Post Memorial Day Reflection on Jesus

I've been a believer for a long time...like grade school. I didn't truly understand it though until a play about the Columbine shooting when I was in middle school. During it, the young lady who is famous for dying when standing up for her faith meets Jesus, and He says, "Well done, good and faithful servant." I decided then and there I would do everything I could to hear the same things when it's my turn.

Through this life's journey with Christ I've always had a struggle with the common focus of the crucifixion: Jesus' death. I thought that as horrible, terrible, and painful as it was, He wasn't the only person ever to be crucified. He had people on either side of him that same day even. I struggled with the many martyrs and Christians who faced persecution through the years and also endured awful, long-lasting torture. I contemplated the many soldiers who willingly marched themselves into war knowing they'd probably never return. It bothered me because, physically, Jesus wasn't the only one to sacrifice His life.

But then, during a Secret Church by David Platt (Don't stop reading if you're super theological and happen to not agree with his perspective!), God spoke to my heart and opened my eyes. Jesus has not been the only person to give His life, but He IS the only one in the history of history to sacrifice all of the things He did. Check it out, and consider...

This one-of-a-kind Savior left heaven (a place of perfection and beauty) to come live a life in a world unworthy of His presence. He not only put up with the world, but He lived a humble, hardworking life rather than be doted and served.

When Jesus died, He took on every sin of every human on every continent in every century past, present, and future. That means He felt every emotion associated: guilt, shame, fear, regret, anguish, and, as all of us humans know, the list goes on.

After taking on the sins of the world, His great and mighty Father, who He is One with forever and always, turned His back on Him for a time...a horrible time. Jesus didn't just die for me and you; HE WENT TO HELL FOR US. So that we would never know the torment. And we are the ones who cheered to put Him there!

What a sacrifice!

Memorial Day has come and gone this year. As a granddaughter, daughter, and sister of veterans, I have witnessed my loved ones lose people they served with and loved. It is painful knowing that so many men and women have left behind families and friends entirely too soon. They are to be remembered and honored.

On days set aside to remember sacrifice, I would implore you to lift up prayers for the members of the families who were left behind. In the same prayer, consider Who it is that's listening. And thank Him. Thank Him for the men and women that He created with innate desire to connect to a power greater than themselves. Thank Him for all of the wonderful traits He left in humankind despite of the fall of man. Thank Him for courage, bravery, sacrifice, and freedom.

Thank Jesus Christ for living in a human body. Thank Him for feeling all of our painful emotions, experiencing hell, and then...thank Him for conquering it. Because He did. That's another thing that makes Him entirely different; He conquered death. He is risen. Jesus is God, and GOD'S NOT DEAD.

It's an absolute honor to live in a country that has men and women who fight for freedom so that we don't have to. Be grateful for it. It is also an absolute honor to call Jesus Christ a Father, Lord, Savior, and Friend. If you don't, consider it. If you live in a land where you are free to worship openly, many dads, moms, brothers, daughters, coworkers, and friends have given their earthly lives to accomplish God's plan for that freedom. Use it wisely.

-Hollie

Alfalfa Sprouts

Finished sprouts!

Sprouts are so delicious aren't they?  I absolutely love to top off just about anything with some sprouts.  Sandwiches, salads, soups, the possibilities are endless!  Sprouts are also amazingly good for you.  They contain tons of protein, enzymes, vitamins and amino acids that our bodies need.

This is not my image, but I just found it floating around on the internet.

One negative side to sprouts is that they can be pretty expensive.  This might be due to the fact that they don't last very long.  I'm not really sure, because they are so easy to make from super inexpensive seeds, beans or legumes.  Different types of sprouts have different nutrients, although the general benefits discussed above are the same.  They also have different uses.  For example, we like to sprout lentils and use them in salads, cook them up in soups, and add them to bread for an extra protein and vitamin boost.  The much more delicate alfalfa sprouts are delicious raw on salads and sandwiches.

Two tablespoons of seeds.

Soaking the sprouting seeds.

According to Sprout People, alfalfa sprouts contain Vitamins A, B, C, E, and K, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc, Carotene, Chlorophyll, Amino Acids, Trace Elements, and 35% protein. These little guys pack a lot of punch, huh?

All the materials

Often people will tell you that you need special equipment to make your own sprouts.  This is not true.  As long as you have a large (quart size) mason jar and some cheesecloth, you are good to go.  You also need water and alfalfa seeds (or broccoli or radish) made especially for sprouting.

Day 1 After Soaking

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5: Morning

Day 5: Afternoon. Ready to Eat.

Materials Needed:

Alfalfa Sprouting Seeds

Mason Jar or Sprouting Jar

Cheesecloth or Strainer Lid (if using a mason jar) 

Filtered Water

Directions:

1. Add 2 tablespoons of alfalfa seeds to a large mason jar or sprouting jar.  

2. Add filtered water to cover and let soak for 8 hours or overnight.  

3. Secure cheese cloth to the top of the mason jar and rinse and drain. 

4. Place jar upside down at a 45 degree angle if possible to drain on a bowl or plate.  

5. Rinse and drain two to three times per day for three to five days.  

6. When sprouts have grown to the point that they are filling up your jar, put them in a sunny area for a few       hours to facilitate formation of chlorophyll.

7. When the leaves turn green they are ready to be put into cold storage or eaten.  

8. Sprouts need to be eaten within a few days.

Note: it is also a good idea to skim the seeds off of the sprout.  This helps to keep mold from growing.  Just put finished sprouts in a bowl and fill it up with filtered water.  The seeds should float to the top and you can just skim them off.  This does sound slightly easier and less time consuming than it actually is.  

One of my absolute favorite sandwiches is just hummus, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and sprouts on whatever bread you like.  Yummy!  Do you make your own sprouts? Why or why not?

-Donna

Sweet Potato Coconut Soup Recipe

 the soup drizzled with sesame oil and paired with fresh baguette

This is one of my family's favorite soups. It's fairly easy and is vegan...yay! and yay! I created hacked this soup recipe after eating at a local Thai restaurant and tasting their delicious take on Sweet Potato Soup. This one obviously yields way more for way less.

Ingredients:                                                 

• 2 large sweet potatoes (mine were about 2lbs. each)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 inch piece of fresh grated ginger
• 1 1/2 tbsp. red curry paste
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 tbsp. vegetable base (or 2 cups low-sodium broth of your choosing)
• sesame oil

Serve with: Fresh baguette

Steps:

Steam or bake your sweet potatoes until tender all the way through. (I baked mine in foil for 2 hours). Set aside.

Next, in a large pot sauté onion until soft. Add ginger. Sauté for 2 min. ( I forgot to saute the ginger with the onion, so I added it with the curry paste)

Add curry paste. Melt down and combine with onion and ginger. 

Add coconut milk and vegetable base. Simmer for 5 min. 

Add sweet potato. I simply spooned the insides out with a large spoon. 

How beautiful is that bright orange!

I then poured this mixture into my Ninja and took it for a ride (I blended it until smooth). I typically use my emersion blender, but it's currently packed away on its way to Guam. You can read about that here.  

Then pour the mixture back into the pot and heat for about 10 more min. This helps all the flavors to combine.

Now, serve with a drizzle of sesame oil and a piece of fresh baguette. Yummo!

                               -Anjelica

Homemade Pet Treats: Animals Need REAL Food Too!!!!

Wedding photos even included our girls!

If you are anything like me, your pets are your babies.  I love my animals and I would do just about anything for them.  For those of you who don't know, we have two dogs and a cat.  Hallie is a chocolate lab who is about 12 years old and Lexi is a mixed black lab who is 13 years old.  My husband rescued Lexi when he was in college from the pound.  She immediately got sick and the vet was not even sure if she was going to make it.  Well she made it, hundreds of dollars later.  Hallie is a purebred chocolate lab that we call a rescue also.  Not in the typical sense of the word, but S "rescued" her from a neglectful ex girlfriend when he was in college as well.  Yikes, I know, two big dogs in college.  Don't worry, it was towards the end.

Lexi (left) and Hallie (right) love the beach

Ellie, the cat, is a stray whose mother abandoned her on our front porch in Puerto Rico when she was 3 weeks old.  I had to feed her by dropper every 3 hours for weeks until she was big enough to start eating real food.  See what I mean about doing anything for my babies?  It was like a practice run for a real baby.

She was about four or five weeks old here. Hallie is so sweet, she didn't even care.

We used to feed our dogs kibble just like everyone else.  They always had different health issues, but nothing too terribly serious, we thought.  Hallie had a weight problem and Lexi had skin issues, but it was all manageable.  Back in December 2012, we were getting ready for our big move to PR.  Everyone was relatively healthy.  For Christmas we had gotten the girls some chicken jerky treats.  It was supposed to be all natural and the ingredients were "chicken".  Sounds great, huh?  Well Christmas night, exhausted from all the festivities, S had gone to bed early.  I was getting ready to go to bed, but decided to let the dogs out one last time.  The next thing I know, I see a commotion in the yard, but can't tell what is going on.  Then Lexi can't walk and is terribly confused.  I realize she has either had a stroke or a seizure.  I manage to get her up the steps and inside, so I can see her better, but she is still confused and terrified.  I wake Scott and we get her to the emergency vet.  While there, Lexi is improving rapidly and the vet tells us that she had a seizure.  They aren't sure why but they want to know if we have given them anything new.  "No, no, nothing" I tell them.  We are sent home with instructions to monitor her closely.  The next day I see the treats that we had been giving them for a couple of days now and I realize that that is the only thing that has changed.  Even then we didn't have much in the way of chemicals in the house, so I knew it wasn't anything like that.  I immediately started doing some research and found out that "natural" jerky dog treats were a problem everywhere.  Yet pet stores keep selling them.  As it turns out, hundreds of dogs were dying of kidney failure, seizures, and various other manifestations of what, we still don't know.  Of course there have been lame attempts at "investigation" but, ultimately, nothing came of it because stores all over the country are still selling them to this day.  Obviously we stopped feeding them the treats and everything has been fine since.

Lexi doesn't like to admit she loves Ellie.

Fast forward to January 2013.  We had just moved to Puerto Rico and things were going pretty well.  The ration of old dog food (kibble still) that we had brought with us was getting low, so we made the hour plus journey to Petsmart in Ponce.  Once there, we bought the same dog food we always bought for each dog.  Lexi was eating normal food and Hallie was on some expensive, "natural" weight management food.  A few days later Hallie started vomiting water like clockwork every afternoon.  For a while I just thought the heat and the stress of the move and living in an apartment were getting to her.  Then I started thinking she was urinating too often.  My crazy mom brain started thinking that maybe she was becoming diabetic.  Finally, it occurred to me to look up her dog food.  It turns out that the expensive, natural food company had just changed their formula (I refuse to call it a recipe as it is not real food) and it was, again, killing dogs and causing severe, irreversible illness.  This was the last straw.  I stopped the food and started her on the same (even cheaper) food that Lexi was on for the time being.

Ellie wants to be big like her sisters

I started researching what to feed pets and ultimately realized that animals need REAL food too.  Animals in the wild aren't going around eating poultry bi product meal, corn gluten meal, and artificial caramel coloring.  So I bought a bunch of books, did a bunch of internet research, and finally came to the conclusion that I needed to start feeding my dogs real food.  DUH!!!  Now they are fed a mixture of vegetables, meat, and either brown rice or oatmeal.  It is a ton of extra work, but it is totally worth it.  They have less health problems, Hallie has finally lost the extra weight that she has carried her whole life, and they enjoy their food more.  We have learned to plan ahead and make about a week's worth of food at once and freeze the majority.  We also always have vegetable broth on hand now, without wasting all of the vegetables that go into stock normally.  We boil their veggies to cook them and just freeze the resulting stock in 2 or 3 cup portions.

Another happy beach day!

Along with this real daily food, I realized that I needed to start feeding them real food treats on occasion as well.  The books I bought had many suggestions for daily treats such as apples, which they LOVE, carrots, and broccoli stems.  These treats can be given on a daily basis if you want, but I wanted something crunchy that would clean their teeth better and give them a real treat.  So I turned to the internet once again.  Raw bones are apparently great for them, but as a vegetarian, I can't handle the idea of wet, raw bones on the couch and in my bed, which is where they like to take their treats.  I do however, make jerky for them in the dehydrater, which they also love.  But, I also wanted to use up the chicken broth that results from boiling their chicken thighs or whole chicken (thighs are way easier to pluck, for the record.)  I hate to waste the stuff, but for awhile I was just throwing the broth down the drain.  Obviously I'm not going to eat it.  Sometimes if I have to make grains the same day as meat, I will substitute chicken broth for water, but that doesn't always happen.  Instead I have found a number of recipes for dog biscuits online.

Ellie trying to play with Hallie.

Today I am going to show you how I make my modified version of the basic dog biscuits found here.  I encourage you to find what works for you.  Oh and for the record, the cat loves these treats too.  But she also grew up in this weird, hippie house for all six months of her life.  I don't guarantee that your cat will like these too.      

All of the ingredients

Adding the wet ingredients to the dry. My egg was a double yolk!

The dough after kneading.

Rolled out to about a 1/2 inch thick

Using a pizza cutter to make uniform pieces.

All cut up. The weird sized ones become Ellie's smaller pieces.

Kitty size treats.

Ready to go in the oven.

Nice and cool and ready to be eaten.

Homemade Whole Food Dog Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 cups of whole wheat flour

1/2 cup steel cut oats

1/2 tsp. sea salt (don't add salt if the broth already has added salt)

1 egg

1/2 cup homemade chicken broth

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

2. Mix whole wheat flour, steel cut oats, and salt together in a large bowl. 

3. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the egg and the chicken broth.  

4. Mix well and knead the dough until it forms a ball that is not too sticky. 

5. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick.  

6. Use a pizza cutter or cookie cutter to make the shapes of your choice, keeping in mind that size will determine cooking time, then pierce with a fork to avoid air bubbles.

7. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with unbleached parchment paper and bake for 30 minutes or until firm.  They should barely give when pressed with your finger. 

8. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Treats should be hard once they have cooled. 

9. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.  

IMPORTANT NOTE: 

If you are going to use premade or store bought chicken broth, I beg you to please please please read the label in its entirety.  Make sure that there is nothing artificial in it, or else what is the point of making these?  But most importantly do not use anything that has onions or xylitol in it.  

What kind of treats do you give to your pets?  Do you make your own treats?  Will you try now that you know how easy they are?

-Donna  

SIMPLE Gluten Free Bread

You gotta love the internet and the ease of having access to basically anything. Clean eating, gluten free, paleo, all the fads that are out there now…you can find anything you want. I have found a stinkin’ yummy and easy gluten free bread recipe…with or without a bread machine no less. However, a few things need to be made clear first. We don’t have a dairy and gluten free home. We will if it ever becomes necessary, but it is not right now. What we do strive to have is a home free of processed foods and filled with variety. We serve a big God who created amazing and beautiful things…lots of them are edible and taste GOOD!! For us, making dairy-free, gluten-free, and sugar-free foods is part of our attempt to not eat the same foods over and over. Dairy, gluten, and sugar are in SO MANY THINGS, and since we are blessed that there are no sensitivities, allergies, or intolerances in our home…we’d like to keep it that way.

Although my family is safe to enjoy most foods, my husband, J, is a chiropractor who has worked with numerous patients who do not share the same circumstances. I do want to recommend the book, The Autism and ADHD Diet by Barrie Silberberg. If you have a loved one that has autism or ADHD this book is great. If you’ve just learned the GF/DF/SF diet can help someone in your household for other reasons, this book is great too. He explains how to go about slowly making the change for children and teenagers who are addicted to all things dairy and gluten. He actually says, “These children are not having an allergic reaction [to gluten or dairy], as much as showing an intolerance to these foods. They usually crave foods with wheat and milk, often exclusively. Their bodies require these foods like an addict…” Interesting, huh?

Dictionary.com defines gluten as “a protein consisting of a mixture of glutelin and gliadin, present in cereal grains, esp wheat. A gluten-free diet is necessary in cases of coeliac disease.”  I’m not a doctor, but, like I’ve already said, I don’t think everyone needs to avoid it. If it’s been noticed that gluten is not nice to your ( or your kiddo’s) body, then you should probably ditch it. My husband, several of his past patients, and several chiropractor colleagues of his have seen huge improvement with children and behavior change when gluten and dairy have been eliminated.  Let me know if you’re interested in more information, or just go grab that book I mentioned previously (it's linked).

All right! Let’s make some bread! I began my search when I started exclusively making bread for our home. I love experimenting, but I didn’t necessarily want to buy several different types of flour. The other day I was at Whole Foods (I know, right?! We have that here!...sorry Puerto Rico). Anyway, Bob’s Red Mill gluten free all purpose flour was super affordable, so I picked some up for fun. Even with the flour, I really, really, really don’t like making bread (unless it’s fast beer bread) without a bread machine. I searched the whole world wide web and couldn’t find one simple recipe that wouldn’t make me rush off to buy “strange” ingredients that aren’t otherwise in my pantry. I do feel like I need to mention I did have Xanthum Gum in my pantry…the only “weird” ingredient. Well, I came across an awesome blog called “Gluten Free Real Food” with one great recipe that I used as a base. Find that recipe HERE. Although somewhat simple, I wanted to simplify it even more, and it worked! It’s DELICIOUS!! Here it is:

1 1/3 cup water (warm)

¼ cup coconut oil

¼ cup honey

3 beaten eggs

1 ½ tsp salt

3 cups gf all purpose flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)

1 tbsp xanthum gum

2 ¼ tsp dry active yeast 

Put it into the bread maker in that order, and set it to basic. Take it out right when it finishes and let it cool. It slices beautifully for sandwiches, it’s yummy, and it’s simple!! (If you’re interested in oven baking, look at the original recipe linked above.)

Even if you’re not going gluten, dairy, and sugar free as a permanent lifestyle, I implore you to seek and discover all of the goodness God has given us. Give something new a whirl. Veggies and fruits are a testament to His creation enough, but then He went and showed people how to mix grain, water, and oil together to BAKE things. Oh, Praise Him!!

Thank God for it, and then go enjoy your bread!

-Hollie


***UPDATE***
I went to make to make this bread for a friend the other day, and I had all ingredients before the eggs in the machine when I realized I only had one egg! So, I prayed that my regular baking trick would work. Typically, 1/4 cup of yogurt can replace an egg. I put in 1/2 cup of yogurt to replace two eggs, and the bread was WONDERFUL!! Just thought I'd share! Happy baking! 

Productive Parenting website

Check out this site. Sign up and this website will send you educational activities each week specific to your little one's age. Free!!  Each activity/lesson tells you the materials you will need, the target age range, the skill it is developing, and variations to that activity. I really enjoy the one-year old ones I've been getting for E.

Tell me what you think. 

-Anjelica

Simple things you should make at home instead of buying packaged

Today I am going to talk about some simple foods you can make at home instead of buying overly processed packaged foods.  Or the alternative over priced processed packaged foods.  It's all processed guys.  This may seem like it is all over the place, because I am just going to share with you as many things as I can think of that we just make ourselves in this house.  Some of these things may take a little more time to do, but none of the recipes that I am going to share are at all complicated.  We'll save those for later.  Perhaps I can even do a similar post about my homemade household products in the future.  For now, lets keep it simple with some of the things I use most often.

Isn't my psycho tortilla maker so adorable?

First up: salad dressings!  

They are seriously so easy to make that I don't even see the point in buying them in the store.  For those creamy dressing lovers out there, we use this vegan ranch dressing which I love.  In fact, ranch dressing is my favorite even though I don't eat it very often because it is normally super processed chemical junk.  However, in all my years of trying to duplicate my favorite type of ranch, I have never been able to find one (vegan or otherwise) that tastes as good to me as this one.  (Side note: I am not a vegan, but I am a vegetarian and most of what I eat at home is at least dairy-free.)

The main salad dressing that we use in our house is a simple vinaigrette.  Since I make kombucha, I also keep a small container of kombucha that I let ferment all the way into a vinegar.  I use that for my homemade vinaigrette, but I have also been known to use raw apple cider vinegar.  I like to be able to taste the vinegar instead of the oil, so I add the same amount or each.  You can do it to your taste preferences.  This dressing can be stored in the fridge for about a week.  Probably longer, but it has never lasted that long for us.  Definitely use your own best judgement.  You can easily make this into an Italian dressing by adding some Italian seasonings.  Or substitute a different acid for the vinegar such as lemon juice.  The possibilities are endless.

Basic Garlic Vinaigrette:

3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp kombucha vinegar or raw apple cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
Salt and pepper, to taste
 

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in a glass container with a plastic lid and shake well.  Chill for a couple of hours to let the flavors develop.  Shake again before using.

Second: tortillas!  

In this house, we love wraps, tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and everything else that could possibly be served on a tortilla.  A long time ago I turned over one of those convenient little packages of flour tortillas we were eating every week and low and behold, a bunch of junk.  So I gave hubby the mission of learning how to make flour tortillas.  (He is the baker in the family for the most part.  I just don't like cleaning up all that flour.)  After trying several different recipes from the internet, he finally found the perfect one here.  The only change he makes is that he uses 1/3 cup of coconut oil instead of the lard (obviously).  This is a bit more involved than store bought, but these tortillas keep well in the fridge and are so very worth it taste-wise.

He pretty much always makes these goofy faces.

We have also been known to make fish tacos around here occasionally.  For that we like to use corn tortillas which can be made like this.  If you have a tortilla press, great!  But if you are like us, just use the rolling pin and parchment paper method.    

Third: dried beans.  

I know, I know, this isn't all that exciting, but frankly if you use beans regularly (which you should) you should definitely consider making your own from dried for numerous reasons.  First, BPA lined cans.  We've all heard it before, but if you use canned stuff semi-regularly, why not try to cut down in simple ways?  Second, dried beans are SOOOOOO much cheaper.  Third, it is seriously so easy to just make a big batch of beans and then portion them out and throw them in the freezer.  Miss Content already touched on how she makes her beans in this post.  I do things a bit differently as my quick soak method involves boiling the beans for a minute, putting the lid on, turning off the heat, and walking away for 2 to 4 hours.  But the concept is the same and both work.  Or you could soak them overnight.  Then, depending on the type of beans you are making, either cook them in the crock pot or on the stove until they are done.  Make sure to let them cool completely before portioning them into ziplock bags and putting them in the freezer.  I like to portion two cups because that's slightly more than one can would be.  Trust me, the whole thing is totally hands off.  You just need to set a timer and go do other stuff.

Fourth: Smoothies and Popsicles.  

It's starting to get really hot here in Puerto Rico and the heat has me craving some nice cool treats.  It is also almost mango season, so one of my favorite fruits is going to be very abundant.  All year long, I cut up seasonal fruit and put it in the freezer for smoothies.  When we have a banana cross that line from tasty to gooey and gross, I usually throw it in the freezer too.  I have never really understood why smoothie stores and frappe stands (same thing, only in Puerto Rico) almost always add a bunch of sugar to already very sweet fruit.  So I just make my own without the added sugar.  Trust me, just try it and see if you like it.

Obviously we ate most of this mango, but this is what it looks like cut into chunks for freezing.

Pineapple, Mango, Coconut Smoothie        

Frozen pineapple
Frozen mango
Frozen banana
Homemade coconut milk, orange juice, or other liquid

Instructions:

Add all ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth.  Check for desired consistency.  Add more liquid to thin or more fruit to thicken.  

Yum!

Homemade popsicles are another super simple summer treat.  Just blend or juice up your favorite fruit and add it to your popsicle molds.  Where can you go wrong?  I just ordered some super cute tie dyed silicone popsicle molds for this summer.  I'm not wasting any time.  

What kinds of things do you make instead of buying them?  Do you have any tricks for simplifying your homemade routine?

-Donna

DIY kids book

I love the idea of personalizing a book for E. So, I searched around Pinterest and found a few ideas and created my own version. Here's how I did it.

Supplies:

• scissors
• 2-3 large binder clips
• contact paper
• card stock
• magazine photo clippings or photos
• typed words
• glue stick
• clear thick gooey craft glue ( I used Elmer's, but I think a thick craft glue would work better)
• paint or sponge brush
• fabric scraps

Steps:

1. I typed, printed, and cut out the words that I wanted in my book.
2. I cut out photos to go along with the words
3. Cut my card stock into the page sizes I wanted (in half)
4. Used a glue stick to attach the words and photos to each page
5. Cut the contact paper, double the width of each page so that the front and back of each page was fully laminated
6. Trimmed the extra contact paper hanging on the edges of each page
7. Compiled all the pages in order and placed the clips on the side of the book to hold the binding edge together
8. Glued the binding, about three coats. Drying between coats. 
9. Attached the colored cloth with glue once the binding was dry. 

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   -Anjelica