Love It – Purple Heart Necklace
My Purple Heart Necklace, beautiful reminder of the blessings in my life! Thanks Handsome! My husband has known for years the impact the Little Purple Flower had on my life. We were dating at the time the incident occurred and he was delighted to see God use such a beautiful reminder to encourage me. Since that time Jake has on numerous occasions surprised me with a gift that had a purple flower or something similar on it as a reminder of how much He loves me. The gift is also a visual reminder that God daily gives me the many blessings I have in my life.
On Valentine’s Day my husband and I celebrated together at Winter Jam 2011. When I got up to go to the restroom before the concert started I came back to a small package on my chair. He gave me a beautiful purple heart necklace (totally surprised me) as a way to remind me of His love and the many blessings in our lives as a couple. I had no idea that he was even saving his money to get me such a sweet surprise.
He had been looking for the perfect necklace for awhile until he found the purple heart which he thought it would be a perfect fit for me. For those of you who know me personally I am not a glamour and glittery type of person. I grew up with three brothers on a farm and was more of a tomboy than a princess. I can count on one hand the pieces of jewelry I wear regularly. Every single piece I wear daily Jake picked out on his own for me (most of them were surprises too). I wear my watch, engagement & wedding rings, and my heart necklace he gave me for our 7th anniversary every day. The only other time I wear different or more jewelry is for a special event or Date Night when I an extra necklace, ring, or bracelet. So needless to say I was shocked to receive a necklace on Valentine’s Day and my heart about burst with love for him when I realized it was a purple heart meant to remind me of the little purple flowers in my life.
I am surrounded by many blessings in my life. Some days I have to look harder to find those blessings but they exist no matter how big or small. I am thankful for a God who extends love and grace to me every day. A husband whom I adore and kids that bring so much joy and laughter into my life. The best part is they all love me despite my imperfections and crazy days. Thank you babe for reminding me of the MANY blessing in my life. I am thankful for the amazing gifts God has given me!
“Love It” is a series of posts on items that I use regularly in my household that I love! There are some items in our daily lives that make life more enjoyable, efficient, or just plain fun. I will be sharing with you some of the products that have been given to us (or to me) that have made it to the top of my list. It’s my way of giving a huge thumbs up!
Twice as Fun: A Visit From The Tooth Fairy
My little Karlie is growing up! Karlie recently lost her first baby tooth which was an exciting day for the whole family. It marked a new stage in her life which means my baby is growing up! Although our girls know the “tooth fairy” really doesn’t exist it is fun to celebrate a new milestone in the lives of our kids.
Brina was excited for Karlie too and shared in the celebrations but is now ready for her baby teeth to start falling out as well. That is one hard part about having two at the same age, they are excited for each other but are ready for their turn too. Each of us is made uniquely so we let Brina know she will have a chance to celebrate too when her big teeth come through. I told her teeth will come in when it is perfect for her. Those who know me realize that I have been dreading this stage of Motherhood because I just don’t like wiggly teeth. I have to say it is amazing how much you can actually handle once you are going through it with your child.
Here are some pictures from Karlie’s First Tooth Fairy Celebration:
Karlie's Dollar from the "Tooth Fairy" for losing her first tooth! We put $1 Dollar in a butterfly Ziploc bag for Karlie losing her first tooth! She was super excited to see cash under her pillow the next morning. Karlie was up before the sun came up because she was so excited about losing her first tooth!
A Special Note from the Tooth Fairy The front side of her present had a note from the Tooth Fairy that said – “Congratulations Karlie on getting your 1st big girl tooth! Love, Tooth Fairy” She thought it was super silly especially the “eyes” on the word tooth!
A Note from the Tooth Fairy to Karlie! On the back side of her gift there was another note from the Tooth Fairy – “Karlie, Congratulations on losing your 1st baby tooth! You are growing up to be a beautiful girl! Love, The Tooth Fairy” Karlie thought it was great getting two special notes from the Tooth Fairy!
Karlie's Tooth Fairy goodies - $1 Dollar and 1 Book! Karlie was super excited to find her treasure under her pillow the next morning. I picked out shiny “star” wrapping paper for Karlie because she enjoys rockets, planets, and science. She even kept the paper for several days after opening the gift!
Karlie showing off her new book from the "Tooth Fairy"! Karlie was super excited to get a new book! Both girls love horses so they had fun reading this book together several times over the last few days.
Karlie's baby tooth in a little treasure chest! The dentist gave the Karlie a cute little yellow treasure chest to put her baby tooth in. She was super excited about the mini treasure chest!
It was a lot of fun celebrating the loss of Karlie’s first baby tooth. Karlie knows that there is no such thing as “The Tooth Fairy” even though we call it the Tooth Fairy. She was thrilled to get something special either way even if Mom and Dad are the Tooth Fairy. As parents we feel like it is okay to celebrate the monumental moments with your kids, however, we chose let them know if something that we celebrate such as the “Tooth Fairy” is really imaginary. We don’t want our kids growing up thinking we lied to them about something that isn’t even real. Every family has to make a decision about what is best for their family.
Please share with us your ideas on what you do to celebrate your children losing their teeth and what the “Tooth Fairy” brings for special goodies!
Twice as Fun is a series on raising Twins and all the joy that comes with it. We have been richly blessed to have twin daughters in our lives and want to share with you our thoughts, challenges, wisdom and love for raising multiples. Our girls have different interests and hobbies but they both know how to add excitement to our lives and make us chuckle.
Book: “Green Eggs & Ham” by Dr Seuss
In honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday this week the girls have been celebrating by reading his books at home and with their class at school. One of our projects earlier this week was to pull the Dr Seuss books we have in our home library and take them to school so they could read to the class. After gathering all our books together I was surprised to see how many we had accumulated over the years but after much exploration I realized that we only have just a handful of the ones he wrote. Since Dr. Seuss has been on my mind this week with all the celebrations and he was a successful children’s writer I want to highlight one of our family favorites by Dr. Seuss – Green Eggs and Ham. We have read this book so many times over the last 6 years I think we have it almost memorized. One of the reasons I like this book is because it teaches a valuable lesson, sometimes we have a preconceived notion that something is bad or that we won’t enjoy it but unless we try it we will never known. Taking the opportunity to try something different (it can be as silly as a strange looking meal as illustrated in the book) can often lead to a pleasant surprise and had we not tried it we would have missed out on fun, excitement, blessings, or even the simple pleasure of eating strange looking food.
We have several other Dr. Seuss books that we read quite frequently but “Green Eggs & Ham‘ ranks pretty high up there with my girls. Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss thanks for writing some amazing books that we can read to our children!
Family Celebrations: Girls Birthday!
Happy Birthday Banner for Brina and Karlie!!! The girls had a blast celebrating their sixth birthday! We made the day special for them and had fun! It is still hard to believe that they are growing up so quickly. Here are a few shots from our adventures on their birthday!
Birthday Breakfast - Blueberry Bear Pancakes & Banana Pudding with Star Candles 
Brina and Karlie LOVE writing in their notebooks. At breakfast they got a pretty princess notepad with purple fluffy pen! Super exciting and cute! (Even better is I found them on clearance at Walmart.) 
Karlie playing with her little pony at TGI Friday's 
Brina playing with her little pony at the restaurant - TGI Friday's 
We celebrated their birthday dinner at TGI Friday's! 
Brina and Karlie enjoying their caramel & chocolate ice cream birthday sundae's at TGI Friday's!!! So delicious they got it all over themselves! 
Karlie and Brina using their gift certificates at Toys R Us! 
Brina picked out a pink & white puppy and baby doll supplies at Toys R Us! 
Karlie and Brina sharing their birthday goodies! 
Daddy helping Karlie putting together her Hot Wheels truck! 
Brina LOVES her horses, the stable, and books! We read one right away then put the horse and book back in the stable! 
Karlie so excited about her Stomp ROCKET! She even blasted a few off in the house that night! 
Brina and Karlie coming downstairs for some more birthday fun! 
Brina having a blast riding the go cart in the front yard! Peddle FASTER!!! 
Look Out MOM!!! Karlie's driving fast and you're in the way! Use the breaks!!! I have been very blessed with a sweet family. Even though I am still in shock that my baby girls are 6 years old I am thankful for them and the privilege of watching them grow up. Wishing them many more awesome years together!
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Family Celebrations: Valentine’s Day
We had a blast celebrating Valentine’s Day together as a family. The day was so packed full of fun that I didn’t have time yesterday to post what we were up to so I am doing it today! Here are little snip-its of our family celebrations!
Brina and Karlie's Valentine Breakfast Goodies While Brina and Karlie were getting dressed for school we set out a little box of sweethearts and heart necklaces for them to enjoy. They ate heart shape blueberry pancakes and saved their candy until after school. Although they did wear their heart necklaces ALL day!
Special Valentine's Surprise on my Steering Wheel! Jake went with the girls to pick out something special for me. They left these little goodies on my steering wheel. When I got into the van to drive Brina and Karlie to school I noticed my Valentine’s surprise. They picked out a flower, kitten candy and a Valentine’s Day card. They each wrote their names and drew me a picture. In my card I had a heart family of four, so cute!
Valentine's Day Gifts Daddy and the girls each received a package of “Nerf Darts” for Valentine’s Day. Now when we have our little nerf wars we won’t be knocking each other over to get a dart, hopefully. Karlie was so excited she hugged the package, spun around, and ran out of the room (to get her nerf gun, of course). Brina had her nerf gun loaded first and Mom was the primary target since I was cooking and couldn’t defend myself, don’t worry I got them back!
Expression of "love"! I had a package of Starbursts so I spelled the word “Love” on the table. The girls thought this was so neat. They were excited that they could read the word and could barely wait for Daddy to come home so they could eat the word!
"I Love You" Balloon I picked up an “I Love You” balloon at Dollar Tree for $1. The girls thought this “ape” was so adorable and managed to drag it almost everywhere they went for the rest of the night!
Brina celebrating Valentine's Day with her class! I was able to help with the girls Valentine’s Day party. The kids had a lot of yummy treats to celebrate the day. Brina was so excited to have me come spend time with her in the classroom.
Karlie enjoying chips during thier Valentine Party! Karlie ate all the non-sweet goodies first, including a yogurt and Doritos, as you can see from her orange mouth she really enjoyed the chips. She was telling all her classmates that I was her Mom and that they should wish me “Happy Valentine’s Day”!
Homemade heart shape Valentine's Day white pie pizza! I made homemade heart shape white pie pizza with mushrooms and olives on top for supper! The girls thought it was funny the pizza was a heart and the slices were different shapes from “normal” pizza. It was a fun and easy way to spread the Valentine cheer!
Minor casualty, nerf dart was shot into the oven! I was pulling the pizza out of the oven in the middle of a nerf dart storm and this little guy didn’t survive. It managed to hit the hot oven, when I went to pull it off the dart tore. The girls were sad that a dart was broken but it gave me an opportunity to demonstrate why they shouldn’t be aiming in my direction while cooking!
It was a super fun day with the family. Having children have makes the Holidays even more of a special treat, they get excited about celebrating. I am thankful everyday for my family and the memories we create together.
Rice Krispy Super Bowl Footballs
In celebration of the Super Bowl event tomorrow our family has put together Football Rice Krispy treats to share with our family and friends.
Football Rice Krispy Treats with Chocolate Frosting! We used an oval football cookie cutter to make footballs in celebration of the Super Bowl weekend. The chocolate frosting turned out pretty well. The girls had fun helping us decorate and eating the extra rice krispy corners that were not made into footballs.
Rainbow Football Rice Krispy Treats for the Super Bowl! The girls loved the rainbow colored footballs in celebration of the Super Bowl weekend. I recommend staying away from the yellow frosting because it doesn’t show up as well.
Are you doing any special recipes for the Super Bowl festivities?
Family Recipe: Dad’s Favorite Carrot Cake
My Mom is an excellent cook! Over the years my parents have hosted a lot people in their home and continue to have people over regularly. I am thankful for all Mom taught me about cooking and for her willingness to allow me to “experiment” in her kitchen as I was growing up. Mom makes the best Homemade Carrot Cake! She would make it for special events such as a Holiday or birthdays. This is my Dad’s favorite cake. It is rich, moist and delicious. Here’s her recipe:Dad’s Favorite Carrot Cake
- 2 cups of Sugar
- 2 cups of Flour
- 2 teaspoons of Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon of ground Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/4 cup Oil
- 4 Eggs
- 3 cups grated Carrots
- 1 cup chopped Nuts (optional)
Combine all ingredients. Mix thoroughly and pour into a greased and floured 11 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for 40 to 55 minutes. If you want a layered cake you can do it in two 8 or 9 inch round pans just reduce the bake time by ten minutes and add the Cream Cheese Frosting in between the layers. Cool, then frost.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 stick Margarine (softened)
- 1 lb Confectioner (aka powdered) Sugar
- 8 oz Cream Cheese (softened)
- 3 teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 cup chopped Nuts (optional)
Cream ingredients together until smooth and place on cooled carrot cake. Optional you can add the nuts in with the frosting or sprinkle the chopped nuts over the top. Optional you can add green and orange food coloring to a small amount of the frosting to create a decorative carrot(s) for the top for the cake.
Christmas Song: “How Many Kings” by Downhere
December is a full month with the Holiday celebrations, traveling, and gifts. May we remember the ultimate gift that was given to us. I look forward to celebrating my Savior’s birth while creating new memories with family and friends.
Counting Days on the Advent Calendar
Several years ago my sister-in-law sent us an Advent Calendar. The girls enjoy getting out all the Christmas decorations and hanging up the calendar. Our calendar has a small pocket that fits two small pieces of candy perfectly. Every day, starting on December 1st through December 24th, the girls get a piece of hard candy from the Advent Calendar. I pick up the candy when it is on sale or purchase with CVS or Walgreen rewards. They are excited because they get to eat a piece of candy and can easily count the days until Christmas. In addition to the candy I have been known to add a verse to read for the day. It is important that the kids know the true meaning of Christmas especially in a society with so many other influences.It is a busy time of year and spreading the excitement throughout the month is a lot of fun. It is an easy way to track the days leading up to Christmas. The calendar would be fairly simple to make for someone who is crafty and can use a sewing machine. How do you spread the excitement of Christmas over the whole month for your family?
