Rocks, Sand, & a Gator = Heaven!

Yesterday, my mom called to inform me that dad (aka Papa) had borrowed my uncle's truck, trailer, & gator to unload rocks and sand in case the boys might want to come out & see. Ummm, yes : vehicles + dirt, rocks, sand, etc. = pure bliss for my boys! I love unplanned fun and believe me, it was a day of fun for them.

Many rides in the gator with papa to get load after load of sand.Here's what they were working on. The sandbox that Papa has been promising to make. It is perfect and plenty big for lots of cars, trucks, monster trucks, shovels, buckets, etc. They worked hard (Okay, Caleb not so much) to finish. I'm sure we'll be spending lots of time here. Thanks Papa for making a sandbox!

Thank you LORD for delighting them with such a fun day! You are so good to us!

Tara

Crumbs

I am an avid scrapbooker. I'm very anal about capturing our family memories and recording them. So, I always have my camera with me (just ask my friends & family). A couple of reasons could be 1) my parents house burned to the ground in 2004 & all our family pictures are damaged 2) love the feeling of a completed page, layout, or book 3) it allows my creativity to flow. Anyway, for the last 3 years I have done a family album with monthly pages showing & telling what we did that month - love them! But this year, I decided to do something a little different - Project Life. The idea is that you take one picture a day for 365 days to capture your life, then slip them into a pre-designed album - add some journaling and "voila", you have preserved a slice of your family's history.

I have really enjoyed doing this so far in 2010. It has allowed me to capture things on camera that you normally wouldn't photograph, but are big pieces of your life. So, just a little background on Project Life - oh, go here to check it out. I'll share some of my POTD's (picture of the day) here every once in a while, like today!

How about you?

Tara

Moo and Blank

Meet "moo".

This is Caleb's "sleepy friend", "when I'm feeling grumpy friend", "feeling sick friend" and just an all around "nice to have around friend"! Isn't he cute - no seriously. How did his ears get that way you might wonder - by being chewed on and sucked on of course. Here is a side view.

His tail is half gone (I think chewed off). And he is practically flat (due to a hole that leaked quite a bit of stuffing before mommy fixed it). But boy does Caleb love him! Thankfully he has stopped chewing on the ears and tail and now just touches them. Isn't it funny the things that bring them comfort. Neither of my children took a paci but each of them had something they had to have. For Eli it was his "mi-mi"- a blanket that had 2 tags - one that he sucked on and one that he twirled. For Caleb it's "moo" and let's not forget his partner "blank" (creative names don't you think!). Blank was given to Caleb by his brother (really his Aunt) when he first arrived in hopes that it would become his very own "mi-mi". That it did, but with it's very own name. "Blank" goes everywhere "moo" goes - to bed, to school, to the couch, to the car, etc.

I love this picture of Caleb with his 2 best friends. I'm pretty sure "moo" is irreplaceable because Lance won him at a carnival in Alberquerque, NM while we were at a family reunion about 4 years ago. Believe me, no other cow will do, we've tried. So hang on "moo" until Caleb outgrows you and I can put you safely in a keepsake box! You've been a good friend.

Tara

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's 64th birthday. In honor of him, I wanted to share 10 things I love about him - in no particular order. So, here goes.

10 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MY DAD

1. 
   
   His servant heart - I've never seen anyone serve people the way that my dad does and never say a word about it. I've learned from watching his example.
2. 
   
   He's a great listener - he always does more listening than talking, which is why people enjoy being around him so much.
3. 
   
   His love for all things OSU - especially OSU football, basketball, wrestling, and baseball!
4. 
   
   His need to wash all dishes by hand - I don't know why he likes this so much, but he is definitely the man to have when cleaning up after holiday meals!
5. 
   
   He is friendly to everyone - he has a knack of making strangers feel at ease - such a great quality to possess.
6. 
   
   He loves reading "western" novels & watching the "western" channel - this makes for lots of good jokes. I never imagined those things would occupy his retirement days!
7. 
   
   His life lessons - one thing my dad taught me while playing high school sports was to never show emotion when you disagreed with a referee's call. This has stuck with me & to this day, I rarely criticize refs!
8. 
   
   His love for God - he has a passion for God and taught me as a child the importance of having a "quiet" time with God every morning as I watched him get up early, sit by his bed & read his bible every morning. I've been doing a bible study with him the past couple months & love have discussion with him about God's word!
9. 
   
   His loyalty - to his wife, family, job, church, sports teams, grandkids. Something else I've learned from watching his example
10. 
    
    His lame jokes - ha! He always has one - some good, most not so good!

Here is one of my favorite pictures of my dad, brother and I. We had just spent the day across the border in Juarez, Mexico on one of our family summer vacations! We look hilarious!

To celebrate, we are having a family dinner tonight, watching OSU basketball, and eating his favorite coconut cream pie! Then lunch @ Abuelo's tomorrow. Happy birthday Dad - I'm so thankful God chose you to be my dad. I love you very much.

Tara

12 Months of GIving: March

For this month's giving project, we decided to make the Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls recipe. Let me tell you, they were to die for!! The boys and I spent much of our TuesdayMeasuring, mixing, stirring, waiting, watching, rolling, spreading, and sprinkling!

The boys loved it and got extremely messy. In fact, it looked like a cinnamon storm had struck our kitchen! But it was worth it, because we ended up with these lovelies!

We added some hand written thank you notes (art by Eli)

Then delivered them to some people that make our lives easier

PJ our mail truck driver

Kyle, the garbage truck driver

Miss Cory, our local librarian and preschool storytime reader.

Others we do not have photos with: Harry, the recycling center operator - Leslie, my hair stylist - and Miss Amy, our children's ministry director at church. It was so much fun suprising everyone! After we finished Eli said, "Mom can we do that again? And next time make cookies!" That's what I'm talking about - a spirit of giving!

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Ephesians 2:10

Tara

We're Baking

We're baking these today. Hope they turn out yummy - we have some people to surprise with them! More on that tomorrow.

"Taste and see that the LORD is good;

blessed is the man who takes refuge in him."

Psalm 34:8

Tara

Mind your manners please

I have come to the realization (after many, many frustrating nights at the dinner table mind you) that you have to TEACH your children manners! Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to just catch on as they watch you model perfect manners at each mealtime! Ha! I knew we needed to do a little focusing on manners at our house, so we checked out a few books, posted our rules in the kitchen, and began practicing!Eli has done really well with them. Even though he can't read our poster, he knows all our rules and recognizes key words (like burping!). Caleb doesn't quite understand, but he has started asking to be excused when he is finished eating, because that is what Eli does! Another manner Eli and I are working on is greeting people and looking them in the eye when you talk - instead of hiding behind your mother's leg! We've done several "role plays" and he thinks that is fun. He is getting better at that too which just reminds me that practice makes perfect!

Here are a couple of books we read that were very helpful: Why Do You Always Have to Say Please? and Berestain Bears Forget Their Manners . Here's to more peaceful and enjoyable mealtimes!

Tara

Simple Things

Today, simple things brought lots of joy to the boys. I love moments like this. We went to a park by a lake in our area. We had packed a picnic lunch & created a nature scavenger hunt which they were very excited about. First, they found all 10 items on their scavenger hunt, then it was on to the big hit of the day!Throwing rocks into the lake! This took up a majority of our time. Who knew this would earn me the title of "best mom in the world" according to Eli! "Did you see that big splash mommy?" - over and over again. Isn't it so true that the best things in life can't be bought at a store or watched on tv - but must be experienced! I love getting to experience these things all over again with the boys.

Tara

12 Months of Giving

Last December, we collected some new & gently used stuffed animals to donate to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. I got to thinking that I wished we did things like this all year round instead of around the holidays only. So, an idea was born - 12 months of giving in 2010. We wanted to instill in our boys the habit of doing for others - I was raised this way & definitely want to pass that down. Each month we focus on a "giving project". The challenging part is to find something "hands on" for a 2 & 5 year old to participate in because it doesn't really mean a lot to them if mommy or daddy buy a toy, donate some money, bake some cookies - you get the idea.

January we collected warm winter clothes from our neighbors & delivered them to the community resource center - the boys helped go door to door & ask for donations which was great. February we helped pack sacks of healthy snacks that are placed in kid's backpacks throughout the different elementary schools in our town. These children may not have the financial means for adequate food over the weekend. It's a great program that reaches 105 kids at this time. Here is Eli working hard to fill the sacks. He loved doing this!I am really looking forward to doing these projects with the boys. If you have any suggestions or ideas, feel free to comment. Here are some of the other ideas we have for future months: picking up trash, cookies to neighbors, making a meal for a family, Operation Christmas Child, letters & care packages to soldiers.

"Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds,

and to be generous and willing to share."

1 Timothy 6:18

Tara