Brown paper packages, tied up with string...

These are a few of my favorite things! I signed up for a swap over at According to Kelly at the beginning of this month. You choose three of your favorite things and send them to your swap partner, who also sends you three of her favorite things! I am so excited, and am sending my package to Melissa at Inolvidable today!

Here is what is in it:

1. See's Chocolates--"A Happy Habit!" It is chocolate, do I need to say anything else? I tried to put a wide variety of chocolates inside the box, I hope she loves them!

2. C.O. Bigelow lip gloss from Bath and Body works, it looks good, and is super-minty so when you lick your lips, it also sweetens your breath!

3. www.designhergals.com--Custom stationary! LOVE IT!!

There is a devotional I really love, where you look up a scripture and then put your name into it, and then pray it back to the Lord. I almost put that in there. I thought about putting in "Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey, because being debt free is definitely one of my favorite things. I just hope she enjoys what I chose!

Hello Friends and Family!

My goal, albeit a lofty one, is to post 3-4 times a week, with one of those being an update for family and friends that visit. I have had such a great time checking out other people's blogs, especially the ones I have listed in my sidebar. Please check them out, sometimes they totally inspire me in a new project. Jody at A Mom and Her Camera, has had some really good posts lately, and it is almost like she read my mind about cherishing all your last baby's "firsts," because they are your last "firsts." Wow, say that 10 times fast!

So bookmark my blog, check back often, and leave me some comment love! As for this week's update, here are a few recent pics from our lives.



Ella is almost 4 months old. She is sleeping like a dream at night. She is rolling from her belly to her back now, smiling and giggling!




Jeremiah, playing in the mud. This is a corner of the garden, and will soon be taken over by zuchini plants. The sticks are some stakes that we had put up with string tied around them to keep the kids out!

Mikey and Haley are doing swimming lessons this summer, they are having so much fun. We decided to sign them up for swimming lessons all summer instead of any other sports this year. It is easier on our schedule, and important to learn. Mikey goes all out every lesson, jumping in, head in the water, goes under the water, does all the strokes, retrieves things from the bottom of the pool. Haley is more cautious and likes to go at her own pace, but she still follows instructions very well and does what they ask her to, just a little more apprehensively. Given that last year she didn't even want to go near the swimming pool by herself, this is an incredible achievement for her!!


These are some pics from Michael's graduation day. We are so proud of him, and wasn't he handsome in his cap and gown? Just what is Mr. College Grad doing with his degree? You can see in the picture below! Michael has had the Jeep for 5 years, and always wanted to do some fixin' up on it. So this year he finally got to it! This is obviously a work in progress, but still, I am impressed by all the stuff he can do. I never knew he could weld and grind and polish and paint?! When he is all done I will post a before and after pic so you can see what he is really doing with it.

Nature bracelets

This was so fun, and so simple.The idea came from Family Education.
I haven't perused too much on their site, but so far I am lovin' their preschool ideas. All you need is masking tape and scissors, and really the scissors could be optional.


Cut a length of tape long enough for each wrist and wrap it around, sticky side out.

Go for a walk, and let them stick "nature things" to their bracelets. My sweet Haley-pie thinks that dandelions are the prettiest flowers, so you will notice the abundance of those on hers. And they are in reach of all the kids, and they can spot the little yellow beauties all the way across the park in the green grass, so I guess all three of them had an abundance of them. We also found some dandelion fluff, leaves from all different tress, dead leaves, more weeds, other flowers, sticks, stones, pine cones, bird seed...


When you are all done, cut them off and display those magnificient findings, because your kids will be so proud of them! At least mine are!

Crafty to-do list

I can't be the only one with a craft to-do list a mile long. I would like to see everyone else's most pressing projects, or just the ones you are most excited to get started. And here are the ones I want to do this summer.



This one was inspired by a Pottery Barn catalog a couple of years ago, rather than spend over $100 bucks on something like this, I picked it up for $40 at an antique store here in town. I am working on this one right now and will post pics when I am done, eventually it will sit on top of my TV cabinet.



I found this on Martha Stewart and thought it was cute, and simple. Just a matter of buying the bucket and letting Michael hang it up for me, the alternative is having our garden hose in the middle of the driveway all the time. I am certain that is where it is right now.



Another Martha Stewart idea. I have big plans to build something like this, with more baskets. It is just what we need right by the back door, so the kids can come in and throw their stuff in the baskets, instead of dragging it through the house, one shoe here, one shoe there, coat over here, swimming towel who knows where?



I have two of these fabulous chairs. I have had them for almost 10 years now. The plan, all along, has been to recover them in some beautiful fabric and use them. The reality is that one sits in my bedroom and gets heaped with laundry needing to be put away. The other one sits in my basement gathering dust. So, if I don't complete this project by fall time, the chairs have got to go. Maybe I can get some blog-accountability?



Okay, different chair, same plan to recover. This one is for my daughter's room, and I think it is adorable, well it will be adorable. I built the cabinet myself and need to stain it or paint it or something, and put it somewhere to be useful. The boat oar is for my son's room. I am going to turn it into a growth chart, and use one of those vinyl stickers with his name on the bottom. Then I need to find another one to use for my younger son. But I got this one for free, and want to find another free one!

And in my spare time, I want to scrapbook all four of my kids albums, sew some aprons, sew some softies, sew some kids clothes, keep my house clean and my family fed, laundry, dishes, gardening, kids' projects...a woman's work is never done. Maybe it is more like "no rest for the wicked!?"

My husband has had a BIG year! He was TDY (which means temporarily stationed away from home) in Detroit for most of the winter, Detroit in January is not anyone's idea of fun. In February he went to the SUPERBOWL FOR FREE! And he tested for his next rank, we will know the results at the end of this month. In March he became a daddy for the fourth time, he left again for most of April and May, this time for Colorado Springs and the NCO Academy. This weekend he is graduating with his bachelor's degree, and it is Father's Day!

I have to say congratulations to him on such a big accomplishment. Not only is he getting his bachelor's degree, but he is graduating with honors! He didn't even want to walk, but I convinced him it was good for the kids to see it. And he agreed as long as I wouldn't make a huge fuss over it. So, being the good, obedient, Christian wife that I am, I am throwing him a bbq party! I only invited about 60 of our closest friends and family, no fuss.

And I have to say thank you to him for being the best dad/husband a family could ever hope for. We can't even keep the man in a decent pair of jeans, they all have holes in the knees from playing on the floor with the kids so much! He is very thoughtful, considering and even anticipating my needs (not easy for any man!). Putting us ahead of himself all the time, and seemingly enjoys it!

Kudos to you Michael! We love you!

Easy, peasy, rice and cheesy

The Crafty Crow always has some fun craft ideas for kids. Last week they had whirlybirds and paper airplanes posted. And it made me think of these little whirly-gigs that are a little more age appropriate for my 5 and 3 year olds to make on their own. They are super-easy to make and the kids had fun playing with them.

You need:
plain paper
ruler
pencil
scissors
paper clips


Instructions:
On the paper draw a 6 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inch rectangle. From the top of the rectangle draw a 3 inch line down the middle.

Cut out the rectangle, and cut down the center line, fold the flaps in opposite directions and put a paper clip on the bottom.


Then take them outside, run around trying to find the highest point in your backyard to drop them from and watch them twirl!

The kids had all kinds of names for these, twirly-gigs, swirly-gags, swirly-wigs, it was fun! But today we are back inside with low 50's and rain all week.

On Wednesday night the forecast is for high 30's! What am I gonna do about my garden? My thumb is not green, not even the slightest hint of green, so advice would be appreciated!

Letter to me

This was an idea from one of my daily-read blogs, To Love, Honor and Vacuum. The idea is to write a letter to yourself at age 17 and tell yourself what you know now, that you wish you knew then. It comes from a new Brad Paisley song, which I will head over to Itunes and find sometime today. I have been contemplating this since I read it in her blog yesterday and here is what I would say:

Listen to your sister and brother about things like stupid boys and credit cards, they have been there, done that. They are just trying to help.

You need to shut your mouth and be respectful to your mother, believe it or not someday you will have FOUR children, and you won't want them to treat you the way you treat your mama.

Stop speeding, insurance isn't cheap, and it doesn't get cheaper until you stop driving like you are on the autobahn.

You will figure the rest out in due time, but don't worry, by the grace of God, your life turns out better than you ever imagined!

Ahhhhhh, nap time.

I love naptime. I can actually hear myself think for the first time all day when naptime rolls around! Lovely.

I want to spread the word about a cool website that my sister turned me onto. It is called Design-Her Gals. You actually create women online to look like your friends and family, then you can print them onto stationery, notecards, etc. They make terrific gifts and even something fun for yourself.

There are two options, you can pay for their services, and let them print the gals you create. Prices vary depending on what you choose to print on, like stationery, notecards, post-its, etc. Or you can pay a yearly subscription fee and then print at home all you want to for a full year. In the end it works out to be a very inexpensive gift option! I know what all the girls in my life are getting for their birthdays over the next year!!

Now I'm a blogger?

So, I'm a blogger now? This is all it takes? I don't feel qualified somehow! Welcome to my blog, I hope you enjoy it!