Bows Bows Bows

Our daughter is ALL girl and she has LOTS of bows! In fact I often see bows that I would like to get her but stop myself since she has no more room on her current bow holder. So... I decided I would do a little craft project and make her a fun bow holder that could also be some girlie "art" for her room! And this is what we came up with....

1st I started with a large old frame I had that was no longer being used -

2nd - I removed the glass and the picture until I was just left with the backing cardboard.

3rd - I added some padding and picked some fabric to cover the cardboard with.

4th - using flat thumb tacks I secured the fabric all around the back. I also think hot glue would work well

5th - I got out my ribbon and decorations and decided how I wanted to arrange them.

6th - Once I chose how the ribbon should be arranged then I secured them on the back with flat tacks as well

Lastly - I added some letters with regular thumb tacks, added some larger thumb tacks to hang ponytails from. And then of coarse added Eliana's bows!! And wah lah - an adorable little girl bow holder with room for more bows!!!

Thanks for checking my craft out - Dawn

Preschool Graduation and Teacher Presents

On Monday was Eliana's last day at Montessori. It was so sad for us knowing that she would not be coming back next year. We have really loved having Eliana in Montessori, she has gained a great deal of knowledge, friendships, and self respect. I am sure that God will bless us at her new pre school in Virginia, but none the less we were sad to see her first year of Montessori come and go. It was wonderful to celebrate the end of the school year with a graduation ceremony. It was absolutely adorable, all the little faces dressed in their graduation gear, singing adorable songs, and acting so grown up.

It was a great year and a great ceremony because Eliana has amazing teachers!

So before we left we had to make sure to leave her teachers with a little something special so they knew we appreciate them. I saw this blog post and thought it was adorable. So I took the idea and tweeked it to make it our own.  We sure hope the teachers know how much we appreciated them and will miss them!

To make our cookie containers we purchased clear glass containers from Wal-Mart, stickers from Hobby Lobby, baked some cookies, and added some ribbon and cards. I think they are pretty adorable myself and hopefully our wonderful teachers enjoyed them too!!!

On a side note - we are praying for everyone affected by tornado's, flooding, and other weather damage recently.  It has been overwhelming to see the devestating pictures of the damage and hear of the loss. So as our family looks for ways to help, please know our prayers are with you all and hope that those of you reading this will be praying for those affected also!

To God Be The Glory - Dawn

Road Trip

So last weekend my little brother graduated high school!!! (I still can't believe it) So as a family we made the long 10 hour car trip to see everyone and join in the celebrations! It was a great time with family and a great time of celebration. But... and a big BUT is the dreaded car trip. I try to bring a variety of things to keep our 3 year old daughter and 1 year old son busy, but there is only so much you can do in the confinements of a car seat. Needless to say we end up watching a lot of movies (THANK GOD for the car dvd player), eating lots of snacks, reading lots of books, and singing lots of songs. Needless to say everyone has there fair share of melt downs along the way (myself included)!

On this trip I was talking with the hubs how I have been making long trips since I was young. Unfortunately my parents lived 7 hours away from each other and visiting each parent was always an event. I have had many half way drives, Amtrak adventures, and once I was old enough - teenage road trips. Then I met my future husband at 19 and spent the next 3 years making road trips in the midst of our long distance relationship. needless to say by the time we got married I decided I was DONE driving long trips and was glad to hand off that duty to the hubs who loves to drive!

But while we were making our 10 hour drive home I started thinking of the funny things we do to pass the time, and things I have done in the past to pass the time on a long road trip. So please feel free to laugh as I share my long road trip strategies!!!

Road Trip Strategies:

As a kid:

• Counting cows
• singing songs
• eating food
• bugging my parents
• reading books
• asking a million questions
• watching movies
• sleeping (if my parents were lucky)

As a teenager

• Counting the number of cars I pass
• Talking to someone on the phone
• speeding and watching out for cops (not recommended)
• timing myself between small towns
• But the best way to pass a long trip as a teen - I would bring a cd and pick one song that I really liked and I would listen to it over and over and over again until I could sing the whole song by heart. For fun I would often chose a rap song and bust out all the lyrics by the fourth or fifth hour. Then my accomplishment would come when I could sing the whole song with the music turned way down low. Needless to say I have a lot of crazy songs forever memorized

 As an adult and parent

• Watch movies (prefer newer movies to hold little one's attention)
• have snacks
• play fun new games that are car friendly
• count horses - Todd introduced me to a game he played as a kid where you have a competition of who can arrive at your destination with the most horses. Well I'm a sucker for a competitions so when your driving the first one to see horses and counts them gets to claim them. Then if you pass a church on your side of the car you get to double them (because they got married and had babies of course) and if you pass a cemetery on your side of the car you have to bury your horses (because they unfortunately all died) needless to say this has led to road trips ending in unnecessary cemetery drive by's  before ending our trip!
• And long talks with my best friend and hubs in the car (often about random stuff like how to pass time in the car on road trips!)

I'm sure there are lots of fun ways families pass the time in the car if your on a trip and I hope hearing about ours gave you a little giggle!!

Love and Prayers - Dawn

Sushi Cupcakes

This weekend I helped my mom throw my little sister's 13th birthday party. It was a luau themed party and I made some yummy treats for the party. I made some tropical cupcakes of coarse (see below) but also decided to make some sushi cupcakes (also below).  They were a lot of fun to make and I have included some helpful hints for you to make your own sushi cupcakes!

For my sushi cupcakes I made mini cupcakes and made sure that they didn't have much of a top on them. then I just bought some supplies and candies to arrange my sushi. Here is a list of the supplies I purchased:

black cupcake liners

white oblong sprinkles to look like icing

orange tic tacs for "fish egg" sushi (orange jelly beans would work better but couldn't find any

gummy bears

candy orange slices

candy fish for the ones on the end

fruit roll up by the foot

Then I just made a variety so it looked like we had a variety of rolls. They were a lot of fun and really good. Cake and candy.. doesn't get better then that!

Just let your imagination run wild!!!!

Highs and Lows

The last few weeks have been full of highs and lows and unfortunately no blogging...

As I step back into real life - or as I know it to be, I hope to be able to get back into blogging regularly!  Really I have had only one major LOW of the last few weeks and that was learning that we are being relocated to Virginia with my husband's job. I know at some point this LOW will turn into a fun adventure but as of now it is not fun news for me- Farther away from family, a completely different area and atmosphere. It is a great opportunity for my hubs and therefore a great opportunity for our family. But the task of telling our friends and family that we are moving so far away, telling our church family we will be leaving, and putting our house on the market has been the definite LOW of the "adventure".  This news has left me quite emotional and anxious, but also a good reminder that in times like these I must rely upon God and look to the power of the Holy Spirit for my daily joy!

                                                

HIGHS -
Since my last blog we have also had lots of Highs!!! For one we had a wonderful Easter celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. A holiday that I often over looked and misunderstood as a lost person, but now find myself overwhelmed  as a child of God.  On Easter day we all went to our church for Easter breakfast, it is really an amazing breakfast with over 200 church family members. This year our church had special friends in from Puerto Rico that made the Sunday celebration even that much more special. After church we went on an Easter Egg scavenger hunt around the town (boys vs girls) then we decided to go to a Hibachi Grill and enjoy lunch there instead of having to cook a big meal. It was a lot of fun and a really great way to celebrate the holiday.

2nd High of the last few weeks was that our church hosted a West Africa Mission Banquet.  It was a wonderful event with lots of special guest speakers, a great family style meal, silent auction tables, a West Africa sales booth, sponsorship opportunities, and a chocolate and coffee dessert room. The event was a blessing to my family and I believe to others. We were able to raise money for this mission work, and help everyone understand what vision we feel God has placed on our hearts for this mission work.  I can't wait for our next West Africa event!!!

While the last few weeks have been a little crazy, it is nice to take a minute and reflect and realize that God has blessed our family abundantly! He is good and I am so thankful for his overwhelming and unconditional love!

Look forward to blogging again very soon.. I am going to show you the sushi and tropical cupcakes I made for my sister's party :) so cute!

Love and Prayers - Dawn