Friends | crayons | t-shirts.

Today, for the first time, Reuben had a playdate at home with his best friend from school. They were both so counting the days for this. It was wondeful to observe Reuben as a friend. He makes a great and confident friend. There's something so warm and solid about him.

They did some swimming, ate mac&cheese, and pudding. And we decorated t-shirts. I found this idea via Pinterest http://pinterest.com/pin/169148464/ and decided to try it. The boys drew their pictures on fine sandpaper (using normal crayons).

We (actually our domestic help) then ironed it face down onto the front of each one's T-shirt. Ironed the transfered picture again with a cloth over. We were all very impressed (another pun not intended) with the end result.

I also tried to save a t-shirt gone pink by drawing a robot picture (inspired by the wonderful drawing book by Taro Gomi called "Scribbles") and transferring the image the same way.

And speaking of drawing, I recently purchased a sketchbook (because it was cheap, not because I had any ideas for it.) I was inspired by this illustration on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/pin/157137729/  to sketch some of my summer clothes.

Cool life documenting.

Husband appreciation day :)

I've had a really lovely morning. My husband had a 9am appointment nearby. It didn't make sense to drive out all the way to work and back, so he had a late-ish breakfast with me before leaving for his appointment. This just about never happens during the week. He got us some croissants. Some plain, others with chocolate or hazelnut filling. So good. It reminded me of the croissants we once had at a little deli in Cape Town. He has never been able to fly to Cape Town with-out returning with some of those in his bag. But now, this find, way too close to home!

This has just left me thinking about him. God's Word says honour your hubands, and I think it goes beyond just honouring their decisions, to also verbalizing our appreciation for them. So I promptly did just that, in a lay-out. There's still a lot more to say about my man, good things. So many good things. If you're reading this, husband of mine, I'm the lucky one!

Oh, here's the (digital) lay-out:

I used a free template from Chrissy W digitals called "February freebie templates". Paper was a Colour inspirations Freebie from Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals. Heart: Citrus blitz heartsprinkles (I just cut out one and used it). "You" letters Sara Schmutz country cottage freebie.

I also did another (digital)lay-out yesterday, capturing an everyday story around here. (So many of those I still want to do).

It was inspired by a gorgeous layout by Erin :  

http://erintaylor718.blogspot.com/2011/09/everyday-details-scrapbook-layout.html,

whom I found on Karla's blog : http://karlastudio5.typepad.com/

Supplies are all Designer Digitals, except for the template, TNT scrappable story by Tiffany Tillman. I flipped the template horizontally to get my photo's where I wanted them.

Recipy | Granola bars

I made these bars a while ago. Found the recipy somewhere in an old magazine. We all love them so much, and they're quite healthy as a snack, so I thought I'd share them.

Granola bars:

1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 cups Rice Crispies
2 cups oats
1 cup dried friuit bits
1/2 cup sliced almonds.

1. Set oven to 180C
    Line a baking tray with baking paper.  Two sheets at right angles.
2. Melt the butter and wisk in sugar, honey, flour, vanilla & cinnamon. Add the remaining ingredients & mix
     well.
3. Transfer the mixture to the pan. Press it all firmly to a flat even thickness.
4. Bake for 20 minutes, till golden brown. Lift the granola out and let it cool on a wire rack. Once              completely cooled, cut into bars. (Mine ended up being more bits and pieces than bars).

I think they would be nice replacing the dried fruit with cranberries and dipping the bottoms in some melted white chocolate or even dark chocolate.  Enjoy!

Project Life | Last week of September.

I'm planning on doing this project using the "Project Life kit" (by Becky Higgins) next year. You can check it out here: http://beckyhiggins.com/products/

Defnitely so worth it!

But for this year I'm loving my digital project.

The Wordart (on the left page) is from "Thanksgiving Celebrations Element kit" by Ali Edwards, the tag is Simple Spots by Katie Petiet. All available from Designer Digitals. The template was a freebie by Anna Aspnes, no longer available, I think.

It was fun to send the camera to work with my husband this week. And good to have a photo of his "everyday" included in our album.

This Week-end | Taking it slow

This week-end we decided to take some time out of our normal schedule to try and completely recover.
Time for slow mornings. Stay at home time. There were some other neccities we also had to make time for. It was time to get some groceries.

Time to get new spring flowers.

Time to bath the dog.
Time to put some colour on my toenails.

Time to see the blossoms at Emmerentia Dam.

Time to kick some ball. (He's amzing at kicking).

Good times...

Eye candy

Just some Friday eyecandy today. I found this via one of my favourite blogs, Maine Momma.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8K9s7_k3TM

Thankful Thought

My thankful thought actually has nothing to do with all the lovely spring blossoms around. Actually I've been battling with a stomach bug for the past few days, and no, that's not my thankful thought either. What I am thankful for- apart from my skin feeling as if I had a detox- is for the forced downtime it gave me. Being a stay at home Mom I'm supposed to have a lot of quality time with my kids. I probably have more time than many working Moms. But there's a lot of time that I'm busy with other stuff, not being present with them. Yesterday I spent the entire afternoon lying on the big old leather couch with my boys. Trying to rest :).

I enjoyed Reuben being all soft and tender with me, telling me he loves me a billion times around the moon. I enjoyed all his hugs and "I love you"'s. I enjoyed Liam being silly and full of laughs and in my face. I enjoyed the knowing that they are so pleased to have me just hanging around. An audience to them. Being undistracted and available.

I'm thankful for them, who makes even a not so great day a gem in my memory. It reminded me of a quote I once saw on Ali Edward's blog, here: http://aliedwards.com/2005/01/normal-day.html#more-2485 

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth or bury my face in the pillow or stretch myself taut or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return. ( Mary Jean Iron).

Project Life | Third week of September

Hello, here is this past week's Project Life lay-out. I have much to learn about Blogging. I don't even know where to go to learn. If I knew how, there would have been a link on the sidebar to my previous post on this Project. But for now, any-one interested can just have a look in my archives. Love this Project, even in a week when every-one was sick!

This weekend | Neighbourhood Spring Party

Since moving to Johannesburg just over a year ago we have been most impressed by two things: #1 is the weather - Jhb has the best weather. Months of blue sunny skies. And #2: the people. Joburg has a seemingly endles supply of  interesting, warm friendly people. We are in a church filled with absolutely awesome people. People who made adjusting to a new city just so much easier.

And we must have the greatest neighbourhood in Joburg. Nice people who care about the community and the environment. (One neighbour for example washed and desanitized the entire street's rubbish bins after a municipal strike a while ago.) Parents who want to create a place where kids can (occasionally) play carefree and safely outside in the street - like we used to as kids. We all realize we have something special here.

Anyway, long intro...This weekend we had our Neighbourhood Spring Party.

We braaied in the circle,

The kids had a jumping castle,

did some colouring in,

 and played till after dark.

I made some Rainbow Lollies for the occasion. The recipy, (via Pinterest) can be found here: http://sandytoesandpopsicles.blogspot.com/2011/03/rainbow-fun-part-2-rainbow-pudding-pops.html

I think any vanilla pudding will do. I used small plastic cups iso the paper cups and the lollies came out quite easily. They were just a bit too much for the kids. I'll use the small yogurt cups as moulds instead next time we make something like this. They are just so easy and fun!

.

Crafting | Handprint animals.

This week the Kids tried their hands - no pun intended- at making animals out of hand (and foot)prints.

We did some in December last year, making the dearest reindeer with pipecleaner horns (not sure now where we got the idea from).

This time, inspired by Pinterest http://www.busybeekidscrafts.com/Hand-Print-Elephant.html we made a crayfish, giraffe and elephant.

Easy peasy and very pretty. Also inspired by Pinterest http://jengrantmorris.blogspot.com/2008/08/artwork-in-boys-room.html, I'm planning to have a selection of their artwork scanned, shrunk and framed together.

And then I must also post this very sweet picture of our family by my 6 year old. We're all there, even Zoe the Cocker Spaniel!

Right now | September

Eating: Muesli and yogurt for breakfast every day (except weekends)
           Lindt Chilli for a after dinner treat.

Reading: Bruce Marciano's "In the footsteps of Jesus".

Wearing: Shirts with little pleats on the front.

Capturing: Kids crafting, a photo a day.

Watching: "The good wife" on tv every Tuesday.
                The blossoms on our trees.
            
Doing:  Digital lay-outs of our week-end in the Berg.
            30 minutes on the Healthwalker every day.
...........................................................................................................................................................

PS: I got this idea from Ali Edward's blog. It's a great way to record life, say once a month.

Project Life | 2nd week of September

 

My Project life for the week 5 - 11 September. The bottom, or right hand side page was done in Photoshop Elements, using an free template by Anna Aspnes (I'm not sure where I found it). It was then saved as a JPEG document and opened in Microsoft's Digital Imaging Program. That's where I usually go to add text. If you're smart, you can do it in Photoshop, but I find this system working for me. 

The left hand/ top page was also done in the Microsoft program by opening the previous layout and the photo. The photo was the dragged over the bit that already contained the grid of pictures. I deleted the text above and underneath and then added the new text over the photo area. The label is from Designer Digitals, called "SimpleSpotsMonths" by Katie Pertiet. Once again I opened it in the Microsoft program, dragged it onto the page I'm working with and added the text.

Here's a link to Designer Digitals:

http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/supplies/products_new.php

This weekend | Parties & water.

This weekend was the end of quite a busy week. The weekend started on Friday afternoon with a little friend's birthday party in their huge indigenous garden.

I made some lemon and poppyseed cupcakes for the party.

Reuben was very chuffed that he won the pellet shooting prize for shooting down three of the ten cups. They also had a great time with the waterpistols.

Saturday morning I attended a Baby shower at Silver Birch coffee shop. A mellow morning.
And from there we attended another little friends Cowboy party. The cowboy gear didn't last long because of the waterslide. Great fun for the kids.

On Sunday we presented Sunday school. It was about the Helmet of Salvation. The kids made tinfoil helmets, and played musical hats! The afternoon included some much needed rest at home. The trees in blossom are just getting more beautiful.

The kids also had their first swim for the summer in our tiny pool.

The water was still very cold.
Evening we attended our church's first evening freeworship service. It was "awesome", because it was! Better is one day in your house Lord, even than a thousand elsewhere!

Weekend away | In the Berg.

The weekend before last we went away to the Drakensberg for a few days. We wanted to camp and I got some great camping ideas on Ali's blog, here: http://aliedwards.com/2011/06/can-we-talk-about-camping.html.

The best advice we took from there was to get a Jaffel maker. Remember those? We were thrilled to find one at the Crazy store for a good price. Great fun!

We ended up not camping but staying in a nice chalet overlooking the mountains. The first day was misty and rainy,

but the next day we could go for hikes.

and other adventures

The last day we decided to spend the morning at Royal Natal National Park,

 before taking the drive back home. The mountains in springtime was just beautiful. The kids thoroughly enjoyed their time, especially hiking up to the cascades and playing in the river and waterfalls.

God took me to Song of songs 2: 9-16 (after hearing the song by Micheal Card). It was so amazing to see all around me what the scripture was describing: Eland tracks behind our house,

Eland on the hillside, the winter being past,

flowers appearing, singing of birds, clefts in the rock. It was really and invitation for me to arise and run with Him, to take the little foxes (those things that bothers me), to Him and to seek more intimacy with Him.

More photo's on my Facebook Album: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/media/set/?set=a.2369414235343.138502.1250081732&type=1.

Project Life | First week of September

This year, as last year, I am doing a digital Project Life album. It basically entails taking a photo per day for the full year and creating a weekly page.

I absolutely love this project. Doing it has really captured the story of our lives so well- the small changes, the big changes, the details, the forgotten days and so much more. It is (like this blog) a great place for all the stories I want to tell, but don't have the time to do individual layouts for. It celebrates our everyday lives, instead of just focusing on "big" events. It gives a wonderfull perspective. Like I said, just love it.

You can check out Becky Higgin's site for more info and inspiration:  http://www.beckyhiggins.com/ 

Ali Edwards also has a very inspiring album in the making:  http://aliedwards.com/about-ali/portfolio/project-life .