Full ;~)

Today my heart is full. Thankful.  Happy.

There is so much to be thankful for.

Last week was a week full of road trips.  Starting on Monday with bringing Mikayla to camp.  I am thankful we have a van now.  I was able to help bring a couple other kids down as well. 

Wednesday we had to take a trip up the to Adirondacks to fix and retrieve the Mister's truck.  Its about a three hour drive.  Took him about ten minutes to fix.  But it was a wonderful family day.  The drive up was beautiful.  We picnicked by the lake and stopped to play miniature golf on the way home.

Friday we were on the road again, this time to pick up Mikayla.  Once again I was able to take a friend to pick up her son as well.  It was great having her along. 

Saturday we hit the road again.  Down to PA for my cousin's baby shower.  Thankful I did not have to drive this one.  Mom did. :D My sister was along as well.  The shower was great.  A fun time.  A time of much laughter and joy.  I can hardly wait to meet her sweet little boy in the fall. <3

Kelly, my beautiful cousin and Mommy-to-be

All the girl cousins who were there. :)  Erin also has a lil peanut due in November! This one is a girl!

In less than 24 hours we were back on the road and headed home.  One of our shortest trips ever to Grammy's.  But we arrived home safely.  For that I am truly thankful.

Today is our two year  anniversary in our home.  It is perfect and wonderful and there isn't a day that goes by I am not incredibly grateful for it!

My black eyed Susan's are finally in full bloom! I love flowers so much!

And hopefully soon my sun flowers might bloom as well.  I hope. I hope, One looks like its getting close.  Last week I as so upset when I came home from church and noticed the ones in my garden looked strange.  going to investigate I saw that a deer {I am guessing} had eaten off all the leaves. :/ But today I saw the resilient plants had put forth lots of new growth! :D Maybe I will get to see them yet.  It has not been a good year for sunflowers at my house...you can still see the spikes were the perpetrator nibbled off the first set of leaves...

Picked my first cuke from the garden today! And am excited at the number of little green tomatoes which will hopefully be plump and red! :-D

calm the storm

This morning I read today's devo from Jesus Calling, it was a reminder to give thanks.  In all things.  One of the scriptures referenced was Psalm 100:4.  It is a pretty short Psalm, I read the entire thing.  I read it again.  I closed my eyes.  Letting the truth sink into my soul.  Thinking of all that I have to be thankful for.  I got out my Gifts journal and jotted down a few.

See how many times you can thank Me daily; this will awaken your awareness to a multitude of blessings.  It will also cushion the impact of trials when they come against you.  Practice My Presence by practicing the discipline of thankfulness.  ---Jesus Calling, pp215 

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving thanks.

¹ Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
² Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
³ Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his^[a];
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

This evening I picked up another devo that I have been slowly reading through.  Funnily enough it was inspired from the Napoleon Dynamite movie.   It is called; Taming a Liger: Unexpected Spiritual Lessons from Napoleon Dynamite, I chuckled when I received it.  But it is an honest to goodness little devotional.  Who knew?  I actually have gleaned a few truths from its pages.  Its a little shocking how much thought someone (or more accurately two someones) put into this little book drawing parallels from that crazy movie to God.  But I guess it goes to prove you can find God anywhere if you are looking for Him. ;~)

Anyway, the devo I read tonight talked about the storms we may face in life.  That at times we are cruising along, all is going well and suddenly we are in the midst of a raging storm we never expected.  This has certainly happened to me.  I have weathered a few storms, and hopefully come out a better person on the other side.  I am thankfully that God was there to see me safely through.  I know He will continue...

I needed that little reminder that God is in control.  That He is always here.  That He will calm our storms and see us through.

 

Source: etsy.com via Amy on Pinterest

Last night I was chatting with a friend about crochet...kinda left me itching to create something.

Perusing Pinterest I came across this...

Source: ktmade.com via Amy on Pinterest

On which I found a link to a cute little bird pattern you can see here.

Hannah snapped this picture of me hooking away last night...

I didn't have the right size hook mine was a couple sizes bigger so I think mine came out slightly bigger and a little looser.  Not perfect but I think it came out pretty good for a practice project. :)  Also didn't have proper eyes and didn't want to wait until I could get to the craft store.




Also now that I finished the series of THREE baby boy quilts {Jacob, Andrew, & Liam} I have picked up my ripple again ;) perhaps I will finish it before cold weather sets in...

Ryan

Monday morning I dropped my Ry off at camp.  I was slightly apprehensive.  This would be his first time away. I never thought I would be one of those Mom's but-- confession: this mommy is having major issues with her little ones growing up this summer.

Rumor has it Ry is doing awesome at camp and having a marvelous time.  We have the added perk of knowing the camp managers. We have received a couple reports and pics to reassure that he is having a great time!

While he is away I decided to take advantage of his absence and clear out some of the clutter in his room.

Before:


Quite scary, eh?

Storm accompanied me and even found a new place to curl up in one of Ryan's Beyblades Arenas.

This afternoon I managed to clear the desk area...

The Lost...

... has been found!



THIS is my missing quilt book! Where did I find it you ask. Sitting on the floor in Mik's room! I picked it up exclaiming "I have been looking for this forever!!"  Apparently it had gotten tucked into one of her boxes that was for quite sometime in my crafty area of the laundry room....

But really all I care about is that I have it back!!!!!!! =D

day 5... the dreaded closet

This morning the guys left for a weekend camping trip...so its just me and the girls.

We spent the morning out with my Mom. <3  Visiting Hobby Lobby and Joann Fabrics...we were able to purchase a few more goodies for Mikayla's upcoming 13th birthday celebration.

This afternoon I tackled another decluttering project...the closet.  This is basically a ginormous "junk drawer".  Anything I don't know what to do with I crammed in there and promptly closed the doors.  It was a ghastly sight.

Everything from Christmas gift bags, to Easter eggs, to Pampered Chef paperwork. to junk mail and more... I unearthed a few treasures like my Senior year high school yearbook as well as the New Testament that I received from Pastor and Joanne when I graduated.

I did not however find my missing favorite quilt book that has been missing for months. I was sincerely hoping to find it when I cleaned the closet.  I last saw it when I made this table topper for Magda's birthday in Nov of 2010...at least that is the last project I made from it.
 

I have had a Thanksgiving themed fat quarter bundle since last November that I want to make into a similar project...

Apparently watching me work is exhausting!

Here is the progress thus far...

Mikayla made this for supper...which of course she found on Pinterest. ;P Very good.

Source: reallyfrompinterest.blogspot.com via Mikayla on Pinterest

After supper the girls conned me into driving them to PetSmart so we could buy a couple of 13 cent goldfish... dubbed George and Frank... on the way home we stopped to pick up some ice cream and a movie at Redbox. We watched Hop. 

summer cleaning... day 4

Continuing on my decluttering journey this hot 4th of July...

Before:
My stampin'/scrapbook/crafty area downstairs


It has been a nightmare... an avalanche waiting to happen.  I have had to make a few cards in this mess.  It was not pleasant and very frustrating.  My scapbooking coming to a complete halt.  When its neat and tidy I usually have a page laid out that I am working on.  Then whenever I am switching loads of laundry or have a few spare minutes I can easily work on it.... obviously not the case lately. =P

Here is the after... not 100% done yet but a vast improvement.  If you look close there is already a scrapbook page in progress laid out. =D

Also tidied the computer desk ...
Before:

After: The mister already told me it looks good ;-)

I have mountains of laundry to put away. Later-- burgers and salt potatoes for dinner and hopefully watching fireworks somewhere. It has been years since I have been to a real fireworks display. For now its kinda nice having a quiet day at home, just the five of us. It doesn't happen to often.

Hope you are enjoying your 4th of July.

weekend at Grammy's

Thia past weekend the kids and I went to Grammy and Pa's. My aunt and uncle celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on the 27. The family put together a surprise party for them. It was wonderful.
Uncle Bob and Aunt Deb... 25 years ago

Uncle Bob and Aunt Deb this past Saturday at their party.

It was a great time.  Almost the whole family could make it.  Lots of friends stopped in as well.

Monday on our way home we stopped by Niagara Falls.  I hadn't been there since I was a child.  My children had never been.

My pooch had never been there either! =P

So many gifts this weekend... coming home I found stress and worries waiting for me. Trying to take deep breaths and one moment at a time....here are some precious gifts from this week...  

• reading with Hannah
• board game after supper
• great report card for Ryan
• he got the "nicest teacher in 4th grade" next year
• kool-aid slushies
• waffle makers
  
• grocery shopping by myself
• helping my sister find fabric to sew a new dress
• moving my hammock into the yard under a shady tree
• Finishing Liam's quilt
• fireflies
• getting Hannah's room clean
• a friend's spare camera when mine broke
• giving Jess Liam's quilt
• watching the trains
• Uncle Bob & Aunt Deb's 25th anniversary party
• time with cousins
• making anniversary signs
• preparing for the party
• a wonderful family, full of love
• Pa's crushing hugs
• waking thought... "This is the day the Lord has made- I will rejoice and be glad in it" Ps 118:24
• a cup of coffee-- quiet time with the Lord
• lunch with the Snyder clan
• bonfire and fireworks at Uncle Bob's
• roasting hotdogs
• trip to Niagara Falls
• Hannah's teacher letter for kindergarten...she will be in the same class with Hannah W
• an excellent report card for Mikayla
• sending in Ryan's camp registration
• 1st sweet corn of the season
• opening a savings account {finally} for each kid