Famous Last Words

"I'm only on vacation"......bwahahahahahaha! 

So I thought I'd take a little vacation, visit Momma, rest a bit, then head home and finish some projects which would make for some mighty nice bloggin'.  Well.......

I'm at Momma's again!  And this time, it's no vacation.  I went home on Saturday the 3rd and returned Monday the 12th.  Beth had been in the hospital for a week!  13 years ago Beth had a botched surgery that compromised her kidneys and has provided her with a lifetime of problems. So when she presented with severe abdominal and back pain at the ER, that was the first thought, but it was wrong.  Tuesday my poor sissy had yet another organ removed (leaving her with only 1 disposable organ - her spleen- and why they didn't just take it out or put in a zipper I'll never know!)  The culprit this time?  The gall bladder.  She's home today and mending quite nicely.  All goes as planned, I'll be back on my way home, again, tomorrow.

THEN perhaps, maybe, things will get back to normal.  But I won't hold my breath.......

I'm only on vacation!!!

By now, many of you may be asking yourselves "What happened to Marla?" No, I didn't give up blogging.  We haven't lost our internet connection.  My children haven't gotten the best of me....yet! I'm only on vacation.  The kids and I left home last Friday- headed to Pensacola, then left Sunday for Gulfport.  My sister got married at the courthouse in Pensacola Friday afternoon and we've been driving my momma crazy visiting my momma and will go home Saturday.

I have been hitting the fabric shop and sleeping late- which has been the best vacation EVER!  Momma and I started a little sewing project which has manifested itself as a comedy of errors.  I found a pattern for a skirt that was made with a striped fabric that was sewn up the center of the front and the stripes were inverted and met in a "V".  I bought extra fabric and we laid it out and cut it out- and with Momma's 40+ years of sewing expertese we still managed to lay it out wrong with the "V" in the front and a mountain in the back!!  So we braved rainy weather to go back to the fabric store for more stripes.  Momma said she's run in to grab it whilst I entertained the children in the car.  Momma came right back and plunked the fabric in my lap.  To my surprise, and hers, she had bought the wrong stripes!  So then I went in and got the correct stripes!  So if you're keeping up, you'll note that I now have enough fabric for 3 skirts!!! hahahahahahahahha!!!!!!!  Oops, speaking of skirts, I need to go get to work on them-I'm running out of vacation time....

If you don't read another thing today.......

please go read Julianna's post at http://www.petuniajune.blogspot.com/ .  It will make your day, as it did mine.

Lilies, and chairs, and owl pellets, oh my!!!

Hahahaha!  That title just tickled me!  Well, I'm back!  You may be wondering what I've been up to in these 2 weeks that I took a blogging break.  Well.....

we've been having some fun....

and hanging out with friends...

We've also been trying to get in a good habit of regular nature study.  We started this off well with a trip to the Ruffner Mtn Nature Center for a story and lesson on owls...which I finished up with a lesson in grossology 101. Owl pellets.

(Don't worry, they were synthetic!)  We are also journaling and enjoying The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock.  I found (thanks to Lynn at "A Mother's Journal" over there to the right...) a great blog based on this fabulous nature guide.  Please pop over there and see what you think, as I think it is a MUST see for everyone!

We also went to see the Cahaba lilies in bloom.  They are said to only exist in half-a-dozen places on the earth!  What's so amazing about them is they actually grow right in the MIDDLE of the Cahaba River!

But don't get me wrong, we observe PLENTY of nature on our own little plot of Birmingham...

We just returned from a lovely visit to see my sister-in-law and her family.  We stayed on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina and had the BEST time!  I just can't believe how my precious nieces and nephew have GROWN!!!

*sigh* Time moves too fast.

On the way home from South Carolina we stopped at IKEA in Atlanta because, well, me and the kids are addicted!  They love the play room and I love the 45 minutes of unique and affordable shopping!  Anywho, remember that chair I told you I got off the side of the road for the schoolroom???  No?  Here's a hint...

so at IKEA Ben planted himself in a chair and would not get up until we agreed to get one for him (and his sister).  Check this out.....

Isn't it too cute!?

Well Dear Ones, I'll leave you with this last little bit of catch-up...Today I have been working around the house and finally got to this little project I've been wanting to do for Abby for 2 years!  This is at the head of her bed...

I applied Wallies which are wall-paper cut-outs.  I am going to highlight them with some glitter paint.

Ben is wanting a space theme on his side of the room and asked that I paint it on his pull-down shade.  The shade needs to be replaced so I will have to go get one before I can complete that project.

So there, I believe that catches you up on most things.  As far as school, I have some prep work still and I need to find a used Tapestry of Grace Year 2 but then I'm ready!  Abby is planning to cut her long hair and donate it to Locks of Love after Beth (my big sissy) gets married on the 25th.  Ben and Abby have art camp in July and Abby has ballet camp in August.  VBS is next week and I am in charge of, you guessed it, preschool crafts!  Andy is enjoying the world cup and Clemson beating Alabama in baseball.  There, it's official!  You're caught up!

Ahhh Fini! The schoolroom is done!

After 3 bags of trash, a trip to the thrift store, countless hours of sorting and cleaning, and the help of a precious friend.....it is done!  Yeaaaaa....happy dance...happy dance!!!

I don't DARE show you a "before" picture for fear that you would never show your precious face at my blog again, muchless my house!  Let's just say.....I couldn't REALLY open the door to get in! (Shameful!  Shameful, I say!) But here are a few "after"s

The projects left to hang are on the table, and it's a little dark. (So sorry, but I'm reading a book on how to take better pictures- honest!) I'm going to make a new curtain for the closet.

This is the door into the room, play area with cubbies, art shelf, and nature study desk.  Look at those bookshelves! (See #10 of my last blog entry!  And most of our books are in storage!!! eek!!)

Now for some of my favorite things in the schoolroom....

The Eeboo ABCs.  Eeboo has the most beautifully illustrated children's learning items.  They have 1-2-3 cards like these that are birds that I am pining for!

I found this lamp at a neighbor's yard sale last weekend.  It's absolutely perfect and I love it!  Best $4 buy ever!  It's in our reading corner.  An IKEA chair and ottoman will join it there today, I think. I totally found it on the side of the road!  It looks BRAND NEW! When I asked the owner about it, she said her hubby didn't like it when she got it home and they inherited some of her grandma's furniture so it got the boot! I donated it to the Crestwood Day School, but Steph said she didn't think she would use it, so it's comin to the Cain School of Genius! (LOL, that is a joke- definitely NOT the name of our school! More like the Cain Family School of "What's That Super Cool Bug??")

These Audubon Field Guides are extra special to me.  They were my father's- he inspired me to teach my children about nature.  If I had a penny for everytime we have cracked these guides open to find out about an animal or plant or moon phase, I'd be a quazillionaire!

This is our nature study table where we will keep our nature journals each day.  I found the tablecloth (and the hand-embroidered runner under the lamp) at the thriftstore and I H-E-A-R-T it (them)!!!

SO, all I have left is to find a rug for our open space, whip up these...

 cute cafe curtains (from Sew Darn Cute by Jenny Ryan) and take down the drapes for the summer, and hang some stuff on the walls!  Kindergarten, here we come! (Again!)

10 Things You May Not Know About Me.....

1.  I am a lover of all things Jane Austen.  I would gladly dress in "Regency-Wear" every day if I could get away with it!  Check out this website.  Jennie was a speaker at a homeschooling event I attended and I H-E-A-R-T her patterns!!!
2. I am slowly but surely changing the Cain Family Food Culture.  I have not had a pop in almost 2 weeks, I've switched from pancake syrup to Agave Nectar, and am contemplating signing up under a farming co-op for veggies, fruits, meat, and dairy that is all locally produced.  Check it out- Grow Alabama
3. I am freakishly afraid of needles.  I've had 2 c-sections and I sew for a hobby- go figure!

4. I love taking tea...the act of enjoying a proper setting of tea. (See #1)
5. I absolutely ABHOR summer.  That's right, I said it!  I hate summer!  I wish we could go straight from Spring to Autumn because I detest mosquitos, heat, and humidity.......hence my dream to live in Maine.
6. I dream of living in Maine!
7. I was healed of the beginning stages of cervical cancer when I was 18.  Seriously.  If you don't believe in the miracles of God, come over for lunch- I need to talk to you!

8. As a mother, there is something about bird nests that resonates in my soul.  I attribute it to the care and keeping of young, making your home a safe place, and the gentleness with which birds care for their babies.
9. I am deathly afraid of tornados, my house burning, and driving off of a bridge over water.  I have also, in recent years, become deathly afraid of flying.  This is extreme considering I have always LOVED to travel, have been overseas twice, and have never had a really terrible flying incident.

10. I'm addicted to buying children's books.  I see a book and I think "Oh!  The kids would LOVE to read that one day!"  They're going to have to take them all with them when they leave my nest!  Our space will triple.  But I love finding them and remembering when I read them when I was little...it's so sentimental.

The BEST day!

Mother's Day is one of my most favorite days!  Our rule is I get to do whatever I want on Mother's Day and Andy gets to do what he wants on Father's Day.  Yep, it's a sweet set-up!  So after church we headed to Carraba's for lunch and then I decided I wanted a nap and then to go for a walk so we headed to the Cahaba.  Look at these precious babies!

HeeHee...we told the kids there were trolls under the foot-bridges so Abby decided to investigate....

After our stroll we went for sorbet at Doodles in Cahaba Heights.  You gotta see my gifts........look at all of these lovely flowers!

Peonies

Roses

And a miniature Orchid

But the sugar on my smacks was what Andy brought me back from New Mexico.......

a cookbook from my favorite restaurant and key lime truffles from my favorite chocolate shop!

Sigh....I heart that man!

On the craft side of life.... I've been honing some sewing skills by making a play outfit for Abby (that's the back of the top)and a pair of (obnoxious)shorts for Ben.  Got LOTS more to work on though!