♥ A Busy Week ♥

We’ve had a busy week! Monday marked the first day of our homeschooling year! Actually, we “eased” into schooling, as I call it. I decided it would be best to get Joy started and on a routine again before I began working with Luke. I think it was a wise decision. You know how it goes, there are always interruptions and getting into the schooling groove again after a leisurely summer always takes a bit of discipline, especially staying away from the computer. So please don’t think I’ve abandoned you if I don’t get around to visit right away. I’m trying to find my groove and best way to do it all.

The day our box of Sonlight books arrives is an exciting day. It’s like Christmas! We are always anxious to see where our reading adventures will take us…..including read alouds as well as independent reading. I wouldn’t miss reading aloud for anything! It’s my favorite part of homeschooling! The books you see here make up Joy’s History, Literature, Bible, and Spelling curriculum. (The rest comes from different companies and were already waiting for us on the bookshelf).

Luke catches on to the enthusiasm when books arrive. He has been asking all summer if I was ordering his school work! He has learned so much informally all summer already. But we are going to tackle beginning to read and since we make a big deal out of books and being able to read, he’s pretty excited!

This picture was taken on Joy’s first day, Monday.   I'm likely to find her reading in the strangest of places. :)  I would think sitting down would be more comfortable?

And as you can see in the background, we still have a mess from the staircase project!  Leave it to us to start a project right at school time! 

While Joy and I were working together, Luke played on the iPad. Do you see what he’s eating?

Let's take a closer look......

Yep, that’s chopped onions, folks! He had just helped me prepare lunch and we had left over onions.  When he found out there were some left, he asked for them………and he ate just about every one of them too.

Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes on Tuesday! I have to say that I had a very nice birthday! And all of your comments……well……they really topped it off! Thank you so much!

After our morning of school, my mom and I, and the kids, went to the antique gallery where she told me to pick out something for my birthday (on a budgeted amount of course). That was fun because so many times I put off buying because I talk myself out of buying because I “don’t need it” right now. But it’s fun to be able to pick something out and bring it home! We were all laughing at the check-out register because I remarked that not many folks would want for their birthday what I picked out for my birthday.

I loved them both though!  And I came home and immediately found them a new home.

And then for dinner that night, we went out for Mexican food at my favorite Mexican restaurant. It was all of our family including Colt and Amber and my mom and dad. Between Jason and all the kids, I got 4 CDs which included two from TobyMac, one of Mandisa and one of Tenth Avenue North, a DVD called Monumental by Kirk Cameron, and some butterscotch maple cream tarts. Oh, and Luke wrapped up an old ID chain he found all by himself and made me a card from a piece of typing paper and had it taped over closed. He was quite proud of all the letters he made including the letters LOVE……….and so was I. :) 

It was a good day! I’m so thankful for the blessing of another year.

Oh, and my cake! Oh…..my cake! I requested this cake. My mom made it.  She makes it often and I make it from time to time.  It’s my favorite!  We shared some with the server and cooks at the restaurant and I still had some left to bring home.  It only lasted one day though.  It's long gone now.

I had a cute helper blowing out the candles.

 

I’ll come back and share the very simple but delicious strawberry cake recipe tomorrow along with Faithful Friday (by the way, we’d love for you to join us for Faithful Friday too)!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Have a great day!  :) 

A Package for Luke

Oh what an exciting day it was for Luke when our mail lady left a package at the front door for him! He knew that a package was on its way, so he was waiting.

Recently, we entered Joy G.'s (Miracles, Markers, and Me) contest for adoptive parents. We joined her for “Thursday Tea”. The contest question for her giveaway was to tell your child’s favorite book(s) after bringing him/her home. Her two sweet daughters and the third grade class would be choosing winners based on the answers. Well, imagine our surprise when Joy G. left me a comment letting me know that Luke was one of the winners! The winners were to receive a pair of pajamas and a book.

Luke’s favorite book when he came home (and one which he still loves) was (and is) Caps for Sale. He loves the silliness of it, and of course we have to put a lot of drama into it as we read it, which has always made him cackle. And it has a lot of repetitiveness to it, which I think helped him learn his English as well.

Another favorite was (and is) The Little Fur Family. All of my children have loved that book. It tells the sweet story of the love of a family portrayed through little “fur people”. This story just has an air of coziness, sweetness, love, and the security of a family and home. Plus it has a song at the end in which I made up a tune when Colt was little. I have continued to sing it to each of my children.

And as of lately, a favorite book of his has been Green Eggs and Ham. He loves quoting that book. And of course, it helped when we made him his green eggs and ham which I posted about here.

So fast forward………the third grade class made Luke one of the winners……….and his package arrived Saturday! Luke was SO excited!

And wow! How generous they were! Joy G. knew Luke loved cars (and any type of vehicle), so it also included a Cars book and stamp set.

And going with the theme of Caps for Sale with the monkeys and all…………an album of Curious George stories! Luke loves these! 

They included a special (very sweet) inscription inside:

He's had the whole family reading it to him. Joy received the first honor:

And a sneak peek of something else “monkey”…….

Aren’t these pajamas (which can also double as a costume) the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen? Oh my goodness!

And since he plans on wearing it to our Harvest party the first week of November, I’ll save a photo of him as a little sock monkey to share for then!

Thank you so much Ms. Joy G, Olivia, Lian, and the third grade class for picking us! Luke thanks you and he thinks you girls rock too!

Gifts From Sweet Bloggin' Friends & Some More Thrifty Finds

Usually I "get in trouble" if I wait too long to post on my blog from my friend Betty (the one we went to see this weekend). Joy calls her Aunt Betty and her husband, Uncle Richard. They're friends, but she's known them all her life and I've known them even longer, so they're more like family, thus the Aunt and Uncle names! Anyway, I was excused from posting on my blog since I was actually there, but she is always quick to let me know if I wait too long.....she's disappointed if she clicks on there and it's the same post. We're home now, and it's our Spring Break, so I don't have any excuses (that she'll accept anyway), so it's time for a new post! :)

I'm going to begin with the order in which these things happened. First of all, in one of my posts about a week ago, I showed you all some decorating I had done without spending any money....just moving things around and tweaking. Well in that post, I happened to mention that fact that I was eventually going to add some prim labels to my cheese crocks. Susan (Primitive Preacher's Wife) emailed me and offered some extra labels that she insisted she wouldn't use, and I graciously accepted. Susan and I have exchanged some emails and I've gotten to know the kind person behind this gesture a little more. Thank you Susan, so much, for passing these my way!



But...that's not all she sent me....that's what she SAID she was sending! When the box arrived, it was much too big for just labels! Inside it was also this rustic prim Americana flag.



Oh, how excited I was! I had just the spot for it!



Thank you, Susan, for both the labels and the flag! I haven't had a chance yet to get the labels on my crocks, but I'll be sure and show them when I do! This was so sweet of you!

Then this past weekend while at our friends house, we did a little shopping, and although I found some things I would have liked to have in a little shop with mostly primitives, the only place I actually spent any money was in the junkiest and thriftiest spots. Here's what I bought.



The crock will be used as is, of course, in a primitive gathering. The rest will get a makeover. I'll be sure to show you when I get to them!

And last but definitely not least, is another most generous gift from a blogging friend. There was a package waiting on our front porch when we came home this weekend from Janae of Cozy Coops Corner and Liberty Hill Primitives. Inside were gifts for both Joy and me! For Joy was the cutest little bunny with the most beautiful long eyelashes! And look what it says around her neck....."Be Joyful". How thoughtful!



Of course, Joy will have more to say over on her blog sometime today too! So be sure and stop by there and see the pictures I took of her before she opened her bunny! Needless to say, Joy was very excited and the little bunny looks adorable in her room on her bed!

And for me, my very own prim bunny! Oh how excited I was!



I knew immediately that my bunny would go on my table bench to keep the little bowl of berries and eggs company! I just LOVE this bunny! Isn't it adorable? Can you see what's stitched on it? Blessings....I love that!



Also included in the box was the bay leaves bag!



I already had a nail in place on the side of my stepback cupboard waiting for the right touch and I knew immediately that this was it! I had already seen some of her little seed bags on her selling blog and I loved them! This is perfect!



Thank you so much, Janae, this was just the sweetest generous gift! I love it, actually WE love our gifts, both Joy and me! :)


**********************************************************************************

A couple of people asked about the primming of the wooden bowl in a previous post. I'll tell more about that on my next post.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday! :)

A Rose and a Clarification

Last night at church, my 10 year old prayer daughter, Kim, gave me a rose for Valentines Day. Wasn't that sweet? It's nice to feel loved, especially by a child! :)


This picture was taken at Joy's birthday party. Kim is the one with the short hair in the front on the right side.



About the clarification part of my post, I'm afraid that I didn't make myself clear and my cabinet pictures were a little misleading. As a matter of fact, when I look back at the pictures, I can see where it was hard to see the difference. But if you look closely at my walls above the cabinets, you will see that this is a space that I can't SIT anything on at all. Everything there would have to be hung and that is one reason why I want to be sure before I put anything up there. The wall actually comes out to the front portion of the cabinet and goes up to the ceiling (I think it's called a furdown)? I'm not sure that's how you spell it. In other words, I wouldn't be sitting anything ON TOP of the cabinets because there is no top of the cabinets....it is met with wall.



It is a narrow strip of about 14" of wall space all the way around my cabinets (3 walls worth). So now, do any of you have this kind of space above your cabinets or have any ideas knowing this? I loved the ideas you named and had it been a place to sit things, I think those would be great and I actually wouldn't have as much trouble finding things to put there.

I did notice in the current CS magazine, (Earlene's home on page 23), she has muffin tins hanging.



She has the type of space that I have above my cabinets. If you want to look there, you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. Again, any ideas?

And I would like to say Tonya, if you're reading this post today, I love ya! Thank you for your friendship! :)



Have a great Thursday, everyone!

~ Tammy ~

Gifts from the Heart

My dad always stops by my house (you know they live next door), and brings my mail to me, which is a very nice thing to do I might add! He always pops in and says hi to the kids and gives them a hug and brings in our mail. Well this past Friday, I had two very nice surprises in the mail.

The first one came from Julie, Country Girl at Heart. Julie is one of the most genuine and sweetest people I've met through blogging. To me, these qualities shine through on her posts. This really blessed my heart! I love it! You know how talented Julie is with needle and thread.....well she stitched me a snowman pillow.
Isn't it adorable? The pillow has a home (for now) on the bench in my foyer. Thank you so much, Julie! What a nice thing to do! (She lives by her signature...Be Nice to People).



The second gift came from another online friend from the Country Sampler Forum. Jill (aka jbean) sent me a sweet card with note pads and bookmarks tucked inside. She knows how much Joy and I read together. Joy already claimed her notepad and her bookmark! I've really enjoyed getting to know Jill through the forum and she has been a kind supporter of my blog. She is such a sweet person. Thank you so much, Jill (from both Joy and me)!



The next thing I want to share with you is a gift not given to me, but to my mama. Remember last Thursday was her birthday? Well, Joy has been working on something for her for quite awhile now. She has been sewing buttons onto an old pillowcase in the shape of a heart that she said she was giving her grandmama for her birthday. She finished it on Friday, and we framed it and took it over to mama Friday evening. Well needless to say her grandmama loved her gift! She was so proud to have it and know the time Joy spent on it.



She told Joy she will treasure it always and it is displayed in her living room on a shelf.




I would say those are all gifts from the heart. And they're definitely the best kind. :)

Thoughtful Gifts

You know a little over a week ago, I celebrated my 45th birthday. Well, I never got a chance to share what a nice day I had.

I had several e-cards sent my way throughout the day wishing me a happy birthday, many ladies commenting on my blog and Country Sampler forum with birthday wishes too. It was so pleasant all day! I received calls from family and friends.

Then on the way out to dance class with Joy, I stopped by the mailbox and there was a package for me. Now I knew I hadn't ordered anything (yet) and wasn't expecting anything, so I was very excited and surprised to see my name on it. It was from my sweet friend, Lynn, from the Country Sampler forum. She had the sweetest country card and two special "friend" decor pieces for me!

This cute "friend" pillow found a home in a basket in my hall bathroom:


The prim "friend" heart is going in my new kitchen. It fit right in! Thank you so much, Lynn! I loved them!


After dance class, we had dinner with my family, my mom and dad, my Aunt Jo & Uncle Wayne, my father-in-law, and Joy's friend, Katie Beth, at a Mexican restaurant (my favorite). I didn't get by without the servers singing to me either. But Kindra....at least I didn't have to sit on a saddle wearing a cowboy hat (bless your heart)! I know to avoid THE OTHER Mexican restaurant on my birthday because I learned the hard way that you get to wear a GIANT sombrero and have whipped cream in your face if they "discover" it's your birthday! My mom made my favorite cake, banana cake with cream cheese icing. Aunt Jo and Uncle Wayne game me something I had been wanting (and never would go buy for myself)....a George Foreman Grill. You sure can whip up some tasty things quickly on it!


The rest of my family gave me money to spend on my kitchen....so that was fun! I've already been doing some shopping....I have curtains on the way.....and more goodies.

Then after dinner when we took Katie Beth home, her mom and my friend, Tonya, had a gift for me too. It's the cutest..girliest clipboard I've ever seen....with my initial on it! This is perfect for me! I carry papers (and books and magazines) everywhere....for homeschooling, lists, etc....and I'm also known to take paper with me to appointments where I have to wait and I write out future posts for my blog if I'm not planning a homeschool project. I just loved this stylish clipboard!


So you see what a great day I had.....thanks to all my family and friends! I love you all!

Hugs,
Tammy

Gifts of Kindness

This is a two-fold post.

First of all, Kindra, gave me a blogging award, the "Arte y Pico" sometime last week. I feel very honored that she thought of me and I thank you very much, Kindra! I admire you...you're one talented lady and the love for your family and sweet little boys just shines through on your posts! I look forward to my daily visit to your blog and I appreciate all your very sweet comments. Although I've only known you for a couple of months, I feel like I've known you forever..like a kindred spirit! And I just love my blocks I purchased from you! I know I'll be visiting your Etsy store many more times in the future!



And then today, Stephanie, presented me with the same award. Thank you so much Stephanie! I just recently found your blog and saved it to my favorites so I could check in everyday! I am really enjoying reading about your decor projects and family. I'm looking forward to getting to know you even better! Thanks so much for thinking of me with the award!

Now the rules to this award are the following:

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribution to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.

4) The award winner and one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico" blog so everyone will know the origin to this award.

5) To show these rules.

Now there were so many great blogs to give this award to, that I had a really hard time! First of all, so many of you have been presented this award lately and I already had several people in mind to present it to and they have been presented with the award within the past week (By Linda and Kindra and others). I know we all have the same circle of friends....so I thought of other blogs that I love to visit that I thought deserving of the award that haven't received it yet, so here goes (in no particular order):

Tomatoe Creek Prims
Rondell, we first met on the CS forum and I enjoyed all your prim pictures and ideas then and I still do. Thanks for your help on my blog! I always look forward to seeing what you're sharing with us on your blog and getting to know those precious grandaughters of yours!

The Fraker Farm
Paula, you always make me smile when I read your posts and sometimes just downright laugh! I love the feel of your blog and since I've always had this desire to live on a farm, I love reading about yours!

Family Doins
Tammy, I found your blog not too long ago and I already feel like I've known you forever! You've got a great name! :) I'm enjoying getting to know your family and I look forward to reading more about your homeschool adventures as we share ours! And I'd definitely take you up on being my yard sale buddy!

Sandals and Daisies
Angie, You've only been blogging for the month of June (that I've seen) and I think you're doing a great job. I'm enjoying your blog very much! I appreciate your comments so much too!

Farmhouse Blessings
Lea, You have the greatest ideas on frugal living! I just love seeing what you come up with! You have a great family and have such a kind heart. I look forward to learning more about your family, your place there on that great land, and your homeschooling adventures! I enjoy my visits to your blog!

I would also like to give Linda
a big hug and thank you for walking me through how to do the links properly with a name!

And now the second act of kindness I wanted to share with you is a little different. Sometime last week, I was tagged by Deb
for a meme which I answered (and just recently tagged again by Linda). One of the questions asked to name 5 kind things I've done for a stranger. Well one of them was the older couple that I invited into my home when their vehicle broke down. We had a great visit and shared a snack and drink. Well I wanted to share the flip side to that act of kindness. This sweet lady was a crafter actually on her way to a crafts show that weekend. They broke down with their RV in tow. As she left my home that day, she glanced around at my living room one more time and asked for my address. She said she wanted to send me a little something and she had just the thing she wanted to do. She thanked me again and they were on their way. Three or four weeks passed by and I had forgotten all about it. Then a package arrived in the mail. I opened it to find the nicest thank you card and a wonderful Americana gift.



Isn't it so sweet? It is painted on a cabinet door. I've had it for quite a few years now and it hangs in a place of honor. It's above my staircase and one of the first things you see walking in our front door. I love decor items that hold a memory for me (kind of like Christmas ornaments) and I'll never forget that lady and her gift of kindness to me!

Be kind to someone today!