactive, so we just sat and tried to hear the teacher over "Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord" or whatever they were playing. To add to the hard of hearing, I was a little late because of a mixup at the checkout to pay, so I sat at the back. Then, to top if off, sitting in front of me were 3 Hispanic ladies, two of which did not speak English, so the third was translating the whole time. Now, to make the frosting. . .open the eyes of my heart, Lord . . . Para un frostingo lo mas burrito enchilada. Never have I felt more ADD. I did learn a little, and I found out that the lady sitting next to me has two kids about 6 months older than my two. AND she's a stay at home mom. Nice. She invited me to a playgroup with her church, but I think Chris scheduled something at the same time. Maybe next time. There is a HUGE list of things to bring for next time including a frosted cake. Where do I buy one of those? Ok, I know, I'm suppose to make it myself. I didn't realize there'd be homework. I think I'll have to bring a suitcase to pack everything. It almost felt like an Avon party with all the stuff she was showing that you can buy. This is only $2, this is only $4, but if you got all of it, dang, would I be in trouble. I don't think she was trying to sell anything, I think she was just showing us all the stuff available. I'm also realizing that I'm going to be making a cake every week. What am I going to do with all this cake? Maybe we should have a party. Every week for the next month. For a while, we were eating leftovers from the princess castle cake that I made my niece( http://camezisthoughts.blogspot.com/ ) and every time we did, Z would sing "Happy Birthday to Zion". Her birthday kept going and going and going. Did you see the size of that cake? and going. We'll be singing "Happy Birthday" for much longer it seems.

Painting Question

I have a dresser that is already stained and I want to paint it distressed black with the wood showing through the corners, etc. Any experts in the house? Don't worry, I won't casually invite you over for a cup of coffee and then hand you a paint brush, I just wanted some advice. Do I need to sand and prime it first? Do I paint it black, sand the corners, and then put polyurethane on it or sand it last?

Reflection

Zane, I want you to always see yourself the way God sees you. You are so special to Him and He loves you so much. What you believe about yourself will affect everything you do. Believe what God says about you and He'll be able to use you to fulfill your destiny.

Bullets Smullets!

Yes, it's one of those bullet blogs. Sorry.

• Ca is a walking boy, now. He's been taking steps for the last 2 months, but just in the last week, he's officially walking.
• Ca has gotten 6 new teeth in the last few months and I think 4 more are coming. So grouchy.
• I gave Z a shirt to put on the other day and he threw it down and said "Ga- shirt." I starting looking through his clothes trying to figure out what he was talking about. His sleeveless shirt. The first time I tried to get him to wear it, he didn't want to and so I told him it was a muscle shirt. "Ga" For those of you who haven't seen Leapfrog's Letter Factory, the G says "Ga" and curls a weight when doing it. So he wanted to wear his "Ga-shirt."
• Z's favorite lullaby - "ABC's" It's his only request.
• I got a haircut recently and I'm not happy with it. A friend of mine suggested that I thin it out. I have thinning scissors. They look like normal scissors, but one of the blades has teeth instead of being solid so it only cuts parts of the hair. When you use them, your cut hair stays on your head until you brush it out. It's really fun to randomly chop at your hair and then pull chunks of hair out. It's REALLY fun not to tell your husband what you are doing and pull the chunks out in front of him. "You think YOUR stressed?!?!" hee hee
• I'll let your know if I like my new haircut now. I might have to go back to my hairdresser and lie to her about cutting my own hair. I'll just tell her I couldn't get in with her so I went to some crazy shop and they really messed up.
• A friend of mine just found out that she's pregnant with her second. She's been talking about the future of trying for a long time and this last month was the FIRST month they tried and they got pregnant. COME ON!!! If it's a girl like she is planning on it being, God and I are going to have to have a serious talk.
• I bought me a sundress today. It's casual enough to wear to the park, but I could wear it to church, too. Finally, took the opportunity to go shopping without kids and was determined to buy SOMETHING.
• I haven't signed up for that cake decorating class yet. My friend backed out so I'd have to go by myself. Not sure if I'm that brave.
• Well, I promised dh I'd make smoothies, so better get to work. (ok, really, it's MY addiction, but I'll blame him anyway).