{DIY} Easiest Clips ever!

Ok, so I know I used to make clips and sell them.  I just haven't had a ton of time for that lately, or when I make them they are usually just for gifts or my own children, not for sale anymore.   So I decided just to show you how to make them!  They are super easy even if you are NOT crafty.  I am sure there are already like a million DIY on flower clips on Pinterst, but I made these pre-pinterest and so here is my own version.

Supplies

P.S  You can get all of these supplies at Hobby lobby or any craft store, even the flowers!  And if you don't have a hot glue gun, GO BUY ONE NOW!

The Process

 

 

 

 

 

and stick to the clip

 

 

 

 

I had a bunch of left over extra flowers and embellishments so I made a bunch of clips at once, we were in huge need of these!! (many of these supplies were ordered from Etsy)

Many of the small felt flowers and birds were purchased off of Etsy

 

And then of course, you need an adorable girly to put them on

 

If you have questions please ask! I will answer on the blog or Facebook

Joy

Be Joyful always; pray continuously; and give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

This has been what I consider my life verse.  After my brother Darren died it just really stuck with me as a way I wanted to live.  I remember someone in high school saying that I did not smile very much, and that really stuck with me, because I didn't want to be like that, I wanted to have Joy, the joy from Christ being inside me.  At that moment I decided I would make an effort to smile more, and it has stuck with me since. 

In College I remember hearing someone complaining that I smile to much.  Haha, I guess I would rather be on that end of the spectrum.  Good thing I decided to become a hygienist!

I feel like in the past year in a half I have forgotten that verse.  I tell my girls all the time, "you can choose your attitude," yet I am not always doing that.  I can choose joy in the midst of hard days, but often I am choosing frustration and self pity.

Hearing a song by Needtobreathe has really given me a new perspective.  Choosing to wake up and celebrate each day.  To open my eyes and see that each day is a gift. To get out of my slumber and muddy pit that I am dragging myself through.  That my children, all 3, are such joys.  That they make me laugh, they say and do silly things, the love me unconditionally!  My husband loves and serves me daily and does everything for me!  "wake on up out of your slumber and open up your eyes!"

Now I want to choose Joy, not being fake, because it is ok to have hard moments, but to be intentionally joyful despite of my circumstances.  Sometimes I just need to breathe

Sarah {11 months}

Sarah,

This is the last month of you "officially" still being a baby.  Oh I have treasure and loved it!  You are a pure delight and brought so much joy to this family!

You are not walking yet, but you pull up and everything and use "no hands' a lot!

 

You love to eat, still!

Daddy says you will eat anything edible

You love the "go go" applesauce in the squeezer

You love Annies chedder & grahm bunnies

You still "nam nam nam" when you are eating

You want to do whatever you sisters are doing, you just have to be with them!

You usually taunt your them and destroy whatever they are making

Maya says that we gave you the wrong name, she says we should have named you "Destroyer Goodlin"

You always always love to crawl up to my legs, pull on me, and reach up for me.  I give into holding you every time.

You still take 2 naps and sleep all night

You still only have 2 teeth

Your hair often looks like a fluffy toupe

You love to play with straws, bowls, spoons, colanders, brushes, wallets, basically anything that doesn't look like a toy

here you go momma

  You clap, and wave all.the.time!

You seem to always have something in your mouth

You love to open and close doors and cupboards

 

Peek-A-Boo

 

You are obsessed with the dish wahser, in fact you practically come bolting into the kitchen as soon as you hear it open

Yove LOVE going on walks outside, you are always so happy and content!  

You are very expressive and personable.  Even though you are almost not a baby, you will always be my little baby Sarah.....

 Remember being in my belly, it really wasn't all that long ago. See look at you this time last year
 

Now look at you!

 

On mourning

It is sometimes unbelievable for me to think of where my life was just 18 months ago.  Sometimes I have a hard time even remembering.  It has been hard for me to remember certain things about Maya when she was younger, just recently I was looking at some old photos of her, when it was just our little family of 3, it made me feel a little sad, like so much of that life has been completely wiped away and forgotten.  It feels like it was a different life, and it kind of was.

Because so much has happen so quickly I haven't had a ton of time to process and truly mourn losing Carrisa, losing my sister.  I have moments of overwhelming sadness, moments where I can hardly mourn my own loss, because all I can mourn is Norah's loss. I knew Carrisa longer, I knew much more about Carrisa than Norah will ever remember, but I feel like Norah's loss is so much greater than mine.  There is just something about children who lose their parent that hits really hard. I mean, I know what it is like to lose a parent , it is just something I would never ever have imagined or wanted my own children to have to endure.  I know Norah has Brett and I as her parents now, and that is very special, but there will be a time when she fully realizes what she has lost, and it isn't fair. It is not fair that she lost her mom at a young age, it isn't fair that she won't have memories of her, so much isn't fair, but is it just life in a broken world.

As a parent, you just so deeply want to absorb all the heart break that your child may endure.  You just want to take away all the pain and hurt.  It is so hard for me to know that this pain is coming for Norah someday, when she can fully grasp all that has happen.  I hate knowing that my child will have to go through this, it breaks my heart........

It also help me to understand God a little more though.  How his heart breaks when we are sad and hurting, He is our father and cares about us and loves us and it makes him so sad to see us hurting, we are his children.

I see the innocence and the tenderness in this little Norah face.  It just makes me want her to be a child forever and not ever realize the pain that can come along in the world.....

A little bit of this a little bit of that

Ahhh what it is like to feel normal and healthy again, life is good and busy!  I can't believe the summer is coming to an end and that this little bug will be One next month!!! Hi Hair!

Brett and I are volunteering with a youth group, ahhh what are we thinking? but no really, we love it!

Brett starts school this week, last semester people, last semester! 

 (that is until he goes for his masters)

Maya & Norah start pre-school in just a few weeks!

Food tastes so good again, I think I am going to go get some salted caramel ice cream, 

and then I will feel guilty and have to work out

We are going to California in October, CAN'T WAIT

This is one of my favorite things to do in the mornings with my girls, just cuddle

The girls love wearing my shoes

I love that we have days that we get to visit Brett at work, and sometimes there are days where we even get to hang out with him at work, I really love those days!

I have been playing with Photoshop Elements using Pioneer women's Actions.
  What do you think?

love this one of Nory, she is so beautiful

Fall is in the air, and as much as I love summer I am looking forward to this season

Others

So, I know I still have not posted on everything we did to celebrate Carrisa's birthday.  Keeping things a mystery is always a little more fun, isn't it?  It is not something we are completely finished with either, that is, we hope to continue what we started, so it will remain a little bit of a mystery for now.

I will give a bit of a hint though.  I am wanting my girls and even myself to be more comfortable around people that we may not normally hang around.  It is so easy to get comfortable and stuck around people who are just like us (and those people are great!)  but sometimes other people, other cultures, other generations have so much to offer!

This week the girls and I did get to spend sometime with someone very special, who has now become family.   The more I am around her though, the more I realize what a great woman she is!  I can't wait for the girls and I to spend more time with her.  I love seeing the life lived in older generations

This photo is very special to me..... that Norah is even here, a part of our family and now a part of hers.  These 2 have a special connection

The best part, I love how she has embraced us, as family, as ones that she loves.