A Little Blessing

Today I wanted to share a gift I made for the lady who cuts my husbands hair faithfully every month.  Every once and awhile I tease my husband about changing his hair style since it has stayed the same since the day we met!  No kidding.  Well except for those weekends he had to get a buzz cut as he was a member of the national guard while he was in college.  But, other than that it has stayed the same!  Why mess with what works he thinks.  But, a woman wants change!  He just shook his head and said "no."

Needless to say he is particular about how his hair is cut and once he found this gal who does a good job he waits until she is open on a busy Saturday at SportClips.  Recently, she shared with him how she is expecting a baby girl.  And so he asked me to make something for her.  She picked out this pink daisy pattern.

Set of Burp Cloths, Soft Block and Receiving Blanket

Normally I'm the gift wrapper in the house but this time hubby had it all taken care of!

Gift

It was fun to see my husband be so thoughtful and give a little blessing to her.

Have a blessed weekend my friends!

Happy First Day of Spring!!!

Here in Indiana we are experiencing a very unusually warm start to spring.  It has been such a blessing to be outdoors and see the changes that are taking place in nature.  The grass is greening up, leaves are coming out on the trees and much is happening in our garden!

Did you know that "all of creation speaks of His glory?"  I believe the reason why we enjoy being outside so much and feel a calm there is because we are surrounded by His glory!  Nature is such a wonderful blessing from the Lord and I am so thankful to Him for it.

Last spring and fall my husband and I (and some unwilling sons) undertook a major redo in our landscaping.  We weren't really satisfied with the first attempt in the spring so we made some changes in the fall.  At that time we were able to buy a lot of plants on clearance since it was the end of season.  We are so excited to see how everything will look this year.

Taking center stage right now are our daffodils.  They were a freebie from the nursery we like to shop at.  They are such a bright spot of sunshine that just make us smile.

daffodils

My husband and I both enjoy gardening but it wasn't always so.  When we were first married almost 19 years ago he was the one who transformed the overgrown flower beds at our starter home.  While I enjoyed the colorful blooms I had no desire to plant anything myself and I struggled to remember the plant names he would roll off the tip of his tongue.  Also, I could never remember what an annual and perennial were.  But, over the years my interest began to grow and slowly I could remember flower names and keep the annual/perennial thing straight.  By about that time, my husband was busy with his career and I was solo-ing in the gardens of a subsequent home.  It was a bit frustrating for me at times but yet I knew deep down this was something we both would enjoy doing as time went on.

Thankfully, that is where we are at now in our 4th home.  To think we have gardened in 4 different states (Nebraska, Michigan, Missouri and now Indiana!)  It is nice to have a shared hobby between him and I.  For many years we didn't have a one or so it seemed.

Over the weekend my husband wanted to go shopping for some more bulbs.  We always enjoy strolling through the tables of plants and selecting what we like.  There are definite male/female differences but we are respectful of each others taste and somehow we meld them together.  Isn't that just like marriage anyway?

These blue hyacinths made it home with us and into the garden. 

As well as some phlox.  The good thing about hubby being involved is I don't have to dig all the holes and carry the bags of dirt!

Thanks for taking a walk through my garden.  How have you been enjoying this warm spring?

Signs of Spring

Oh how I love to come out of the hibernation of winter and into spring!!  Spring is my favorite season and one I long for during the dark, dreary cold days of winter.  It is a season of hope and new beginnings and the celebration of Jesus' resurrection.  One where the earth awakens and brings forth the song of birds and the blooms of new flowers; all things my soul delights in!!

The other day I awoke to the sound of a morning dove.  Wow!  What music to my ears as it has been months since I've heard them!!

image

And just today I noticed tulip bulbs coming up in my garden and other green shoots.  Oh to see green again instead of the dull gray and brown tones.  The trees are forming buds, too.   Surely, it can't be long now.

I couldn't resist this magazine the other day.  The photos just drew me in . . .

 It is a magazine devoted to lovely parties like this ice cream one . . .

 I think I died and went to heaven!!  Isn't it dreamy??

Are there signs of Spring near you?

Happy Day my friends!

organizing Christmas cards

Today I took down all of my Christmas cards and photos taped to the the side of my kitchen cabinet.  What was taking me so long you ask?? Since we live so far from our family and a lot of our friends it is nice to see their smiling faces long after the tree gets put away.

But, I felt it was time to take them down as Easter is next month already and pastels and flowers will soon take center stage.  For many years I was just trimming the photo cards and placing them in a photo box.  But, have you noticed how the cards keep getting bigger and bigger and how we put more than one picture on them? My photo box is plumb full.

 I can't remember which lovely blog I saw this idea at but I think it is a great one.  Simply punch a  hole in the top left corner of the cards and join them with a key ring. She added Christmas ribbon and a cardstock tag with the year on it.  But I have a friend who makes her own Christmas cards every year so I put hers on the top.

All of them are kept together without doing too much work!

Now, I am in sort of a dilemma about what to do about the pretty cards I receive.  They seem too beautiful to throw away with their velvety borders or glittery scenes.  My mom reuses hers as gift tags. 

Do you reuse yours?  How do you store your photocards?  

gifts for my nephew

My sister just welcomed into their family a new baby boy.  In my family we grow our babies big, not sure why since we are all on the small side.  But, my sister gets the prize for the biggest baby out of all us girls.  Hers weighed in at 10lbs 13 oz.  Yep, 10lbs 13 oz!!!  We couldn't be happier for them, mom and baby are doing great.  Isn't it fun when God adds a new branch to the family tree?  I think so!

Since sewing for babes is what I love to do I whipped up a few things for the sweet new boy.

As moms we all know there's lots of feeding and burping going on so these may come in handy.

My sister wanted a generous sized blanket for snuggling.  That inspired me to sew flannel and super fuzzy fleece together. 

On the backside of the blanket I included a little surprise.  I thought it would be fun for him as he got older to see his name on the blanket.  I added a ribbon loop too just for fun.  My boys always had a favorite corner of their blanket; I am hoping this will be Luke's favorite! 

Do you remember the football hat I crocheted?  Well, instead of giving her that one I made a new one and added some ears to go with the snowsuit he needed. Originally, I was thinking they would be bear ears.  But, now I think it looks more like the lion.

We are just tickled pink to have a new baby in the family.  Can't wait to meet the little guy!!

Blessings!