art party

My little man is turning seven in just a few days. Last year when Juden turned six he asked for a Narnia party so I wasn't really planning on doing a big party this year. But when he came to me excitedly telling me all about the art party he wanted to have with a Van Gogh cake and lots of things to paint, I could not resist. I knew his art teacher daddy would help make it special and of course he did. Josh made a pin the ear on Van Gogh game (I know, what would Van Gogh have thought?) and Juden and Josh made sure they told the kids a little about who he was. Juden has been fascinated with him for quite some time. He's gotten out every book on him the library has and says he was the coolest artist ever. I wasn't sure about a Van Gogh cake but you know, you can find anything on Google. After lots of icing and food coloring he was thrilled with his starry night cake. The kids painted a mural and made pinch pots and got Van Gogh tattoos. Juden loved all of it.
January is a strange month. We were covered in ice and snow a few weeks ago but last weekend for his party it was like an early spring; plenty of sunshine, mid-sixties and no jackets needed. And less paint inside the house for mama to clean up:)
I felt so thankful for Juden's passion for art and creating, and thankful for his daddy's part in that. They love to draw together and Juden fills sketch books as fast as we give them to him. Here's a beautiful song to honor a beautiful artist. Here's to my little artist in the making.








I found this little monster ballerina under the table after the party, covered in blue making her own creations out of the leftover cake.

Storing Up Treasures: The post where I lay it all out there

Storing Up Treasures: The post where I lay it all out there

January

I am a little stunned to find myself at the end of January already. This month has flown by, although I seem to feel that way more and more. It's been a full and truly wintry month. We had our second big snow a few weeks ago giving both Josh and Juden another unexpected week at home. My sis-in-law had the idea to all get snowed in together. So our families and a few more friends got snowed-in, in the lovely home below and spent a few days getting kids in and out of layers, trudging around in snow, sledding and sipping cocoa. It's been a sleepy month as my belly grows and sleep is more elusive and the cold makes me want to hibernate with books and fire and my precious family. I don't suppose I'm much of a resolution maker, but I do like when the calender turns and it's a new day, a fresh start and time to set new goals and hopes. Josh and did some talking and planning and re-evaluating. I think the one goal that has been the biggest blessing has been being committed with Josh to read the whole Bible through this year. It has been so grounding and unifying to meet together in the Word, gaining strength for each day. Other reflections and hopes for the year:
Read and pray more,
Learn to say no sometimes,
Create one-on-one time with each of my kids regularly,
Have more dates with my husband,
Eat whole and fresh foods as much as possible,
Purge and simplify the house regularly,
View people the way Jesus views them,
Make a practice of hiding his Word in my heart,
Don't stress when life doesn't look like my tidy little lists,
Love people. every. single. day.

(above photo by John Hawbaker)




I thought I'd end this post by sharing another post that after reading I felt I could have written. It talks about the choices we make in our journey and respecting those that make different ones and it so resonates with me. You can check it out in the next post.