• Be My Valentine: Scrapbook Highlights

    Do you like to scrapbook?  You don’t need to be current with your scrapbooking to do this Valentine’s Day gift (I am way behind on my scrapbooking too).  Show your spouse and family you love them on Valentine’s Day by doing a Scrapbook highlighting the big events over the past year.  You can do scrapbook at home with your materials or one online at Snapfish or any other great photo place.  Think back over this past year and pick one or two big events for each month or two. Here is some ideas of what to include to get you started, even if you do the Holidays you’ll have plenty of special memories.

    • January – Happy New Year
    • February – Happy Valentine’s Day
    • March – Springing into Spring
    • April – Easter
    • May – Mother’s Day
    • June – Father’s Day
    • July – Independence Day
    • August – Back to School
    • September – First Day of Fall
    • October – Halloween
    • November – Thanksgiving
    • December – Christmas
    • Birthdays
    • Fresh Start
    • Weddings
    • Anniversaries
    • Special Trips
    • Vacations
    • And so much more!!!

    Create you book of highlights with the scrapbook material you have or do it online.  It will be a fun gift as you reflect back on the memories you made together!

    Photo by shimelle

  • Be My Valentine: “I Love You” Memory Jar

    A gift I made for Jake many years ago! The rose is from one of our college dates!

    Are you looking for a unique Valentine’s gift this year packed full of love and memories?  I have created jars (or containers) full of memories for various occasions in the past and they have always been a huge hit with both kids and adults.  These little containers are easy to make and will be treasured by those who are on the receiving end.  It gives your family something to remind them your love and appreciation for them.  There are 5 super easy steps on how to make your own Jar of Memories:

    • Step 1 – Find 1  jar or container with a lid per person you want to create this gift for.  We have used anything from a cleaned out peanut butter jar to cute boxes on clearance from the Dollar Store.  Make sure it is a reasonable size so you can easily fill it up.

    Karlie's decorated "Memory Jar"! (Made out of a peanut butter container).
    • Step 2 – Decorate your container.  You can decorate with about anything paint, stickers, markers, ribbons, a simple written message on the outside or any other creative decorations.
    Papers for the girls "Memory Jars"!
    • Step 3 – Once you know the size of the container sit down for a few minutes and start writing a list (on paper or the computer) of positive attributes you appreciate in your spouse or child, great memories you’ve shared, phrases of love, and special times  with the person your giving the jar to.  Put each one on a separate line.  I usually keep my list on the computer or with me so I can fill it out over several days as I think of new things to add to it. It is fun to have a good mix of attributes, memories,  nicknames, events, etc…. be creative!
    Filling up Brina's "Memory Jar"!

    • Step 4 – After creating a list that is long enough to fill the container you have chosen print the phrases on colorful paper.  Cut out the phrases and fold them at least once then stick them into the container.  It is a good idea to do this a couple days before in case you need to add more to fill the container.  Fill up the container to the top.  I like to have it so full it is almost spilling out because when they open the gift it gives them a small visual picture of my overflowing love for them.
    Wrap your Memory Jar!
    • Step 5 – Wrap the container in tissue paper and tie it with a bow or give it to them as is. Take time when they open it to have them to pull out and read some of the great things you have written about them.  It is fun to hear them read out loud some of the memories, laughs, and phrases you have included in their jar packed full of memories.  Write a special note or favorite saying on the inside.  It is sure to bring a smile!

    It is important to reflect on the positive traits and memories you have with those you love.  I have done this for Valentine’s Day in the past as well as for other special events in our lives.  It is a great treasure chest full of positive memories for everyone to enjoy.  My husband still has the one I gave him years ago and the girls have theirs on the dresser.  Occasionally we will sit together and read through some of their memory notes.  When a person knows that they are loved and treasured it allows them the freedom to share the joy with others.

    “Be My Valentine” is a series of creative ways you can celebrate Valentine’s Day with those you love.  You can make it a special Holiday without spending a lot.  Spread a little extra cheer to those around you this Valentine’s Day!  Surprise your loved ones with a fun and thoughtful gift from the heart.  It is a great time to reflect on sweet memories as well as create new ones with whole family.  May this Valentine’s season be bursting with love for you!

  • Life Simplified: Meal Delivery

    Dessert tray we delivered to a family!

    Every new year we set goals, challenge ourselves to reach new heights and to focus on what’s really important in life.  In 2011 I have made it a goal to simplify my life more by enjoying the blessings and not wasting what God has given me.  I will be sharing with you the successes and challenges on those specific areas in my life as I go through them.  I have already shared with you my 1st Life Simplified Goal of No Grocery Shopping for the month of January.  One of the most rewarding blessings in life is sharing what you have with others.  My second Life Simplified Goal goes along with that piece.

    My 2nd Life Simplified Goal:

    • Deliver 1 Meal a Month to a family outside of our household

    Explanation of the Goal: In 2010 I signed up to deliver meals to new Moms after they came home from the hospital, people who had surgery and various other volunteer opportunities.  There were a couple months I didn’t do any meals and other months I had several extra meals to prepare.  For example, in December I had 4 extra meals to prepare and deliver outside of our home before the week of Christmas, some of them being over an hour away, plus we had a Christmas Eve party at our house and guests staying with us for a week.  While I enjoy the blessing of helping others I need to work on saying “No” once I have met my limit.  After much prayer and talking with my husband we have decided it would be best for our family if I would stick to 1 meal delivery a month.  Once I have delivered a meal in a month I will have to say no to any additional inquiries.  There are so many people out there that need help, however, I have to decide what is best for our family too.  I want the girls to continue participating in these amazing acts of service and having a limit will give us the freedom to continue to do it without putting our family in a spot we are over our budget. I think with all the people in our church and community that if everyone did just one meal a month for someone needing a meal there would even be extra to go around.

    I will continue to deliver meals for people once a month.  Below are the opportunities that I am currently and will continue to be involved in:

    • Moms with Newborn Babies
    • People coming home from Surgery
    • Death in the Family
    • Other Volunteer Needs for Meal Delivery

    I have a hard time saying “no” to someone in need but in order for me to have the opportunity to continue ministering to others in this way I need to stick to the goal as well as respect my husband in his decision to help me with this area I love to volunteer.  I will share with you the challenges, successes along the way so you can keep me accountable or you can even go through the journey with me by participating  and sharing your story.

    Life Simplified is a series on getting rid of the extras in our life while learning how to enjoy what God has given us so we can continue to be a blessing to others.  Our homes can quickly start are bursting with “stuff”  and if you are like us we just have too much.  I am doing a series on ways we are learning to simplifying our food, homes, and lives.  When our hearts, lives, and homes get too cluttered we may start missing out on opportunities to serve and bless the people around us.

  • Life Simplified: No Grocery Shopping

    Every new year we set goals, challenge ourselves to reach new heights and to focus on what’s really important in life.  In 2011 I have made it a goal to simplify my life more by enjoying the blessings and not wasting what God has given me.  I will be sharing with you the successes and challenges on those specific areas in my life as I go through them.

    First Life Simplified Goal:

    • No Grocery Shopping (except for necessities) in the month of January.

    Explanation of the Goal: My goal during the month of January is to not shop for groceries other than necessities (milk, eggs, bread).  Our freezer is full and our pantry is overflowing with all the great deals that we have received.  One of the reason for the goal is that I want to use the items I have and not waste them.  Stockpiling is wonderful but there may come a point when we need to eat through that stockpile before it expires, save the extra money to work on a financial goal, and be creative with what we have at home.  I have been thinking about this challenge for several weeks after doing Operation Christmas Child and other charities over the Holidays it really hit me that we have been blessed yet there are children and families that have nothing.  Menu planning may take a little extra creative thinking on my part but I think I can do it. If I do purchase something it needs to meet one of the following criteria:

    • FREE – I don’t want to waste free grocery coupons that my family will use while doing this goal
    • Necessity – Milk, Eggs, Bread, etc…
    • For Someone Else outside of my household.  For example I make meals for new Moms in our church and if I need to pick up an item for them on the way to deliver a meal that will be an exception.

    I have already started this goal.   The only things I have purchased this month so far have been a loaf of bread and 2 gallons of milk.  Last week we ate a bunch of leftovers for several days after my our family guests left since our fridge was full and we don’t want to waste the food we have.  It takes a little more time and focus to come up with a menu but everyone seems to be doing pretty well.  The real challenge will come at the end of the month when we are getting low in the pantry and when we host guests!

    I will share with you the challenges, successes and what I had to purchase so you can keep me accountable or even go through the journey with me by participating  and sharing your story.  I would love to extend this goal into February if I can make our pantry stretch!

    Life Simplified is a series on getting rid of the extras in our life while learning how to enjoy what God has given us so we can continue to be a blessing to others.  Our homes can quickly start are bursting with “stuff”  and if you are like us we just have too much.  I am doing a series on ways we are learning to simplifying our food, homes, and lives.  When our hearts, lives, and homes get too cluttered we may start missing out on opportunities to serve and bless the people around us.

  • Gift Giving: Delivering Christmas Goodies to Neighbors

    Brina & Karlie Delivering Christmas Gifts to our Neighbors

    We had a blast on our Christmas Baking day last weekend but I think the biggest joy came when we delivered the goodies to our neighbors.  Once the girls realized that we were not giving every morsel of the baking goodies away they were excited to share.  I think they were worried that we did all the baking and they wouldn’t be able to taste any of it.  Although, they definitely got their share of sampling the day of the event.

    Sunday afternoon we put the baked items into gift bags, added a photo mug of the girls full of candy, put in a Christmas Card with the traditional annual picture we give to the neighbors, and tied the packages with ribbons to deliver.  The girls got bundled up in their coats and mittens to help me deliver the goodies.  We have 6 neighbors on our street.  Most of our neighbors are retired couples that enjoy seeing the girls and getting their annual card with a picture.  I found out the hard way the one year how much the yearly pictures meant to our neighbors when we didn’t give out Christmas pictures and one of our neighbors showed me her refrigerator with pictures of the girls from every Christmas.  Oops!

    Karlie carrying the next gift!
    Brina rang the doorbell!

    It was cold and windy day delivering the goodies but our street is pretty small and we were so excited about handing out the presents to those on our street.  Only 3 of the 6 neighbors were home or answering their doors on a Sunday afternoon.  We headed back out on Monday to hand deliver the rest of the goodies, but it wasn’t until later in the week we were able to successful hand deliver all our treats to the neighbors.

    The amazing blessing came when we delivered the presents.  Seeing the smiles, joy and gratefulness on the faces of our neighbors made it worth all the time and energy it took to put together the packages.  It is a wonderful blessing being able to share with others.  Not to mention it opens doors into the lives and hearts of those on the street near you.  We look forward to more opportunities to share with our neighbors.

  • Recipe: Cinnamon Star Cookies

    Recently, I spent a few hours on a Saturday doing a Christmas Baking Day with Ashley from Reflecting on the Simple Things in Life baking treats to give to family, friends, and neighbors.  One of the recipes we made from Favorite Brand Name: Cooking for Kids, Kids’ Party Food was the Cinnamon Stars.  We made Stars, Christmas Trees, Snowmen, Bells, and many more fun shapes with this delicious recipe.  The recipe was easy to do and  delicious!  The girls helped with this one recipe by picking out the shapes and sprinkling the cinnamon and sugar mixture over the top of the cookie cutouts.

    Cinnamon Stars

    • 2 Tablespoons Sugar
    • 3/4 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
    • 3/4 cup Butter or Margarine, softened
    • 2 Egg Yolks
    • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
    • 1 package Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe French Vanilla Cake Mix

    1.  Preheat oven to 375° F. Combine sugar and cinnamon in small bowl.  Set aside.

    2.  Combine butter, egg yolks and vanilla extract in large bowl.  Blend in cake mix gradually.  Roll dough to 1/8 inch thickness on lightly floured surface.  Cut with 2 1/2 inch star cookie cutter.  We used a variety of cookie cutters when we made our cookies.

    3.  Sprinkle cookies with cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Bake at 375° F for 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are light golden brown.  Cool 1 minute on baking sheet.  Remove to cooling rack.  Cool completely.  Store in airtight container.  We put separated ours out into Christmas bags to distribute to family, friends, and neighbors.

    This is a quick and easy recipe you can do with little ones helping.  The recipe makes about 3 to 3 1/2 dozen Star cookies at 2 1/2 inches, however, our recipe made closer to 3 dozen since we used a variety of shapes.  We had plenty to divide out and give as gifts.  If you are looking for an inexpensive and easy recipe for the Holidays you may want to try this one.

  • Christmas Song: “Give This Christmas Away” by Matthew West

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdbNlQtHlFE

    It is the season of giving gifts to family, friends and neighbors.  We have a wonderful opportunity to share what God has given us and minister to others not only during the Holidays but throughout the entire year.  Do you have a creative way that give to others in your community?

  • Gift Giving: Christmas Baking Day

    I spent several hours on Saturday, December 11th doing a Christmas Baking Day with Ashley from Reflecting on the Simple Things in Life making treats to give to family, friends, and neighbors.  We started about 3:30 PM and were finished around 10:30 PM that night with another hour added for cleaning and packing up the goodies.  Ashley was kind enough to open her home up so we could get the baking done. The house smelled amazing with all the delicious treats we made throughout the evening.

    Ingredients Table
    (You can tell we shop some of the same sales based on our ingredients table)

    Ashley was organized with several tables full of specific items which helped us keep the clutter off the counter tops and island as we were each working on recipes:

    • Baking Ingredients Table for the recipes we had a picked out
    • Cooking Pans, Bowls, and Utensil Table for easy access to items we need
    • Cooling and Packaging Goodies Table
    • Finished Products Table which was full of treats by the end of the evening

    We would pick out ingredients and utensils as we needed them from the necessary tables.  The goodies got bagged in between baking items.  It was a very efficient system and we were able to accomplish a lot in a relatively short amount of time plus we were able to talk, laugh and enjoy each others company in the kitchen.

    Cooking Pans, Bowls, and Utensil Table

    The kids popped in and out, occasionally helping with recipes that intrigued them.  Our husbands had fun hanging out too.  They were kind enough to pick up the pizza for us and an extra bag of powder (or confectioner’s) sugar for us at the grocery store.  Thankfully that was the only ingredient that we really seemed to go through more than expected.  We were both prepared with the ingredients and items for the day which allowed the event to go smoothly.

    Cooling and Packaging Goodies Table
    Ashley packaging the Cinnamon Rolls! Yum!
    Her smashing sticker is compliments of my daughter, Brina.

    Honestly, despite it being really busy and standing on our feet for a long period of time everything went pretty smoothly. Only one minor casualty, my small Christmas Tree cookie cutter managed to work it’s way down to the garbage disposal.  It made a loud noise when it was turned on so nothing was broken and the tree was able to be bent back into a tree like shape.  The only thing that would have made it a little more efficient would be to have two ovens but since neither of us have that we were able to work everything out fairly well.  Her oven was probably ready for a break by the end of the evening, but I am sure it felt very loved.

    Baked Goods Table
    (Starting to fill up)

    It was our desire to accomplish as much as we could in the time table allotted and we did it.  We had up to 17 recipes prepared to make for the event.  We were able to complete 12 of the recipes which is pretty amazing especially since majority of the items were baking ones and we had only one oven. I will posting the recipes for the ones that we accomplished throughout our baking adventure throughout this week.

    The following are the recipes that we accomplished that evening:

    Below is a picture of all the goodies we were able to make over the course of just a few hours.  I am thankful for the opportunity to share in this event with Ashley.  It was a lot of fun, enjoyable and rewarding.  I look forward to doing it again!

    We DID IT!
    I think we were two very tired Momma’s by the end but we had a lot of fun!

    Table full of Baked Treats to Share with Others

    It was so full we almost didn’t have enough room to squeeze everything on it!

    The recipes that we didn’t get to during our baking day I plan to make over the Holidays as well since I have all the ingredients for them already in our kitchen.   I will be posting the following recipes for you next week:

    • Chocolate Crackle Tops
    • Oreo Truffles
    • Orange Dreamsicle Cookies
    • Berry Shortbread Dreams
    • Sugar Cookies/Bears

  • Gift Giving: Baking Christmas Goodies

    It has been a busy week!  Tomorrow I am very excited to have the opportunity to get together with Ashley from Reflecting on the Simple Things in Life and cook up some yummy recipes to share with friends, family and neighbors.  It should be a lot of fun and I am sure we’ll have some funny stories to tell and pictures to share.   I have all my recipes marked and a table full of ingredients to pack.  The girls are licking their lips thinking about all the amazing goodies that are going to be created tomorrow.  They have been asking for two weeks if the “baking” day was here yet.

    Here is what we are looking forward to baking tomorrow:

    Several of the recipes I have never tried, however, they all appear to be fairly easy to make.  It will be interesting to see what we can accomplish in a few hours and if we have any hiccups along the way. No matter what happens it will be a day full of fun and memories.  Since the oven will be full of baking goodies we decided to give ourselves a break from cooking a meal for everyone and will be ordering pizza for dinner.

    While we are busy in the kitchen cooking the men will be helping entertain the kids, enjoying some time gaming together among other tasks I am sure they will be delegated to do.  They don’t get together as often now with all the busy family schedules so they are looking forward to some fun time too.   The kids are really excited about having some time to play together while we cook.  Although I have been told from my girls that they want to taste every recipe to make sure it is good before we give it to anyone else.   So now I am off to pack up the ingredients, sprinkles and all, so we can eat dinner at the table tonight.  I look forward to sharing our adventures with you next week!