Summer Makeovers of a Different Kind!

My daughter came home from camp begging to do a blind fold makeover! Like a good mom, I said,"SURE!" What we used was liquid eyeliner from Almay and baby wipes. The eye liner worked like a paint brush and the wipes worked like magic in taking it off.

You can see in this picture I obviously did not use a blind fold. At this point I decided that they were a little bit little to do this without poking it in each others eyes. LOL I thought it was pretty fun anyway without the blind fold.
And of course my face got painted too. I think that was the most fun of all for the girls. They tried to get dad in on the fun but that was a no go! LOL

Getting Joy Everyday!

A Car Ride Home!

Busy, busy morning planned for me today as I rushed out the door. I had to go to Midland. It is a 40 minute trip there. And of course I forgot to bring my cell phone with me. I thought about not having it for a moment and went on my merry way to two doctor's appointments (dentist and my baby's 9 month check up) and my usual trip to Wal-mart.

On the way home something not so unusual happened, I heard some strange noises coming from our car. The sounds were nothing startling or nothing we haven't heard before. So I just started praying. I first started thanking God for our car. It was given to us 9 years ago. It has been a wonderful car. my prayers then went on to thanking Him for always meeting our needs. We have been given a few cars. Now that I think about it, in the 13 years we have been married we have never bought a car. But as I was driving those strange noises got a little stranger and I still had 25 more minutes of driving. And of course, I began to worry. I didn't have my cell phone. My baby was in the back seat sleeping. What if this car breaks down, what am I going to do? God reminded me about how He will always take care of us. I just prayed that I would make it home ok. 15 minutes later I had forgotten the whole thing.

It is funny how so many times I forget how God has taken care of us. I forget that He has answered our prayers. He has met all our needs. He is so good to us and I find so many times that I complain. He is listen to my every word. He is listening to all my thoughts. He cares about my deepest need. He longs to answer my prayers and how easily I forget His goodness, His mercy, His grace, His power, His might...His love.

As I turned into my drive way our car broke down. I got the baby out walked into the house crying. I wasn't crying about the car, I was crying because God heard me. We were safe at home. Sometimes, I just need to know that He hears me. Today, I know without a shadow of a doubt He heard ME and watched over me and my son. What if my car stalled like that while I was going 70mph 20 minutes earlier or when I was passing a car on a country road 10 minutes after that?!

So what about the car? One of the belts had completely fallen off and a piece broke off. My husband called our car guy. He came to our house (how amazing is that). He went and bought the part and fixed our car right there (crazy amazing). Our need met in less than a half an hour. God is awesome.

I am reminded by this verse to not let the things of this world cause us to forget how much God cares about us.
1 Peter 5:7 (New International Version)
7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

God hears ME and He hears YOU...

GET JOY!

My Art!

My friend, Jenilee wanted me to post some of my art. I don't have any hanging around my house, sad kinda. A lot of things I do, I end up giving away. The first set of drawings is straight out of my sketch book. I love sketching. Pencil is my favorite medium, it always has been. So these were done back in the day when I had one baby and a lot more time.

This one is of a girl in our youth group. I auctioned off my skills for Speed the Light. This is what they had me do.

Before my third little one came into the picture, I did the bulletin board in the school library. It was a fun outlet.

I enjoy painting furniture and wood pieces. I wish I had more time sometimes.

I use to work at a pottery place. I loved that job. I got to paint a lot while working there.

Art is something I enjoy to do. People always ask me, "Why don't you make a job out of it...You could make a lot of money?" But that is just it...my love would become a job and not just something I do to express myself. Hopefully, when my baby is older, I will get some of that time back. If not...I am busy doing God's work and that is a much bigger passion in me than putting my hand to the paper.

Use the talents as you can, as God gives you opportunity and ...

GET JOY!

Summer School Art Day 4

Birds is todays assignment and once again I added my own little twist. No time for much painting for me today. I went to Hobby Lobby. I love that store. I picked up some round wood frames , scrapbook paper & glitter.

I went on the internet and got some pictures of birds.

*Artist Tip, Color the back of any picture with pencil and the turn it over and put in on what ever you want you picture to transfer on. Trace the picture and it will transfer on whatever you want it to go on.

I then used Mod Podge to put the paper on.I put a little glitter on the birds bellies and there we go another project done.

Summer School Art Day 3

Today, I had no time but a half hour. So here is my 30 min art. LOL Kinda sounds like a 30 minute meal, too funny.

As for me and my house we will serve the Lord!

Joshua 24 : 15

Summer School Art Day 2

Sewing was on the schedule today. I really didn't have time to do this....so my sewing is not neat at all but it turned out cute still. I changed it up again today from the assignment.

My daughter is going to camp next week and we all know how clean camp bathrooms are. LOL I decided to make a travel towel. I used this cool hankerchief I had and never used, towel, ribbon, my sewing machine, string and scissors. An Wha-La a cute little travel towel for my girl to carry down to the bathroom.

I folded a long ribbon in half and sewed the fold into the seem on the side. I then sewed a pocket for her travel toothpaste, toothbrush and soap. She then can fold it half... then in half again... roll it up ...and tie it in a bow. It is neat, clean, easy and I can throw it in the wash when she gets home.

I just love how I cut off all the strings for you UGH!

Summer School Art!

Art is one of my favorite things to do. I do not get the chance to do art these days with church and being a mommy. This week I am participating in Summer School Art. Click on it on the side of my blog and check out what it is all about. Today's project was to do a postcard. I changed it up a bit; because I had one left over blank card and I get ideas in my head that have to come out. Here is what was in my head that came out in reality.

It was a little time consuming but very relaxing. I put my baby on the floor and played some music on my computer....all good! (In case you are wondering, my girls are at my moms having a good-ole-time and giving me a good-ole-break!)

Find a way today to...

GET JOY!

Arts and Crafts for Kids

I LOOOOVVVVEEE Art! So during our Arts and Crafts time today we worked on some fun activities. My favorite place to go for ideas, when I taught art at a Christian school, was crayola.com! They have so many great ideas like that bird! You can pick any them and type of craft. It is one great place. Here are some projects my girls worked on today. I gave them four choices and all we needed were crayons, markers, paper, glue sticks & straws.

Bird on your hand: http://www.crayola.com/crafts/detail/a-bird-on-your-hand-craft/
A-mazing Kids: http://www.crayola.com/crafts/detail/a-mazing-kids-craft/
Action Pals: http://www.crayola.com/crafts/detail/action-pals-craft/

The girls had a lot of fun and here are some pictures of their masterpieces.
This weekend we are on a little road trip. I will try to post some things soon.
Blessings,


GET JOY

A new schedule, baking powder and a little vinegar POOF summer woes are gone!

Our plan is in place! The girls and I came up with a schedule to get us through the summer when we are home. We sat down together and this is what we came up with.

Schedule:

8-9:00 -Computer time(writing on their blog)/ Chores

9:00- Breakfast/ Clean up

9:30-10:30 - Computer time(writing on their blog)/ Chores (10:00 baby nap)

10:30 - snack/break time

11:00 - Arts & Craft time

12:00 - Lunch/Clean up

1:00 - Music time/ Walk

2:00 - Learning time (baby nap)

3:00 - Play outside /Free time

4:00 - Help with dinner, set table

5:00 - Dinner/Clean up

6:00 - Reading with Mom or Dad time

7:00 - Get ready for bed, quiet book time till 8pm.

We came up with a chore list and a special day list. Here are some examples...

Make bed and feed the dog

Tuesday dress up day all day and Friday is Movie night.

We then colored our list and hung them on the refrigerator.

We went to these sites for learning time.

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments.html - Great science experiments

We played with vinegar and baking soda. You should have seen thier eyes when it almost went out of the jar. We also played with cornstarch mixed with water. The girls really like how it was slimy yet you could roll it in a ball. A few Polly pockets got to enjoy the goo. It was fun stuff. The girls also made parachutes for there toys. There is another mini Polly pocket enjoying the ride.

http://ksnn.larc.nasa.gov/k2/k2_science.html - great videos for kids. We learned about rainbows and some other fun things.

I have determined this is more of a guideline than a strict schedule. It will have to be very flexible for me. There has to be time for me to take care of an 8 month old and house work. I have also decided to just take it one day at a time since every fiber in my being loathes structure at home.

Keep checking in for some more fun ideas!

Maybe I will...

GET JOY

from structure. LOL

Summer Activities for my Kids!

Monday, started summer vacation at our home, It is the beginning of realizing what it is like to have three kids at home ALLLLLLLL day! (Don't laugh to hard moms out there with 3 or more) I was very blessed to have my baby in September and my two older girls in all day school.

So lets sum up the last two days....Fighting...Crying...."I'm bored mommy!"...."I'm hungry mommy!"..."Can we do something fun yet?" ....Crying....Yelling during babies nap.... Waking the baby up very early from his nap....
YIKES I WAS VERY UNPREPARED FOR THAT! And somehow, I have to do house work????

Okay, apparently I need to have a plan of attack. I need to strategize and make a plan. I hate plans and schedules but it may be a necessity. I have two plans in place at the moment. One, is to keep them writing so I set them up with blogs for the summer; two, I am reading to them chapter books before bed and then they can read at bedtime.

Today, I am going to sit down with the girls and come up with a game plan. I will post what we come up with here tomorrow. I will also post some past great ideas and new ones.

Today's Great Idea:

Canvas Painting- Walmart has some wonderful canvas boards that are not expensive. Get some acrylic paint also in the craft section at walmart. Take your kids to a park, beach, garden or your back yard and tell them to paint what they see.
Items you will need:
Canvas
Paint
Brushes
Yucky clothes (don't want paint on your kid's cute stuff)
Water & heavy bowls/containers to rinse brushes (you don't want the wind to knock it down)
Paper towel
You will have something ready to hang on the wall. Take ribbon and glue it around the edges to finish it off so you don't have to buy a pricey frame!

Let summer vacation begin!GET JOY!

Interpretation of my younger daughters painting...inside of her bucket. The last one is mine!

A Pond, Frog Catching and a Little Shower of Blessings!

I have had just had one great weekend and I am having trouble honing in on what I want to write about. I think I have finally decided....

I am going to share about my time at my grandparents place.

My beautiful cousin Monica is getting married on June 20th. Subsequently, we had the privilege to give her a bridal shower over the weekend. I love the way my family does a shower. It is all out fantastic, creative party. The Mexican food was marvelous and a nice change of pace from the normal types food at such an event. I hate games but somehow my sister managed to come up with two that were really not bad at all (great job sis).


My favorite part was what my sister came up with that was simply moving. She decided to have people bless Monica with there words and scripture. She had those who were not there (her dad, brothers and fiance) write some things that we read. She then had the women in her life share blessings as well. I got to end this very sweet time with one of my favorite passages...

Numbers 6:24-26

The Lord Bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face shine upon you (both Monica & Dan)

and be gracious to you;

the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

What a blessing to bestow on someone. I can not think of any one thing that surpasses God's graciousness, His love or His peace. That is my prayer and blessing for who may read that passage of scripture. May you know His great love and may it be an inheritance for you, your children and their children.


When I go to my grandparent's place, I am reminded of that inheritance of God's mercy and grace. My grandma and grandpa love God so much. There home oozes peace and serenity (most of the time...well when my grandpa isn't doing some dangerous job like building a roof at the ripe age of 80 something LOL) My grandparents are constant reminders for me to run the race, to never give up and to finish it well. When I go there I get such a sense of renewal and strengthening for my inner most being. Thank you Lord for your blessings for they are new every morning. Thank you for safe havens for the weary.

Today....I will....

GET JOY!