Candle By Night

I have fallen behind and I have a lot of pictures. But instead of posting a ton I thought I would just post a few. First of all, Beloved was a counselor at a church camp for 4 days last week (and it just happened to be a paintball camp.) Go figure. ;o) Anyway, since he went to camp the children and I went down to visit my Mom (and Dad too, but with work he was only there one evening.) So...here is a picture of Little E enjoying some outdoor time at Grandma's house. He loved that little bike. :D Next up is another picture of Little E, but this time it is at our local farmer's market this past Saturday. It is sort of a "tradition" that we walk to the UDF near our home and purchase some Milk and juice. Then we finish our walk up to the farmer's market and buy our breakfast. Little E discovered that he LOVES chocolate milk. ;o) Later that day we headed off to a graduation party for a young man in our church. It was so much fun......most of the time. It was the 4th day...

At what Beloved found. He was outside mowing the yard and the next thing I knew he needed the camera. Well, I couldn't follow because I was giving the younger 2 children their nighttime baths. Anyway, Big T brings me the camera and here is what I saw. I lightened the last picture so you could see it better. You can also click on the images to make them larger. Beloved said that when he came around the corner of the garage the bat just started shrieking like crazy. We thought it might be stuck under the rafter. It was hard to tell. Another bat decided it needed to fly very close to my head and I was ready to go in. When I asked if the bat was stuck Beloved said, "I don't know....I am not going to touch it with a stick to find out." But guess what? For those of you who know him you won't be surprised. His curiosity got the best of him and yes, he did poke it with a stick. It eventually flew off, but Big T liked checking out our new "neighbor."

"I am giving us an opportunity every Monday to not only count our blessings, but to share them with others. This is a way that we can encourage one another. Make a post on your blog telling us about your blessing. Please put a link back to this post ( on her blog ). You can add the URL of your blog post on Mr. Linky below. Many of our blessings we will have pictures of and we can share those as well. I think that many times we forget that it is a blessing to be able to breath, to get out of bed, to hold a baby... Share your blessings with us. They encourage others. We can share so many other things.... special gifts, recipes, let's take the time to share how God has blessed us!! - Marci " A year ago I wasn't thrilled to be moving into town, but after living in town for a year I am learning to enjoy it. We are able to walk many places (the farmer's market, the library, and the park). The most recent thing to make this enjoyable is a present that Beloved bought me. ...

Who doesn't love getting new dresses? My Sweet E loves to get Mama made dresses. Well, for the wedding I made myself and Sweet E "Matchy" dresses. Oh...and She also wanted a headband. The dresses are made from Tropical Breeze fabric . Which, I think, is my favorite fabric to work with. Her eyes lit up when I gave her the dress and she said, "Mama! I'm a princess." :D So here are some pics from the "photo shoot." Next up is a wonderful pattern from the Handmade Dress . It is so simple and yet, you can do some many different details with it. Sweet E wanted buttons, but this dress doesn't need them. So, I just added them as detail to the hem and the yoke. So loved this one too...and so do I. ;o)

We had a privilege to attend a wedding this past Friday and I had the privilege to help do the decorating for it. I just wanted to share some pics from Thursday and Friday. I wish I had more...or better pics, but I don't. Since I couldn't use the flash for long distance it made the zoomed shots blurry. Oh well, I do have a few so here we go. :D Here is a pic of me trying to finish decorating the arch inside the sanctuary. (Everything took longer than we thought it would.) This cake is actually light pink with ganache topping. The oldest sister of the bride made it and it looked beautiful! Blurry picture, but I wanted to get one of them (they are under the arch) during the ceremony. The Reception The sister that made the cake also made the Bride's gorgeous dress. And lastly...her is a shot of Sweet E with one of her favorite people. :D I also wanted to share this video. I think they are cousins of the bride...blurry image, but it sounds wonderful.

"I am giving us an opportunity every Monday to not only count our blessings, but to share them with others. This is a way that we can encourage one another. Make a post on your blog telling us about your blessing. Please put a link back to this post ( on her blog ). You can add the URL of your blog post on Mr. Linky below. Many of our blessings we will have pictures of and we can share those as well. I think that many times we forget that it is a blessing to be able to breath, to get out of bed, to hold a baby... Share your blessings with us. They encourage others. We can share so many other things.... special gifts, recipes, let's take the time to share how God has blessed us!! - Marci " Today was an easy choice as to my blessing. And that......is my sister. Sweet E and I went with my parents to take my little sister to the airport. She starts a new job today in New York. She will be missed and Sweet E has already proven that. (She cried when we left the airport and she ...

With Auntie S. :D My sis is getting ready to move to New York tomorrow. So, last weekend she came up to spend part of the day with the children and....me of course. :D For part of the morning we went to the Children's Garden and the children had a great time. I think Aunt S did too. ;) So here are various pictures of our time there. Hope you enjoy. :D

Okay, I have had people asking for the recipe I used to make the delicious hamburger buns. I got permission from the wonderful lady I got it from. (Thing is...she can't remember where she found it.) So...here goes. :D Homemade Hamburger Buns from BZV at Prairiehomemaker Forum 2 c warm water 5 TB sugar 1 1/2 TB yeast 1 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 c oil 5-6 c flour beaten egg white 1 TB water sesame seeds or dried onion flakes Combine the water, sugar, yeast, salt and oil. Add in flour until its a nice bread dough that doesn't stick to the sides. Knead 10 minutes. Oil bowl and dough and let rise until doubled in size. Punch down and knead the air bubbles out. Divide into 12 pieces for hamburgers or 18 pieces for hot dogs or brats. Roll between hands into correct shapes. Place on greased cookie sheet for 20 minutes to let rise (hot dog rolls should be squished together so they rise UP and not just out) Carefully brush with mixture of egg white and water and sprinkle with seeds or f...

I love trying new things. Saturday after a visit with my wonderful Sister the children had a chance to make bird nests. I bought all the candy around Easter, but never took time to make them. Everyone loved them! Then yesterday I decided that hamburgers cooked on the charcoal grill would be great for dinner. So what better to go with awesome hamburgers that Beloved makes then homemade hamburger buns ! These were awesome! Oh my..but they were too big. I followed the directions and it said to divide the dough into 12 pieces, but next time I will try at least 15 pieces. Can't wait to make them again. :D **Edited...yes the bird next are rice krispies just made into a mound and the pushed an indentation in the center. I will see if I can get permission to post the recipe for the buns. ;)

This was just too adorable. Yesterday Big T and Sweet E were pretending to be builders. Here are some pics of them reading their "blueprints." Big T has Beloved's old hard hat and Sweet E has a baseball helmet (souvenir type). Just too cute!

"I am giving us an opportunity every Monday to not only count our blessings, but to share them with others. This is a way that we can encourage one another. Make a post on your blog telling us about your blessing. Please put a link back to this post ( on her blog ). You can add the URL of your blog post on Mr. Linky below. Many of our blessings we will have pictures of and we can share those as well. I think that many times we forget that it is a blessing to be able to breath, to get out of bed, to hold a baby... Share your blessings with us. They encourage others. We can share so many other things.... special gifts, recipes, let's take the time to share how God has blessed us!! - Marci " I know it's Tuesday, but I didn't get a chance to post yesterday because Beloved had the day off. ;o) I wanted to share what a blessing it is to be able to homeschool my children. Big T will officially start Kindergarten this fall with me (If he went to PS he wouldn't be abl...