{life after sunday}

REUNION has launched a new parenting blog, life after sunday.  you can check it out here.  here in an excerpt from the about page.

Life After Sunday is a blogging community that explores how our Christian faith impacts and shapes our lives as parents. Writers will spotlight how they are working to raise children who are followers of Christ, with the hopes of inspiring and encouraging other parents looking to do the same. We aim to tackle both practical and profound subjects. We hope to create a community where parents can learn from each other and collaborate as they each guide their children toward living life the way that Jesus Christ did. We’ll be sharing both our successes and failures in this - everything from making crafts and reading, to disciplining and tackling tough topics with our children.
This blog is powered by a group from REUNION Christian Church, a Boston-based community focused on helping others find their way back to God. We hope it serves as an extension of our REUNIONkids ministry which partners with parents to teach children how to love and follow Jesus. But we don’t want our reach to stop there. We see this blog as a community for those who have moved far from Boston and those who may never set foot in our church, but are looking for an honest, open look at what it means to pursue God as a family.

We can be reached at lifeaftersunday@reunionboston.com

original artwork by anna haman

i am writing articles weekly.  Come by and say hi!

{inspiration by pinterest}

have you tried pinterest?  it is such a fun, easy way to keep track of inspirational images!  while i still love to keep tear sheets from magazines and catalogs, this has greatly increased the "pool" from which to draw from...blogs, ezines (online magazines), other people's "pins", etc. seriously addicting!

a while back i "pinned" this image onto my party ideas board. 

recently, it was the last day of work for one of aiden's teachers who was moving away.  i wanted to make her cupcakes a little more special and thought i would give this a go.  (remembering the pin at 10pm and amazingly having everything here at home to pull it off!)

i used bbq skewers, some jersey fabric i cut up from a too small shirt, some bakers twine from some gift wrap, white cardstock and a circle punch.

you can find the directions here for making your own ruffled penant.

so back to pinterest...

here is one of my "boards".  boards are places you can keep a collection of "pins".  this one is my kitchen inspiration board.

and here's what a "pin" looks like.  this one is from my paint inspiration board.

and one of the best parts is, pinterest keep track of the source of the picture.  so, when you want to go back and find where it came from, it's easy peasy.

ooh...and you can follow other people's boards and "repin" their pictures. 

you can see my boards here, or request and invite to join here. 

seriously...so fun! 

{going green}

sights from around the yard...

this viburnim smells so fantastic!

love me some white bleeding hearts

ugly chainlink fence blueberry bushes from costco.  we got 3 and i hope they hang on. 
the kids would love to pick fresh blueberries from these!

astilbe waiting to bloom.  our nephew's handprint stepping stone in the background.  he is almost 16 now!

and on the porch...

attempting basil from seeds.  aiden will eat this right out of the pot.

the seed cap still on a tiny sprout

cilantro growing towards the sunlight in a pot the kids painted. guacamole, yum!

i can hardly wait for they hydrangesa to bloom.  they are my favorite!

{published}

aiden has been published! 

her class won a national competition and the prize was a published book for each kid and a $100 for her class. 

striking her best Vanna pose

here is a pic of her page in the book...page #1 i might add.  (i'm sure it has nothing to do with being alphabetical.)

and here is a link to the website with the press release.  looking here, it is a bigger deal than i thought. only 28 classrooms for the entire country!

and the bitter sweet news is that mr. mark is getting ready to move and we have had out last thanksgiving at his place.  guess this year we will need to make a new tradition...or buy some plane tickets to Texas for a visit!

{spend.save.share}

one of the things we hope to instill in our children from a young age is fiscal responsibility.  we want to model for them the value of money, how and what it is used for, and what a spirit of generosity looks like. 

recently, we made separate banks for their categories of spend, save & share.  the idea is that when they receive money, they immediately divide it up into each bank based on agreed upon percentages.  this makes it very easy for our kids to know what they can spend on treats or gifts, what they need to save, and they need to at a minimum share with others through their tithe and other generosity opportunities at school, etc.

we started with simple upcycled pasta sauce jars. i labeled each jar and painted the lids with primer and then chalkboard paint. by using chalkboard paint, the kids can keep a tally on the jar lid of how much money they have.

after i had started ours, i found these with a tutorial. so cute and creative for boys!

image via smile and wave

and this one is a favorite too.  love the added pictures!

(image photographer unknown)

{randomness}

aiden lost another tooth. i think she is up to 8 now.  i wish that darn fairy would remember to put the money under her pillow though.  she gets so frustrated when she has to wait a day cause the fairy forgot about her.

i was out the other night and mike was in charge of "breakfast for dinner."  pretty creative pancakes huh?!  i think their initials distracted them from the fact that we had no syrup...

and this kid is all about wearing underwear...that he puts on himself i might add.  now if he could just remember not to potty in them we'd be set.  (it's a good thing he's cute!)

{craft hope}

“Craft Hope is a love inspired project designed to share handmade crafts with those who need them.  It is our hope to combine our love for crafting and desire to help others into a project to make a difference around the world.” From the Craft Hope website

we are always on the lookout for ways to teach our children about compassion, social justice and love for all, in age appropriate and relevant ways.  craft hope is making this easy with project 12: orphan outreach.  through projects like this, craft hope seeks to empower a generation to change the future.   project 12 is about making bracelets to give to orphans living in a crisis center in Leningrad as a way to tangibly show them His love. 

this sunday at REUNION, the elementary kids made these bracelets to send on to orphan outreach.  they did an awesome job and we are encouraging them to make more at home with their own families.

it's just bracelets.  i can make bracelets, my kids can make bracelets.  such an easy thing to do that could really bring a smile to another child's face halfway around the world.

owen was posing with the bracelets and wanted me to take a pic of the bracelets "and his muscles!"

any kind of bracelets are accepted.  for some gorgeous pics of jersey fabric bracelets, see these images from ashley ann.  we are making some of these too and they are so fun and quick.

check out the details via the link about for deadlines and such and get busy creating!