Back to School Dinner

I've been inspired the last two years by my friend Jen, and another friend Jenn, at how these two moms celebrate with their children when school starts up again.  I knew that this year I wanted to join in too and do a back to school dinner/fun night for our family.  Even though our dinner ended up being squeezed in between a row of super crazy days, and wasn't as planned or prepared as I wanted it to be, I was thankful that I took the few minutes to do this with my family and give us the chance to create some memories together and celebrate.

We started off our evening with a "fancy" supper.  I don't know if my children even knew that I had china... so it was fun to get it out for them.  I had big dreams of how the table would look, and the little fun things I would do to it make it extra special, but my day just didn't allow it, so I let go a bit and we just went with what I could put together in about fifteen minutes! 

We enjoyed a meal of grilled chicken, broccoli, rice, and watermelon.  Of course the hit was the sparkling grape juice!  Isn't it always?!?!

We picked a verse for our school year...

I thought that this verse would be great to focus on this year as our family continues to learn to love God more every day and show our love towards others.  Whether we are at home or out and about, this can be applied daily!  It will be a good reminder about the way our lives need to glorify God in all we do.

Our star students: 
Liam - 1st Grade

Ainsley - Preschool

and we can't forget the little one who will be at my feet while I teach...

(Lord,  please help me and give me patience for this school year!)

:)

We were going to think of some goals for our year, but with the ages of our kids, they didn't really get it.  So we prayed for our school year and had some dessert! 

After dessert it was time for some "School Games".  The weather outside was rainy, so this is what I could come up with in about 1 minute... Eraser Relays and a Pencil Toss Game!  The kids loved it and had lots of fun!  We all laughed a ton, and that's what matters most!

Lord, I praise You for these children you have given to our family!  Help us to honor You and glorify You in all we do this year!  Help us to do our best work for You!  Give me patience as I teach, and guide my words and thoughts daily.  Give Liam and Ainsley understanding to learn Your ways and love You and others with all their hearts!  We give this school year over to You... trusting You in all things! 

A Fancy Party

Last year around this time, Ainsley received her first Fancy Nancy book.  We read it and enjoyed it... especially giggling at all the fun ensembles Nancy would wear or the big fancy words she would say.  Soon, Ainsley was adding the word gorgeous and posh to her vocabulary and adding a

little extra bling to her wardrobe.  

Ainsley is our Fancy Nancy.  Usually by 6:30 in the morning she is posing for us in some sort of glittery attire along with sparkly shoes and jewelry and bows everywhere.  That is why I thought having a Fancy Nancy birthday to celebrate Ainsley turning four would be perfect!  And it was! 

I started off by gathering every feather boa, fancy shoe, and necklace I could find to decorate with.  This was the fun part!  Our house was decked out in pink, purple, feathers, and sparkles! 

 It was definitely fancy!!!

Ainsley was so excited for her guests to arrive!  We invited three little girls, two of her favorite neighbor boys, and one of her very best friends who just happens to be almost 12! :)  Along with being a party guest, she ended up being my very helpful party assistant!  Ainsley thought her pink Easter dress would be perfect for her party, and she was delighted to have me do her hair in her first "up do". 

Once all the guests arrived we started out our party by reading one of our favorite Fancy Nancy books and then we started our "Fancy Lessons"!  We first practiced our big, fancy words such as "Delectable" and "Exquisite" and added in a little French like Bonjour (hello), Merci (thank you), and Magnifique (magnificent).  It was so cute to hear the little kids use these big fancy words throughout the party. 

To continue with our Fancy Lessons, we had to learn the proper way to eat a cookie.  Pinkies up and one hand underneath to catch the crumbs!  Everyone did such a marvelous job! 

To finish our Fancy Lessons, we of course had to practice walking straight and tall, slow and steady.  Everyone was very careful not to let their bean bag drop to the floor!

Of course Fancy Nancy is into turning anything plain into something gorgeous and fancy.  So after our lessons, we needed to turn some very plain and boring treasure boxes into beautiful, fancy creations.  So out came the paint, sequence, and glitter glue! 

Everyone worked hard to make their boxes look amazing!

After all this work we were ready to eat!  The kids all loved the fancy umbrellas in the sandwiches and rainbow fruit kabobs!  I think they kept eating sandwiches just so they could

add umbrellas to their collection! 

Once we were done eating, it was time to get all fancied up and visit Ainsley's Boutique!  Everyone received a shopping bag and we headed to the "store" to purchase all of our fancy supplies!  Even the boys had a "hero section" where they could buy their things. 

The girls loved picking and choosing all of the fancy items and then trying them on.  Once everyone was fancied up, we had a grand fashion show to model everyone's attire!



Finally it was time for some yummy ice cream parfaits!  Everyone poured on the toppings and made their parfaits as fancy as they could!  It was such a fun and perfect way to end such a super special day!

The next day we celebrated Ainsley's birthday with our family!  I made her a Fancy Nancy Cake which turned out so fun!  I think the best part was seeing her face when I showed it to her that morning!  That alone made it worth everything!

It was a day filled with fun, sparkles, and so many memories that neither Ainsley or I will ever forget!  Thanks to everyone who helped make this birthday so special for my little girl!

Doing everything with love...

Needing a little encouragement today...

In mothering, in teaching, in just living today as God has called me to.

Finding it here in the one year Bible - 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Be on GUARD.

Stand FIRM in the faith.

Be COURAGEOUS.

Be STRONG.

And do everything with LOVE.

Praising God this morning for the hope and grace I have in Him. 

In Him is everything I need.

To My Princess with Love

Today my little princess turned four years old.   Four. Years. Old.

It was the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning, “Four years ago this morning, I was snuggling my little bundle of pink… soaking her all in… memorizing her features, laughing at her fuzzy hair, and learning all I could about who she was and how I could be the best mama to her.”

I’m so thankful that God chose me to be her mama. Yes, there are days when I have huge doubts and fears about the task ahead of me. There are days when I’ve cried not knowing which path to walk with her on this mothering journey. But there have been the best moments of joy she has brought to my heart. The sweetness… the “girlyness”… To experience life through the eyes of a little girl is precious. I thank God daily for her and who He is growing her up to be.

My sweet Ainsley girl,

Happy Birthday sweetie! I love you so much! I am so excited for you that you are now four! You have been waiting and waiting for this day for months now.

You are the splash of pink that God decided to put into my life! You love all things pink and purple, all things girly, and all things frilly. You love to wear dresses, and pretty much wear them every day. You have an opinion about the clothes and shoes that you wear, and I try not to clash with you too much! You love to choose how to have your hair done in the morning and you love to wear bow, clips, and headbands in your hair. My favorite is when you come downstairs early in the morning and you are dressed from head to toe in frills, skirts, jewelry, shoes, and bows.

You love to draw and color. I think every day you spend at least part of the day coloring a page or making a picture for someone. You love to add stickers and make it “pretty”. One of your favorite things to do it to have me draw princesses, princes, kings, queens, mommies, daddies, and kids, and then cut them out and then you color them all. Your favorite are the princesses… you love to design their clothes and decide what matches and looks good together.

You can be a stinker! You have a fussy and whiny voice that can drive me and your daddy nuts. You many times know the “right” thing you are supposed to do, but you do the other thing anyway. You love to put just your toe over any boundary line I’ve drawn and then give me a sweet smile. You can be stubborn when you know what you want.

You are also very emotional. Something can set you off and there are tears and flailing arms and major drama. I am now 100% convinced that God has hard wired girls to be emotional. You are super sensitive about certain things. You hate saying good-bye to people, and there is usually lots of tears and crying. You love people deeply and you miss them deeply when you aren’t around them. There are days when you just cry and are fussy and you (or I) really don’t know why. But I can totally understand and like I’ve told you, “sometimes girls just need to cry and they really don’t know why…” That’s us baby!

There is so much more I could write about you, but just know how full my heart is today because of YOU! I am beyond blessed to be your mama and to watch you grow before my eyes into the beautiful girl God intends you to be. My prayer for you today is that you would know and love God deeply. That your heart would trust Him in all things and that you would lean hard into Him all the days of your life. I pray that you would truly know how beautiful you are inside and out. That when you look in a mirror, you would see His fingerprints all over you, and how He made and designed every fiber of your being perfectly. I pray that you would be strong and confident in the Lord who made you when others might not see you that way. I pray that you would hold onto His perfect love and goodness in your life. That the love and joy for life that you have inside would spill into other’s lives… glorifying God in all you do. You are such a precious and sweet little girl… and you are mine (and daddy’s too!) We love you princess!

Happy 4th Birthday Ainsley!

More on Hope...

We put our HOPE in the Lord.

He is our HELP and our SHIELD.

In Him our hearts REJOICE,

for we TRUST in his holy name.

Let your UNFAILING LOVE surround us, Lord,

for our HOPE is in YOU alone.

Psalm 33:20-22

More encouragement from the one year Bible...

He Strikes Again...

Seriously... does any one watch this child???

And we have a whole year of school to get through with this little one at my feet...

Trying to get that inner artist out of him while he's contained!  Hopefully it helps!

We have a big birthday celebration over the weekend!  Can't wait to share about all our fun! 

Happy Weekend!

My Little Artist

So I almost made it through the toddler years of my three children without any of their signature art work on the walls or furniture of our home.




Almost....





Until I discovered this...

and this...

and this...

(you will have to excuse the "quality" of the artwork photos....

we were in the middle of making supper and Tim was a little distraught that I had grabbed my camera to take pictures!!!)

Sigh... I'm so thankful that I spend the extra money on buying the washable markers... it made the clean up a little more bearable.  (but it still annoys me that washable markers are more expensive than regular markers!  Really people?!?!)  Scary thing is, we still haven't found the red marker.  Hopefully we randomly picked it up before we realized what it had been involved in! 

Anyway... here's a picture of the guilty little stinker...  oh my... Good thing he's so cute!

Love this boy! 

Happy Friday!

Just a Dad and a Girl

Just a dad...

and a girl...

going out on a date...

Every once in awhile, Tim and I try to do a one-on-one "date" with our kids.  It's fun for them, it's fun for us, and we are always so glad that we took the time to do it.  We wish we did it more often. 

This time Ainsley and her daddy were going on a special date!  Ainsley decided what they would both wear (of course they had to match) and she was beyond thrilled to get all dressed up to go out.  She was giddy all day long, and danced and twirled around the house at just the thought of what she was going to do later that day with her daddy! 

The two of them went out for supper...

And then headed to the mall where Ainsley showed Tim all the cute clothes and Tim showed Ainsley what a candy store is all about!

And of course, all good dates need to end with dessert! 

And what would be more sweet than to share a banana split! 

It was a special night for both of them... and one they will remember for a long time.  I look at these pictures, I see this little girl in front of me, and in this mama's heart I know that in the blink of an eye some special man will be wanting to take this sweet girl on a real date.  But for now, very I'm thankful it's just a dad and a girl!   



Confident Hope

Dear Friends,

I pray that God, the source of HOPE,

will fill you COMPLETELY

with JOY and PEACE

because you TRUST in Him. 

Then you will overflow with

CONFIDENT HOPE

through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13 NLT



Encouragement from the One Year Bible

11 Years...

11 years ago I married the man God chose to be my husband. I had waited a long time for him (or at least it felt like it) and I was full of thanksgiving and awe of God on that day that He would give me the blessing of a husband and allow me the gift to be able to enter into the sacred convent of marriage.
 Today as I was thinking back to that day, I was pondering what I would tell that blushing bride before she walked down that isle… (Or maybe what I would remind myself of today…)

*Marriage is a gift from God and a blessing, don’t take it or your spouse for granted.


*Love when it is easy… love when it is hard… you have a choice to make, and you can choose to love.


*Marriage is something that you need to work on daily. As in any relationship, it needs love and time and care and work… it won’t just grow on its own.


*In marriage, you are either growing closer towards oneness or growing in distance. You can’t just stand still in the relationship. Every day you have a choice on which direction you will move and what you will do to make it go in one direction or the other.


*Be full of forgiveness, love, laughter, and encouragement for your spouse. Your “self” will be one of your biggest enemies in your marriage.


*Don’t let “life” get in the way of your marriage. Give it the attention it deserves.


*Remember the promises you made on that day… and keep them.

*It is only in Christ, and with His strength that you can truly grow in togetherness and have a happy marriage!

Tim, thank you for 11 years of being my husband.  Thank you for loving me, caring for me, and walking with me daily through great days and hard ones.  You are a blessing from God and I praise Him for you.  He knew exactly what I needed in a husband when He gave you to me, and I am thankful!  I love you!  

To the moon and back,
Jennifer

ps - I think we're going to make it!