My Talented Ashley~

I just have to share the talent Ashley possesses! All of these images are in their "raw" state~ meaning no editting what so ever, except for the watermark.

This one was the 1st place winner of the 2010 Marianna Arts Festival...










She just recently opened her own website, i-shutter photography. She is open for local photography sessions if any one is interested! ;)

Our awesome blessings!

I am so grateful for the 8 blessings the Lord has gifted us with!


Titus~just over a year old. He is truly a delight! I love listening to all his "jibber". He says quite a few things with his hands, but has gotten quite verbal these days as well!



Ruby, or Bitsy to us~ just turned 3! Where does the time go? Even though we have had 4 girls before her, I think Bitsy is the only one that has truly taken to baby dolls. It's so precious to see her playing with "her family".



AnnaRuth~ Such a helper! She is always so willing to help where needed. She will make a wonderful mama one day...as she practices bunches on all littles that she comes in contact with. ;)



Kyla~the daintiest of all the girls, but don't let that fool ya!! Dynamite comes in small packages, ya know. She is probably the "tom boy" of the girls.



Shauna~ such a warm and caring heart, she has! Shauna is the "peace maker" of the children.



Zebidiah, Zeb for short~ Any one need a clown for hire? Zeb's your clown! Will be goofy for a laugh!



Evan~ Such a strong and intent young man. Evan is growing into such an exceptional Christian young man! Hard to believe my first born son is now 3 inches taller than me!



Ashley~ ah...my right hand! The Lord knew exactly what I needed when he blessed me with her! It's a shame not every mom has an Ashley!

Titus' new shoes!

I have wanted to make soft shoes for a long time, but always felt overwhelmed by the idea. It wouldn't have been a biggie if I made them out of regular fabric, but I wanted to go all out and do it "the right way"...with leather.

I raided our local thrift stores for some old leather coats that were in good condition. I only used one sleeve of a lambskin jacket for these shoes for Titus. The jacket was half off (Goodwill's half off clothing on Mondays) for $10. So, these shoes probably cost me $2.50 to make! ;)

I am LOVIN' how they turned out...and glad I finally pushed myself. I am also glad for my old 60 year old Morse sewing machine...I couldn't sew the sole onto the shoes with my Kenmore. They don't make machines like they used to!!

Bitsy's new dress

My oldest daughter, Ashley (i-shutter photography), had a photo shoot with Bitsy and her new dress I made her. She is quite proud of her bright dress! And I am quite proud of Ashley's photographic ability as well. ;)













and just because...

New Family Pictures...

The Girls,

And the Boys,

Ashley,

Evan,
Zebidiah,

Shauna,

Kyla,

AnnaRuth,

Ruby McKenna,

And Sweet Little Titus!

-See? This is what happens when SOMEONE leaves her blog signed in while she's at her friends house!! LOL!!!-

some more chicken tidbits!

We are so proud of our chickens! They are quite exceptional birds!! Remember, there are only 12 hens...

Today, we retrieved 13 eggs!! One laid double time! What hard workers they are!

We usually collect 9-10 a day from them, which is still wonderful odds!

Unusual bunch of chickens we have

We recently acquired chickens...12 hens and 1 rooster. Our chicken breeds consist of 2 white plymouth rocks, 3 black australorps, 1 dominique, and 7 white leghorns (the rooster fits in this last catagory).

Our lovely chicken band weren't being fed to produce eggs so when we got chickens, we were only getting 1 egg a day. They are older chickens, so we weren't for sure if they would lay well either. Well, needless to say, they are happy chickens now!! On average, we get around 9-10 eggs a day. We are quite thankful for their hard work!!

A couple of days ago, we were quite shocked when we looked into their laying box. This is what we saw...

The egg on top is an average size egg. It measured 2 1/2 inches from tip to tip. The HUGE one measured in at 3 1/2"! I don't think I have ever seen such a big chicken egg!!

The boys know which one laid it. They didn't actually see the act (though, some they have LOL), but the one they suspect laid it was in the box right before they found it and she was some kind of mad...clucking and feathers ruffled. After she jumped out of the box, she was actually salivating!!

Well, this is what we found today...by the same exact chicken that laid the massive one! Look how cute....



The "normal sized" one is on the left. The petite one is well, on the right. The small one measured in at 1 1/2" and the average size one was 2 3/8".

How can one chicken lay such a range in sizes? Anyone know?

while waiting...

...for this baby to make his/her arrival, I have occupied my time sewing for my gaggle of girls. Beside these, I have also made matchy dresses for the 4 little girls (still need to make Ashley a khaki skirt to go with them), 4 head coverings, and a couple of pantelets.

Here is Kyla in all her "pinkness"




And here is Ruthy ready for the orchard...

A Simple Misunderstanding

Ashley showed me this in a book that she was reading. This particular section was about misunderstanding what people say...

The following story is well known. Unfortunately its origin is uncertain. It is an exaggerated and comical illustration of what can happen when our words are misunderstood.

An English woman looking for a room in Switzerland asked for help from the schoolmaster of the village where she wanted to live. After finding a place that suited her, she returned to London for her baggage. Once there, however, she remembered that she hadn't asked about a bathroom, or "water closet," as she called it. So she wrote the village schoolmaster with her question, referring to these facilities in her letter as a "WC".

The schoolmaster, puzzled by these initials, sought the help of a parish priest. The priest decided the woman must be asking about a wayside chapel.

Now imagine being this woman and receiving the following response to your request.

Dear Madam:

I regret very much the delay in answering your letter. But I now take the pleasure in informing you that a "WC" is located about 9 miles from the house, in the center of a beautiful grove of trees. It is capable of seating 250 people at a time. It is open Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday each week. I admit it is quite a distance a way if you are in the habit of going regularly, but no doubt you will be pleased to know that a great number of people take their lunches along and make a day of it. They usually arrive early and stay late. The last time my wife and I went was siz years ago. It was so crowded we had to stand the while time we were there. It may interest you to know that there is a supper being planned to raise money to buy more seats. Likewise, it may interest you to know that my daughter met her husband the first time in the WC, and they were later married in the WC. I would like to say it pains on my part. As we grow older, it seems to be more of an effort, particularly in cold weather. If you should decide to come for a visit, perhaps I could go with you the first time you go, sit with you, and introduce you to all the other folks. Remember, this is a friendly community.

Yours truly,
The Schoolmaster

A little bit of fun!!

Just follow the link... ;)

http://sweetmarmalade.blogspot.com/2009/06/want-to-have-some-fun.html