Diaper cakes....my first shot at it!

I love when I go to baby showers and someone has made a cute little diaper cake for a centerpiece.  I have thrown several baby showers in the past, but I am not sure why I have never made one before.  My cousin Jeff and his wife Laura welcomed their first little baby boy Ryker, on September 1, 2011...easy date to remember huh?!:)  We threw them a family baby shower, therefore I had an excuse to try my hand at making my first ever diaper cake....and boy did it turn out cute...ok...only my opinion...but what do you think?  Jocelyn was a huge help with rolling the diapers and assembling it altogether.  We rolled up onesies to add a little excitement to the diaper cake.  We also used a bottle and a round thing of wipes to help form our tower.

Having fun rolling diapers!

Helping assemble the first tier.

The 2nd tier

and we have a diaper cake....but something was missing....

Why not make curly ribbons?  Yes that is what was missing!

And whoola...a diaper cake and cupcakes to match!

Family Photos Fall 2011!

Do ever stress about something so much it drives you....and your family completely crazy?  Well my big stress for this fall....hardly a stress really, but I had this dream that I wanted to get one good family photo.  Just one.  That is all I wanted.  I know I can shoot my kids on my own, but I just thought maybe...once....we could get everyone to smile and look at the camera for one single photo.  My dear, sweet friend Megan has her own little photography business and was willing to take on our little family.  Bless her heart...she had to deal with a little 2 year old who would hardly crack a smile and me...who apparently smiles goofy in photos.  I practice...I really do...but when it comes down to it I look completely different in front of the camera.  It is still a mystery to me.  Maybe the stress of wondering if all of the kids are smiling.  Then there was a little baby that can hardly sit still...who loves grass and wanted to just eat it all up.  So we tried.  Maybe some day when the kids are all 10 and up we will get that one family photo of all of us...smiling....looking at the camera...and me not looking dorky.  Here are few photos from the photo shoot.  I edited a few using Photoshop and Picnik.com.  Enjoy!

Amphibians & Reptiles

These past few weeks the kids have been studying amphibians and reptiles.  I am learning right along with them.  We have had so much fun discovering the differences between amphibians and reptiles...and we dug a little deeper into the differences between turtles vs. tortoises, alligators vs. crocodiles, lizards vs. salamanders, and we had a little unit on snakes.  We even saw a "large...in my opinion" snake in our yard....it lives under our slide....lovely.  I hate snakes.  We then wrapped up the unit by discussing where and how animals hibernate.  Since it is getting cold out there, I thought it was a suiting topic...and hopefully our snakes that are in our yard are hibernating...forever!

I have discovered that our library system has some awesome resources, as well as YouTube.  My kids and I just love watching videos on each of the little creatures that we studied...there is so much out there.  National Geographic online has some wonderful videos as well.

We did quiet a few activities relating to each of these topics.  I didn't take pictures of everything...sorry!

The girls (and I) made little lizards out of beads.

Studying about hibernation....thanks http://itsybitsylearners.com/ for the great printouts!

Our wall-o-art!

Making snakes with play-do

I also introduced each thing with a fun snack and the kids had to guess what we were studying.  Some creations were a bit tricky...but they were able to guess them all!

Hibernation...can't you tell the bear is going into his marshmallow cave and the snake is underground?? 

Snakes

Turtles

Lizards

Next unit....thankfulness and I really don't know:)

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Kid's in the Kitchen: Pizza on a bun!

 This recipe may sound kind of gross....however my kids LOVE it!  As usual my kids love helping put the toppings on and of course gobbling it up.  I remember eating these wonderful creations in elementary school.  We usually make these when we have leftover hamburger buns and extra pizza sauce.  I usually eat leftovers when this is on our menu:)

Recipe:  
Buns-- split the bun in half and lay them with the flat side (inside of the bun) up on a baking sheet.
Spoon on pizza sauce
Sprinkle with toppings of your choice
and top with shredded cheese of your choice.  We use mozzarella and cheddar.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese melts and bun gets crispy...and whoola...our kids favorite, unhealthy recipe.

Enjoy!

Season's of a Mother's Heart: Prayers from Home

Thank you for joining me once again as I digest the book Season's of a Mother's Heart by Sally Clarkson.  You can read other moms' reviews every Friday afternoon over at my friend Erin's blog at: Home with the Boys!

Chapter 10: Prayers from Home

I am just going to quote a few things from this chapter that struck a cord with me.  I have no additional thoughts.  My mind is completely scatterbrained right now...and I am struggling with processing thoughts right now.

Pg. 185 "The one thing I wish I would have done so much more, was to have spent much more personal time with each child.  I let my duties of housework and life crowd out the heart time"

Pg. 185 "We compared our kids to everyone else's children and spent so much extra, wasted time on worrying about things that didn't count."

Pg.  187  "My life is not the center of the universe."

"Motherhood--the raising of godly children--invites intense spiritual warfare."

"God is transcendent, with infinite purposes beyond my finite comprehension."

"God wants to shape me, his child, into the likeness of Christ."

Pg.  188  "God uses my trials to make me better able to minister to other women.

"God uses hard times to make me stronger and more faithful."

Pg. 197  "Prayer is a means by which God releases more of his grace into my life."


Pg. 198  "If life were free of temptation, I would have no need to trust God with my children.  If life were easy, I would have have no need of God's grace.  But the plain reality is that life is dangerous and difficult, and we cannot survive without it."

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."  The LORD is good to those who hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.  

Lamentations 3:22-25

Fun time with friends!

We met some friends at My Gym Children's Fitness Center in Omaha on October 31st.  The kids had a fun time as usual playing on their equipment.  This is our 3rd year going to the center...and the kids always have a good time!  Here a few pictures of our night.  Most turned out blurry:(  but I got a few good shots!  Enjoy!

Jocelyn doing a flip

Easton getting ready to jump in!

Kate and her goofy faces!

My happy little guy

Playing red, light green light

Easton climbing

Weston trying to climb too

Story time

The boys enjoying the trampoline

Zip line