the big 800 and a big, whoppin' giveaway!

Wowza. Blogger changed its formatting a while back so that it included a running count of the posts you have written. And this, my friends, marks my eight hundredth blog post.

I started blogging 3 1/2 years ago. It began as a travel blog, documenting a road trip Rory and I were taking throughout Canada and the western half of the United States. This was the first image I posted in my very first post. A map of our planned roadtrip:

On that six week roadtrip I began taking photoshop classes through jessicasprague.com which opened up a whole new world of digital art, fonts, online scrapbooking... and so I started posting what I was learning, documenting the important things, like how much I love the Teriyaki restaurants out west.

And classy scrapbook layouts about our cat.

And lovely layouts showcasing the best picnic location we've ever found. (and we've enjoyed a lot of beautiful picnics...)

Once we returned home, we ended up hitting the road again and lived in Nebraska for two years while I worked as a program director at a Bible Camp. The blog morphed into an easy way to stay connected to friends and family back in Minnesota. I also got very crafty while in Nebraska. Sort of found a new passion out there for fabric and paper and ribbons and crop-o-diles.

And then we came back to Minnesota and had baby Ivar. And the blog became an incredible outlet for writing about mamahood, the gift of family and frankly, any thought or rambling under the sun.

It's no secret. I love to blog. I love, love, love it. And I love even more that YOU come to read. I have a very consistent readership and for that I am so, so grateful. I love this space. I love documenting life like this and I love the back and forth that a blog provides whether you comment, drop me a line or pick up the phone. It makes life more full.

So to celebrate, I am going to do my FIRST EVER GIVEAWAY!!! At least, I think it's my first ever. Have I done this before?

I am putting together a smattering of my very favorite things. Including: my two favorite cd's: Andrew Peterson's Counting Stars and Sara Groves' Invisible Empires (or, if you already have this album, which you might because my blog readers tend to be Sara listeners...you can pick from any of her cd's), haribo fruit salad gummies, the Jesus storybook bible, bridge mix, and the greatest little Q and A 5-year-journal a lucky blog reader could hope for. People, all told, this is over a $60 value. And it's stuff you're going to love. Or love to eat. And love to listen to.

Now I'm going to get gimmicky on you. I'm going to do the whole leave a comment to win thing. But I'm also going to go the route of if you tweet about this giveaway and/or mention this in your facebook status and/or your blog you may enter three more times. And finally, if you are a follower or become a follower, you get to enter one more time. Up to five times. Stop me now, people.

Recap of the five ways to enter:
1. Leave a comment telling me your favorite kind of candy (I changed the settings! It's super easy now!!!)
2. Tweet about this giveaway with a link to this post or blog
3. Update your facebook status with a link to this blog
4. Become a follower. If already following leave a comment telling me you already follow
5. Mention this giveaway on your own blog

Now, the small print. This giveaway is open to EVERYONE. Even my mom. Even Rory's mom. In fact, if either of you won, it would be quite handy not having to pay the shipping. Former employees of mine (heh) may also enter. If you were ever my Sunday school teacher, or even better...if I was ever your Sunday school teacher, you had better leave a comment. If you're brand new to this blog you can enter. If you've been here since the beginning you may enter too. If you've been silently following and never commented before I want you to leave a comment the very most. Pretty please!

I will announce the winner next Monday. You've got one week!

So that's that. 800 blog posts. It's a whole lot of words. It's a lot of thoughts, stories and ideas. So, so happy I've kept this thing up. Here's to another 800.

valentine cookies

Today's crafting took the form of baking. And for good reason. We have two guys here working on our bathroom this week. We are getting a new tub, ceiling, window, wall tile, paint color, mirror, light fixture and sink fixture. Basically everything is changing except the existing floor, toilet and sink. I could not be more excited.

All of this excitement means two things: 1) this pregnant girl can't go to the bathroom every seventeen minutes as usual. Today we went to the zoo with friends and that was a good idea for a number or reasons, but largely so I was a bit closer to the facilities. We plan on going again tomorrow. 2) Ivar adores these two men. He stands at the gate and watches them and laughs. And when they use loud tools he chuckles so loud like they're just trying to be funny for his entertainment.

Here, the guy was showing me the options for the wall tile but Ivar kept tossing him a ball over the gate, and he played and played with Ivar until I told him he would never get out of this game if he didn't just walk away.

So I made the workers some cookies this afternoon. I spotted the valentine's m&m's at Target last night and decided they were necessary. Which was a big decision because we are tightening up our budget big time and purchases like this have to later be defended as to why they were necessary. But after making these adorable cookies, I would say it's obvious why they were necessary. (I used this recipe and it's great. Pretty classic for an oatmeal and m&m cookie.)

a work in progress

Today I got out a tiny 3x5 canvas frame and made the background above with tissue paper and modge podge. This picture makes it seem a lot bigger than it is. But it's tiny. I am planning on putting a little song bird on top of it all, but Rory is very concerned I'll ruin it, and would like me to keep it just the way is. Not sure what it has to do with hearts, but it was crafty. 

But if we're talking little hearts, today I did make my next ob appointments and I now have the dates for our next heartbeat appointment and...the ultrasound!

Naturally, I got out some fun paper and made a chain with 49 loops, counting down until the day they goop my belly and we get to see the baby growing inside. Now if that isn't a project fit for hearts-and-crafts week, I don't know what is. Paper loops and staples all marking the time until we see the little life inside of me pumping its own beating heart.

heart wreath

Yesterday was a great start to hearts-and-crafts week. Two things that helped this: I have a bad cold which means we're not doing anything other than laying low at home. And the tv is off. That really helps in the productivity department. Oh, and one more...pinterest. I have ideas unending after a look around the valentine craft ideas on this site. But I am treating pinterest like a new addictive drugs. I can tell if I get to close, I might get sucked in and never come out. So for now, I'm just browsing. Not participating with my own page. But talk about a kid in a candy shop. Wow.

I found this wreath idea through pinterest on this site. Adorable, easy, and would have gotten done a lot more quickly if I didn't have a one-year-old crushing my hearts as I made them. Crafting with Ivar is a whole new experience, but he loves it. Loves the paper cutter, loves the stapler, loves the ribbon. It's all new and he's so interested in my toys. I don't blame him. They're fun toys.

pink play dough

The more I need a nap, the more Ivar refuses to lay his head down. We fought over this one for quite some time this afternoon. I am in the middle of a head cold that makes my face weight 100 pounds. I really could have used a nice long nap, but Ivar wasn't feeling it. So we got back up after a very, very long battle of the wills.

Lucky for me, I had thought about making play dough as one of my projects this week. So I got out of bed, put Ivar in the living room with some toys and made some play dough.

For me.

I have thought about this a lot lately. How hard I work to be sure Ivar learns to play, interact, develop, keep his routine. And I've been wondering how I can ensure that I still make time to play, interact, develop and keep a routine. I decided that I need more just-mama play dates.

And I decided that I need more playtime for myself. Hence Heart-and-craft Week...and the pink play dough I made just for myself to knead, to roll out, to cut into hearts. I squished, pounded, rolled it into snakes, rolled it into balls, made it into pizzas and ice cream cones. And it felt so good to play. Only trouble is that now I have a hankerin for rolled sugar cookies in the shape of hearts. (Remember these beauties?) That might have to be added to the list for heart-and-craft week.

**Here's my mom's recipe for play dough. It makes silky, lovely play dough that is easier to clean up than the store-bought kind. I have come to find that people are very partial to their particular play dough recipe. Sort of like all the varieties of chili out there, usually you like your mom's the best. I swear by this stuff, but to each her own.

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

4 tsp. cream of tartar

2 cups water (with food coloring added to the water)

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

In a saucepan mix flour, salt and cream of tartar.

Add colored water and oil.

Place over medium heat. Stir constantly for several minutes. (It gets heavy! It's hard to stir!)

It will begin to separate from the pan and become more dough-like and look like a lump of mashed potatoes.

Remove from heat and knead with hands. Store in an airtight container.