GUM starts Sept 15th

Calling all GUM Mamas! Mark your calendar, the start of GUM is coming.

We'll be back in our regular Fall schedule starting at 8:45am on Sept. 15th. Start inviting friends! You can pick up a registration form from the GUM table following the 11am service.

Price break-down: $45 - no children, $55 - 1 or 2 kids, $65 - 3 or more kids

Right off the bat, we've got a special Pint Sized Adventure to the LA County Fair on Sept 22nd. More details to follow!!

This year we'll be doing a study called, Victoriously Frazzled. "Victoriously Frazzled will help any worn out, burned out, and stressed out woman understand the Spirit God has given her." We'll have books available for purchase at GUM.

I hope your routines are coming back together after a wonderful summer break!

LA Fair Competitions

Thanks to some brilliant mamas I'm looking at what things my kids and I would like to participate in at the LA County Fair this year. Most of the contests require mail by dates by early July, so it's time to look through and decide what you and your kids would like to do!

This year's theme is America's Kids: Surrounded by Science. You can find the Entire Competition Book here, but I also wanted to highlight a few of the fun things I think my kids will be participating in.

Science Lab Coloring Contest - Put your coloring skills to work in this creative coloring contest. You can make your science lab serious, silly...or someplace in between, just print thier science lab drawing and let your kids color away!

Design an Insect Competition - Imagine you’ve just returned from a scientific expedition to an exotic land (or the empty lot near your house) and you’ve discovered a new species of insect! What does it look like? You decide! This is more than a coloring contest…it’s a decorating contest! You can use paint, markers, glitter, sequins, puff paint, jewels, buttons, feathers, or just about anything you can dream up. Let your imagination go buggy!

There are tons and tons of competitions and contests, science fair experiements, craft work, baked goods, etc. Take some time and look through the entire Competition Book, I'm sure you and your kids will be inspired!

Need a laugh? It's gettin real in the parking lot...

(Disclaimer: I apologize in advance for a tiny bit of bad language.)

Quiet Moments

Last night I celebrated the birthday of a very good friend. Fifteen of us headed out for a large, delicious, rowdy dinner together. We had way too much fun. Over the years, we've had lots of these birthday dinners. These women are near and dear to my heart. But its not because of dinner's like this. The moments I treasure, are the ones that come later in the evening, when the crowd has thinned, and the sound decibel has lowered, and you suddenly find yourself standing in a circle, outside, in the dark and the cold, bearing one another's burdens. These are the moments that I cherish. The ones where hearts open up to talk about wounds, and friends gather together and pray.

This morning as I'm still pondering these things, and begging my Heavenly Father to intervene, I'm reminded that its these quieter moments that make up a lifetime. And it's true for our kids too.

Though there will be memories made at the amusement parks and the birthday parties through life, these are not the things our children are going to cherish. What's going to encourage their hearts, and give them strength each day is the quieter moments. Snuggling together on an overcast morning, whispers of "I love you's", and conversations while you're driving.

I'm hoping the sum of these quiet moments make a lifetime of cherished moments.

Reminds me of Chris Tomlin's song says, "In the secret, in the quiet place, in the stillness you are there." Lord, help me to remember its the quiet moments you call us too, and the quiet moments that matter most.

Get Ahead of the Summer Boredom

Blogosphere right now has a plethora of ideas to keep your kids busy all summer long. Today, I wanted to point you in the direction of two featuring the same idea.

Boredom Busters!

With summer here you're bound to eventual hear those not-so-favorite words, "Mom, I'm bored." To get ahead of the boredom curve why not put together some Boredom Busters. Get some notecards or print or use a template and whip up some activity cards, put them in a jar, bucket or box and point your kids to them as needed.

You can find lots of great boredom busters here at Intentionally Katie from last summer to help you aid making your own.

Or check out The Happy Housewife's printable template of ideas. She's created 80 activities for you to print and given you 15 blanks to make your own!

You might want to make several jars and divide them into categories, inside, outside, baking, crafting, etc - or just put them all in one and let the fun begin! Happy Boredom Busting!!

Still need more ideas? Check these ideas out too:
I'm Bored Let's Make Something
Little Wonders' Days
Thrifty Northwest Mom
The Daily Digi

100 Days of Summer

Here's 100 days of summer, one a day activities you and your kids will love! This sweet list comes from momadvice.com.

There are lots of baking and cooking together ideas in here which I love! Day 42, day 70 and day 77 are my particular favorites. But there's lots of great ideas for activities and adventures with small twists on your regular ventures that will make them extra special and fun!

What's your favorite summer time activity?

GET FED!

The GUM cookbook you all contributed to is finally available for order! You can order at GUM or following the service on Sunday, for only $15!

To check out a preview click here - this is really a very cool cookbook.

Thanks to Steffani Platt who compiled all our recipes, and a HUGE thanks to all of you who submitted recipes!!

Purchase a copy for yourself and one for a friend, relative or anyone, really!

Garage Sale

This is normally where I park my Ford Expedition:

As you can see there is no room for my car, and the stuff is starting to pile chest deep! My garage is almost literally overflowing with items donated for the GUM Garage Sale this Saturday. We'll be sorting and pricing several days this week, and I know there are still more furniture donations on their way!

How can you help? We're still taking donations! Especially big ticket items like furniture and baby gear. Contact me if you'd like to drop some things off.

But more importantly, plan to come check out all this stuff! We've got a very wide assortment of Clothing (Men's, Women's & Children's), Collectibles, Kitchen wares, Electronics, Books, Baby Gear, Furniture and more. Maybe there's something here for you! All the proceeds will go to the Growing Up Mom ministry to ensure we stay self-funded. So spread the word! Tell your family and friends to come by and check out the sale on Saturday, April 30th, between 7am - 1pm.

Easter Books & Treats

I came across this deal tonight, for those of you with Kindles or ebook readers of some sort; Amazon has The Very First Easter from The Beginners Bible free for download right now.

I look forward to being able to pull this ebook up on my phone the next time we're waiting in line somewhere, or playing at the park and just need a few minutes breather.

What Easter books do you and your kids love to read?



Someone asked me this morning (btw- what a fabulous parenting panel we had this morning!!) how to make those cute, tasty little edible nests. So of course, google and me spent a few minutes together and I came up with these! Check out these Easter Treat - Edible Bird Nests. They are super easy to make and you can get really creative with the what you fill the next with!


If you are a little more adventurous you could try making these Chocolate Easter Surprise Eggs from Not Martha. I'm seriously considering trying to attempt these this year!

Look at the chocolate goodness, just under the shell, and when you break it more candies fall out!

What special things are you preparing this season?

Tunnels and Tents

Here's what happened recently when we labeled our park day, "TUNNELS & TENTS". This was super duper fun. Except for the unseasonably and unbearably warm temperatures!

We'll definitely need to do this again!!