Grace and Glory

Musings from the Threshold

A couple other things…

We found some material for the kitchen window! Because of the width and the look I was going for, I made a real valance instead of doing a mistreatment. I’ve been enjoying sewing lately, so it was actually fun to put this together. (I’m not thrilled with either of the pictures, but the second one does a bit better job of showing the colors in the fabric – it’s actually more green than gold when you see it in person.)

I recently got our family picture frames up in the hall, and today I ordered some pictures printed. Jonathan picked them up, and I was pleased to get some updated pictures of the kids on the wall. I was also pleased to leave the non-updated picture of my man and I. There’s nothing like wedding pictures for pretending you haven’t changed in the last 14 years… 🙂

Christmas Bookcases

My beloved Bubba Eric and dear sis-in-love Beka gave us a generous gift of Christmas money when Beka and the Cousins visited in December. We decided to use it for materials to make bookcases for our Reading Nook. And at last, I have pictures of both shelves to post!

Today, I mistreated the window so our little Nook would look more finished. The little rocker is in dire need of re-finishing, but that’s a project for another day. So is establishing some sort of order to the books.

We’d like to add another bookcase eventually, but these two, plus the older shelf on the right, made it possible for me to finish unpacking almost all of our book boxes (there are quite a few books in our room, plus two bookcases that don’t show in these Nook pictures).

We are excited about and really enjoying our Reading Nook. Thank you, Byrds, for the lovely shelves! And thanks, Dad and Mom Smith, for helping us put them together!

Bargains

Jonathan says that you know it’s gonna be good when the Lowe’s employees are swarming the discount display. Last night he picked up three of these (note the price tag!):

And six of these (again, $1!):

I’m not sure where they will end up, but I am positive they will be a help in my organizational efforts! One of the shelves has already found a home in this corner of our room/office/den:

Even though the shelf has been placed on top already, this is still a “before” shot. Someday, I’d like to have a tall storage cabinet for my school supplies (so I can shut the doors!) but for now, these are my school “shelves.” That’s the changing table that Jonathan and his dad made when we were expecting Davey. We haven’t used it for a while, and I’m hoping to make this little corner a lot tidier over the next week or so.

Sunshine!

I am loving the sunshine today! If a task can be done outside, that’s where it’s happening. This morning I finished planting the corn, and got the last of Grace’s hem torn out (while sitting in the sun). Before the Littles went down for a nap, we read outside for about a half hour. Now for some logging, then a reward of some more reading outside!

Another benefit of blogging

I’m working on getting our logs finished of our hours of schooling this year. I’m pretty sure the four oldest have enough hours for the year, and Katie is pretty close, but I still have to go back and back sure the kids got everything on their log sheets, add up the totals, etc. And I’m finding it quite helpful to visit the archives of my blog to jog my memory about various activities for each month. A nice serendipity.

Have you seen her?

Over the last couple of days, I’ve been seeing all these news headlines on my various feeds about some big surprise on a British talent tv show. I’m not into tv; I’m not into reality shows, tv talent shows, etc. But last night when Sue told me about this amazing performance, I headed to youtube to take a look.

I can’t embed the video, but it’s so worth the click. Check out Susan Boyle.

A Fun Afternoon

This afternoon, we met up with Dad and Mom Smith and several families from our home school support group at nearby Shaw Nature Reserve. We’d been there once before, and thoroughly enjoyed our first taste of it this year, taking a close to 3 mile hike.

Also, Dad and Mom Smith bought us a family membership for our birthdays! The membership covers up to 10 adults (children 12 and under are free) and includes admission to Shaw, the Missouri Botanical Gardens (including the Children’s Gardens), and the Butterfly House. The part of it we will use the most is the admission to Shaw Nature Reserve. It’s about 15 minutes away from us now, and has so much to offer! But we’re looking forward to checking out some of the other spots, as we’ve lived in the St. Louis area for almost 9 years now and have never been to any of them. We’re also hoping to take some friends and family to enjoy some of these displays of God’s creation.

I just couldn’t pick a few pictures to post, so I’m embedding another slideshow. Just click on it to go to the album (where you can see large ones and/or download full size pics). Enjoy!