Halloween 2012

Schulte bugs - ladybug, spider, and butterfly.

This picture just makes me really happy so I had to share:)

I miss this blog and do intend to come back ... someday ...

Happy Halloween Friends!!

Easter Clothing Drive 2012 - wrap up

For me, the shelter is no longer just a place I've heard and read about.

Its the friends and friends of friends who left boxes and bags of clothes on their porches.

Its the caring workers who received my van FULL of clothing. Twice.

Its the faces of the crying toddlers in their cribs when I took a tour of the facility (hard stuff).

Its the feeling I got when Corinne spotted a pair of red sparkley shoes in a donation box and said,

"Mommy, I need those shoes. ... Those shoes are for other kids."

She gets it :)

I didn't keep exact numbers, but I can tell you that over 100 Easter outfits were donated to the shelter on behalf of the clothing drive. Along with 7 trash bags full of non-dress clothes which they will use as well! When the kids and I went to drop off our last van full, the shelter workers took me back to the room where they were sorting all the clothing items and setting up racks for the kids to shop for their Easter clothes. It was neat to see because it was all stuff we collected!

So humbled and thankful to have partnered with the Laura Dester Children's Shelter and TAPC this Easter.

Thankful that God was able to use our efforts and prayers to bless some kids who really needed it.

A huge thank you to everyone who donated!

As I drove away from the shelter the Thursday before Easter, I cried. I was overwhelmed and thankful for what God provided, but at the same time I just wanted to do more. More for those kids. More for those faces I'd seen. The need is so very great. And there is so much more to do.

This is just the beginning ... excited about the work God has in store :)

THANK YOU.

Easter Clothing Drive

I am just a mom.
A mom who looks at our blessed life and wants to give back.
A mom who wants to raise kids whose holidays are about more than gifts for themselves.
Holidays with a bigger meaning.
Holidays that have real impact.
Holidays that change lives.

Every holiday that comes and goes I tell Dominic I want to do something different, but I've never known what I wanted that to look like. It seems that I always get swept up into the whirlwind of our regular traditions without really giving them much thought. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the holidays, but ever since having kids, I've just been left yearning for more ...

Last November I read Ashley Ann's post about how they'd brought two boys from the local children's shelter home to spend Thanksgiving with their family. They also do this at Christmastime. I was inspired. I knew that I wanted to incorporate something like that into our family's holiday traditions. However, 38 weeks pregnant at the time I knew it would need to wait.

But the ideas haven't left my mind since. 

So I sat a few weeks ago - a few months and a few holidays after reading Ashley Ann's post - wondering what I could do to make this Easter season different.

On a whim, I contacted our local DHS children's shelter to see if they had any specific needs we could help meet. I chose the shelter hoping that the girls would be able to grasp the project, i.e. the idea of giving to other kids like them.

The woman that responded said their needs are many, but the biggest priority for Easter is to provide a nice outfit and shoes for all the children. They have done this in the past, and the children all enjoyed receiving a "special" outfit to take home with them.

There will be around 60 children ages birth to 17 staying at Tulsa's DHS children's shelter this Easter - arriving with just the clothes on their back and spending the holiday without family.

My heart breaks for these kids.

I cannot tell you how deeply I desire to help ensure that ALL the children are able to find a nice outfit and shoes in their size. That's 60 kids. I can't provide that many outfits my own.  But I can spread the word to everyone I know and trust God to provide.

If you are interested, please help by doing some spring cleaning and giving your clothes and shoes to the shelter! Tell your family and friends too! 

What to donate?

• New or gently used dress clothes 
• For GIRLS - dresses, skirts, shirts, nice shoes
• For BOYS - button down shirts, ties, khakis, dress pants, nice shoes
• Gift cards to places these types of items can be purchased
• Examples: Target, Shoe Carnival, Ross, JCPenny, Walmart, Payless

Keep in mind that the shelter houses all sizes - from babies and toddlers to young men and women. So, not just kids' clothes - think men's dress shirts and pants and age appropriate women's clothing too :)
 

Contact me at dawn.schulte@gmail.com for more specific donation information. Don’t worry about getting your donation to the shelter. I will pick them up!

The DEADLINE for this clothing drive is April 3rd, but the shelter would appreciate your donation anytime! A list of other needed items can be found on the Tulsa Advocates for the Protection of Children (TAPC) website at www.tapchelps.org.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40

hump day nuggets: dinosaurs

hump day nuggets: little bits of the season in photos and words about the last week

Our car dvd player broke a few months ago. At first I wasn't sure how I was going to survive without it, but it's turned out to be a really great thing (at least for around town driving). We talk, the girls look out the window and point stuff out, they make up silly games and laugh at each other. All in all, it's been a good thing.

We discuss our regular landmarks every time we drive by - the pet store where we get Charlie's dog food, the park, Daddy's work, Sam's, the grocery store, etc. I am continually surprised at how much they notice and how aware they are of where things are around town!

In the car yesterday, we had the following conversation as we drove by a preschool (with a playground) near our house.

C: There's a school park!
J: Mommy, some day I will go to school.
M: Yes, you will.
J: Beetles, someday I will go to school. Mommy, will Beetles go to school?
M: Yes, she will. Someday.
J: Yeah! Someday you will go to school Beetles! We will go to school together. And I will hold you for a little bit so you won't be sad.
C: ok :)

Oh, the love between those two. It's strong, sweet, and just continues to grow. Love it.

Here's our 2 dinosaur girls on Halloween.

We had a little joint birthday celebration for Aunt Deb and and Aunt Dan whose birthdays are right around Halloween.

We participated in the neighborhood parade and did a little trick or treating before heading home. The girls really enjoyed seeing other people dressed up in costumes. Corinne woke up the next day talking about a little girl who was dressed as a banana. Kind of funny cause that's what she was last year :)

Here's a video of Corinne shaking her tail. She had us all cracking up!

The pictures I got on Halloween weren't great (lots of blurry ones cause I was trying not to use my flash) so I took the girls over to a field near our house the next day to try to get a few good pictures. They weren't the most willing participants so I have a lot of pics that look like this.

Oh well. I tried! My favorites were the ones I snapped on the way back to the car. They were motivated by the candy that waited for them once they got buckled into their car seats :)

I made their costumes. Once I found the tutorials for the hoodie and tail online, I just had to make them! Linking to the two very talented women who took the time to share tutorials.

I didn't plan this, but this picture does a good job of showing the front and back views of the costumes.

I am most excited about the fact that even now that Halloween is over, the girls can still wear their sweatpants and jackets for the rest of the winter just for fun!

More pics at Flickr.

Not much to say tonight. My pillow is calling my name ...


Note: Nugget format inspired by the very inspiring Nici over at Dig this Chick.

love. love. love

I had to go to Walmart tonight to get some groceries and a prescription filled (another sinus infection for Beetle) and WOW ... it was like red balloon, chocolate, and flower madness. Why do American's think it's a good idea to put holidays on steroids?

I mean I like Valentine's Day. I like holidays in general ... but sometimes I think it's just a bit much of crap that doesn't matter and not enough of the stuff that actually does.

Overdone is just not my thing.

Done just cause it's February 14th is just not my thing.

I ranted for a good 10 minutes when I got back ... poor Dominic.

He loves me :)



I did a little photo shoot with the girls last week so we'd have pictures to send out with our Valentines.



I told Juliet it was a dance party. So she twirled. And twirled. And twirled. I finally had to give her a sucker just so she'd sit still.




Beetles was not so into having her picture taken. I made two attempts on two different days. Poor girl had a sinus infection ... but she got a sucker out of the deal so it wasn't all that bad.





I didn't make them matching shirts. They are wearing the same shirt (on different days). BUT it happens to be my first appliqued shirt so I was pretty excited!!



After I'd practiced sewing a curved line with all the Valentine making, I thought I'd brave actual fabric. The shirt had a few stains on the front and I had the fabric (left over from the quilt). So it wouldn't have been a huge loss if I had totally screwed up, but I am pumped that I didn't cause now I can make more :)

Juliet - my assistant when I'm pretending to be a photographer - asked me to take this picture of her after we'd taken Beetles picture.



Funny girl.

valentines

Just wanted to share how I ended up using our painted doilies for this years Valentines.



Inspired by these, I dug out my sewing machine.



I had never sewed anything other than a straight line before. Kind of scary, but the curve wasn't as tricky as I thought it would be. My circles aren't perfect, but that's ok. I also had Juliet on my lap for half of them ... not that I'm making excuses or anything ;)

Used a few left over wax paper hearts on the back.



The message on the front is the perfect holder for a picture.



Or two.



These were an easy project and Juliet enjoyed the sewing part more than I thought she would. Maybe we can learn to sew together ...

snow: round 2

Are you getting craft overload yet?

...

Cause there's more!

Why blog about this stuff when there are SO MANY craft blogs out there? I guess I just enjoy reading what other moms are doing with their kiddos and think maybe I could return the favor ...

I like things that are fun to do with Juliet, easy (read mindless and not time consuming), and result in something cheerful. So that's what we've been doing.

Stained glass hearts hanging in our dining room window. This fun idea is from Jean's blog The Artful Parent. Really amazing blog with new ideas ALL THE TIME.

Juliet really enjoyed sprinkling the crayon shavings, but the rest of the project was more of a mom thing.

Our Valentines in progress. I had some doilies left over from Beetles birthday banner and thought I'd let Juliet paint on them. Well, she was not liking the paint. She kept telling me it smelled nasty and was just not interested. So, I was painting - cause I mean, SOMEONE had to use up the paint - and when there was just a little paint left I placed a doilie in the paint and pressed my fingers around a bit and when I lifted it up I saw this.

Fun huh? And then suddenly my painting side kick was interested again, grabbing doilies and dipping them like this was our plan all along, and we'd knocked out 24 doilies in a matter of minutes.

No clue what we're going to do with them, but that's another project for another day. Cause it's craft filled days here in Oklahoma where it snows all the time and we are stuck inside with our construction paper and glue sticks!

SO. MUCH. SNOW.

Dominic went to Super WalMart this afternoon and they only have the grocery section open. All other areas were roped off. Maybe because they don't have enough employees to keep the whole store open? I don't know but it is CRAZINESS. We got about 4 more inches today.

Here's a picture before today's snow (took this morning before it started).

And toward the end of round 2.

So thankful to have all our needs met and then some.

So very warm and toasty here.

Happy weekend!

heart garland tutorial

I have seen a lot of different Valentine's Day decorations out there in blog land, and while I contemplated making this beauty, I opted for a more kid friendly creation that Juliet could help me with. Besides, Ashley's required an old book and cute scrapbook paper - neither of which I had - and I didn't want to dig my sewing machine out of the hall closet.

Really half the fun of crafting for me is trying to use what I have around the house. In this case, we had some finger painted construction paper, some beads, and some yarn (I actually unraveled something I had started to crochet a few years ago!). I figured surely I could make a garland out of these supplies!

So, I didn't really have a plan for this. It just sort of evolved from one thing to the next and took multiple days to complete. The stack of finger paintings sat on the counter for a week before I cut the hearts one day while the girls ate, etc, etc. Juliet helped me some, but I did a lot on my own too. She's only 2 and her attention span just isn't there yet. Even if she only helped me string 8 of the hearts, I still like that she helped because she totally owns the garland and is so proud of our creation.

First we finger painted on some construction paper one day. We used red and white paint on red, pink, and white paper. You wouldn't have to do this step, but it was something that Juliet could do with me, so we did. You could also use scrapbook paper or felt. So many variations!

Then I cut hearts of different sizes out of the paper. My hearts were really wonky and misshapen. I could not put heart cutting on my resume. But in the end it didn't seem to matter, so don't worry if yours look wonky too.

Cut small hole in each heart, either using a hole punch or small scissors. I didn't put the holes in the same place on each heart for some variety, but made sure they would all hang right side up.

Measure and cut a piece of yarn. You will want to cut it a little longer than you'll need (for the loops around each heart), but if it's too short, you can always just tie some more yarn on later.

Wrap a little bit of scotch tape around one end of the yarn to make stringing the beads and hearts on easier.

You are ready to start stringing your garland!

The ONLY slightly tricky thing about this entire project is that you have to work backwards as you string your hearts. In other words, when you string on your first bead and heart, you will need to slide them down the entire piece of yarn to the other end. This makes for a lot of sliding at first, but I couldn't figure out another way to do it ...

So, then string a bead.

And then a heart.

Then slide the bead and heart across the yarn to where you want them.

Then thread the end of the yarn back through your bead.

Pull yarn through to make your loop tight (but not too tight) around the heart.

Repeat until your garland is full of lovely hearts!

Hang and enjoy!

Like I said before, there are so many possibilities. Different paper, maybe some glitter, maybe a delicate one made with mono filament rather than yarn. You could totally just tie knots if you didn't have any beads.

I am currently scheming a green clover filled garland and an Easter egg garland in my head!!

Apparently, I LOVE MAKING GARLAND :)

Go and make one. You will love it too!!!