Over the Hedge Nadvornik Style

Before I head to Georgia and forget to post these. Here are our Harvest Party Pictures from this year. We went with Over the Hedge, not really because we have a huge love for the movie, but because we could make it work. (Okay the kids love it.)
I wasn't real excited to work on costumes this year, or to spend the money, but I couldn't just let it go either. I was really pleased to find a Cat in the Hat costume and a weird brown costume at Good Will for $1.99 each. Those, with some alterations, became the skunk and possum outfits. We made Charis' vest out of some leftover fabric from Zayin's bumper pads (I still need to post the after pictures from earlier this summer) and she made her own "patches" out of some other material we had laying around. Greg's outfit was supposed to be orange, but I had a green one and I just made a couple "patches" for it at well. He also had a bald cap with a comb over in his pocket that we never had the time to put together and put on his head. I made Zayin's outfit out of some felt and batting, and put some pajamas on underneath his shell. Mine was thrown together about an hour before we left. I'm still not fitting into my clothes, so the outfit that I planned on wearing got nixed. The pajamas were far more comfortable anyway. So it ended up being a really easy and cheap year for costumes, yeah!
Greg and I, minus the bear.


Here is Micaiah as Stella. He has no idea that, in the movie, the skunk was a girl. He is just in love with skunks and the idea of spraying people, something he does on a regular basis.



















Anya decided from the beginning that the possum was her character, because she was a rock star. I didn't know what she was talking about until she informed me that "a rock star girl" (Avril Lavigne)did her voice. We tried to talk her into being Hammie, for reasons that should be obvious, but she would have none of it. Charis wanted her costume because she would get to pull the wagon with Zayin in it. She also like the girl scout because she had brown hair and freckles. Two things she is strangely obsessed with.








Zayin as "Vern" the turtle. And my mom, who amidst much protesting from me, did not dress up.

And of course I'm already scheming for next year. Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, or Star Wars...hmmm the possibilities.

Semi-Domesticated and Hopelessly Flawed

A blog is such a curious beast. It is a window into our lives, but through this little window you are only allowed see what I want you to see. From the very beginning I purposed to write both the good and the bad, the interesting with the mundane, but sometimes this is so much easier said than done. The problem arises when I want people to perceive me as someone that has it all together and, that through Christ, I simply and elegantly glide through life, without a hint of difficulty. HA! Like I said, this is how I want you to perceive me, not necessarily how you do. So this being said I really had to battle my pride before posting this more accurate version of my Monday.

So without further explanation, my life without pretense...

As the weather turns cooler, and the days grow shorter, my desire to be domestic intensifies. I have visions of myself flitting about my home in a cute little apron, oven mitts on hand, and a smile across my lips. I dream of preparing cost effective, eco-friendly and healthy items my whole family can enjoy. So yesterday, that is exactly what I did...well almost.

I started with homemade granola bars. I had Charis help with this. We substituted whole wheat flour, for the white flour, and added pecans, almonds and flax seeds. We also used golden raisins, instead of regular ones and added a little black strap molasses to the mix. I tried to talk the Charis into dried cranberries, but she wasn't having it. Now had I stopped here, things may have turned out a little differently, but I'm a compulsive multi-tasker, and don't know when to say when.

So, while the granola bars where in the oven and Charis went to finish school, I decided to try my hand at both homemade laundry detergent and dish-washing detergent. What could go wrong? I started the process in classic blog form by taking a picture of all my ingredients.

Please note the clean counter tops and back splash (it's all part of the illusion).
I then began grinding up the soap and heating my water, making sure to take pictures along the way.

And this is where things started to spiral out of control. The ingredients wouldn't come out of the box, and then once they did wouldn't dissolve in the water, the timer for the granola bars started going off and they had to be cut into bars within 5 minutes or they would harden, Zayin woke up and wanted to be fed, and my helper had fallen asleep instead of working on school.

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!

Now is the part of this post that I would love to say that I stopped, took a deep breath and moment to pray, and finished my tasks with the joy of the Lord in my heart. I, however, just gritted my teeth, put my baby on my boob, plowed forward and finished in a very angry and frustrated fashion.

I was determined not to let the circumstances beat me. How could I create the perfect post, when things weren't going perfectly? Yes, I did finish...
...but I didn't win. I was so intent on impressing all of you, that I forgot that my significance comes from the Lord and not from being the greenest, healthiest, and most put together mom on the planet (Yes I am extremely diluted). Once I am His, my search for significance is over.

Colossians 1:21-23 - (21) And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled (22) in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— (23) if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

I am His, enough said.