A Beautiful Friendship

Lora & Karlene

You know those friendships where it might be months or even years since you were able to really connect with an old friend, but when you finally do its as if no time has passed and your friendship just continues naturally as you catch up on things? Well, my friend Karlene is one of those friends for me.

We first met in college when we were dating guys who were already good friends and we began hanging out together--plus we discovered that we both lived in the same dorm (the next year we became roommates). It was just a natural, easy friendship from the start. Karlene is the *life-of-the-party* type and is so friendly and thoughtful that she just makes everyone around her feel right at ease.

our families together at Spring Park, Tuscumbia, AL

Though the years have taken us different places and we've experienced life events at different times (she was married 5 years before I got married and had her first child 6 years before I had mine) our friendship has remained. And although we married men that the other didn't know, we all click so well! Our husbands have so much fun together and our children, although different ages, got along great.

at the Helen Keller birthplace

I was so impressed with her children! I'd only had the chance to meet them once before when they were just babies. I thought they might be a little bored with my kiddos, since they are ages 9 and 11 (and mine are just 3 and 5), but they couldn't have been sweeter with them. They all played so well together and had so much fun. They even read to them each night at bedtime--it was the cutest thing! I enjoyed seeing my children looking up to such great kids--what role models!

reading bedtime stories together

Oh--and Vince put them all in a video while they were here, too! Check it out here.

Just a funny note on the meals that I planned ahead: the taco meal that I made for Monday night turned out so HUGE that we barely made a dent in it that night! It was so funny! We ended up having it again for lunch on Tuesday and we were still too full by dinner time to have the chicken spaghetti. I ended up making that last night instead. And no one really wanted big breakfasts, so I never made the French toast and the farmer's casserole. I'm going to make those soon though! And I'm going to get those recipes posted later today. Right now I'm off to take Mr. B for a check up. His chicken pox are much better now, especially after 3 nights of oatmeal baths.

Have a blessed day! I'll be back later!

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

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