An Added Touch of Style

I just love the flowers that are so style right now. Made of cloth, they come in all sorts of fabrics and prints. They're stylish, chic, summery, and sweet. I just love them.

I didn't have one until Tuesday, I made one myself!

I was reading Simply VintageGirl and she has a tutorial on making cloth flowers. It was really easy! They are so much fun to make and so beautiful! The pale purple one in the top photo was the first I made.

Put them in your hair, pin them to your shirt, blouse, or sweater, or pin them on your bag. They're very versatile!

This multi print and the black one are my favorite. The black was is made from a scrap of fabric I had from several years ago when I made Gabe a Batman cape.

This shimmery one was made from a small piece of scrap material I had had for a long time.

I made a tiny one for Lily Kate. She wore it in her birthday pictures. These flowers had a new flair to an outfit, an added bit of style.

"The flower appears on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come..." Song of Solomon 2:12

Three Crazy Monkeys that Live At My House

This post is for my three younger brothers, Gabriel, Titus, and Levi. They range in age from ten to four and half and they are boys to the very soul. They love anything crazy, wild, disgusting, and silly.

Sometimes they make me crazy, but I love them very, very much!:) If I didn't have brothers I wouldn't have had many experiences.

I would never know how it felt to be tackled around the legs while they try to prove that their stronger than me.

I wouldn't know that sometimes it just impossible for a boy to sit still.

I wouldn't know so much about  Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett.

I would never have the chance to watch them play baseball.

And I would never have known how little boys love grossness.

Gabe is ten. He's laid back, he loves baseball, Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, he loves to create things, he loves to figure out how things work, he likes blood, guts, and violence, and he likes Fess Parker and John Wayne. He is tender hearted and gentle. He has a great imagination. He's good at math, and he likes science. I like to spend time with him. We get along well. He likes when I read out loud and when we watch I Love Lucy and Oliver! together.

Titus is wild. Wild, crazy, charming, and lovable. He has a big personality, he has a big mouth (and I mean that in the best sense!), he is funny, quirky, and loud. He's a cool kid. He likes to sit by me when I work on a project at the sewing machine and make things with scraps and string. He is very sweet, he enjoys being a pest, but he is never mean. He adores Lily Kate, absolutely adores her. He has a tender side. And he loves chocolate like I do.

Levi, my little buddy. He loves to sing and listen to music. He as crystal blue eyes and when he talks he kind of speaks with a lisp sometimes. He is so funny and quirky, he has a bad temper but when he's in a good mood he is SO much FUN to be around. He likes to climb on the counter while I bake and he asks lots of questions. I read to him before he goes to bed sometimes and he always wants me to sing My Jesus Loves Me, God is So Great, and He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. His love language is words of affirmation. He will tell you, "Your gorgeous and pretty and beautiful!" He loves to give compliments.

My brothers are a pack, they wrestle, play, and invent things together. They love Tom and Jerry, sweets, and battles and fights in movies. Boys are so different from girls, they live very loudly and they do some of the darnedest things. They love to be loud and they love to make a mess. They are crazy and lovable. I'm very blessed to have them.

Books for the Cooks

I have become an avid cookbook fan. It's because I love coffee table books anyway but if they have glossy, vivid pictures and stories about the dishes featured it's a very enjoyable way to spend time. The first place I visit in the library is the shelf with cookbooks. If I hit it at the right time I might find a new one by Ina Garten. I found this one at couple of days ago. I had seen it at Target and was interested. I was excited when I found it at the library...for free too!

Ina Garten is one of my favorite Food Network chefs, Giada de Laurentis is my favorite.  Ina's show, Barefoot Contessa, is on everyday at 1:30 and 5:00. Sometimes I watch it during lunch. I'm usually busy at 5 so I would like for them to switch it to 6 if possible!:P

Nigella Lawson is British, that alone might be the reason why I like her!:) But another reason is that she writes a lot about each recipe. I tend not to give a book a second glance if all it has is recipe after recipe and nothing about the place where it came from, the people who prepare it, or the stories linked to it. Nigella Lawson is very detailed. Her cookbooks are lovely.

I saw this book at my local bookstore but I didn't get a chance to look at it. Anyway, I found this on Amazon and I want to reserve it at the library.

Isn't this name cute? I liked to cover.

This book is coming out this fall. It is written by the author of one of my favorite blogs. Bakerella!

Lily Kate is Really Great!

On Tuesday Lily Kate turned one. She is our little princess and our treasure! She is sweet, gentle, lovable, happy, laid back, and rather sensitive. She is a doll.

She and I are fourteen years apart in age. She is usually mistaken for my baby which is annoying but I love that I get to have so much fun with her and that I will remember her babyhood well because we are so far apart in age.  I am going to be her first ballet teacher. I've thought about starting now but it will probably be better if I wait a few years! Haha!

I was there when she was born, I was one of the first people to ever lay eyes on her. I remember the first time I held her and I remember how tiny her feet were. She has my toes, long and skinny. Mama says they look exactly like mine did at her age. She has deep blue eyes and very long eyelashes. She has white teeth and a sweet little mouth. She only had peach fuzz on her head when she was born but she now has light brown hair. She can stand up now and has taken a step or two but she prefers to stay in her comfort zone. My aunt says she looks like I did-except for the wild black hair!

She likes to listen to books and she LOVES music and dancing. She can dance really, really well for a one year old! Anytime she hears music she might break out and start shaking her shoulders and waving her hands. She usually has a bow in her hair but loves to take it out. She loves for us to ride her around on a Caterpillar toy that Cousin Bette gave us. The buttons are her favorite part. She loves the beeps and the tune that it plays.

And sometimes she has to undergo one of Lydia's outrageous makeovers. Here she is with her lacy socks pulled up to her knees and white sandals on. Her ensemble also includes the purse that Mariah gave her.

I love you Lily Kate, I hope you have many, many, many, many more birthdays that are as wonderful as your first!!!

Love,

Abigail

America: They Made It!

People thought they'd never make it,
This country wouldn't last
"They'll be wishing for a monarchy
Before a year has passed."
But little did they know of this people and the dreams,
That molded us together like an ocean from many streams.

This country was a strong one,

The people in it stronger,

And if it rocks with pain today,
It will rise up strong tomorrow.

They worked to build a nation,

A nation like no other,

Build it up as great as Rome,
But not see it go asunder.
They worked with minds and bodies,
With diligence and love,
They prayed for guidance and for strength,
To the Lord God up above.

They fought for the life they loved,
And for all posterity,
Through the times that followed those,
A homeland like no other rose.
In the eyes of the world America was,
The land where freedom rings!
And across the border and on all sides,
People wished to bring,
Their lives and fortune
To this land of many dreams,
Where liberty was the stitching that was woven between the seams.

We never will forget
The pioneers of old,
Who crossed the wide expansive prairie
To see what the West would hold.
From the rugged mountain men who travelled far with Boone,
To the Donner Party who ended up in misery and doom.

Betsy from Pike and her husband Ike
Travelled though he Alkali,
And many went through sorrow and sweat,
To reach the land that lies,
To the west, farther west,
Where their greatest joy supplies.

From the Ingalls in their wagon that rattled over land,
To the Indians in their wigwams where the Smokey Mountains stand,
From the minors digging gold in the California sands,
We're a people who build ideals
That are strong, large, and grand.
Then Liberty took wing and flew across the land.

They endured hardship, sweat, death, and pain,
And spent their lifetime building again.
They pushed hard and then pushed harder,
They bore it all and then went farther,
Than any people hither too,
Then they watched the country as it grew.

From the blood of a Georgian who laid in the clay,
Shot during one long horrible day,
To the blood of a sailor captured in the war,
In the year 1812 that was filled with bloody gore,
They're a people who will fight and until they finally win,
Or die for the love of their country, kith, or kin.

What a heritage they gave us,
What sacrifice and love,
Do you take it all for granted?
Do you thank the One above?
Does the story fill you with great pride?
Of how our people fought and died?
Giving us this land we own?
This America they built,
One stone by stone?

Never forget their story,

Never forget their pain,

Never forget our wonderful, glorious, great gain,

They did it for you,

They did it for me,

They did for all their posterity!

Sunshine Days

Lately we've had incredibly hot weather and thick humidity. I always make a point to start running before 8:30 because once the humidity and heat sets in it unbearable. Besides the heat I love summer. I laid out yesterday and today and got a little pink. I get pink before I get brown. :)

During our photo shoot she got a little cranky.

Baseball is over for the boys but I thought that this photo had a summery feel

Titus's charming grin. He's a little Romeo

Gabe, Clayton, and Titus cooling off in the "pool". They emptied the sand out of the sandbox and filled it up with water. Necessity is the mother of invention after all!

Lovely Lily Kate.

                                      

Isn't she the coolest beach bunny?:D

Anniversary Cake

This past Friday was my parents 17th wedding anniversary. This was my gift for them.

This was the first three layered cake I've attempted. It was so hard to keep them from finding out! I baked two layers of chocolate cake on Friday night when they were out. I was rushing around like a mad woman trying to get them in the oven and also get the frosting made before they got back. I found some very interesting hiding places to store pans of cake!

I mixed up the batter for the yellow cake in our school room off the kitchen. I smuggled things in and out of there without either of them realizing it. I was really surprised! ;)

I was so upset because when I started frosting it crumbs were going everywhere. That's the reason why the middle layer looks the way it does. I pipped icing up the sides with a flat tip to cover the ugliness up. ;)

This cake has been reduced to crumbled pieces. It's kind of funny to think that you spend so much time and energy on something to make it look good and then cut into it!:)