Crafty-ness

So...I have walked down the long tunnel of being on pinterest. (I've actually been on it for a while...but just now writing about it) IF you have time to kill you should totally be on it! However if you don't have time to kill then...I'm not sure I can promote it because you will look at the clock and be still on it hours later.
BUT I ended up wanting to make Valentine's Day stuff for Z's teachers and friends at school. SO I went on there and found GREAT ideas!
Such as these Crayon Hearts which we made for Z's classmates. I used heart ice cube trays that I got at Target (in the dollar section) I got 4 boxes of crayons and took off the paper, broke them, put them in the trays, put the tray in the oven and let the crayons melt, cool the melted hearts and took out of tray, put 2 in a little snack bag with a little note that read..."Have a happy valentine's day for "crayon" out loud. -Ezekiel" took to school!

I also found these wonderful Sugar Scrubs which I made for Z's teachers. I went to the local Cambell's Nutrition, I ended up getting coconut oil, safflower oil, almond oil, brown & white sugar, along with essential oils (which were Lavender, Mint and Chai) I made 2 different scrubs for Z's school teachers Lavender Mint along with Dark Chocolate Souffle. It turned out wonderfully!

I'm actually thinking about what new scrubs I can make! Along with making lotion. While I was making stuff I ended up making some lip balm which I got from here. I've had a lovely time making stuff. As well as KNOWING what I put into my gifts.

Memorial Day Cuteness 2011

So seeing that my brother (in-law) is in the Army. We have PLENTY of Army stuff to wear. So for this Memorial Day we (Rick, Z & Myself) had our Army shirts on. (Sorry no pics of all of us...boo) Aspen ended up wearing a wonderful pillow-case dress made by an Army Wife. :) Aunt Caroline bought it for her. :)

It makes me remember that Army Wives is on tonight...

Alright back to my normal reason to blog. :) PICTURES!!!

Aspen Girl with her pretty dress and matching hair bow (BIG hair bow)

Z-man playing with his Chuggers while the others are napping.
Thanks for joining...have a great day. I'm almost done knitting up Aspen's Scrappy Skirt...pics will follow soon there after.

Bittersweet...

Memorial Day 2011 is a bittersweet day for our family. Well...mainly Rick & myself.
When we started this Medical School journey here at Des Moines University. Rick would have been graduating this very weekend. SO that means a lot of his friends graduated today.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Rick put it this way...say your a football star (you can be a baseball, hockey, basketball, soccer, etc star) So say you were on team 2011 and you got traded (in a better opportunity traded to be on team 2012). You knew that in 2012 you would win the Super Bowl (World Series, Stanley Cup, NBA champion, World Cup, etc) But right now you are watching your old team 2011 win that big game right now!
In the end it's a win-win for everyone. (Although I think we made out on the better deal) Seeing that Rick is an OMM Fellow we don't have to pay for tuition for years 4 & 5 of medical school (seeing that year 4 gets spread out into another year) If you want more info about Rick's schedule you can check HERE . It goes back to previous posts about his schedule and about the OMM fellowship.
Even though this weekend is bittersweet for us...it's still good knowing that we are doing the right thing for Rick's career and our family. Congrats to all the DMU students & their families (yes, you know who you are) that are now Dr & Mrs...and possibly Dr & Mr... I had a blast getting to know you and your families and hope we can stay connect through our DMU family! And YEAH for being ONE year away from doing all the celebrating!!!
And finally to you...Dear Rick, I understand that the time might be rough but think and process all the learning and growing you are doing through the fellowship.Next year it's your year!

What a Valentine's Day...

First off...sorry for no pictures in this post.

Secondly...I'm pretty tired and a little broken down SO the story might be a little scattered.

Thirdly...HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY & enjoy our story.

Normally our little happy go lucky boy (Z-Man) wakes up happy and plays in his room and then comes to our room to get us up. TODAY he did NOT do any of that. He cried and cried until Rick went into his room. Rick got him and put him to walk out of his room however he just cried there and wouldn't put any weight on his right leg. He cried throughout the his morning diaper change. He didn't like ANY rotation of his right hip WHAT SO EVER! Rick went into school/work/fellowship (whatever you want to call it) and I said I would keep an eye on it. I thought maybe he just slept on it weird and it was asleep. Well, Z ended up NOT moving from the spot on the couch and he cried off and on every time he tried to move. I ended up sending a text Rick to see if he could get Z into our family doc. He called back and said we could get in at 9:30. It was a unpleasant time getting him dressed to go to the doctors but I made it there in 45 minutes. Z wouldn't let ANYONE touch his leg. The doc said well...let's get you an x-ray and see what is going on. Let's just say of getting an x-ray of hurt 2 1/2 year old little boy is NOT fun! The first set didn't turn out well either so we had to do it again. Well...the x-rays looked good and didn't show anything abnormal for his hip at all. SO then it was calling a pediatrician to see what they would recommend (we love our family doc but sometimes they just need to consult another doc for things they haven't seen) The docs conversed that the next thing would be blood work. It would help come up with things that Z was not. The blood work came back within normal limits so that ruled out a couple things. Then we waited to see if the Ortho doc this afternoon or tomorrow. Well...we are seeing him/her in the morning. SO we shall know FOR sure what he is dealing with. All we do know is that after a dose of pain medicine he was feeling a lot better and even able to put some weight on his right leg.
There is Valentine's Day story for 2011. We are very thankful that he didn't need to be admitted to the hospital tonight. We are thankful that even though he was in pain he still had some smiles and I actually think he liked the extra snuggles with me. We do have some prayer requests...so if you are that kind of person PLEASE do pray for...
-Wisdom for the docs that are looking after our son.
-God's peace and understanding in this whole matter.
-Rick & I have been fighting a sinus junk (either an infection, or due to drastic change in our Iowa weather)
Well thank you all very much! I shall have more info tomorrow. ALONG with pictures (today we spent in the car, doctor's offices or hospital labs...the kids weren't really in there Valentine's Day outfits) Actually Z was in his Red shirt with silver hearts that I made for him that he got Vaseline on that one day. :)

Something crafty...

So since my doc told me (last Thursday) that I couldn't knit for another week. Hopefully this Thursday I will get an ok to go back to knitting a little more regularly, I mean at all. Because I have some projects that I need to get done!!! I have looked at a couple of other blogs for crafty inspiration. I'm going to be putting a blog roll on the top of my blog so you can see what I like to read, look at, & steal ideas from. :) It's ok I put all the credit back to them...
Such as in this crafty idea. Which is SO fun seeing that Valentine's Day is coming up! I was reading Julie at Singing Three Little Birdies She has them available to buy at Belle Rose Designs her etsy store.
Instead of me re-typing the instructions or tutorial check out it out HERE! I will just say that her pictures and step by step are very clear and you can easily follow along or buy them from her etsy store. :) But here are my pictures of my creations.Z's white shirt with silver heartsZ's red shirt with silver heartsOne of Z's baby shirts (now for Aspen) with Hot Pink HeartsAspen's onesie with light pink heartsMy shirt with Aspen's feet in light pink and a heart in hot pinkSilver heart action.My Valentine'sAspen in her light pink hearts pretending she doesn't see meBut really she knew I was there with the camera the entire time. :)

So I'm hoping that you will have some fun being crafty! I'm thinking about adding this to my go to baby gift. So thanks Julie for sharing this wonderful craft with your readers...now I can share it with mine...HOPEFULLY I can get more readers this way. I'm stuck on 29 followers...

1-1-11...

here's to a new year!
in this coming year I'm not making "empty" resolutions. but I will try to do my best on some things...
here's my list
- to find my "word" which will happen today. I have a list of words but waiting for the word to tug at my heart. which I will blog more about that when that word comes about to me. you can check more about that HERE!
- to of course be healthy & have my body be a temple of the Holy Spirit.
- to blog more often about Pics, Pages & Purls.
- to open up an etsy store...you will hear more about that when it opens
- to enjoy my family time more
- to turn off the tv more, read more books, play more games, etc.

so I will be back on here more today. to write about our Christmas in Colorado. to review a book I read a while ago. to write about my word for 2011.

Thanksgiving Weekend...

So...It's been a while since I have been blogging. I have been reading blogs. There is just little time during the day or night to write a blog. I'm SO behind on putting up pictures and even putting up posts! Such as I have 2 book reviews to post. UGH!

Z giving Aspen a kiss (Aspen is sporting the ruffle hat I knitted along with her blanket)Rick and his "mini-me" So cute!

Well this past week I have been very thankful for answered prayers! We are going down to Florida and during that time my brother-in-law (David) will be coming home from his tour from Iraq. For a while they were pushing back his date...but we got news before Thanksgiving Day and we will be able to see each other. Aspen pictured below in her Military hair bow that I won. I LOVE winning FREE stuff, either by facebook or other blogs!I'm excited for him to meet Aspen and get to play with "Z-Man" So that is answered prayer #1. The other one is all the family time we are getting in. Rick started his 4 week vacation on Monday (almost a week ago) of course he has been studying for his Second Step of his Medical Boards...which his test is tomorrow (or today if you are reading this on Monday) PLEASE take a moment and say a prayer for him. He was very nervous when he went to bed. Little Snuggle Bug (Aspen) and I are having our first slumber party in the living room. :)
We had an awesome Thanksgiving Day...we dressed up and went to Des Moines University (DMU) and they had a dinner for us students and their families who didn't travel back home or want to make a dinner. We have done this for the past couple years and we really like it. It's FREE food with no cooking or clean up! (Rick didn't study at all for his exam...LOVELY!) Above Aspen & Z sleeping during Thanksgiving meal. I made a "collage" of words of what I'm Thankful for this year. Here they are!
-God -Rick (pictured above my Love and me!) -Z (Pictured below in his spiffy outfit.)-Aspen (pictured below) -Parents -Brothers & Sisters -In-laws -God's Word -Military Men, Women & their Families -Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts & Cousins -The Gateway Church community -Friends -DMU -Food, Clothes & Shelter -Good Health -Photography -Music -Knitting -Sports -The United States of America -Travel -Answered Prayers -A Future -Naps -Blogging & Blog Friends -Facebook -Camping -Crafting -Education -Nature
We didn't venture out for Black Friday shopping...or what I've heard it called "Things Give Me Day" We enjoyed our little family (Rick did study for his exam some) We watched football games and we even watched Elf...one of the greatest Christmas movies ever!
Today I finally got up the Christmas tree...sorry no pictures yet. I hope to get the rest of the Christmas decor up tomorrow.

Aspen on Thanksgiving Day -- 2 months OLD!Family Photo (taken by Rick) It's hard to get all 4 of us in the frame and looking at the camera!

Me and my Smiley boy (Z) and Snuggle bug (Aspen) -- I LOVE THEM!

The 4th of July Weekend...

So this year we met up with Grandpa Tom & Grandma Jean in Omaha, NE. Well it's sort of half way between their place in Colorado and us in Des Moines, IA. They got tickets for us to watch the Omaha Royals (Triple A team) and the Iowa Cubs on July 3rd. So we met up there on Friday the 2nd. My little "Z-Man" wanted to run around and not around the hotel. So we found a near by park for "Z" to get out his energy. Pictures below...
On Saturday; Rick and Tom went to see THIS! I honestly didn't think "Z" would like going to to this. So the rest of us went to a park that had a "sprayground" (lots of different sprinklers and such) We must have worn "Z" out and he ended up falling asleep before we picked up the guys from their exhibit and had lunch altogether. "Z" ended up sleeping for like 4 hours during the day!!! It was quite enjoyable and it was lots of fun for our family to take a nap all together. :) Pictures of the day below...That evening we went to the game...LOTS of fun! They do a lot more "entertaining" in between the innings. It's quite fun. "Z" fell asleep towards the end for a little bit and then he woke up to watch the fireworks. They were the BEST fireworks I have seen in a while. Plus they played music to it. It must be that I'm pregnant or that I was really "worn-out" by the day. Because I cried through some of it. All well...pictures of the game to follow however none of the fireworks sorry.
On Sunday we were suppose to go to the Iowa Cubs game however it was raining off and on all day. So the game was canceled. We went out to eat instead and "Z" picked out a movie (Finding Nemo). There was also a wonderful double rainbow out by our house...and I took all the shots on the film camera...SO you might have to wait for those pics. But there is one of us, family; being lazy. "Z" fell asleep in his bed and then he came out and wanted to cuddle with me.On Monday we went driving...that is another post altogether. :) So stay tuned for that.

Happy Father's Day!

Some interesting facts about Father's Day...no I didn't already know this I had to find out by Wikipedia...
~ Father's Day was "created" AFTER Mother's Day
~ Father's Day was slowly accepted BUT for all the wrong reasons...people made jokes of it.
~ Four presidents (W. Wilson, C. Coolidge, L. Johnson & R. Nixon) all did some part into helping Father's Day become a National Holiday.
~ The official date of Father's Day varies from country to country. (MOST of the days are celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of June)
If you would like to check out more info...you can go HERE!

I have 3 great dad's in my life...NO I was not raised by 3 dad's BUT right now I can celebrate their fatherhood and life with them.
First off...my dad, He help raise me into thinking about your relationship with God over anything else is important. Here are some pictures of my dad...I sure do love you dad!














Secondly...is my father-in-law, He certainly raised a very Godly son (my husband). He has been there for me and my family over the years I have been brought into his family as a daughter. Here are some pictures of him.



















Lastly...is my husband or "Z-Man's" daddy, He has certainly been a great daddy even his brief time of being a dad. Learning when to discipline, learning when to lend a hand, learning to be a teacher, learning to be a buddy, etc. I'm thankful that I don't have have to go through this motherhood thing all by myself and that I have a good partner in this parenting journey. And here are some pictures of him.

Memorial Day Camping...

So the family did a Memorial Day camping trip with a couple of other families.
It was overall a good time. I say overall because my dear little son is getting over an ear infection, he is also working on pushing up those canine (eye) teeth (which I don't like them at ALL!) and possibly starting to work on his 2 year molars.
Back to the fun times...we had it all packed up and instead of re-reading the e-mail to tell me where we were going to be...WE headed out and yes we headed out to the other camp-ground that we were at last year. YET that wasn't where we were this year. Luckily they aren't to terribly far away from each other...and I was able to get some more knitting done in the car.
We got everything put up and was ready for the first night of camping. Thus the not so good first night...but it's ok I still love my son. On Saturday, Rick had to do some reading and what not for the Fellowship. While he did that, I took "Z" over to the beach (along with some other mom's with the kiddos). Towards the end "Z" was beyond the point of being tired. So I took him back to the camp and we took our showers after all look at the pictures below and you will see why.That night we had dinner, smores, game time and a lot better sleep from "Z" it was a good night...
Sunday...we hung out at the campsite until it got a little on the "warmer" side and our little family decided to go to Trainland USA. "Z" ended up falling asleep on the way there so we went to a National Park where Bisen live. (no pictures of them...they decided to not be close to the road SO they look like rocks) So below are some pictures of the Trainland USA.When we got back we met the rest of our group at the beach...so here are some pictures from there too. While we were out Rick decided that we would leave that night. So after we had dinner, we packed up and we were going to stay part of the night for smores and possible games...then there was a storm and that kind of ruined the plans.
I'll be back more for some "artsy" photos from Trainland USA as well as what we did on Monday (Memorial Day) besides remembering those soldiers and their families that sacrificed their lives for our freedom.

Christmas Decorations 2009

So here are a few Christmas Decorations that are scattered around the apartment!

Tree!

Stockings & Nativity Scene

Close-up of Nativity

More decorations...

Another view of it...

Christmas lights in "Z's" room

Stay tuned...more post to come!