Leavin' On A Jet Plane

Ok, so I'm actually COMING HOME on a jet plane, but I love that song... any other fans out there???

My mom is moving on October 16 and I decided to go with her! I had already planned for the girls to have a fall break from October 18-22, so it worked out perfectly! I'm going to help them drive their van to Arizona and stay for an entire week to help them unpack and get settled in. Then the girls and I will fly home on the 23rd. I'm a little nervous about riding an airplane with both of my girls without the help of my husband, but I'm sure we'll be fine. And the girls are SUPER-excited because they have never flown before and can't wait to do it!

I bought the tickets last week, but I had this grand scheme on how I wanted to tell the girls. I was going to make up little clues and arrange a scavenger hunt. After they collected all of the clues they were going to have to figure out the plan. But my dear little Zora is just way to nosy and smart for something like that. She's apparently been eavesdropping on my conversations with Nana without my knowledge, and put it all together. She just came right out yesterday and said, "Mom, are we going to Arizona with Nana and then flying home?" Well, I NEVER lie to my children, so I confessed everything right there. So, BAH-HUM-BUG to her. No fun games from this Mommy. But that really doesn't matter...we'll still have a fun trip :-)

Ladies' Lunch & Mass Destruction

This weekend Joel and I each got a few hours to enjoy what we each like best.

We started out Saturday morning getting ready for my Pampered Chef party. My husband was gracious enough to help out when I asked so that everything would be in order when the guests arrived. He also watched the kids while the ladies all enjoyed a couple hours together and a very yummy lunch. I didn't have a huge showing of people, but we definitely enjoyed one another's company and the fun of "shopping" together! (If you are interested in buying something my show won't "close" until Thursday, Sept 30, so you can still order... just click here and then enter my first and last name under option 1).

After the guests left and I got the kitchen cleaned and back in order, Joel got to enjoy some macho-man time. I don't know if all men enjoy tearing things apart, but I know Joel does. As I mentioned in a previous post Joel built us a new shed because our old one was falling apart - the door fell off a couple of years ago and the floor was rotting. Well, he spent the afternoon tearing down the old one. It actually was tougher to tear down than we had originally anticipated, but with a truck, towing chain, chainsaw, and sledge hammer, the job was finally complete. Not only did he get it torn down, but we even got it all cut up, on a trailer ready to haul off, AND the ground re-leveled in a matter of 4 hours! Whew!

Shed before...

Timber!!!

After... now we can see the new shed :-)

We still have a little bit of cleaning up to do around the new shed, but it already looks much better! And now the girls have that much more play area in our backyard :-)

Family Treasures

Decorating is not my talent, but I do love to do it. My taste is probably very different than a lot of other people's, but it comes from a desire to house family treasures. In many cases these things would not be treasures to anyone else, but they are to me because they are items passed down from elder generations in my family.

I've been rather sentimental lately due to the upcoming relocation of my mom and step-dad, and this weekend as I looked around my home those emotions only intensified. I realized how much stuff I have that is seemingly worthless to most, but absolutely priceless to me... family treasures.

Old Bible
(My great uncle & aunt
Date in the cover: Dec 24, 1934)

Bowls
(Granny Bea)

White corner cabinet
Made by my grandfather
Handed down to me by my grandmother

Dishes from my Great Aunt Sis

Toothpick holder from my mom

Metal Pitcher
My mom has many fond memories of her mother making ice cold lemonade for her and her siblings and serving it in this pitcher

Old School Books that belonged to my aunts and uncle
Spanish, Zoology & Math books dated in the 1950s

Bed jacket that belonged to my Granny Bea

Hamper given to my mom from my Aunt Fonda who is a missionary in Mexico

Bowls
(Granny Bea)

Sewing Cabinet & Machine from Granny Bea

China Cabinet from Granny Bea

Stacking bowls from Granny Bea

Tea Pitcher
Granny Bea or Aunt Sis???

Granny Bea's red hat

Wooden plate and Mexican bowl
originally gifts to my mother from family friends

Granny Bea's old wing-back chair

Zora's dresser from her namesake
(great-great-grandmother, Zora)

Matching bed and chest of drawers
(great-great-grandmother, Zora)

Poem written about my great-grandmother, Zora (Zora's namesake)
By my grandmother, Lillie Bea (Lily's namesake)
This poem hangs in both of my girls' rooms since both namesake's were entwined

Glass pitcher and musical glass bowl
(Granny Bea)

Old Quilt Box
(Great-grandmother Zora)

Floral Lamp
(Great-grandmother Zora)

Floral Lamp
(Great-grandmother Zora)

Flower Girls!!!

Several months ago some dear friends of ours asked Zora & Lily to be the flower girls in their wedding. Of course the response was YES! The girls had two reasons to be excited about the occasion:

Reason #1 They get to be pampered like a princess and look like a princess!

In preparation for the big event, I took the girls yesterday afternoon for some "big girl" pampering. They both got their fingernails and toenails painted.

Reason #2 Their good friends, Reid & Pierce were going to be the ring bearers!

Here are the kiddos at the rehearsal last night. They were so happy to see each other!

Lily, Pierce, Zora & Reid

This morning Lily's allergies started acting up so badly that we had to start the day with medicine and breathing treatments :-( This is NOT what Lily had in mind for such a special day. But Zora came to the rescue by reading to her so she wouldn't be sad. What a good big sissy!
Then we were off to the hair salon to get pampered some more! The bride's mother is a beautician, so she was happy to fix the girls' hair for me. She did a great job!

Zora's hair

Putting on the tiara

Lily's hair is so thin and fine that in order to give it some body and get it to curl she had to start with it a little WILD... perfect fit for Miss Lily!

A tiara for the little princess, too!

The girls loved their beautiful new hairdos!

After getting their hair done we had an hour-and-a-half to wait at the church until picture time. I was a nervous wreck about this long wait because I didn't want their hair to come undone. So, how do you get two very active little girls to sit perfectly still for that long?

Put in a movie and buy them some pizza!

After the long wait was over I quickly put on their make-up and slid them into their dresses just before picture time. Here is Lily sitting so patiently and quietly waiting for her turn to take pictures...

And Miss Zora daydreaming the time away

Finally picture time arrived. The girls hammed it up for the camera!

Zora, Amber & Lily

Reid, Devon & Pierce

The entire wedding party

Zora

Lily

Giggling Sisters

Cute little flower girls

I don't really believe in bribery, but I totally used it this weekend. I was a nervous wreck about how they would act on stage during the ceremony. I told them that if they would do exactly what they were supposed to, and stand as still as a statue on stage for the entire ceremony that I would treat them to a date at the movies next week. It worked! They were great and the ceremony went off without one glitch! That makes for a happy bride & groom, a happy mommy and two very happy, beautiful little flower girls!

FUNDRAISER

I am doing a fundraiser for my cousin, Rachel, and her family. They are adopting a little girl, Aamina, from Ethiopia. I wish I could legally post a picture of her, but I cannot. You cannot imagine how beautiful this precious little girl is with her great big smile and her big brown eyes. She would absolutely melt your heart.

They are in the final stages of adopting and are getting reading to travel in the next few weeks to meet their sweet baby girl for the first time face-to-face. Because of the laws of Ethiopia, they can only meet her the first time they travel over there. Then they have to come home and wait to be called back to actually travel again and be able to bring her home. Since they will be required to make two trips, the cost is very high. She is having several fundraisers right now to help with the cost, but I wanted to help out as best I can.

So, I am going to donate 10% of all the orders I receive for Designs by T during the months of September and October to the Miller family. I would love to custom design and print a onesie, t-shirt, tote bag, mousepad or apron for you! And if you'd like to contribute above and beyond the cost of your order I will make sure the money gets into the hands of my cousin!

Thanks in advance for helping out! God Bless!

(click here to see my cousin's blog - Waiting For Aamina)

School Is IN!!!

We've been back into our normal school routine now for three weeks. I can still hardly believe that this is our 4th year of homeschooling. And not one year has been anything like the previous. Every year we find new and exciting things to work with, and every year we develop a new schedule that fits into our lives for that moment! Alas, the beauty of homeschooling! :-)

Lily is using the Sonlight program I used with Zora when she was four. She loves doing schoolwork! She is doing so great and I'm so proud of her! She is working very hard on her penmanship. She feels so big doing school work like her big sissy! Our biggest goal this year is learning to read. She can already read small words, but she doesn't really have the DESIRE to want to do more. We're working on that! Hopefully before the year is over she'll be reading with no hesitation.

Zora is doing great as well. We are continuing with our much loved programs that we've used before in phonics/reading, handwriting, math, and history. But this year we are trying a new science program. That is still that only subject that I have yet to find one that I "love" and want to stick with for the long haul. Who knows, maybe I never will and we'll continue to try everything out there! As always, she continues to amaze me in her reading ability. Reading is definitely her strength. She also loves history. It is by far her favorite subject. She BEGS for it! Math is still her least favorite subject (which is so sad for this former-public-school-math-teacher-mommy), but she is greatly improving not only in her mathematic abilities, but also in her attitude toward it. Who knew that she would LOVE doing flashcards??? She actually enjoys doing them and I can tell a major improvement in her work.

We also had a fun meeting with our C.U.E. (formerly T.I.E) group.

We made totes out of chips bags and duct tape...

Zora's is zebra print

and Lily's is flames!

... and we also made a butterfly to send to Mexico. It is a project in which a group of students from the US creates a butterfly to mail to Mexico, and then in the spring the students from Mexico will send us one back. The project is neat because it teaches the students in both countries about the migration of butterflies, and it also helps them to be aware of other people in the world. Kind of like a modern-day pen pal! How fun is that?

We have also started up with gymnastics again.

This year we are trying out the homeschool class which is on Wednesday mornings. So far it is awesome! The gymnasium is much less crowded and it makes our evenings free to spend with Daddy when he gets home from work! And, the girls can be in class at the same time which is a big PLUS for me because I don't have to sit through two hours of class - just one :-)

My First Sewing Project!

My mom is SUPER TALENTED. If it is creative and crafty - you name it - she can do it.

Unfortunately, I AM NOT. And unfortunately I never took the time when I was younger to ask her to teach me all those wonderful things, especially sewing.

Well, recently I acquired my late Granny Bea's sewing table/machine. I am honored to have it sitting in my house, but I really wanted to put some use to it, so I asked my mom to teach me. She gave me my first simple lesson - a pillow. And it is complete!


It now sits on Zora's bed. The next project will be throw pillows for Lily's bed. Then maybe I'll get brave enough to tackle a project besides just pillows!

The only bad thing is that I'm quickly running out of time to have more sewing lessons. My teacher - a.k.a. my mom - is MOVING TO ARIZONA.

I am NOT happy about it. But I'm happy for her and for my step-dad. I will miss them terribly and so will my kids. That's all I can post now about it or I will start crying.

Until next time...

Blast From The Past

Joel built us a new shed because our former one was P-I-T-I-F-U-L! We cleaned out the old one and transferred everything to the new one that we wanted to keep. It was a long, all day ordeal, but the job is complete! Now all we have to do is figure out how to knock over that massive old shed and get it all hauled off :-)

Anyhow, while we were going through all the things in the shed we came across so many things from our past. Boxes full of our childhood memories, of our dating years, and our wedding. I loved reminiscing! However the funny part was when I came to the box of my old toys... I actually remember putting that box in there when we first got married and thinking, "I'll save these and maybe someday I'll have kids who will want to play with these." Well, it is now eleven-and-a-half years later and I can't believe I'm just now getting them out for my girls to play with!!!

My girls absolutely LOVE playing with baby dolls. They love to dress them up, play house, teach them... they are little mommies in the making :-) So they were ecstatic when I found the box FULL of all my original Cabbage Patch Kids - 9 dolls in all with all their original birth certificates, clothes, and accessories! The only downfall was that somehow four of them had mildew which we could not get off, so we were only able to save 5 of the dolls.

Here they are in their original outfits! How fun is that?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!


In the same box was this little doll that a family friend made for me when I was a little girl.


She is the cutest thing I've ever seen! I remember giving her "shots" when I was little and sneaking into my mom's bathroom so I could get band-aids for her sore legs :-) When I pulled her out of the box, she actually still had a small round band-aid stuck to the back of her leg where I used to give her shots! The girls have named her Aamina after their soon-to-be-cousin who is still in Ethiopia and who we cannot wait to meet! (For more of my cousin's adoption story click here and if you'd like to help out click here)

Reliving your childhood with your own children is so much fun!