wedding tea party

Yes, I got up at 2am this morning to watch. Abi got up too and the two of us giggled and oooo and aaahhhed over everything. Watching a royal wedding with my little girl was ultimate bliss. I cried when the bride came down the aisle as I thought about the final days and THE wedding in Heaven. The church will be adorned in white. And here was this gorgeous bride this morning coming to meet her groom in royal colors with regal pagentry. So beautiful! They played "Jerusalem", my favorite hymn of all time and of course I cried again. All of England sang together, yet another image of things to come. Of course we had to celebrate, and what better than to have an English tea breakfast party: Bangers, sausages, lemon curd, strawberry shortcakes, some crackers and cheese, and Earl Grey tea.

Genn loved the printables where she could decorate the royal cake

and here is Abi making special hats for the occasion.

Here is the lemon curd recipe, it's the one I always use. Never fails. Unbelievably addicting.

the first stages of the lemon curd

and a yummy jar freshly made.

Hope your day is delightful and full of love.

who needs a gym?

Before you read this: please do not mind the lack of fashionable workout gear, the lack of a pedicure, or the lack of pants on my two year (potty training in high gear around here)

So THIS is my gym. "Hmmm" you say "where are the weights, where are the fancy treadmills, t.v's and gym freaks?" Well, I have kids: much better!

Dragging children along the floor, clasped to your ankles is a great workout for the back of the thighs!

Here I am working on my arms...

I've now increased the weights and am working on my hamstrings.

Some squats...

Working the bycepts.

Plank pose...

push-ups with a little extra (55 lb) challenge

More squats, increasing the weights this time.

Working out with kids. The laughter goes right to those abs, the workout is intense and the fun never-ending!

coming down off the sugar

Here are my five sweet kiddos in their Easter Sunday best. Easter was fantastic, good church service, good ham, mashed potatoes, good Asparagus/hollandaise casserole (an invention of mine), good rolls, and LOTS of candy. So much candy!!!! The kids were a little twitchy this morning... right back into homeschool? nope! Let's start slow.

I have a lot of packages of photo paper I snagged in a cleaning out of a school supply stash. What to do with all that paper. I was inspired by this San Diego artist's work and I thought it would be fun to mimic her art. So here are a few snaps from our ink and watercolor project.

I did this one for demonstration, not very good, but you get the idea.

I love the abstractness of my two year old's artwork. The kids loved this project. Great way to warm up slowly into the schooling work-week. Happy Easter to all of you. and remember... He is Risen... He is Risen Indeed!!!!

Blissfull weekending

Lovely April weekend of very warm temperatures. Exciting events like babies standing, enjoying company and fellowship with wonderful people, really good food( peanut butter chocolate chip cookies being one of them) Babies being passed around, wine being passed around, laughter being passed around: beautiful!

Smiling babies!!!

Beautiful gifts from a lovely friend, pretty things that bring a smile to my face!

Weeding, weeding and more weeding and counting all the blossoms on my habanero plant.

and all the lovely yellow heirloom tomatoes I'm about to enjoy

And the exciting beef steam tomato coming along nicely...

And one hilarious and now POTTY TRAINED two (almost three!) year old.

Looking forward to watching this movie a friend lent me. Can't wait!!! Also excited to dive into this book which just came in the mail. Looking forward to family coming to town to visit....happy Spring days indeed. Blissfull indeed!

Coupon purse

This last weekend I went to a workshop on couponing and saving some serious cash from thepractical saver lady . I was so inspired!!! So much to learn and so much money to save. She showed us something she uses for her coupons and I thought to myself "I can make that!!!". It's a little different than the one she has and I have yet to make the dividers out of old folders but here is the purse.

It has a button in the front for when you want to close it, and one in the back for when you want to hang it over your grocery cart handle and have easy access to your coupons. I fell in love with this material at JoAnne's and used a 40 % off coupon to buy a yard (which was more than enough material) It is reinforced too.

I really love how it turned out!

pardon...

Pardon my absence from the blog world. This month has been a bit hairy. March started off with a surgery for Soeren which was successful and Praise God for that. But now my little Soeren (8 months old) and his brother Aiden (2 1/2) have RSV. Which is really scary, involves little to no sleep, and a whole lot of praying. My Abigail is also sick, although she is out of the RSV catergory, very sick though which is a little discouraging (two more kids to go I guess). Needless to say, we haven't been anywhere or done anything and today is a "Anne of Green Gables" and peppermint tea day.I know God is faithful, I know sleep will come again. Meanwhile, I have been working on Soeren's nursery and here are some pictures. It's still a work in progress...

a place for us to cuddle and read

this is the fabric for the curtains and the pillow I made. I fell in love with this fabric!

Please pray for continued healing of our children and that I don't get it.

some major Soeren cuteness!

yes indeed, a cutie pie at 7 months trying to crawl and trying to talk and a sweet four year old, trying to help!

Tuna Salad Sandwiches

So last night for dinner, I thought it would be fun and welcoming of Spring days to have tuna sandwiches. Served with a pickle of course! I don't know why I think of Spring and tuna together, I just remember when I was a kid, we would watch baseball games and eat tuna sandwiches. Since Spring training is just around the corner, here is my take on the delicious sandwich.

Julia's Tuna Sandwiches

six cans tuna

four pieces thick bacon broken into little bits

five hard boiled eggs, cut into little pieces

half a red onion, minced finely

2 Tb. honey mustard

1 Tb. dried thyme

2/3 cup. Mayo

salt and pepper to taste

Some really good Rye Bread, toast before assembling sandwiches.

Mix all together and serve on toasted Rye Bread.

Warning, if you happen to be on a diet and you've told yourself before "now one sandwich, just one", you may find yourself making another sandwich and devouring it before you even know what hit you. Happy Spring! (because I live in Phoenix and it is full blown Spring here)

Titus 2 from far away

There are times in my life when Titus 2 women are hard to find: those encouragers, those who dare to challenge you, help you in your focus to keep going...to love your husband, your children, manage your home well... and keep your focus right where it should be: on Christ!

I may be in a dry time in my life as far as women located near me who are wise beyond belief and full of golden nuggets and jewels of wise words, but I have been encouraged by this list of blogs and hope that reading them will bless you as well.

http://www.itakejoy.com/

http://www.feminagirls.com

http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com

and because this is another area of wisdom that is encouraging me

http://joshealthcorner.blogspot.com

May you grow in His grace today, learn and be encouraged!

Julia

Folly beach

As promised, here are the pictures of our time in Folly Beach, SC. This house was incredible! Spectacular views, and can you believe it.... I never actually made it down to the beach. Between fevered kids, wedding chaos, nursing a little guy, this beach lover and dweller in the desert still didn't make it down to the beach:(

but my very cool husband did. And brought back up a very cool (and dead) present. Science time!

My sister found just the right spot!

the view from the front door. Sigh! (it doesn't get much better)

This pleased my heart very much. Grandpa reading to the kiddies. So sweet!

One very happy and voracious reader!