What are little girls made of?

In a casual conversation with someone without little girls the other day, she mentioned that the thing she missed about having no girls was the cute clothes. I agreed slowly.
I've been guilty of saying the same thing about clothes, reducing my children to nothing more than mannequins to dress up and show off and perhaps make a statement about myself.
Now that I have a little girl, I confess, the clothes are fun.
But Madeira is obviously so much more than what she wears.
She is sweet. She is clever.
She can be a princess. She can be tough. She can be funny or whiny or longsuffering.
She is a little mongoose, eaten up from nose to tail with curiosity.
She will have what you're having at the table, thankyouverymuch.
She is not a great napper, an OK sleeper. She is a decent napper, a great sleeper.
She has a trademark expression. (Yes, I would like a dollar for every time someone has commented that "she looks so concerned...")

She is a one toothed wonder.
She is a miracle, a blessing, a gift.

But one thing is certain: she has her mama right where she wants her. I would do anything for this little lady.

Let's Give Thanks & a Giveaway

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.

It turns what we have into enough, and more.

It can turn a meal into a feast,

A house into a home,

A stranger into a friend.

Melody Beattie

Last year, my family made a thankful tree where we all wrote down our thanks on paper leaves and tied them to the tree. (Sorry for the terrible picture - Lisa's house, while quite charming, doesn't have ideal lighting and I'm not a skilled photographer.)

Today, I'm thankful for so many things: God's love and my redemption, my family, my friends, my health, my home, coffee with cream, naptime, the opportunity to create, and on and on. 

Reflecting on what I give thanks for makes me humbled. What did I do to deserve any of these things? Nothing. And so my thanks begins all over again.

What are you thanking God for today?

Leave a comment by November 21st for a chance to win an Heirloom Recipe Cookbook!

*And the winner is Erin! Randomly selected by random.org. I'll mail that out to you next week.
As always, if any of you are still interested in a cookbook, I have a few. :) Thanks for participating; it was fun to read the comments!*

In Memory

December 2010

I miss Grandma. She died a year ago and I was thinking about her, remembering her this week.
Probably the thing that sticks out most in my mind about her from youth is that I thought she had the most beautiful eye color I'd ever seen - sea foam green. As I got older, she just seemed more lovely. She was just like her name, Kathryn - classy and elegant.
She had Wendy and I go over to the neighbor's house once when we came out to visit, and I'm still charmed by the memories I have of being with Martha Huber and her cool collection of salt and pepper shakers. Thank you, Grandma, for teaching us to visit the elderly.
One year, she and Grandpa took me, Lisa, and Wendy Christmas shopping for our parents and bought the toaster that we "gave" them. Thank you for teaching us how joyful it is to give.
Scores of handmade dresses for Easter, a wedding, Christmas gifts, just because... Thank you for helping Mom with her young family.
I learned my first knitting project from her - washcloths. Thank you for being willing to share your knowledge with the young and curious.
She always seemed to show up at our house when there was work to be done - after babies were born, when windows needed washed, the house spring cleaned, corn to be frozen, and on and on. Thank you for always being available to help whenever you were needed.
She was just that way.
I knew Grandma was a special woman but I didn't realize just how special until two things happened.
The first was that she wrote the sweetest memories of my mom in a book that we made for what would have been my parents 25th anniversary. She said (paraphrasing here) that it was no wonder that she caught my dad's eye because she was so lovely. It was a life changing event, reading that. Not only did it make me love my grandma because she was so kind to her children, but it made me look at my own mother differently. Yes, my mother was a lovely woman. It was easy to forget that as a teenager.
Secondly, mom and I took some china painting lessons for a while and one year, mom painted some salt and pepper shakers to put on the Fairview Haven Benefit Auction. Grandma bought them. I thought that was so awesome. I'm not sure if that was because Grandma thought it would be great to have some of her daughter's artwork or if it was because I realized that you never stop needing to show your children that you care about and are interested in the things they do.
She never seemed to be in a hurry. Her house was always clean and calm. She was the best maker of mint tea. She was gracious, thoughtful, full of good works, selfless.
She was the woman I want to be.
I wish I could have told her all this myself before she died but I'm no good at that. All I could do is cry when I went to see her when she was sick. But I hope she knew how much I truly loved her.
Thank you, God, for putting such a wonderful person in my life.

Alex & Carmen

Rehearsal supper set up @ Brenda's

The glittered gourds/pumpkins were inspired by Martha Stewart Living

Menu, place cards, and napkins married, courtesy of Jen's imagination

More views of the table - the arrangements were made with mostly "found" flowery things

Trio of Mexican dips - YUM!

Finally found a great opportunity to use this extra large bell jar!

The infinity love quote on a chalkboard platter - Wendy's cool idea!

 Now that Al and Carmen have been married for 2 whole weeks :), I thought I could put some pictures up from the wedding weekend. Mostly of the rehearsal supper since that was our responsibility this time around. We had fun
putting the evening together - seemed to go off without a hitch! Let me tell you, it was kinda nice being the waited on at the rehearsal instead of the serving for once!

I'll say it - adorable.

Happy Halloween!

My little owl...

and my little peacock!

He just LOVED his glasses! Note the 3 sets of hands in the picture. :)

Yes, I think she is quite the cutest peacock there ever was!

I love getting Halloween costumes for the kids - don't really know why, I just do. Thanks to pinterest and other people's imaginations, I found some sweet costumes that worked just right for the kiddies.
For the owl, I found a template online for the glasses and the feather. I used brown, gray, and black felt for the feathers and sewed them in lines onto a t-shirt.
For the peacock, I made the fan out of feathers that I hotglued onto paper and then tucked them into a gold tulle tutu that I made. The headdress was more feathers glued to elastic.
Just a note: that R got FAR too much candy for one little boy! He'll be sharing it. :)

Food Review

You know how every now and then you see/eat/hear/whatever something that simply amazes you? This cheese is my new delight!
I discovered it at a wine tasting and food sampling event in Fairbury (really!) last Saturday, and seriously, my life is improved.
Up until then, I wouldn't have considered myself a bleu cheese person. Not really. I tended to find the flavor overwhelming. But I have slowly been getting a little more into it - I had a dip that I raved about for a while made with bleu cheese. Which is probably why I sampled this stuff at the tasting. And it was creamy, nutty, melt in the mouth, oh so delicious...
And it's made right in Illinois! By Ludwig Farmstead Creamery. For you locals, they sell some of their cheese at Kilgus Dairy, although I can't say if this particular cheese is there.
You must try some.
Note: The monogrammed cheese board and knife is from The Antique Shoppe about 4 or 5 years ago. I've just been dying for the perfect chance to use it! Thanks, Wendy. :)

Simple DIY Projects

The "before" picture. I actually didn't mind the lamp this way but it really needed some more color to fit into my living room.

Spray painted a glossy red with flowers hot glued to the shade. I was originally thinking gold for the base but couldn't find a gold spray paint that I could live with.

I saw an idea of using an old window as art ages ago online and had Jeremy save one for me when he tore down one of our old sheds. Pictures by A Glimpse in Time Photography

A close up of one of the panes - chipboard L that I covered with some of my favorite paper and some embellishments from Hobby Lobby. I was looking for something a little more awesome for the details but didn't find what I was looking for.

It's happy hour at this house - two sweetly sleeping children, leaving me to get some things done for Sharemy Sales. Not my absolute favorite way to spend the quiet time but business before pleasure!
I'm feeling wishful of a few things lately. Wishing that I took better pictures. Wishing that I thought to take more pictures of the little moments. Wishing that I was a pro already on my Adobe CS6 program. Wishing I had a exercise program. Wishing I could sew better. Wishing my niece and nephew were here already. Wishing my bookwork would do itself and spare me the trouble.
And I will leave you on that note...