my blessed life

Welcome!  Come on in! I've enjoyed decorating this year~more so than some years.   Not that I had new decor--I've used my old faves--but I've felt a little more relaxed about it this year and that's made things much more  enjoyable for me.   Thanks for dropping by for this virtual home tour!   I wish I could actually share some cookies with you :)  Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

I know it's been a while.  And I've missed being here.  I hope things are going well with you. Life has been fast and furious around here these past few months and I simply needed to step away from so much time online in order to keep my sanity. I had lost my zeal for blogging.  Sort of lost my direction, in a way.  There are so many voices out there telling me how to improve my blog, how to make more money from  blogging, how to promote yourself better...  I just got tired of it all. I needed a little break.  So I took a couple of months off and it's been good. ***** Life has been a bit hectic lately and I am desperately trying to be intentional about how I spend my time.   More intentional in my walk with Jesus.  More intentional with my children.  More intentional with my marriage.  More intentional in my home. Believe me, I'm not getting it perfect.  In fact, most days I fail miserably.   Bu...

Welcome to a little Christmas tour of our home!   I'm so glad you've dropped by.  We are busy at our home preparing for Christmas.  Our days are filled with baking and candy making, shopping,  sending and receiving cards, crafting, playing, and lots of holiday spirit! I always enjoy Christmas home tours and am honored that you've come by for ours as well.  If you've visited in previous years, you likely won't see a lot of new things.  I love holiday traditions and am very sentimental about my decor (my family just loves it when I wax poetic about all of my favorite ornaments..lol).  I've tried to photograph some things from  different angles and focus a little more on details for you though.   Enjoy! {our front room~we call it "the library"} {our family room}  {the kitchen} {our learning room}  {Mr. B's tree}  {The Princess'...

Yesterday I had a rare afternoon all to myself.  The kiddos went over to my parents' house right after lunch and I hardly knew what to do! I thought about going shopping, but that wasn't really what I needed to do.  So I thought why not re-visit some of my Pinterest boards and see what I can find to do!  So I did just that. One of the things I really wanted to do this week was give my kitchen floor a good cleaning ( I know, I'm weird ...but it's really been bugging me ).  So I found a homemade floor cleaner that I had pinned, you know, ages ago and decided to give it a shot.  I must admit I've never gotten down on my hands and knees to scrub my floors, just used mops and wet Swiffers.  I hope you don't think less of me.  If you do, think that no more!  Because I crawled all over my kitchen and pantry floor scrubbing away with my homemade cleaner.  My shoulders and forearms are sore to prove it!  And while my floor doesn't exactl...

Welcome!   It's time for the annual holiday home tour.  Probably a little overdue, right?  I was a little late in finally getting it all done this year.  But now it is all up and we are so enjoying it!   So come right on it... the front room (our library) tree, full of all of my glass ornaments the Dickens Village is also in this room~here is the ice skating area touches of Christmas all around vintage holiday postcards a lovely garland that brings us into our learning room some festive touches in our learning room our Jesse tree, made from a branch from our backyard pine tree my elf~and, yes, he's on a shelf even though we don't keep that tradition:) vintage Santa mugs and more in the kitchen more Christmas in the kitchen my fruit and veggie tree~I love this little one! more Christmas garland the kiddos' photo ornaments garland heading into the family room our family room tree that ...