Butterflies

Cultivating Weeds

This is what our house looked like when we were buying it last summer.  Yes, it was a suburban jungle.  The shrubs were out of control!  Here's what it looks like now:

My mother-in-law put me to work digging out a border along the front and edging it with stones.  I love it!  However, if you look closely you'll notice that everything green in the yard is a weed and the golden parts are the grass.  I've been battling the weeds.  My brother spread corn gluten meal in the fall, and then I applied some poorly-timed weed and feed (just before the rain, not after).  I've battled a couple times with weed killer in the sprayer, which has actually had a noticeable effect- to me, anyway.  Next is another round of weed and feed.  I'm sorry for contributing to the pollutants in the water supply.  I would like to be more environmentally responsible... any suggestions for organic weed control???

Happy Saint Patty's Day

Here is our latest kitchen creation!  My first batch of cupcakes with MK.  We are invited to a playdate/dinner tomorrow night, and the host asked me to bring a St Patty's dessert.  I wanted to use just ingredients I had on hand, otherwise, I would have made my friend Katie's yummy creme de menthe bars.  (Speaking of Katie, I miss you.  Are you still in the blogosphere?)

I had a box of German chocolate cake mix, a canister of cream cheese frosting, eggs to use up, and an unopened cannister of green decorator sugar (with no red mate).  I made a little shamrock template on a paper plate that I then cutout with a utility knife.  I actually made three until I got the results I desired.  It was a little tricky because the template would stick too much to the frosting each time.  Maybe I'll put some butter on it next time to make it "nonstick".  The best part of the whole process is that Molly loves to put the muffin liners in the pans- something I find tedious.  So we make a good team.   Here she is "frosting" her own cupcake.  Cute!

An Easter Book for Your Little One

Read and Share: The Story of Easter by Gwen Ellis is a perfect way to teach the details of Jesus’ resurrection to your child. My daughter is 2 ½, and while it is a little too advanced for her, I think this book will be perfect next year. It would probably also be ideal for 7 or 8 year-old children to practice their reading. The book contains thirteen stories which are each a paragraph telling an event in the Easter story. A lot of detail and insight is included. The book describes how the curtain of the temple was torn upon Jesus’ death and now we all have access to the holy place, while previously it was only the priests. For each section, the scripture references are listed. The book remains true to scripture. The illustrations are fun to look at, and the stories are brief enough to hold the attention of readers.


The accompanying DVD contains six short Bible stories, including ones like Philip and Saul Becomes Paul- topics that aren’t widely available as children’s videos. The video contains simple animation and story-telling. It might be too slow-paced for some children, but as a mom, I prefer videos that aren’t over-stimulating! The disc also contains Coloring Pages and Wallpaper that can be utilized from your computer.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book to review as a part of booksneeze.com.

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On the Town with Ma Mere

We headed downtown with Ma Mere who's visiting from Michigan.  Molly did an awesome job keeping up as we went shopping!

I Loved This Book!

As a reviewer for BookSneeze.com, I received a complimentary copy of Kaleidoscope by Patsy Clairmont. I have to say, I want to be Patsy’s friend! Actually, I feel like I am her friend! Her conversational style of writing is fun to read, and for the most part her humor is entertaining. Each chapter begins with a few words from a Proverb. She then draws wisdom from those words and invites the reader into her life journey as she illustrates and teaches with stories. Some chapters are entirely lighthearted- there’s a funny story about her being unable to find her sky-rise hotel twice when it was towering right behind her. However, I was amazed by the depths of her struggles as she also opened up about heartbreaks and inadequacies. The chapter ends with a list of questions to ponder- just like her writing some of her questions are airy and some heady and hearty. The scripture references that round out the chapters provide good spiritual snacking. As I read, I would often flip to the back cover to peer at the picture of the author. I was connecting so much with her heart in the book, I wanted to make a personal connection with her face, too. I loved this book even though it wouldn’t be one that I would normally pick up in the bookstore. I’m definitely going to lend this to friends and keep it close by to reread chapters meaningful to me.