Twins' First Birthday!

We waited to have a party for the girls until my parents were in town, which was the end of March.  And now its the end of April...hmm, don't know where the time went.

 I had quite a bit of fun planning for the party, and I did more for this one party then I ever did for Christian's party, sorry buddy, maybe this year (and I think you're counting on it)!

I had been wanting to make these tissue-paper pompoms from Martha Stewart for quite a while, so this gave me the excuse.  I was making them a full 2 weeks before the party... Simon kept reminding me that I still had a while, to which I sweetly replied with a grin, "I know."

  

This next picture was taken the next morning... but wanted to show you the hanging pom-poms.  Confession: they are STILL hanging there now.  I took them down once, and it looked so bare.  I am now on the lookout for something I could hang in that corner permanently.  

Another project I had bookmarked was making fabric party hats from this post on Momtastic.  I'll be able to keep them for years (hopefully!).  And just the other day saw a different post of it here too!  In the middle of making them, however, I realized I had not actually bought party hats, but paper cones, as in, snow cones, except bigger and pretty, maybe for popcorn?  I know, you're wondering how I could confuse the two.  Just trust me, it was possible.  Besides, I got them on clearance for a buck.  And they are big enough for childrens heads, so it was perfect!

Getting the kids to keep them on was another thing entirely...

Cousins!...

Anyway, party time!  We had chili (an easy crowd pleaser), my Mother-in-Law made the cutie-pie cupcakes (spice cake!), and my mom brought the ice cream.  A true party.

And so we gave the girls their cupcakes with a candle in each, I was busy telling Simon to watch Jadah so that she would't touch the flame... and as I looked back down, Selah reached up and snuffed her candle out with her fingers.  Oh poor baby!  She started to scream, and it took a while before the icing calmed her sniffles.  I felt awful.  :(

Everyone is happy...

And then she starts to cry...

It all ended up okay.  Her fingers were a little red, but no permanent harm done. 

Friends and family are so generous.  I am always awed when people give gifts to our children, so kind to shower them with sweet things. 

 Part of the gifts included new carseats for Christian so that the girls could start using his current seats.  I'm so glad they are finally facing forward.

Thanks again everyone, and happy belated birthday to my baby girls!

Here's a "parting" shot for you...

Cherry Blossom Mobile

Martha is on my good side lately.  Martha Stewart that is.
I saw this cute bird mobile with cherry blossoms and immediately thought of my friend, who at that time was about to have a baby.  They decorated their nursery in cherry blossoms, even painting a tree in the corner, how lovely!  This was the perfect little gift for baby Jocelyn.
So I enlisted the help of several of my "crafting buddies" (I had opted to cut out all the shapes instead of buying Martha's flower and leaf craft punches, which also meant a more labor-intensive project).

I was SO glad we could make this together instead of on my own: it would've taken forever to cut all that out!
We had a fun time and loved the result.  Crafting with friends is fun.
You could also make this for a boy... with blue birds and branches with leaves only.  Aren't mobiles fun?  There are endless ideas, have you made a mobile you'd like to share?
Welcome baby Jocelyn Joy, hope you like your birdies!

Friday Prayers

It has been 8 days of praying for Christian.  Every morning I write all ten verses on note cards so that I can carry them with me throughout the day.  He sees me carrying them and is always asking if they are my verse prayers.  The first few days, he wanted to sleep with them for his nap after I had prayed one over him.  I was okay with this until I found a few of them balled up in the trash.

I've simply been choosing times throughout the day to say the verse aloud with him, and that is the sum of the prayer.  But I was challenged by my mom (who is also doing the 21 day prayer) to take special times to really pray for him (not that one verse prayers don't count, but to take full advantage of these 21 days, I could push more of myself and my time into it).
I'm curious about the act of praying in my knees rather than another position (like say, while I do dishes!).  I think I'm more of an "out in an big open field with my arms wide" kind of person.  But I don't get to go walking in fields alone very often.  Did people in the Bible pray on their knees?  I wonder where the knee-thing started.  Maybe I'll give it a try.
Even if you're not doing these "official" 21 days, I'd challenge you to take some special time to pray for your son, or daughter, today.  You can pray for things like a servant's heart, obedience, honor, humility, purity, and pride.  You can't pray too much for your children.
Blessings!

Project:Simplify Porch Cleanup

This week's hotspot was whatever you wanted to clean up.  I wasn't sure what I'd do, but as soon as I walked through my porch, the answer was obvious.  This is actually our back porch, but its the way everyone comes into our house, so it's the first thing everyone sees.  It's also become a storage room for those things we like to have nearby, but not in our living space (tools, bulk foods, shoes, winter gear, etc).
It took one morning of moving stuff out to the appropriate places and cleaning up.  Each "collage" below is before/after.   MUCH BETTER!

Now I just have to keep it this way.  Hmmmm.

Hair Ideas

If you're anything like me, you are always on the lookout for a new way to do your hair.  We get in ruts, right?  Last week I came across a few hairdo tutorials, and I tried 2 of them over the weekend, loved both!

The first is a messy side ponytail found here.  This was a nice look, and can be dressy or casual.  I've hardly ever teased my hair into a poof, so this was new for me.  I still have some work to do.  Picture from her tutorial:

Second is my new favorite....a messy bun, and it really works!  Not only does it work every time, but it stays in place so well--- even through sleeping, a workout, whatev.  (the trick is using bobby pins instead of hair bands).  I've done it up high on my head, or even combined the "poofy" look on top with a lower messy bun.  Classy.  See the pictures of the how-to here.  (this picture is from the tutorial...I'm still working on getting mine this "messy").

This last one I haven't actually tried yet, I just don't think I have the face or grace to pull it off.  But maybe you do, and more power to you.  Check out this braided bun here.

Let me know if you try these or even if you have your own ideas you do to your hair.  I'd love to try them out!

Project:Simplify Pantry and Fridge

Confession: I didn't do last week's hotspot!  It was children's rooms, clothes, and toys.  It simply wasn't an area that I felt was necessary at this time, also because it is an area that I am regularly clearing out and updating.
I almost skipped this week too, but my fridge was in need of a wipe-down.  After only living in a place for six months (yes, we've lived here six months now!), you don't accumulate too much excess in the pantry department.  So I declared to Simon that he was going to help me clean out the fridge, and he was like "okay."  What, that's all he says?!?  Why don't I do stuff like this more often?!  :)
The before and after pics are pretty much the same, but that's because you can't tell that the shelves and walls were thoroughly wiped clean.  I also don't have before pictures of the pantry stuff, but it looks pretty much the same.   I used water+baking soda+vinegar to wipe it all down.
Here's to a cleaner kitchen.
                                                               Before:                             After:

Pantry:

There ya go.

You should clean your refrigerator too. :)