day 25 - create a frame and bacon

ok, "create a frame" and bacon have nothing to do with one another other than the fact they both are things i will be highlighting about today :)

i was invited by a friend to a "create a frame" party tonight.  i brought lilly with me and we had a blast!!  Lacy, started the business in mid november of last year and has already had 16 parties.  i can understand why, they are soooo much fun.  lilly is already BEGGING me to host one.  if you want more info visit her facebook page.  here are the creations lilly and i came up with

 i made a cute little photo frame.  i love making these simple little flowers out of ribbon - i'm thinkng i need to make more as accessories for lilly

 lilly made this darling plaque and hung ribbons down it to hang her hair bows, pictures, whatever.  i don't know why i was so surprised at how well she did on it - but i was.  she really is amazing!

now for the BACON.  i find this trend soooo funny and had to share.  i was asked by one of our largest customers to design a line of art around bacon.  now, i have seen bacon art all over etsy, at trade shows, etc., but i still find it funny.  especially after i came up with this gem of a product........

 yup, you are seeing right.  it is a clock.  i made the minute and hour hand out of bacon strips as well as the roman numeral markings.  my buyer LOVED the piece and can't wait to test market it.

dave told me i sold my heart to the devil creating such a horrific piece.  wait till he sees the entire line!  out of curiosity - has anyone seen or, even better, bought a bacon inspired piece of art?

day 24 - dessert

i'm not sure if in your household you grew up having dessert after all your dinners - but in mine we did not.  i don't find this to be a detriment to my upbringing and as such we don't have dessert all that often in our house.  now, my kids my attribute our lack of sweets to the fact that i don't need/crave/want sweets all that often.  SOOOOOO when we have guests at the house my kids are ex-tactic when they realize there is DESSERT!!!  tonight was one of those nights. 

thanks again to pinterest i found a great post of strawberries & angel food cake kabobs drizzled with chocolate!!! so, as soon as i got home from work i made some angel food cake, got the strawberries/blueberries ready and made up this fabulous dessert.  it was super easy.  the kids got to help make it (and of course eat the left overs) and we all enjoyed it in the end.  i may not feel the need to make a dessert after every meal from now on - but desserts like this remind me of how simple and delicious they can be!

day 23 - report card

today was report card day for the middle school.  caleb at some point during the weekend told both dave and i at different times that other kids in his class got paid for good grades - even as much as $40 per "A".  although dave conceded to getting paid when he was growing up i on the other hand thought the idea was ridiculous. 

great job caleb on your straight "A's" and no you will not be receiving any monetary compensation, or at least not yet :) i couldn't help but be curious about what other parents do in situations like this.  thoughts?

day 22 - change

change is inevitable.  change happens whether you want it to or not. regardless of your preparedness, certainty, or even lack of certainty - change is all around us.  it happens within the obvious changing of seasons or the complexity of growing older.  

as i sat next to my oldest, caleb, during church this morning and watched as he followed along with the scripture reading and listened to his father teach i couldn't help but reflect on how much has changed.  not only in our immediate family but within our church family over the last several years.  we have had many ups and downs.  we have celebrated in weddings and the births of babies, seen families leave, friends move away, shed tears over the loss of loved ones, watched our children grow older and make commitments to follow Jesus, witness baptisms, broken bread and seen lives changed by the grace of a loving savior.  i love my church and the people who make up our community and love that my children have been surrounded by God loving people who have demonstrated to both us and our kids what it looks like to love one another. 

tonight we had our annual church meeting to reflect on the past year and look to the future of the church.  after a wonderful potluck dinner and celebration over the fact that our large debt to the high-school had been paid in full, dave, my pastor, my husband, my best friend stood before our church community and shared that change was again in our midst.  even though he and i have been praying/fasting/preparing for this time of change it is amazing how when it is once spoken out loud how real it becomes.  we know God is calling us away from the community he had once so clearly called us to co-create with Him and others.  we believe He has new and exciting plans for our family as well as for His church.  although we do not know what the future holds we know we serve an amazing and creative God and we move into tomorrow and the changing season with anticipation, excitement and faith that planting a church was never about dave, me or the diller family but about Jesus!

day 21 - super saturday

today was just a fun and productive day.  i ended up making a batch of granola and granola bars this morning and then spent the afternoon in the craft-room painting with the kids.

granola bars are super easy to make and ohhhh so delicious.  i wrapped them each individualy in plastic wrap and now we have a wonderfully easy snack.  when i have a bit more time i'll share the recipe.

 

granola is even easier to make then the bars.  the kids love having it for breakfast, adding to parfaits or just eating by the handful.

i don't usually ever share my art/designs (thinking about starting) on my blog but i had so much fun painting with the kids and in the end loved how this piece turned out.  i must say this no less then 20 times a day to my kids!!

day 20 - "a family that...."

tonight as we pulled into the driveway dave said, "a family that plays together stays together, i love you guys. thanks for playing".  i couldn't help but smile.  i love my adorable family!

we had another great day of skiing today - thanks to lots of fresh, fresh snow.  if it only hadn't been so darn cold.  the kids are doing great - i am so proud of how well they are doing and their willingness to try, try, again. 

day 19 - make me crazy spaces

i'm not gonna lie - there are several spaces in my house that make me crazy!  my personality type is not one that requires or even needs everything to be in order or in place BUT i do have a very difficult time knowing there is disorder hiding behind a closed door.  i think ultimately it is the fact that when there is a mess behind a closed door/cupboard i feel like i am pretending to have all my crap together when i most certainly do not :)

 our back closet is one of my crazy spaces and if you look closely i am a contributor to the chaos.  there must be 50 pairs of shoes (no lie) thrown between the floor and two baskets in this closet.  YIKES!

day 18 - calendar meeting

even with all the technology and syncing available using google calendars and my iphone i still love writing everything down on a calendar.  there is something about seeing it and writing it down that works for me.  i also LOVE how the kids can see it and know at a glance what is going on.  dave and i meet at least once a month to have a "calendar meeting" to go over our schedules, coordinate and pray about the upcoming days.  tonight is our calendar meeting - not very romantic but VERY necessary!!

day 17 - what do you see...

lilly jane sees things.  when she looks at a picture of a flower she doesn't just see a flower but all the colors that came together to make the flower.  when she sees the letter "B" she sees a butterfly.  when she sees a baby she sees a little being who she wants to play with.  when she sees me cooking/baking she asks how she can help.  when she sees me cleaning she will grab the duster and get to work.  when she hears music she sees an opportunity to dance.  when she sees glitter and fabric she sees a craft.  when she sees paper and pencil she sees an art project waiting to emerge.  when she sees another child she wants to play.  when she sees a ball/swing/friend/board she ALWAYS chooses to play. when she senses pain she looks to console.  the amazing thing about lilly is that when she "sees" she moves, she does something, she communicates, reacts.  she amazes me - she teaches me. 

today she went outside after school with the intention of playing.  after a while i looked out the window and realized lilly had shoveled the driveway.  not because i asked her to, but because she could see that it needed to be done.  i can't wait to see what God has in store for this sweet girl!

day 16 - family fun

Fun day skiing at crystal mountain. Who doesn't love a day off of school!!!

day 15 - snow forts!

luke could play and play and play in the snow. today, he finally had the opportunity!! the snow plow left a HUGE pile in our front yard which lent itself perfectly for an awesome snow fort with tunnel, slide, steps and hole. he was outside for hours and can't wait to go back out and work some more on his creation.

day 14 - Mary macs tea room

Delish!!!

day 13 - pitty pats

Long exhausting day ended great with drinks dinner and peach cobbler at pitty pats. Love working with such a great gal who I can laugh just as hard as I work with.

day 12 - flying

I realized this morning that one of the great things about flying is that you can fly above the clouds and see the sun. Even when it's raining and gloomy below.

day 11 - packing

i totally stink at packing. i'm leaving for three days and i have enough clothes for over a week. what is my problem?

day 10 - new day|new project

i knew lilly had a friend coming over today and as usual i knew she would want to do some sort of craft.  thanks to pinterest i found the following craft at the blog, a bit of sunshine.  it was soooo easy and the girls and i had a blast making the t-shirt scarves and flowers.

 one of the steps requires that you stretch the t-shirt.  the girls had fun dancing around the craft room stretching out the t-shirts.

 here is a close-up view of the girls masterpieces.  they can't wait to wear them to school tomorrow.

in other news. caleb and his friend finished off their science project today.  here is the video of their rube goldberg project!

day 9 - if you give a kid a pillow....?

they will make a decorative photo frame/pillow with extra fabric, buttons and ribbon....

 lilly came to me this evening and asked, "mom, do you have a pillow you don't need?  i want to make a craft out of it?"  caleb immediately jumped in and got an old pillow he had (as, at the moment she asked i was in the middle of making dinner and was too busy to accommodate her seemingly silly need).  a little less than a hour later lilly emerged from the craft room with this fabulous piece.   i was shocked!  she did the entire project by herself using scraps of fabric, ribbon, buttons and the all important hot glue gun.  i love this girls brain and her ability to create.  i love my caleb's willingness to jump in and assist and love on his sister.  how did i get so lucky?

day 8 - heart shaped

today while baking I looked down into the bowl I was preparing to let my dough rise in and this is what I saw. Heart shaped olive oil. I'm pretty sure the olive oil was trying to tell me that it loved me as much as I love it :)

day 7 - ski day

for christmas this year santa outfitted the family with new skis/snowboards.  today was our first opportunity to try it all out.  although we "lived" mostly on the bunny hill all day - we had a blast!!!!

 old dog/new tricks. dave tried out snowboarding today for the first time.  he and lilly took lessons and both were doing great by the end of the day - way to go!!!

 when i was about 5 years old my uncle bruce brought me to this exact same hill to teach me to ski.  today he taught my boys.  it was so much fun and my cheeks now hurt from all the smiling i did all day watching, remembering, laughing, and making new memories.

 although luke brought home a pretty decent goose egg on his forehead from a big fall - it didn't stop him. 

lilly got a snowboard and after her lesson with daddy she was up and down - up and down all day.  she did get a little discouraged but in the end she didn't let that slow her down but for only a minute.  i am so proud of her - i'm not sure i could have done even a tenth of what she did today.  and more importantly she said she couldn't wait to go out again!!! 

day 6 - multiplication

 

we are currently working on A LOT of multiplication with lilly.  we have had great success using math magician to help her learn and practice her math facts.  there is nothing better than the size of her smile when she runs to share her 100%.  way to go lilly jane - keep up the good work!

day 5 - pay it forward

 

i don't normally choose to re-post or play along with facebook games but when a friend posted about "pay it forward in 2012" it seemed a confirmation to a thought i had earlier in the day...

so, i make bread.  almost exactly a year ago i began making our own sandwich bread, rolls, hamburger/hot dog buns, etc and have LOVED it!!  i have found baking to be its own form of creative outlet and have loved trying new recipes and making up several of my own.  being out of commission the last several days i had fallen a bit out of my normal baking routine and realized this morning it was time to get baking! as i was forming the loaves i began to think about the Lords prayer; "give us today our daily bread..." and was thinking about how i could be used quite literally to be Gods hands in bringing forth His truth by giving away bread - blah, blah, blah - and then i thought about how hokey that sounded.  THEN.... came "pay it forward" on facebook which is all about giving away something homemade.  i LOVED the idea and couldn't think about a better thing to give away then, bread.  why do i doubt the spirits leadings?  with a humble heart i would like to make you bread - all you have to do is let me know :)

day 4 - Little Gifts

thanks to a sweet friend dropping off soup i had some delicious "first food" to put into my depleted belly after a daunting 24 hours of the flu.  although i'm not totally out of the woods i have seen the light at the end of the tunnel.  my prayer now is that no one else in the family gets it.

 the other "gift" came in the way of a superb marketing piece from a darling restaurant we visited a couple months ago in chicago called Sapori Trattoria.  i was so surprised by the gesture i thought it was worth the shout out.  oh and the food was great and the service was awesome - the maitre d' even called me to let us know that our table was ready early at our request.  check them out if you're looking for some great italian food and are in the chicagoland area!

day 3 - flu

 

bring on the fluids to my very dehydrated body. 

day 2 - saying goodbye

today we said good-bye to my mom as she set out on the next journey of her life.  over the last couple of months we have had the joy of her living with us during this transitional stage.  it was hard not to cry and caleb needed a bit of time to just let it all out.  the kids ran with mom's van as it traveled down our street - it was pretty precious.  we love you mom and pray for safe travels!

day 1

it was a beautiful thing to participate in communion this morning with my church family as one of the first acts of the new year. i am thankful for this sacrament and am privileged to share in it.

as we begin a new year i have decided to do my best to document my families moments through pictures. my goal is to post one a day. enjoy!

first day of school!

its pretty hard to believe another school year has already started. it's even harder for me to believe one of my kids is in middle school! that's right, caleb started the 6th grade this year and couldn't be any more excited about it. he has a great group of teachers and friends and is loving riding the bus to school every morning. luke is in the 4th grade and has lilly's old teacher from last year - he has told us time and time again that he, "really likes his class". lilly is our big 3rd grader and can't wait for school to start each day. she loves her friends and could talk our ear off about her day - i love it!!!

gr photo | art prize | family fun

yesterday we drove into downtown grand rapids to participate in the gr photo project that is currently taking place. the goal for the artists, rita & dionel, is to have as many people go out and snap & submit pictures of six pre-determined locations within the downtown area for a collaborative art project for art prize. the finished piece will go on display sept.22 with-in the windows of the van andel arena!!!

what made this soooooo much fun for us and the kids was the "hunt" for the foot prints. in order to get the right shot the girls have stenciled large bright orange foot prints on the ground. the kids had a blast searching for the prints and would start yelling in excitement when they found them. from there the kids would pose in front of the location and i would stand on the footprints and shoot. super simple and way fun!

here are the kids out hunting for the footprints on the blue bridge!!

here are the six photos at each of the spots we took... 1) blue railroad bridge 2) calder plaza 3) van andel arena 4) gr art museum 5) gr public library 6) pantlind (amway grand plaza). if you want further information make sure to go to their website, which is also conveniently mobile ready (which, if you are on location is quick and convenient!) at www.grphotoproject.com. you can also watch a great segment of the artists which played last night on Fox News.

so grab your camera, friends, family, neighbors, a stranger standing close by and go have a fun outing supporting the arts!!

daily commute

four days a week i wake before the sun rises and head out to work. my commute in the morning takes me about 40-45 mins and it amazes me every day how the scenery changes. more times than not i think about how i wish i had my camera to stop and snap a few pictures. yesterday, i remembered!


i stopped at lake harbor park and stepped out on the channel to snap these! the sun was just rising over mona lake and it was AMAZING!!


the fog that settled over the lake and above the ground created such a mystical view. i took a minute and watched a grandpa with his grandson get their fishing gear and boat ready and couldn't help but think of what a magical time it was.


moving from water to farmland - again the scenery changes! the corn is soooo tall and creates such a beautiful contrast against the blue sky. the wild flowers are everywhere and make my heart melt.


hope you are able to enjoy your day to the fullest!!

birthday girl

who wouldn't like to celebrate their birthday in the big apple!! well, that is exactly what our lilly jane was able to do this year. she turned 8 years old on july 31st and we celebrated in style. we started out the day taking a quick taxi ride to the empire state building then had a fancy breakfast at brooklyns finer diner in times square and then finished off the morning at the ginormous toys 'r us in times square before we gathered back up at the hotel to fly home. luke couldn't help but ask if he could celebrate his next birthday in the "big city".

lilly is full of life, energy and enthusiasm. her smile is HUGE and her laugh contagious. she loves to spin (especially when she is wearing a skirt) and she is always up for anything!

lilly and her cousin sylvie (pictured above) are only two weeks apart in age. the girls are two peas in a pod and i can't get enough of watching them skip, dance, talk, sing, giggle together. i can only imagine the trouble they would get into if they lived closer than 2000 miles from each other :)