one thousand gifts

my weekly list of gratefulness continued:

149. once again, i'm super-thankful for my parents!  this time, instead of childcare, they spent 4 days this past week helping us out with some much needed house and yard work. 

150. grandma (my mom) helping me clear out the excess junk from our porches and collect-all rooms.

151. grandpa (my dad) working with bubba's help to clear some brush for T who plans to build a fort-jungle gym-playset for the boys. 

152. grandpa teaching bubba the basics of driving.  they use the pickup to pull out the brush by the roots (attaching them to chains).  now bubba knows how to drive forward and back as needed and grandpa doesn't have to keep climbing in and out of the truck.

153. our 11-year-old learning to drive a little!

154. sorting through bins and boxes; throwing away garbage, organizing keepsakes and mementos, and putting the rest in boxes so I can either sell or donate it.

155. finally having the local Salvation Army rep come pick up our old-but-still-in-relatively-good-condition queen mattress that was just taking up space and in the way!

156. having a porch that we can use for more than storage!  it's so nice to sit out there and read, knit, or play!

157. coffee--specifically my daily morning cup of Hills Bros. Cappaccino (french vanilla flavor!)  YUM! 

158. FABULOUS photos taken by Sarah a couple weeks ago!  Sarah blogged about it here--isn't she a hoot?! anyways, i just got my gallery link for Beyond Ordinary Photography and i can tell you it's going to be tough to choose which ones we'll want to get prints of--they're all so beautiful!  (and that's from someone who hates having her photo taken!!!!)  so happy!

more to be grateful for

Showing gratitude.  Being thankful. Counting my blessings.


142. an "Awesome!" week of VBS according to Bubba

GO FISH VBS at FBC--Bubba's the one touching his hat

 143. fun Go Fish music at VBS all week (If you haven't heard of Go Fish, go HERE!)

 In case anyone reading this is wondering...our church used Go Fish's "Backstage with the Bible" VBS curriculum this year and it's a great choice!!!

144. a quick weekend knit and a new hat for me as a result! sorry...no photos. but it's really cute and looks quite nice on me!  :)
145. enough leftover yarn to make myself a new pair of fingerless mitts too!  at least, I hope so!
146. finding this adorable apple basket at the local consignment shop (my first time in there but it won't be my last!) i love that it matches my KitchenAid mixer perfectly! 

(lemons and limes not included)

147. (mostly) finishing up our American History Core for school (we still have some read-alouds left, but history is done until next school year...in 4 weeks!
148. shopping for curriculum...time to decide what to use this fall!

And that's this week's installment...come back next Monday for more!

Interested in starting your own Multitudes on Mondays post?  Click on the banner below to learn more about it!

It seems I missed yet another week of multitudes last week.  So I'll try and remember everything from the past two weeks.

Interested in starting your own Multitudes on Mondays post?  Check out the banner at the bottom of this post! :)


In no particular order and continuing my list which I started here...
130. Fair week fun!  Although a bit too hot & muggy, we spent most of a day there (and a little of another just for more fair foods).

131. Ride buddies for Bubba.  This year he had fun again with his buddy, Ty, at the fair.  Then he also got to meet up with and hang out with his cousin, Evan, later that same day.  Meanwhile, CJ discovered he really enjoys riding the Tilt-a-Whirl and so he got to go on that ride with his big brother & co. a few times too!

132.  A visit from my sister-in-law and her girls!  So nice!   We must do this more often!!!

133.  Picking fresh peas, beans, and zucchini from our garden.

134.  Eating some just-picked peas while still in the garden! YUM! 
BONUS: Even CJ ate a few!!!

135. Finding a few raspberries on the plants I just planted this year!  It's so exciting to see them growing so well!  Next year we'll have lots more berries!

136. Freshly painted walls (I finally got our kitchen dining area painted this weekend!!!)  I hope the color helps me keep my cool and lets the kids concentrate better since we do our schoolwork in there too.  The yucky yellow we found under the yucky wallpaper was really getting on my nerves.  I'm just so glad for the change!  BONUS:  My kitchen dining/schoolroom is (almost) clean!

137. A family photo shoot!  The first one since CJ was a new baby.  Thankfully, the weather cooperated and Sarah was able to come over last night and get our session done despite her crazy schedule with trying to sell their house and move for her hubby's new job. You can read about that on my other blog (and from there you can find Sarah's blog too) if you haven't already!   I'm hoping we got some nice family shots as well as some good pics of the kiddos!

138. All the yard work my hubby's been getting done. (Having and outdoor photo shoot here has helped to motivate him!)  :)

139.  Our VBS is this week and Bubba is SO excited!

140.  A new month.

141.  Watching caterpillars & tadpoles grow and change.

Sorry for the lack of photos today.  Maybe next week I'll have some!

Anyways, that's all for now folks!  Hopefully I'll be posting again next week with more blessings to share!

multitude monday

My weekly Multitudes on Mondays post.  If you're just stopping by for the 1st time, I joined in with this post here.  (Check out the banner below for more information from the person who started it.)

116. another Etsy sale!  yay!
117. a shopping day today (Just to put this into perspective, it takes about an hour and fifteen minutes for me to get to the nearest Wal-Mart & JC Penney so shopping days like this are few and far between.  We do have some smaller local stores, but the selection is rather limited--especially for clothes.)
118. gift cards (I happened to have had one for JC Penney which I used today!)
119. a husband with a good paying job (to pay for everything above and beyond the gift card amount)
120. McDonald's (not my favorite, but BOTH boys eat the McNuggets so I always plan on it when we're down shopping)
121. finishing another Sherlock Holmes book on my Kindle. wish the free version came with graphics, but otherwise a good read.
122. new outfits for the boys
123. and one for me too
124. shoe inserts for Bubba, who has really low arches. am hoping these give him the arch support he so desperate needs!
125. some new yarn too (I needed it for work!)
126. a good run Saturday for T and Bubba--they ran a 5K for ALS.  T came in 3rd of the men in his age group and Bubba got 1st place (of the 2 boys) in his age group.

 
127. $460 in donations raised by Bubba (with a little help from his daddy)--enough to win the "prize" for his age group--a new iPod Nano!  good job kiddo! and thanks to those of you who gave!
128. a lovely lightning show Saturday night.
129. capturing some digital lightning. :)  isn't it pretty?

It's fair week this week up here and it's supposed to be in the 90s all week. UGH!  I sure hope the heat doesn't make everyone sick!

multitude monday

Today is Monday.  That means it's time to add to my multitudes list!    
I didn't post last week because of the holiday--we were pretty busy!

106. sunshine

107. clouds--especially beautiful thunderheads!

108. rain to water the garden

109. celebrating the Fourth of July with family

110. Sherlock Holmes (not only am I enjoying reading the books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but my hubby and I have been watching an old television series with Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes)

111. winning another new knitting "book" (okay, so it's not an actual book, but I don't know what else to call Toe Up Socks in a Box by Wendy D. Johnson) from Crafternews on Facebook!

112. starting a new knitting project--socks, of course!  and learning more about toe-up sock knitting as I knit.  I choose the pattern "Sheri's Posies Socks" from the Toe Up Socks in a Box pattern cards and have a good start on the first sock.  (I'm not knitting these two-at-a-time like I usually do because of my unfamiliarity with the toe-up method.) 

113. browsing a flea market for inspiration

114. being privileged to homeschool and qualified to give my children their standardized tests myself (we just recently did Bubba's testing using the IOWA basics tests)

115. attempting to teach cj the alphabet and seeing him actually start to care! :)