Pinterest dessert

Tried a dessert from Pinterest tonight for our community groups potluck. It was a winner!
Top a small pretzel with a Hershey kiss, melt it in a 275 oven for 2-3 minutes. Don't go much over this or the chocolate goes back to hard.
Take them out and smoosh an m&m into the top of each one. Cool and enjoy!
Pinterest sats hugs work well too but I'm a chocolate purist. My sister says her MIL makes them with circle pretzels and rolos, sound yum to me!

Church shopping and swimming crises

So with our church (and my work) move from Lakewood and Forefront, we have to find another church home.  Both for the kids to have friends in our area and for me to have women (and adult) friends close to home as well.  We have found a great contender in Journey Church!  Very near to home, kids like it, we like the teaching...  We went to the info/new member meeting this last Sunday and were very impressed with their background, vision and focus for the future!  We are going to give it a few more weeks before we jump in to become members but it is great to have found a place we think we could belong.

Saturday was the kick-off of the summer reading program at our library and my super reading guy made sure that we attended!  He's already been reading a bunch this summer and he really wants the prizes :-)  They had a little show that he got pulled up for - he was a hippo!  She went on the parade afterwards with a friend.

So then we come to the dreaded swim lessons...  The kids are fairly comfortable in the pool, we've been 2-3 times this summer already but they really need to learn to float and strokes and all so I signed them up but didn't tell them where we were going until we were in the car.  The boy cried all the way there, had to carry him in, wouldn't get into the water until the last 5 minutes when I bribed him with hockey cards.  The girl did pretty well, wouldn't go under, but tried hard on everything else.
Then today (day 2) the boy was watching the clock all morning to make sure that we didn't leave a minute too late because he was all excited.  Both kids did everything the teachers asked and had a great time - goobers!

LOVE the goggle eyes!

Strawberries from my garden - captured before the bunnies got them!!

Recent Craftiness!

I <3 pinterest and this summer I'm actually doing some of the things I've found on there!
Mother's Day gifts:

 These are "fried marbles" that I wrapped in wire to make pendants.  We baked regular marbles in the oven and then shocked them in ice water to crack them on the inside.  They are pretty cool!

 Then I used polymer clay to make hearts and ovals and had the kids press their fingerprints into the ovals.  I baked them and then put some black paint on and wiped it off to accent the prints better.  Used some ribbon to make necklaces for my mom, mother in law and I for personal gifts.  These are really great!
Knitting:

 This is the adagio shawl that I finished recently.  My mom gave me the yarn and pattern for my birthday.  It is more gorgeous in person - gradients from purple to navy!  My friend Caitlyn taught me how to wear it with the point in front and wrapped around a couple times so I don't look like a grandma :-)
Just for fun!

And this is the most recent finish!  I melted pony beads in different muffin pans, drilled holes and strung them together with fishing line to make a sun catcher/wind chime.  It is even prettier than the picture when the sun is out!  I have a few left to put into a couple more lines for the tree out back.

Now off to find the next project for the kids and I!

This is the summer of ending well and new beginnings!  Ending well in that I've just finished a great season working for Forefront and we've finished with 1st grade and preschool.  New beginnings are all over the place - finding a new church community, new friends closer to home, new craft projects, new summer adventures, figuring out who I am now that I'm not on staff at a church, lots of new things!!

So I thought I'd document some of our summer and our changes to remind my self of our forward progress!  And away we go!

Life moves so fast!

Wow! I hadn't thought about this blog in so long and I got an email from some anonymous poster to it. It made me read back through the year or so of posts and it was fun to see where I was.

Feels like everything has changed but many things are the same!

Forefront is racing along and stretching and challenging me to be a more forward thinker and leader. Some days I think I'm handling it all like a champ and other days I wonder what God was thinking putting me in this position. How many times do I have to bang my head against the same wall before I really do trust Him...

I'm so blessed to have 2 amazing kids! Andrew is enjoying kindergarten and we are trying to figure out where to put him next year - 1,? 1/2? G&T? What happened to everyone just going to one class after another?!? That little voice that says we could ruin him FOREVER keeps appearing when we try to decide what to do... Katie is so great too, loves p/s and all of her friends there and at church.

Aaron is job hunting still, good prospect (& 2nd interview) next week so we have our fingers crossed for this chance. Still working for his dad but it just isn't the right fit for him.

Trying to figure out why I am sooo tired every day. Stinks to fall asleep for a nap every afternoon and not be as good of a mom as I want to be but I guess that will always be the case to some extent.

ok, my turn!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both, used to do more wrapping paper now I do more bags
2. Real tree or Artificial? I hate to say artificial now. But I LOVE real ones!
3. When do you put up the tree? usually the weekend after Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? Sometime after Christmas, usually before New Year.
5. Do you like egg nog? Ack - no!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? A wool sweater with ducks on it - just a special gift from my dad!
7. Do you have a nativity scene? um, I think about 8 of them. My favorite is a 40 year old one from the Philippenes that my mom gave me a few years ago.
8. Hardest person to buy for? Dad & Father in law
9.. Easiest person to buy for? My mom
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Polyester too short pj gown from Grandma when I was too old for it.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? can't think of one...
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Can't think of one, but that doesn't mean I haven't...
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? FUDGE!!
15. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear
16. Favorite Christmas song? Hymns with an organ on Christmas eve
17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? last year we stayed home for Christmas and then went to MN in early Jan for 2nd Christmas, that was nice
18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? I think so, but I won't put $$ on it.
19.. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning
20. Most annoying thing about this time of year? too many toy commercials aimed at the kids
21. Favorite thing about this time of year? getting to see my family, getting tickled about neat presents for people I love
22. Favorite ornament, theme, or color? I like the ones I got in Israel
23. What do you want for Christmas this year? hmm, maybe an ipod, some cool knitting gadgets?
24. Who will reply to this the quickest? ??

What a day!

So it's been a while and I won't bore you with all of the details, just the last few.
Busy busy weekend!
Friday we found out the location for Forefront. Can't say I'm excited to drive so far, but it is so obviously God's choice that I can't complain about it. I'm getting more and more excited about this new church! (except for the really sad part about missing my good friends - that part I just try not to think about much.)
Big shower on Saturday for some dear friends of mine who are finally having a baby after 2 years of trying and lots of procedures - I can't wait to meet this baby in just a few weeks!
Sunday was Celebration Sunday, I was pooped!
So, I slept for 12 hours last night - how great was that! But then Miss Katie decided that I hadn't had quite enough fun so she managed to get open a childproof bottle and brought me a handful of my rx meds! I freaked out, called poison control and then spent about 5 hours in the ER with her this afternoon! Happily, she's ok, I don't think she actually ate any of them but we wanted to be safe, just in case.
So there's my update! I have lots to do this week too but I'm starting most mornings with a quiet time and amazingly enough, that makes things so much better!
Love you all!
Crysti