Krayon Keeper- Great Gift Idea!

A few years ago I found this website http://www.girlythingsbows.com/
while researching how to make bows. They have lots of super cute "free" tutorials on making bows, hair accessories, bow holders, clips, and of course, Krayon Keepers.

These can also be called crayon rolls. They roll up and you just use a button and ribbon for the closure or you can use two ribbons and tie it together.

When I give this as a gift I like to put new crayons in it. I guess you wouldn't have to even put any in it, but new crayons are so much fun.


And now is a great time to stock up on crayons. They usually run them very cheap in the "Back to School" sales. I usually stock up and buy enough to last me until next year's sales.

These are such cute little gifts paired with a coloring book. My children love to give them to friends on their birthdays. I have made some for boys, too. I just forgot to take a picture :(

Also, if you have an older child that you think wouldn't want one there are ideas around the internet to make art rolls- changing the size to accommodate colored pencils. I've been wanting to try it, but haven't taken the time. Maybe that will be my next project.

Shield Birthday Cake for Knight Party

I'm linking up with Jessica over at http://lifeasmom.com/
to post about cakes to make for birthday parties.

I enjoy making my children's birthday cakes. It's also frugal and is very exciting for them.

I made this birthday cake for my son a few years ago for his knight themed birthday party. It was pretty easy to make and he thought it was great!

I always use a cake mix, but I usually make my own buttercreme icing. Go check out all the cakes http://lifeasmom.com/

Beach Bash Birthday

A few weeks ago my 2nd born daughter turned 5. It always seems that 5 is a significant age. I guess it's because 5 is the age where most children leave home to embark on the journey of "school". Since we homeschool this is not the case for us, but I still find that turning 5 makes a big difference in a child or at least to mom :).

Birthday Meal

As I mentioned in my last post, we have several birthdays in our family this month. My little boy has been asking for red beans and rice with sausage. Since his birthday was coming up I decided to make it for a special birthday lunch. He was so excited and gave me a special hug. Those are hard to come by since he has started saying he doesn't like hugs and kisses. It was a special moment for me. There are many things we Moms can do to make birthdays or other days special for our children without costing extra money. We all enjoyed our lunch, but my 6 year old probably enjoyed it the most because it was his special birthday lunch.

Busy, busy times

Where has the time gone? We moved 4 months ago and it seems like I'll never get caught up. Life is busy these days. December is a busy time for everyone, but ours is even busier when you put several birthdays in the mix. Since we've moved I've tried to change a few habits for the better. I think they say it takes 3 weeks to form a new habit. My first habit I'm trying to accomplish is getting up before my children wake me up. This is a hard one for me, mainly because I usually stay up too late. So I'm doing better and enjoying the extra time with the Lord and the quiet of our home. Another habit I'm working on is time management. We don't have internet yet so this helps a lot. I find that surfing the 'net eats up so much time. Therefore, I'm getting a lot more done since I have to go over to my parents' house to use it. Those are a few things I'm working on right now. We're still trying to settle in. We have so much to be thankful for. What a blessing to be a child of the King!

Kayla's 7th Birthday

I'm late posting this due to the flu. Kayla turned 7 two weeks ago. She is such a delight to be around. I used to call her my little sunshine because every day she woke up smiling and happy. I am not a morning person so for me that is usually hard to do although I'm trying to change that. Going to bed earlier usually makes it better, but I just can't seem to get in that habit. Seven years ago in North Africa I gave birth to a beautiful blue eyed, brown haired little baby. A little while after she was born my husband came and told me that she had apparently gotten the Strep. B virus from me through birth. That moment was probably the worst moment of my life. To give life and then almost immediately have it taken away is heartbreaking. I (we) did the only thing we could do- we fell on our knees to God and cried out to Him. The doctors said the next 3 days were critical. They immediately began 3 doses of antibiotics and the most important thing was that people all around the world (literally) began praying for Kayla. As a new mom all I wanted to do was hold her. I was not allowed to hold her due to the incubator and all the wires. I wonder if I'd been somewhere else if it would have been different, but that's not something that I even question because that is where we were. The longing of a mother to hold her child is something that you can't imagine if you've never been denied it. It wasn't until she was 12 days old that I was able to hold her. What a wonderful moment that I will never forget. It was sometime in the second day that we prayed and gave her to the Lord. We asked God to heal her, but knew that healing might not be the way we wanted or desired. Our will became His. Peace came over us as could not be explained. Yes, we were still hoping for physical healing, but God continued to work in her and us. We saw small improvements, but she was still not eating. Fluid continued to show up on her lungs. After two weeks there, the doctors recommended that we air-evac her to Paris where they could put a scope down her to find out what this fluid was. This was a frightening time for me. I felt peace, but there were other fears now that we were going to a place I'd only visited and never lived. But hopefully, we'd find more doctors that could speak to us in English. (That is a testimony of faith because when you can't understand very much of what's going on your faith grows that the Lord will take care of you.) When we finally arrived after a long and eventful flight we were met at the hospital by some of our dear friends who we had been through training with and spoke fluent French. What a relief and blessing from God to see them! Immediately after we arrived she was placed in an open bed where we could touch her as much as we wanted. What a blessing! I was already seeing that this was what she needed. The first thing they wanted was to see her gain weight. She had almost lost 2 pounds since birth! It seemed like things got better and better. There were so many good days! They had to put her to sleep for the scope, but it was for her good so we were okay with it. They didn't find any fluid on her lungs. What a blessing! All she had to do now was gain weight and breathe better without the oxygen. After almost 3 weeks we were released and okayed to fly back to the states. I know the story was long, but for me it is such a joy to see how God healed my sweet baby girl. I know He did! I will never deny His healing on her life. As often as I can I tell her this story of my miracle baby. That was actually a short version of the story, but just wanted to tell her story of healing. By the way, as you can tell in the picture she was completely healed. She's not had any problems since.

Making your own pinata

Crystal over at Biblical Womanhood hosts Frugal Fridays and I always enjoy reading them, but this is my first time to post one.

I'd always wanted to try making our own pinatas. I figured that it can't be that hard. I remember making them in Spanish class in high school and having so much fun. I thought it'd be fun for the kids to help with and we'd save a bunch (about $15) rather than buying a store bought one. I found this site and we got busy.

http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/birthday/pinatas.htm

It was fun, but a little messy. Hey, we even did ours inside. I just laid newspaper all over the table and hung up the pinata on the ceiling fan. It did spin around some, so I'm sure there's a better way. :) Maybe next time we'll try it outside.

We used crepe paper and fringed the ends about halfway and then glued it around, alternating colors. It might not win any contests for pretties pinata, but it works and the kids love it!