I love a pretty cake. When I saw this my mouth dropped open so I had to share with you.
You can see more pictures on the hostess with the mostess blog here. I love this whole shower. All the pretty flowers and the sparkly clothes pins. Hmm…maybe I should have another baby so I can have this shower? 🙂
Filed under baby showers
One of these days, you’ll shout, “Why don’t you kids grow up and act your age!”
Or, “You guys get outside and find yourselves something to do … and don’t slam the door!”
Imagine. A lipstick with a point on it. No baby sitter for New Year’s Eve. Washing only once a week. Seeing a steak that isn’t ground. Having your teeth cleaned without a baby on your lap.
Filed under children
I have a war within. The battle is between my old self and the new self. The old self wants to hold onto things of this world. Things like comfort and worldly treasures. Things like dreams of a peaceful life where everything is perfect. I am perfect. I am always happy. I am a perfect mother with lots of energy and I take time to plan wonderful outings with my kids and we make crafts and laugh all the time. I never lose my temper but always sweetly correct them and help them to see the error of their ways to which they respond in sweet voices, “OK, Mommy. I understand.” Then they go on behaving perfectly. The old self holds onto the idea of a perfect home; always clean, sunny, organized, children’s artwork proudly framed, love notes left on the counter, healthy homemade treats waiting to be eaten, delicious smelling foods waiting to be eaten. And of course I have the perfect home in my dreams. I know exactly what the floor plan should be and there is perfect land that this sits on and the breeze always gently blows the curtains and the children always giggle as they run barefoot in the yard and the flower garden always is in bloom.  The old self holds onto the dream of being a perfectly attentive wife who always serves, listens to and encourages my husband. He loves me in the dream because well, I am perfect. To make it even sweeter I wrap it all up with a perfect bow. Because special details never escape the attention of the perfect woman.
The new self looks in the mirror and says that’s not real. That’s not how this life works. You are NOT perfect. You CAN’T be perfect. Only God is perfect. He makes you good. He fills you with love for your children and your husband. You must look to God for strength and wisdom. You must look to Him for meaning. When the reality of this sinks in I struggle. I don’t like to not be perfect. In fact I hate it and I fight it. I want to be perfect. I WANT to be perfect. I stomp my feet. I throw little tantrums in my head and sometimes out loud. I whine. I cry, but why not, Lord? Look at me. I am good. I do good things.
Reality always comes knocking when I think life is going well. Actually, life is usually going well. Reality comes knocking when I think I am doing just fine. I tell myself, I am good; I am keeping it all together. I planned meals for the next two weeks. I have the laundry all done and put away. I can do this. I even squeezed in a craft with the kids. Then extra things come up and the laundry gets neglected and I don’t have the energy to pick up the house and I have three lessons to prepare for teaching the little children at church so I don’t have time to do a fun craft with my own kids. I feel stressed by all that is my schedule and all that is my husband’s schedule. I don’t get a break because there are weekend classes for him and Army Reserve drilling and my plans have to be nixed. I am mad. Life isn’t fair. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be! I am not feeling happy, my house isn’t perfectly cleaned, I don’t have time to shop for ingredients for making healthy homemade treats. I don’t feel like dealing with child size drama because I have my own thankyouverymuch.
I am not perfect. My life is not perfect. This makes me mad. This makes me sad. This makes me want to crawl under the covers and pretend it isn’t so. Life isn’t fair I whine to myself. I don’t pray. I don’t get to go to Bible Study and connect with other women and hear encouraging Truth taught because I am in charge of caring for the precious little ones. So I whine about that. I might even throw a little temper tantrum in my mind and in God’s hearing about how that’s not fair either. What about me!? I want to be perfect and if I could just have this or go to this or have a life like so and so then I would be perfect! Don’t you see?!
God loves me. Even when I yell and whine and throw fits. He loves me. He calls me back to Him. He reminds me to pray. Sometimes my prayers are simply cries for help. Help me O God. I know I am wrong. Help me. Help my unbelief. Forgive my selfishness and self-reliance. Change me. I am astonished that He would love me. I see all the inner ugly I have. I don’t understand His ways or why He loves me, but I know it is true. I ask for help and He provides. I needed a reality check. He led me here to a place filled with stories of those who live in poverty. Who have been abused, abandoned, who have hopeless circumstances. I am rebuked. I am changed. I am thankful. God loves me.
Habakkuk 2: 4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.”
Filed under Heart
I love Valentine’s Day. Not the commercialized version where you must go out to dinner and buy red roses, and be forced to be romantic one day a year. I am a romantic and I think it’s fun to celebrate the ones you love in little ways. Nathan and I usually order take out and rent a movie. This is enough for me. A cozy dinner and snuggling up to watch a movie is perfect. This year I think I might make a special dinner for my family. After all I love all of them not just my hubby! I will have to look for fun ideas.
I did see these and am thinking about making them with my kids so they can give them to their friends and teachers.
check out the tutorial here
I may need to make a little something for my friends too. Maybe a flower pin? Any ideas of cute friends valentines?
I made Lydia a really cute flower hairbow Sunday night. I will have to show you soon. I made it using pinks and whites and cut a felt heart out for the middle. I love it and so does she. I used this tutorial.
On a different topic I made this for dinner last night and yum, yum, yum! So good.
go here for the recipe
I used the homemade Teriyaki sauce and made the Lime- Cilantro Rice with Pineapple for a side. It was not hard and super tasty. I also did feel pretty cool making my own teriyaki sauce (even if it was easy).
Filed under children, craft, recipes, Uncategorized
Today is a snow day so I am kind of tackling some organization projects and dreaming of warmer days. I thought I would share a few glimpses of prettiness around my home.
Welcome!
I love the way the afternoon sun makes my wall color look. I refer to this color as an “ish” since it is blueish, grayish, whitish depending on the time of day and the lighting. Makes me happy 🙂
My friend gave me this sign for Christmas. I really like it. I have been transitioning away from my flowery patterns and pictures to items with less color. I am wanting a more soothing feel to my home.
This is above our dining table.
Next are some glimpses of my bedroom.
This hangs on my headboard.
These balls have our last initial and the numbers of our anniversary.
Happy Tuesday!
This is by far my favorite party we’ve done. I don’t know if I can top it and I don’t know if I will ever have the energy to try. My sweet girl had a good time and that makes me so happy. When I asked her what her favorite part was she replied, “the cupcakes, gifts, scavenger hunt, and cupcakes.” So…next year maybe just a scavenger hunt and some cupcakes? 🙂
I just love this party table. Each place setting had a fairy, a fairy house, fairy dust bottle and a set of wings. The centerpiece I made using an old candelabra and tea cups and saucers. I can’t find the tutorial I used.
The boys got a guy fairy at their place.
Upon arrival each fairy found her own tutu hanging on the line. The tutu’s had a name tag with them. The boys found a peter pan hat with their name tags hanging on the line.
After finding their tutu and wings a visit to the Pixie Parlor was in order to get all fairy dusted up, pick out a flower headband, and a butterfly fairy wand.
Garland tutorial found here.
After visiting the Pixie Parlor our activities included filling a bottle with Fairy Dust, going on a scavenger hunt for things to decorate their Fairy House, and decorating the Fairy Houses.
Tea Party Menu:
Enchanted Tutti-Frutti Tea
Pink Princess Mini Cupcakes
Fruit and Muffins en Brochette
Bitsy Bacon and Cheese Rolls (not shown since they were served warm from the oven)
Fairy Princess Fruity Toast
all recipes came from this cookbook
Favors were the tutus, wings, headbands,fairy wand, fairies, fairy house and fairy dust. The boys took home peter pan hats, boy fairy pez dispenser, fairy house, fairy dust and in my nephews case his own set of “tooth fairy wings”.
Filed under birthday, children, fairy tea party, party, Uncategorized
Fairies the Birthday Girl and I made for her party using this tutorial. So much fun! Each little fairy took one home.
Filed under craft, fairy tea party, party
My daughter is turning 4 soon *sniff, sniff* and has requested a Fairy Tea Party. I have been planning and crafting for awhile now and am having tons of fun with this theme. I can’t wait to see it all come together. I am hoping our home will be transformed into a dreamy place where fairies frolic and giggle.
This is my favorite tea party. I love all the vintage touches and am hoping the tea party part of our party looks a little like this. I am planning on making my birthday girl her own tea cup cupcake stand. I am also loving all the tags labeling everything. I have already made some glittery versions for our little fairies. Check out all the great pictures and inspiration here.
Now for the Fairy part of the party I have found inspiration in these great party photos. I love these bottles waiting to be filled with magic fairy dust. I think I need to start hunting for vintage bottles. For more lovely party photos go here.
Here is another great fairy party with tons of inspiration and do-it-yourself ideas. We have already made some of the fairies to hang at our party and send home with the party guests and I think I will make the sparkly play dough for the favors.
Love this! Every little girl needs a place to transform into a fairy. I also like the flower headbands enough to maybe make them instead of ribbon and flower hair garlands. For more from this party check here. Notice all the indoor furniture brought outdoors. I love that! If only we lived somewhere warm year round…
I would really like to have these for the girls. Hopefully I will have time and patience to try them out.
Whew! I better go and get busy on these projects still needing to be finished.
I have been sick all week. I have also had to work a lot this week. I only work part time, but I have spent the majority of the past two days dragging my kids around all day missing nap time and feeling sick. By the time I clocked out today and merged onto the highway just to sit in bumper to bumper traffic I was in a terrible mood. This got me to thinking about why I was so angry? Traffic is no fun and working during nap time is certainly not fun either when it produces some cranky kids, but those aren’t reasons to be angry. I did some heart searching and realized how out of control I was feeling. I hate when my kids miss nap time. I felt the reason I had to work this afternoon was inappropriate. Add to that feeling sick and by the time I was in the car all I wanted was to get home as quickly as possible and put on my jammies. So sitting in traffic was just the icing on the cake of my not- in -control issue. This realization brought to mind the saying:
When Life Gives You Lemons Make Lemonade
I always thought this was a cute saying and I liked it. After the week I’ve had you could say I had a bunch of lemons to deal with. But, do I really believe in making lemonade with them? Or better yet, CAN I make lemonade? I don’t think so. I do believe that I serve a loving sovereign God who ordains whatsoever comes to pass, including long work days and traffic. And best of all I believe He is working all these lemons into lemonade FOR me. All I have to do is rest in Him. Trust in Him. Believe in Him. I don’t have to turn difficult circumstances into non-difficult circumstances. I can trust that God is working all things together for my good and for His glory. Romans 8:28 came to mind. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. So what is God’s purpose with these lemons or any lemons in life? I believe it is to reveal to me those heart issues I have. The need to be in control or comfortable. Loving those things more than I love Him. They are idols in my heart. By revealing these to me God is reminding me to rest in Him. To love Him most of all. I take such comfort in knowing that He loves me while I am yet a sinner. I also take comfort in knowing that He is using these lemons to accomplish molding me to be more like Jesus. Hallelujah what a Savior!
Here are some great prayer guides that I like to use. They are from John Piper’s blog.
For my children.
That Jesus will call them and no one will hinder them from coming.
Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away. (Matthew 19:13-15)
That they will respond in faith to Jesus’ faithful, persistent call.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)
That they will experience sanctification through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit and will increasingly desire to fulfill the greatest commandments.
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)
That they will not be unequally yoked in intimate relationships, especially marriage.
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)
That their thoughts will be pure.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8)
That their hearts will be stirred to give generously to the Lord’s work.
All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord. (Exodus 35:29)
That when the time is right, they will GO!
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
When I feel the need to refocus on the Lord I pray these.
1. For the desire of my heart to be toward God and his Word.
Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to gain. (Psalm 119:36)
2. For the eyes of my heart to be opened.
Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law. (Psalm 119:18)
3. For my heart to be enlightened with these “wonders.”
[I pray] that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. (Ephesians 1:18)
4. For my heart to be united, not divided, for God.
O Lord, I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name. (Psalm 86:11)
5. For my heart to be satisfied with God and not with the world.
O satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. (Psalm 90:14)
6. For strength in this joy, and endurance during the dark seasons.
[I pray that God] would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man. (Ephesians 3:16)
7. For visible good deeds and works of love to others.
[I pray that you] will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord…bearing fruit in every good work. (Colossians 1:10)
8. For God to be glorified.
Hallowed be thy name. (Matthew 6:9)
9. In Jesus’ name.
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? (Romans 8:32)
This greenhouse is just the place I would want to spend time in prayer. Just not sure if I would choose the couch or the chair…
All photos from Country Living.
The Delightful Housewife 
