Strike a Pose!

During intermission, they let the girls get on the stage and have fun mingling with each other. It was cute to see all those cuties having so much fun!!

There were the cutest balloon decorations!

Then, there was the young girls' fashion show. They came out in these little coats and then revealed today's fashions with ways to avoid "the danger zones." They talked about putting leggings under skirts, putting boys undershirts under shirts to pass the "raise and praise", and making sure to buy the right size...no matte what size the tag says. She gave the girls ways to dress cute but always being modest! Love that!

They also focused on WHY girls should be modest. But, they did it in such a wonderful way that I was TOTALLY impressed and comfortable. Since the conference is for girls who are 8-14 years old...they were very aware of the difference in maturities present. It was GREAT!

They talked through LOTS of scripture to show the girls how God sees them, what true beauty is, and how girls are responsible for how they dress. I can't say enough about this conference...loved it!

They individually gave each girl a SKG bracelet that was handmade. Each one was special and unique...just like all the girls. It reminds them that God's desire is that that are special to only ONE man...their husbands. It really stuck with the girls that God desires for them to be attractive inside above all...and to be focused on being attractive to only one man!

Afterwards the girls got a cute tee-shirt a few of their fiction series for girls and I got a book for 8 great dates with my girls! They wanted to get their books signed by the leaders of the conference who also wrote some of the books.

It was a wonderful night of fun, fellowship with great friends, yummy food, and most of all a challenge for all of us to honor God with our lives inside and out!

Check out the Secret Keeper Girl website:

http://www.secretkeepergirl.com/

SKG - Part 2

The conference was led by three really great gals and they led the competitions, told wonderful stories, led worship time and shared the Gospel. And they were pretty groovy too:)
The worship time was precious and I loved seeing all those mommas and daughters worshipping together.

Then, it was time for the first fashion show. They dressed moms up in the different decades of fashion represented in the room. There were poodle skirts, hippie bell bottoms, 80's fashion...and ended with us all doing the YMCA theme song! It was so cute!!!

There was a wonderful story that both of my girls absolutely loved! It was the story of the tea cup. It brought me to tears to hear the story and to think of my beautiful little balls of clay. I can't wait to see the amazing tea cups they will be formed into through the years. Since both of the girls loved this story and it meant so much to us all...we are going to have a girl's night to pick out a tea cup for each girl to remind them of how the Potter will form them through the pains of life into the most precious tea cup!

If you don't know the story you can read it at this website:

http://www.annieshomepage.com/teacup.html

Then there were mom vs. daughter competitions! We had these helium filled Frisbees that we had to try to spin towards our wall for points. The girls KILLED the mommas! 13 points to 3.

More fun to come...we are having a blast!

Secret Keeper Girls - Part 1

This past weekend the girls and I headed to a wonderful mother/daughter conference called The Secret Keeper Girls Tour. It was SO much fun! We went with several of our friends from church and enjoyed lots of girl time!
We got all dressed up and were so excited about attending the conference and the fashion shows! The Secret Keeper Girls are girls that are wonderful friends, love the Lord above all else, and are focused on being modest...and cute all at the same time. We love that!

Most of us met for diner together and then headed to the conference!

We got our seats and the girls wanted to sit together for most of the conference.

The mommas!

My fashion models...

There were so many wonderful things about this conference that I'm going to have to share about it in different posts! It was so fun to have a girls night with my sweeties and our friends! I LOVE girls nights!

Family Focused Friday - Give Thanks!

Last week my friend Rhonda (thank you so very much!!!) sent me a link to make this PRECIOUS Thanksgiving family activity. She saw it and knew that I would love it...she was SO right!
I used some old fabric that I had that would match the colors of my kitchen. Then, we printed out some leaf templates, cut them out, and wrote the dates of November on each of them. Then, we glued those onto brown sandwich bags and cut them down to just the bottom. Last, we hot glued those bags on the fabric along with some scrapbook letters I made. This awesome craft cost...$0.00!!!

For the past week we have been writing down what we are thankful for each day and placing them inside the date. We will leave them in until next year and as we start it all over again...we will get to remember what we were thankful for the previous year. We may just keep them year after year! Wouldn't that be so precious? I think so!

This was our family night activity for this Monday (our family night this year) along with some homemade hot chocolate and Charlie Brown Thanksgiving! Fun!

If you are interested in making one of these yourself here is the link:

http://www.incourage.me/2009/11/give-thanks-a-family-project.html

Next year I may get some scrapbook leaves like the instruction say since the dates will be different for Thanksgiving next year. I also may plan to sew on felt pockets next year too. There are lots of ways to modify and make it your own! It's not too late either!!!

Take time this month to focus on thankfulness to God. Think of a creative way to recount your blessings each day with your family. My friend Alysia used a precious chart that each family member writes what they are thankful for each morning. There are so many ways to incorporate thankfulness into your daily lives.

Give Thanks!

Apple YUM!

Since we have LOADS of apples at our house...We have been busy making some apple YUM! We all worked together to make a WONDERFUL apple pie the other night. I mean it was amazing! Jay has never really gotten into apple pies so I was worried he might not enjoy this one either. I have to admit, they have never been my favorite either. Until... ...we met this pie!

It was amazing and we ALL pitched in to make it together. The girls love getting in the kitchen with me and baking up a storm. I LOVE baking! And Jay loved this pie because he got to administrate on all the details. Thinly sliced apples, flour to make it thicker (we don't like runny pies!), not too much cinnamon...and it was perfect!

(You may notice the Maple leaf on top...yes, apple pie is a traditional Canadian dessert...for real!)

Saturday morning I also made a new recipe of apple pancakes. You core and thinly slice up an apple then dip it in a yummy batter...and throw it on the griddle. Then, you sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar and top it with honey instead of syrup. Melt. In. Your. Mouth!

We have had some YUM fun with our apples this year!

Fall Festivities...

Our fall festival was on October 31st and it was AMAZING! Anli dressed up as Amelia Earhart (too cute!) and Virginia was the pretties little ballerina that I have ever seen!
We caught up with Wilber from Charlotte's Web!Since it rained all morning, our festival was held in our Family Life Center and it was PACKED!

Here are some reasons for praising GOD:
Almost 900 total people attended the festival!
500 of those were not from our church!
110 families volunteered at the event!
$250 total church dollars spent...
Every Life group involved and serving...
PRICELESS!

My Life group did the face painting again this year and we were SWAMPED the whole time! At one time I looked up and there was literally a line so long I could not see where it ended. We had 7 women painting faces just to keep up with it! We had a blast too:)

I love the face painting booth because I get quality time with most of the kids who attend.

Thanks to all the amazing Noonday families who made this event awesome. We were afraid that the rain and the fact that it was inside (where they couldn't see it) would deter people from coming...but...NO WAY!

Our college and singles group had the coolest booth! They did a reverse dunking booth. The people threw balls at a target and a water balloon fell and splashed them. It was perfect for indoors!

Ahhh...Plinko! Doesn't that just bring back your memories of The Price Is Right? I always wanted to play Plinko...and I did!

Costume night at AWANA...my pretty little cowgirl and all her friends! This is my AWANA class of girls and I just LOVE them! I was able to teach Anli's class last year...so it's fun to get to do Virginia's this year.

AutYUM cookies! These are such fun and very YUM! A fall tradition at our house.

Fall pumpkin shaped pancakes...on fall festival day! They don't look very orange...but they really were.

Anli's fall photo...

Virginia's to come soon:)

O Canada!

We have been studying Canada for the past 2 weeks and have really enjoyed out time! We had 2 family nights celebrating Canada... The first family night we made a traditional Canadian dessert. It was a blueberry crumble with a "snowball" on the side. The "snowball" is a favorite treat in Canada...but of course...it's made with real ice! We settled for ice cream!
We took the ice cream and then molded it into a ball...then we topped it with warm maple syrup!

This was one YUMMY dessert!!!! We can't wait to have it again!

The next family night, we enjoyed one of the traditional activities of the Inuit people. Those are the native Canadians and they are known for their soapstone carvings. We made sketches of Canadian animals and then carved them out of soap.

We all enjoyed time carving. We used butter knives and nails to do our carving and detail design. They turned out GREAT!

Here Anli's walrus and my whale pose in front of the Igloo (what the Inuit people used to live in during the winter...we made those one day during school). Do you see the cutie smile Anli's walrus has? Too cute! Also, she made him a little chair and pillow. That girl makes me smile!

Virginia's precious little polar bear hands out with Daddy's warrior. Maybe not the best pair...but no Canadian animals were harmed during these photos:)

Well, it's time to say goodbye to our friends in Canada...and head to Brazil!

Tree Climbing Girls

We went on a nature walk the other day to gather Maple leaves because we are studying Canada. We wanted to look at them and also to make a Maple leaf wreath. But...we got a little distracted...
We decided to CLIMB all those Maple trees...and any others we could find too!

They both stopped for just a moment to let me get their pretty pictures...just beautiful!

My oldest has become such a beautiful BIG girl...inside and out!