2 Gifts - Under $10

Avrie had a birthday party to go to last weekend. It was a double birthday party at that...a brother and sister share the same birthday (1 year apart exactly!) so they both celebrated their birthday's with a Star Wars theme...they both are big fans. Avrie was obviously a guest of the young boy, but he wanted to give them both a gift since he's friends with both of them. He is such a sweet boy. Anyway, for the gifts, he decided he wanted me to make them each a shirt with their favorite Star Wars hero silhouette on them.

First, I had to buy the t-shirts...I went to Target and got them both, gender appropriate, white t-shirts for $4.00 each! Great price! Then, we had to find pictures of these heroes (Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi) online to trace a silhouette. Here are the ones he chose...this is after I copied and pasted them to Word and then made them the desired size, printed them, and cut them out. He also used these to decorate the cards he made for them.

Here is the boy's shirt with Anakin Skywalker...Avrie chose red fabric because it is his friends favorite color. For both shirts, I just traced the above figures onto the fabric, cut them out (again), and then stuck the fabric figures to pieces of steam-a-seam and cut them out one last time :o) Then it was easy cheesie from there. I placed them where I wanted them on the shirts and ironed...presto!...they are permanently adhered to the shirts.

Here is the girl's shirt with her favorite hero, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Her favorite color is sky blue so Avrie picked this fabric out for hers...if you look closely, you can see that the fabric is even girly...it has little flowers all over it.

There you have it....two gifts under $10.00! The only thing I had to spend money on was the t-shirts...totaling $8.00 for both and the rest of the supplies I had on hand (small piece of fabric and a sheet of steam-a-seam). I enjoyed making them and Avrie enjoyed giving them. It was sweet to see him be so aware of others and their interests, enough to make them a personalized gift. It was fun to help him make his ideas come to life.

Baby Ira's Update

I went and had my sonogram yesterday. Good report! He's great! He is currently 5 lbs. 15 oz. and in the 40 percentile overall. His little legs measure a little short...which means he'll probably take after me and be a little petite :o) He also has my nose. Oh and he has NO hair...which will be a first for our babies. I've wanted a little boy that resembles Elise and I...so maybe Ira will be the one?! The lady said I'm probably measuring small because number one, I usually do and the other reason is that his head is very low. So, overall, everything looks great...fluid around him looks good, his heart rate is great, and he is practicing breathing...all great signs of a healthy baby boy! Praise the Lord for His sweet gifts and answering prayers!

Here are the sonogram pictures... The first two are of his little face, then the next is one looking kind of up his nose :o), and the last one is his side profile....enjoy!

36 wks ~ Check Out That Belly & Those Toes

Here it is...my belly at 36 weeks and 1 day. Saw my midwife today and I am only measuring 32/33 weeks along, so I will be going to get a sonogram tomorrow morning. She doesn't think there is anything to worry about, but just wants to be on the safe. The baby's head is down, the fluid around the baby is good and his heart beat is fantastic...he's a very active little guy. As of today, I have gained a total of 15 pounds. I am experiencing some dizziness most likely due to allergies and an annoying burning back pain that I can't seem to get any relief from, but I just keep reminding myself that there will be an end to it and the best part is the prize of our little gift...Ira Sinclair :o) Oh and the midwife estimated as well as she can the weight of the baby today...5 - 5 1/2 pounds...let's see what the sonogram says tomorrow and how close she is. I will be sure to post the results tomorrow.

I had to include pictures of the pedicure I gave myself. I decided to get creative with my polish. Several months ago I picked up some nail polish from Dollar General that has really thin long brushes (white, glitter, and black), I guess to do this sort of thing and have found it to be quite fun to decorate my toes....although it is getting VERY difficult to reach them...so this might be the last pedicure till after Ira's arrival. The girls get a tickle out of me doing their toes...Emma likes it so much she scratches it off within a day of getting them done....I don't understand her sometimes :o) Well, I'm sure most people don't care to see my feet, but it was such a chore getting around my belly and to breathe at the same time that I found it worthy to record.

Transformed Thrift T-Shirts

I got the idea to do these while browsing the blogs I follow. The blog that inspired these is Max and Ellie. Here is their link: http://maxandellie.blogspot.com/ The girl's t-shirt design came from them and Avrie's t-shirt design was his own idea. I made templates of the designs with paper and then cut each separate section of the design out, next I cut each section out of the fabric, then I placed the fabric design on my steam-a-seam paper and cut around them....finally, I placed them on the t-shirt (they stick with the steam-a-seam) and once I had them where I wanted them, I ironed them to the shirts. I could have just left them that way, but I decided to stitch around them...using zig-zag on the cupcake (very difficult...need some more practice) and regular stitch on the other two designs.

There is one more thing I need to tell you. These were t-shirts purchased at a thrift store sidewalk sale for .25 cents each....now they are transformed. This would be a good idea to use to cover up stains too...the possibilities are endless.

Emma wanted a "pupcake"...

Here's a close up...

Elise chose the tree with a bird...

And here is Avrie's creation. He wanted snake eyes...so we searched the web and I traced one off my screen and this is what he wanted.

Another Look at the Kiddos

Here's Emma taking a break from reading to shoot her siblings and Daddy with a nerf dart...

She was waiting for them to come out of their rooms here...

One of the kid's and Daddy's favorite thing to do is turn on the music and dance. Here you can see Oliver having a good time dancing with Daddy. Oliver, like his siblings, love music and love to dance and love to sing :o)

Here's Oliver...one of our future theologians...he's finishing up reading God of Promise by Horton here in this picture :o)

Our poor Emma wasn't feeling well with a stomach virus and fell asleep on her floor trying to get the energy to get dressed...wasn't successful.

And our poor Oliver not feeling well with 2 ear infections, an upper respiratory infection and 4 teeth pushing up through his little gums. He just couldn't take it anymore.

The two sick kiddos reading.

He heard the camera and just had to turn around and cheese it looking more like a growl look...still cuter than ever :o)

Once again reading....this is before bedtime. I could hear them both reading out loud and it made me begin to wonder what they will become when they grow up...what will they remember from their childhood...what books will they recall that were their favorites and read to their children? will they always love to read?...I pray that the hunger for reading never leaves them.

Oliver is putting his cars down his shirt here....many of them...his Daddy taught him this, but this time he initiated it all on his own. It was quite cute to watch him.

He decided to try and walk around with them in there...

and then sit back down and try to fit more in...silly boy.

I finally became brave enough to cut Avrie's hair. I was much more successful than I thought I would be...but far from perfection that's for sure. Good enough for me and him though.

Emma girl washing the dishes...she wanted me to take a picture of her.

Having fun with the laundry baskets after having to fold laundry.

Mr. Big Stuff thinks he's cool. He likes to sit on the balcony. Here he took out his veggie chips and watched the kids play as he ate them.

You may also notice in these last two pictures that Oliver's toenails are painted...I know...but I used black (manly color)...he sat there so still and patient...so stinking cute.

Baby Shower Gift

These first two pictures have horrible lighting...so sorry for that. Anyway, my friend, Jessica and I went in together on a baby shower gift for a friend of ours that is having triplets! How exciting! We decided to fill a handmade bag with goodies...she purchased...I crafted and assembled. It was fun to share in the gift giving...two minds are much better than one. It's so cool how the Lord uses each of us in our gifts to love another. The first two pictures are the card I created using the same fabric I used on the rest of her gifts. It was quite fun to do this...I used the wonderful steam-a-seam sheets to adhere the fabric to the front of the card...adding stitching around for a little detail and then I just used a glue stick for the inside details. Now I have many ideas going through my head for fabric cards....

I made a "sword sheath" for her. We felt it would be a good tool to give a new mother to help keep the verses the Lord will use to keep her encouraged near to her throughout the day and suggested that it could be used to keep prayer cards in it too.

I love this fabric! Here is the nursing cover. She is planning to nurse her three little blessings. We think that's great.

Here is the travel diaper and wipes pouch. I decided to add a handle to it to make it easier to carry. And this time I used a magnetic snap for the closure.

Here's the bag itself. I lined it with plastic and made it nice and deep.

We filled the bag with the above items along with a bottle of water, hand sanitizer, lip balm, breath mints, travel tissues, Arm & Hammer diaper sacks with travel dispenser and the book Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian.

We decided to make the bag itself the gift bag and just fill it with tissue and attach the card to the strap using ribbon. We really liked how it turned out and prayed that it would be seen as provision from the Lord for her.

I shared this gift idea to give those reading this post another idea. Hope it inspires someone in their future gift giving and making. May the Lord alone be glorified for the gifts He gives through His people. He is the Provider of all.

Fruity Father Childhood Memories

I titled this post "Fruity Father Childhood Memories" because every time I see, smell, or taste grapefruit, I think of my father. I have very vivid memories of the many times my Daddy and I would eat grapefruit together. He would cut it perfectly down the middle, and if I wasn't eating my half right at that moment, he would turn it over in a bowl and put it in the refrigerator (like you see in the picture below). Then, I would sit and watch him prepare the grapefruit for eating by first cutting around the outside edge and on each side of each section, removing the seeds as he went. Finally, he would top it with sugar which creates a great balance of the sourness. After all that work, he would eat it and enjoy it...making sure to squeeze the juice out of it at the end and drink it down. Many times we'd enjoy them together, but if not, he'd leave the other half in the fridge for me. It's funny the memories that stick with us through the years. I enjoy remembering them.

This morning it was my turn to teach one of my children (Avrie) how to prepare the great grapefruit. He saw mine sitting next to me, ready to eat and asked if he could have the other half. So, he went to the fridge and retrieved the other half upside down in a bowl and brought it to me to learn the skill of preparing a grapefruit perfectly. As he watched with intensity, I got to tell him of my fruity memories with my Daddy. I think he enjoyed hearing them. Then he ate his perfectly prepared grapefruit and loved it...he was so into eating it that there was silence for almost five minutes. I hope he will have fruity good memories to be warmed by when he is older...and will enjoy sharing them with his children.

Strangers in the Store

    I was at Kroger today, and when I checked out, it was a peculiar event. I lined up for the self-serve kiosk when I noticed a Kroger employee cowering in the corner sniffling into a kerchief. Not sure why it caught my eye, or why it held my gaze but I was infatuated with the situation. Was she suffering from an allergy attack or having a breakdown in the middle of the store? I was further perplexed as she approached me asking, "Is that all you have?" referring to the two items in my hand. I replied, "yes" and she continued with, "I can take care of that for you." I was in the self-serve line, but she was scanning my items and taking my items on my self-serve scanner. That may be normal practice, but it was obvious that she was quite disoriented as she continued to sniffle, try to scan my items, take my money, all the while, clumsily stumbling over her own hands, nearly dropping everything she touched and trying to maintain her composure.

    She recognized how she must have appeared, because she apologized. She then went on to explain that she was having trouble with her "little boy" in school. She mumbled something about him trying to tell her last night, but she didn't believe him or listen to him. I have no idea what she was saying, but pain dominated her countenance. She hurt. She made me hurt. I was speechless. Something like, "I hope everything works out for you" fell out of my mouth and I numbly swam out of the store feeling just as confused and disoriented as she appeared.

    The questions immediately began to control my thinking. Should I have said something else? Should I have asked more questions? Should I have said, "I will pray for you"? Then it hit me. Why do I say that? I will pray for you. It's not that I don't pray for them. But why do I make the statement. It's for their encouragement, right? I have found no biblical references for the idea of proclaiming to someone that you will pray for them and then doing it at another time, away from them. In fact there are only two references in the NASB 95 for the phrase "I will pray". The first is Samuel telling Israel to gather and he would pray for them, and he does right then and there. The other reference is 1 Cor 14:15, which is Paul speaking of the Spiritual gifts. So my question then is this: Is our proclaiming to others our intent to pray for them an attempt to seek glory from them? Jesus splashes water in our faces, when in John He asks, "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?" So should we trust in our glory stealing words or trust in the "God who comforts the depressed"(2 Cor. 7:6) to care for those that are weak in spirit so that He might get the glory?

Oliver's First Haircut by Momma

Let's begin with a few "before" shots.

Now here are some shots taken by our photographer A. E. Latta during the haircutting process...a very intense process I might add. I must say though, Oliver did GREAT...sat still and mostly sucked on his thumb...which helped tremendously, but none of these pictures reflect the thumb sucking...he was self conscience of it for the pictures and stopped.

Now for the "after" shots. The little booger was giving me a hard time when I was trying to get shots of him after his shower. Couldn't get great ones, but at least you get the idea. Avrie said I did a good job...let's hope Daddy does!

Okay, so we forgot to clean out the ears after the shower...

Need we say more?