Time to get into the spirit!!!

A little decoration for this Memorial Day Weekend. Earlier this week I made a trip to the dollar store and look what I found. Just a little something to get into the spirit of Memorial Day Weekend.

Take a picture and email it to me at Bradshaw4@sbcglobal.net if you have any Memorial Day decorations up. Or if you have your flag waving proud take a picture and send it to me. Let's get into the spirit of this special weekend! Better yet, take a picture of your kiddos or your entire family and I will post your photos on here.What do you say?

 

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!!

Announcements...pull out that calendar!

Lots of announcements to put down on your calendar:

1. Saturday Night: This Saturday (May 29th) at 6:00pm will be the last Olive Knolls SNC that Pastor Rob will be speaking at before he moves on to his next adventure. I encourage you to come and celebrate with us. Childcare is provided for children 4 and under. Sunday June 6th will be Pastor Rob's last day as our Olive Knolls Pastor. There will be one 10:00 am Family service that weekend (No SNC that Sat. the 5th). There will be a big celebration that day. You and your family can sign up now for food for $5.00 each or $20.00 for a family. 
2. Sunday Night: Every year my family and I attend Valley Baptist Church "Remembering the Greatest Generation" Memorial Day Service. It is such a special night! Dedicated to our men and women who have served this great country or are currently serving. If you have never gone I HIGHLY recommend it! It is this Sunday May 30th at 6:00 pm. Child care is provided. Come early because there is always a huge turnout. This is a great way to kick off the Memorial Day celebration! At the end of the service, they go through each military branch and have people stand up to represent. It's so special!!!! I'm telling you, when you leave you will be so thankful that you went! It's a very moving night filled with tears, bravery, a remembrance of how much we have to be thankful for and you will definitely leave being proud to be an American.
3. June 9th is our first MOPS pool party!!! 10:00-11:30 at Brooke Fehr's House. Here are just a few reminders- 
• No Men
• Pre-School Children only (& MOPS moms older kids)
• Bring ALL of your own stuff (towels, sunscreen, snacks, drinks, swim diapers etc...)
• Check you email to make sure the location hasn't changed
• Please be considerate and clean up after your family.
4. NOR Free Family Movie Night: June 26th at North Meadows Park- 3300 McCray St. "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs" PG-13 You can visit the NOR webpage to get more details by clicking here.

More Family Fun Ideas coming soon!

Have a great weekend!!

No Mom should be alone...

 Take a minute to look at this quick video from the MOPS president Naomi Cramer Overton. I want you to really think about if you know a mom who could use a friend. Someone to laugh with, someone who would support her and value what she's doing as a mom. We all know how difficult this parenting rollercoaster is and our kiddos are only Pre-Schoolers! Is there a mom out there that you should be talking to about MOPS? That's what got the majority of us here, right? A friend told us about this great program called MOPS and we all thought..."Ok I will give it a try..." As we learned from Tea & Testimony alot of us went into MOPS without any real expectations, and what we got in return was something we will all be forever grateful for. We need to be able to share that same experience with other Moms.


Registration for our 2010-2011 Olive Knolls MOPS year is open. So if you know of someone who is interested in joining, send me a message and I can email out an application.

Jesus Dollars

Before I start out I just want you to understand this in not a post to boast about me or things that I do. I'm writing this post hopefully to inspire you, make you think. Think about how if you allow God to use you He will do wonderful things! One of my favorite sayings that I have to constantly remind myself is..."We are God's instruments, He is not ours". For me this really makes me stop and think about the fact that God created each of us in such a beautiful way- inside and out. Every little freckle He delicately chose to be placed on us. The flaws that we see in us are beauty to God's eyes! He created us to be used in His glory. To get his truth out to others and offer each of His children a lifetime of love, acceptance, value and so much more. We can't go through life using God to get us to places we want to be. We have to be willing to say "God take what you have so preciously and creatively instilled in me and use me as your light for others".

I often get asked, "Don't you get tired of being so involved in all these different activities? Especially since you are not getting paid to do all this work?". The honest answer is that I do have to be cautious of keeping everything balanced- God, Family, Friends, Serving, keeping my house up, keeping my family in sync, making sure my family has clean clothes etc...Truthfully I don't always do that (especially the laundry part...Unless it's towels I really dislike doing laundry. That's a whole different blog). However with that being said I always say, "I do get paid. I get paid in Jesus Dollars". It's a little joke I laugh at (and yes I do laugh at my own jokes because if not me than who's going to laugh, right?). But even though I laugh there is a lot of truth in that statement. 

Last night, as most of you know, my Bakersfield Ronald McDonald House- Walk for Kids team (Kristi Brinar, Lacey Naven, Carmen Cano, Tammi Perez, Kelli Thomas & Betty Woods) and I had our very 1st charity bunco night fundraiser! It was an INCREDIBLE night! We raised close to $2000.00 for the BRMH. All of that money stays right here in our community. At the end of the evening after everything was cleaned up. I was sitting on the couch watching the season finale of Dancing with the Stars with a RJ's brownie in one hand and it got me thinking (brownies do that you know) ...God was in EVERY moment of this incredible night. And I mean EVERY moment! When we started planning this evening I was just hoping we could get 30 people to come. That would be stretching it. God said, "Watch this...let's double that!" We had just under 60 women sign up. I prayed and prayed that we would find a great location for our bunco night. Finally about a week before, I decided that I would just have to make my backyard work. God made it possible! I still can't beleive that I had that many people in my little backyard, but somehow God made it work and even made it feel like we had more than enough room! It was actually really nice. Then the weather started making a turn for the worse! As Lacey and I were on our way to pick up the food we were praying  and asking God to keep the rain away. I had no idea what I would do if it rained!!! God said "Child do not worry... I will hold off the rain". As people were arriving I was thinking there's no way I'm going to be able to keep almost 60 women on my timeline. We ended up playing 3 rounds of bunco, handed out over 25 prizes during that time and miraculously finished 15 minutes earlier than I orignally had planned! I could go on and on but it was clear that God was in control! He made this evening better than I could have ever imagined! I guess it's my human nature to worry that it's not all going to work out. But you know what... it did.

So as I finish up I want you to really think about what your are passionate about...what pulls at your heart strings? Are you at a place where you want to make a difference but just aren't sure where or how to get involved? Please send me an email. I can give you some suggestions or get you connected with some people who can get you started. I often say "God will open a door for us but we have to be willing to take that first step and walk through it." Even if you only have 1 hour a month to dedicate to serving others. Do what you can! You will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams. Or as I like to say, you will be paid in Jesus dollars.

Thank you to my MOPS girls that came out to support our charity bunco night!

Love always. Your sister in Christ,

Lynn Bradshaw

Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

Take a look at these little yummy things! YUM!! I can't wait to try these. You can visit Stephanies Kitchen for more fun recipes!

It has been a crazy couple of weeks and I can’t believe how fast time has flown by!  This summer will be gone before we know it!  Sad news.  I have decided that I need a break from blogging for a little while.  Just for the rest of the summer.  I am having a lot harder time adjusting to life with 3 kids than I ever imagined I would.  I decided that they need to be my first priority and so I am going to take the pressure off of myself for the need to bake everyday and try to find time to blog about it.  I will be back in September, so I hope you won’t forget about me.  I could never abandon my blog forever.  It has allowed me to be me, not just Mommy, Wife, Maid and so forth.  It has opened my eyes to what I truly am passionate about and for that I don’t want to say goodbye forever.  I just need to breath for a while and get my world in order.  When I come back, I vow to be better than ever!  So, for now, feel free to browse through the many recipes I have here and do come back!  I will however be blogging for Cafe Zupas every Tuesday, so be sure to check it out every week.  Thanks for your support friends!
I will leave you with a scrumptious snack though!  I first saw these babies on Studio 5, here in Utah.  They are absolutely delicious, and super easy to make.  You might want to make a double recipe, because they seem to disappear very quickly!  See you in a couple of months!
Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites
makes about 45 sandwiches
1 cup of peanut butter (creamy works best)
2 Tbsp softened butter or margarine
1/2 cup powdered sugar (you may need more)
3/4 cup brown sugar (you may need more)
Pretzels (the waffle shaped ones)
1 bag good quality chocolate (I like milk)
Using a mixer, combine peanut butter and softened butter and beat until smooth. Add the sugars and stir to combine. At this point if the filling will roll easily into balls without sticking to your hands you’re ready to go. If not, add more sugar ( a little bit of each) until you reach a consistency that is easy to roll. Use a teaspoon measure to scoop the filling. Roll each portion into a small ball and set on a cookie sheet. I like to roll all the balls and then sandwich them between two whole pretzels. When all the balls are rolled and successfully sandwiched, stick the whole tray in the freezer for about half an hour.
Pour the chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and heat at 30-second intervals, stirring occasionally until completely melted. Remove the pretzel sandwiches from the freezer and quickly dip each half-way into the melted chocolate. When all are dipped, return the tray to the freezer to set up completely. Store the sandwiches in the refrigerator until serving time.

Be still...

Healthy Painted Plates

Ok how cute is this??!! I stumbled across this blog www.gourmetmomonthego.com and found some really CUTE ideas! You will have to take sometime and explore her site.

Today, I've got a fun way to start encouraging healthier eating with your kids. Ever since I saw these plates a few months ago, I've been thinking of a way to use Porcelain pens...so,

we made up an inexpensive, microwave/dishwasher safe Healthy Eating Plate!

I had a great conversation with Mitzi Dulan the other day about incorporating more fiber into your family's diet. We both agreed that one of the best ways to do that is to eat more whole grain and fruits/vegetables. In fact, if you try to fill your plate half full with fruits/veggies, a fourth full of whole grains, and a forth of lean protein, you are right on track!

So, the girls and I created these plates and they LOVE them! They can see for themselves how to fill their plates and they've had so much finding new ways to do it.

All you need for this project is an oven and:

- A small white salad plate (we got ours in a set at Fred Meyer for under a dollar each. You could also check your local dollar store). You could also use big plates, but this size is a little better for the kids.

-Porcelain Paint Pens. We used the Pebeo brand and they were very easy to use--no smudging or blobs of paint, two thumbs up from us! Check your local art supply store or you can order online here. They are non-toxic and will be dishwasher/microwave safe once baked.

Directions:

Make sure plate is clean and dry. Draw dots around the entire edge of plate, then divide in half with dots. Divide one of your halves in half again with dots.

Label each appropriately and draw little "examples" of each section (the kids loved this part!). Let dry for 24 hours then bake in a 300 degree F oven for 25 minutes. Once baked, the plates are microwave and dishwasher safe.

Now, just for fun...To get the most out of our Porcelain Pen investment, we also made some large plates to send them to Grandma and Grandpa for Mothers/Fathers day. I think they'd also be a great end-of-the-year Teacher gift written with things the kids liked about their teacher or something they learned that year. The possibilities are endless! Have fun!

I thought this was great! Easy to do and you really could take this idea and create so much more!  So I strolled over to Etsy and did a search to get some inspiration on what else you could make...Here's what I found that I thought was really cute!

What a cute Gift this would make!

This one I LOVE

Bowls...

If you are really good....

For Grandparents Day wouldn't this make a special gift??!!

 

Ok, who wants to have a painting party....??? ME!!!!!!! I say we get together and have a girl's night painting party. We don't have to wait til MOPS starts up in September to get together. What do you say?

Thank you...

Most of you know I have a big place in my heart for our military men and women who serve or have served our country. No matter what your political view may be. These men and women deserve to know how thankful we are to them and their families and for the sacrifices they have had to make.

This is one of my favorite videos. The song and the pictures that are shown really make you stop and think...Even if you don't know someone specific serving overseas you can relate as a mom and a wife. Stop and think, what if that was your husband over there? The holidays are here and he is on the other side of the world. How do you explain to your children that he wont be home for Christmas? These are real life sacrifices that are made by these brave men and women.

As an American I feel it is our responsibility to take a moment and be appreciative that there are individuals who choose to serve our country and keep us safe. So take this moment and say a prayer for those individuals who are overseas, in danger, hurt, missing their families, feeling like no one at home (America) even cares about what they are doing or what they are having to sacrifice along the way. Pray for God to give them strength, to keep them safe and let them know that they matter and that their families matter. If you know someone who has a loved one overseas think about what you can do for that family. Offer to send a care package to their loved one with all their favorite items from home that they've been missing. Do something to let them know that you are thankful. There are a lot of men and women who don't receive any mail overseas. A letter can make all the difference.



KAXL has a list of loved ones who are currently serving. You can view that list here.

However right now we also have a PRAISE! Rebecca Street's brother, Dan Roodzant, just got back from Afghanistan this week! He is stationed in Colorado. Rebecca's parents are on their way right now to visit him. After serving his country for 4 years Dan will be getting out of the army in a few months.

God, thank you for you keeping your hand on Dan Roodzant. Keeping him protected and safe. What a blessing it is to know that he is home. We ask that you continue to be right by Dan's side as he makes the transition from being on constant guard and living that lifestyle to living the life you want for him. This can be a tough transition for many. He has seen things that we will never even be able to imagine. Help him have restful nights Lord. And when he struggles we pray he will find peace in You. In your name we pray, Amen.

If you have a loved one serving overseas please contact me so we can be praying for him or her. MOPS international also has many military MOPS groups too. We know the blessings our group has had on each of us. Imagine the importance for them within their group. MOPS is such a blessing to so many. Thank you God for this amazing ministry.

The Sock Exchange

I saw this article on The Lemon Tree Creations Blog and thought it was such a cute idea! You wouldn't have to incorporate all of it, just what would work in your laundry room. I know I struggle with keeping all those little socks together!

Let me ask you a more personal question. Do you have this problem at your house?

You know, the one where all of your socks go into the laundry with a mate, but come out alone? Okay, well what about this slightly more embarrassing problem??


Well, at my house, both of these unsightly situations have been a real bummer. Our poor laundry room had become home to every spare piece of unused junk, the dogs crate, golf clubs or just about anything you could name. As the laundry continued to pile up and more and more socks found their way into no-mans land, I decided it was time to come up with a solution. And so was created, "the sock exchange."

Many years ago while one vacation in North Carolina, my husband and I saw something similar to solve the lost sock problem. Each little clip had a cut out of a sock decorated differently on it. I loved the idea, but wasn't about to pay $50.00 for it. So, with a 2x4, some left over paint and clothes pins, I just made my own.


First, I painted the 2x4 with one of my favorite Martha Stewart colors, anjou pear. Then I used regular old acrylic paint to "distress" the wood.

Next, I added the word's I wanted using Erin's transfer technique that she shared for her $1 Welcome sign, here. It worked quickly and beautifully, and I have to say I was pleased with how clear the results were!

Once I painted the words on with black acrylic paint, I simply hot glued updated clothespins (numbered and painted with acrylic paint) to the end of my 2x4.

I was very pleased with the end result, which I mounted above my washer and dryer. It serves to purposes; manages those pesky socks AND covers the ugly wire shelf that holds my laundry baskets.

Now, I have a lot more fun in my laundry room. We can finally use the back door again and fold clothes in there. I realize its not overly stylish like the gorgeous ones I have seen around lately, but it does what I need it too finally! One day I am going to force my husband into helping me paint it!

The Mom Song

Most of you have probably seen this before...but it's just too funny not to share again. Enjoy


The Dad's felt a little left out. So here's what she created...

We have a Blog!

Hi Olive Knolls MOPS Friends!

It's official...we now have a blog! The purpose and vision for this blog is to stay up-to-date on MOPS events, have a place to laugh, share special MOPS moments, recipes, wisdom and most of all a place to stay connected with each other. I hope you enjoy this blog!