New Christmas gift

For Christmas this year, my parents and my sister gave me a gift card to a local craft store. Today they were having 50% off almost everything in the store, so we went shopping :)! I have been wanting to buy some things to jazz up my house. We bought this today to go above our buffet. The wall has been empty since we moved into the house, and it needed something. It holds 9 votive candles. Jeff put it up tonight, and I lit the candles. I love how it looks!

Long time no blog

I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas! I haven't had a whole lot of time to blog because of Christmas. We had a wonderful time with family. Jeff is off for 2 whole weeks, and I am loving having him home! The weather here is SO weird right now. The week of Christmas was bitterly cold. It was only 3 degrees on the Sunday before Christmas. Brrrr! Today it is rainy and 62 degrees! Evie went outside in flip flops to play. How crazy is that?? The snow we had is very quickly melting. We have enjoyed the snow. We have gone a few times over to Jeff's parents, and Jeff hooked a sled to the tractor to pull us around :). Evie loved it. She could do it for hours. Yesterday we went over to Jeff's parents (it was still cold yesterday!), and we took Sierra with us. Sierra ran after us on the sled the whole time, so she ran for 1 1/2 hours straight! She was so wiped out that she has been sleeping all day today. It sure was fun. Super bumpy, but fun!

I'm a copycat today in my blog. Several of my online long haired friends have posted this updo in their blogs. I wanted to try it and see how it looked. So sorry for being a copycat :). I braided a scarf into my braid, and was amazed at how heavy it was. I put it in a bun, and at first it was comfortable. I wore it to church last Sunday. When I got home from church, I had to take it down because it was giving me a big headache. I put it up later, and tried to reposition it, hoping it would be less heavy. It didn't help. It lasted a few hours, and then I had to take it down. My hair is past tailbone now, and is starting to tangle wildly. Part of me is really want to cut it to waist length, but I am holding off for now. Here is a picture of the bun...

Last night of horseback riding

Last night was Evie's last night of therapeutic horseback riding for the year. We had a really fun time watching her. She was sad to find out that they switch teachers each semester, so she won't have her favorite teacher Mr. Tim in her next semester. She will have a new teacher when the classes start up again in January. I'm sure the new teacher will be great, but we have really loved Mr. Tim. He has done such a great job with her. Evie adores horseback riding. Everyone there, including all the volunteers, are so great. At the end of the class, she gave Mr. Tim and the volunteers a plate of Christmas cookies and gave them all hugs. Here is a video of Evie trotting on her pony Spike. We had a better video, but for some reason Blogger wouldn't upload it. Oh well. The person running next to the horse is Mr. Rick. He has been Evie's volunteer this semester. The person giving commands is Mr. Tim.

More goodies and fun

We made Christmas cookies today, and decorated them with frosting and sprinkles. With the three of us, we got them done quickly. Then we packaged up the cookies, dipped pretzels, fudge and caramels and took packages to our neighbors. We used to do this when we lived in our previous neighborhood, and it is always fun!

Evie really wanted to eat all the cookies. I used the frosting with the beet juice coloring for her cookies. I am also going to buy some gluten free pretzels, and dip them so she and I can have them. I'm going to make some gluten free chex party mix too. We should have plenty of snacky junk foods to eat during Christmas :)!

Sierra was also getting ready for the Christmas season. Jeff was trying on her reindeer antlers to make sure they fit. She looks really excited doesn't she?

Making goodies

I haven't had a lot of time to blog lately. I have been trying to get lots of goodies made. Yesterday Evie and I made dipped pretzels. I should have taken a picture. Her hands were covered in confectionary coating, and she was loving it :). I made homemade caramels today, and fudge. My house smells really good. Tomorrow or Saturday I am hoping to make cut-out cookies with Evie. Maybe I'll try and get Jeff to help too :). I am trying to get everything done early enough so that I won't be rushing around at Christmas. I can't believe Christmas is only 2 more weeks away!!!!!

Happy Birthday Evie!

We just got done with the party about 45 minutes ago. It went well, but boy am I tired! We were quite busy the whole time, and it was a wild house with 8 girls :). The first thing we did when the girls all got here was do a craft. We made princess wands, and they loved it. They got to decorate them with glitter and shiny sequins.






Next, we went downstairs to play games. The first game was the princess and the pea, but most of the girls didn't know the story, so I read the book. I love this picture because they are all leaned it to listen.
Then we played the game. I hid a green "pea" (it was actually a golf ball painted green) under one of the girls pillows. Whoever had it under their pillow got a prize, and got a certificate with their name on it saying they were a real princess. We did the game until all the girls got prizes. They had a lot of fun.

We also played a game called Pass the Teapot, where we passed a teapot around until the music stopped, and whoever was holding the teapot won. They got to pick a treat out of the teapot. We did that until everyone got a treat. We also played a princess walk (sortof like musical chairs, but you walk), pin the tail on the donkey, and limbo. The girls won funny kazoo lips after the limbo game. Here is a pic of them with their "lips". After we had cake and ice cream, I put glitter on the girls faces and painted their nails.

Here is the cake I made. The girls gobbled it up, which I was amazed because many of the girls that came are very picky when it comes to food. I made both the cake and the frosting homemade because Evie is really sensitive to food coloring and preservatives. You wouldn't believe what I colored the frosting with...beet juice! I read about it online. You couldn't taste it at all, and it made it a really pretty pink! I think the party went well. Everyone seemed to have a good time. We were busy almost the entire time, which helped. It feels good to sit down though! My parents and in-laws are coming over in about an hour to give Evie her presents and have some cake and ice cream. We are giving Evie her gifts then too. I think Evie is having a great 7th birthday :). Happy Birthday Evie!

Getting ready for party

Tomorrow is Evie's birthday, and I am getting ready for her party today. She is having a princess themed party, and there will be 6 girls here (7 counting Evie). They are all coming dressed as princesses, so it should be so cute seeing all those "princesses" at our house. They are going to be here for almost 3 hours, and I am going to do lots and lots of games and a craft. I'm making the cake today, and frosting it tomorrow. I'm making a Barbie princess cake. I sure hope it turns out! Jeff's dad made a big dollhouse for Evie for her birthday, and I have to finish decorating it and filling it up before we give it to her tomorrow night. So much to do!!

Ponderings

I am a deep thinker. I always have been, and in some ways it is good. Other times it drives my husband crazy :). I come up with some wild ideas during my thinking times. Evie is turning 7 in another 3 days. I am in shock about that! SEVEN! Where did the time go? Whenever her birthday rolls around, I always think about that day, and the day we saw her for the first time. We didn't see her until she was 2 days old. Here we are at the hospital. Jeff and I were dazed and thrilled to be parents, all at the same time.














And here we are when we brought her home that same night. She was the most beautiful baby. She had hair that was unlike any color I had ever seen on a newborn.

Anyways, what does all that have to do with deep thinking? Well, I was thinking about the journey of adoption, and what a wonderful thing it is. I was thinking about how much I would love to do it again, but also thinking of the massive costs. When we adopted Evie, it was pricey, but doable. The costs have gone up dramatically since then. Why, I have no idea. So here I am, thinking of wild ways to make almost $20,000. When we started the adoption process 8 years ago, our church suggested we do a fundraiser. We did, and it actually helped us raise almost all the money. It is amazing how God provides! Now, we are in a new area and going to a new church, so that isn't really an option. So I'm just brainstorming. I'm thinking thoughts like: if I have just 20,000 friends who gave $1, I would have enough! Lol! Okay, that one is a little nuts. I know that if God wants us to take the adoption journey, He will provide. It just seems like a HUGE amount of money! So I'm off now to go do somemore deep thinking :).

Homemade Christmas ornaments

Evie helped me make homemade Christmas ornaments today. I have never made them before, but I thought they would be fun. Here were the ingredients...

4 oz. cinnamon
1 T. nutmeg
1 T. ground cloves
2 T. Elmers glue
3/4 c. applesauce

That is a crazy combination isn't it? Obviously they aren't edible, unless you are okay with your kids eating Elmers glue! They sure do smell good though. We mixed them up by hand, and then kneaded the mixture for about 4 minutes. Then we rolled them out, and cut them out with cookie cutters. We used a coffee stirrer to make a small hole for the ornament hanger. Evie loved getting her hands dirty. I think that was her favorite part of all! They are now in the oven at 200 degrees, and I will keep them in there for a few hours until they are dried.