Perfectly Flawed

Holiday Gift Ideas

2010-10-15T05:35:00.000-07:00

EDIT: Here is the link to the art caddy pattern

Gift ideas...seriously it's only October!! But alas, Hobby Lobby has had Christmas decor up since the end of September. This past year as I've been honing my mad sewing skills I've come to appreciate the idea of giving handmade gifts. I'm not talkin' your mama's craft show merchandise...for example

I made these awesome arts & crafts totes for a birthday gift for Sophie's friends Ella and Wyatt - found the pattern on Etsy

Anywho, one of my fav bloggers, Maggie aka Gussy is hosting a handmade Holiday Gift Guide filled with some awesome shops and BEAUTIFUL handmade items. Click on over to Gussy's site and check out all the loveliness!

Big Girl Molly

2010-09-16T06:07:00.000-07:00

We're potty training Molly this week. Sophie potty trained a month ago using the 3daypottytraining.com method. It worked perfect for Soph and she got it right away. Molly of course wants to be just like big sister so we decided to try it out. Believe me I would be ok with being a diaper free household. So first step was putting Little Miss in her big girl bed last night. She needs to be able to come get us when she has to go. Here is a cute video of her last night trying out her bed! Don't worry, I put a railing up before she went to bed. Safety first!!

Molly's New Bed from Emily Miersma on Vimeo.

First Day of School

2010-09-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

After much research, debate and prayer we decided to homeschool Miss Sophie Mae this year. Not that we had a problem with the public school preschool setting she was in last year, we just didn't feel it was right for her.

Disclaimer: I do not have anything against public schools, Ryan and I are both products of public schools and I feel we turned out just fine...although some might beg to differ :)

Now, my mom is the director of the preschool at our church. This is her 9th year! Let me just say that her first year was my first year at college...makes me feel old.

I've always wanted my children to attend preschool with Miss Beth aka Grandma, but last year it just wasn't an option for Soph.

When we started talking about homeschooling our girls, the first thing that popped into my mind was what about socialization?? Isn't that what every homeschooler is asked?

Side note: I read a great article about "socialization" and of course I can't remember where I found it, but the best part was when the author suggested that if you're worried about socialization, walk through the halls of most middle schools and high schools (and even some elementary) and ask yourself, is that the social behavior you want your child to emulate?? Stepping off soap box now.

Of course God made the answer perfectly clear, send her to preschool with Grandma! We'll homeschool in the morning, working on her specific needs and then off she goes in the afternoon, 3 days a week to be challenged and interact with other kiddos her age.

Fast forward three months to today....

our first day of both preschool and homeschool!

Here's a bit of our day

Working on puzzles

note: see those elephant rugs in the background, we used those for our "circle time" got the idea from my super mommy cousin Megan

We had a busy weekend and Sophie woke up late this morning, so yes, she is still in her jammies, but that my friends, is the beauty of homeschooling!

Ryan was home today so he checked in a few times to see how we were doing

Scored this classic shape sorter from the Salvation Army, perfect distraction for Molly while Sophie and I worked on some other projects

We're using Confessions of a Homeschooler's Letter of the Week Curriculum and this week was A is for Apple

Check out my little lefty here, she's just like her Daddy

Molly joined in on some of the action too

but after a few minutes she was done and the craziness would start

note to self: find more distracting toys for Molly

sorting apples from smallest to biggest

After our homeschool morning we had lunch and got Sophie ready for preschool. On the first day the parents get to stay. Ryan took Sophie and because he is such a fantastic daddy he took the camera and got a few fun picture of Sophie's first day!

finding her name tag with Miss Heidi

placing her name on the tree with Miss Peggy

Sophie and her favorite teacher, Grandma

Big News

2010-09-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

As in huge...epic...GINORMOUS!!

You want to know what it is....

Like, really want to know...

Okay, I'll stop now

We're NOT moving to Texas!!

Let me say that again...we're NOT MOVING AT ALL!!!

Ryan accepted a position with a new company two weeks ago

They might be kind of familiar to you as I'm sure many of you have either owned or remember those annoying commercials

"Dude...you're gettin' a..."

Yup, that's right, Ryan's going to be the new Dell guy...he's been working on his acting career in his spare time

Yeah, right! You won't be seeing his face on the TV and he won't be who you call for technical support. I honestly don't even understand what he does and I'm okay with that. Keeps the excitement in our marriage! :) This opportunity fell into Ryan's lap and God paved the way from start to finish.

God listens and answers prayers,

every single one of them my mom prayed against our moving

Seriously, that's what she and I believe half our church prayed for the past 5 months

...the other half, well, we'll deal with them later (insert evil laugh)

So we will continue to reside in the lovely state of Michigan with our fantastic family and friends. We won't have to sell our brand spankin' new home!

Ryan's office will be based in our home. He will have to travel but not as much as he did with his previous company.

I won't bore you with pictures of all the great things that Michigan has to offer...

Just know that I will not miss the boots, belt buckles and rattlesnakes of Texas

and two last words

Go Green!

Down on the Farm

2010-09-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

I'm not really a farm person per say. I mean, I love the idea but I don't think I could handle the smell, poo, dirt, poo, mud, more poo, the work it involves. In other words, Ryan's not quiting his job to become a farmer anytime soon. However, I will take any opportunity to expose my children to something new so we stopped at the local 4H fair on our way to the cottage a few weekends ago.

The girls loved it...wait...the girls LOOOOVED it! Rows and rows of every farm animal you could imagine. Molly would talk to the animals in this high pitched voice (she does this at the zoo too)

piggy bob-bum (Sophie speak)

feeding a calf (although this one looked like a teenage calf)

after spending some time with the animals we ventured on over to the rides/attraction part of the fair where we found the always fun "ride the pony around in a circle" ride.

Sophie was a pro

and if you're wondering where Molly is, she was attached to my leg whining "i do, i do"

so we paid the man and munchkin got her turn

she squealed and giggled the whole time

"mommy, i horsey" every time she came by

miss fancy pants riding all by herself

Now for those of you who know me well, horses and I don't have the best history. I've never been thrown off or anything, we just don't get along. I think they are beautiful creatures, from a distance. I have already informed my sister-in-law, Danielle, who was very much into riding and owned a few horses back in the day, that if my girls take any interest in horses, she has to deal with it.

Okay, sidetracked, back to the fair...

Next on Sophie's agenda was to go on every ride she possibly could

*cue Mommy and Daddy buying lots of ride tickets

So we started off small

little trucks going around on a track, nice easy ride

check out Sophie's hair in this picture, it was so humid out

this was about the second lap around and she was already showing us the next ride she wanted to go on

this one

note the thin lap strap keeping my babies in, I'm always up for some adventure and encourage my kids to try new things but I was just waiting for Molly to decide she was done and climb out

going up

and up, and Molly proved me wrong, they both loved it and pretended to drive their spaceship the entire ride

then Sophie spied her next ride to conquer

the alligator roller coaster

I watched her get measured by Ryan to make sure she was tall enough, she just made it. As she climbed in I realized how much she has grown over the past year. Last summer at a place like this she would have had her hands over her ears, face buried in my neck the entire time. Now she's willingly trying new things like roller coasters.

and she's off

she didn't cry, but you could tell she wasn't exactly enjoying it

After two times around the gentleman working the ride stopped it and she immediately said, "thank you for the ride" and hopped off.

I was so proud of her!

We hit a few more rides and took some more pictures

Sophie's photography with a little assistance from Daddy

please ignore giant teeth

I can thank my dad for those :)

more Sophie photography

The next day was spent at the cottage partaking in our favorite activity: swimming

Apparently baby wanted to swim too

and it's important to carry a juice cup with you at all times

A fun time was had by all!

Sad to see the summer go, but also excited for what the fall as in store!

For Grandma

2010-08-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is my Grandma aka "gweat- gwamma jan"

My Grandma Jan (Hi Grandma) is the Queen of all things yarn and knitting needles. I remember going over to her house when I was little and looking at all her skeins of yarn, she always had beautiful colors. She taught me to knit years ago, but unfortunately it never really stuck. Someday we'll have to do another lesson! :)

She made each of my girls a beautiful blanket when they were babies. Gorgeous blankies!! Molly is particularly fond of hers and sleeps with it all the time.

This morning she was in a mood and when Molly's in a mood, you had better watch out. Apparently the only thing that she felt like doing was sitting.

Just sitting with her binky and favorite blankie. Normally there's a bear in the equation but this morning he didn't make the cut.

Notice the little tear by her eye, she's wasn't too happy with me.

So I just let her sit.

Sit until she decided she liked me again and wanted to eat breakfast.

"juice pease!"

Oh my Molly girl, mommy's not ready for you to grow up!

And Grandma,

Molly says "thank cou!"

Home Ec

2010-08-17T06:55:00.000-07:00

photo credit

I signed up to participate in an online sewing class called Home Ec. I'm super excited as I seem to make stuff up while I sew and I'm hoping this class helps me to really learn the basics. My friend Bobbi Jo and I are doing it together and we've had so much fun already. We decided to be brave and take her two kiddos and my two kiddos to the fabric store together, that is 4 kiddies 4 and under and somehow we survived (thank you smarties and dum-dum suckers). We stocked up on a few items and started in on the class. They have great videos for beginners and each project is designed to help you learn a specific skill and grow on the ones you've already learned. I believe there are 26 projects total (wow!). The class itself is 5 weeks, but they've designed the projects to take it at your own pace. Thank goodness, because there is no way I could finish 26 projects in 5 weeks! Registration closed August 15th, but LA from Freckled Nest just announced that they reopened registration for two more days. If you're interested in learning how to sew I would definitely look into this class!! Let me know if you participate!

Giveaway at Twelve Crafts

2010-08-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

Giveaways are so much fun! Elizabeth over at Twelve Crafts Till Christmas is hosting a giveaway (ends Monday) from the CSN stores. Elizabeth is awesome! She's committed herself to making all of her girls' Christmas gifts this year and started a blog to document her journey. She is so inspiring and I have a few of her projects on my list for my girls this Christmas. Best of all Elizabeth is real and honest and I appreciate that. So head on over to Twelve Crafts Till Christmas and enter her giveaway.

Sophie's First Dance Camp

2010-07-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

This week Sophie took her first dance camp at Excel (the same studio she goes to during the school year). It was an Angelina Ballerina camp and she LOVED it! There were only three little girls at this camp and they had tons of fun dancing, making crafts, and dressing up in fun costumes. Here are videos from her performance today!

Fouth of July Festivities

2010-07-07T11:36:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend, filled with fun! The four of us were completely exhausted by Monday! :)

I was a little worried as to how the weekend would go. Sophie had a 102-103 fever on Thursday, but she was over it by Thursday night. Never fun to have a normally bouncing, happy, rambunctious little one be so wiped out she can barely move. Poor thing! She came back strong though and we started the weekend off with a trip to the zoo with my sisters Sarah and Katelyn on Friday.

The girls LOVE the zoo! I taught Sophie the song that goes "we're goin' to the zoo-zoo-zoo, how about you-you-you" so now we sing that every time we go!

Ice cream at the zoo is a must

Pretty sure this was Molly's first ice cream cone, she love it!

Saturday we got up bright and early (6am for this momma), packed the kiddos in the car and drove north. We met up with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins at the parade in Cascade. It was so much fun to take the girls. We went to this parade when I was little. Of course the best part was collecting candy!

The girls decorated brown paper bags Friday night to use for their candy stash. Sophie was a bit overwhelmed by the loud trucks and sirens so she spent half the parade under a shady tree (it was HOT) with Ryan. Molly figured out the candy thing pretty quickly. She would run with her bag and grab what she could and throw it in her bag. She also collected every paper handout and placed them in her bag. She wanted to read up on the election candidates. :)

After the parade we drove to the cottage. Sophie was extremely excited to go to the "cottage at the lake" and continued to ask Ryan about every 5 minutes where we were going. She wanted to make sure he didn't deviate from the plan. :) The rest of our weekend was filled with water, sand, food and fun!

Hope you had a fantastic holiday weekend too! And by the way, I have a new tutorial I've been working on, I'll give you a hint

4th of July Banner Tutorial

2010-07-01T20:20:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm just crankin' them out this week! I've been inspired by all the craftiness I've seen on various blogs and I decided to actually do a little decorating for the 4th. Here is a tutorial for a 4th of July banner.

Materials:

scrapbook paper (cut to 8 1/2" by 11")

strips of 1 inch fabric or ribbon, 2 1/2 yards

printer

sewing maching

coordinating thread

Directions:

I started by making a template of the triangles. I don't have any fancy editing program so I just used Microsoft Word. I made it so I could fit two triangles on a sheet. I used a Microsoft shape (you know, Insert, Picture, Auto Shape, select triangle) and had it measure 6 3/4" length with a 5 1/2" width. Play around with it until you get your deisred size. Then add your text in each triangle. My font is from 1001 Free Fonts, it's called "Boyz Are Gross NF" (I don't know why!) Make sure you can see the outline of your triangles so know where to cut them.

I dug through my leftover scrapbook paper and found some navy blue and deep reds that I liked. All of my paper was 12"x12" I needed to cut it down to 8 1/2"x11" so it would fit through my printer.

Now, if you're a little, um...quirky, like myself, go ahead and plan out the order of your colors. I only share this picture with you because

I trust that you can totally relate!

So once you have your colors planned out, go ahead and print off your sheets. Again, I printed two triangles for each page, I had 4 blue pages and 4 red pages. Each page had a letter in one triangle and a star in the other.

Next cut out your triangles.

and you get these lovelies

Now, lay out your lettered triangles,

then insert your starred triangles, rearranging until you find a layout you like

(even with all my planning I still found myself switching them around) :)

Time to get your fabric strip or ribbon ready. If you're using ribbon, skip the next couple steps. For my fabric strip I pulled out every piece I could find of this leftover muslin lining from Christmas stockings I made last December.

I love the look of this fabric and thought it would be perfect for this project.

After ironing I cut one inch strips as long as possible (I was working with a bunch of scraps). You will need about 2 1/2 yards total.

I cut it by pulling it through my sicssors to give it a rough look.

Okay, now for the sewing part and don't be scared to sew with paper, this was my first time and it was so easy and turned out great!

I grabbed a piece of scrap paper and ran it thru my machine to find the perfect size stitch. I used a zigzag stitch, the winning stitch size is the last one on the far right.

Here is my stitch length

and my zigzag size

thread tension was a 1 (the lowest on my machine is 0)

Lay your first triangle on your strip of fabric and figure out how much you want to leave on the end. I left about 3 to 4 inches.

Start at the end of your piece, using a 1/4" seam allowance and start stiching (be sure to do a reverse stitch to secure your stitching)

Once you have your desired amount on the end, place your first triangle on your strip, lining up the edge. Continue to stitch across your triangle.

I wanted 2 inches between each triangle, I taped this guide to my machine and when the end of the previous triangle hit the 2" mark I placed the next triangle on the on the fabric strip to sew in place.

Fold your triangles into a neat little pile as you stitch each one on to your fabric strip (note: if you're using scraps of fabric like myself, continue to add each piece, I used about 3 total, as you go, sliding it under a triangle and overlapping with the previous piece of fabric.)

After you stitch the last triangle on, continue to stitch along the fabric strip the same amount you stitch at the beginning.

Ta-da!

Happy 4th of July or "July's Birthday" as Sophie's been calling it! :)

4th of July Dress

2010-06-30T18:27:00.000-07:00

I decided to try something new and enter a project in the CSI Project Challenge. This week's challenge is Red, White and Blue. I was already planning to make the girls some patriotic dresses so I thought I'd enter my creations. :)

This is my take on a pillowcase dress. There are many tutorials out there for a pillowcase dress and honestly I don't think I've ever actually used a pillowcase. I added my own bit of flair with the ribbon and actually discovered another use for it (on accident) which I got really excited about. (Who wouldn't at 1am?) :)

So here we go!

Materials:

fabric - about 1/2 yard

(this dress is sized to fit my 3 year old, Sophie, who's between a 3T and 4T)

1" (technically 7/8") wide ribbon - about 3 yards

coordinating thread

Cutting Instructions:

Measurements:

Width - measure around the chest of your dress wearer and add 1" for seam allowance (1/2" on either side, you can use less if you'd like)

Length - measure from where you would like the top of your dress to be down to your desired length, then add 2" for seam allowance

For this dress I measured Sophie from the base of her neck down to her calf which was 24" (+2") equals 26" total length, her chest is 19" (+1") equals 20" total width

Did all that make sense? Fantastic, moving on...

I cut two rectangles 26" by 20" from my fabric (fold your fabric in half and cut so your pieces are the same), then I cut the arm holes. Honestly, I just guessed at this part. I suppose you could measure from the top of the shoulder down and around to the middle of the underarm of your child, then subtract that amount from each side. Basically the shape needs to look like this

At the top of the piece, I marked 2.5 inches from each side. I then marked 6 inches from the top down and cut the J shape of the arm holes using those markings as a guide. I hope I explained that clearly!

Okay, now that the piece is cut, it's on to the sewing part (my fav)!

Sewing Instructions:

Disclaimer : Please excuse the yucky ironing board cover in the follow pictures and I apologize in advance that the lighting isn't the best, you can still see the basic ideas :)

First create the bottom hem of the dress

Take one piece of fabric (we'll call this the front), right side down, and fold 1/2" from the bottom, press in place

Take raw edge and fold under original fold a 1/4" and press in place, then sew with an 1/8" seam allowance

With right side of fabric face up, pin your ribbon (right side up, if patterned) to the bottom of your piece. Line up the edge of your dress with the edge of the ribbon, I let mine hang over just the slightest bit in case it moved while sewing.

Using a loose seam allowance (my machine goes from 0 to 9, with 9 the tightest, I used a 2) and a medium stitch length, sew the bottom edge of your ribbon to the dress using about an 1/8" seam allowance. Then sew the top of the ribbon to the dress.

Repeat with the other piece of fabric (the back)

Lay the two pieces right sides together and pin up the sides

Then switch your thread tension back to normal and sew up the sides, be sure to add a little reverse stitch at the beginning and end. Do not sew up the arm holes, just to the bottom of your J shape. I used 1/2" seam allowance.

Finish off the raw edges with a serger, zig-zag stitch or pinking shears (I chose the latter) and press the seam open.

Now on to the arm holes. Normally I would have used bias tape (I used to be scared of it, but realized how easy it is to use, take the leap of faith and try it!) but I only had cream colored bias tape and I wanted to keep the look of the blue ribbon so on a whim I thought I try using the ribbon like bias tape AND IT WORKED! Yay!! You have no idea the revelation this caused (again it was 1am, don't judge me!)

So, take the edge of your ribbon (if you have a pattern on your ribbon, you want to put the right side face down on your fabric) and line it up with the edge of your arm hole. Pin as you go continuing all the way around the front of the dress to the back of the dress, following the edge of the arm hole

Lower your thread tension again and stitch the ribbon around the arm hole using 1/4" seam allowance

Now, to create the bias tape look, fold the ribbon over the edge toward the wrong side of the fabric

Then fold the long edge under 1/4" (if you wanted to make this super easy, use 1/2" wide ribbon then just fold over once and stitch)

Pin in place

Stitch the ribbon around the arm hole using a 1/8" seam allowance, keeping the same loose tension

Do this for both arm holes, then shout for joy because the arm holes are finished!! I'm sure someone has already figured out the whole ribbon-as-bias-tape thing but be excited for me that I came up with this on my own. :) Maybe even do a little happy dance!

I appreciate your kindness!

We're almost there!!

Now it's time to finish off the top of the dress.

On your "front" panel, fold over the top 1/2" and press in place

Then fold over another 1" and press/pin in place (be careful, the ribbon will melt if the iron hits it, not that I'd know from experience or anything). This will create the sleeve/tube for the ties to slide through at the top of the dress.

Stitch in place with seam allowance just under 1"

Repeat for the back panel.

Cut two strips of ribbon to thread through the front and back sleeves/tubes, it helps to try the dress on the official dress wearer to get a good measurement. Unfortunately my little model was asleep when I finished the dress so I kind of guessed.

In the words of my girls: Ta-daaaaaaa!

This dress was intended for Sophie but she didn't feel like modeling this morning

But of course, the Queen of Cheese was ready to fill in.

Usually she's cheesier than this.

I like tying the bows up higher on the shoulders, gives nice fullness to the dress. Really the only thing I'll change for Molly's dress is to shorten it slightly.

I'm envisioning beautiful pictures of the girls running around at the lake in these!

Hint, hint, Aunt Sarah bring your camera!

Happy 4th of July!!

Linked up Centsational Girl

Perfectly Flawed

2010-06-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

You loyal readers will notice that I changed the name of my blog. Nothing too exciting but I'd love to share with you how this name change came about. :)

I have really enjoyed exploring my creative side lately; not just in music, which seems to be the creative category I fall into ALL the time. But I have loved exploring what I can make with my hands, like sewing. Being able to slap a few pieces of fabric together and transform it into something beautiful is so rewarding and fuels my creative mind.

The problem with each of these creations is that no matter what I do, there is always some flaw along the way. Yes, I've made some ugly things and messed up a lot, that's how you learn (in case you didn't catch that in elementary school). But even my final projects, the ones I take such time to finish, always have some element of imperfection.

As I pondered on this I was brought back to my relationship with Jesus. Jesus, the Perfect One, no other human being has walked this earth like Him. He was completely perfect. Jesus could do no wrong! Yet, the Perfect One, reaches out to me, the flawed one and says "I don't expect you to be perfect, that's what I am here for." God made me and all of my imperfections so I would completely rely on Him.

So here I am, perfectly flawed. Just like my sewing creations no matter what I do, I will never be perfect. I will never know everything, be able to do everything or have every right answer. I'll try something, mess up, then try again. But Jesus is there every step of the way saying "I don't expect perfection, I love you for your imperfections."

As I continue my journey as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend and all other hats of life I'll wear, I will remind myself that it's okay to be flawed...

because I am perfectly flawed.

Sewing

2010-06-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

Along with having been bitten by the sewing bug, I'm kind of addicted to sewing blogs. I swear I find a new one to follow every week or so. So many great ideas and the online tutorials are absolutely AWESOME, especially if you're just beginning to sew. Here are a few of my favorite sewing blogs

craftiness is not optional

Disney at Ruffles and Stuff has a great beginners guide to sewing here

I did not include craft blogs that I love, we'd be here all day!! :)

So Jess from craftiness is not optional just had her second little girl, which makes her very near and dear to my heart. Plus she makes ADORABLE little girl stuff which just plain ROCKS! Last week she featured this tutorial from Create and Delegate for fun ruffled dresses. And c'mon, who doesn't love a cute ruffle??

Here is my twist on this tutorial

I found two of these dresses at Target on the clearance rack, they were women's sizes large and extra large

can't go wrong for $5

I cut off the top (save the tie straps, they will be used later)

I then followed the tutorial for cutting the width and length of my dresses. When I cut the width I cut on an angle with the shape of the dress so my widest point (on the bottom) was the width I had originally come up with for the dress (did that make sense to anyone?)

After cutting I continued to follow the tutorial and sew my dress together

The tutorial has you attach straps with elastic in them. I had run out of elastic so I just cut off the tie straps from the original dress, shortened them and attached them to the front of the dress to create a halter look. I also made the elastic around the top of the dress about a 1/2 inch smaller that the girls chest measurement just so it would stay up easily.

Ta-da!

Here are my little models running around Grandma and Papa's back yard...so sweet

that is a bug catcher in Sophie's hand, best $1 my mom ever spent ;)

I love how these dresses turned out! I made them as a Father's Day gift for Ryan. He loves seeing his girls all dressed up so cute! :)

Next project: outfits for the Fourth of July

Happy Sewing!

2010-06-23T17:52:00.000-07:00

I've been bitten...bitten hard...by the sewing bug, that is! Seriously, all of my spare time is spent neglecting the toy messes around my house and hiding out in my sewing room (yay for nap time). The floor plan of our house came with a "hobby room" which I dubbed early on as MY room (hey, Ryan has a whole office to himself). And boy have I been using it!! I'm trying to take pictures of all my creations to share with you all. I made these little beauties a few weeks ago (sorry the pictures our blurry, hope you can at least see the cuteness of the dresses)

Molly's is Simplicity pattern 5695

and Sophie's is Simplicity pattern 2377

I'm not a huge store bought pattern fan only because they tend to over explain things and I usually end up kind of editing it anyway. Simplicity is usually pretty good though about keeping things, well, simple. :) And most store bought patterns are good for ideas and designs. Like the Matilda Jane like dress pattern and ruffled bottoms I just found. (Wee!) I have a post that I might get done tonight about the beauty of online patterns/tutorials including pictures of one I just did for the girls. I made some adorable dresses for the girls to wear for Father's Day. Sophie absolutely LOVES when I make her something new to wear. If she knows I've been in my sewing room she'll ask "what are you making for me, mommy?"

Yes my friends, I've been bitten hard by the sewing bug and who knows when it will end...Ryan might be staging an intervention soon...

...I'll let you know how it goes! :)

Sweet Sophie Girl

2010-06-13T20:47:00.000-07:00

This is my girl

my sweet Sophie girl

oh how I love this girl

she's curious

thoughtful

and oh so smart

yet she can be silly and goofy too

oh how I love her

my calm, quiet, sweet girl

her sister on the other hand

watch out...

Freezer Jam Goodness

2010-06-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

Oh man! It's strawberry season in Michigan and do you know what that means? It's freezer jam time!! Woo-hoo!! We go through this stuff like water over here (or actually juice would be a better example at our house).

Strawberry season in Michigan is only about two weeks long and it's really a guessing game as to when the berries will be ready. Lucky for me my mommy just happened to be at the local farmers market by our house last weekend and found some GORGEOUS berries!

See, aren't they just beautiful! My mom picked up two flats for me so Saturday evening at the Miersma house turned into a freezer jam making extravaganza! Well, at least for me it did...the girlies went to bed and Ryan watched a movie...thrilling, people, thrilling!

So you start with this

and many hours later you end up with this (that's 36 jars baby!)

for this

I don't ask questions, I just take pictures when they do goofy stuff

"Let's get physical, physical, I wanna get physicaaaaaal....."

The End

Nothin' New

2010-05-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

Okay y'all (sorry I couldn't resist), so at this point no news is good news, but at the same time no news is frustrating. Did any of that just make sense? It did? Okay, good then. We have yet to receive an official date as to when we will be making the big move down to Houston. We're still waiting to hear on when Ryan will be pulled from his current project to work mainly in Houston. The account team for this project wants to keep him there but his boss in Houston would like him to start working in Houston. I like to think that his VMWare peeps are fighting over him, which they kind of are. Heehee!

Not much to say today but I hadn't posted in a month, shocking, I know. So I thought I'd give you a little update. We had a killer garage sale on Saturday and got rid of a bunch of stuff. It felt good to purge a few items. I did spend part of the day today finding things that I had forgotten to put in the sale or wish I had (think millions of puzzle pieces I cleaned up today).

I'll leave you with a few pics just for fun! The girls are growing like crazy!! Sophie surprises us every day with her imagination. She is so smart and keeps us on our toes. Molly is Miss Attitude with a capital A! She knows what she wants and will make sure she gets it. They are just a blast and I enjoy every moment I have with them! :)

Checkin' out Grandma's baby chicks that hatched in her preschool room

Molly posing with the baby chick

Molly kept blowing on them, it was the funniest thing!

Big News

2010-04-11T16:35:00.000-07:00

Well, you've waited long enough (sorry to tease you all on facebook) but here is our big news!

Ryan took a new job with VMware two weeks ago. VMware is the large, global company that his previous company is partners with. Much of the work Ryan did at his old company was with VMware so the transition has been very smooth. This is a huge opportunity for Ryan and we are very excited for him.

But....

and there is always a but...

We will be moving by the end of the year to

You heard right my friends, we will soon be considered Texans *gasp*

We don't have an exact date as to when we will be moving yet, but we do know it will be by the end of this year. Ryan will continue to work on his current project for a while and then once he's finished there we will move.

We have a lot to do to prepare for this move. We are extremely excited for the opportunity we have before us, but at the same time we I am scared out of my mind with all the details that must fall into place. Nevermind we're moving to a place where we do not know anyone but a few VMware employees that Ryan knows.

But, we do have this lovely lady in Houston

and you can't forget W

and I just might have to purchase Ryan one of these

and maybe pick up a pair of these for myself

just you wait, next year I'll be blogging about attending this

and let's please start praying now that I don't see any of these

notice I couldn't even post a picture of a real one

totally freaks me out

and finally, I promise I won't do this to the girls

if I do, I think my sister Katelyn might come down and slap me

or at least that's what she threatened

All kidding aside we are completely trusting that God is in this and guiding us every step of the way. He has proven Himself faithful over and over. We have laid this at His feet and know that He's got it covered! Thank you for prayers that you lift up on our behalf. Know that they will not be in vain! :)

I will be blogging regularly about our move and we are hoping to have an actual date soon. Right now we are preparing our house to put on the market (can you believe we've only been in our house 5 months and we're already selling it!)

Ryan and I are very excited about this next phase of our journey as a family. We cannot wait to see what God has in store for us as we move to Texas!

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Easter

2010-04-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

Many of you who have graciously followed me for a while now (thank you) may remember my Easter post from last year about selecting the perfect dress for my girls. I talked about how my mom aka wonder woman would make my sisters and I beautiful dresses for Easter. Well, this year I decided I wanted even more to be like my fantastic mother and, wait for it, yes, I actually made Sophie and Molly's Easter dresses myself...

Okay, now that we're over the shock, let's view a few pictures, shall we? I had hoped to document more of the process of making the dresses but I plain just forgot to take pictures. I hope you enjoy some pics of the finished products on Easter Sunday!

Ta-da!

Girl has a mean "cheeeeeeeese" face and willingly shows it off every time she sees a camera.

These two are inseparable!

Sophie and Grandma

Sophie and Aunt Sarah,

not sure what's going on with the tongue here

After having just spent an hour in the nursery,

baby girl just wanted her daddy

Happy Easter from Ryan, Emily, Sophie and Molly

Oh Sunshine

2010-03-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of us moving is that we now live on a street that is not busy (think city bus route) and we have a wonderful yard to play in.

Problem lies in that we have one bucket of chalk to play with.

Fun, but it gets old quick...

Unless you're the cutest thing on the planet

Oh, that sweet face!

So I piled the girls in the car and off we went to "the star store" aka Wal-Mart. (Sophie has specific names for each store depending on either what the logo looks like or what she gets at the store. For example, Target is the popcorn store. Yes, I've been known to bribe my children, don't judge)

We stocked up on some bubbles, jump ropes (Sophie picked them out, apparently they're fun to pretend with and hey for $1, can't go wrong) balls and these cute little golf caddies, complete with everything they need to start working on their game.

Priorities people, priorities

Definitely worth the investment. They were entertained for quite awhile, which gave me the opportunity to clean up the dog poops.

It's a glamorous life I lead...

I Love Fridays

2010-02-23T18:36:00.000-08:00

Today I'm reminiscing (thanks Liz) about my favorite day of the week.

Friday.

Not sure when Friday turned into my favorite day. Something to do with Sophie starting preschool and Friday is our first day of the week where we're not racing to get out of the house early.

At least until I realize we're late for dance class.

It happens.

On Fridays I have time to make coffee, pour it into my favorite mug (given to me by my sister Katelyn)

Ginger likes this mug too, reminds her of her younger years

Then, it's cuddle time on the couch while we watch Sid the Science Kid and Sophie's favorite, SuperWhy! (Monday through Thursday we've already left the house before these are on) and eat animal crackers for breakfast.

Then I remember dance class.

Sophie and Ella, the dynamic duo...don't try to separate these two at dance class

Ah, I love these girls...and I love Fridays!

Fairy Frills

2010-02-16T19:19:00.001-08:00

Check out my new little business! It is a work in progress, but I'm super excited about it! fairy frills

Sophie's Valentine's Party

2010-02-12T06:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had my first school party experience with Sophie. I had to miss her Christmas party as I had MOPS and as Coordinator I kind of needed to be there. So I was very excited to help out at her Valentine's party. I came early in the morning and helped with Centers, snack and circle time. Ryan is home this week so he and Molly showed up later in the morning. It was great to observe Sophie in her preschool. She loves going every day and tells me about her classmates. Here are a few highlights from her morning.

Each week her class focuses on a particular letter, color, shape and concept. This weeks color was pink. All of the girls in her class had pink on yesterday so here they are pointing out the different shades of pink on each outfit.

centers - sorting candy hearts by color

centers - tracing heart shapes

Molly getting in on some of the center action

Molly likes preschool

Circle time at the end of our morning.

Project Life

2010-02-02T06:01:00.001-08:00

This ones for all you avid (or non-avid) scrapbookers out there. I was introduced to Project Life in late December through Jessica at The Mom Creative and I debated about purchasing a kit. I just started Molly's first year scrapbook and our family album stops in September of 2008. In other words I feel so behind!! (You know these are the things that we moms worry about at night!) So anywho after much consideration I decided that I'm going to forge ahead, ask for a kit for my birthday (which is in one week) and concentrate on keeping up in 2010. The idea behind Project Life is so simple. You take a picture a day and then you put together a two page spread focusing on each week. Or you could do a month spread or a vacation spread. However you want it to look. Jessica is even doing a blog post every Tuesday entitled Project Life Tuesday where she displays the pictures she's using in her Project Life album for the previous week. The awesome thing about Project Life is that everything is prepared for you (journaling cards, paper and more). You just add your pictures and put it together. No trips to Hobby Lobby buying paper, embellishments, stickers, etc, although I've fallen in love with rub-ons. (I think I have a small fortune of scrapbook accessories in my craft room). Or, and I've so done this, going to a scrapbook event and taking your 5 piece luggage set to transport all your stuff. Project Life comes organized in one box!

So all you scrapbookers out there, would you like to join me in this process? For more information about Project Life check out its creator Becky Higgins. She answers all your questions on her website. She also has a digital version available. Happy Scrapbooking!!

Finger Painting Fun

2010-01-20T16:43:00.001-08:00

Tonight we broke out the art supplies for Molly's first finger painting experience

Ready to go in our "Daddy shirts"

"Hmmm...what is this stuff..."

"Maybe a paint brush might help"

Master painter Sophie

"This works much better!"

"Oooh, this is sticky..."

"I like it!"

Tutu Cute

2010-01-15T06:29:00.001-08:00

The girls found their tutus I had made for them this past fall. Of course we had to try them on and dance around. Yes, I'm raising a bunch of girly girls! :)

Sophie completed the outfit with her Cinderella shoes

Miss Molly, ignore the drool soaked shirt, we're teething

House Pictures

2010-01-08T18:20:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures of the main floor of our house. Yes there are toys scattered all over, I have two children, don't judge. :)

This shot is taken from the living room looking at the front entrance. The double doors to the left of the front door is Ryan's office which looks like this

Refer back to the first picture, this is our playroom (technically a dining room but we currently have more toys than nice dishes and place settings)

Shot from the windows in the playroom, the door to the left of the stairs goes to the basement, other side of the half wall is our living room

Hop over the half wall and stand in front of the fireplace, this is the view from the living room into the kitchen. Door to the porch on the right. There is a half bath on the left (not pictured) and that hallway on the left is this

Coat closet on the left, pantry on the right and the door leads to the garage (oh, fantastic lovely garage which means no more scraping ice or snow for me!)

View from the kitchen into the living room

So there it is, I have not taken pictures of the upstairs yet but I will and I'll post as soon as I do.

Catching Up

2010-01-05T19:15:00.000-08:00

Well, I know it's been awhile since I've posted. Much has happened including moving, Molly's first birthday party (the same weekend), and the holiday season from November to January. It might take me a few posts to crank out picture highlights from these events. This post, however, is dedicated to our new house.

We had our walk through on Friday, October 9th where went over everything about our house and wrote up a list of changes we wanted made. A little over a week later on Monday, October 19th, Ryan walked through the house again and signed off on the house saying that everything was how we wanted it and the house is complete. Then we waited...and waited....and waited some more. There was something with the bank and processing our mortgage and the government (don't get me started) and it all added up to us not getting into our house. It was so hard knowing that our beautiful house was sitting there completely finished and we couldn't move in. We got to the end of October, celebrated Molly's first birthday on the 29th, Halloween and Fall Fest on the 31st. My parents graciously offered to host Molly's first birthday party at their house on November 7th since it didn't look like we would be in our house yet. Then it happened. I was driving from Sophie's dance class down to the chiropractor on the 6th (a typical Friday for me and the girls) when Ryan called saying to get someone to watch the girls, we're closing on our at 4pm. Oh, I was so excited I started crying. I met my friend Katie in the parking lot of our chiropractor (who also happens to be her husband) and we were hugging and crying and oh so excited!!

My parents and sister Katelyn helped with the girls that night while the entire Miersma/Decker clan (including my sister in law's parents) packed our entire house (I had about 10 boxes packed in the basement). A few loads later everything was in our new house. Ryan and I slept on our mattress on the floor of our new bedroom that night. The next day dawned bright and early and absolutely gorgeous. We woke to a brilliant sunrise that only God could create! It was beautiful. Ryan met the movers at our old house to bring over the couches, piano and other large objects while Sophie and I ventured out to pick up stuff for Molly's party. The day was perfect, Molly's party was so much fun and the weather was awesome, we even played outside for awhile.

We absolutely love our new house. It has been such fun to have friends and family over. We are blessed to have the space to do that now and we're taking full advantage of it. God has given us a great gift and we are so thankful to Him.

Pictures will be posted soon of the new house :)

Until then, I leave you with this

House Happenings - September 30th

2009-09-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

Wow! I was hoping to update our blog more frequently with the progress on our house, but everything is happening so quickly I cannot keep up! Most everything in the interior is now installed. We have cabinets, counter tops, sinks, toilets, thermostat, vent covers, doors, door handles, paint, wood flooring, laminate flooring, CARPET (just today), shelves, appliances, a fireplace...there are probably more and I can't remember right now. It sounds like they should be finished in two weeks! We are so excited, yet the daunting task of packing lies before me. HELP! :)

Kitchen with finished cabinets, counter tops, appliances and tiled back splash (new today)

New Carpet (YES!! Now to keep the dog hair off!)

Carpeted stairs going up from the living room.

House Happenings - September 28th

2009-09-30T19:00:00.001-07:00

Kitchen cabinets installed (there are more behind the island)

fireplace completed

Countertops installed (laminate countertops installed in bathrooms)

Lighting through out house is installed

Island with sink and dishwasher looking into the living room

I'm excited about my new, DEEP sink! :)

House Happenings - September 4th

2009-09-05T13:59:00.001-07:00

We have insulation, drywall, partial siding and a back deck.

Everything is going so fast with this house.

Siding is complete on the sides and back of the house

Half wall separating the dining room (aka playroom)

from the family room

My mom and Molly standing at the island in the kitchen

The door on the right goes out to the back deck

The hall to the left leads to a coat closet, pantry and the garage

(Picture taken from the family room, by fireplace)

Back deck

Ryan and my bedroom

Sophie in my hobby room

Open rec room at top of stairs

House Happenings - September 1st

2009-09-05T13:50:00.000-07:00

Today we visited the house to find that all of the electrical

and plumbing is installed. The driveway and front stoop are poured

and the siding is beginning to go on.

They are also working on our back deck.
We found piles of drywall waiting to be installed in each room

which Sophie loved to climb on.

Side of the house where siding is going up.

Sophie taking the "short cut" between our bathroom

and Molly's bedroom.

Sophie on the drywall in her bedroom.

On the front porch of our house!

House Happenings - August 25th

2009-09-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

Our house is now fully framed with the roof and shingles on, windows in,

and garage doors installed.

Our garage

The girls bathroom

House Happenings

2009-08-19T19:24:00.001-07:00

They started framing our house today!

We drove by this evening to check out the progress.

Right side of the house - the window on the very bottom is the basment

Front view

Left side

Backyard

We had a meeting with our builder on Tuesday and they are expected to be done by mid to late October!

Molly's 9 Month Pictures

2009-08-19T19:04:00.000-07:00

On Monday my sister Sarah was down from Grand Rapids and took Molly's 9 month pictures for me. She did a FANTASTIC job! I'm currently potty training Sophie and while we were trying to take the pictures she decided it would be fun to run around naked. Plus we had our 80lb black lab, Ginger and Sarah's mini-dachshund Rilo chasing each other around our house. Sarah did a great job and got some wonderful shots amid the chaos.

Thank you Aunt Sarah for your beautiful work!!

A Nice Surprise

2009-08-09T18:32:00.001-07:00

Last Wednesday Ryan just happened to drive by our lot and found this

We couldn't believe it! They had broken ground already!! He called me immediately and I ran over with my camera to get a few photos. When I drove by Thursday night they had the molds up and they were pouring concrete for our walls. By Friday we had a basement!

We stopped by after church this morning and took a few pictures of our basement!

This is looking at the front of our house. The garage is on the left.

This is looking from the back corner of the house. We have a daylight basement.

Here's Ryan standing in the garage. Where he is standing will eventually be filled in with dirt.

Our New House

2009-07-25T19:21:00.000-07:00

So I have been so excited to share with everyone that we are building a new house!!!! We just made all of our final selections (interior and exterior) on Friday and had the lot transfer done, so now we own our little slice of heaven in Texas Township. This has been an ongoing process since May. Everything and I mean everything of this has just been incredibly blessed and Ryan and I feel that God is in every part of this exciting phase.

The builder that we are working with has an incentive program (they actually stopped doing this a bit ago, we just got in) where they will buy your current house from you if you choose to build with them. Yeah, it seems to good to be true, right? Well, we decided to start the process and the builder explained that if any point we felt uncomfortable with things we could end it and that would be that. Remember how I said God was in this? The builder gave us an offer on our house and we felt we just couldn't do it. So we decided to just step back and wait. We prayed and prayed and I even prayed that the builder would come back and offer us a specific number. (Remember God is in this...) A week later they called us and offered us the EXACT amount I had been praying for. Praise the Lord, He is so good!!

I just can't even begin to express how overwhelmed I feel from the outpouring of God's love and grace to us over this house. We have been through so much over the past two years with Ryan's job and the ups and downs of him being gone so much. I'd be lying to say that we didn't struggle in our marriage, in our family and personally in my faith. But my God is FAITHFUL!! "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 I have held that verse so close to my heart and I believe it has become our family's verse that we cling to. No matter what we have to deal with God will continue to be faithful and He will continue to provide and give us hope and a future. This has been such a fun process for Ryan and I to share together. We have enjoyed every moment of it. It has been so smooth and I know it's because God has already paved the way for us. Every item that we had to check off our list to build this house He has taken care of. Praise You Lord!!!

My friends, I cannot wait to be able to invite you all over to our new house. To take what God has blessed us with and use it to share His love with our family and friends. We are just a couple weeks out from breaking ground and then it will be an 8 week build. We will be in this house late October/early November. We took the girls to our lot today and took some pictures. I hope to get over there once a week when the building process starts to take pictures and keep everyone updated. Thank you for all the prayers you have lifted up on our behalf. You are all so dear and wonderful to us!

Sophie and Ryan checking things out

Warning: Picture Overload

2009-07-25T18:23:00.000-07:00

Hello! Wow it's been awhile but we have had many adventures over the past month. We had a two week stretch that included four vacations. Somehow they all got lumped together this summer. Our first trip took Sophie, Molly and me down to Indiana to visit my cousin Megan and her family. Megan and her husband Jake have Cole (3), twins Maurah and Hayden (1) and Megan is pregnant with another girl due early November. Cole and Sophie played so well together and Molly was enthralled with Maurah and Hayden.

Cole and Sophie - partners in crime

Molly tested out the babyswing - loved it!

Sophie and Hayden - Hayden was my little buddy while we

were there and she is always up for smiling at the camera

We arrived home from Indiana, packed up our tent and sleeping bags and headed up to Cran-Hill Ranch for the big Brouwer Family camping event. Ryan's mom's side of the family (there are over 60 of us, Molly is the 16th great-grandchild, it's really awesome) has camped over the fourth of July at Cran-Hill for a long time and it is always a blast to get everyone together. Especially with all the little ones running around. Sophie and Molly didn't do so hot in the tent at night, and despite it being very cold for July, we had so much fun anyway.

Sophie and Grandpa Bill

I have a video from last year of Sophie crying while Ryan attempted to
get her to ride a horse. Well, this year our little cowgirl LOVED
the horses (she did not get that from her mommy).
She looked so sweet up there on that big horse and
did not want to get off when her turn ended.

Sophie and my niece Madelyn. Those two are inseperable!

Yummy pancake breakfast (she'll eat anything with jelly on it,
especially the good stuff, strawberry freezer jam)

My sweet Molly Jean

Friday night we packed up the tent and drove to my grandparents cottage to spend time with my dad's side of the family on the 4th of July. I only took a few pictures (I'm sure my mom has plenty on her camera). It was a bit chilly but warmed up nicely in the afternoon.

Sophie and Papa fishing or playing the "Sophie drops things
in the water and Papa gets them" game

After we got back from the cottage, I unpacked, washed and then packed up again to head out to the Wisconsin Dells with my parents and sister Katelyn. Again, we left Ryan home, but I guess someone has to work. :) We had a wonderful time and I hate to say it but I did not take a single picture while we were there. I left that up to my mom and Katelyn. The Dells are total tourist trap but they have some great water and amusement parks. We really enjoyed it!

Last but not least we arrived home from the Dells, packed up the camper, picked up Ryan and drove up to Holland State Park to spend some time with the Miersma family. We only see them twice a year and it is always fun to catch up with everyone. Again, tons of little ones running around so we're always busy but it's a blast!

Molly and Mommy on the beach

Sophie and Molly in the pop-up camper

Whew! So after camping in Holland we drove home and this picture of Molly about sums it up!

Sophie's Dance Debut

2009-06-15T19:35:00.001-07:00

Sophie performed in her first dance recital this past Saturday. She did so well and I was so proud of her! Sophie's class had five kids ages 2-3 and they were the youngest to perform. Her friends Wyatt and Ella (my good friend Katie's kids, she owns the dance studio) were in her class and poor Wyatt just wasn't interested in peforming. Sophie is on the left followed by Lola, Ella and Emma. Hope you enjoy the video - and if you shed a tear, I will totally understand! I got all choked up at her recital, my baby is growing up!

Why I Love My Job

2009-05-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

My little arts and crafts girl

Molly loves to eat and wear baby food

Little Miss. Hot Stuff started sitting up by herself today

Sophie is always ready to pose with her sister

Need I say more?

I love my job!!

Jesus In His Eyes

2009-05-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

This past Wednesday evening I had the extreme priviledge of meeting Pastor Benard Ondiek from Wachara, Kenya. Talking with him left me speechless and in tears. An incredible man of deep, deep faith.

To give you a little backstory, my dad went to Africa last May with a few other pastors from the Kalamazoo area. They visited various missions and schools that had been established in Africa and mainly in Kenya and Uganda to help children orphaned by AIDS. During this visit they met Pastor Benard and visited his school for young children and also the seminary school he started to train pastors for churches in Kenya. My dad came back from that trip a changed man. He said that he had never seen anything like the poverty in Africa. All of the kids... just everywhere you looked there were children with no parents or grandparents to watch or take care of them. My dad also couldn't stop talking about Pastor Benard and what a incredible man he was and how he had made such an impact my dad.

So when we found out that Pastor Benard was going to be in the states for a book tour my dad snatched him up to come and visit our church so that all of us could meet him. We all gathered in the sanctuary at 7pm Wednesday night to hear about everything Pastor Benard is doing. But my dad started by asking Pastor Benard about his faith story. Benard didn't find Jesus until later on in life. And he said that he only went to church because a friend of his hounded him for months on end. But that first time he attended worship, he found his Savior. He became a pastor and started to help children and families who had been affected by AIDS.

There is much more to his story than just that, but I can't even begin to tell all that he said about God's faithfulness. Pastor Benard found himself in so many situations where he needed help to continue to help the children but he didn't know where else to turn. He relied on his faith in God and knew that God would always keep His promises. I began to think of my own faith. How tiny and small I felt. Looking at the problem of AIDS and poverty and all the cruelty in this world and all I can do is sit and cry for those children. Cry for those who are abandoned, for those who will never feel loved. The ones who will starve...

God promises that He see each one of those children. 2 Peter 2:9 says, "The LORD knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgement." God knows all wickedness in this world. Nothing will go unnoticed by our God. I believe God has a deep love for all of us, but even more sensitivity for His little ones. He will be the great Protector.

After Pastor Benard was finished speaking about his story and the work he is doing (and I have never witnessed a more humble speaker) we had a chance to meet and talk with him. I waited in line to have my book signed. I introduced myself as Pastor Mark's daughter and he looked at me with so much love in his eyes and told me how wonderful my dad is. As I spoke with him about the kids in his school about how right now the government is shutting down the kitchen they use to feed them every day (because it's not up to their standards, yet the government won't do anything to help all the starving people) he looked straight into my eyes and I could see such a strong, deep faith. Faith that never waivered. He knew God would provide a kitchen for those kids. It was like looking at the eyes of Jesus. My eyes started to tear up and I could feel myself starting to lose it. I looked to my husband for support (which I think he was thinking "you're crazy woman") and I told Pastor Benard just that. You have eyes full of faith!

I will be forever changed by Pastor Benard. To see someone that has so little but by faith is able to do so much is just amazing to me. Something that only God can accomplish. I'm currently reading the book written about him. "Benard's Vision - The Quest of a Kenyan Pastor" and it is wonderful. For more information about Pastor Benard and the wonderful things he is doing in Kenya please visit http://www.benardsvision.com/

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth,

whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine,

you did for me.'

Matthew 25:40

2009-04-23T08:29:00.000-07:00

So I love being able to post videos on our blog - and it's super easy which is always a bonus. This one is from this morning. Sophie loves to play on mommy and daddy's bed. She bounces around, carefully (after my sister slamming her mouth into my parents headboard when she was 2 it freaks me out!) And she loves to pretend she's going to bed under the covers. She's quite the character. Molly, as always, laughs at Sophie's antics. So much fun having my sweet girls! :)

Sweet Little Girls

2009-04-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

I took this video while getting the girls ready for bed tonight. So wonderful to watch them interact with each other. I was especially excited to get Sophie saying "Jesus" on camera. We talk and sing about Jesus all the time. It is so sweet to hear her little voice say the name of our precious Savior. Enjoy!

The Dress

2009-04-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

Can I just say how much I LOVE Holy Week? Everything about it from the kids waving palm branches on Palm Sunday to the final rejoicing of our risen Savior on that blessed Easter morning is magical to me. My parents placed a deep love for Jesus and the church in me when I was very young. We were always at church and always serving and continuously communing with other believers. I have wonderful memories of events and specific services at church from my childhood. Probably the one that sticks out the most is Easter Sunday. Every year I would receive a new dress for Easter. My mom would either make one for my sisters and me (I know, she's wonder woman) or we would have one of the store bought variety. I remember one year specifically (I think I was 5 or 6) I even had the white hat and a purse to go with. I enjoyed the whole process of picking out a new dress or going with my mom to the fabric store and selecting the right pattern, fabric, lace and buttons and when I put the perfect dress on Easter morning I felt so pretty and so special. This year I took the time of choosing just the right dresses for my girls. I wanted them to feel pretty and special just like I did for so many years. It's silly, right? To spend so much time on something so insignificant like dresses. But as an adult I think of how my mom took the time so make me feel as special as I did. And I want to do the same for my girls.

As I reflect on the Cross and everything that Jesus sacrificed on our behalf I think back on all the Easter dresses I have worn and all the dresses my girls will wear. Everyone of them will be special and make us feel beautiful, but none of them can compare to the garment of grace and redemption that our Savior has clothed us in. By the shedding of His blood we are forgiven!! Praise You Jesus!

So today I put on my girls dresses and praised God for giving us the ultimate Easter dress, His love! Happy Easter from The Miersmas!

Pictures

2009-03-30T18:59:00.000-07:00

I recently realized that I hadn't taken any pictures of Molly in quite awhile. Poor baby already has second child syndrome. Sophie's latest thing it to say "hold her" in request to hold Molly. It's really cute to hear her say it and right after she asks she'll run and jump on the couch with her arms out all ready to receive her baby sister. I figured this would be a perfect photo opportunity (and of course a chance to redeem myself) so here are just a couple from our photo session this afternoon.

Molly can now somewhat hold her own with Sophie. She has figured out that her only line of defense is to grab Sophie's hair and it works pretty well.

She is such a happy baby (and yes, she is like this all the time)!

Showing off her sweet Sunday dress with Grandma (my mom).

New Videos

2009-03-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

Sophie animal sounds and colors @ Yahoo! Video

I was trying to capture Sophie singing "Away in a Manger" and "Jesus Loves Me" on video but she was not willing to comply with mommy's request. I did however get her saying a few of her favorite animal sounds, her colors and just being her goofy self.

Molly Talking 3-18-09 @ Yahoo! Video

Molly has been quite the little vocalist lately. She loves to laugh, squeal and talk. She has been starting to babble making "B" sounds. This video captures her fun giggles and squeals. Sorry if it's a bit shaky. I was trying to get close to her to make her laugh.

Enjoying the Weather

2009-03-15T17:36:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying this glorious weather! Sophie asks to go outside constantly so it was fun to get out and play this past weekend.

Sophie and Ryan using the bubble mower

Molly loved sitting in her stroller outside

Every girl needs a four-wheeler, especially if it's hot pink
(thanks to my Aunt Susan and Uncle David for that fun toy)

"Ta-da!" - She learned this one in dance class and it's the only way

I can get her to stand still and look at the camera for a picture :)

This past week Molly started rice cereal which has been a fun adventure. She's not a huge fan of it (see picture below) but I mixed in some baby food bananas tonight and she seemed to like the flavorful combination.

This was taken right after her first couple bites.

I love how most of it is falling out of her mouth.

And last but not least a fun picture of Sophie and Ryan - partners in crime!

Picture Time

2009-03-04T20:28:00.000-08:00

We are currently going through Extreme Makeover: Miersma Edition at our house. Well, let me repeat that, I'm going though Extreme Makeover: Miersma Edition at our house. Molly and Sophie are just along for the ride. (Did I mentioned I dragged them through Hobby Lobby tonight?) And Ryan doesn't care what I change as long as I don't involve him. He hates painting and I wouldn't blame him. Since we bought our house in August 2005 I have touched every room with a paintbrush. I know, I think I have a problem. I have removed wallpaper, painted, repainted after my husband lovingly painted our bathroom while I was pregnant with Sophie (there was paint on the ceiling, even though I taped for him and there were drips everywhere. He took my Grandpa Ted's advice "If you don't want to do something again, do it wrong the first time" a little too seriously, thanks Grandpa!) Anyway, I think my issue is that I get bored with something easily so I feel the need to change it up a bit. I like change and usually thrive on it. I guess I should say that lightly...you never know what God has in store! :) I'm repainting Sophie and Molly's rooms. I will post pictures of the rooms as soon as I finish. I just painted Molly's room tonight so Sophie is next. In the meantime here is a link to some pictures we had taken of the girls last week for your viewing pleasure:

https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0313112166JCP

When it asks for the customer name type EMILY MIERSMA

Molly Talking

2009-02-25T19:04:00.000-08:00

Molly Talking @ Yahoo! Video

Success

2009-02-25T18:43:00.000-08:00

Pictures tonight were successful! Sophie decided right away that she would cooperate and we got a few good "cheeses" from her and then she was done. Molly was as smiley as ever and the photographer took some adorable pictures. Of course you then stand there and feel guilty for not purchasing every stinkin' picture. They will be posted online and as soon as they are up I'll post a link to them.

Now for an update on the girls. We have finally gotten over all our colds (at least for the time being) so everyone is pretty happy at our house. Molly will be fourth months in a few days and she is growing, growing, growing. It is so much fun to watch her discover new things she can do. She has a few baby toys that she loves to play with and she figured out that she can squeal, which is quite fun to watch and listen to. Sophie's language is continuing to develop. She is copying every word we say. Colors are her favorite thing to talk about. Everything used to be yellow, but now she has discovered purple, blue and green too. She is also starting to learn about names. Since Molly was born Sophie has called her either girl or sister (sometimes sissy) but has recently been calling her "Ma" which I guess works. I asked her this morning if she was excited to go to church and play with her friends (we had MOPS, Mothers of Preschoolers, this morning) and right away she said "LaLa" which means her friend Ella. I then asked her who else she plays with and she told me "Tyer" which means her friend Tyler. I was so excited to hear her associate her friends with their names and that she understands who her friends are. She talked about "Tyer" all the way to church and I was told later that she spent the morning dragging a few boys (including Tyler) around by the hand. One of the nursery helpers snapped a picture of Sophie with a boy on each hand. Oh Sophie, just wait until your Daddy hears about this one. ;)

Well, that is us in a nutshell right now! I'm editing a video of Molly squealing right now and will be posting that soon. Have a great night!

Love,
Emily

Here We Go

2009-02-25T11:24:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I finally decided to join the blogging world. I had been debating about it for awhile and after getting the approval from the hubbie (Emily: "Hey, I'm thinking about starting a blog." Ryan: "Okay, whatever you want.") here we are with the first installment on The Miersma Family blog. I know, it's thrilling! ;) Anyway, I hope that this will be a fun way to keep all our family and friends updated on what is going on in the Miersma household. I'm just getting this thing started so hopefully I'll be able to get back on tonight and give a good update on the girls. Pray for us, we have pictures tonight - always an adventure! Love you all!