A New Old Chair

I bought this chair...

this past summer and I

FINALLY

got around to painting it.

After a coat of white spray paint on the chair

and a couple layers of burlap on the seat,

I have a 'new' chair.  Now I have to

decide whether to keep it or sell it at

the patch next month.

I would like to add a little burlap

banner on the back of the chair

that says F A L L.

The five kiddos and Grant just

got done picking 500 gourds

and now the youngest and oldest

boys are cooling off with the

sprinkler under the trampoline.



His Word

Yesterday, Hope and I quickly scanned all the school

supplies that are on clearance at Wal-Mart.

I found these great books of pre-printed

scripture.  There are 4 copies of 8

different verses in each book.

They tear out easily and I 'hid' one in

each of the kids' rooms.

Tate & Hart!

Hope!

Paige!

Brett!



'You are gifted. 

God has given us

different gifts

for doing certain

things

well.'

Romans 12:8  NLT

Blessings on you today!

A Few Treasures

Hope and I did a little garage saling today

and I found a rusty treasure.

$20 later and it's sitting in my front yard,

patiently waiting to see what color I paint it.

Red, white, turquoise?

It may have to wait while I do a little sewing.

I found this set of six tea towels at the

thrift store in Lindsborg.  They are big,

thick and so cute.  The Sunday towel

has vegetables singing from a hymnal.

Thursday is missing, but I think I'll sew the

remaining six together and make a blanket.

Maybe I can find some vintage fabric to

sew on for the backing.

Paige kept our lab puppy, Shelby busy

playing fetch while I took pictures.

See all the 'treasures' Shelby has found today

to drag into the front yard?

The Best Cherry Limeades!

3 simple ingredients

+

1 minute (or less) of stirring

=

The Yummiest Cherry Limeades EVER!

1.  Lemon-Lime Soda

2.  Frozen Limeade

3.  Jar of Maraschino Cherries

For best results, chill the soda

and cherries before mixing together.

I like to scoop out 3 or 4 cherries with

a slotted spoon to top off each drink.

And THIS is what I like to serve these

yummy drinks in:

A glass jar topped with a cute lid and a straw.

These drinks were requested many times this summer,

especially when my kids had friends visiting.

They go great with popcorn and a movie.

If you want to be really fancy,

add a slice or two of lime.

Hello Again!

The pumpkins are looking good out in the patch right now.

Here are a couple of prizewinners that are still growing.

It's nice to see some green grass around the

barns after a little rain.

I hope to start blogging more frequently now

that I have a "new" laptop that is less tired

and fussy than my last one.  I'm also trying

out instagram on my ipod touch to take and

load more pictures with a little more ease.

Spring

Spring 2012

Spring is beautiful,
fun,
and BUSY!

Here are a few things we've been doing.

Easter

Track Meets

Getting Beaned By A Softball

(we could see the stitches of the ball)

Prom

(Hart, Tate and Hope served them dinner)

Animal Shed Blown Down

Awards Night

(Brett and Paige next to each other, looking

so happy.  I think our neighbor-girl Laura

was trying to make Paige smile)

Elementary Teacher Party

High School Vocal Concert

 Paige is on the top row, third from the right.

LOVE this picture of Brett

between his friends and neighbors,

Kendal and Colton.

Hoppy Leap Year!

It's February 29th!

It's a leap year!

Hoppy Leap Day!

I know.

It's just another day.

An extra day.

BUT...

it was kind of fun

to put together a leap year treat

for Hope and Hart's teachers

and my kiddos.

A little jar full of green sixlets for the teachers.

A stretchy frog for Tate.

Hoppy frogs for Brett and Paige.

 Froggy eyes rings for Hope and Hart.

And gummy frogs for everyone!

Sorry for the awful lighting.

It's late...and dark...and I'm too

tired to even make sure all the

pics are right side up.

A Lopsided Smile

I'm so thankful for our dentist.

And I like all the girls who work there. 

Thank Goodness!

Because I spend many hours there.

We've had 5 dentist/orthodontist

appointments in 2 days.

Paige was t-h-i-s close to

getting her braces off this month.

But one little tooth is slightly

out of place because she had it

knocked loose in basketball practice.

Sweet Hope thought she had  a 

sliver of a popcorn hull stuck

behind her last molar, but that

would be too simple, wouldn't it?

She actually cracked that molar.

On popcorn.  Which she doesn't

even love that much anyways.

 Chocolate is more her style.

Chocolate cupcake with 

chocolate frosting with

chocolate sprinkles with

chocolate ice cream on

a chocolate plate, please.

All of our kiddos tend to grind

their teeth down to nubs when

they're little.  The kind of teeth

grinding that our dentist tells me

is usually seen in stressed-out

little kids living in war-torn countries.

I know I'm not a perfect mother,

but come on!  I think it's hereditary.

So Tate had ground one little baby

molar down to the nerve and had

to have a little work done.  The up

side to that, is that he loves to look

at his lopsided smile while his 

cute little face is still numb.

From Art Table to Dining Table

This light brown wooden tote has been on

a shelf holding spools of ribbon.

After a quick dry-brushing of white paint, 

now it's holding stuff on our dining table.

I picked up the s&p shakers, the yellow tin cup

and the pastry cutter turned napkin holder

at "Where'd Ya Get That" antique store

in Greensburg last Saturday.

I threw some greenery and candles in for fun,

although it's almost time to break out the 

spring decorations.  Tulips...or eggs...or bunnies and chicks?

I rescued this quilt from a thrift store for $7.00.

I have it thrown over our banister in the entryway right now.

I just couldn't bear the thought of someone

snatching it up to line a pet's cage or rip apart for rags.

Mini Mouse

What do you think of
when you hear the words
"Mini Mouse"?

I used to think of this:

Now I think of this:

It's a mini mouse!  Get it?
It's the cutest little computer
mouse I've ever seen.

And the best part?
I picked it up at JCP
after Christmas
for a couple $$.

And it makes me smile.
And yes, I know how
to spell 'Minnie' Mouse.
:) :) :)

Iced Coffee Happiness!

Look what I found in Sam's today!

It is so yummy!

I threw a handful of crushed ice

and a couple squirts of caramel syrup

into my handy-dandy little smoothy maker,

topped it off with the vanilla iced coffe

and whirred it up.

 

The best part was it was only $6.47

for two 64-oz cartons of this liquid heaven.

 

Know what's going to make it even better?

I'm going to freeze some of the iced coffee into

cubes to use instead of the yucky ice cubes

made of (blech) water.

 

I really want to suck down one more glass

of this yummy yumminess, but it's almost 

bedtime and today I've already had at least one

full pot of coffee and a LARGE Dr. Pepper

from McDonald's (because I can't order a 

smaller size when they are all $1.00).

 

I bet this will taste even yummier in my

insulated Starbucks cup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

It's the simple things, you know?

 

Do you think my heart is racing right now

because of new iced coffee excitement

or caffeine o-o-o-o-overload?!!?

Scratched

Yesterday, Tate got into a little tussle

with a tree branch.

Just before I took this picture I heard him

talking to his buddy, Trey, in the bathroom.

Tate:  It's AWESOME looking at this scratch!

Trey:  Yeah.  You look like a super hero that got

scratched by the bad guy!

I think I'm going to have to sneak into Tate's

bedroom at night while he's sleeping to put any

type of healing ointment on his face.