thankful...

Lately I have been really thinking of all the wonderful things in my life. Although, spending just as much time complaining. About finances, the stress of two children, keeping a clean house, etc. Normal "mom" things. God has really been reminding me of how much I have, and how my stresses are nothing in comparison to so many. I have been reminded of how so many people are truly suffering right now. I can specifically think of a widow who will be "celebrating", as best she can, this Thanksgiving and Christmas, without her husband and the father of her children. Thinking of those precious boys that will be experiencing the void of their father. I can't imagine the heartache, and I honestly don't even want to think about it. It makes me sick to my stomach. Yet, it is so real for them and real for so many others.

I am extremely grateful that I have those stressful days of raising two children, of cleaning up after a messy husband. I'm sure many would give anything for that.

My challenge for myself is to live with a grateful heart. Praise God for what he has given me, and know that my husband and my children don't belong to me. I will cherish every day I get with them and prayerfully raise my children to bring glory to Him.

I am thankful for my family of four, my husband and my sweet babies.

I am thankful for the rest of my wonderful family. ALL of them! (there are SO many!) Thankful for new life in the Peterson family, in the birth of beautiful Norah!

I am thankful for awesome friends! New and old. I am thankful I can raise my children alongside of some great moms. Thankful for this new generation of children that my own get to grow up with. 

I am thankful for a church who loves God.  Thankful I get to watch this youth group grow spiritually and numerically.

I am thankful that I serve a God who loves me and chose me. I am thankful that He works all things together for my good. Thankful that He loves my children, even more than I do.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving day with your families and friends. 

 

Crafty Thursday

I have decided to start a new series called "Crafty Thursday". Every thursday I will show a new craft, sewing project, house project or even a new recipe. This will keep me on my toes to keep trying new projects I have saved to do. Sometimes I don't want to try something new because I know it's going to be hard and I probably will make lots of mistakes! But I'll give it a shot. I think it will be fun!

I bought my sewing/embroidery machine when Noah was a few months old. It was my Christmas/birthday/anniversary/Easter/Kwanzaa...you get the idea-all in one gift! My husband bought it for me thinking it would save him money on me paying for things and in the hopes that I would be good at it and sell things on Etsy to make money to pay for the machine. Unfortunately, it didn't pan out so well. I was not good at anything to do with the machine and gave up before I threw the machine across the room.

But lately I have been determined to learn how to sew, embroider and applique. Thanks to my friends who have been learning as well, I have learned a lot and am finally feeling successful at some things. So if you ever see anything you like on my posts, please feel free to place an order. :o) My husband will thank you if I ever pay off the machine. I will also share the instructions the best I can, so you can try it yourself if you like!

So my first post is a pumpkin applique shirt I made for Naomi. I am NOT good at applique-ing (I have no idea how else to spell that!). So bad that I have given up for about a year and am just now and attempting it again. (Also, I am terrible at hairbow making, but we'll get to that in another post!)


Naomi's shirt was pure success! I loved it! It was so great I decided to make a matching one for Noah, only to fail miserably! I destroyed the shirt. So no matching pics of them!

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of my steps, I was concentrating too hard! But here is my gorgeous little lady in her shirt.

How cute are the matching ribbon socks?? SO easy to make!

I followed this tutorial and only messed up one pair of socks in the process!

The smaller ribbon was not the best size to work with. The ribbon does not stay laying down too well on the socks. The best size ribbon IMO is 1 1/2, or around that.

(I think the match to this one is in the dryer, I hope!)

Lastly, here is a baby shower gift I just recently made for a friend.

 set of 3 burpcloths

I am working today on another order for a similar gift!

Next week, I hope to be finished with some cute outfits for Naomi (with help from my grandma), and matching Mickey and Minnie shirts for my kiddos. Stay tuned

 (Eva-I still owe poor Hosea a Mickey shirt!)  

 

shutterfly

I love Shutterfly! They print awesome quality photos, photo books, calendars, etc. I have bought several photo books and calendars as gifts for grandparents. They are the perfect gift. What's better than pictures of you beautiful children?!  Also, last year for Christmas I bought Adam a photo coffee mug with Noah's face on it! He loved it! And it's now my favorite cup to drink coffee from. And I think Noah gets a kick out of his face being on mommy and daddy's cup. :)

These are some of my favorite Christmas cards they have this year. I haven't decided which design I want to go with yet, but I love the more colorful "exciting" ones.
Adam thinks Christmas cards are nerdy, but I love getting my friend's cards in the mail.

I really like the design on this card.

I like that this one says "sparkle".

"wishing you Joy this year"

I will have a hard time choosing my favorite this year!

I {heart} Disney...

...BIG time! I have a serious crush on it. And thanks to my wonderful MIL, we were able to go this last weekend. We took Noah earlier this year before we had Naomi and again with the Scotts in May. It was definitely crazier with a 5 week old, who needed to eat at the most inconvenient times, but we had a blast. She can now successfully say she has been nursed while waiting in line to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. I didn't want to miss out on any ride so I decided I would whip out the nursing cover whenever needed and go for it.

So thank you Mrs. D! We had so much fun!

at the T-Rex Cafe

Noah getting to meet Pirate Goofy! His favorite part of the day I think! He loves pirates.

Noah got Toy Story for his 2nd birthday and has really gotten into it. Thankfully the wait to meet Buzz was only about 15 minutes.

Noah with his cousins, Halle Claire and Kerrigan. Their poses are hilarious! I think they were dancing right here.

Family of FoUr!!

Horrible angle for me, with a striped shirt on and a post-pregnancy "bump"!

What a blast! I love my family.

thanksgiving traditions

We don't really have any Thanksgiving traditions, other than getting together with family for meals. I would love to start some of my own! Eva is starting her own family traditions of decorating her home with fall decor. I love the leaf garland!  Here is one I came across on eighteen25's blog, that is so creative, and I would really like to start for my family.

Isn't is great?!? It is called a Book of Thanks. Every Thanksgiving everyone takes a turn writing what they are grateful for in it, and each year she puts a new family picture of that Thanksgiving.

Does your family have any neat thanksgiving traditions?? Please share!