As the school days passed and I move closer into the Summer days I feel kinda sad inside. NOT that Summer is here but that life has gotten SO busy with school, the kids extra curricular activities and work that I feel like I have little time for myself let alone my closest girlfriends. I won't lie...I get completely jealous when I see pictures or posts of them meeting up randomly and I yearn to do the same thing! But, my kids schedules have been opposite of theirs therefore making it that much more difficult! That is why I am SO excited that Summer is ALMOST here! (almost in Oregon...as we are having abnormally rainy weather!) I am looking forward to hopefully seeing some of my "gillies" (yes...as in gills! No typo...its a family thing!)


My love language is...dare I say it...gifts. EEK! Are you ashamed of me? I am totally embarrassed admitting it! BUT I love to not only receive gifts but to make and give gifts as well! It could be something small or it could be something huge...I just want those that I love most to KNOW that I love THEM the most!


These are the girls that stand by me. They love me no matter what. I can share my deepest and darkest secrets with and will not feel judged or looked down upon. These are the girls who shape me. They make me want to be a better mom, friend and wife. I am a lost sheep without these friendships. And I am SO blessed to have them in my life! I have experienced heartache, pain, complete sadness and they were there to help me. They helped me pick up the pieces and pray harder than I have ever prayed before. They stood on the sidelines with boxes of tissues to wipe my eyes, meals to feed our bellies when every part of my body had no energy to even stand up. They took care of my babies at a moments notice when an unexpected emergency arose. They were there for me in more ways than they even know. I cannot thank them enough.

I decided I wanted to spring some "Little Ray's of Sunshine" on them and y'all know those super cute pinwheels I showed you last week?! Well, that was a sneak peak into what I made them! Didn't get to check them out for yourself? NO worries! Here you go "CLICK ME"!!


The tins are filled with seeds that will grow just as our friendship has over the years. It's a little surprise of WHAT it is (for them that is!) BUT because its YOU I will tell ya! I planted Basil seeds as they smell good, they are a gorgeous color of green AND we can cook with them! I seriously can't get enough basil in this house!


I wanted to show in a small way my besties that I love and adore them. I cherish their friendships and can't thank them enough. I tried to be sneaky when dropping them off...this one (above in pic with me) totally caught me as she was pulling out of her garage when I pulled up! My friend Julie ran out of her house and saw me as I was pulling out! And Rachel...well...that girl recognized my handwriting! I MUST work on my sneaky skills cause the ones I have aren't cutting it!

Have a blessed day and go show a friend you care! Could be as simple as a post it note on the door!

Did I get your attention?! NO?! Well...I am personally inviting you over to my friend Julie's blog! Today she is doing her VERY FIRST EVER giveaway and I may or may not be included! OK, so you got me! I am! But really you need to go meet Julie! She is beyond amazing and I just love her to bits! She is such an amazing wife and mother. And she is so insperational!


Give her a shout out and enter her super fab giveaway! I wish that I could enter...I am totally jelly! Have a blessed day!

Oooooooh nummy nummy! Since everything that has been going on has kinda left me stressed out, I decided to play hookie from life on Friday and took the kids to pick Strawberries! My favorite place is located off of Roy Rogers Rd. in Sherwood, OR. It's called Baggenstos and they are SO nice! I told them when I went to pay that next time we need to weigh the baby before walking out to the fields and then weigh her when we get back cause I am positive I owed them more money! Noah I figured out is a champion picker, Mushy is a "mushy" eater (and messy!) and Emily Grace...she is a stand on the sidelines and boss you around kinda "farmer"!


Of course my plan was to immediatly come home and make jam. But I got home and was so tired that I finally got around to it today! Honestly...I shouldn't have procrastinated cause I had to throw out some! My fave strawberries in the Pacific NW area are Hood! They are so yummy and deep red in color all the way through! I also must have given a ton of jam away as when I went to pull out the freezer jars I had only 4! And wouldn't you know, my local Target does NOT carry canning items! Grrr! But, I found the Ziplock brand containers that twist and honestly they are gonna work great!

What you will need:

1. Strawberries (duh right?!) I made 3 batches so used 12 lbs of Strawberries (a pint of Strawberries equals out to 2 cups of berries and each batch will take 4 cups of berries! Make sense?!)
2. Sugar...for the jam I made you will need 3 cups of sugar PER batch. So 9 cups total for mine. DO NOT I repeat DO NOT decrease the ammount of sugar in your recipe unless you want to have strawberry syrup!
3. Pectin. Such an odd word! But its what is going to "gelatin" your jam! I used 3 boxes of Sure*Jell. The low in sugar kinda that is in the pink box. I find mine at Albertsons. The ball/kerr brands use twice the ammount of sugard and 1/2 the ammount of fruit! WAY too sweet in my book! I used 3 boxes.

First you are going to want to wash and hull your berries. Hull is a fancy word for cut the green end off the berry! I have a large salad spinner and put the basket in one side of the sink and hulled/washed in the other! Once I was done I transfered the berries to a large bowl. Work in batches as its easier to smash your berries! Also, you are going to want to hand smash your berries and not use a processer as food processers break down the natural pectin in the berries!



I used my potato masher. It was actually my Great Grandma Ella's so I feel nostalgic when I use it! I use a glass pyrex (technically this picture is the Pampered Chef version!) and measure out 4 cups of mashed berries.


Set your berries aside and then in a large pot or pan pour in your 3 cups of sugar (confused since I made 3 batches? ALWAYS...make your batches seperatly!! TRUST me! I made syrup the first time I ever made jam! I have learned a lot from when I first started!) and then dump in your box of pectic and stir together.


Then you will take 1 cup of water (temp doesn't matter!) and pour it into your pan of sugar/pectin. Stir till completely combined and cook on med-high heat stirring constantly until boiling. When boiling stir for exactly 1 minute and remove from heat.


It is now time to mix in your berries! YAY! SLOWLY pour your berries into the hot pectin/sugar mixture and stir completely! Should all be equally combined!


I then laddeled my jam into my jars. Be sure to leave a 1/2" expansion room in your containers. Leave the jam out on the counter at room temp (lids on...!) for 24 hours before placing into your freezer. Jam is good in your fridge up to 3 weeks and good in the freezer for up to a year! Enjoy!

I am SO excited to finally get this tutorial up for you guys! I was able to use my NEW Washi Tape that arrived from Pick Your Plum (an awesome sponsor of mine on the side bar!! Go check them out!). I know...sounds goofy that I literally was waiting for it to arrive BUT I knew it would give it that added touch I was looking for! Have you checked out Pick Your Plum? I am COMPLETELY addicted! I am kicking myself for some items recently that I did not purchase! One was the buttons they had! OH they would have been awesome for these pinwheels! I love getting elastic for my Bliss Baby Designs headbands from them! These are some of the new headbands I made recently and added to my shop and I LOVE them!


 I found some super cute double sided 12x12 paper at Michael's. I was able to make 4 pinwheels from each sheet. You are going to cut your sheets to a 6x6 size. Now you can buy pre-cut packs of paper at Michael's and Joannes...but I wanted the double sided effect, hence why I cut them myself!

Step 2:


You are going to fold you square corner to corner. You are then going to unfold and do it the opposite direction. The crease is going to help you with the next step!

Step 3:


I put little red lines on the above picture to kind show you WHERE I started to cut. You will cut from that mark down the "line" you made to the end of the paper. The other picture shows what it will look like when done!

Step 4:


You are going to take your hot glue gun and put glue on the corner (see the arrow). Then you are going to fold that corner over to the center and hold until cool. You will repeat this step alternating corners.

Step 5:


When its done you get to do the fun parts!


I pulled out my beads, my buttons, my washi tape etc. and got comfy and ready to decorate!


Some of the pinwheels I hot glued buttons down and some of them I did large charcoal colored pearls! Only cause I couldn't decide WHICH one I liked best!


I simply adored how they turned out! Emily Grace kept asking "Mommy, are they for my birthday party?!" I thought...hmmm...No. But maybe I SHOULD make some (her birthday is not till January mind you!)

Today was a nice, lay low relaxing kind of day! Something I desperately needed! The sort of day where you don't even bother to shower...cause it was a whole lotta scrub a dub dubbin' on the ol' house! You don't EVEN wanna know how long it's been. Let's just say...it needed it! You see to end last week with a bang (you remember the start was Emily Grace vs. the fractured elbow) my Uncle Melvin, who is 64 years old and also has cerebral palsy. The type of cerebral palsy that he uses a motorized wheelchair and you have to really focus to understand what he is trying to tell you. He is amazing. He has a job working for Seattle's Best coffee that he delivers to office buildings downtown Portland. His customers look forward to him coming each day and frankly its pretty dang amazing that he carries down a full time job and lives on his own (he has an aid that visits him regularly). Well. He was rushed to the hospital this week with a collapsed lung. A collapsed lung on an 85 pound 64 year old with cerebral palsy (very old for CP) is not a great thing. Surgery is not optimal. The kids and I were able to visit with him for a few hours on Friday. We picked him some hydrangeas from our garden and stuck them in a mason jar to brighten up his room! He was SO excited to see us it was wonderful! While we were visiting the doctor came in and said unfortunately things were not looking good and that they were going to need to do a few other procedures. Well, this weekend he took a turn for the worse and was having difficulty breathing so they put him in ICU. He as of today is in stable condition but it's still a very scary situation. Then to add to the mix we decided to have a wee bit of family time and went out to a local farm to pick strawberries. Before we left I put sunscreen on the kids. Within a matter of 15 minutes Ava Faith's face was covered in hives. Her eyes were watering really bad and swollen to the point of squinting and her sweet nose was beet red and runny. I called the advice nurse who told us to take her straight home and give her a bath in luke warm water. In no time at all, the hives started to disappear and she was starting to look all cute and Mushy again! Needless to say we will be on the search for a hypo-allergenic sunscreen for my wee babe!

OK, now to the whole "green thumb" part of our day! I tend to blah blah when I am sleepy! We, here in Oregon, are having what looks like to be an Indian Summer. We have had abnormally rainy weather which makes planting not optimal! In fact, my green beans were downright drowned! We just got the zucchinis and tomatoes in the ground a few weekends ago and today we started seeds indoors! I love gardening with the kids. I have been saving egg cartons because they are bio-degradable and you can cut them apart and plant them directly into the ground! Noah picked pumpkins, Emily Grace picked Sunflowers and I planted cucumbers!


When they were done planting they used the spray bottle and spritzed their seeds before placing them on the window sill.


Using the spray bottle helps the plant seeds to get established and not become over watered! Once the leaves start to poke out of the dirt we will water them more.

We also planted our lettuce in buckets I bought at Target for $1 each. First I drilled holes into the bottom to allow for drainage and then filled them with dirt. They are the perfect size for the kids to be able to pick them up and move them throughout the yard if we need to.

1. Plant marigolds around your garden to help protect your plants from aphids and slugs! (this is called companion planting)
2. Also you can use egg shells around the base of plants to detract from slugs.
3. A great way to get rid of sugar ants in your garden (a trick my Uncle Brian taught me!) Mix equal parts powder sugar and borax and dust into your garden. Its harmless on your plants and fine for pets and kids.
4. Fine spray your plants with water to encourage your fruits to set! Water everyday and add plant food every week for better results in fruit/veggies.
5. The flowers on zucchinis are edible! Pick them off the ends of the growing veggie. If left on the will shrivel and drop off.
6. Leave a few green bean pods onto your plant so they can dry out and you can reuse the seeds the next year for planting.
7. If you decide to grow potato's DO NOT EAT green ones. They are poisonous!! If they are not well covered by dirt they will turn green in the sunlight.
8. To get your carrots to grow longer...water the soil well and then gently lift the carrots one by one out of the ground...just slightly! This will make it so you don't grow baby carrots! Also, over watering will cause your carrots to split! Finicky veggies!
9. When your lettuce grows use the outer leaves when you need them so that your lettuce will continue to grow.
10. And the last tip...plant Hood Strawberries if you are in the Portland area...you will have strawberries all Summer long! Yum!

I will take y'all on a tour of my yard one of these days! Its been a work of love and the past few years we feel like it is really blossoming!


Here is a teaser of my side garden...this is located next to our living/dining room. It was baron. Dirt. Plain. Yuck when we bought the house! We have a full box of strawberries (we ripped the old ones out), 2 blueberry bushes (always plant in two's so they can be cross pollinated by bees!). I planted this area while pregnant with Emily Grace. We have chives, rosemary (plant rosemary and lavender by your gate for good luck!), lavender, chocolate mint, spearmint, clematis, sweet peas, jasmine...just to name a few things! I will wait until more plants are in full bloom...we love it and live back there all Summer long!

Have a blessed day! It's never too late or too early to play in the garden and work on your green thumb!

I was always told as a small girl...that when life hands you lemons you squeeze the heck out of em', (preferably a full bag), put about a cup of sugar in the pitcher add some water and stir. Makes the best, sweetest homemade lemonade! Well my friends, my lemonade stand is now open for business! What a crazy year this has been! From my dads passing, extended family drama, health and then just when you think it can't get any worse the devil throws stones our way. JUST at the point when he knows you are down to try and shake us and the more we declare that its not gonna work the harder the stones throw! Ugh! I just wanna smack him! My faith is however NOT faltered and I am thankful for the small things! Confused yet?! ME too!

On Monday evening we were over joyed to celebrate the High School graduation of our very sweet "Yexie" as my kids call her! This girl is smart, funny, sweet, tender, brilliant, kind and the most amazing artist you will ever meet! This girl is what I dub as a "good egg"! We love her so incredibly much and we are SO blessed to be a part of HER life! What an honor!

We were having so much fun, chatting, eating. The kids were running around and playing when about an hour and a half into the party my baby girl (well...BIG girl!) was carried over to me in tears, saying "OWIE OWIE" where another friends daughter explained what had happened. They were playing helicopter. You know where you hold onto a leg and an arm and spin around. Well. They heard a POP. And then Emily Grace was in bad pain. Honestly I sized my daughter up and down to be sure this wasn't an "attention" thing. Which she has NEVER been that way...but you never know! I looked her arm over asking her to wiggle her fingers etc and thought, OK. No biggie. This is probably just nurse maids elbow. We will go to Urgent Care for a quick visit where the doc will just pop it back in place. Never heard of NURSE MAIDS ELBOW?! Well, its where you dislocate the elbow. Small kids are notorious for this as was she at about 18 or 19 months old when she used to do the ever so fun "drop while you walk" game! I literally thought I broke my child when she did it eons ago! I think the doctors had a good laugh about me after we left! We loaded her up and she would not un-bend her elbow which was the only part that concerned me. Most of the time with Nurse Maids Elbow they won't BEND their arm. But I wasn't going to panic!


Paul pulled up to the doors and I carried Emily Grace inside while he parked and got the hooligans out of the car. Emily Grace was in SO much pain she was screaming, shaking, crying. It was bad. Every person in that room was staring and they immediately got us inside. You could see the look of sympathy on the people that take your info and check you in!

We were asked about a million questions which of course...I had only second hand information to give. Which makes me feel like a bad mom. I did everything I could to make her feel comfortable. She wanted me on the table with her...so I uncomfortably IN a skirt I might add, laid on the table with her propping her arm up with her lovey my mom made her for the car! Praise the Lord for that! She loves to play on my phone so she took this picture of herself with Instagram! Noah showed us his dance moves as we waited and he tried to make his big sister smile! They were at first concerned it was her wrist. And that she had broken it. I really was NOT convinced by this! We went in for Xrays and she did great except for when you have to move the arm to different positions for certain angles of shots. Ugh. I was in tears. She was in tears! We were a mess! And by then because she wanted me to carry/hold her my upper body strength was deteriorating fast! We got the results back and they said she had a fractured elbow. We would need to follow up with Ortho the next day and they were putting a temporary cast on her arm. Which FYI the ace bandages are FREE! Woo hoo! A freebie! The sling however will run you $5.71. The rest of the bills we will receive I don't even want to open! They are gonna be ugly! We were beat. Exhausted. Drained. I was told to alternate Motrin and Tylenol at the exact times called for otherwise she would be in pain. I set me alarms and I did it. On the dot! We had to prop her arm up above her heart to reduce swelling and don't even get me started on reading over the paper work! It may or may not have said something about how most elbow fractures end up with surgery. I about tossed my cookies right there!


The next day I was beat. She was beat and the other 2 hooligans were active! I iced her, let her lay in my bed most of the day and decided we should probably take a bath before the Ortho appointment as her knees and feet were green from grass stains and she was filthy! I was also dreading the fact that after her appointment I was going to have to leave her to go to work. My 1 night a week I work away from home for a mere 3 hours and I was dreading it! I am full on mama bear when my cubs are hurting or sick! WATCH OUT! It's not pretty!

At the Ortho, I was grilled about every 5 minutes about what had happened. They asked her as well, which of course she wouldn't even look at them! I later find out that the reason for such a harsh grilling is that the number one cause for this style of fracture etc is caused by child abuse. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!! I wanna smack those parents that do this to their children...any children in fact. Someone should do it right back to them! OK. That was mean. But seriously I have a hard time keeping a straight face to send them to time out. The few times I ever spanked (yes...I am not perfect) I cried. Figured out REAL fast...that is not for me! I am a yeller when I am mad. AND a door slammer. But an abuser? Never! I love these children more than life itself and they TRULY are MY gifts from God. They were chosen for me and I will be damned if I let ANYONE harm them!


They were perplexed by her arm. The areas of the major portion of pain etc. They decided they would need to manipulate her arm as they wanted to be sure it was in place. BUT they didn't hear a pop...which was a concern to them. Emily Grace picked a purple cast because apparently a girl in another class at her school had one! (hear we go!) She was SO brave. I was having such a hard time staying in my seat as I watched them "hurt" my baby. It's grueling. Not fun! She will have the cast on for 2 weeks and then they will remove it and take new Xrays. I am just praying we will be done after the 2 weeks of casting!


Watching her sleep last night broke my heart. Hearing her cry as she tried to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night but couldn't wipe, broke my heart. She has been attached to my hip most of the day. And I am not gonna lie. I don't mind. One bit! I would be lying if I didn't admit to crawling in bed with her last night just so I could stroke her cheek and kiss her forehead. She declared today a PJ all day sorta day! We obliged and we did EASY things...like play cars (since she can drive with her left hand...duh!) and had easy snacks! We are learning how to take off clothes and put on other clothes. And I am thankful it is warm enough for tank tops! They are a God send! All in all its been an interesting couple of days and I am looking forward to the healed road ahead! But in the meantime...she has asked that we draw on her cast AND she wants me to add glitter and gems! Oh yes. She is mine! We will pick up gems tomorrow!

Have a blessed week!

I had the honor of going and hanging out with some pretty cool chicks who love to do the same thing as me...blog! Its amazing how in this world of blogging you can close yourself up behind 4 walls and carry on conversations with people you have never met. All while like me right now, I am un-showered, hair pulled back in a messy bun rockin' some mighty hot slippers and sweats if I do say so myself! Oh and the real kicker...I have yet to brush my teeth! Take that! So, the thought of being in a room with a whole bunch of really cool women...had me sorta...intimidated! I mean come on, as a blogger you usually only post the pictures of yourself when you look your best or are feeling the most confident! Am I right?


I went to different stores in search of the perfect outfit for a week beforehand. But...I came out empty handed and the night before decided on my fave dress and comfy boots (well thanks to Brittanie for the final say in shoes!). I felt as though I was preparing myself for a blind date (sorry honey!) But in the end I went like me and figured hell...take me or leave me!


I was very lucky to already know the fabulous, fun and sweet Shawnee of the Apronista! I met up with her and we rode in together! Making my "travel in packs" thing feel a wee bit better (read my about if your not sure what I am talking about!)


When we arrived we immediately met some pretty awesome women! All were gathered at a table together and we laughed at the "are you a blogger" question! I was beyond nervous but they were so warm and welcoming! Little by little more people started to fill the room until the magical doors opened and we were able to walk into our "private" party room! Walking in we were greeted by Chelsey of The Papermama and the awesome organizer of the event! And yes, she is just as gorgeous in person as she is on her blog! We were handed these ginormous swag bags all packed individually per blog style (family, lifestyle etc) and had the cutest name tags for us to wear...that of course dropped immediately into my swag bag. SO I was the person...who was riffling through the bag lookin' like a complete nerd "WHAT DID I GET WHAT DID I GET"! lol!

We noshed on yummy salad and sandwiches and I sat next to Mindy of Cute N' Crafty Creations. She is so sweet and makes the most amazing cards! Shawnee (Apronista), Katrina of Supportland who is beyond hilarious and instantly calmed my nerves and Nanette of Curvy Girls Guide who seriously...I could hang out with this girl every. Single. Day! I just LOVED her! We became instagram buddies and she is so down to earth and awesome!


Fallon of Silly Beautiful Life and I declared ourselves besties that night! I seriously LOVE that girl! She is so much fun! And I of course cannot leave out Carina. Seriously this women...wow. Her heart is HUGE and she is def someone I don't want to lose touch with! She is the hands and feet of Jesus and such an inspiration! Read her blog. Trust me you won't regret it! She has a punk, a pumpkin and a peanut.


This was the first and only "get together" where it was not rude to be on your cell phone the entire time! In fact, it was encouraged! We had instagram challenges etc! It was so much fun! We laughed, we ate, we had fun! I cannot wait for the next one in November! Oh and did I mention there was a photo booth?! Thank you so much Sara for capturing the fun! You can check out her amazing photos at Sara Gray Photography. The icing on my cake...I was able to finally meet Heather Dawn of Just Love.ly. She is an all around kick ass person and she was who I looked forward the most to meeting...in a total NON-stalkerish sorta way! She is the first person in the blogging world to actually give me advice and help. She is down to earth, real and well...go check her out for yourself! When I saw her, I walked over and said "Heather Dawn I wanted to introduce myself..." when she stopped me and said "I know who you are!" and we hugged!  It was so much fun! I can't wait to chillax with her again at the next event! In fact if it weren't for her blog I would have never met my sweet Florida friend Kelsey of Poofy Cheeks! Our friendship started through her blog! Oh the wonderful world of cyber friendships!

I could go on and on but honestly...my brain is gone from being interrupted about 20x while writing this! Emily Grace broke her arm (fractured her elbow) last night and is in a full arm temporary cast until later today when we have the orthopedic appointment. I will fill y'all in later! So needless to say I am a bit distracted! Have a blessed day!