Natalie's Quilt

I have 3 very dear friends all giving birth to sweet baby girls this spring. This is a quilt I made for my friend Courtney's little girl Natalie.

Surgery for Carso

Carso had surgery last Thursday to remove his tonsils and adenoids. He did great the first couple of days but has struggled with pain in these past few days. So even though his recovery has been a roller coaster I am holding on to the fact that every one I tell whose child has had the same thing done tells me that their health improved dramatically. Looking for not as much strep and ear infections and for his sleep apnea to be greatly improved. Time will tell! But I am praying for complete healing of my little boy!

Summer Cut for Kate

I am in love with this hair cut on Kate. It just suits her to a T. the only thing I don't like about it is it makes her look so much older



And her sassy new cut has really brought out this sassy personality. Oh dear!

I had to show why brother was cropped out of the picture. He was on my lap while I was putting  this blog post together  and I said "Why were you so sad Carso? And he said, "That not sad! That Mad!" Ok then!

Bubble Girl

Oh, the power of bubbles. They have never lost their charm with my kids.  A $1.00 container of bubbles can bring about smiles and laughter in both of my kids still. Amazing.

When she figured out that she could spin around to make bubbles, it was ON! Lots of spinning ensued.

LOTS of spinning!

Candy Land Tea Party

Kate and I had the priviledge of going to a Mommy Daughter Tea party that our church hosts every year. This year's theme was Candy Land. This was our first year to go and we both loved it. Such a good time to spend with just me and my girl. We both got dressed up pretty fancy in black and white dresses. I was so proud of her. Each little girl got a bag full of candy and the children's minister dressed up like a Candy Queen and read a story that empasized the point that our little girls were daughters of the King. I am so thankful to have a church family that would do things like this. Such a special time for bonding with my Kate.

I nearly didn't take my camera, but my Mom put it in my front seat as we were leaving. I even left it in the car because I didn't want to carry it around. But when I looked over and saw this look of wonder. I dashed out to my car to get it:)

She just loved it.

The Candy Queen:)

Ms. Vanita

At church we have this time where we greet everyone around us. It's called "hug and howdy time." I'm kind of shy with strangers so I always hope this time will pass quickly. But now I will be forever thankful for it because that's how I met my very special friend Ms. Vanita. We connected right away through a shared experience and now we look for each other all of the time. And when her husband didn't feel well and she had to come by herself, she sat with me. Now that our church has a traditional service and instrumental service at the same time we don't sit together but she always waits for me outside of the doors so we can catch up on each others lives. And we email during the week so that we can stay in touch.  And of course the bonus is that she loves my kids. On Valentines Day she left special bags of treats on our doorstep for them. And just last Saturday she brought over their Easter treats. She had met Kate before but because Carso is in class she had never met him. I think it's safe to say from looking at the pictures that Carso loves her. :) Unlike his Mommy that boy has not one shy bone in his body. And I love him for it. Ms. Vanita taught me that you never know who God is going to bring into your life to help you through a trial. She was so unexpected, but has changed my life so much and made me and the kids feel so loved.

See what I mean? He loved her!

She has 16 grandchildren, yet her heart is big enough to love my 2 like they were her own.

Two blessed kids.

Easy Table and Chairs Transformation

It's amazing what a $3 can of black spray paint can do. I had been wanting to change the honey color of my grandparents old dining set for awhile but wasn't sure how to do it. Then I stumbled on this tutorial on the internet. I first applied Liquid Sander so that the paint would adhere, then just sprayed away, and finished it up with a good 3 coats of poly acrylic because I do have a 3 and 4 year old that are very hard kitchen table tops. I also wanted to recover the chairs (again). This will be the 4th time I've recovered them. What kind of fabric would be easy to wipe away spills and would resist stains? I had it in my head what I wanted but I didn't know what to call it. Well now I know it's called oil cloth! And it's wonderful! I ordered a yard from an etsy site called Oil Cloth Addict. She has lots of patterns and colors to choose from. I love what I chose. Sophisticated but practical. Behold the transformation.:)

Of course Kate and Carso put the table top to the test this week and it stood up to all the sticky spills. Love that polyacrylic protective coat! See that buffet behind the table? That's the color the table and chairs were before.

Love this pattern and I can't believe a yard would cover all 4 of my chairs, but it did. You're really supposed to use a staple gun but I didn't have one so I used my trusty hot glue gun. Worked just fine:)