Feelin' crafty

I've made a couple nursing covers for friends, and they are so neat. I first saw them here. My friends have said they are very handy. I googled some instructions and they were fairly easy to follow. I just finished another one. I know some of my far away friends are expecting and I wanted to pass on the instructions I found from another blog in case you might feel inspired, but when I went to place the link it must have been deleted from the archives...AHHH! I'll work on it! For now here's what mine looks like.

I also tried my hand at felting. I picked up an old wool sweater from Goodwill and felted it. (I did find out that it needs to be at least 80% wool to felt. Wash it on hot with a couple of tablespoons of dish soap - not laundry detergent!) I found the basic idea here, and sewed on a few pockets, a couple free hand flowers, and a cute button. Here's how it turned out.

A weekend in the 'ville!

Last weekend we took the boys down to Cedarville,OH to see a college basketball game. My brother Loren helps with the team and so it was fun for us to see him "on the bench" with the other coaches and meet some of the team. (There is a guy from Jamaica on the team, Chris Walker, whose sister was the winner of the 100m in the Olympics.) The boys were excited to see the "BEE." We ate at the best pizza place in town, Colonial, of course! The boys loved that they cut the pizza in squares instead of triangles :) It's the little things in life, huh!


Here is a picture from our LAST visit to compare
Trent was so excited to get a Cedarville hat and t-shirt.





Not sure what is so interesting off to the left, it seems to be holding Drew's fascination in each shot! Oh well.
We did get to hang out with the family this weekend, here is one of my boys with grandpa.

Photo Tag - Snow Ice Cream

I’ve been tagged by my friend Jen P. on her blog It's a Wonderful Life in a post called “Photo Tag”. Here are the rules:

Go to the 4th folder in your computer where you store your pictures.

Pick the 4th picture in that folder.

Explain the picture.

Tag 4 people to do the same.

I've never done anything like this, but I was curious, so I quickly pulled up "My Pictures" and this is what I saw...

This picture of Trent was from December of 2005. He was 3 1/2 years old. It was our first attempt at making Snow ice-cream. When I was in the third grade my teacher made this with us at school. I just loved it and we got to take the recipe home. My mom actually made some with my bothers and I at home...we just had to remember to scoop off the top layer, not collect any that touched the grass, and STAY away from any snow that looked yellow :)

I didn't have that recipe, nor did my mom, so I began searching the internet to see if I could find something that sounded similar. I did find quite a few and ended up combining a couple because of the ingredients I had, or didn't, in my kitchen.

We tried chocolate, and mint with mini chocolate chips!! YUMMM!

The recipe went something like this:

1 cup milk

1 t. vanilla

1/2 cup sugar

4-5 cups of clean snow (don't pack the snow)

Mix together the milk, vanilla, and the sugar. Stir until dissolved. Add snow to reach desired consistency. All ingredients can be adjusted to suit your preferences. ENJOY!

Now onto the fourth rule...I would like to tag...Ruth P., Karla H., Sarah S., and Andrea S.

Looking forward to a blast from the past, ladies ;)

Toothless...

Just before Chirstmas Trent came crying to me saying that he bit his bottom tooth and it hurt really bad. After a quick inspection I found a bottom tooth wiggly. He would come show me almost everyday just how loose his tooth was. Then, while we were in Michigan visiting Grandma Koning for New Years, Trent came to me yelling "I pulled my tooth out!" Sure enough, he did it all by himself. He was proud that "it didn't even hurt." The next morning Trent looked under his pillow and found a huge reward. Grandma said that the tooth fairy brought a bonus because Trent lost it at her house. Of course he was so excited!!

Holidaze

I wanted to post a few pictures of all our holiday fun. We had such a great time with family!! We traveled a lot, but our visits were well worth the miles logged. We hope your Christmas season was filled with joy at the birth of our Savior, and many blessing for this new year, too!

Birthday gifts

Yesterday was Noah's birthday. We continued the tradition from last year and released balloons. The boys really liked doing that and asked if we were going to do it again this year. Trent wanted blue and Drew (of course) asked for green. They each drew a picture/wrote a note to Noah and we tied them to their balloon. It was sooo windy and so Mike and I were trying to untangle the balloon ribbons. Meanwhile Trent was getting anxious and said, "Can we start singing NOW?!" He lead in singing "Happy Birthday."

Later on in the evening we went to the hospital to drop off all of the goodies that my friends helped make or donate. The boys were excited to help carry the teddy bears! My nurse friend said she is "so excited and honored to be able to share these, in memory of Noah, with other moms who are hurting." A big Thank You to all of you who helped me even be able to do this, it is truly a blessing!

(Drew was so sweet, he had to make sure that my friend knew that "this one has a heart on his foot!")
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Someone who attended our church wrote this "song" for Noah and gave it to me just after his memorial service. It hangs in my bedroon under a picture of Noah and I thought I'd share it today.

Hello Noah.

I'm glad to see, you've finally come to be with me.

With other boys who laugh and play,

and great adventures along the way.

By the shores of crystal sea,

in heaven here with you and me.

I've made a place just for you,

prepared before the world was new,

where all that's joy runs through and through,

and you can be with grandpa too.

By the shores of crystal sea,

in heaven here with you and me.

We'll dance amidst the fields of green,

such beauty mortals have not yet seen.

Play "hide and seek" and "king of the hill"

"catch the flag", or better still,

run through clear streams with great amaze,

with shouts of joy - our hearts ablaze!

Catch salamanders with speckled spots,

and frogs that jump from rock to rock.

We'll climb a tree or fly a kite,

Then take a sailboat late at night,

to hear the call of

Father's Love,

Which surely brings our gaze above.

You'll sing to him who gave you grace,

it's here we find our resting place.

By the shores of crystal sea,

in heaven here with you and me.

And someday soon, your mom and dad,

will rest with us in this land of glad,

and clasp the hand that once

let go

My perfect love they'll soon know,

Where all who come can be truly free.

By the shores of crystal sea,
in heaven here with you and me.

A chance to celebrate

We are coming up on a very important date for our family. If you remember, two years ago this Sunday we welcomed and said goodbye to our third little boy. Noah was such a sweet boy and he forever changed our lives. Because of my involvement in the Christmas musical at our church, (which also happens to fall on the 14th - Noah's birthday) we decided to go as a family and get away a week early. Some friends of ours gave us a gift certificate to a water park in Indy. It was a much needed reprieve. We all enjoyed time as a family, and it really gave me something fun to look forward to amidst the anticipation of an emotional anniversary. So, I say Thank you friends, for your generosity to our family. It was a time to celebrate among our tears.