Friday, November 29, 2013

December Photo Project

December Photo Project 2013 

Yay, so excited to be joining up in the December Photo Project again this year!
Feel free to join in too - find the details here.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!


Wednesday, November 27, 2013

More from the road...













Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Beauty on the Road





A few photos from the road as we have been making our way across the country! Loved seeing little glimpses of Fall still lingering along the way. That first picture made me think of beauty in the gutter! We've seen this vintage KFC sign before - the eyes move around and the beak opens and closes, so cute and fun! And, hallelujah - I had my first Peppermint Milk Shake at Chick-fil-A :) Check out the mini rainbow we saw - it was a straight piece and a small patch of rainbow but so pretty!








From the rising of the sun 'til the sun goes down, let the name of the Lord be praised!

Monday, November 25, 2013

A Fall Poem


Fall is here
The leaves are orange, red and yellow
Blooming secrets
The nip in the air
And happiness is everywhere.

Written by Emily

Friday, November 22, 2013

Gathering Thanksgiving

Typically by this many days before Thanksgiving I would be buzzing with all of the things I wanted to make and do in the coming days. I'm not hosting this year - but will have fun showing pictures of our special plans!

But, just for fun - I scoured my Pinterest board for a few fun links in case some of you are looking for an idea or two as Thanksgiving approaches.


Past posts about Thanksgiving:
2012 and Blessing Breakfast
2011 - A Dreamy Thanksgiving part one and two and Twine Candle Holders
2010 - A Homespun Thanksgiving for Children
2009 - A Time to be Thankful
2008 - Decorating with Paper

Adorable free printable labels for leftover pie containers!
Super simple and fast gratitude journals.
Crafting placemats, placecards and pretty pumpkin muffins.
I have this Thanksgiving Mad Lib printed and ready to enjoy - should be good for some laughs!
Found a super cute black and white paper tablecloth at Target that is ready for lots of littles and cousins to color and list thanks together!
Mini pumpkins to weight your tablecloth - charming!

Hope your preparations of both heart and home will be a blessing to all who gather together to give thanks! Happy Thanksgiving!

PS: I've noticed when pulling up blogs recently that some small video ads are popping up in the bottom right corner. Does anyone know how to get rid of those? Is that a browser setting? I have never pursued ads on my blog and would really like to keep it that way - email me if you have ideas of how to eliminate them!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Beautiful Slow


This was today's lunch scene - just an hour ago. It was dim, quiet, restorative in many ways. We watched the webcast with Ann Voskamp and my littles sat and watched most of it with me - Emily and I watched the whole thing the other two were sort of in and out.

More than anything they said, the hour ended leaving me feeling at peace - I had snuggled with my big girl on my lap, tasted yummy food that quieted a rumbling tummy. We were fed ~ spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally by spending time together. And I was full at the end.

Times like this leave me in such gratitude and wonder that we get to be home together every day. Do I know what a treasure these moments are?

We have had three glorious slow days in a row - not by plan, but oh I cannot express how restoring it has been. We needed this! And, I'm just swimming in the beauty of it and delighting in it. My word for next year is going to be slow so I can promise you'll hear a LOT more about this.

Along these lines, I want to remember something hilarious and yet wise Samuel said the other night. We got home late from riding the little Christmas train and I'd asked everyone to start getting ready for bed. I glanced down the hall and saw Samuel was laying on his bed but not obeying and getting ready for bed.

"What are you doing Samuel?"

"I'm getting my percent back."

"Your what?"

"My percent! I'm at ten percent now and when I lay here my percent comes back."

Oh.my. that boy. Honestly, that is precious, endearing, hilarious, so typical of Samuel's personality and yet so wise of him too to know that he needed to "recharge" and get his percent back - just as he knows how to read the battery's charge on the iPad he knows when he's had enough. Love.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Slow Day



















Tuesday, November 19, 2013

More Living


We packed our shoeboxes over the weekend and I had seen this cute idea on Pinterest about tracing your hand on the lid ~ my littles loved this idea!


A stray leaf that was on my porch after our Harvest Party made me run back inside to grab my camera - beauty like this is just too pretty to go unnoticed and/or unappreciated. Now it is in a tiny bottle on my kitchen counter!


We had a gift card for donuts and I was hoping for one last pumpkin donut - but the Fall flavors are gone so we tried a Christmas one!


Heading to the mall over the weekend, Samuel spied a gorgeous sunset and verbally commented on it. As we were walking into the mall it got even more beautiful and I had to stop and at least snap one quick pic. I'm so glad the Christmas train opened early {as in before Thanksgiving} so we would have an opportunity to ride before traveling!






And, I love this jolly little soul greeting me at my front door - it's sort of humorous considering we live in the South and it will not snow :) But, still cute and festive!


I imagine some of you will read this and think you are not ready for Christmas yet! We have never gotten our decorations out before Thanksgiving but it is just what works this year! I'm feeling more thankful than ever that Christmas things start early as it gives us a small window of time to enjoy a few local things before heading out of town. Perspective does make a difference!