This is why I'm smitten

My Clive is a darling little peanut.  I'm fully aware of his charms over me.  I'm helpless when he speaks in his sweet little 3 year old voice and *explains* something to me. 

Like yesterday, we were eating lunch which included leftover peas. The conversation went something like this . . .

Chloe: "Mama, I'm your sweet pea, right?" 
Me: "Yes!  You're all my sweet peas." 
Clive: "Not me!  I'm a BIG pea.  See because I'm big and because I'm a pea.  Because I just ate a pea.  Like this, see?" (explained with accompanying gestures)

And when he SINGS he notches up the darling-ness to ridiculous heights.  Here's an example of him singing one of our favorite bedtime songs, If I Were a Butterfly. Lyrics altered by Clive.

Looking for a good foodie blog

I have pared down the blogs in my reading list significantly.  I kept finding myself clicking the "mark all as read" button without even glancing at the myriad of posts that accumulated in my google reader pane. So I drastically slashed the number of blogs I subscribe to.

Now that I'm down to a manageable list of blogs to read I have NO food blogs listed.  None! And I am in desperate need of some culinary inspiration.  I've been in a serious dinner-cooking rut lately and I need help.  Dinner in the Horn household is becoming a rather boring affair.

I'm hoping to find a blog that's healthy-ish, inspirational and family friendly.

What foodie blogs do you read and would recommend?

Bitten by a rabid sewing bug

Ever since a month ago when  friend gave me some super cute fabric, I've been on a wild sewing spree.

Prior to receiving said fabric my sewing machine had laid dormant for many months.  Since I don't have a designated "sewing room" I have to haul the machine and all the necessary accouterments every time I want to sew.  That's no fun.  Oh, and I also have three busy children who like to try and "help" me sew.  And because I abhor giving up the precious golden moments of nap time, I often attempt a sewing project when they're all active.  And that's just pure unadulterated madness. 

For those reasons I have done almost NO sewing in the past year. 

Until now!  The sewing tide has turned!  Something about this funky bright pink material and the hope of spring has revived my love for sewing and repurposing.

I started with several long-sleeved shirts that Chloe has hardly worn this season.  After cutting off the sleeves and bottom band, I set to work on pairing the shirt tops with coordinating fabrics to make them into playdresses for Chloe.

The concept is simple.  Connect a shirt top to a gathered skirt and voila!  Aside from the inevitable sewing mistakes, the most time consuming part of these dress projects for me is the finishing.  I cut the sleeves off too close to the arm hole so I have to recover the arm hold myself.  Ugh.  Wouldn't be so bad if I had a stock of bias tape.  But alas, I do not.  So I've been making my own bias tape out of strips of complementary fabric.  Works well for the most part though it takes FOREVER.

And I tell you what, sewing clothes is so rewarding!  It's such a grand feeling to see something I crafted with my hands and creativity take shape into a practical wearable garment.  Now I get how Ma from Little House on the Prairie must have felt when she chose fabric, envisioned a dress and then sewed it into existence.

The other bonus to making clothing is the huge cost savings.  All of these dresses started out as unused shirts from Chloe's drawer.  The coordinating fabric for the bottoms I had in my sewing stash or spent a few cents on at the thrift store. 

That's what I've been busy at for the month of March!  I only wish I had more concentrated time to commit to fun projects like this.  Instead I've been sneaking upstairs when I have a chance and sewing for 10-15 minutes at a time and slowly seeing a project completed.

When do you find time to sew?  What have you been sewing or crafting lately?

This was my first project.  The shirt ended up being a tad tight on Chloe so I decided not to use it as a dress bodice.  Instead, I made it into a shirt/skirt duo.  That way when Chloe outgrows the shirt we can still get a few more years' wear out of the skirt.

This was project #2.  The puppy dog is too cute to go to waste in the give-away pile!  I paired the puppy dog top with a pink pillowcase I had in my fabric pile.  Yes, I said *pillowcase*.  Didn't you know you could make clothes out of bedding?  Not quite happy with how crooked the band is but she's an active girl.  Hopefully all her jumping and running around will distract the onlooker from seeing all the glaring sewing mistakes!

Another shot of Chloe modeling her new puppy dog dress. 

This was project #4 and it's my favorite!  You can't tell from this weird shot (Chloe was getting impatient with modeling) but it really is a cute dress.  I didn't have any matching fabric to go on the bottom so I scrounged the thrift store for a ladies t-shirt.  It worked beautifully!  The best part was that I didn't have to hem the skirt since it was really the bottom band of the ladies t-shirt.  And even after I had hacked up the t-shirt I still had plenty to make bias tape for the neck and armholes. 

This was my last dress made from Chloe's shirts and I don't like it much.  The spacing is weird.  I should have cut the shirt a bit more and made a fuller skirt.  And it's a tad tight on Chloe.  So, this dress might get a new home with one of Chloe's friends soon!

Obviously, the model is DONE.  Dress #3 uses a pink pin-striped top and the groovy swirly pink fabric that inspired this sewing run.  :)  I love this one.  Plus I love that it still looks little-girlish.  I can't deny that my Chloe is growing up but I still love to see her wear these innocent girly styles.

Serving the sickies

Life has swallowed me whole lately.  And I've been so busy I've forgotten entirely about blogging. 

That's probably as it should be since much of my efforts in the past weeks has been taking care of sickly children.  And a sickly husband too.

The stomach flu finally hit our family and it proceeded to move through each of us (EXCEPT ME!) systematically.  I'm convinced I stayed healthy due to lots of Emergen-C vitamin supplement packets and the fervent prayers of my friends.

Everyone was pretty sad as they struggled through the flu but Clive was the very worst.  Poor little peanut was so whiny and lifeless!  At first, I answered the call to serve my sickies with fervor and adrenaline.  Didn't even mind the first few times I became a living vomit absorber.  In those moments my entire being was focused on helping whoever was ailing.  I had no chance or desire to think of my personal space or cleanliness in those needy moments. 

After a few days of this, I found myself tired.  Tired of serving others and cleaning up puke.  And I allowed thoughts of self-pity and entitlement to enter my weary brain. 

And then, just waiting for me in my google reader pane was this blog post by Ann Voskamp.  The title alone is enough to remind me of the deep lesson God taught me through this tiny ordeal of sickness.  Ann's post, "When the Grind of it all makes it hard to keep going" is not a pity party.  Not at ALL.  She's empathetic to be sure but more about embracing self-sacrifice with JOY.  I won't attempt to sum up her truth-based poetic thoughts but I'll share a few sentences that hit me hard:

While the Deceiver jockeys to dupe us into thinking otherwise, we who are made in the image of God, being formed into Christ’s likeness, our happiness comes, too, not in the having but in the handing over.  Give your life away in exchange for many lives, give away your blessings to multiply blessings, give away so that many might increase, and do it all for the love of God.

Reminds me of a favorite and relevant prayer by Martin Luther:

“O God, because I am certain that thou hast created me as a man and hast from my body begotten this child, I also know for a certainty that it meets with thy perfect pleasure. I confess to thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers or to be entrusted with the care of the child and its mother. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? O how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised. Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labour, will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight.”

Additionally, while my crew was in the throes of the stomach flu we learned of a 5 year old boy from our church who is going through intense physical difficulty.  He's been in the PICU for more than a month now as surgeons work on his twisted and failing intestines.  The little guy is almost done with surgeries now and is on the long road to recovery.  We've been praying for this little boy and since my own little girl is of the same age, this ordeal has been incredibly poignant for me. 

Vomited on?  Yup.  Whiny and demanding children?  For certain.  No appetites for a week?  Uh-huh.  But I count all those things as JOY when I consider the huge challenges and illnesses other children and families are trudging through. 

And I thank God that our troubles, big or small, are in His hands.  That regardless of the size of the difficulty, HE can be trusted, loved and praised.  And that He promises a proportionate amount of grace for the trouble at hand. 

How has your sickie season gone so far?

Horn Homeschool: Week 24

Toast in the shape of 100 for breakfast.

During week 24 of our homeschool venture, we had a split theme.  On Monday we commemorated our 100th day of school!  Yay!

Felt good to reach this typical kindergarten milestone.  And as is also typical, we did lots of activities centered around the number 100. 

Of course there was lots of counting to 100 involved in our day.  We did 100 jumping jacks (that was hard!), counted and ate 100 pieces of popcorn, make posters using 100 items (paperclips and pennies), and weighed five different groups of 100 things.  The weighing activity was especially engaging because we made a prediction chart before weighing the articles.  We weighed a box of 100 paperclips, 100 pennies, 100 cottonballs, 100 popsicle sticks and 100 stickers.

The rest of our week was devoted to one of my all-time favorite children's authors.  Theodore Geisel's birthday falls on March 2.  He is otherwise known as the legendary Dr. Seuss or by his other pen-name Theo LeSieg ("Geisel" spelled backwards).

To commemorate the special day, we read MANY books by the birthday author beginning appropriately with Happy Birthday to You.  We also had a special Seussical birthday party dinner with chicken in the shape and style of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.  One of the absolutely invaluable aspects of homeschooling is getting your children actively involved and excited about learning.  Chloe hopped right into the Seuss party preparations and concocted her own "Pink Ink" drink for dinner inspired by a Seuss book.  She also had the idea to dress up as characters from The Cat in the Hat.  She and Clive became Things 1 and 2 and we crafted a cat-like hat for Matt to wear at dinner.

We never watch tv during the day simply because our television is in a bad spot to pick up digital reception.  For our Seuss marathon however, I pulled the tv out and rigged it up so the kids could watch a few episodes "The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That" on pbs.  What a fabulous show!

And because I'm ridiculous I verbalized an idea about making a Cat-in-the-Hat cake.  Chloe got even MORE excited and promised she'd help me make and decorate the cake.  So, we concocted a cat shaped cake.  That part was fairly simple.  It was the frosting and decorating that proved to be the most time consuming.  Thankfully, a kind neighbor friend of mine gave me some black decorator's icing and I did the best I could with my very limited artistic abilities. 

Dr. Seuss' books are so out of this world fun to read!  Though I gave up on the tongue twister book about 1/3 of the way through. That one is crazy!  Conversely, I also dig how many of his books are so easy for beginning readers to read for themselves.  His reader books aren't the contrived no-plot type of books that you find on the library's "emerging readers" shelves.  His books maintain a silly whimsicality while still using simple beginner words.

Happy happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Counting 100 pieces of popcorn for her and Clive to eat as a snack.  100 pieces of popcorn is surprisingly small!

100 posters in which the kids glued 100 paperclips and pennies.

Thing 2 was a very helpful cake froster!

The cat cake.

Close-up of my attempt at the cat's mischeivous face.

Thing 2 patiently waiting in her red "box" (a pack-n-play covered with red towels and blankets).

Thing 2 waits to jump out and surprise Matt.

Even Solomon joined in on the Dr. Seuss fun by wearing his special bib!

"Pink Ink" for dinner. 

Our "one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish" were actually homemade chicken nuggets.

More

Death and pain are all around us aren't they?  The older I get, the more I'm confronted with the truth of life's brevity.

An acquaintance of mine from college just passed away.  She had been recently diagnosed with leukemia, undergone a bone marrow transplant and now she's gone.

I didn't know her much.  In fact I don't remember even having more than a surface conversation with her, if that.  But having been recently reconnected with her on Facebook and following her journey through illness, I kept imagining myself in her shoes.  And I'd click her picture on Facebook and ask God to grant her strength and grace for her trials.

She's got a family with two young girls.  She's my age.  I tear up thinking about the deep sorrow her family must be heavy with in the wake of her sudden departure.

But even in the midst of the mourning, there is much hope.  Hope because this life isn't it.  There is so much more waiting for us on the other side of life! I imagine Jesus welcoming Rachel into His arms and hugging her as she finally rests from her physical troubles. 

This song is ringing through my brain and heart as I remember Rachel's family.  I pray that the truth of God and the certainty that their mom and wife is in heaven will be a resounding comfort.

There is More

This is not the end here at this grave
This is just a hole that someone made
And every hole was made to fill
And every heart can feel it still
How nature hates a vacuum

This is not the hardest part of all
This is just the seed that has to fall
All our lives we till the ground
Until we lay our sorrows down
And watch the sky fall rain

There is more, more than all this pain
More than all the falling down and the getting up again
There is more, more than we can see
From our tiny vantage point in this vast eternity

There is more

A thing resounds when it rings true
Ringing all the bells inside of you
Like a golden sky on a summer's eve
Your heart is tugging at your sleeve
And you can not say why

There must be more

There is more, more than we can stand
Standing in the glory of a love that never ends
There is more, more than we can guess
More and more forever more and not a second less

There is more than what the naked eye can see
Clothing all our days with mystery
Watching over everything and wilder than our wildest dreams could ever dream to be

There is more

Freezing Clive

Lately, I find myself wishing life had a *pause* button.  Especially so I could freeze these adorable moments in my Clive's third year.  Clive's little brain and mouth have been connecting recently to come up with some doozies of super cuteness.

Take for example, tonight as I was singing to him before bed.  Our general pattern is that Matt reads to C & C while I put Solomon to bed.  Then I come in and finish things up by singing to Clive while Matt reads something of a higher level (right now they're reading Nancy Drew) to Chloe.

Tonight, I was singing our usual bedtime ditties and during Fifty Nifty United States Clive started (as he always does) asking me who lives in each state that he recognizes.  This is limited to Ohio, Michigan, Texas, Florida and Wisconsin so this questioning bit doesn't take too long.  Tonight, however, Clive asked who lives in Washington.  The conversation continued like this . . .

Clive: "Mommy, who lives in Washington?"
Me: "I don't know anyone who lives in Washington, son."
Clive: (thinking it over a bit) "Hmm, I know!  George WASHINGTON lives in Washington!"  [That's what we get for homeschooling -- a 3 year old who knows about George Washington.]
Me: "No, Clive.  George Washington doesn't live there because he's not alive anymore. He died a long time ago."
Clive: "Ohh, that's so sad!  I want to see George Washington!"
Me: "Well, George Washington is in heaven now so you can see him when you get to heaven. Then you can talk to him and ask him any questions you want."
Clive: "Oh, good!"
Me: (I attempt to finish singing the song but Clive interrupts me.)
Clive: (looking up to the ceiling and shouting) "Hey, George Washington!  I'll see you soon!  I just have to die first!"

WHAT A NUT!

I usually try to stifle my laughter around Clive because I don't want to ostracize him for his innocent 3 year old observations.  But this time I could NOT contain my giggles.  We laughed together on the bed for a good long while.  Yet another moment in time I'd like to freeze, please.

Another evening this week during our bedtime routine we were snuggling.  Our snuggling consists of us hugging each other with faces close together while Clive says repeatedly, "Snuggle, snuggle, snuggle".  If you can picture that in Clive's adorable voice, your heart is probably melting as mine does every night. 

During one of these snuggle-fests, Clive says to me in a very affectionate voice, "I love you the best, mommy!"  What moms heart doesn't like to hear those words? Well, he didn't stop there.  He thought for a few seconds and then added, "But I really love the money in my money bank the bestest!"  Already he knows how important money is!  After I smirked in reaction to his money-love comment I gave him a quick lesson in NOT loving money since God says we should love God more than anything else.  Clive responded by saying, "But money can buy me trucks . . . and I love trucks!"  Guess he's not quite ready for that lesson yet. 

What moments lately have you been relishing?

Eating help!

Now that I'm a mom of three, I'm learning how true the adage is that "Every child is different".

Overall, our Solomon is an extremely easy baby.  I'm not sure if that's because of his temperament, birth order or gender.  Or maybe it's just because I'm a much more laidback mom now than I was with baby #1.  And even though each child is different, I feel more equipped with tricksy mom tactics up my sleeve now that I've been at this a few years. 

Another adage I'd like to pen when it comes to children is this, "You can make a kid do almost anything -- anything but sleep and eat."

Segue to my one big issue with dear smiley Solomon Asher Horn -- EATING.  He is 10.5 months old now and wants to be independent in all ways possible.  (This tyke is already climbing up our steep staircase, trying to throw balls, and standing up and rocking himself on the pint-sized rocking chair.  Slow down, baby!)

Hence, the feeding struggle.  He wants to feed himself. Fine.  But he only has 5 teeth, some of which aren't even through all the way.  So chewing most foods is a problem.  He wants to hold his own spoon. Great.  But he also likes to play with the spoon and fling food off it catapult-fashion.  That's not so great.

My feeding strategy for Solomon is all about DISTRACTION.  I place Solly-sized chunks of soft foods on his tray and also give him a *distractor* utensil or toy.  That way he usually has two hands occupied so I can sneakily slide a spoonful of something into his mouth.  It's a dangerous and risky business this.  Truly.  I'm constantly looking for the right moment to sneak my spoon in and trying to avoid detection by Solly.  And believe me, it's not pretty when he gets a hold of or knocks away my baby-food-laden spoon.  (The picture above is evidence of our daily feeding mess.)

Because we go through this crazy eating rigamaroll Solomon usually doesn't eat enough solids during the day.  Which means he wakes up at night to be fed.  UGH.  He's been sleeping well through the night since 5 months and I will do anything it takes to keep him (and me!) sleeping well. 

I need your help and advice!  Have any feeding tips or food suggestions for me to try with my messy boy?

Horn Homeschool: Weeks 22-23

In conjunction with President's Day, we launched into a two week unit study on American presidents, American currency, the 50 states, the American flag and general USA history.

Regarding presidents, we mainly covered the two presidents whom we celebrate come February 22.  Namely, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  We read biographies of these two men as well as several picture books about them and other presidents.  Additionally, Chloe did a few mini-books on these guys from enchantedlearning.com.  I LOVE THIS SITE!  I know most of the site is workbook-page-heavy but I love the extraordinary variety of activities and topics they cover. 

In line with the presidents, we talked currency a bit and the kids were able to identify Washington and Lincoln on coins and bills.  With Chloe I did some extra work with counting money and categorizing coins.

I'm so glad my frazzled brain somehow still remembers all the words to the classic ditty Fifty Nifty United States!  We sang that tune every day and so often that Chloe can sing it from memory now.  And inadvertently, she now knows all fifty states in the union.  Mission accomplished!  And if you're looking for a light-hearted read, I highly recommend the silly Scrambled States of America books. 

In my quick grabbing of America-themed books we also read about the revolutionary war, the constitution, the star-spangled banner, and the American flag.  During this unit, I led the kids to look for and count American flags when driving in the car.  And Chloe and I crafted an American flag out of crepe paper and construction paper.  (Details for the craft linked here. Though ours didn't turn out nearly as nice as the pictured link!)

Chloe and her friend Kayla had a blast decorating the presidential cupcakes.

Horn Homeschool: Week 21

Week 21 was the week before February 14, so we were obliged to do a Valentines-y lesson.

Of course we made heart shaped everything.  Heart-shaped sugar cookies, hair barrettes, stromboli and a big ole chocolate chip cookie.

We read books about how people celebrate Valentine's Day and made a few valentines for local friends.

We also talked much about love. About God's love for us and our responsibility to love others.  And believe me, there's lots of fodder for application about loving one another with bickering siblings cooped up indoors during the snowy winter months.  :)  This mama is continually getting schooled in the areas of patience and love in dealing with these precious blessings of mine!

Without a doubt, the highlight of the week was going to sing at a local nursing home with our homeschool group.  We sang all love-y themed songs and at the end of our mini-performance, the kids all handed out valentines to the residents. This was our third time singing at this particular nursing home and although Clive acted naughty while I was leading the singing, Chloe is really started to *get* it.  On the way home Chloe initiated all sorts of questions about the nursing home residents.  It was a GREAT opportunity for us to talk about what it means to show love and to consider the needs of others. 

Simple heart-shaped felt barrettes that Chloe and I sewed for her little church girlfriends.  Found this idea on the purl bee.  This was an easy beginner sewing project for Chloe.

My counter-top helper, aka Clive, helped make heart shaped sugar cookies.

Matt's requested Valentine's Day dinner was stromboli. And because I'm a nerd, I had to try to make it heart-shaped.  :)

Horn Homeschool: Weeks 17-20

Our month of January was devoted to studying the human body.  Following this basic lesson plan (thanks to homeschoolshare.com), we did several science lessons, demonstrations and readings which covered most of the body's systems.

We started the unit study with a WONDERFUL and extensive lesson on the body with our homeschool group.  It was a great way to kick-start the human body fun!

After that initial lesson, I used the rest of the first week to talk about how to take proper care of our bodies.  We read books on topics such as healthy eating, exercise, sleep, and cleanliness.

The next three weeks we learned about bones, lungs, skin, the five senses, the heart, the digestive system, muscles, the immune system, and the brain.  We read LOTS of books.  We did several fun demonstrations.  We made manipulatives and watched movies.

The human body is pretty stinkin' amazing.  As we read and learned together I kept finding myself in awe of this complicated machine God has knit together. 

Here were the highlights of our four week study:

• Easy Make & Learn Projects: Human Body by Donald M. Silverman.  This book was phenomenal!  A lot of crafty learning books are pretty lame but this book actually taught concepts through the crafty manipulatives.  Through the course of our study we made paper arms with muscles to demonstrate pulling action, skin diagram with hair follicles (made of yarn), and a skeleton to review various bone names.
• Boiling bones.  To show Chloe the various parts of bone, I purchased some beef bones at the grocery and we boiled 'em up.  We also cooked up some chicken thigh bones to compare to the beef bones.
• Magic School Bus Human Body dvd.  I LOVE THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS!  Talk about making complicated unseen concepts come alive!  Wow.  We watched all three body episodes repeatedly.  The dvd was entertaining, packed with education and enjoyable enough to watch over and over again.  I'm certain my kids understand the digestive process solely because of this fabulous dvd. 
• Human body poster and model.  My mom scored a few body books for us at yard sales and one of them opened up into a life size poster!  It was hanging in our dining room/school room for the duration of our lessons and it was fantastic to be able to take the kids to the poster and point out various parts.  Additionally, I had a simple body model we used primarily to learn the parts of the digestive system.  We named him Hugh.  The kids had loads of fun taking Hugh's organs in and out.
• My Amazing Human Body computer software.  I picked this computer game up at the library not realizing what a valuable teaching tool it would become.  Chloe spent many an hour playing the games and she learned much without even realizing it!  The interactive cd not only taught body basics but it also allowed for body exploration and unguided learning.  One memorable activity let the user choose a body part or organ and then do various virtual things to learn more.  You could virtually poke the organ to see it's texture/density, take an xray, or turn the organ around 360 degrees. 

This was a super fun unit study but I wish we could have done it justice!  We didn't do much with the circulatory, nervous or respiratory systems.  At times like these I remember Chloe is in KINDERGARTEN.  She'll catch up when she gets to high school biology.  :)

What we've been up to

As usual, I've been busy at life and delinquent at blogging.  What have we been up to lately, you ask?

I'll give you the low-down by family member . . . 

Alicia: Washing dishes, cooking meals, reading Alice in Wonderland to Chloe, baking cupcakes, singing Fifty Nifty United States, researching school options for next year, surviving attacks of low blood sugar, wiping noses, eating large amounts of pepperoni, shoveling snow, and playing scrabble on Facebook.

Matt: Preparing English lectures, playing cars and trucks with Clive, reading books about DeSoto to the kids at bedtime, teaching Chloe Latin, reading Taming of the Shrew (his current Shakespeare-for-fun read), folding laundry with me while watching cheesy science-fiction flicks, playing cribbage, and consuming carrots.

Chloe: Losing both her front teeth, reading whenever she gets the chance (today in the car I turned on some music and she said impatiently, "Please turn it down mom, I'm trying to read!"), practicing the piano, drawing, playing with Barbies, snuggling with me on the couch to do school, crafting a "snow grouch" (not good enough packing snow for a true snowman), flitting around like a fairy, and being generally annoyed by her younger brother.

Clive: Playing with his cars and trucks, watching Richard Scarry dvds, spouting ridiculous and unexpected sayings in an unbelievably cute 3-year-old voice, warming my heart with his huge grin, mowing the snow with his lawnmower, coloring, creating general disorder and loudness, helping me bake muffins, and building garages for his construction machine toys.

Solomon: Climbing stairs, cruising around furniture, laughing hysterically when tickled in the tummy, trying to feed himself and making disgusting messes, smiling like the sunshine, suffering from a double ear infection, and cutting more teeth.


That's what we've been up to in a nutshell!  What have you been doing this month?

My Valentine

My heart is full to bursting with love for Chloe, Clive and Solomon. But, obviously my dear Matt is my #1 sweetheart.  I say *obviously* but with the way I write on this blog, sometimes it isn't very obvious.  What's obvious is that my kids are a huge part of my life and I love them tremendously. And oh yeah, I love my husband too.

That last comment was tongue-in-cheek but it's largely true.  Now that we've added three littles to our family, it's increasingly difficult to make my hubby the primary earthly object of my affection.  I often find that in giving, loving, and serving my children I have almost nothing left to give to my sweet husband at the day's end. 

When I said "I do" to Matt eight years ago, I was giddy and full of magical lovey-dovey butterflies flitting frantically in me.  Neither of us had any clue that this marriage journey would be difficult in the slightest.  Difficult?  Are you kidding me?  The thought never entered my mind.  Sure, other people's marriages might be rough but not ours.

But I'm learning that keeping a marriage unified is a serious battle.  SERIOUS.  It's hard.  Harder than anything I've ever known.  Harder even than parenting I think.  Hard because we are being pulled away from each other from every side.  The world's ideas of marriage come bombarding, other people and activities threaten to suck our time and energies, our own tendencies to settle into our separate roles without crossing paths, and our overarching selfishness threatens to destroy us. 

Andrew Peterson says the same lyrically in the song below, "Dancing in the Minefields".  (Warning: This video is seriously touching.  If you're one to shed tears at hallmark commercials you will probably need a tissue.)




I thought it'd be fun to share how Matt and I met.  After being introduced by mutual friends, Matt kept thinking and wondering about me.  Since he taught at my alma mater, he'd visit the alumni lounge and look up my photo in the old college yearbooks to remember me.  Later that year we were both at a friend's house for a small dinner party. I was floored by Matt's depth -- both of faith and intellect.  I remember so clearly as someone posed the question to the group, "What is true beauty?"  Matt eloquently, sincerely and humbly spoke about true beauty being aligned with God's likeness.  I was moved and my heart was aflutter!  We continued to meet weekly with our friends for dinner and then afterwards we all went to swing dancing lessons.  Yes, MY HUSBAND went swing dancing.  Crazy what one will do when in love, isn't it?  Soon Matt was attending my church, taking me to dinner and calling me.  But I still wasn't sure about this guy.  It wasn't until a certain Sunday morning that I knew he was the guy for me.  His folks were in town so he brought them to my church.  I was already seated at the organ to play for the service and I saw him walk in and almost did a double-take.  He had shaved (prior to this he had a full beard) and I was struck by his handsomeness.  And the rest is history!  :)

I'm so thankful that on this Valentine's Day, I don't have to worry about Matt's love floating away to land on another. We are dancing this life together and striving to keep unified with the help of God.  There's just no possible way we could keep together without God's grace!   And this love is so much more than fluttery feelings.  It's active, persevering, purposeful, and committed.   

Now it's your turn . . . How'd you meet your Valentine?

Making suncatchers

This week we made homemade suncatchers.  I LOVE this winter activity because 1) it's super easy, 2) it doesn't require any special materials, and 3) it doesn't take long to get the final product.

It's also a fun one to do near the end of winter so you can observe some melting.  Then you can throw in some science instruction about changes in states of matter.  That's my fancy teacher way of explaining that ice melts and becomes water.  :)

And when ice melts, spring is NEAR.  Yeehaw!  We're all hoping the groundhog's early spring prediction is correct!

This suncatcher craft is ridiculously simple.  Get a deep circular 8" or 9" pie pan.  Have your kids fill their pie pans up with small stuff.  A quick raid of your junk drawer or sewing box should net PLENTY of materials.  We used buttons, magnets, stickers, paper clips, sequins, erasers, ribbons, strings, appliques, plastic spools . . . the possibilities are endless!

To make a hanging string for your suncatcher, use a sturdy string or cord and place it with the ends inside the pan.  You'll want your hanging loops to be well frozen into your ice so they don't break.

Then, fill up the pans with water (we dyed our water with food coloring first).  Pop the pans in the freezer and give them a few hours to freeze solid. 

Voila, customized icy suncatchers!

They look a little strange hanging outside on our porch but I could care less.  The kids have already gotten big kicks out of watching their suncatchers to see how they're melting. And Clive's even has a little icicle forming on the bottom of his. 

[Find a variation of this craft on the Family Fun website.]

What winter crafts do you enjoy making?

Clive was a bit excessive in adding items to his pie pan.

Chloe's pink and purple themed suncatcher.

Clive's crowded suncatcher turned out pretty and sparkly!

We are the champions!

And the Packers win Superbowl LXV!

YAHOO!

Though it certainly wasn't the most dynamic of games, the Packers showed their grit and determination by pushing through injuries to come away with the win.  We watched with bated breath during that heated second half.  It was really hard to watch during some of those crucial 3rd down plays!   So nerve wracking!

Here were my favorite moments of the game:

• Donald Driver tearing up on the sidelines as he realized the victory.  He's been to the playoffs SEVEN times but never played in a superbowl.  And that big genuine smile of his is contagious and heart-warming.  He's been such a consistent and determined player that it's fantastic to see him finally earn a superbowl ring. (Read more about Driver here .)
• Greg Jennings kneeling in the end zone to give glory to God for a touchdown reception.  Especially poignant after his teammate's penalty for excessive celebration in the endzone.
• Aaron Rodgers named Superbowl MVP.  Way to move out of #4's shadow, Mr. Rodgers!
• Nick Collin's interception and resulting touchdown.  I LOVE it when a defensive player gets to score.
• The unending chanting of "Go Pack, Go!" by the crowd after the game.  We were chanting right along with them!
• Seeing the Packer players with their families and kiddos celebrating.  It makes the players more down-to-earth and real when I see them smiling and loving on their families. 

You KNOW we celebrated the game with Packer type food.  Our menu consisted of bratwurst, cheesy potatoes, cheese curds (my mom mailed these to me from Wisconsin), green and yellow veggies, guacamole, lemonade with slices of lemon and lime, layered jello and lemon ambrosia cake for dessert.    The kids were beyond excited about eating such colorful jello!  I served it up in parfait glasses which ratcheted up the *elegance*.

How'd you celebrate the big game?  What were your favorite game moments?

 

New Recipes

In an effort to trim our weekly grocery budget I'm trying to make better use of my pantry and make fewer last minute trips for necessary ingredients.  This past week I didn't plan very well.   As 4 p.m. rolled around, I found myself searching Allrecipes frantically for meals to create with my pantry ingredients.

The results were not well-received.  At least not by the short people sitting at the table.  Made two big-time flops this week (tomato florentine soup and chicken fried rice with broccoli).   

Thankfully to counteract the meal-time flops, I also stumbled upon a few winning recipes this week. 

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats.  (found this recipe in a free calendar so there's no link, sorry!) This recipe was actually billed as *homemade granola bars*.  These are not at ALL like granola bars.  There's no baking involved and they turned out slightly crumbly.  Still it makes a yummy protein-filled snack.  And it must be eaten in a bowl or the crumby mess is out of control.  This is a great treat for preparing with small children.  My 3 year old counter-sitting helper loved mixing this all together!

Homemade hummus.  I like this recipe because it doesn't use tahini.  It's lemony and tangy and very easy to blend up for a quick healthy snack.  We've been eating this with pita chips, celery sticks, and on sandwiches.

World's best cornbread.  I was skeptical o this recipe touting such a brazen claim.  But after making this honey-laden cornbread, I'm a believer.  This IS indeed the world's BEST cornbread.  Try it for yourself and you'll be convinced too.  Beyond delicious!

What tasty new recipes have you stumbled upon lately?

Why I like Mondays

Contrary to popular opinion, I think that Mondays are fantastic!

Why, you ask?  Because . . .

1. Monday is my most productive day of the week.  After a weekend break from the weekly routine, I'm ready to jump back in whole-heartedly on Monday.  Not surprisingly, my surge of Monday-adrenaline makes me uber-productive.  There's something magically motivating about trying to start out the week on a good note.  Half a pot of coffee helps boost the productivity level too. 
2. Mondays are "at home" days.  I purposefully try to keep our calendar free on Mondays and Fridays.  Sunday mornings are busy so on Monday we need a built-in recovery.  It's lovely and rejuvenating to putter around the house tidying up, putting laundry away and enjoying the comforts of home.
3. The Packers are going to the superbowl!!!!

Ok, ok, so the Packers have nothing to do with why I like Mondays.  But their playoff victory sure is making THIS Monday better!

How's your Monday going so far?

Christmas questions

Can it seriously be the end of January already?!

I've had this blog post drafted since shortly after Christmas . . . life has gotten in the way of blogging.  But that's probably as it should be.

I truly want to hear about the Christmas celebrations you all had in 2010.  I also want to give you all a summary of our holidays but don't want to bore you with lengthy details and stories.  But instead of asking the ubiquitous, "How was your Christmas?" I thought it'd be more fun to do a focused question/answer format for holiday reporting. 

Here's how it'll work.  I'll list 3 questions regarding your Christmas happenings.  In turn I'll post my answers below.  And then you can post your answers as your comment.  Sound good? 

1. What was your biggest surprise this Christmas?
I framed this question to fit my answer because I got a HUGE surprise this Christmas.  My sister lives overseas and flew home for Christmas without telling me. My mom was in on the deceit and arranged for my sis to arrive at my house late one night.  My deceptive mother hid my sis in the basement that night and then brought her up during breakfast the next morning.  I WAS SHOCKED.  I was beyond surprised.  My poor sleep-deprived brain couldn't comprehend what was happening.  I kept touching my sister to make sure I wasn't dreaming or seeing things.  (I'm not exaggerating, I really kept poking her that first day.)  It was FANTASTIC to have her here with us for all the fun Christmas festivities.

2. Which gift did you most enjoy giving?
I made a few freezer-paper stencil tees again this year.  My fave was the "Serenity Now" tee I painted for Matt.  We often cry out for serenity to descend upon the clamorous chaos!

3. What was your favorite Christmas 2010 memory?
That's a tough one to answer.  Had a blast sledding (and falling) with my sis and Chloe.  And we put on a brief Mary-and-Joseph re-enactment on Christmas Eve that was fun.  Doing the Jesse tree ornaments was certainly a rich tradition that I hope to continue each year.  But overall my favorite times were the ones when we were all just sitting around the table eating, laughing and enjoying one another.  In those moments I just sat back and relished the love and extreme comfort of family.  I'm so thankful to God for the blessings of family!

Now it's your turn to answer!  Looking forward to hearing about your Christmas memories!