4 Sweet Sisters

Praise His Holy and Righteous Name! I pray you all will have a Blessed Day of Remembrance and Rejoice in what the Most High has done for us out of His Love. Happy Christmas 4 Sweet Sisters Julie

Good morning! It's a wonderful crisp day.....but unfortunately we are in for a hot Christmas. I mean the kind were the girls are wondering if they can go swimming. Ugh... Oh well, I keep trying to remind myself it doesn't matter what the weather is like. What are we celebrating? The weather...I think not! I started a Christmas present for the Little Chef a couple of weeks back and didn't like were it was going. The fabrics were all wrong for what I was making. I was in a conundrum ...what to do? I wanted this project to be whimsical and fun. But I had no moola for it. I prayed as I was walking through my daily activities. Guess What? The Lord directed me to this old duvet cover I had! Yippee ! I just love it when He takes my best offering and goes way beyond whatever I could have come up with! A fun Puppet Theater! I can't wait to try it. I hope she'll let me play and not j...

It starts with a Big Bowl of these..... Oh so sugary sweet and unhealthy! Then add a Little Chef who sees and tastes all the value of this delights. Some patience and perseverance................ Wa La! Christmas Breakfast Necklaces for everyone! Breakfast, do it yourself Christmas presents and a Smile. The Little Chef was very proud of herself. This year she wanted NO help in creating her gifts. Every time someone would walk into or near the kitchen she would start (politely) yelling, "no Peeking, no Looking." This made it very hard as she wanted us to be with her the whole time she was creating! I see crafting and order in her future. Merry, Merry Christmas! Julie

Good Morning my Bloggy Friends! I'm still working at break neck speed to finish up a couple of projects. Over the past several years I've gotten really good at keeping our schedule very light during the holidays. It gives us an opportunity to help out in some extra ministry opportunities and just be spontaneous and peaceful(?) LOL . But this year I was blogging and saw all these creative things I wanted to try. So that's how I got into my predicament! I will start posting over the next week some of the gifts I have made these last few months to hours. In hopes that it will inspire someone for next year. Don't be crazy like me! 337 Gingerbread Houses and Counting! We have been very blessed again this year to be apart of Isiah's Inn. They help children and families in our community with school clothes, Christmas needs and much, much more. Each year our church helps to host a party for the children and their families (roughly 500 people, but I could be off). The da...

Well first off...I got a new camera! Thank you Grammy and Poppy! Grammy got a DsLr and I got her old one. My old one was 3mp and hers is 8.1mp. and the flash doesn't go dead after every shot! The only downfall at this point is how much longer it takes to upload a picture. I'm not sure if that has to do with the mp or the high speed card? Anyone? The biggest project has been the children's Christmas play. Lots of costumes and time! But so worth it. They did a beautiful job. This years play was about a spelling bee, where the contestants had to correctly spell the names of Jesus to be apart of the nativity. In turn everyone including the audience learns the different names and meanings. The children worked so very hard! Each week they would look up names to take in and share. My chickadees learned alot . All of our chicks participated in one form or another. The sheep on the right and Mary are ours. Mary is quite the actress! ...

66 lbs. of cucumbers ($11) 1 1/2 gallons apple cider lots of garlic and chilli peppers 28 quart jars 10 pint jars Splatter burns and back pain from a day of canning..... The look on my daughter's faces as the enjoy the fruits of my labor...........Priceless! Some of the reasons I'm so thankful!

Well with school being out for us this week I'm getting a little more time on the blog. I do need to get back to crafting ASAP! I'm so glad I'm not in charge of Thanksgiving dinner this year. One of the chicks went and helped Grammy chop and dice all the veggies. They also had a potato peeling contest with Mike. But the real reason I'm here..... I wanted to show off some of the Weenie/Marshmallow Roast pics. Two of our daughters birthdays fall during the heavy Christmas season and many years get gypped on a friend party. So we moved their b-days up a month and a party happens! Not every year. I shoot for every other. Anyways, on to the pics! Before the party night the chickadees and I came up with a fun games list. Candy Corn Relay, Popcorn Relay, Blindfold Doughnut Contest, 3 Legged Marshmallow Race, Apple Relay, and Bobbing for Marshmallows! (yes i realize they all involve food- that's what made it extra fun!) Before the children arrived we made up huge event...

Well here they are!!!! Can ya hear the excitement? Fannie and Gertrude. Gert is the darker of the two. After church yesterday, Miss Sandy brought them with the little girls - Puffy, Fluffy, Lucy and Princess Leah. My camera went dead.......Oh Superman you know what I need............. I post some of the little girls later. Here's what we got the this morning! Out of focus due to a 6 year old digital camera that eats batteries (hint hint). But I know you all know what eggs look like. I just can't believe they came from our backyard! The silkies won't lay for a bit longer. They were born in August where as the big girls were born in June. I can't believe we have them! I've been wanting them for about 5 years and here they are! Yippee! We've had a very busy weekend. The chickadees had a birthday party weenie roast, building the coop and Grammy's birthday celebration (with chicken holding). I'm so glad there is NO SCHOOL today. I've made polish dill pic...

Good morning. This was rather a hectic week here but I need some accountability so I'll be posting what I hope to accomplish! It would be soooooooo easy to just call it craft day! -Bible and song - math and spelling tests -water garden -clean master bedroom (never got to it) -clean master bath (yikes!) -apple granola ? -milk pick up and pumpkin bread delivery -oversee pumpkin bread making -dust and vacuum living room -older chicks to Bright Lights - chili dog dinner for Superman and youngers -oversee painting of the inside of chicken house- younger chickadees -Craft till I drop night! I really need to get these things done. It's been hard with being in a unsettling time in our lives... I really can't discuss it now, but some days it does get the better of me. I've been in much prayer and am having difficulty with patience.....just when I think I've conquered it! Sometimes just doing what needs to be done and concentrating on that brings me to a place of gr...

Well we're back on track. I have grandiose plans for the day ( haha ), but I realize that what I would like to get done would only happen with me yelling at my dear girls. So I opt for plan B. *Bible and song with Chickadees *Water garden * Tidy school room *Help make 12 loaves pumpkin bread *School (which takes alot more time this- more than I realized- part of my needing an attitude adjustment) *Put away bedroom pile and dust * Costume fitting with children at church *Make dinner- taco salad *Make granola *Put eyes on Cleo I'll place some before an afters up later today!

Today was very busy in a different way. (Superman had the day off and is feeling much better.) We are studying the state of Florida this year as a family and as part of our coop. Some of the wonderful trips that have been planned don't make our budget this year, So I felt impressed upon to study things more locally and use other resources ie. dvd, books, magazines for the places we can't make this year. My mom has gotten on board, so it's making it even more fun! All this to say: we planned a day excursion to the Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks. Unfortunately my camera is DOA and Grammala has her SD at her house.... So no pics. We saw many neat sites like real sponging boats, all sorts of sponges and shells. We tasted Sulavai, Gyro, Pastisio, and Baklava. We also learned about sponges and the Greek settlers to the area. It was quite busy day. So tomorrow we'll get to baking lots of pumpkin bread for the 4 sweet sisters business and some deep cleaning in. Hmmmmmmmmm wher...

Well, I'm of to a rather poor start! I went to bed very late last night (we watched the movie Luther) thinking of all I needed to do today. As I was praying and drifting of to sleep I kept saying I needed to make a list of what is coming up. I seem to have lost my organizational zeal... If you come across it, I really need it back! Anyway... Up with a start! Superman caught some krypton which kept him home from work today. So we all over sleep...isn't it the weekend when he is home? Okay up... Music and Bible with the girls Apple granola in dehydrator 4 loads of laundry hung/ dried/ folded water the garden school chickadees give counsel when needed to older chicks (youngest in with Superman doctoring him) make list (should have happened sooner, but it happened) chicken to boil for soup take chicks to buy pumpkin bread supplies work on Christmas gifts spend some time with Superman Unfortunately I didn't keep my self control about me. I've really been trying to work on...

Frugal Friday Look what I made for 55 cents! That's right!! My first sock monkey....Lucy. Monica at the Home Spun Heart had the craft up about a month ago, and I vowed to make my chicks some for Christmas. You can go to http://www.craftbits.com/ and look up this cute monkey. But you would probably do better heading over to the Home Spun Heart (in my side bar) and perusing her craft category. Okay so here's what you'll need: 1 long pair of cute socks (these are child's size so the body is a bit smaller and the legs are longer) thread good scissors sewing machine (you could hand sew the whole thing) 2 buttons for eyes cotton batting ...

God bless you..... Does anyone know what this is? I do. At first I thought it was a scraggly old tomato. On closer inspection I thought it was a tomatillo. Which I've never tried and wanted to. Visions of salsa went dancing by! Then on even further inspection ( i put on my glasses) and found out it was a Fuyu. Of coarse, I should have known! I then headed to my somewhat trusty friend and searched "fuyu". Guess what? It's a Japanese Persimmon. So much for calenete salsa! The chicks immediately wanted to taste it. So open it we did. It looked like an under ripe tomato. I thought it was mislabeled at the field. I mean, where are all the black seeds? We peeled the skin off and sliced it. VERY sweet. The texture was kind of like firm mango. My oldest chick said it was too sweet for fruit. Huh? My mango and papaya loving chick gobbled it up. Thanks to veg co-op another country we won't need to visit. jk On to other news we hope to have live chickens in a couple of weeks...

Hello all..... I mean any of you lovely people who still happen by to see what us crazy folks are up too! Today was veg coop and we got lots of our chicks favorites, including Diakon Radishes. For all who don't know what they are... I'll just send chick #2 to take a pic. While we're waiting, isn't crazy and mostly wonderful how different all of our children are! I mean I have one who is working on "back" algebra with Superman and another who is debating on how much extra math she'll do to get ahead and counting the days till testing! This is one area I wished they were all more alike ! Okay, back to radish talk. Here's what they look like. Like big white carrots. They taste spicy and crunchy. Thanks chick #2! Well are favorite thing to make with the babies are Diakon Pancakes. I'm really not sure if there is a recipe. I kinda made it up. Okay, I cheated a bit and took it from a Potato Pancake recipe. You maybe asking yourself, why? Well, I d...

Let me 1st make a disclaimer or 2! We are CRAZY Surburites who long for small town country life. We really have no clue of what we are doing, but we think we are experts! Also remember we are in our work clothes, compliments of the 25 cent rack. We (I) read many gardening books this summer in preparation for our move to the country and/or how to garden in the great state of Florida. My two favorites are Square Foot Gardening and Vegetable Gardening in Florida. First off we decided on a plot to suite our family needs. Okay kinda, sorta. It's apx. 28ft x 18ft. I have no gruesome pics off the pulling out of grass. My oldest chick and I did a lot of that while the youngers filled the wheel barrow. We picked up this hand held roto tiller years ago on deep discount, but unfortunately the 1st day our weed whip lost it's whippiness. So we did it alone until we could barrow Poppy's. Some machines are SO worth it! After Superman was done tilling and all the grass was gone. We ad...