Momma D and Da Boyz

Down & Out (and feeling sideways too!)

2012-05-24T11:11:00.001-07:00

The last few weeks have been trying. Just because of the non-stop go of spring in our household. Tee-ball games, little league games, field trips, band concerts, award ceremonies, soap box derby practices and the like. It gets to be a lot. I am drained.

Which probably is what lead to my current predicament. I was sitting in church on Sunday and started experiencing rather severe vertigo. I had had it once before, when Seth was a baby, so at least I understood what was happening. But the room kept swaying. I felt like I was falling, despite being firmly seated in my pew. We left right after the service, after I spent the remainder of it with my eyes closed and leaning on Daddy D listening to our pastor speak.

Rest made it somewhat manageable, but still rather difficult to deal with. I think the most unsettling feeling is to lay down on a bed and mentally know that you are lying in bed, yet feeling like you never stop falling down, down, down. Monday dawned with no appointments at my doctors office that worked with the school schedule/bus drop offs/etc, etc.

So Tuesday morning I went to see my doctor. I'll spare you the rather disgusting details, and say that I have an extensive, severe ear infection that they are hoping will clear up with ten days of potent antibiotics. In the meantime, the vertigo remains, I am still feeling miserable and 48 hours in I am not "on the mend" as of yet.

But of course life with four children does not stop despite Momma's ailment and da boyz have tomorrow off for unused snow days, and a long weekend for Memorial Day...

Recalls + App Review

2012-05-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

I downloaded the Recalls+ app to my iPhone and opened it up. There are several features that I really like. I like the home page with a list of the latest recall news. This includes recalls from all categories. Things like recalled food items, toys and clothes. This is great to give you a quick overall look at the past few weeks of recalls.

From there I went to the Add Stuff option. This allows me to add general categories like toddler car seats, or specific items that I own. This creates a Watch List that allows me to keep up to date on categories and items that I own.

I am blessed that none of my boyz have significant allergies, but I really love the food allergen option. This allows you to add allergens to your watch list, and when food is found with undeclared allergens you are alerted. I would find that incredibly important, even go so far as to say it can be life-saving, to your little one!

If you find a recall that you want to share, whether with a family member or friend it might effect or with your facebook or twitter streams, it is as easy as pressing a button. The platform has the ability to email, share on facebook, post to twitter or bookmark this recall. As an avid Twitter user, I love that sharing a recall was very simple. The app actually writes the general tweet for you, and you can add or personalize it as you wish.

As a busy mom of four with a lot on my plate I love that this will keep me on top of items that could harm my family. I find it incredibly easy to use and it provides such a valuable resource. You can download it for free for iPhone and Android in their app stores, or facebook. Find more information here on their site.

I have been compensated for this post by SheSpeaks. As always, all opinions and experiences expressed are my own.

Avengers T-Shirts

2012-05-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

For Seth's 12th birthday he celebrated by going to see the new Avengers movie with four of his best friends on opening night. I wanted to make something for them to wear, without going out and buying the typical comic book t-shirt.

I did a Pinterest search and found this great idea from I Am Momma Hear Me Roar for what she calls a Subtle Super Hero tee.

I love all of the symbols on the front referencing Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye and Ironman...

I followed her instructions, but I don't have a Silhouette. So I printed out the image, traced it onto freezer paper and cut out the stencil by hand with an exacto knife.

The same is true for the Avengers symbol on the back....

Each boy chose a character, so I made a shirt in the corresponding color. I picked them up at the craft store for less than $3 a piece.

They also added their own role play items and headed to the movie. They loved how people were excited in line at the theater, and even had girls in their 20s asking to take pictures with them.

I love that they got to take home the shirts and can remember the day!

Tee Ball Season

2012-05-09T21:00:00.001-07:00

Teeball season has begun.

Which means waiting our turn in the dugout...

Being at bat

and running home!

Hershey's Chocolate World Times Square

2012-05-05T20:40:00.002-07:00

Last week I was invited to check out some of the new things happening at the Hershey's Chocolate World Times Square store! To celebrate their 10th anniversary in Times Square they have done a refresh of the store and added some great activities!

I had my picture taken at a kiosk in the store, and they put it onto a wrapper...

I actually got a huge Hershey's bar with this wrapper on it! Then I headed outside to see myself on their new Times Square billboard!

One of the other new features in the Hershey's Chocolate World Times Square store is the tasting bar right when you walk in the front door.

Today you could sample Rolos or Hershey Caramel Kisses. One of the Chocolate World employees was on hand to talk with me about how the Rolo has a chewy caramel consistency, and the Kisses are a softer more fluid caramel.

I also got to make a bucket of Hershey's chocolates to take home to the boyz. You can customize what you like in the bucket and it comes down the chutes and fills it.

We went a little heavy on the Reeses Peanut Butter Cups...

I really enjoyed visiting the refreshed Times Square Hershey's Chocolate World and can't wait to take my family back!

I was invited to attend this event and received promotional items. All opinions and experiences are my own.

Pfister and Rebuilding Together

2012-04-30T18:27:00.001-07:00

Two weeks ago our local area experienced a devastating fire. An old resort that had been transformed into almost 400 condominiums burned. The entire development was condemned, leaving all of the residents of the 396 units homeless.

I have been amazed at the outpouring of the community. So many clothes, toiletries and household items have been donated and distributed in the past two weeks it has been amazing! I am proud to see everyone come together to help so many rebuild their lives!

In honor of all the hard work done by Rebuilding Together, the great people of Pfister would like to make their job a little easier. For every new “like” on Pfister’s Facebook page, $1 worth of brand new Pfister faucets will be donated to the organization up to $20,000 worth of product for homes in need. During the month of April, which happens to be National Rebuilding Month, you can help, too!

Here’s how you can help Pfister and Rebuilding Together reach their goal:

“Like” Pfister’s Facebook Page and $1 worth of product will be donated
Already a fan of Pfister? Make a monetary donation to Rebuilding Together through the Friends ofPfister campaign on Causes.com! Pfister will even match your donation up to a total of $5,000.
Join the Blog Hop!

Want to do more to help? Join my Friends of Pfister Blog Hop!

Simply publish a post on your blog sharing how you get involved in your own community and encourage your readers to like Pfister’s Facebook page and join the effort for Rebuilding Together.
Amplify your post on Twitter using hashtag #PfisterHop
Link up your post on the linky below so readers can “hop” the posts and read your experiences.
Encourage your readers to join the Blog Hop, too! The more posts the merrier! Host the linky code in your post so your readers can join in the fun!
Posts must be included in the linky by 11:59pm EST on April 30, 2012. Only one blog post per domain name, please.

OK, you joined the Blog Hop…so now what?

Pfister will donate $1 in product to Rebuilding Together for every post on the Blog Hop linky (up to $500 in product donation).
Twenty (yes, TWENTY) posts included in the Blog Hop linky will receive your choice of one Pfister faucet from among several kitchen and bath options! Have you seen the selection?!? Winning posts will be randomly selected.

First Backyard Chicks!

2012-04-27T12:09:00.002-07:00

Last week we picked up our first set of chicks! We had wanted a specific breed, Rhode Island Red, because they are good egg layers as well as meat. Lucky for us, our Liberty Agway Home & Garden store stocks chicks.

For the Breed we wanted we just called and they told us what date they would arrive, as well as took our name, the number of chicks we wanted to reserve and our phone number. They called as soon as they were ready, even a day early!

I love our Liberty Agway store. I had already stocked up on lots of seeds for our vegetable and flower gardens that I have started in our kitchen. The selection is awesome!

The boyz were so excited to get the chicks!

Our friend, Deb, owns the local store. She was happy to introduce each of the boyz to how to hold and touch the chicks, as well as taught them to wash their hands after immediately!

These are four of our six girls!

It's been a week and they are already so much bigger and look so different!

And so our adventures in backyard chicken raising have begun...

No compensation or product was received for this post. All supplies and animals were our own purchase, and all opinions are my own.

Little Tikes TikeStix Clubhouse Review & Giveaway (Ends 5/8)

2012-04-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

We recently had the opportunity to try out a new product line from Little Tikes called TikeStix. Described as an all-new dynamic line of indoor and outdoor construction toys built for kids that promotes innovative ways of toy building play. From forts and racecars, to aliens and petting zoos, Little Tikes TikeStix™ is designed to encourage a child’s imagination and creativity, while teaching motor and project-building skills.

We had the choice of trying the Playhouse or the Clubhouse:

Playhouse ($49.99)

Clubhouse ($49.99)

Being an all boy household, we chose the Clubhouse kit. It arrived and immediately the boyz set to work. It comes with an easy instruction booklet with pictures, as opposed to words. So easy for even the littlest ones to understand and be successful. Also, be sure to save the box to house all of the pieces!

They really enjoyed working together!

I love that it is truly easy enough for the

3 year old to work with!

All da boyz, including Daddy D, hard at work!

Adding the tarp ceiling...

I love the teamwork aspect of this toy!

Happy Boyz in their fort!

Gabe & Eli worked together to make another suggested item, the pirate ship. They even added their own sail using the tarp and clips.

This kit gets two thumbs up from the D family! We can't wait to add more to the set and let the boyz create bigger things!

I'm also happy to be giving away a Little Tike TikeStix set to one lucky Momma D and Da Boyz. The winner will have a choice of either the Playhouse or Clubhouse! Enter through the Rafflecopter widget below. It may take a minute to load!

a Rafflecopter giveaway I received the above product free in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Play Ball!

2012-04-23T20:50:00.002-07:00

Little League practices have begun!

Opening day is this Saturday.

Nate is loving it!

Starting Seeds for our Garden!

2012-04-19T19:34:00.001-07:00

Things are getting kind of green in our neck of the woods. And not just outside, in my kitchen as well! This year we started quite a few plants from seeds. I am happy to report that so far so good!

I, like everyone else it seems, have been a little obsessed with Pinterest. Gardening is among one of my favorite topics to browse. I saw several suggestions to start seeds in toilet paper rolls. I just cut them in half and placed in a tray, filled with a soilless seed starting mix and planted. Up came lots of peppers-red, green and hot peppers!

I also used the old standby, egg cartons. These worked well to start, but seedlings quickly outgrow the small depth of the cells. As soon as these tomatoes sprout their first true leaves (the actual leaves of a tomato plant, not the very first leaves) they will need to be transplanted into larger containers.

Then I came across this great tutorial on how to make your own pots out of newspaper. I LOVE these! In just a few folds I have great pots that have held up over a month. I also like that using different newspapers to make different size containers. Easy, and free after I purchase my Sunday paper for coupons. These broccoli seedlings are coming up great and need to be thinned!

I also have a whole crop of sunflowers already coming up!

And some cosmos...

Excited to see my summer vegetable and flower gardens!

Our Ginger Pup Update

2012-04-16T17:49:00.005-07:00

In January we had a rather devastating event in the D household. Our beloved miniature daschund, Ginger, suffered a back injury. She was paralyzed and unable to move from her mid back down. We had an outpouring of love from comments, to emails, to Facebook messages in regards to our pup when I shared about her situation on the blog.

Well, after 10 weeks of crate confinement followed by a month of limited activity we are happy to report that Ginger is making progress. She still has some paralysis. But she is able to stand on her own now, which is exciting to us all!

And every once in awhile she can do a bit of jogging. We love seeing her ears flap!

We will continue to limit her activities and hope for a full recovery. But it does feel very good to see our girl getting back to normal!

Wordless Wednesday- Easter Pictures!

2012-04-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

Easter was wonderful here!

Love this picture because they jumped on the back

of van and doing this on their own!

My Boyz...

Momma and her little boyz

Love these guys!

Wordless Wednesday -There Were Four In The Bed

2012-04-03T20:44:00.002-07:00

Last weekend we headed up to bed. I checked the little boyz room at the top of the stairs, and the bunk beds were empty. I looked in the next room, Seth's, and it too was empty.

Four boyz all grabbed blankets and pillows and snuggled into Gabriel's bed all on their own.

Easter Egg Hunt with Colgate #EasterSmiles #CBias

2012-03-30T16:21:00.004-07:00

Easter is a big part of our family. We are Christians, so that Easter is the most holy day of the year for us. There are many traditions we have as a family to help us celebrate!

Every year we wear our Sunday best to the morning service at our church, and then we take pictures!

I usually make everyone's outfits match in some way. It is one of the only times a year that I can get away with that!

We also gather with family and have a big Easter dinner. It is always ham, mashed potatoes and the like.

But what else is a big part of our Easter traditions? Easter egg hunts! We usually participate in several including our town's Parks & Recreation hunt, Grandma & Grandpa's hunt and even one we do ourselves.

Since Eli is only three, we decided to do a practice egg hunt to remind him how they work before the big days! We headed to Walmart and picked out some new buckets and plastic eggs to get us started.

We also found this great Colgate #EasterSmiles display...

What a great idea! What better way to combat all those goodies and treats and promote good oral health than to add them to our Easter egg hunt!

You can read more about our Colgate #EasterSmiles shop here on Google+

We set up a small egg hunt at home and set the three littlest boyz loose!

Gabe found his Colgate Spongebob Toothbrush in the daffodils!

Eli was next to find his a midst his eggs!

We usually color code eggs by child to keep it fair. They actually help each other find the right color eggs rather than competing!

Finally Nate found his!

Three happy boyz all brushed up on Easter egg hunting and ready for the holiday with new Colgate Spongebob Toothbrushes!

Be sure to check out Colgate on Twitter and Facebook!

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias All opinions and experiences are my own

Why I'm Voting #TeamGavin

2012-03-26T18:29:00.001-07:00

Tonight I'm watching Dancing With the Stars. Intently. With more interest and analysis than ever before. You might think that it's because of the intense competition and the fact that no one seemingly bombed on the premiere last week. But that's not it, this season it is something more.

It's because my favorite star is on, Gavin DeGraw. No, I am not some obsessed fan swooning over the guy with the song high on the charts right now. Rather, when I see Gavin DeGraw perform, I see a twelve year old playing on the piano. Because that is when I first remember meeting him. Sitting alone in the living room of our friend Jessica's house. Playing the keys on the piano in the middle of a party at the end of sixth grade.

So many memories I recall. Him performing in the Fallsburg Musical. Having to compete against his songwriting skills as he whipped up a diddy for his school during the county inter-academic league competition. Coming home on college breaks and traveling to dive bars with our friends to see him play. Billy Joel songs at a piano in the corner the night I locked my keys in my car and had to call my best friend's mom.

And then there are the moments after he made it big. Watching him for the first time perform on a talk show. Talking with his sister about the newest music video and who they got to play his ingenue. Coming full circle from those days in the mid-90s in random tiny places and going to a sold out performance with girls screaming and chanting his name.

That same week he showed up at the men's slo pitch softball game in town. He took a turn at bat. The guy who's song was just picked up at the theme song for a new show, One Tree Hill, on the WB. He hit the ball. He ran the bases. He played an inning in the field. The home town boy, just being one of the guys. We chatted for a few minutes. We talked about our mutual friends. And we took a picture together.

So now every Monday & Tuesday my best friend and I are glued to my TV. Phones, Cell Phones and computers ready. To vote away. To hold our breathe and see how he does. To support him any way we can. It's been 22 years since I first saw him perform. I won't stop watching anytime soon!

Plants Vs. Zombies Cupcakes

2012-03-23T12:02:00.000-07:00

Gabriel turned eight last week. For his class cupcakes he chose Plants Vs. Zombies. Just last month I had to come up with the Angry Bird cupcakes for Nathan. But these were even more challenging!

The hardest part of these cupcakes was coming up with the support system, in that they are pretty top heavy. The solution is that I made all of them out of fondant with pop sticks in the center. Then pushed them into the cupcakes. It worked great!

The Pea Shooter

A Zombie Head

The Chomper

He was my favorite to do.

If you "like" my facebook page you got to see a preview of this guy last week!

The Garlic

The Squash

The Frozen Pea Shooter

He was my "slip up"

The stem should have been green, oh well!

The Tall Walnut

All set to go!

This makes me wonder what kind of craziness they are going to ask for next year!

Betty Draper Inspired Hostess Apron Tutorial

2012-03-21T13:42:00.000-07:00

I am a Mad Men fan. I love the show. I really love the style. So when Jessica at Mad In Crafts said she was doing a Mad Men themed series on her blog I was incredibly excited to contribute!

My tutorial for a Betty Draper Inspired Hostess Apron is over on Mad In Crafts today, so go check it out!

I kind of adore it!

Hope you do too...

Be sure to Pin or Stumble if you like it!

Thanks again to Jessica for having me!

It's A Lego Birthday Party!

2012-03-20T12:04:00.001-07:00

The two middle D boyz are 23 months apart. Gabe was born on March 15th, and Nate was born at February 15th. The bonus of them being a little less than two years apart is that they are usually into the same sort of thing. They also have many of the same friend, of course the same family, and also family friends that have children close to both boyz ages.

To celebrate this year we held a Lego themed birthday party. We sent out invitations to the party that I made on the computer and had printed on card stock from Staples. That is my favorite way to make personal invites. It costs 25 cents per invite and I can pick them up the next day!

I made invites for those who know both boys, but also ones with the individual name on the top for their classes and personal friends.

We had the party at our church fellowship hall. As everyone attending didn't know exactly where the party would be in the building (there are multiple doors) we wanted to make it easy to find the party. I made this Lego block for by the door.

All I did was use a large cardboard box, a pizza box, stones and roll of red wrapping paper from the dollar store. First I filled the box with a couple of rocks to weigh it down so it didn't blow away in the spring gusts. I then just wrapped the box like a present. Using the pizza box I cut out six circles, covered them in paper and added them to the front. Simple, fun and only cost the $1 for the paper.

The room was rather large. Instead of trying to decorate every inch of the room, we decided to do a garland of balloons in primary colors. I found an inexpensive solution at Party City, a roll of plastic perforated "tape" that you just pop your tied balloons into for about $6.

I like the impact it had! We also covered the long tables in primary colored tablecloths.

Around the room we placed these cute Lego Minifigure cutouts I printed for free from Winks & Daises here with both Gabe and Nate's ages.

When guests arrived they could build at tables with Legos. How cute is my niece?

Then we started the games. Daddy D refereed 1 minute challenges where contestants raced to build the tallest freestanding tower.

We had a container the Gabe filled with Legos from his bin that each person got to guess how many...another of my nieces guessing

Eugene was the winner! He guessed within one!

We also played Legos Bingo that I found here from Big D & me and printed out. We used small Legos as markers for the cards.

Then it was time for food! My adorable third (and final) niece in attendance at the party...

We had lots of party food with fresh veggie and fruit as well as chips and pretzels. But we also had Lego themed treats!

We had juiceboxes that I covered in construction paper with two dots I cut out on my Cricut, inspired from here.

And these are a Lego twist that I saw all over on the candy coated marshmallows we did last year. It is a mini-marshmallow on top of a full sized marshmallow dipped in the yellow candy melts. I then used a tube of Wilton Black Icing with a #3 tip to pipe the faces on.

And the Lego Tier Cake I made for the boys.

You can see a lot more pictures and how I did I made it here.

Birthday Boyz!

No party would be could end without goody bags!

Among other things we put these in the bags...

I made these cute chocolates using Building Blocks Chocolate Candy Mold - Perfect for Lego Party I purchased for just $2.30 here.

And you can see how I made these great Lego bags here...

So that's our party! It was so much fun celebrating my two boys. Happy Birthday Gabriel & Nathan!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2012-03-17T07:39:00.001-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope you are donning your green and looking forward to a fun day. I thought the blog should wear a little green today too! So here is a round-up of my St. Patrick's Day themed posts.

This is by far my favorite St. Patrick's Day craft that I have done, and you guys thinks so too! It is one of my top posts pageviews wise, and it has been pinned well over 800 times on Pinterest!

The Seed Bead Four Leaf Clover

This year I did the Book Page Four Leaf Clover. I love the glitter letters and how they contrast the decoupaged book pages.

Book Page Four Leaf Clover

Last year this was featured several places as well, and it was an under $5 craft from supplies at the dollar store!

St. Patrick's Day Sock Wreath

And finally, this is a cake I made years ago to celebrate a St. Patrick's Day birthday!

St. Patrick's Day Birthday Cake

Oh, and a look back at my little leprechauns, circa 2010

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Custom Color Chalkboard Paint Pantry Door

2012-03-16T12:34:00.001-07:00

Pin It

We have been doing simple and improvements to our kitchen as of late. I am trying to get away from the refrigerator as a catch all for papers, lists, calendars and such. So I thought, why not make the back of the pantry door a chalkboard so that we can all keep a running list of what we need?

This is our pantry door before...odd things sticking out the back...

Which were actually holding the mirror on the front. Yes. A mirror on our pantry door. In our kitchen. I don't know. It was there when we moved in.

So we took the door off of the hinges and brought it down to the basement so we could paint it.

I had been planning on just putting a fresh coat of white paint and then painting the chalkboard on the back. But once I had the door down and began looking at it closely, it had definitely been painted one too many times. Or three or four times.

So we bought some stripper and got to work. It took not one, not two, but three applications and removal with the stripper to get the layers upon layers of paint off. Then we did some sanding with the orbital sander I had bought Daddy D for Christmas. It looked so much better!

Sooooo much better.

I wanted a smooth finish with no brush strokes. I opted on using an inexpensive kit I bought in Walmart specifically for cabinets. I liked the small, high density foam roller that would give me that finish.

And I got to work painting...

Once the front of the door was completely painted, I flipped it over and taped off the inset panel of the back of the door.

Using this recipe from Martha Stewart. I combined 2 tablespoons unsanded tile grout with 1 cup regular old acrylic paint (in PAPAYA!). I actually ended up using 2 of the recipe and coated my surface four times (as there was no regular base coat of paint since we had stripped the door).

And then finished painting the whole door. Daddy D rehung the door with new hinges and put on the vintage door knob set

I then "primed" the chalkboard with a coating of chalk...

Then we were good to go!

We keep a list on the top...

And Eli does quite a bit of snazzy scribbling on the bottom...

I love the functionality, but I also really love the unexpected and fun pop of color that the papaya chalkboard makes!

What color chalkboard would you make?

Pin It

To The Infamous Sara Saar, Farewell

2012-03-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

*from Sara's FB page, visiting her son at college, fall 2010

I can't recall much about the first conversation we ever had. I called her, having gotten her name from our camp director. She and her husband wanted to volunteer for the week of camp that we run. Two people volunteering? Awesome find! I eagerly called the number scrawled on the back of an envelope. Shutting the door to our bedroom I sat perched atop the mattress, legs folded underneath me. And the phone rang. She picked up, and she walked right into my heart.

That was seven years ago. She volunteered summer after summer. Her husband would counsel, she would cook. Their son was a camper when we first started. Their daughter was in high school and tagged along, donning the handkerchief of the kitchen staff when she wasn't running back and forth volunteering at vacation bible school, working a summer job or caring for the animals left behind on their farm. As the son grew older, he started volunteering as well. Bringing his bright orange drum set, and his ridiculous sense of humor. They quickly became and integral part of our camp family. One week a year, completely a part of each other's lives. Catching up on 51 weeks of "stuff".

Her name was Sara. Sara Saar. The simplicity of it, the straight forward arrangement of the exact same letters. It fit her to a tee. She was a blatantly honest woman. Yet she said everything from an immensely pure place in her heart. Not meant to hurt, only to help you further along life's path. And she was freakin funny. Hysterically so.

I can still see her setting up in the bedroom downstairs, the center of the staff dorms. A room with two queen sized beds right as you opened the door from upstairs. She would always take the one right in front of the door. She would spread out her quilt and pillows from home. And there she would sit as you walked in. She held court every night of that week. We would all gather in her room. It was the place to be.

Whether you were telling the story or it was her, inevitably you would end up in breathless laughter. Seriously. Like I can't breathe, I need a second, will you please stop for just a minute double over kind of laughing. She would get to the heart of whatever conversation and interpret it into Saraisms in no time. We would always stay up way too late, but you never wanted it to end.

She loved babies. So much. She loved to hold them for hours. Swaying in the back of the room as chapel was held, rocking to sleep cranky babies out of their at home routine. Giving exhausted moms and dads a break. Treasuring every second. Smelling them. A lot. Breathing in their fresh from God beauty.

Sara took care of hundreds of us over the years. Getting up in the wee hours of the morning to make breakfast, staying until everything was cleaned up after dinner. Coming up with delectable concoctions from the rather bland offerings of a summer camp kitchen. My mouth still salivates at the thought of these pepper and onion and meatball type things that were beyond delicious. I couldn't wait for leftover night to just eat them again.

Then there was the five alarm french toast. If you think that has anything to do with a spicy taste, you would be mistaken. It was this amazing Sara Saar invention of french toast layered with fruit fillings in a lasagna type of fashion, then set in an oven to bake. The only problem being the first year she made it the pans bubbled over. The fruit filling covered the bottom of the stove and promptly set the kitchen on fire. I was 36 weeks pregnant with Eli, and I will never forget the wake up knock on my door alerting me not to have a panic attack but the fire trucks were on their way.

That day we fed 75 people on the deck of the camp center in Styrofoam bowls filled with dry cereal as we all watched as the fire trucks vented the building. Nothing serious had happened. We were spared anything big. And the staff spent the next hours cleaning everything down as the foam used needed to be scrubbed off.

The next year Sara made the dish again, making sure to not overfill the pans. It was as good as it sounds. But we named it five alarm french toast for the need for the fire siren to sound the year before.

It was soon after the summer of the toast ablaze that Sara found out she had breast cancer. She did well for quite awhile. Early last summer we found out that things had gotten quite a bit worse. A month before camp I got an email that they would not be able to make it. Just the son came to play drums. It was like the soul of our camp body was missing.

These past few months have been difficult. Treatments that did not bring the results we had all hoped. Struggles for the entire family. Young adult children starting to grasp the enormity of life without their mother. Their amazing, strong-willed matriarch left in a body that was failing.

Today Sara Saar went to meet our Heavenly Father. She leaves behind her amazing husband and her two children in their early twenties. She did her job well. Upon her passing her children wrote some of the most touching words to their friends and family. They used words like "I have had the pleasure of having Sara Saar as my mother for the first 20 years of my life. She has taught me more than I can even know" and "The miraculous, beautiful, smart, woman that I call Mommy no longer has to battle this cruel world...she is with her heavenly father"! Her children rose up and called her blessed. Her work is complete.

Tonight my heart aches. Not for Sara, but for the loss of Sara. She was such a presence, such an amazingly huge and incomparable presence. She has touched so many with her life. Her faith was strong. Some of her last words were "God is in charge". I would be remiss if not to say that Sara Saar was a child of God. She loved the Lord with all her heart, and she would want us all to do the same. She wanted to be sure that everyone knew God. I hope that the example she has set forth in life continues to inspire her family, friends and anyone else who comes in contact with her story. She was loved, but man did she love others.

Today I have shed many tears. I have also laughed through many a memory. Because if there is one thing that Sara Saar did without a doubt, it was the ability to make anyone laugh. I take comfort in knowing she is healed now, and making Jesus laugh heartily.

Goodbye my friend. Thank you for your years of service. Thank you for you friendship. Thank you for the talks, the lessons and the laughs. And please, ready a plate of five alarm french toast for me when I get there...

Lego Party Gift Bag Tutorial

2012-03-15T17:59:00.002-07:00

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Gabe and Nate had their Lego Extravaganza Birthday Party last weekend. I wanted a fun set of goody bags. As both boys invited their classes and friends, there were A LOT of kids at this party. With so many gift bags for guests, I knew they would take up their own table, so I wanted it to go along with the theme and make a statement.

I saw this pin on Pinterest and thought this would be the way to go! I found packages of 12 gift bags in primary colors at Hobby Lobby. I then bought a package of primary colored card stock and Elmer's Craft Bond pop up medium glue spots.

I cut out 1 1/4 " circles from with my Cricut, but this can also be done with a paper punch or by hand.

Then I just took a circle and pressed it to the glue dot strip...

then simply pressed it to the bag in the traditional pattern.

I love how the pop up glue dot gives the circles that bit of dimension.

I stuffed them with matching colored tissue paper and added the goodies and we were good to go!

Easy to make and not incredibly expensive. I think they made the desired impact!

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Book Page Four Leaf Clover Tutorial

2012-03-14T15:51:00.001-07:00

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I wanted to try something with book pages, as it is a quite popular medium at the moment. After Valentine's Day was done and over, and all of the chocolates had been eaten, I was left with several of these...

which gave me an idea for the next holiday, St. Patrick's Day.

Lucky for me, I have four boyz...

I hot glued them together and then sprayed them with some gold spray paint I already had. I just wanted something to cover the bright colors of the chocolate boxes so they wouldn't come through the book pages.

I grabbed a book for 25 cents at a local chuch thrift shop. I tore out the pages and used Mod Podge in glossy finish.

I ripped them by hand and just mod podged them on.

I let them overlap the edges and let it all dry overnight.

I used an exacto knife and cleaned up the hearts.

I then used a bit of gold paint and a sponge brush and just lightly gilded the edges.

I then used a glitter light green paper and cut out letters with my Cricut.

I used the Classic Font in 3" size. I then hand cut a stem.

Then it was just a matter of gluing everything down. I attached a soda can tab to the back for a quick way to hang it.

I like how it came out...

It looks great against the rustic wood paneling in my foyer.

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I'll be linking up here:

Lego Themed Tiered Birthday Cake

2012-03-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

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Gabe and Nate had a Lego Extravaganza birthday party last weekend. As per our tradition, I made their cake.

The first layer was covered in fondant bricks. I first covered the entire bottom layer in red fondant. Then I made all of the bricks by pressing them in a chocolate mold I purchased off of Amazon. Building Blocks Chocolate Candy Mold - Perfect for Lego Party for $2.30! I used the Wilton primary colored fondant packages to save time and to have those vivid bright colors.

For the top layer I covered it in fondant tinted with Golden Yellow Wilton Gel. I then made the face using black fondant, and then covered the bottom of the board and where the cakes met with red bricks made with the same mold, but cut in half.

Finally I added each of the boy's names to the sides of the top layer in a Lego style font.

Lighting the candles, six on one side for Nate & eight on the other for Gabe

Happy birthday to Gabriel and Nathan!

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A Weekend Away Scrapbooking!

2012-03-06T20:13:00.000-08:00

I took a much needed weekend away with my girlfriends. It was our annual scrapbooking retreat at a resort in the Poconos.

It is right on the Delaware River...

I love spending time with both halves of my best friend, Kim and Kathy. My identical best friends have been my bff's for 25 years now. But one of us (ahem, not me!) moved three hours away. So the time we spend together is wonderful and filled with lots of laughter, catching up and reminiscing.

And we got to hang with the fabulous scrapbooking guru Eva and our friend Tanya. Don't you love how Eva looks kind of saint-like with that halo behind her? She is though, having to plan and handle the whole retreat with dozens and dozens of women every year!

I also love that every year we see the same ladies. Kim and I have attended six retreats now, and I love seeing these women's families and children grow in pictures every year!

I feel so refreshed after my weekend away. And even more excited that I completed 54 12 x 12 scrapbook pages! Such a great weekend...