Lemonade Makin' Mama

Planning...

2012-05-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

Okay before we dive into this post we have to be clear on something. We're all friends right? So totally no judging in this area because 1) I'm not an expert and 2) I'm pretty sure it's a work in progress that sometimes works better than others for ALL of us, myself included. Mkay? The topic of today... is meal planning. (Did I just hear you groan? I groaned right along with you there.)

The other day, I posted our dinners for a week. I love how food brings everyone together, even if it's in the common complaint about how almost all of us hate the chore of grocery shopping. Another thing I loved was how you all told us how healthy we eat... you know why we eat healthy dinners right? 1) Because my Mama pounded that into my head growing up and 2) I love to bake. Trust me, I way overcompensate by baking and force feeding my family brownies on a weekly basis. Okay, that was a slight exaggeration. But really, I do bake often. Sometimes I bake healthy things.

That was a super easy post on my end, because I'd already taken the time to plan our meals out in advance before ever making the decision to post on it. And let me be clear- I do really well with this most of the time, but then there are times when I stand, staring blankly at my fridge, thinking, "Umm.. eggs anyone?"

Today let's just focus on the times when I do it well. I thought it would be fun to share with you how I do it. There are a ton of ways to prepare and plan meals, but over the years I've found a rhythm that works well with my limited amount of time, and my family's constricted diet (no gluten).

The first thing I do, is gather up my trusted, favorite, cookbooks. These happen to be my three faves currently. I try to challenge myself to make at least two or three brand new recipes each month. (Does it always happen? No.) I go through them, tabbing pages that look good, and I leaf through my recipe book with old stand-by's and yank the ones I want out, putting them into a pile. That part can take five minutes, or five hours, and let's be honest, I don't have five hours, so I pick recipes quickly.

Part of that process, is that I only keep recipes that I have tried and liked and cookbooks that I trust, around. I toss magazine pages in a heartbeat if I haven't made it soon after clipping it. (I'm a thrower. I admit it.)

The other thing that makes this process go quickly for me, is that I make a menu list of dinners, beginning with a quick and easy one the night of grocery shopping. (Can you say rotisserie chicken, anyone?) I glance at our calendar, marking holiday meals, company, and other events, so I know to plan for those accordingly. Then I fill in the rest of the nights with the recipes I've gathered and marked. I try to make note of weekends that will be leisurely, or fast-paced, and plan easy to prepare, or more complicated items in light of that.

Once my menu is filled in, (which takes another five minutes or so) I flip through each recipe, scribbling ingredients onto a separate grocery list. That's when I check spices and pantry stapes, and there are things you buy each week like milk and eggs, etc. that also go on there. I generally do this two days before the grocery day so that I can add to the list as I see we need to restock items. And I must admit... as prepared as that sounds, I'm famous for always forgetting at least one thing either on my list, or at the store. It's become something of a joke around here.

I keep my menu list posted on the side of the fridge and mark dinners off as we make them. Sometimes I change something around last minute too, but since all the nights are accounted for, it works out. I should probably say that I also plan leftover nights if I know something is going to make a large batch.

I hope this was helpful to someone out there struggling to figure out how to streamline the process. I find that we don't have to run to the store as often, so we spend a lot less when I take the few minutes to do this!
Do you meal plan? What works best for you?

Photos seeking peaceful moments

2012-05-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

Thank you for the all of the sweet comments on my previous heart-to-heart post. It never ceases to amaze me when I put something out there and even one person relates. Gosh I love that.

I wonder... have any of you ever had a space in time where you have to make it your intention to seek out and find peace? I would say without a doubt, that has been our past week around here, not that it's been bad... it's just been full of non-peace. (Ha! Is that even a real thing? Let's just say it is.)

I literally walked around pointing my camera at things and snapping photos because there's something about the quiet, still images that soothes. Do you know what I mean?

Lately it's been anything but quiet and still around here. Things are moving and shaking once again... and who knows what tomorrow will hold. I keep saying these words to Adrain, "I'm so ready for some peace.. can't we just have peace for a change?" (How's that for whining?) I guess I never signed up for "peace" when I signed up for "adventure!" LOL

On the Mama front, I'm pretty certain that if I actually survive motherhood and make it to that place where my children are grown, it will be by sheer force of miracles beyond my control. It's been interesting, that's for sure. This week may either make or break me. (And a small person entrusted to my care.) And if I do survive it, I think I want to throw a huge celebration party!

The truth is relationships with people (including our children) are messy, and life is filled with people... so life is often very messy. It strikes me, that we're supposed to experience this glorious mess for all it's worth, and learn to navigate the waters of uncomfortable and I'd-rather-nots... and can't-I-avoid-it's in order to grow into the being we were created to eventually become. Funny how children stretch you in ways you never thought you needed any stretching.

I often look backwards for a fleeting moment and wonder when things are going to level out and become "normal" again. Isn't that funny? As if those moments of the past were actually normal when I was living in them.

So sure, there's peace in a photograph because it's blocking out all the noise and efforts, and failures, and successes, and most of all.. the mess. But it's not real living. And I don't know about you but I need that reminder when I'm dealing with the messy person that about makes me pull all my hair out. Because I'd take the NO MESSY in a heartbeat in that awful, uncomfortable, moment I'd been dreading... but if I did, I'd miss the eye contact, the healing, the hug, the words... I'd miss the relationship... for better or worse.

Anyway, enough of the heavy for this fine, sunny Monday morning. I found golden retriever puppies for sale and I did some serious begging... but it makes no sense just yet. We may be riding the roller coaster of life again very soon, and training a new puppy in the midst of it all would most likely send me over the edge! (Oh but they were so adorably cute. My man (wisely) wouldn't even let me go "look." Ha! Darn him. He knows me.)

I'm getting my hair done today. Hallelujah. I don't think I've had a cut in over six months.

And lastly... I've been dying to share this all weekend... I'm super excited to offer this....

....little packs of postcards with my VW Bus on them! They turned out spectacularly wonderful and now I want to send one to everyone I know. Fun mail is the best, isn't it? (They would also be darling in a little frame on your desk too by they way.... which is what I might do with one myself.) I'm selling them in my shop, here!

Happy Monday sweet friends.

Making peace with... me.

2012-05-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

It was an overcast day, with the promise of rain. I slid my arms into my favorite sweatshirt, and reached for my camera. I had a date with one of my besties, and a load on my heart. After pulling in, we embraced like girls do, and started off, in search of lines, and light, and photo-worthy scenes. We quickly fell into an easy rhythm, talking about things with depth and playing with our cameras simultaneously. She already knew my story, so it was easy to talk about my feelings. She knew where they came from and we dove in to the hard stuff challenges are made of. Ironically, she was working though some similar things so we quickly touched on common ground, and spent the better part of the next hour buoying one another up, encouraging, pointing out truth, squashing lies, and chewing on the topic.

The topic was of course... body image. I've tried so many times to write a post worthy of this topic. I've even written whole pages, pouring out my own story, but in the end, I can't put all those words out there. The reasons are vast, but boil down to the fact that my struggles began from the hurt I received at a loved one's thoughtless words, and I can't bear to dredge it all up for fear of hurting them with the re-telling of it. I did at one time struggle with what I see now looking back, was a control-based eating disorder. The love of an amazing man and an even more amazing God pulled me back from an abyss that would surely have swallowed me whole if left to my own devices. I've been released from that place for many years now, and forgiveness of the original hurts further freed me, but I do still struggle with my internal thoughts and have been working hard on seeking healing in that particular area. I wonder if you can relate to that? I think I can safely say all women, (especially those of us staring at airbrushed magazines in the grocery store check out aisle) at some point, struggle with not feeling "enough."

As I talked to my friend that dull, gray day, something began to take root in my heart and I want to share it, though the message may come out inadequate at best. In my head, it goes something like this: I want to be the thinnest, fittest, prettiest, funnest, most well loved/liked person on the planet. I want everyone to love me most. I want to be everyone's best friend and first choice. I want it all. Who doesn't if they are truly honest? And because I can't be all of those things (no one can or should) I tend to feel inadequate, unworthy, insecure and often... like a failure. But the truth is... what I really want when I want all those things, is to be worshiped. My friend pointed this out and it about knocked me sideways. I feel like I'm not good enough, because until I have the worship and adoration of every single person alive, and birds sing to me from my window sill, I'll never feel like I've achieved it and life will always be an empty striving for unattainable perfection. Because I'm making that a priority by wanting all of those things.

After I let that sit for a couple of weeks, I decided to write this post. It's not a post filled with my personal body issue war stories. It's not a post filled with my successes, the diet that might work on those last ten pounds, or the jeans that might make you finally like your rear end. What I'm hoping is that this is a post that will make me (and possibly even you) really chew on the words of my darling and wise friend. When I'm comparing, complaining, or wishing for something else... will I be able to stop and ask myself the hard question- Am I just wanting to be the best because I want to be a god?

My prayer is that the second those thoughts of inadequacy, or negative self-talk about thighs, or gray hair, or stretch marks, or any other body part I'm picking apart come up, I can immediately recognize my selfish desire for perfection, and the rejection I'm giving to a God who designed me (and you) as He planned. As an artist with a beloved creation. And maybe instead of separating all of my flaws out, like ingredients for a soup, I can lump them all in with the good things, and appreciate the whole thing for the work of art it is. Cause the kind of little old lady I'm aiming to be, is a sweet, caring, selfless, tender-hearted, compassionate, godly woman who embraces all the messy parts of life including a few extra pounds around the middle, and pours out into others, what overflows from inside.

Only one way to get there. And it begins here, by making peace and letting God be God and letting me be my intentionally imperfect self.

It's what's for dinner.

2012-05-10T21:41:00.002-07:00

I got so much fun (and dare I say excited) feedback about potentially showing y'all what we eat for a week when I mentioned that I was considering doing this for a blog post. I think it cracked my man up like crazy. But I get it. I always want to see what people really eat for dinner- not something all pretty and staged, but what really goes on a table, no company, no special occasions... just dinner. I would say as a disclaimer, that our standard menu does tend to change with the season, (I'm sure everyone does... you know, soups in the winter, lighter foods in the summer, etc.) but this is pretty standard for us around this time of year and I didn't make any special meals within this week to impress you. That said... here we go!

The night I decided this would be fun was the night before grocery shopping. (I had my list already written out, along with my menu before this decision.) There wasn't much left in the house at this point with the exception of one orange, two uber-ripe kiwis, a handful of grape tomatoes, one avocado that needed to be eaten immediately, eggs, and one big ham steak. I split it all up evenly onto four plates, and that was dinner.

Ah groceries. I remember a time when I could spend all day in a grocery store. Have I gotten busier or has the "new" just wore off on that? Because seriously, I hate that chore. LOL This is one of Adrain and my favorite salads. I serve this to company, it's so good! I buy the tail off, pre-cooked jumbo shrimp, (cause let's face it, peeling shrimp is not something I love to do, nor do I have tons of time to spend on it.) pepper bacon, grape tomatoes (we eat a lot of those) spring salad mix, avocado (another staple) and whip up a simple honey mustard vinaigrette dressing. I toss the bacon into a pan, cook it, and then quickly wipe out the pan, and toss in the shrimp to warm them up. While that's going, I chop everything and put the salads together. For the dressing, I use a mini food processor to blitz it all.

Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

1 TBSP white wine vinegar

1/2 c light olive oil

1 TBSP Dijon mustard

1-2 TBSP honey (depending on your sweetness tolerance)

dash of salt and pepper. Sometimes I also toss in fresh herbs too. It's yummy, quick and easy!

Leftover salad greens, tomatoes, avocados and dressing, but with some pear slices and steak strips on top! Quick and easy. The kiddos love steak. (Also please note the water bottle. I did have a napkin on this night. Ha!) I'll be honest here, I bought pre-cooked, pre-sliced steak for this but only because our BBQ grill was needing something fixed and I knew Adrain wouldn't get to it til the weekend... and I hate cooking meat. Normally we'd grill the steak ourselves, and save the money because that would be much more affordable. Just so you know. I love to take something and carry it over into the next night as faux leftovers. For example, I plan back to back salads with tweaked toppings and no one feels like they are getting leftovers. Things like that.

Possibly my all time favorite chicken. Honey Mustard chicken. Guys... this is one to tuck into your EASY arsenal. (I also make this for company quite often.)

Honey Mustard Chicken

In a bowl, pour 1/2 cup honey, 1/4 c olive oil (or you can do melted butter- honestly it tastes the same to me but olive oil is much better for you) 3 TBSP Dijon mustard, 1 tsp curry powder, salt, and cracked pepper. You can marinate chicken pieces, or breasts in this, and bake it at 350 for half hour... or you can skewer tenders like we did and use it as a basting BBQ sauce. (That's my favorite way to use it.)

It takes five minutes to mix and I always have the ingredients on hand. Then I snipped some fresh sage and oregano and sauteed a couple of zucchinis and mushrooms in some olive oil. It was perfect and we ate outside in the sunshine.

Leftover honey mustard chicken, chopped up on top of a bed of spinach (my family's favorite) with walnuts, pear slices, tomatoes and avocados (the hoodlums always pass on the avocado and tomato just so you know) with some leftover vinaigrette drizzled over the top. The comments I got at dinner were, "Mom, you always make the best salads" and from my man, "I love how packed full of things your salads are." Yes... well... I like to make every bite a surprise. LOL

Every woman should have a full meal on hand that can go straight from her freezer to the table in case she gets busy doing errands, trying to get pink paint out of her daughter's comforter cover, and cleaning the house, and then totally spaces out on taking the fish and corn tortillas out of the freezer for tonight's fish tacos. Or whatever... Ahem. Yeah. You caught me. (Unplanned dinner in 25 minutes. That's what I call this one.) Frozen salmon patties (from Costco) with frozen sweet potato fries and frozen green beans. I tossed the salmon into a pan and did the same with the green beans. I hit the beans with olive oil, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper. And the surprise ingredient in tonight's dinner- a dollop of watermelon orange salsa that I mixed while things were simmering. I mixed a half cup of pre-made pico de gallo with a chopped up orange and some watermelon chunks. It was super yummy with the salmon. P.S.You can whip up your own homemade pico de gallo to keep on hand with this easy recipe.

Pico de Gallo

chop up 4 roma tomatoes, (I usually discard the pulpy seed parts)

1 small sweet onion

1/4 c fresh cilantro

a few squeezes of lemon or lime, and salt and pepper.

I did get my act together and thawed the fish so we could have our regular (once a week) fish tacos. I have to tell you that my kids love this fish. I use a frozen Hake fillet, saute it in some olive oil, and sprinkle it with salt, pepper, and fresh lemon squeezes. They sneak it when my back is turned so you know it's good. And fast. (I like fast.) Since we're all gluten free, we use corn tortillas, and I warm them in a steamer in the microwave. We top them with shredded cabbage, pico de gallo, and fresh guacamole. (Scrape out the flesh of two avocados, mash them up, add a spoon of minced garlic, pinch of salt, pepper, dash of cayenne, and squeeze of lemon or lime juice.) I usually set everything on the table and let everyone help themselves. (I have to monitor the hoodlums though, or they'll eat seventeen tacos a piece. I guess we're at that age.)

So that's what we ate for dinner this week! I'm going to be linking up to the Beckster's party here.

A post because it's Wednesday...

2012-05-09T16:47:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to pause in my day and say hi to you wonderful peeps. I don't actually have a ton to say but I have a few photos and the sun has been out, so I've been doing little outside chores with my camera in hand. I tell you, in the Pacific NW, sunshine makes all the difference.

There is something so relaxing about planting flowers, isn't there?

The hoodlums were so excited this morning, to see a bunch of things poking their heads out of our garden boxes already.

Oh I wish the sunshine would never leave. I love it so!

Speaking of sunshine, I was wandering around picking things up in the house this afternoon, and I realized that I've somehow been slowly sneaking sunny pops of yellow into every room. Little by little.

And please meet my mother's day gift. I got to pick it out my own self this year. Which cracked me up. Finally, after sixteen years of marriage, Adrain and I have matching night stands, and lamps!! I am loving the clean and simple look. Oh happy mother's day to me!! LOL

It's possible the yellow might be taking over our house right now. I am working on a planky looking sign design for this saying, and just finished this one with... you guessed it, YELLOW lettering! I haven't distressed the lettering yet, and I haven't perfected the sturdy-ness of it for selling in my shop, but so far, I like it. It's sitting here to dry and stay out of the way of many small children that have taken over my house this afternoon. (They're everywhere! Ha!)

Yep... more yellow. But honestly, I think the winter just about did me in this year, so I must have been compensating by putting bursts of yellow all around.

And before I go, I keep meaning to put this on here... and I keep forgetting. This is the photo of our Seder dinner table before everyone arrived. I think we had 18 people show up. Dat's alotta peeple.

What have you been up to today? Do you have any fun mother's day plans for yourself or your mother?

Found. Pinned. Made. Done.

2012-05-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for a cute, inexpensive (emphasis on that one) quick, fun, and easy way to create some garden markers. This is just my opinion, so in no way let it sway you, but I tend to think a lot of garden markers are a little... ugly.

Maybe it was growing up in the era of stapling the seed packet to a paint stick. (Which we nearly did until I put my foot down.) Nothing wrong with that way to mark plants... but... there might be a cuter way, agreed?

Anyway, I scoured ~~the great collective think tank~~ Pinterest and found this.

I may never have to think another original thought again in my life, thanks to Pinterest.

Anyway, I didn't measure things or make these all exact... I just jumped in and went with it.

I had these stamps on hand- I got them at some store that no longer exists in my town, a decade ago. I've used them for everything! I've seen them at other craft stores since, so I know they are out there.

Imperfectly beautiful. Kind of like my garden. Kind of like my heart. (I'm just saying.)

You'll need to purchase some oven bakeable clay. I used white, because I liked the original version that I was copying.. but I'm guessing you could do these in any color that seemed right to you. (White doesn't photograph so well.)
Then, pull off small pieces, and work them with your fingers until they are soft enough to roll into balls about the size of a golf ball.
Roll those out like "snakes"- you remember making snakes in elementary school right?
I placed a piece of parchment over mine and then lightly rolled them with a rolling pin, to slightly flatten the tops.
Use rubber stamps to stamp the word you want, cut the bottoms off at an angle for a pointed edge, and bake according to instructions on the box!

I ran outside and placed them all into my garden the minute they had cooled.

I love how these turned out.. loving how affordable they were to make, and loving that I actually did another project I'd pinned!

Thank you Pinterest, for saving me from having to think. Do you Pinterest?

Close only counts in horseshoes...

2012-05-06T09:18:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, our church hosted a mini marriage retreat at one of my all time favorite locations. So of course we signed up. They kept sending us away to chew on marriage stuff about every half hour, but Adrain and I are (thankfully) in a very good place in our marriage and had some bigger things to chew on at the moment, so we got a little distracted during our open sessions and quickly moved to the topic(s) at hand. His job.

Over the past two+ years, those of you long time readers have watched as we decided to downsize our mortgage payment, and move to another town, thirty minutes north of our current home. After many months, you rejoiced as our home sold and we began to pack. Then you cried with me as the buyer fell through (thinking she had won the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes offer in order to buy our home, which of course she hadn't. True story.) You sympathized as we unpacked, assuring us God had a plan.

Only a few months after removing our home from the market, my husband was transferred to a job site 45 minutes south of us, which would have been a huge pain if we had purchased the house we first wanted. So y'all nodded your heads and praised God for His wisdom in unraveling that first plan... and then Adrain and I decided to be "all in" and put our house on the market and move to the town he had been transferred to. But God had other ideas. Our house never even got a nibble and plans unraveled slowly but surely, changing our minds about settling there, and after a cumulative 500 some odd days on the market, we quit.

We (okay I) sunk into an "I-really-don't-get-any-of-this-crap" funk that lasted a few months, and intensified when we had to cut our vacation short to come home and bury our puppy dog. I asked questions, I spat out my thoughts, and confident that God could handle it, I let Him have it. And then I asked Him to fill it, and I stepped back for an entire month, from most of the people I love, letting Him speak answers, softly into my many raging fears and questions. Last week, I read the following quote, in my devo, and I'm pretty sure there was a fist pump and a yell of, "FINALLY SOMETHING!!"

“Joy is the flag that flies above the castle of our hearts indicating that the King reigns within.” If that is true, then why are so many women living lives with little or no joy? I’m afraid that we have bought the lies of the enemy, allowing him to steal our joy. Discouragement, weariness, disillusionment, shattered dreams and unrealized goals are some of his favorite weapons, but the truth is that the enemy can only use what we allow him to use. It is time for us to reclaim surrendered ground. Do you sometimes think you are fighting the same old battles you have been fighting for years? I do. Clinging to familiar pain, we find our identity there. Consumed with our own agenda, joy is buried under a mountain of self. Joy is not the result of outward circumstances. Joy is an inside job, a deeply rooted confidence that God is in control..." Mary Southerland

Somehow, my searching led me to something amazing that I'd never seen before. I was reading the book of Jeremiah for our couples bible study, and there's a very well known verse all about God knowing the plans for you, yada, yada, yada, and to be honest, I was putting off getting to that part because of where I was at emotionally. This time, I read the back story for that verse. Basically, God kept trying to get the Israelites to quit worshiping idols, etc, and he gave them warning, after warning to no avail. He was finally like "Okay guys, if you insist on crossing every line, I'm gonna have to let the Babylonians carry you off into slavery to get your attention, but I'll only keep you there for seventy years." (That was my paraphrase.) God spoke up; "This is what the Lord says: 'When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the Lord..." Jeremiah 29: 10-14a

So basically... there was a set time period of misery. He didn't make them wallow in it for eternity. That comforted me massively.

I feel like we're close to an end place somehow, but you know what they say, "Close only counts in horseshoes." As for Adrain's job... well... we'll see what happens...

In the mean-time, I'm going to seek Him with my whole heart and I'm going to choose the knowledge that God is firmly in control. And I'm taking back my joy!! How about you? Can you relate to this place at all?

A smattering...

2012-05-04T03:00:00.000-07:00

It's Friday. Pretty much my favorite day of the entire week because I'm an anticpator. I anticipate the weekend, time with my man, relaxation, and sleeping in. Okay that last part was a joke because for the life of me I can't make my hoodlums sleep IN on the weekends. Nothing can drag their little hineys out of bed in a timely manner Monday thru Friday, but Saturday morning, whoa, watch out, it's rise and shine, and give God the glory, glory, at six am! (Please raise your hand if you were a church brat like me and went to camp every summer and sang that song.)

I just did something very freeing. I threw away (donated to Goodwill) every cookbook that I've had for the past seventeen years that I've only used two recipes out of. There were like twenty of them. (I had to copy those two recipes first, of course.) Why was I keeping them all these years? Was it in case I got a sudden, late night craving for a recipe that had no photos, and I'd never made before? I think it was.

And I have a new rule about cookbooks. They must contain a photo for nearly every recipe, cause if they don't I won't make it. I'm pretty sure that has something to do with being an anticipator. I anticipate the goodness of the dish. Or something like that.

Speaking of food. Last night, I decided that I am going to photograph my dinner every night for a week so you could see what we really eat around here. Of course last night wasn't very exciting, because today was grocery day, and all we had left in the house were a few eggs, and ham, and fruit. Hey maybe this will be fun. It won't be staged. Which means I probably won't have a knife. Or a napkin. Or a glass. (We tend to be water bottle drinkers around here.) But it will be real. I did have a glass of water with a refreshing wedge of lemon in it last night. That was a joke for my friend Allison.

I have no idea where I was planning to go from there... but I do have two fun, new things in my shop right now. This collection of funky orange and multi-beaded necklaces. (I'm wearing two of them here) All of them are different, yet similar. They go with everything, dressed up, or down, worn long of double looped. I'm in love. I wore two while grocery shopping today with a cute navy and white striped cardigan, white top, jeans, and navy Toms. And if you order some for Mother's day, (and let me know they are for Mother's day) I'll even gift wrap them for free. (Oh and my favorite things about these necklaces, are the tiny square silver beads- they catch the light. I also love the gold seed beads so you can pair them with gold or silver earrings. Some have little wood beads, and all have a pop (or two) of turquoise in there somewhere.)

And lastly. I made this for my bedroom, but on further reflection, I think it's going in my bathroom. (That was kind of creepy of me to tell you that. But hey, bathrooms need love too, you know.) Anyway, this fun print is in my shop now and I love it! It's an 11x14 size and makes me smile every time I see it. Which is good since smiling is my favorite. Especially on Fridays. (You can order here!)

Happy Weekend Friends!

April 365 "Dear Diary Snippets"

2012-05-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary,
Today was an amazing family day filled with tons of quality time. The kids awoke in our hotel room bright and early under the assumption that we were going to hit the pool at 8 am, all because the sign said the pool opened at 8 am. (They woke us up at about 6:30 am, fully dressed in bathing suits and scuba masks. If it wouldn't have been so early I would have found this completely hysterical. As it was, Adrain and I rubbed the sleep out of our eyes and told them to wait at least until after breakfast. That may have been the longest wait of their lives.)

Dear Diary,
The sun came out and because out vacation was just getting started, we decided to hit the beach with kids (still cold, in spite of sunshine, but that's life in the Pacific NW). We ate dinner at a restaurant that would have been awful if the whole thing hadn't been so stinkin' funny. Poor Adrain.... all he wanted was some crab. I think our gluten-free requirements threw the entire place into a dither. Then... after kiddos had been tucked in for the night, we got a phone call that our dog Lucy had gone missing, so we frantically packed up and drove home through the night with sobbing kiddos. Ugh.

Dear Diary,
So yeah... we left the hotel at about 9 pm last night, and drove the 6 hour drive home. We were still about three hours from home when she was located and transported to an emergency vet hospital. We were warned it didn't look good. We got home just in time for Adrain to go in and say good bye to our doggy. The kids and I huddled together in my bed, crying the whole time we waited for him, and it was around 4 am by the time Adrain got home and we all finally crawled into our own beds and we went through most of this day in a fog.

Dear Diary,
Well, today felt weird but as we did laundry and tried to get our bearings, Ava suggested cupcakes to celebrate Lucy's dog life. If nothing else, it made us smile for a while. Our cupcakes totally rocked. Gluten free vanilla bean was Ava's choice. Gosh I hate seeing my kids cry. At bedtime, I was brushing my teeth when I heard the sniffling outside my door. I peeked around and my girl was starting to cry- I asked what was wrong, (totally forgetting for a second) and she wailed, "I miss Lucyyyyyyy." Two hours later, I had her calmed down. Sometimes it's hard to be a Mama.

Dear Diary,
Today I dug out Gwenyth Paltrow's cookbook (you know, the one I've been meaning to make something out of) and decided to actually make a two week menu, and grocery list. It's the first time in about six months that I've done that. It felt good to stock up the house and make something fresh. Something about being in the kitchen and putting things in order feeds the soul.

Dear Diary,
I hate to say it, but I felt like I was just going through the motions all day long. I think everyone else had a good time. It passed in kind of a blur...

Dear Diary,
It sure doesn't feel like Easter this year.

Dear Diary,
Easter. He is risen and thank God for that. Literally.

Dear Diary,
I began this day by setting my alarm and beginning at the feet of Jesus. I prayed over my kids and my man and after dropping hoodlums off, I hit the trail and listened to an amazing worship playlist, basking in the sunshine, on my favorite morning walk. I pony tailed my hair and ran around, checking off errands, and then came home and painted those stripes I've been wanting to paint in the studio. They turned out amazing. I needed that.

Dear Diary,
I have sunshine seeping through my windows today. Much needed. Much appreciated.

Dear Diary,
I love it when I pin an idea and then ACTUALLY do it.

Dear Diary,
A storm moved in and I couldn't help snapping a photo of the creepy looking clouds and sky. It quickly turned black. I laughed and said, "Hey God, there's a dark cloud hanging over my house." Of course there was.. but not in the sense I was joking about. Mostly.

Dear Diary,
Who knew JJ loved lemon poppy seed muffins? You think you know somebody...

Dear Diary,
I bought myself some stationery. I think I need a pen pal. Ha!

Dear Diary,
Apparently one can never have too many nerf guns. Especially in a neighborhood where nerf wars constantly break out on a daily basis. My yard gets invaded by many little boys on the warpath. It might be one of the cutest things ever...They spend 50% of their time discussing rules. Which apparently are a very central part of the game, and to be taken very seriously. Then they proceed to play, shooting everything that moves. They frequently stop and have discussions/arguments about whether a hit constituted a "kill" and if that person was out of the game or not. It often boils down to technicalities. Apparently if you are hit in the leg, you can't use that leg... and if you are hit in both legs, that means you'd better be crawling. (Which explains the many hopping and crawling boys in my backyard right now.) Then after the bullets are spent, everyone goes into neutral time out and begins the laborious process of bullet collecting. This tends to take a long time, as they match up who's bullets belong to which guns and count them to make sure all are accounted for. And then it starts all over again.

Dear Diary,
These lemon cookies were amazing and now all the Meyer lemons are gone and I don't feel guilty about wasting them.

Dear Diary,
Nothing makes me happier than hearing, "Oooohhh Mama these are perfect!!" Yep. That's why they pay me the big bucks. LOL

Dear Diary,
I'm not responsible for my friends who show up with um... Pirate's punch. Am I? And FYI, Cruzan Mango Rum is not gluten free. Man I love Nurse Nicki. She comes in, makes herself right at home and thinks she lives here or something. I adore that.

Dear Diary,
Today was Adrain's birthday and I gave him a photo book of his trip to Africa, but somehow missed an entire file with Massai photos. How on EARTH did I do that? I am making him Indian food tonight though, because I'm pretty sure he left a piece of his heart there. And peaches and cream pie. I think I can make up for it with that.

Dear Diary,
It's all so pretty. And when you're a little girl, it means so much to have a pretty party.

Dear Diary,
Right now I'm reading "Gift from the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. It's like a distant and old fashioned mentor's hug. I can't quite decide if I love it or not... I know I like it...

Dear Diary,
There might not be much more fun, than having a reason to take tons of photos. Snapping for my Etsy store today... Gosh I love this job!

Dear Diary,
There's a rule in our house. On your birthday, you must be woken up with cake- preferably a cupcake, and a candle. And everyone else must be up and sing happy birthday to you. And then you must eat that cake for your breakfast. It's important to follow the rules.

Dear Diary,
My mom-in-law came for dinner. I have to say, that woman is such a kick in the pants. Oh we laughed and laughed and talked about the funniest things like painting our hands with Elmer's glue as kids and peeling it off. It was fun to get her all to ourselves and not have to share her with Adrain's other siblings. I made a simple shrimp salad with a chive vinaigrette and it was yummy. Such a good night...

Dear Diary,
I love my kids. My boy makes me giggle more and more, each day. How I love him. I also nabbed a book by American Girl, on "growing up." And flipping through it, I know it's time to begin reading it... but oh I'm not ready for all those talks just yet!! I hope I can make that girl time as much fun as my Mama did. Like joining a special club. I still remember that. It made the growing up process something to look forward to...

Dear Diary,
I might be in love with this putty-colored cardigan that I got at Target in the clearance section last month. I seem to wear it every other day. Though it's better than my yoga pants, I couldn't help the pony tail. Oops. Mom-wear. Also, I'm standing on tip toes. I wish I was taller. I'm just saying. Also, I love these old Target bootcut jeans better than every other pair of jeans in my closet. How funny is that? The cheapies are the favorites.

Dear Diary,
Can I be raw and real today and not scare anyone away cause so far I've really scaled down my raw-ness in my Dear Diary snippets, so as not to lose all my readers. I snapped this photo as I made it to my car after a six mile walk. The third one this week. It strikes me, as I review this past month, that I'm pushing my friends back right now, and doing an awful lot of alone-time chewing on things. I've shut my phone off a lot this month. I've said "no" a lot this month. I've secluded myself a lot this month. I've hid a lot this month. It hasn't been the most fun month of my life, that's for sure... but it seems that sometimes it's appropriate to do those things, if only for a short time... and if only so something can be achieved through it. Solitude is often a necessary means of finding oneself again. Right now, I'm intentionally swimming in it. And I find myself realizing that though you may push your friends away.... the good ones always push back. They take a momentary "no" but say, "okay, well how about next week?" I find it incredible that every single woman in my life is just that kind of friend. They know, even if we haven't really talked about it, that I'm struggling. Not myself. Working it out. Two years of doubts, fears, frustrations, and questions hitting me full circle, unable to keep the balls in mid-air a second longer. It's okay to let them drop sometimes so I'm letting them drop, and I'm asking the questions. Doing the work. I know my friends are there, like a safety net on the periphery of my struggle. I'm so grateful.

Dear Diary,
Today we worked on our garden, prepping it for plants. First, we needed to yank out the weeds, turn over the soil, and for good measure, we cleaned it up, ripping it down to become a shorter, more accessible raised bed. I love how my man took charge, enlisted the help of our hoodlums, and I love that my daughter came outside ready to work in the cutest ensemble she owns, complete with pink flower belt, and darling hair that she styled her self. I love that she accessorized for this day outside with her Daddy. I love that she dresses cute to impress him. I love that he is impressed but still sends her back inside to change into older clothes! She is my child, of that, there is no question. I love how Adrain patiently instructed them both, and saw them as true helpers, not as patience taxers. He is such an amazing man.

Dear Diary,
After a full day of weeding, shopping for plants, managing kiddos, and planting a garden, I am tired. And covered in dirt. And my hair is crazy because I let the air dry it. I look like a woman wearing a lion's mane. And my children love it. The End.

Dear Diary,
Sometimes a girl needs a little pick-me-up. I'm not saying a girl can't be "enough" with out one... but a little pedicure, swipe of shimmery shadow, creamy blush, and dab of glossy pink color can't hurt either. I seem to run out of everything at the same time. I don't know why that is, but it sure is fun to stock back up again.

And with that, I conclude my April 365. It was a tired month, if there can be such a thing. It was sad at moments. It made me dig deep. It was also filled with tender moments and sweet celebrations. Most of all... it was filled, and I suppose that's really living. But if April brought showers... (and it sure enough did) I'm hoping for the flowers that May promises to bring.

Being Toad. (And winner annoucement)

2012-05-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

When we became parents, I loaded up on books to read my children, because I wanted them to be smarter than everyone else.

What? That's what "they" say... read to your children and they will grow up to be intelligent, well-adjusted adults. Right? (Or something like that?)

One of the books I read (and kill myself that it was destroyed slowly, by constant reading, baby slobbering, toddler grabbing, and never replaced) was the Frog and Toad Together collection of stories.

My man would sit in his chair and quietly snicker the whole time, as I'd read to a tiny, curled up JJ in my lap. But he wasn't laughing because the story was funny... he was laughing because he is convinced that I am Toad. And that he is Frog. And sadly, (but also kind of hysterically) he's pretty much right.

If you've never read "Frog and Toad" you're going to be in the dark here... and I'm sorry.

Basically, Toad is a neurotic, list-making, glass-half-empty, often impatient, slightly insecure, but completely loveable sidekick, to the ever-dependable and steady Frog. When Toad loses his list, it's Frog who chases it. When Toad is embarrassed in his bathing suit, it's Frog who convinces him to come swim anyway. When Toad bakes cookies but lacks the willpower to stay out of them, it's Frog who puts them in a box, ties them with string, and tries to solve the problem.

It goes on and on, but you get the idea.

One day, when Frog gives Toad a packet of seeds, Toad impatiently watches them, yells at them, stomps the ground and causes a ruckus because he expects some immediate results. Frog calms Toad down and convinces him to be kind to his seeds.... and be patient.

Today, after planting a variety of vegetables, herbs, and flowers, I had the unmistakeable urge to stand up, stomp my feet in Toad-ish fashion, and yell, "GROW SEEDS, GROW!!" at our garden.

I resisted. But barely. I mean wouldn't want to disappoint "Frog" or anything.

Anyway, our garden/yard is a total work in progress this year. We are fencing off the garden area from the rest of the yard, installing a big arbor for my wisteria vine to crawl all over, creating a pea gravel path from our patio to the garden, and possibly planting a tree for some back yard privacy in the corner. I'll keep you posted. (I am also lobbying for a smallish fire pit area... but I don't think that's happening.)

I'm linking up this garden post with my buddy Alicia's happy day challenge! If you haven't met Alicia, you must go over and meet her. She's a honey.

The winner of my giveaway, by selection of random.org was "KC and the Sunshine Kids." Congrats Winner!! Claim your prize by emailing me at lemonademakinmama@comcast.net

A few of my favorite things.... Giveaway!!

2012-04-29T19:21:00.001-07:00

***THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THE WINNER WAS SELECTED BY RANDOM.ORG, AND WAS KC AND THE SUNSHINE KIDS. WINNER PLEASE CONTACT ME AT lemonademakinmama@comcast.net TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE AND THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED!***

Okay you fun things!! I've got a giveaway very near and dear to my heart and it's a bunch of favorite things again. It's a two-part giveaway (one winner though). The first part is from me and the second part is from a fellow blogger! My part is a package of lemonade-inspired items just for you! This giveaway includes:

Polish in shimmery gold, and lemon scented polish removal wipes.

Lemon creme lotion, and a lemon soap that smells amazing. And it's huge. And made in Italy. And comes in a fancy box.

Six little lemon note cards that are darling. You can write your best friend. And a book titled "God always has a plan B" that is filled with inspiration from people like Max Lucado, Mother Theresa, etc. Good stuff.

One of my "You are my Sunshine" pendants (which I no longer make).

This stack of petite polka dot plates, in a sunny golden hue.

And this comes from a blogging buddy who sells these amazing trays! She contacted me and asked if I thought my readers would like one, and I jumped at the chance to give one away to you! The reason of course is this; (and I cringe a little showing you the following picture):

You take CLEAN silverware out of the dishwasher and put them into your "clean" drawer... only to realize that over time, they are not sitting in a clean drawer after all. How does this happen? It's probably one of the great mysteries of life. And it's really gross, let's be honest.

But it doesn't have to bug you anymore because someone much smarter than me has finally invented this Crumbs Away tray. The top portion of the tray has tiny holes for things to fall through, and into a lower tray that removes for easy cleaning. I'm totally sold baby!! (And please don't look to closely at my icky drawer. Thanks.)

So much better now. (And if you need one immediately, or don't happen to win this giveaway, you can purchase one of these trays here.)

So, to enter this Lemony-love/Crumbs Away giveaway... Please go to the Crumbs Away site and tell me in comments what items you would organize in the Crumbs Away tray, after seeing the many other possible uses they show on their site!

You can tweet, facebook, and post about this for extra entries, but you know the drill, please be sure and let me know in separate comments. I'll choose and announce a winner with random.org in a few days!

Good luck!

Simply...

2012-04-26T16:16:00.001-07:00

I walked around a few minutes ago, and snapped photos of what was surrounding me and going on at exactly that moment. I am, after all... a blogger.

This little friend is sitting right next to me as I type this. I saved and saved for a REAL camera bag. It's a force to be reckoned with too... it's massive! I love the mustardy yellow color. It has darling little removable compartments and I can carry everything I need, including my lame-o kit lens that I never use. Just in case I want it. Which I seldom do. But still... I can safely carry my camera EVERY where now and it won't get mashed against my papers, tic tacs (of which I'm completely addicted) and lip glosses. It has it's own little space.

My yellow flowers died this morning so I replaced them with this simple hurricane from my bookcase. I think what I have out says a lot about my mental state. LOL I guess I needed simple, clean... minimal right now. I can't go into why exactly, but trust me... the simpler the better.

This is our current family reading material. I'm planning to put my garden in (weather permitting) this weekend, I'm going to skip any further explanations for that next book from the bottom, we are talking about Heaven in our bible study, and I've been dying to read "Bonhoeffer" for months. I finally found it in paperback! Adrain is reading the "No longer a Slumdog" and my book club is reading the "Gift from the Sea." Lastly... we have about five pages to finish in The Hiding Place, that we are reading as a family. Whew... that's a lotta deep! I think I need a good romance or something right now! (I did just finish a darling book called "The House at Tyneford" which reads like the series Downton Abbey.)

Ugh. I'm ignoring this sight temporarily. I got tired of putting some things off and tackled my master bath this am... only I decided that since I was painting anyway, I might as well sand, prime, and paint the cupboard in there as well. Somebody smack me please.

And because I'm painting, this is what my hair (badly in need of a root job) looks like today. Ugh. (again.) Keepin' it real. (And I do get points for the make up right? And the earrings I just put in about twenty minutes ago.)

Apparently I need a lot of daily reminders right now... I bought the darling little print from one of my sidebar sponsors, and you can find one here. Also, the sticky note... yeah... that's been pretty huge in my world lately.

Kiddos are playing, homework is finished, snacks are done, and I'm starting dinner prep. Grilled turkey burgers tonight. Mmm...

And lastly, this has nothing do with anything really... I just felt appreciative that my peeps put these darn things back into the bowl when they are done. That makes me happy for some reason.

So that's my world in pictures right now... mostly anyway. I didn't show the dishes in the sink, my messy laundry room, the paint all over my clothes, or the rotting fruit in the basket. Some things are better left unseen. (grin)

What does your world look like, right about now?

Pretties for your week...

2012-04-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up my Mama called things that were laying out, "pretties." I remember being a young mom and telling JJ "no," about things he wanted to touch, and sure enough I'd say, "those are pretties... we don't touch." (Of course JJ still touched them all.)

Anyway, that makes me smile to think about and I have a few pretties to show you today. I have been really scaling back my Etsy creations the last couple of months because I've been so busy! And as we wind into the summer months, I know I won't be making/selling much or taking custom orders all summer for sure. That said, these are newly listed here!

These dandelion napkins are my favorite fun summery thing right now. They are fun and colored with bright pops of orange ink. (My photos show them to be a little darker/redder than they are in actual color. They are a true bright orange.)

I also made a couple sets in this delicate silver color, which of course can go with everything. If y'all don't snatch these up, I'm keeping them all!! LOL

Seriously cute, huh?

And this... I had a hard time parting with it... I'll be honest. But I made it for you guys not myself, so I'm being strict with myself. Coral and turquoise beaded necklace. This baby would be so cute with a soft white tank top. Or a solid turquoise tank top. Or a gray tank top. (Do you see why I have such a hard time disciplining myself to not keep everything I make?)

And lastly... maybe this is a stupid thing to list, but I took these ranuculus photos the other day and fell in love....

.... I had these three gorgeous vintage frames sitting in my garage and I could not figure out what to do with them but knew I wanted to put them in my bedroom somehow. I printed these photos 16x20 size and they turned out so darling I had to list them for you guys. Though does anyone buy photographs anymore? I mean so many people have amazing cameras, they can just take good photos for themselves right? Well regardless, they're in my store if you want them.

Oh and yes I'll be painting. See the test patch? Isn't that funny? I thought you'd all get a kick out of it. It's the same Fleur de Sel color we painted the kids rooms... The plan was to do it in our bathroom too, (which is badly in need of a paint job) but I like things streamlined and thought I should carry the same color from the master bath into our bedroom. Plus we have a 5 gal bucket of it. I wanted to see if I'd like it better than the blue so I painted a chunk of wall with it. I think I do... I'm in the process of dragging every girlfriend that stops by, into my room to stand and look at it with me and help me decide. No one seems to find this odd behavior for me. What a relief. (giggle)

Oh... and what do you think? You know... about the paint color? (You're all my girlfriends kinda, right?)

And about those frames- they had amazing chalk drawings of children in each one. They were very old... and old fashioned... and I kept wishing I had the story on them! Who were they? Are they all grown up now? Who drew them? Adrain was amazed that I planned to leave the frames as they were and not paint them.

I don't paint everything....

Just most everything... Ha!

Before I close I have to say this. Thank you to everyone who has shopped at my Etsy store and been a customer in the past. You will never know just what a blessing that was to us over the past year. You'll just have to take my word for it... it was HUGE. I love you all so much and thank you, thank you, thank you!

There is no finished product because my men ate it.

2012-04-24T08:59:00.001-07:00

What I should have titled this post was, "There is no finished photo of the pie I painstakingly made because my men obviously don't understand that I'm a blogger and every good blogger takes step-by-step photos of her work no matter how trivial for heaven's sake and so they gobbled up a whole pie without giving me a chance to set it out in good light and snap a photograph!"

But... that was kind of long.

And the point is this. This pie is so good that you won't have time to take a photo of it, because it will be gone and enjoyed, that fast. So really, I guess they did me a favor because if the pie was rotten, maybe I'd have a photo to show you. I have to think about that for a minute...

My mama made this pie, (which technically isn't really a pie, it's more of a cobblery-cheesecake-pie-ish sort of dessert) my whole life. And I have never made it for anyone and had them not ask for the recipe when they left. So when we went gluten free, I was a little sad about this pie. And then it occurred to me that I might be able to covert the flour and make it work. I changed the flour, and it was fantastic! I will be trying it with other gluten free flour varieties in the future to see what I like best, but this was very close to the original pie.

When I got married, I spent a day going though my Mama's recipe box, copying down all my favorites. (My Mama's a good cook y'all.) This recipe is still written on one of her cards, and I love that I wrote it down days before my wedding. I'll give you the regular and gluten free version. (If you're not GF, make this the regular way and don't blame me if you find yourselves eating it right out of the pan.) In fact, my son (in between huge mouthfuls) was sitting at the table eating his pie all alone as I cleaned dinner dishes... and he said, "Well Mom, there's a lot of things I could say about this pie, but they all mean the same thing. THIS PIE IS AWESOME." So there ya go.

Mama's Peaches and Cream Pie:
3/4 c flour (For gluten free version, substitute coconut flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/4 oz dry Jell-O brand vanilla pudding (NOT instant)
3 TBSP butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
*Beat above ingredients in mixing bowl 2 minutes on medium speed until well blended. Pour into buttered pie plate and set aside.

(1) 15-20 oz can sliced peaches (drained over a bowl, reserving liquid)
*Place peaches gently over batter

(1) 8oz pkg room temperature cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
3 TBSP reserved peach juice
*Combine in mixing bowl and beat 2 minutes. Spoon over peaches to within one inch of edge. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake 350 for 30-35 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Filling will appear slightly soft. Cool and chill in refrigerator until cold. (Or serve it warm if you like your desert gooey. You can't go wrong.)

Now, go forth and eat pie.

It always comes down to the "but...."

2012-04-23T12:02:00.002-07:00

Do you mind if I post a million photos of my sweet birthday girl while talking about a completely different heart-to-heart topic that I've been writing in my head for weeks now? Thanks. You guys are swell.

I know this is going to sound weird, but I've been really chewing on the topic of fear ever since our dog Lucy was hit in a gruesome accident and died, earlier this month. And when I say "chewing" what I really mean, is stewing, fretting, praying, and attempting to figure out why something like our family dog dying could unleash such emotional turmoil from my heart when it really had nothing to do with Lucy at all.

I tried downplaying it. Putting a fake smile over all the angst in my heart because how could I explain that I wasn't upset "just because of a dog" but something deeper... that was somehow connected to losing a precious pet? It sounded stupid just typing it out, but the fear has been real.

We came home and all I could think was, "if this horrible thing could happen to our dog... what else could happen with our life?" I had just begun a new bible study book called "Birds in my mustard tree" by Susanne Scheppmann. After two years of living up in the air, on hold and feeling backwards in every way, I felt like my faith could use an overhaul so I nabbed this book at the bookstore. (Plus if I'm honest, I liked the cover. I was pretty and golden yellow. I hate to admit to that kind of shallowness, but I like to keep it real, so there ya go.)

I've been really terrified of surrendering all to Jesus because I've been afraid that if I did that... everything bad would happen. If I said, "yes" (remember that's my word for the year) to Him and said, "take my life, every little part of it...and do what you want with it.. it's Yours," that He would take it. And give me cancer. Or I'd lose my children to some horrific thing. Or my marriage would suddenly crumble. Or our house would burn down. It goes on and on when you're riding that train. The point is this; I've never been in control of a darn thing but I give myself the illusion of it by not letting go completely to a God who holds it all in His hand anyway. I crush it tightly in my hands and though it's breaking and cutting my palm, I can't seem to open it up to the One who could fix it. Does that make any sense?

Okay so anyway, I'm going along, doing this study... and we found ourselves in the book of Daniel. If you're not familiar with it, there's these three dudes who won't bow down and worship the king's golden statue so he's threatening to toss their hineys into a furnace. They say, "the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." Daniel 3:17b-18

The prayer that was written out at the start of my study yesterday could have been plucked directly from my heart. It read, "Lord God, I admit that I am afraid to trust You. I worry that You will test my faith by allowing hard circumstances in my life...."

Um. Yes. I have been afraid of that. Like cripplingly afraid.

Then to make it even more freaky-similar to my thoughts, Susanne said, "...We fear that if we decide to trust Him, He will allow something horrible in our lives. We ask ourselves all sorts of fear-filled questions. What if God sends me to Africa to be a missionary? What if I get cancer? What if He wants me to live a life of poverty like Mother Theresa? What if He takes one of my children? What if He desires I stay single? What if? What if? What if?"

She continues to share and remind us that the three dudes about to get tossed into the fire were facing an enormous uncertainty- like so many of us are, in our real lives... and yet they choose to hold fast to their faith because they had decided that God was worthy of their faith and trust- and she adds "whether they lived or died." None of us will live lives that are pain and problem free. After holding this in my lap for hours over the past few weeks, I keep coming back to the same thing. The key is in the "but..." God can rescue us here on earth...but even if He doesn't... we must choose to trust Him with our everything. Even if it's moment by moment. "God I trust you with my children riding bikes where I can't see them." "I choose to trust you with this relationship that I may lose." "I choose to trust you with the unknown job situation facing me."

The "but..." is the watershed moment of truth where you take a stand against all fear and say, "This life might end up crumbling and I might limp across the finish line when it's all said and done, but...He is worth it... and I will choose to trust and surrender all."

Do you struggle with this topic like I do? Do you think you can let go of your fears simply by choosing to do so?

P.S. I'll be adding a few fun things like dandelion napkins, and beaded necklaces to my Etsy shop today, including these photos you see pictured above my bed. (They are 16x20 size here).

DIY what you need to throw a (GF) Blue Dolpin party. (photo heavy)

2012-04-21T10:57:00.006-07:00

Ava is crazy about dolphins right now.

Surprisingly, I couldn't find much out there inspiration-wise for a dolphin party that wasn't a little bit on the cheesy end. I found a pack of color block napkins in shades of blue at Target, and was off and running. (Have you noticed this is often how it starts for me? I have no idea why that is.) I don't know about you but I love looking at other people's parties so I can borrow some good ideas and make mine a success, so I was all over pinterest, nabbing cute and often random ideas.

Ava decided she wanted "real cakes" instead of cupcakes. I used this gluten free cake recipe. We are celebrating both her and Adrain (yes, he gets to celebrate with a pretty girly cake. He promised he was okay with this and don't worry because I made him Indian food and a peach pie for dessert on his actual birthday.) and having two parties on the same day. I made a three layer 9" cake and a four layer 6" cake and tinted all the cake batter with the same teal food coloring, but used different ratios so that each layer is slightly different in color. 6" cakes are the cutest cakes on the planet. If you haven't ever made one, you should go forth and do so immediately. (Oh and remember this little cake platter that I made super gluing an upside down egg cup to the bottom of a salad plate? I love it so much.)

I ran out of frosting, (this was my crumb coat, above and Becky, this was the photo I was taking while on the phone with you!) so the finished tiny cake isn't nearly as cute as it should have been. Dangit!

I used 2 1/2 batches of my frosting recipe (that comes to nearly 12 cups of butter total) to make these cakes, so it is, what it is. (These are the things that happen when you throw real, not staged, parties.) My kitchen is now coated in a very fine dusting of powdered sugar.

I used a ton of fluffy aqua frosting to pipe pretty swirls onto her big cake.

I wanted to do either the same thing on the little one, with two colors of frosting somehow, or ruffles, but I didn't have the right tip for piping ruffles and I didn't have enough frosting for the swirls, so it's a pretty crappy looking, thing. Please don't laugh.

I made up for it by sprinkling edible star sprinkles on top. (Found at Michaels, in the cake decorating aisle.)

And then once I began dusting things with tiny, edible stars, I couldn't stop so I put some on the big cake too.

I printed little initials, cut them out in circles, glued a cake pop stick in the middle and painted glue and glitter on over the letter. Somehow it seemed fitting.

I found these adorable notebooks in the "dollar aisle" at Michaels. (Only they were $1.50. LOL)

We needed a blue drink because everyone knows you can't just have water at a dolphin party, right? I loved the color of this cream soda (though I hate to think what makes it this color).

Simple and sweet.

I printed these labels and then used glue stick to attach them to polka dotted straws. I got these straws at a local store, but I know you can find both the straws and the milk bottles here.

These are the dolphin shaped, Gluten Free vanilla bean sugar cookies. And they are fantastic. I piped some aqua royal icing on top. To be honest, royal icing is my favorite. I make one batch, tint it with coloring, and then split it in half. One half gets thinned slightly so that it flows to create a smooth top and the other batch becomes the edge. It kind of holds in the thinner icing. The whole thing dries candy-hard overnight and tastes amazing the next day. Dolphin cookie cutter found here. Royal icing for sugar cookies found here.

This was the big pastry bag I used for decorating the cakes. I used a Wilton 2D star tip and jumbo coupler. (Michaels Craft store) I used "Teal" icing color, also from Michaels. You seriously need the tiniest amount to achieve color.

The table full of blue pom poms can be created by using this photo from Pinterest. Ava chose musical chairs and pin the tail on the dolphin for her games. I love that. Adrain downloaded the theme song from "Flipper" for the musical chairs. I might have it in my head for the rest of my life.

Gluten Free Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies:
1 cup sugar
1 cup room temperature butter
2 egg yolks
1 vanilla bean, split down the middle and seed scraped out with edge of knife
2 1/4 cups Gluten-Free Flour Blend (To make this, combine 2 cups rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch, 1/3 cup tapioca flour and 1 teaspoon xanthan gum. Combine and use what you need for this recipe.)
1/4 teaspoon salt

*Cream sugar and butter in large bowl. Add egg yolks and vanilla bean. Continue beating, until well mixed. Add flour mixture and salt. Beat until well mixed. Cover; refrigerate until firm.   Roll out dough on surface sprinkled with gluten-free flour, and cut in desired shapes. Place 1 inch apart onto parchment lined cookie sheets.   Bake at 350 for 8 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely and then remove from cookie sheets.

Fluffy Cake Frosting: (In my world, there really is no other. It is fabulous. And fluffy. Did I mention that?)
*Beat 4 1/2 sticks room-temperature butter and 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually add an additional 5 1/4 cups powdered sugar. Add 1 1/2 tbsp milk and 1 tsp real vanilla extract. Beat until pale and fluffy.

And that's it folks. Now I'm off to party. Happy weekend!!

I married a jock, see?

2012-04-20T08:05:00.003-07:00

It's a well known fact that my man loves sports. And I mean all sports. He can talk all sports with anyone, from women's tennis and high school track, to NFL draft picks and baseball scandals. He knows trivia, players, rules, and refs. He knows all the rules to tennis, pickle ball, and badminton too. Once, I asked him to teach me about football, and (true story) the man pushed every scrap of furniture back, set up dining chairs, and showed me positions in a line of scrimmage. (There were several diagrams and plays written out for me to study as well.) He showed me how to tackle but I doubt I'll ever be able to take down a 200 lb man and really all I can remember is the part where he encouraged, "Be the hammer, not the nail babe!" Yeah. I'll get right on that.

He's tried showing me how to not throw like a girl. I wasn't aware that I threw like a girl. According to him, I very much do. And I'm also afraid of the ball. (You know... ever since I took one in the eyes on a softball field back in eighth grade.) Mainly, I'm afraid of getting hammered by the ball. This is where the "be the hammer not the nail" part might come into play. It gets confusing.

Did you also know, (and I did not) that there is a proper technique to rear end smacking? You know that little thing guys do on the field? I never got that. I listened to my man and one of his friends explain the "rules" for proper butt smacking. They were totally serious. Here's what I took from that conversation; "Flat hand, (no cupping) quick smack, only on the field." After I finished laughing, I wondered if this was instinctual or something fathers pass down to their sons in some secret rule book.

I watch as my husband and kids practice things that don't make much sense to me.. things like zones, and screens and drills. I watch him teach my kids how to throw straight, how to step into the ball, and how to be the hammer. I love that he is teaching my daughter how to run like a track star and how to throw a spiral ball. I love that he's teaching my son to swing a bat and get low for the tackle.

The other night he was making a comment about my girly-ness and I was wondering if he'd have rather had some athletic wonder-woman-girl. He laughed and said that I was the girly-est of girls. And the following brief, two line conversation went like this:
Me: "And do you feel a little overwhelmed by it at time?"
Him: "Oohhhh... I find it amusing."

To this, I think... there is no response. Well other than just enjoying the ride. Which apparently he's already decided to do. And wishing him a happy birthday.

Mr. Husband, I meant to get this up yesterday, but I love you and hope this next year is your best yet. You bless me every day and I'm so proud of the man I've gotten the privilege of watching you become over the past 19 years. You've gone from cocky high school football captain, to steady, reliable man of integrity. You lean on God and because of that, I lean on you. I love you with my whole heart. I have, from the minute Mr. Wood moved me beside you in English class.

Coming up for air

2012-04-18T22:24:00.001-07:00

Okay darlings... I've been swamped with birthdays (two in this week- who's idea was that anyway?) but still really chewing on a TON of good stuff... I had been so bogged down the months of Jan- March and with our vacation turning crazy and Lucy's death and life just spinning some weird directions on me, I realized that I've been keeping the heart-to-hearts at a minimum. Sometimes when you see a flurry of crafty and foodie posts in my world, it's a bit of a stiff arm cause I'm stirring something around in my little ol' heart but not ready to share it. I'll hope to organize a few of my thoughts soon because I think I'm into some good stuff here! In the mean time, I'm preparing for parties and I wanted to toss a few new photos out that I just edited on Picmonkey! Loving that site! (Plus it will make my bloggy buddy Jana happy. So Jana... here are my blue photos as promised. MANY more will be coming soon as the parties unfold.)

I desperately needed a cute and inexpensive decoration for my Ava. She delights in things like flowers and pretties so I went to the old fall back tissue paper flowers. Can't go wrong with these can you?

She was so excited when she got home from school and saw them waiting on the table. Apparently, I'm "the best mom on the whole planet." (grin)

Ava is having two cakes. One small one for her friend party and one larger one she is sharing with her Daddy, that family will eat later that night. It's going to be fun. Fun's important.

And I promise more on ALL of this later...(links, tutorial links and recipes) this is just a teaser. She requested vanilla bean sugar cookies. Yes, vanilla bean. Oh that child...

It's going to be an action packed weekend. I'm looking forward to showing you more party fun!

Don't forget about this special offer- only about 2 weeks left to take advantage!

What is it, about the color turquoise?

2012-04-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

I've been having a little bit of a love affair with the color turquoise, for quite a while now. It doesn't always exactly work in my home, so I have to be careful where I use it. We've had some spring sunshine lately, and it's getting me ready to put my garden in. While I wait for the go-ahead on that, I decided to bring some herbs inside. It was so hard to choose, but I got a little rosemary tree because we use rosemary a lot, and I got some Pineapple Sage. It actually has a pineappley scent. The thing I wasn't a big fan of, was the plain terracotta pots at the garden store. They're in my price range, but I wanted to make them fun.

I found this photo on Pinterest and wondered if I could achieve a similar finish.

I mixed my paint colors, and started with the larger pot. I painted it on in sections. Immediately after the paint went on, I used a ton of very wet paper towels and kind of pressed them right onto the paint, and lifted them off, taking a substantial amount of the paint with them. I did a much lighter, watered down coat on the smaller pot and smeared/wiped most of it off immediately for a slightly different look. (You know... coordinated but not matchy-matchy.) After some trial and error, I ended with an aged turqoise-ish finish that I am pretty sure I can love for quite a while. Plus it's so fun having herbs right next to my sink.

(By the way, do you decant your dish soap? I keep mine in this glass jar and people always ask me what it is.)

Now I have to keep these herbs alive until I decide to plant them outside. Do you have a green thumb? And are you planting a garden this year?

Gluten free Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (baking reflections...)

2012-04-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

For as long as I can remember, I've loved to cook and especially bake. It calms and soothes. The familiar and quiet of the kitchen beckons when all of life is upside down. It's also a thrill for the senses. When I was a little girl, my mama would tie a dishtowel around my waist, hand me a wooden spoon and let me at it. I recall a tiny rolling pin and mini cookie cutters, playing in soap suds while "helping" but what I remember most of all, was the time my mama spent with me in the kitchen. She was patient and taught me everything.

Her hard and fast rule always was (and is) "clean as you go." I can't make anything in the kitchen with out an empty dishwasher, hot, soapy water in the sink, and a dishcloth at the ready, for wiping counter spills. When I take something out of a cupboard, I use it and put it right back. When I'm finished, my kitchen is no worse for the wear and I get to enjoy the process, rather than dread a huge mess to clean up all for the joy of baking. I love that she taught me this.

To this day, being in the kitchen seems the most natural place in the world to be. I'm fairly fearless...unless I'm cooking steaks or big hunks of meat. (shudder.) I love trying new things. I've invited my own children to "help" since they were little, just like my mama did, and I love watching my nine year old girl whip up a batch of brownies on her own.

I took my gluten intolerant diagnosis in stride, and feel like I'm still able to give my gluten intolerant kiddos GF versions of regular foods with ease, thanks to the tremendous amount of resources out there. I tweaked a vanilla cupcake recipe (first spotted here) and created a Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin recipe at the request of one very special small boy in my home. Apparently, they are his favorites. I didn't know.

If you didn't know these were gluten free, you'd never suspect. Even the texture is amazing, which is saying something since most GF baked goods are either crumbly or gritty. This is neither.

I love Meyer lemons because they are sweeter.. well maybe not sweeter, but they aren't as acidic, and have a softer, thinner peel which make them perfect for baking. And they're prettier too! They aren't quite orange, but not really yellow either.

Gluten Free Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins:
2 1/2 cups thai rice flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp xanthan gum
*Combine all of the above dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.*

1 cup milk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure lemon extract
juice of one Meyer lemon
1 cup vegetable oil
*Beat the milk, extracts, lemon juice and oil in a mixer for 1 minute, and add the following four ingredients:
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
zest of one Meyer lemon
2 tbsp poppy seeds
*Beat until combined. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Spoon into baking cups, about 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

So... technically this is a cupcake when you look at the ratios of fat and sugar to the flour and baking powder. Whatever. We'll call it a muffin for argument's sake, because it was a muffin my boy requested for his after school snack. And if you're wondering what the difference between a muffin and cupcake is, I heard a joke once- "A muffin doesn't look good in jeans, but a cupcake does."

So there ya go. Happy kids, happy life. Enjoy.

Oh and the cute wood bread boards in my photos are from my bloggy buddy, Diana. You can purchase a set here- they are wonderful and we use them for everything!!

DIY for a perfect striped wall.

2012-04-12T18:33:00.000-07:00

I have one room in my house that has driven me crazy for nearly a decade now. It's the room in the very front of my home and I often refer to it as the "useless front room." It's too small to be a TV room (we've tried) the kiddos are too big for the playroom it once was, and we aren't currently homeschooling so it's no longer a classroom. At the moment, it's a very stiff, cold room for our office and work space, and I'm currently working on a plan so it can double as a partitioned off guest space when we have overnight visitors. Over the years, I've incorporated random color schemes into this room, trying to liven it up and make it fun and you know what? It never truly worked. We have always wanted to be good stewards of the space we call home and to have an entire room not "work" for our family felt wasteful. Also, it often felt too busy because of how much clutter I've normally got strung everywhere with my Etsy creations, so I personally needed less jarring color, and more soothing, streamlined pallet choices. Looking back, I think that I kept changing things because I wasn't at peace with it. Until yesterday.

I'm not a big fan of accent walls. I have all kinds of opinions on them, but I'll just leave it at that. Also, I usually have to really love a faux finish, because (personal opinion here) I often feel like it makes the wall space feel too chaotic. I don't want my walls to have to try so hard. That said, we have one big wall in our useless room (giggle) that continually gets beat up by me as I work. I have touched it up frequently but it had become time for a fresh full coat of paint. I wanted something a little less boring.... but I loved the current color.

Solution. About a year ago, I had a project and my man took in one of our gallons of house paint (this only works with a brand new paint can) and had them double the tint in the existing paint. I wanted a richer color (in the same shade) in a few areas, and he suggested this. It was the most amazing idea. Same color, just richer, and warmer and I loved it. I didn't want to coat every wall with it, but it was great to have on hand. Remembering this, I began to plan, and I decided I wanted a soft, subtle stripe on this boring wall of my useless room.

In the end, I wrapped the stripes around the corner wall because it tends to be the wall shoes get knocked against in the comings and goings of our home. The overall effect is soothing and neutral, not jarring like some striped areas can be. It's also warmer and I love that it's the first wall that greets you when you walk through the front door.

I had to position my desk against it so I could enjoy it, and I love it this way.

I hung a few of my most favorite items above the desk in a sort of collage, and I love looking up at them. The stripes are perfect. Not one bleed through anywhere, and the whole thing took me about two hours. Want to know how to stripe your wall like a pro?

First, measure your vertical wall length. Divide it up and mark your wall evenly. I used a yard stick and actually drew straight lines from one side to the other. (Be careful with that, as you might have pencil marks to erase later.) Place a mark within every stripe that you'll be painting a different color than your existing wall shade to make it easy to remember which ones get the new paint color.

Second, use some Frog Tape (best stuff on the planet) to tape off your lines. (Make sure your tape is on the outside of the area you want to paint.)

Third, take the existing wall color (not the new color you're adding for stripes) and paint it right over the frog taped line edges. (Now is a great time to touch up any of the existing wall color areas in the unpainted stripes.) You are doing this so that if the paint bleeds through (and it always does) and under any of your tape, it will seal the edges with the same color so you'll never know. After that dries, you've now sealed your paint edges. You can begin painting the new color in between your taped off and sealed areas to create your stripes.

When that dries, pull off your tape and you'll have perfect lines.

I had to hurry up and take these photos so I could put all my junk and kid school papers back on top of my desk! (I'm not kidding.) The wall colors are "Ivoire" by Sherwin Williams. (The stripe color is that same color with the tint doubled.)

Are you a fan of stripes?

How I spent two days singing, "Surrey with the fringe on top."

2012-04-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

Hey ya peeps! It's been so weird being intentionally away from my blog all week. Good weird though. I did miss you guys but I really needed a break. There's a couple things I want to post on, but I feel like I need to do a quick vacation recap first, even though it was basically two days away instead of a week like we'd planned. Two days in which I had the song "Surrey with a Fringe on top" in my head and couldn't stop singing it. The reason for this, was that the little ocean side town we were staying at, had surrey rentals everywhere and all I could think about was that scene in When Harry met Sally where he's trying to get her to sing with him in that store. (Show of hands- does anyone else out there love that movie as much as I do?) I was desperate to rent one! It looked so fun. (We had planned on doing that later in the week...) I might need to go back just for the surrey ride. And they all had fringes on the top. I know, because I looked. I might sing the song while riding in one too.

Vacationing with my man is just about the most fun you can have. He is a true adventurer at heart and way more spontaneous than I am. (Of course, I can be spontaneous too.... I just need a little time to plan it out first. Ha!) If he's at the wheel, you can expect the car to stop frequently, and mad scrambles out to go explore many a random roadside attraction, aquarium, or historical site marker. We get lost a lot and it becomes a kind of treasure hunt. We almost hit a flea market in a big barn but it was getting late so we didn't stop. Dangit.

One thing I was dying to do with my family, was have a beach fire and roast marshmallows. We were planning on doing that later in the week as well. I almost joined a big group sitting around a roaring beach fire but my kiddos were pulling me along to see their beachy treasures. I'm pretty sure if I had joined those strangers, I'd have been able to sweet talk them into letting me roast a marshmallow!

This is a beachy treasure. A shell, broken in the shape of a heart. It's beachy... and treasure-ish.

Child A is always running and child B is always finding sticks. Typically child B is also running with those sticks...

It was super windy. We had plans to buy a kite, as that seems to be a local attraction on this beach. Again... one of the things we never got to... and as you can see it was chilly... but it was still so fun! (I do think the next beach we vacation to needs to be warm. I'm just saying.)

The week prior to vacation I hurt my back so severely that I almost couldn't even walk at times while we were gone. I'm just now feeling a tiny bit like my old active self. It sucks being out of commission. I'm a go-er so it's hard when I am forced to lay around. I'm pretty sure God does that as a means of forcing relaxation on me. I didn't want to make my back pain any worse than it already was, so I sat out while the hoodlums did bumper cars, (Not a good thing for a hurting back) rode the tilt a whirl (I was totally okay missing out on that one) and mini golfed with their Daddy.

Oh and they rode on a carousel. By the way... Is anyone besides me totally creeped out by carousels?

Children always end up being kidnapped or something in movies with carousels. Or is that just me? Adrain thought my fears were hysterical and kept asking me if I wanted him to stand on the other side, "just in case." I'm glad I can make that boy laugh... but seriously... I kinda did want him to go over there "just in case."

This is classic JJ right here. I'm pretty sure JJ got every possible sensory perception fix known to man, on this ride. Well, except for getting to go upside down.

Isn't this gorgeous? It was so muddy we couldn't do the actual hike for fear of my slipping in the three inch thick mud and falling or wrenching my back. (I'll be honest, having a gimpy back was starting to get really old at this point. I like DOING THINGS for Pete's sake!! And I hate being no fun.)

(I think this is the "I really have to go potty but I don't want to pee in the bushes" pose. It's also the "I'll shoot your eye out with my cannon, Matey" pose.)

We discovered this cave and I wanted to go explore it so badly!! If I'd been 100%, we'd have been scrambling down the hillside and checking it out before the tide came in. I could see that my man and the hoodlums were holding back for my sake, but they really wanted to head down. Next time...

Isn't that old lighthouse gorgeous? I don't know what it is about them, but I love lighthouses. I would have loved to go out in a boat and get a closer look at this one.

Well friends, that's it for my vacation recap. Two days of fun, and I was happy and thrilled to have even those two days.

Have any of you been on a fun vacation recently or have plans for an upcoming vacation?

Don't forget about this great offer through the end of April on art signs just for being a Lemonade Makin' Mama reader!

Reader discount before I take a week off from the world.

2012-04-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

I had planned for this past week to be a blank slate around here, but I needed the support you guys so readily give over our loss of Lucy, so I came back with posts. (And I can not say that without once again thanking you ALL. I have not been able to get around and respond to you individually like I'd love, but every word has meant so much to me. Please know that.) I am going to be "gone" until about this time next week, so before I go, I wanted to leave you an amazing offer from one of my dear blog friends.

When we returned home from putting Lucy down, there was a huge package on my front porch. My darling friend Tara from Between You and Me blog, makes these incredible art signs. She had shown a particular one on her blog a couple of months ago that I liked immediately. I've described (sometimes vaguely, sometimes in detail) the issues we experience with our son. He struggles with various disorders like sensory perception, social issues like pragmatic speech disorders, minor speech issues, as well as ADHD and some random processing and learning disorders. Last summer was a terrific roller coaster of behavior and testing, along with various therapies and future planning. Somewhere along the way my man picked up the book, "Raising a Modern Day Knight" and began working through it with JJ. They did some serious man-bonding with it. When Tara showed this sign on her blog, I was in love and knew that my boy needed that sign in his room as an encouraging reminder. I knew he would love it.

I contacted Tara, and she began creating his sign for us. The minute we unwrapped it, I nearly fell apart because it was so perfect. My son, who had been crying over losing his doggy just hours before was actually thrilled and excited that something so special was waiting for him. It was the perfect timing and the perfect gift and a true blessing. The sign itself is the most sturdy, amazing piece of art I've ever seen! The beautifully aged finish they do on these signs is breathtaking. I have just stood and stared at it. It's beautiful you guys. Gorgeous craftsmanship and well worth the investment if you want a piece that is going to last and be a fantastic focal point. (And let's face it, we all have quotes we want splashed on our wall as a constant reminder don't we?) They make all kinds of different signs like the famous Family Rules signs, and have been pinned thousands of times on Pinterest. I can't stress enough how wonderful and precious not only Tara is, but how wonderful her work is. (Click here to see all of her gorgeous signs.) I've been blessed to get to know Tara via the blog world and consider her a real friend.

And the best part, is she is offering all of you sweet Lemonade Makin' Mama readers 10% off the purchase on any of their signs during the month of April, as long as you mention the Lemonade Makin' Mama offer, when you place your order!! How great is that?!

You can contact them here, or email them at: andrewshanelowry@gmail.com

And now my friends, I wish you all a Happy Easter and I'll return next week with vacation photos and more.

Love you all so much.

Eleventy-hundred photos of the same thing and thank yous.

2012-04-04T09:01:00.001-07:00

I am sitting here on a cold and rainy Wednesday morning, feeling so loved by the warmth of your words over the past two days. Not only did they bless me, they were like little hugs of comfort to every member of my family. My husband was overwhelmed by your responses, and my kids have been been reading every single comment, so amazed that others have felt this kind of sadness before too. Thank you guys so much for encouraging us, leaving kindness, and advice, poems, book recommendations, and your own personal stories. I was sitting there yesterday crying and saying, "She was only a dog.... don't you think people are going to roll their eyes at grief over a dog if I post on it?" and of course my man reminded me that most people have bonded with a special animal at one point in their life... so I'm so glad I shared.

Today, Ava and I are baking some gluten free cupcakes with little dog bone shapes on them (if you know Ava, you know this is totally her love language) and we've been reading the book "Dog Heaven" that one of my besties, Trudy dropped off last night, along with comfort items and flowers. My phone was lighting up all day yesterday with text messages, and my girls asking if we needed anything, and sending us tons of prayers and kind words. My man was watching the hail storm of phone love from my buddies, and cracking up at it. He was like, "You sure have peeps."

Anyway, we're going to that "Mirror Mirror movie today (since we're technically still on vacation and supposed to be gone and all) and then just relaxing most of tomorrow. Friday I'll have to get back in gear, as I'll be preparing for our big Seder dinner with my Mama and various sis-in-laws who may be stopping in to help. (I love my girls so much!)

I know these pictures aren't very exciting... but I wanted to put something cheery on here today, and these are the decorations waiting to get scattered all down the length of three long tables on Friday.

Twenty people is a lot. I'm just saying. (I'm also using paper plates for this thing, which goes against the grain, but a girl can only do so much, you know?) Also.... the dog dishes you see in that corner have been stored away now. That is about the saddest thing on the planet. I know you know...

Anyhow... just because I'm using paper products, doesn't mean it can't still be cute. Everything is orange and white and easy. I found glass vases at Ikea for about 75 cents each, and the candlesticks were black and simple, also from Ikea, and also cheap. I spray painted everything "Dover White" and now it coordinates. (Which I like. In case you wondered.) I hacked up some sticks and hot glued some faux orange orchids randomly onto them.

I'm covering all the tables with drop cloths. (You know, the really affordable paper kind?) I'll let ya know how that goes.

Also, I had a really fun thing waiting on my door step when I arrived back home the other day and with it, JJ's room is finally complete. We're hanging it today and then I'll share!!

Again, thank you for the kindness toward my family. Y'all mean so much to me.

Goodbyes...

2012-04-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

As most of you know our family was supposed to have been on vacation all this week, soaking up the Ocean waves. We had two glorious days of fun, and were truly having one of the best vacations we'd ever had! Late last night, my parents called us in our hotel room, and let us know that our precious doggy, Lucy, had somehow escaped their fenced backyard, and was missing.

It was about 8:00 pm, and we felt frantic to come back and find her. The kids were a wreck and Adrain and I knew no one would sleep until Lucy was found, so we began praying like crazy, throwing stuff into the car, and racing back the six hour drive home. Somehow, my brother, called a few of his police officer friends in my city, and they miraculously found her. She had been hit in the head by a car going very fast, and was in shock. Her little eyes had burst from their sockets and her face bones were broken. The animal control guy took her to an emergency vet hospital where they made her as comfortable as possible, and we stayed in contact as we got closer and closer. We were told that if she survived, she would lose both eyes, and there would be extensive brain damage of the unpredictable sort, etc. The vet didn't want the kids or I to see her like that, so we all hugged Adrain so he'd smell like us, and then he went in about 3 am, and held her little paw while they put her to sleep. We had all sobbed most of the night as you can imagine and didn't sleep at all.

We are so thankful that we felt the urgency to head home immediately so we could say good bye. And we are so thanking God that when our GPS steered us down an unknown route and we were literally running on fumes, we stumbled into a Gas station with about two miles left. We are praising Him for the 2 1/2 years we had with our Lucy girl and for the fact that my brother was able to help us find her. My sweet parents are of course beside themselves, but I'm so thankful for them and that they made her last few days away from us, good ones.

Our family would love your prayers.... we have never had a family dog before Lucy, and she has left an awful hole in our hearts. We already miss her more than I ever thought possible. I'll miss her 3:00 pm cue every day as she somehow always knew it was nearly time for my kids to get home and would sit staring at the front door, waiting. I'll miss her fierce barking at solicitors. I'll miss her nightly playtime with Adrain and their game of hide and seek. I'll miss her stupid bone that always found it's way into the most crazy spots. Most of all, I'll just miss her, and so will my husband and kids.