Event Recap

by Mollie

  So by now most of you know that I am the Christian Education Director at Green Valley Church in Rancho Bernardo.  I am BLESSED to be apart of this church let alone be on staff.  I have an AMAZING staff that I work with and we had the pleasure to put on a fun event last week.  We hosted a Father/Son event titled "A Pirates Life for Me!"  It was a hoot!  Boys and their dads were invited for dinner and a pirate adventure and were required to dress up like pirates!

  I was really excited about the decor this event (me being a girl and all)  and found a TON of inspiration on Pinterest. OF COURSE!

We used Marie Callender's pie tin plates.  They were gracious enough to let us borrow the plates at no cost! We served hot dogs, mac & cheese, Cheetos, and lemonade.  Perfect guy food right?!?

We had a dress up station where the boys could add to their costumes if they wanted.  We provided hats, bandannas,  mustaches, and eye patches. 

We passed out treasure maps of each station to the boys and their dads. 

Treasure Dig! 

Hook Untie (Untie as many knots as possible using a hook in 2 minutes!)

Nail Me Timbers - How many nails can you get in a block of wood in 2 minutes?

Pirate Pumpkin Decorating (thanks Oriental Trading Company!)

Pirate Dress Up - Boys got to dress up their dads however they wanted and get to take photos! For privacy I can't publish everyone's photos but I can show you Holly's lovely family! 

Then there was the obstacle course where they had to walk the plank, crawl through the cave (under the table), do 10 jumping jacks (you would be surprised how many kids dont know how to do jumping jacks anymore!) , crawl around the trees, "swim" on a dolly, and toss treasure (coins) into a treasure chest

Our very own Pastor Doug dressed up as a pirate and gave a little talk about the importance of the Father/Son relationship.  It was so great to see dads and sons eating, playing, worshiping, and learning together! 

AHOY!

A little halloween fun

I am not a huge fan of halloween.

My earliest memories of this strange, sugar coated, evening are of running to my sisters room and hiding under her bed EVERY time the door bell rang.  I did this until I was about 8 years old.  The whole night spooked me.  (I also had a very active imagination, which did not help.)

I am more a fan now because I have kids.  And my kids love dressing up.

And, so do I.  This is last year.  We were all Star Wars characters.  Wondering what Middle Man is in the black box?  Han Solo frozen in carbonite, of course (now that was a paper mache undertaking).

So much fun, and so much lighter than a lot of the scary costumes we see in our neighborhood.

On to this year... my kids have been begging me to decorate for halloween.  I'm just not into it.  However, in our recent Family Fun magazine there was a fun purple monster wreath that I thought my kids might like to make.  It was super easy.  They just needed help with the hot glue gun.

We started with a foam wreath, ping pong balls, and 2 purple feather boas (in the magazine they show purple furry fabric, but I couldn't find any so this was my best option)

My kids added pupils to the ping pong eyeballs with a black sharpie (don't use a regular marker because it bleeds really weird on the ping pong ball) and then I hot glued them to the wreath in different places.
Then they just wrapped the boas around the wreath and I hot glued the ends in place.  Finished product...

A fun pop of color on my front door. 

Now if only figuring out our costumes for this year was this easy!  Stay tuned for pictures...

Happy Thursday everyone!
 

WIWW - kinda

by Mollie

  So I have TWO reasons why there is no WIWW post again.  #1: I kinda sorta lost my camera... but no worries! It was found, but too late to take any pics for this week.  #2:  I have been in a REAL outfit funk and have had NO motivation to even try and look cute.  Sweat pants and hoodies have been my best friend.


  Therefore... Its time for another What I WISH I wore Wednesday.  :)

Source: chiq.com via Mollie on Pinterest

 not only do I wish that I had these shoes I wish I had a place to wear them.  Somehow going to Wal-mart and Costco and the park just isn't practical in these shoes.

Source: None via Mollie on Pinterest

I LOVE these colors together.  Something about the cool and casual gray, white, and distressed jeans with the bright fresh pops of color in coral and turquoise just is lovely.  I think I am going to try and re-create this outfit tomorrow for mommy and me preschool!


This makes me want a mocha latte and a great coffee date with a friend! Another outfit I will be trying to recreate this week.

 Hope ya'll have a great week!

Apple Party

We are in full fall mode around here.

The weather has finally cooled down (meaning it's about 75, but I'll take what I can get), the decorations are up, and we have made our trip to our nearby apple town for pie and apple pickin'.

Last year, I threw an apple party to celebrate the season.  It was a great time with our friends and family.  We asked everyone to bring a food item (we made the main dish), and the only requirement was that everyone had to make something with apples in it.  We got pretty creative, and it was so fun to share recipes.  And all the food was delicious!

Here's some of my favorite pics of the evening...

                                                         Apple themed games...

                           Kids table covered in butcher paper with apple coloring pages...

                                                               Apple activities...

                                                            Apple hor'dourves...

                                               Lots of yummy apple desserts...

                     Even some homemade apple butter to take home.  We were apple'd out.

The tomato, apple, bacon, and feta crostini's were delicious.  If you're feeling in the fall mood, here's the recipe...

1/2 lb. smoked bacon
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup sugar
1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1 small yellow onion, diced
3 tbsp. cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 loaf baguette style french bread, thinly sliced and toasted (about 30 slices)
1 8 oz. block feta cheese, crumbled

Cook the bacon until it is brown, drain on paper towel.
In large saucepan, combine drained tomatoes, sugar, apple, onion, vinegar, salt, pepper, and bacon.  Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook, stirring often, for 12 minutes or until apples are tender and most of the liquid has been reduced.
Remove pan from heat; let sit for 5 minutes.
Arrange baguette slices on serving platter; top with apple mixture and feta.

Enjoy, and happy fall!
 

Spoiled Rotten

by Mollie

  Pirates Life for me was a HUGE success! Thank you so much to everyone who participated and prayed for the event! I can't wait to tell you all about it! BUT today I am going to be spoiled rotten!! My mom is coming down for the day to watch the girls.  She is sending me to go get a mani/pedi and coffee BY MYSELF (you fellow mamas know who rare this is) then scheduled a couples massage and lunch for me and my hubby!! um...dream day!!!!  I can hardly wait, so needless to say blogging is going to have to wait!



 Talk to you soon!

Blessings!

A Pirates Life For Me

by Mollie

  Hey Ya'll!!  Short Blog post today because I am deep in the throws of getting an event together for our church.  Tomorrow evening we are having a Father/Son event titled A Pirates Life for Me!

Kids and their dads get to come dressed up like pirates and join us on a swashbuckling adventure! 

  If you are in the San Diego area we would love for you to join us too! Tickets can be purchased here. 

Regardless if you can come or not please pray! Pray that this event would be successful and that God would meet us there. 

Thanks peeps!  Off to put it into action! 

Needing a little help

by Holly

Hey everyone!

I posted a few weeks ago about my "thankful" banner that I made last year.

I hung it from our mantle, and I cut out blank, paper leaves that my family would write what they were thankful for each evening.  We started the week before thanksgiving, and it turned out to be such a special time with the boys.

The banner started out like this, and throughout the week we added our leaves.  Some favorites...

                                                  (The hot fudge sundae was mine :)

                                              Is it obvious that I live in a house of boys?


By the end of the week, our banner was covered in blessings...

I dated each leaf, and wrote the name of who wrote it on the back so that when I took out the banner this year we could see the things that we were thankful for last year.  Great reminder!

So, where does the need for help come from?

Well, my family (all 5 of us) will be spending the end of this year in a little town in El Salvador on a mission trip.  To help raise money for our trip, I have made some "thankful" banners that we are selling for $25.  They come with everything you need (leaves and clips included).  All proceeds go directly to our trip.

As you can imagine, getting all five of us there is quite pricey.  We have been doing fundraisers with the kids, and we think the lessons they are learning through this whole process are priceless.

If you think this is a family tradition you would like to start, please check out my family blog here. 

For some reason, the comment section of that blog is not working.  So if you would like one, could you please leave a comment (with the number you would like) on this (YeLLoWMeDaiSY) blog. 

I have sold half of them, and there are still some great ones left.

Thank you for letting me steer away from the usual YeLLoWMeDaiSY.  Trust me, Mollie and I do not take lightly that you are willing to spend some time with us a few days a week.  You all are a blessing, and we are thankful for YOU!

Happy Thursday!

Seeing God's Word

by Mollie

  I just purchased some printables from my friend Aly.  I have LOVED putting them up in my house.  I know have scripture in almost every room of my house and I am LOVING having the reminders of God's Word around. I have her "strength every morning" in our bedroom and its one of the first things I see in the morning.  I have her "oaks of righteousness" framed in my bathroom and while I'm washing my hands I am reminded of that beautiful promise.  I have her "lavished" framed on my kitchen sink which reminds me of the hymn that I now sing while doing dishes.  I don't know about all of you but remembering and setting time aside to do my Bible Study every day is a challenge for me.  There are so many other things that are constantly demanding my time and attention.  But I am coming to the conclusion that I don't do anything well if I dont start and end my day with the Lord.

  Here are some verses for ya'll to start your day with the Lord.