Blessings of Friendship

Yesterday I hosted a totally impromptu *blessing shower* for one of my best friends. She and her husband recently found out they are ~shockingly~ expecting #4. They were totally out of baby mode, she had even passed on all of her maternity clothes.

They are a part of the small group that we host and several of the other girls (we're forever *girls* in the South) decided to go shopping for maternity clothes for her. I mean, shopping is great, but if you can actually do it with purpose it's even more fun!

So after several days of gathering gently-used and clearanced maternity clothes, we decided to have a spur-of-the-moment *shower* for her. I tricked her into coming over for lunch and then while she was in the backyard with our kiddos I set up out the shower food and gifts and all of the other girls showed up. It was so fun seeing the expression on her face when she came in!

I have always enjoyed hosting events like this, but I usually have plenty of advance notice. Yesterday was the exception~I whipped up a platter of our Easter cookies, fixed a plate of bite size pieces of carrot cake and another girl brought a yummy artichoke dip with chips. That along with a pitcher of sweet tea, vase of silk flowers from The Princess' room and some paper plates/napkins from *the party box* and we were set! That was the least-stressful party I've ever hosted! And maybe the most fun!

P.S. I also have to give props to Vince for being our shower "childcare"! He got to play with 9 kiddos in the backyard while we partied. I wish I had that on video:)

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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