Christ is Risen

 

 

Have a wonderful Resurrection Lord’s Day as you reflect upon the abundance of blessings God has given to you.

Most especially, the blessing and triumph of His Son!

Another Birthday Boy

 

Our Noah. I can’t believe he is 12!

 

After two sisters, Luke couldn’t have been happier to have a brother when Noah was born. Although, it was a few years before Noah realized just how glad Luke was to have him.

 

 

Noah has always been a cheerful, joyful boy. 

 

 

He never leaves us guessing about how he is feeling.  He is like a big, fluffy, bundle of puppy.

 

He says what he means, and he means what he says.  And he’s not at all afraid to say it.

 

 

He loves to make us laugh, which he does on a frequent basis.  Oh my!  He is expressive!

 

 

He’s brave and adventurous, and usually ready to try new things.

 

 

He loves to please us, and tries very hard to do that however he can.

 

 

He’s always thinking.

About something. 

About lots of things. 

About computer games. 

About imaginary things, like his imaginary hero, Wraith, who will defend us against any foe, give us anything we need, provide for us in any way Noah can think of, come to our rescue in any emergency, or bless us with excess - just for the fun of it.

About Legos.

About the way things work.

And sometimes he’ll tell us how he’s figured out that by using a certain kind of mathematical formula a certain way when it comes to understanding something he’s been thinking about, he’ll end up with such and such… somethings… 

Sometimes I just smile at him and say, “Neat!” and inside I’m thinking, “What was that again?” 

 

 

He wears his heart on his sleeve.  He always has.  There’s no need to guess when it comes to Noah.  He is who he is. 

We love him.

I love seeing him grow year by year into an even more loving, friendly, thoughtful young man.

I am so thankful to see God at work in Noah. 

The fruit is sweet, shiny, and sparkly.

 

 

Happy Birthday, Noah!  We love you, Buddy!

Remembering One Year Ago

Lately we’ve all been thinking a lot about what was happening here at Kenilworth last year this time. For one thing, the weather was a whole lot warmer!  But mainly, we were all so excited about our new home.  And so eager to get started on it. 

 

The dining room especially has come a long way.

Even though at the time, I thought I had a pretty good mental picture of what it could look like, I am still kind of amazed at what a difference all the hard work has made.

Do you remember?

I thought it might be fun to look back and compare. Thanks for humoring me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We feel very blessed to be here, and incredibly thankful for God’s kind provision.

Thanks for walking down Memory Lane with me!

Have a great weekend!

For the Beauty of the Earth

Thursday evening, Glenn looked across the street and saw 5 deer eating in the cornfield.  Even though Glenn and the kids opened the door to take a few pictures, the deer weren’t terribly frightened.  They looked over this way, and then kept on eating for several more minutes before moving on.

Do I need to tell you the kids were excited?

It’s beginning to feel a little like Laura Ingalls Wilder’s, The Long Winter around here!  It has definitely been a real winter, with snow and cold weather, and more snow, and more cold weather.  But as much as we’re starting to really pine for warm breezes and flowers, and green grass and sunny days, we’ve enjoyed the last bit of a great winter.  I say great because we loved sledding and playing outside in the snow. We loved watching it fall gently sometimes, and blow gustily other times, while feeling all cocooned inside the house with fires and blankets, soup and homemade bread, and good books to read.

We are blessed.

And now, we’re ready for Spring! Come on in!

Runaways in the Backyard

Last weekend, Alix and Kate, and their friend Laurabeth, went with Mrs. Noot  and me to a very neat antique and arts show.  We came away brimming with ideas.

Afterwards, we went to a couple of Goodwill stores and Kate found a few things she had been wanting for their Runaway game. They were very excited about using the dishes and Kate washed all of them as soon as we got home.

Now they just had to wait for a nice day to come along.  So far Winter hasn’t loosened its grip and the weather has been far too cold to play outside for long.

And then, thankfully, we had a pleasant day on Sunday, so the girls seized the opportunity to try out their “new” dishes, pot, and ladle.  They had a great time and played for several hours.

Glenn caught these pictures of them while they were playing. 

I know Grandma will be especially glad to see them.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Slipper Chair

I stopped by the antique mall one day last month, while I was on my way home from my monthly lunch date with my “sisters” on the Orr side. It was supposed to be one of those quick, run through trips where I just make sure there’s nothing I might need. 

And of course, going down the final row of booths, I saw it. The Deal I couldn’t pass up.  I even walked around the whole mall one more time, thinking about whether or not I should get it. 

So really, it wasn’t an impulse buy.

It was this vintage blue slipper chair.

Although the light blue velveteen fabric is obviously old and needs to be replaced, (which I’m planning to do) the chair is in perfect shape.  It’s on little casters and swivels around, and the springs are great.  It is also the exact size and style of chair I’ve been wanting for Alix and Kate’s room.

Since their beds are up high, they don’t have a sweet spot to sit and do homework, chat, read a book, etc.  I’d still like another slipper chair, or something similar, so they can sit together, but I’m not in a hurry.  I’ll find something sooner or later. 

In the meantime, they are loving the chair.  Someone is almost always sitting in it when I look in the room; usually with the ottoman pulled up and their feet propped comfortably. 

In other big decorating news…. Glenn bought a new throw pillow for my birthday.  It is so fluffy and soft!!  The kids love it!

He knew I would love it, too….

since I had been eyeing it for the past few months and described it in fine detail to him over the phone while he was at Walmart.

Wingback Twin

I finished the wingback twin and thought you might like to see it.

Here she is…

Since I was using the same drop cloth fabric I used with the other chair, I thought I should do a slightly different design. We have a lot of furniture in the family room. With nine of us, we just need it. 

We also love having people over, so we need plenty of seating.  But, I don’t want everything to look exactly the same. So with this wingback twin, I put a narrow pleat on the hem, and one on the top and bottom corners of the seat cushion.

I’m quite pleased with it. 

A topstitch around the hemline should help keep the pleats from flipping up. Hopefully it won’t take me too long to get around to doing that. 

So here’s one last look at it before:

 

And after!

I love fabric. 

I especially love the way it can make a piece of furniture seem brand new all over again.

When Glenn and I went to New York for our anniversary several years ago, he told me to choose where I wanted to go each day.  I’m sure he wasn’t surprised when I asked if we could go to a fabric warehouse. We walked for blocks and blocks (because I didn’t want to pay for the cab, and after all..walking is great exercise!).  But oh my!  What a warehouse of fabric and trims it was!  I can’t remember the name of it now, but that place was like a slice of heaven for me.  I think there were about 4 or 5 floors filled with fabrics. Fabric on huge bolts, rolled up and set in racks on the wall, fabric rolls leaning together in corners, like rolls of wallpaper, fabric in stacks and bins.  It was just amazing.  We walked up and down the aisles looking at all the beautiful patterns and I ran my hand over so many wonderful textures. 

Here are a couple of shots I found from that hot July day in 2005!

         

Even with so many beautiful prints and vibrant patterns, many of which I love to look at and admire in other’s homes, I still usually choose ivory and white when it comes to my own place.

They soothe my soul.

But here and there, I love a little sparkle of gold or silver! And isn’t powder blue fresh?

Stop me or I’ll keep going on and on!

 

I love that God has created us with an appreciation for beauty.  Even if it looks just a little different to each of us.

A Graceful Lady

Lately I’ve been noticing how old some of my lamps look.  Since we don’t have extra money right now, and lamps can be expensive, I decided to do a lamp makeover.  This lamp in the family room just hasn’t looked pretty to me for a while.  I decided to spray paint it.

I went and looked through my dwindling stash of colors and found silver.

Aha! That would do it. After it dried, though, it looked a little too silver, so I used an old rag and rubbed on a little gold rub-n-buff. I might have tried a glaze, except I didn’t have any. I had rub-n-buff. 

And anyway– I liked how it turned out. The silver has a pretty, reflective quality, and that corner of the family room needed some shine.

Of course now the old shade looked really old and it really didn’t look great with the silver base. So Glenn and I went to Lowe’s with our gift card – a Christmas gift from Colleen and Mick.  After we spent a fair amount of time looking at several different shades, Glenn pointed out one he thought I would like. He knows me well.

I think the lamp went from washer-woman to Graceful Lady.

 

I love the way something so simple can have such an impact. Don’t you?