Parenting Tips

My mom gave me this book and it has lots of great ideas. It has simple things you need to teach your kids (like how to do the laundry) as well as extraordinary things (like go on a hot air balloon ride). Each activity is also an object lesson to teach your children not only how much you love them, but also how much their Father in Heaven loves them. I just want the day my kids leave home to be far, far away!


I'm also on to book 6 in The Wheel of Time. After buying all the books for my husband, I've finally gotten into them myself.

My Pretty Little House

Last summer, Gramma bought a dollhouse like this for Noe (and all her future granddaughters) to play with at her house. Noe liked it so much Gramma wanted to send it home with her, but it was just too big to get on the plane. This past spring Noe got her very own dollhouse for her birthday.




When Gramma came to visit in the spring, I commented on how I wish I lived in a perfect little dollhouse. Gramma responded that I did. That made me smile.




Home Sweet Home! My home may not be a "dream" house, but right now it is the home of our dreams. We've lived here for 2 years now. Our first summer we were busy unpacking. Last summer I was busy finishing up all the decorating. This summer I have been busy going through each room top to bottom. I've gone through every closet, drawer, cupboard, and cabinet clearing away the junk. I still have the 2 storage rooms in the basement to do, plus the garage, shed, and dreaded file cabinets. Wish me luck to get it all done before summer is over!

I love hanging a wreath for each season.

Entry way.

The hall.

The stairs.

Laundry room.

Powder room.

Living room.

Dining room.

Kitchen.

Family room.

Master bedroom.

En suite.

The big boy's room.

The little boys' room.

The girl's room.

The kids' bathroom.

The rec room- library.

The rec room- office.

The rec room- guest room (hide-a-bed).

The rec room- play room.

Our tiny backyard.

Our big family vehicle.

*I am so grateful for our home and most especially for our family that lives here!

Strawberry Lemonade

I invited my dear friends over for a movie night. We did a double-feature with "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "A Room with a View." I wanted to do a cute snack table, so I got a little inspiration from a strawberry and a lemon.

I made strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, strawberry slices, and half with coconut. I also made lemon cupcakes with a lemon cream filling, vanilla frosting, and half again with coconut. I had planned on making the rest of the snacks and drinks too, but time got away from me so they were just store-bought goodies.

The complete table. I was missing the savory- veggies & dip, crackers & cheese, chips etc. Oh well, there's always next time!

This was supposed to be a picture of the group of us. I had my camera out and asked my hubby ahead of time if he'd get a shot of all of us. Unfortunately, as I got into the movies I forgot all about the photo op. My sweet friends surprised me with a birthday gift- yummy lotions, lovely nail polish, and a gift certificate for a mani-pedi (I am SO excited!). Thank you so much Airi, Angelique, Annick, Jackie, Laura, Lianne, Marsha, Mary, Rhonda, and Sonia!!