Happy Easter

John 11:25-26

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

My Redeemer Lives!! Reflecting today on the Grace and Love of my Savior. So thankful that Christ died for my sin and rose again from the dead. 

Here's a few pictures of my silly children. We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Easter.

Ella, Hudson, and Penelope

Easter 2013

Sweet hugs!

How sweet is this picture of Penelope?

Me with Hudson and Penelope at Hudson's school Easter Egg Hunt. I had a cute bunny shirt for Hudson... he wasn't having it this year. He had to wear his flag shirt. 

 

Me and the kids after our church Easter Egg Hunt

Little House on the Prairie Party

She is just so pretty as a little prairie girl. 

This beautiful girl turned 7

 and requested a "Little House on the Prairie" Party. 

At first she was torn between My Little Pony and La La Loopsy, but finally settled on "Little House". We've been reading Laura Ingalls Wilder books for awhile now before bed at night. Ella has really gotten to love the stories.

I ordered some fabric from Hawthorne Threads and used some from my stash to make Ella's shirt and skirt, birthday banners, and bonnets for all the girls. 

The three new fabrics I got were: 

Cindy Walker Main in Cream, Kaufman Small Spots in Aqua, &  Michael Miller Tea Blooms in Pink

I found this sweet quote from Laura Ingalls Wilder that I used to make a little graphic in PicMonkey. 

I made a big sign with it on our mantle and then printed small ones out for the goody bags.

I used the Red Lantern that I bought for Hudson's Camping Party, some flowers, and candles I had on hand for a center piece on top of some old doilies and a vintage table cloth I picked up at a thrift store in college. And layered that all on top of a red checked vinyl table cloth that I got at Target years ago.

I found a great little coloring sheet for the girls to work on while waiting for guests to all arrive.

I bought some popcorn flavor shakers from the grocery store and just peeled off their labels and made my own pretty ones and just taped them on. The girls got scoops of popcorn in simple brown paper sacks and then got to shake in their favorite topping.

That empty spot to the right of the strawberries was filled with apples, but I took this pick awhile before the party and I didn't want them to get brown. 

The plate is from Hobby Lobby. I love it. Really wish they would have had more pieces to go with it.

Here's a shot of Ella's birthday outfit. I am in love with that big floral. So pretty. I will be hoarding the last bits of that fabric for something special. 

The punch was 4 cans of frozen Pink Lemonade, with four cans of water and 2 (2 liter) bottles of Sprite. I also, sliced on lemon and threw them in there. It was delicious. I couldn't stop drinking it. I got the cute straws from Dime Store Buddy on Etsy.

This was Ella's Candy Store. We probably could have had more candy to choose from, but it worked out just fine. We gave the girls printed circles that we called "pioneer coins" that they exchanged for candy. (I wanted to do pennies, but I forgot to run by the bank.) Then Ella just scooped candy into their paper sacks and I tied them with twine. These also served as their "goody bags", and they also got to take home their bonnets.

We played a clothespin game that I found on pinterest. We played it at a relay, and I think the girls enjoyed it. 

The cake was a just a simple cake from our neighborhood grocery store. I usually try to make the cakes myself, but just ran out of time. I did make a little fabric banner that I attached to some pretty striped straws and found a sparkly #7 for her blow out. :)

Ella enjoying some yummy punch!

Ella with some of her friends! One of the moms texted me later on and said her daughter wore her bonnet to the grocery store and to church the next day. That made me smile! Glad they liked them.

Another mom said that her daughter insisted they check out "Little House on the Prairie" from the Library. So I think overall it was a hit!

You should be able to click on the image below and then be able to print it. Let me know if you have any trouble with it. 

BRAND NEW!! First Birthday Cupcake TuTu Dress

 Just added this new little dress to the shop.

 I just love it. Wish I had more, but I only have two of these dresses. Isn't it just so adorable? I wish Penelope was going to be turning one instead of three this summer. :)

Not missing out because of Fear

I've been reading a book called, "Anything: The prayer that Unlocked my God and my Soul", by Jennie Allen. It's fabulous. It's heart breaking and challenging. It's stretching me. Anyway, I wanted to share something I read this week:

"I'm over my cute, comfortable, easy life. I don't want to make decisions based on my adequacy and capacity. I don't want to miss what God has for us because I am afraid."

That last sentence really grabbed me. I'm not a bold person. I am not a leap before I look sort of person. I am naturally very cautious. As a kid, I was terrified of going to new places or meeting new people. Some of that I've outgrown as I've had more experiences in life. But I see the same hesitancy in my oldest daughter. She is painfully shy and fearful to do things on her own. I am really trying to help her as best I can. As I read that quote in the book, I thought of something that happened earlier this last week.

Our family was hanging out in my husband's office before church on Wednesday night. Hudson's teacher walked by asked him to go ahead and walk to class with her, so off he went. Next, I handed Ella her offering for her to take to her class and realized I forgot to give Hudson his offering for class. So I asked Ella to take him his money. She looked at me with such terror on her face. She was so afraid. It's seriously just down the hallway. A hallway she's walked hundreds of times. I reminded her that she knew where his class was, it wasn't far. And I knew she was capable, she was prepared, she would be able to accomplish this task with ease, if she'd just get past her fear and do it.
She finally left the office to walk just 3-4 doors down to Hudson's class. She had tears in her eyes, but she did it. I peaked out the door to check on her... she did almost run into an elderly man, but other than that she was fine. 

It occurred to me that God must feel the way I did with Ella. I'm sure He is thinking, I've prepared you for this. Don't be afraid. You can do this. And on top of that God can be with us in a way that I can't be with Ella. 

I am choosing to do what God asks of me. I am determined to not miss out on living in His will because of fear. I may still feel afraid, I may still have a little knot in my stomach, but jumping into what God has for me, can only be Good. 
 "At some point you just jump, doubting, all the way down." (quote from Anything by Jennie Allen)

Our New Years Eve

 

Happy New Year to You!!! We celebrated pretty quietly at home with Root Beer Floats and watching "Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!" on Netflix.

 

And the big kids were in bed by 9:00pm and the littlest was in bed by 10pm. The rest of the night, Jason read and I played on Pinterest. It was pretty exciting. :)

Free New Year's Eve Printable

You should be able to click on the image and be directed to a site to download the image. It should print as  an 8 x 10. This is my first time to use drop box or offer a printable like this, so let me know if you have any trouble. 

Happy New Year!!!