Lately

Lately my life has been amazing.
Lately I've been forgetting to thank God for all He does for me.
Lately I've realized the intense love i have for my family and that they have for me.
Lately I've discovered i have a job that can't be beat
Lately I've been reminiscing on old memories and giggles.
Lately I've been missing long lost best friends
Lately I've been remembering how short life is and how quickly it can end.
Lately I stop an acknowledge the little things in life that always seem to be the best.
Lately I've been thinking how lucky i am to have found someone who makes me happy beyond belief.
Lately I've decided that diy crafts are the best things of my life.
Lately I've been running and loving every second of it.
Lately I've been missing my high school art classes.
Lately I've been struggling with school decisions and majors.
Lately I've come to the conclusion that snuggling and forehead kisses give me the greatest joy.
Lately I've seen that life is hard and full of emotional battles.
Lately I love hot chocolate and warm blankets.
Lately I've been reuniting with friends and it makes me extremely happy.
Lately I've been reminded how the best things in life come when you least expect it.
Always God has never stopped loving me and holding my hand and reading my thoughts through every thing listed, and for that i'm beyond grateful, thankful, and overwhelmed by His goodness, love and mercy that never fails. <3

Christian John DeVries

 Christian John DeVries also known as CJ is the youngest sibling in the DeVries family. He is my younger brother by 6 years. Yes, he's just a lil baby :) i've watched this young munchkin grow up and i only get more proud each and every year. I will not lie Christian was THE cutest baby and toddler. Last year for my graduation open house i wanted to put his baby pictures up for my poster board. From his contagious grin to his struggle to talk for a few years he was always as cute as a button. He grew up with two older sisters and therefore knows every Hilary Duff, JoJo, and Aaron Carter songs. No worries though he has had his fill of beat ups and teasing just as if he had an older brother. May i ask why boys get the God given talent of making awesome sound effects?   Christian insists to this day that my machine gun sounds like a telephone ringing.. i beg to differ. We've played Lego and hot wheels together, and watched hours and hours of Thomas the Tank engine. Cj has the biggest and best imagination of anyone i know. He has come up with a bazillion contraptions and little trinkets that amaze me! Who thinks to stretch 100 rubber bands across the room so that when you pull one it goes all the way around the room to open the door? young Einstein? yes. I've gone through heart ache and excitement with my awesome brother. The more he grows up the more he teaches me. Last year he got in a fight at school, as soon as i heard i got the sister instinct to go pound some heads together for even trying to hurt him. And i know that when the neighbor kids talk about me in a bad way he gets angry and sticks up for me. When i cry hes always there with a big hug and caring heart. Yes he gets annoying at times but honestly i've had my fair share of annoying moments too. When i run errands he loves to come with and give a second opinion. Most of all i see a young strong christian man coming into view each and every day. He has faith like a rock! Someone says "Oh MY GOD!" he doesn't hesitate to speak up and say that it offends him and his faith. He shares my love for singing which could turn bad for anyone around us at times, but it never stops us :) So Christian John, heres to changing your diapers, carrying you when you couldn't walk, teasing you when you needed it, giving you pick up hugs, scratching your back to sleep, helping you with your homework, and watching you become the greatest 12-year old brother any sister could as for. I am and always will be proud of you <3 

Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk.

 Our siblings push buttons that cast us in roles we felt sure we had let go of long ago the baby, the peacekeeper, the caretaker, the avoider.... It doesn't seem to matter how much time has elapsed or how far we've traveled

 A brother is a friend given by Nature.

Brother and sister together as friends

ready to face whatever life sends

There is no love like the love for a brother. There is no love like the love from a brother

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet.

Sassy and Sweet

Please meet Carley and Ellie Wiersum. 

Where on earth do i begin with these two shining beauties.

The first time i heard about them my sister went to babysit for them and i got a text saying "Casey, these girls are adorable and im sitting here with 50 bows in my hair and they are loving it! you have to see them." The next opportunity they needed a babysitter i jumped at. From that first night i fell in love. I have always had and always will have a special place in my heart for children, but these two girls will always have a special spot in my heart. From make up, to hair, to painting nails, to making bracelets, to playing the wii, to snuggling up during movies, to piggy back rides, and writing Jesse birthday cards they never cease to make me smile. 

Carley 

Carley is the oldest. She is seven years old. Just look at her! she's beautiful now can you imagine what she will look like when she's 18?! This girl loves to be in control she is very detailed and specific when it comes to drawing or painting nails. She is always on a mission to make my hair, make up, and nails look the best they can be.

 Take these pictures for example! who knew that lip gloss makes a fabulous eye shadow?! as long as you dont mind a little stickiness your good to go! Carley is extremely shy to any stranger. She's known my dad for as long as she's known me and it still takes a good 20 minutes for her to warm up, but when she does she's a blast.

i cant tell you how much she loves electronics! She finds texting to be one the best things in the world. No matter who i am talking to on my phone she always wants to tell them hi. And not have me type it for her she wants to do it herself and i must say she does a very fine job! The camera is always a hot spot at the Weirsm residence. Sometimes i think she's better at taking pictures than me! however her younger sister Ellie doesn't have as much patience and she took the above picture which is blurry but still captures how much fun we have being silly. :) 

Ellie

Ellie is the younger of the two. She is five years old and a bundle of giggles. Some of the things she says makes me laugh for hours. just last saturday she told me "I crack myself up all the time! and i crack my mom up she says im hilarious" funny thing is Kiley tells me all the time that i crack myself up. we're like two peas in a pod. Ellie is more outgoing and silly. She has a giggle that could make anyone smile. She is SO completely photogenic! 

While Carley spends time at the neighbor Ella and Sophie's house, Ellie and i have spent a lot of time together. She is a complete joy! i don't know how anyone could go bored while being with her. She's a little chatter box but never to the point of annoying. She loves telling me all about her day and her friends. She loves to do my nails and hair just as much as Carley. Even though it might not be as detailed or fancy its still absolutely perfect in my eyes

This summer i had the pleasure of teaching Ellie in my vacation bible school class at church. I tried really hard not to show her favor above the others, but it was so terribly hard. It was hard for her to understand too that i had to share piggy backs and  attention with the other kids when normally it's just her and her sister that get all my attention. 

I love to take the girls to movies or anything fun. Anytime their parents Brian and Amy ask me to babysit i think i get more excited than a kid at christmas time. I honestly love these girls with all my heart! i show them off to people i know and people at my work like they are my own children. Their picture resides in my car on my dash for me to see their smiling faces every time i put my car in drive. I look forward to Ellie's running jump hugs and Carley's new ideas everytime i see them. I hope from this post you can all see how much God has blessed me beyond belief with these two small girls and possibly fallen in love with them as fast as i have. 

Thank you Brian and Amy for you two amazingly beautiful girls inside and out <3 

Crafty

In an earlier blog i showed you a sneak peak of a lace lamp i was attempting to make but failed. Well heres a more descriptive process by pictures of how it's done!  

 

Vwala! all done! love it <3

My next project! necktie necklaces. This is the one i made for allyson for her birthday. They are so fun and i love making them! 

I LOVE MY JOB :) 

Adventure Time

Highlights from last weekend <3

DaNcE

  "There is a time for everything...
a time to tear down and a time to build, 
 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to 

DaNcE..."

Dance like no one is watching <3

Artsy Fartsy

Wowzers it's been a while! 

TOo much has happened to catch up on in one post. If i tried you'd all be bored to death from reading. trust me! Let me just sum it up by saying God never ceases to amaze me. I dont know why i ever cry or get down about a situation anymore because even in the situations that hurt so bad and bring you incredible pain and tears, He always finds a way to make sure everything happens for a reason. And more times than not that reason is something i can learn from, get stronger from, and find happiness in. You can always find happiness in everything.. sometimes you just have to search harder and deeper to find it. Let me also say i can never get sick of meeting new people and getting close to and being involved in new circles of friends. That is one thing i can say i am very blessed with. Friends. What amazing people! That is one of the great things about attending two schools in high school and transferring churches at the same time, so many new people with opportunities for it to blossom into awesome friendships.

Lately i've been feeling crafty and inspired to do lots of DIY crafts. it may just be i have too much time on my hands and i spend them on stumbleupon and blog sites, but either way i love it :) it makes me feel like im useful with my time instead of sitting around eating and watching tv too much. Here are some of the things i've found and have tried or i'm looking forward to trying!

1. The Doily Lamp Here is a link to how it is done http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1ZXmCP/www.moredesignplease.com/moredesignplease/2011/3/4/diy-doily-lamp.html

This is my first attempt my brother and i went on a search to find the supplies and turns out meijers sucks. All we accomplished there was gummy worms because you can't go to meijers without purchasing gummy worms. And those punching balloons that are so annoyingly fantastic are impossible to find! so if you'd like to attempt this let me just say head straight for target. in the gift area they are sold for about 2 bucks for 4 in a bag. We got the wallpaper paste from lowes and the lace from fields fabrics. It said to rub vaseline on the balloon before putting the lace on and we didn't have enough so i tried to use as much as we had in the right areas and at night i took this picture before bed and it looked so promising! i got home from work and got out the needle and POP. my hopes and night of efforts deflated right with the balloon. Not enough vaseline and the lace part shriveled up along with the balloon. BUmmer dude. but this means im gonna have to try again to perfect it cause i love the idea and i want a lace lamp in my room! 

   2. I love this one! it's a watermark teeshirt thats super simple and i plan on attempting later on this week.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2Lze0R/www.u-createcrafts.com/2011/08/creative-guest-watermark-tee-by-sweet.html

        3. Everything in this blog i want to try. Shes amazing! my mom said she is going to get a better sowing machine so i can make wonderful things :) 

http://sweet-verbena.blogspot.com/ 

Thats all i have for right now but i'll be sure to keep you updated on how all of my crafts work out :)

My sister inspires me in every single piece for school she makes. Sometimes i get the pleasure of being a model for a project she needs. so i'm sharing them with you :) it's a lot of fun dressing up as different characters.

Yes we do put my moms wedding dress to use often. and yes the sleeves are huge and outrages but itll do for now.


Some of the highlights from this previous week are:

• Laffy Taffy jokes
• Jimmy Johns 
• Long drives on country roads
• Finding out more about people each day
• Sports watching (even though all my teams lost this weekend)
• First win on thursday night volleyball
• Thursday night Mc Donalds giggles with Whitney and Karissa after volleyball
• Saturday honored with serving the Head Table at my job. (the brides beauty makes me excited for my wedding someday every time. They always look beyond gorgeous) 
• Sunday Nap
• Amazing sunday sermons
• Seeing Ellie (one of the little girls i babysit for) again for the first time in a while! i missed her and i think i was just as thrilled to see her as she was to see me :) 
• Getting a free tshirt from a local business i sampled to for work!

What im looking forward to this week and weekend:

• Bible study tonight
• Drawing a detroit lions picture for Taylan
• Thursday night volleyball and Mc Donalds :) ( yes this will be on my list every week until it's done in march)
• Attempting the water mark tshirt on friday after work
• NO work saturday
• Going Geo catching (no friends, that is not trying to catch small geckos its much better than that!) Pumpkin carving and grand adventures with Jesse saturday
• Watching Carley and Ellie saturday while our parents bowl. Gonna get my make over and catch up with the most beautiful girls in the world. i cant wait!  

Meet Ellie :) 

“Pretty much all the honest truth telling in the world is done by children.”

“We worry about what a child will be tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today.”

“Children are our most valuable resource.”