One Month to a Better Life

The reason why I chose this book was to see if I could create a better relationship between my husband and I.  Boy was I wrong.  Not only did it strengthen our relationship it strengthened ALL my relationships.  This book opened my eyes to the areas where I could improve and create a more meaningful relationship.

I loved the step by step process that this book lead me on.  Not only was I able to implement all the features like being in the moment and letting go of the past but I was able to do it easily.  The fact that this book is set up to work one week at a time was fantastic.  Having a busy schedule meant that I needed to focus on one area at a time.

My life before this book was great.  I had a great relationship with my husband and my children.  But now my relationship with them is so much richer than before.  I don't let the parts of life that don't matter interfere with the parts that do.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to improve themselves and their emotion well-being!

Vegan in 2013!

It all started with Food Inc. and my innocent notion of wanting to know where my food came from.  Well it is now 4 years later, a ton of documentaries and not a whole lot of change (on my part)!  I continually think I can change my diet and my families diet so easily and it has yet to happen.

Yes, we no longer eat fast food.  In fact my son thinks McDonald's is called Old McDonald's and has only eaten there about 2 times (thanks to his grandmas!).  We rarely eat outside of the house and if we do it is generally sushi or Submarina.  We purchased a juicer after watching Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and have done countless juice fasts but we are still fighting to get to our goal.

But this time I think I have found my motivation!  I got my blood test results back from the doctor.  Turns out I have high cholesterol.  What!?!  I am a healthy woman in my early 30's, not overweight and have a healthy diet.  How can this be?  So it is with new determination that I start my new goal... I have said it countless times before but I am changing my diet to a plant based diet (in other words... VEGAN!).

It seems like a scary notion... no meat, no eggs and NO CHEESE.  I might be okay with the first two but no cheese, UGH!  So I am going to work into it gradually.  Each month I am slowly going to eliminate one animal product from my diet and end the year as a vegan.

My original goal was to post each week on my progress but it seems that life has gotten in the way.  Here it is the middle of February and I haven't even posted this... So keep an eye out for my progress so far!

The relationship is the knowledge!

When I first picked up this book I wanted to use it as a tool to bring me closer to Christ.  And that is exactly what I got.

I am new in my faith and am eager to get my hands on everything that I can to help me learn more about the bible.  I am taking classes on the bible to get a better understanding.  But I seem to be getting a wealth of knowledge but am no closer to my God then I was when I started.

This is just the book I needed.  My church teaches that we need to be more Christ-like but what does that mean.  Did Christ have an overwhelming understanding of the events of the Bible?  Did he know all the history behind it before and after his death?  Or did he simply understand His Father and preach the truth?

This book helped me to understand that my relationship with God is not just about facts and understanding His word but rather understanding myself in order to grow with Him.  This book guided me in how I interact with my fellow believers and non-believers as a way to grow in my relationship.  While quoting scripture is good it is not everything.

My 5 year old sprain his ankle at the playground and he immediately (after he was done crying) began to pray.  As he took his first steps on that ankle he shouted that the trusted in God.  He knew exactly where to place his faith and where to look for guidance.  This book taught me that I didn't exactly need to know the Bible but more importantly I need to know my God and trust Him.

Freezer Paper Stenciling

My name is Leilani and I am addicted to Freezer Paper Stenciling.

I discovered this technique almost two years ago.  I have made about a dozen shirts for each of my boys and even a few for my husband.  I love having my boys tell me what kind of shirts they want... this way they get to explore their own creative side.

My 5 year old wanted a rainbow octopus... instead of rainbow he chose a few colors and we painted it together...

He most recently commissioned a veggie tales shirt from me.  He really loved their new movie "The League of Incredible Vegetables" and wanted their logo on a shirt.  Since we already had a plain white long sleeve shirt (from his Halloween costume) I decided to start it today.

What you need:

xacto knife
freezer paper (available at grocery stores)
fabric paint
brush
cardboard
inspiration

I like to use images that are simple and more like a stencil than an elaborate drawing.  Their logo was super easy.

Step 1: cut out your image

Make sure that you start with the smaller pieces that you will need to save (in my case the letter V from the center).

Step 2: iron it down

Set your iron to a medium setting with NO STEAM.  Iron down the largest part first then work on positioning the smaller pieces.

** Remember that wherever you place a piece of freezer paper is not going to be painted.

Step 3: paint

First insert a piece of cardboard under the image so that the paint will not bleed to the back.  I like to paint from the outside in.  Making sure that you aren't pushing paint under the stencil.  For this project, I tend to not have much luck on white, I chose to paint the whole image white first.  This way any bleeding will be white and not red.

** Also if you need to paint more than one coat, make sure you let the first one dry completely.  Like with my first layer it will seal the edges of the stencil and prevent bleeding.

Step 4: remove and admire

Many different tutorials that I have seen say that you need to wait for it to dry... I think that you need to wait for it to be slightly dry.  I cannot wait to see my incredible handywork and tend to remove it within a few minutes of completion.

Others have said that you need to put a piece of fabric over it and "seal" the image with an iron and I have never done that either.  All of my images have stayed on for the past few years through many many trips in the washer.

YOU ARE DONE!!  The possibilities are endless and can be so much fun creating new and personal shirts for your family.

Superhero Party!

 My darling son decided he wanted a "Superhero" themed birthday party this year.  We tend to only do parties every other year.  He got a 1st birthday party (because you have to have those cake pictures!), a 3rd birthday and now a 5th birthday party.

I scoured Pinterest for ideas on what to do and found many that I was able to copy and make my own.

The main table... Most of the items I purchased at Dollar Tree.  The backdrop is a simple plastic table cloth with balloons above.  I used some pieces of foam board to make the signs (I wrote it out by hand and used my kids markers to color it in!)  I made the cityscape from foam board and construction paper.

We had a simple "photo booth" area too.  I used more foam board to create the signs the kids held.  My 2 year old didn't understand you shouldn't block your face... but all the kids had fun!

I added the same foam board pieces to his balloon cake from Costco.  I think it turned out awesome and still added to the theme.

This was an idea I found on Pinterest to use plastic tablecloths to decorate the ceiling... I used steamers to fill in the voids... pretty huh?

I also made all the kids, boys and girls, their own superhero mask out of felt.  They had fun running around in them!!

All the kids had a great time.  This party was a ton of fun and I was so proud of all my homemade creations!

Packing!

I have been packing one box a day for the past week or so (okay so some days I pack more than one!)...  Our boys room has turned into a storage locker more than a playroom these days.  We have just over a week before we move and right now I need to focus more on my 4 year olds birthday party so the packing will slow...

Welcome!

Welcome to Mi Casa Tranquila!

My husband and I have been looking for a house to raise our two boys in for about 7 months.  It has been a very long road.  We looked and looked in our current location for 6 months, put in over 25 offers and got 3 accepted.  House #1 needed too much work.  House #2 was not worth was we offered.  House #3 had too many safety issues that the owners were not wiling to fix.  So we made the decision to look outside of our area.  Within 1 month and 6 offers we got an amazing home that we can't wait to move in to!

Our current condo is amazing.  It has 2 bedrooms and 1.5 baths and was absolutely perfect for just the two of us.  Five years later and two small boys and we are bursting at the seams.  Our boys need a yard that they can play and dig in and we need more room to move.

This is the beginning of a new journey for our family, not only moving to a new city but getting to explore, create and grow as a family.