Life With The Stanfords

Boys

2009-12-14T05:00:00-08:00

We're getting a new road. Lately, it's been like running an obstacle course of ruts and potholes to get home. For weeks, we've had heavy equipment, road workers and lots of inconvenience on our street. It all became worth it when I looked out the window and saw this:

I just love the simple fascination and wonder that boys have -- especially for big, powerful things. Little girls have wonder, too, of course, but somehow we're a little too complicated to really appreciate something as cool and awesome as this:

I love little boys. They make me smile.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may...

2009-12-11T05:00:00-08:00

...because they're almost gone.

Farewell, beautiful ladies. I will see you in the Spring. Sweet dreams.

A colorful project

2009-12-10T05:00:00-08:00

I'm sure lots of you have heard of this project before, but I just did this for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Have you ever made crayon muffins out of leftover crayons? It's the perfect thing to do with all the broken, dull crayons lying around the house.

The first thing you have to do for this project is peel all the paper off the crayons. Some are easier to peel than others. I took a little knife and sliced the paper first. That seemed to make them easier to peel.

Next, chop up the crayons into pea-sized pieces. Decide now how you want to "color" your muffins. Do you want to do all the pinks together, all the blues together, etc. or would you rather just make rainbow muffins? We opted for rainbows.

Put all the crayon pieces in a mini-muffin pan. Fill each cup to the top because when the crayons melt, they get smaller in size. It's not necessary to oil the pan; just pile the crayon pieces in there.

Put the muffin pan in the oven at 150-170 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until all the "muffins" are melted. I found it necessary to push the middle crayons down into the melted crayons since the middle wasn't melting as quickly. I used a chopstick.

Take the muffins out of the oven and stick them in the freezer for a few minutes. Take care to keep the pans level. Pop the crayon muffins out onto a plate.

Voila'! Cheap, adorable gifts for kids. Even my seventh grader insisted that I give her some to use. And yes, I had to color with them, too. I couldn't resist. I'm only human and look at all those gorgeous colors!

Of fair maidens...

2009-12-09T05:00:00-08:00

Claire recently attended the Renaissance Festival in Hammond with Jade's mom and sisters. I posted earlier about making her a dress for the occasion.

The pattern looked simple enough, but any time you're dealing with 9-11 yards of fabric, it gets a little crazy. I have to say this is the biggest sewing project I've ever taken on and I'm so glad to be done with it. I guess the worst part was hammering in eyelets in the back of the dress. I was sweating bullets because if I messed up, there wasn't a way to fix it. Whew! Here's my lovely daughter in her dress:

Jade's mom, Paula, does wonders with hair. She braided all the girls' hair in different patterns the night before the Fesitval. Look how beautiful:

Here are Lydia, Gracie, and Claire with the Queen (or at least she looks like the Queen):

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate;
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou growest
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."

--William Shakespeare

One big wad of thankful...

2009-12-08T05:00:00-08:00

So Thanksgiving's been over almost three weeks now. I feel I must post about it, though.

On Thanksgiving day, we went to Jade's mom's house like we always do. We had an amazing time as usual. Mr. Pat, Jade's stepdad, always fries turkeys for us. Oh my goodness. They are so delicious. And I wonder, how many of you have French fries for Thanksgiving? We always do. Believe it or not, they are the perfect pairing for fried turkey.

Here's the chef with Jade and Owen:

Mr. Pat just had hip replacement surgery and is doing great. You wouldn't believe how much hardware is in his hip. He really is the bionic man.

One of the things I love about holidays is how family just drifts in and out and all around. It reminds me of a quote from one of my favorite books, The Relatives Came,

"Then it was into the house and so much laughing and shining faces and hugging in the doorways. You'd have to go through at least four different hugs to get from the kitchen to the front room. Those relatives!"

Jade's sister, Nichole and her husband, Frank, couldn't make it this year. We couldn't play bocce ball without them. I really missed Nony, but then I was going through the pictures and saw this one of Blythe. Nony, I guess you were there after all (ya'll are twins!):

Part II

On Saturday, we had Thanksgiving at my sister's house. She always sets a beautiful table:

The cousins played together all day...

and the grown-ups played together all night:

This is a little game my sister found called Partini.

With categories like "Bouncers", "Hum Punch", and "Mime Twist", it's been known to make people laugh so hard they cry:

Ah, good times, good times.

It's Alive!

2009-12-07T21:46:10-08:00

My computer's got a heartbeat. I'm back to posting! Yeah!

Christmas time is here...

2009-12-01T12:52:28-08:00

I'm really having blog withdrawals. I thought all of my computer problems were solved, but alas, they have only just begun. It seems that I need to bring my computer in and have everything reinstalled - and I do mean everything. I don't know what I'm waiting for. I keep thinking I'm going to get a couple of posts out and then unplug it, but I really can't function without my photo editing software and some other things.

It appears that Thanksgiving and most of Christmas will probably go unblogged. There will be a little black hole in the Stanford history when seemingly nothing happened.

Of course, everything is happening.

Today is Jade's birthday (the first of five December birthdays in our immediate family). Happy Birthday, Baby! I need to cook, bake and wrap.
I need to have two candy cane dresses made by Saturday night.
I need to pay bills before "they" turn off our lights.
I need to homeschool.
I need to work out. Ha!

I have managed to:

Survive Thanksgiving
Decorate the house for Christmas
Get the childrens' Jesse trees up and started.

Enjoy the Christmas music. I had hoped to add some new favorites to the list, but Playlist is not functioning on my computer (my FlashPlayer is kaput and refuses to be reinstalled).

Here's to a joyful season filled with the wonder of God's glory and love for us. (See how positive that was - even in the face of great inconvenience? Thank you.)

Return to Thankful

2009-11-23T10:31:32-08:00

I have had a bad case of discontent in the last few months. Discontent is an awful thing. It's why all those people on Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, etc. act the way they do. It ain't pretty.

All the while, I've been asking God (with the little bit of Holy Spirit left in me) to help me overcome this monster. I can't say I'm completely healed of discontent, but I'm on the mend. Christians often talk of trying to overcome besetting sins -- those sins that persistently trouble or harass us. For some it's drugs, for others it's food, and then there are the less obvious ones that trouble - like pride, fear, mistrust, and yes, discontent.

Do you know that the God of the universe reaches out to us? We do not see Him, and yet, He is in us if we belong to Him. He reaches across that line between the natural and the spiritual and reassures us that He is with us always -- even when we are battling the ugliest parts of ourselves. When we're losing the battle, He steps in.

In this latest battle with discontent, here are the ways God has reminded me of His love...

I woke up the other morning to hear my one-year old daughter singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in her bed. God gave her to me.

I asked my four-year old son the other day what I would do when he grew up and moved away. He said, "Well, I'm going to marry you!" What love.

I watched Diary of a Mad, Black Woman again last night. Yes, I have issues with the movie, but there's a scene where the choir at the church begins singing about how we need the Lord. I cry every single time. It just reminded me of how very much He loves us.

I went to a doctor's appointment with my Dad last week and then we went to lunch together. I had him all to myself for a couple of hours. We talked about spiritual things and we talked about Mama. It was a divine appointment and one of the best days of my life. I love my Dad.

My husband told me I was beautiful.

My pastor preached about salvation and being filled with the Holy Spirit. It's been so long since I've heard the gospel preached. He reminded my why we sing about the Cross. My heart filled up to overflowing.

All five of my kids were being great at one time around the supper table the other night. It was loud and boisterous and happy. My husband and I just looked at one another and smiled without saying a word. All the love in the world was present in that moment.

And in all those times, I heard the words of the Lord:

"The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and rich in love." Psalm 145:8

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" I John 3:1a

"Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you." Isaiah 30:18-19

And now I think of the song I consider to be the soundtrack of my life:

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I've come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I'll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you, yet I'm prone to leave the God I love. Bind my wandering heart to You with your goodness. You are great and greatly to be praised. Father, forgive me. Thank you for returning me to thankful.

Heavy on the Evie

2009-11-10T14:48:37-08:00

I know my posts have been a little heavy on the Evie lately. She has entered this insanely cute stage that makes me want to follow her around like a deranged paparazzo. Bear with me. She probably won't be cute anymore in about 30 years or so.

Evelyn is a headband fanatic right now. She usually tries to wear at least three at a time. You would've thought I had given her diamonds when she saw this headband.

Be still my heart.

O.K., I'm with you. The truck totally interferes with the cuteness of this picture. This is what happens when your photo editing software needs to be reinstalled and you're too lazy to do it...trucks...and shadows...and poor color, blah, blah, blah.

Nevertheless, cuteness abounds.

A Virus-Free November

2009-11-07T18:31:58-08:00

We haven't been sick, but my computer sure has. I think it's been riddled with viruses for quite some time, but when the pornographic icons showed up on my desktop, it was time for action. I just got my computer back for the first time in a week. I've had serious withdrawal. I figured out that the computer is my "go-to" when I have to do something I don't want to do. So I ended up doing a lot of stuff I didn't want to do this past week. Welcome back, little computer!

Nineteen days 'til Thanksgiving, people! "Let the wild rumpus start!" You have about two weeks to get your grocery and Christmas shopping done in peace. Then...every man for himself. You've been warned.

This year's been a tough one for The Stanfords, economically and otherwise. But the funny thing about tough times is that they make you even more grateful for the blessings you do have, which brings us to this month's playlist...

This month's playlist has a lot of repeats from last year. I still love Diana Krall's "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep" and Copland's "Hoedown", and no November playlist would be complete without "Turkey In The Straw".

My favorite addition to this year's Thanksgiving playlist is "Doxology" by the Michael Gungor Band. What a cool version of one of my favorite hymns! You'll also find a wonderful jazz version of "Ode To Joy" (another favorite hymn) by Brian Bromberg. There's even a Thanksgiving song on here by Don Henley. Hmmm, who knew?

Enjoy the advent of this most wonderful holiday season. Be blessed and be a blessing!