they know i'm a sap!

oh my kiddos know me so well...
today, my oldest announced he would be interviewing me over the school break for a special writing project for school. i, of course, burst into tears, telling him i was honored he would pick me. he rolled his eyes, sighed, and shook his head.

just now, while watching the "creepy" version (Jim Carrey) of "The Grinch," a sweet and touching song came on, with a little child singing. my youngest immediately stated, "mom, cover your ears! right away! i don't want you crying over this song!!" to which my 7 year old responded, "but mom likes to cry, that's why she watches sad movies and listens to sad songs."

Hahahaha!

music & brownie bites, barbie, Bible verses & surprises

I know, I know, I promised to write an update on the Hill Happenings, but it's been so very busy around here!
Quick little blurb about recent stuff:
- i discovered the charlotte's web soundtrack today and i love it.
- i'm currently obsessed with the old hymn, "there is a fountain" (which is how i found the charlotte's web soundtrack: pandora "if i stand/rich mullins" station played "there is a fountain" performed by athena; i then searched spotify and listened to about 30 versions of "there is a fountain" which is included on the charlotte's web soundtrack)
- the kids and i are loving the "roaring like a lion" song by the newsboys...we crank it up in the van and sing at the top of our lungs.
- i knit 3 baby hats for knit pray love (via air1 radio station...the hats will go to babies in Afghanistan); my kids were so interested in the whole idea and my youngest thought we were going to bring one of the babies home to live with us! (maybe one day???)
- i just played "fun mom" and tried to make brownie bites with cream cheese frosting and strawberries for the kids for a valentine's day treat. but the brownie bites are more like brownie bits, as they did not easily pop out of the mini muffin tin!
- my 6 yr old's current movie obsession = barbie fairy secret, currently ours for the week from the library
- i'm still 2/3 of the way through fellowship of the ring...kind of pausing for the moment as i read a book about having "THE talk" with the kids...yes, our oldest is about to turn 10 and we've never had THE talk. according to the book i'm reading, we should have had some sort of talk with ALL the kids by now! yikes!!
- my favorite moment from the last week: my 7 year old and my 4 year old playing Sunday School together, looking up Bible verses, writing them in a notebook and reading them out loud!!
- most surprising moment: my oldest unpacking groceries today, without me asking or hinting in any way...i just turned around and he was putting things away!
- another pleasant surprise was watching all 4 kids scarf down dinner tonight, including quinoa and penang chicken!! my 6 year old was literally dipping her chicken in the leftover sauce, and would have licked the plate if i let her!

Checking In

It's been a little quiet over here...what that means is my life outside of blog-land is busy. All great stuff, just busy. So I thought I'd check in and look at the list I made a month ago, and see how things are going:

1) Yell less. Hmm, I think this depends on the day. I am trying though!
2) Live the adage "if you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing at all." I think I'm doing better with this overall.
3) Get back to my weight watchers lifetime goal weight. AND MAINTAIN IT. ALL YEAR LONG. Actually, maintain it FOREVER! Did GREAT in January! Lost 6.6 pounds and 8 inches! Definitely want to keep going with this.
4) Finish the TurboFire program. Still going strong...loving the program!
5) When TurboFire is done, start another exercise plan and stick with it faithfully. Not done yet.
6) Continue trying to get out and run 3 miles, 3 times a week. Got out Friday and Sunday this past week...felt WONDERFUL!
7) Stick with the Women's Study on James (and complete level 4.) Sticking with it...and loving it!
8) Drink 8 glasses of water a day, minimum. Did well all month, then slacked the past week. A friend and I challenged one another to drink 80 ounces today and I've passed my goal!
9) Blog at least weekly. Whoops! ;)
10) Be aware of the quality moments with my family...and cherish them! Definitely! To the point where a few people have commented on the way I treasure the little things. :)
11) Meet friends for coffee more often. A couple last month, a couple more planned for this month.
12) Continue fun dates with my husband. One coming up this Saturday!
13) Model and foster the fruit of the Spirit in my children. Hmmm, we've been talking more about the Fruit and I think we're all more conscious of bearing Fruit.
14) Continue to play the piano and sing often. Perhaps rejoin the Worship Team?! Playing and singing often, played for an hour yesterday...and praying about Worship Team, talked with two pastors about it.
15) Learn to sew better...and sew projects, starting with making us fabric napkins to use at dinner each night. Boo! Didn't start the napkins yet! But I did knit 2 baby gifts, 3 hats for Knit Pray Love and am finishing a pair of socks. I WILL do the napkins next!!
16) Be braver trying new crafts...make the Jenna DeAngeles Antique Paper Wreath by Christmas, and make another yarn-wrapped wreath before Easter. I did purchase the materials to make a yarn-wrapped wreath for Valentine's Day...I started one night but got side-tracked by kiddos making Valentine cards!

Overall, I think things are going well...I have a blog update in the works about recent happenings with the kiddos.

Tea Party: pretty doesn't have to mean pricey!

My girls have been enjoying little tea parties with my mom...they get to use pretty tea cups and add their own milk and sugar. They snack on shortbread cookies or "crumpets." It's a wonderful memory I know they will always treasure. So when my younger daughter asked for a tea party-themed 6th birthday party, I was not surprised, and I was quite delighted! Right away, I began looking up ideas online. A few friends suggested visiting the pinterest website, so I made my way over...and after about three hours, my head was spinning and I was completely overwhelmed! I can knit and cross-stitch, but I am not otherwise creative or crafty. I saw many gorgeous professionally-taken photos of extravagant tea parties. One was for a one-year-old, and I am guessing at least $5000 was shelled out for cakes, favors, decorations, other food and exquisite photos. Lovely, but I'm sorry, I can't afford something like that! So I went back to my list of ideas and decided that would have to do. Especially since my daughter's list included 13 girls! So here is the story of our tea party:
We made our own invitations by googling teapot clip art, printing a picture of a teapot, tracing it on pastel colored heavy paper, and cutting each one out.
I typed the party info in a pretty font and printed it on white paper, used krinkle cut scissors to give a pretty edge, and glued the info to the middle of the teapot. Finally, we made little tea bag tags with additional information (wear gloves & dress up jewelry, bring a doll, etc) and attached the tag to the teapot with a piece of string. Since the invitations were rather large, we hand-delivered the them to each guest. All but one guest RSVP'd with a YES and they all commented on the cute invitations (which, by the way, my 6 and 7 year old daughters traced and glued on their own...I helped with a little cutting, but otherwise, the girls were responsible for these.)


For decorations, I found a pink and silver garland to hang across the dining room entranceway...$1 at a local dollar store. My biggest "splurge" was on balloons...$12 for 3 mylar and 4 pink latex balloons, and I realize now that 2 pink latex outside and 1 mylar inside would have been plenty!) I used a good white table cloth on the dining room table and another white linen cloth on a card table (set up touching the dining room table, to accommodate all the guests.)




I used crystal and silver and china: candle stick holders, plates and platters, figurines, etc. (My girls had fun helping me set up, even participating in polishing the silver.) I found a pink hyacinth and a pink tulip for $3 each. We made our own placecards. I set a little decorative coffee table with doilies and teacups. We went to the Salvation Army and found old white glass cups with handles, 5 for 99 cents!!




As the girls arrived, we took the coats and set them on the stairs ("preventing" escapees from going upstairs to play during the party). Gifts went on the piano bench in the living room, and the girls and their dolls were invited to the family room to color (classical Baroque music playing in the background.) We had printed four different types of tea party themed coloring pages for the girls and put them in a basket with crayons. This kept the girls busy while waiting for the other guests to arrive.

Once everyone arrived, we made sure each guest was introduced to one another and they made their own treat bags: paper bag, paper doily, glue, markers. Fold a doily in half, lay it over the edge of the bag and glue. Use markers to write name and decorate.

Next, they made paper fans: construction paper, doily, glue, scissors, 1/2 a pipe cleaner. Cut doily in half lay on paper at an angle with points touching top edge and glue down. Fan fold. Pinch end without doily and use 1/2 pipe cleaner piece to secure. Note: only 5 of the girls could make these on their own, the others needed help.

Next, we played "pin the crown on the princess" game...$1 at the dollar store. It came with the gameboard, 12 crowns, and a blindfold. All I needed was tape! They loved the game and insisted that I take a turn.

Next, I we sat in a circle on the floor and I read them "Miss Spider's Tea Party" by David Kirk. They were a wonderful audience and listened attentively. When the book was done, I used a very quiet voice to set the tone/mood before we headed into the dining room...this was a fancy, elegant party. We are all lovely ladies. I told them about some of the pieces on the dining room table, that they had belonged to my grandmothers and great-grandmothers. The girls were intrigued and couldn't wait to start the tea party!
I led the way to the dining room and had the girls find their placecard. They sat down and I explained that they could take home their own teacup, their placecard, the necklace, umbrella, star wand and napkin ring (a costume jewelry ring). Note: necklaces were 6 for $1, umbrellas 24 for $1, wands 12 for $1 and rings 8 for $1 all at the dollar store!!!

I showed them how to "steep" the tea...I showed them the teabags and the empty teapots. I filled the teapots with boiling water and they peeked at the water as it changed color as the tea steeped. We passed around a tray of fruit kabobs (my girls made these ahead with grapes, watermelon pieces and strawberries),


chocolate and pink marshmallow cookies ($1 for a box at the dollar store), pink sugar wafers, shortbread cookies (again $1 a box at the dollar store)...I arranged these on doilies on silver trays to look pretty. We also had pretzel rods which my girls had dipped in melted white chocolate and swirled in colorful sprinkles and "mousse" which was chocolate pudding we made and put into plastic parfait cups (I think these were $1 for a 5-pack at the dollar store). I gave the girls the option of whipped cream on top.



Then we poured the tea and the girls passed around two little creamer and sugar sets, one china and one silver.
We used sugar cubes to be extra fancy and the girls loved them! I also had a glass pitcher of apple juice for those who didn't care for tea.



Finally, I brought out a glass platter of mini heart-shaped cakes...I had made white single-layer cakes, frosted them with light pink frosting, decorated with a little layer of sugar sprinkles and then used a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut 13 mini cakes. I put a candle in one and we sang happy birthday to my daughter. The girls oohed and ahhed over the little cakes (*idea taken from American Girl restaurant.)

As the girls finished eating, I brought them their treat bags to collect their goodies. I rinsed and dried their teacups for them. Then they went to the basement to play for the last 7 minutes or so of the party.
My daughters said they had a lot of fun, and many of the guests made sweet comments during the party, from "This is the BEST tea party ever!" to "You have the loveliest house!"

I know it is a party my girls will always remember...and so will I! And I think my husband's favorite part is it cost $50 or less!!

"The List" (at last!)

I've been pondering and mulling over that "list" for over a week now and I've finally come up with my "resolutions" or "goals" or for me, more of a "To Do in 2012" list:
1) Yell less. **
2) Live the adage "if you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing at all." **
3) Get back to my weight watchers lifetime goal weight. AND MAINTAIN IT. ALL YEAR LONG. Actually, maintain it FOREVER!
4) Finish the TurboFire program.
5) When TurboFire is done, start another exercise plan and stick with it faithfully.
6) Continue trying to get out and run 3 miles, 3 times a week.
7) Stick with the Women's Study on James (and complete level 4.)
8) Drink 8 glasses of water a day, minimum.
9) Blog at least weekly.
10) Be aware of the quality moments with my family...and cherish them!
11) Meet friends for coffee more often.
12) Continue fun dates with my husband.
13) Model and foster the fruit of the Spirit in my children. **
14) Continue to play the piano and sing often. Perhaps rejoin the Worship Team?!
15) Learn to sew better...and sew projects, starting with making us fabric napkins to use at dinner each night.
16) Be braver trying new crafts...make the Jenna DeAngeles Antique Paper Wreath by Christmas, and make another yarn-wrapped wreath before Easter.

** these are the items that will be more difficult for me!

So what do you think? Can I do it?!
What are your plans?

Pondering

It feels strange not to be writing every day, after a month of thankfulness posts followed by a month of Christmas music posts. I had planned to list my "resolutions" or goals, but am still pondering them at the moment. I heard a statistic today that 50% of people who make New Year's Resolutions break them within THREE WEEKS! Yikes! I don't know...I'm a list person. I am very goal-oriented, so resolution lists aren't all that foreign to me. I just want to make my list attainable, valuable, and enjoyable.
Hmmm, still mulling it over.

Happy New Year

I thought I'd post my "resolutions"/goal/plans for the year, but so many other thoughts have been swirling in my head all day, I think I'll save that list for another day.
Today we had a new worship pastor start at church...worship was beautiful! Just two guys and two acoustic guitars...what a terrific way to start the year. We also took the Lord's Supper at the conclusion of the service. My almost-six-year-old has been looking forward to this for a few weeks, since was just baptized a few weeks ago. She was literally jumping up and down this morning, shrieking, "I get to take the Lord's Supper today!"
After church, the girls helped me take down the outdoor Christmas decorations, a little earlier than I had planned, but the weather was quite balmy, so I thought we'd take advantage.
Later in the afternoon, I was looking through the kindergarten registration paperwork for my youngest, now 4. I burst into tears thinking about putting him on the bus in September...I really don't know if we should send him this year or wait until he is 5 turning 6! Anyway, he came looking for me and found me, all teary, and spent the next few hours running up to me with hugs and kisses. We spent some time dancing in the kitchen (nothing like old school Petra and Amy Grant!) and he helped me peel carrots, measure ingredients, and stir our soup for dinner.
During dinner, I decided we should start a new tradition and make family New Year's Resolutions. Here's the list we made:
1) Me - lost weight/be more fit
2) C - more family hikes
3) NC - snowboard
4) Me - be more patient/less yelling
5) K - ski
6) C - eat healthier
7) C - practice being honest
8) NC - save money
9) C - nightly family devotions
10) C - weekly family movie nights
11) Everyone - be more helpful
Well, it's a start! (Pretty clear C was the only one really "into" making the list!) I decided not to include NC's suggestion of "more video game time"!! I also decided it was time to read a passage on the fruit of the Spirit, from Galatians. I started to read and lo and behold, NC (age 9) started rattling off all 9 fruit!!!!! I had no idea he had them memorized! So we talked a bit about how when Jesus is in your heart, you should be "bearing fruit" like love, peace, joy, etc. The older 2 were listening closely, but the younger 2 were beginning to fade. I let everyone be excused, and the next thing I knew, C went and got her devotional book, brought it to the table and started reading aloud! My heart melted!
Looks like 2012 is off to a great start.