30 Days of Thankfulness (Day 19 & 20)

Day 19
Today I'm thankful for:
pretty weather
some quiet time alone
talking with family
Mike fulfilling wishes and taking the girls fishing down at the pond
yummy hot soup to warm up with
Mimi making a special dinner for Miss O. because of her wicked canker sore on her tongue
laughing together at silly things
ice cream in a cup



Day 20
Today I am thankful for:
glorious weather
the sunrise
apple muffins like only Mam can make them
another new opportunity
chats on the phone with my mom
family friends who bring my girly her dream
a miniature pony named "Tony"
a camera to capture Sadie-Rose's happiness
3 kids who were over the moon delighted to get to play with and ride the pony
freshly scrubbed young'ins fresh out of the tub

30 Days of Thankfulness {Day 17 & 18}

Day 17
Today I am thankful for:
the beauty of early mornings, right before dawn
no lines at the security check point
Mike making it on board our 1st flight, even though he was the very last person
making our 2nd flight with just 20 minutes to spare
a baby boy who slept on our 2nd plane ride
sunshine when we got to Oklahoma
lunch out with all the family
a fun afternoon just hanging out and relaxing with Mike's brother and sister in-law
a dear nephew who followed Samuel around outside for hours (and hours and hours)
watching the OSU vs Texas Tech football game
and watching the guys play football together outside
a quiet starry drive to Mike's parents house
arriving at our " home away from home" as Olivia calls it, safe and sound
having Mike's younger brother there to greet us
a yummy dinner waiting for us
crawling into our bed, it felt so good to lay down and go to sleep


Day 18
Today I am thankful for:
getting up feeling rested
a relaxing morning with Mike's parents
preparing lunch with Candy
how adorable Samuel looks in his new coat
chatting with Gary, sharing our hearts and perspectives
having all the family together for lunch
new to me tv shows (Call the Midwife)
popcorn and a movie
snuggling with my little girly
Samuel in his new jammies

30 Days of Thankfulness {Day 16}

Today I am thankful for:
time with Mike
smoothies
a happy baby boy
quick school work
early naptime
getting stuff packed
Mike home early
him fixing a delicious dinner while I continued packing
Olivia's awesome job picking up the house while Daddy was cooking and Mommy was packing
getting all finished up with  time to spare
getting to prep a special little birthday project to stick in my bag
a clean house
a meteor shower

30 Days of Thankfulnes {Day 15}

Today I am thankful for:
a blustery day that really feels like autumn
a warm house
 pancakes
a shower
getting errands run
violin and ballet lessons

30 Days of Thankfulnes {Day 14}

Today I am thankful for:
clean clothes
getting school work done
lettuce from our garden for lunch
dwarf pak choy from our garden for supper
leftover gingerbread birthday cake throughout the day with cups of tea
my genius husband who figured out a way to make our blue-screened desktop come alive again so that I could save my documents and math programs from being lost forever

30 Days of Thankfulnes {Day 13}

Today I am thankful for:
silly-ness with Olivia
my favorite bras going on sale on Zulily (it's the little things!)
new orders
daily chats with my mom and sister
getting the girls all packed
a simple dinner
Mike being home early again
hugs from Samuel

30 Days of Thankfulnes {Day 12}

Today I am thankful for:
Sadie-Rose waking up without a fever (even though she went to bed with one)
Olivia seeing and understanding my mental state and taking her brother for a bit so I could have a break
kind reminders and words from a friend
Mike being so thoughtful and coming home at a "normal" hour to "help" me get ready for our trip
getting our kitchen and living room set back to rights after the partying on Saturday
sunshine and warm weather
bedtime

30 Days of Thankfulnes {Day 11}

Today I'm thankful for:
coffee
making it to early service
the reminder from our pastor
chats with friends
new clothes for Mike
a little man's nap in the car
lunch out
new clothes for Samuel
Mike's help

30 Days of Thankfulnes {Day 10}

Today I am thankful for:
getting up early
new ideas
remembering 10 on 10
lots of help from my family
cupcakes turning out so much better than I had hoped
getting to take a shower by myself and not having to worry about the kids
a scrubbed clean porch
party details coming together easily
being {mostly}ready for the party before everyone arrived
a birthday party that went off without a hitch
one very happy little girl who's birthday we celebrated early today
polka dots
red, white, and turquoise
striped paper straws
yummy cake
cutely decorated gingerbread houses all lined up in rows
Sadie-Rose's very closest friends coming to spend the afternoon with her
smiles on everyone's faces

30 Days of Thankfulness {Day 9}

Today I'm thankful for:
coffee
cakes made
the smell of gingerbread through-out my house
being silly with Olivia
Olivia's help in the kitchen
clean dishes
working with just Sadie-Rose to make her birthday party cupcakes
the sound of my girls laughing as they clean together
our church's oyster roast this evening
a bonfire in the firepit
 the fact that it's Friday and this week is almost over

30 Days of Thankfulness {Days 7 & 8}

Day 7
today I'm thankful for:
not passing out with a needle in my arm
water
good kids
an understanding husband
(today was a bad day. I'm just glad I made it through the day and I don't  want to see the inside of a drs.office again in a very long time. And I really don't want any needles stuck in me ever again. period.)

Day 8
today I'm thankful for:
getting up early and getting lots done
new opportunities
a beautiful day where my kids can play outside
violin lessons for Olivia
a great library with an excellent reserve system
dance lessons for Sadie-Rose
the best kids book store ever, run by the kindest lady ever (she lets Olivia sit and read all her books while Sadie-Rose is at dance class, 2 doors down)
a baby boy who needed some extra snuggles and just wanted to be held
a good trip through Target with all the kids in tow
a warm house and a happy husband who had a cup of tea waiting for me as a walked in the door
snuggling all together in bed and watching a movie
a warm down comforter in a very cold bedroom

30 Days of Thankfulness {Day 6}

Today I'm thankful for:
the freedom and privilege I have in this country to vote!
only having a 1 1/2 hour wait in line
Mike's help with Samuel
hot coffee on a very chilly morning
knee socks and tall boots
children who were pretty close to saintly through today's escapades
getting my voting out of the way early in the morning so I could move on with my other plans for the day
Samuel having his own personal miniature "I Voted" sticker on his shirt all day, made me smile every time I saw it
getting all 12 graham cracker gingerbread house assembled
leftovers which made for an early supper
a good glass of wine
snuggling on the couch with Mike while we watch the last episode of Downton Abbey

30 Days of Thankfulness {Day 4}

Today I'm thankful for:
the freedom to chose who, how, and where I worship
an amazing church body
a great pastor who brings encouragment to us
the reminder that you must "have a heart to work"
a reminder that God has placed my husband and my children before me as my "work" and it's the most important thing I can consecrate to Him
encouraging words from one of our senior pastors to Mike and I
no one throwing up during our shift in Children's church (the previous shift? ehh, not so much...)
nursery workers who love on my boy from 9:15 until 12:30 and still think he's awesome
my girls who love getting to spend over half their Sunday hanging out with friends
great Children's church leaders to work under
Olivia's opportunity to stretch her wings a bit in the area of drama (yay Children's Christmas play!)
my months worth of grocery
my over-flowing pantry, cupboard, and freezer
a clean kitchen by the end of the day
a cup of hot tea, my own personal bowl of popcorn, and two (almost) uninterrupted episodes of season 2 of Downton Abbey while snuggling with Mike
a good rain for our gardens
going to bed at a decent hour

30 Days of Thankfulness {Day 1}

Day 1
Today I am thankful for:
the 1st of November
beans in the pressure canner
a husband who sacrifices for his family
baking soda and vinegar 
dance lessons for Sadie-Rose
a warm dry house
a boy who is less "temper tantrum" and more "sweetest boy in the whole wide world" today


Please join me in 30 day of being thankful and let me know! I'd love to follow along.

Four little friends

We stopped at our local produce stand the other evening, ostentensibly to just pick up a jar of local honey. But, we got side tracked by the tables full of lovely pumpkins and beautiful (if unusual) gourds. (I left my camera at home, but we are going back this weekend so I will take a few pictures of our favorites then.) Olivia's favorites are the baby pumpkins and the miniture gourds. They always have been. Something to do with all the ginormouse pumpkins and then the itty bitty ones that fit in your hand. Just her size. So, her daddy told her to pick out a few.

She fell in love with two orange pumpkins (minis) and two identical gourds (minis again.) She held them all the way home and played "family" with them all evening. In the morning I was picking up the living room, but the pumpkins were no where to be found. I didn't think much of it, figuring that she had them tucked some place "safe" and sure enough, when I made her bed later that morning, this is what I found. :)

Four little friends, lined up on her window sill, right next to her pillow.

A new skirt for fall

Miss Olivia had a growth spurt last week that resulted in

none of her little skirts fitting any more.

So we made a quick trip to Walmart

(because our local Quilt shop has ONE bolt of corduroy and only in yellow)

and found several cute cord prints.

And Mommy set to work and 24 hours later

this is what was birthed from the machine.

She seems quite happy with it,

even though I had to bribe her with going to the park

to get modeling pictures. :)

I have a few more prints to work with

and since she seemed so happy with the results

I think I will make her another.

The directions (without my own tweaking)

can be found here.

It may not be a crisp fall day

but we are certainly ready! All daily temperatures are still in the 80's during the day, but our minds are set on fall and all things autumn. So, we decided to make fall cupcakes to take to home group on Friday. Here are the results.

I also made a cake from the left over batter.

You can find the recipes for the cake here (I made the Golden Pumpkin Cake instead of the chocolate one. It let's the taste of the pumpkin and pecans shine through instead of being muddled with the Devil's food chocolate. Trust me, I've done it both ways and the Golden recipe always wins, hands down.)

and the frosting here. (I will not use this particular recipe of frosting again. It is way too sweet with it's 1/2 c. honey and 1/2 c. sugar and rich with it's 3 1/2 sticks of butter. Plus, it only stiffens up if you keep it refrigerated. Next time (tomorrow) I will make a plain cream cheese frosting and just add a little bit of cinnamon to it for the speckled look. ) Olivia had a blast putting all the little pumpkins on the top of the mound of frosting. And I had fun decorating the top of the cake with pecans and brown sugar. Both turned out very lovely in our opinion.

All the kids and every adult enjoyed this little taste of autumn. It got all of us humming about Thanksgiving plans. :) What have you done lately to herald in the new season?

A Fresh outlook

I decided the other day that our front door needed some decorating. And after being inspired by this wreath, I decided to make one for myself. It turned out pretty well. The picture frame is an old one that I found while cleaning out Mike's grandmother's house last fall, I found the grapevine wreath, ivy vine, and ribbon at Wal-mart (yes, the dreaded, boycotted, and banned wal-mart), the twine came from the wrapping paper box, and the old door knobs and lock plate came from my junk digging in Mike's grandfather's greenhouse (also last fall). The skeleton keys are from a house I lived in as a child. All pulled together, I think it looks pretty good. I think this could last us until it's time to put the Christmas wreath on the door. Which amazingly, will be upon us all to quickly.

Falling for Fall

After my tirade about un-stylish maternity clothes the other day, which you can read here, I received my new fall catalog for DownEast Basics. They're a great clothing line that Chelle shared with me. I've ordered several of their items and have had nothing but success in the wearing of them and always get compliments when I were this shirt. So, I was quite tickled to get their new fall catalog and start drooling over their luscious fall line-up. Hey! I'm not going to be pregnant forever (thank God!) and I will be able to wear normal clothes again before the fall is over (at least here in SC.) So, go ahead and enjoy with me.

Isn't this the most beautiful combination of colors?

It's the skirt I'm after, although the coat is very chic too.

I love the shirt (hello pink!), the scarf, and the jeans.

Cute cute!

A very stylish option for our very warm fall days here in the lowcountry.

Aren't these the yummiest dresses you have ever seen?

I want one in each color.

I can even nurse in them! Yay!

I love the gathers in the bodice and the ruffle around the neckline.

More pink! :)

I love this style!

Mike calls it "old lady"

but I prefer "retro" or "vintage style."

I just wonder if I could pull it off myself.

Isn't this fabulous?

I love this top even though it's more summer than fall.

Again, love the skirt but I also like this shirt.

It's called the tuxedo top.

Really loving the red too.

And this lovely little number here.

So sweet, so stylish, and just the right pop to go with anything.

Love it!

PS. Here is a little blurb off of DEB's website that just gives you a little reason why to love their clothes even more. "We offer the latest layering & modest fashions at modest prices."