8 Little Things I Love: One Gardener's Show and Tell

 

1. The beautiful flowers blooming in my front yard and the extraordinary smell of spring flowers in the air.

2. Delicious ripe strawberries growing in my garden and watching my boys devour them each time they go out the front door.

3. A beautiful pot of pansies

(I've had the hardest time growing these flowers, but I figured it out this year. 

 You have to plant a lot of them!)

4. Tiny tiny tomatoes growing and all the hope they hold for tons of salsa, pizza sauce, and BLTs!!

5. The bright yellow pumpkin petals growing out of my compost pile! 

6. Broccoli!! 

I have never grown this gorgeous veggie before.  But Clark and I love it.  I have seen a love of botany and gardening develop as Clark has watched his broccoli grow.

7. Baby bell peppers

8. Blueberries finally turning blue!

Bright eyes gladden the heart

A very wise woman reminded me lately of this Proverb.  Proverbs 15:30 says that "bright eyes gladden the heart".  And I have to agree.  When I see my boys' bright eyes, I am filled with joy and gladdness!  I love eyes.  It's my favorite part of the face.  I love looking into Clark's earthy brown/green eyes just like his dad and mom,  Joel's sweet milk chocolate eyes, and Levi's stormy blue eyes. Today I tried to take pictures to capture their eyes.  I failed, but I had fun trying. 

                        Bright eyes gladden the heart; Good news puts fat on the bones.

That explains everything....I must have had a lot of good news lately.  Hee hee!!!

34 Never Felt Better!

Today is my 34th birthday. It's a great day.

 And I have never felt more loved by my family and friends!

I just don't feel worthy and deserving.  I just have to breath in and let it sink in.

The truth is I am not worthy, but God is a gracious, kind God. 

I have received such beautiful cards from dear family and my favorite dessert from dear friends.

This morning I was surprised by a beautiful tribute!  My MOPS friends showered me with their kind words and a gardener's dream gift: herbs, tools, pot, gloves, and apron.

And this beautiful bouquet was at my door this afternoon from a neighbor.

With all the love and attention, today I almost forgot that life is short and fleeting,  and I am only one in billions that walk on the Earth each day. But the truth is one day I will be long gone and long forgotten.  The hope that I cling to is that these few years and my life will add up to one thing: a legacy of God's grace.   My purpose I strive for is to share the real, true power of God's Amazing Grace through Jesus Christ.  Only by His grace, I live.

I would love to hear your purpose for living.  What's yours?

Staycation April 2012

Life has been a little busy lately, and we were in need of  a good relaxing vacation that was free.  So we had a staycation this past weekend.  The rules were NO WORK, just FUN and FAMILY TIME.  We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and hung out around the fire in the backyard.  We got up early to go garage saling on Saturday.  The boys scored some Star Wars light sabers and Star Wars pajamas for free!    Then we went hiking at our favorite place--"the Blue Hole"!  The boys threw rocks in the water for over an hour.  Even Levi got into the rock throwing fun!  After we came home to camp in the backyard.  All five of us roughed it.  :-) We wrapped up our weekend staycation with a bike ride along the Tennessee River on the River walk and picnic.  Clark and Michael rode tandem, and I pulled Joel and Levi in our bike trailer. 

Sometimes you just need to take a break from it all.  Amen???

Trapped but together

My little Darth Vader

Baby Levi and Princess Leia

One of many dangerous Jedi battles

Easter Day at Our House

After spending the past two weeks discussing and learning about Easter, we were glad that it is finally here! 

We made several crafts and projects that revolved around the cross and the tomb.  The boys especially enjoyed acting and telling the story of redemption to anyone who would listen.  Clark has been telling everyone he meets that Jesus loved them and died for them to rescue them.  That is so sweet to my ears.

Today Michael and I taught children's church.  When we got home from church, Joel started throwing up in the yard.  So we canceled our Easter lunch plans and stayed home.  A tummy bug is going around, and we were not sure what was going on with him. 

So we ate a little lunch, and then we had our egg hunt in the backyard!

Levi loved putting the candy straight into his mouth--wrapper and all.

Finding the hidden treasure!

The best part: Eating all the chocolate!

Clark is informing his daddy of all important things.

My Littlest Buddy

My poor third child will have less pictures taken of him and less fuss made about everything. So I decided to honor him in a post all his own today.   Sorry, Levi.  Mommy is so busy now days. 

Levi turned one a few weeks ago.  Two days before his birthday, Michael had to rush him to the children's hospital ER because his oxygen levels were so low even after breathing treatments at the doctor's office.  They predict he has asthma, but they can't diagnose until later. 

Because of wheezing and low oxygen, he now has to do breathing treatments quite often.  Only time will tell if he will out grow this or grow accustomed to this new challenge of life.

Here's a list of interesting facts and accomplishments for our littlest buddy:

Walks forward and backward for months now

Running fast

Has only two teeth

Climbs stairs when no one is watching

Eats two slices of pizza (no problem)

60th percentile in weight

50th in height

says a few words like mama, dada, jaja (Jack our neighbor)

his eye color is a mix between blue and green and hazel (so we are still waiting for that to settle)

hair color: light brown

Has extreme separation anxiety now

afraid of most dogs

Loves Goldfish

A Beautiful Day at Our House

Beautiful....I am overwhelmed with the beauty all around me-- my family, the new green world, flowers, life, the little plants in my garden that will one day feed my family, God's grace, the Cross.

Today we enjoyed this beautiful day homeschooling.  We focused heavy on phonics and reading.  We read It's Not Easy Being a Bunny and Peter Rabbit for the 50th time.   It is so beautiful to watch Clark grow in literacy.

Today he said the funniest thing.  We were reading The Bear Escape, and I asked him if he knew what escape meant.  This is his anwer.  "Yes, Mommy.  Escape is when you have to run away from an ominous bad guy who is wishing you harm." 

 That boy cracks me up.

Here we are all cuddled up reading.  We made bunny masks to act out the stories.  The boys love me chasing them around like Mr. McGregor while they act like little naughty rabbits eating my carrots.   I actually get them to eat a whole bag of carrots each time I read that book.  :-)

Beautiful...this is the view I see of my feet almost all day and everday.

Beautiful weather...We got outside today to play.  The boys found all kinds of life and fun things to explore.  We found something extra special outside today.

Clark and Joel will show you....

Wasp lavae!!!!  Some people actually eat them, but we didn't today.

God's creation is BEAUIFUL. 

I hope you enjoy the beauty that surrounds you today.

Candy Party for Clark's 5th and Levi's 1st

To make life simple, we decided to combine Clark's 5th and Levi's 1st birthday parties!  It was a hit.  Clark loved sharing, and I was able to put a little more energy into one big party rather than two small ones.  Clark picked the theme in December after seeing a picture of another candy party.  I got to work creating our home into a candy lovers' paradise.

Here's the boys' Candyland cake.  With a chocolate swamp, ice cream cone mountains, and lollipop forrest, I copied the traditional game board.  The top of the cake is covered with a thick layer of whipped cream.  The sides are frosted with butter cream.  YUM!!

One night when Michael was out of town, I decided to make game boards to show the boys' lives.  Clark and I painted it together.  He did a really good job painting all the colored rectangles.

I also got a refrigerator box, and I made it into a Sweet Shop Photo Stop booth. 

All my guest were able to pose for a sweet shot while the camera took pics on auto!

We had carnival type games at the party to keep our little sweeties busy.  Here's one of our games: Gumdrop Toss.  Others were Skittles Toss (water balloon throw game), Chocolate Swamp, Jelly Bean Race where you use water guns to shoot plastic eggs across a table, and Candy Bingo.  During each game, the kids earned tickets to buy candy later.

After the kids played the games, they took their tickets and their baskets to the candy store and bought candy.  I hit up the stores after Valentines' Day and got all the loot for 50% off!  Each child was supposed to go home with their basket full of candy and a new toothbrush.  However many of my peeps did not want to take the sweet stuff home with them. 

Here's some of our candy decorations: colored plates in cellophane and tons and tons of balloons.

Joel is having fun digging in the Chocolate Swamp for prizes.

Here's my three big boys posing at the Sweet Shop Photo Stop.  I love my boys!!!

Here's Clark digging into his main birthday gift: 3DS (thank you Craigslist!)

He loves videos games! And he is obsessed with Mario Brothers and Lego Star Wars.

Thanks to all our friends and family for making it an extra special SWEET day!

We love you all.

Here's some of our very special guests.