76. Have the family put a care package together for Operation Christmas Child (www.smaritanspurse.org)

Samartian's Purse is a wonderful Christian Missionary!  Their mission is, "To demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ."  I heard about their Operation Christmas Child (OCC) two years ago in a random magazine I was flipping through and couldn't wait till Avie was old enough to participate and help me do a donation. Avie and I filled two shoe boxes with small toys, lollipops, toothbrushes, toothpaste, chap stick and school supplies.  Avie geared her box for a little girl her age and I did mine for a little boy Avie's age.  The really neat thing is that we were able to download a bar code to put on our boxes so we will be able to track our package and find out what country they made it too.  We had a really fun time shopping, putting the boxes together and then delivering them that we decided to make this an annual King tradition.

10. Take my mom for a manicure & pedicure.

It was really nice to take my mom to the salon and have her get pampered. She has such a giving heart, I thought it was perfect to stop and do something for her for a change. She had a great time and said that she wants to make it our monthly date.  I like any new traditions that involve going to the salon. HA!

67. Make my first quilt

 I don't know if the Pioneer Women would be proud of me but heck . . . I sure am!!  So glad to say I can cross this one off my list!  I would say the hardest part after cutting the blocks exactly the same size, was making sure each row lined up almost perfectly.  I could not have done this without the help of my wonderful SIL, Jenn and MIL who both helped me with technique and how to.  I made the quilt for my brother and his wife who are expecting their first child, a girl, due at the end of December 2010.  I was able to deliver the quilt in person to them at their baby shower in Virginia Beach.  They were both touched and excited to have it.  YEA!!

 

 Starting to sew the rows together - what a daunting task!

 Pinning the rows together.

My SIL and I holding the finished product.  I wish I took a picture of the back of the quilt.  I had a really cute pink and white fabric with stars on it.

100. Plan a day & take Avie to Mommy Beach.

It feels like it has been raining non-stop for the past two months here.  It's like we temporarily moved to Seattle!  It was the last day in August and I looked like someone who had not seen sun in a year. Then one morning we woke up and there was the sun.  I did not want to chance wasting the day so I put Avie and I into high gear. I packed our cooler and we headed out of the house by 9:30 am to Mommy Beach.

Mommy Beach is located on Pensacola Beach and is really called "Quiet Water Beach" but the locals have named it MB because it's the perfect place mom's like to take their kids to play at the beach.  The shore line stretches for miles, the water is shallow and there are barely any waves.  It's nice because it is very quiet there, tons of restaurants near by and there are covered pavilions right on the beach with grills.  It was really a perfect day to have some quality time bonding with my amazing daughter.  It was really a blessed day!

This location was so nice because the pavilions were right on the beach.

After the fun in the sun we headed to mommy's favorite pizza place:  Papa Pizza!

After lunch I took my baby girl out for some ice cream.  The girl's got good taste.  She picked out "Birthday Cake" flavor and it was YUM-O!  In the very back of this photo is part of the boardwalk and the water is shallow all the way out there!

71. Plan a father/daughter day out for just Matt and Avie.

Avie and I had just come home from a two week vacation to Michigan without Matt so I figured this was the perfect time to cross this off my list. Two days before we flew back to Florida, Avie woke up crying (which she never does) and when I asked her what was wrong she whimpered, "I miss my daddy." Nearly broke my heart. The moment we arrived back home and Avie hugged her daddy, she has been glued to his hip. That first week home, she wanted daddy to give her a bath, get her dressed, brush her teeth, basically she only wanted her daddy and when I tried to help she refused. lol! Thankfully Matt was on a two week break from school because the summer semester just ended so I was able to get him out of the house and go on a date with his daughter.

Since Avie's birthday in July, she has fallen in love with golf so I figured it would be a fun if Matt took her out to putt-putt golf. They had such a great time together and afterward we all went to the beach for the rest of the day. Here are some pictures and a video Matt took.

89. Redo our front entrance into a patio sitting area with stone flooring.

This type of DIY project is not for the faint. Honestly, it was the project from HELL!! If we ever do something like this again we will wait and do it during the Fall or Winter or heck - hire someone. When we first started this project it was the beginning of June and we nearly got fried outside! We worked on this project during the weekend because during the week when Matt got home from work he had lots of homework to do. So it wasn't until the summer semester was over did this project get finished.

The biggest obstacle of this project is that our neighbors (to the South) back yard is higher than ours so when it rains, all their run off rain water flows to our front yard which floods it about 4 inches deep! I get so worried when we have flash floods or heavy rains that our house will flood one day. So before we could start the project, Matt had to dig a trench and lay down piping that would divert all that run off water to our street. We've had some flash flood rains lately so we were able to test it out. It worked great but we decided we should add gutters to the front of our house to help with roof run off. So we hired someone to put gutters up and after we had more rain, we were able to test that the gutters did help alleviate some of the flooding. Everything seems to be working now. Thank God! We are now looking for furniture to go out there, get some potted plants and add a water feature. I'm really particular when it comes to picking out stuff so I'm on the search. Once I have the final "look" done, I will post a picture.

BEFORE - The South part of our front yard = HORRID!

BEFORE - This part of our yard was wasted space & did not feel inviting.

BEFORE - Not sure why our builder picked these ugly rails. They look like they belong inside a house on a staircase. I've hated these since day one. It brought a smile to my face to have these knocked out.

Flooding from our neighbors run off. Told y'all it was bad!

It totally looks like a small river!

AFTER - This side of the house feels open and more inviting now. I love it and I don't feel like our front yard looks "ghetto" any longer. Ha! The only changes I plan on making in the late Fall is adding a lamp post next to the Sago Palm Tree, replacing the Sago with a taller Palm Tree and getting higher bushes by the first column. I wanted them higher to hide the furniture we plan on putting on the patio, and for privacy, but we couldn't find mature bushes at the time. Owning a home truly is a constant work in progress!

AFTER - Just need to add some patio furniture, a water feature and obviously finish painting the columns. I ran out of exterior paint. Next year we will work on the other side of our front yard. Like I said, always a work in progress. ;)

55. Learn how to make Kare-Kare.

My Aunt Ne, in Michigan, hands down makes the best Kare-Kare I've ever had! It has been a favorite of mine since my childhood. Every time I visit my aunt, she ALWAYS makes it for me. That's how I know she loves me. :) For those reading that don't know what Kare-Kare is, it is a Philippine stew made with vegetables, oxtail (beef) and the secret ingredient - peanut butter!

I was in Michigan visiting during August and of course stayed at my aunts house for a few days during my travels. I knew she was going to make Kare-Kare for me so I asked her to please show me how so I could make it for my family. My husband likes it but calls it "Peanut Butter Beef" - ha! Avie had it for the first time on this trip and liked it! She even asked for more meat. I was so happy! Like mother, like daughter. ;)

We used fresh veggies picked from my aunt and uncle's garden too!

Some packets that she uses in her recipe. Mama Sita knows what's up! ;)

My beautiful Aunt Ne and my Uncle Ernesto (my mom's oldest brother)

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (24/24)

Craft Project #24 - Make a design from one of three templates using Perler Beads.

This was a really neat rainy day craft to have laying around the house. My last trip to JoAnn's for some fabric, I promised Avie she could pick out any craft item she would like and this is what she picked. It was a rainy Saturday and Matt was buried in homework so I took this craft over to my mom's and all three of us made our own designs. It was a lot of fun making memories together!

To keep up with our crafting, I have quite a few projects planned for us. Our first craft on the calendar is visiting the free craft workshop that JoAnn's Fabric has for kids. They are usually on a Saturday from 11 am - 1 pm. Check your local store for a schedule.

Avie designing her dolphin.

Avie made the colorful dolphin, I made the fish and my mom started out designing the turtle and Avie decided "grandma" needed some help. lol! Good times all around!

1. Get pregnant again.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

We found out we are pregnant again!! The first thing Avie said was, "I hope it's a girl because boys are gross." Matt and I got a good laugh out of that one. Our due date is February 20, 2011. We plan on not finding out the sex of our baby and being surprised this time around. It is really an exciting time for our household right now. What a blessing this baby is going to be!!

42. Make an herb garden.

Avie and I took a trip to Target one morning and picked up a few of our favorite herbs that we like to use in cooking and in drinks. These are the herbs that we planted:

1. Basil
2. Mint
3. Oregano
4. Thyme

During this time, we also planted some Banana Peppers and some Cayenne Pepper seeds from Matt's Spanish teacher.

Avie enjoyed digging in the dirt and getting her little hands dirty.

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (23/24)

Craft Project #23 - Decorate a Princess wand and crown.

After all these craft projects, Avie has mastered using glue all by herself and truly has a love for crafting.

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (22/24)

I am coming off a LONG hiatus and boy does it feel good to be back on my blog to cross activities off!

Craft Project #22 - Do felt paper coloring. One of Avie's great aunt's gave her this after a visit to Atlanta. She loved it!

74. Take Avie to visit the Foley Train Museum in Foley, Alabama.

What a neat little place to go for the kids to run around and climb on these old trains from the Louisville and Nashville train lines. This museum is housed in the original train depot building that is over 100 years old.

Best Friends and Cousins!!

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (21/24)

Craft Project # 21 - Make candy rings. Another craft project that my sister-in-law brought for the kids to do. She found this on Amazon.com for $5!















Avie holding up her finished project . . . and with her fake smile. lol!

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (20/24)

Craft Project #20 - Build a car!

My amazing sister-in-law is the queen of fun crafts. She brought this craft during their Spring Break visit for the kids to do. She found this at TJ-MAXX.

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (19/24)

Craft Project #19 - Make a Southern Belle Easter hat.

A friend of mine invited us to go to the Easter Egg Hunt put on by the Navy this year. My niece and nephew were in town visiting from TN for their Spring Break so it was neat to be able to bring them along too. The flier said that there would be craft tables so I figured I would leave this weeks craft up to the Navy. :)

I am laughing here because she totally did not like her hat. I had to bribe her with a lollipop so she would pose and take this photo. HA!

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (18/24)

Craft Project #18 - Dye Easter eggs with Avie's cousins: Elle and Miles.

This was the first time that Avie dyed Easter eggs. It's been so neat now that she's older to do fun things like this. The kids had a blast and surprisingly didn't make too much up a mess for mom and Aunt Jenn to clean up.

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (17/24)

Craft Project #17 - Make more Easter decorations from Pop and Grandma Nancy.
Avie is saying, "Thumbs up mom!"

56. Learn how to make Siapao.

One of my favorite Filipino foods of all time is Siapao!! I have always wanted to learn how to make it so I could stock up my freezer. They are the perfect snack or meal and thankfully Avie loves these little meat treats as much as her momma does!

A close family friend's mom said that she would teach me how to make it so we planned an afternoon and us girls got down to business. The recipe is surprisingly easy and the dough recipe is very yummy!!

The giant 3 tiered steam pot. I asked where she bought this and of course she said, "The Philippines." Hopefully I can find something similar here or on line.

Kneading the dough.

Avie watching Grandma make the siapao.

Waiting for the finished product. I obviously was too busy stuffing my face at the end because I forgot to take a picture of the final product. Take me word, they looked like the real deal and tasted pretty amazing! Can't wait to test this in my own kitchen and stock up the freezer.