A fun package in the mail....


My wonderful friend Kristie sent a great gift package in the mail yesterday. It had an awesome linen oven mitt, some fun earrings, a bag full of these super cool sugar packs (Mike is REALLY excited about those!), and fun pictures of the family. THANKS KRISTIE!!!!

My Stitching Project



I month or so ago I bought myself a Stitching starter kit on Amazon. It was this cute little box with a needle, a how to book, string, iron on patterns, and the stretcher circle things. I first took one of Canaan's drawings of an octopus and am in the process of making a pillow with it (pictures to come when that project is done), but in the meantime, I sat down to watch 24 the other night with Mike and grabbed this plain green shirt of Canaan's I had bought at Old Navy. Canaan LOVES his guitar so I drew a picture of the outline of the guitar on his shirt with a pencil (lightly), read in my book about the different stitches, and started in on this shirt. I have never been one for practicing beforehand and I didn't this time. Thankfully it all came out just fine! I was so proud of my first project! And Canaan love it! I am sure this will be a new addiciton of mine!

Ezra's Playhouse



After the Christmas tree came down, Canaan's IKEA tent went up in its place. At first I anticipated it would only be a short stint since I have a white antique table to go back in its place, but we have found this to be the perfect little playarea for the newly "crawling" Ezra. He loves it in there. We' ve padded it with blankets and put some toys in there. It is great too b/c Canaan can come in and play with him as he pleases. So I guess the tent is staying for a while. :)

Organizing the Spices



The disarray of the spice cabinet has always been a sore spot with me. There are spice racks but that always took too much space. A couple of years ago I finally resolved my spice issue. I bought a semi shallow tupperware box thingy and started putting my spices in it. Then recently I went as far as to label the tops of the lids so I could just look and grab. This has worked WONDERS for me!! I love it. I just pull out the box and put it back. So nice and easy. And easy to clean too if I spill any vanilla or garlic or what not.

Canaans Crafting




Today we crafted. It started with a painting. Then we finally started conquering the paper mache ornaments we started at Christmas. Canaan and I blew up balloons and paper mache'd them. Now we've painted them. Next we'll find some great ribbon to decorate them and some ric rac to use to hang them on the tree next year. I'll try to remember to post pics of the final product (hopefully soon!)

Taking a break....








Sometimes I just need a break. A break from washing dishes, cooking dinner, making beds, folding clothes, grocery lists, and sweeping floors.
I just love my time with my boys. Whether reading Canaan a bible story or snuggling on the bed with Ezra--it is just the best....and my "household duties" can remain on the backburner.
We did have a dinner party Friday night. I made a vegetarian Greek feast. The only hitch was that on Thurs. night when I wanted to get a jump start on the meal, I started the oven and it kicked the bucket. No oven and 8 people coming over for dinner the next night!!!! I ran up to Walmart and bought one of those countertop electric stove things. Worked great!
We feasted on hummus with chips and veggies, a tabouleh salad that our friend Sarah brought, orzo pasta with spinach, roasted red peppers and vinaigrette, eggplant gyros, and a greek potato salad with kalamata olives, oregano, yogurt, and cucumbers. To top it off, our friend Annie and her husband Aaron brought 2 yummy pies from a local pie bakery, Missy's Pies. YUMMMMMM!!!

Happy New Years!

Ok, the New Year is here!!! The holidays are over and now I can get back to "normal". That includes blogging....so more to come!