My two little men...

My sweet baby Jasper, always wearing a smile. Taking in the world, with curiosity and wonder. I adore you, I cherish you, my world would not be nearly as sunshiny without you in it. I remeber as if it were yesterday, finding out that you were on your way. I was as happy as a person could possibly be. I remember holding you for the first time, enchanted by your bright blue, beautiful eyes. I was instantly in love with you. I remember being amazed by your patience, always content, and peaceful, watching your mommy with eager eyes, but never complaining. An aboslutley perfect baby, in every way. I love how you snuggle, and smile, and laugh, and always have a twinkle in your eye. I love how you always are wearing a little grin, your lips pursed together as if you have a wonderful secret to tell. I love how you are always happy, if I could only use one word to describe you it would be "happy". Even when wild brother is running around you screaming, and toys are flying through the air, you sit their happy, clapping your hands and smiling adoringly at me. I am truly blessed to have such an amazingly sweet and beautiful child as you are. I love to wake up each morning to the "thud thud" of you jumping up and down in your crib. I even adore your late night wake up calls for milk, you are so peaceful guzzling mommy's milk, and brushing your hand through your silky hair. I love watching you crawl though the house at lightning speed, chasing after big brother, hearing your high pitched screams of happiness. You are perfect Mr. Jasper, and I cannot imagine my world without you in it. You truly are mama's little sunshine.

My darling Caillou is nearing 3 in a few months. I can hardly believe that my little boy is growing up so very quickly. It seems as if it were only yesterday that I was sitting in Del Taco eating large quantities of nachos with my mama, and wiggling uncomfortably in my chair, as Caillou kicked at the insides of my belly, making his presence known. I remember so very clearly, laying on the operating table, and feeling the doctors tugging and pulling at my insides to deliver my 9 pound 4 ounce bundle of joy. I remember his first cries, I cried as well, his sweet newborn cries was the most beautiful sound that I have yet to hear. His cries announced that he was here, full of life and ready to make his mark in the worlds, his cries also represented the birth of a mother. Me, a mother, those sweet cries belonged to MY baby. I remember laying on the operating table, being stitched up from my c-section, and all of a sudden exclaiming " my heart burn is gone!" I remember bringing him home from the hospital and laying him in his crib for the first time, wearing pale blue knit overalls, and a soft little hat. I remember his first smile, first coo, first laugh, is seems as if it were all but a moment ago. I remember his first word " mama" he was four months old, and he was addressing our dog! I can clearly recall at 10 months old picking him up in my arms, and whispering into his ear " you are going to be a big brother my little one" he was the very first to hear of mommy's exciting news. I have so many memories with my little man, pony rides, story books, strawberry picking, hammock naps, stomach flu sheets, candy hunts in the yard, library visits ( being kicked out of the library too!), cookie baking, dirt digging, bubble baths, finger painting, sweet "I love you's" and tumultous noisy tantrums, soft toddler kisses, and painful toddler bites! I have many many sweet memories with this little man. As I write this post, he sits next to me eating chese crackers, holding puzzle pieces, and is telling me of his love of ham and eggs. He is a strong, free spirited, lively little boy. Sometimes this wee boy is nearly the death of me, after a day of his mischief, I look as if I am on my last legs. But as I put him to bed, exasperated, exhausted, and often times feeling like quite a flop of a mother, I know that he is the best part of me! He is my heart and soul. Naughty or not, I could not survive a single day without him by my side. After he has settled down into bed, and finally drifted off to sleep, I cannot help but sneak into his room, and play with his wild hair, and whisper into his ear how much he means to me. I pray for him, to be healthy and happy, and also pray that he will not bite his brother or hit mommy. I kiss him goodnight, and wait for another day with my little sunshine to come.

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My little Kitchen

My house is quite small, but I really do adore it. I have all these ideas for it if someday I actually owned this little old house rather than rent it. Plans to build a room here, build another there, make another little nook for me to hold school in for my little ones. I would build a solid wood fence on the sides of the house, and a white picket fence in the front, a gazebo out back with fancy twinkling lights to enjoy summer evenings with the kids, and of course a sewing room would be added on to the house as well! But, fantasizing about things, don't make them come true. For alas, I am poor, and probably will remain that way for the rest of my life. Each year, our income grows smaller and smaller, and my hopes for a home of my own diminish a bit more. I pray that we will be able to stay in this little house for as long as we can, I love it, and do all that I can to give it a feeling of home for the boys. My idea of home is something sunshiny, bright, cheerful, welcoming, full of heartfelt everday homemade touches. Old fashioned, vintage goodies, little second hand treasures, quilts, flowers, and a modge podge of homemade goodness fills every crevice of my house. I hope you enjoyed a peek into my kitchen.

Our day...

We haven't been up to too much new around here. I am pulling weeds and extending my garden area. I have aspirations of planting a fall garden, and a spectacular garden next spring. I canned 4 quarts of nectarines tonight, it would have been 5 quarts but one of my glass jars exploded! We have two new little baby chicks living with us. Well, we have had them since they were 1 day old, and they are about 3 weeks now. Caillou named them Eunice and Mamoo. We spent a day with Boo-Bah today (my mama). Mama bought me some darling little fat quarters that I am very excited to create with. We had a yummy lunch, and Caillou and Jasper played at the park for a bit. This evening I went out with two missionaries from my church. We went to visit a man named Tim to see if he would like to learn more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Tim was drunk, had a shot gun, and a grudge against Mormons. It was a very, very interesting evening. Goodnight Y'all....

pickle relish and pint sized furniture....

A week ago, I began building the boys a table and two chairs. I am happy to say that it is now finished. The boys love it, and are having lots of fun eating lunch at their little table, playing with playdough, and doing lots of reading and arts and crafts. I put many a coat of verathane on the table top, so it is very glossy, and cleans up very easily. I have been in a very homemaking, nesting, creative sort of mood lately. Okay, I am always in this mood, but I am actually getting things accomlished, so I am feeling quite pleased. This weekend I made homemade pickle relish. Now I am in quite the mood to do some more canning. I have a very large bowl of nectarines ripening, and getting ready to be canned. And I think I want to do some cinnamon spiced apples, and perhaps some blueberry pie filling. I sewed a skirt for myself this weekend, and began sewing two soft blue robes for the boys for wintertime. I am making them out of an old blue blanket from my childhood. Tonight Caillou helped me lay out the pattern pieces. He tried his best to be helpful. He handed me straight pins as I needed them, and threw scraps away for me. His favorite job was to take the pins out of the pattern pieces, after a piece had been cut, and stick the pins into the pincushion. It would have been much quicker, and a bit more relaxing if Caillou had not decided to be mommy's helper, but it was a sweet feeling to have my little one beside me helping me to make him something. All the while saying "I want to help mommy, I a weallly weallly goood boy." My pattern pieces are a bit more torn than usual, and the fabric is cut a bit jagged and crooked, but a lasting memory will be stitched into these little robes. I can hardly wait until the cold weather comes and I can wrap up my little guys, in bits of my old blue blanket.

Burgers and nudity....

Today, Caillou ran though Burger King stark naked. The wonderful Mr. Caillou is in the ever so delightful process of being potty trained. He is doing really good with keeping his diapers dry... he had just finished eating his slice of hershey pie and loudly announced " I need to go pee-pee" So we march onwards to the potty, and while he was doing his duty, I was rinsing out his shirt and shorts in the sink, which were covered in chocolate. Before I could get him into a fresh diaper and clean clothes, he took of at lighting speed, bare bottomed, wearing nothing but a smile and sneakers and ran throughout the burger king. A couple of teenage boys found it hillarious, announcing there was a streaker at burger king. And my mama and papa laughed wildly and Jasper clapped his hands. It was an interesting evening, one that brought a smile to everyone's face and laughter to everyones lips. My days are crazy, and usually never free of some form of chaos, but I love it. Whether it is the wild moments or the simple times, motherhood is the best! Trying and tiring, but more rewarding and wonderful than anything else I have yet to experience. P.S. During Caillou's naked running marathon, he was singing the theme song to "Bob the Builder" Have a wonderful evening, y'all!

Welcome Y'all!

Hello, welcome to my new little corner of blogland.... Pocketfulls of Sunshine! Life, is a journey full of ups and downs, or more like very large dips in the road and mountainous speed bumps. At times, life, or the hardships that we experience in life, can seem to be more than we can bear. But if we do our best to keep on the sunny side of things, always seeing the good in people, places, and circumstances, we may just start to see life a little differently. A little easier, a little happier, a little more sunshiny! I have been quite blessed, Caillou and Jasper are the sunshine in my soul. They brighten up the darkest of days, and the most daunting of circumstances. My life revolves around their sweet smiles, sloppy kisses, and eternally sticky hands. So here I am, my arms full of two darling little ones and my heart full of love, doing my best to carve out a little happy haven for myself in this crazy world and fill my little ones world full of happiness, love, carefree oblivious bliss, and sunshine.

This and that...

This week has seemed to have just flown by so quickly. Tuesday was intended to be a day spent recooperating from our long day at Disneyland, however our poor chickens were out of feed so we made a trip down the hill to pick up some. We decided to stop in at the McDonalds's while we were down the hill. They have an air conditioned indoor playground, which the boys love, and mommy does too!!! And it doesn't hurt that they have 1 dollar hot fudge sundaes! When we came home, instead of resting, I began building the boys a little table and chair, something I have been planning for a while, but just had not yet begun. The rest of the week was a blur of assembling chairs, sanding, varnishing, painting, sewing little chair cushions and trying to air the house out from the strong smell of verithane and wood stain. The table is almost finished and I am feeling excited about posting some pictures of it when it is all done. On thursday, me and the boys had a special treat, we went to Sizzler for a late lunch, grandma's treat. The boys ate like kings, and especially enjoyed their dessert. Throughout the week, the little wading pool was kept full, and the boys cooled off there quite a bit. We have been having 100+ degree weather, and without air conditioning we are melting!!! I sat out under the umbrella, and watched the kids have a good time splashing, and playing, and nothing beats a soaking wet little one snuggling up in your lap, too cool you off from summer heat. We moved our little slide up to the wading pool, Caillou slid down the slide into the water so much, his poor little bottom was bruised the next morning! Tonight the air was cool, Jasper woke up, and we spent some time out in the hammock, enjoying the cool, swaying under the trees. He is such a snuggly little boy. I hope my arms are never empty of a snuggling child. This week, I worked hard trying to list everything in my etsy shop, I am having troubles with uploading my pictures, to many mb's or kb's or something like that, so my etsy shop is moving a little slower than I would like...but one of these days, y'all will find a link, and my shop will be open. I am surviving the heat these days, by looking forward to winter. Today I began crocheting a little red scarf for Caillou. I have a hand me down blue velour blanket that I plan to either make pajama's or robes out of for the boys. Our little house gets soooo cold in the winter. Yes, I live in sunny California,so for those of you who brave snow each winter, I don't know how you do it. Our house doesn't have any insulation, or a heater, and with us being so poor, running space heaters are out of the question. So, we just have to bundle up. Last year I felt as if I were going to freeze. Our house inside was in the 30's most days, even if it were in the 40's or 50's outside, this old house seems to freeze up in the winter, and burn up in the summer. I was so cold, I just didn't want to move. I plan on doing lots of baking to warm up my kitchen, and bundle up my boys, in lots of warm clothes. Considering I don't own a single long sleeve top, I am going to need to try and build up my winter wardrobe a bit before the cold weather comes. I know I am a bit odd, to be thinking so much about the cold, but like I said, it is the only thing that is getting me through this horribly hot weather! Well, I am not sure what this next week holds in store for me. Tomorrow we will go to church, and I have planned to make the boys some whole wheat breakfast cookies,but other than that.... I have a week ahead of me to plan. I am hoping to get lots of crafty projects accomplished. I hope y'all have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

The very long day at Disneyland....

We had a very nice day yesterday, celebrating my birthday. We arrived at Disneyland at around ten in the morning, and I finally placed my sleeping little angels in their beds at one in the morning. We rode many, many rides, and watched a fun and lively parade, visited toon town and took a tour of Mickey Mouse's house, and ended the day with a sweet treat and a fireworks show. Jasper was in wonderful humor all day long, so patient, and happy. He enjoyed seeing all the sights, he was continually pointed in every direction, pursing his lips together going "ooooohhhhh" "Oooooohhhhh" Caillou, loved "It's a small world" the very most, we rode it twice. It was my favorite too! Caillou struggled with waiting in lines, he became naughty at times to the poor people standing in front of us,but after awhile, he seemed to understand the idea of what we were waiting for, and that the line would move, and we would get on a ride. All in all,it was a very fun, but tiring day. I have to say, I am glad that the day was free, I do not know that I would be willing to pay what they charge for admission to do it again. We packed a picnic lunch and lots of snacks, and our only little splurge was a dinnertime treat. It was a bit discouraging, everything was so ridiculously overpriced. $12 for a balloon, $ 8 for a carmel apple, $ 25 for a toy. Needless to say, we have no souvenirs that we brought home from our day except for happy memories, these pictures, and tired feet!

A little about me...

This monday I will be turning 26. It feels very old to me. Perhaps it is because I was married at 19. Perhaps it is because I have always felt older than I am. Perhaps it is because, I never had a period of time in my life that I was a wild rebel. Well, my grandma might beg to differ..... but I mean, wild in the ways of drinking, partying, all that stuff. Perhaps I feel old, because 26 is old, well to me. My husband, who is 17 years older than me, just rolls his eyes at me when I express just how old I feel. But, old or not, 26 is what I will be come monday. So, since I rarely post anything about myself, my two kids are much more interesting I assure you... I decided to post 26 things about me. Here goes...

1. I have never lived more than 30 minutes away from where I was born.

2. I went to bed with a jar of crayons rather than a stuffed animal when I was little.

3. I spent 16 years of my life as a tap dancer. I still teach a class every now and then.

4. I have never had a big dog, I have had lots of little ones though, Tia, Trinket, Tita, & Pearlene

5. I didn't get my drivers license until 1 month before Caillou was born.

6. My grandma is my best friend.

7. I don't like airplanes, spiders, scary movies, freeways, or snakes

8. I used to have my nose pierced.

9. My favorite color is yellow.

10. I am a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

11. I have an addiction to eating out, my grandma supports my addiction!

12. I am an only child, my grandma raised me.

13. My kindergarten boyfriend was Patrick Wheatcroft, we planned to be married at mcdonalds.

14. I am a night owl.

15. I have never worn high heel shoes a day in my life.

16. I was almost named Victoria Nichole, my nickname would have been vicky-nicky!

17. I started a teddy bear making business when I was 14.

18. I have the names picked out for all the babies I plan on having!

19. My favorite flower is gerbera daisies and yellow roses too!

20. I don't like Italian food.

21. I have gone to christian school, public school, and homeschool, I graduated at 16.

22. I lived in the same house for 20 years of my life.

23. I am now living in the town, that my Grandma grew up in, in a house behind the church she attended as a teenager.

24. I secretly want a bright yellow volkswagen bug, with flowery upholstery!

25. I am 5 feet 10 inches tall.

26. I love freckles, chocolate malted crunch ice cream from thrifty's, polka dots, fifties dresses, aprons, and miniature donkeys.

So, that's it in a nutshell. 26 things about me. I am just your average run of the mill plain jane sort of gal, with an aspiration to be a croos from little miss suzy homemaker and the lady that lived in a shoe!

A fun day ahead....

This monday is my birthday. We will be celebrating the day in a very special way.... at Disneyland. This year Disneyland has a special deal going on, if you go on your birthday it is free! And my kids are both under 3... so they are free too!!!! Seeing as I haven't been to Disneyland in 15 years and the day will be free, it is just to good a deal to pass up! We are very excited. The boys and I will be leaving bright and early monday morning for a day full of fun and adventures. I am really very excited for this day to come. Knowing how poor my little family is, I worried that I might not ever be able to give my little ones a magical day at "the happiest place on earth" so I am very excited about this day, and feel so happy that I will be able to give my little guys this special adventure. So...we are going to make the very most of this day and take lots of pictures. Happy Birthday to me!

Indecisive little old me...

Allright Y'all I have hummed and hawed as to whether or not I should start a new blog, build a webpage, do an etsy store... on and on and on. So... I am keeping the blog, no webpage, no confusing new blog address, same blog, new look, and for my handmade goodies, I have opened up an etsy account, I have not listed any of my little lovelies for sale yet, but as soon as I do, I will link up the store to this blog. Allrighty, goodnight!

Smiles for just seventy cents....

Today I made a quick errand to the store. Usually during our shopping trips, Caillou steals the spotlight, taking front and center with his rowdy, " I don't want to be shopping Mommy" 2 year old behavior. For example.... Tuesday evening was spent in the emergency room, after what was supposed to be a quick trip to K-mart. Now Jasper..... being a calm and usually happy go lucky baby, just sits back and watches his boisterous brother in wonder, and amusement... never fusses, and therefore gets less than his fair share of attention. So today, during our quick little errand, I decided to make my focus be on Mr. Jasper.... there was a new little ride outside our grocery store, a mechanical cow, I shook my little blue tin can out ( for some reason, my money always resides in my little can, rather than a wallet) and found two quarters. Jasper was quite happy with his little ride. Once inside the store, we went to the bakery and I got a little potato roll for him for just twenty cents. He happily munched on it in my arms all through the store and out to the parking lot. He was a very cheap date! Just seventy cents! But boy oh boy, the smiles he was giving me. He was very happy to have his mommy's undivided attention, and a couple extra treats! In other news..... my husband came home to his little family on Wednesday evening. It has been a rocky three weeks. But, he is home now, and will be beginning counseling soon, and is doing his best to give his heart to the Lord, and become the man that we need him to be. It is my most sincere prayer, that our little family will be strengthened, and that we will never again have to go through such unhappy times. Right now as I sit here making this post for my blog, Caillou is busy painting on the porch with his little easel all set up and Jasper is napping. I am about to put some cornbread in the oven, and work on a little more sewing. I have been working on lots of little projects for my shop. I am not sure whether I will be starting up a webpage, or an etsy shop, but I will be starting up something. I definitely want to make some changes, something new, sunshiny, and bright! Until then, this happy little homemaker of the little hillbilly farm will continue to post here! Have a happy weekend y'all!

New news, new blog....

Well it has been a busy week. Caillou learned how to ride his tricyle this week! There were many trips to craft stores, we went on a scavenger hunt at the best donut shop in the world, stayed up late with my friend sewing, my cousin came into town for a visit, I taught a tap dance class, and worked on a lot of crochet. We had an evening of play at the park, made some chocolate yummies, and have worked on our yard. When the weather cools down we are going to plant some more grass seed in the back yard. As of this morning, the hubby decided to come home. We are going to give things another try, with lots of counseling and the Lord's help, perhaps there will be a happy ending to this story. Please keep my little family in your prayers. In other news... I am still in the works of a new blog, with a shop too! I will keep y'all updated with the new blog stuff,but try not to neglect this blog while the new one is in works. Have a happy week.

time for a change....

I removed my most recent post, at the advice of a close friend. I have been doing some thinking, and with all the changes that are going on in my life right now... I will be making some changes around here on my blog too. Not to fret, it may take me a while... but I'll be back and better than ever. The blog that is :-) I have been crafting up a storm for a good while now, and plan to have a little shop up too! For all of you out there, who enjoy visiting my corner of blogland, please post a comment with your email... I may be changing the address of my blog and don't want to lose any friends out there.

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!