Pray for Piper

I got on the computer this morning, planning on posting something completely different then I am posting about now. What I planned on writing seems totally unimportant. Life seems to stop when I hear about a little girl loosing her battle to cancer. My heart is aching for this family. I can only imagine the pain that they are feeling as they walk through these days ahead of them.

This is Piper. Isn't she precious? Piper has leukemia and just relapsed. My sister-in-law Alicia and her family are friends with Piper's family. Although Abbey's journey was different, one thing that helped so much as we walked through our scariest days was knowing that people from around the country joined us in prayer for our Abbey. Would you pray for a miracle for Piper and pray for her family today as they walk through the impossible right now. And if you feel led, please leave them a comment on their blog so they know that they are surrounded in prayer right now?

Sweet Piper with her family

Easy Valentines Day Wreath

I have been looking for a festive Valentines Day Wreath for my front door. I initially started looking to buy one, but my husband suggested I look to make one. After a little research on the internet I came across this blog and this cute idea! I tweaked her idea and made it my own.

It was very easy and I started yesterday morning by getting the supplies and by last night my wreath was ready to hang on our front door. The total cost was about $14 and it took me a few hours (added up) from start to finish. It was even easy enough for Abbey to help!

If you want to make one for your front door, follow these easy steps below :)

Supplies:

* 3 yards of valentines day fabric (you can use just one fabric or as many as you'd like. I chose 2 different fabrics).

* Ribbon (to hang on door). I had initially picked the pink one shown above, but changed my mind after the wreath was done and ended up using a sheer red ribbon.

* 16" foam wreath ring

* Scissors

* Elmers Glue

* Disposable bowl

* Sharpened pencil

First, cut your fabric into 2 inch squares

Next, cover your pencil with a piece of fabric. Put the pencil tip on the colored side of the fabric. Dip the tip in glue.

Push the glue covered tip of fabric into the wreath. Pull out the pencil and the fabric will stay there.

Put the pieces of fabric pretty close together. It should look full (shown above).

Loop ribbon through top of wreath, hang and enjoy!

Today when Abbey gets home from school we are going to make a small one with the left over fabric for her bedroom door :)! Let me know if you have any questions!

Love

Like all little girls, I grew up dreaming about my future. Dreaming about my prince charming, white picket fence and lots of kids around my table. I dreamed of a comfortable home where love was bursting out of the seams. A home where everyone could be themselves and be loved for who they were. A home where they could walk in the door and be safe and know that they are valued and important.

One thing I have to say about our family is although we have seen hard times. Although we have experienced great pain, shed many tears and the perfect, fairy tale life isn't always a reality, we love well. We love through the good, bad, happy and sad. Our home is a place where we make loving each other a priority.

And I so love how my kids love each other. Watching them laugh together, care for each other and live life together is a dream come true for me. There is nothing quite as sweet as hearing I Love You. We say it often around here and even Caleb, without being prompted, hugs our legs and says I Lub You :).

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is note rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Names

First, thank you for the suggestions for a blog designer to help in hopefully giving my blog a makeover at some point! I have decided to put it on hold for a bit, as I am hoping to get some good family pictures and pictures of the kids this spring. I want to be able to put recent pictures on here as a header and outside pictures always seem to come out so much better then inside. So for that reason I am going to put my search on hold and wait till I know exactly what I want and have pictures that I like for my new look. I did find a free new template that I was able to add myself and if nothing else it's a change from the boring look that it has been for so long.

So onto my post... For Christmas my sister got me each of the kids names in individual wooden letters, all in different fonts. The other day Jim painted them all and we got them put up in their rooms. I love how they turned out :)! We have been in our new home for almost a year and a half already and still have some bare walls. We are slowly, but surely getting each room decorated and making the house our own. I think their names really added a lot though to their rooms and the kids all think they're pretty neat :).

I have always love personalized things. Below are some things with the kids names on them that are all meaningful to me.

Jim got me this necklace a while back. One of my very favorite things :).

And of course the Praying for Abbey bracelets will always be very special and meaningful to us. Hundreds of people wore these bracelets around the country and faithfully prayed for her while she was in treatment.

And Jacob got this for his first Christmas from my mom. He was 6 months old :).

My mother-in-law has gotten these for each of the kids when they are first born. As you can see we get a lot of use out of them!

A dear friend got this personalized blanket for Caleb when he was first born. It's soo soft and one of our very favorites.

A friend hand painted this clip board for Abbey. She just loves it!

One of my very best friends from college gave the above (bib) and below (towel) to Caleb and Micah when they were born.

While I was taking pictures of things around the house today, Jacob asked what I was doing. After I told him he disappeared into the playroom for a while and came out with this creation. And I love it! Seeing their names makes me smile - just like each of them do :)!

Wanted: A Blog Makeover!

So not bad, eh? 3 posts in just a few days :). I am getting excited about my blog again and I am feeling like I desperately am in need of a blog makeover! A good while back, a reader had offered to give my blog a facelift. At the time we were really busy and I never got back to her with the info that she needed to get started. It may have been during our move or possibly when Caleb was first born or maybe just a normal week raising 4 kids, but whatever it was, we missed that opportunity so I need your help. If you know someone who does blog makeovers or if you yourself do them, could you please leave a comment and tell me either who you are or who you've used? I put a new free background on this one, but I don't think it's cutting it. I'd like a whole new and improved look. So thanks in advance for your help and I look forward to my blog hopefully looking a lot cuter soon!!

Winter Memories

December started out with the birth of my new nephew :). My sister Stacey and brother-in-law Joey welcomed their 4th child, Andrew James into the world on December 2nd at 3:20p.m., weighing in at 7lbs. 9ozs. I had the privilege of being in the room when he was born and it was an amazing experience! They didn't know the sex of the baby, so it was so exciting to be there the second they found out if they would have another daughter or son. My sister and I both have 3 boys and 1 girl!! We think it's pretty cool!!

Nothing like a brand new baby to hold and smell to give you the baby itch :)!!

Lake Farm Park is a yearly tradition that we have done the past few years with Jim's FOP. Some of the activities that we do there are a horse drawn carriage ride to see Christmas lights, pictures with santa and making wooden toys. Below are the kids with the "elves" making and painting their toys.

I just love this picture of Abbey and Caleb. The kids are always coming up with new ways to play and keep busy around the house. Abbey is like a second mommy to Caleb. Just like me, she kisses his cheeks as much as he'll let her :).

We made lots of cut out Christmas cookies this year! It's pretty cool how as the kids get older they are a huge help and not just mess makers!!

We had 2 Christmas parties this year. One was with kids from Jacob and Abbey's school and the other was with women from our church. Both were a blast! Above the kids are doing freeze dance to Christmas music :). The night also included crafts for the kids to take home, snacks and free play.

The women's party was a great time for all. We had tons of food, played some fun games, and talked and laughed into the wee hours of the night (the last couple ladies left at 2:30am!)

And a couple pics of the kids opening up their presents on Christmas morning. Jacob got a bb gun this year. I know Jim and him will be very careful as they use it, but you can be sure I will be keeping myself busy with something else inside the house :/!

We haven't had too much snow yet this winter, but we've gotten out to play in it as much as possible.

Micah is 4!! We celebrated his birthday with family at Chuck E Cheese in early January. We ate pizza, played games and did cake and presents. His police costume was his favorite gift :).

We went up a few nights ago and visited daddy at work. Micah was thrilled to be his "partner" for a bit!