not only...

...is today Reformation Day

...is today Halloween
but it is also my sweet niece Lily's first birthday!

Happy Birthday Lily Grace!
We love you and miss you very much,
but we are VERY excited to see you next week.
Thanks for letting us watch you open presents today.
We can't wait to walk around and hang out with you very soon!

LOVE you sweet girl!These photos were stolen from Catherine's facebook page! Thanks Catherine!

monster mash

My mom created a little Halloween video that I think you'll get a kick out of! Check it out here!

thanks gma and gpa

Thanks for the books grandma and grandpa we're excited to get reading!

new shoes

Do you need some new shoes? Just go here to get a 50% off coupon for Payless shoes. But it's only good till tomorrow night! Now, get shopping!

sick kids, funny stories, and a celebration

I took Naomi to the dr. on Tuesday. She still had a pretty high temp. She did have a slight ear infection and what the nurse called pre-bronchitus. I think she called it that because she could tell it was getting down into Naomi's lungs but wasn't quite there yet. They put her on antibiotics. She just layed on the couch most of Tuesday and it was SO quiet in the house. By Wednesday I could tell she was feeling better because she was talking and singing more and finally eating something. She's still coughing a lot and afraid to do so...I think she thinks she's going to throw up if she coughs!

Micah started coughing a lot on Tuesday night and the nurse told me to give him some allergy medicine to break it up. He took a REALLY long nap yesterday and just wanted to go to bed today too. Hopefully they'll be better for trick or treating on Saturday. But if they're not, that's okay with me too!

At lunch yesterday Naomi told me that she needed help eating. I told her that she could do it herself because she's been feeding herself for two years. She told me she didn't want to feed herself because she didn't want her fingers to get dirty. So I said, and it's okay if my fingers get dirty? To which she replied, "well, yeah".

Today she was playing pretend and I got to be Kimi and Micah was baby JJ. Then she told me that we were going on vacation. I asked her where we were going and she said, "to Martin Lufer's house". How funny is that? What 3 year old says that? Must be a Pastor's Kid? Must be reformation time!

Today is also Naomi's baptismal birthday so we'll be celebrating that tonight! Thanks godmothers and godfather for keeping this precious little girl in your prayers!!

growing up

These two little girls sure are growing up...right before our eyes.

Reformation Fest 2007

Reformation Fest 2008

Reformation Fest 2009

reformation fest decorations

Jenny asked me about a month ago if I could help her come up with some ideas for decorations for Reformation Fest! Yay! That is right up my alley! She is on the youth board and since the youth puts on Reformation Fest she was right there with them helping out. I'd seen lots of ideas on the many creative blogs out there and picked out a few that I thought would work on a larger scale (than just a home) and would be fairly inexpensive to make.

The first thing I told her about was writing on pumpkins. Just one word or a phrase. She found it difficult to write with a sharpie on a real pumpkin but soon found the Funkins for 60% off at Michael's and those worked great for writing on. They are basically made out of foam.

The other idea I found was to make little these treat jars. And I knew where she could get a bunch of baby food jars! My storage shed! I still had a bunch left over that I never threw away when Micah was done with baby food. I knew they would come in handy some time for some great crafts. I saved a few for myself because I know there are other crafts I'd like to make with these small jars but I gave Jenny the majority of my stash. She got all the supplies and the youth started working on getting everything finished.

We finished the jars at our MOMS meeting and then when Jenny came over on Friday night she brought some of the big pumpkins with her to finish writing on. I wrote on two of the big pumpkins and since I knew they'd be selling them as a fundraiser I decided to write exactly what I wanted on one. Is that cheating? Oh well. I wrote "The Lord is my Light and my Salvation" on a white pumpkin and I love it. It is now gracing my table at home!

What other fun decorations have you made for your "fall" home?

treat buckets

If you've read my blog for any amount of time you know how much I LOVE crafting.
You also know how I love to steal ideas...I mean really, why rack my brain when so many great craft ideas are already out there? I'll just keep stealing theirs and making them my own! So, I do a LOT of blog surfing, hoping, stalking, call it whatever you want. I call it inspiration!

I found these adorable treat buckets over at Brown Paper Packages. Check out this adorable blog created by two bff's who don't live close to each other. I know the feeling! Take your time over there too, there are TONS of inspiring ideas. Here's my version of their treat bucket. I made the colors more neutral so the kiddos could use them for Halloween, Easter and just for playing with. This project didn't take me long at all but will be used for many holidays! Go make your own!

reformation fest 2009

It's that time of year again.
Time to dress up and walk around the neighborhood begging for candy.
Time to decorate the house with leaves and pumpkins (fake for me, real for everyone up north).
Time to get out the 95 theses that Martin Luther wrote and read them.
Time to celebrate the Reformation and the great things that Martin Luther did.
Our church holds an annual Reformation Fest on the Sunday before Reformation Day.
The kiddos get dressed up (some adults do too!), play games, jump in the bounce house, dunk the youth in the dunk tank and get candy too!
It's a great time for fellowship with friends and time to make new friends.

Naomi knew months ago that she wanted to dress up like a princess.
I knew cousin Emily was Snow White once...so we borrowed the costume.
Micah didn't really have an opinion (or so we thought).
We borrowed Michael's baseball costume that Andrew had also worn before.
We figured it would be pretty cool for all the boy cousins to be the baseball at some time.
Micah was NOT having it. He threw a huge fit both times we tried it on him.
So, we put the church mouse costume on him that Naomi wore two years ago.
He didn't seem to mind. It was like wearing short pj's to him I'm sure.

Without further adu, here are Snow White and our church mouse. I wanted to be a nun when I was pregnant with Micah. Yes, I do have a sense of humor in case you were wondering. But at that time I didn't have the costume. This time I did. Thanks Sandy for letting me borrow your nun costume...it was a hit!
Greg had to preach so he dressed up as himself! Or if you want to look at it as a costume he was "Father Greg" and I was "Sister Jamie". What are you dressing up as?

theme of the week

At the prompting and encouragement of my awesome mentor Katherine...
I've begun some new fun things with my kiddos.
Enter: THEME of the WEEK!
I'll be doing these when the mood strikes so please don't expect them EVERY week.
They will be posted on my photography blog though, so make sure to check it out!We've got two sick kiddos today. Laying low. Just enjoying some quality family time.

for today...

Check out other's responses at The Simple Woman's Daybook.

FOR TODAY October 26, 2009...
Outside my window... rain, rain and more rain
I am thinking... that I wish my kids were healthy
I am thankful for... my hubby's day off
From the learning rooms... baseball theme of the week
From the kitchen... chili and cornbread muffins
I am wearing... sweats and a t-shirt
I am creating... layouts for a book
I am going... absolutely nowhere and lovin' it
I am reading... Spiritual Mothering and Shepherding a Child's Heart
I am hoping... that the kids get better soon
I am hearing... TV
Around the house... it looks like fall inside and is sorta clean
One of my favorite things... spending the day inside with my family
A few plans for the rest of the week: baseball lessons (world series), getting two kids healthy , maybe a Halloween party
Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

apron

We had a dinner invitation for Friday night.
We debated about cancelling because Naomi was sick.
We decided to go ahead and go.
Thanks so much Jenny for agreeing to stay with a sick kid!
I'm so glad we went.
We had a great time.
Refreshing conversation.
Lots of laughter.
Amazing food.
Man, we know some good cooks down here!

Anyway, I wanted to take a little hostess gift, so I decided to make another pillowcase apron.
As soon as I saw this pillowcase at Thrift Town I knew it was perfect for Linda.
I was right. She LOVED it! Yay!
It was very fun and easy to make.
And it just shows a little bit of my appreciation for the invitation and the preparation.
Thanks Scott, Linda and Isaiah we had a great time with ya'll!
Let's do it again soon!
Next time at our place. Naomi wants to hang out with "her people".

yarn pumpkins

I love the wealth of ideas that the internet holds.
I've yet to finish my original idea but I love to create what other people have already done.
It's fun to be crafty and to try new things.
I was needing some more fall decorations and stumbled upon these yarn apples.
I made the apples for a project that you will see tomorrow.
While I was at it I decided to make some pumpkins too.
I'm going to attach a longer pipe cleaner to the stem and then place a name tag of sorts for my Thanksgiving table. I'm excited to finally do some of the things that I've always wanted to do as far as hosting a party. I'm getting an early start so the things can actually get done!

Now, go make your own pumpkins and apples.
They're super cheap and easy and cute to look at!
Link back here when you make some so I can see how cute they are!!!

project revealed

Well, you may or may not remember this post where I told you about a little top secrect project that I had going on. The project has been completed and delivered. My good friend Jen asked me if I would create something for her husband's birthday. Eric is a bike man. He loves cycling and everything that comes along with it. Jen said that he's really into vintage bike posters.

The original idea was to take some photos of vintage bikes and create a collage of sorts. But we kept going back to the canvas I made for Micah with the gloves spelling his name. So, I looked through the photos I had already taken at Cycle Logic Bike Shop to see if I could find Eric's name in the bikes. Sure enough I was able to pull out the letters without that being my original intention. I printed the photos for Jen and also had a 4x10 photograph printed of all four photos together. I had that mounted and it's a great little piece that Eric can put on his desk so people know it's his!

This was a very fun project for me and I'd be more than happy to do this for other people too! Let me know what subject matter and what to spell and I'll get photographing! Here are the images I used for Eric's name photo!

The finished 4x10 mounted on styrene.