Thank You Surprises!

Guess what came to me over the weekend? My absolutely fun and wonderful new friend, Nancy (My Crafty Little Page), sent a little surprise and thank you to me and the kiddos... It is to be part of my swap package from her, as well as, a little thank you for being her swap partner. I just love my new little individual serve dish! She had to wait and get it in Round Top, because she had a hard time finding it anywhere around her. It's the first "little" dish to my collection! How fun! Every thing was sweetly bundled in the green felt container.

I love the vintage word cards...

And my lovely new dish and some sunshine yellow pom trim...

Some fabulous vintage fabric... OOOooooo!

And three cross necklaces for my three little blessings to put together...


Thank you SO much, sweet friend!
Hugs to ya!


And THEN, my long-time friend, Elizabeth, sent me this cute thank you card she made with her new Cuddlebug die cut machine...Adorable! (A few other friends and us go in together to make a big order of clear envelopes and mono adhesive every so often to save money.) You can also check out her card & cake business blog here.


I feel so blessed to have so many friends around me, here in Texas, as well as many other states, countries, and you- all my blogging buddies! You all are wonderful! I HUG you all! ;)

Old Fashioned Fun...

"Happy Day, Happy Day!" is what McKenna has been singing over and over for the past two weeks... Oh yes, our baby girl turned two on April 13th. We had planned a party at the park with close family friends, but instead came indoors at
the church because it was just a little too nippy and windy to hang outside for that amount of time. We went with an old fashioned ice cream and cake party theme. Most the kids were older than McKenna, so they all had fun choosing toppings for their ice cream, and loved the ice cream cone cakes I made for everyone. We played limbo to some fun, "old-time" music, as well as danced the Hokey Pokey, The Chicken Dance, The Twist, and even the Name Game song. Fun was had by the 2 year olds to the- well, us older folks. The kindergarten room at church has a big indoor slide, too, that the kids went down over, and over, and over and over....






She was scared to death by the candle flame that singing "Happy Birthday" didn't go quite fast enough for her! (poor thing) But I guess it's not every day we have candles lit up in front of us! She had a ton of fun, loved every last crumb of cake, and every drop of ice cream, and I feel most blessed by this precious little girl...

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, MY SWEET MCKENNA FAITH!

Extraordinary Sunday...

Well, well, well.... so happy last week is done, and I'm on to a new week! I know it's the time of year that things just speed up a little, but I wasn't ready! ;) Nothing too significant, just busy.

My kids have been saving money instead of spending, which I've been very proud of them doing. Well, (fairly) recently, they had seen a sign at a store advertising WEBKINZ: 2 for 1. And did that excite them to no end! We were not able to stop the day they saw it, and they have not let me "forget" about it ever since.... that was one month ago.

Today, after church, Bailey asked if we could go. I really didn't have a reason not to, so after lunch, we headed on over to check it out. My fear was that they would be disappointed because the 2 for 1 sale would be over. However, mama wiped her brow and gave a silent yeehaw! when they noted the sign was out in front of the store. And I was ever so proud of them when they decided to work together, save some of their money, and each buy one , only costing them half of one (which was higher than most places- but oh well). Not only did they not spend as much, but they are saving money and not adding to the overgrown "stuffed-animal pool".

Sooooo, here is what they have been doing this afternoon...

A WEBKINZ EXTRAVAGANZA PLAYGROUND! Complete with monkey bars, swing set, slide, trampolines, and rock climbing (plastic boxes in background seen in video). What little Webkinz wouldn't want this fantastic little Tinker Toy playground? ;) That's what I love on a Sunday afternoon- no tv, no video games. Just plain, good old-fashioned fun- together. They insisted that I take a video, so I did. (though I am having troubles getting it loaded- sorry!)

Which brings me to this... my friend Tara over at Days Missed on a Hammock has invited me to play the Six Word Memoir that represent your life's motto.... The rules are:

1. Write your own six word Memoir.

2. Post it on your blog.

3. Link to the person who tagged you.

4. Tag 5 more blogs with links (leave a comment on their blog with an invitation to play).

Whew! This took a little thought, but here is what I have come up with:

See the extraordinary in life's ordinary.


This one comes next:

Please, Mom, just one more time!

So after I kinda rolled my eyes at the request of my presence in the loft to "see" what my kids had been doing, I had to stop in the moment, smile, giggle, and see that the moment was extraordinary in what would have been life's ordinary moment. ;)

Here are some others, not one's that I had come up with, but one's that I have collected and have found humor in or just find worthy and true... ;)

I think, therefore I am late

What does this button do? Oh.

Can't sleep, clowns will eat me.

Don't procrastinate now - do it later.

Live well, laugh often, love much.

For God so loved the world...

Live like there's Heaven on earth.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. -Albert Einstein


I now will invite: Elizabeth (you have nothing better to do since you can't walk!-lol), My Crazy Life, Gingerbread, My Crafty Little Page, and Counting Your Blessings... tell the world your 6 word meme!

Three Little Chicks...

Once there were Three Little Chicks sent to me one fine spring day....

Sweet, sweet and creative Nancy, over at My Crafty Little Page... Just look at what she sent me for Vintage Indie's "I Dream of Spring Swap" ! Miss Nancy has a way of packaging everything oh so cute, don't you agree? There is so much goodness in there... the vintage Dick and Jane flashcards are soooo cool- perfect for my three cute little chicks! And the chick pick is sooooooo cute in her little vintage storybook lined pot! ( It's a bummer I don't have a close-up of it) :(
So, that is mama chick, then she sent 3 little flocked chicks (thus, my three little chicks- are ya getting the theme here?) and she even sent one of her oh-so-cute handmade button arrangements she was making for a local women's group in her community! She wrapped the wooden spool with a strip of a vintage children's storybook page, and covered the top and bottom too... even with chicks on them! And just look at the beautiful embroidered and crocheted hankie... oh I just love this!

And get this.... she loved and was inspired by the pictures of my three little snow chicks when we had our snow day in Texas back in March, that she made a little scrapbooking ensemble, a tag for each of them with their names, ALL set on vintage Dick and Jane cards with the letter of their first name! And a "Snow Day in Texas!" tag- OH it's just so creative! I love them and can't wait to use them! And to the left of those, are three little Mary Engelbreit book tags! Very springy! They say, "That's What Friends are For"... and that's exactly what she is, a new found friend! Thank you so much Nancy!
She was such a joy to shop for as my partner in the swap... she said that I was psychic or went to her house at night and made notes for what she would like- LOL She has apparently liked what I had sent her:


I just loved the little plastic teapot napkin holder... and the crocheted trivet was beautiful!

It was really fun! Go look and see the matching "sets" she ended up with!
Then check out all the group photos on Flickr.