Joy Dare :: 3 Gifts Striped

We love these bright little cups which were a gift from a very dear friend, and which started us off on a quest to collect similar bright colors for the kitchen of our new house.

That kind of counts as striped, right?

A housewarming gift from another friend… these knives are incredibly awesome, and if you are looking for a set of good knives, I highly recommend them.

The early morning light made for some harsh shadows in the kitchen window, but you see the stripe effect, right?

I love my vintage lamps. I pressured mom into buying these and when she realized that they didn’t fit her decor she passed them on to me.

Oh, so devious.

Joy Dare :: 3 Gifts Berry Red

I really don’t have much red around the house, but at Christmas time, there are always little pops of cheerful red to be found when you look hard enough!

This is still one of my favorite pops of red around Christmas time. I have blogged about it before…

A gift from a dear friend [the same friend that sent me this!]. I think it was given to us on our first Christmas together, but it may have been our second. They’re all starting to blend now…

When I was due with Sophie around Christmas time two years ago, we kept her name to ourselves. We were actually going to name her Lucy Sophia, and had experienced a few negative reactions to the name Lucy, so we decided not to share the name until there was a tiny girl to go with it. My little sister, Hannah saw this ornament hanging on the tree, and was certain that she had learned the name of our baby girl!

As it turned out, Sophie’s name got changed while I was in labor to Sophie Lucia Marie, so all that secrecy was for naught.

The Christmas tree skirt has been in my family since my first Christmas, and maybe even longer. I used to kind of wish I could have some fancy Anthropology tree skirt, but I am really glad that this is the one we still have and use. It’s really quite cozy!

Another gift from a very good childhood friend who also moved way too far away. Geeze, what is it with these people?!

My thrifted ice bucket sports a cheerful red!

A lovely ornament, made by Hannah, and particularly loved and adored by Sophie, who simply can’t resist bling in any form.

Our handy dandy red rubber scraper.

My red hymnal, as mentioned by Mom.

Really, once the kids and I got started looking for red things that we were thankful for, it was hard to stop!

A Very Awesome Christmas Package…

…arrived in the mail from a friend who moved to some distant, cold and strange place this last fall.

It is completely adorable and has been one of the most sought after books in the house, of late.

Trux has pronounced all the recipes to be “Yummy!” and I have to agree with him.

Black coffee canes? Count me in!

The girls have been pulling out all their tea stuff, and pouring over all the vintage fashion tips, like:

Tying the vintage headscarf

and how to apply false eyelashes. Thankfully they haven’t tried that one, yet.

Baked grapefruit? What a great idea! I see a new Christmas morning tradition in the making!

Thank you Rowena… you’re awesome!

Joy Dare :: A Gift Hung, Held, Heard

A Gift Hung

My black and white crayon art was a birthday gift from my super talented brother Jacob. I asked if he could pull of an Ansel Adams feel, and he sure did! It’s one of my most favorite pieces of art.

A Gift Held

I had to include Gillian here, since she makes certain that she is the main thing I find myself holding. That’s okay though, she’s pretty cute!

A Gift Heard

When we snagged our bird-songs clock from a neighbors yard sale, I was thrilled that both the kids and I could learn some of the bird calls in such an easy way. Unfortunately, I neglected to make sure that it was accurate, and after several months of me calling the name of each bird at the top of the hour, Dan pointed out that the clock must be set wrong, and I realized that we had learned all the wrong songs to all the wrong birds. Oh well. We’ll get around to bird songs someday.

Joy Dare :: 3 Gifts Sweet

Mom and I were talking about Three Gifts Sweet, and we realized that could go a couple different directions. There’s sweet like, “Oooh, that tastes sweet!” Sweet like “Awww… so sweet!” and then sweet like “Schaweeet!” (didn’t think of that last one till just a bit ago, Mom!)

So, really, I only thought about the “Oooh, yummy!” kind of sweet.

We snagged these at our discount grocery store during an emergency run for flour and nutmeg. Yes, no nutmeg DOES qualify as an emergency. They were cute, festive, and dipped in white chocolate, which made the children very happy.

But look! Papa is helping the girls identify a bird that they spotted. Awww, so sweet!

I am very thankful that Dan can make it home on lunch breaks now. It’s nice to see an adult (and one I like so much!) halfway through my day. Plus, we give him a rundown of the school day while he’s here, and he often has something to add. It’s one of my happiest blessings right now!

I also managed to score this yummy Christmas-ish coffee at the discount store. Which is schawheet! (But shhhh… don’t tell anyone about this last one, because some just might make it under the tree for certain family members at Christmas time!)

Joy Dare :: 3 Gifts Silver

When I was thinking about Silver Gifts that I am thankful for, the first thing I thought of was my French press. Turns out, the French press ranks pretty high with my mom, too. Great minds, and all that. It’s a pretty multifunctional piece of equipment, and I am am very grateful to own one!

These pretty little shot glasses were a gift from my brother Jared. I think he snagged them from Germany on one of his trips ’round the world. I am convinced that Jared’s love language is gifts, because he and his lovely new wife Amber both just do gifts so well.

My third item of silvery happiness comes from a thrift shop. Thrift shops are the bestest ever, and every time Dan leaves me with the van he secretly worries what I will drag home. But we both agreed that this was a good find, since last year when we needed a tree topper, and had a very small budget we still hated what dollar general had to offer. Thrift shops are the best!

Joy Dare :: 3 Gifts Shining

Three Gifts Shining. Hmmm. So close to Three Gifts Bright.

Kinsley thought about this assignment and suggested the moon.

“Oh, is it pretty tonight?” I asked her.

“Well, it’s actually pretty EVERY night.”

Right. The moon is certainly something to be thankful for!

We love our aquarium which was a gift from Mom and Dad when we moved into this bigger house. We all find it to be very relaxing, and soothing. One certain child finds it to be a good antidote to sleepless nights.

And the fish are shiny, right?

Our twinkly fairy lights. I am very thankful for them. They are not only cozy to look at, but they have saved me many a stubbed toe and cracked shin as I stumble about the house running various errands for various children who apparently have more pressing things to do at night than sleep.

When I asked Dan what shining things he was thankful for, he immediately thought of my ring. “It’s the shiniest thing I have ever bought!”

I am very thankful for it, too. I am thankful for the wonderful guy who was old fashioned enough to ask my parents for my hand in marriage. I am thankful for the beautiful August evening nine years ago when he presented me with this ring in the middle of a field of tall grass waving gently in the breeze.

I am thankful that I seem to be able to wear my rings again, since every once in a while my body decides to rebel against them and I develop a terribly itchy rash that persists until I take the rings off my finger and put them away for a while.

And I am thankful for all the blessings that have come after the above shiny object was installed on my finger!

When life gave us strawberries…

we made scones!

Nod to Rachel, at Song In My Heart

My previous attempts at scone failed ten out of ten times. They were gross and tasted like baking powder. Frustrated at my failures, I decided that that it was a possibility that my three year old baking powder (purchased in bulk from Sam’s) might be the culprit. I got another can of the stuff and sure enough, that solved all my life’s problems. Morale of the story: Baking powder does go rancid. Yuck!

Armed with a great recipe, fresh baking powder, plump strawberries from Aldi, and 2 quarts of iced coffee, I trotted into the kitchen to make us some breakfast, and all was good.

Springtime Breakfast

One of the things that we love the most about spring is eating our meals outdoors. Especially in that precious week of warm weather before the mosquitoes get involved. We enjoyed quite a few breakfasts, lunches and dinners outdoors last week!

The slightly cooler mornings call for coffee, of course!

Some of us take a little longer to wake up and get with the program! 🙂

Breakfast

Kinsley’s breakfast.

In an attempt to remove cereal from our diet, frozen blueberries and cream have become a breakfast staple for the children.

Sophie’s breakfast.

Truxton’s breakfast.

Mama’s and Gillian’s joint breakfast. It looks so much more appetizing before Gilli gets her grubby hands on it!

Oh, and did you notice the steam rising off my coffee?

Oh, the joy!

Please feel free to ignore these meal posts… we are attempting a healthier diet these last couple of weeks and I have been chronicling our meals for my own amusement and because I told a friend that I would do so. We are basically trying to eat along the lines of the Primal diet as outlined by Mark Sisson, but I think that it also follows a lot of the same basic principles of the GAPS diet, Dr. Weston A Price, and the Paleo diet. Basically we have attempted to eliminate sugar and most carbs, and eat a lot more veggies, healthy fats, and whole milk products! The children are eating a lot more fruit, too.