Earth Month

Well, I didn't get to it on Earth Day, but I'm going to get to it now. It's Earth month, so I guess I'm still within the right time frame :).

Scripture tells us that, "The Earth is the Lord's, and everything in it." Psalm 139:7. We were created from dust, and to dust we shall return. God created Adam and Eve, and then had them live in a garden... with the earth, with His creation. That is what we are created for- to be part of the earth that He created. The earth is the Lord's, and we should take great care with everything that he has given to us. God speaks to us in so many ways, through Scripture, prayer, sermons, friends, but he also speaks to us through his creation. This spring, I have made it a point to spend as much time outdoors as possible. Now, anyone who knows me, knows that this is not necessarily an easy thing for me. I didn't grow up loving to be outside... I was a book worm. I was always inside doing school work or reading. I played some sports, but unless I was practicing or playing sports, I never went outside. I want my kids to be different. I want them to love the outdoors, and to love exploring and playing with everything that God has blessed us with. Which means... I need to teach them how to properly take care of it, and I need to practice it!
Since getting married and doing our own thing, raising kids and making/spending our own money, we've started doing things pretty differently than our families. I think our families would consider us "crazy-greeny". We don't think we are... we don't think that we've bought into a lot of the hype or gone the complete opposite direction as we were raised, but, we definitely are making some changes. Even making changes that, almost 7 years ago when we got married, we never thought we would make! Here are some things that we do around the house to be good stewards of God's gift... added bonus- they save us money too!
1. We cloth diaper/cloth wipe- saves on trash in the landfills, and it saves our kiddo's skin from the chemicals in the dipes. (Now, we do use disposable dipes at times, but for the most part we use cloth- and we prefer it.)
2. We use rags to clean the house and to clean our kiddos when they're a mess- this saves us money bc we rarely have to buy paper towels, and it also saves us on trash day.
3. We have stopped using clorox wipes (those of you who have known me a long time will understand the deep bond that I have with clorox wipes... I do believe there is a video somewhere of me professing my love for clorox wipes during my college days) or other kinds of harsh cleaners. Instead, we either use vinegar/lemon juice/baking soda/etc, or more enironmentally friendly cleaners such as Seventh Generation.
4. We can/freeze as much as possible, reducing the amount of store bought items, which in turn reduces the amount of trash we have. Canning is nice, because you can reuse the cans for years, whereas, if you buy veggies from the store, you cannot reuse their packaging. Plus, it's fun to use your own creation, things that you made and put your time into.
5. We make our own laundry detergent-- we just started this one, and it's going really well! I'll put the recipe up in another post.
6. We bought a "Shark" to eliminate the need for chemicals/mopping pads/dirty mop water filled with cleaning solution. With the shark we can clean the floors with steam... I really like my shark! (Pea calls it a, "S- Hark".)
Those are just a couple things that we are doing to be good steward of the earth... this post is getting really long, so I'll stop and start again on another day!

Baby Boy Outfits

A friend and I are sewing some matchy-matchy outfits for our boys, Grunt and Puppy. Here soon, we'll have a couple matchy-matchy outfits for Grunt, Puppy, and Roo! Can't wait! This is what we have done so far :). Obviously, we didn't make the shirts, but we are going to applique something on the plain ones. We did, however, make the shorts :).Silly picture... wouldn't cooperate and turn the right way for me.

More Baby Boy Outfits

Couple more.... We caught the crafty bug... can you tell? I wish the cleaning or organizing bug would bite me soon, cause my house and my life need it desperately! But, until it does, we're going to enjoy crafting and sewing and playing with our kiddos!

Crossed a Couple More Off the List

Couple more dresses for Pea... they look crooked, only because of the hanger and my lack of time/skill to take phenomenal photos, not because I sewed them crooked :).

The lighter spots in the dress are small butterflies in different shades of purple. I really love this fabric, but I'm not thrilled with the dress. I might buy some more of it and think of something else to do with it.

I made this dress out of leftover material from making a friend's Easter outfits. A skirt for her, which I have yet to get a picture of, but once I do, I'll put it up- it turned out great, and dress for her little girl, Fish.

Nakey Boys and Playful Little Girls

One of our favorite times during the day is..... "Nakey time!" We learned how great this time can be from a friend. Grunt LOVES to be nakey, and Pea thinks it's funny to watch him pee all over the towel (yes, we have a towel down, I'm not interested in cleaning our carpets every day, or having them smell like urine). Pea likes to run around the house nakey, but after a couple minutes she gets cold and wants her clothes back on. Skinny kid... always cold. She even hates the pool on the hottest days of summer. Strange child. Anyway, here are some pics of the boys having their nakey time, and the girls playing in the pool.

Fish helping Pea up after the "Big Water Slide!"

Sweet faces!

Grunt and Puppy having nakey time outside.

So happy to be nakey!

Kinda like suma wrestling... or cage fighting. Either way, they're nakey and having fun poking and pushing each other.

Kanga turns 3!

Pea's best friend, Kanga, had her 3rd birthday party-- a Cowgirl Tea Party-- every girl's favorite things, rolled into one. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the party... courtesy of Amy Garrett Photography.

Brushing the pony... getting to know each other.

Pea on the pony, rockin' the cowgirl hat.

She even trotted! Then asked if the pony goes any faster.

She loved it, guess we'll be saving money for a future horse.

And a picture just cause she has the sweetest face :)

Crawling Babies

My sweet boy, 6 months old
Doing the plank... I think he is going to do the bear crawl first. My sweet girl, 6 months old (in 2007... I don't have extra kiddos that you don't know about) :)

So tiny, but crawling just before she was 6 months. (7 months in this pic)

My kiddos are so much the same, but so different as well. Pea was so tiny, and still is; but she is a beast! Super stong, and very athletic already. Grunt is a big boy- chubby and rolly, but he too is super strong. Pea was a quiet and contemplative baby, but Grunt is loud and busy. I can't believe how big they are already... scary to think that they will only get bigger from here. Sorry for the boring post, just had to take a trip down memory lane.

Cloud Dough

It was a lazy Sunday morning. Daddy had gone mountain biking with a friend, leaving us to fend for ourselves for the day. So, once we had exhausted the normal toys and games, (realizing that it had only been 45 minutes) I decided that we should make something to play with. I would rather have sown a toy with Pea, letting her help pick the fabric and the pattern, but Grunt wouldn't allow it. So, I strapped him on with the Mei Tai and got out an old church cook book. I found this recipe for "Cloud Dough". Supposedly much lighter than play dough and a different consistency. Well, It was fun... but not much different than play dough, I don't think. But, the experience was more fun since we got to make it ourselves.

Materials- Mixer, 3 cups flour, 1/2 cup water (mix food coloring in water), 3/4 cup oil
Directions- Mix everything together... that simple
It looks pretty cool and chunky for a while... I was thinking, wow, this might be really cool!
But, then, it turned out to be pretty much like homemade play dough. Oh well, it was still fun, and it occupied Pea for a while.

Psalm 126

Psalm 126:2-3 "Our mouths were filled with laughter, and our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, 'The Lord has done great things for them.' The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy."

Psalm 19:8 "The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes."

These verses have been on my heart the last few weeks. My mother in law is one of those people who always laughs. She is an amazing, godly woman. I am striving to be the type of mother, wife, sister, daughter, teacher that she is. She is open and honest, and she has the greatest joy of anyone that I have ever met. She laughs completely uninhibited... it is pure joy; and it touches my heart every time that we are together.
I can't help but be in awe of all the wonderful things that God has given me. I have an amazing family, wonderful friends, all of the necessities of life (and more!), and the ONLY God as my Lord and Savior. It is true... the Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy! My children are filled with the joy that comes with childhood and their innocence and curiosity... as given by God. They love each other, and the love God's creation; even in their "moods" you can look into their eyes and see the joy that lives inside them. I never want the joy that lives in our house to diminish; the joy that is created through a relationship with Christ, and obeying his precepts. Now, this isn't to say that we are perfect.... I am FAR from it! But, God has allowed me to repent and be renewed in Him through His Son, Christ Jesus... and that strengthens and replenishes my joy when I make a stupid decision. I praise Him for the ability and opportunity to experience true, pure joy. Thank you Lord!

Pea is 3!

I can't believe that I have a 3 year old!

She is such a wonderful little girl; energetic and spunky, but sweet and loving too.

Here are some wonderful pictures of Pea's b-day party from Amy Garrett Photography. Kanga and Pea- Best Friends
All the kiddos at the party, except for Roo, who was napping.
Happy Birthday my sweet pea!

Easter Dresses

Two Beautiful Girls in their Pretty Easter Dresses

(handmade by me, with love)

Fish and Pea, taking care of their babies at church on Easter Sunday.

Pea, making a funny face.

Such sweet friends!

Joy

I have been thinking a lot lately about a family creed/family verse/family theme... something along those lines. While doing all of this thinking, I decided that I want it to be focused on JOY. I love all of the laughter that happens in our home. It seems as though there is constant laughter and smiles in our home lately, and I keep praising God for all of the joy that he has brought us. Whether it's our friends coming over and spending time, or the kids laughing at eachother, joy is in abundance... as it should be, since we have the ultimate provider of joy as the leader of our lives!
With these thoughts in mind, I have started a "study" of all of the verses in the Bible that have the word JOY in them. When Nathaniel and I were dating, I went through the concordance and wrote, in my nicest handwriting, every verse in Bible that had the word Love in it. The book that I ended up writing was massive! My hand hurt so much when I was finished, but it was worth it. Now, I'm not interested in writing a "joy book", and I don't have the time to do so, even if I wanted to! But, I am so excited to feel led to study something. I can't wait to see what God has in store for me through this study.
So... keep checking the blog to see which verses have caught my eye and my thoughts on them. I hope that this study touches you as much as it has already touched me. I pray that you will see and be renewed by all of the joy that you have in your life.