Our Summer in Pictures

 

 

My four beauties are growing up so fast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer 2013....has flown by

But, oh the memories...

Such a relaxing weekend at Claytor Lake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spent quality time with mom...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cousin time 

 

Camping with friends 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watched my nephew win Best of Show at the Lampeter Fair

 

Watching a tractor parade with dad 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Father/Daughter bonding time  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the funeral, she was busy putting more flowers on Grandma's coffin.

Her way of saying good-bye 

 

A Few of My Favorite Things

I love old things! Especially old barn wood. If I were more talented I would make all of our bedroom furniture out of old barn wood. If my husband had more time he would make it for me=) A few years ago I bought these old Pepsi bottle carriers at a yard sale. A friend gave me the idea to make them into spice racks. It was hard to find the right spice container that would fit. I discovered, after babysitting my nephew, that these Gerber baby food containers fit perfectly.

A friend asked me if I would like to have a chicken coop that came from an old chicken house they tore down. She knew I was looking for something for the kids to put hats, gloves, shoes, etc. in and thought this would be perfect. Well, it is!! Thanks Julia!! I love it!! I begged my husband to get some old boards somewhere for me to hang hooks on...and he came home one day with it...Yay!!! This kind of stuff is so exciting for me!!!

I love to paint. Especially wood paneling. Two of the walls in our kitchen were dark wood paneled when we first moved here. I wanted them to go with the barn theme of our kitchen, so I played around with this wall and made it look like....wood paneling! ha!
My parents gave me this picture frame and old public sale poster, so this is hanging in my kitchen. It is actually a poster from a distant relative. So cool!!

This is not something old, but I just recently saw an idea in a magazine about connecting all your picture frames together with metal brackets to make a collage. I love it so much more than just hanging them different places. I found the "Family, one of God's masterpieces" lettering for the wall at Kohl's for 1/2 price!! Love it too!!

Morning Walk

So refreshed and ready to start my day after an early morning walk. This was my view today! Thank you Lord for another beautiful day!

Summertime

Summer is now in full swing and I wanted to share a few fun ideas to keep the kiddos occupied. I started playing with a few ideas that I found at a blog called "Brown Paper Packages".I found $1.00 flower pots at Walmart and painted a letter for each of the childrens names, then let them decorate with stickers and markers. Every time they read for 20 minutes they put a tag in their flower pot. I have an awards system set up so that every time they have 7 tags, they get to pick a prize. The older ones are allowed to count a tag if they spend time reading to the younger ones. It has been exciting to see them all sitting and reading books without my prompting. Another thing that has been a lifesaver so far is this handy dandy old window that I found out in the shed. I used permanant marker to make the Chores and Piano Points chart(for my daughter who is taking piano lessons) and use a washable marker to write daily chores. I also decided to make the hallway into an art gallery. The children love it! They are so proud of their work. Everytime someone comes to visit they like to show them the beautiful display. Ah yes, summertime...Only 3 weeks into into and still so many adventures to come!