6 Months

Ok, first off, who ever started this update by the month thing? Now I've started so I guess I have to finish. I'll probably appreciate this later when I look back.

As of this week Hannah is doing so many new things! She's sitting up and rolling all over the place. She mostly sleeps on her tummy now, which in turn has somehow taught her to be more cuddly when you're holding her. She definitely knows now when her mama is leaving the room and she lets the whole neighborhood know that she's not happy about it. Despite the fact that we've had a lot of crying it out at bed time, this past week has been super easy in comparison to others.

Hannah has gotten to be so easy to haul around. I have to say that the best purchase we made was our stroller. She will sleep anywhere as long as she's in her stroller! The best part about the stroller is its color...can you guess what that might be?...yup, aqua. Just in case you're wondering its a Bumbleride Indie.

Grocery Store = No money left

Is anyone else (ok, probably the whole world) sick of going to the grocery store intending to get what used to cost $40 and ending up spending way way way more...like at least double. We have been boycotting the grocery store for a long time now, but I finally had to break and get a few things that you can only find there. I ended up spending $100, which was way more than my groceries should have cost. Going today reminded me of how important it is for me to NOT go.

What are some of the things you guys have been doing to save on groceries?

Craft: Photo Coasters

I got the idea from this post. I've been meaning to make these for awhile now and had a lot of fun doing them. Sometimes its nice to do projects like this because you tend to use pictures that you wouldn't necessarily frame or have around. I made a committment at the beginning of this year that I would GIVE MORE. This was the perfect way to start giving.

What you need:

4 4" tiles (I found mine at Lowes for 38 cents)

4 photos that can be cut to fit the tiles (I printed mine black and white on regular printer paper)

Modge Podge

Foam Brush

Acrylic Sealer (I used Krylon Acrylic Sealer...which by the way is not sold at Lowes...you have to go to a craft store)

Print your photos. I used regular old scissors to cut the photos to size. A sticky note came in handy because it cut the photos to the exact size I needed.

Put lots of modge podge all over the tile. Stick the picture on. Put a lot more over the top of the photo. Make sure you get all of the air bubbles out.

(I'm too lazy to go back and turn my pics the opposite direction...so you'll have to turn your head sideways)

Next, wait for the modge podge to dry. Then spray the sealer on.

The directions that I used suggest putting felt on the backs, which is a grand idea if you can find all of your materials without having to go to three different stores during nap time with a baby. Funny thing is, the first thing my sister said when she saw my feltless coasters was, "You know what would be a really great idea...?" I'm sure you can guess the rest :)

Hope this inspires you to make something fun for your loved ones!

Water for Africa

I'm sooo proud of my church! Jeremy and I have been marveling lately at how God works. We moved down to Orange County for Jeremy's job about a year and a half ago. We totally thought that we would be here for about a year, have fun getting to experience a new place, and then move on. We expected to find a church to go to while we were here, but never expected it to have such an impact on our lives. We attended Mission Hills Community Church one time and knew we were home. We have made the most incredible relationships and our lives have been impacted more than we could have ever imagined.

For the last two months we have been raising funds to build wells in Africa. It all started with a vision from Julie, the youth pastors wife at our church and author of the blog JoysHope. From that inspiration our church raised enough money to build 13 wells!

This is Kailyn Paris. You can read more about her here. I've been giving this modest, quiet girl voice lessons for about a year, but had no idea how great she really was.

A couple of weekends ago we had a walk for water. You can read about that here.

God is truly amazing! He turns a small vision into something that can change lives forever. Pray that it doesn't stop here. There is more that can be done. This has moved beyond our church, throughout the country into a movement through which lives can be saved. Go here and here if you want to be part of this.

Recipe: Grilled Corn

This is probably my most favorite recipe that I have come up with and my most requested. First things first...when cooking for others, if you really want to them enjoy themselves, make things easy for them. Who really wants to eat the corn directly off the cob? Not me!

Ingredients

4 cobs of corn or is it corns on the cob? with ends cut off...I like the sweetest kind you can get (I think white is the sweetest?)

1 stick of butter (this is an ingredient that you really can't have enough of)

1-2 Tbsp Crushed Garlic (I like the jarred kind, and the brand Christoper Ranch)

1-2 tsp Garlic powder (can't get enough garlic either)

1 tsp Black Pepper

3/4 tsp Paprika

A sprinkle of Oregano

Sugar to taste

Salt to taste

Melt your butter, crushed garlic, garlic powder, pepper, paprika and oregano in a pan. Cook on medium heat until it gets nice and frothy.
Brush some onto your corn, but not too much and grill. Gril the corn until it becomes somewhat translucent. If some gets a little burnt its totally ok and maybe even better :)

Stick something in the end of the cob and cut off the corn.

Dump the rest of the butter mixture onto the corn niblets. Add sugar and salt to taste. Once you start taste testing you won't be able to stop...I promise!

There you have it. It seriously tastes like candy!

Rather Unispired

I don't know about you, but this month I have felt somewhat blah. Maybe its a let down from Christmas or something. I can't seem to get inspired. I have a few projects that are in the closet waiting for me to work on them...but the days kinda get away from me.

We've been somewhat busy around here. I've picked up a few more voice students and am getting ready to lead worship for a women's retreat in February. Jer's been really busy at work too. Maybe that's why? Who knows. :)

Here's Hannah's latest photo shoot. She is so much fun right now! Just this week she has started sitting and rolling a bunch. I was getting worried...all that laying around isn't gonna work off those thunder thighs! (Trust me, I know from experience)

If you look closely, you'll notice that I didn't clean the peas off her face very well. Oh well, it adds to the cuteness.
This is her latest achievement.

She loves to look at you and breath really hard through her nose.

Thanks for checking in. I promise I'll post more!

Prayer Needed

This is Kristin Howerton. She is the friend of my friend Julie from JoysHope. Kristin and her family desperately need our help and prayers. She is here in this picture with her soon to be adopted son, Keanan. She was in Haiti with her son when the earthquake hit. Please begin to pray for them and visit their blog thehowertons.blogspot.com to see how you can help.