Thank You

 

To all those who have served or are serving. We say thank-you for your sacrifice!

All photos are from my son’s 10th Army birthday Party. Soldiers are his greatest hero's!

Happy Birthday Gwen

Today was the day for Gwen's party. I had to time it just right, so although her actually birthday is May 22nd, today was the day we celebrated. I kept having images of cake crumb floors and piles of wrapping paper everywhere and someone would want to come look at the house. Sure enough we have another showing tomorrow morning so I have spent the evening cleaning and putting things back to order. She wanted a tea party this year as her theme.

I  made cupcakes with purple flowers on top for her cake, very simple and easy.We used the fine china, even though the menu was pizza and fruit to make is special. :)

The dress was made a couple of years ago when I made one similar for Fiona. Thank-goodness I didn't have to make one this year, I'm not sure I could have pulled that one off! One of her gifts was a porcelain tea set. She was so excited to have her own, just like Fiona's! We are all ready planning a little party for tomorrow afternoon for snack time. Her other gift was a new doll with hair that could be brushed. She named her Emily and is sleeping with her tonight. Gwen told me it was that "bestest birthday ever". I am so glad she enjoyed it!Happy Birthday to my Gwen!

Rest

This past week I have been resting at my parents house, away from all the work needing to be done. It was glorious! Spring was in full color and nowhere on earth does spring smell the way it does in the South. I knew I was home when I smelled the sweet scent while driving up the mountain.

I had the chance to meet up with one of my friends from elementary school while she was in town with her family. We hadn't seen each other in years! We met up at the park we played at as children, and watched our children play while we chatted. It was so nice to catch up face to face!Over the weekend my brothers came into town for to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday. It was such a fun time to all be together!

I think we wore him out! :) Happy Birthday Dad!

During the week I had a chance to work on a little project my Mother picked up for me off of Craig's list. I'll share that with you as soon as I can get pictures tomorrow!

Now it is back to work, our house goes on the market in 12 days!

Eleven years

Today we celebrated eleven years of marriage.

How time flies! Picture take by our son. At least there is one of us together this year, even if we are a bit fuzzy. :)

My front porch

I have always wanted to make my porch pretty for fall. This year I finally took the time to do it. My husband is all ready asking when it's all coming down. He has his eyes on the hay bales for the garden. I still want to make a new wreath or at least beef up the one that is there. I am beginning to think that might be a project for next year. We shall see. I always love an excuse to use the enamelware I have collected. Pumpkins come in so many shapes, colors, and sizes. So much creativity form our Creator. I just love this time of year!

Crazy

Well it seems like the summer finally caught up with me. I am am tired! Unfortunately there is no rest for the weary when the weather still thinks its summer and the tomatoes won't stop growin'. Seriously I am DONE with tomatoes, but I can't bring myself to give them away or even ignore them glowing on the vine out my kitchen window. The sad fact is I still don't have enough put up for winter. So I continue to plug away at them and pray for a killing frost. The 80 degree temperatures are not helping! I also did three more bushels of apples last week, all of my children had a 24 hour virus, my husband was out of town for a few days, and my parents came up this weekend for my brother's wedding reception. It's no wonder I couldn't find time to update this little blog of mine!   I do have SO much I want to share. Lots of yummy recipes', my fall decorating I am trying to finish up, and a little give away at the end of the week. So stay tuned for that. I promise it will be good. I want to celebrate the fact I have been blogging for two years and thank all of you for coming along on this journey with me.  It seems like I just started time goes so fast.

And because I don't like posts without pictures, here are a few pictures from the reception. We had lots of fun and my children loved staying in a hotel for the night. It was nice to get away and celebrate with my family. Me, my brother, my children, parents.

My two front teeth

It's round three of the toothless grins around here! Fiona lost both of her front bottom teeth at the same time! She was quite excited to start her collection of gold dollars and drink out of a straw without opening her mouth. She's heard enough about it from her brothers! Unfortunately she got my genes and is missing two or three permanent teeth so this is the start of a lot of dental work. We haven't told her that yet, we're just letting her be excited about this stage of growing up. Please note the black eye. I waited a few days to take this photo. This is a good reminder of why one should never throw rocks and especially not through freshly hung sheets when you can't see where they are going!

Hello Kitty Party!

Here are some pictures from Fiona's party. We kept it really simple this year with just family. I still made a special cake per her request. I think it turned out so cute. It has to be one of my favorites!This scooter and her sewing basket were her favorite gifts!Six is a big deal around here. For the first  time you need two hands to show how old you are!

Spring Baskets and Squirt Gun Wars

At our house we celebrate May Day and each child receives a basket of goodies. This year my boys were off camping on May 1st and I was busy cooking.  So we finally got around to celebrating today. The weather was perfect for the gifts they got this year and they had to test them out right away.  Summer’s coming!

Happy Birthday Princess

Today my baby turned four! She requested a purple princess party. This is a girl who knows what she wants! We had fun picking out the fabrics and laces to make her dress. I finished it this afternoon and she was so excited to dress up! A purple castle for the cake. This one was fun to put together! She was excited to receive flowers as one of her gifts, but she really wanted to play and not have her picture taken.Happy Birthday big girl! Looking forward to the next year with you!

Resurrection Day In Pictures

Our table this year. I tried to incorporate as many symbols of the Resurrection that I could. Then all through dinner we can talk about them find the references in scripture. 

We had nails, stones, swords, white, purple, wine(sparkling grape juice), a crown of thorns, 30 pieces of silver, three white candles(for the trinity) dice, lamb, bread, and vinegar in a glass. It was so much fun to hear the children as they discussed everything while eating.

   We started off the day with a sunrise service, then Sunday school and church. We then came home at took naps and then I prepared the dinner. It was a beautiful day to celebrate the Resurrection or our Lord!

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Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes,
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!