Handcrafted Artisan: 2008

To all you parents out there this one is for you...

Toy Packaging By Sara Groves.
I heard this on the radio last night and just had to laugh...it is sooo true...
enjoy
Nothing makes me lose my cool like
Toy packaging
Ask the kids to leave the room for
Toy packaging
I have no choice the money's spent
I've worked for hours to make a dent
I guess it's anger management
Toy packaging

Nothing makes me lose my cool like
Toy packaging
Ask the kids please leave the room it's time for
Toy packaging
I'm drawing up a battle plan
to extricate this robot man
My self-esteem is in the can
Toy packaging

In the old days you could hold a box and shake it
And hear the pieces rattling around
My eyes tear up with these grommets, tape and twisty ties
Remembering their beautiful sound

Toy Packaging
I love Toy Packaging
(Mom! Honey!)

Nothing makes me lose my cool like toy packaging
Kids you really need to leave the room, mom's opening toy packaging
I'm sorry you have to see this sight
You must be brave, no please don't cry
I promise it will be alright
I hope to have it by tonight
Nevermind this dynamite
Toy packaging

If you want to hear it go to this site and you can get a free download...
http://blog.beliefnet.com/gospelsoundcheck/2008/11/free-christian-music-download-1.html

more christmas fun

Snow angel...

Having fun out in the snow...

All bundled up

Listening to the story Polar Express being read. Then we took a trolley ride to go and see Santa, this is a free activity offered by the library..

Seeing Santa...Jael was not too happy, they got a coin to buy a toy at the work shop and were able to decorate their picture it was fun this was all part of the library activity....

Christmas activities!!!

Well we made this beautiful gingerbread house...we stored it in our oven and well I forgot it was there so here is the after effects of turning on the oven and forgetting, still tastes good just not as pretty, lesson learned...hopefully not forgot...

Here is what it did look like when we had finished it prior....

After picture

The girls climbing on Daddy when he got home from work!!!

Making gingerbread cookies....

Hanging with their friends watching a movie and having a snack...

Public service announcement

I took this from coolmompicks.com my friend in Italy told me about this
please check it out.
Thanks
http://www.coolmompicks.com/2008/12/save_handmade_toys_in_the_us.php

Our girls and what they will be in the future!

There is nothing to say that we know what our girls will do when they grow up, our hope and prayer is that they will serve the Lord in whatever they do. But maybe we have a glimpse...Jael went to the dentist today because one of her teeth was looking funny well all is fine the short end of it is she has a bruised tooth from a fall but the dentist borrowed her while I finished up paper work and she went and helped him count the teeth on other children in the room (it is a huge room with all of these chairs to help move through patients I guess) but she had fun and got to bring home a little mirror, hmm maybe there is a future in this
On Ema's account the thing she talks about right now is being an astronaut, both Jeff and I had those childhood dreams... we encourage her to just work hard and if the Lord wills she can do that...
SO fun....

New baby

Hi All I am finally getting around to uploading photos of the new little one in the womb....The first one was taken at 8weeks and the second was only taken two weeks ago at 20 weeks...they are really hard to see but enjoy....we are more then half way there!!!

happenings

Hi all
Hope this finds you well..
Ema was working on some "school pages" this week and her task was to color some animals and a barn and then cut them out to make little paper farm to play with.
She altered two of the animals which I thought was pretty funny.
One was a cow she put spikes on the back and said she made it into a dinosaur and then a hen she put extra feathers on and said it was a turkey...just one of those funny but sweet moments you want to share with others...
Jael on the other hand is speaking a lot more the other morning she came out and said to me clear as day Hi Mommy...
she signs a lot more too for all the words she can't pronounce yet, it is fun to be able to understand her better.
Ema keeps asking when we put the presents under the tree and when do we open them...
Hope your week was enjoyable...

new godson!!!!!

We praise the Lord for the arrival of our new godson!!!
Here he is Chase...
He was born yesterday in the philly area at 10:30 am!!!!

Decorating for Christmas

We have started a tradition in our home of decorating the weekend right after thanksgiving...so here are some fun pictures from that time enjoy...

Oh yeah I am at five months now...look at that bella...we had the ultra sound right before thanksgiving and all is well I will try and scan the photo in soon...

Happy Thanksgiving. We had a great time with friends coming over.
Hope you all had a blessed day!!!

not much is new

Well I don't have any pics to upload...
we had a nice quiet weekend at home, the first one in over a month so that was nice...we had snow stick to the ground this week and well it is officially cold. The girls are well, playing coloring hanging out with friends. It was fun to watch the snow stick on Mon otherwise it has been a quiet week....

Jael is now TWO!!!

I can't believe our little girl is two. We have started to let her drink from a big girl cup at meals and she is doing a great job...

Here are the girls on Veteran's day coloring some pictures of vets...Jael loves her new markers she got...

On Jael's birthday we went to breakfast at the Waffle shop and they gave her a big muffin and sang to her it was fun, that afternoon Jeff and I went to our second of three weddings this fall it was lovely.

Here is her cake that Ema and I made and the girls decorated they had a blast pouring on the sprinkles...

Jael blowing out her candles....
We also earlier in the week took her to Baby's after we stood in the long lines at the poles, they too sang happy birthday to her and gave her a sunday with a candle...all in all it was a fun birthday for her, it was fun to watch her really open presents for the first time since she has been too young in the past. It took awhile but she had a blast.

Big Girl Bed

We had been debating when to move Jael to a toddler bed, well last week she had the stomach flu and we found it to be much easier to take care of her being in the bed instead of the crib...

Look at our big girl...
Growing too fast.

Our pumpkins

Here are the Dora and Diego pumpkins we carved...

Happy Halloween

I did it I made it in catching up with life on our blog...
Well last night was Halloween. It was an eventful day. We delivered Happy Fall cookies to our new neighbors. We also went to this indoor play gym that was having a free night for Halloween and had dinner there with my friend Elizabeth her kids and some of our friend Joani's kids. These were also the people we went trick or treating with. This was a new experience for me without Jeff. He has taken the girls in the past and I handed out candy and now we are in a new neighborhood.
Here are all the kids that Elizabeth and I took around.
We had a really nice time and I saw some familiar faces from playgroup in the neighborhood.

Ema was a butterfly and Jael a Penn State cheerleader.
They looked soo cute...Praise the Lord the weather was nice for us and they didn't have to be bundled.

Ema is really into Dora right now so Jeff and I carved Dora and her cousin Diego out of our pumpkins this year...

This was taken a couple days prior when we carved. Jeff was at a student conference for the weekend and sad not to be with the girls in their excitement and fun of trick or treating.

Here is Ema helping me make the cookies for the neighbors...it was a really great way to say hi and get to know them a little better.

Our first snow and around the house...

Me and my bella at 16 weeks...not much longer and we are half way where has the time gone?

The girls love to try and hide in the kitchen behind our microwave cart and next to the refrigerator. You know they are there but this is a fun daily little thing they do.

Well every year the week of Halloween it comes our first snow...the girls were so excited they talked about it all day. It didn't stay but it was pretty to watch.

Look at that excitement....

Even though Ema can't read there are certain books we have read so much she can recite them so now she sits and "reads" to Jael it is really sweet when I catch them just doing it...

Here they are reading Jael's favorite book...

wedding and weekend

This fall Jeff and I have been invited to 3 weddings...All are people that we work with in our ministry organization which is truly exciting and a blessing because it is a big family reunion at each wedding with all of our coworkers... In Mid october we attended our first of the three in Harrisburg and made a trip of the weekend visiting friends, family and had a few support appointments to boot.

The girls got to spend sometime with Jeff's folks while we were at the wedding. We had fun, I had the opportunity to be the coordinator for the wedding and Jeff played in the worship band...
After the wedding we celebrated mine and my Sister inlaws birthday's and saw friends and family. In the midst of all this we took the girls to Chocolate World...in leaving Ema said one of her favorite lines in which you know she enjoyed herself "Can we go there again sometime mommy?" I think she asked several times over the weekend.
Here we are celebrating birthday's and anniversaries.

Here I am with my sister in law Jen and Ema as we were sung Happy Birthday too...

Chocolate World in Hershey, PA

Family time

In town this fall they had a Fall Festival/Chili fest. So we had the pleasure of a very balmy day for State College and went. They had free amusement rides for the kids and some crafts. Then there were the chili booths and the thing the girls loved were the pony rides.

Here are Jeff and the girls leaving the fun house.

I helped Jael with her pony ride, she was nervous at first but once we got going she didn't even want my hand on her.

Here is cowgirl Ema....

I loved catching Jael just jammin on Daddy's drum...

Here are the girls sporting their hats from the field trip when Daddy got home from work one day. This is usually the most exciting and chaotic part of the day when Daddy gets home, you hear peals of laughter and excited screams echo through the house as they wait at the top of the stairs to give him a hug and a kiss...