emma words.

the other day emma and i were sitting in the living room, just enjoying each other. she was deep in thought.

emma: "mommy?... when people die, is that when we get ham?"

me: "ham? when people die??"

emma: "yeah, you know... ham... like we eat on sandwiches? do we get that when people die?"

me: {completely bewildered & trying to keep composure} "what do you mean, baby?"

emma: "well, because... don't we have ham inside our bodies?"

me: {oh. my. gosh. trying to keep it together & explain the difference between our muscles and lunchmeat.}

oh, how i love that little girl. :)

paperbag books :: group lesson plan.

this is for my group from dr. haag's class!

sorry these wouldn't upload any other way... i hope this isn't too confusing.

here are the directions for how to make our paper bag books:

here's what you'll need:
- 4 standard lunch-size brown paper sacks
- scissors
- hole punch
- ribbon, yarn, twine, a shoelace :)... something to tie it together
- decorative scissors (optional)
- glue stick (or glue dots, something strong)
- colored cardstock, scrapbook paper, construction paper, etc.
- white printer paper/copy paper

1. Hold the bag so it is still flat. Using the scissors, slice the closed edge of the bag, so that both ends are open. Do this to all four bags.


2. Fold the bags in half, so that there is a crease in the center, and the open edges meet.


3. Punch holes (with the bag folded) along the spine.


4. Nest the folded bags inside each other and tie them together through the holes.

5. Glue a colored piece of paper (big enough to write questions on) on each right-hand page of the book, and on the front. There should be 8 pages with colored paper on them, including the cover.

i thought the students could write a couple words to describe themselves on the card in the cover pocket. :) mine says "girly, mommy, wife, loves pumpkin-flavored things!"

6. Glue a white square of paper on each left-hand page of the book, for illustrations. There should be 7 pages with white paper on them.


7. Slide scraps of paper (about 4.75"...long enough to see without digging) into the pockets.


8. Write (or print out and glue) questions on the colored pages, illustrate accordingly on the white pages and write the answer or response on the card that slips into the pocket... And you're done!









I hope these direction make sense!!! If you are having trouble, please let me know and I'll just make a book for you and you can fill it out when we meet early on Thursday. :)

If there are different questions we want to ask (we need one more question) please let me know, so everyone can plan accordingly! :)

This is super simple... mine would be TONS cuter if I were doing it as a scrapbook or something... they're great little gifts for friends or kids or family members. :) Have fun and let me know if you need help!

four.

we are so excited to announce that around june 22nd of 2010, our little family of three will become a family of four! : )

we are beyond thrilled and thankful to our God for creating the precious life growing inside me.

emma is constantly talking about the baby she has started calling "baby jacob," and how she will be a "big sister princess."

we covet your prayers during the next 8 months, and i'm excited to share our little journey with you! (you can follow along with the little ticker i added on the sidebar ----->)

lolli dolls.

i have officially found the cutest little creations ever.

ever.

a little etsy shop called lollipop workshop, where these precious "lolli dolls" come from, has just taken a few whistful moments of my life.

a birthday girl lolli doll
(she is completely customizable for your favorite bday girl!)


another sweet lolli doll as a cake topper


would you not have LOVED this as a little girl?
i am pretty certain that i would have stared at her endlessly...


...and what about this wedding cake topper?
also customizable - and i think as cute as can be!


i think these cupcake toppers are adorable.


they can hold candles, too!


and the gift wrapping? genius. love it. precious.

i follow a blog called bakerella. if you haven't read it, you should. she is too cute, and always whipping up some amazing baked treats! the creator of lolli dolls sent bakerella some custom goodies the other day, and she posted her surprises on her blog:

bakerella's very own lolli doll, made to look just like her!
(notice the "bakerella" sign!)


here's the little lovley holding a tray of her famous cake balls


the teeny-tiny dessert table.
i am in awe of the detail in this precious work of art!
(also featuring the cake balls & her even cuter cake pops)

a lolli doll b.f.f. for bakerella's little niece & assistant chef :)


the lolli's and their dessert buffet, together.

i mean, really... does it get much cuter?

i would like to be completely irrational and order one for emma's birthday. :) however, i am restraining, simply because i can hear the shock & border-line-rage in jason's voice as he asks exactly how much i spent on that little cake topper for our 3-year-old. :)

i wish i had thought of these cutie-patootie gifts, i bet they're SO fun to create!

lolli dolls? yes, please.

she's excited.

this is what emma's reaction was when i told her we get on our airplane to florida tomorrow. we've been telling her for weeks about this trip, and she keeps asking how many days... 10 more days, 4 more days, etc...

today, the count is down to ONE. and she's excited. :)

fancy toes & butterfly chairs.

my mom introduced us to her favorite nail salon right before my brother's birthday - elegant nails & spa by firewheel. it is so great! they even have the sweetest mini pedi-chairs in the shape of pink & purple butterflies!!!

yesterday, "nonna" (jason's mom) took me and emma to get our toes done before our trip to florida. needless to say, emma loves having her nails done... what girlie-girl doesn't? maybe we've started this habit a little too early... haha, but its so much fun. i can't wait for special mommy-daughter days in the future!

here are some pics from girlie day:

emma in her butterfly chair...
what little girl wouldn't LOVE this chair?
(from when we went with my mom)


this is the life!
how many 2-year-olds have two pampering assistants??


yesterday, getting toes done again...
concentrating so hard.


pretty toes!

go romo.

emma loves romo. "romo" is her #9 romo cowboy's jersey... she loves to wear "him" whenever she can! at one point, i had to pry "romo" off of her, because she'd warn the thing for 4 days straight... luckily, we didn't have anywhere special to go! :)

here's the best pic i have of emma wearing her "romo." (notice the stellar soccer skills - child prodigy? i think so!) haha...


so, the other day, emma was wearing "romo" and admiring herself in the mirror. she smiled and yelled out, "GO ROMO!" i thought this was cute, and that she needed to learn a little cheer for her beloved man-in-blue. :)

so i taught her this:

"R-O-M-O, Go Ro-mo!"

(i even taught her the traditional "ready? ok!")

so cute! we practiced this all day, so we'd be ready to perform for daddy when he got home from work.

we were all ready to show jason our fun cheer... emma wanted me to do it first (just a bit of stage fright), so i started...

"ready? ok!
R-O-M-O, Go Ro-mo!"

and then emma proceded to do her version of the cheer...

"ready? ok!
E-R-E-R-E-R-E-M-G-B-D-H-P-R-E-O, Go Ro-mo!"

haha.

classic!


happy sunday,

they love each other.

they love each other.

one of my best friends, missy, has two of the greatest kids ever - brynn is 7 & aaron is 3. emma and aaron love each other. i mean, they really love each other! we are always joking that we've got to save sweet pictures and memories for their rehearsal dinner slideshow. but i'm serious... they love each other!

aaron is so sweet with emma. he's so gentle and patient with her, and he usually shares his toys. except for when he doesn't... but then, at least he's thoughtful enough to let everyone know that he is not going to let emma play with his toys! :)


missy called me tonight. aaron wanted to talk to me, and the first thing he said was, "sara, i miss emma." he told me he wanted to talk to her, so i went into her room where jason was rocking her for bedtime, and i told her aaron was on the phone. she immediately grabbed my cell phone (which was on speaker phone) and said, "oh, HIIIII, aaron!"

this is the precious conversation that followed:

emma: hi aaron!
aaron: hi emma!
emma: aaron, hi!
aaron: emma, what are you doing?
emma: hi aaron.
aaron: what are you doing emma?
emma: aaron, hi! i'm rockin'.
aaron: hey emma, you want to come to my house?
emma: yeah.
aaron: emma, let's go to target, and we can buy baby toys and big boy toys, and we can go to starbucks, and i will pay my money for you, emma.
emma: ok. i want starbucky's. (emma's pet name for starbucks.)
aaron: STARBUCKS! (as he starts singing at the top of his lungs and running around in circles.)
emma: starbucky's!
aaron: STARBUCKS! (still running and singing.)
emma: ok, i yuv you aaron, bye!

so there you go... let it be chronicled that my 2-year-old daughter, emma kate rains, just might be the youngest girl ever to be asked out on a bonafide date. and by a pretty studly 3-year-old, i might add! if they were in highschool, she'd be a sophomore, and he'd be a senior... that's pretty good! : )

not really sure this counts as a date? well, let's look at all the specifics:

guy asks the girl... check!
plans ahead... check!
target to buy toys... check! (girls LOVE shopping - how thoughtful!)
offers to buy her something... check! (baby toys for emma, big boy toys for aaron.)
out for coffee... check! (starbucky's, of course.)
offers to "pay his money for her"... check!

sounds like all the makings of a date, to me!

so, missy and i are going to start planning now, and come spring of 2028 (when emma's 22), emma & aaron will have the best darn wedding two toddler-sweethearts have ever had!

i'm sure they will be doing this many years from now.

emma berardinelli. i like it. :)

youth ministry at it's finest.

Bill the Elf from Woodcreek Students on Vimeo.

this is our church's youth pastor, mike, putting on an incredible show for our high school youth group at their christmas party. this might just be the greatest thing ever!

haha.

this is the guy ministering to our youth... : )

enjoy.

stocking stuffers.

i am having so much fun shopping for gifts this year! my favorite part is actually deciding what to give my loved ones. i love thinking about things they may have mentioned that they want, or thinking about what they could really really use. i also love looking for fun, random, they-wouldn't-buy-it-for-themselves stocking stuffers!

i found this list today of great stocking stuffer ideas. i think i see many items on this list that i may add to MY christmas shopping list. : )

so, in the spirit of the season, i thought i would share it with you.


stocking stuffer ideas for adults:

• Address/date book
• Bath salts and spa items
• Book embosser
• Bookmark
• Camera
• Candles
• Card games
• CDs/DVDs
• Cell phone or accessories
• Chocolates and candy
• Cookies
• Memberships to a zoo or museum
• Gift certificates
• Golf balls or other hobby goodies
• Hand warmers
• Jewelry
• Magazine subscription
• Organizer
• Ornaments
• Picture frame/photos
• Puzzles
• Scarves and gloves
• Snow globes
• Soaps
• Socks/slippers
• Stationery or note cards
• Tickets to a concert or sports event

stocking stuffer ideas for kids:

• Coloring books or game books
• Crayons, colored pencils, or markers
• Diary or journal
• Dolls or tiny teddy bears
• Camera
• Card games
• Certificates to paint ceramics or make a bear
• CDs/DVDs
• Cookies/candy
• Gift certificates
• Handheld games
• Jewelry
• Miniatures (such as tea sets, doll furniture)
• Mittens or gloves
• Movie tickets
• Puppets
• Puzzles
• Slippers
• Snow globes
• Sport cards
• Stickers
• Stationery or note cards
• Theme park admission

so there you go. be inspired. may it assist you in making someone you love very happy... and their stocking very full!

stocking stuffer list from here

Sara & Jason in HSM3!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

favorite things.

from polyvore.com

i am now addicted to this site! try it out... so fun. but beware - it's a huge time-consumer!

here is a little collage i made of some of my favorite things right now. i'm sure i'll be making more for you soon.

-happy wednesday-

vintage. love!

check out this amazing site i've stumbled upon, through the help of the blog of a friend-of-a-friend from high school.

you can choose any picture on your computer, and make it vintage... how cool is that??

the site is in japanese, i think, but it's pretty easy to figure out... i did it on the first try.

kidd's kids

jason and i are trying to raise money for the annual Kidd's Kids trip coming up in november. Kidd's Kids is an organization founded by Kidd Kraddick of KISS FM's Kidd Kraddick in the Morning. Kidd's Kids is for terminally ill children and their families.

we want to raise $1,000 by THIS thursday, october 2nd... i know... it's a lot. but we think we can do it!

go here to help send these kids to disney world!

here's a little bit about the kidd's kids trip:

During this five-day trip, which takes place every November, these kids and their families enjoy all the excitement that a Walt Disney World ® / Kidd’s Kids vacation can offer. For many families with terminally ill or physically challenged children, this is a very rare opportunity to leave behind hospital and treatment centers to share laughter and fun in a magical environment.

It’s the goal of Kidd’s Kids to make this a trip of a lifetime. With that in mind, Kidd’s Kids covers all expenses including airfare to/from their local market to DFW, chartered jet to/from DFW to Orlando, hotel, park passes, all meals, transportation while in Florida, souvenirs, special private character visits and so much more!

Children selected for the Kidd’s Kids trip are between the ages of 5 and 12, suffer from a chronic or terminal illness, and/or are physically challenged or have a catastrophic impairment due to an accident/birth defect. The child must also reside in one of the Kidd Kraddick In The Morning radio show listening areas and demonstrate a financial need. Each child selected attends the trip along with their family members who reside in the same household (this includes parent(s) or legal guardian(s) and any siblings that are between 5 and 16 years of age).

http://www.yourcause.com/therainsfamily

http://www.kiddskids.com

soon to come...

i haven't been super great at keeping up with the blog, lately, i know.

HOWEVER...

i'm in the process of uploading a bunch of pictures from our camera, and some pictures that donna has taken when emma's over there. SO, there will be some updates soon... to catch you up on some fun from this summer.

here's what you can look forward to:

1) random silliness

2) "The Wiggles: LIVE!" (yes... we took emma to a wiggles concert... don't hate... we're parents of a toddler!)

3) potty training... only tasteful pictures, i promise! but these are important moments to document!

4) chasing bubbles

5) shaking booty

6) a new tu-tu and princess shoes

7) the dallas arboretum in 109 degree weather... who gets the smartest-mom-of-the-year award? anyone?

...just to name a few...

so stay tuned... i'll keep you "posted." (hehe, i'm a dork!)

hubby love

I was tagged by my friend Melody for this game.

I tag Lisa B. & Lisa P. :-)

What is his name? Jason Lynn Rains

How long have you been married? 3 years & 9 months (4 years in November)

How long did you date? almost 3 years

How old is he? 26

Who eats more sweets? I would say Jason... he's got to have a bowl of Blue Belle's Ultimate Neopolitan Ice Cream every night! And he LOVES chocolate chip cookies! (If anyone has a KILLER recipe, I'd love to try it...)

Who said I love you first? he did :-)

Who is taller? he is

Who can sing better? ooo... Jason and I have completely different voices. He's amazing. Hearing him sing for the first time made me melt! I would say he probably sings better...

Who is smarter? I think Jason has more logic sometimes (or "street" smarts), but I made better grades in school.

Who does the laundry? It's a team-effort in the Rains house!

Who pays the bills? He makes the money, I write the checks. :-) (That goes for shopping too!)

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you're IN the bed, I sleep on the right.

Who mows the lawn? definitely Jason. I've never mowed a yard in my life! (Is that really bad?)

Who cooks dinner? I do most of the time. Jason does take care of dinner sometimes, but when he does it's usually something like pizza, fast food or ramen noodles! :-)

Who drives? Jason insists on driving, even if we're in MY car! He likes having control over what's going on. :-)

Who is more stubborn? I would say Jason, but I'm sure he would say me, so I don't know...

Who kissed who first? well... technically, me... haha! He had been begging for kisses for over month, and I wasn't giving in. Finally, one day we were hanging out in the TV room at his parents' house, and he was tickling me (one of those all-out tickle wars). I was laying on the couch, and he was kneeling on the floor... We were being so silly, and I grabbed his neck and pulled him to me and kissed him real quick... It took us both a second to realize what had just happened. hehe... and then came the REAL kiss!...

Who asked who out first? He did... he pursued me hard for awhile.

Who proposed? He did... bought me a westie puppy (our little guy named Duncan) and put the ring around his collar. He also sent me on a scavenger hunt before I was finally led to the "trail of dog treats" that led to Duncan and my ring.

Who has more siblings? He does. I have 1 brother. Jason has 1 sister, 1 half-sister and 2 half-brothers.

Who wears the pants? Jason is definitely the head of our household. He for sure wears the pants... and what fabulous pants they are! :-)

a new face-lift

a friend of mine (andrea) has the cutest little header on her blog, and she said she got the stuff to do it at www.freedigitalscrapbooking.com.

i liked it so much i thought i would make one, too... so i did. i had a lot of fun working on it. it actually might end up becoming a bit of an obsession for me, this digital scrapbooking thing.

so, there it is... free digital scrapbooking...go check it out, download some stuff and "happy scrapbooking!"

friday fun!

emma and i have really been enjoying our days home together. i'm trying to find lots of fun, creative things for us to do, so we don't get burnt out on the "mundane-ness" of being at home all day.

on friday, we had a super fun day! we tried two different recipes: one for play-doh and one for banana bread. (i will post both recipes!) we also colored, ate lunch with daddy (jason), and played with duncan.

friday evening, we went over to have dinner with some sweet friends of ours: jerica & erik olson. their baby boy, jack, is a year younger than emma, but they have so much fun playing together. emma calls him, "jock!" :-) so cute.

here are some pictures of our day together (i'll post the recipes at the end):

emma is trying to figure out this stuff called "play-doh"

emma kept calling playing with play-doh "cooking"

helping mommy bake banana bread. she cleaned out the bowl!

yummy batter!

"peeze!" (what emma says for pictures)
banana bread batter is all over her face! :-)

ah! love that sweet face...

mommy & emma trying to take some pictures together...

take 2... obviously mommy hasn't showered yet, today! :-)

banana muffins before being baked...

banana muffins right out of the oven

this is the best, most moist banana bread i have ever tasted! i highly recommend this recipe.

emma walking duncan around the house... she says, "c'mon, dunkie!" and "whistles." (basically, she squeaks "wee! wee!" to sound like mommy & daddy whistling for duncan. it's SO cute.)

emma was watching sesame street this week, and zoe & abby-cadabby were wearing tu-tu's and dancing ballet. emma looked at me and said, "mommy! want toot-toot!" this is the tu-tu melody made for emma to wear on her 1st birthday, and it's been hanging on her wall ever since. but now wearing her "toot-toot" over her clothes is one of her favorite things to do!

coloring in her "toot-toot"... look at those little crossed feet!

pretty picture

yes, my daughter eats crayons... but she only ever eats the blue & purple ones! haha!

RECIPES:

cooked play-doh from cooks.com

1 c. flour

1/2 c. salt

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 c. water

2 tbsp. oil - solid (i used vegetable oil)

1 tsp. food coloring (any color)

(instead of food coloring, i used a small packet of kool-aid powdered mix. it added color and a great smell!)

Combine all ingredients, except water and oil, in a saucepan. Gradually stir in 1 cup water mixed with oil, add food coloring. Cook over medium to high heat, stirring constantly until a ball forms. Remove from heat, place dough on table and knead until smooth.

banana banana bread (or muffins) from allrecipes.com

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas
• (you can add some vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and/or all spice to taste)
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
• 
  
• In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
• 
  
• Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
• 
  
• For muffins, I baked in a 12-muffin pan at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, and they were perfect!