Counting...

76. Dark chocolate

77. Wisps of finest baby hair all over the kitchen floor after a haircut

78. Feeding the ducks out of our hands at the park

79. Guacamole at La Hacienda

80. Hearing the Lord's voice loud and clear in the middle of your day

81. Renewed purpose and fresh hope

82. Meeting new neighbours

83. Finding red sparkles in bizarre places months after Christmas

84. A message from a friend at just the right time

85. Making plans

86. When something is as good as everyone says

87. Calling mom for reassurance
88. Seeing things a little more clearly with a new pair of glasses
89. Warm laundry fresh out of the dryer
90. A parcel in the mailbox with my name on it
91. Chai tea latte... extra hot!

Lions and tigers and bears... oh my! (Small Style)

I've been MIA from Small Style for the past weeks. I can chalk that up to being busy and having a terrible memory, but also... Wesley has been holding steady at 20lbs for quite awhile now, and I feel like I've already featured all his cutest little outfits! So you know what that means... some shopping is in order!

This past Sunday was Teacher's Day at the Toronto Zoo (free admission for a teacher and guest) so we decided to take a little family outing. Wesley is totally into animals right now so he was in heaven all day, pointing to everything and asking "waa dat?!" It's so fun seeing those enormous elephants and sky-high giraffes through his little eyes of wonder!

Jacket: Adidas (gift)

Hoodie : Carter's

Jeans: babyGap

Boots and mitts: Children's Place

Gifts the weekend brought me...



Ta-da! An elephant!

 

66. A clear conscience

67. Sunday drives

68. Felt boards

69. Pancakes on a Saturday morning

70. Doing something you're afraid of

71. Oil pastels

72. Wesley seeing elephants for the first time

73. Giraffes... the ballerinas of the animal kingdom!

74. Answered prayer

75. The perfect pair of yellow ballet flats

A Day in the Life

"So, what did you do today?” my husband asks over a thrown-together dinner of turkey burgers and leftover peas pulao. “Not much,” I shrug, surprised by the flash of jealousy I feel as he tells me about his business lunch at Red Lobster, the exciting negotiations meeting with a prospective client. I’m angry at myself as I try to squelch the feeling – I love my role as a stay-at-home mom; this is the job I want, the job I relish (most days!)… so why do I struggle to find an answer for how I spend my days? Why do I equate them with “not much”? Why do I feel that my husband’s days are somehow more important or more exciting?... And not just because of the Cheddar Bay biscuits at Red Lobster!

I don’t want to look back on a day, a week, a month, a year, a lifetime and feel like I have spent my time doing “not much.” I’ve started noting and recording the gifts in my life recently (one thousand gifts); the seemingly small things that make life extraordinary. My eyes are open and attuned to these moments, but there is still the ordinary, the everyday, which make up a life. The things that I shrug off so easily. This is not a life half-lived, unfulfilled or unimportant… rather a life of MUCH. Much love, much peace, much laughter, much inspiration and creativity... there might be hardship, but there is also much overcoming. It's a life spent in creating a legacy for my children… a life of ordinary (and extraordinary) moments, lived full of grace, and joy, and gentleness and wisdom (and that’s a prophecy over myself!). Taking each ordinary moment as a gift from the Lord, a blessing from His hand. 

So in order to have a better answer for my husband's “what did you do today” question, I kept a running list yesterday of some of the things that made up my very full day. Many of these things might seem ordinary or mundane, but all total they make up a very extraordinary life!

Here's a snippet of my day...

• diapers changed = 5
• quinoa peanut butter balls
• avocado wiped from face and hands and hair
• collecting rocks
• extracting rocks from little mouth
• clean sheets on the bed
• visit to playgroup
• conversation about chickens with other mom
• prying clingy toddler from legs
• number of answers to “waa dat?” = 100+ (at least!)
• storytime
• singing “wake up little bunnies” and other little ditties
• arranging bright orange daisies in a vase
• scrubbing spaghetti stains out of placemats
• playdoh
• emptying the dishwasher
• wrapping birthday gift and making birthday card
•  a cup of tea and “Revenge”
• a hurried shower, no time to dry hair
• building fort with couch cushions
• kissing bump on the head after fort collapses
• chasing Wesley around the yard in our bare feet
• feet sorting through boxes of clothes for shorts that fit
• running with the wind in my hair and music pumping
• dancing around the living room to giggles and squeals
• chasing the grumpies away
• a deliciously long nap (although not for me)
• pulling puzzle pieces and dustballs out from under the couch
• filling the cupboards with beautiful new dishes
• packing away the old
• firing up the BBQ

Raindrops on roses...

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens; bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens; silver white winters that melt into springs; these are a few of my favourite things...

51. Tired, aching muscles after a good workout

52. Love notes

53. A hot shower

54. Wesley dancing

55. The faces of family on the computer screen from halfway around the world

56. Sisters

57. Late night phone calls with a husband far-away

58. Babies who can sleep through anything!

59. The park alive with humans and animals alike on a spring evening

60. A spick and span kitchen

61. Only an hour till Daddy is home!

62. A full fruit basket

63. Muffins cooling on the counter

64. Butterfly kisses

65. A new box of crayons



Produce Wash (for non-organic fruits & veggies)

We really believe in buying organic produce whenever possible. Pesticides are nasty chemicals that we would really prefer NOT to have floating around our bodies - and we try to avoid them for Wesley especially, since his tiny body is even more suspectible to the dangers of pesticide exposure. (Take a look at this article for some fairly recent and concerning info regarding pesticides)

That said, our budget doesn't allow us to buy 100% organic (and neither does the availability of organic produce in Peterborough), so I try to buy according to the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists - which list the produce most heavily-laden with pesticides and those which are ok to buy non-organic. You can click here to see the most current lists.

When I can't get organic, either because of cost or availability, I use the following wash (from Dr. Oz) to clean my fruits and veggies. It can't remove all traces, but I feel better knowing Wesley isn't popping pesticides with a side of strawberry into his mouth!

Produce Wash

1 cup water

1 cup white vinegar

1 tbsp baking soda

1/2 lemon

Combine all the ingredients together in a large bowl. The baking soda and vinegar will react when you mix them together so make sure there is plenty of room in your bowl for the resulting foam. Transfer mixture to a spray bottle.

To use spray on produce and let sit for 5 minutes. Scrub for at least 30 seconds. Use a scrub brush if the produce can withstand it. Rinse in running water.

For very delicate foods like berries you can skip the scrubbing. Just rinse in a colander after the solution has set for 5 minutes.

To avoid early spoilage wash produce just before use.

Roasted Salt & Vinegar Chickpeas

Back in highschool, my best friend Lisa and I would watch Dawson's Creek and, while doing so, devour an entire bag of Lays Salt & Vinegar chips between the two of us. I'm drooling just thinking about it! I love anything salt and vinegar, but I don't allow myself to consume copious amounts of chips anymore (very often!).

Here's a recipe for Roasted Salt & Vinegar Chickpeas. These are sooo delicious and totally satisfied my need for something salty and crunchy... in a much more healthy, high protein way! Bonus!

All you do is drain a can of chickpeas, put them in a saucepan and cover with white vinegar. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and allow them to sit for 30 minutes. Then, spread the chickpeas on a parchment lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil (about a tsp or two) and then sprinkle with sea salt. Use your hands to cover all the peas with the oil and salt. Roast in the oven at 425 degrees for about 35 min, stirring once halfway through.

Such a great, simple snack!

Click here for the original recipe.

Protecting the Mind

"We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NCV)

Growing up, my parents were always very careful about protecting the minds of their children. They knew just how powerful the mind can be, and they always strived to fill our minds with good and pure things; never the opposite. For that reason, they were pretty strict about with our TV, movie and internet consumption. We would have Friday night "family night" and would watch movies along the Disney lines, never the stuff my friends at school would talk about watching! I can remember feeling lame sometimes as my friends talked about the newest horror movie they had seen... but I can also remember feeling grateful for never having seen that stuff... especially when one particular friend would call me while home alone, convinced a masked intruder was lurking outside her windows!

When I was old enough to be making my own choices about what I watched, I still tried to be very careful. I'm inclined to dwell on things for a long time, and even though I have no memory for day-to-day stuff (where are my keys? my phone?), things like movies and books stay with me forever.

Recently, my diligence in protecting my mind began to slip. Maybe I was overconfident in thinking all my 'maturity' would allow me to package things away to the dark recesses of my mind. Or that I'd have a better grip on the concept of fiction. But the other night I watched a movie that I was pretty sure I should have turned off after the first 10 minutes... and after two nights of nightmares and little sleep, I know that my mind is still pretty impressionable, and, 28 years old or not, I still need to guard it. Brian prayed for me and, thank you Jesus!, 5 minutes later I couldn't recall anything I had seen even if I wanted to.

Did you know the mind can potentially store 100 trillion thoughts?! That's a pretty powerful tool. The Lord can use our minds to do amazing things in fulfilling his purposes... but the devil also knows how strong the mind is and would love nothing more than to control it to his end. That's why we need to remain on guard and "take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ" (2 Cor 10:5 NIV). I'm eternally grateful to my parents for the work they did in protecting my mind as a child. Just think of all the garbage they kept out and the space they saved for the good stuff! I want to be just as diligent in doing the same for Wesley... and after the reminder I received this week, for myself!

The Wonderful Cross

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

~Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)

 

Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep

41. Sliding between fresh, clean sheets

42. A sock finding his long lost mate

43. Footed pajamas

44. The stillness of sleeping house

45. Laundry flapping in the breeze

46. The joy of creating

47. Husband making dinner

48. Afternoon date with the teapot (and ONE piece of chocolate!)

49. Chick flicks with girlfriends

50. Toddlers making friends

One of my favourite songs from one of my very favourite movies is "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep" from White Christmas. Jotting down these gifts always makes me think of this song...

In the movie Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosby sing this together; I couldn't find that version... but here's the lovely Rosemary Clooney. Enjoy!

Making a Fabric Pinboard

I've been on a crafting kick recently... the sewing machine and the glue gun have been getting quite a workout! I'd been wanting to make a pinboard for our kitchen for awhile... a place to keep cards, pictures, notes etc since our fridge is pretty cluttered with giant alphabet letters and farm animal magnets (complete with sounds!). I found a few ideas online and sort of meshed them all together to come up with this one...

I didn't want to spend much money on this project so I went to Value Village and found a big print for $5.00 which I used the frame from.

Here's what I started with...

All it needed was a couple of coats of white spray paint and it looked brand new!

For the pinboard, you need...

- large frame, glass removed

- piece of fabric, a couple of inches bigger than your frame on all sides

- cotton batting

- ribbon (amount depends on your size of frame)

- upholstery pins

- staple gun or stapler

- glue gun

The first step is measure and cut a piece of cotton batting the same size as the backing of your frame. You then want to cut your fabric so it is an inch or so bigger than the backing on all sides (you don't have to be too precise, just make sure you have enough to fold over and staple).

Lay your fabric right side down on a table, then lay your batting centred on top of the fabric and then finally the frame backing on top of this.

Fold the fabric over the backing, starting with the corners, and staple in place. You can also use the glue gun to help secure it.

Once all the fabric is stapled down, you want to arrange your ribbon on top of the fabric. Lay one set of rows diagonally across, then lay another set on top of this from the opposite side. You could measure to make sure each square is the same size, but I just eyeballed it.

Once you are happy with the ribbon layout, place an upholstery pin at each spot where the ribbon intersects to secure it. Make sure there is good tension on the ribbon between each pin, or else it won't hold your items.

Then fold the ends of the ribbon over the back and glue in place. All you need to do now is pop the backing into the frame and you're done!

Easy, right? And a fun way to display and organize photos, cards or whatever you like!