Multitudes on Mondays {71 - 90}

We had an amazing winter break last week ... the weather was so nice - we had the house all opened up every day and the kids spent endless hours outside playing with friends.

71. friends who live on our street

72. winter break

73. catching up on laundry!

74. fun grocery store outing with Devin (love his mathematical brain)

75. listening to imaginative play between my children

76. new stamping magazine

77. my husband's bonus

78. dinner out at our friend's new restaurant

79. another beautiful spring like day

80. picking out new lighting fixtures

81. spring cleaning (with a little help from our housekeeper)

82. antique shopping with my girls

83. lots of playdates!

84. finally getting a handyman to fix all those little things we have had on a list for the last year

85. new guitars for Daune and Devin and the beautiful music we have been hearing from those guitars (Devin's other guitar was the only casualty during my weekend away - somehow the neck broke when one of the kid's accidentally tripped over it.)

86. sunny morning and birds singing outside my bedroom window

87. getting Lexi's sewing machine working thanks to my friend, Christi

88. tea party for the girls at our friend's home

89. time to catch up and chat with a friend

90. new living room furniture and a home all ready for my parent's visit tomorrow!

Spring is in the Air

This week has been so beautiful - a perfect week for our Winter Break, though it has felt more like early spring! The kids have enjoyed numerous playdates with friends - playing outside from sun up to sun down.

The girls and I even enjoyed a morning of antique shopping (pictured above are a few of our great finds). We were looking for a gift for a friend and found numerous spring treasures for our home. (My parents and a few of my siblings are arriving early next week so we are updating our look a little around the house.)

Multitudes on Mondays {46 - 70}

I missed posting last week so I am adding two weeks of "gifts". I know I did not catch everything from two weeks ago as I had my list in two different locations and only found one of them.

46. lunch with a homeschool friend

47. playtime for our children during said lunch

48. making homemade Valentine's and addressing lots of cards

49. sinus medication

50. warm tea

51. spring like weather

52. hosting a fun Valentine's Day party

53. my husband cooking dinner for me for Valentine's Day

54. beautiful flowers

55. making white chocolate fondue with the kids

56. warm rays of sun on my face

57. lots of laughter from the backyard as the kids enjoy a day outside

58. field trip to World of Coca Cola

59. having my husband go along with us on the field trip

60. a homeschool retreat

61. driving up to the retreat with one of my closest friends

62. awesome speaker at the retreat

63. lots of quiet time

64. great conversations with several homeschool moms whose children are older than mine

65. a beautiful full moon

66. stopping off at the outlet malls on the way home from the retreat

67. helping my friend pick out new furniture and rugs at two of my favorite stores - Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware

68. smiling faces when I arrived home

69. enjoying dinner with my husband and kids after a weekend away

70. hearing all the fun adventures the kids had while I was gone

Derby Race Time

Tonight Devin and Lexi will race their derby calls they have built and painted over the last few weeks.

Lexi went with a ballet theme this year ....

Devin a Spiderman theme ...

Wish I was there to see them race ... as luck would have it, for the third year in a row, I was scheduled to be out of town during the race (something I do maybe twice a year, at the most ... I mean seriously what are the odds).

I am thankful for iPhones and the frequent updates and photos I will get from my husband during the race.

February Field Trip

This was our seventh field trip for the school year ... one my kids were really looking forward to. Can you guess where?

The World of Coca Cola

I think my kids were in it for all the free coke samples at the end ... I have a feeling Ava Mae drank her weight in Coca Cola beverages from all over the world. We also tried out the super cool Mix It Up Coke Machine that allows you to customize your Coca Cola drink with lots of mix ins. My favorite was Orange Coke.

Afterward, lunch out at an iconic Atlanta restaurant - The Varsity.

I can't believe just three field trips left in our school year ...

Valentine's Day Party

Today we hosted several homeschool families from our church for a Valentine's Day Party.
It was such a fun morning! We ate lots of donuts,exchanged Valentine cards, played outside in the beautiful spring-like weather, and worked on a service project (Cards for Soldiers).

We are so blessed with lots of homeschool friends!

Secret Keeper Girls Slumber Party

Lexi and I are taking part in a wonderful bible study (Secret Keeper Girls) with a few of our closest friends. It is a mother/daughter bible study and focuses on teaching our girls all about what a friendship should look like.

My dear friend, Candy is leading the study and she is amazing. Tonight was our first date with our daughters and it was a slumber party (though we chose as a group to have the party only last until 9PM). The girls played a fast paced competitive game called "Sixes" and then made pillowcases which all the girls signed with encouraging words about each other.

It was all tied together in the end with the girls seeing how friendships that looked like our "Sixes" game would not be fun at all - we would much rather have a friendship that was like our encouraging words on our pillowcases. Lexi and I had great conversation on the way to the slumber party and on the way home. So glad to be walking this path in life with wonderful friends!

Lots of Valentine Fun

This week we had so much fun preparing for all of our Valentine activities ... the kids needed valentines for all of their friends at Timothy, Lexi needed cards for all of the girls in our Secret Keeper Bible Study Slumber Party on Saturday night, then we prepared cards for all of the kids Sunday School teachers, more cards crafted for the kids in my Georgia History Class and, for the Valentine's Day Party we are hosting at our home on Monday for over 20 kids and moms from our church.

I would loved to have hand stamped each card we needed but, I decided realistically I would have needed to start right after Christmas to have time to complete them all plus, there was the issue of Devin really just wanting a Star Wars theme for his cards. So we compromised, it was store bought cards for half of what we needed and handmade for the other half.

Plus, as Ava Mae reminded me this afternoon, it really is all about the candy that you give with each Valentine.

Father Daughter Valentine's Dance

Our church hosts a wonderful Father Daughter Dance around Valentine's Day each year ... the girls really look forward to this event! Dinner and dancing to a live band in a beautifully decorated room - my friend likened it to a wedding reception. The girls and I had so much fun picking out dresses, deciding on hair styles, putting on corsages and boutonnieres, and taking pictures before they left.

Wordless Wednesday

Fun with friends yesterday ... always nice to have a break in our school day!

Multitudes on Mondays {26 - 45}

26. snuggling with Ava Mae in the morning hours before my older kids wake up

27. Chick-Fil-A

28. the sounds of my husband playing piano

29. rain and not snow

30. a great speaker at our homeschool meeting

31. watching my daughter Lexi do ballet

32. the excitement in Ava Mae's face over receiving a pair of ice skates from our friends

33. finding a brand new tea set at a thrift store

34. tea party with my girls

35. rehearsing beautiful worship songs

36. finding Father/Daughter Dance dresses

37. finding one of those dresses on a clearance rack for $10

38. warm boots on a wet rainy day

39. breakfast out with my dear friend, Tammy

40. visiting with homeschool friends at drop off and pick up at Timothy

41. Devin's super cool derby car design

42. completing both kids derby cars two weeks prior to the race

43. warm sunshine on my face after several rainy days

44. my husband stepping up to be Devin's baseball team's assistant coach

45. hearing Ava Mae's taped response to "what is the gospel" in church on Sunday

Valentine Exchange Project 2011

I was so excited to participate in Michelle Wooderson's Valentine Exchange Project 2011. I absolutely love her blog, and her, and the company she designs for Papertrey Ink. She sent me a bag full of goodies that I was to use to create a Valentine's Day project, to be featured on her blog. As soon as I saw all the great items I knew exactly what I wanted to make ...

A mason jar full of candy hearts (I glittered the lid with Martha Stewart's super fine red glitter) with a tag and Valentine's Day card created with all the goodies. This project is a special gift for my girls' ballet school director, who we just love!!

So much fun, hop on over to Michelle's blog to see what everyone else came up with who participated in this exchange. Thanks so much Michelle for letting me play along!!

Tea Party

Ava Mae was so excited when we found this brand new tea set at a local thrift store.
She could not wait to get home and have a tea party! A great way to spend a cold afternoon.