Our New Wood Furnace

I was home one evening and here came Hunter, Erika, and Katie through the door. Then came Larry and Daniel, acting really weird. Daniel came in the kitchen and said he had a something outside for me. Well, I stuck my head out the screen door and I saw his truck backed up to the sidewalk with this green thing on the back. I really didn't know what it was. I turned around and said "Thank you" and then proceeded to ask what it was. :)  This is the wood furnace our children bought us for our Anniversary. It is so nice to have the whole house warm and I'm so thankful. We really are blessed to have such wonderful children.

By Grace,
Kim

Plants, like children, take time.

I really like plants. I've always wanted to have plants and flowers all over my house. I've read that they purify the air and are able to lift your spirits. 

But to have nice plants takes time. 

Time to water them, time to prune them, time to fertilize them. 

Time to be in the sunlight and have just the right amount. 

Time to re-pot them when they become seriously overgrown! Hence the poor Fern below. :(

Plants need to be supported when little. They need to be trained and their new shoots need to be supported. 

This is why my plants look so pitiful. It is a reflection on me. I haven't taken the time to invest in them. I haven't spent time each day caring for them. Plants remind me of children. My children. When I don't spent quality time training them and investing in them........they will suffer and show signs of neglect. Over the years, I've been guilty of not spending enough time with my children.
But for many years now I try each day to teach them from God's word, read with them several good books, go swimming, help them enjoy their schoolwork and just play games.
I have a long way to go, but with Gods help I will succeed.........there may even be hope for my flowers. Someday.
By Grace Alone,
Kim

Homemade mantle

 I wanted a mantle above our pellet stove for awhile. We went to look for one, but they were quite expensive for a corner model.

Larry took an old piece of plywood and left-over crown molding from the bookshelf and made me a shelf over the pellet stove. :)

I really like how it turned out. It gave me motivation to paint a piece of plywood with chalkboard paint, and put in into an old frame to make a chalkboard. 

 Kim

Enough said!

I'm a little bit of a Scrooge.........I started taking down most of the Christmas decorations yesterday. I just want my home back to normal. We still have the tree up though. 

I've been organizing the boys' rooms today. What a big job. But I'm so happy to have the upstairs in order; all beds made, floors swept, dusted, and toys in their proper places, and several bags by the garage cans. Yes!
Moved to the main level and I've re-arranged furniture, hung pictures, and organized and have given several bags to the thrift store. The basement is this afternoon. Daniel is getting his stuff organized. He is filling up one eave that he has claimed for himself. Erika still has her's filled with her Barbie and baby doll stuff. It is soooo freeing to just let go of "stuff" cluttering up my life. I hate maintenance. It takes time away from what is truly important.
Have a great day. We are getting a lot of SNOW!!!
Blessings,
Kim

Dirty Dishes

This teapot picture frame greets me every morning. It sets on the windowsill right above my kitchen sink. I put a poem inside the picture frame many, many, years ago, and I still enjoy reading it whenever I get tired of doing my dishes. I hope you enjoy it also. 

Thank you God, for dirty dishes,
They have a story to tell.
While others may go hungry,
We are eating well.
With home, and health, and happiness,
I wouldn't want to fuss.
For by the stacks of evidence,
God, you have been so good to us.

Kim

Organizing

I spent most of the afternoon cleaning out our craft dresser. Whenever we would buy or find crayons, markers, paint, scissors and construction paper for a good price or for school, I would pick some up. Well the bad thing is that I rarely went down to actually check-out that dresser.  Big mistake. Mental note: don't buy anymore craft supplies.

 I sorted a huge box of construction paper and put then in a new drawer by color groups.

I hope I never let the craft dresser get that bad again......but I know too well that I will. :)

Blessings,

Kim

Our dining room.

Well, here's a picture of our dining room. I got it mudded and painted. The fun part was hanging the blinds and installing the doors to the pantry. I'm so thankful to God that he led me to the Senior Citizen's Garage Sale where I purchased the blinds and doors for 8.00 total! I'm so happy with the way it turned out. The boys really enjoy all the space as they have taken over most of it for their Legos. They also enjoy skating through the house even more now! I don't mind; I love seeing the boys smile and laugh as they chase each other around.

Phase II Puting in the sliding door.

Larry started last night taking out the window. This has been such a learning experience for the boys and us as well.
I'm so excited. I will be able to paint and move some furniture and then put in the table so we can have more families over. I'm so thankful for Larry and the boys for their willingness to help their father and me with these big jobs. Love you men!

Kim

Spring cleaning under way.

Spring cleaning has begun. I really like having a clean, sparkling, good smelling room.....for a few minutes anyway!!  Those of you with children will understand.  :)

Kim

Well, I finally found a good use for the hymnal racks! I didn't want to just put them up anywhere, so I waited. I'm so glad I did. I put them in the small hallway on a short wall so Noah can access his school books. I had his books in an old dresser, with the other boys', and the drawers were too heavy for him to pull out. This works so much better.

Kim

Boy am I tired!! I painted the bookshelf Sat. evening while everyone was asleep. We then loaded books all day today. I'm so glad this project is finished. I think Larry and the boys did a wonderful job. Love those men of mine.

Grace alone,
Kim

*** I may not be posting for awhile. My camera is not taking very good pictures anymore. I don't know why the lines appear but I guess after 7 years its tired. :) We will not have the money for a new one, so I may just freeze my blog. I will be thinking of you all!!!

Larry and the boys were busy all day today building me some bookshelves. I've always wanted some built in ones to keep ALL of the books we own in one place. Now we will be able to keep track of all the boys' books, mine and Larry's books as well as the school books. I hate to mention how many times I have purchased duplicates of our school books! :) I hope this will solve this problem. Hopefully by Tuesday I'll have the shelves painted. Stay tuned.

Kim

Random Pictures from the last few days..

I've been busy sewing pillows for my "new to me" church pew that Daniel gave me for Christmas. I really like it!! I've wanted a pew for years to provide extra seating in the sun room and this is just perfect. I enjoy coming out here in the morning to see the sun rise and to read....it is so beautiful and peaceful.

A great bonus was to see that the hymnal racks were still on the back.....so I took them off and I will mount these on the walls to hold books or magazines. I am so thrilled! I know I must lead a pretty dull life to be "thrilled" about hymnal racks!!! :)

We also took a few hours to make caramels. The boys really like to have caramels around and I don't make them as often as I would like.




Joshua helped me make some cookies and learned more about sifting.
Benjamin loves to have his hands in the dough. He's the one who likes to roll out the dough and frost ALL the cookies with an inch of icing and sprinkles. :) I decided to make ball cookies this time!
Noah is the mixer man. He like to operate it and then lick the beaters. I think this was my favorite also as a child.
Thanks Jennie for the inspiration to make some goodies with the boys. They have eaten most of the cookies and a lot of the caramels already. I didn't get to the soft peanut brittle but there's always another day.

Grace Alone.
Kim

Memories....

This Nativity was one we bought when we first got married. Our family looks forward to setting it up each year. The boys "discuss" who gets to put Jesus in the manger each year.

I bought this cross at the thrift store and it is the whole story of Jesus' birth.

We have this Advent calendar that we've been using and we've enjoyed it each year.

We made an advent wreath this year to remember Jesus' coming.

Each year the children make a new ornament. Some years they turn out very well.....and other years they don't make it!!

One year we made these wonderful cinnamon ornaments! I thought these were so fragrant and would be a wonderful addition to the tree. Apparently Benjamin did too. He came up from the basement where they were drying and said, "Those cookies downstairs taste yucky!" He was 3 :)

We really enjoy our Christmas tree each year. The children have so much fun pulling out the ornaments from the past years and enjoying them all over again.

Rejoice in the Savior,

Kim

Nature study.

The boys have really been enjoying our nature study. They've been bringing in a lot of things from outside. I mentioned that I would like to have some Pussy willow branches and soon I had a lot of nature bouquets!!!!

Cattails...


Thistles.....

Sweet Annie....

and of course, Pussy willows.

Thank you boys!!

Love,
Mom