Would he give

One of our favorite events of the year is the Fair Oaks Fire Department Fish Fry and Auction. It benefits our local fire department so it's even more important to us.

Papaw, Daddy, Unc and Uncle Phillip do the bid calling. The rest of us do the fish eating.

The ladies of the fire department prepare goodie boxes for the kids. They give out fireman hats, crayons, candy and fire trucks.

Throughout the auction the kids played with their trucks and colored pictures.

Henry really liked his fireman hat and has worn it daily ever since.

Liberty was all smiles they whole time! She loves it when people talk to her.

After Papaw called bids, Daddy and Unc had a turn. The Fire Department auction has lot of great items from toy tractors to seed.

One of the kids favorite parts of the auction is hanging out with Papaw. {Check out Mary Claire's pink hat!}

Fun with Friends

One of our favorite things about homeschooling is the ability to set our own schedule. We use My Father's World for our main curriculum and it is set up for light Fridays. This enables us to take field trips, check out the zoo, work an auction or visit friends.

This particular Friday, we visited our good friends the Mashburns. They recently welcomed a new baby into their family. Somehow, I didn't manage to get a picture of baby Arynn. You'll just have to take my word for it that she is adorable!

The weather was beautiful and the kiddos spent most of the day outside. The highlight of their play was building a "ramp" for riding bikes. The way the kids carried on you would have thought they were jumping the Grand Canyon. :-)

Another highlight was playing on the swing. Mr. Jake attached a swing the a large tree out front.

Madisyn took the time to push Henry and my future daughter-in-law in the swing. We haven't determined which son, she'll marry but her mother and I have plans. ;-) (The Mashburns have 3 girls and 2 boys, so 5 of my future in-laws are covered.)

Don't they look like they're having a blast!?!

 

Little Libby got to enjoy some time outside with big brother.

 

Then Ben and Mary Claire had a good time wit Madisyn pushing them.

 

 

These two little princesses did not seem to get the point of a play date until the last 30 minutes we were there. They fought over every toy. If each one of them had one, they wanted both. As soon as I said it was time to get ready to leave they became best buds and shared everything! Oh, the mind of a two year old!

 

We always have a great time with the Mashburns and can't wait to visit again! Princess Liberty declares that a visit very soon is in order!

 



Here comes Peter Cottontail

Before most holidays our 4-H club visits several area nursing homes. We deliver cards (mostly handmade by the kids) and candy. For Easter, our club places the candy inside plastic eggs.

 

 

Because "many hand make light work", I volunteered our family to "stuff" the eggs. It took us less than 20 minutes to place candy in over 200 eggs.

As evidenced by the following photo, Mary Claire helped herself to a piece of candy. Unfortunately for her, she was caught and didn't get to enjoy the fruit of her sneakiness. I figure that much candy and only one misappropriated piece = success!

After we finished the eggs, we started making cards. We still have a few weeks before the visit but our club hands out a card for each piece of candy. That's a lot of cards to make. Each family brings a set amount but since we have more 4-H members in our family, we decided to contribute a few extra.

Even Mary Claire and Henry made some cards. I wrote the sayings they colored them and added stickers.

Spring is on the way!

Spring, how we have missed you!

Longer days with warm enough temperatures to play.

Scooters, bikes and flowers make every day more enjoyable.

Big brothers that will haul a big load are lots of fun.

Races down the driveway bring lots of smiles.

Splashing in puddles is always fun, too!

Oh Spring, we're so glad you have finally arrived!

Happy Birthday, Lynden!

Happy Birthday to our "little" cousin.

 You've always been  the life of the party.

You're one of those people who is always in a good mood.

 And a great host.

 There also seems to be great food wherever you go!

So even though we can't be with you on your 3rd birthday, we sent you a little piece of love from us.

We hope the cards and treats help you have a fantastic third birthday!

Happy Birthday to our favorite mad scientist!

Jewelry Organization and Amazon Mom

One of my favorite places to shop is the discount jewelry store. Of course, frequent shopping also means my costume jewelry collection is rapidly expanding. My sister brought me this shadow box a few years ago from Hobby Lobby.

It does a fabulous job keeping my necklaces and thinner bracelets straight. The shadow box has a foam back in to which I inserted straight pins. The pins hold two - three necklaces with ease. The other nice feature of the shadow box is the hinged lid. This keeps everything covered.

 

The shadow box left me needing something to hold earrings. I recently used a command adhesive hook to hang this 37 compartment jewelry organizer that I purchased from Amazon. It is double sided and I have one pair of earrings in each space. This is also wear I store my watch and bracelets that are too wide for the shadow box. Both the hanging organizer and shadow box live in my semi walk-in closet.

Speaking of Amazon, Have you joined Amazon Mom yet? Right now, all new subscribers can receive $10 off a box of diapers! Amazon will also notify you of special discounts in the baby center. I have used Amazon Mom for the last 2+ years. I order diapers, wipes, shampoo, conditioner, snacks, paper towels, washing machine cleaner, diaper rash cream, detangler spray and lot more items using their subscribe and save program. The subscribe and save program can save you up to 15% off the regular Amazon price. On diapers you can save 20%! The UPS man drops everything off at my door for even less than what WalMart charges. There is also no tax in my state which adds to the savings. {I am not an affiliate for Amazon, I just really, really, really like their program and service!}

Want some more great tips? Head over to We Are That Family and join in the Works For Me Wednesday fun!

You can also checkout Raising Homemakers for some great homemaking tips.

{It seems I am frequently asked how I do various tasks. I'm a member of a wonderful online community and have friend who are always willing to share their successes {and failures}. I plan to share a few of the things that work for me over the next few weeks. Most of my ideas are not original creations, they have morphed from places like Pinterest and Facebook. There is no reason to re-invent the wheel and I'm more than willing to share how I made it work for me. If you would like to know how I do something, leave a comment, send an e-mail, etc. I'll be more than happy to work up a post on the topic. You can e-mail at Stacy at TheresRoomForMore.com .}

Liberty Kate you are TEN Months Old!

Wow! TEN Months! That's so close to a year. My how the time has flown.

 

You are on the verge of crawling. You get up on all fours and rock but you haven't figured out much more than scooting on your belly.

You broke the 15 pound mark.

You most of your clothing is 6-9 month.

You love to clap. If you hear clapping, you immediately join in.

Your current routine is waking around 7. You nurse off and on for about an hour and then take a nap. You normally sleep until 11. You then join us for the remainder of school (usually in your saucer). You eat lunch and play with anyone who wants to play. Nap time/Quiet time  for everyone is at 2. The big kids can get up after an hour. Henry, Mary Claire and you stay in bed until about 5. You don't always go to sleep immediately, so I think you sleep about 2.5 hours. After nap, we finish up laundry and cook supper. Everyone heads to bed between 8:30 and 9:00.

You are such a happy baby.

You almost never cry and you are very quiet.

You seem more serious than most of your brothers and Mary Claire.

Your saucer is one of your favorite places to be.

You do well with strangers and don't seem to mind leaving Mommy until you see me again. It seems like you see me and then realize that I'm not holding you.

You are such a delight and we can't imagine life with out our sweet Libby Kate!