Fall Decorating

 Leaves on sticks. Looks kinda crazy, but I like it and that part of the room needed something tall. 

 

We stayed home today, despite 3 major things we were to do today including church. It has been a long season of sickness for all of us. RA, backs, asthma, colds.  Super down about missing church again and I sat down to read my blog list and saw another mama in my shoes, read her thoughtful words here.

 My favorite family picture, a clearance Anthropologie C, and the little fall bouquet I bought my Grandma Lois the last fall she was with us.

 

The girls wanted to decorate for fall and it was a perfect day to do so. You can only watch so many movies.

I have too many pictures in frames and now I am putting out seasonal pictures in frames. The girls and all their cousins in pajamas and Christmas clothes along with our December wedding and anniversary pictures will probably replace these of last year taken by the amazing Mickie Winters when we decorate after Thanksgiving. I like this blog post about a Halloween Photo Garland and just might do that too.

This was what the 3 and 5 year old did. On the couch side table Mike and I share they chose a pitcher that Mike made in high school pottery class. It has a spider on it and we usually only use it around Halloween. The were ecstatic when they found it and we decided to keep the remotes in it until we redecorate for Christmas. Want to make 2 kids happy, let them decorate and fold their own laundry. Who knew?

List #5: Hibernation activities

Hibernation: to pass the winter in a torpid or resting state
Torpid: having lost motion or the power of exertion or feeling

We are hibernating. In these cold months we have had colds, viruses, stomach flu, RA, back injuries, etc. We are in a resting state. We have lost motion. I think I am OK with that. Some of of our inside winter activities I had planned to do as Advent activities and round 1 and 2 of Mr. stomach flu pushed those back to January.

Here are some of the things we have been doing to keep the fun going around here while at home so much.

Muffin Tin Rainbow Lunch: Freeze dried Strawberries, Goldfish,
Barilla plus pasta, Peas, Blueberry juice, and an Oreo (see I totally break my own rules).

• Muffin tin lunches. Does your one to two year old only eat processed snack food to sustain herself and even then only a tiny bit a day. D did this at that age and Mags is on the same track. I think it is partly all the teething that takes place and partly the new found battle of wills, etc. I remembered reading about muffin tin lunches in the blogoshere and looked them up. Basically it is adding fun to eating, packaging your meal into muffin tins or other cute containers. Most grown ups and kids fall for something if it's presentation/packaging is pleasing to the eye. Dorothy prefers her muffin tin lunch to be rainbow colors. I try to have just 1 or 2 to be a processed snack and at that hopefully with no corn syrup, since I know it makes my RA flair up. I don't always follow this. To each his own. This really does not take me much extra time, I just use what bits of food we have and don't make this complicated. The green cup is almost always peas or green grapes because in the winter those are some of the only green food we ever have :) As they get older, I see us branching out into themes to go along with the season or a favorite book. For example, look at these great examples: Thanksgiving, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Book, Valentine's Day.

• D is working on writing her name. She use to hold her pencil naturally and then I think her teacher and I both made comments on holding the pencil properly and she got nervous and now questions how to hold it. Well we had a million character band aids around that never stayed on when the girls needed them so we began using them as stickers. I wrapped her pencils with a Dora or Mickey and now she knows to place her grip where the band aid is. It really seems to help.

• D also needed a boost in her confidence about writing in general, not just her grip. She told her Aunt Dawn and I separately that it was one of the hardest parts of preschool (Is that not adorable?). While sick, we didn't spend as much fun time doing art or drawing at home, so I have a writer's work shop basket where she can doodle, draw, and explore whenever. It doesn't seem like such a chore now at preschool or when I give her specific tasks, because she has lots of opportunities to do it on her terms just the way she likes it (This is our approach for reading/letters/phonics too). Right now we have just a basket that can be put out of Mag's reach. When Mag's can be trusted to have pencil access it will be on a lower level for both of them to use whenever they want. Here is a super inspiring Writer's Workshop for young writers. Love it.
  

• Mags is really into sorting and stacking. Sometimes I help and show her colors and sizes, but a lot of times I just let her do it her own way and have fun. In the picture above she is lining up our Mickeys and Minnies by size. No that is not even all of the ones we own. I guess we hoard -I mean collect Mickeys and Minnies :)

• Speaking of hoarding. I watched a couple episodes of Hoarders to kick start a much needed donation pile in our home. We are going to be in this house a couple more years and we need to get rid of about 1/4 of our things since there is no space or need for them anymore. I though that show would kick me in the pants and inspire a house purge. Then I watched Toy Story 3. Darn it if those two shows don't cancel each other out....sob. That Andy and Woody. House reorganization to. be. continued...sob.
  

Just peeking in

Oh my. It has been a while hasn't it? Well you see I had a baby and all. However thanks to some dear friends Terri and Mickie who both recently joined the blogging community, I have been inspired to put blogging back in my life a bit again.

There have been times where I wonder what the point of blogging is, do people really need to know all this about me and do I really want people to know this much about me? What is the reason I have this online journal of sorts?

Mike and I had a really good talk about our life yesterday. We realized that I always say I want to have more structure in our life and he always wants to have more vision for our life. Then we realized that we basically mean the same thing. We both want to have a bit of a plan about how and why we do things.

He encouraged me that I am coming out of a really hard season: a taxing pregnancy (that was completely worth every second!) that also included some of the worst arthritis flair ups I've had, a long recovery from delivering Maggie, and the fact that we have two girls under two. But because we have been in some sort of survival mode since September, I am itching to put organization and structure in my life, our lives.

I am tempted to plan every detail of our life out on paper. Make charts of what needs to be done around our house, a checklist for what fun things to do this summer, and little lesson plans for Dorothy as she learns her colors, shapes, and numbers. That however is setting me up for failure. Sure I can make some lists, but every time I try to map our whole life on paper I just fail. So for the Cospers, we decided that casting simple visions of what our life could look like is the best way for us. Maybe not for everyone, but for us.

My vision casting is this...How can I live my life and glorify Christ in what I do. That means if I am a stay at home, which is my favorite job to date, then how can I do that and show Christ's love to my girls and those around me while we live our life? And as I blog about it how can I show Christ to those who read here?

So welcome again readers near and far. Faithful readers like Janie, Johanna, Alison, Emilee, Rose, and of course Ceece... oh and all you lurkers I may not know about. Leave me a note here or elsewhere and let me know if you are still reading. May I show you why Jesus Chirst is the most important thing in my life, whether I blog about changing diapers, sewing projects, or canning jam, I pray that I would not forget Romans 8: 1-4

¹Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ²because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. ³For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, ⁴in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Happy December! Thank you so much for all the love again. Our life is taking on a bit of normalcy. Mike is still in major back pain but we see a specialist this week. We have our 9th wedding anniversary on Thursday and we find out the gender of the baby on Monday! Here is a picture of Dorothy's first corndog. About 2 minutes later she had taken the "corn" off the "dog" and inhaled them both.

Some of my favorite moments...

I love how she discovers new things. Like peeking out of the door windows, waiting for daddy or visitors or seeing herself in a little mirror at a rest stop on vacation. Her face lights up. Three new things she has done in the last week: blowing kisses, "uh-oh", and pointing to her eyes when asked "where are your eyes?"

Please excuse the dirty windows, between a dog and a baby...what can I say?

Cultivate Beauty

This is one of my favorite parts of spring, our annual Cultivate Beauty Festival/Kill your TV at my church, Sojourn. The whole idea is to challenge everyone to make space for beauty in our lives by turning off our TVs and cultivating beauty around us. God is creator of all things and he has given us the ability to be creative ourselves. It is a way we can worship God by enjoying in his creation and being creative.

I personally have the goals/inspiration to watch MUCH less TV and spend MUCH MUCH less time on the Internet. I am planning on sewing, gardening, be more creative in playing with Dorothy, and reading more. I am also trying to learn how to use our camera beyond snapping pictures, but really taking care to take nice pictures. Hopefully you'll see evidence of my photography here.


So I challenge you to cultivate beauty, turn your TV or computer for example, just take a break from whatever keeps you bound up and not engaged in creativity.
Draw, write, sing, bake, garden, take pictures, go for a walk, go see a game, write a hand written letter, sew, paint... anything! Just cultivate beauty and thank God for all his beautiful creation.

Good Morning Louisville.

Good morning Louisville. I have the song "Good Morning Baltimore" going through my head you know from Hairspray? Only I really missed my little big town (or would you call Louisville a big little town?) So I am humming "Good morning Louisville". One thing I learned on my trip is that my Father -in - law agree that the original Hairspray movie is the best of the two. I really like the new one one but I LOVED the the original. It might be because it is a childhood staple and therefore I owe it my loyalties. I'll have to watch both of them back to back and really decide.

We had a nice 15 day trip. I checked emails some and got a sitereader update while there and I just wanted to thank all of you who check this blog whether I write anything or not!

Anyway, we drove to Miami via Atlanta, where Mike's grandma and uncle's family met Miss D for the first time. A wonderful visit! Then we went to Miami. Total driving over two days was about 20 hours to and from. D did great on the way down, she slept about the same times that she would have during her naps and talked to us (babbled :) and sang along with Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. She prefers music much more than books on tape (we listened to two David Sedaris, a Dave Barry, and the original unedited manuscript of Karouac's "On the Road")

We did a lot of seeing, sunning, and resting. Pictures are coming.
A few favorite things were:

• taking D to Papa's work were she charmed the ladies at Miami International Airport.
• Our days at the beach though, Mike and I were both so thrilled to be there the first day we applied sunscreen (spf 45) quickly and became striped for the remainder of the trip. Seriously it was stripes of pale right next to stripes of blistered sunburn. This prompted us not to take D to the beach on this vacation because the Miami sun is so brutal, luckily Nana and Dorothy had several days playing and bonding together while M and I were off getting sunburns!
• We met Bert and Jessica and their girls for lunch and walk in the waves. It was great! (we love meeting friends when they are vacationing close to us- We missed you Noltemeyers).

On the way home we came through Gainsville and visited with Aunt Jean, Uncle Hubert, and Wayne's family. It was more sweet time with family as D met them for the first time. D had a harder time coming home but still was pretty entertained in the car. I will still take vacationing advice from anyone who has travelled with kids as we have Mike's sabbatical coming up (!!!). One thing that was essential was having a big container on the floor under her seat where we had diapers, food, wipes, and toys so that the items were easy to grab when we stopped for breaks on the road.

Sigh, so hello Louisville, green rocking chair, mom and dad, friends, my own bed, and of course Ginger-dog. I missed you all. Very much. Drop me a line. I want to catch up.

A year in pictures...

A look back on 2007
...reconnected with the girls in January...we actually got together three times this year!



Quite a bit of crafting and sewing... this was a Valentine gift for my mom.














Beautiful Gracie came in March



Ginger in the spring

An spring afternoon at the park.



August 2nd we got our beautiful Dorothy Jean















D and her friends in the fall



A new home



A growing girl at three months in November



Eight wonderful years this December


...and a very sweet Christmas...

Hello.
How are you?
It's been a while.
I thought it might be.

We are totally moved, why is it so hard to get the last load of random items? Mike and my dad got the last bit of junk. We are maybe 3/4 of the way unpacked. I have found most things we need. Still missing items, but they'll turn up.

The picture is Dorothy's three month picture. She's wearing her leg warmers from Terri and Ellory.

On Thanksgiving we always go around and say what we are thankful for. I have so many things to say. I remember when my aunt said she was thankful that kids went to bed at night. As I was a kid at the time I didn't understand, but man do I now. This Thursday will be the first time that all of my dad's family will be together in years.

I am looking forward to the holidays. I was telling Mike's family today that I just realized to me that it's the holiday and it D's first holiday. So I want to know your family traditions. Here are two of ours:

1. Mike and I always have Pillsbury Orange Rolls on Christmas morning. It's a good, simple tradition.
2. My Grandpa Huff grew up in the depression, to remind us of that, my dad has always given us a quarter and an orange in our stocking.

We plan on keeping those traditions. We are going to start a something with an advent calender along with our family prayer time. Any suggestions? What are some other traditions we should take up? Post or email and let me know!

Our new little home, that's me peeking out.
Cute backyard!



Sojourn's Fall Festival and Affordable Art Fair.
Lorie bought one of my purses from the Affordable Art Fair!
Lindsay did too!
Mike and Dorothy spent the day together while Terri and I sold our fine products. The Art behind them is the one we bought for D's new room. Sarah Hall did that piece and it's perfect.

Terri, Ellory, Karen, Dorothy(the penguin), and I at our sales table.

Fall Finally!

Oh nerds! It's been too long. I was doing so well posting and then life went crazy as it does in October. Why October? Here is to fill you in.

*Doing better health wise, well sorta. We have been relearning what it means to live with Rheumatoid Arthritis since I was in remission during pregnancy. Cold, wet weather makes it hurt all over. I have found that cutting back on wheat, dairy, and sugar help minimize the pain. To bad for me because cereal, cheese and candy are my favorite foods. Mike is doing better and has follow up appointments next week. Keep us in your prayers and thanks for all of your comments, emails, and previous prayers.
*Bought a house. Yup, sure did. It'd in Germantown. We will close on November 7th. I think even more exciting than having a house is that I have a DISHWASHER! Seriously folks, we are going on 8 years of marriage without one. sigh. We are so excited. The house is a remodeled turn of the century home. Yeah! So it has the charm of an oldie but the benefits of a new house...and we have a garage, and our own yard that we don't have to share unless we want to.
*Come to the Fall festival! I am in the Affordable Art Show! I have made a messenger bag, purses, holidays onesies, and more. Everything is under a hundred bucks but mine is way under that amount. This is the first time I will sell any of my stuff and it is all original designs so I am excited and nervous.
*Dorothy Jean is 12 weeks today. It is so crazy to see how much she can do each day. She mimics Mike and I. She also sticks her bottom lip out when she is sad. And if you catch her off guard she gets sad and then cries, so hurt. Most of the time though, she is throwing her head back laughing and wrinkling her nose.

OK, so that's us for a while. Thanks to all of my readers for checking in on us. Especially my Aunt Jane who checks, can't wait to see you in December!

Welcome to my blog, again.

I remember when I first read a blog, probably five or six years ago. It was a friend's blog. It was hilarious, witty, and a blessing in that it talked about her faith in God and Journey with Christ. I remember thinking blogs were a great way to communicate with family and friends from out of town...but I also thought about the caution that one should take in what they write for safety. I guess I thought if I started one some day I should be cautious.

When I started this blog it was mostly to post the pictures of my trip to Europe, with the idea that I would talk a bit about my life, our marriage and interests too, particularly my journey in faith. As I discovered the many arts, craft, and sewing blogs over the past year, I have been more inspired to create and share those ideas on this blog as well. Then I reunited with some dear friends and we discussed how we keep up with each other through this sort of thing so I wanted to post more updates on life. And I have to post pics of D and share my adventures in motherhood. How could I not? But. I really want to get to the real reason I have a blog. I need to state my ultimate purpose for this little thing I write every few days.

This is about Christ.
I am about Christ.
It is high time I get bold enough to say it here. I would say to your face but, I have been too afraid to type it out where who knows who reads it, which is just silly.

So hello to all.
All I know, use to know, don't know at all.
Welcome to my blog, again.
If you choose to visit again and/or often expect some pictures of our little family, updates of how were doing, what sewing and crafting projects I am working on.
But above all know that I am learning to find contentment in Christ. Not what I own, not where I live, not where I work, not what I drive, not what I wear...

Mondays.

We use to hate Mondays around here. Sunday night's were full of dread for the upcoming week, my dear husband would have just worked a sixteen hour work day and I was always polishing up lesson plans and grading spelling tests. Now Monday is our day of rest. Yesterday Mike got up with little D at 6am. They watched the weekend's football highlights together while I napped and after I got up Mike went and got some Nord's donuts and Quill's coffee. To top the day off we had Kasmir's Tiki Masala for dinner.

After all the indulgence yesterday, today marked our getting back to healthy eating. We don't live on junk food but I have had quite a bit of cinnamon toast and oreos in the last 10 months. So here is to healthier alternatives.

Smiling and crafting.

I know, I know, this is turning into a blog all about Dorothy. I know lots of you don't mind that though, especially her grandparents! This pic is her again at just a few days old. Mike and I haven't loaded her newer smiling pics. She is smiling at Mike all the time. She is pretty use to me and she only smiles at me every now and then, but when she does it melts me.

D was measured at her one month check up this week and is 11 pounds 2 oz and 21 1/8 inches. Since late July we have had SOOO many friends who have had babies. There is Thomas, Anna, Levi, our Dorothy, Logan and this week we welcomed Nora, Arlen, and Ruby. Next up is baby Eubanks. It's in the water people.


In other news...
Leesa and I have known each other for about seven years but realized recently that we have the same birthdays and mutual love of crafting. She encouraged me the other day with this:

"At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a
disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of
my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong,
stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see
myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up
at a job that they will never see finished, to work on
something that their name will never be on.
The writer of the book went so far as to say that no
cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there
are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.
When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the
friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My
mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies,
and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and
presses all the linens for the table." That would mean I'd built
a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to
come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his
friend, to add, "You're gonna love it here."

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We
cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it
is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at
what we have built, but also at the beauty that has
been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible
women.

May the passion of your building be fueled by your
faith that the eyes of God see everything."

Thanks to all who commented last time. It encourages me to keep posting when I know you all are reading.
God bless you all this week.

Did Do List

I can't remember where I saw it but the other day I read a suggestion for new moms to make a "Did Do List" instead of a "To Do List". It is encouraging when you feel like you haven't done anything all day. Here is my list for today so far:

• Woke up at 8:30 and got Dorothy and I fed, cleaned up and dressed to meet Mike at church by 9:30 (OK we were a little late).
• Listened to Daniel's sermon, which inspired me to memorize John 17:24 and Hebrews 7:25
  
• Ate Kentucky Fried Chicken for the first time in about 5 years
• Remembered why I only eat Kentucky Fried Chicken every 5 years
  
• Changed 10 diapers
• Fed Dorothy 7 times
• Held and loved on Dorothy
  
• Made sweet tea
  
• Watched some Sunday Night Football and ate sushi with Mike
• Did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen!!!
• Updated my blog.

John 17:24 (New Living Translation)

Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

Hebrews 7:25 (New Living Translation)

Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.

How much longer?

a list to update you.

*Basement flooded, lost lots of stuff, threw away about ten boxes and donated fifteen to Goodwill...something I wanted to do before the baby but probably wouldn't have if there hadn't been such an urgent reason. How did I get so much crap anyway?

*No traveling when you are this pregnant. No Miami Beach, No Europe, and oh I miss it. Does Cincinnati count as a vacation?

*Lachlan & Terri had their baby, Ellory Sue. She is so sweet and I am so glad we will get to raise families together.

*Pray for Mike, we see the spine specialist on Monday.

*Been sewing a lot. Lots of good projects I want to show, but my little CyberShot is sick... we are shopping for a new camera.

*Mike's amazing band plays again at the Jazz factory in a few weeks...more on that later.

*My dear Carrie is having a baby too. Love you Carrie.

*The girls are planning another reunion, Kirsten will be on the road and we'll miss her.

Fresh Produce!!!

Mike and I just joined a local CSA.
Here is the info:
"What is a CSA, you may ask? CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a subscription program where members pay a set fee before each season. Each week, families receive fresh, homegrown, seasonal produce at a better-than-retail price. The CSA allows the growers (our family) to focus on land stewardship and maintain a productive and profitable small farm. We build community at the same time! Members connect in a meaningful way to their food and better understand the joys and pitfalls of growing that food.

This is first year we are Certified Naturally Grown (see www.naturallygrown.org) on 1.5 acres of vegetable production. CNG growers follow the same as organic standards, but farmers and consumers are the certifiers using guidelines and simple procedures. This is an alternative to Big Organic that many farms are adopting to avoid the quagmire of bureaucracy and paperwork that the current National Organic Program has become."

Check it out at http://www.fungusamongus.us/

I am so excited, I love produce! We made Bok Choy for the first time last night, and it was wonderful.

Pictures of the month

Here are a couple photos of Mike and I that our friend, Lauren took for the travelouge.
I am about five months in these. I'll be seven months next week!

Does anyone else...?

I really love our DVR. We often have the Winters over to watch Lost and we will actually wait 'til 10:20 sometimes just so we can fast forward through the commercials. My brother Dan and his wife, Michelle do this too.
It is nice to not have to watch all of the many advertisements, but I am afraid is making me impatient and taught me I don't have to be so attentive (As you may know, attentiveness is super important to me). If I miss something I'll just back it up and watch it again.
Does anyone else find themselves so use to DVR and TIVO that they actually miss something in real life and have the impulse to back it up? I was listening to WFPK yesterday, real live radio, and I wanted to hear something again. I actually reached towards the radio to back it up and listen to it again. Let's just hope I don't try this in conversations with those I love.