7 years of Love

Today marks seven years since Aaron and I committed our lives to each other. Marriage has truly been one of the most amazing things that has happened in my life. Not that it hasn't had it's trying times but when I sit and think over the past 7 years I can truly say it has been an adventure beyond my wildest dreams and I am more in love with Aaron today then I was on the day I said I would spend the rest of my life with him.

So to my love - I have truly loved the past 7 years being your wife, best friend and mother to your children and I still look forward to growing old with you!

- Pokey

Aaron did a photo journey for our anniversary last year so I wanted to do one this year. Here is our story (the short version) in picture form. I'm also including my favorite songs that remind me of us.

On our DTS outreach in Laos

Vietnam at Angkor Wat

Saying goodbye at the airport before we came back on staff with YWAM

Our crazy hair stage

Engaged

Married

Our honeymoon to the Florida Key

Kunming, China

Adventuring in China

You and me plus baby Lyla makes 3

Our trip to Savannah this year

Our family of 4

Pass the Peas Please

Preface

I have always enjoyed cooking. I think it's actually a passion that was passed down to me by my Mom and Dad. My Dad was always cooking some exotic cuisine and my Mom loved trying new and different recipes . Some of my favorite childhood memories where making apricot jam from the fruit we picked in our backyard and making homemade pumpkin seeds after carving our jack-o-lanterns in the fall. When I began thinking about how I want my children to have a creative, lively childhood full of fond memories - teaching them to make food from scratch possibly even from a home garden was one of the things I felt would inspire a wondrous childhood. We have yet to make a home garden (maybe next spring) but for now we have begun to play with our food! I'm hoping to make this a regular part of my blog - nothing weekly or anything (I'm too unorganized for that). But just something I feature at least once a month - hopefully more.

When I started looking for fun recipes to make with Lyla I came across this ladys blog. She has a book published called toddler cafe which looks like a lot of fun and these minty pea pops are from her book but she has also graciously put the recipe on her blog click here to see it. Now I don't know about your two year old but mine isn't the best pea eater. I usually have to hide them in mac n' cheese or other pasta dishes but to no avail - she usually eats around the little green intruders. So I was a little uncertain about how these pops would be accepted. I also have a personal experience with pea popsicles in China (both peas and corn are seen as dessert foods in China), and let me tell you they where disgusting.

Right from the get go I thought we might be in trouble when I told Lyla to put the cup of peas into the food processor she said "Mamma these are not tasty." I convinced her we were going to make them tasty and she hesitantly poured them into the processor. Lyla totally enjoyed making these pops and they were a success - she love love loved them! I even tried one and thought they were pretty great.

Bought this on amazon - perfect little 1 oz size portions and I can use it later when I start making Sage's baby food so I can easily freeze it into individual portions.

finger lickin' good

Having way too much fun eating pea's!

We had to break the sticks in half so they fit better

Perfect Summer Snack!

picture frame bow holder tutorial

Anyone who knows my Lyla knows that she has been challenged in the hair department since birth, she will be 3 in a couple months and is only now getting enough hair where it actually looks messy if I don't brush it. She has recently begun to build up quite a bow collection and I am always finding them around the house and trying to keep them in one place (pretty unsuccessfully) So I decided to make my own bow holder. I saw one of these on etsy and said I can DIY that. So here is my little tutorial for a DIY bow holder.

Take any frame - this one was $5 at walmart - and take the glass out of it.

Paint it any color. I used acrylic (gasp) because I didn't have spray paint on hand and didn't want the hassle. Spray paint would make a nicer finish though.

trace the glass onto mat-board or cardboard (a diaper box would work great if you don't have mat-board)

Cut out the traced mat-board

Cut pretty paper to size.

Adhere pretty paper to mat board ( I used double sided tape - less mess)

Go through your stash and find ribbon to match - I picked two sizes because she has little bows and big bows. DUCK TAPE!

Put it in the frame

VOILA!! (that's the fancy way of saying TA-DA, we like being fancy like Nancy)

Daddy's Day

For Fathers Day this year Lyla made daddy an omelet before church and FINALLY got to give him her gift she made him. The same gift she had been relentlessly asking me to let her give him all week, so much for "we're going to surprise Daddy with this on Fathers Day." I think it still made his day.

This was Lyla's handmade gift for Daddy's office at work, mommy helped with the picture printing and paper cutting but other then that it was all Lyla, she shared the glory with Sage though. I got the idea from this lady who got the idea from Martha.

Lyla also picked out this horseshoe game from the dollar section at Target as you can see she was pretty stoked about getting to play with them.

Sage gave daddy hugs *sigh*

and smiles :)

It was a good day!

Kuler Colors!

So I use this amazing application called adobe kuler when I am doing any sort of design work. Recently Aaron and I decided to switch up the rooms in our house so that we can put both girls in the same room, once sage is ready to move out of our room. The big switch up is going to take place while I am in California with the girls in July because Aaron said he will have a much easier time doing it while we are all away and he has no distractions. He said my only task is picking out paint colors, how can you argue with that deal! So I used my much loved app for this task and discovered a new very cool feature. You can upload an image and it will identify the main color scheme from the image and give you a working pallet. SO COOL!

I loved this photo by Danielle Thompson and the colors that came out of it are brilliant and just what I was looking for in my new work space at home!

I will post before and after pictures of the rooms. PAINT is the best way to decorate a room - it takes a bit of work but it is always worth it afterwards.

getting back in the swing

So I have been absent but I have a very good reason. It would be the arrival of my new bundle of joy, Sage Jennie who made her way into the world May 14 - a whopping 10 days after her due date, brutal, but oh so worth the wait! She is so sweet and we already all love her to pieces!

Since the birth of Sage I have been inspires by all the handmade fashion out there in the blog world. I, myself have a limited budget to spend on clothes and am needing some transition wear as I don't quite fit in my old clothes and my maternity clothes are thankfully too big and too hot (seeing as I was mostly pregnant in the winter). So I think I just may need to go thrifting and score a new look. I saw this girls blog on the craftzine blog, one of my favorites, and I was so inspired by her ambitious endeavor. For a whole year she is repurposing second hand clothing and making it her entire wardrobe. Not only is she super creative but she seems to have gotten even more creative with her remakes since she first began, not just that but she is giving herself a budget of a dollar a day - nice! Go check her out - you'll want to look all the way to day 1! Below are some of my favorites she has done to date.

I saw these bags and thought they were AMAZING! I would like to attempt to make one but I know it would not turn out near as bright and pretty. sigh*

P.S. I love publix brand seasonal ice creams! Yesterday I was at the store and spotted dolce de leche banana pudding and peach cobbler and now it's all I can think about. Haha!