Happy Birthday Mark

Today is hubby's birthday. I truly love this man. He is my best friend and as the years go by my love for him grows deeper. I never thought that would be possible but it truly is.

My spring to do list

My computer is not allowing me to download pictures from my camera, so I borrowed this lovely picture from the Graphic Fairy. I am not sure when my love affair with chipped paint began. It is just one of those things I cant explain and one I am sure my hubby never wishes started. As I think about all the things that I want to do this spring and summer I thought it would be a good idea to make a list. For me, many of these things will be a first time adventure. Some are extended projects from last year.

1. Replace plantings that died last year from my swing garden. also paint the swing! I love chippy paint but my swing took a real beating this past winter and needs an entire new coat of white paint.

2. power wash swing set and stain (ugh! -think I will pass this one on to the big boys)

3. Plant my very first vegetable garden. I have already laid out the raised bed and started some seeds inside.

4. get some fun containers at the junk shop to start my herbs in. I decided to do them separate from the veggie garden.

5. Look for an inexpensive fence for both my gardens. Bunnies and deer are already thinking they are at an all you can eat salad bar!

6. paint the boys room (sigh- I have been putting this off for way to long)

7. Make a bench out of a twin head board that has been sitting in my garage. (think I will need some help with this one)

8. try and do some canning this summer. I bought all the supplies last summer but did not get a chance to try it out.

9. Loose 20 pounds. (ugh) I am hoping that all those fresh vegetables from the garden will inspire me to loose some weight!

10. Grow closer to the Lord. That's the best thing we can ever hope to grow, cultivate and harvest.

Spring Gardening

I have never grown any kind of vegetable garden. This year I decided it would be a great project for the kids and I. Unfortunately, with the deer population that I have in my yard I cant do a large garden so instead we decided to do a small raised garden right next to the house. I will show you my raised garden structure in a future post. Today's project was to try and start some plants inside and then transplant them outside when the weather is appropriate. I did this more for Isabella's enjoyment. I plan to buy most of my vegetable plants from the nursery But I thought it would be fun to try and start a few. In the picture above we have carrots, cucumbers, basil and pansies.

Here is little Miss Isabella putting the dirt into the pods. It was fun putting the seeds in and watering them (her favorite part) we ran out of seeds so I am headed to Target to get some more seeds, dirt and a mister. Where were the boys? Outside jumping off our fallen tree onto the trampoline! (doing flips) way "funner" than planting seeds!

Happy 18th Birthday Joe

Yes, my baby boy (the biggest of all my children-weighing in at 8lbs 6 oz) just turned the big 18!He passed his drivers test on his birthday and is now officially on the road to independence. The day of his birthday (April 7th) we had friends over. Danielle and Michelle made him this awesome guitar cake and some cup cakes.

Later in the week (Friday) we had a big party for Joe and Billy at Billy's house. Joey and Bill have been the BFF's since they were about 6 years old. They have been celebrating their birthdays together for a long time! Happy Birthday JOE!

Highlights of Haiti

As most of you know, Joe took a trip to Haiti a month ago. I just wanted to share some highlights of his trip. Getting into Haiti proved to be a bit more difficult than they thought. Joe posing with with the guards who had originally tried to get bribe money form the team in order to cross from the Dominican Republic into Haiti. God worked it all out and Joe made some new friends.

Ministering to the Children.

Visiting with the people

Feeding the hungry

Sharing God's Love

making friends wherever he went.

Mathew 25:40

"The King will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

More graphic pillows

I made this pillow for my sister one day when she was over my house. The graphic came from a post card that I bought at a flea market. I copied it onto some fabric and then sewed it on to more fabric. The top corner has a vintage button sewed on to it.

I love the way it came out and plan to make more when I get some time.