Christmas Gift # 1

Well, I told you I was going to start my Christmas shopping early, and I did just that.  A few weeks ago I had to waste some time at Meijer while waiting for some pictures to be printed (craft related to those pictures coming soon!).  I decided to roam the toy aisles looking for ideas of what to get Little Man.  Instead of getting ideas, I ended up buying all of his Christmas gifts.

Being the teacher that I am at my core, I always have to balance the gifts between fun and learning.  The first thing I found was this DVD.

I got him Leap Frog's The Letter Factory last year and he really liked.  From a teacher's standpoint, I really liked it.  When I saw this DVD I knew it would be a good addition to his collection of movies.

I also wanted to get a game.  He really enjoys playing games and they are good for him on so many different levels.  I was thinking about Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders, but ended up going with Go Fish.

They have a rather large and very well stocked pond/man made lake behind their house and he is really into fishing.  Another good match that will be fun for him, but teaching him as well. :)

So then it was time to find something fun.  He has tons of toys already and especially of the things he loves-trains, airplanes, cars, construction trucks, dinosaurs, and Star Wars.  I wanted to get something his parents might not think to get him, but that would still be enjoyable for him.  I ended up with this:

I'm sure he will have lots of fun with this and it is something new for him.

Then it was time for me to head to the book aisle.  I have to give books.  Plus, he really does love to read, which is nice.  I found two books that are right up his alley.

 

One person checked off the Christmas list, 19 more to go! :)

Can you help?

Eleven years ago I made the life changing choice to pack up, move across the country, and attend Evangel University.  Even still to this day I believe this was one of the best decisions of my life.  I am obviously still paying for this choice, but I don't regret it one bit.  Not only did I receive an amazing education in a field of my dreams, but I made some of the best friends a girl could ask for.  Throughout those four years I learned who I was as a person and who I wanted to be.  Every experience over that short period of time helped shape me into the person I am today.  One of the beautiful friendships I made there was with Lisa Russi (who we fondly refer to as Rues). 

Lisa was a freshman during my sophomore year and lived right down the hall from me.  She was/is a lot like my riduculously crazy and hilarious roommate and they hit it off right away.  That, of course, led me to being her friend as well.  The next year we even became suitemates.  For three years we "did" college together... the good times, the not so good times, floor functions, daily life, and spiritual growth.

Lisa has a heart for people.  Over time that has led her to many trips around the world and eventually a time where she lived in Bangladesh.  These people have grown to be her family, her love, and her passion.  She came back to the states for a brief time to pursue her masters degree at AGTS, but is now ready to return "home" to Bangladesh.  She is in the process of raising money to return.

I can't eloquently and efficiently describe to you what she is trying to do there or what her vision is, so I'm going to let her tell you by giving you the link to her website.  I implore you to check it out!
http://www.touchbangladesh.com/

She is partnering with Project Rescue, so you may want to check out their website as well.
http://www.projectrescue.com/

 I would ask that you prayerfully consider supporting Lisa financially if you can, but if nothing else to cover her with your prayers.  I wouldn't ask you to do anything I myself am not doing.  Michael and I have committed to supporting this important cause.

Fall Tree craft

We have these little sponge dobbers that Little Man loves to use.  While we were doing another art project he begged me to use them... so we made a tree.

I went to the computer and printed out a picture of a tree.  I cut out the the tree and glued the outline to another piece of paper.

I used the ever faithful pie tin and filled it with fall colored paint.

The Little Man went to work with the sponge dobbers!

 

 

Then I pulled the top layer off and it created a beeeee-u-ti-ful fall tree.

I glued it to brown construction paper.  Unfortunately, we were out of white construction paper, so I had to use printer paper.  Because printer paper is so thin, you can see the paint lines.  :(  Oh well, cute nonetheless.

Pandora

Do you know about Pandora Radio?  If not, you must check it out.  You can make your own radio station.  You type in an artist or song that you like and it will make an entire radio station for you based on that information.  It finds other songs by similar artists and or genres.  If it plays a song you don't like, you can delete it from the play list and it will never be played on that "station" again.  You can give a song a thumbs up or a thumbs down too.  It is so cool and it's totally free.  You only have advertisements every once in a while.  You can also make up multiple radio stations for yourself.  For example, I have a station that is mostly praise and worship music.  Then I have another station that is more contemporary Christian music.  I've just started exploring, but I already have 4 stations.  My favorite so far is my "Kari Jobe" station.  I tried one for Rascal Flatts, but it's way more country that I  like.  It's so nice though, because I generally only listen to Christian music but our Christian radio station plays the same songs over and over.  (Which is why I mostly listen to book on tape to and from work now.)

The BEST Banana Bread Recipe

Ok, so I was a little hesitant to share this recipe.  It is THE BEST BANANA BREAD EVER, and I kind of like having the recipe to myself.  I kind of like being able to make people the moistest banana bread ever and hear their raves.  However, I got over my selfishness and decided to put it out there for you all.  Nice of me, huh? :)

Here's what you'll need:

1 cup butter                              
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
4 bananas
1 tsp vanilla
4 tbs buttermilk
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
1) cream butter and sugar--I've heard it's best to use room temp butter, but I'm never that on top of it.  I just melt it a little in the microwave.

2) mash bananas

3)beat 2 eggs (also heard those should be at room temp too) and add to bananas with the vanilla and the buttermilk.  I truly believe that the buttermilk is the key to this recipe.

4) mix well and add to creamed butter and sugar

5) sift flour, baking soda and salt and add to the mix (ok, I do no sifting--I just add it to the pot!)

 

6) blend well, but don't over mix!

7) pour into TWO greased loaf pans and bake 50 minutes. 

 

 

 

That's one of the things I like about the recipe, besides it being the best ever banana bread, is that it makes two loaves.  That leaves one loaf for Michael and I and one loaf to give away to family or friends.

 You want some don't you?

It's really yummy eaten cold or reheated.  We like to put ours in the microwave for 20 seconds and then lather it with butter.  Enjoy!

More Visual Square Footage

Remember when I did this little change and thought it added more visual square footage?

Well.......... I did it again!

I was strolling through Home Goods with my sister and randomly came across this little hook.

It was so cute.  I loved it.  I had no idea what I would do with it.  I jokingly said that it was "a sign" because it was the only hook there and it was a 'B' for me.  I held on to it a second and started walking down the aisle a little bit farther.  Guess what I found?  An 'M'!!!!  Oh, and guess what started playing over the stereo system?  "I Saw the Sign" by Ace of Base--I PROMISE!!!

Literally, they were the only two in the entire store.  They were only $6 a piece and I HAD TO HAVE THEM.  After all, it was a sign.  I immediately started coming up with a plan in my mind.

I have a love/hate relationship with my condo.  One thing I really don't like is that we don't have a hall closet.  When you walk in our house, you are right in the living room.  There is no entry way, no good place to put coats, no place for anything!

Originally we put a coat tree there.  We thought that was the best way to accommodate all our my coats.  It worked.  It was functional and did the job.  However, I hated it!  I didn't know what else to do though.  Until I found our "I saw the sign" hooks!

Here's the before:

 

 

It's not attractive is it?

As we all know, it's best to decorate in odd numbers--specifically groups of 3.  I found this hook for 50% of at JoAnn's and decided to put it in the middle.

We Michael used our handy dandy laser thingy (that we got as a wedding gift and had yet to use) and installed them.

 

LOVE THAT MAN!

 

Unfortunately, that little guy in the middle wasn't all that sturdy.  It had a terrible hook on the back, so we had to go with plan B.  I went on a search for something else that would look good in the middle.  OH--and we made sure to put the M first.  Trust me when I say, that we do not really need you to tell us that our initials together spell BM.  We know.

So I found this one at Target.

Here's the final look...

 

 

I think this view shows you best how much it opened up the space.

BEFORE:

(sorry--thought I had a better before picture, but now I can't find it)

AFTER:

 Better, right?

Marble Art Leaves

We made some more fall marble art.  (If you remember, the last marble art I showed you was from LAST year.  Of course we had to do some again!)

Here's what we used... fall colored paints, a box lid, paper, marbles, and a leaf template.

Remember how last time I couldn't find a marble?  Well, this time I just went ahead and bought a bag at JoAnn's.  It was only $2.49 and I'm sure we'll get lots of use out of them.  Little man was excited about them!

Lay the paper in the box lid and put a dot of paint around the edges.

Then put a marble (or two... or three!) in the lid, roll around and have fun!

 

 

 

We made a few of these.  One of them I tried to do without the green (although there was some green left in the box) and then another one we did without brown.

After the three paintings dried, I traced some leaves onto them, cut them out, and we glued them on to fall colored construction paper.

 

I love them!  If it was my kids art work, I would probably cut out the construction paper to make a thin layer of boarder.  I would probably make quite a few and decorate a door or something like that.  OR, you could take them to an office store, have them laminated with heavy duty laminate and use them as fall placemats.