Once a Year?

Okay, so from looking at my past performance, if I make one blog a year I will be doing better than I have!  No pressure!  Really enjoyed going to church this morning (it is a miracle we made it) and it is so nice to FINALLY stop for a second.  Seems like we have just been running.  Keith and the kids playing with legos.  Of course Colton is moping on the floor in here with me because he can't "win".  Didn't know legos was a competition?  Only with my son...

Tomorrow I will hopefully be making pesto again, I'm going to go early and get groceries.  Anyone know if it is better to cut the basil in the morning or afternoon? 

Turning a tunnel into an Entryway

Okay, so I haven't been posting but I have been busy (sorta) I am getting frustrated trying to make our home look presentable, and I don't have any money to waste. So I rediscovered houzz.com and took a few pictures and posted our entryway. I got back these inspiration photos, which I adore. I am now in the process of trying to put together a fun entryway with a shoestring budget. But it was soooooo fun and encouraging to get such great advice and inspiration.

Really like the floor, and the light from the door but it'll have to be one heckuva CL find!

Love the gallery pictures, and I L.O.V.E. the light fixture, don't know how long a shelf like that would last around here.

This bench so fits our family and this farmhouse. Got the slab believe it or not, working on the legs. The slab came from some really great guys here in Conway, very professional and they do amazing work with reclaimed wood. If you're looking for well built contemporary furniture look them up http://www.ozarkbarnwoodfurniture.com/ I may finally get to meet the DEN OF METAL ARTS people?

I love pintrest and my blogs but I am ready to MOVE FORWARD! Hope you are having a good day! Mark 1

Angela

Hitting the books...

Well, we are back at it! Had a great school day today, I'm sure it helped that the sun is shining. We are doing 1st grade Abeka with Conner which we are all less than enthusiastic about, but I did it with Colton and I have the curriculum so...





We are doing Sonlight with Colton (3rd grade) and it is MARVELOUS, so much fun, so interesting. It has eliminated a lot of battles and I am reasonably confident he is keeping up academically and probably learning a lot more than average in some areas.



Sis is thoroughly enjoying her new shoes from Aunt A. she loves that she can put them on all by her self and so do I!

We ALL got to play outside and it was wonderfully beautiful. Being outside always puts me in a better mood. Of course the boys found some charcoal outside and decided to paint their faces with "war paint" which we are still trying to get off. Hope you are having great day too!

1 John 4 - yes again- He loves us because He chooses to! So let us love each other.

So many changes!

Well, 2011 certaonly brought a lot of changes for our family. We moved from here



To here



I didn't fully appreciate how different things could be and I guess I kinda expected life to be pretty much the same no matter where we lived.

Which meant that routines, rooms, shopping, relationships/friendships, schedules, church, and school all changed!

It has been a TOUGH year but I feel like we have all learned a lot.

We have learned:
1. To depend on God even more. He IS faithful.
2. To stick together as a family.
3. Starting a garden from scratch is almost impossible. (wait I already knew that one!)
4. It is nice to live on the backside of nowhere because it is quiet, and beautiful, and private.
5. There truly are places still outside the reaches of modern technology.

I am truly looking forward to what we will all learn this upcoming year.

I am looking forward to learning to eat more fruits and vegetables, having a bigger better garden, doing some serious decorating, growing our church, growing our relationships and most of all...
I am looking forward to being conformed to His image, but it is huge to know that He loves me right now, today simply because He chooses to.
John 4 - The woman at the well.

Thanks for reading, have a great day. And remember He loves you, just because he chooses to!




Angela

Emily A. Clark: Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Giveaway

Emily A. Clark: Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Giveaway Well it looks like I have one more reason to visit Chicago!

Fringe benefits...

One of the many blessings of living on the farm is free entertainment!

Earlier this week I heard our big yellow dog barking frantically. While I am usually too busy making snacks and changing diapers to notice, the barking went on for quite a while. So eventually I meandered over to the window to see what was causing the commotion...

She was barking at the old outhouse hole in the middle of our backyard (bet you wish you had an outhouse hole in the middle of your backyard). Apparently, she thought she had this beastie cornered but somehow it had slipped away and was headed for the house when I saw it.

I had to show the boys (whose eyes about popped out of their heads) - which brought the dog -which caused the snake to panic and crawl up under the porch.

Nobody's forgotten to shake out their boots yet!

Angela

Two things...

Conner (who was supposed to be asleep in bed) saunters into my bedroom tonight, where I was trying to nurse Cicely to sleep.

Props himself on the edge of my bed and says "Two things".

And here is the whispered conversation that follows:


Conner: Two things
Me: What?!
Conner: One (holds up a finger and points to his nose)
Me: What?!
Conner: I can't sleep in my bed.
Me: Why not?
Conner: My nose is stuffed up.
Me: Then take an extra pillow and get in bed!
Conner: Two.
Me: What?!
Conner: I need a stuffed animal.

I really don't know where he gets this stuff.

OH!

And we think Cicely may have actually laughed for the first time today.

Life surely can't get any sweeter than this.

Angela