A Change

I have been working on a new header. All of the pictures except for the center one I have taken. The center picture is a special to me picture. It was taken some time in the 1950's and is a picture of my Granny's home. She is my great grandmother who lived in Lucketts, VA. I have great memories of visiting Granny's. From the wood stove in the kitchen, collecting eggs, seeing my first runt piglet, sitting on front porch, playing with a favorite cousin, Georgie and so many more! The farm and house are still in my family. George's mom is still living there.

So... what do you think?

A Great Weekend

I hope that everyone had a great weekend. My weekend started out with a play date at a local park Friday afternoon.

The only thing that has changed about this park in twenty years is new paint and mature trees. There are still the old metal slides and merry go round. It was lots of fun and we are hoping to make it a monthly thing.

Saturday was the company picnic for Chuck's work. This year they hosted it at a place that has a pioneer settlement.

One of the great things about this place is that it is very hands on. Megan pretended to pump water.


We watched the blacksmith make nails.


It was such a neat thing to watch!

After lots of walking Megan decided it was break time.


By this time we had walked and walked and it was about all that a four year old could handle. We headed off for a cold drink and then home.

It is starting to look a little bit like fall! We are still having some 90* days, but the mornings and nights are getting cooler.


In my spare time I worked on laundry and changing out Megan's clothes. All of her winter items are washing, ironed and put away. I have a couple stacks of summer clothes to look through and decide if they should be stored for next year or given away. I hope to hit our room this week and do the same thing. We don't have much to switch out, but it is always good to go through things and get rid of items we are no longer wearing.

It looks to be a busy week with school, babysitting, housework and few fun things on my list. I hope that you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

Time Marches On

Time had certainly been marching on around here! Last Wednesday Chuck came down with the stomach flu. I caught it Wednesday night and by Thursday Megan was feeling bad. All three of us sick at the same time was not fun! Luckily Megan had it least of any of us. As you all know it is hard to see your child not feeling well. The plus of the whole thing is that by Friday we all were feeling better and ended up having a relaxing weekend. Sad that it sometimes takes getting sick to make you slow down.

I haven't done much fall decorating yet. My tubs are still down in the shed. I did buy some mums a couple of weeks ago.

A couple of pot to put here and there and the rest were placed in the ground. It is super dry here and I am hoping that they will make it.

Since it has been so dry I have been making sure that the bird bath has fresh water every evening.


Not many bird have been out, but the squirrels have been using it. It is so dry that the other day a squirrel keep watching us while on the swing set and keep creeping closer and closer to the bird bath. He finally risked it for a drink. I have never seen the squirrels get that close while we have been out.

This is a picture of my front lawn.


That will give you an idea of how dry it is. The area farmers are having a hard time because of it. The other day there were three field fires in one day. Unfortunately not only crops were damaged, one family lost their home.

This time of year evenings are a favorite time of mine. We have been spending some time out enjoying the cooler weather. The other night we stayed out well past dark, lite a candle and then ended up putting on a puppet shadow show.


It really is the simple things that make life fun!

Chuck and Megan have a special time at bedtime. After we read a story and have prayer time I leave the room.


Megan asks Daddy to tell her a story about her friends. They make us stories about each of her favorite stuffed animals. Chuck has stated writing down the stories they create so we can create a book for her. It really warms my heart to see them have this special time.

I hope that you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

My Kind of Day

No place to be and beautiful weather. Windows were wide open and a fresh breeze blew through out my home all day.

Laundry hung out to dry.

Banana bread fresh from the oven cooling.

A sweet sleeping child tuckered out from all the fresh air and outside play.

Some time to tweak. I had a coupon and tarts were on sale at Yankee Candle so I stocked up. I love the way they look displayed in this glass jar.

Time to relax with the soft glow of candle light and a wonderful fragrance of Farmers Market.


It was the kind of day that just clicked along and make me praise the Lord for all of my blessings. I love a day like this. I feel tired and content and know that I will sleep well tonight. I hope you were able to find time to cherish the simple things today.

Labor Day

I hope that you all enjoyed your long weekend. We sure did. I teased Chuck and told him that he gets a Labor Day holiday so he can labor at home!

Faith, our youngest niece, celebrated her first birthday this weekend.

She was so dainty while eating her cake and was not happy to have dirty hands. It was funny to watch.

Sunday evening we went to my parents to take the steps out of their pool. It is hard to believe that it is that time already. It feels like we were just getting the pool ready. After a dinner of my mom's fried chicken we all headed out to the pool.


With the cooler temperatures we have been having the water is too cold for swimming. The girls still had a fun time dipping in their toes. Notice the dryer sheets? That was my sister's idea for mosquito protection!

Monday was spent working outside. While Chuck worked on prepping our shed for paint I painted my potting bench and then gave the back porch a really good clean.


Boy did it need it! I hadn't realized how dirty the siding or windows had become. I am amazed at how clear my view is now. I will have to put outside window cleaning on the list more then just spring and fall.

When I was almost done with the porch a new neighbor came by. He asked us to join his family for an early dinner. They are Mexican and served steak and pork in homemade corn tortillas. Yummy! We had spoken to them in passing and it was great to get to know them better.

Here is the potting bench almost complete.


The buckets are something I got on clearance after Easter. I got them dirt cheap and love the way they look. Eventually I will paint them with chalkboard paint and then I can mark what is in them.

After so much time spent outside I am off to give the inside of my home and little TLC. Have a great Tuesday!

Apple Time

Yesterday we headed out to a local orchard.

I love this picture. It just screams peace, quiet and simplicity to me.

There was fun area for pictures and I couldn't resist taking a picture of the apple of my eye!


There was plenty room for Abe to run. He worked off a lot of energy and took a long afternoon nap.

Hey Mama, here are some apples!

I came home with 1/2 bushel of some firm, tart, delicious apples. I'll share next week what I do with them.

I am looking forward to a long weekend. We get to see my brother-in-law who just returned from Afghanistan and have many things on list for around home. Hope you have a great weekend!

Easy Craft

My mother-in-law celebrated her 60th birthday over the weekend. She did not want a big deal made about it. We ended up taking her out for lunch and getting her a gift card to a favorite restaurant. I have mixed feelings about giving gift cards. I really wanted something a little more personal. This is what I came up with.

I pulled some wooden flowers out of my craft stash and had Megan paint them. Chuck printed off a picture from each of Megan's four years and cut those into circles. Those were attached to the center of flower and then a wooden skewer was hot glued onto the back.

I had saved an old formula container and used that as the flower pot. I wrapped it in scrapbook paper and added a ribbon. To finish it off I had Megan to write her name onto a tag and tucked in the gift card. A huge hit with Grandma!

The mom of the little guy I watch had a birthday yesterday. I wanted to make a card for Abe to give his Mommy. I gave him a crayon and let him color onto a piece of cardstock. I then traced his hand and cut it out to make the petals of a flower.

A favorite picture was added to the middle and mom was presented a personal card. I love that I was able to make these using items that I had on hand.