Happy knitting

One of the DJs on a radio station here is heading to Afghanistan next month and has asked people to knit hats and send them in so that he can bless the children and babies there with warm hats. This story really touched my heart and I decided to try and get other people to join me in this ministry. I have had several people respond and we all will be making hats to send off.
Before I started to head this up, I probably should have tried making a hat! I bought these circle loom things to help with knitting hats. It was supposed to be sooo easy. Well after about 7 tries, I was about to give up!!! The stitch was just too loose and it was falling apart. I was so sad because I really wanted to make a hat and get Gabriella involved in this as well.
Today we went to church and a young lady had already made three hats for us!!!! I was so excited! I talked to her a little and figured out what I was doing wrong. So I decided to try ONE LAST time before giving up! ;) I am happy to report that all of Katie McVicker's tips worked!!! I started and finished my first hat today! YAY ME!!!!! I am super excited! Yes, it's the little things folks! This hat was made for a newborn and it is so tiny and cute! Thank you Jennifer Parsons for graciously giving me TONS of yarn to work with! It is going toward a good cause! Here is my first hat!

Here are the three hats that Katie did.

I have already started on hat #2! If by chance you are reading this and you are a knitter, we could always use more hats! ;)

Hmmmm.....this was interesting

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/16/say-no-to-girl-scout-cookies/#.TxdZ-gcivop.facebook

Messy Mondays: Seven Lies about Homeschoolers

This is great!!!!

Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus || Spoken Word

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this guy!!!!!

Everytime you run - Official music video with lyrics - ManAfest

I dont care much for rap or hip hop, but this song is great. Years ago (it seems like a life time ago), this was my life. This song and video are very eye opening for me. By the grace of God, I survived a lifestyle that so many people dont. Thank you God for never giving up on me and showing me I do have purpose. Words can never express my gratitude to God for saving me from a dead end road!

The life of our sunflower

So I thought I took more pictures than this, but I guess not. Anyway, over the summer we planted sunflower seeds. It was fun to watch them grow and document their life. Here is the first sign of our sunflower!

A few weeks later, they were really growing.

They eventually got taller than Gabriella.

The flower is starting to open up.

It's almost time to harvest!

Here is where I thought I took more pictures. The actual harvest. We cut the sunflowers off and put them in paper bags so the could dry out. Then we took the seeds out of them. Some of the seeds were too small to use, but we still got a good amount. Next year we will plant more seeds!!!!! Until then, we will enjoy eating eating what we have!

Birthday Girl

My baby girl turned 10 this month. I was super sad! :( She really is growing up on me. She got some birthday money. So she was able to go to the bank and deposit it into her account. This is her first bank transaction. She really looks so grown.

She had on her sun glasses because we just left the eye doctor and her eyes were dilated.

Transaction complete!

We went home for a couple of days to celebrate Gabriella and Papa's birthday. I love moments like these.

Gabriella and Papa are two peas in a pod! She really loves her Papa.

She had some presents to open.

My sister got her, her first Lego set! It was a hit! Everyone really enjoyed playing with the Legos

Ice cream cake for Gabriella and Papa!

I even enjoyed the Legos. Heh heh I made an apple tree, a sail boat and a horse pulling a cart with flowers on it.

She also got a really nice connect four game and talked Nannie into playing it with her.

After we got back to NC, Gabriella's grandparents on her Dad's side came to visit her. She really enjoyed the weekend with them. They took her to all kinds of fun places!

"Sisa" also had a surprise party for Gabriella! She had so many presents to open there! For some reason this is the only picture I took of the party! :( There was so much going on, I just didnt think to take pictures. Melisa has called her "Fat Cat" ever since she was 8 weeks old!

We were truly blessed this year and Gabriella had an amazing birthday! Thank you to all who helped us celebrate!!!!

Christmas in the Park

Today we went to see the lights at Christmas in the park. It was really neat. They had train rides, crafts, marshmallows, and of course Santa....but we did not stop to see him.

The lights were very pretty.

A beautiful angel

Gabriella said "Here are all of Papa's deer" LOL she's funny

They had FUNNEL CAKES!!!!! YUMO

Gabriella LOVES funnel cakes....well, I do too. ;) We dont get them very often, but we sure do enjoy them.

And they had crafts for the kids to do.

Some hot chocolate to warm up with.

You canot see Gabriella, but we are roasting marshmallows.

This is one of our favorite things to do, but strangely enough, neither of us like to eat them!

I LOVE giraffes!!!!!! Isn't he cute?

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!

I'm baaaack!

Hello guys!!!! It has been a very long time since I have been on here. Life has pretty much gotten in the way. Who would have thought I was too busy to blog. Heh heh. Alot has happened in the past 6 months. I will try to update pictures slowly. I'll start with the last few days. Yesturday Gabriella and I went to the mall in Raleigh so she could spend her birthday money. We had a great day together!

We tried on silly masks. LOL Thankfully the picture that Gabriella took of me is blurry! LOL

Gabriella is definitely a shopper!!!!! After 4 hours of shopping I was completely worn out! She loved the Lego store and "built" some new people for her village. Here she is showing off some of her loot! She has been wanting these Russian Nesting Dolls for years now. Today she decided to use her money to get some. And of course she had to buy a chair for them. lol She is such a silly girl. She loves her nesting dolls.

Then we had some Cheesecake Factory. Gabriella's favorite is the Godiva chocolate. It has 6 different chocolates on it!

And of course lots of whipped cream!

Such a silly girl!

Godiva Chocolate bar! Yum! We LOVE the Cheesecake Factory!

One the way out we ran into some of Gabriella's family! LOL

She loves her monkeys! ;)

We really had a great day! It was nice to spend the day with her.

Lactation Cookies

I thought this was interesting....

Simply {Un}Organized: Lactation Cookies: "I had a chance to go to bed early today but then I decided it would be the perfect time to try to make Lactation Cookies! I was even able to..."