Girly Me Missions

My girlz have a website called "Girly Me Missions". It's a little ministry they started with some of their friends. They crochet and make things to sell and all of their profits are donated to Project Hope Worldwide. I'm so proud of them for using their talents to serve God and others. They totally do this on their own and truly have a passion for what they are doing. They have some pretty cute stuff on their site so check them out ;-)

This is what "M" made this weekend and will be adding it to their website soon.

A super cute outfit for dolls...

And a cup cozy with a crocheted flower attached...

One of my favorite things on their website are these adorable sleeping bags that my girlz friend, Emily, makes. They are the perfect size for Webkinz or American Girl dolls...

And "A" made a whole bunch of bracelets for me to give to the kids that I meet in Uganda on my upcoming trip...

Another sweet girl with a big heart is a friend of my girlz, Makenzie. She has a website called "Punky Monkey Missions". She also makes things and donates her profits to charity. Her latest "adventure" is making mats for the homeless from plarn, which is made from recycled plastic bags. Makenzie has been asking for donations of bags and has received a TON! Recycling for a great cause - love it! At Girl's Club last week, all the girls pitched in and actually made 2 HUGE balls of plarn which will make it much easier for Makenzie to crochet into mats. They had a blast making it ...

Loooove those girls! Such big hearts ;-)

Craft Night With Friends

I love to read the Keeper's Ministry blog and I especially love to read it at Christmas time because they post FaBuLoUs gift giving ideas that you can make. One day last week, a couple of friends of mine came over and we had a Craft Night. We loooove Craft Night because it's a fun time of hanging out -  gabbing, eating and creating!

My friend, Brandi, got her inspiration from the Keeper's Ministry blog here - it's a "Family Rules" canvas. I looooove it! She did a great job and I can't wait to copy it someday ;-)

My friend, Jessica, actually found a craft in a closet at home that's been tucked away for years that she had never started. It's a cute little Santa frame with kind of a vintage Christmas theme. It turned out so adorable! Love it!!!

And I also got my inspiration from the Keeper's Ministry blog. They are scrapbooked wooden letter blocks. Here's how they turned out...

Such fun - looking forward to the next Craft Night. I think I'm going to try my hand at the Wipe-Off Boards made from picture frames. I think they'd make neat Christmas gifts!

Our Family Photos

Photos by Brandi Simons

If Earth Was a Golf Ball

This video was played at our church yesterday. It's by Louie Giglio and called "How Great Is Our God". It's one of the best messages I've ever heard - especially great if you don't believe in God or if you are questioning your faith. It sure puts things into perspective of how small we are and how great God is.



If you liked that video, you'll like this one sung by Chris August.

Co-Op Mom's Bunco Night Out!

Photos taken by Cheri Burt & Nicole Warren

A Backwards Birthday Party

"M" celebrated her 11th birthday last night at a super fun party place in Collinsville called Soiree. My friends, Misty and Fawn, are the owners and they know how to do a party up right! This is such a busy time of the year and with my trip coming up - it was a HUGE blessing for me to leave the party planning to the professionals! And I'm pretty sure this was one of "M's" favorites of all time!

She wanted to have a "Backwards Party" but it wasn't one of the options Soiree had available. However, they were very flexible and ended up liking the idea so much, they added it to their list of themes! I think I had as much fun as the girls did - I can't even remember the last time I laughed so much.

Their windows were decorated super cute for Christmas. And the inside was decorated with "M's" favorite color scheme - black, pink and white. Since it was a Backwards Party, everyone wore their clothes backwards or inside out - they all looked so hilarious! When the girls arrived at the party, Misty and Fawn yelled, "Goodbye! I hope you had a great time! See you later!" The girls received name tags with their names written backwards and the entire night was spent trying to say things backwards or the opposite of something. I'm pretty sure I drove everyone nuts by the end of the night taking pics and yelling out corny things like, "Look away!", "Spread apart and frown for the picture!", etc. Parents are supposed to be corny, though, right?! 

Shortly after everyone arrived, we sang "You To Birthday Happy!"...

Then it was time to eat. We had pizza - AFTER cake, of course. Steve's mother made some AwEsOmElY cute and yummy backwards cupcakes (frosting on the inside). The chairs were on the tables so the girls had to eat their food underneath - it cracked me up! While the girls were eating, everyone shared what they "didn't" like about "M"...

Backwards Musical Chairs was next...

Followed up with opening gifts, then a fun game of "Sardines" - a.k.a. Backwards Hide and Seek (the next few videos are dark because the lights were out)...

Of course, they did some karaoke-ing...

And we finished the night with a little Cha Cha Slide...

Such a fun party! I highly recommend Soiree to anyone seeking a place to have a birthday party or special occasion! They did a FAB job!!!

Happy 11th Birthday, Sweet Girl!

Our oldest daughter, "M", turned 11 yesterday. I did a slideshow for "A" for her last birthday so I thought I'd do one for "M" this year. It's kinda long and I don't expect anyone to watch it - I just wanted to make it as a keepsake for her. She has brought our family so much joy and even though it's kinda sad to see her grow up, I thank God every day for the sweet, young lady she has become. She's beautiful inside and out and has such a heart for serving others. Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

Our Annual Trip to Branson

This time every year, we go to Branson with Steve's parents and his sister and her family. We have a great time being together as a family and celebrating birthdays. This year we celebrated Steve's mom and sister's birthday, along with my nephew, Riley, and "M" is turning 11 in a few days so we celebrated her birthday, too.

We typically stay at the Thousand Hills Condos but this year and the last time we went, we stayed at The Majestic. It's the perfect size for our three families to stay in one condo...

We spent Sunday at Silver Dollar City. This is the best time of the year to go because they have all their Christmas decorations out and we love to watch the Christmas shows and parades...

Our 8 year-old, Abby, is on this ride with her cousin and uncle. I wanted to ride it, but it was too cold outside for me so I wimped out!

And here's another fast ride "A" and her cousin rode. Too swirly for me!

The best part of the night - watching the lighting of their HUGE Christmas tree and singing Christmas carols...

And on our last day in Branson, we went shopping at Tanger Outlet then to what we call the "Christmas Village". They have lots of neat shops, including our favorite, "Kringles Christmas Shop". The girls always pick out an ornament for our tree there every year. Since they started horse back riding lessons this year and are way into horses, they naturally picked out horse ornaments...

Can't wait to go again next year - such fun memories!

Jars of Clay & Brandon Heath Concert

We recently saw Jars of Clay and Brandon Heath in concert with our friends, the Lee's. I'm kind of nutso about concerts and haven't been to one in a while so it was great to see them live. Here's a few pics from our fun night out...

A Nice Surprise

My dad was in town yesterday for a CPA Convention at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. After it was over, we met him for dinner then he came to our house for a visit.

He surprised me with a DVD he had made from slides he found of my birth. Yes, I said "slides". I'm that old. And yes, most of them are in black and white. I just thought it was really cool because I have never seen any of these pictures before. I was born in an army hospital in Augsburg, Germany and of course, back then, men weren't allowed to be in the birthing rooms. He did take a lot of pictures, though. He was really into photography at the time and loved taking pictures and developing his own photos. It was neat to see pics of the hospital itself, the doctor who delivered me, my nurse and of course, I love to see the pictures of my parents holding me. Here's some of the photos he took...

Pics at the hospital -

Pics post-hospital -

I'm so glad to have these now and look forward to seeing more as he comes across them!

Girl Time at Purple Glaze

The girlz and I love to paint any time we get a chance and I just happened to have a Groupon for Purple Glaze burnin' a hole in my pocket so we went for a little outing one day last week. We had so much fun and the girlz created some BeAuTiFuL masterpieces...

Knitting Mochimochi

My good friend, Brandi Simons, is a free-lance photographer and has been working on a very fun project within the last year-and-a-half or so. A friend of hers, Anna Hrachovec, is an extremely talented and creative knitter and has made some very fun creations. Anna was actually sought out by Random House and was asked to write a book with her knitting patterns and creations. So Anna asked Brandi to take the photos for her book. It was a perfect collaboration! They worked super hard and came out with an AmAzInG book that was recently published and is now available for sale.

Brandi is known for her artistic and innovative photos and came up with some very imaginative backgrounds, locations and props for the pictures in the book. She and Anna wanted to pay tribute to their Oklahoma roots, so everyone in the book and all of the sites in the photos were actually from Oklahoma. Our family was asked to be in one of the photo shoots so, of course, we couldn't turn that down! It was at Skates Roller Skating Center in Sand Springs. You can see part of the book on Amazon here. Our skating photo is towards the front and we were even thanked on the Acknowledgements page - something's wrong with that! We should be thanking them for letting us take part in their book. It was so fun and my girlz have great memories from taking the photos.

I am so super proud of both Anna and Brandi! They did a great job and even did a book signing last week at Loops at Utica Square. I took the girlz because we wanted to show our support for Brandi - plus, I knew they would love the store! We walked in and their mouths dropped open! Being crocheters, themselves, they were in yarn heaven. Anna spoke about some of the toys she knitted and Brandi shared how she got some of the shots for the book. They sold out of their copies of books and had a great turnout from friends, family & fans!

If you'd like to learn more about Anna and her work, you can read some articles on-line here...

Make Space for Crafting

Podcast Interview with Anna

The Weird, Knitted World of Anna Hrachovec

So now you know what you need to do. You need to go buy this book for all of your friends and family for Christmas! And you can do so right here! What are you waiting for?! Go! Shop! Check out Mochimochi Land! It's fun stuff! ;-)

Field Trip: Kid's World International Festival

Kids' World International Festival 2010

A Global Odyssey

Tulsa Fairgrounds - Exchange Center
November 4,5,6

My Little Cowgirlz

For about the last year or so, my girlz have fallen in love with horses. They've been wanting to take riding lessons for a while now but with the cost of lessons being so high and being the paranoid mother that I am of an accident waiting to happen, I've put it off. Well, a friend of mine from our homeschool co-op put together a special class for homeschoolers and was able to get a great rate. It was too good to pass up, so I caved.

The girlz had their first riding lesson today. The ranch is Shepherd's Fold and their teacher is Teresa. She does an awesome job with horses and is great with the kids. She a big fan of The Horse Whisperer and taught the kids to befriend the horse, yet show that they are boss, before riding. The kids all had a great time and learned so much on their first day. My girlz loved it so much they didn't want to leave so they are already counting down the days to the next lesson! Here's some pics and videos from their fun day...

Fun Fall Activities

Owasso Chili Festival and Fall Harvest

Saturday, October 23, 2010...

Halloween Carnival at Harold Elementary in Collinsville

Tuesday, October 26, 2010...

Halloween Party at Classroom Corner in Owasso...

Trick-or-Treating with Family and Friends...

DBF Girls Choir

The DBF Girls Choir sang, "Great and Greatly" in church yesterday. They are all such sweet girls with big hearts :-)