A DAUGHTER IS...

A joy bringer,

 A heart warmer,

A memory maker,

A Daughter is...

LOVE

ITTY BITTY PEN PALS

I came across the Giverslog this summer while on our marathon road trip from NM to GA and back again.  The concept is simple, to mail unexpected items weighing 13oz or less.  The woman is crazy (in a good way) and mails everything from rubber balls to easter eggs.  What fun surprises for her littles when they check the mail!!  After Meredith's scarf swap I couldn't get the idea of "little" swaps out of my mind so I emailed her and after a few emails back and forth she put together "Mini Mail."

From Meredith herself...

The mission (should you choose to accept it):
Friends, I don't know about your little ones but my Carson absolutely LOVES getting mail. He asks me every time we drive to our mailbox if there's something for him-- he gets so excited when there's ANYthing that I can pass off as a toddler-friendly piece of mail. I just know that he would be beside himself to get mail of his very own on a regular basis. Behold, I have created Mini Mail: itty bitty pen pals! The concept is simple-- to send and receive mail to and from your little ones. This will be super organized so it's not overwhelming and I can already promise you it will be SO worth your while. In this day and age of technology, isn't mail becoming a lost art anyhow? I just love the idea of little pen pals.

The nitty gritty: 

• If you choose to participate with your child/children, you will need to commit to a minimum of a 3-month pen pal partnership. 
• Your child will have 4 pen pals in a calendar year-- new pen pals will be assigned every quarter {January, April, July, October}. Since we are beginning this month your partner will take you through the end of this year, new pen pals will be assigned in January.
• Your monthly package can be as big or as small as you wish. Remember, you're mailing between toddlers. My 4 year old would absolutely FLIP if he got a note in the mail with a single treat. So, if you're not on top of your game one month and only have time to have your little draw a picture, write a quick note and grab some gummy bears or stickers-- it's all good friends. 
• But, in case you want to help yourself get ahead of the game... you can do what I just did and order a package of 10 or 25 small flat-rate USPS boxes for FREE online. Boxes will literally arrive at your door, ready to be filled month by month, free-o-charge. Mailing a small flat-rox box is $5.20 regardless of weight. You can even print your postage online, making a trip to the post office obsolete. These little boxes are the perfect size for notes, drawings, and a few surprises!
• On the 1st of every month I will post the theme and any instructions for your pen pal mail for that month. I am going to keep my guidelines very basic and allow you to take this to whatever level you'd like to go.  Raid the $1 bin at Target for some fun treats or toys to send to your pen pal.
• There will always be a letter aspect to the package-- for the first month of each quarter it will likely include a getting-to-know-you portion, a picture, and something theme-related for that month. 
• In your child's first package to their pen pal it may be fun to include something that's their favorite-- and it could vary depending on the month you're introducing yourself. October-- my favorite candy! January-- blue mittens, my favorite color is blue! Hope these keep you warm!

Mini Mail Dates:

• 1st of the month: monthly theme & pen pal mail instructions posted
• 1st of the month: pen pal partners received
• 15th of the month: packages must be IN THE MAIL.
• 29th of the month (February has 29 days this year): Blog about your pen pal package!

... right now I want to gauge interest in Mini Mail! If you and your littles would like to participate then leave a comment here with your names and their age(s). Please include the best email address to contact you. If you are unable to comment on my blog for whatever reason, you can email me all of your info to thetichenorfamily {at} gmail {dot} com with the subject Mini Mail. If I have a decent amount of participants I will get the ball rolling for October ASAP! Feel free to blog about this (you can absolutely use the mini mail image) and spread the word. The more mini mail pen pals, the merrier! 

 

Do you get as stoked as I do about your little's opening up the box to find sweet surprises JUST for them?  Then join in the fun and head over to thetichenorfamily.com to sign up!!

EEEK so excited!

SUPERNATURAL

Today has been a day.  You know the type... 

Wake up late, nothing to wear, grumpy kids, gads of errands, massive headache, and the list goes on...

However, tonight when reading the girls devotion I was overcome.

"When it seems like absolutely everything is going wrong-trust Me.  When your life feels more and more out of control-thank Me.

That's not what usually pops into your mind first, is it? ...your first respons is to complain.  That's only natural.  But whining and complaining are like jumping on a giant slide.  Once you start down, you only go faster and faster - more whining and complaining.  And at the bottom of that slide,there's nothing but a big pit of self-pity.

Put on the brakes! Don't do the "natural" thing-do what is beyond natural.  Do what is supernatural .  Trusting and being thankful in the middle of a realy bad day are supernatual responses, and they unlock MY supernatural Power in your life.  I'll see you through whatever mess you're in and fill you up with My peace, which is beyond your understanding."

SO TRUE!  When in "the trenches" it is so difficult to be thankful even when we have so much to be thankful for.  So tonight I will be thankful, I will be thankful that I woke up, I will be thankful that I have clothes to wear (even if I don't like any of them at the moment), I will thankful I have children who can fuss, I will be thankful that I have reasons to run, and I will be thankful that even when I hurt God is still good.

I WILL BE THANKFUL

FALL FUN

This summer I came across a list of 101 summer activities that became our "go to" throughout the season.  I loved having ideas ready at the drop of the hat, most requiring little or no thought or preparation, that the girls could easily chose.  So when it came time to retire our summer list I made a fall one to take its place and I am hoping that this becomes a tradition in our household.  Each season holds so many unique opportunities but when they are not in writing it is easy for them to slip by.

 I just grabbed a dollar store frame and spray painted it purple (I would have preferred orange bu used what I had on hand) popped the list in it and we were up and running.  The hubs found these amazing window crayons that work perfectly for marking off those activities we have completed.

You will notice that some of the activities go together and I did that by design.  Grace was terribly dissappointed when we weren't able to cross EVERYTHING off our list this summer so I felt this was a way for us to get the best of both worlds!  And as you can see so far we aren't doing to shabby!

Breakfast for dinner....

 Camp Out

 Balloon Festival

 Nature Hike

CASTING CROWNS

The hubs and I were able to schedule a date night due to the combined help of three babysitters (no, our girls aren't that bad everyone's schedules just conflicted) and great friends who held our seats while we ate dinner.

It seems as though real dates are fewer are farther between lately so we truly enjoyed the opportunity to just hang out and talk (which explains why dinner took so long ).  Casting Crowns never dissapoints and we were able to catch Sanctus Real as well so I was stoked.  It was funny to see how much they have changed since seeing them last (7yrs ago).  At that point they were all piling into a hatchback with a U-Haul on the back and now they are living large.

The music was great, the company amazing, and the food incredible all in all quite the success.

We even got to say goodnight to the girls...at 1230am since they refused to go to bed.

Oh well life's short, right?

Third Annual Scarf Swap!!

I signed up for Meredith's third annual scarf swap over at the tichenor family. 

I have participated each year and have loved it every time!

This time I was teamed up with Lindsey from The Whitely Girls.  It was so fun to get to know her through this process and we had to laugh over how much we had in common.  We both have two girls, August birthdays, husbands that have changed uniforms but not jobs...the list could go on and on. 

I sent her this adorable chevron check...

And she sent me this amazing zebra print!

 I love that it is black and cream not black and white. 

It makes it so much classier and gives it a cool weather feel!

LOVE!

This is me...

Everytime I find a new blog I always start wondering about the "story" behind the person.  So today I thought it might be fun to take the guess work on my end and list 21 random facts about me.

• My name is Bethany
• I am 28 years old.
• I am happily married and have been for seven years.
• I have two little girls, ages 6 and 2.
• I showed cattle for 10 years.
• I live in New Mexico.
• I am a "has been" pageant girl.
• I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. 
• I have my bachelor's in agricultural economics and business.
• I teach full time at a private academy.
• Half the day I spend with kindergartners.
• The other half I spend with 9th-11th graders.
• I learned to sew a year and a half ago.
• My favorite color is teal.
• I love seeing my girls walk around in something I made.
• As hard as I have tried to obtain long hair I am just a short hair girl.
• All I ever watch is HGTV or Food Network.
• My best time to "create" is between 3-6am.
• I am addicted to sleep.
• ...and gummi bears.  (But only the Haribo ones!)
• My closet is full of 5 colors, black, gray, teal, purple, and white.  Is that a bad thing?

Play along!  Post a pic and list 21 random facts about yourself.  Make sure you leave a comment if you do!