Hope Rising

First read when some days are dark…the following is my Monday response.

When I first found out there may be problems I prayed and clearly I heard in my mind, Not mine but Thine.  And this was something I had been desiring to do, to be able in the midst of hardship to face it with undeniable faith and bravery, with my Father’s help that is just what I did.

Hope Rises

Some days are dark… on Sunday this was what I wrote:

I feel as though life is a complete mess and most days I can see the beauty in that mess because it is mine.

It’s funny how you can go from Mrs. Optimistic to not, like that.

I felt like I was braving it well, the stress from the surgery, recovery and the financial mess our health has caused, the prospect of possibly never having things the way we imagine.  But, I was okay, happy to be me, happy to be healthy, happy to be Izzi’s mom, grateful for family and my faith and all that I do have and content to be patient for the more. {And by more I don’t mean boats, trips, expensive clothes or toys—I mean stability, and the means to help others in the places we have been}

Wait…that is not what I meant.

Dear friend,

I have decided not to repost my entries from my other blogs so as not to duplicate but this one I feel strongly about sharing, sharing with you and sharing with my sweet McGilly.

Love you little one.

Mom

……repost………

Dear friend,

Well, I so loved this saying left on my facebook by a friend that  made it into a logo.  As I was sharing it on Pinterest and Facebook I noticed something.  Not everyone understood what I was trying to say.  So, I googled the saying to see if there was anything else out there similar to what I was thinking and here is what I found–people were using it in terms of rock hard abs strong is the new skinny, like to replace the Kate Moss version of skinny with Jillian Micheals skinny.

THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEANT.

A Vintage Valentines

 

Dear friend,

 

I call this vintage valentines because the only way to get the pictures to look okay considering the lack of light that morning was to go seventies with them.  Our day began with a yummy breakfast of whole wheat heart pancakes with strawberries and fresh squeezed OJ.  Then McGilly got her valentines trinket and who would have thought that 8.00 could make her so happy.  It is a week later and she is still insisting it climb the stairs with us, go into the bathroom when she baths and for a little while it sat on her bed as she slept-it’s been on a wagon ride and has made 3 trips down the canyon to visit family.  It is official she loves her baby stroller.

 

And I love this little girl!

 

xo Ash

Let’s go fishing!

Dear friend,

Here is one of McGilly’s favorite snacks, it’s yummy, it works on fine motor skills, and it’s fun-what more could you ask for.  Go organic on the packaged snacks and 100% almond butter on the dip and it’s healthy too.  Can’t get enough of those chubby cheeks and those Michelin wrists, love her.

xo Ash

Valentine Velocity: A Tutorial in Photo

A salad spinner + a construction paper heart +kid chosen paint globs on top + SPIN and count to 10 + drying + washing = Velocity Valentines!

With love,

Ash

Our Winter Easel

Dear friends,

Yesterday we had a few friends over to play and I noticed something the favorite toys, were of course the kitchen and the easel–the kids just kept coming back and back for more.  So, this morning when McGilly started painting as soon as breakfast was over I thought I should share this popular activity at our house.  It all began as the weather got too cold to paint outside, McGilly’s paintbrushes were still in the easel tray but she just pushed around the chalk powder with them.  Then silly me I realized–I could give her water to paint with.  This is her usual routine-she draws on the board as in the picture above, then the next time she visits…

she adds some water painting and once the water is on there…

 

she has learned that if she dips her chalk in the water bowl the chalk works better, so she then draws on the water.  This can almost turn into a chalk finger paint and sometimes that board is covered from top to bottom with it.  Periodically I will wipe it off with a baby wipe and she starts again.  She loves it, her friends love it and it’s easy to clean up–I even like playing with it sometimes, it’s quite relaxing.  It gets used so much we are almost through our second box of chalk in 3 months.

Here are our supplies:

1 IKEA easel

1 box of colored chalk

1 holder of different sized paintbrushes

1 bowl of water

 

So easy and so much fun!

xo Ash