I've finally finished the frames to document Ebabe's first year of life.

When Boo was born, Chip & I bought pre-made frames from Lillian Vernon which are no longer available. Before Bug was born, Chip cut 1/2 inch mdf board into 4x6 frames. He cut plexiglass to the right size and used 1/8 inch backing board to go behind. My sister-in-law and I decorated the set of frames for Bug shortly before she was born. Here's a photo of those frames:

Well, now Ebabe is 19 months old and after much procrastination, her frames are finally done!!


Once again Chip made the frames using 1/2 inch mdf board (see photo). He made them the same dimensions as both Boo & Bug's frames. They hold a 4x6 photo.


The first step in decorating the frames is to give them a few coats of plain white paint - all over the front, sides and inside. Allow a day or so for the paint to dry. Next decide if you want to paint the frame or decopage with scrapbook paper. If painting, apply the first coat and wait about 30 minutes before applying the 2nd coat.

For January, I applied a third coat of white paint and then clear glitter to create a snowy look. August's frame was inspired by our visit to Virginia Beach last summer. I recreated the beach using several sandy colors and a foam brush to create texture. The water was created by using 4 different blue colors and rougher strokes.


If decopaging, turn the paper face down, trace the outline of the frame on the paper and gently cut slightly inside the tracing. Once you have the paper the size you want, cut out the inside of the frame (where the photo will go). Use modge podge or puzzle glue to adhere the paper to the frame.


Next, decorate the frames with accessories. I used many paper crafting embellishments from Jolee's to do mine. I couldn't find the accessories I wanted for the month of March so I created my own using clip art, 3-D glue dots and colored pens. The month titles were found in a scrapbook store in Michigan. July's paper seemed a little plain so I added a few buttons in various colors to enhance the look.






This is a pretty easy project - a great gift idea for showers. If you (or your spouse) don't have carpentry talents, you could easily decorate any store bought frames by simply sanding the finish off first.

I have never professed to be a good cook... not even an ok cook (stop snickering Chip & dad!). When I came across a recipe to make fruit leather though, I thought, "Gee, I could do that and save quite a bit while making my kids a healthy snack." What was I thinking? Read on to find out what not to do...

Well, although I did get some crafty work done today, I decided that I wanted to let you all know about what I did tonight. My friend E turned 30 yesterday and invited a bunch of us to go to Feed My Starving Children to celebrate. I'd never been before but had been considering it as a family outing. Wow!! Not only was a good time had by all, but we made meals for 35 children for 1 whole year - in one hour!!

What is Feed My Starving Children you might be asking yourself. Well, taking this word for word from their website:

Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) is a non-profit Christian organization committed to feeding God’s starving children hungry in body and spirit. The approach is simple: children and adults alike hand-pack meals designed specially for starving children, and FMSC ships the meals to more than 50 countries around the world. Click here to learn more about FMSC and how you can become involved.

When we first arrived, we headed into the orientation room. We learned (0r were refreshed) about the disparity in the distribution of wealth in the world. The United States the average yearly income is $48,000. In Mexico it is about $2000. In Haiti, it is about $240. The United States and other 1st world countries (about 17% of the world) have almost 3/4 of the food in the world. Kids all over the world are slowly dying of starvation. FMSC provides meals for as many of these children as they can, working with other organizations to distribute the food. They provide meals for a child for the rest of their childhood, not just one random meal. This is something that they are very proud of - rightfully so.

The procedure for food packing was incredibly efficient. The entire group of volunteers numbered about 100 and we were able to pack for 1 hour. The meal consists of vegetarian chicken, dehydrated vegetables, soy and rice. The packing process goes like this:
scoop the food
pour it into the bag
weigh the bag (each should weigh between 380-400 g)
seal the bag
assemble all the bags and pack them up 36 to a box.

I did the last step, assembling the bags, counting them and boxing them. Between the two stations (there are 2 stations per work center - sharing a box packer) we packed 10 boxes. Other groups with more experience packed 12-14 boxes.

FMSC is rated very high on Charity Navigator, using over 90% of its funding to feed children. It was a very rewarding experience that I would recommend for families with children 4 and over. I think that Chip & I will be taking Boo and Bug sometime soon.

Over the past few days I have been creating a mental list of all the projects I need/want to do in the next few months and attempting to prioritize them. In order to stay motivated, I've decided that those projects that are almost done are going to be the first completed! Big things like staining the fence or painting the trim on the house are likely to not get done anytime soon.


Here is the dress I finally finished today for Boo. She picked out the material (pre-smocked) at JoAnn's and all I had to do was hem it, sew one seam and add ribbon. Can you believe that it took me almost two months to complete? Me neither!

Well, I finally got my act together to create a blog that isn't only for family. I hope to use it for whatever floats my boat each day (or at least every few days). I'll be posting about crafts we do, special foods we eat, activities that are fun, and crazy things that Boo (age 7), Bug (age 4) and Ebabe (age 1) do! Hopefully someone out there will find it interesting or entertaining. If not, I've got a good outlet for some of the chaos that happens constantly around here.