Friday Follow

I am participating in today's Friday Follow hosted by One 2 Try, Hearts Make Families, and Midday Escapades. I love getting to know new bloggers - especially fellow crafters and homeschool moms!

If you are stopping by my blog for the first time, here are ten random things about me and this blog:

1. I am a homeschool mom of three great kids who are 8, 7 and 5.
2. I love all forms of crafting but, especially, paper crafting.
3. Spring and Fall are my two favorite seasons!
4. I am the oldest of ten children ... I have 5 sisters and 4 brothers.
5. I began blogging almost two years ago as a way to track our homeschool journey.
6. Prior to starting a family I was a professional event planner.
7. My husband and I have been married almost 20 years but, I am only 39.
8. I LOVE chocolate ... brownies, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake.
9. I am a follower of Jesus Christ and I love seeing the ways God works in my life.
10. I love garage sales! In fact, as soon as I finish this post I am off to hit some great sales in my neighborhood.

So, that was a quick glimpse into who I am ... leave a comment and I will stop by your blog to visit!

Have a great Friday Follow!!

End of The Year Activities

For some reason I always seem to forget how busy the last week of April through the middle of May gets each year. In the last week we have had two choir concerts and a pizza night with Devin's baseball team. In the coming weeks, more of the same - ballet recitals, baseball games, awards nights and parties. Wow, our calendar has filled up fast, yet before we know it the kids will be in summer camps and the lazy days of summer will be upon us.

Devin and Lexi performed in their Spring Choir Concert on Sunday evening:

Last night we hosted the baseball team my husband coaches at a pizza place - these boys are so much fun:

A Journey Home

This weekend I went on a road trip with my daughter, Lexi, to Asheville, North Carolina. My Mom had invited me a few months ago to come up and celebrate my birthday. Our relationship had been rocky for the last year. It was good to see her and reconnect. My Dad was not there, as he is finishing out teaching in Florida before retiring and making a permanent move to North Carolina but, two of my sisters and two of my brothers were there.

It was a good weekend ... full of fun, celebration and excitement (the President decided to vacation in Asheville this same weekend).

My sister made me this great strawberry birthday cake ...

My Mom and I had a wonderful lunch on the terrace at the Grove Park Inn.

Beautiful views ...
Even caught a glimpse of the President as he played golf below us.

Then we toured some art studios in the River Arts District.

Lexi enjoyed her own special treats this weekend ... my brother and sister took her out to lunch in downtown Asheville, let her go shopping and pick out some special things, and let her go to a beading studio and make a bracelet ... she was in heaven!

A Family History Lesson Plays Out on NBC

Who Do You Think You Are - Susan Sarandon - Video - NBC.com

Tonight the episode finally airs of "Who Do You Think You Are" - I am related to Susan Sarandon, her grandmother is my Great Aunt. Should be an interesting show ... Aunt Ann lived a crazy life when she was young. There were always rumors of her early days as a show girl but, some of it we always felt was exaggerated. Tonight, we will find out the true story.

Earth Day Muffins

To celebrate Earth Day we made Blueberry Muffins, not just any blueberry muffins but, ones made to resemble earth.

We started with a basic blueberry muffin batter.

The we added blue and green food coloring after separating the batter into two bowls.

Here was my attempt at North America ... it looked better before it baked.

Preschool Spring Choir Performance

Last night was Ava Mae's end of the year choir performance. This is the first year Ava Mae has had a speaking role and she was so excited. I loved the theme they used for the preschool choir group - Preschool Picnic. All the parents are asked to pack a picnic dinner and sit on the floor of the activity center. All the fun of a picnic without having to deal with bugs or weather. :)

The last song Ava Mae's group performed was "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands", complete with balloon globes.

Ballet Recital Bows

My daughter's ballet school director knows my love for crafting and asked if I would come up with a head piece for Lexi's ballet class for recital. There are only eight girls so I knew it would not take long - the piece had to be done before tomorrow when they have their recital pictures taken.

So, Lexi and I took her recital costume around this weekend to a couple of craft stores looking for the perfect ribbon that would coordinate with the costume, then I went to work.

For those of you who are "bow" challenged, like I was for so long - here is a quick way to make a bow for your daughter's hair:

I begin with just looping the ribbon (I used 1 1/2" wide satin ribbon) around, so I have a flat circle and then I pinch it in the middle. Make sure you are holding the ribbon tightly between two fingers.

Next step is to wrap the middle of the ribbon, the part you are holding between two fingers, with wire. I use 28 gauge jewelry wire, it is super easy to work with.

Now just repeat that process and make one more bow - then just wire the two together, which forms an X.


Then just put hot glue on the barrette and attach the bow. In the middle I added a flower that coordinates with the costume but, you can also just wrap some ribbon around the middle to cover the wire.

Are those directions as clear as mud? If you need some further help, just leave me a comment and I will be happy to clarify any of the steps.

And the Winners Are ...

Thanks to everyone who stopped by my blog during the Ultimate Blog Party 2010! I had such a great time meeting so many new blog friends. I found so many new blogs that I have to follow.

I have made it back to almost everyone's blog - just a few more to go but, I wanted to make sure I posted this morning the winners of the set of cards and rubberstamp set.

I used a random number generator ...

#41. Jen from Reflections in the Window is the winner of the stamp set.

#12. Ashely from Barista Mama is the winner of the set of cards.

Congrats to you both ... I will be stopping by your blogs to let you know you won. Be sure to send me your mailing address so I can get your prizes out to you ASAP. My email - aliciak999 at gmail dot com.

A Surprise Baby Shower

I love surprises ... and I was so happy that our homeschool group was able to surprise one of my sweet homeschool mom friends with a baby shower last night. She arrived at my friend Renee's home thinking she was attending our regular monthly homeschool group meeting. Instead - SURPRISE - it was a baby shower for her.

Renee set the most beautiful table for the evening - a theme of birds and nests. I purchased a cake and made favors to go with our theme.



It was a beautiful evening sitting on the deck and enjoying each other's company. This is baby #5 for Lisa, she has 4 beautiful girls ranging in age from 9 down to 4. I can't wait to see what God has blessed them with this go round ... another surprise.

Ultimate Blog Party 2010

Welcome Ultimate Blog Party Friends!! I am so excited to be participating in this super fun online party hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom.

My name is Alicia and I am a 38 year old Stay-At-Home Mom to three wonderful kids ages 8, 7 and 5. I have been married for almost 20 years and our family lives in the northern suburbs of Atlanta. Before having children I owned an event planning company where I specialized in social events, especially weddings.

Now, my days are filled with homeschooling and I am a demonstrator for Stampin Up!, a rubber stamping company. My blog is all about the joy I find in our everyday life. I began this blog almost two years ago as a way to keep track of our homeschool journey. I thought it would be a great way to see how far we had come over the school year, remember all the fun projects we had completed, and document the fieldtrips we had taken.

This blog has definitely grown from that point ... I love sharing everything about our life - holidays, vacations, recipes, craft projects, my walk with God, and just our everyday life in the south. I love photography and many of my posts have lots of photographs. I found keeping this blog was an easy way to have a complete scrapbook done of our year.

Now, what kind of party host would I be if I did not ask a little about you ... leave me a comment and tell me a little about your blog. I would love to stop by, visit and learn more about you!!

I am giving away two door prizes - a rubber stamping package which includes a Stampin Up! stamp set, paper and ink (just a few items to get you started on one of my favorite hobbies) and my second door prize is a box of all occasion cards handcrafted by me. I hope you will join in on the fun. I will be using a random number generator to choose each winner. To enter all you need to do is (just choose one or all three of the following - each time you do leave me a new comment to increase your chances of winning):

1. Leave me a comment and let me know a little about your blog. (I promise to stop by and say "hi")
2. Become a follower of my blog and leave me a comment and let me know.
3. Just say "hi" and be sure to leave me your email so I can track you down if you win!

Also, be sure to hop on over to and register for all the great prizes that are being given away in this the Ultimate Blog Party 2010!!

Spring Planting

The kids and I are enjoying our Spring Break! So far the weather has cooperated with warm sunny days - such a wonderful treat after what seemed like months of rain during winter. We decided yesterday with the great weather to do all of our spring planting.

We went to our local plant nursery store and bought soil, vegetable plants, annuals and some new containers. This little butterfly flew around us the whole time we were shopping.

It took us just a few hours to get all the containers prepared and then planted.

Devin was a huge help with the loading and transporting of everything to our backyard while the girls could not wait to get their hands in the dirt.

I am looking forward to July when many of our containers will be overflowing with fruit and veggies for picking. This year we chose Better Boy Tomatoes, Red Peppers, Chives and Strawberries to grow.

Is That Contestant on American Idol a Christian?

Today I am participating in the Stuff Christians Like Guest Post-a-thon. I think Jonathan Acuff's blog is great and always love reading his take on the Christian way of life. So here is my portion of the ...

“Is that contestant on American Idol a Christian Scorecard”

16. The contestant is a pastor’s kid in the same way that Katy Perry is a pastor’s kid = 0 points (too early to call this one)

To add up your score with over a 130 other ideas on this scorecard, visit stuffchristianslike.net.

Easter Weekend Recap

What a beautiful weekend we had!! We could not have asked for better weather. The kids enjoyed three different Easter Egg Hunts and the major sugar high which ensued, coloring Easter eggs, our devotion with our Resurrection eggs, and brunch with my sister at our country club after church on Sunday. A busy three days!