What Would Jesus Do?

I found this book at a thrift store when E. was a baby, and knew that someday I would read it to him(& S.R.:o)

(found at Amazon.com HERE)

We started reading it this morning at breakfast, and my kids are hooked. We have made it to Chapter 6 so far. In Chapter 2, some of the children in the story are singing "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus." While I was reading the story, I sang this part.

So far, the story is emphasizing the importance of helping those in need.

Well mommy was in need this afternoon:o) 

Yesterday, E & S.R. thought it was a great idea to take all of the games out of the cabinet and "explore" them. Not a single piece was left in it's original box.

After lunch today, it was their responsibility to pick up all of the pieces.

I left them to do their work, and I heard E. start singing the song...and then S.R. chimed in. It was music to my ears. Just another reminder of why God should be and is the focus of our home.

My two little angels singing about their Jesus....can it get any better than this?:o)

 I guess board game pieces strewn everywhere doesn't really matter that much does it?

I didn't get a chance to record them, but here is a beautiful version that I found on You Tube.

I hope you enjoy it!

Summer Fun Fest Kick Off

It's time to kick off our Summer Fun Fest. I am so excited to see what all you guys have to share. Are you excited? Just think of all the fun things our children are going to get to do this summer! 

I'll start off with sharing what we have been up to....
Last week, plans fell through with friends, and there was a threat of storms, so I had to come up with something to keep the babies occupied.
My friend Deanna hosted a Christmas crafty party last year and served some yummy marshmallows. She posted a link to these Homemade Marshmallows(a Martha recipe) on her blog. My kids love marshmallows, and I knew they would be really excited to help make them. I took care of the mixing and spreading part.

 The next morning I let them cut out their favorite shapes. E chose a bat cookie cutter for "Batman."

 S.R. chose a heart...typical little girl;o)

 Once all of the marshmallows were cut out, I coated them with a little confectioners sugar to keep them from sticking to each other.

 (We added the sprinkles just after spreading the mixture out onto the cookie sheet.)

I sent the kids outside after we got through cutting out the marshmallows
(before the storm hit;o))
and I got busy making a tent in our bonus room. They were dying to come back inside to see what the surprise was.
Nothing fancy, but it did the job!

I set out a picnic blanket with their lunch

 and of course their desserts:o)

 Can you tell they were excited about their tent?:o) I wish I could have captured S.R.'s reaction as well:o)

 They got down to the business of watching Peter Pan and chowing down on some grub.

Not a bad way to spend a yucky day, eh?
So now it's your turn! Show us what fabulous things you have planned for your summer.
Make sure to include the linky button on the left sidebar!

Favorites to Fuss About

For the past few days, I have been scouring Blogland for fun ideas for this summer. Both E and S.R. will be heading to preschool in a little over two months, and I want to have a "fantasmic" summer.

Over the next few weeks, I will be hosting a Linky Party every Monday for you to share your favorite Summer time activities. I'll share some of mine as well:o)

I will be highlighting my personal faves, so get your activities together, and come share them with us all!!

These are some great ideas to get your summer started off right. 

I am definitely going to be making this board. 

Wendy, from Craft Goodies, shares her tutorial for this activity board over at CSI 

These are homemade bouncy balls...did you know you can make these?!?!?

See how these super cool Super Balls are made over at

Making Memories.

When I first saw these bottles, I thought they were for bowling:o) It's actually a 

Toddler Ring Toss Game.

Super easy and super cheap! Me like-y!

Head on over to Toddler Boredom Busters to check it out. 

These little monkeys are too cute. I wish that I had known about them when I had a Curious George birthday party for E many moons ago.

Head over to Serving Pink Lemonade for the list of supplies for these great cupcakes.

And last, but not least, Rhinestone Beagle shares a tutorial for a reusable Cloth Snack Baggie.

I will most definitely be making some of these. Wouldn't these baggies be great for a picnic...and no waste:o)

Thanks ladies for sharing your great ideas. Make sure to grab a "featured" button from the left sidebar to display on your post:o)

what do you think of my new "featured" button? 

I thought it was cute:o)

Teachers Gifts

School is out, and E couldn't be happier. I think he was a little bothered that S.R. got to stay home with mommy & do all sorts of cool things:o) But he really did love his teachers and made tons of friends.

Here are the gifts that he gave his teachers.

I love vinyl, and I will put it on just about anything. Teachers need to stay hydrated, right? So why not supply them with a cute cup to keep the hydration going?

One of his teacher's is a HUGE Bama fan. So her's was easy enough to figure out.

E was so funny about the next 2:o) He said that Mrs. J loved fingers...hahaha!

And he said that Miss C loved flowers:o) Too cute!

They really loved their cups. Mrs. S even sent me an email to tell me she had been using her cup all weekend. Score!

Nothing like making someone happy with a little something special!

***

Tomorrow I hope to be starting a little something new, so stayed tuned...should be fun!

Back from a Mini Vacay

The hubs and I spent a fantastic weekend at Callaway Gardens. It was kid-free & uber relaxing:o) He arranged everything, and I'll have to say, I don't think he could have done any better....it was PERFECT!

When we first arrived, I got sick...(not so perfect).

  I have been on antibiotics for an upper respiratory infection, and it's been making me icky at times.

We were supposed to start the trip off with a 2 hour bike ride, but I wasn't feelin' it, so we toured the gardens by foot & car.

Inside of the butterfly house:

 The Chapel:

 Entrance to chapel

 Stained Glass Window in chapel

 View of Lake from chapel

 Lots of pictures of the chapel, eh?

 Me taking a break to keep everything down....was that T.M.I.?:o)

 This bunny was so cute:o)

 This little guy was cute until he started blowing his chin out at me to back off....not cool! 

 The hubs and me:o)

 It's hard to see from this pic, but there were around 30 turtles coming towards me(that little red dot at the end is me). They thought I came baring gifts. See that dispenser to the right? It's full of turtle food, and you could buy some for a quarter. I felt so bad b/c we didn't have any money on us...poor turtles!

 This is one of the restaurants that we ate at.

 We sat at the far right corner. They had an amazing Sunday brunch...I had a Vegan meal. It was FATABULOUS.!

 This my friends is the post office in one of the neighborhoods of Callaway Gardens....isn't the cutest thing?!

 We eventually got around to the bike rides, and it was so much fun!

 My favorite flower!

 Cute little nook.

 Us after surviving the bike trails....we were still smiling:o)

I almost forgot to mention the 4 hours I spent at the SPA while hubs was playing golf....It was heavenly. Massage, pedicure, steam room, relaxation room, &  haircut. A girl could get use to this:o)

I am so thankful that we were able to take a weekend for ourselves. We definitely came back relaxed and ready to take on the world:o)

I've Been Featured at Knock Off Decor!

Great News girlies! My PB Knock Duvet is being featured at






So I can proudly wear this button for the SECOND time:o)

I am a lucky girl. Be sure to go check it out. Just click on either of the buttons, and you will see it:o)
In other news....I have a busy next few days ahead of me. I am having a Princess House Party at my house tonight. It was supposed to be last week, but we had only had our power back on for 3 days. So everyone was trying to get back to normal. Since it's so close to the end of the school year, everyone is packing everything into the next 2 weeks. Not many are coming tonight(sniff, sniff), but those who are coming will have a great time and some fantastic food:o)I hope you have a great weekend! I'll be back Monday to share with you my weekend...it's going to wonderific:o)

Summer Printable

Summer break is just days away, and I wanted to give E the chance to hand out a little something special to all of his buds at school.

I stopped by Walmart and browsed their party section last night. There isn't much to choose from, but they did have these cute little guitar necklaces with bubbles inside. They are $2 for a 4-pack.

Here's what he will be handing out:

And if you are interested in this printable, 

then go 

HERE to download.

We are going to eat lunch with E today, and he really excited:o)

Looking forward to making his day!!!

Ready for a Project Hiatus

Remember a few weeks ago when I said I was going to finish the bridesmaids dresses? Well, things didn't go according to plan. There were issues with the sizing chart and after sewing and ripping seams, and sewing some more and ripping a whole lot more seams....I am FINISHED!!!

Blood, sweat and tears went into making all 5 dresses.

Making those dresses put every bit of my sewing skills to the test. I did things I have never done before, and I really don't want to have to do them for a long time now:o)

I am mentally drained. But everyone seemed to be really excited about their dress. I think this is the first time I have seen girls happy about their bridesmaid dress. The bride did a great job of picking out dresses that the girls could actually wear outside of a wedding.

So now that the dresses are done, this is where I want to be

 Doesn't this look like the perfect place to relax?

 I am so ready for an ocean breeze and the sun on my face.

However, I can't seem to talk the hubs into going. We are 'kid-free' this weekend, so I thought what better time to go? We wouldn't have to worry about anyone running off or drowning...total relaxation....he can't bring himself to do it since the kids LOVE the beach too.

Well here's to dreaming:o)

At least I can relax knowing that I am done with dresses:o)

I'll have pics of the dresses as soon as the "I-do's" are said. I wanted a pic of all the girls in their dresses together.

One thing I have learned in this process is that I am so very thankful to be a stay-at-home mother. I am so glad that we are in a situation where the hubs is the sole provider and I am the care taker of the home. I wish that all mothers had the desire and ability to the same. I was constantly reminded over these past few weeks  why the Lord wants me in the home and not in the work place.

I have some great kids:o) Too bad they are preventing me from going to the beach;o)

Pottery Barn's Hadley Ruched Duvet Knock Off

I hope that you all had a wonderful Mother's Day.  S.R. has a sinus infection right now, so things have been a little off kilter around here.

I still haven't been able to use my chalk paint yet, but I am really looking forward to it:o)

 I did get the chance to finish a project that I have been working on.

A couple of weeks ago the Pottery Barn catalog came in the mail. I always get excited when those things come because they have so many beautiful things in them. 

When I saw the Hadley Ruched Duvet Cover, I wanted it....badly. Isn't it beautiful?

Photo Credit: Pottery Barn

I really wanted it for MY bed, but the hubs and the color white aren't on good terms, so I knew that having it in our room was a no-go:o/ The guest room needs a makeover, so I decided to put it there.

I knew that this was something that I could make. Pottery Barn sells this duvet cover for $179.00. That's just the cover...if you don't have a duvet, then there is another added cost. So after studying the picture for a few days, I figured it out, and I was able to make mine for $75...that's INCLUDING the purchase of a duvet($24.99 King Size at Target):o)

Here's mine:

Want to know how I did it?

Here's what you need:

3 King size Flat sheets(this is for a queen bed)-$15 each at Walmart

4 or 5 packs of 1" wide Twill tape- around a $1 each...I think...(you could also use bias tape here)

White thread

Pins

Scissors

To begin.....

Wash and dry all 3 sheets.  

Cut the tops of the sheets off.

See picture:

Take 2 sheets and stitch cut ends together. Press open seam. 

This next part was a tad tricky for me in the beginning. I thought I would try to measure everything out to figure where I needed to have the long baste stitch lines, but it proved to be more of a hassle, sooooo

I folded the sheet in quarters lengthwise(in half, then halvsies again) and stretched it down the hallway to make sure that everything was folded correctly and smoothly. 

Press down all of the edges with a HOT iron using your steam. These lines will be your guide for your stitch lines.

Head to your machine, and use a basting stitch the entire length of the sheet. You will do this 5 times. 3 for the interior lines and 1 vertical line on either side of the outer edges.

You will be covered in fabric:o)

Once all of your lines have been sewn, you will need to start gathering. Find the little string on the end and start pulling. This takes FO-EVUH because you have to be careful not to break the string.

Lay it across the 3rd sheet and make all edges match up with the bottom sheet. You want to try to keep all of the gathers even.

Get your twill tape out and start pinning it across your stitch lines. Make sure to get your pins fairly close so that the gathers will not loosen when you pick up the top.

Stitch the twill tape down one side and them the other side.

Lay your finished top back on the 3rd sheet face down. Pin around the perimeter.

Make sure to leave a gap so that you will be able to insert your duvet later.

Stitch the perimeter.

Turn right side out and insert duvet. Fold in edges of opening, pin, and stitch.

Then you are done:o)

Pottery Barn's version has button holes for easy removal, but since this bed will not be used a lot, I am not worried about removing the duvet.

This project is fairly simple, but can be daunting with the amount of fabric you have to deal with.

I would say this project is for intermediate to advanced sewers.

So what do you think?

Is it a keeper?

It's totally girly:o)

It just needs some really cute pillows to match....thinking those will be purchased;o)

So again here's the comparison.

Mine:

And Pottery Barn's

I think it's a keeper;o) And it saved me a whopping $129(not including the purchase of the duvet)!

This Project has been featured here:

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