K's newest accessory

Sporting her pretty pink cast, which she picked out herself. :)

The next few days will be learning how to walk w/ her new accessory.

Thanking the Lord she will be healed in 2 weeks!

Art Fair

Our support groups Art Fair was a few weeks ago, on my K's birthday in fact! That's how we celebrated, by going to the Art Fair! :)

click on the pictures to make them bigger. :)

S. was in the 7 and under non-judged category

Dr. Seuss House

 collage he made in his boys bookclub the night before!

R's "At the Cross" She won 1st for best interpretation of theme for the show

Clay w/ craft sticks

A w/ another one of her amazing miniature creations!

"Indian Village" won first for sculpture

More pictures to follow so you can see the detail she puts into her work.

She used clay, craft sticks, saran wrap over blue clay for the water, pea gravel from our yard for the rocks on the shore line, a tree seed pod for the canoe and dirt she dug out of our ground and glued to the cardboard for the ground. She's nothing if not authentic! (and patient ;) )

 Overview of the village

 

different angle and closer view

waters edge

close up of mama and papoose (on right by TeePee) and Brave w/ boy on left

closer view of Brave and boy

different angle, you can see the bow and arrow the Brave is teaching the boy how to use

 A. won first in painting category for her "Still Life"

"Wild Horses"

Pencil

 "Elk"

Pencil 

 Grand Canyon

(the last two are drawings she made from our time at the Grand Canyon this summer)

E. got second in painting for "Hawaiian Sunset"

 Close up 

close up

"Autumn Leaves"

  My kids are always excited to participate in this annual event. They love art, always have and I love to watch them create. :)

To see last years art fair click here

My Baby turns 2!

We celebrated the second year of my sweet K's life this past month. Time is going by so quickly. It really seems like I just brought her home from the hospital.

Newborn

Just a few hours old

One year old

 

 Celebrating w/ her #1 pancake

 All cleaned up after cake and ice cream

Turning Two

 Number 2 pancakes!

Loves juice!

Her new house

Brownies!

My giggly sweet baby

I just love this precious face!

My little gal is so incredibly sweet. We love everything about her, even her grumpy tantrums. 

Thank you Lord for blessing us with this special gal.

Guess where I get to go!

I'm so excited to be going away with some girlfriends this weekend. My wonderful hubby has blessed me with this weekend away. He will be managing our kids various events for 4 days. I know he's more than capable but we typically work as a team! Plus, we have all sorts of new stuff thrown in this week add in a toddler with a bum leg and he has a challenging weekend ahead of him.

I'm looking forward to learning, sharing and spending time with some amazing women! I will miss my family tremendously but I am ready for this break. I have passed up several get aways through the years but this one has hit at just the right time in my life when I am definitely ready to have a few days to soak in God's word, listen to a Godly Titus 2 woman who's ministry is to reach out to all mothers but especially homeschooling mothers.

Thank you, Sweet Potato, you are the best!

Simple Pleasures

I recently discovered a small, urban farm not too far from my home. They have a Farmer's Market, right there at the farm, every Tuesday. For the past month I was taking one of my kids each week to see the farm and meet the owners.

This farm has goats and chickens and fresh organic veggies. But the thing that makes this farm extra special are the owners. Lylah and Michael are beautiful people, inside and out. :)

On my first trip to the farm, their helper, Anita, told me about their Sugar Pumpkins, the ones you normally make into pumpkin pie, and how a vegetarian client of theirs likes to eat them.  A. was with me that day and being one who enjoys food and trying new things, she wanted to give it a try.

I purchased a few pumpkins and brought them home for lunch. :)

Washed and ready to go.

I first cut the tops off the pumpkins and scooped out the seeds.

 Next, I filled the inside with breadcrumbs, grated cheese, coarse salt and brown sugar

I popped the lids back on 

 and put them into the oven to bake.

 The house had a delicious pumpkiny smell as they cooked.

After 45 minutes, the pumpkins were ready. 

 A. getting ready to eat her pumpkin yumminess

Even J couldn't wait to dig in!

For a yummy, healthy, winter warming meal, don't overlook your locally grown pie pumpkins! :)

New Years Day!

Ahem, only a month behind in posting this. :)

For several years now, on New Years Day, we've been creating concrete stepping stones with the kids hand prints and letting them decorate their stone. The kids love doing this and I love stepping out into my garden and seeing how my beautiful, personal garden has grown. We started with 4 stones a year and we now have 6 a year, that's a lot of stepping stones!. The size of the stones has grown as well. The smaller size didn't leave room for a hand print and date, plus decorating. So we bumped up to the bigger molds which gave them a lot more room to create their design and still give me what I want, the hand print and date. :) Such a tangible way to measure the time with my precious blooms.

 

  S and J waiting for the concrete to be mixed

J. was the first to go!

 Then R.

Next was E.

Then A.

S's turn

Last but not least, K got to take a turn. 

Nice technique, doncha think? ;)  We smoothed this out and redid her print. 

A and E being creative

J. is showing his artistic side

  Finished and all lined up in a row to dry

The finished products close up, minus the names which have been wiped out to protect the innocent. :) 

A's

J's

R's 

 E's

K's 

(you see those purple plastic things in there? Those are the letter stamps we used for names and dates. K's concrete was so soupy I left those stamps in, meaning to go back and get them out. Yeah, you're right, I left them in too long and they are stuck for good! I tried chiseling one out but it only broke up the concrete. SO, I bought her a new mold and we made a new handprint for her a few weeks later. :))

S's

I love how this year they all could pretty much do this on their own. Yet another bittersweet sign that my garden is growing up. *sigh*

  We bought a little fire pit and sat out by the fire

 Later in the evening, they all had hot chocolate with...

lots of whipping cream!

I can't think of a better way to eat homemade whipping cream than w/ a spoon, right out of the bowl, can you?

YUM! 

And that is how we spent our New Years Day. A quiet day with the people I love the most in all the world. :)