Keep Calm

Today was bulletin board day at church. I started on it yesterday but got called away to help a friend. I went to church last night during Awana to work on it but in the end transposed two of the words so my orange/yellow background and purple words came down and a purple background went up. I think God wanted purple. :)

Today I cut the letters out with my Cricut machine (the best birthday present ever) and put is all in place.

I've been seeing these "Keep Calm" statements on an Internet sight and when I saw this one....it screamed "bulletin board" to me. My friend Debbie and I made a trip to Hobby Lobby (an hour from home) and we were able to find the crown which sealed the fate of this board.

Ironically, or more like as God planned, our pastor is doing a 3 month sermon series "Anxious for Nothing"....so the verse off to the side is Phillipians 4:6,7.

I'm excited for the series and pleased that the bulletin board can bring attention to who we need to place our trust in.

Memories in a Box

Recently, I was introduced to a website called Pintrest. It is a site where you can view crafts & decorative ideas, along with fashion, food and so much more. You are able to create personal "boards" of the items you like on the site, this way you can easily refer to them at a later time to make them.

I found this craft idea on there. It is a box that contains an index card for each day of the year. Each day you take out that day's card and write down a memory....it could be as simple as "took a bike ride", a quote you heard or an endearing moment. Next year, when you go to write your memory on that day's card, you can read what happened the prior year.

I loved this so much I made one for myself. Mine is for memories and moments but you could also use it for prayers and praises. I think too as the kids get older it will be cool for them to be able to look back and see what my memories were.

Family Dinner

Since Dave has been home, we have taken advantage of him being available to have family dinners at home (saving the money from eating out is a plus too). It has made me pull out and dust off my recipes and cookbooks in order to have some variety for the family. Fortunately, the kids taste buds have developed so I am taking full advantage of that to be creative.

This being the case, I found I needed a place where I could list all the weekly meals I make (other than the board in the kitchen where I post the week's meals for the family) so I could know what I've made and not repeat the meals we like too often. So, Tuesday afternoon, I found myself creating my weekly menu page and decorating my "Menu Planner" binder. It looks great in the kitchen too!! This week I've made 3 new dishes and each one has been a hit!!! It feels great to cook again too! :)

Please Change my Room!!

Emily has definitely gotten my "need for change" gene. On Saturday and then again on Sunday, she asked if I would make a few changes to her room. Both days I was not feeling up to par, so Monday after Dave and I put the Christmas decorations away and while she was at school, we did a quick placement switch of her dresser and desk. When Emily and I were out shopping the day after Christmas, we purchased this Eiffel Tower decal. Emily is so in LOVE with Paris right now. I have no idea where it came from but this girl is obsessed.

When Emily came home from school, she was thrilled her room was changed and even happier that "Paris" was on her wall. Oh, by the way, Matt's response was "what about my room?" Guess what I did the next day......no switching necessary just a good clean up of his room and a reorganizing of his closet. Both kids are very happy!!!

Christmas Decorations Packed Away

The kids headed back to school on Monday so Dave and I took the opportunity, after doing grocery shopping, to put all the Christmas decorations away for another year. It actually didn't take that long to do considering we had decorations outside, the family tree & lights in the dining room, decorations in the living room and Christmas trees & lights in both Emily & Matt's rooms. Although it was nice to have "room" again in the house, I do miss the glow that the lights cast in the evening hours. They just made the home seem more warm and cozy. Well, now we are ready for the winter months. All I have to do is get creative and make some crafty decorations for this season of the year. :)