Video: Uh-Oh! & Where’d'it Go?

 

 

Tuesday Tidbits

Thank you for all the sweet comments! Anna hasn’t had a fever for 2-3 days, though she still has been pretty fussy, and I have noticed in her a diminished appetite — but, I am thankful because she is sleeping well and able to drink lots of water and rice milk and prune juice (yes, straight prune juice).

Thanksgiving is this week! With all of Anna’s schedule changes and then her little bout with a virus, I  have felt like I have had little time to prepare my heart for Thanksgiving. It is one thing to happily eat all the delicious food while surrounded by family; it is another to consciously acknowledge and be aware throughout the day of all that God has given us . I don’t want it to be just a day of gluttony and fun family time (though it will surely be that!)– I want to be able to truly appreciate and praise God for all He has graciously given to us–and that list is surely endless! I hope that Rust and I can spend time talking through the blessings we are so very thankful for as we travel to the Thanksgiving meal.

Anna is a talking maniac! It is so funny: some words that I have been trying to get her to say for months now (like “book” or “baby”) she has never uttered a peep, but with other words that I say only once, she immediately echoes, surprising me! The latest two words she has begun saying, with no prompting from Rust or me, have been “yeehaw” (which she says, “ye-haah”) and “amen” (which she says, “mena-mena-mena”). I love this chattering girlie.

In fact, as we speak, I am using Vimeo to upload some videos of Anna showing us her words so I can show the world!

And this is so fun, we have begun using bathtub crayons! I think I have more fun with it than Anna. When we first opened the package, I instantly envisioned an entire mural drawn on the bathtub… then I remembered it’s for my one-year-old to enjoy, not me!

(And, for those without one-year-olds, Anna did not draw the boat… : ) But she sure likeed coloring over it!

Look for videos in the following days!

And I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving and savor the sweet blessings our God has given to us!

‘Tis the Season…

…for colds & viruses!

And we have not escaped it!

I have spent the past two days trying to keep Anna’s 101-to-102-degrees fever down, through sponge baths, tylenol, and motrin. The doctor said it is a virus–not the flu, thank goodness!–and that we have probably seen the worst of it. I am so thankful that she is only having a fever: no diarrhea, vomiting, cough or congestion! Whew.

But my arms have been full of a sweet, subdued baby who wants nothing more than to be cuddled when she’s not feeling well. I don’t mind at all (in fact, I eat it up!), but since she has literally spent hours in my lap the past two days, I have had time for little else.

So — until we beat this thing and my little lady returns to her boisterous self, I will be absent from here! We’ve got to get her well in time for Thanksgiving–I know of several family members who really want to see her! : )

 

Mini Madness WINNERS!!!

#1: Little Brown Mini

The winner of Little Brown Mini is Lee Holloway, who wrote:

This mini rocks, Lacy!!! Polka dots are fun and can make me happy when my life is turned upside down, which currently it is!!! I love your idea of a , “A day in the life of….” I would love to document how Christ is helping me in a current personal battle I am fighting. It would be a perfect opportunity to watch as I put more and more of my faith and trust in Christ and let him take control of my problems through my prayers.

#2: Little Fall Mini

The winner of Little Fall Mini is Jana, who wrote:

Fall is my favorite season – the colors, the leaves, the weather, the food, the scents – all of it! I’d love to document it in this petite form.

#3: Red + Blue Mini

The winner of Red + Blue Mini is Alicia Enochs, who wrote,

these are toooo adorable!!! GREAT idea! I am going to post for all three of them because they are all so cute! here is an idea to share…
my one year anniversary is coming up Dec. 14th. as a present i am using a little mini book like this and writing one thing i am thankful for about my husband everyday. starting Nov. 14…for one month. and decorating it with fun stuff! i think it would encourage him…and it reminds me of all the things i am so thankful for about him…keeps me from complaining. i just started it…so fun!

Congratulations!! Again, these winners were chosen using Random.Org. I just entered the total number of comments (crossing out any repeats–multiple comments– or link-backs, so 1-12; 1-10; 1-11) and let Random.Org pick! I am so happy to know these mini’s are going to GREAT homes!

Winners – I will be contacting you today!

I realized as I read each comment that I wanted to be able to give EVERYONE a mini! That is the hardest part!! You all are so funny, so sweet, and so creative I was secretly hoping EVERY ONE OF YOU would win!! : )

So while that couldn’t happen this time, I am so excited to say I DO have a few other mini’s waiting in the wings for future giveaways! I am so happy you all participated, and I can’t wait to do more in the coming month… perfect for Christmas!

Thank you SO much for participating!! If you are interested in fixin’ up your own mini, I would LOVE to chat! : )

Tuesday Tidbits

Hey all!

Time for another collection of random tidbits about our life!

First, however, I’ll remind you that I will be drawing the winners for all three minibooks tonight, 8:00 PM CST, with the winners announced the next day (suspense, suspense). I will be using the website Random.Org, There is still time to enter if you are a waffling! : )  And even if you don’t enter you should still stop by and read the comments — some are laugh-out-loud funny, some are so sweet, and some have great ideas for minibooks!

Last Friday, we had a fun little guest stay with us… Cousin John! He came for dinner, spent the night, and ate breakfast with us the next morning! We were so excited to have him — especially Anna, who could barely contain her glee and ran shrieking around the house when John first got there.

Here are the babies at Saturday morning breakfast:

It is such a blessing to have a nephew almost the same age as Anna, and an even greater blessing that the Walkers live in the same town as us–we greatly value their friendship and have so much fun with them!We don’t know what we’ll do if they ever move. (Bribe them to stay? Follow them?)

In more breaking news, Anna surprised me by dropping her morning nap at 13 months! So we are down to one nap a day. I think the change is harder on me than on Anna! I had read that babies typically drop the morning nap between 14 and 22 months, with most dropping around 18 months. I felt for sure this would be Anna–she is such a great napper, she loves to sleep, and we have rarely had trouble getting her to nap. Well, for the past two weeks she would sleep really well for her morning nap and then sleep only 45 minutes in the afternoon. This would lead to one cranky baby the rest of the day! This is supposed to be the most blatant sign a baby is ready to move to one nap a day, but I guess I didn’t want to see it. : ) I tried so many things to help her sleep in the afternoon — switching our schedule around, shortening her morning nap, etc, etc, and then Mandy sweetly suggested I just try to skip the morning nap, just to see. Well, the first time, and every time after, she slept an entire three hours in the afternoon! So we are down to one nap a day. : )

Because of that, you may notice that in the coming months I will be blogging less! I typically write best in the morning, and since I don’t reliably have two hours any more to do as I please, things may look a little different. : ) In fact, I typed most of this post in our bathroom, while Anna played in the bathtub. We added a bath every morning to Anna’s daily routine in an effort to add more structure to those five hours she is now awake before her 12 o’clock nap. (Yes! From noon to three is her naptime–this will make Thanksgiving REALLY interesting!) Anna is still too young to have 30-minute structured “activities” (as in–coloring time, reading time, block time, etc) but we are getting there! I find I need her to have structure so I know how best to divide each hour. While there is still lots of flexibility, I love knowing that at such-and-such time she has her bath; and at such-and-such time she has her alone play; etc.

Lastly, I’ll leave you with a tidbit about what happens to things in my kitchen when I must divide my time between a baby desperate for Momma and a new recipe:

Oops.

(Still works, though!!)

Simply Soupy: Spicy Chicken Chili

Or, How I Discovered I am HIGHLY Allergic to Jalapeno’s

I am going to post the modified recipe to this–how I made it. You can view the original recipe on Taste of Home’s website.

1 small onion, chopped

1 small green pepper, chopped

1 small sweet red pepper, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes

1 can (14-1/2 ounces) stewed tomatoes, cut up

1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes with mild green chilies

1 can (16 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 carton (32 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

dash crushed red pepper flakes

2-1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast

2 cups frozen corn

3/4 cup shredded  cheddar cheese

In a Dutch oven, saute onion, green pepper, red pepper and garlic in oil until tender; add the tomatoes, beans, broth, and seasonins. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Stir in chicken and corn; heat through. Garnish each serving with cheese. Yield: 12 servings (4 quarts).

Thoughts: While this chili itself was pretty spicy, if you compare it with the original recipe you would see if it supposed to be even spicier! I took out the 1-2 teaspoons of crushed red pepper flakes, the hot sauce, & the serrano pepper because I wanted Anna to be able to eat this, and I knew if it was too spicy she wouldn’t. However, I thought I could try at least one jalapeno pepper (instead of the 2 the original calls for). However, as soon as I began cutting into the jalapeno and just breathed the scent of  it, I instantly began coughing uncontrollably and realized — panicking, because this had never happened to me before! — that my throat was closing and I couldn’t breath. According to Rust, I dramatically ran out of the kitchen coughing and gasping out, “can’t breath, can’t breath,” and I am SO glad he was there to calm me down, get me away from the jalapenos, and give me water and bread. : ) AND — he also cleaned up all traces of jalapeno because I was too afraid to go near the pepper if that was my reaction to just breathing it!

So we proceeded without the jalapeno. : ) And the chili was delicious! It was still plenty spicy for Rust and me, but not so much that Anna couldn’t enjoy it. In fact, she gobbled it up. It made a ton, and we enjoyed many leftovers with it. I would definitely make again! I really loved this chili.

Mini Madness #3: Red + Blue Mini

This mini is approximately 6×4 inches and comes with 13 pages.

Included with this mini is:

• red ribbon
• 2 sheets of love-themed quote stickers in black with clear background
• 2 blue friend-themed quote stickers with clear background
• 4 felt flower stickers
• “destination” / travel-themed stickers (21 total)
• 6 clear black journaling stickers

{apologies for the poor quality of the photos–I had to take them indoor, at night, with all the lights on!! Sorry!}

Some ideas for what you can create with this mini: create this mini for a sweetheart; document a winter or spring travel adventure; use it as a ’seasonal’ mini (like winter!); record the fun details of a special event–a wedding, a party, a birthday, a weekend away.

Also, if you’re concerned about what size picture would possibly fit:

1) You can develop several Wal-Mart photo collages size 4×6 ($0.09) or 5×7 ($0.58), then cut out each picture and journal around; OR

2) You can develop any number of smaller-sized photos (3×3, 4×4, 3.5×5) from scrapbookpictures.com that would fit onto most of the pages of this mini; OR

3) You can develop full 6×4 pictures, and back them with another photo or with paper you already have and use the pages for journaling or embellishments.

To enter to win  Red + Blue Mini: Just leave a comment! Any ol’ comment! Winner will be drawn using an online random number generator on Tuesday evening, November 17, with the winner announced the next day! You may enter all three giveaways, but you need to leave a comment on each post.

I hope you enter!!

Mini Madness #2: Little Fall Mini

This little fall mini measures approximately 4 inches by 4 inches. There are 20 pages in this little one!

Included with this mini is:

• 2 pieces of yellow ribbon
• 1 brown ribbon
• 1 fake fall leaf
• complete set of gold ABC stickers (120 pieces)
• 8 metallic gold vellum leaf stickers
• 2 sheets of love-themed quote stickers in black with clear background
• 2 colored friend-themed quotes stickers with clear background
• 3 clear brown journaling stickers

{not all pages are shown}

Some ideas for what you can create with this mini: a fall seasonal mini; record a fall roadtrip or any trip; your favorite things about the fall season; your ultimate Thanksgiving meal (with recipes); a mini about what you are grateful for.

Also, if you’re concerned about what size picture would possibly fit:

1) You can develop several Wal-Mart photo collages size 4×6 ($0.09) or 5×7 ($0.58), then cut out each picture and journal around; OR

2) You can develop full 4×4 pictures (from scrapbookpictures.com) for only $0.16 each, glue them back-to-back and use the paper just for journal, embellishments, decorations, etc.

To enter to win Little Fall Mini: Just leave a comment! Any ol’ comment! Winner will be drawn using an online random number generator on Tuesday evening, November 17, with the winner announced the next day! You may enter all three giveaways, but you need to leave a comment on each post.

I hope you enter!!

Mini Madness #1: Little Brown Mini

We’ll start with my favorite!

This little brown mini measures approximately 5  inched wide x 4.5 inches high. There are 11 pages included in the mini. Pages have been cut to various shapes & sizes.

You will also receive:

• green ribbon
• brown ribbon
• 2 scroll expoxy stickers
• 2 sheets of love-themed quote stickers in black with clear background
• 1 friend-theme quote in green with clear background
• a complete set of gold ABC stickers (120 pieces)
• 4 clear brown journaling stickers

Some ideas for what you can create with this mini: a Fall-themed mini; a “Day in the Life of ____” mini; a fall roadtrip mini; maybe a mini for a little boy or girl — their current favorites or their current words, etc, etc.

Also, if you’re concerned about what size picture would possibly fit:

1) You can develop several Wal-Mart photo collages size 4×6 ($0.09) or 5×7 ($0.58), then cut out each picture and journal around; OR

2) You can develop full 4×4 pictures (from scrapbookpictures.com) for only $0.16 each, glue them back-to-back and use the paper just for journal, embellishments, decorations, etc.

To enter to win Little Brown Mini: Just leave a comment! Any ol’ comment! Winner will be drawn using an online random number generator on Tuesday evening, November 17, with the winner announced the next day! You may enter all three giveaways, but you need to leave a comment on each post.

I hope you enter!!

10 Things Special Ed 2. :: Why I Heart Minibooks

Here are some reasons you should consider mini-booking, even if you wouldn’t classify yourself as a “scrapbooker.” (I don’t count myself as one!)

1. Paper goes farther. When I find a 12×12 sheet I love, I get so excited–I can buy less that goes more! I can get three 4×6 sheets or four?? 6×6 sheets or even more if I go smaller out of one 12×12!

2. The possibilities for minibooks are endless. Check out this book for ideas: Sharing Your Story

3. There are so many ways you can go minibooks, with so much variety! There are really no rules that there is so much FREEDOM! You don’t have to have tons of expensive supplies (unless you love that!) to have a great mini. It is what you want to make.

4. Mini’s are easy & (for the most part) painless to create.

5. You can finish in 1-2 days or 1-2 hours depending on how ambitious you are, and it gives you that wonderful sense of completion.

6. OR You can build the bones of one and easily fill it out over a period of time.

7. You can cover a wide variety of topics in greater detail that you might not be able to do with a larger scrapbook project.

8.You can make it as simple or as complicated as you like. I do simple. : )

9. It is so easy to coordinate papers into a theme. You can buy a pack of paper to cut down to size, or pick out individual sheets, OR even buy minibook kits on etsy.

10. They are fun & chunky & beckons you do page through them!!