GraceatHome's Xanga

Monday, October 06, 2008

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:17:25 GMT

Please visit me at my new blog,

Grace ala Maison.

www.GracealaMaison.blogspot.com

Friday, April 04, 2008

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:20:12 GMT

Mother & Daughter at Home

One of the blogs I love is Graceful Girlhood, formerly In Beauty and In Grace. Kim, the author of the blog, is starting a Mother and Daughter At Home event which will be held the first Friday evening of every month. She has chosen the sweetest themes and Holland, Dulcie and I can hardly wait to begin. The point is to spend time with your daughter (s) and while it doesn't have to be on Friday evenings, this is the time Kim has planned for her family. I will probably have my Mother/Daughter time during the afternoon as Mark is home in the evening and we wouldn't want to exclude him as his time with them is limited. Now, I would like to point out that I spend all of my days with my girls, homeschooling, chauffeuring them to ballet and piano, etc. But I love having these special times to plan for and look forward to with them.

I've written before about my treasured memories of my own childhood and my hope is through participating in this Mother & Daughter at Home, my girls will have equally special memories of their childhoods. Would you like to join us?

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:26:36 GMT

Baby Chickens

Each Spring, Legare Farms on John's Island hosts a 'Rent a Chick' event. We decided to do it for the first time this year and Holland and Dulcie both wanted one. Holland picked out a brown and black one while Dulcie picked a traditional yellow one and quickly presented them with their names...Chocolat (french) and Bluey (blue eyes), respectively. Holland fell in love with hers before we even arrived back home. I can already see the inevitable tears when we give them back in two weeks. Upon getting the baby chickens, we were given food for them and simple instructions. After we return them, we will be given a certificate that we can bring back in Autumn for a dozen free eggs. Holland would much prefer to keep her chicken though. For now, they are having a ball caring for them and playing with them. Chocolat and Bluey seem to like us and aren't frightened to be held although Dulcie needs reminding to not squeeze too tight. It's a truly sweet experience for my two country at heart girls.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 01:43:26 GMT

Easter

The girls awoke to discover their baskets filled with lovely things. Chocolates, tiny Crabtree & Evelyn soap, Flower Fairy flower seeds, an Easter hurdy gurdy, a pot of Play Dough and fresh cut flowers. After a simple breakfast, we went to our sweet church. I'm so thankful for it. We sang beautiful songs (sometimes I like to be quiet and just listen to the beautiful voices of our small congregation), listened to Pastor Brown's always humbling but encouraging sermon, participated in the Lord's Supper, and had fellowship with friends. Afterwards we went to brunch and the girls hunted for Easter eggs along the Cooper River. Home and a nap finished our day. Oh and we took a drive through the Francis Marion National Forest this evening. I think we were lost at one point but I trusted my husband to find our way home!

An Easter Basket

A Charleston Easter Egg Hunt

Making Easter Egg Collages after Brunch

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:10:56 GMT

May His blessings be upon you on Easter and always!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:12:20 GMT

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 02:20:30 GMT

Pippi Longstocking

Sunday evening we permitted Holland and Dulcie to watch Pippi Longstocking and later, after I shared this with others, a dear friend asked if I thought the storybook character glorified disobedience. She loved the books as a child just as I did. As a little girl, I certainly didn't think about it though and as a mother, I just wanted to share this memory with my daughters. In a nutshell however, I will tell you that I agreed the little swedish girl did do so. Afterwards though, my thoughts kept returning to how much I loved reading about Pippi's adventures and the magic she brought into my childhood days and I was remembering what I took away from Pippi as a little girl. It wasn't how she disobeyed authority so much as remembering how hospitable Pippi always was to those around her. She always invited her friends and neighbors in and made them feel perfectly at home. She was always quick to offer a shiny gold coin to visitors or to cook them some pancakes (I won't go into her atrocious table manners) or to share everything she had with the townfolks. As God's Word instructs us to practice hospitality, it is my hope that my girls take away this lovely quality from Pippilotta Delictessa Windowshade Longstocking.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 00:32:52 GMT

Dulcie

Remember naughty Tom Kitten? Well, my Dulcie was a bit naughty herself Wednesday morning but she didn't lose her Sunday best. She broke her arm!

With her temporary cast

Today she had her permanent cast put on and will have to wear it for five weeks. I told her she could pick any color she wanted for her cast and at first she chose red. I panicked for a moment thinking that she has very few red things to wear but I just calmly asked "Are you certain, sweetpea?" She thought about it and finally decided upon pink! I smiled. Like mother like daughter!

In the waiting room, proud of her pink cast.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:26:25 GMT

Secret Santa

I originally wrote this post a week ago and was quickly reminded by my friends that we were revealing our Secret Santa on Twelfth Night so I had to delete before anyone could read it. I think a few of my friends peeked! I may try to add links below to those friends of mine who have blogs so you can read about their Secret Santa too.

For the second year in a row, a bunch of my friends, who are sprinkled across the country, and I had a ball playing Secret Santa. My friend Molly, who lives in Virginia, was my Secret Santa and by 'coincidence', I was hers. I don't think I believe in coincidences though. Instead I believe God orchestrated for us to be drawn for one another. I was beyond surprised when a parcel arrived from Virginia with her name on it. Our friend Dana, from Florida, asks her husband to draw names each year and he's a preacher...otherwise, I'd say something was fishy! Inside the box was a feast of gifts!

Catching the Fire, a book about Philip Simmons, a Charleston blacksmith, first caught my eye as Molly and I share a love for Charleston (and perhaps she knows my love of history). There was a kit of things with which to make my own herbal tea such as a tea ball, empty tea bags and labels, etc. I love tea! And of all things, an emu egg! Molly and her family own emus and she sent me one and it's huge and pretty and was wrapped in gold ribbon the way we often do at Easter with hen eggs. I loved having a part of something so special to her family. She sent me the sweetest Vietnamese ornaments...one of a child in a non bai, I think it is called, or rice hat and one, a pretty round ornament. And the most lovely handsewn silk purse you've ever seen with embroidered flowers and a butterfly and sparkling beads. I love it! It's the perfect size for me too...not too big and not too small. I once had Mark search the streets of New York City for a purse almost identical to it for me! Isn't it pretty? Also included was an orchid scented candle and a note that read "The scent of a beautiful flower for a beautiful lady." (smile, she thinks I'm beautiful) Molly also sent me a silver bookmark with a filigree heart and crystals on it which I will use everyday and surely think of her as I do. There were some chocolates for me and some ornaments for my girls that her children had made for them. Very special! Oh and there was a silly stuffed alligator because Molly knows how I despise reptiles of all kinds, especially lizards, and alligators are just giant lizards (well, they look like giant lizards)! I think most special of all though was a card in which Molly listed 25 things she loves about me. Molly, was there a reason you stopped at 25? (wink) Molly personalized each gift with a note to me which would be self-indulgent if I shared them with you (it is my blog though) so I'll just keep them private.

Thank you so very much, my sweet Molly, for the tokens of your friendship but most of all for being my friend. I appreciate the thought and time you took in putting together my special gift. I'll always remember the evening I met you and thought you wrote the 'word' in my signature. I can only giggle about that now that I know you so well. I love you and will treasure my gifts as I do you!

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:17:17 GMT

Book Meme

Oh I plum forgot that my sweet and patient friend Rachel tagged me before Christmas! Question 4 stumped me so I kept waiting for an answer to come to mind and then, my mind just went amiss.

1. One book that changed your life:

I must borrow the answer my friend Jill used on her blog. I hadn't heard of Charlotte Mason until I was hired for my first position as a certified teacher and was required to read For the Children's Sake. I read it out of obligation for my job, not knowing that what I was reading would one day be of such importance to my role as mother and homeschooler. Being introduced to Miss Mason changed so many aspects of who I am and how I teach and helped to mold me into the mother I am. It truly opened a whole new world to me.

And I must give Honorable Mention to the original Victoria magazines, (this will sound lame). Though not a book, they did change my life! They gave who I was validation. I always felt I was an oddball until I read the premier issue and saw within those beautiful covers, all things that I loved. Then, with each issue, I read letters from other subscribers and stories of fascinating women who shared my heart for all things lovely and gentle and blissful.

2. One book that you have read more than once:

Little Women. This is by far my most loved storybook.

3. One book that you'd want on a desert island:

The Bible. What comfort can be found within those pages!

4. One book that made you laugh:

Wailing "I still can't think of one!" A book that made me laugh, a book that made me laugh, I don't know...Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed! Obviously, I need some recommendations!

5. One book that made you cry:

I don’t cry over books. The words of even the most poignant novel don't make me cry, no matter how they tug at my heart strings. Sad perhaps, but I don't remember ever shedding a tear. I can cry over a sad or tragic news story or over the beautiful words of my Lord written in the Bible and I can cry at the drop of a hat over music whether at church or in the car and most certainly over a movie, but I'm not sure I've ever cried because of a book. Is my heart made of stone? Oh wait! Old Yeller! No, I didn't read that, I saw the movie. Nevermind...

6. One book that you wish had been written:

Heirloom Sewing for Dummies

7. One book that you wish had never been written:

The Cat in the Hat. I couldn't stand reading it to Holland when she was a toddler and have hidden it from Dulcie thus far. It seems to take forever to read and I wish it had never been written. Other than it, I have never been disappointed in a book I've read. I have always found joy or fascination or some pleasure from every one. I may have been surprised at one's ending but was never so disappointed that I found having read it to be a waste of my time.

8. One book you are currently reading:

Well, I never have just one on my nightstand but one that I'm currently reading, just beginning, is My Life for Yours: A Walk Through the Christian Home by Douglas Wilson

9. One book you've been meaning to read:

Don Quixote