And Now She's One

I can hardly believe my little girl is one year old already. We had a little ladybug party for her. I was pretty happy to find this cute little ladybug outfit for her to wear to the party... it was the last one on a sale rack! Love it when that happens!





Reading the cards with Daddy.



All those nice presents and she loves the balloon the best. Typical.


The ladybug cake... you wouldn't believe how much food coloring it takes to make red icing!

Yum... notice the size of the bib... had to be done. Red food coloring + cute new outfit = not good!

Ladybug treat bags.

Sam... pooped after the party! I think this is the perfect way to relax after a busy day. Jeremy would rather take Uncle Chris's bike (in the background) for a spin.

Godstop

About a week ago I came across the idea of "Godstops" while reading something by Beth Moore. It has really been resonating with me so I wanted to share.

"We don't want to miss God when He make Himself observable! I am convinced that the more we learn to recognize and appreciate His interventions and revelations, the more we are likely to receive them! These encounters are called "Godstops". The 'stop' in GodStop comes from the acronym God gave me: Savoring the Observable Presence. When God makes Himself observable, we want to stop and take notice. I want to learn to say to myself, That's God! Stop and savor the moment! A Godstop is any means by which God seems to go out of his way during your day to make Himslef known to you."

Why I loved this idea so much is because it reminded me of the spring I spent in Africa. While there, every night before bed one of my very dear friend would ask me "What did God do for you today?". Every single day I had an answer for her, but had she not asked me and forced me to think about my day I wouldn't have even thought about it.

God is very active in our lives everyday, but unless we take a moment to think about it we miss it entirely.

Hope you'll take a moment to "savour the observable presence" today.

Tagged

I was tagged by Krista.
Here are the rules:
1. Go to the photos folder on your computer.
2. Go to the seventh folder.
3. Select the seventh photo to share on your blog.
4. Tag seven friends.

A year ago Jeremy did a presentation for Clean Water for Haiti. For the presentation we collected photos of Haiti and of the work they do. Check out the link for more info. Also... if you are looking for some facinating reading check out this blog. It is written by Chris and Leslie, the directors of Clean Water for Haiti.

Now to tag some others:
Katie
Jackie
Joel and Chris
Leanne
Sarah

The Life of a Stay at Home Mom

Me: "I'm so frustrated. I cleaned the house all day today and you can't even tell now."

Jeremy: "I can tell."

Me: "How?"

Jeremy: "Well, your hair is slightly messy."

Seriously Dangerous

I really should never, ever make these squares 'cause they are just too yummy, but it's a great one to make if you have a girlfriend coming over for coffee and not a lot of time to bake. The prep time is probably less than 5 minutes. Try them. (and don't blame me if you gain 10 pounds!)

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE SQUARES

1 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
3 cups oatmeal
1 cup chocolate chips
2/4 cup peanut butter

Melt margarine, stir in brown sugar and oatmeal. Press into greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter together; spread over oatmeal. Chill approx. 1 hour.

Always Thinkin'

I was saying to Jeremy that we really needed to take Maarti to the health unit to get her weighed. Jeremy (the very loyal former employee of Home Hardware) figured it was crazy to drive across town when the hardware store is way closer and has a perfectly good nail scale. I admit it... he was right.

Baby Emma Visits

For the last couple of days we've enjoyed having our cousins, Joel and Chris, from Ireland here. Their daughter, Emma, is only ten days older than Maarti so we have been looking forward to this visit from the day she was born.

Here are the girls enjoying their first of many tea parties together:












Yes we did! Matching outfits! Since the girls will probably only see each other once every two years or so Chris and I figured we may only have a couple of opportunities to dress them the same before they protest.


More matching outfits:













The three kids together: