a day about showing LOVE to others!

I absolutely love Valentine's day.  I always have.  Even in my single days, I enjoyed making little treats for my single girlfriends.  I don't see this day as a day for just romantic love...it's an excuse to show our love to everyone around us.  After all, God asks us to do this.  Jesus said, "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." -John 15:12.

This morning I made some pink, heart-shaped pancakes for my three valentines.  We told the kids how today is about God's incredible love for us, how we can show our love to Him, and how we can spread that love to the world around us.

I LOVE this little face...

...and I LOVE this one too.

Happy Valentine's day to you all!  May your day be filled with incredible amounts of LOVE.

punxsutawney pudding cups for groundhog day

I saw this in a magazine and I instantly wanted to make this for groundhog day.  How adorable does punxsutawney phil look peeking out of a pudding cup?  Here are the simple instructions.

Start with a Pepperidge Farm Milano cookie.  To make the ears, halve a sliced almond.  Trim another almond into teeth (this was the trickiest part).  Cut off the points of two butterscotch chips to make them flat.  Spoon chocolate frosting into a ziplock sandwich bag and snip off a tiny corner.  Use dots of the frosting to attach the ears, teeth, and cheeks to the cookie.  Pipe on frosting eyes and nose.  Slide the cookie into a chocolate pudding cup and sprinkle on crumbled oreo for dirt.

The kids each got to make their own with a little help from me.

We got to eat them for dessert after dinner and they were delicious!

A White Christmas

I figured that once I became a parent I would be woken up at the crack of dawn every Christmas morning to kids jumping up and down on our bed.  I somehow escaped the torture of a 5am wake-up this year.  Our Christmas morning actually started quite late because Cody decided to sleep in.  I actually had to go and wake him up at 9:30am!  Lyla, on the other hand, woke up at about 6:30am but was being ever so patient while waiting for her little brother to wake up so we could head over to my parents' house to open presents and eat breakfast.  She never once complained or asked if we could wake him.  She just sat by the tree and looked at her presents with a huge grin on her face.  She mentioned over and over that "baby Jesus is her Lord and Savior". 

After a delicous brunch, we headed up to the mountains to see my in-laws' new house in Running Springs.  Even my parents and my sister came along for a quick trip.  We enjoyed a nice fire in their fireplace and then the sunset over the ocean from their deck.  It was COLD!

The next morning we woke up to SNOW!  We got about an inch of snow that actually stuck to the ground while we were there.  The kids were thrilled when they got to touch the snow...the cold doesn't seem to phase them like it does me.  We bundled up and headed into the Village of Lake Arrowhead to walk around and check out the little shops.  There's a cute little place called "The Tea Exchange" where we usually stop for hot chocolates.  I got a white peach tea latte that was delicious!

We took a quick stroll around the lake and stopped into a few shops.  It was a pretty lazy day...in a wonderful way.

I hope that you also had a Merry Christmas filled with love, laughter, and good food!

decking the halls

Call us old fashioned.  We go to a tree lot every year to pick out a fresh Christmas tree to adopt and take home.  It's our Christmas tradition.  One of the best smells in the world is the smell of a Christmas tree filling up the house during Christmas time.  Travis and I both grew up with this smell, and so will our kids.  This year we tried a new tree lot called "Papa Bob's".  The kids had so much fun running between all the trees and picking up pieces of tree branches off the ground.  They couldn't have cared less about which tree we chose!  But they did oblige to give the "thumbs up" on the one that Travis and I chose.  Our taste in the ideal tree is totally different, so it takes us a long time to decide.  Travis prefers the tall and skinny ones while I prefer the short and full ones.  We usually have to compromise on something in between.

And here's our tree all dressed up in Christmas glory.  I have been collecting Christmas ornaments nearly every year since we got married.  I usually go to Pier 1 for their after-Christmas sale and stock up on Christmas decor at 50% off.  Then I go home, pack them up, and forget about them.  It's always a surprise when I pull out the decorations the next year and see all the new goodies I forgot about!  My tree color scheme from the beginning has always been silver, gold, and green.  This year I added some white with the angel wings.  Lyla loves the angel wings and she placed most of them on the tree (the lower half anyways).  It was fun having the kids help to decorate the tree this year. 

I love how this garland dresses up our stairway.  I added some ribbon and felt mushrooms to it this year.

One stocking for each family member - that's five!  It's hard to believe we will have a six month old baby this time next year.  Baby will probably be crawling by then...heading for the shiny balls on the Christmas tree no doubt!

Afer decorating the whole house we paused to take a family photo in front of the tree.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas and we love it.

making a list. checking it twice.

A few people have asked me what the kids want for Christmas this year.  If you ask the kids, Cody will say one thing: DREAM LIGHT (which we are giving him for his birthday).  Lyla will talk about whatever hidesouly obnoxious toy she recently saw on a TV commercial.  So, in other words, don't ask them.  Ask me!  I came up with a list of things that the kids could use. 

I found these cute travel neck pillows by "Noodlehead" on amazon.  I particularly like the black bear for Cody and the horse for Lyla.  These will come in handy for those long day trips when the kids need to nap in the car.  I hate to see their little heads dropping forward every time we hit the brakes!

These rain boots by "Western Chief" are also from amazon and I thought the dinosaur ones would be cute for Cody and any of the simple polka-dotted ones would be adorable on Lyla.  The kids currently do not have any rainwear which makes things difficult on those few rainy days we get here in the Inland Empire.

These sweaters are from "Zara" and they are to die for!  How cute is this pearl collar cardigan for Lyla or this flush jumper for Cody???  For all apparel items, Lyla wears size 4T and Cody wears 2T.

Or how about this little lady faux-fur waistcoat or this little man synthetic leather jacket? 

Of course, kids can never have too many pairs of jammies or socks!  These two are from llbean.  I love the constellation boy jammies.

These llbean slippers are excellent.  They are fun for the kids and they will stay on because they have an ankle elastic.  Perfect.  I like the little yellow dogand the brown bear pairs.  Cody wears size 7 and Lyla wears size 8.

What else?  Well, kids can never have too many books.  Stuffed animals and toys?  Yes, you can have too many of those.  But I believe that family reading time is precious and cherished by every one of us.  There is nothing better than when Lyla or Cody brings a book over to me so they can plop down in my lap as I read them a story. 

I hope this list is helpful in some way even if you are buying for some other kiddos in your life.  Happy Christmas shopping!

1st annual harvest festival

Halloween was a blast this year.  The Calvary Chapel Conference Center hosted it's 1st annual Harvest Festival which was open to the public.  It was a really fun place for families to come on Halloween night.  There was delicious food, entertainment, and games...all for free!  Lyla's favorite part was the kid's magic show.

The kids enjoying some lollipops (cody calls them opti-pops) and dancing on a haybale.

This is what the place looked liked during set-up.  I got to see a lot of this because I work at the Conference Center.  This is our sports field...such a great place to host an event like this.

One of my favorite parts of the evening was the roasted corn on the cob.  They dipped them in melted butter and then had a couple different options for seasonings.  One was some kind of cayenne spice mixed with salt and the other option was a garlic salt.  My mouth is watering just thinking about how good it was!

Our picture from the photo booth.  Travis was a cowboy, Cody was a dinosaur, I was the Queen of Hearts, and Lyla was Alice in Wonderland.  The best part?  We didn't spend a dime on any of it!  Travis threw his costume together with items from the closet, Cody's costume was lent to us by another family, and mine and Lyla's costumes were from her birthday party.  Yay for a frugal and fun Halloween 2012!

labor day - the symbolic end of summer

I think we crammed in as much 'American pride' into our labor day as possible.  This is where we went and what we did: Walmart, McDonalds, Target, Starbucks, backyard bbq, and homemade cake.  Does it get any more American than that?

Did you know that in high society it used to be considered unfashionable to wear white after labor day?  I always heard this growing up and so I feel this odd necessity to wear white on labor day.  It's not like I won't wear white after labor day, but since it's the unofficial last day of Summer, I like to celebrate it in my own way by wearing white.  Does anyone else do the same?

I love when we have a slow-going morning where Travis can try something new with styling my hair.  I just told him that I wanted braids and to have fun with it.  Here's what he came up with.

First, we hit up Walmart and cruised around for a while.  I was disappointed that they didn't have most of the items on my shopping list!  The store was busy and everyone was cranky, so we went to McDonalds for lunch and ice cream. 

 Lyla got the cutest little box of french fries in her happy meal.  They were just her size.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for...

We all cheered up a bit after our McDonalds treats.  After the kids went down for naps at grandma and grandpas, Trav and I snuck away to finish up some more shopping at Target.  Target had everything I needed (and then some).  After we checked out we hit up Starbucks.  And, to my surprise, the Starbucks at Target was serving pumpkin spice lattes!  They weren't supposed to be available until the 4th!  If you know me at all, you know I love anything pumpkin.  I was very happy.

The rest of the day was spent hanging with some adorable family members, bbq-ing, and enjoying some chocolate cake made by great grandma helen.  Seriously, our kids are so blessed that they get to hang out with extended family like cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandparents all the time.

Lyla and sweet baby Charlotte:

chocolate cake!!!

That was our labor day.  We hope you all enjoyed your long weekends as well!

4th of july BBQ - murrieta hot springs

The Calvary Chapel Conference Center hosted its first ever 4th of July BBQ.  It was a day of hot dogs, cotton candy, bounce houses, water slides, dunk tanks, live music, and even a pie-eating contest!  It was open to the public and there were about 1,500 people on our gorgeous 47 acre property.  It was awesome to see all of our staff come together to host this event.  The mayor of Murrieta and the Chief of Police were there to give their testimonies and share the gospel.  How amazing is that?  They are both Christians and have a huge heart for the community.  It was such a blessing to hear them speak.

We got to the conference center after naptime and jumped right into the fun.  Of course, Travis volunteered to get in the dunk tank.

I had to dunk him.  I even got to cut to the front of the line for this.

We got festive with my hair.  This 'do is a 1940's style called "victory rolls".  It was a little tricky to get the big curls just right, but it's a good thing I have a hairstylist available to me 24/7. 

My sweet little man enjoying the festivities.

He is pointing at Lyla in the bounce house.  Cody wasn't able to take part in all the activities like his big sis, but next year will be a different story.

Lyla did not hesitate to get right into her swimsuit to ride the water slide.

Then there was a pie-eating contest.  Travis stepped right up to participate.

...and Lyla helped eat the apple pie right off his face.

He did pretty good!  He did not place, but almost finished his pie.  He had apple pie in his nose for the rest of the night.

Lyla thought it looked like so much fun that she decided to try it out too.

4th of July love.

God bless America!  We love our country and enjoy any chance to celebrate this great nation.  I love this quote from George Washington: "It is impossible to govern the nation without God and the bible".  Well said by our first president!  I hope you all had a fantastic 4th of July.