The Vintage Pearl Giveaway at Tatertots and Jello!!!

I am entering and you should too!!!!

You can enter here!

An afternoon at the park....OR Shameless picture post.

Yesterday, R and I spent some time at the park. We needed to get out of the house for a bit! So we grabbed some bread and headed to the pond to feed the fish....

This is one of our favorite summer activities. 

After we fed the fish, we headed to the smaller fountain and R cooled his feet in the water for a while! Oh, how I wanted to tear off my shoes and jump right in with him!!!

He had so much fun!

He even ASKED me to take his picture! I couldn't believe it!

He chased some butterflies around the gazebo....

He even showed his baby sissy some love! :o)

It was an amazing day enjoying God's creation. If only we could do it every day and I didn't have to go to work!

It's a................

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!

We are so excited!! I think R is more excited than we are!! He got his very own picture from the ultrasound today. He was so proud! He is so excited to be a big brother!!! Now, we just need a name.....

Tomorrow's the Day!!!!

Tomorrow is the big day!! We are so excited to see our baby and find out if we are on Team Pink or Team Blue!!! More importantly, we are praying that God will bless us with a perfect and healthy little baby!! R will be going with us to the ultrasound.  I'm afraid if it's a girl he will have a meltdown! At first he wanted a little sister, now he says he wants a brother so that when he and his Nanny play baseball she doesn't have to be alone in the outfield! Out of the mouths of  babes! He is so excited to see his baby brother or sisters picture and to see his OWN picture on the wall in the office that he can't stand it! And, I must admit, so am I!!! This will be the first time he has gone with us so I hope all goes well! I'm always a little nervous too so please say a prayer for us!

Back tomorrow with the big news!!!!

Sabbatical

It's been awhile! Since finding out I am pregnant I haven't slowed down!! I also haven't done many (any?) projects!! I have a couple things waiting in the wings but haven't ventured out with the spray paint!!

I will be 20 weeks pregnant on Wednesday and on August 5th we get to back to teh doctor for our big ultrasound! We can't wait to find out what we are having!! R is going with us for the big reveal! We are hoping that the baby cooperates and that once we find out what it is we will have better luck picking out a name!

Suggestions?

One Southern Mama of One becomes One Southern Mama of TWO!!!!

We are having a baby!!!!!! Due date is December 15th!! Still very early so please keep us in your prayers!!!!

Be a "WHOSOEVER"

Be a what? A who?  As a Christian Mama, church is a HUGE part of our lives.  My wonderful DH and I are also the youth leaders at our church.  We have kids from 7th grade on up.  We even have a few college kids who just can't bear to leave us yet! Which I thank God for!  We love our kids and spend countless hours each week working on lessons, outings, or just checking in with our kids.  They are part of our family.  R has many siblings! Just not blood siblings....although when I think about it, they ARE blood siblings.  Because we are ALL covered in the blood of Christ.

Back to the WHOSOEVER: We are so blessed at our church to have a wonderful amazing man as our pastor.  He often mentions that we are all also "whosoever(s)".  John 3:16 says that God sent his only son to earth to die and that "whosoever" believes in Him shall live eternally with Him in heaven.  It's a free gift that we have been given.  But like any gift, we must ACCEPT it. If we do not accept it, then we are the whosoever’s of Rev. 20:15, those whose names are not written in the Book of Life. Those who spend eternity separated from God.  In the last week, we have had the honor and privilege to be part of not one, but TWO of kids accepting Christ as their as their savior.  As a youth leader and a Christian there is nothing better!!! I always think of it as another person added to my table in heaven where we will sit with the Lord.  Jesus said in Revelation 3:20, “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”  This verse paints the picture of us seated with Christ, at the table, enjoying God’s delight in his Son’s perfect sacrifice. In that sacrifice, we are rid of brokenness and welcome at the table. We are able to partake of the victory over sin. (This explanation was found here.) There is an excellent song that portrays this very well which I will post at the end.  The song is what that explanation is referring too. 

So my challenge to you is to be a whosoever of John 3:16, not a whosoever of Revelation 20:15 as our shirts say!  And I pray that someday, I will see you at the table!

Carried To The Table :

Wounded and forsaken

I was shattered by the fall

Broken and forgotten

Feeling lost and all alone

Summoned by the King

Into the Master’s courts

Lifted by the Savior

And cradled in His arms

I was carried to the table

Seated where I don’t belong

Carried to the table

Swept away by His love

And I don’t see my brokenness anymore

When I’m seated at the table of the Lord

I’m carried to the table

The table of the Lord

Fighting thoughts of fear

And wondering why He called my name

Am I good enough to share this cup

This world has left me lame

Even in my weakness

The Savior called my name

In His Holy presence

I’m healed and unashamed

You carried me, my God

You carried me

You can see Crabb Revival's version of this song on You Tube by clicking HERE. (This is just MY personal favorite version!)

Window "mistreatments"!! FINALLY!!!!!

Well everyone, I know it's been a long time coming but here are the pics from my window mistreatments I made for my dining room. 

This is what my dining room windows looked like before I "mistreated" them.  They are just plain sage colored sheers from Wally World that I've had in there since we moved into this house 6 1/2 years ago.  I
was soooo sick of them!!!

Sooooo I did this to them!!!

I went to Hobby Lobby with an idea in mind of what I wanted.  I had looked around online and at Wally World too of course, and couldn't find anything I close to what I wanted.  So I went to my favorite store and bought the material myself.  Now, mind you, I "own" a sewing machine and it is even OUT of the box it came in, yet in the year I have owned it, I have NEVER used it.  I have no idea how!  So armed with my hot glue gun I cut the striped fabric the correct length and then hot glued them to the flowered fabric.  Yes I said I HOT GLUED them together.  It's totally fine for the fabric and no one has a clue unless I open my big mouth and tell them.  I "hemmed" all the edges with Stitch Witchery and then used fabric glue to glue down the ribbon that covers the area where I hot glued the two fabrics together.  You don't HAVE to do that I just like how finished it looks.  Also, I didn't hem the top of the panels at all.  Too lazy.  I simply rolled them down until the curtains were the length I wanted them and then clipped them to the rings on my curtain rods.  To do the two windows in my dining room and buying the new curtain rods and clips I spent maybe $50 and I got EXACTLY what I wanted.  The rods and clips I got at Big Lots (local discount store). 

I wanted to keep my shears up but once the new panels were in place they were way too long.  Hot glue and shears don't mix well so this was my cheap thrifty solution:

I played around with them and finally decided to just use some safety pins and pin them up in a kinda ruffle.  Here's a close up of what I did:

After I pinned all four of the shears I was done except for a few other finishing touches:

This is corner cabinet that belonged to C's great grandmother.  I "shopped the house" for the lamp and have since added an "S" monogram in black to the shade.  LOVE IT!!!  The "Amazing Grace-My Chains are Gone" cross was on sale for 50% off at Hobby Lobby and the red plate was on 66% off clearance there too.  Told you I was cheap thrifty. That beautiful Fenton pitcher and bowl were my grandmothers.  They are my favorite thing in the cabinet.  The plaque on the left of the pitcher and bowl is actually our wedding invitation a cousin had printed on there for us as a gift. 

The plate on the same side as the window was another Hobby Lobby find in the 66% off clearance aisle.  It was a coppery color.  My new BFF is Heirloom White spray paint so it got a coat and then I distressed it with some antiquing medium.  The three platters grouped together are from.....wait for it.........THE DOLLAR TREE!!!!!!!! Yep! They were silver when I bought them but thanks to my BFF they are now a pretty shade of white.  They too, got a coat of antiquing medium.  Since I took this pic, I also added some rub on stickers from, yep, you guessed it....The Dollar Tree! :o)

Close up of the Hobby Lobby platter.

The Dollar Tree platters. All of these I just hung up with those peel and stick cloth hangers.  Also from, The Dollar Tree! :o) My hubby would be so proud! He's the king of CHEAP, uh, thriftiness....

Another 66% off clearance find at Hobby Lobby.  It too, was the same coppery color as the platter from there.  Heirloom White and antiquing medium make all the difference!

The cross plaque is another Hobby Lobby find that was 50% off.  C actually found it for me! The framed fork and spoon I made from Dollar Tree frames spray painted with Heirloom white.  I then covered the backing of the frame with scrapbook paper and hot glued the fork and spoon directly to the paper.  Then hot glued the ribbon to the utensils.  They are from a set that were my grandmothers. I wanted to find some way to display them.  I found a pic of something similar on a friends blog.  Check her blog out here: Kelly At Home  Kelly, I hope you don't mind me linking to you! Love you, girl!

Thanks for looking and I hope you'll come back soon! Leave some comments and let me know what you think! Or if you have any questions about anything feel free to ask!

Also, I'm linking up with Kara for Look What I Made!!!

I'm late, I'm late!!!!!!

I'm so far behind on my posting!  I have some new one coming up this week!  I have my window mistreatments to show and some new jewelry charms I've made! And a few other things as well!  So until R goes back to school on Tuesday and I can get the photos uploaded, happy blogging!

In His name,

Erin

Pre-School: Part 2

Soooo, if you read my last post, you know we've been having trouble with getting Rylan "into" preschool!  Today we got up and got ready to go after 4 days off.  He cried, he screamed, he pleaded, he bargained. He even faked sick-at 3 1/2 years old! This kid really did NOT want to go to school!  We got there and I had to peel him off of me once again.  He had a little paper with 2:00pm printed on  it so he would know when I was coming to pick him up.  He cried and screamed like a banshee when I left!  But when I went to pick him up at 2:00pm, he was all smiles and now says he is going back tomorrow!!!! Woooo-Hooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I guess we'll see in the morning! But for now, we are both happy!!!

By the way, head over to see Katy at The Country Blossom.  She has posted some beautiful pics of her home-school school room and her dining room after some rearranging and re-decorating!  And I am in love with her wide plank dining table in the 7th pic down! Be still my heart!!!!!


Have a wonderful and very blessed day!

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”- James 4:10

Pre-School woes

Rylan, my soon-to-be 4 year old son, started back to pre-school last week after a rather long hiatus.  Today was a nightmare! I just got back from dropping him off and I feel like I need a therapy session.  He went on Tuesday of this week and cried a little when I left but soon got over it and had a wonderful day.  He even SLEPT during quiet time! That kid hasn't taken a nap since he was 18 months old! Even if he's sick!! BUT, this morning when I got him up he said he hated school and didn't want to go.  I thought he was just saying that for my benefit.  Then I had to fight to get him dressed, teeth brushed, hair combed, the whole nine yards.  So we get ready to walk out the door and I'm carrying his backpack, lunch, and bag with his "quiet time" stuff (blanket, big stuffed Shrek, and pillow) in it and he refuses to walk out the door! This is when I "knew" for sure I was in trouble!  I carried all the stuff to the car and came back in for him.  I carried him, yes kicking and screaming-quite literally, to the car and then into the school.  When I finally was able to pull him off my chest I kissed him and quickly left, telling him I'd be back soon and to have a great day.  I went back out front and watched for a while on the closed circuit video they offer-Thank Goodness for this!  He was being snuggled and prepped for ice cube painting which apparently is done with an ice cube and powder paint-very cool, I might add!

I just don't know who it is harder on; him or me!!!  I love being home with him, but I also need a break every now and then. For those moms out there that home-school, BIG PROPS!!!! I don't know how you do it! I'm not organized enough or patient enough to school my own child.  Yet I have a master's degree in education.  I used to feel bad about that, but some moms just aren't cut out for home schooling.  We are blessed to have two wonderful teachers and an awesome staff at Rylan's pre-school.  I just hope HE figures that out sooner, rather than later. 

God bless each of you and have a wonderful day!

This is me and my boy at The Spaghetti Factory on a recent trip to Louisville.

Up and Running-Sort of!

Well, hello y'all!  Welcome to my humble little blog! I am typing this as I watch my little man (who's nearly 4) play in the bathtub! Nothing like being a multi-tasking Mama! 

This is my first attempt at creating a blog.  I have no idea what I'm doing or where to start or what this will look like when I am finished!  But I thought it would be fun to give it a try!  I follow SEVERAL blogs myself and most of them are mom's who love to decorate their homes on a budget and love their kiddos even more! If I knew how to link to their sites I would, but here is a list of a few of them just in case you'd like to check them out.  I hope they don't mind! I am in love with The Nester's blog (The Nesting Place)-her window mistreatments have inspired me to mistreat my own windows! I am currently in the process of completing NEW dining room curtains!!! Yay me!!!!! I love them! They are fabulous if I do say so myself!  Some of the other blogs I enjoy following are: The Country Blossom, Creations by Kara, Just Simply Southern, and Centsational Girl.  If you have time, check them out! They won't disappoint!

I hope to have some pictures posted soon of my new window "mistreatments".  I've found a new love in decorating my home and being crafty-something I never thought I was!  I've also learned to "shop my house" for items.  Which my husband just loves because it means I'm not spending any of his hard earned money.  :o)  I've also learned all about spray paint, toile (be still my heart!), and coordinating (not matching) fabrics! 

Lastly, if any of you out there in cyber space have any tips or tricks for a first time blogger, I'd be very grateful for them!  Please just leave me a comment or send me an email at 1southernmama (at) gmail (dot) com! Thanks and have a wonderful Wednesday!!!