Thumpity Thump Thump Thumpity Thump Thump

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Had some fun making a new cake the other day!  SEE IT HERE!

in a moment

The smell of rubber.
Feeling the tiny raised dots under my fingers.
Hearing the sharp ping as the rubber hits the floor.
The constant, high-paced squeaking of rubber soled sneakers.
The occasional (sometimes all TOO occasional) sharp, piercing whistle echoing off every wall.

Practicing.
Practicing.
Practicing.
FUN.
The tension filled silence that surrounds a one point moment.

Feeling the rush of an adrenaline so heightened I think I might just burst.

Being the best and hearing Dad's words in my head -

Always be humble and honest, no matter how well you succeed.  And if you don't succeed, that's okay too, as long as you give it your all.  There will always be someone better than you.  Don't let that keep you from being the best you can be.

Being the worst and hearing those same words.

The noise of a crowd cheering.
Encouraging.
Booing.
The satisfaction of giving 200%, my best, my all.
Dripping with sweat and not caring.

Triumph.
Failure.

The feeling of unity.

JP has been filling in leading worship at the church of a friend.  They meet in a youth building in a small town.  This past Sunday as I was sitting in my seat I looked around, and spotted a lonely basketball sitting in the corner.  It looked like a good ball, and for just a second, I had the thought that I really just couldn't wait to get my hands on it.  Then in the 3 seconds that followed, all of the above thoughts and memories came flooding into my mind.  It's amazing the depth of memory that can be brought to the forefront with one solitary object.  It's also amazing how drastically our lives can change.  I haven't played in a competitive game since my senior year of college almost TEN (WHAT?) years ago.  And when I say competitive I mean able to run up and down the court for an extended amount of time without the need of an oxygen mask.  But it's okay.  Basketball gave me so much, and I know my life would have been very different without it.  Now I look forward to being the mom on the sidelines whose kid blushes furiously and tries not to look at me while I hoop and holler.  Hah!  My poor kids.

witch pumpkin

Because everyone needs a witch pumpkin on Halloween.  That's why.  Plus, it's something really fun to do if you have a special little person in your life.  

First, get said little person ready for some messy fun.

She was so excited she could hardly contain herself.  Not that she even knows what containing herself at this point in life looks like.  Nor should she.

Oh yes, and here is all the stuff I used that went into this project.

pumpkin with a good stem

old, black t-shirt

hot glue gun

hot glue

black, permanent marker

poster/craft paint

a plate, or some sort of round object

black and white scrapbook paper

cardboard

scissors

fleece scraps

twine-type "stuff"

fabric scissors

I didn't have any green paint, so I used yellow and blue mixed together.

This was Daisy's favorite part.  She wasn't happy when it was all finished.

While our pumpkin was drying we started on the hat.  First I used the plate to get a nice, round circle and traced it on the cardboard.  Then I cut it out.

Next I laid out an old, black t-shirt and used the cardboard piece and a crayon to trace the shape onto both layers of the shirt.  I realized after I cut it out that it needed to be a tad bigger than the cardboard piece.  No biggie.  I just cut another one.  I cut through two layers of shirt, the front and back.

Then I sewed the black pieces together with a 1/4 inch seam, leaving a few inches open.  (This is where I would slide the cardboard piece in.)

I forgot to take a few pictures, but I'll try to explain.  Basically I just turned the black t-shirt circle right side out.  Then I rolled the cardboard up so it would fit into the open slit, flattened it out, and then sewed the opening shut.

To make the top of the hat I again used cardboard.  I rolled it like this to see about how big I would want it.

Then I hot glued it together.

Then I took more black t-shirt scraps and wrapped it around the cardboard, hot gluing it down.

I just tucked the bottom up into the cone, gluing that down as well.

Then I hot glued the cone to the disc shape.  Can you tell I like hot glue?  It's wonderful.

You can use whatever embellishment you want here.  I used straw type stuff and tied it on.

I then realized I was going to want my witch pumpkin to stand on it's side and it wouldn't do this on it's own, being round and all.  So I found the bottom of a box and cut a circle in the center of it.

Covered it with construction paper.

Daisy liked this part.  This is when she really started to come together.  Black and white scrapbook paper for the eyes.

For the hair, I cut out several strips of fleece.  You could probably use felt, or really any kind of material you have lying around.

Then I cut those strips into smaller strips, stopping about 1/2 inch or so from the top.

Hot glue again.  Yay!  I just glued the strips on the top of the "head" so that they hung down like hair.

Add the hat (hot glue again).

Draw on a pleasantly angry mouth and there you have it!

The stem of the pumpkin plays a big part.  Make sure it's a good one!

Happy Halloween!

naked baby = fun photos

Here's another Pinterest idea.  You might seriously get tired of me talking about Pinterest.  I'm sorry.  Kind of.  :)  There are TONS of photo ideas on there.  I'm a very amateur photographer.  Like, not even sure I should call myself one, really.  I know next to nothing about taking pictures.  I know that natural light is best, that's about it.  Anyway, my baby turned 9 months old last week.  I find with my kids that any reason to have a photo shoot is a good one.  Some turn out good, some turn out bad.  Valentine's Day, for instance:

I take a LOT of pictures when I do a shoot with them.  The more pictures, the better.  This ensures me at least one or two shots that are presentable.  However, some days you just can't win.  See, I needed Pinterest back then so I could have a better idea than just plopping my poor Star Trek baby in a pillow beside his sister who can't seem to get far enough away from him.  I couldn't fix his collar?  Yeah.  It was one of those days.  I'm not even really sure why I thought it would be a good picture day.  What was I saying?  Oh yes, baby.  9 months old.  Pictures.  Idea on Pinterest.  Here is the original idea source.  And here are my pics from last week:

I LOVE the idea of a naked baby in nothing but a tie.  Especially my chub a lub.

I also love Picnik.  It lets me do fun things even though I don't know much anything about taking pictures.

mmm.  scrumptious, he is.

And well, I can't say I expected the tie to stay exactly in the place I put it.

That would just be silly.

Dimpled perfection.

i {heart} pinterest

Do you know about Pinterest?  You need to.  Seriously.  Here and there I kept hearing about it.  One day I finally checked it out.  Then I promptly "exed" out of it because I knew.  I knew if I let myself in there for too long that I would be sucked in and have yet another thing to somehow schedule into my daily routine.  I didn't know much about it, I just knew I would like it.  Then one day I decided my curiosity outweighed my fear.  A couple clicks later I was a helpless pinner.  It's just such a cool way to put all the ideas I find into one place.  I love it.  I recently started a board called, "pinterest ideas i done did".  Whenever I do a project from an idea I got on pinterest, it's going to go here.  So far I've got 283 pins and I've accomplished....TWO.  But that's okay.  At least I got a start.  :)  Here's the first one I did:

original idea source

The little people helped me make these really cool cards for the g-parents for g-parents day.  Well, the bigger little person helped. The smaller little person just kind of shoved whatever paper he could reach into his mouth at quite an alarming rate.  

Such a neat little idea.  And the grandparents loved them, of course.  If I had been planning ahead I could have gotten some little pictures of them printed and put it in the middle of "this much".  But that would have required, like I said, "planning ahead".  Something that is and probably will always be a work in progress with me.

i can relate

I have been saying for months that I'm going to start running again.  I even got out and did it for a few weeks.  Then life caught up to me again.  I don't know why it's so hard to just make it part of my daily routine.  I guess it has something to do with those two little people that live here.  Anywho, I saw this picture on Pinterest today.  I can't quit looking at it.  And laughing till tears are running down my cheeks.  Because not only is it just so darn funny, but it's me.  It's ME!  Well, not literally.  But you know what I mean.  Maybe I will get out and get going again soon.  Or maybe I'll just keep looking at this picture.  :)

barnyard sweets

Have you heard of SusAnna's Sweets?  What?  You haven't?  If you are on Facebook you should check them out!  Personal website/blog is currently being updated but we, I mean they have all the info on their Facebook page.  ;)  Just go to www.facebook.com/SusAnnasSweets.  If you like what you see, click on "Like" and become a fan.  I know they would really appreciate it!  What are you waiting for?  Go!  :)