Love Is In the Air

I just adore February! Valentine’s Day is such a fun celebration for which to decorate! You don’t have to spend a lot of money either to have a festive home. Here’s a peek at my decorations this year.

 

This is the “wreath” I usually have on our door for most of the year. But, I picked up these cute heart pics at my local Dollar Store and they just make the door “happy”, don’t you think?

 

 

 

As I’ve said before, our front porch is one of the places that I really enjoy decorating. The inside might just be a mess, but that front porch looks pretty cute! You can see how I made these precious pillows here. It’s super easy!

Today I’m hosting my February Open House to showcase Lucy Doo’s Spring Collection.  And of course, I had to search for new recipes on Pinterest. (side note/“squirrel”!! ha! : I sure wish I had been the one to dream up the idea of Pinterest! I have several boards there with loads of need stuff if you’d like to follow them.) There were so many delicious choices but I chose these:

 Strawberry White Chocolate Bars

These were super, duper easy! 2 ingredients!! What could be better? I think I’ll cut them smaller next time to more of a bite size because they’re pretty rich, but oh, so yummy!

White Chocolate S'mores Gooey Cake Bars

Wow! Are these good! And really easy! My kids inhaled {heart} them. What’s better than chocolate and marshmallows, for goodness sakes!

Enjoy spreading some L.O.V.E. today, would ‘ya?? Have you found some neat ideas for Valentine’s Day? ?Would you share??? Pretty, please??

Love That Sticks {Challenge}

Tomorrow is February 1st…..and February is the month of L.O.V.E.!!! I absolutely adore February because everyone feels free to share their love with those around them.

The Christian radio station in our area challenges all of it’s listeners to share God’s love in a fun & unique way during the month of February. They call it “Love that Sticks” and they challenge everyone to leave sticky notes in random places. How cool is THAT??

I heard of one situation where a lady put a sticky note on her money in her purse that read “God loves you”. Well, she was robbed and when the robber reached in her purse and pulled out that money, he stopped, his eyes became teary, and then he ran off! God’s Word is a “two-edged sword”!! Amazing!! You just never know how God will use His Word.

So our family is taking on this challenge starting today. (we just couldn’t wait to start! it’s only January 31st!! ha!) I am excited to see how God uses these notes to unsuspecting people. We may never know the result, but God will. My family is armed today with pre-written sticky notes so they are ready for action!!

Here are some ideas:

Leave this one on a random locker at school.

How about this one on a mirror in a store dressing room!

Or this one on the stall door in a public restroom!

Will you take on this challenge? Maybe your family can do it together. It will be fun to see what creative ideas we all come up with! Will you share them in the comments, please? It will inspire everyone to share L.O.V.E. this month!!

Love & Hugs,

It’s Not About the “Stuff”

When our kids were little, we felt like Christmas was about the “stuff”. That’s not how we intended, but just the way things became. We know and celebrate the real Reason for the season, but when we had preschoolers in the house, they loved to make their wish lists and they were chock full of things they really didn’t need or sometimes even want.  SO, we decided to institute the “Three Gifts Plan”….just like the Wise Men who brought gifts to Baby Jesus, we would give 3 gifts to each of our children. That worked great and really helped to reinforce the the true meaning of Christmas…..the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Now that we have a true, 100% teenager and a true, 100% “tweenager” in the house, we just want to spend time together this Christmas. So, this Christmas we decided that we would make sure to spend time making irreplaceable memories. So, here’s what we did:

Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas has a wonderful dinner theatre where the Nativity comes to life.

 

 

After our delicious dinner, we enjoyed the millions of lights, hot chocolate, & s’mores at the Festival of Lights! 

 

 

This tradition will definitely continue!

 

 

The Kids Ministry at our church wanted to bring the Nativity to life and our family was able to participate. A Night in Bethlehem.

 

 

My son was a shepherd (he’s the one on the left)

 

 

 

 

 

And our daughter was a Spice Girl!! (ha!)

 

 

Then, to finish out our very special & memorable Christmas, we were ALL IN for the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio to cheer on our Baylor Bears to victory!! (my alma mater….sic ‘em!!)

I’ll share more about our time in San Antonio later.

I hope that you will look at this New Year 2012 as a golden opportunity to pour time and effort into the lives of your children and into the things that really matter to you.

I’m excited to see what 2012 holds!

Just Being Real, People.

Do you ever feel as if nothing is going right? When it “rains it pours”? Well, that’s how our family has felt recently. If I were list all of the bazaar things that have either happened, broken, been damaged, and so on during the past month, you wouldn’t believe it! And most of it was completely out of our control. That’s the frustrating part.

Last night, I felt like a 2 ton elephant was sitting on my chest! Oh the pressure!! I cried and it’s amazing how therapeutic tears can be. I believe God sometimes wants us to get to the place where we literally throw our hands up to Him and give it up. Oh, not give UP, but give IT up….to HIM….the One who can handle it! His shoulders are broad, HIs ears are big, and His heart is more than willing to pick up the pieces and handle it for us. To quote a dear friend, “Leave it at the cross, Sandi!” And boy, is she right!!!

Today, I begin this day with a spring in my step and joy in my heart waiting to see what God will do! My family is healthy, our blessings are many, and there is love in our home. It’s just the other “stuff” that muddies the water and clutters our minds. If we “let the main thing be the main thing”, everything will be just fine. It may not happen in exactly the manner we expect, but God will make “all things beautiful in HIS time.”

Watching for His hand today,

HUGE Fashion Giveaway Hop {October 14-19}

I am so excited to let you know about the 2011 Fall Fashionista Giveaway Event! This is a HUGE event where over 100 blogs have come together to offer amazing giveaways valued at over $50 each! Thank you, Shelly over at Still Blonde After All These Years for hosting this fun event and Libby at Libby’s Libraries for hosting this Lucy Doo giveaway.

It’s where everyone wants to be from October 14-19. Take a peek here to see what other giveaways are in progress. The list is incredible!

I am excited to be able to offer this beautiful beaded set with pewter cross pendant as well as this multi-strand beaded bracelet. ($50 value) So hop on over here and enter to win!!

This gorgeous jewel-toned beaded necklace set is the perfect compliment to so many outfits. Every time I wear mine, I get compliments. PLUS, the pewter magnetic cross pendant is a lovely addition to this set. It is removable so you can wear it with other beads for an entirely different look.

And don’t you just love these colors? Each strand of these beads are individual so they can be worn together or separate, whatever is your pleasure.

To enter this giveaway ($50 value), here’s what you do:

• Visit Lib’s Library and follow her tips on entering this giveaway. You’ll be glad you did!

Giveaway ends October 19 11:59 PM EST

Winner will be selected by Lib at Libby’s Library.

Good luck!!