It's time to Party!

Finally after being sick, I was able to have 4 days of health. Just in time to switch my house from Easter ...to getting ready for a baby shower, for my girl friend's daughter.

I love changing my house for all the Seasons!

I still have a few more quilts that I need to make for the other Seasons!

This Mother-to-Be wanted to have an Elephant decorated Baby Shower for her little boy!

This is the gift I painted for her Nursery!

I got this book for everyone to sign for the Mother-to-be...to keep with the Elephant theme. I also got them one of my son Brad and Krystal's book. Since she and her husband are teachers, I thought they would like that...and they did!

We had a great turn out and you could tell by the gifts...that this baby is already so loved!

These are the gifts for the Baby Shower Games

Elephant garlands turned out cute!

It was a great day and I am grateful that the Mother-to-be had a great time. My friend is so excited to be a Grandmother for the first time. So glad that we got to do this today!

I love Fall!

From the time I was little... my favorite season was FALL. As my children were growing up and I was working part time with painting and selling at the big Fairs around, then naturally I had a lot of decorations that I had made for each season. Then over 10 years ago I started quilting and now I have almost a few things made for each season too. Each season my kids could not wait to put up the decorations for each holiday. As they got older, they liked it being up but weren't thrilled to help get the boxes out of the garage to put up:) Funny how that works.
The tradition has passed over with my grandchildren, they love all the decorations and remember each year, certain ones that are their favorites.

It was funny because the other night Lauren said, " Mom, we need to put up Fall decorations" I said  "well, it is almost fall, but not till next week actually". She didn't care, she still put on the tea pot and make some hot apple cider, got a new sweater from the 2nd hand store and then spent the rest of the day and night hauling out boxes from the garage (by herself ) and totally set up Fall. I loved it, she (like when she was a kid ) got excited about all the things she started pulling out of the boxes. It was fun to see and a big help to me of course.
Anyway, the days are getting shorter and there is definitely a nip in the air...I love Fall too!
Good night dear friends!

This quote ( above ) could totally be Lauren's Life Motto!

Why don't you grow up?

I found this article about your kids growing up so fast. As I read it, I thought how true. I remember the crazy days when all four of the kids were young, and life was hectic and never boring. I wondered many times, how in the world I would ever make it, would I truly survive? I did... and it seemed just like yesterday they were all little and now, our youngest is graduating from High School and Brad and Krystal from college in a month. How did that happen? Where did the time go? I miss those days...can you believe it? I really do, the house is too clean and too quiet and dinners are a bit boring sometimes.
I have heard there is a time and season for everything, that is true also. The trick is to enjoy the season that you are in and not wish it away or wish another season to take it's place.
Now we can't wait, for our granddaughters to come over and make a mess and some noise. Yes, it is different watching your kids grow up so fast.
So for all of you that still have little ones under your feet. Enjoy them, cherish that time, because they will grow up fast and you will really miss them!

Oatmeal Kisses

The baby is teething-the children are fighting. My husband just called and said to eat dinner without him. Okay, one of these days you'll shout: "Why don't you grow up and act your age!" and they will, or "You guys get outside and find yourselves something to do...and don't slam the door!"...and they won't.

You'll straighten up their rooms neat and tidy...bumper stickers discarded...spreads tucked and smooth ... toys displayed on the shelves...hangars in the closet...animals caged, and you'll say out loud: "Now I want it to stay that way!" and it will...You'll prepare a perfect dinner with a salad that hasn't been picked to death and a cake with no finger traces in it and you'll say, "Now there's a meal for a company." and you'll eat it alone.

You'll say, "I want complete privacy on the phone. No dancing around, no pantomimes, no demolition crews. Silence! Do you hear?"...and you'll have it. No more plastic tablecloths stained with spaghetti, no more anxious nights under a vaporizer tent, no more dandelion bouquets, no more iron-on patches, knotted shoestrings, or tight moots.

Imagine, a lipstick with a point, no babysitter for New Year's Eve, washing clothes only once a week, no P.T.A. meetings, carpools, blaring radios, Christmas presents out of toothpicks and paste. No more "Wet Oatmeal Kisses". No more tooth fairy giggles in the dark, or knees to heal.

Only a voice crying..."Why don't you grow up?"... and the silence echoing ......."I did."

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about."  ~Angela Schwindt

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing."  ~Phyllis Diller

"If you haven't time to respond to a tug at your pants leg, your schedule is too crowded."  ~Robert Brault

September is here!

Everyone has there favorite season. Mine has always been FALL! I love the colors, putting on sweaters, watching our pumpkins grow, smelling the soup on the stove, picking apples and everything else... wonderful about FALL! It just makes me want to go and put on a pot of soup and light my favorite candles. Since it is September officially, I told my granddaughter that we could put up the FALL decorations this week, she gets about excited as I do!
I found this quote from a dear lady, that I admire greatly which goes like this...

"THE GRAND AND THE SIMPLE, THEY ARE EQUALLY WONDERFUL"  ~ Marjorie Pay Hinckley

I really believe that is true, if we step back and enjoy each one. The big and grand things are easy to notice, but how often do we stop and enjoy the small and simple things in our life? I think that is the test of gratitude. Do we honestly notice, all the incredible blessings in our life?  If we would (as my Mom used to sing to us) COUNT  YOUR MANY BLESSING, NAME THEM ONE BY ONE AND IT WILL SURPRISE YOU WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE. So today that is my goal, to look outside my window and be grateful that my favorite season is here, and then look around my home and my family and realized how blessed I am!  Try it yourself...Count your many blessing!

"If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness.  It will change your life mightily."  ~Gerald Good

"Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."  ~George Eliot

"Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn."  ~Elizabeth Lawrence

"Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving."  ~W.T. Purkiser

Lessons in everything in life!

I have a dear friend who has been trying to help me learn a little more about gardening. Everyone that knows me realizes that is important! ( As seen on the photo below ) :)

I am doing better, but it takes a bit of time and a lot of knowledge for each different plant or flower.  But I am learning. This sweet friend sent me information about how to grow TULIPS!   www.Tulips.com  I had no idea that there were seven stages of the bulb's growth.

1. Sept.-Oct. ( Planting Time)

2. November ( Making Roots)

3. Dec.-Jan.(Cooling Period)

4. Feb. -March ( Growing Period )

5. April - May ( Blooming Time )

6. May - June ( Regeneration)

7. July - Sept. ( Multiplying)

It is interesting to look around the world at everything we have, and realize that each have different  lessons to teach us?  It made me think of the scripture in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

1.To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. 2. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck  up that which is planted. 3. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4. A time to week, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5. A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6. A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7. A time to rend, and a time to sew;  a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Yes, there are lessons in everything in life and for that I am very grateful. I am glad to know that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and created all of these  beautiful things on the earth, not only to give us joy but to help teach us also!

"The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses."  ~Hanna Rion

"Where flowers bloom so does hope."  ~ Lady Bird Johnson

"Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace." ~ May Sarton

I understand..." I've already been through that myself!

Why is it, that you always feel better when you know at least one other person has been through the trial that you are presently facing yourself? I had a dear friend who is now an EMPTY NESTER. She and her husband are they authorities on the subject, because they have been doing it for a few years. When she saw me today with all my family sitting in the pew at church, she said..."I bet you are enjoying having so many of your kids home aren't  you? " "Enjoy every minute of it". I knew that she truly understood. Although we are not completely Empty Nesters but quickly approaching that season in my life, I am trying to prepare the best I can.  My heart is hurting so...I am guessing I still have lots to learn.

I love the books Chicken Soup for the Soul, the very first book was published in 1993...it was obviously something that people needed. I personally get thrilled when I get one. One that I think was the perfect gift for me, was one that my dear friend gave me when I was diagnosed with Cancer for the first time. I was still in shock, scared and and that book was pure inspiration to me. To hear true life stories of others who had survived and thrived since their cancer, was completely what I needed, how grateful I was for her thoughtfulness. It does help to know that someone else has been there, done that.

So tomorrow I believe after my Physical Therapy, I am going to go out and buy the Chicken Soup for the Empty Nester's Soul, because I am already dreading having my house get more empty every day. I love having it full and with all my kids around.

Here is the Synopsis on that book if you might want to get one yourself.

Synopsis

This is Chicken Soup for the Soul's first book on a very emotional but exciting time for parents - sending their children off to college or new homes and careers.

This terrific book is a must read for empty nesters or soon-to-be empty nesters.  It contains 101 stories written by parents who have been there already and share their stories with new empty nesters.  These heartfelt stories will inspire, support, and amuse parents grappling with their own bittersweet new freedom.  The book also includes stories from the kids themselves, providing the view from the other side.  Parents will nod their heads, cry a little, and laugh a lot as they recognize themselves and their almost grown-up children in these stories.

In this book, parents share stories of gazing at surprisingly clean bedrooms, starting new careers, rediscovering their spouses, and handling the continuing, and often humorous, needs of their children even while they are away at college or ensconced in their own apartments. 

"A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary." ~ Dorothy Canfield Fisher

"Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever."  ~ Unknown

"No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement." ~ Florida Scott-Maxwell

The changing of the Seasons!

Well, today we took down Christmas, we had to do it while Angie wasn't here...she loves Christmas just as much as Nana does, if not more. I put on the Christmas music and tried to get excited about the Valentine's Day decorations. They will be the next ones to put up this week. It went down faster than normal because everyone helped, plus some friends of ours came over too! That is true friendship don't you think to help someone like me ( who has tons of decorations )? That is what you call...ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY! Thanks dear friends!

So here I sit, it is late... I am waiting for Lee to get home from a church dance and looking at my empty house. I am not sure where I first developed the love of decoration for the seasons? My mom decorated for Christmas but that was about it. When we had Amy ( our first ) I had already been making and selling crafts for a business and of course the best seller is whatever the season is at that time. But for some reason, I was excited to decorate and celebrate every season with Amy. By the time Bradley was born... I already had quite a collection built up. I am not sure if something is called a collection if  you make all of it? Whatever!

I have been tempted (in my old age) not to put up ALL the decorations for the different seasons, but that went away as soon as I became a Nana. To watch Angie's little face when she reaches in and pulls out each decorations...is worth it all! There is not a kid that come's over to Aunt Lynn's house that doesn't love it too. When I told Angie the other day that we need to take down the Christmas decorations she said " Oh Nana, don't take down the deawations". When I said we had to, she then said " Are we going to put up Halloween?" :) Then I explained Valentine's Day and she threw up her arms and said "Oh Nana, are we going to put up hearts everywhere?" How can you turn a face like that down?

I hope that each of you are able to enjoy the changing of the seasons and holidays! I really am grateful that I get to be here to celebrate each one. Good night dear friends!

"Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas." ~ Dale Evans Rogers

"The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each other's burdens, easing other's loads and supplanting empty hearts  and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas." ~ W.C. Jones

Extra Hour!

I have a friend who owns a store in Snohomish and I got this cute email from her this week, here is what it said.

Hello Friends!
It is almost time to turn back the clocks and really cozy up for the coming season!  I always love the Sunday that we gain that extra hour~ an extra hour to use any way I please... a project, an outing, maybe a nap... How will you spend your 'extra hour'? 

I am always grateful for the Fall Season, probably because I love it the most... but also because we do get to turn back our clocks and get that Extra hour my friend was mentioning. It would be interesting if we did a survey; to see what everyone did or is going to do with that extra hour today?  I believe that I am going to spend it catching up on time with my kids and Jeff. I love the time when we are all together on Sunday (when we don't do all the normal weekday schedules and things). So whatever you do, I hope you enjoy it and appreciate this beautiful FALL day.

 

colors

© By Debbie Thomsen
Three shades of red
A hint of orange
A splash of yellow
All fading against
A mystical blue
The clouds at once
Were the purest of white
Appear to be on fire,
Now glow in a silver lining.
Just for a moment it
Sends me to tranquility......
Just for a second in time
All my madness goes away
Taking the time to notice
The beautiful things in life
Life is calm
As the sun goes down
I am trapped in the
Colors surround
Me with peace

"Time, the cradle of hope.... Wisdom walks before it, opportunity with it, and repentance behind it:  he that has made it his friend will have little to fear from his enemies, but he that has made it his enemy will have little to hope from his friends."  ~Charles Caleb Colton

"Time is what we want most, but... what we use worst."  ~William Penn

Happy Harvest!

Yesterday my granddaughter Angie and I just had to start putting up Halloween decorations. We waited as long as we possibly could, but once Autumn began... we couldn't wait any longer. Angie is so excited now that her pumpkins are ready to pick, here is a photo of her first pumpkin and her first ear of corn too!

What a neat thing to teach kids, to plant and take care of something and watch it grow. Then after a lot of watering, watching and especially waiting, you are finally able to pick your harvest. There is a scripture in Proverbs that says...“As you sow so shall you reap”. That is true with many things in our lives, we can not expect to reap the benefits of something if we did not put the time and effort into it. Here is a cute story that goes along with this theme tonight. I hope you enjoy it! Night!

THE SEED OF HONESTY  ~ Rutagengwa Claude Shema

  A King was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his children, he invited a group of young people from his kingdom and told them, "It is soon time for me to step down and choose the next king. I have decided to choose one of you." The children were shocked, but the king continued, "I am going to give each one of you a seed today - one very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from   this seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next king."

 One of the boys, named Liang, went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot filled with soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Liang kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Liang didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure. Six months went by   -- still nothing in Liang's pot. He knew his seed had died. Everyone else had trees or flowers, but he had nothing. Liang didn't say anything to his friends, he just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

 A year finally went by and all the youth of the kingdom brought their plants to the king for inspection. Liang told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But his mother asked him to be honest about what happened. Liang felt very uncomfortable, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace. He was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful -- in all shapes and sizes. Liang put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other children laughed at him. When the king arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Liang tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown," said the king. "Today one of you will be appointed the next king!" Suddenly the king spotted Liang at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Liang was terrified. He thought, "The king knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me punished!" When Liang got to the front, the king asked his name. "My name is Liang," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The king asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Liang, and then announced to the crowd, "The name of your new king is Liang!" 

Liang couldn't believe it. He couldn't even grow his seed, how could he be the new King? Then the King said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take   the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds that would not grow. All of you, except Liang, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Liang was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new king!" If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.

Autumn is officially here and so are we!

Yesterday was the first day of Autumn and for us in Seattle, it was HOT! But still the nights and mornings there is a snap of cool air. I really love Autumn, maybe because of all the Seasons that come with it and also because of the brilliant colors that seems to be everywhere! I read this quote and thought it went perfect with today's post...

"EVEN IF SOMETHING IS LEFT UNDONE, EVERYONE MUST TAKE TIME TO SIT STILL ANS WATCH THE LEAVES TURN" ~Elizabeth Lawrence

I looked on my calendar this morning to see what all I needed to do today and saw that it is the 23rd. I then remembered that it was exactly 21 years ago today that we moved here from West Virginia. We just had 2 kids then, but we knew that we needed to raise them some where, other than West Virginia so that is what we did. We took everything we owned and moved here without a job or anything. Jeff came first and after 2 LONG months secured us a place to live and a job. I can still remember the kids and I that morning, Amy was 5 and Brad was 2. They had their little back packs ready to go the night before. My mom bought them new little sweat suits to travel in and after tearful good byes to my mom and dad, we were on our way. They were excited about the new adventure and plane ride but the real excitement was seeing their dad again. I was never so glad to have my family reunited, 2 months apart was too long! We also had my brother, sister-in-law and 3 nieces and nephews waiting for us too, so to say the least we were ready to go and excited.

That was a huge decision that Jeff and I made, quite a daring one too! Now that I am a little older and a grandmother ( nana) I realize why my parents were so concerned about us. The problem is we were young, full of hope and didn't realize how many chances we were taking. We just knew that we needed a change and a big one at that and it felt right. I love living here, I wake up every day thankful for the opportunity to live here and raise my family here. I love the rain, the clouds, the mountains and the water here. We are truly blessed. So today I will remember to count my blessings more and especially the day 21 years ago, when we moved out little family clear across the United States to Seattle!

"DREAMS ARE LIKE STARS...YOU MAY NEVER TOUCH THEM, BUT IF YOU FOLLOW THEM THEY WILL LEAD YOU TO YOUR DESTINY."

"IT IS YOUR MOMENTS OF DECISION THAT YOUR DESTINY IS SHAPED" ~Anthony Robbins

"ACTIONS ARE THE SEED OF FATE, DEEDS GROW INTO DESTINY"  ~ Harry S. Truman