A little decorating going on ....

This little tree has all my miniature tea pots on it. It is in the corner of our dining room.

The living room tree

Sure is cold around here but no snow yet

This beautiful garland was given to me. A Christmas blessing.

Our room

Life is busy but we are doing our best to make special moments to remember

Merry Christmas from the Goings in Greenfield

Thanksgiving week

My heart is full--we have been with family for a week. What a blessing! The pictures are backwards according to how our trip went. We arrived at Mother, Daddy and Phil's place in Aiken, S.C a week ago. It was great to walk around and see all the hard work they have put into the property. The last time we were there the house was still not delivered and now there is a house, workshop, motorcycle shed, run in shed, corral area, outdoor living area and remnants of some beautiful flower beds. The weather wasn't the most sunshiny but we had plenty of things to do and experience. Thank you Mother and Daddy for a wonderful time at "home". I also got to catch up with my sister and brother. Good times, good memories. Thanks guys.

Thanksgiving trip 2009

Then it was time to go back up North a couple hrs. and spend time with David's parents. We have been here along with Philip's family. It has been delightful to be together. We celebrated Thanksgiving and now in a few minutes it will be "Christmas" time. Today we went up into the mountains to see a beautiful waterfall and came back down to a fabulous dinner at Ponchos Mexican restaurant.
Tomorrow after church and dinner we head back home to Indiana. My life is ruled by the clock most of the time. It has been a nice break to go throughout the day with not a clue of what time it is.
I hope all of you are experiencing hearts that are refreshed and full of the joy of being with family.

Trick or Treat

What a fun evening it has been. Our friends, the England family, came over for supper and the traditional trick or treating around the neighborhood. We have plenty of candy now :-) Good times, good memories. It was chilly again this year so the hot chocolate and coffee warmed our insides nicely once we got back home.

October 31, 2009-1

On my way to pick up the kids...

I don't think the colors translate very well but this tree is a deep red/orange. It hangs over the road as shade in the summer but I always watch for it to change colors in the Fall. It is one of my favorites and I get to see it every morning taking the kids to school, going to the library, church or grocery store. It is on the way to just about every where for me :-)

You might prefer more of an orange colored tree.

This yellow colored one is a beauty too.

Ashley walking back into the school after having recess. They will go in and get their backpacks then come back out to the car line to go home.

Here she is. I think it was a good day.

Cameron got in next. He is just happy to be free.

Aah! A rare but cherished moment.

Now that Sarah Brooke has arrived we can head home.

Home is where our heart enjoys being. I hope you get to enjoy being home today as well.

More pics for the Odyssey fans out there

Cameron mowed the lawn next door, pulled weeds out of a flower bed and planted mums for the neighbor lady. I had a coupon so off we headed to the Christian bookstore with Cameron's newly earned money

The book is full of behind the scenes stuff and tons of pics. He has really enjoyed it. I love that it inspired some more drawings for me :-)

This is Eugene and Katrina

Jack Allen

Jason Whittaker (he thought this one turned out to look the most like the orginal pic)

This is Cutie (his dog character that he draws) trying to build muscle. I love it! He thought it was funny that after all that effort Cutie only has a little bump.

Just in case you weren't aware...you can click on the pic to enlarge for details

(now you know why I don't like posting pics of myself. I don't want them enlarged. ha)

Menagerie

The other night we were coming home and the end of the rainbow was over our house. I'm just sure of it. We hurried home to find out that in reality it was over the neighbors house. By the time we got home and I scurried in to get the camara this was all I could capture but it sure was a beautiful sight. It was complete and double at times.

Sarah Brooke and the whole second grade at Weston have their very own laptops. How cool is that? They are allowed to bring them home 2 nights a week. Cameron's face pretty much sums up his feelings about his little sister having her own computer.

It was the flower parade today at the Riley Festival.

I spy Sarah Brooke, can you?

There she is!!!

I had the unexpected "blessing" of a day off and so David and I were both able to go down and watch the kids. My goodness there sure are alot of them in Hancock Co. and not all grades get to go.

I think I will go make some cinnamon rolls for this evening. Happy weekend blog friends!

For the curious...

I received an unusual phone call from a friend the other day. Unusual in that she was offering me an entire living room suite. How fun is that!!!! I think I have mentioned before that our sofa and loveseat had gone from chic to shabby. Not much we could do about it at this stage of our life so we were just living with it. Then I get this phone call offering "new" to me furniture. The offer included a sofa, loveseat, wingback chair, end table, 4 pictures, even towels and wash clothes, blanket, shower curtain and liner.

We picked it all up the next evening and I spent the following day "playing" house. It was fun to watch the living room being trasformed. God has used the big hearts of people to bless our family and my heart is full of gratitude.

I recently painted our bedroom and bath from it's original color of white. Original as in never been painted since we moved in many years ago. The picture doesn't really reveal the color and the name of the color may not either (Gobi desert) but we sure are enjoying the new shade.

Lovin my "G" picture from Hobby Lobby.

So there you go...a little window into what my house looks like. I hope you have enjoyed the tour.

Here is a guessing game for you...

Cameron has drawn these pictures for me and now I would like to see how many fans of ??? are out there. If you are then you will know exactly what the names of these guys are :-)

Too adorable...

Miss Ashley has new tennis shoes. There is a time and a place for Dora, Barbie and the like but just not on my little girls shoes. I love the simplicity of white.

Does it matter to you?

WARNING!!!

If you care about it then it had better be put away. It is fair game if it is left out. I'm on a simplify my life kick. How much should I tip the garbage man this week? ha We are the world's best collector of all things. My sentimental child went to bed last night with tears in her eyes because I'm getting rid of her favorite dresses (all of which are too small now). David even brought me some things from his closet that he doesn't want and all without me asking him. Now all I need is a few more days to finish up. Oh!!!...I just saw something that has to go...Tata for now.

Cousins

Ashley and Tiffany are made up of giggles. This picture makes me smile. Did you know they have a secret hand shake?

I hope your day is sprinkled with joy and maybe even some giggles.

First day of school

Last Wednesday school started again for our family only this time it included all 3. Cameron is in the 4th grade, Sarah Brooke is in 2nd grade and Miss Ashley started Kindergarten. Our days now start with a wake up time of 6:30 a.m. The kids really like their teachers this year. I'm excited to be able to volunteer in the classrooms and get to know their classmates better. Ashley is in the afternoon class.

First day of school 2009

David and I start back up our college classes the 24th so I think that gives me this week to get things simplified around here. I have sure needed the summer break. We are taking American History the first 8 wks. I enjoy history so I think this will be interesting. It's back in the saddle for me :-)

Our family met up with the Englands for a little R and R

Cameron welcoming you to our campout web album

August 2009

In life, if you are lucky, you are given a few good friends that are like family. That is the case with Danny and Ronda. We have camped out with them as a church group but never just our families. We met up at the Brown County State Park and had a great time and made some wonderful memories. Easy conversation, coffee, camp fire, hiking, picnic lunch are a few of my favorites. The weather was beautiful.

Does it get better than this?

Fresh sliced tomatoes, fried bacon, crisp lettuce and toasted bread

We have a lady at our church that plants a garden every year then shares her produce with us. I wish you all could see her garden. She says it is a hastle free method of doing things but I think it is genius. I love the smell of a garden, do you? I didn't grow up with our family having a garden so I'm not sure why the smell makes me feel so domestic. We would go occasionally to a pick your own produce farm and put up corn and beets. I hope you all get the chance to have home grown produce this summer.

The reveal.....drum roll !!!!!!

It is liquid laundry soap. Thanks for playing along on my guessing game. Some of you were right on.

I have been wanting to do this ever since I saw the recipe on Michele's blog last March. I asked her at camp how she liked it and she gave a positive report.

Here is the recipe she used. It is from the Duggar family website

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value
4 Cups hot tap water1 Fels-Naptha soap bar1 Cup Washing Soda½ Cup Borax
- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)
-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.
-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.
-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

As you can tell I have extra supply of the powder ingredients so anybody in the Indy area can purchase a cup from me if they are wanting to give this a try.

What in the world am I doing?

Can you guess what this is going to be?

I can't wait to share with you!

Cameron turns double digits--10

Can it be that I am old enough to have a 10 yr. old? I guess so.

Cameron's b-day 2009

It all started with Cameron---I made his first birthday cake (#1 mini cake)and the party theme was of course babys first birthday. The next year it was Veggie tales (cake had veggie figures), then Clifford (bone shaped cake), Thomas the Tank(train track with Thomas and friends), Batman (borrowed batman cake pan), Dinosaurs (borrowed another pan), Hot wheels (basic round cake with hot wheels on top), Patriotic (You are a star written in the middle of the star w/ 8's all over it) and last year was Army (we broke tradition and had ice cream cones). This year I cheated and per his request I ordered a cookie.

Cameron did not require much sleep as a baby and he is still an early riser. One time David wanted to see just how long he would stay awake and at 1 a.m. we finally put him to bed. Since then he has stayed up with his friend Corey until 6a.m. He grows about 2 1/2 in. each year and is almost as tall as me. For the first 18 mo. of his life he had a bath everyday now I have to make him. ha I still comb his hair and I cut his hair every 2 mo. or so(to him it feels like we just did it). He cut his nails by himself for the first time the other day. He can clean his room into what I call "company ready" but it doesn't bother him for it to go messy for several days. Then he gets enough of his slobbiness and works on it again.

He is a delightful boy and becoming rather funny. I wonder where that comes from. He has a heart for God and that makes me the happiest. 10 years have gone and before I know it he will be another 10 yrs. older. Does anyone know how to freeze time?

I'm wishing you...

the joy of a new skill and the delight that comes in making it happen

Sarah Brooke hosted her first slumber party

Here the girls have just arrived and they were very excited to start playing. My camara was on the wrong setting but there wasn't time to fiddle with something like that when there is excitment in the air. Sarah Brooke is standing by her BFF Cassie England and her other BFF's Holly and her sister Laura are on either side of Ashley. The ages were 9, 8, 7, 7 and 5.

Happy 8th Birthday Sarah Brooke

She is opening all her gifts. As they get older the birthday opening does get a little calmer but still very exciting!

I love this pic of all their hair colors.

Sarah Brooke requested that the food be something that didn't have to be cooked so this is what I came up with for them to eat. We had chocolate covered strawberries, heart shaped bologna and cheese sandwiches, doggy bone shaped p & j's, crackers w/cheese and mini "puppyroni's" and cheetos.

The birthday theme was puppies.

I bought these crazy glasses that are actually straws. Unfortunatly you couldn't see the pink lemonade running through them....

so I had to demonstrate them with a glass of Pepsi. Yes, that is Pepsi running around my eyes, if you can get over the scariness of the pic :-)

Sarah Brooke is very interested in cooking so I decided to make this a do it yourself kind of party. The girls decorated what would be Sarah Brooke's birthday cake. I think they had fun but boy was it a messy idea :-)

Please excuse the pj's. They got ready for bed so they wouldn't get icing all over their church clothes. Here is their beautiful creations. If the icing would have stayed in the carefully prepared bags then they might would have become professionals. ha

Ready for bed, Not!!!! They watched the movie Winn Dixie to wind down and then after lights out they giggled and talked until sometime after 1a.m. Good times!

This morning we carried over the do it yourself part and they made their own pancakes (w/my help) and personal pizzas for lunch. Brooke (another BFF) was able to come over this morning. She is making her pizza on the right.

It was a delightful time for my girls and something that we will do again in the future. Thanks BF's for coming and helping us celebrate Sarah Brooke. We have your little handwriting in her journal/diary that we will treasure. Now I'm off to brush my teeth and call it a day!!!