Proverbs

We were reading in Proverbs tonight and the following one seemed very "warm & inviting."

Proverbs 24:3, 4
"Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is establised; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches."

If I could be...

...a flower I'd like to be a lily-of-the-valley. (At least for today.) They are sweet smelling, delicate and love the shade mostly.

We just bought some little plants last week and planted them out by the deck in back. Last I looked they were doing well. : )

If you could be...

...a flower which one would you pick? (No pun intended.) ; )

I don't have an answer at the moment. I'll have to think about it. But here's a rather inspiring picture to help you along. : ) Taken by dd.

Noticing

Spruce buds.

These lovely little flowers belong to the prolific weed, Creeping Charley. It's another of dh's "favorites." The only thing I like about it are the flowers. If you click on the picture to make it bigger you might notice the butterfly shapes on the flower. That is so cool! Something to praise God for in this hardy weed.

Birch buds. These are actually about 2 inches long and maybe 1/4 inch around. When I first saw the picture I thought they were huge. I asked dd to show me where they were, that's when I discovered they are relatively small.

I'd say we're enjoying homeschooling at it's finest. : ) BTW, dd took all these pictures in her noticing quest. The ladies at the Noticing Project blog have invited guests to send "noticing" pictures all this week. http://noticingproject.wordpress.com/ DD and I have pictures on day two.

Ash buds

Thursday, April 24

Tuesday, April 29

Weeping Cherry

Here's a close up of the weeping cherry. I'm so excited that I can see it from the workroom window! Thank you dh!

Spring Snowflake

Thanks to help from "anonymouse" (cute name BTW) I was able to track down this flower.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2632/

Columbine

We bought a pot of these at Lowes last night. It was a nice date-night treat. We also brought home a couple Stella D'oro plants, a pot of Daisies, marigold and lobelia seeds. This morning early, dh went to the garden center and bought three trees (they had 30% off between 6:00 and 10:00). He came home with my requested pink weeping cherry, like the one we had at our previous house, a peach tree and a nectarine tree. He had a great day working in the yard! He mowed the lawn for the first time this season and planted the three trees; he found four other little sapplings that he planted; he fixed and cut down a couple other trees. Since yesterday was Arbor Day, I guess he was right on the money. I'll get pictures of the trees and post them here soon.

Ash tree

These are buds on the Ash tree. We still have two of them and hope we don't lose them to the ash borer.

I have been amazed by the buds on the trees this year. I've never taken notice of them before. God's creativity fascinates me; everything (trees, birds, bugs, flowers, people, etc.) is so detailed, so different from each other within a type.

I keep finding more.

This picture isn't great because the wind was blowing, but there are little parts of it that are focused. These are hanging from a maple tree. It's neat to see the stages the tree goes through.

These are little tiny leaves to some weed, probably. They are growing in the sand by the pond.

If you know what these are, please let me know. The flower is probably double the size of a lily-of-the-valley flower.

Emily at Molly's birthday party

Yesterday was Molly's birthday, but we were gone all day, so the party was today.

Apparently, Molly needed coaxing to leave the house, so Emily encouraged her. Emily escorted Molly to where the party was being held out be the big trees.

Molly was completely surprised to find all the girls waiting for her. "Surprise!"

Emily had a big day. She's sleeping soundly as I speak...er write...or is it type? : )

Emily's horse back riding

Today was Felicity's birthday, so dd gave her a party. (Yes, that's two in one day.)

Emily's job for the party was to teach the girls how to ride side-saddle.

First, make sure the saddle girth is tight.

Climb on the horse.

Bring foot over the horse's neck.

That's all there is to it.

Demonstrating the ride.

She tells the horse she's done a good job.

Thanks to dd for the Emily fun.

As you can tell, we've had a lot of fun. We're taking the week off school, so the parties were a fantastic diversion for dd. She love's doing these things with the dolls. My fun comes when it's time to post the pictures. ; )

A few more flowers at our house

The Azalea's bloomed while I wasn't looking and all of a sudden here they are.

The Grape Hyacinths are just now starting to bloom. We do have quite a few of those so they make the flower beds pretty.

This one is dh's "favorite." ; ) I, actually, love to see a yard full of their cheery faces. Add in a few purple violets and it's even better. : )

Flowers at our house

We just bought a little Forsythia bush yesterday. The weatherman in Columbus always used to say, "Three snows after the Forsythia bloom."

The pansies I picked out to sit on the deck so I can see them from the kitchen.

The daffodils make a great addition to the front yard.

DD's picked out these pansies who she named Rojo and Ruby.

DD discovered these Hyacinths in the front flower bed by the street. You can't see it too well from the house, so we didn't know they were there.

Flowers at Blandy Arboretum

All these pictures were taken a year ago when we visited dh's parents in VA. They took us to Blandy Arboretum for a nice walk amongst all these beauties. I've been scrapbooking these pictures today, so I thought I'd share them here.

http://www.virginia.edu/blandy/Tour1.html

Warm spring day

I'm quite sure no one wants to see a picture of my feet, however my feet signify that we've had our first day warm enough to be barefooted.

This one is much prettier. ; )

I've spent the week scrapbooking. I'm caught up to a year ago. So I feel good about my progress. I'm hoping to keep the momentum goin to finish last years pictures at least up until the Hawaii trip of last Nov. I guess we'll see how much I get done before the sewing machine starts calling me.

Birdwatching outfit

Emily is wearing the birdwatching outfit I found on ebay. It's actually Samantha's Birdwatching outfit that AG retired. I didn't know there was such a thing until I was doing a search for Samantha dolls to see much they are going for. Being the bird lover I am I knew I wanted this outfit for Emily.

It came with binoculars that do work. Amazing. I have plans to make a dress that better coordinates with the coat and hat as it didn't come with a dress.

Oh and lest you think I don't do anything else in my life...

Today I vacuumed, cleaned a bathroom, did some laundry, made salad dressing & sausage, ran an errand or two, scrapbooked a bit, uploaded some things to itunes, and played a game with my family.

The Little Bag Shoppe

Thanks to dd for making this album for me. I am still learning how to do all this techy stuff.

http://picasaweb.google.com/momawake1963/TheLittleBagShoppe

Sew Crafty Friday

http://w8ng4him.blogspot.com/ Check what others are creating at Shereen's blog.

Nicki and Molly are modeling the latest blouses, jumpers and little bags.

More spring

I am amazed at God's creativity! These maple buds look like they explode when they open up.

Scrapbooking

I actually got three pages done today. Amy & I had looked at the scrapbooks I've done and I felt like I needed to do more. It was like there were pages missing. I'm glad to have made some progress.

Emily's day

Emily had a busy day today. First, I had her modeling the latest two matching jumpers I made.

This one is my favorite.

Then, because dh was running late and dd was getting bored, we got our picture taken.

Emily got to climb the tree.

Looks like she had to sit and rest a bit.

Look what she found.

Then it was off to the swingset.

And before coming in for dinner she stopped to smell the pretty flowers.

This all took place (except the modeling and when I'm pictured) while I was making dinner. Amy is doing well at photography, don't you think?

Scavenger Hunt

After we arrived home from voice lessons and a couple errands, my darling daughter decided she was not interested in finishing school for the day. So she did this instead:

Sadie had the final message directing me to "a place that's cool where we can finish school."

What a creative child! : )

Emily's very late Easter Egg Hunt

DD got the "girls" outside yesterday for a much delayed Easter Egg Hunt. Apparently, Emily found the most eggs and won a prize. Amy has so much patience to move all the dolls into position, take their picture(s), then do it all again. I know she has fun and I'm enjoying the end result.

Emily's dog, Yank, got to go along also.

Emily winning the prize bunny. You can see her little bag I made stuffed with eggs. : )

Maybe next time Amy and the "girls" have a photo shoot they'll let me participate. Hint, hint...

Warm spring day

We didn't make it to church again this week because of sickness. Dh and dd are almost better and I've got something. I don't seem to be as bad as they were, thankfully. So we did some family worship again and managed to walk around the yard taking in the spring sunshine and warmth.

This is our friend "Chippy" who has learned to get into the caged bird feeder. He's so cute, but we aren't happy he's in the feeder.

The walk around the yard provided these pictures.

One of my favorite things was the sounds of the birds. They are sounding very busy this time of year. : ) Such a happy sound.

Blog to check out

http://emadethis.wordpress.com/

She just opened an Etsy shop, so go to her blog and take a look. Then head to her Etsy shop by clicking on the link.

Thanks.

Sew Crafty Friday

Here's my projects for the week. Check Shereen's site. http://w8ng4him.blogspot.com/

Emily & Molly are coordinating in these jumpers. And below is the coordinating bag. I actually made four like it.

Here are different varieties.

My plan : ) is to try to sell these little doll-size bags on the message board for AG dolls. But we'll see. I think I'll make dresses to go with them and offer different packages, maybe. Just a few ideas running around in my head.