whipping out a boy's kind of craft: S.L.I.M.E

Generally my idea about arts & crafts is this:

coloring counts, right?

and they do these in school, I hope.

However, next week we are holding our first Arts + Crafts Day for the Momtourage.

15 kids doing all sorts of various projects.....

brilliant or what was I thinking?

we.shall.see. =)

Enter........Pinterest, of course!

Awhile back I had pinned this concoction for making slime and figured it was

The One for my craft station. Seemed simple enough, but I also figured I better try it with Graham and make sure it worked.

(it did. and super easy. who discovers these things?!)

Here's all you need:

• 1 Part Elmers Clear School Glue (I used 1/3 c.)
• 1 Part Liquid Starch (used a little less than 1/3. c.)
• food color (2 drops worked for us)

Put the glue in a bowl, then add the starch & coloring.....and that's it! (add a little more glue if it's not getting gooey) Mix together, we used a spoon first until it got more gooey and then hands are good.

Contrary to what you might think, it actually wasn't messy at all!

The orginal post is here.

Of course Mister I-Don't-Like-To-Get-Messy took a few minutes of convincing to actually play with the stuff! 

 And then it was fun!

The more you play with it, the better the consistency. And by the way, the big bottle of liquid starch was at Walmart in the laundry aisle, for about 3 bucks.

So there's my craft experiment for the year. And I'd say it was pretty painless.

Maybe I might even go a little crazy and make some of this

Liquid Sidewalk Chalk next!

ROOTS.

7 years. 3 States. (MN,VA,PA). 4 houses.

That's been our story since we got engaged.

After we got married, we moved to Va Beach where we spent a lovely 4 years. Made many great friends there, but we always knew that God had something else for us in the future. 

Following Andrew's graduation, we moved to Pittsburgh to help with a church plant. Thus began our transplantation to Pennsylvania. We really loved living in Pittsburgh. We met a lot of great people, found so many fun things to do, established the Pgh Momtourage and loved that it was not only a very affordable city, but a great place to raise a family. This past summer, after moving across town for Andrew's job, Andrew began looking to pursue a place of vocational ministry.  As we sought God's leading for our lives, He led us to a church that was only about 2 miles from our house, Three Rivers Grace Church. In a very short time we felt our hearts very knit to so many amazing people and found great encouragement & refreshment as we began to form friendships. Unbeknownst to us, this church has actually been looking to fill an assistent pastor for over a year. They had several possibilities, none of whom ended up working out. {hmm, a little Providence?} But as Andrew & the pastor got to know each other and he began to learn the direction we were heading - ah-ha! Talks, interviews, conversations began happening........and this past Sunday the church officially voted to approve Andrew as a part-time Associate Minister! We could not be more thrilled & excited at how God so clearly was directing, long before we could have even guessed what He had in store.

I recently saw this quote...............

The providence of God is like Hebrew words--it can be read only backwards.

~John Flavel

So we are excited about this new path. There is one challenge: The church only can afford to pay someone part--time, so for now Andrew will continue to work full-time at his current job and just work a few hours each week for the church. His first immediate task will be to oversee the worship services (the job description they sent could easily fill a full-time job!). As time progresses, he may look to find another job which would allow him to give more hours to the church. And of course the hope of us and the church is, that the church would continue to grow and thus allow him to come on full-time.

So I think that's as concise as I can be.....so much more that could be shared.
We are so thankful for this church family, how kind and welcoming they have been!

We praise God for His kind providence in our lives and I am now officially planting my first garden. How's that for roots? :)

St. Patty's Day fun

You would think we would have more 'kelly green' in this house.....but this was the best we found!

I do believe we were the least green-dressed people at the parade, but E for effort. :)

Downtown for the St. Patty's parade 

In the parking ramp, our reflection across the road 

patiently waiting.............. 

Andrew split to head to see some NCAA games, so I couldn't have done it without Kristin! 

snack time

there were a lot of bagpipes. a lot. 

a 20 minute break in the parade...kids getting restless.....

Finally, Mr. Joe Biden literally comes running down the road among about 50 Secret Service.  

LOTS of interesting characters out. :) 

We left watching the parade after about an hour & a half. We hung out downtown, got some lunch and the kids ran in the park. The weather was so perfect!

When we left downtown after about 3.5 hours, the parade was still going on!

Apparently people really are into their St. Patty's Day.

 Let's take a nice sibling picture.

Or not. :)
(we'll take the above sweet hand-holding shot!)

tidbits

time to blog? not so much.

what to write? so much happening, but yet the days sometimes blend together as well.

what would you like to hear about?

that we're heading towards 60 degrees this week and that makes me so.very.happy.

that I finally got my act together and paid my simple $5 to get more picture storage again. So now here we are staring at you when you stop by + it was time for an update. =)

that Graham just stopped in the middle of drawing to tell me, I love drawing with chalk. It makes me so happy.

that I love making my children happy.

that Eden seems to be into everything (!!) these days including the trash, up the stairs, standing on tables, into the cupboards, putting ladybugs in her mouth....she's a full time job on her own. :)

that we have one more show this week ~ Disney on Ice ~ and then my rep tells me that show season has ended. We have sure been blessed by being able to go to so many fun events this winter.

that Eden's new favorite thing is to find a book and then scoot backwards into my lap. At which point Graham HAS to join the fun. we've been doing a lot of bookreading all together. it's the best.

that we have too many trips planned for this summer and not enough vacation days for Andrew. problem.

that I have greatly enjoyed gathering with a few very good friends every other Monday and going through various books. It's been a time of great encouragement & accountability. We're currently doing One Thousand Gifts.

that everyone told me boys will not stop wetting until they turn 3 and it was literally like magic.

that we are so thankful to have consistent date nights between swaps with 2 friends and our favorite gal, Kristin.

that we now live by an Arby's and beef n' cheddars make me more happy than they should. :) serious guilty pleasure.

that our favorite snack around here is Trader Joe's tomato-basil hummus and honey-wheat pretzel sticks. I don't like sharing with a certain 3 yr. old who gobbles both up too soon. :)

that Eden throwing her sippy cup off her tray constantly is driving me crazy.

that her giggles are the best and that she loves to be tickled.

that Graham is in a current 'i hate dinner' phase and his reaction every night to supper is "ewwww, I don't like that". So uplifting after slaving in the kitchen. :) He would exist solely on fruits & veggies if I let him. There are worse things.

that Andrew & I are currently reading Real Marriage by the Driscolls and it's excellent.

that we're watching Blue Bloods, The Firm and Harry's Law.

that if you're having guests stop by, serve these glazed cinnamon scones warm and I promise they'll rave. And you & your spouse may eat whatever's left over when they leave. I mean, not that we did, but you might. *wink, wink.

that Graham spends endless time at the kitchen table playing with these 20 little plastic dinosaurs. I love hearing his elaborate storylines, including them saying I love you and him telling them to be patient. :)

that the music you'll hear through our speakers right now is The Gathering and Seeds of Character.

that last week, Graham gave me a hug and an I love you and said I'll pray for you to feel better. Dear God, please help mommy feel better, amen.

that those moments are what make you full to overflowing.

Birthday Fun

Double birthday bash - ice cream style

To make the Ice Cream Cones - Cake style:

cake balls: 1. Bake a 9X13 cake of your choice (either from a box or from scratch - any flavor will work). 2. After allowing the cake to cool completely tear up the cake and put it in a LARGE bowl. 3. Add a tub of icing (you can use icing from scratch as well but the tub icing tends to hold things toge...ther better - any flavor icing will work). 4. Squish the frosting into the torn up cake until it is fully incorporated (it will be play-doh consistency). 5. Make balls by hand or by using a small ice cream scooper. 6. Allow cake balls to dry overnight or for several hours.

I put the cake balls in the fridge overnight in a 9x13 pan and then assembled the cones the next day.
Waffle cones from walmart. I used the spray can frosting for the topping & topped with a cherry. I let them sit in the fridge until it was party time to make sure they were good and set.

So simple, but so great. :)

{If I do say so myself.}

Some fun personalized items from Birthday in a Box

looking so grown up!

some fun items from a favorite, Shop Sweet Lulu

doing her smash cake was so fun!

yes, she thoroughly enjoyed it!

so sweet!

Thanks Studio S Photography!

a few snapshots of the birthday fun...............

We had a fun time on Saturday celebrating Graham's 3rd and Eden's 1st birthday!

We had decided to do them together and go with the age/friend guideline.

So Graham got to invite 3 of his friends. Conveniently, one of them had a baby sister who is Eden's little friend, thus her +1. =)

I was so hoping for the kids to be able to go sledding, but we've had very little snow this winter. However, it ended up snowing for much of Friday & Saturday ~ perfect timing!

We went with an ice cream cone theme with bright blue & pink for colors.

This is quite hilarious because it looks like G is wiping away tears (of joy?) during our happy birthday rendition.....but I believe he was just caught in a funny moment!

I made cake balls, topped them with frosting & a cherry.

The kids kept asking when we were going to open this "present"!

excitement!

 Who's standing on a chair....again!

Mike Mulligan & the Steam Shovel - such a fun book!

Zephyr wasn't quire sure what to think of these moves of Eden...but he was sweet!

pink toes!

A couple of months ago, a local photographer had contacted me about doing some promoting for her and offered to do a photo shoot for our family. I immediately thought of the upcoming birthday party and how great it would be to have some nice photos of that.

Hopefully I can post some more when they're done.....but go here to see some of the great pics she took!