One year....

Where this year has gone, I am not quite sure. It has been a blur of hugs, kisses, snuggles, diapers, story book reading, sleepless nights, and stroller adventures. Tomorrow my sweet baby will be 1. Childhood all passes by far too quickly. Savor each and every second with your little ones, tomorrow comes to soon, and these sweet and wonderful days are gone before we know it.

Good ole' Summertime...

It has been quite hot in our little town as of lately. It's hot outside and it's even hotter inside my little old place. We are trying not to let the heat get us down too much though. I have been hoarding a dollar here and a dollar there, saving all the change my mama gives me, and doing lots of recycling, I have been hoarding it all away in a little blue speckled tin can. On Saturday we went for a walk around town and I brought my tin can with me! We stopped in at our hardware store and left with a paper sack full of little screws to hang up my shelf. ( Now if only I could get hubby to hang it up!) Then we walked down town a ways to the quilt shop. I had a half yard of chocolate brown polka dotted flannel cut for me, I am making a raggedy old bear to go with the big teddy bear that I sewed for Jasper. Then we went out to lunch, Boo-bah's treat, my mama called me up and said to put lunch on my charge card. We went to Kentucky Fried Chicken. The ice cold diet coke tasted soooo good, after all it was 97 degrees outside. Jasper ate like a little piggy! He munched on an entire biscuit and a chicken strip too! After lunch we went to the feed store and looked at baby chicks, yes I know that sounds just terrible, looking at darling little chickens after having just eaten chicken, at the time though, the thought didn't come to mind. Then we mosied on down to the thrift store and picked up a cheerful yellow shirt for Jasper to wear on his birthday. By the end of our adventure we were all worn out. Today, we went on yet another adventure, and the tin can came with us once again. We went in Daddy's car for a little ride to a special place. A lovely park full of museums, shade trees, history, and a merry go round. I wanted to do something special with Jasper rather than buy an overpriced store bought gift, so we had an early birthday treat. We rode the merry go round! Jasper loved every minute of his two rides!!! As he tightly held on to the brass pole, hair flying in the breeze, he squealed and bounced in delight. Many a child has had a special afternoon on this merry go round, it being 100 years old. Each hand carved, gracefully worn and loved horse takes you up and down round and round, past carefully painted faded pictures, and glass light bulbs, a bit less shiny than in it's hey day, swinging along during the ride. The old timey orchestra music plays, and a bell rings to the winner who has had the luck of catching the brass ring. The kids are laughing, and I am grinning ear to ear. "I love this merry go round, I love my kids, I love this moment" It is in these little moments that I muster up more strength to brave my toddler's tantrums, change many poopy diapers, and endure sleepless nights. It is in these moments also that my heart screams out, I want more babies!!! My life is my children, there is nothing else that I ever want to be, but a mother.

Home Sweet Home

I heard an expression once, "you can't be a homemaker, if you don't stay at home." Well y'all, I will be doing a lot of staying at home for a while. My car finally threw in the towel yesterday and is undrivable at the moment. Oh well, being a hermit suits me fine, and I can always use the time to refine my homemaking skills. Today we had a good day. All though it was quite hot, we had lots of fun. We baked cupcakes, and the boys splashed around in their wading pool, we snuggled and had a marshmallow fight, and read quite a few stories. I also scrubbed up a few toys that I found at the thrift store for Jasper's birthday. Tomorrow I plan to do some sewing on a few projects I have going on, and if I can get up and beat the heat, I will take the boys for a stroller walk and stop in at the hardware store a few blocks down for some little screws and toggle bolts to mount my dollhouse shelf my mama bought me. It is all painted up, now I just need to get it up on the wall above my sewing machine. I did a little rearranging of furniture. I have a little sewing area now in our hallway. It is a very tight squeeze, but it sort of feels like an official sewing room, even if it is just in the little old hallway, it serves the specific purpose of my special place to sew. I want to get one of those tiny ironing boards that you mount on the wall and pull down, that will be more efficient than ironing on a quilt across my dining room table! A couple of months ago, my mama came up for a visit and found a darling cross stitch sampler at an antique store, it said Home Sweet Home, I am quite jealous of her cute find, and have my heart set on one of my own. Perhaps I will try and create something this week. Have a wonderful weekend y'all.

This past week...

This little chicken has taken a liking to coming inside and napping on my chair. She has seen me go through the gammut of emotions this past week. A lot has happened lately, I have had a lot of drama in my life over the past few weeks that has left me feeling at times very bitter, confused, and full of sorrow, but I am not going to let it bring me down any more... what I have learned is that we cannot control the way other people treat us, we can only control how we will in return treat them and how we will react to the way that we have been treated. "Love one another" it is my favorite hymm, it is also a commandment that the Lord gave us. It is not always easy to love one another, especially when others are not having an attitude of love towards us. However, we can force ourselve to stand up taller than the other person, have forgiveness in our hearts, even when they refuse to offer any apologies, and move on. We cannot let negative people in our lives drain us from living the way God wants us to. The world is full of devious people, petty arguements, and vicious words, we must act with love towards one another, and when that love is not returned, we must stand tall, brush it off, and hold no grudges. So, I am setting myself free from this drama. I did my best with this situation, it did not end as I had hoped, but I am moving on. Life is about better things...

Like racing toy cars on a warm summer morning.

Growing gardens... here is a peek at part of mine, I also have some pumpkins growing under an orange tree and a tiny little crop of corn...
Life is about having a good laugh when you find your toddler in the chicken coop hiding when he is supposed to be napping

and when his hiding spot is found, he seeks refuge in the corn

So as you can see, with the bad comes the good, and I have had a lot of good in this week too! I received a wonderful package in the mail from my friend Kim at htpp://campwhimsy.typepad.com

On a day when I really needed cheering up, this wonderful package arrived full of delightful goodies, journals, recipe cards, a darling kitchen linen, trains for the boys, whoopie pies, preserves. Kim, thank you! thank you! thank you! Everyone you must visit her blog, she is so creative!!!! And she has a little shop called Maxwell General. Her shop and her blog are truly two of the most adorable places on earth!!!!

On that same day, my friend Stephanie kidnapped me. She brought lasagna to my hubby and the kids, whisked me away to the thrift store, where they were having a half off sale, and we found many many goodies, including a walker for Jasper for fifty cents!!! And then she took me out to eat to my most favorite place in the world... my taco shop!! And if that wasn't nice enough, she is a photographer. A really good one too! So the next day, she did a photo shoot of my boys. I can hardly wait to share some of the pictures with you all! Thank you Stephanie for cheering me up! This past week I have also become closer to some of you who read my blog. I can't tell you how much your words of encouragement and motivation mean to me. Friendships are something I have treasured since I was a little girl. It warms my soul and brings a smile to my face, when I experience such kind acts of friendship from all of you. Have a wonderful week. We are planning to paint, sew, build things, explore, get into mischief, bake, and try to keep cool in this icky heat! I will keep you updated of our adventures!