A snapshot of our week

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Elizabeth Ann

I took an unintentional week off from blogging last week, so here’s a quick catch-up.

Sunday

These lovely people moved into my house temporarily! The Dude’s brother got his first grown-up job in our town! Yea for having family close and live-in friends and babysitters for a while!

I had a super great Mother’s Day. My man likes to spoil me. He took me to the Botanical gardens on the busiest day of the year and stayed cheerful the whole time .

Monday

Continuing to work on my bedroom redo. My dear mother-in-law sent this dresser to me in the moving van. Started giving it a good sanding.

Safety first!

Tuesday

Tiger started to crawl!! He’s into everything now and puts it all in his mouth, so I’m a little more stressed about the legos and army men than before.

Wednesday

It is finally feeling like spring around here. I broke out the ‘ole turtle sandbox. It provides endless dirty fun for kids of all ages.

Tiger discovered grass and leaves taste delicious and strongly protested them being taken away.

I discovered a fun new IPod App called A Beautiful Mess. Incidentally, you can follow me on Instagram. My name is eawood7.

Thursday

Bear graduated from his first year of preschool! I made his favorite chocolate cookies. He is turning in to such an awesome little boy. I’m super proud of how much he has grown up this year. His teacher asked all the kids throughout the year what they want to be when they grow up. Bear’s was a pirate until I informed him that a pirate isn’t a real job. So he changed it to “cook on a train, and to drive the train too”. But at the program he quickly changed it to astronaut. At least he’s keeping his options open.

Friday

This was Monkey’s graduation day. Her chosen profession is the same as last year, confidently and unwavering, a waitress.

I can’t believe she’ll be in Kindergarten next year. Feelings of excitement and trepidation rush over me when I think about it too much. What mad me saddest of all is that I looked around the room and realized not one of her sweet preschool friends will be going to her school next year. I will miss those faces and seeing their lovely moms every other morning as we shuffle about our busy schedules and exchange friendly smiles and short conversations. I know we’ll both make more friends but I can’t help picturing her growing up with the same girls she has grown so close to over the last two years.

That was our week last week. I hope you all feel caught up on our business now . It’s just nice to sit down for a few minutes and reflect on all of the blessings we experienced the last week. God is so good to us. His steadfast love and mercy never ceases. He has been stirring in the hearts of our family in exciting way recently which I hope to share more about later, for now I’ll just praise the Lord again and thank him for his kindness.

Have a lovely Monday!

Elizabeth Ann

PSS Review {God rescues Israel by parting the Red Sea}

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Elizabeth Ann

God Rescues Israel by Parting the Rea Sea

Scripture:

Focus: Man is sinful and cannot save himself. Man needs God to save him.

Lesson:

Open your Bible to Exodus and summarize the story. Here are my key points, fill in with details so the story flows like a narrative

After the Passover, Pharaoh let God’s people leave Egypt
Over 1 million Israelites and all of their livestock and possessions left Egypt all at once
God hardened Pharaoh’s heart again
Pharaoh and his army chased after the Israelites
Meanwhile, the Israelites were traveling through the wilderness
God was with them and led them where he wanted them to go
God led them to the edge of the Red Sea, a body of water that was too large for them to cross
God told the Israelites to make a camp and stay there
Pharaoh’s army started to get close and the Israelites were afraid
God told Moses to stretch his hand over the water of the Red Sea
A strong east wind blew the water until it stood up like a wall and the Israelites crossed on dry ground
Pharaoh and his army chased after them on the dry sea bed
God told Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea again
The sea came crashing down on the Egyptians and they drown

Where is Jesus in this story?

The Israelites were stuck. They had the Egyptians on one side and the Red Sea on the other. They could not save themselves. But God made a way for them to be saved. We are stuck too, stuck in our sin. Even though we don’t want to sin, there is no way we can stop and no way for us to save ourselves from the punishment for sin. But God made a way for us to be saved. The bible says “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9-10

Pray

Praise God that he made a way for us to be saved. Thank him for his mercy to us and to the Israelites.

Activities

Opener: Separating Water Experiment

Supplies – large bucket with enough water to go about 4 inches up the sides, towels, straws, plastic cups

Have the kids try to separate the water {move half of the water to one side of the bucket and half to the other side of the bucket}. Have them try this by {1}pushing the water apart with their hands {2}blowing the water apart with a straw {3}scooping water from the center with a cup and pouring it on the side

Explain that we cannot separate the water, but God can. And he did in the story we will be talking about today!

Craft: Sand art

Supplies – blue craft paper, liquid glue, craft sand, small seashells {these can be purchased at a craft store}

Instructions

Spread glue down the center of the craft paper and spread it around with your finger or a paint brush
Have the kids pour sand onto the glue. {I would recommend doing this one child at a time so you can contain the sandy mess as much as possible!}
Pour off the extra sand into a bowl to save for another project
Let the children put on dabs of glue and attach seashells
The sandy part is the dry seabed and the blue on the sides is the water

Game: Act it out!

Supplies: two large pieces of blue material {I cut an old sheet in half}, staff, Bible times clothes

Assign the following roles to a child

Moses
Pharaoh
Israelites
Pharaoh’s army
Wind from God

Act out the key points of the story {see above}. When Moses stretches his arm over the sea, pull the two fabric pieces apart and let the Israelites and Moses walk through. Pharaoh and his army follow, but pause in the middle and the sea covers them up {gently!}

PSS Review: God passes over Israel

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Elizabeth Ann

God Passes Over Israel

Scripture: Exodus 12-13

Focus: Man is a sinner and deserves punishment. Man cannot save himself. Man needs God.

Opening Activity: This lesson is a transition between our Easter lesson and getting back into Exodus. For Easter lessons we followed the Jesus Storybook Bible for 7 weeks, from the washing of the disciples’ feet to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Transitioning with the Passover lesson fit in perfectly.

Print pictures from each of the Easter lessons.

Jesus washing the disciples’ feet
Passover
The Garden of Gethsemane
The Crucifixion
The Resurrection
The Ascension
The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

Mix up the pictures and have the kids work together to put them in order, briefly sum up each lesson in a sentence or two. Make sure as you are summarizing the Passover lesson that you call it “Passover” as opposed to the Lord’s Supper, so you can draw the appropriate connections later in the lesson.

Lesson:

{Collect the following visuals for this lesson: a lamb, either a picture of a stuffed animal; a picture of a doorpost, a picture of a cross, red paint, a sponge brush}

Pharoah was sinning against God by not obeying him to let God’s people leave Egypt. God sent 10 plagues to punish Pharoah and the Egyptians.

Through the first nine plagues, Pharoah still did not listen. The Bible said that “God hardened his heart so he would not let the people go”. Then God sent the last plague which was the worst punishment of all. He killed all the first-born living in Egypt.

Do you think it was scary for God’s people living in Egypt to know that the Lord was going to kill all the first born? A little scary? Very scary!

But God made a way for the Israelite first-born to be saved.

He told the Israelites to take a perfect lamb with no spots, to kill that lamb and smear some of the blood on the doorframes of their homes. Then they were to go inside and not come out until the angel of the Lord had finished passing over Egypt. When the angel passed over their house and saw the blood the first-born child would live. But, if there was no lamb’s blood on the door frame, the angel of God would enter the house and take the life of the child.

{Pause here and bring out the picture of the doorpost, the red paint and the sponge brush. Pass the supplies around the table to each child letting them smear some of the “blood” onto the doorpost. As they are doing this talk about how without the blood, the child would die, the blood cause the angel to “pass over” the house.}

Everything happened just as God said it would, and even Pharoah’s son died that night. Pharoah was so sad, he finally agreed to let God’s people leave Egypt.

Where is Jesus in this story?

Have you ever heard the words Lamb of God?

Because we are sinners, the Bible says we deserve to die like the first born in Egypt. Just like the blood of the perfect, spotless lamb made the angel of the Lord pass over the house and the child would live – so Jesus’ blood on the cross is “painted” on our hearts so that our sins are “passed over” and we can live forever with God in heaven!

{Now bring out the picture of the cross, the paint, and the brush again. Allow the children to take turns painting blood on the cross. While they are painting say, “without the blood we have to be punished for our own sins which means spending forever and ever away from God. With the blood of Jesus we can live because Jesus was punished instead. Jesus died so that we can live!”}

Craft: Jesus is the lamb who was slain {explain what slain means}

Supplies: 1 paper plate for each child, glue, cotton balls, googley eyes, pink pipe cleaners, pink marker, black craft paper

Instructions:

On the back of each plate write “Jesus is the lamb who was slain” and the child’s name
Spread glue around the bumpy part of the paper plate {the outer edge}
Place cotton balls all around the edge on the glue
glue on two googley eyes in the middle of the plate
shape a small piece of pipe cleaner into a mouth and glue onto the plate
color a pink nose between the mouth and the eyes
cut two ear shapes from the black craft paper and glue on top of the cotton balls on each side of the head

Game: Musical circle

Supplies: hoola hoops or string the the form of circles laid on the ground.

Instruct the kids to run around the circles while the music is playing. When the music stops jump into a circle. the last one left out of a circle gets to answer a question about the story.

Strawberries

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Elizabeth Ann

We live near an Amish community. Which is excellent for many reasons including pie, farm fresh everything, and strawberries. I had the opportunity recently to buy a flat of strawberries. A flat is somewhere around 8-12 pounds as I understand it. I kept most of the first flat, using what I could before they became over-ripe. I made freezer jam, strawberry syrup for pancakes and waffles, we ate them in salads, on shortcake and straight out of the bowl.

The second flat I got was pretty ripe from the get-go, so I gave a bunch away and tried to use the rest quickly. My favorite way? With fresh whipped cream and coffee. There are strawberries down there somewhere .

What is your favorite strawberry recipe? Here’s one for you to try.

Spring Strawberry Salad

Ingredients:

1 bag baby leaf spinach

3/4 pound strawberries, sliced

1/2 cup walnuts

1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Poppyseed dressing, to taste {like Newman’s Own}

Directions:

Toss all ingredients together and enjoy!

when in Texas

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Elizabeth Ann

My parents and in-laws live in some pretty rockin’ vacation towns, Dallas and San Antonio. We make it down to Dallas every couple of months and we try to hit San Antonio once a year, although with four kids under six the 13 hour drive is pretty brutal. I thought with summer quickly approaching I would share some of our favorite things to do with kids in those towns, just in case you are looking at going there on vacation.

Dallas for play

Legoland is hands-down the favorite for my kids. They associate Dallas with it and ask to go every time we are there.

The Dallas World Aquarium is very cool. It is set up like a rain forest. You start in the canopy and work your way down to the floor in a spiral fashion. They have manatee, jaguar, penguins, and the biggest fish I have ever seen. It is a lot of walking though and not super conducive to a stroller {at least not a big one, I think an umbrella stroller would do just fine}. I’m pretty sure when I went I carried the baby in the Bjorn.

We also went to this cool park with Longhorn Cattle. I can’t remember what it is called {Help me out grandma J!}. There are cowboy quotes etched all along the walkway and an extensive history of the cattle drives. Pretty interesting and fun to climb on.

Dallas for eating

Pasados is a Mexican restaurant we frequent. They have big portions, two of my kids can share one kids meal. Be sure to get tortillas before the meal and sopapillas after. Yummmm. Also, there are free ice cream cones on your way out the door just in case one dessert wasn’t enough.

Ra. This one is for grown ups. It is a perfect date place. The food and atmosphere are unbeatable. Even if you don’t think you like sushi, I would be willing to bet you’d change your mind after a trip here.

Dallas for shopping

IKEA. If you haven’t been before, just go. There really are no words for how awesome this place is. If you have small children you can check them in at a day care on your way in, although I cannot attest to it because we’ve always just dragged ours along. And I do mean drag. You can usually keep them entertained for the first half of the store. But then you better have snacks and some form of entertainment or you’ll be racing through the awesomeness to find the quickest escape.

The Allen Outlets. Dallas is a big place, but if you find yourself near Allen, the outlet mall is a worthy stop. I never leave empty handed and they have all the good kids stores. Carters, Gap, Stride-Rite, Gymboree, Children’s Place, Justice…

San Antonio for play

The Children’s Museum. Located Downtown near the riverwalk, this museum will keep the kids entertained for hours. My favorite feature is the kid-sized grocery store in the basement where kids can be the shopper or the checker! They do charge for parents though, which is kind of a bummer.

The Whitte Museum. This museum was a little old for my kids when we went. {I think Monkey was only 3 at the time.} It was really neat though, and super educational. More like a science museum. So if your kids are school aged I think this would be a winner.

The Kiddie Park {click on that title to take you to my full post on this destination} is an amusement park featuring vintage rides and attractions. It is geared for kids under 10, so it is a more affordable alternative to Six Flags if your kids are small.

The zoo is one of the best I’ve been to. The exhibits are set up in such a way that makes it almost impossible to not see the animal on display.

Sea World. A lot of walking in the heat but I would say worth it. The sea lion show is by far the best.

San Antonio for eating

The Alamo Cafe. This is my favorite restaurant of all time, anywhere. Pitcher margaritas and homemade melt-in-our-mouth tortillas. I order the puffy tacos. Don’t be fooled if you’ve ever ordered puffy tacos at another Mexican place. These are different and so much better. Hmmmm. I’m getting hungry!

The Riverwalk. Just take a stroll in the downtown riverwalk and stop in anywhere. You won’t be disappointed. If you like kitschy tourist places, there is a Hard Rock Cafe and a Rainforest Cafe. Oh, and don’t forget to see the Alamo while you’re there.

The Rialto is a movie theater that serves dinner while you watch the movie. I know these are popular now, but I’m pretty sure this was the original.

San Antonio for shopping

If you’re looking for fancy go to the Alamo Quarry Market. They have everything in a beautiful outdoor atmosphere.

If you’re looking for cultural, go to El Mercado {the Market Square}. You will find authentic Hispanic eats and goods. Pick up some Mexican vanilla and cascarones {eggs filled with confetti that you smash on your friend’s heads during parties}.

I hope this helps if you were looking for something to do in Texas this summer. If there is anything you can add to the list, please comment! You might also notice the conspicuous absence of kids in my touristy pictures. All of these were taken pre-marriage the summer my parents moved down there. Don’t we look young and care-free? It’s easier to move about freely with no kids, but not as much fun.

Thanks for stopping by!

Elizabeth Ann

DIY notecards

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Elizabeth Ann

I needed a quick and inexpensive gift for some childcare workers who have faithfully served me this past year. I first came across this idea here.

Here is what you need: blank notecards with envelopes, black acrylic paint, sponge brush, chalk, pencil sharpener, water, hair spray, twine

Step 1: Paint a black square on the front of each card. I let mine be imperfect. I like that kind of handmade look and it is less stressful. Let dry completely.

Step 2: Decide what design you want on your card. I got some inspiration from Etsy. Just search chalkboard art. My favorite chalk artist is Leslie at recipeforcrazy. Sharpen your chalk and dip it in water, then draw your design on the black paint. Let dry.

I like the look of white chalk better, but I ran out and my Target apparently doesn’t carry plain white chalk {?!?}.

Note: When drawing with wet chalk, the line will look faint, but it will be bright again when it dries.

Step 3: Spray the design with hairspray. Let dry. When the hairspray dries, the chalk will be set.

Step 4: Stack up some of your cute cards with their envelopes and tie together with twine. I thought baker’s twine would be really cute too, but I didn’t have any on hand and I did have twine. So twine it was.

I had 8 workers to give these to. I purchased the notecards at Hobby Lobby for $4.20 {using a coupon}. Each teacher got six cards. I had all of the other supplies at home already, so this gift was super affordable. But even if you had to purchase everything I imagine it would still be fairly economical. You could give these as appreciation gifts, teacher gifts, hostess gifts, or make a set for yourself and send them out to your friends.

This was fun and easy, even Monkey made a super cute one! You should give it a go!

This is my birthday week, maybe I’ll send this one to myself

Elizabeth Ann

Another day to trust

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Elizabeth Ann

This was a pretty crazy week for our 8-month-old. He was born with a minor birth defect that we were told would need to be repaired around now. We had him scheduled for surgery on Thursday. Sunday night he had a fever that spiked to 104, so I took him in on Monday and discovered an ear infection. The doctor put him on amoxicillin to try and get him well by his surgery day. In the morning when I went in to get Tiger I hardly recognized him, His face was swollen and he was covered in red welts. Back to the doctor and it turned out he has a penicillin allergy. The good thing is, his ears were cleared up and his fever was down so we were given the green light for surgery.

The Dude’s parents drove seven hours to come play with the three big kids while the Dude and I drove four hours from our home to a hospital that specializes in this kind of thing. Prior to getting in the car the Dude and I hadn’t really discussed the surgery. Too be completely honest, I hadn’t thought much about it. I think it was a defense mechanism. I know my weaknesses. I know that if I let it, my mind can wander to scary places… so I guarded against that by not thinking about it at all.

But now we were in a quiet car and the fearful thoughts started to come out.

What if he doesn’t wake up from the anestesia?

What if this is our last night with Tiger?

Did we really weigh the risks with the benefits?

The questions and fears and uncertainty finally turned to what is true, our answer for everything.

Let me take a quick timeout and assure you that none of the following statements are made callously. I have shed many fearful tears over the lives of my children, and my friends’ children, and my nieces…. but there are some things we must know.

God is sovereign over all things. Sometimes babies die. That is just the reality of life in this world. Does that mean God is not good or that He does not love us? Does that mean his promises are no longer true or don’t apply to me? My answer is an emphatic no.

So often we take what we think to be best, our perfect worldview, and try to fit God into it. We’ve got it backwards. Take what is true about God. The things that will never change. The promises He has made to those who love Him. Form your worldview around that. Answer your toughest questions with what He has already said. Let the Word of Truth be what is solid, and your view of your circumstances be what is fluid. Some of the things we were reminded of as we drove

We are called according to God’s purposes, and we love Him, so all things work together for our good. Our good specifically being formed into the likeness of Christ. Christ knew suffering and sometimes we must know suffering too. If that suffering makes us look more like Christ, then it is for our good. Reminding ourselves of this on Wednesday before Tiger’s procedure gave us courage to face Thursday, even if the all things that we might face were not what we would have wished for ourselves. {Romans 8:28-29}

The Lord will help us if we take refuge in Him. The mark of a Christian is not debilitating fear, but confidence in a God who knows, and cares, and will help. That doesn’t necessarily mean that He will help in the way you think He should help, but know that whatever you face, He is helping you and will continue to help you. {Isaiah 41:14}

These two particular truths calmed our fears and helped us to face the next day, which turned out just fine. Praise the Lord. But if it hadn’t, Praise the Lord.

I am so thankful that I had another day to hold my baby. Another night to rock him to sleep. Another chance to hear his laugh, see his smile, calm his cries. Another day to trust that I don’t know what is best. I don’t know what will work best for our good. Another day to trust in the One who does.

waiting for spring

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Elizabeth Ann

Last weekend was beautiful. We spent most of the day on Saturday visiting garage sales and planting our vegetable garden…

And then I woke up on Wednesday and I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. I must have sleep-walked through the wardrobe because I found myself in Narnia. Everything was covered in ice. Every blade of grass, every leaf, every poor freezing daffodil. The trees made an eerie cracking sound ever time the wind blew. And it was still sleeting a little bit. I couldn’t even bare to check on my baby vegetable plants.

This winter wonderland - in April - was not met with cries of joy from me or presumably anyone in our area. We are all ready for the sure and lasting signs of spring. But then I got to thinking about last summer. How hot it was. Unbearably hot. It seemed at the time as if we would never see cold again, and almost everyone I knew was looking forward to fall and winter.

What is it with us? Always looking to the next thing, rarely seeing the good in what is placed in front of us for the day, even if it is ice in April. Our discontent and grumbling reminds me of a group of people who found themselves in a desert with nothing to eat but manna. They could not make themselves remember the oppression they had been delivered from, except to beg to go back. They found their current situation so wretched that they would prefer to be slaves oppressed and beaten daily. You don’t have to read very far in Exodus and Leviticus to start wondering what was wrong with these people. They had the very presence of God dwelling among them, yet they could not stop complaining. It is an exhausting and frustrating read.

But reading that reminds me of people who complain about everything. How hot it is, how cold it is, where we live, what we where, what we eat. Longing for last summer to have relief from the cold, but forgetting how hot it was and how everything was dying. We are no different. Being one of those people myself, I am exhausted by my ability to ignore the blessings of the exact place I am in today, freezing or sweltering, and wish for something else. I was reminded again this week of the ultimate supremacy and sovereignty of God. Job chapter 38 is an excellent chapter to put my complaining heart back into place. It is a worthy read and you can do so here. Here is a preview.

“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,

or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,….

From whose womb did the ice come forth,

and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?

The waters become hard like stone,

and the face of the deep is frozen….”

Once we are fully convinced that we have no place to question God as to why there is ice covering our neighborhood on an April morning we can move on to addressing the real problem, our hearts. Here are some verses that help me do battle against discontent.

Psalm 138:24

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Philippians 4:11-12

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

1 Timothy 6:6-7

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.

Now I am not saying that we can never hope to be out of a certain difficult or uncomfortable situation. I am just saying to acknowledge the fact that {if you belong to God in Christ Jesus} God placed you in that situation for a sanctifying and God glorifying purpose. You may never know the reason for your particular ice in April, but you can rest assured that it is being used for your good if you “love God and are called according to his purposes.” {Romans 8:28} Furthermore, there is something to be said for just enduring and pressing on:

Romans 5:3-5

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

So wherever you find yourself today, in cold or heat, in pain or comfort, as believers there is reason to rejoice if you find yourself uncomfortable.

Now I’m going to go put some warm socks on and stop complaining

{The picture I took hardly does the ice justice. It was amazing. If you would like to see some really cool shots of it, visit my photographer bloggy friends from my area. Tonya and Meg }

the beginnings of a bedroom makeover

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Elizabeth Ann

The Dude and I have decided to redo our bedroom. Actually, I decided and have been planning changes for months. Just this weekend he was made aware of my schemes and gave me the green light for an update. Whoo-Raw!

I am going with black, white, and yellow. Mostly because a lot of things in the room are already black and white and for some reason I am really diggin’ yellow lately. I’m hoping this turns out as I envision. Not so much bumblebee as soft and romantic.

This whole plan came about because I have been spending a lot of time looking at a big empty wall above my dresser l while nursing Tiger. I thought I could do something cute with stuff I mainly keep around the house. I did purchase these letters at Hobby Lobby to say “You & Me”. I am in the process of spray painting them yellow.

Then I stumbled across an antique store that had a ‘store closing’ sign out this weekend. I have a love-hate relationship with antique stores. I love antiques and would decorate my whole house with them, if I could afford it. Here enters that hate part of the relationship. I love a good deal more than antiques, so I rarely leave the store with them and settle for second best. The traditional/modern looking super affordable stuff from IKEA. Not nearly as much character, but easier on the pocketbook.

But while I was at this closing sale I spotted the perfect new quilt for our bed. Upon entering the store was not planning on changing our comforter. It is tan, brown, and white. Neutral enough that I thought it would work with the addition of some new shams and throw pillows. But I absolutely fell in love with this quilt. It is black with white flower embroidery. And now my current comforter is loathsome to me. Dingy with tiny strings pulled out from our kitten. Whereas my former plans would freshen up my space, this quilt would totally transform it. I would have whisked it home Saturday if it weren’t for that pesky antique store price tag. This isn’t even an antique, it’s brand new in the bag from a design company in New Jersey. I knew I could probably haggle, but I was feeling nervous about it. I think I’ve gained my resolve over the past few days though and I will venture back this week with my best offer in hand. Here’s hoping for the best!

Here are some other fun things I found, none marked down enough to come home with me, but fun to dream about and glean inspiration from. I’ll keep you posted as the makeover continues!

I love this dainty basket. I would probably use it for jewelry. The paper flowers in it are pretty groovy too, although I’m confident I could make them for less that $5 a flower. Sheesh.

Pretty lantern sconces. I have some yellow candles {from IKEA} that would look great in these.

I like these candle holders, but they are a little too tall.

These are fun too, but I think I like the matted look of the first ones better than the shiny look of these.

What do you think of my finds? How do you all redecorate? Do you do it all at once or pick up little things to add as you go? Anybody out there have good advice for thrifty antiquing?

Thanks for stopping by today, have a lovely Tuesday!!

Elizabeth Ann

Chickens

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Elizabeth Ann

It seems like we have been having a lot of encounters with chickens lately. I guess that’s just part of living in small town Kansas. Everywhere I turn people are talking about how they just got their chickens.

We went out to get some hand-me-down clothes for the boys at a new friends house and she was just heading out to feed her chickens, so she brought us along. I wasn’t sure how the boys would do, but the really liked it. Bear didn’t want to run out of bread he liked it so much so he pulled off pea sized pieces. The Little Dude was the first to finish though. I’m pretty sure he only tore his bread once or twice.

I’m glad the chickens didn’t choke and die because they looked pretty fancy and I’m sure they weren’t cheap.

The next day we went out to another friend’s house to watch some March Madness. These friends also have chickens so they let Monkey pick some eggs and then the kids all played with the chicks.

They had an incident the day before where their prize chicky, the one that would grow up to be a fancy rooster got crushed accidentally by a falling child. Again, I was glad to not be the cause of a dead chicken.

Then at library story time last week they were learning about chickens and they brought in a real life chicken. Into the library! Those crazy librarians, always keep you on your toes! They let all the kids pet the chicken and I could tell that the Little Dude did not want to touch it. But then his cute little friend walked up and bravely pet the chicken. So then he had to, to protect his manhood.

I think he would much rather encounter a chick like this.

And as we speak, Monkey is being whisked away to the country where I friends just bought a farm house and 50 baby chicks.

I’m pretty sure I will never own a chicken, but I’m glad I have friends that do because nothing is cuter than kids with baby chicks and nothing is better for breakfast than farm fresh eggs.

gracefullhome

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8