DIY Heart Felt Wreath

I think pinterest is going to be the end of me...I only have like four Valentine's projects I want to do.

So here's my first one:)

I attempted to make this.

But actually couldn't find this heart shape wreath anywhere.

So here's my version.

First, I purchased 3/4 yd red felt at Joanne's and then found the styrofoam heart at Michael's.  I already had the pins and twine to hang it with.

I used a cup to trace circles onto the felt (doubled up) using a fabric marker, they were about 3 inches.

Then I cut them out.

I folded each circle into quarters and pinned them at the point onto the heart styrofoam.  I did the outside edges first and then worked my way in.

I cut some twine and tied a bow, then pinned it to the back.

Voila!

So it doesn't necessarily have the exact shape of a heart...but it's still red and pretty:)

The whole thing took less than an hour, my kind of project:)

Trust Him

I had a post started at the beginning of this week about how I wish I could sometimes have do-over days.  Days where I don’t react too quickly, have more patience and not get as frustrated with my kids and with Derek having to work so many hours.

Then God shows me His unconditional love, the unconditional love that I so wish I could possess every single second of my tiny life on this earth.

I had five friends offer to watch my babies for me just this week, so I could get some much needed rest and things done.  I was completely overwhelmed.  I’m not good at accepting help, little miss independent here…where does Hakan get it?  I’m also not good at asking for it, so when five people just offered, it brought me to tears.  God has placed us in a church surrounded by people who care about us, and we are so thankful.

It’s amazing what one measly little afternoon to yourself can do, I felt like a new person, and all I did was some sewing and organize the garage. 

Then another friend took them the next afternoon as well and another friend and I went out to eat (Café Latte, for people who know it) for lunch and dessert, so yummy!  Then we went to one of my favorite fabric stores in St. Paul, that I normally don’t have time for, yay for new fabric:)

Then another friend is coming over on Monday morning while I get groceries.

We are feeling beyond blessed during this crazy time.  I cannot even put into words how grateful we are.

Then God throws in something else to make us even more thankful, something that brought me to my knees and crying with thanksgiving...He likes to do that, remind us that He's in control and right there with you.

Derek called last night on his way home from work telling me he was in an accident, my heart stopped as I heard sirens in the background.  In a panic, I asked him if he was ok and if his two co-workers that were with him were ok.  He said everyone was fine, including the girl that ran into them.

Derek was driving on a four lane road, the girl was going pretty fast coming up to this road on a side street and sailed right through the stop sign, she said her brakes didn’t work.  He saw her only seconds before and tried to turn, but they hit each other and Derek’s car slid across three lanes of traffic to the other side of the street onto the side walk.  Both air bags deployed and the car is probably totaled…but my Derek is fine, and that’s all that matters.

I hung up the phone and just started crying and thanking God that nothing worse had happened, all the while thinking what if it had been a different phone call…what if...

I bundled the kids up and we went to pick them up.  Of course I start crying again when I saw him and just put my arms around him in death grip and never wanted to let go.

Thank God nothing worse happened.  He was protected and kept safe.

Every night before bed, we pray with Hakan and Adeline, “Please protect and keep daddy safe as he goes to and from work tomorrow.”  God answered our prayer.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

It makes the beginning of my week totally insignificant.

A new perspective.

I have my family with me, safe and sound, thanks to my 

Heavenly Father who watches over us.  I love them so much.

What else really matters?

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34

I have to say these verses out loud a lot...it's something have a hard time with.

I need to not worry and just live each day to its fullest, trusting my everything with God.

Dress Up

I've been going through old photos and getting very nostalgic (hard word to spell).  

My G'ma Jenny, who I've mentioned here, has always been a very fancy, classy lady.  Back in the 40's and on she was super fashionable, matching hat, shoes, outfit, gloves, bag, jewelry the whole shebang.  Lucky for me she kept pretty much all of her clothes over the years and let me use them for dress up, AMAZING!  Seriously, tubs and tubs of clothes and shoes!  It has to be every little (or big) girl's dream.

So in 7th grade, I invited a bunch of girls over for my birthday and we played dress up all night long.  We video taped "Sally" episodes and dressed as the Spice girls.  This started a yearly, or sometimes more, tradition of playing dress up, through high school, yes, I know, we were playing dress up in high school and I'm not ashamed!  They are some of the best memories ever!  Even though we can't find some of the tapes, the memories ares still there:)  Also a few pictures...

This is our very first night of dressing up as the Spice Girls and singing to "Wannabe."  SO PRICELESS!

I love this second picture, because my step dad, Roger was video taping and laughing hysterically when we were singing:)

I believe this was for a school project...I'm in the maroon wearing one of my fave G'ma Jenny outfits:)  Jenni, in the glasses, was Sally, she was perfect!

My G'ma Jenny loved that we used her clothes as much as we did.

I'm making my mom keep them for my kids as they grow...luckily we had a girl:)

White Scare!

Both my mom and grandma started getting white hair when they were 16/17 years old...you can understand then, why from 4th grade on I asked my hair stylist every single time I went in, if she found any white hair.

I know, stupid me being paranoid about something so trivial.

Well, we were in ND, on our way to a movie and I was putting my hair up in the car and noticed a single piece of hair, my heart stopped, I yanked it out, and asked Derek if it was white or blonde.  He didn't even look and said blonde...good man:)

I'm sitting there trying to compare it to my white coat, my navy sweater, straining to tell if it was white or blonde.  I stuck it in my pocket for later observation.  Der thought I was crazy...maybe.

We met my two sisters at the movie "We bought a Zoo," and I loved it!  Super cute movie and I totally want to buy a zoo.

Anyway, after the movie, I tell my sisters about it and ask them what they think.  I almost couldn't find the piece of hair, but finally did and the consensus was...blonde!  I love my sisters:)

I'm just going to stick with blonde...even if it wasn't.  It makes me feel better.

Now, I know I'm 27 years old and I've never had one before and it's really not a big deal, and if I end up getting my g'ma's beautiful white hair (not grey), I'd be super happy...but I just don't want it quite yet, just a few more years of my own color please!?

My G'ma Mae, best smile ever!

Can I blame it on having kids, ha!?

Sweet Sweet Water Bed

When I was in kindergarten, my mom bought me a whole matching furniture set that included a queen size water bed, I LOVED it!  So 1980's for sure.

I found a couple of ooooold pictures that happen to have my water bed in it from long ago:)

Ha, no idea what my little sister Sammy is doing, but she's adorable!

I always had 4+ girls sleeping on my bed for sleepovers...this may or may not have caused it to leak:)

So for the next 14 years, this was my furniture (minus a small stint where my mom and step dad stole my water bed because their king didn't fit in their room).  My water bed went from a completely, "get on it or move and you're surfing for the next 10 minutes" mattress, to a mattress with foam, squishy stuff and water that didn't slosh around and was absolutely AMAZING!  It was also heated of course.

I don't ever remember having a problem sleeping growing up.  I was always comfortable and the perfect temperature.  It was my perfect bed.

Sadly, after so many loyal and wonderful years, it started to leak and I was in college, so my mom threw it out:(  

Recently...or after having babies, I don't sleep well at all.  We need a new mattress (which I know doesn't solve the whole baby waking up at night issue, but for those short in between times).  So this has me thinking about my water bed.  I miss it.  Of course I would not buy a water bed, it has to be the most impractical bed ever...it weighs a bazillion pounds...I'm not even sure they make them anymore.  Nevermind, just googled it and they do, but they look a little more high tech.

Side note, my dad bought a house when I was younger that had a ginormous round water bed built into the floor of the master bedroom...where do you even buy sheets for something like that?!  He remodeled:) 

Any recommendations for a good bed?

Something you might not know...

Here are a few things you may or may not know about me:)

I worked at Kohl's for three years in college and was "promoted" to the beauty department when they started it.  They flew me from Fargo to Minneapolis to learn the trade, SO.AWESOME, it was fun!  Can't say I miss retail that much though.

I swam for eight years all through high school and a teeny tiny bit in college.  The 100 butterfly and 200 IM were my races and I had a love/hate relationship with both of them.

Bad picture, but me on the block at our state meet,10 years ago...oh to be in that shape again, sigh.

Der and I have been together for almost 11 years, married 6.

I'm pretty sure this is the first picture take of us 10 years ago, we weren't even dating yet:) I think he had a pen or sucker in his mouth...

My best friend, Jenni, actually had a crush on Der before me and made me take secret pictures of them "together" at this Christmas party, lol!

Jenni's in the orange and white shirt and Der's in the grey long sleeve:)

I've had three dads.  You can read here for a little more info.

Kind of related to the previous one, I have one full blood younger sister, one half younger sister, two half younger brothers, and a step brother...I have a lot of family, but only two cousins interestingly enough.

If I'm eating pizza, I HAVE to have a glass of milk, the colder the better.

I got to sit in a private Houston Rockets practice when I was younger, I just remember them being super duper tall.

This is right when my sister, Alyssa and I got off the plane to see my dad, they were practicing where my step mom coached volleyball.  Check out the scrunchie:)  Also, don't ask me who they were, no idea. 
*The top one is Kenny Smith and the one below is Robert Horry, thanks Kirk!

I spent a month in France when I was 16, I LOVED it and really want to go back... unchaperoned and soon.

I'm on the right, in front of the Arc De Triomphe in Paris.

I have a K-6/Social Studies middle school teaching license, but only used it for a year while substitute teaching...so hard to get a teaching job here right now.  My favorite sub job was at the French Immersion school, so much fun!

People spell my name wrong about 75% of the time, Lacy, not Lacey, which apparently is my dad's fault, according to my mom, for spelling it this way.  It will always boggle my mind that when people write on facebook or reply to an email and spell it wrong...really?! It's right there for you to see.  I know it happens to all of us.

I was a co-editor of our HS newspaper, The Blue Jay News, with one of my best friends, Kristy, we had some really good times:)

Just editing the paper after school with Kristy...love the computers:)

My middle name is Jean.

I absolutely loved my maiden name, it is the capitol of Alabama...go all the way back to 6th grade and dig up those capitols we had to memorize, ha!

I remember stupid small things and forget more important things that I should remember.

I could eat Mexican food everyday.

Der and Jesus saved my life.

Hope you learned something new:)

Christmas Cookies

I am a little behind on getting up my Christmas posts...it's been a little busy around here.  So be ready for a few in the next couple of days:) 

We made sugar cookies when we were back home in ND at my mother-in-law, Wendy's house.  We made this recipe I found on pinterest.  They are really good and soft!  I also think they are almost impossible to burn, they just don't, weird I know.

Hakan had a good time using the cookie cutters with grandma and I learned that my husband, whom I've known for 11 years, is very much a traditionalist when it comes to the colors on Christmas cookies.  He maybe used the blue sprinkles and frosting a couple times, but very few.  He's a green and red kind of guy...apparently, still learning new things about him:)

I think I'm more of a just sprinkles and not frosting kind of gal, a little too sweet for me.

We still have some in the freezer, yum!

Week 2 of Meal Planning

We're in the middle of week 2 and it's going so well, why did we not do this as much before?!

We've been using kitchenmonki.com and it's been really helpful.

It's taking a little extra time right now because you need to enter in all our recipes, but after most of the basic ones are in, it's just entering new ones every once in a while.

I LOVE creating the shopping list, you just click on what you need and it organizes it by grocery sections! You can even tell it which grocery store you are going to.  You can also add other things you need as well.

We haven't jumped on the bandwagon for smart phones...mainly because we can't afford them and the data plan, but Derek got a Kindle Fire from my mom for Christmas so we can use that for the shopping list.  It's so fun checking things off, I know, lame, but it's the little things right:)

It's been so nice not having to worry about what we're going to have everyday.  And Hakan loves to help in the kitchen, so we usually start when he wakes up from his nap and it's ready in time for Derek when he gets home.  I feel like such a productive wife and mama!

It's also saving us some money.  I'm not walking in the store buying random things I think we might need for a recipe.  I'm trying not to go to Target for groceries, it's just a budget death trap every time I go in there.

If anyone else is using kichenmonki, let me know, because we can share our yummy recipes, easy peasy!

Now we just need to keep at it, which shouldn't be too difficult because doing this honestly makes my life so much easier!

Baby Food

There are several reasons I make my own baby food.

First, it saves quite a bit of money, especially if you want to feed your baby organic.  Buying organic fruits and veggies is a lot cheaper then buying the organic jars.

Second, there are very few choices of fruits and veggies to feed your little one.  I want my babies to eat as much produce as possible.  Why don't they make broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower, beets, avocado, cherries, raspberries, spinach, sweet peppers, and asparagus to name a few.  Hakan is a great eater, and I like to think it's from eating so many different things early on.  He's two, so he still has his picky moments, but they're rare.  So if making your own food seems like too much, maybe just consider making the ones the big companies don't make to add variety.

Third, I just LOVE doing this for them.  

Also, I've read that when they can the food it loses some of it's nutrients and just look at the difference in color, it kind of speaks for itself.

Obviously it takes a little more time and effort than just opening a jar.  With Hakan, I was working three days a week and was able to make it just fine.  Now I'm only working a few hours a day.  I'm not sure how hard it would be if you're working full time, but it's something that could be done on the weekend.

I usually take one day a week and make a couple big batches of food.  Today I made broccoli and zucchini and total it took less than an 45 min, steaming time included.  You need to have some freezer room if you plan on making some bigger batches.

To make it even simpler, to steam your fruits and veggies, you can use the Ziplock steam bags.  I just use this little silicone steamer basket and pot.

We have a Ninja and Bullet blender to puree the food (see this post), then I put it in these little ice cube trays with lids, freeze them and pop them into a another bag (I double bag) labeled with what it is.  You can wash the ziplock bags and reuse them, so no waste:)

Another little trick is to buy frozen fruits and veggies, they work just as well and keep longer if you don't make them right away.

When I'm ready to use them, I take a couple cubes and microwave them in 10 sec increments.  

There are times when frozen cubes just can't be used, like when we're traveling, so we do use jars of food sometimes.

If you think this might be something that stresses you out, just try it and if it gets the better of you, don't do it, it's not worth being miserable over.  There's nothing wrong with buying your baby food:)  Just remember you don't have to buy anything fancy to try it.


I use this baby cookbook a lot and really like it (even started it on fire once...on accident).

And an awesome site is wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com.

She loves her peas and black beans!

Just thought I'd share my thoughts and process.  If there is anyone who's interested and has questions, I'd love to help:)

2011...2012

Our absolute most favorite thing in 2011...

Miss Adeline Grace

It's funny how the new year represents a new beginning with new goals and resolutions, when you could be doing this all year long...well I'm jumping on the band wagon this year, and to be somewhat held accountable here are a few of ours:

Planning and shopping for our meals a week in advance.

This is so easy, just takes a little effort and in the long run saves time, money and stress.

We are trying a new site called kitchenmonki.com to help with this.  

You type in all your recipes, create a shopping list and it organizes it in sections, then you take your smart phone or in our case kindle fire and check off the items as you shop, love it!  

After a couple days, it's working pretty well:)

Daily devotions and prayer.

This is a struggle for us, but no more excuses, it's the first thing we'll do when the kids go to bed...before Adeline wakes up.

We're using youversion.com with a daily reading plan.

Be more intentional with my kids.

I want to make sure I'm filling them up every single day and not putting other things before them.

They are changing and growing everyday and I don't want to miss or regret anything.

Keep the house clean and organized...or semi-clean:)

Such a small house gets messy and cluttered fast.

Eat less and not so many sweets.

Ugh, we love to bake and eat it, this is another tough one.

Moderation, moderation, moderation.

Stay on budget.

On a weekly basis we will sit down and discuss our weekly purchases and see where we're at.

Long term - pay off student loans.

Renew my teaching license.

I know I've only used it for a year technically and it was subbing, but since I paid a fortune for it, I would like to keep it current...just need to figure out what I need to do that as it expires this year.

Print pictures every month.

I don't want my kids to turn 18 and have billions of pictures just sitting on hard drive.

I'm not going to print many, but enough to make some albums.

I wish I had time to scrapbook like I used to, but I think at least getting some in albums is better than nothing.

Hakan's Resolution...

Be potty trained by 2013.

Secretly I'm hoping by the end of winter, but he has absolutely no interest what so ever.

Adeline's Resolution...

Sleep through the night.

The sooner the better.

At least more than a couple hours.

What's you're number one resolution?

Good luck and Happy New Year!