Nannying

1. Our nephew Silas was born!- 10 days early. We got to go visit our brother and sister and meet Silas this past weekend. He is so precious and we are praising God for his life!

2. Discovered that the radio program “Revive our hearts” posts all of its programming for downloading/listening online. I am so encouraged by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and have been devouring the series ‘The Counter-Cultural Woman: A Fresh Look at Proverbs 31’.

http://www.reviveourhearts.com/resource-library/Programs/p/Revive%20Our%20Hearts/series/The%2520Counter-Cultural%2520Woman%253A%2520A%2520Fresh%2520Look%2520at%2520Proverbs%252031/

3. I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of two books I ordered-

There’s no place like home by Mary Larmoyeux and Ethan Pope and

Biblical Womanhood in the home by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

4. Tried several recipes this month the best being this easy Oatmeal Apple Crisp- http://allrecipes.com/recipe/apple-oatmeal-crisp/

& Pioneer Woman’s Restaurant style Salsa- http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/01/restaurant-style-salsa/. So delicious and so cheap- 6$ for over 6 cups of Salsa and whatever you don’t use you can just freeze!

5.) I finally made a framed chalkboard for our kitchen with the help and input of my sweet husband. I purchased a large picture frame at Michael’s when they were 55% off (score!) and the Martha Stewart brand chalkboard paint- which I would not recommend for bigger surfaces like the 20×24 inch surface I was trying to paint.

Nick’s artistry 🙂

Frame painted with Behr’s Spa

6. Got to go on a day trip to the zoo with the family I nanny for today- complete with 1 minivan, 3 adults, 3 children, lots of caffeine, 1 Bojangles run, 1 trip to Chick-fil- a, 1 stop at Hobby Lobby, minimal grumbling, and lots of animals! Some favorites from the day:

Angry bird.

blurry but he got so close to us!

that face.

Mama gorilla carrying baby on her back. 🙂

Second family 🙂

This week I had one of the six year olds I nanny for home with me and baby. I wanted to do a fun craft with her and remembered one I had pinned a long time ago… This craft was easy and fun for both of us! She loved getting to decide what colors she wanted and helping mix them!

The recipe we used can be found here: http://momscraftyspace.blogspot.com/2012/02/homemade-microwave-puffy-paint.html

It requires 1 cup flour, 3 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt, water and a microwave. You just mix the flour, baking powder and salt and then add water until it makes a pancake batter consistency. We divided the mixture into 4 zip lock bags and added food coloring to make lavender, lime green, yellow and sherbet orange paint colors. Then we rubber-banded the bags and made a tiny cut at the opposite end so she could squeeze the paint out- like pastry icing. After she was done painting we popped it in the microwave for a minute..

Painting a beautiful flower 🙂

I wasn’t able to get any shots of the finished paintings (after the microwave) because my camera died, but if you go to the link above you can see what it looks like!