Birthdays, such fun!

Especially if they are the very first one! Yesterday our family celebrated my birthday and my grandson's birthday. I thought it was wonderful to share our special days together. He had lots of fun finding out how to eat your first birthday cake. ;)
I am going to share some of our photos with you all. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed the day.


As you can see in some of these photos cake was so very interesting.


Once he figured out that his mom was going to let him have this he pretty much went to town. And it got messy.



You'll notice a bit of clean up took place.
He received clothes and a certificate to get his photos done. He also got a bag of duplo blocks. And because of lack of communication he received a pair of penguin bop bags.

In this photo you can see the lovely teapot my husband gave me. It is also a music box. I have not figured out what tune it plays yet but it is very pretty. Most of you know about the car already. My oldest dd and her husband gave me some wildflowers to plant in our garden and the sweetest little charms. The charms are teapots and a teacup and teabag. I have to find a bracelet to put them on. She also knows my love of sewing and fabric and gave me a stack of coordinating fabrics. Ribbon too. Now to decide just want I want to make with it. Mmmm. I also received from them some beautiful tops and my biggest pitfall...candy.
My second dd made me the Eeyore pillow in the back of the photo. It is made from a t-shirt, all nice and fluffy! I also received tickets to a Charlie Zahm concert, at my convenience and a nice big cup with Eeyore on it. Do you think she is trying to say something about my personality, maybe?
And then my son gave me the prettiest lilac bush to plant. It makes me anxious for Spring and warmer weather to get here. I had a memorable day spending it with those I love. What more could one ask for?

Gifts from my friend.

I received a package that my dear, sweet friend Elizabeth sent. How excited I was when I opened it! It was filled with gifts for my upcoming birthday. The book she gave me "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" is one I have been looking for, for a while now. I had not run across it and so had forgotten all about it. I can see that God knows the desires of our hearts and He uses others to fulfill those desires. Elizabeth has a very loving and giving spirit and I have known her for a few years now. I have always been amazed at the love of God that I see in her life. She has encouraged me in so many ways. I am grateful for her gift of friendship most of all. We do not live near one another and we have never met in person but there is a kindred spirit that we share. We know we can always call or write to one another about anything that maybe going on in our lives and we won't be judged or ridiculed but encouraged to keep running the race that has been set before us. I believe God gives us friends so that we will not become weary along the way. As you can see by the picture the book was not the only gift she sent. Along with it are packets of flower seeds to brighten up my garden. It is so sweet because as those flowers grow I will keep Elizabeth in mind when I see them. She also sent me a beautiful handkerchief. To pretty in my opinion to use. So thank you Elizabeth for remembering me and making my day more special.

The end result.

Well, here are pictures of the fireplace we had installed. It was finished before the end of the year.

This is how we started out.


then came the chimney




it took a really long time, two days actually for him to
set the stones. It was like watching someone do a puzzle. This is Tim with his finished project. Wish I had gotten a clearer picture.



The mantel now has family pictures on it and it looks much more cozy. I need to get to work on making my curtains for this room.


Hope you enjoyed a peek.
till next time,
Blessings,
Denise

Making sugar cookies.

We have started in on our holiday baking. Sugar cookies were the choice of the day.
We had lots of fun rolling them out and cutting and baking. Leslie had made a batch of dough the day before and put it in the refrigerator. We decided to all join in for the cutting out. Well I was in charge of the oven so I didn't do much cutting, but we had fun just being together. I was also taking the pictures. We first chose our aprons and then our weapons, oops I mean cutters. There is a piece of plastic that I keep over the cloth on this table. Makes cleanup real easy.
We had snowmen, candy canes, gingerbread boys and gingerbread girls. There were snowflakes and mini snowmen, trees and stars. Ornaments, angels and bells. There were a lot of different choices and everyone decided on what they would use. I found I don't really care for the plastic type cutters as they squeeze together when being pressed down. So we had some skinny candy canes and snowmen. ;)
Then came preparing the dough with flour and rolling it out.

Then we cut them out and placed them on the cookie sheets ready for the oven.


There's nothing to compare to warm sugar cookies and hot cocoa.

Hope you enjoyed visiting us in the kitchen today!
Have any of you started your holiday baking yet?

Until next time.
Blessings,
Denise

Yet another very sweet giveaway!

These ladies seem to be all about giving right now! It is so nice to see that spirit continuing after holiday season is over.
Rebekah at http://pumpkinseed-unscripted.blogspot.com/ is having a giveaway for one of her beautiful keepsake canvas books.
Check it out, if you're the winner I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

I've been tagged!

One of my blogging friends,Susan tagged me for a game.
I am have never been tagged but will give it a try! I do have trouble thinking of things to write so bear with me.
I appreciate Susan choosing to include me in this. You'll have to check out her blog.
Well, here goes. These are the RULES:

Link to the person that tagged you. Which I did.
Post the rules on your blog.
Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 random and/or weird facts about me;

1. I love liver and onions.

2. Two-thirds of the year I prefer knee socks to nylon stockings.

3. Prayer was taken out of school the year I was born.

4. I am left-handed.

5. I like to sing, but not in front of people.

6. I never went to college and who cares?!

7. My favorite season is Autumn.
Here http://ox2.org
Most of these are random but I suppose some would think them weird.

passing this along:
Tina
NancyJo
Cori
Jess
CarolSue
Bonnie
Naomi

a little thrifting I did go

Had the opportunity a few days ago to stop in at the thrift store in the next town over.
Picked up a couple of things to add to my collections.

I don't know how well the leaf can be seen on the apple shaped dish but I thought it was neat and the price was right.



I have a pitcher collection started by my son in law a few Christmases back and have been adding to it slowly. So when I saw this little white one I knew it had to come home with me.



And who can ever have enough teacups? I am always on the lookout for unique ones. Though this is not unique I thought it would be a nice one to use. The dish next to the teacup I picked up too. I'm not sure what it is for... maybe a tealight? but, it came with the beads in it. I like to use those in the bottom of my vases when I cut fresh flowers.

I just really liked this dish and you know you should never collect anything unless you really like it!
Sorry about the glare from my flash on some of these. :(

ongoing project

The fireplace is coming along well. We only had one mishap and I pray no more.

While working on the roof doing some sawing for the chimney to go through J cut his finger and had to go get a few stitches! Ouch! Of course he didn't want to go get it looked at but his mom talked him into it(she's a nurse thank goodness) and I pressed the issue. I would hate for it to have been left and then gotten infected or something. Ten days and the stitches will be out. It looks a bit nasty right now but Lord willing it will heal quickly with no problems.

They are up to placing the stones on the front and the mantel is up. He is being very particular about the placement of the stones and I am grateful for that. It is like watching an artist at work. He places each stone and then decides if he wants that one or maybe a different one would look better or fit better. I will definitely be posting a picture of the finished project. Maybe a few of it as they went along.

Til next time,
blessings,
Denise

a little snow and a little fun too

Thought I'd share a few pictures of what we have been doing lately.
We had a nice snowfall last week and it looked like snowman snow. We ventured out, one of us on foot and as you will see, one of us in the nice dry (well we put a towel on the seat) car.
I just happen to be the power behind this vehicle and she enjoyed having me push her around.





She wasn't to thrilled to have me stop and get the pictures but being a sweetie she humored her Mimi.

After tiring of riding around we moved on to the swing. Another use for the towel!



While she was swinging I was taking some more photos. Our arbor looks a bit lonely for a nice Spring day when the grape vine will cover it and someone will be sitting inside sipping iced tea or lemonade. Maybe enjoying the new sprouts of plants and flowers bursting through the ground to blossom and show off the beautiful colors and greenery.




This little area is on the other end of the yard. I thought it looked so pretty with the snow covering it all.




Looks pretty forlorn now that all this snow has melted and today we are back to green and brown.

Hope all you dear friends have a blessed day no matter where you are or what your weather.
til next time,
Denise

First day of the new year.

The last day of last year was quite trying. First we had all planned to go to a dinner and worship/communion service last night at church. Ah but plans don't always go the way we think. Myself and the two youngers left with crockpot and dessert in hand and J would meet up with us there later. Had something he needed to take care of first. So we head out and get there on time for once. Had the meal and as I was heading into service I noticed I had missed a call from dd #1. She was calling to see what to do for the little one as he had become sick. In the meantime she had called her her mil and got some good advice. Told her if it wasn't too late when we got back I would call and check on him. Well, we were quite late so I didn't hear till this morning. He is doing better today.
So, into service we went. Not long after it started I got another call. So embarrassing in the middle of church. Anyway it was J and since it was so late he said he wouldn't get to the service before it would be over. We stayed after has they had a time of fellowship playing games and having coffee and dessert. It was a fun time and we made it home about 11:45 so we were all here together to bring in the new year.
There is nothing better than having the ones you love with you on the special days.
So we all eventually headed to bed, think it was around 2am when I finally got there.
Everyone was up fairly early this morning and as we are expecting company and I needed to get some cleaning done we plunged into the new day.
So all is pretty much in order and I am ready for a nap but alas it will soon be time to start our meal for today.
I am going to try and get the pictures of our new fireplace posted either this evening or tomorrow. Which ever time allows.
I hope each of you has a year full of blessings from God's hand and a life overflowing with the peace of His love in your hearts.
til next time,
Blessings,
Denise

Mini aprons!

Here are the mini aprons I made for the Valentine swap over at MJF.
This was my first try at them and I think they came out ok. Hopefully I'll get better at making them.
Can't wait to see all the minis that are coming back to me. These are going out in the post today.
Have a blessed day.
Til next time,
Denise

a couple of projects going on

I have been using the last few days to work on some projects. I am involved in a couple of swaps on two groups I am in.
One is a tea towel and the other is for mini aprons. I will post pics as soon as they are finished.
I am also in the middle of organizing and cleaning my craft "area".
This happens to be in our living room so I am trying to keep everything together in one part of the room. Though the family room is used more than the living room we still go in there to read or have a chat or whatever so I want to keep it neat and tidy. I haven't quite reached that goal yet but I am working in there today and hope to get that finished up.
I also want to start adding a few more things to my etsy shop.
Have a blessed day.
Til next time,
Denise

Check out this Spring fling giveaway.

Kay over at Rustic Cottage is having a giveaway. Hurry to enter as it ends tonight at 9:00pm Pacific time. Here's the address
http://therusticcottage.blogspot.com/

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Well, the sun is shining but the wind is blowing and making it very cold. I'm grateful for a woodstove and fireplace. Though I am finding it is difficult to keep this fireplace going as it should.
Could be it's going ok, but I am freezing. Have been fighting off the worst day of a cold today. Maybe that is a good sign? Hoping to be over it soon. Took a little rest earlier. That seemed to help some. Trying to stay warm by the fire with hot tea and some hand work.
Hope you all are having a good day wherever you are and whatever your weather.
Blessings.
til next time,
Denise