DIY Breakfast room molding and valances

There is a good chance your sitting down so I shouldn't have to say it - but just in case - you better sit down for this one. Thats right - hot of the presses - Bonnie put up molding around the windows in the breakfast room and the living room by herself. (well for the most part I did have the kids hold the boards on occasion.) I didn't stop there - I even used a 84x40 inch curtain panel and made two valances. Now this was not a 10 min DIY project to up date your breakfast room. I started out with different valances, then I ordered 3 in this pattern from Pennys. But they were only 40" long and I needed 48" for my smaller window once I added the molding. After mulling that over for a week I came up with the idea of ordering the one panel and cutting it down the middle. That way I would have a finished edge for both windows and the 84" would be long enough for my bigger window. I kicked around the idea of attaching some trim at the end but really my style is not too fussy. Our decor is more of a easy living coastal feel. So no extra dinglys. Larry also hung a new light fixture for me and we moved the ceiling fan to Makayla's bedroom. I am currently working on hanging valances in the living room using bamboo table runners I found at Target. That has been a project Ive been working on for a couple weeks as well but the kids and I were so traumatized by the liquid nails, hot glue gun and super glue that it has been a forbidden subject. We all have the glue off of our fingers and can feel again. And I now have the right equipment. The breakfast room as given me the confidence I need to carry on. All these women in blog land that change a room in 10 mins or less I don't like you. Well really I do - if it wasn't for them I wouldn't have even tried this. I know I must be better at something than them. I have issues....

Its A Zoo Out There

Yesterday was the last day of Makayla's winter break from school so we wanted to end our long weekend with a bang!! We thought we would head North away from all the Mardi Gras happenings to the South of us. Being Yankees and all Fat Tuesday has no meaning to us other than stay clear. It was a Blessed day to be sure. We headed out about 10:30am and the hour drive up was spent with Makayla and Nick going over their Sunday school lesson that they are teaching in Youth on Sunday. It was such a nice warm day - mid 60's with a light breeze. We are all weather lovers in this house so a nice day is not wasted on us. The Hattiesburg Zoo is not real big and not crowded so we enjoyed taking our time and really watching the animals. Nick took at least 100 pictures of all the animals. I took almost that many of the kids. I think we have ridden the train at every zoo we have ever visited and this time was no different. The conductor could not hear a word - which I am not surprised after hearing the train whistle blow. When I asked when the train ran - His reply was "either get on the train or don't." Well moving right along, we wanted to see the animals first - Mr. Happiness and Sunshine would have to wait til later. ;0) We left the zoo about 2pm and the only thing we had on our mind was PIZZA. So off to CiCi's pizza to get our fill. From there to the mall and some time spent at our favorite book store. We headed home about 7pm with alot of good memories and a double scoop in a cup. Thank you Lord for a great day!! PS heard from Lar who has been in sunny California for about 5 days. He made it back to Galliano safe and sound and will be home Thurs night.

Hattiesburg zoo fun take 2

Pairie Dog Exhibit

iHop Give Away

Today is National Pancake Day! Yum! At participating Ihop restaurants (call before you go) they are serving up free short stacks of pancakes. The hours are from 7am til 10pm. This is in honor of the Children's Network so a small donation would be appreciated. So grab your kids and hubby and head out for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Strike A Pose

A picture is worth a thousand words - and 4 pictures, well... But that really just gives you a glimpse of the wonderful time Makayla had with her friends yesterday. On the way up Makayla was saying how excited she was - going to the mall with friends and actually having money in her wallet. " I have 99.00 dollars Y'all" was said several times in the hour drive up to Hattisburg. It makes me smile when she talks Southern. Its natural for her now - she celebrated her 3rd birthday shortly after we moved to the South. It was that 3rd birthday that she got her dress up truck filled with all kinds of flowing dresses and scarfs and high heels - all of which I had found at the Goodwill. Alot of those dresses and such are stilled pulled out of the trunk when they have friends over. I laughed and said "yeah and on the way home you will be saying I had such a good time y'all and I have .99 cents left. I was close - she had 2.00 in her wallet when they dragged their weary shopped til they dropped bodys back to the car. I went with them to a couple of stores to get some pictures and then turned them loose. Besides there was Pier 1 and Super Target calling my name. On the drive home we were all happy with our purchases, our tummys were full of pizza and we each had a double scoop in a cup for the ride home. Ahh... They sang and laughed all the way home and I couldn't have been happier for Makayla. It seems like alot of times she has such high hopes for an event or something she is planning and then it doesn't work out like she thought. ( thats the way it is for all of us) You can see the disappointment in her eyes for a brief moment but she never really says too much. She wants to make sure everyone else is happy and wants to keep the peace. So if I can ever plan a special day for her that exceeds her expectations and just fills her love tank to over flowing then you know my
Moma heart is just as full and over flowing. I smiled all the way home and just listened to the fun coming up from the back seat. Once again all I can say is I Praise You Lord for such a great day and for such a wonderful daughter and I Praise You for your great Mercy and for your Loving Hand on our lives!!!!!

Diary of A Teenage Girl

Friday, February 20th, as been circled, starred and highlighted on Makayla's calender for a long while now. If she was younger we would have been counting how many more sleeps til the big day got here. As it was she was even happy to go to school so that the days would pass. Today her friends birthday weekend started. Today has been filled with hair and make-up, Glamor photo shoot, laughs, words that have new meanings - that only we know about, a progressive dinner and scrap booking all the memories. Makayla, Megan and Belle all had fun getting ready for the photo shoot. Nick was the photographer - he took them down to the beach and around outside to get some great shots!!! For dinner we started with macho nachos at the local Mexican restaurant. We came up with our new laungo trying to tell the waiter that the six of us wanted only one plate of nachos. He kept asking if we wanted a full order and I thought he was saying four. UNO Nacho - Full Si. From there we headed to Wendys to get a burger. Makayla was hoping we wouldn't make a big scene singing her Happy Birthday - so we sang in a low whisper. Next we headed to Wow cafe for desert. We ordered Dos Death by Chocolate Brownie Explosions!!! (my life is now complete) We headed over to Walmart to print off all the pictures from the day -
108 pictures. The girls are now scrap booking all the memories of the day. I think they are going to give each other a manicure and watch Pride and Prejudice before the night is over. Tomorrow we are headed up to Hattisburg on a big shopping spree. But that's another post.

Birthday fun part 2

Heres more pictures of Makayla on her special day. I picked her up from school at 12:30pm. She was just finishing lunch with her friends. They made her a big card and all signed it. She was so happy about the flowers. They were sitting on the lunch table next to her when I walked in. Her teachers and classmates were talking about how fun it was to have the flowers delivered. Miss Pat said Makayla's face turned bright red. Makayla said over and over how she LOVED the flowers. She said they made her day - and I got their in time to get her out of school before Spanish so I have earned double points for sure. I love that great, giggly, gorgeous, gracious, groovy girl!!!

Happy Birthday Makayla

Today is our sweet Makayla girls 15th birthday. We have been celebrating her for a couple days now and the fun will continue this weekend with her friends party. We had our family party with Grandma and Grandad in attendance Sunday night. We had a tasty dinner together and then opened gifts. Grandma and Grandad got Makayla this groovy purse -( all of Makaylas friends have these giraffe purses). She loved it, loved it, loved it. Grandma is a great birthday gift giver - she gives me the money I pick out the gift and then she wraps it. It works for us! After the opening of gifts we played some games together and then ended up moving the furniture out of the way and all danced. Lar and Nick took turns doing the Swing with all the girls. This morning we put a candle in her donut and sang her happy birthday. Each year the kids always get a donut for breakfast on their birthday with a candle. It starts the day off right. After I dropped Makayla off at school I ran over to Walmart and bought some roses and a balloon for her. Then Nick, Alli and I went to the school and Nick went in and delivered them to her. He was dressed in his tux shirt and top hat. "Special Delivery for Makayla Lippert." He practised that all the way to the school. He said she was all smiles and that everyone was ooohhhin and aaaaahhhing. Happy Birthday Makayla girl!!!

Express Yourself

Ive been thinking about ways our family expresses love. And ways that would better express our love to each other. We are a Loving family to be sure. Saying I Love You rolls off of our tongues without any hesitation. Larry and I have been married 7 thousand 2 hundred and 40 days. Give or take a couple days. I would say on average we have said I Love You 3 times a day. That would be 21 thousand 7 hundred and 20 times we have told each other I Love You. That is alot of love being spoken. The saying "Actions speaks louder than words" is nothing to shake a stick at though. Actions are everything but words - an Action could be giving a gift, or a helping hand, taking the deliberate action of stopping what your doing and spending time with our loved ones. (thats a tough one for me) But Im on a new quest to SHOW my love to Larry, to Makayla, Nick and Allison. Every time I turn around the last couple weeks I hear about a marriage seminar being offered. I would love to go to all of them to be reminded of all the things I know already but have not put into Action. Larry and I did order a seminar on DVD called Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage. We have watched the first session and it was great!! I took our 5 Love Languages Book by Gary Chapman off the shelf this morning and read the first 3 chapters. The 5 love languages are Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service and Physical Touch. I took the test online - www.afo.net/hftw-lovetest.asp (it takes about 3 mins) I speak love in Acts of Service but that is not the love language of everyone in my family. Im reminded that I need to learn a new language or two. Happy Valentines Day - remember to spread the love around.

Photo Walk

After lunch today I grabbed my camera and went for a short walk. I love all those beautiful nature shots you see at the galleries when your on vacation. I think most people would love to be a professional photographer. Whats not to love. Being out in Gods beauty catching it at all angles. I know Nick sure has a good eye for a great shot. So today I thought I would take a photo journal of my walk. This isn't my power walk that I do to keep my thighs from jiggling. This is my peaceful walk to pray and praise and enjoy. I do not know what kind of tree this is that is breaking out in these wonderful red leaves - But I love it. It has been just begging me to take its picture. Dixie likes to go on my walks with me. She is the perfect companion. We start out together and then she looks and sniffs at all her stuff and I look and sniff at all my stuff. Then we meet back and walk home together. Dixie and Alli can run across this log with out a thought that they are 8 feet in the air - above a cold creek. The rest of the family ( that has actually crossed the log) inches along with complete knowledge of how cold that water is this time of year. I love (I heart) the rich green moss that grows along my path. I might use this picture on a Valentines day card. SSShhh - don't tell anyone. Do you ever feel like someone or something is watching you when your walking along a wooded path? Even the leaves had eyes today.

The Cat Days of Winter

Not much of today seemed like February 8th. It seemed more like an April day with the warming Spring sun shining down on us. Whiskers aka Smokey, Makayla, Milo and I all referred to it as The Cat Days of Winter. If the forecast is right we will be purring all week. ALL WEEK - I tell you. The only thing that comes to mind is PRAISE the LORD!!! Why is a Southern Girl so excited about warm weather - I'll tell you why- because my blood is very thin and when its cold - I freeze my boiled taters off. Not Good. Those of you who live in the North are use to cold weather. You like it - you wear fur hats and such. People look at me funny when I wear my fur hat to Walmart when its 45 degrees out. Although when it hits 30 degrees - Say what you want! I think Whiskers might have lower back problems - that is why she sleeps with the railing between her knees. If she had an eye mask we would be twins. I hope you have had a purrfect day as well. (sorry just had to say it)

My Quiet Place

I found a new place that feels warm even in the winter sun. The cold wind can't seem to find me here - the little knoll to my left keeps me hidden from its cold reach. This is my favorite view of the creek as it goes past our property to large rivers beyond and eventually the Gulf of Mexico. Lar has such great plans for this area - eventually a deck and a dock to sit on and fish. But for now I am content to sit on this small piece of "deck" and drink in the beauty around me. I love to watch the creek sparkle as it moves over the fallen logs. Praise and Thanksgiving to God seems to flow easy sitting here. I realized if I would just notice the weeds and the rocks and downed trees and tall grass individually it wouldn't be that pretty. But it you take in the big picture and over look all the little imperfections - I think its beautiful!! My heart just says Thank You Lord over and over. I have room on my deck for some friends so come sit with me and we can talk of God's Glory!