Contest tim!

Ok, here it is! You've been eying my hair bows but not sure if you want to try them yet. Well, here's your chance to WIN two FREE bows of your choice!! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on the "official post" at Holy Craft (do not leave a comment here--it won't count). Can't get much easier than that! This contest will run until midnight (EST)on Saturday. Then I will randomly draw the winner. Ready...set...comment!

New Referral Program!

**Announcement on my Holy Craft! blogsite**
To all my loyal customers: thank you!! And to show my appreciation I'm starting a referral program. For every person you refer who places an order you will receive a free bow of your choice or 10% off your order. Make sure your friend gives your name when they place an order.
Don't worry--if you haven't placed an order yet, you can still get in on the referral deal!

My little girl is growing up!

Wow...I'm a little overcome with emotion this morning. A few minutes ago I went out to get the mail to find the usual--junk mail, bills, the community newspaper...and then there it was, a large white envelope. Addressed to me and Kyle from St. Peter's Lutheran Preschool. Inside I found the parent letter, final forms to fill out, SCRIP tuition information and--the one that got me--the school calendar. I don't know why the calendar is what got me, but just seeing actual dates makes it official--Ashlyn is growing up! She's no longer just my little girl, hanging around the house, playing outside, going to the museum and library with no real schedule to follow besides Maguire's nap schedule. She's going to SCHOOL in the fall! I'm so excited for her. She's going to love it--she does really well in structured learning environments as we've seen in Sunday School, library story time and other things like that. My neighbor, Kristi (Elizabeth's mom), and I checked this preschool out last winter and we're really happy with it. It's a Christian preschool, which I love. The girls will get "chapel" once a week and "Jesus Songs" the other day of the week :) Looking over the calendar I'm excited about things like school pictures (!!!), Grandfriends Day (?? I'm guessing they don't want to leave anyone out whose grandparents might not be alive or around??), Christmas parties, Dad's Night, Carnival, Easter parties, Mom's Tea and class picnics. I'm exited, too about the teacher making a home visit in August. How cool is that?? The teachers all visit each of their students at home before school starts!
I know, come September, I'll have very mixed emotions about Ashlyn starting preschool. I think it's going to be so good for her and she'll love it. I'm excited for her to learn and grow and make new friends. But this all means--again--that my little sweetie girl isn't so little anymore.

Crazy Kids!

For Ashlyn's birthday her good friend Elizabeth (who lives across the street) gave her a funky sprinkler toy ("Waterpillar"). Every day since her party Ash has been asking to play with is. Finally on Wednesday night Kyle pulled it out with her. The temp was mid-60s at best and the sun was going down, but these crazy kids were acting like it was blazing hot out! Maguire dropped out first, though. He realized that it was pretty cold and decided to do something else before he got fully soaked. Elizabeth was next. Finally Ashlyn realized that she was, indeed, soaking WET and COLD! Hence, the last picture :)

Rough and Tumble Kid

Here is the first of -- I'm sure -- many black eyes! I'm actually surprised that it's taken him this long to get one. This kid will get into anything and everything he can, climbing on everything his sister does and then all kinds of things she can't! The red dot on his face is from a nasty mosquito bite that swelled up. Then the black eye, we think, came when he fell off the bench in my in-laws' kitchen. I was downstairs in the room beneath the kitchen and head a huge THUD! I came running and almost by the time I made it upstairs he had stopped crying. What a tough kid!
**I realize that I've taken after my mom in the fact that I love to take pictures of my kids when there's something wrong--rashes, black eyes, bumps, bruises, etc. My mom always took the most pitiful pictures of Nate and me when we had some injury or illness!**

Here's Mac trying to figure out the new sippy cup

"I diddit!"

I've loved seeing pictures of my friend Sam's son, Quinn's "Oh Face", so I was quite excited to see Maguire making one of his own :)

Whenever Maguire is barefoot in his booster, he crosses his little ankles. I've always found it quite adorable and finally got around to taking a picture of it :)

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was an interesting but nice day. And through it all I got not one picture of any of the mothers! Oh well :) Kyle had been asked to lead worship at his parents' church so we stayed the night at their house Saturday night. Unfortunately, Maguire woke up earlier than usual and his nap started right when we would've been leaving for church, so I stayed home with him while everyone else went to church. Kyle's sister and brother-in-law and their 5 kids met up with them at church then everyone came back for lunch, including my mom. My dad was sick so my mom came by herself. I was bummed not to be able to go to church, but it was ok. As a thank-you for me "letting" Kyle lead worship on Mother's Day, the church got me a big pot of bright pink geraniums. They're so fun! Judy, Kyle's mom, also got each of us moms a pot of locally grown (aka--big, beautiful and colorful!) peonies. Judy also got me and both my sisters-in-law the cookbook "6 O'Clock Scramble" along with a 6-month subscription to the weekly menus and grocery lists. I'm looking forward to making use of this gift. I'm hoping it helps me eliminate that "scramble" at the last minute to figure out dinner each night. My mom got ME aluminum sippy cups for the kids HA HA! Because of all this BPA business...and I'm too cheap to spend $15 each for a sippy cup! I also got some very sweet cards from Kyle, Ashlyn & Maguire, my mom and my mother-in-law.
I'm so grateful for my mom--she's my best girl friend and such an incredible example of a loving, godly mother. She's taught me way more than she or I will ever realize. Thanks mom; I love you!
I'm also so blessed by my mother-in-law. The typical mother-in-law stereotype is so sad to me but it just brings to light how fortunate I am with mine. She's so helpful and involved, loves me and our kids, raised an amazing son, she's extremely generous, and is a wonderful godly woman. If there was a different "title" I could have for her, I'd just skip the whole "mother-in-law" thing because she's nowhere near the stereotype!
God gave me two amazing gifts in my kids. They are so much stinkin' fun! They're adorable, sweet, smart, funny...strong-willed :) I know that with these gifts comes responsibility. I pray that I can--with Kyle--raise Ashlyn and Maguire to know and love God and to give them a loving, stable, godly example to follow.

Ashlyn is so enamored by her youngest cousin, Baby Skydra!

The "Twins"!

We had the leftover cake and cupcakes for dessert and decided to relight the candles for a picture op since they both blew them out at their party before we could even blink!

The girls playing a game...on the kitchen floor?!

Come Alive 2008!

A few weeks ago I was able to go with 13 other women to the Spring Hill Women's Conference - Come Alive! The weekend was a great time of renewal - spiritual, emotional, physical, mental and relational. The keynote speaker, Glenna Salsbury, is an amazing woman and so funny! The musician for the weekend is the wife of an old camp friend of mine, Sarah Scharbrough. She and her husband, Jeff, led worship for us and did an incredible job! Throughout the conference the sessions, breakout sessions and activities were just what I needed. I attended a session called "Walking with God", one on respecting your husband, and a yoga/relaxation (meditation through prayer) class. The yoga was so wonderful! I also went horseback riding (not my favorite thing to do, but it was fun to do it with Joann) and took a card making class. We made three adorable cards - two of which I was able to use for Mother's Day :) In addition to all that fun, I got to spend time with some amazing women and either get to know them or get to know them better. Just what I needed! And now I can't wait to get a group together to go back for the fall women's retreat in October. The speaker is Liz Curtis Higgs and she is so stinkin' hilarious!! I can't wait to hear her speak again. She's the author of "Bad Girls of the Bible" if you've ever heard of or read that book. Here's the link for the fall retreat. I'd love to add to our group if anyone's interested!

Ashlyn's Birthday Party

We had Ashlyn's birthday party this afternoon with her "twin" cousin Blaze. Blaze was born just two days after Ashlyn. It's so fun to watch the two of them together :)
The party was at the Children's Museum and the kids had a great time! We had a museum "helper" who ran the party (so helpful!). The kids started out by decorating "tambourines" made out of paper plates stapled together with beans inside. After they were done decorating them, we all went on a parade through the museum shaking our tambourines and blowing our party blowers. It was a little tough getting all the way back to the party room since the kids kept getting distracted by the exhibits! Once we got back to the room, it was time for cake! Ashlyn took one look at her Dora cake and stuck her fingers right in the icing. Oh well, at least I got a picture first ;) After cake was present time, which is always fun. Ash and Blaze both got some really fun things--what a blessing our friends and family are!

The birthday King and Queen

The kids (and some moms and a dad) working hard decorating their tambourines

Mac trying to get into the presents

Ashlyn sharing a balloon with her buddy Ella

The birthday girl leading the parade through the museum

Papa and Buddy...pre-melt-down! No afternoon nap + runny nose + HOT in the party room + way too much commotion = major headbanging tantrum from Maguire! Fortunately, Mimia was good enough to take him home for a nap in the middle of the party. Thanks, Mimia!!

Ashlyn's Dora (her theme) birthday cake...before she stuck her fingers in :)

When asked how old they were, they both answered "3!" Here's Ashlyn looking confused as to why Blaze is holding up 4 fingers!

Singing "Happy Birthday!"

Maguire enjoying a baseball cupcake

We had a Dora theme for Ashlyn's party...she LOVES Dora! Kyle and I had gotten her a book from Shutterfly that is a Dora storybook with Ash's picture as one of the characters in the story. She loved it!
Ashlyn still has her stubborn moments, but they're becoming relatively few and far between. Most often I just love spending time with her--she's so sweet and silly. She never used to be a cuddler, but she's become the BEST hugger around! I love watching her grow up and learn things every day. It's especially neat to hear about the things she learns in Sunday School at church. She's learning songs and verses that she shares with us. I look forward to seeing how she grows, learns, and matures...not just in everyday life, but as she grows as a child of God.

Our first bike trip of the season

One of our favorite things to do in the warm months is take bike rides on the White Pine Trail into Rockford. Whatever exercise we've done is negated by the ice cream we ALWAYS get at the end of the ride :) We weren't sure how this trip would go with the kids in the bike trailer since Mac is older now. Last summer he had to have about 5 blankets all around him to prop him up since his feet didn't touch the bottom. Now, he's a big boy and fits just fine. We were worried that the kids would fight, but they seemed to have fun together and the fights were few. The key was to keep them well stocked with snacks and juice :)

Our attempt at using the self-timer for a family picture. Not too horrible considering Maguire was cranky because he was hungry.

Checking out the ducks on the pond above the dam.

Maguire loves any pair of sunglasses!

My little climber :)

Both of my monkeys

This was too funny: Kyle had the camera and I told Ashlyn to go stick her tongue out at Daddy. She looked at me funny and then did this. She stuck her THUMB out at him! Once we figured it out she giggled and then stuck her tongue out at him :)

We ate dinner at "Dam Dogs". Kyle had a hot dog with a ton of onions and pickles on it. After he ate it, there was a whole pile of onions/pickles left. Maguire was just shoveling fistfulls of onions/pickles into his mouth. He couldn't get enough! How weird is that?! Especially since I can't stand the thought of crunching into anything that in any way resembles a raw onion. Maybe it was just because that was all the food that was left after we'd all eaten our hot dogs and the kid just loves to eat :)

The end of the trip at Trailside Treats. Kyle and I don't usually order anything because we get enough ice cream licking the drips off of the kids' cones :)

Holy Craft! News

I'm contemplating a contest to give away some "Holy Crafts" :) To enter, all you'll have to do is leave a comment (on my craft blog, Holy Craft!)on the upcoming contest post. From there, the winner will be chosen randomly. In the meantime, leave me a comment (on Holy Craft!) letting me know what you'd like most to WIN! And keep checking back for the official contest post ;)

Watching his big sister...

Maguire is very into watching what his big sister is doing, as I'm sure most younger siblings do with their older siblings. The other day I was surprised to see him attempt to swing on his tummy like Ashlyn does...and then succeed! He was so proud of himself too :)

Ashlyn and her ever-present "Pee-Tee" (aka, blankie)

San Diego!

My parents totally blessed Kyle and me with a trip to San Diego to visit my brother, Nate, and sister-in-law, Brittany! They took care of our flights and our kids :) What a gift!
The weather was warmer at home than it was in CA, and Nate & Britt both got the flu while we were there, but it was a great time for Kyle and me to get away. We left the day after he was officially done at Keystone. Even though Nate & Britt got sick, we got a lot in. We went out to eat, saw a movie ("21"), took a tour of the USS Midway, walked around Seaport Village, took a pedicab ride, visited The Rock church (awesome - check out the podcasts!), went to Hector's, played cards, went in the hot tub, walked around the Hotel Del Coronado, went shopping at the outlets just before the Mexico border...and I even got in a workout!
Nate and Brittany were such great hosts! Their condo is gorgeous - it's right downtown SD and has great views of the city. I think my favorite part is the Starbucks just downstairs and around the corner ;) We were so grateful that we got to spend time with them...without the kids! It doesn't happen too often, so we appreciate any time that we can spend just the 4 of us. We love you guys!!!

Friday night after we got there we went to eat at Rock Bottom

Kyle and me in the courtyard of the Hotel Del Coronado

Britt and me - "domestic goddesses" making some delicious strawberry shortcake

After church we went to Hector's - a true "dive" in every sense of the word, but the best authentic Mexican food! (Also the place where Ashlyn first laid eyes on her Uncle Nate and soon-to-be-aunt Brittany when Ash was just 10 days old)

The guys in front of Hector's

Out for Brittany's birthday dinner at Croce's - too bad Britt was still too sick to eat any of the great food!

One of the great views off of one of the balconies

Nate grilling burgers