Wishing a...

Happy Bloggy Birthday to my friend Carrie at Reading to Know!

As part of her birthday celebration, she is holding a little contest for an Amazon gift card - the requirement is to post a photo of yourself with your favorite book. She and I share a deep love for L.M. Mongomery's writings and so it was easy to pick my favorite from the series - Anne of Windy Poplars. (This is my original, well-loved book from the box set I was given in junior high). Windy Poplars has always been my favorite of the series - partly because Anne is off on her adventures as a teacher, living with the precious Aunts Kate and Chatty and one-of-a-kind Rebecca Dew, and also because a majority of the book is written from the standpoint of letters from her to Gilbert. As someone who truly misses the art of corresponding by mail, I loved reading the (highly wordy) letters that she sent to Gilbert and I'm a sucker for pretty much any book written in this fashion.

All book-loving talk aside, Carrie is a wonderful friend and one that I am so thankful to have gotten to know through blogging. There are lots of times I contemplate throwing in the towel on this little online space (time being precious and hard to come by lately), but I am so thankful for some of the relationships that I have made through writing in this spot and commenting on other blogs. My book-loving friends Carrie and Amy fall into this category. They are an encouragement to me as a wife and a parent and I am so glad the internet has enlarged my world to include them.

Simple Things Sunday

Celebrating her was the sweetest.



Linking up with Rebecca.

Insta-Saturday and What Happened to Week in the Life

So, my week in the life fizzled this week. I was on it Monday, Tuesday was a little harder, and by Wednesday, I didn’t pick up my big camera once (I don’t think). I realized why I was finally able to scrap a week in the life project last summer. It was SUMMER. I wasn’t schooling, no kids in weekly activities, etc. Still, I want to figure out a plan for the two days that I really documented because there is some neat stuff there.

With that said, here are a couple pictures to wrap up the rest of the week that I captured in all our craziness on my phone. : )

Someone’s soccer pictures. I can’t stand the cuteness.

I have GOT to do something about this desk. Got. to.

In process: Thursday dinner.

We had a new friend over for a bit on Friday night and the little girls were smitten. Between this new one, and my BFF’s new little girl, I can’t tell you – literally – how many times the girls have wistfully commented that they still wish the boy was this size. I do to, a little bit, but he does sleep a bit more now. There is that to consider.

 

Happy Saturday. Ours is filled with soccer, groceries, and a family movie night as our Friday night was taken up with some music stuff for T. I need some catch-up time around the house (see my desk photo above as some of the evidence) so I’m off to make it a productive one. : )

The Happy Day Project

Strongly considering.

Unexpected sunshine?

I like. : )

31 Days of Reading with Your Children // Day 24 and a Guest Post!

I am so very excited to share a post from Amy over at Hope is the Word today. She is host of Read Aloud Thursday, a homeschooling mama, and a woman I am privileged to call friend. We have traded emails for several years now and I am so thankful for this like-minded friend that I can bounce ideas off of (or brainstorm how we are going to keep these little boys we each have busy while we do school!)


Much thanks, Amy, for taking the time to write this post and sharing what reading aloud with your children has done for your family!


"You didn't tinker with the timer like Winona did the clock during your piano practice, did you?" I joked with one of my daughters. She immediately recognized my literary reference because we had read of Winona Root's creative use of her time during a recent read-aloud session. We all loved Winona's Pony Cart and eagerly looked forward to our daily read-aloud session after lunch. My daughter gave me a grin and said that no, she hadn't done anything to shorten her piano practice time.


This is only one example of the countless literary experiences that my girls and I have shared over the past, well, all of their lives. These literary experiences create a family intellectual culture that I don't think can be created in any other way. We have mourned Wilbur's loss of Charlotte together; we have given a wistful backward glance toward Narnia with the Pevensie children as they are whisked back to war-time London; we have traversed the world with Hitty as she experiences each of her new homes; we have laughed in amazement at Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's fail-proof solutions for the most common of problematic childhood behaviors. Even months or years after reading a certain story, we can make reference to that story and immediately a bridge is built between us--the simple knowledge that we have experienced a great story together makes our relationship richer.


I began reading aloud to my girls as soon as they were old enough to focus on a page, maybe even before that. As they've grown, our reading repertoire has grown. Nowadays you might find us reading almost anything--the Bible; poetry, any kind from haikus to sonnets and what's in between; brand new picture books; Newbery-award winning children's novels; classics; informational books to supplement our science and history lessons; the newspaper; the list could go on and on. One day last week I even read them a Thanksgiving essay by Rick Bragg from the last page of my latest issue of Southern Living magazine! (I was chuckling and smiling over it, so they asked, and why not? Did they understand the sarcasm in the article? Probably not, but Rick Bragg is a wordsmith par excellence, and in this case the shared experience was just as important as total comprehension.) I can't think of anything that has shaped our family life more than reading together has.


All of the links above are back to my blog, Hope Is the Word, and my reviews of the books I've mentioned here. Almost three years ago now, I started a little weekly meme I call Read Aloud Thursday. It's an opportunity for bloggers to share their posts about their families' read-alouds. It's pretty simple; you can read the minimal guidelines here. My friendships with some of my best bloggy friends (including Stephanie!) have grown up over the discussion of great children's books, and I'm always interested in adding to my collection of friends and books! Consider yourself invited to join in!


If you're lost as to where to begin in this read-aloud endeavor, obviously Stephanie's fantastic series this month is a great place to start. After she has inspired you, here are a few places from my blog to go for further inspiration:

• Best picture books (this list is always a work in progress!)
• Chapter books for the youngest listeners
• List with links to reviews of the chapter books we read when my girls were ages 3 to 5 (scroll down to the bottom of the post)
• List with links to reviews of the chapter books we read when my girls were ages 4 to 6 (scroll down to the bottom of the post)

This year's incomplete list is on the sidebar of my blog.


I look forward to meeting some of you some Read Aloud Thursday! Happy reading!


Day: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11 // 12 // 13 // 14 // 15 // 16 // 17 // 18 // 19 // 20 // 21 // 22 // 23

Insta-Friday

I love looking at the posts that I see pop up on blogs for InstaFriday. (FYI - InstaFriday is a quirky way to share what you’ve been up to this week using only cell phone pics!) Here's a quick shot of our week via my phone...

Busy, busy, BUSY boy. I was working in the kitchen and turned around and he was GONE. He had places to go and things to do apparently.

Speaking of ... when did he start looking like a little boy and less like a baby?

We've been doing lots of this this week - swim lessons for the oldest. I kid you not ... two weeks ago she had a minor meltdown at the thought of putting her face in the water.

Can a show just a small video to brag on her? Please ignore my scary voiceover.

More big boy shots. He is all about finger food. 

And, just for the record, I always hear people say that little boy clothes are not as fun as girl clothes. Pay no attention to them. Putting the boy in a little button-down the same color as Daddy's is my new favorite.

Best friend + best boy. They will both admit to a little crush on each other. Although, you can see my friend is covering her neck. He loves her for her big chunky necklaces that taste delicious.  

Our closet door after T "worked" on it. A little girl managed to lock it from the inside and we had to eventually take the doorknob off to get in there. Glad we are going to be in this house for a looooong time. : )

Is it just me or does she look REALLY tiny up there? (Birthday party for a fellow 4yo at one of those jumping climbing places. My kids = ecstatic).

Lunch. : ) Spinach, strawberries and grilled chicken. Still working on Weight Watchers ... plugging along little by little. Salads are a summer lunch staple.

Linking up with InstaFriday at Life Rearranged. Have a great weekend!

Today's the Day!

Happy Birthday today to my BFF of about 15 (16?) years, Gina! She has been such a faithful friend and is #2 on my speed dial on my phone so that should tell you something. : ) Oh, and by the way, happy birthday to me, too. : ) We share a birthday today, on New Year's Eve, and thanks to our wonderful husbands we will be enjoying a party tonight with our kids, karaoke, and cake (and hopefully a bunch of friends as well) to kick off our 40th years.

Hope you all have a safe and fun New Year's Eve whatever your plans may be!
This is picture is several years old, but I can't find / don't have a more current one. We will rectify that tonight!

After the Flood

I'll be back to regular blogging in the future, but I thought I would pop in to say hello and that we survived the flood in the middle Tennessee area. While our home is fine, certain areas of the small suburb of Nashville I live in sustained much damage, as well as West Nashville where my parents are located. By a true miracle, while they were trapped in their home for over 48 hours, their house stayed dry and had power while homes not even a mile from them were slowly filling with water. The devastation here seems surreal - especially when you start thinking of the many that are without homes and those that are temporarily unemployed due to the floodwaters. The Opryland Hotel alone employs thousands - right now it has about 10 feet of water standing in it, and by last estimation will be closed for several months while work is done to repair damage.

Please pray for our city, for the families of those that have lost people, and for those that are searching for a new normal as they find shelter, replace vehicles, and repair damage.

TidBits

• It's Friday. I love Fridays. Actually, there's not really a day that I don't love, but I love Fridays because my girls love Friday. Friday nights are pizza and movie night AND Fridays mean that the next day is Saturday. Saturdays are cinnamon rolls and Daddy stays home all day. We lurve us some Saturdays. :)


• This morning I logged off my computer for about two hours. I am amazed (and slightly saddened) at all I was able to accomplish with out the distraction of email pings and what not. It has clarified a few things that I was questioning and I will be unplugging more. (HT: Mer @ Lifeat7000feet for the idea). I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to work from home for my church, and I can do that because of the wonders of technology/internet/email/etc., but the partial attention that I sometime give my home and family is not something I'm proud of. (For more on this, read Katherine's timely post at Raising Five for today. Spot on). Technology is a good thing, and I love it, but I need some boundaries.


• We are enjoying these in our house:

The girls spotted them at Aldi's - all the Valentine's bouquets had been reduced to 99 cents each so they each picked one out to enjoy at home. Fun treats. :)

• I'm still working on my 365 photo-a-day project and enjoying it for the most part. There have been one or two days where I have just not been in the mood to take a picture or tote my camera - but they have been few - and (I think) only one day that I missed. I'll try and take a few album pics soon once I catch up the journaling. I'm liking this project as a whole. It's been interesting (probably only to me!) to see what I am choosing to highlight each day. :)


• I have a few things in the works for March, one of which is going to be a no-spend/low-spend challenge for the month. I'm not going to be legalistic about it, but I am going to keep track of my non-essential spending, i.e., Sonic drinks, scrap "necessities" from Joann's, books, etc. :) I think it will be very beneficial to me to see where it's all going.


• Tonight I'm going out with some girlfriends for dinner (heehee, before the no/low spend challenge of March!) to celebrate an upcoming baby. These are my "company girls" and I am eager to trade a few hugs and see everyone face to face. One of the husbands of one of these girls was at our house last night doing some music stuff with Travis - his wife had him pick up a diet coke for ME at Sonic on his way over ... now that's a true girlfriend. :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I'm enjoying the sunlight streaming through my windows right now, even though it is still too cold to go out with girls and enjoy it. A little sun on the face is good therapy for me any day so I'll take it!

Home Again

No matter how much fun it is a Grandma & Grandpa's, it's always good to be home.

We rolled in last night around 6 p.m. While little girls played with new treasures that had been left behind for our trip and ones that we waited until home to open, he and I took down the Christmas tree and did a general tidy and straightening of furniture and whatnot. The travel loads of laundry were started and must be completed today as does a grocery list for a New Year's Eve party and a New Year's Day get-together. (One of those we are going to and one we are hosting). Also, just in case you were unaware, TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY (and my best friend's) and we will be celebrating together tomorrow night as said-New-Year's-Eve-party is at her home.

But for now, we had a wonderful night of sleep in our own beds and girls are playing happily and have not asked to turn the TV on yet. (We are in Noggin-detox from Grandma's). :) Now, I'm going to make a bit of breakfast and slowly work towards getting out to the store. It's a good day.

A Little Plug...

For my friend, Laura. She has a online tea shop and from now until Sunday (12/7), she is offering a $2 shipping special! She sent me several samples from her a few months ago and I have been slowly enjoying them. Right now, I have my eye on several of her new black tea blends (the cranberry waltz sounds so yummy).

Anyway, if you have a tea drinker on your Christmas list, I highly recommend my sweet friend, Laura. I'm getting no compensation (or free tea!) from this announcement, but truly consider it a public service. :) *wink*

Happy Shopping.

A New Book Challenge

Since I don't have much time to read anyway, I'm going to do another book challenge for this fall! : ) This one is very special to me. You can go here to read all about The Nattie Challenge and find out details and you can go to Nattie's blog and read about what an amazing woman and friend she was. I knew Nattie through Women at Home and had a chance to meet her when she was visiting several years ago. She truly aspired to follow after God's heart like few women that I have known.

The first challenge is the Baby Steps Challenge. The assignment is to pick three books ... any three books ... and read them before the end of the year. I think I can handle that. : ) I'll update the link in my sidebar once I finish and/or complete my books.

(Thanks to Becky for the graphics!)

With Much Thanks!

Okay, so this post is soooooo overdue. My IRL friend Lauren over at a wandering heart's musings sweetly awarded me with this fun award:



Thank you, Lauren! I don't feel very rockin' most of the time, but since this is my first ever award, I'd like to thank the Academy all of you who come and visit and leave sweet comments. I appreciate you all. : )

Then, just last week, Dawn at PlaidHearts awarded me this lovely thing of beauty:



Thank you Dawn! : ) I just want to say that Dawn makes me smile as well ... and if you've never read her blog it's worth a visit. A homeschooling mom of 5 that is in love with her family and husband. (And her littlest is just about the same age as our Natalie (20 months) so it's fun to compare notes occasionally!) : )

And, just an aside, both of these wonderful woman are members of Women at Home with me ... a great community of ladies that is worth a stop if you have never checked us out!

Friday Felicities

Things that make you happy ~ from the mind of Nattie Rose!

• staying under the alotted (albeit small) grocery budget!
• a box of Pampers (the good stuff) from my parents
• hazelnut coffee creamer (I'm working on a slow and steady addiction to a little creamer in my coffee and feel the need to start trying all the flavors. Any suggestions for me?)
• getting ready to clean my scrapbook area/desk with a new organizational idea I had while feeding the baby
• dreamy little baby smiles
• Women at Home
• packages from GOOD friends the mail with lovelies for my baby E
• a clean house, or what I will have when I get up here and get to work!
• heaven
• my friend Nattie Rose, who occasionally was referred to as N3 round here.

Interrupting this Break...

Natalie Rose ... home to Jesus, June 7, 2007.

Oh Lord, You're beautiful
Your face is all I seek

And when Your eyes are on this child
Your grace abounds to me

~ Keith Green

Hope...sometimes it is blinding like the spring sunshine. Sometimes it is a gentle warmth that comes with kind words. Sometimes it washes over you like waves in the ocean and sometimes it just envelopes you slowly. Sometimes it is like water in a dry land, but it is there if you look for it.
~ Nattie Rose York, April 24, 2007

Yuck

About 2 1/2 years ago I had my first online meeting with folks I met through the Women at Home site. This lovely lady was one of those women. We share a deep love of Diet Coke and books and I've watched her walk through some huge personal struggles in the last few years.

Today I found out she has cancer. A really ugly kind. Pray for Nattie. God is on his throne and He is sovereign.

36 weeks and then some...

Dr. appointment this morning and all went well. I'm down to weekly appointments and we even have our section date scheduled! (Still not sure if I'm not going to leave it for a surprise or not). :) I even lost 4 pounds, probably due to the little stomach virus that we suffered through as a family over the last week and a half. I guess that's one positive thing that came out of it!

Check out this fun Misty-mail that came yesterday:

Okay, I know I'm a little biased to girl stuff, but how totally cute! Thanks Misty!! :)

Picture Post

We had a Woman at Home informal gathering today here in middle Tennessee. Hosted by sweet Lauren, several of us gathered for a yummy lunch and time of conversation, which sometimes was more yelling over the noise of all the children than actual talking. :)

The Munchkins ... one of mine is prominently in the middle in the arms of a very responsible young lady, and the other one is hiding on the arm of the couch off to the right. You can slightly see her legs.



The Grown-Ups ... I'm the pregnant one. :-) LOL

Sore but Successful

Yesterday was the Spring Fling party! Much fun was had, much food was consumed, and much eggs were decorated! We had 12 kids and 6 adults at the party ... it was crazy and loud and every one had a great time. I thought I would be more tired when it was all over, but it wasn't too bad - I was mostly sore! My legs and feet were aching from standing so much all morning and by the time I sat down late afternoon, I think I could see them swelling. :-)

The menu (for the kids) ended up including pb & j's and ham & cheese sandwiches, fruit kabobs (thanks to an idea from Leah!) and veggies and dip. And, the bunny cake, which was so easy to make! (It actually called for a butter-cream frosting, but I went with chocolate instead). :-)

And, while I had originally had some hesitations over how the egg decorating was going to to with all the kids, it went surprisingly well. We used our big coffee table in our play room and COVERED it with newspaper. Surprisingly, other than a couple sleeves that inadvertently made it into the dye, there were no big spills or messes!



All in all, I think this may become a family tradition for us ... a few things that I'll do differently next year - the first and most important is that I want Travis to be here for the party next time. It just happened that it fit for us to do it while he was out of town on business this week - and I don't really regret that we went ahead and had the party - it was a good distraction for the girls and having their little friends over broke up the monotony of a week with just mama. I just know that he would have also enjoyed being here and watching N1 color eggs and hang out with us.

Today's agenda is going to be super-easy in comparison to yesterday! I have some church work to take care of this a.m., and some house straightening, and when N2 wakes up from her morning nap, we're going to the library for a bit and out for a drive to enjoy some of this beautiful spring weather. My folks have kindly invited me and the girls over for dinner tonight, too, so I'm looking forward to heading over there late this afternoon and letting the grandparents stuff my kids with chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese and I just may get to put my feet up for a few minutes. :-)

Suggestions, please!

Next weekend, the girls and I are hosting a small "first-day-of-spring" party here at our house for some of their little friends from church and their moms. Right now, the agenda is set to include a indoor picnic lunch, followed by the coloring of large quantities of eggs. :-) I could use some suggestions for fun, kid-friendly food for the lunch. I've got some ideas - crustless pb & j's, raw veggies, but because this is a party, I wanted some extra special ideas (or at least out of the norm for us) that don't break the bank.

I already know that I'm going to make this for the moms, maybe with some fun breadsticks. And the insane side of me is DYING to make this bunny cake because it looks like so much fun!

But, what I really need are fun kid ideas that does not involve chicken nuggets a.k.a. our lunch o' choice. Thoughts? :-)