The Princess Has Her Day...Again and Thoughts on God's Goodness

What with having her birthday on Easter, all the visiting relatives, and then the immediately following flu, the Princess didn't have a chance to celebrate with her friends. And, believe me, she just didn't feel like her birthday was complete without having *the girlfriends* over! So yesterday afternoon we invited several of her friends over for some fun. And fun it was: cupcakes, ice cream, gifts, and much princess play (ie: dress up!).

blowing out *5* candles

gettin' sugared-up!

a Cinderella play set: Prince included!

She had a great time, Mr. B enjoyed terrorizing all the girls (I can still hear the screams!) and I was totally ready for a nap after so much celebrating! Thank the Lord that we're feeling so much better and beginning to get our energy back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On another note: I just have to share how good God is! Lately my husband and I (along with our whole church) are going through a very stressful and discouraging situation with our church. I haven't really talked about because 1. this isn't really the place and 2. it's just depressing. But God is always working for our good, even when it's sometimes hard to see. The past couple of weeks the whole situation has really been getting to me and I've been pretty discouraged about it. Well, on Wednesday morning my dad called with a very encouraging word for Vince and me. Just a reminder that God has us on His mind and loves us so much. Then that evening I received a very encouraging email from a friend--one who is have an even bigger struggle in this situation than I am--but she took the time to send me a little note with some very uplifiting words and the reminder that she's praying for me. And then (yes! there's more!) yesterday one of the sweet wives in our young couples' small group sent me a note that really made my day. (I think she heard somewhere that I love real mail in the mailbox). I have been continually thanking God these past couple of days for loving me so much and caring about me so individually. He knows right when we really need that word of kindness or that prayer of encouragement and I'm so grateful. Those small acts of love and kindness mean the world!

the note of encouragement

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 3

I love my new patriotic front door wreath!! I had fun putting this together, although I must admit this is more of an adult craft than one for kiddos. I was inspired by this article in Family Fun magazine. I didn't have quite everything I needed for this one, but all I had to purchase was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and some double-sided tape. Then all I had to gather up were some scissors, regular Scotch tape, a ruler and some cardboard. First I cut four (5"x 6") pieces of each paper. Then by placing a piece of double-sided tape on one of the short ends of the papers, I rolled them into cones, pressing the seams together well. Then I cut a 10" circle out of cardboard and began to stick the cones on it. I used another piece of double-sided tape to stick the cones on, arranging them in a circular pattern. Next I used regular Scotch tape to attach them on the back to the back of the cardboard. After getting all the cones on, I was ready for my centerpiece. He...

my blessed life

Search This Blog