Happy 90th Birthday, Grandma!

Today is my maternal grandmother's 90th birthday! What a long and wonderful life she has had. She was born to a poor farming family in rural Arkansas where she grew up picking strawberries and cotton, but with a loving family.

She met my grandpa when she was just 12 or 13 while he was dating her older sister. He insisted that she came along on all their dates, then he dumped the older sister as soon as she was old enough to date. Hearing my grandma tell that story was always so funny.

She married him, the love of her life, at 17 and they had a beautiful family of 7--of which my mother was the middle child.

(my mother is the baby in here)

They were happily married through all kinds of life trials for over 60 years, until my grandpa passed away in 1999. She's really been sort of lost since he's been gone.

Grandma is an incredible cook! Her homemade rolls are the best and of course she never used a written recipe for anything. She also is a wonderful quiltmaker. Her intricate stitches are amazing!! And all of her quilts were always done entirely by hand. Sadly, time has robbed her memory and she suffers from dementia. She no longer remembers how to cook or sew. Today there will be a small celebration with her 7 children at her assisted living facility, since large celebrations now confuse and upset her. And all of our family gatherings are large since she has 7 children, 15 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and 9 great-great grandchildren--no to mention all the spouses that are in there, too! I wish I were close enough to go by for a visit, even though she doesn't remember my name anymore. She always remembers my face (or so it seems) and loves to have the company. I pray that she has a lovely day!

Happy 90th Birthday, Grandma!

I love you!

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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