Valentine tee shirts and dresses

It's almost Valentine's Day, and I have been scrambling to get gifts done for the grandkids. There are many advantages to having 12 grandchildren, and as far as I can tell, only one disadvantage. And it always raises its ugly head on holidays. The disadvantage? 12 kids to get gifts for! I always have many ideas for the 9 girls, but the 3 boys are a mystery to me. I usually buy them something, although I could have made tees for them. I just don't know if they would have liked them. This time I bought match box cars and sticker books and drawing books. I hope they like them......I never know.

These are the tee shirts and dresses that I did for the girls, minus the 2 that have already gone to their respective homes.

My oldest granddaughter taught me how to make the flowers. And to think that I used to be the one who taught her!

Don't you love the little bird? I'm quite partial to birds. The Lord promises to care for me as He does the sparrow. Matthew 10:29-31 tells me: "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."

These children have definitely stolen my heart!

Notice the zipper flower. Isn't that cute?

Lilly, the 7 year old, designed this one.

The butterfly reminds me that God is in the business of changing us into a
beautiful butterfly as we allow Him to control our lives.
Romans 12:2 says, "And do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed (metamorphosis) by the renewing of your minds
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
Just like a lovely butterfly is metamorphosed from a not-so-lovely worm,
we can be changed as well.
I encourage you, sweet ladies, to spend time in God's Word, the Bible.
Renew your minds with what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!
Love to all who read,
Gloria

Little Blessings

Good morning! It is Saturday morning and quiet in the house. I usually get up very early so that I may read my Bible and pray before all the chaos begins. By 7 o'clock our multi-generational household starts rockin'! Four little granddaughters, 10, 7, 4, and 20 months, dance and skip and talk their way through the day and into the evening. Home schooled children are always at HOME. That's the name of the game.

But I just wanted to share with any who would hear a few of the things that have happened this week:

Katie, our 4 year old, woke up the other morning and looked outside. She came running into the kitchen and proclaimed that it was "fuzzing" outside! No, not snow. It wasn't big enough for snow. It was "fuzz." Yesterday morning we awoke to what we told Katie was fuzz. She looked outside and said, "That's not fuzz; it's snowing!" And it was. We have had two "major" snows in 2 weeks here in Central Arkansas. We must have had a total of 3" of snow this year! Wow! Even the grandkids said they are ready for Spring. We just can't handle all this snow.

Maggie, the 20 month old, is being coached on manners by all who live here, grandparents, parents, sisters--even cousins when they come around. Some areas of success:

Yesterday, I asked her a question, and she said, "Uh-huh"--"Yes ma'am!" Oh, I am so proud of her.

Also, yesterday, she asked for ar-enge (phonetic spelling for orange). When I gave it to her, she said, "Thank you, Mama." She seems a little confused about who her mama is at this point. Now and then she even calls her big sister Mama. When there are 6 women in the same house, confusion reigns.

We're still having a little trouble with getting her to say, "No thank you" instead of "uh-uh." But it will come. Thank the Lord for small successes.

By the way, my friend at Prairie Flower Farm had a fun questionnaire for her ladies. I thought you might like to go over and look at her blog. She is a sweetie and always such an encouragement. Her button is on my sidebar. Just click and go!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Blog Button

My grandaughter finally came and made me a button!!! Grab it here or off my sidebar.

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Favorite tea pots and tea cups for Valentine's Day

Let's Have Tea, Won't We?

Isn't it always fun to celebrate Valentine's Day? I'd love to have a tea party with the grandkids, but our church has a "Princess Party" for Valentine's Day every year, and the littlest ones through the teens participate. The teens are the helpers for the day. The home schoolers also have a party, so they are pretty well saturated with Valentine parties, therefore no tea party this month.

But I do have some favorite Valentine's Day tea cups and tea pots, and since there are 6 girls in this house anyway, I'll just enjoy tea with them! Here are my favorite tea pots for the occasion. I have bought most of these at garage sales or flea markets--all but the little Portmerion pot.



I do love this flower-full tea pots!

And now for my favorite tea cups for the occasion:
(the granddaughters have claims on these!)

And this is the lovely table decoration that we will use for our tea and biscuits!

A brief overview of St. Valentine's Day

St. Valentine has been associated with at least three different individuals who lived during the third century AD, a priest in Rome, a bishop of Interamna --now the Italian city of Terni-- and a Christian martyr in Africa. Many theologians believe that the priest in Rome and the bishop in Interamna were actually the same man (Catholic Encylopedia). The activities that may have landed Saint Valentine in prison were marrying young Christian couples, proselytizing, and offering comfort to other Christians suffering under Roman persecution.

Among the miracles attributed to Saint Valentine was the restoration of sight to a blind girl, who also happened to be the daughter of Saint Valentine’s jailer. Inspired by Saint Valentine’s wondrous deed, the jailer converted to Christianity. While this certainly contributed to Saint Valentine’s renown, it also may have helped seal his doom. When after suffering severe beatings at the orders of Emperor Claudius II Saint Valentine still refused to renounce Christ, he was beheaded. One story alleges that Saint Valentine fell in love with the jailer’s daughter, and wrote her a farewell note which he signed "Your Valentine," sowing the seeds of a romantic tradition.

As is the case with Christmas, the celebration of Valentine’s Day is one mingled with both Christian and pagan traditions. While Valentine is a saint of the Catholic Church, his holiday is more often associated with depictions of Cupid, the cherubic Roman god of love, whose arrows cause mortals to be stricken with amorous intentions. February 14 may have been selected by the Church because this was the time of a Roman fertility celebration called Lupercalia, during which young men and women would be paired with each other via a lottery-type random drawing, a practice which the Church deplored and attempted to undermine. Other sources state that February 14 was the date of Saint Valentine’s execution. The general consensus is that he died in 270 AD. 226 years later, February 14 officially became Valentine’s Day.

Read more at Suite101: The Story of Saint Valentine: Valentine's Day History http://www.suite101.com/content/the-story-of-saint-valentine-a44462#ixzz1CisKOn41

We can always celebrate the truth that there is One who loves us with an everlasting love and was willing to give Himself up for us so that our sins which were scarlet may be washed as white as snow. The Lord Jesus Himself, has promised to never leave us or forsake us if we are His.

Have a joy-filled day!

I am linking today to:

A Stroll Thru Life
http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com

The Silken Purse
http://silkenpurse.blogspot.com

Tuesday Teatime with Lady Katherine
http://ladykatherineteaparlor.blogspot.com/

~ Teatime Tuesday with Sandi
http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/

~ Teacup Tuesday with Martha
http://marthasfavorites.blogspot.com/

Black and white with a touch of red

The Tea Party


Some come reluctantly but usually leave happy!



Just another crazy day!



Okay, they really looked like this! True beauties.



The table



Their great grandmother's fine china.
My daddy bought it for her for Christmas one year, many years ago.
Don't you love it?




Notice the color scheme?



Menu for the day:
Raspberry Tea
Black Olives
Strawberries
Black Bean Dip
Salsa
White Cheese Dip
White Corn Chips
Dark Chocolate Brownies with Marzipan and Whipped Cream



My 11 year old granddaughter suggested a black and white theme
for the tea party this month. That set my mind to thinking:
How could I center a devotional around black and white?
My thoughts immediately went to
1 John 2:15-16:
"Do not love the world or the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, for all that is in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life, are not of the Father but of the world."



We talked about sin and how it affects every area of our lives. Sin is represented in the Scriptures as blackness and darkness. The girls listed sins that they struggle with. Even the very youngest recognize that they are innately sinful.



The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin as we trust in Him as our Lord and Savior.



The Bible tells us that as our lives are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ,
we become white as snow. What a miracle that our black, sinned stained hearts
can be washed in blood and become as white as snow!




The craft of the day was these cute hair clips
made out of red and black felt and white buttons,
again enforcing our theme of black and white with a touch of red.


What a fun time of eating, learning, and growing we have at our tea parties.
Want to join us next month?

I'm linking to:

A Stroll Thru Life
http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/2011/01/49th-table-top-tuesday.html

The Silken Purse
http://silkenpurse.blogspot.com/2011/01/39th-tea-pot-and-tea-things-tuesday.html

Tuesday Teatime with Lady Katherine
http://ladykatherineteaparlor.blogspot.com/

~ Teatime Tuesday with Sandi
http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/

~ Teacup Tuesday with Martha
http://marthasfavorites.blogspot.com/

A Day in the Life of.... :o)

Daily life here in our multi-generational household is full, to say the least. I cannot tell you how much fun I have just being a grandmother to 12 precious children, 4 of whom live in our home, along with their parents. Eight of us maneuver the daily routine of living together, working together,
going nuts together.
(Did I just say that?)

I thought I would chronicle a few activities in the daily life of a home schooling family. As all of my children home school their children, I should be able to do this without making some serious blunders. Here goes:
[and I must say, this is the longest series of pictures I have ever posted. Only the bold of heart will look at the entire post.]

Breakfast time.

If you don't see another post from me, it's because my very fashion conscious daughter killed me for putting this out for the world to see.

This day--a rare occurrence, mind you- one of them got up early and wanted to get started on school so that she could finish early.

School before breakfast?

What a good girl fixing her sister's hair! (She really was doing that. It's not just a pose! Okay, it was a little later in the day. My next pictures spill the beans on how they often do schoolwork in their pajamas.

I planned dinner. We still haven't prepared it. Somehow "life" got in the way and we haven't cooked a big meal at home since I planned that meal a couple of days ago. So it's tonight's dinner.

Mom gets the laundry going.

Why do only 8 people make such multi-loads of laundry?

Oh, yes, there are 4 little girls!

Four year old school work.
This one is learning so fast. It's fun to watch her.

Morning nap time for littlest one.
How come it got so quiet in here?
We can hear ourselves think!

Oh, and where do the girls do their school work?

Upstairs on the sofa or coffee table.
I help with math and grammar. I live upstairs with my best friend and hubby.

On the bathroom counter?
Today she did!

On the bed................

On the hearth by the fireplace.............

At the community center for art class....

On the floor learning good work ethics..........

And they start young around here!

Time out! I think I forgot to brush my teeth this morning!

Sitting with "Colonel" at the end of a long day, but ............

Look what they woke up to today!
A great beginning for a new week.
No school today, even for these home schoolers!
Heck, we're in Arkansas. If there's even a prediction for snow, school let's out!

I'm tired!
That wore me out.
Think I'll take a nap.
Uh-oh! Someone is calling my name!

Have a blessed week!

Hopefully I posted this on:
http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/
Blue Monday