Author Archives: sarabethgrace

About sarabethgrace

Christian-saved by grace, wife, mom of three. My passions: family, parenting, serving others,working with kids with special needs, photography, being crafty.

Week Nineteen

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Geez, I feel behind in many areas right now, we have been busy! This blog is one of the areas that I feel behind in. I often have great thoughts I want to post, but then something happens and the opportunity just isn’t there is sit down and share. I hope to get a little better at that with the hope that I can be encouraging and help others through my words here.

I am still taking lots of pictures and staying up with Project 366, but getting the pictures up is a bit delayed. Oh, well, here is week nineteen :)

5/6: Big sisters and I went on an impromptu walk this evening. L headed up the back of our yard into the neighbors yard wanting to see a bird that was in the grass. I walked to get her and then J followed and since we were near the sidewalk we took the opportunity and kept on going. Joe was staining the deck and keeping on eye on the littlest one. The sun was just beginning to set nicely between the trees. The iPhone is pretty handing to quickly capture moments.

5/7: Well, this is the only picture I took today. Usually I have a few to choose from, and sometimes it is a very tricky choice. I am glad I have this one of my silly girl in my sunglasses though. She is quite a character and such a blessing to our family.

5/8: We made crayons today! Aiden was over this morning and little hands we kept busy for a bit peeling paper off crayons and breaking them into smaller pieces to put in the mold. We made butterfly, flower, and ladybug shapes. They turned out super cute!

5/9: I have been trying to put out different toys each morning inviting the girls to play with things they might not usually play with or to mix things up a bit. I follow The Imagination Tree on Facebook, which is where the idea came from. They post lots of great examples of “invitations to play.” I haven’t used one of their examples yet, but they are good ones and the concept is great! J built this awesome tower with pegs. Isn’t she so cute?

5/10: Miss M is eating some food now. We started with applesauce and she is enjoying it! She is seriously the most laid back, happy baby I know!

5/11: Say what?! Joe and I went on a date!? My brother came over to watch the big girls and baby sister tagged along on our date. She was pretty well behaved. It was so great to get out and have a quiet dinner. We went to Steve Dakota’s Grill and had a wonderful first experience! Our food came out just as we had ordered it, it tasted great and we took home a huge piece of orange creamsicle cake. DELICIOUS!

5/12: Today was a busy day. J and I attended a bridal shower in the morning. J is going to be one of the flower girls in Miss Becky’s wedding this summer. The afternoon seemed to fly by and then we had a birthday party. Happy third birthday to our friend Des! Des had the coolest cupcakes ever at his party! They were mini burgers (cupcake split with a brownie in the middle) with a side of fries (angle food cake). Joe thoroughly enjoyed his cupcake :)

Week Eighteen

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I feel quite speedy, week eighteen’s page is already done! Last week was a busy, fun, somewhat exhausting week. I look forward to some fun and excitement this week!

April 29: I adore the new diaper bag I got! I really cannot say enough good things about it. In fact, I like it so much I think I it deserves its own post. Seriously, this JJ Cole diaper bag is fantastic and well worth the cost, though I found it for a great price on Amazon!

April 30: The girls and I ventured to the grocery store today. I usually go round n round in my mind whether or not it is worth the effort to go grocery shopping with all the kiddos or to wait until the hubby gets home. I am glad I went early in the day, then it could be crossed of the to-do list and we could spend the evening together without having to make time for grocery shopping. Since we had some yummy food items available, we made french bread pizza. The girls got a kick out of being able to make their own pizza. I let them put things on just how they wanted. It was fun.

May 1: Happy first day of May! Some days are long, but it sure does seem like the months are flying by. Today I got some pictures of the girls. I have been trying to stay up on M’s monthly pictures. So far, so good! And it seems each time I take her monthly photos the girls and I pile in the chair for a group photo! I love being all smashed in and snapping a pic of all of us. Sometimes it is a little awkward, but we usually manage to get one or two cute ones.

May 2: Today we ventured out to visit Laura and her boys. There were two detours on the way, but we did eventually make it. We had fun playing outside for a bit, though J was not a fan of the few ants we saw. At one point she screamed SO loud, it was a scream a shear terror over a tiny ant. I am pretty sure I told her she just needed to get over it. We also played inside, J was much more comfortable. Unfortunately, I only took a couple pictures, but one is better than none. We are so blessed to have so many great friends!

May 3: During a walk today I took this picture of the skyline. I really like it in black and white. I have an affinity for black and white photos. There is just something about them…not every photo looks good black and white, but many do and there is a crispness, somewhat of a wonder about them.

May 4: My mom, the girls and I went to Baldwin-Wallace this afternoon. I had a banner to pick up, not sure how I will end up using it, but it was free since the college is changing its name to Baldwin Wallace University over the summer. The banner is super nice-all embroidered letter, it was used at college fairs. I have so many good memories from B-W. I really loved my time in college. I am who I am today in part because of my time at B-W-the things I learned, the experiences I had, the opportunities. I cried when I moved out of my dorm senior year (we have pictures). I grew a lot there and met my husband. Now 5 years after graduating, look how much as happened. Wow!

May 5: Happy birthday to our good pal Aiden! It is hard to believe he is already 5! He had a ‘digging in the dirt’ party. It was GREAT! Good conversations, the kids played well together, yummy food, beautiful day-couldn’t ask for much more.

 

Week Seventeen

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Alas, the post for week 17, but definitely not my favorite page ever. I got the photos set, but just couldn’t seem to find the right background. But the week got captured, and for that I am glad :)

April 22: Sunday afternoons will mean church meetings for awhile. Those that will be at the Medina campus are beginning to meet on a regular basis. Tonight was a vision meeting for the campus and it was fun and very encouraging! I am thankful that God has brought us to this point and am exciting to be a part of all that is happening. God is moving in big ways.

April 23: Mr. Aiden came over this morning. J and A are good buddies.

April 24: We broke open the party favors from Clay’s party and discovered juice boxes! The girls were thrilled. Loading up on some sugar.

April 25: I had a lovely, quiet morning while the big girls were with my good friend Ally. This photo was sent while I was having my quiet morning with M. I did take a couple other pictures today, but this one best reflects our day. The girls had a great time digging in the dirt! It is great to get out for some fresh air and enjoy the sunshine.

April 26: L and I went to a musical that one of the boys I work with was in. It was called ARF! and was about dogs. Since L LOVES dogs it seemed appropriate that she get to come along. It was nice to spend some one on one time with her, we don’t get to do that all that often. She really watched the show and was very well behaved!

April 27: The girls and I went to visit Ally and Aiden this morning. It was a cool morning, but we bundled up a bit to enjoy the sunshine. L at times is fearless and has decided that holding worms is pretty cool. J on the other had keeps her distance, but is interested in observing bugs and other crawling things.

April 28: This morning J and I got up before everyone else and made pancakes. I got out a cookie cutter and poured batter in for heart-shaped pancakes. The girls got a kick out of this. Maybe we will try more fun shapes in the future. I think a flower or princess castle seem fitting.

Week Sixteen

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Well, I am not entirely sure where the week went. I feel way behind on some things, one of them being this blog. Oh, well, here is week sixteen, although, week seventeen is just about over. I guess I will be making another page this weekend for Project 366 and hopefully several other pages to capture some of this year’s fun times.

There was definitely not a dull moment this week:

4/15: Today was Jessica’s baby sprinkle. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and I think everyone had a nice time. There was tons of food, thanks to Jessica’s dad who just kept making things and putting them out on the counter. It was great to be able to bless this family in this way as they anticipate the arrival of their little girl.

We also had a impromptu cookout at the Voller’s along with the Andrews family this evening. Always a good time to hang out with awesome friends. We are blessed.

4/16: We decided to take a walk this evening since it was so nice. It ended up being a little more breezy then Joe or I thought, but we made it to McDonald’s and back. It is nice to live in walking distance to things and be able to take quick little adventures. However, I wouldn’t mind moving to a place where the girls have more running space and there isn’t as much traffic.

4/17: This morning I watched my friend’s son. He was SO good! He didn’t know me at all really, but came on over and played without any trouble at all. He left earlier than expected and unfortunately didn’t get to help us make cookies. The girls had a blast mixing and being silly together. They adore each other! The cookies turned out great-mmm oatmeal raisin!

4/18: We ventured to the library and met up with Lindsey and her girls. We hadn’t seen them in quite some time. We had a very nice time hanging out. I look forward to doing it again soon!

4/19: I had some errands to run today. It can be somewhat of a challenge to load and unload three children several times, most of our stops were to make a return or grab one or two items. The girls were outstanding! Their wonderful behavior was rewarded with a bouncy ball. They were very pleased, and it only cost 25 cents. I am glad Old Navy has a super cool bouncy ball machine.

4/20: Ta-da! Pink princess shoes. I went shopping Wednesday night and found these adorable shoes for J and L. When I showed them the shoes Thursday morning they were super excited. The shoes have not left their feet since then, with the exception of sleeping.

4/21: We took it easy this morning and into this afternoon as I anticipated a busy evening. We had two birthday parties and I knew we would get home late. First, Mr. Clay turned one and we went to celebrate him. He had a mustache party-decorations, cookies, stick on mustaches-everything mustaches, so fun! Second, my step sister turned 18 and we had a nice get together at my dad and Sharon’s house. Good times had by all.

thrifty gifts #1

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I hosted a baby sprinkle recently and wanted to give those in attendance a little favor for coming. However, there was potential of there being 20+ ladies and I was looking to not spend tons on a favor. As the wheels turned, I decided to make these cute notepads. These could be adapted in numerous ways-baby shower, bridal shower, wedding, birthday favor, etc.

I know my little girls LOVE carrying around a notepad and crayon and ‘writing’ notes and drawing pictures, so I may do something like this for the next birthday party we have. I think they turned out very nice, and who can’t use a notepad to throw in their bag or car?

The pictures pretty much showcase what to do step-by-step, but here is a little further instruction:

Supplies: notepads, glue gun, scrapbook paper, ribbon, stamp, stamp pad, crafting scissors, pens.

Step 1: Get notepads and decide on what paper to use. I got notepads 5/$1 at a local paper craft store.

Step 2: Cut paper to fit the width of the notepad. The length is dependent on how much of the notepad you want to cover. I cut mine 2 1/2 inches in length. Then, use crafting scissors to give the edge of the paper that will be on the front of the notepad some extra emphasis. Fold the paper around the top of the notepad and crease. I did a hard crease with my nails after achieving the soft crease over the top of the notepad. This way the front part of the scrapbook paper will sit closer to the notepad itself.

Step 3: Using a glue gun, run a strip of glue along the top of the notepad.

Step 4: Place creased paper over the top of notepad. Then add a small dot of glue on each corner to hold paper on the back of the notepad. Do not glue the front of the notepad-if you do, it will get ripped off with the first page.

Step 5: Here is a nice look at the almost finished product. Doesn’t it look cute? :)

Step 6: As you can see, they look super cute all piled together. I decided to use three coordinating papers for variety.

Step 7: For extra embellishment, I stamped the first couple pages. It added more cute factor, and if I had more time I would have stamped more pages. Hey, if you are feeling super ambitious, you could stamp every page. The main reason I did the first couple pages was because I had each person write a note to the new baby for her baby book and I thought the flower stamp was a nice touch rather then a blank page. Finally, cute ribbon just long enough to tie in a knot and place the pen through to hold.

Step 8: Finished product.

The only supplies I had to buy were the notepads and pens, I had the rest in my crafting supplies at home. The approximate cost of each is 30 cents- figured by the following:

notepads: $4, pens: $1, scrapbook paper: $0.50 (but can be less), ribbon: $1= $6.50/20= $0.32

Even if you have to go and buy all the supplies this is still a thrifty gift!

This is the first post of hopefully more “thrifty gift” ideas.

*The digital page was made using zpearn elements from the love and grace collaboration at the lily-pad.

Week Fifteen

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…and, here we go, week fifteen…FINALLY had a few minutes to get this page together. A simple page, but nevertheless it captures our week.

April 8: HAPPY EASTER! Christ has risen indeed! Today was the last Sunday for Shepherd’s Grace Church. I feel like I should have taken more pictures. After service we went out and took a few pictures, first of Hannah and Becky, they were flower girls in Luke and Hannah’s wedding, with Jilli and Leah, and then with all the wonderful young ladies that came out in the chilly weather with us. Look at all those beautiful faces! We had a busy afternoon filled with dinner at my grandparent’s house, Easter baskets,  and egg hunt.

April 9: Story time with Daddy is always fun. Joe does the best voices while reading. He is a good dad.

April 10: Our sweet babes is almost rolling over. She make it to her side, and then sometimes falls asleep like that :) She is also a thumb sucker.

April 11: Well, changes are ahead for this family. Joe accepted a new position with AdvizeX Technologies. He will be doing consulting work. He is excited for this new challenge, and it will be challenging! I like seeing him excited about his work and ready to jump in.

April 12: J built this tower for her daddy. Of course I had to take a picture and send it to him right away. She was quite proud of her block creation.

April 13: Movie on the deck, say what?!? Oh yeah, Luke called Joe with a great idea. We combined forces and the end result was fantastic. Andrews’ deck, ready with speakers+ our projector=VERY HAPPY CHILDREN! We foresee many more movie nights in the future.

April 14: Shepherd’s Grace Family, Welcome to Grace Church! We decided to attend church Saturday night and we were warmly welcomed to Grace Church. We will be at the Bath Campus for awhile, not sure how long. Tonight’s sermon was convicting. Being challenged and reflecting on God’s word are good things.

Week Fourteen

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…a new month, another week, lots of fun…

April 1: Today was my last time serving in the nursery at Shepherd’s Grace Church. Easter Sunday will be our last service at SGC. Exciting and challenging times ahead. During nursery we talked about Jesus entering Jerusalem and painted palm leaves. It is so great to see my girls excited about Jesus and hear J talking about the Bible.

April 2: Today is World Autism Awareness Day. There is a campaign to ‘Light it Up Blue’ to spread awareness. We have a blue light on our front porch and I made a wreath with puzzle pieces to show our support. You can learn more about autism at www.autismspeaks.org

April 3: We got together with Ally and Aiden to color eggs. The kids attention span for this fun activity lasted around 3 mins. So, Ally and I finished the task at hand and enjoyed our time together while the kids played.

April 4: We ventured out to get a dehumidifier for the basement. Good news, L LOVES it and it is working well.

April 5: Storytime! I lost count of how many books I read. Everyone kept handing me a book and wanting a turn picking a story.

April 6: Same Kind of Different as Me= best book I have read in a long time! Seriously, get this book and read it, it is an incredible true story.

April 7: Joe had worship practice this morning, so the girls and I went with my dad, Sharon and grandma to an Easter egg hunt. It wasn’t much of a hunt, but rather a roped off area with eggs strewn about. It was fun though. We spent some time at my dad’s house afterward and then came home for naps and had some family time. I then stayed up way too late to finish reading Same Kind of Different as Me. I just couldn’t put it down.

Week Thirteen

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A quarter of 2012 has gone by!

March 25: We had a little party for Jillian. Yeah, her birthday was over a month ago, but weekends kept getting filled up and this was the first day that worked. We had a few friends over that we see most often. It was low key and the kids had fun, especially when Joe brought out his remote control helicopter.

March 26: I finally got M’s 3 month pictures today. She was ALL smiles! Her expressions were absolutely hilarious. It was hard to just pick one photo for today, but I plan to make another page just of her 3 month pictures.

March 27: Today was a CRAZY day at home. Lots of whining, and nothing seemed to please both big girls at the same time. I looked forward to en evening out with Ally, Julie and Hannah all day! It was great to visit and catch up. Miss M came along so I wouldn’t feel rushed or have to leave early to go home and feed her. She was fascinated with the Panera logo on the cup I had, it was hilarious.

March 28: Sunny days are great! We came home after the girls had been over at Ally’s for the morning and got some more time outside with the water table. Now we just need a fence in the backyard so we can better utilize and enjoy our yard without fear of the street.

March 29: Today we met Laura and her boys at Chick-fil-A for some playtime and lunch. Everyone got along great and Laura and I were able to actually have a conversation since the kids were climbing around in the play area. The girls were completely zonked after all the climbing and running around!

March 30: I so enjoy making things and being creative. Today I put together baby sprinkle invites for my friend Jessica. We get together often with her and her son, the kids get along so well, and soon there will be another little one in the mix! I look forward to meeting baby Charlotte soon!

March 31: I whipped out the easel today! We have had this for several months and I was saving it for a time that the girls seemed bored and we were in need of a dash of something new. They got a kick out of drawing with chalk and erasing and starting over. I need to get a roll of paper for the other side. I imagine there will be lots of beautiful artwork created on this easel.

Week Twelve

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March 18: Sundays are always busy! The big girls spent the morning and part of the afternoon with Grandma, Pa, and Great Grandma. They went to breakfast and to Toys R Us to celebrate J’s birthday. J is going to start thinking her birthday lasts for a month :) J and L got these cute sock monkeys. They have not let go of them since they got home, and of course they went to bed with them. I think they might need names, they are becoming the favored stuffed animal.

March 19: I finally completed and hung our spring banner on the mantle. Pieces and parts sat on the kitchen counter for days, maybe weeks, until I finally found more than 5 mins on which I could focus on get it completed. I adore it! It makes me happy each time I look at it.

March 20: Scraping away here! Rarely do I find time during the day to scrap, but today I got a few moments on got to work on lasts weeks page and finished it up after the girls went to bed. I so enjoy capturing our moments and then being able to creatively showcase them.

March 21: It is warm enough for flip flops…and we all have some! Surprisingly enough J’s still fit her (barely) and they also fit L. I should have put M’s on and got her in this picture, bummer for not thinking of that then! I guess I’ll just have to one with M soon.

March 22: We spent some time visiting our friends this morning. The weather is still great and we enjoyed some time on the swing set and blowing bubbles.

March 23: We went to the mall today with my mom, walked around for a bit and then enjoyed lunch at Chick-fil-A. Yum! The girls get really excited to go to Chick-fil-A. We don’t go very often considering there isn’t one extremely close, which is probably a good thing. Though, I wish there was one in Medina. The girls had lots of fun in the play area, it is the perfect size for their age in my opinion. It was a good day.

March 24: I got out and about by myself this morning! Crazy! However, it was only to go grocery shopping, but I got these lovely flowers while out. Aren’t they so pretty? I love me some daisies!

Recent Pages

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Ah, I love chilly, sunny days. Of course I like warm, sunny days too, but I really do enjoy the sun beaming through the windows and the brisk air outside. I don’t have to feel guilty for not being outside since it is cool, but can still enjoy sunshine. So, while the sun is shining in and the girls are napping (yes, all three at the SAME TIME!) here are a few recent scrapbook pages: