Kristin Danielle

I have moved to....

2008-01-10T06:29:00.000-06:00

Tiny Talk Tuesday.

2008-01-08T20:47:00.000-06:00

We have had a thunder storm this evening, and my two boys that share a room responded very differently.

My two year old showed up in the hallway shortly after the thunder sounded, shaking and crying, obviously scared.

My five year old showed up in the hallway with a huge smile on his face, saying, "mama, when I clap, I make lightning!"

My two year old finally fell asleep clutching my sweatshirt and listening to soothing music, and when I peeked in, my five year old was sprawled out sound asleep.

*My baby has double ear infections, and is on antibiotics, sleeping soundly through the storm. Hopefully he feels better in the morning.

Another day, another basket...

2008-01-07T19:59:00.000-06:00

We find this little boy in baskets, and drawers of all shapes and sizes. He is loving his newly learned mobilization.

A harder update.

2008-01-07T07:59:00.000-06:00

One of my friends lost her friend Marcy to cancer yesterday afternoon. It has been a long battle, and a very difficult season of time for all those involved. She has left behind a husband, and two children, ages 7 and around 18 months. They will need many prayers of comfort, and support to get through this time.

Noticing Project

2008-01-06T19:45:00.000-06:00

I discovered this photo blog called the "Noticing Project,"

"The notion of the project is to look intently and observe the small or ephemeral moments around us.

We will post images daily {mon. - fri.} throughout 2008."

If you like looking at photos, check back there often.

Deceptively Delicious

2008-01-06T07:57:00.000-06:00

~I got this cookbook for Christmas, "Deceptively Delicious," and so far it is really good! The basic idea is to sneak vegetables into normal recipes, so that kids (and adults too I guess) will eat more of them. The recipes use pureed vegetables in dishes, so it's handy if you have babies too, because you can use that pureed food for them!
So far we have tried the rice krispie treats, that are baisically the same except you use brown rice cereal and add some flax seed. They taste the same to me, and the kids love them.

~Have you tried this cook book, or have another good one to recommend?

Are you a cool parent?

2008-01-05T20:30:00.000-06:00

Read the quiz here. It's pretty funny.
Here's how you can rate:

MOSTLY A
Congratulations! You are one cool parent! Enjoy it while you can because your children will hate you when they are teenagers and you are still trying to upstage them.
MOSTLY B
Congratulations! You are one uncool parent! Your children will only appreciate you, though, in about 20 years' time.
MOSTLY C's
"Congratulations! You are a complete eccentric and you don't get many of them to the pound these days. Your children are all set to have lucrative jobs as successful writers and broadcasters, cashing in on their bizarre childhoods. You'll probably be incredibly cool after you're dead, so make sure you take lots of photos and wobbly cine footage now. It'll do their careers no end of good."

Disappointment

2008-01-05T07:50:00.000-06:00

"We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope."
- Martin Luther King

Don't let your kid push my kid.

2008-01-03T15:46:00.001-06:00

We were at a indoor playground today to let my kids get their energies out, and my two year old was standing near a slide. A little girl, (that looked a few years older than him) walked up behind him and pushed him into the slide. He stood there looking offended, and I kept my mouth shut, thinking it was an accident that looked intentional, and waiting for her mother to say something, or for the little girl to run off and play. The little girl looked at my son, and pushed him into the slide again. His face started to scrunch up, and I couldn't wait any longer, and asked the little girl, "please do not push him." She skipped off, as her mother sat there with pursed lips.
In these kinds of situations, I get pretty annoyed with the parents. Why did the mom just sit there and watch this situation unfold? Why did she not get up and intervene? Obviously the little girl was being a bully. Was the mom too tired to handle it? Did she think that my two year old and her four year old could work it out in a mature way? (I hope that she just didn't see it happen) Obviously, I realize that kids are going to do this to each other from time to time, and not play in perfect harmony, but when it's really young children, and the parents are sitting there watching, don't you think they should intervene, and teach them not to hurt other kids?
~What do you think?

The 20's

2008-01-02T19:23:00.001-06:00

My baby sitter is 16. She talks a lot, really fast, has big dangly earings, and says "totally" and "like" a lot. She just got into a fender bender, and she has boy troubles. 10 years ago, I was 16. It doesn't seem that long ago. Most of my friends here in TN are around the age of 36. They are very comfortable in life, and have been married for a good amount of time. They seem fairly secure and certain of who they are. That is 10 years from now, for me. There is a big difference between a 16 year old and a 36 year old, but I feel like at 26 I can easily relate to, and hang out with both.

It's kind of weird to be in this growing time of adulthood. (if that makes any sense) It seems like it's a time of searching, of figuring out who I am, and how I want to do life. I'm lingering between those years where I was out of control, and growing into the years where I am confident in the decisions I make, and comfortable with where I am.
It's a cool time of life, but kind of weird.

~Are the 20's a weird time for anyone else?

Thank you for your closet

2008-01-02T07:46:00.000-06:00

We got an e mail last night from our little friends that stayed with us last week. The oldest boy sent us a very polite and well written e mail, that was very sweet. He is a very sweet and smart boy, and we are glad he had a good time. Their little girl was so fun for me to have around, I loved seeing her very girly, outgoing, personality, and the outfits she'd come up with. Her e mail went something like this.

"You are my best friend and I really like to play in your room. I really
like your best and I like everything in your rooms.

I like your rooms with Aiden in it.

I like your beds and your rooms.

I like it in your closets. (the toys and books are in the closets...)

I like your stickers and when you go in the bathroom.

I like it in your room on your books.

And I like your books.

I like your potty.

I really like your everything.

Thank you."

Their little baby was the sweetest little girl, who smiled when she'd see our baby Cooper coming. I am sure they liked having someone their own size to play with. She makes sounds like a dove, which is why I think they've nick named her "Little Bird."

~Very Cute kids, very fun family.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T18:45:00.000-06:00

~We spent our New Years Eve, taking down our Christmas decorations, and hanging out with our neighbor friends, playing dance revolution and drinking hot chocolate.
Today we attempted to feed the birds by rolling our crushed pine cone ornaments in peanut butter and bird seed and hanging them on our Christmas tree out on the deck.

It was so cold outside that we could only be out there in a few minute increments. The evening ended with snow outside, and the high tomorrow is supposed to "feel like 17." (brrrrr)
Hopefully we'll wake up to snow!
Happy New Year to everyone.

Basket Sitting

2007-12-31T21:13:00.000-06:00

~It's the cool new thing to do.

Old and New..

2007-12-30T14:23:00.000-06:00

This week, we have been fortunate to spend with our old friends. Brody and Jessie have been friends since junior high, and she is the one who got my phone number for Brody when we were in high school. Her and her husband got married about a year before us, and we have all been great friends ever since. Our families have grown, and now we each have three kids, who have had a great time running around and playing this week. At night, us adults have had a good time catching up and playing a rented guitar hero. (which is a lot harder than I thought it would be)
This week, I also had the priveledge of meeting Kat who was passing through our area with her family. It was so great to finally meet someone that I'd only known through blogs. Kat and I chit chatted about our families, and how strange it is to meet someone that you know a lot about but haven't actually met face to face.
I wish I had pictures, but my husband has got them on his camera, and I forgot to take a picture with Kat.
All in all, it has been a great week, spending time with old friends, and meeting new ones!

2007 is almost gone...

2007-12-28T13:06:00.000-06:00

I decided at one point to stop making New Years resolutions, but instead was making "plans for the new year," which in reality is no different, yet somehow I am more comfortable with that title. It seems like if you make a plan, you can change the course of that along the way, but a resolution is so set in stone, that if it changes at all from the original goal, it feels like a failure. Nonetheless I do love the beginning of the New Year. It feels like a new beginning and a chance to become more of who I am supposed to be, a chance to live better, and a chance to start fresh with better intentions.
As the year closes, and the Christmas season passed (so quickly, didn't it?) I am starting to think about my plans, and what 2008 will be. I know it will be the year my oldest son starts "big school" and rides the bus. I know that it will consist of many changes, and so much is unknown, but for now, I am going to enjoy the last few days of the year, and think about the memories that have been created throughout these 365 days of 2007.
~What is your best 2007 memory?

Merry Christmas

2007-12-23T20:14:00.000-06:00

~"Labor of Love" by Andrew Peterson, performed by Jill Philips

Handmade gift tags! (Free!)

2007-12-22T07:42:00.000-06:00

Here are a few sites of artists who make their own gift tags, and make available to you for free through their blogs!
Follow the links, and print some out!

~Camilla Engman

~The small object
~ENJOY!

Crazy Story!

2007-12-20T09:14:00.000-06:00

PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Steve Flaig wasn't sure how to approach his co-worker with his big news. It would seem brash to walk up and say, "Hi, I'm Steve, your son." How would she react to that, he wondered.
Flaig's long search for his birth mother ended in early October when he learned that she was the woman he previously knew only as Chris, the head cashier at a Lowe's home-improvement store just outside Grand Rapids, in Kent County's Plainfield Township.
"I would walk by her, look at her from a distance, not knowing how to approach her," Flaig, 22, told The Grand Rapids Press for a story published Wednesday. "You don't come stocked with information on how to deal with this."
When Lowe's Cos. hired Christine Tallady to work at the store last April, she had no idea that the young delivery driver to whom she was introduced was her son."

*Read Entire Story Here

Forgetfulness

2007-12-19T14:25:00.000-06:00

It is so easy for me to get caught up in my to do list. It's so easy for my priorities to get shifted. This morning I read this verse, "Does a maiden forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people forget me, days without number." (Jeremiah 2:32)
I realized how my time with God lately has become a second thought. I never forget to put on deodorant, but some mornings I forget to pray. I don't forget to walk out of the house dressed and hair combed, and make up on, but I forget to give God my day, to acknowledge Him. I would never leave a guest sitting in my living room, while I ran about and did meaningless chores, yet I do that to God every day. I don't want God to be a second thought to me, I don't want to forget about Him.

(by the way... I know the picture of the to do list has nothing written on it, but it really matches my blog, doesn't it?)

Tiny Talk Tuesday.

2007-12-18T09:40:00.000-06:00

~This morning at breakfast, we were talking to our boys, joking with them, and asking them if they were going to take girls on dates. My five year old said, "no way!" and my two year old said, "no, I can't drive."

*For more tiny talk tuesday, visit Mary@notbefore7

Interpretation needed...

2007-12-16T19:44:00.000-06:00

I got a text message from a number I didn't know tonight. I only get text messages from my husband, usually, so it's always weird to me when it's a number with an area code that I don't recognize. I know that some people use shorter words for their texts, but I don't know those. Anyways so here was the series of text messages:

~weird number: was gud?
~me: What? who is this?
~weird number: B dis kadesha

It took me awhile, but I think I figured out what that meant. What is your interpretation?
In conclusion, I'm not a cool lingo texter. Maybe I shuld shrtn my wrds.

Star Wars and Oprah

2007-12-14T21:59:00.000-06:00

My son returned from a star wars theme birthday party tonight, where he went dressed as Anikin but he was really Luke, he said. When I arrived to pick him up all the boys at the party were light saber fighting and rolling all across the ground, and as they were leaving they got goodie bags in the shape of darth vaders head. My son asked in the car on the ride home, how come my birthday party didn't have plates from a movie, or why didn't we dress up? I laughed to myself as I started thinking about if adults had birthday party themes based around their current favorite movie or TV show. C.S.I., Jeopardy, Scrubs, Oprah, (can't you picture plates with Oprah's face on them?)The weather channel, The Office... What movie or TV show, would you have on your plates, or what is the best one you can think of?

Behold the Lamb of God...

2007-12-14T08:14:00.000-06:00

~Last night we were able to go to the "Behold the Lamb of God" concert by Andrew Peterson and a Group of other great musicians. I love the story of these songs, and that there are so many talented musicians performing. This is Brody's third year attending, and my second. We've made it our tradition to go every year. While the music was the same as last year, they changed up the artists that were performing. Last year Derek Webb and his wife Sandra Mc Craken were apart of the show, and his voice in particular adds so much emotion and passion to the performance, so I was a little sad that they were not apart of it this year. It was still so good though, and I was thrilled to see Jill Philips perform, her voice is by far one of my favorites. Sara Groves was there again this year, along with her husband, on percussion. Bebo Norman was also apart of the show this year, so that was a nice treat, he's been a long time favorite in our house.
All in all it is a great show, a really good Christmas story, songs that take you throughout the bible. I fully recommend the CD to add to your Christmas collection.

More updates...

2007-12-11T20:11:00.000-06:00

~Remember those women I talked about on a previous post? ...and also the update in November?
Well, I received another update, from a friend, about these two women.

~The one woman who had had cancer throughout her body, and then returned to only have them find it in part of her body, went to Disney world with her family for Thanksgiving, and is now back on chemotherapy and doing well.

~The other woman, was looking like she only had about a week left, about a month ago, but is doing better, and was even able to ride a horse recently!
It will be so wonderful for these women to be able to spend Christmas with their families. I am convinced that God is blessing them day by day, so keep praying!

In the details.

2007-12-10T07:56:00.000-06:00

When Blue and I were flying home, we saw so much beautiful landscape. From the wide green stretches of land and rivers in CA, to the rocky red land, and grand canyon over Arizona. The world is so big, that even from that height we could not see all of it, but we were not close enough to see a human being. As we flew into Nashville at night, we saw the many lights of the city, too many to count. I was reminded once again, at how massive this world is, and on top of that, how many people are in it. I thought about my own personal life, and how complex it is, I thought of the stack of Christmas cards to send out, and how each of those represented more lives that are also very complex. I was in awe once again at God's involvement in all of our lives. How does He do it? How does God have so much patience with me? How does He teach me lessons through mundane tasks? How does He weave together these stories of our lives?
I was reminded of the verse, "what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" (Psalm 8:4)
I am in awe of God's ability to be in the intricate details of our lives, and I am making an effort to recognize Him in those details, and trusting Him with them. This season is about wonder, not about busyness, not about list making, not about gift buying. This season is about the realization of God's ability to do the unthinkable, to marvel that He cares, to rejoice, and remember the beginning when Jesus entered this world, and to sit back and realize what He accomplished for us. Even when life seems to distract me from my effort to marvel, I am trying to remember that He is there, in the details, weaving together the story for good. There is so much to be in wonder of with God.

~What are you in wonder of this season?