Easter Hams

updates soon- pinky promise.

hope you had a glorious Resurrection Sunday with you and yours :O)

"fear not, you will no longer live in shame. don't be afraid; there is no more disgrace for you. you will no longer remember the shame of your youth." -isaiah 54:4

boho baby, tupperware, a ticking clock and the sweetest man alive.

hey there friends.

hope your week is going well! our weekend and week are stuffed so full i am constantly reviewing the calendar and hoping we aren't forgetting something.

My sister Jillian and her family are heading back out on the road for tour today so yesterday we took some pictures of the baby/little girl headbands that she's been working on. Emory was pretty excited about wearing all of them but not super cooperative with the pictures... which kind of worked because she showcased the headbands better if she was looking slightly away or down, haha. you can check out the headbands for sale here, and here are some of my favorites not used for the shop...







One of the blogs that i follow Me & My Soldier Man, is having a blogiversary giveaway extravaganza and i am super excited about the Tupperware giveaway that she is doing right now! a pretty sweet prize-


a set of 6 blue tumblers (leland would LOVE the blue) and i would definitely be using the avocado/tomato savers, considering my number one preggers craving has been guacamole :O)

this weekend is The Give! if you haven't checked it out yet, please do!
Every night this week we are doing something to prepare for it and we are getting very excited. Yesterday we plastered the cars at Walmart on 157 with fliers for the event (it was 81 degrees!) before the storms rolled in. The kids loved helping and it was really neat to have conversations with people about it. We are so thankful and excited by the donations that are coming in! Thank you to Jodie, Alisha, Jenni, Melissa, Margo and anyone that i'm forgetting who have been so generous! The clothes, toys and furniture that are coming in are in great shape and really nice- i know that so many families will be blessed by this!

Finally- My Grandpa Lowell, my mother's father, was just admitted to the hospital. His heart is not pumping well and is weak.
This man is so strong. He is the farmer, entrepreneur, veteran that never slows down. He has always been the powerful silent type, a man a few words and much love. Since Grandma Dorothy passed away he has started to show his age and have health problems of his own, but i just can't imagine him as sick or old. Please keep him in your prayers if he comes to mind. He is the best. So sweet with Leland and Emory and a wonderful Father, Grandfather, Great Grandfather to our whole family. My Aunt Linda is with him and my Mother will be heading that way soon, I know she is trying not to be worried but is.




thank you friends!

extracurriculars...

i've already vowed that i will not become a parent that spends 75% of their time chauffeuring my kids to their extra activities. Don't get me wrong- i'm all about fun, learning, helping your kids fulfill their potential etc etc... i just think there needs to balance. For everyone's sanity and for the sake of them not thinking they are the center of the universe.
So we will be taking extracurriculars slowly and probably limiting them to one physical and one arts at a time- at the most!
this week we had our first experience.....

swimming lessons!
For his birthday Leland's Granny & Gramps paid for swimming lessons at the YMCA. last night was the first night and he had a great time. I was SO proud of the way that he behaved. After class i told him it made my heart happy to see him obey his teacher and be brave. He replied "i just love you very much so i wanted to be very good in my class and try hard." heart melter!
One little fella kept taking his float off and throwing it in the water- the only problem Leland encountered was when he thought he would 'help' and jumped in to retrieve it for him. Heart was in the right place, but still not okay!
it will be fun to see how he progresses over the next few weeks. And by the time he is done with lessons we will have a new baby- that's cray-cray!

big girl bed!?

it goes with out saying that i sure love this girl. she's such a joy even when she's being feisty.
luckily, there was no attitude about staying in bed- she was just so excited to be in her BIG bed :O)

what a weekend! (picture heavy!)

this is how the baked oatmeal turned out:

i think i needed more oats, more raisins and more cinnamon. I didn't have the recipe in front of me when i made it so i just threw whatever looked right in. i thought it was suuuuuper yummy and Leland really liked it with sliced bananas, honey & yogurt. Emory was a pill and just picked it apart- annoying because she LOVES all the ingredients. it was perfect for breakfast/snacks all week. just keep the leftovers in the fridge and pop them in the toaster oven to warm 'em up.

on thursday we made little zucchini pizzas with leftovers from celebrating my sister Jillian's birthday by making homemade pizzas the night before. they. were. delish.


Thursday afternoon the Lord restored my joy and brought me out of my funk- spent the late afternoon watching Leland try to catch butterflies with his net and emory run around with bouncy bed head from her nap. the giggles and sunshine were just too beautiful. and THEN Leland actually caught one! We identified it (a Red Admiral) and everything :O)

Friday i decided we needed a fun day so we went to the Children's Museum in Edwardsville, met Daddy for lunch at Peel, made a few bow ties for an upcoming craft fair and then went to the Melting Pot with my sister Jillian and friend Michelle as planned. It was so nice to visit with them, have no kids pulling on us and eat delectable food that we didn't have to prepare! it was a wonderful, though long day.

Emory loved playing with every single activity at the museum and was so serious about it that she barely cracked a smile the whole time. she shared plenty of crack though! (see picture 2) and Leland as usual, enjoy being the postal worker the most and the earthquake machine next best.


building towers with different size foundations and different heights to see how they withstood "earthquakes"



bootyful!


grocery shopping and ringing it all up (at one point Leland was checking the milk labels to make sure it was from healthy cows- gotta love it!)

they had a great time and it was such a gorgeous, warm day.

After yummy lunch with daddy i tried my hand at some bow ties and Leland was really excited about trying them on for pictures. not too shabby :O)



Saturday was full of music practices, driving all over the place and having too much to do! Joel played with Owen and the guys in a battle of the bands in Greenville to win a spot playing at Agape. They made it to the next round and play the first night on a side stage- whoever wins there gets to play mainstage on the saturday!
We went over to help celebrate Lucy & Jane's birthdays and i tried whipping up a crayon roll up for Lucy which turned out to be pretty easy and i think i'll make some for the craft fair as well. i just used fabric that had been given to me and Lucy likes purple so it worked out well!


Sunday was Faith Promise at church and we had the privilege of having Rick Jett from IDES preach and it was wonderful. Then it was straight out to Bond Christian Service Camp for the camp rally. The kids had a great time and Joel, Ryan, The Fanch, Josh, Chad & myself had the joy of leading worship. it went really well and when we finally got home around 11 pm i collapsed on the couch and wanted to cry. just from being completely DONE!

yesterday Jillie took a few pictures for me- here are some out takes with leland "helping"...


and then the ones we edited on picnik:



isn't the headband gorgeous? Jillie made that and gifted it to me- lots more in her SHOP, check it out.


so, all in all, a fabulous weekend. I'm just a BIT tired though and trying to recover while watching kids, catching up on all the housework that didn't get done over the weekend and getting ready for The Give. i'm having to realize that i'm getting pretty pregnant @ 32 weeks and when i'm tired i need to sit and take a breather. i go from lazy bones to woman on a mission and then back to lazy bones pretty quickly these days!
hope you had a great weekend too!

a sobering though....

i was doing a mental check list of things for baby/baby life thinking that we really do have most of everything we need.... then i thought about nursing- something precious and so good for baby.... but that brought me to the thought of....


NURSING BRAS.



yuck, ugh, blah.

my least favorite part of the first year of my children's life.... easily.
i can manage lack of sleep (they actually sleep pretty well so far), crazy hormones, tons of diapers.... but walking around feeling like this:




no thanks.



oh well!
the things we do:O)

wish list

i try not to spend much time looking at things i'd like to purchase or dwelling on items that i want, but occasionally its useful to make a little mental list so when people ask you what you want for an event, or there is that rare occasion of a bit of spending money just for mommy you get something that you REALLY need or like.
and since my mental lists are pretty flaky these days i thought i'd share here so i remember :O)

#1



Custom Personal Library Embosser

HERE are some examples. i'm hoping that i can find a cheaper option. Since we are a family that will be building our personal library every chance we can get, i'd love for each book to have our "This book is from the Sprenger Family Library" and monogram in the front. semi practical but mostly just something that would please me immensely :O)


#2




a wet bag!

Since we are planning on using cloth diapers pretty exclusively this time (and i already use them for nap/bed time with Emory) it would be great to have a wet bag. its certainly a need if we are going to go anywhere with our little fella.
Confession: i have this exact fabric (which i love) all i would need to get is some water proof lining and a zipper and i could just make it myself. I should make one for Jaime while i'm at it since it matches her (still unfinished) quilt. This is probably what i will do. sometimes i just get tired of making everything! anyway- it's on the list but shouldn't be- i'm going to try to make one this week.


#3


a good hair cut/color.
i finally colored my hair myself this weekend- i only had 2 inches of growth and gray hair showing- no big deal.
it gets the job done but i'd really enjoy just having a relaxing color/cut in a good smelling salon. Aveda if i were being choosy. My ends are dreadful and its getting close to time for one of my two hair cuts of the year :O)


#4


bouncy seat for baby brother... i keep almost typing his name out:O)
the one we had from Leland is pretty nasty and boring, so this isn't a need but would be fun.
this one is from Target and is pretty cute- i love that its neutral but not too plain.


#5




stoneware! a muffin tray, baking pan etc... this one will probably take a while. Since i've been reading more in Nourishing Traditions etc there are lots of baking/cooking tools that i would like to switch to for health reasons. I'm thinking of having a party to counter the costs... would any of you come to a Pampered Chef party if i invited you???


that all i've got :O)
thanks for humoring me.
what is something you've been thinking about saving for/splurging on?

confession, and THE GIVE!

Hey there friends!
Sorry for my absence. i've been feeling.... blah. I know what i need to be doing- in my spiritual life, around the house, with cooking, with school..... but i'm just.... blah. usually if i can pinpoint why i feel a certain way i can fix it and go forward. But this is silly. i know i'm eating well (not as well as i should be because of the lazy blahs), there's no issue that i'm not dealing with God, family or friends... other than my laziness in the relationships this week....so..... i'm stumped. it may just be pregnancy hormones but now isn't a great time to retreat into doing nothing. So today is the start of me attempting to let God pull me out of it. I've enlisted Joel's help through prayer/study and would love your prayers as well :O)

today we are trying this recipe for Baked oatmeal... i think it will be like guilt free oatmeal cookies. i LOVE oatmeal cookies. since they are soaked they will be full of nutrients for our body to put right to use. Hopefully that will help me feel a bit less tired- comfort food that is nourishing :O) doesn't it look yummy? i can smell it already.



This week my sister Jillian turns 23! (EDIT* she is turning 22, i'm a goober) I'm so glad that they are home for her birthday.
My friend Michelle (who had twins recently and is part of the church plant that we are helping with) is turning 30 this week as well! i'm going to take the two of them out for dessert on Friday night to celebrate who they are. I think we could all use the break :O) i'm attempting to get a handmade (but simple) gift made for each of them before then and i'll be sure to take pictures so i can share them with you after they've been given.

We are SO EXCITED about the church plant that we are involved with. At the end of May Joel will be ending his time on staff at Copper Creek Christian Church and we will be putting all our efforts into getting ready for the august launch of Atrium Church. We have loved and cherish our time serving and fellowshipping at Copper Creek but know that we are being led by the Holy Spirit to this new service opportunity. We aren't going into a staff position and i will also be losing my income from babysitting at that time so we are relying on God to provide as we follow where we are called. it's been stressful to try to budget based on numbers that will or won't be there. At this point i am trying to put as much away into savings as possible (for real estate taxes- yuck.) and then pray about every expense before it happens. We want to be able to minister to people even when it might not make sense in the numbers.

Atrium is focused on reaching people in the Collinsville, Caseyville, Fairmont City, Washington Park, East St. Louis area. This is one of the poorest and most ignored areas that is totally with in our reach to help. There will be cultural barriers that we are excited to love away. On the west side of 157 in Collinsville there is a huge hispanic community that we would love to serve- Joel is getting ready to purchase Rosetta Stone Spanish so that we can prepare for that aspect. There has been so much change in our hearts and attitudes about our comfort and outreach to those in need- and which is higher on the list of priorities in our daily life.

weheartit

Our first community event through AvenuEast (our nfp counterpart) is called The Give and will be taking place the Saturday right before Easter. This day is usually reserved for Easter egg hunts but we are hoping to bless the single parent families in the area by having basically a free yardsale where you take what you need. There will be bounce houses for the kids, free food and plenty of toys, clothes, diapers etc, for those who need them. Please go HERE to get more information about the event, how you can donate to the Target registry for diapers & wipes, where you can drop off gently used clothes & toys from your spring cleaning and get familiar with AvenuEast & Atrium Church. Please like The Give on Facebook too!

We are praying that there will be a huge turn out and that The Give will be a outpouring of our thanksgiving for the best gift we've received, through Christ.



Today we are reading:
Stone Soup by Marica Brown




how appropriate :O)

31

hey friends!
stopping in real quick to tell you about a giveaway at Jaci's over at Me and My SoldierMan!
check it out here: http://meandmysoldierman.blogspot.com/2011/04/blogaversary-giveaway-my-thirtyone.html

i'd like to win though, so don't enter unless you reeeeeeeeeally want it:O)