Shabby Saturday Finds

Okay, I know its not Saturday anymore, but I am running a few days behind on everything...so I am just now getting to what I wanted to share with you on Saturday!  I so want to be one of those gals that can whip in to a garage sale on a whim and load 2 tables, a horrific chair, and the best lamps you have ever seen onto the hood of her car for $3.  Unfortunately, as much as I love to garage sale, my mind goes into overload when I start to see stuff that may work in my home.  Uuugh...I hate it, but it is true.    I treat garage sales like the day after Thanksgiving in Toys R Us when they open the doors!!!  BRUTAL!!  So I am learning to settle down and take my time.  


And while I may not be the most skilled garage saler on the block, I love to them and this weekend the weather was perfect, so my mom, 2 girls (purses in hand) and I set out to around 10 or so sales in our area! Here are some of the great finds I got my grubby little paws on! I am so excited!!

I love this little bird cage for $3.50!!  I am debating on whether or not

 I am going to paint it or leave it!!

Okay, confession, when I bought this I thought it was a kitchen scale!  How embarrassing!!  And while it may be one of those lawyer looking scales...that is okay because they only cost me $4.00 and in my house it is a kitchen scale and in the kitchen is where it is going!!

Okay and this is a terrible picture but these little babies were only $4.00 and they are HUGE!!  

So that is what I found this weekend...I will post pics when I have them in their new homes!!

Keepers of the Faith Group

I am very excited to tell you about a club that a few of my friends and I have just gotten started with our daughters called Keepers of the Faith. If you go to their website www.keepersofthefaith.com you will see how amazing this little club is

and how much our daughters desperately need this.

This is going to be so much fun!!

In a world that no longer values homemaking or godly character in women, but instead encourages "SELF SELF SELF", Im excited to have the opportunity to teach my girls about the importance of being a home maker and the role that God has called upon each of us.

For more on being a keeper of the home click here.

We will meet, Lord willing, once a month starting in November (hopefully...it was supposed to be October, but that has come and gone) and I will be sure to post pics and details, in case this is something you want to start in your own home, church, or community.

I cannot promise you it will be perfect...although I am a true perfectionist. But I can tell you that we are going to have a great time and teach our girls and ourselves a thing or two for sure!!

Las Casa de Wootie-Open for Business

One of my favorite special things to do with my girls is help them to set up a restaurant in our kitchen. Usually when daddy has to run an errand he will invite the girls to come along. Sometimes both girls will jump in for the ride, sometimes neither will, but sometimes only one will tag along and the other and I will stay behind. As soon as the truck pulls out of the driveway the scurrying begins.

It is so much fun to prepare the kitchen as a restaurant and act as waitresses, hostesses, and chefs to our family memebers. It is one of my girls' favorite things to do and what a great way to learn hospitality and how to serve others. And mom gets some help setting the table...definitely a win/win!!

Last night I had cooked tacos which meant we had various menu items...perfect for our restaurant Las Casa de Wootie (that is our youngest daughters nick name). She set the table perfectly as I finished preparing the food. The table was beautiful and complete with candles, silverware wrapped in paper towels, and glasses of water. The mood was made perfect-o by music in the background. It is always a must for the girls to perfectly set the tone using the XM channels on our TV and not just any music will do. "Momma, its a Mexican restaurant, so we need Mexican restaurant music." Okay, no problem. "Calliente" on XM is perfect!!! Now, everything is ready and we are open for business!!! When dad and Wami (our other daughter's nickname) returned home they were greeted with an OPEN sign and a hostess with the mostess who took their name, phone number, and every other piece of information she could think of and seated them at the best seat in the house. It is so cute to hear the little ones use the "waitress lingo".

"Welcome to Las Casa de Wootie, can we start you off

with some chips and dip tonight?"

Then she runs to other side of the kitchen...

"Momma, Momma chips and dip hurry!!"

Then back to the table, "Here you go sir,

and what can I get you to drink?"

Then she runs to the other side of the kitchen....

"Momma, 2 root beers!"

Then back to the table...

"2 root beers and do you need a few more minutes

to look over the menu??"

"Our specials tonight are tacos, nachos, and taco salad.

Could I get you any of those?"

This is so much fun and something that I truly enjoy doing with the girls. They love to make their daddy feel special and I think this is one of the best ways to practice hospitality and serving others, as well as how to respond on the receiving end of such a sweet and loving gesture of service. Everyone involved has so much fun and daddy, above all, plays the part perfectly. He always compliments the chef on what a fantastic meal he enjoyed, makes sure to tell the waitress how impressed he is with the restaurant, and always leaves a tip!! Good times!!

Not being a morning person is NO EXCUSE!!!

Every night I tell myself when I get in bed,

"Okay Kellye, listen up...tomorrow will be the best morning

because you are going to wake up 30 minutes early

for your morning quiet time and coffee and then

fix the kids breakfast and wake them up

to a wonderful smelling kitchen and happiness all around."

And truly yall I want that to happen soooo bad. But then somewhere between 30 minutes early and 10 minutes late my brain goes into "this is not really happening" mode. I HATE THAT!!! I don't know why but the first thing I think about when I wake up is how long until I can go back to sleep. AM I NUTS OR WHAT?? Once I'm up, of course I am no longer interested in 5 more minutes of snoozing, but I have already RUINED my plans for the morning!!

So next week is a new week and IT WILL BE DIFFERENT!! Morning person or not, Im getting myself whipped into shape over here!!! No excuses, just great mornings...lets hope :)

Birthday Party on a DIME

My oldest daughter will be turning 9 in just a few weeks and I LOVE TO THROW BIRTHDAY PARTIES!! This is one of those things that to me makes being a mom so great. Nothing makes me happier than to make my girls feel special on their birthday. But, I get even a bigger kick out of throwing them a party on a shoe string budget and making it GREAT!!!

So, this year I thought I would share with all of you and take you along for the planning stages and share with you the invitations and party foods and all of the special tricks that just really make everything so special...FOR LITTLE TO NO MONEY!

Now, I cannot promise you that I will spend NO money, but, I believe that anyone can throw an awesome party right in their own backyard, on whatever day they like, at whatever time they want, for as long as they want, inviting as many people as they want, with their own rules, and spend LESS money than if you were to have it somewhere and follow their rules.

So each year I challenge myself to spend less money than the year before but throw a better party. I work hard to find the best prices, the most creative games and attractions, and ALWAYS enjoy making the invitations with the birthday girl! That is probably the best part because it is so fun and it is so cheap...more on that later!!

To me the MOST important part of a birthday party is A UNIQUE THEME. So, without further delay I can't wait to tell you that this year our theme is "A Magical Birthday" and I am so excited about it. Choosing the theme is one of my favorite parts of party planning. I put alot of time and love into planning a party that the birthday girl will LOVE. We had a "Dora the Explorer Treasure Hunt" one year where we had backpacks and made maps and took a journey where we had 3 stops and had to yell "Swiper No Swiping" and finally made it to the treasure! We had a Webkinz birthday party last year with a "wheel of wow" and a "wishing well" and games from Webkinz World where the kids earned Kinzcash that they could spend in the W Store at the end of the party! That was one of my favorites and by far one of the least expensive!! This year I am very excited about having a magical birthday and want to make sure it is just that for my darling daughter...MAGICAL!!

I hope that you will enjoy this journey with me and I hope that you will get excited about planning your next party. Next time I will show you our invitations that cost me $4.00 for 35 because we make them ourselves with stuff we already have.

I look forward to sharing with you my money savers and great finds along the way and cannot wait to post pics of the big event!

Beautiful fall weather is here!!

So what do you do when the beautiful fall mornings lure you outside??? You get the kids out there for a photo shoot of course! Here is what we did today...the weather was absolutely beautiful and just begged me to be out soaking it all in. Thank you Lord for the wonderful day that you have given us today to enjoy!!

Of course every good fall morning ends with a picnic lunch.

If I was a celebrity this would be called a "hiatus"

It is hard to believe that I have not written since May!! Our life has seemed to go by so quickly that I truly have not known which end is up. I have to say though that sometimes, I believe, the Lord puts us in a place where we can truly see Him. That place is where I have been! I am thankful to Him for bringing me closer to Him while He drug me further away from the things of this world that I seemed so attached to. But, ya know...the hymn is so right when it says, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace." Amen, that is just what happened.

We are all settled in our new house and the girls are back in school after a wonderful lazy summer. We have been living in our new house for 4 months now and lived here without any technology at all (no TV, computer, phones) for the entire summer and believe it or not, it was WONDERFUL! Im not saying that I didn't kiss the Direct Tv man when he came, but we had alot of much needed thinking and reorganizing time around here and it was so very refreshing.

Now we are completely back in touch with the world around us and I miss the days of not knowing what on earth was going on around me. Now it is up to me to maintain the balance that I so deeply desire!!

I must say that all summer I dealt with an unsettled feeling in my heart. Now that fall is peeking its head out as us, my emotions are still unsettled and I truly do feel as though the Lord is leading me and speaking to me. I truly believe that I am just a slow learner. BRUTAL I know, but it is the truth. I will continue to seek Him though, and I know that when He chooses He will reveal my path to me.

Until then, I will just continue to turn my eyes upon Jesus and beg Him to keep making the things of this earth grow more and more dim in the light of His glory and grace.

It is great to be back, I have missed yall!!

Kellye