Look what landed at our house today!!

A whole flock of brightly colored "rainbow turkeys" (so named by the kids) have descended upon us--just in time to celebrate Thanksgiving next week!

The two older kids had such a fun morning assembling them.They insisted on using all sorts of colors for the "feathers", even shades that were a bit unconventional in comparision to what you normally would have on a turkey. :) I was happy to see their abundance of creativity and their willingness to go "outside the box" and make something just the way they wanted to!

The lot of turkeys are now jauntily roosting above the closet in the playroom. What a fun, festive sight upon looking in the door!

There was a huge mess of paper scraps and glue (and some cookie crumbs got mixed in there, too) that was left to clean up afterwards....BUT, so very worth it. This is the stuff that memories are made of, after all!

It is true. A child's smile can say a thousand words.

Rapunzel

When my only daughter arrived, I was so excited! Visions of hair bows and cute accesories danced in my head.Well, the bows had to be postponed for awhile in favor of little stretchy headbands.  Wouldn't you know it that out of my three children, she had hardly any hair as a baby (as compared to her brothers!) and it wasn't until around her first birthday that I could just barely coax some unruly wisps into a hair clip. Fast forward to present day now that she is almost four, and she has a lovely long mane of golden hair that is alot of fun to style. Needless to say, between her Grandma, two aunts, and myself, she has accumulated quite the assortment of hair goods. The problem was: how to store them so they were not a jumbled mess in a drawer, or else lying around loose where her little brother could potentially swallow them.

Imagine my delight when I discovered this cute idea in the latest issue of Family Fun magazine, aptly named the Rapunzel Hair Clip Organizer.

You can find the material list and instructions on their web site. The only thing I did differently was to use a slightly larger wooden hoop as the base and added more yarn strands to make the braid thicker. When you are done braiding, simply attach your accesories! Of course, my daughter's had to be topped with a sparkly tiara.

Now my daughter can see everything at a glance...and the added bonus is that it looks adorable hanging on her bedroom wall. Practical and pretty at the same time!

A New Frontier....

So, here I am officially writing the first post on my new blog! I am actually surprising myself by launching into the blogging world. After several years of  some people near and dear suggesting that I write a blog, I finally feel that the timing is right and am taking the big plunge into the unknown. It will be a learning process for me, that's for sure!

It is my hope that in addition to having this space for an online journal of life's happenings, milestones, and everyday little anecdotes, that it may be an encouragement to those who choose to read it...if nothing else to hear about my hits and misses and know they aren't alone in the struggle to be fill the different roles of wife, mother, daughter, sister, or friend.

A bit about my family....we are followers of Jesus Christ. We strive to live our life in a way that would be pleasing to Him. My husband and I were brought together when I was just 17 years old and we got married soon after. We have been blessed with three children who continually keep life exciting and full of adventures. We began homeschooling this year and love it!

When I have any spare time, I could be found curled up with a book and a cup of tea or writing a letter. I like all things crafty, and love to beautify my surroundings through home improvement projects and decorating. I am constantly looking for ways to stretch the budget with creative frugality.

Some might assume that my life would be "mundane" or "boring", but that is not the case at all. I am constantly learning and growing, trying to live in the moment and absorb all I can from whatever comes along. There is never a dull moment around here! I am looking forward to having an outlet to share some of the thougths and ideas that are constantly running through my brain on any given day!

There will be certain boundaries that I won't cross in my writings, in respect to my family's privacy, but rest assured, that what I DO choose to share will be honestly true and heartfelt. Well, here goes nothing! :)