Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday! Everyone has one and I wanted to help you celebrate it! I will be spending the next several days or weeks working on new coloring sheets with birthdays in mind. You can check back here for new coloring pages added. I like to get them on my blog as fast as I can make them!  My daughter is home from college and she is planning to help me in this endeavor. (Her drawings are always wayyy better than mine.)

You can feel free to use the coloring pages for your own PERSONAL use.  But please be kind and do not claim these pictures as your own or offer them for downloads.  I don't appreciate them being copied and put on other websites for download. I've seen my hard work on too many coloring page websites. Please stop doing this.

I Love You, Dad ... Fill in the Blank Book

The past couple weeks I've been working on a fun gift idea for dads. Father's Day is soon coming, and this is a great heartfelt gift idea. I made a book like this for my mom on her birthday, and she loved it. It's a good idea to bring some tissues because it's sure to bring a few happy tears. 

If you would like to download the Dad Fill in the Blank book click here, or you can scroll down and pick and choose which pages you want to print. I tried to make a lot! I'll come up with some more fun corners and words for the new books, and probably repeat some of these for the new books. I'm going to make one for daughters, sons, husband, wife, grandparents, etc. It's such a neat gift idea that the person will really treasure!

You can see the directions for how to assemble to book here. 

Feel free to use the pages for your own PERSONAL use.  But please be kind and do not claim these pictures as your own or offer them for downloads.  Feel free to mix and match between books. Use whatever you like, throw away what you don't like.

I made a blank page, so you can personalize it however you see fit. Or leave it out if you don't have any ideas you want to put down.

You can view or print the MOM Fill in the Blank book here.

I Love You, Mom ... Fill in the Blank Book

This is a little late for Mother's Day, but still a perfect gift to give to mom any time of year. A long time ago I bought my mother a fill in the blank keepsake book to pass down to me. It's full of things that happened during life and prompts to share stories. This book is a similar idea, however it's a gift for YOU to GIVE to Mom.

I partnered with my daughter, and we came up with a sweet printable together. This was no easy feat. I had to do a lot of brainstorming, and I even cheated a little and Googled a few lines to finish for the book. I had so much fun with this project that I decided I'm going to make one for fathers, daughters, sons, husband, wife, grandparents, etc. You can check back here later for more fill in the blank books!

You can download the full Mom Fill in the Blank PDF file here or you can scroll down and pick and choose which pages you want to print. I tried to make a lot! I'll come up with some more for the new books, and probably repeat some of these for the new books.

I printed the pages on the BACK side of letter size scrapbook paper. You could print it on solid colored paper, but I wanted some fun prints for the extra pages to scrapbook photos of me and mom through the years. You could also print these pages double sided so your book is a smaller thickness.

My daughter drew several corner designs for these pages. We've already been brainstorming and starting on the corners for the other books. For boys we have some outer space corners, and a cute train to go along the top and bottom.

After you print the pages out, you will want to cut each page in half on the horizontal line and assemble in whatever order you would like.

To bind the book, you could staple in the middle. Or you could cut the book again down the vertical line and pile the pages on top of each other. I opted for something a little different. Whenever I bind pages together, I like to use my sewing machine. My sewing machine can handle quite a few papers, and it seems a little more professional to me than staples. You could use colored thread. I just went for white this time. If I make another I might use a color thread, or I might print the cover on some colored card stock.

You can print wallet size photos to add on the scrapbook paper!

You can feel free to use the pages for your own PERSONAL use.  But please be kind and do not claim these pictures as your own or offer them for downloads.  Feel free to mix and match between books. Use whatever you like, throw away what you don't like.

I made a blank page, so you can personalize it however you see fit. Or leave it out if you don't have any ideas you want to put down. 

I'm sure Mom will love the book! It might even bring a few happy tears!

A Man After God's Own Heart

You probably have heard that said about King David from the Bible. He was known for being a man after God's own heart. I like to draw the comparison to my son Gabriel. He has a heart for God like no other child I have seen.

Gabe has always had a very tender heart that often breaks from day to day. One might say he has a temper or other negative things. But what you may or may not know, my son is very repentant. He grieves in the times when he messes things up. You cannot confront him on a wrong without his heart being touched. Immediately tears will come to his eyes. He wants God to be proud of him.

In the past 5 months, Gabe has made it through the entire Bible. I can't say that he has understood every word that he read, but the task has been accomplished and I'm certain he has grown from the experience. On a normal day I will read my own Bible in the hour after school has been let out. This is the time Gabe has dedicated to I Read 20 for his school homework. There have been many days were we have sat on the couches together reading through our Bibles. Sometimes Gabe will share his insightful wisdom he has gleaned. I am often blown away from the things God speaks to him and the many areas that Gabe has applied the verses to his life.

A couple kids in his class are fighting, and he quotes, "Don't hit back; discover the beauty in everyone. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. 'I'll do the judging,' says God. 'I'll take care of it.'" (Romans 12:17-19)

When he's had a hard day that might have brought me to tears, he tells me what good thing he is focusing on instead.

God is making a difference in my son.

Every day Gabriel prays for a boy at his school who doesn't believe in God. It pains him to hear that someone could not love God. This boy has been cruel to Gabe in many different ways, but every day Gabe still will say a heartfelt prayer for this boy to believe.

A few months ago I went to school with Gabriel. He was with a team of kids and had to answer a few questions. The first question was, "what are your three favorite things?" Before Gabe said a word, another kid on the team blurted out, "We know, Gabe. God. Jesus. And the Bible."

Gabe has a reputation of being passionate about his love for God. He tries to do whatever God tells him, no matter what other people think around him.

Gabriel never desires for anyone to feel left out. When it was his birthday at school, the teacher told him he could ask another student to help pass out cookies. Gabe refrained from doing this. He didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings when they did not get chosen.

I have been very proud of my son. He has made numerous mistakes and lost his temper thousands of times. But each time he is sorry. He knows that without God he is nothing.

I had 30 minutes to throw together Gabe's birthday cake!
Right now he says a yellow crayon represents him.

When it comes to God, he is like a sponge. He soaks in everything he hears. When I teach his class at church, I am certain no one is listening or getting the message. Then a week later, Gabe will quote something I've said in class. He often can grasp the deeper meaning of a situation, not just the surface words that are spoken.

For Gabriel's birthday this year we chose gifts that represented who he is. We thought since he enjoyed his Bible so much, we would get him The Brick Bible. (This is a Lego Bible fully illustrated in a graphic novel form.) If you have a young child and you want to get them excited about reading their Bible, this is an excellent place to start! It has over 400 stories between the Old and New Testament Brick Bibles. The books are a little bit of an investment, but well worth it. You might even want to read through it for yourself. If you click on the picture below, it links to the Brick Testament website. They have all the stories online that you can look through. Me and my husband spent a good amount of time reading together before we bought these books for our son. You will be hooked!



Gabriel wanted a very simple birthday party this year. Right now his other passion besides God is FOOD! He is a growing young man and probably eats his weight in food. Just Kidding. Although it sometimes seems that way. Gabe invited his best friend for a sleepover and out to dinner with us at his favorite restaurant, Kiku Steakhouse of Japan. All meals are prepared before your eyes on the hibachi grill. This makes it not only a great place to eat, but you get some live entertainment.

After dinner, we all went out to a late night movie, Wreck-It Ralph. This was a perfect choice for Gabe since the movie centers around video games in an arcade. What little boy wouldn't enjoy a movie like that? It was very sweet.

The main character, Ralph, is the villain in his own arcade game. He is tired of being the bag guy and leaves to become a hero elsewhere. This leaves the arcade game in big trouble. After 30 years of being "wreck-it Ralph" the game is in danger of being turned off permanently if Ralph doesn't return soon.

To complete his birthday party Gabriel wanted us all to go out to Steak and Shake for all you can eat pancakes. We thought that seemed a bit much on the food side, so we talked Gabe into some pancakes and bacon at home. It was a perfect birthday for Gabriel. He loved it!

Gabe was so excited to get $20 cash for his birthday this year. He was saving up to buy himself a turkey he could cook and eat all by himself! (Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday)

Happy 9th Birthday to a wonderful son!

"I’ve searched the land and found this David, son of Jesse. He’s a man whose heart beats to my heart, a man who will do what I tell him." Acts 13:22

You're In Trouble!

My baby is now 5 years old! I can't believe it. In fact, I don't want to let myself believe it. I miss the little baby I once held. Zechariah is one of my greatest blessings from God. I cannot put into words how much this little boy means to me.

We had beautiful weather for Zech's party. It was a perfect day to celebrate! I wanted to keep things really simple, so there wasn't much planned for the party. Zechariah invited all his friends over to play his favorite board game, Trouble. The twist on it, I made it life-size. I thought he would have more fun if we played outside and used people as the pieces. It was so much fun! I honestly thought the kids were going to get bored and I was going to end up disappointed with how little we used the game. I was very wrong. We played the game for over an hour and made sure to "help" a team end the game for us. Otherwise the game would have gone on for much longer.

Most of the preparation for the party was making the game board. It really was easy to make, however, very time consuming. The painting took me somewhere between 25-30 hours. It wasn't hard. It just took forever to paint because the fabric soaks up all the paint not allowing you to spread the paint much.

I started by shopping at Goodwill for some used white sheets. I love that store! I bought 4 flat sheets of various sizes for $6 total. The whites were similar, but not exactly the same. I knew once it was painted, the color of white wouldn't matter. I sewed all four sheets together into a giant 12 foot by 12 foot square.

Once it was sewn, I took it outside to draw the game board. The board was too large to lay out flat in any room of my house. I used our 1986 version of the game to copy. It's what Zech is familiar with, and I wanted him to recognize it when we played. The large circle in the middle of the game, I used a hula hoop to trace. The smaller circles that the people pieces stand on were a plastic lid to a giant bowl of mine. The game is primarily circles and straight lines. This made it very easy to duplicate.

Once the game was drawn, and my lines were taped with painters tape, I brought the game down to my basement. I put a vinyl tablecloth underneath to protect my floor and took it one color at a time. For the paint, I used the small craft bottles of acrylic paint from Wal-Mart. The bottles were 50 cents apiece, and I needed 3 for each color. The game was a total of $12. Not bad! The only other thing I needed to buy was the giant inflatable dice. I found some online for $10. It was a very inexpensive birthday party. I had found some of these life-size games online for purchase but they started at $90!!! I knew I wanted to make it myself. It was much cheaper, but the labor was very extensive.

To secure the game board down to the ground, I applied large eyelets around the edge of the game board. I then purchased golf tees to use as stakes. It worked really well! I didn't want the game board to be getting twisted beneath our feet and this solved the problem.

On our invitations we sent out, we assigned each person to a team color. I had picked out two kids for each team, and then split up the adults that were also invited to the party. Each person was supposed to wear a shirt of their team color. It made it really easy to tell apart the players on the board at any given time. If I use the game again, I might buy different color bandanas for the players to wear.

I think the most fun part of the game for the kids was throwing the giant die. They would send it flying high in the sky, and then everyone kept continually bumping it with their heads and body. Towards the end we had to restrict the kids from touching it unless it was their team rolling the die. It made it unfair for kids to bump the die when the rolling team had originally gotten a high number.

The green team won! They were also the first team to get anyone home. For the winning team I found some really inexpensive Popper Magic games, AKA Trouble. They were at Wal-Mart for only $2.50. The rest of the kids at the party were given a sack of candy and a couple card games.

My mom did an amazing job on Zech's cake. It looks just like the board game! She even made a flag out of the birthday invitation. It says, "Zech's been caught turning 5. He's in TROUBLE!"

I was so happy that the trick candles worked this time. When we used them on Zech's real birthday not a single one would relight. This time they did it several times and got a good laugh from Zech.

For fun, we made sure to pass out the cake color that matched their team color. It was fun to see everyone match their food so well. We also had the table full of small games for the kids to play while they ate. There was Old Maid, Pick-Up-Sticks, Blink, and Rock-Paper-Scissors.

It was such a fun time spent with friends and family. I don't think there's a thing I would have changed about the entire party. It was the perfect afternoon. I hope it makes a lasting memory for Zechariah. He's five years old now!!