Tuesday, December 27, 2011

A bit of Christmas 2011

We spent a nice and quiet Christmas Eve at home, celebrating with our own family...opening presents, and concluding with "A Christmas Story" on tv.


Sydney spent some time over at grandma's and embroidered me my own pink towels :)

Stella received her beloved barbies, cinderella, and strawberry shortcakes.

Tim caved and bought me an ipod touch :)

We bought Tim a snowball shooter :)


A few weeks back, Dylan requested that I buy him some white underwear, because apparantly his character underwear was starting to embarass him. And he wouldn't let it go. 
Naturally we bought him a 6 pack for Christmas, divided it out, and wrapped each pair individually...put them in different shaped boxes...one with a bunch of bottle caps so he was certain it was legos.
The boy was miffed...but we were amused :)  "I didn't want them for Christmas!" 


Christmas Day we went to church and then headed out to Chicago. We ate dinner, opened presents, played some euchre and banangrams and had a delightful time.
The cousins.

The family.


This year I got a red coffee pot :)


The Sydney puzzle.
Isn't she cute!  8 months pregnant with twins!




Sunday, December 25, 2011

Friday, December 23, 2011

Just a few fall pics before Christmas is upon us...

Cleaning up my computer, I realized that there are a few pics from the fall that I never posted.
And since our paper chain says Christmas will be here in 2 days...I best get on it.


The kids built a new fort in the woods.

 

We carved pumpkins.


We made applesauce.

The boys spent a weekend up north hunting.



And while they were away hunting bird...we ladies had feathers put in :)


We caught a few more fish.

And this girl asks to paint every.single.day.
Happy Friday all~

Friday, December 16, 2011

It's a Give-Away!


Can you believe it?
 My little shop has stayed afloat for 1 year now!
In honor of this fantastic year of fabric scraps, thread trails, and stepping on pins... head on over to my other blog http://www.dandelionsanddoodles.blogspot.com/  to enter my little give-away!

  You may just win yourself a little doodle original in time for the holidays.

And you've got a good chance of winning, as my husband didn't even realize I had this other blog until last week :)

Happy Friday all~ 

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

pink and blue

Last month I headed to Chicago to help throw a baby shower for my little sis Kimmy.
She's expecting twins in about a month. One pink, and one blue.
And we're pretty ecstatic to meet them.

It's been a journey to say the least.
And if you've been driving around town with your radio tuned in to Christian contemporary these past few months....you probably know the song "Blessings" by Laura Story.

Beautiful song.
Beautiful words.

A portion for you today...

We pray for blessings  
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe


 This song chokes me up every.single.time.
 
And without getting into the specifics of all of our family details these past several months, I can see glimpses of  God's mysterious and perfect timing.  His love and provision for us....His children.  In the moment we can't always see or understand  His "mercies in disguise", but they're there....in ways more beautfiul than we could dream up on our own.  His love for us is so great.
 
And without getting all sappy nat on you, I'm looking forward to watching Kimmy waddle around at Christmas :)
A few pics...







Happy Wednesday all~








Friday, December 9, 2011

Gun Lake 2011



Since it's December and all, I think it's high time I finally share with you pics from our camping trip to Gun Lake earlier this summer.

Ridiculously overdue, yes?

But worth the memory books, so let's go back in time, shall we? I've discovered a few posts that I started, but never finished...so bear with me :)

Anyhow, now that there is snow on the ground, it's good to remember those tan lines.

A few highlights...



We missed you Birds!


Hands down, the highlight (lowlight) was waking up in the morning and opening the camper door to a flooded campsight!



Happy Friday all~