Sissy...Prissy...and Mom

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

2012-01-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

Six months ago, Mama and I found out that we were bothGluten Intolerant. This discoverychanged our lives. I now know why, foryears, I’ve had an increasing struggle with fatigue, why my body achedconstantly, and I lacked the energy to carry out the duties of normallife. This isn’t the Susan Liana weknow, you might say, but it was the person I was at home. I could put on a good front, pour all of myenergy into an event, or person, or visit, but the next morning I would hardlybe able to get out of the bed. I wonderedwhat was wrong with me. Did I haveChronic Fatigue? I wondered if I wouldlive the rest of my life like this. Iknew that feeling as I did I would never be able to keep up with children, ormanage a household well. That’s when Irealized that we had to do something. Anything. All my life, all I’veever wanted to be is a wife and mother, and I could see that dream slippingaway from me.

That’s when we sought the help of an old friend ofours who, in the years since we knew her, has become a Naturopath. Mama and I were both tested, and consequentlylearned that we are both Gluten Intolerant (Wondering what gluten is? Check out this article). Eating gluten creates inflammation in oursmall intestine, which destroys the villi which line it. This interferes with our ability to absorbnutrients from our food, because the villi are responsible for absorption. Weare also intolerant to a number of other foods. Those intolerances (dairy, soy, and more) are most likely caused by thegluten intolerance and may, over time, if we carefully avoid all of the foodsthat we are intolerant to, go away. Theymight, or they might not. Almostcertainly, I’ll live the rest of my life without eating any more gluten. Does this bother me? Am I upset by this? Not at all. On the contrary I am very thankful. Thankful to know, at last, what causes my fatigue, and most thankfulthat there is something that I can do about it. I’m thankful to know that a sovereign God designed my body and that mybeing Gluten Intolerant fits into His plan for my life. Of course I miss foods that I used to loveand can no longer eat, but those foods were destroying my body, and no food isworth that. A simple diet change haschanged my life, and it is completely worth it.

I've got a long way to go before I’m back to normal. It can take years to heal the damage done tomy body, but already I feel so much better. It is becoming easier to get up in the morning. I can now get through the day without a nap,and I actually feel excited by the prospect of housework. I can see glimpses of the girl who liked toget up early, to do laundry, to make dinner. In short, the girl who liked to make plans, work hard, and accomplish alot. I have a brighter outlook on lifeand I’m excited to see what the future holds.

Changing the way we eat has of course changed theway we cook. It has been a big learningcurve for Mama and me, but it is actually forcing us to learn more aboutcooking. We are even learning to enjoyeating vegetables! Expect future blogposts on Gluten Free cooking, because that’s a big part of our life now.

“I praise you, for I am fearfully andwonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;my soul knows it very well.” Psalm 139:14

Joyfully,

Susan Liana

Window Treatments

2011-08-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

Since Molly Elizabeth and I repainted our room this summer, we needed some new curtains/window treatments/shades of some sort. The curtains we had before were for looks, not functionality. This time I wanted to make something that could be lowered to cover the windows and wasn't just stationary. After looking at a few different options, I decided on London Shades, a variation on Roman blinds. My friend Barbi, who has experience in making blinds/shades, graciously volunteered to help me out. I've never made shades, so her expertise was invaluable! We made them start to almost finished in one day. It was so much fun to sew together!

The next day I added cording and a knot detail...

...and hung the shades.

Barbi and Susan Liana with our finished shades

I was thrilled with the way they turned out. Molly Elizabeth is still trying to decide if she likes the fabric. Oh, well, it's too late to change them now!

~Susan Liana

Our summer...thus far

2011-07-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

We thought this was going to be a fairly relaxed summer. Mama and I envisioned ourselves doing sewing projects, stripping furniture, painting; in short we thought we would have...free time. I'm not sure where we got that idea.

We started our summer by attending our very first Colonial ball in Winston-Salem, NC. Along with our friends the Heritages, we spent many evenings leading up to the big event trying to memorize 20 dances. Many of the dances were new and, much to my delight(!), several were more challenging than we are used to.

The fun we had that evening was worth all of the hard work.

We painted (ah, we did get to the painting!) the kitchen blue and decorated it in soft blue and green. Don't you just love freshly starched linen?!

On Memorial Day, our family played golf together at our very own Black Creek Golf Course. This was the first time we've golfed as a family.

Okay, so we didn't all play. Mom and Molly Elizabeth just came along to drive the carts...

At the beginning of June, we had a small English Country Dance at the Fresh Air Home on Tybee Island. The beachy setting was perfect for an informal summer dance, where I taught our Savannah friends some of the more advanced dances we learned for the ball in Winston-Salem.

This year it was Grandaddy's turn to host the Sisco family reunion (he is one of 12 children). His children and grandchildren pitched in to help him pull together a weekend in Chattanooga packed with great fellowship, lots of yummy food, and a fabulous family history lesson. Above: Granddad and most of his children and grandchildren

The Sisco Gang. I think we had around 75 attending this year.

Mom and Dad celebrated their 31st anniversary on June 21st. We helped them celebrate by serving dinner for two on the veranda.

Our whole family joined our church's youth mission trip to Live Oak, FL, where we did construction on two houses and built a playground for a local church. Daddy worked on building the playground (which was huge!). Mama and Molly Elizabeth painted, Benjamin and Andrew hung Hardie-board siding, and Clay led the soffit crew (the stuff that goes under the eaves of a house). Susan Liana led the vinyl siding crew on the house pictured above.

Our week long camping trip to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park with the Hobson family was tons of fun! We usually camp in Cades Cove, but this year we switched it up a little and went to Cosby. During the week we did some hiking, went tubing, played lots of games, visited Cataloochee, ate a lot of food, didn't take many showers, and had an all around wonderful time.

We started camping with the Hobson family in 1999. At that time we had a combined total of 10 kids. We've now grown to 15!

A few days after our camping trip, we painted the girls's room a coral pink.

We also painted the dining room and lots of white trim (thanks to Granddaddy!) this summer.

Mom and Dad have worked hard in the garden, and we've enjoyed many meals that have included our very own produce. Peppers and squash have been particularly plentiful, because the deer don't care for them.

Clay has been our traveler this summer. So far he has spent a week in New Hampshire staffing a TeenPact Survival class, and a week at World View Academy. He leaves Sunday for three more weeks, staffing TeenPact Survival classes in Montana and Alaska. Molly Elizabeth has worked two weeks at our church's day camp, and right now we are enjoying our friend from Texas, Courtney Hebert, who is visiting us for a week.

It might not have been the relaxing summer we expected, but, so far, it has been a good one. It isn't quite over yet...maybe we'll still get around to stripping that furniture.

~Susan Liana

Two In One

2011-05-10T11:19:00.001-07:00

5:30 rolled around with no supper on the table or even the finished end in sight. Mama had two things in mind, squash and spinach, both hardly even filling enough for sides. Yet we most definitely wanted those. The squash was still on the vine so it couldn't get any closer to being 'fresh off the vine', while the spinach was withering in the drawer.

One of the over-abundant veggies was ready, but the others weren't quite 3" long, and yet an early death was in sight. Let me state this upfront: Mama and Daddy are the only people in our family who like squash. There you go, the cat is out of the bag. Away with the healthy front of the second sentence. However, being southern, we will eat most anything fried! And eat it with a vengeance we will, too. There was the ticket away from the mushy, squishy, over-cooked vegetable. Fried was the answer, so I put my plan into action. Out of the house, I made a bee line to the garden and guess what I found! A squash with two heads (so to speak). They had grown together! It made my day. Instantly I thought of a blog post. I know. I know. It shouldn't have taken me an hour to cook 'em up for dinner, but I had to take pictures for the blog like every other good blogger (I was disappointed because the pictures didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but, oh, well).

By the way, I love fried squash! And what we had last night was delicious, if I say so myself. Now that the fresh produce is rolling in, I suggest you cook some up, too!

"Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it." -Proverbs 15:17

~Molly Elizabeth

Floral Beauty

2011-04-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

Our flowers are blooming and the smell of spring rain is hanging in the air right now. It is all so beautiful! I am going to share a few of my favorite pictures that I took the other day in a random streak of photography enthusiasm. Hope they make you as happy as they do me :).

"28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." - Matthew 6:28-29

~Molly Elizabeth

P.S. These photos are non edited.

Williamsburg: Six Years and Still Going Strong!

2011-03-22T06:31:00.000-07:00

You might ask us why, after six years, we are still going to Williamsburg. The short answer would be, "We love Williamsburg!" But, there is more to it than that. We go every year with a group called the MOMYS group (Mothers Of Many Young Siblings). The group is composed of Christian homeschooling families from all over the country. Some come to see Colonial Williamsburg, some come to just hang out and spend time with the other families, and some come to do both (that's us!). What we did this year (generally speaking) was very similar to last year. And no, we don't get tired of it. Walking the streets of Colonial Williamsburg in period clothing, catching up with old friends and making new friends, and doing English Country Dancing are the some of the reasons we keep going back.

This year two other families from Savannah came with us, the Heritages (who came with us last year), and another family from our church, the Boatrights. We were also very excited to have Granddaddy join us for the week. Benjamin and Andrew came the last few days, as did our friends from Richmond, the Martins. The Martin girls stayed a few nights and jumped right into the swing of things. We had so much fun being Colonial all together!

If you've wondered what we've been doing for the last two months, the pictures below will give you some idea. We make all of our own period clothing, and as always, there were new things to make this year. Molly Elizabeth grew and needed new outfits, we wanted to make a few things more period correct, and we were outfitting the Heritage family with their own set of period clothing (they borrowed some of our old things last year). We sewed like crazy up until the day we left and really thought at the time that we might never want to sew again. But, after spending a week around so many beautiful examples of period clothing, we left more inspired than ever and determined to make our clothing as authentic as possible.

As always we wish the trip had not gone quite so fast, but at least we have wonderful memories and some beautiful pictures for you to enjoy along with us.

The week always starts with an All Together Get Together (ATGT) where we meet all of the families and then have a dance. This was taken after the dancing (L to R: Susan Liana, Molly Elizabeth, Anna, Courtney)

Walking the streets of Colonial Williamsburg.

The lovely Mamas

(L to R: Miss Jane, Mama, Miss Kay)

(photo credit: Anna Heritage)

Agh! What did you do??

(Mama and Granddaddy in the stocks)

Some of the guys went to Military History Through The Ages which was held at Jamestown. Here Benjamin is sword fighting with a Medieval weapons scholar.

Mr. Boatright, Hunter, Daddy and Granddaddy at Jamestown

We had fun one day doing a photo shoot. Here are a few of the shots:

Susan Liana

(photo credit: Anna Heritage)

Clay

Molly Elizabeth

Sisters

The boys posing with style...

(L to R: Hunter, Mr. Heritage, Christian, Andrew, Clay, Kevin)

The girls being girls...

(L to R: Hope, Molly Elizabeth, Susan Liana, Anna H., Ruth, Courtney, Anna M.)

Counting the days until next year...

~Molly Elizabeth and Susan Liana

Decorating Hats

2011-02-18T09:43:00.000-08:00

I love hats. I love decorating hats; working with the ribbon just makes me happy. Every time I see a promising hat at a thrift store, I can't help but pick it up and add it to my collection (I have quite a few now). My latest find was red and purple (yes, a Red Hat Society hat); mama walked right past it. I bought the hat, because what was under the red and purple was beautiful. The above picture is what it looks like now. You have to look past the decorations and see the potential in the hat itself. Hats are like people-it is what's underneath that counts.

Wrap a ribbon loosely around the hat, twisting the ribbon a couple of times, and tack it down in a few places. It always takes me awhile to make ribbon fall naturally. Play with it until you like the way it looks.

Make a bow and tack it on top of the band. I chose to place the bow at about 4 O'clock (if the center front was 12 O'clock).

I next made a couple of yo-yo's (I only ended up using one, but I was making it up as I went along, and I thought at first I would use two). To make a yo-yo, run a gathering stitch along the bottom of a length of ribbon and pull to gather. Shape the gathered ribbon into a circle, tie off your thread, and sew the ends of the ribbon together.

I stuck an old clip on earring through the hole in the yo-yo...

for added interest and to tie the colors together.

I made three more yo-yo's, one out of the same ribbon as the hat band, and two out of a third colored ribbon (it usually looks better when you add that third color) and sewed them together as you see here.

Sew the red yo-yo to the other three...

so that it looks like this.

Sew into the middle of the bow, and you're done!

Why not try re-decorating an old hat of your own? You might be surprised at how satisfying it is.

~Susan Liana

College Outside The Box

2011-02-17T08:48:00.000-08:00

Clay's new film for the College Plus! scholarship competition has just been released! Just 3 minutes and 17 seconds; nope, you won't be wasting your time. Quite the contrary, it is informative, funny, and creative! The video with the most views wins an iPad, so feel free to watch it more than once. :)

Do you have to go into debt to pay for college? Watch Clay's video to find out...

http://www.collegeplus.org/scholarship/vote/videos/claygibson

New Years

2011-01-03T13:53:00.000-08:00

No. We didn't go out and party on New Years Eve. No. We didn't watch the ball drop. No. We didn't 'hang out' with friends...until the next day. It sounds like we didn't do anything. But guess what! We did do some fun things! #1: we had a pink ham, black eyed peas, cabbage, and cornbread! The traditional meal for everyone except us. Daddy asked for this meal and so that is what we fixed. I guess I'm out of it because I was clueless as to the fact that it was a tradition for New Years Eve. Sorry. #2: Most of the family played a new game Benjamin got for Christmas and so we had a very peaceful, relaxed evening. #3: At midnight we had sparkling grape juice! Oh, I love sparkling grape juice!

New Years day we had some friends over to shoot, play games, eat, and have fun! We shot for four hours. We played Taboo. We got rained out of our supper on the patio. We had great fellowship. And we had fun trying on hats! The whole day was a great opening to 2011!

We started off with pistols...

Who cares about ear plugs?

I do!

Camera wars!

A different side of my sister :).

...and we finished with rifles.

Molly Elizabeth

P.S. Unfortunately we didn't get pictures of when everyone was here for dinner.

Same Song, Second Verse

2010-12-30T15:07:00.000-08:00

By the second day we were over it. We were surrounded by staples, batting, shredded fabric, and the ghost of what had once been our lovely red couch. At this point we were wondering what had possessed us to tackle a whole couch as our second upholstery project. We also asked ourselves why we had chosen to squeeze it in between a week long trip to New Orleans and company arriving for Thanksgiving (one week). We had allowed ourselves two days (yes, we know; we're idealists); it was the second day and we had one piece back on. However, there was no turning back at this point; we picked up our staple gun and went back to work.

This is the before shot. It is a little bit hard to tell in the picture, but the fabric on the cushions was shredding. Notice the white patches of exposed batting across the front.

A close up of the fabric off of one of the cushions. Do you see the seam I took across the middle to close up one of the first holes?

When we took the back off we found a product that forever changed the way we'll finish a project: curve-ease. This metal strip is used to finish an edge and replaces the much more tedious method of sewing it shut by hand. Just stuff your fabric into the open teeth, and hammer shut. Done.

All things do finally come to an end. We finished...on day five.

The finished product!

As you can see we redesigned the couch a little bit (we can't do things the easy way). We took the skirt off of the bottom, revealing the legs, and made the back one solid piece (instead of three individual pillows). We love our new, brown couch!

With every do-it-yourself project you learn something new. We're glad to have added to our knowledge of upholstery. It isn't something we want to do everyday, but would we do it again? Definitely.

~Susan Liana

Note: we didn't actually do any work on the couch on day three (Wednesday). I had to work and mama was doing some other necessary things around the house. It was a much needed break.

P.S. I know that it has been a month and a half since this event took place, but please remember that very shortly after finishing we had company arrive for Thanksgiving, and then we had more company, and then another set of company, and then we decorated for Christmas, and then, well you get the picture. I just didn't want you to miss the opportunity to see our brand new couch. :)

Snow, Snow, SNOW!

2010-12-28T12:10:00.000-08:00

We didn't have a white Christmas, but we almost did! Snowing the day after the renowned holiday is close enough for us southern, born and bred, Georgians. I was all full of anticipation Christmas night when I looked at the 30% chance of snow on the Weather channel for the next day. If you are south of the south you get excited when there is the tiniest chance of snow. When we moved up to Savannah 5 years ago we were thrilled with the thought of snow every year. Our hopes failed us. Savannah apparently doesn't have much of a temperature change from SOUTH Georgia. I was assured by my neighbor that "Oh! yeah! It snows every year." Her assurance made us assured...until we found out for ourselves that that was only a dream for Savannah.

However, we were blessed with snow on Mama's birthday this past February. We have a new ornament on our tree with "Snow" all over it because it is 'the year of the snow', for us. Little did we know that the day after Christmas it would snow from 8:00 a.m.-7 p.m.! 11 hours! It was a phenomenon! Unfortunately it didn't stick this time, but it started to about 7:00 p.m.

Each snowflake was gorgeous! They each had their own design. Everyone of them looked like a mini, glass version of paper cutouts. God's detail was minutely perfect!

We might not have gotten a white Christmas, but it was as close as we could wish for! We are hoping that since it is only December, that we may get some this winter, early in the new year!

Happy New Year!

Molly Elizabeth

What we were doing for the past two months

2010-12-15T10:58:00.000-08:00

Just in case you are wondering what we did for the past two months or more then keep reading.

Way back in the month of October, almost so far back that I almost forget that we did it, Clay went to Challenge Extreme and I went to some old friends, the Hobsons, in Alabama, for the the week! We had lots of fun watching Enchanted, Sense and Sensibility(the new one), and Ella Enchanted, but watching movies wasn't all that we did. We played on the trampoline for hours on end.

Doing tricks on the trampoline.

In the middle of the week we went down to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to see their cousin, watch the parade (I think it was homecoming) and view the campus. It was slightly against my principles since I'm an Auburn fan. Altogether we had LOTS of fun, especially staying up to 3:00 o'clock in the morning.

Grace and Molly Elizabeth in the dorm.

Clay, well, he was out surviving in the wilderness without a camera. He said he had fun. I will take his word for it.

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Mama and Susan Liana went to Endeavor that next week. Mama was in charge of the kitchen which was a big undertaking. This was the 4th Endeavor for Mama, and Susan Liana was so happy to be asked to help in the kitchen with the mothers. I missed them, but they were having fun together in north Georgia.

Mama and Mrs. Martin at Endeavor.

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Our family attended the annual Fall Family Fun Night event provided by our church. This year they added pony rides to the regular events. There is candy, free popcorn and cotton candy! Oh, it is fun!

(photo credits to Miss Kay)

Susan Liana running the cotton candy machine at Fall Family Fun Night.

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Daddy, Mama, Susan Liana, Clay and Molly Elizabeth got to go on a mission trip to New Orleans with our church. It was such a blessing working with Redeemer Presbyterian there on the houses in the area.

This is the group that worked with the St. Roch church on a house down the street.

The girls doing a photo shoot by a square in the French Quarter in New Orleans.

Mama and Clay installing windows.

Molly Elizabeth in the same photo shoot.

Anna and Molly Elizabeth on the last day after we had finished our painting project.

The girls at the Cafe DuMonde, waiting for our beignets.

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Then Molly Elizabeth's birthday rolled around. For my party on the night before my birthday,I had a hayride and bonfire. We played Taboo after a supper of BBQ sandwiches and Brunswick stew. Unfortunately we forgot to pull out our camera. Therefore, no pictures. We had a dance on my birthday as well, so you could say I got two parties! I got to choose the dances and have a birthday cake there. I am now fourteen.

(photo credits to Miss Kay)

Waiting for the dance to begin...

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Thanksgiving came fast like everything else. Granddaddy, Uncle Steve, Aunt Celesta, Audrey Kate and Evan got to come enjoy it with us! The usual turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, and every other casserole you can think of were on the table. We all dug in and Clay ate 9 of the rolls! It was a very memorable and happy time.

Making pumpkin muffins!

Thanksgiving dinner.

Granddaddy teaching Susan Liana how to dance.

Susan Liana reading the Dr. Seuss Sleep Book.

Audrey Kate and Evan at the park.

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Our friends, the Martins, got to come spend one night at our house the Sunday after Thanksgiving. They are friends from Teenpact. We talked, played games, ate and had fun.

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Another Teenpact family came the next week. They too stayed for one night and all of the kids played lots of Telephone Pictionary while the mamas talked up a blue streak. They had a little baby that was 6 months old and he was always being held by someone. Adorable little children.

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Our youth group had a progressive dinner which was fun. Mr. Brad read The Night Before Christmas and every time there was a "left" or "right" said you passed your gift that way. I ended up with a Starbucks gift-card. I was pretty happy about that.

Everyone who attended the progressive dinner.

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I am going to end this post with our Lessons and Carols service. Clay and Molly Elizabeth were in the choir and Mama read the Seventh Lesson. Susan Liana helped serve the buffet. I love Lessons and Carols and can't wait until next year!

(photo credits to Miss Kay)

Susan Liana helping to ready the buffet line.

Merry Christmas!

Molly Elizabeth

Upholstery 101

2010-10-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

I was raised by an idealist, do-it-yourself kind of mother. I don't think she ever met a project she was afraid to tackle. Mama doesn't believe in paying someone else to do what you can do yourself and she has a pretty firm belief that if they can do it, we can do it. She's also not a perfectionist and a firm believer in teaching your children to be hard workers. My brother, Benjamin, says that that's the attitude that made us painters. Painting was probably one of the first life skills we learned. In fact, I think we were almost grown before it dawned upon us that not everyone painted their house themselves. We've been known to paint rooms on the spur of the moment (see Mom's bedroom in a previous post) and we've gotten pretty fast at it. When we painted our living room (it was a dining room at the time) we did it all in one day; I'm talking having the pictures hung back on the wall before we went to bed. But, painting is not what this post is about. I bring it up merely to illustrate the fact that Mama has instilled in all of us children a firm belief that we can "do-it-ourself."

Learning to upholster has been on our to-do list for quite some time; Mama and I have talked about it for years. Then, we started talking about it with our friends, the Boatrights; that was about two years ago. About three weeks ago, out of the blue we decided to stop talking about it and actually do it. We set the date on Sunday at church, and on Friday morning, bright and early, Caroline and Mrs. Jane showed up at our house and we got started on our very first upholstery project. Or, maybe I should say, Molly Elizabeth, Caroline, and I got started; Mama and Mrs. Jane got side tracked.

We decided to do a wing chair that had belonged to my Grandmother. It was still in pretty good shape, but it's mauve-faded-to-pink color didn't really match our decor. Using the basic upholstery directions that Mom found on-line, and with the confidence born of many years of do-it-yourself projects, we set to work ripping the fabric off of a perfectly good chair.

When you are taking it apart you always start with the back.

You take the fabric off of the chair in the reverse order that it was put on. So, you start with the back and work towards the front. Keep each piece as intact as possible, because you'll use it for your pattern piece to cut out your new fabric. Also, take pictures as you go along so that you can refer to them if you have questions about how to put it back together.

These metal strips run down the sides of the back piece and are what attach the fabric to the chair. Make sure to save them; just straighten them out with your pliers and use them again!

Use a flat head screwdriver along with needle nose pliers to remove all of the staples. I recommend working with a sheet under the chair, because there are a LOT of staples to remove, and it would make clean up easier (we're still finding staples). Also, make sure to save the piping that you take off; you can reuse it.

Make sure to mark each piece so that you know where it goes and which way is up.

Leave the stuffing in place as much as possible. This front piece is the last one to come off and the first one you put back on.

Lay your old pieces down on your new fabric and cut out the new pieces. The fabric we used was a reversible fabric (creamy white on one side and pink on the other) that Mom had picked up on clearance a while back. She bought the whole bolt for $15 so we weren't really worried about messing it up. I don't think I would pick any really expensive fabric for your first project. Make sure to take note of where any sewing was done. For instance, we had to make darts on the very front piece and we had to hand sew in the half circle-ish piece that goes over the arm.

These darts were sewn on the machine.

For the first piece, we hand sewed it to the seat of the chair and then pulled it tight and stapled.

Mama taught Caroline how to make piping. Reuse the old piping and it will be exactly the right length!

Some of the pieces slide all the way through to the back of the chair to staple.

You need two pairs of hands to upholster: one to pull it tight, and one to staple.

If we look tired it's because it was late!

When we ran into a problem with the back piece at 1:00 a.m., we had to call it a day. We finished all but the back piece and the cushion. I finished those the next day. I had to hand sew the back piece across the curve at the top, because we couldn't get the staple gun in close enough with the curve. We've since discovered they make a metal strip called curve-ease to go around such curves. It has little teeth that you push the fabric into and simply hammer it shut; we'll have some of that next time!

Our finished project!

I must say that Caroline and I were pretty pleased (almost ecstatic) with the way our first project turned out. In fact we're already planning our next one!

Upholstering really isn't that difficult, and I think next time it will go much faster since we now know more about what we're doing. Remember the first rule of being a do-it-yourselfer: if they can do it, we can do it. If we can do it, you can do it.

Happy Upholstering!

Susan Liana

Free Pears

2010-10-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

Now, that is a sign that would grab most anyone's attention. It certainly caught ours.

So, yesterday, Mama, Clay, and I decided to go pick some. We made a bee line to those pears like bees to a honey pot and asked the man outside if we could pick. He told us where to go, so around the corner we went to the pear-laden tree. It didn't take us long to pick about 40 pears, a good basket full. Well, let me back up, we didn't pick them all. Most of them were laying on the ground, perfectly ripe, so that all we had to do was pick them up! However, the yellow jackets were swarming about all of the luscious, fermented pears on the ground; I wasn't about to fight the yellow jackets for their mushy nest around the base of the tree! I guess that is why I only had 7 pears in my bag, while Mama's and Clay's bags were bursting their seams. Just know that it is faster to pick pears than strawberries, peanuts, or other small edible items. You should go pick pears sometime; it is very satisfying =).

Dangerous Game

2010-09-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

Back in July we had about 16 kids over for the filming of Dangerous Game, Clay's latest movie. It took us 4 days to film the movie. Everyone was so excited and very supportive of his latest endeavor.

Clay had learned so much since filming Due North a year ago and he was anxious to put it into practice. He transformed our home during bright daylight hours into a nighttime party scene. While the sun was shining brightly outside with not a cloud in sight, he filmed a rain scene. He made us think that the plaster was falling from our ceiling along with the hail of bullets and the shooting scenes were so believable that Mama jumped every time she watched them. The actors all worked so well together and helped make his film a great success.

Last Monday, we had a party for the cast and their families to watch this 11 minute movie. We even had a special guest... Granddaddy, who came to spend the week with us. For such a last minute party there was a great turnout. We ate grilled hamburgers, watched the movie, and Clay gave out Dangerous Game DVDs and t-shirts to the cast. We had lots of fun! Thanks everyone for your hard work, your support, and your enthusiasm. The movie couldn't have happened without you.

You can see Clay's movie here:

Mama's turn...

2010-08-30T13:15:00.001-07:00

Even if we didn't have time, we made time to redecorate last week. Since we moved here in '05 to now, Mama's room has been on the back burner, so to speak, and has not made it to the top of the "things to do" list. Poor room (or should I say poor Daddy and Mama), it hasn't had a new design since Clay was born 16 years ago! Things have definitely changed. Wednesday, right after lunch, Mama's new bedding from Williamsburg arrived in the mail. That inspired us to paint so Mama rushed off to Lowe's and by 4:30 p.m. Mama, Susan Liana & I were painting up a storm. Benjamin joined the painting party when he got home from work, but there wasn't room for the rest of the guys to join us. By 4:00 p.m. the next day we had pulled the room apart, taped, painted, and put it back together. We finished really decorating that night. So we were done with it all in a little over 24 hours (we slept in between though). You can still smell the paint, but every time you walk in the room you get a sense of satisfaction. It is a beautiful, peaceful haven for Mama & Daddy.

Survival...a week of fun.

2010-08-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

Much to my great surprise I actually enjoyed Survival South East. Up until the week before we left I had been dreading this trip. You all know me, I am very much a "girly girl" and so surviving out in the wild wasn't exactly my idea of fun...so I thought. Everyone had been telling me I would have fun, but to be honest I didn't really believe them. They all said that since I was such a "social butterfly" I would make lots of friends...well, I didn't really believe that either. In the end I did make lots of friends. I guess it helps when you go on an event like this to have other friends who are going with you; I had 6; Clay, Anna & Kevin Heritage, Lillie Hobson, Catherine Mullins, & Abby Shackelford.

We drove up with the Heritages, a fun 5 hour drive. In Barnesville we stopped for lunch at a local little pizza place. OH MY GOODNESS! it was the best pizza I think we had ever had! If we go through Barnesville again we know where to stop. We planned on going to the camp a few hours before check-in time just to look around, but our pizza excursion made us just on time, not early. It was alright because once we got there we realized there really wasn't a whole lot to explore. We met up with the Hobsons there, checked in, then the moms went to everyone's cabin to drop off our luggage and we headed to the gym. We played a few games of "Four Square" and met a couple people. Then it was time for the moms to go. When they left I kind of got that lonely feeling. It was different; I had never been off like that without Mom. It was a good thing Clay was there.

That week was definitely Thermally Oppressive (we weren't allowed to say "hot"). They divided us up into our teams and then the first activity was to make our flag and come up with a chant. The Yellow team's (my team) chant was definitely not worth repeating, but Clay's chant (the Orange team) was awesome. I will just go ahead and tell you that my team won at the end of the week with 2200 points!! I was excited.

I will tell you some of the activities: seeing how many people your team could get over the wall, seeing how many people you could get over a beam, getting your whole team on a 2'x2' box, and lots more. My favorite thing I believe was the beam. We also would sit in on 30 minute sessions and learn about fire building, shelter building, primitive fishing, etc.. The last day they sent us off into the woods for a few hours and told us what we had to do. It was a simulated survival experience. We had to build a waterproof shelter, build a trap, make a water still, do some plant identification, & build a fire. Later they came along and graded our work. Free time was also something we had a lot of. Generally during free time you would go tho the gym and hang-out or play sports. Dodge ball was my favorite. Some people went to their cabins and took naps which most days sounded really good to me, but I was too afraid I wouldn't wake up. Talking at night in the cabins was always a lot of fun.

Over all I had a very good time. It might have been Thermally Oppressive, but the cabins had A.C.! I believe I would like to go back next year, which is a good sign that I had fun.

Me going over the wall.
A teammate getting the rope.
The spider web.
Trying to get the whole team on the box.
Our team and our Teepee.

First off the vine!

2010-07-22T11:02:00.000-07:00

This is our first Cantaloupe off the vine this year! I went out to check on its progress yesterday, only to find that it had already fallen off the plant, yellow and ready to eat. I think it is going to be enjoyed for supper tonight.

From Seed To...

2010-07-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

This.

Here are just a few pictures of our abundantly green little square foot gardens.

We are growing:

Cantaloupe
Squash
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Peas
Beans
Okra
Basil
Thyme
Apple Mint
Sage

We are growing the Cantaloupe up a trellis and it is doing well. Already their are 3 Cantaloupe the size of a soft ball (or bigger) and one almost ready to pick, and of course lots of tiny ones. We are excited.

A side view of our garden.

Just about half of this bed is filled with Cayenne peppers.

It had just rained and so I couldn't resist taking a picture of the watering can.

This is one of our four Basil plants.

Garlic Chives and Beans.

Our Butter Beans (you can see the Cantaloupe in the background) .

This is what our little garden produced Saturday!

The Cantaloupe plants.

Daddy just recently hung up this pretty little Hummingbird feeder in the corner of our garden. We have seen one green Hummingbird coming pretty often, not just to the feeder, but to the Cantaloupe as well.

Our Zucchini plant is getting so big that this leaf had to pop through the pickets to get sun.

Suck Your Stomach In & Put Some Color On!

2010-06-21T10:19:00.004-07:00

We know, we know, we haven't posted in a month, but here is one for ya. In that month we have been to four end-of-the-year SCAD showings; Molly Elizabeth's friend came over and they decorated cakes for Sunday school; Molly Elizabeth had a Small Group party; Mama, Susan Liana, Clay, and Molly Elizabeth went to the Biltmore with Grandmom and Granddad; we hosted a Colonial dance with about 60 folks in attendance; Clay filmed Dangerous Game, his newest movie (filmed at our house...there were 17 young people here most of the week!); the whole family went to Huntsville for the fabulous Sisco Reunion; and Daddy and Mama went into Savannah this weekend for their 30th wedding anniversary! In addition, on Tuesdays we host a sewing/cooking class here, and Mama and Clay have been gardening...but that's another story! We've had a lot of fun, but I don't think I can write about it all.

So instead of telling you about any of those activities I will write about something totally different; a book Mama bought in Savannah this weekend called Suck your Stomach In & Put Some Color On!. It is absolutely hilarious! Daddy said Mama was laughing out loud the whole weekend. If it helps you to know a little about the book the subtitle is: What Southern Mamas Tell Their Daughters That the Rest of Y'all Should Know Too. I just started reading it on the way home from church a couple of nights ago, and so I'm just 75 pages into it, but it is definitely worth reading. Mama finished it this morning, and I'm sure that Susan Liana will start reading it, too, as soon as I'm finished.

P.S. from Miranda: This book is about those of us who consider ourselves true southern belles and the things our mamas taught us, and that we're teaching our daughters. This girl is a hoot and a half and all of you southern belles will LOVE it! I didn't realize how much of our culture was ingrained in me by my southern mama... You simply must read it!

WHEN DREAMS COME TRUE

2010-05-26T07:05:00.000-07:00

My husband is a wonderful man; I just wanted to state that up front for those of you who may not know it because I don't mention it often enough, and he's not one to go around and toot his own horn. For the past few weeks, he's been quietly going about making one of my dreams come true.

I've always dreamed of ivy-covered cottages surrounded by rose-covered picket fences, and somehow the picket fence became my picture of a beautiful, noble, graceful, loving, productive, peaceful, happy home. I've wanted a picket fence of my own for many years, yet only mentioned it occasionally (really! I think...)

So, if you remember from the yard sale posting, I found a wonderful, old, picket fence that a lovely lady sold to me from her treasure pile out back of her shop.

My thinking was that we'd just bolt it together and I'd have enough picket fence to actually surround my little garden plots behind my house, and I'd enjoy a shabby chic picket fence that didn't require any work on my husband's part. At least not much. You see, he prefers to pick his own projects rather than leave that to me.

It seems he also prefers not to have a shabby chic fence.

He has more vision than I do, and he saw in my well-loved, old fence the makings of a beautiful, Williamsburg picket fence to surround my pretty little Williamsburg garden that I have been diligently working on for the last two weeks. All things Williamsburg is another love of mine that he's wisely discerned.

So, without any further ado, he stopped by the big hardware store and purchased a few things to make the dramatic transformation of my fence from "ugly duckling" to "swan." I must say it's the sweetest of fairy tales and it happened in my own back yard.

He rallied the troops last Wednesday night after dinner and they all diligently went to work. Some sanded pickets (which he'd removed from their original, bowed, constraining boards earlier in the week)

and some began painting.

In a flash we had a garden of white pickets popping their little heads up all over the yard in various stages of being prepared for service. I had no idea that things could happen so fast!

By Saturday morning, all parts were prepared and my precious, hard-working men gathered on the patio with nails, shovels, levels, screws, and various other things that I don't know about to assemble this beautiful fence under the direction of their fearless leader.

After just a short while of measuring, nailing, and consorting with one another about posts and picket heights and leveling and various other manly things, before my delighted eyes stood the prettiest picket fence you ever saw!

Miraculously, my men,in one miraculous morning, had produced my white picket fence, straight out of a storybook, or a garden in Williamsburg, or, even better, out of my dreams.

With that picket fence my husband gave me a daily picture of our own beautiful, noble, graceful, loving, productive, peaceful, happy home. So you see, fairy tales are sometimes real, and dreams really do come true. You just have to have a man like mine to make it happen.

Miranda

P.S. Though they didn't make any of the pictures, Benjamin and Molly Elizabeth worked diligently along with the rest.

Part 3 of Our Trip: Tea Leaves and Thyme

2010-05-19T10:12:00.001-07:00

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday morning, May 8, the ladies of the family got dolled up for a lovely ladies' luncheon and tea at Tea Leaves and Thyme in Woodstock, GA, where we have had tea in years past. This delicious meal is what was on our menu for Mother's Day Tea.
Chicken Salad
Scones: Almond, Strawberry, and Plain
Fruit: Cantaloupe,Watermelon, and Honeydew
Sandwiches: Pimento Cheese, Ham and Cheese, Cucumber

Dessert: Mint Brownies, Blueberry Cake, Lemon Squares, and Almond Bars

They had hats, gloves,
dresses, and jewelry available so that you could dress up and make a real party of it. It was such fun trying on hats and gloves and different necklaces and each of us chose a hat while Audrey Kate chose to wear it all. This little outing was Audrey Kate's first time to go to tea with all the girls, so we enjoyed watching her make happy memories of tea with her sweet mama, her lovely grandmama, her dear Aunt Randi Jane (I couldn't resist!) and her adored cousins, Susan Liana and Molly Elizabeth. It was also a Mother's Day gift for Grandmama's Mother's Day from the girls. It was really special spending that time together sampling different teas, lovely food, and enjoying being ladies while we talked and laughed and made lots of pictures.What lovely memories!

Aunt Celesta, Grandmama, Molly Elizabeth, Susan Liana, Audrey Kate, and Miranda before the tea was served.

Susan Liana and Molly Elizabeth having fun in the dress-up corner.

Aunt Celesta and Mama...
One of Susan Liana's 61 pictures taken that day (I am serious, we made that many!).

One of Molly Elizabeth's 76 pictures taken that day (!).

Molly Elizabeth and Susan Liana apparently didn't get the same memo about what pose they would do...

Molly Elizabeth

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Graduation!

2010-05-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

Ok, so yard sales weren't the reason (or at least the main reason) that we went to Atlanta. We went to Atlanta for Andrew's graduation from Georgia Tech with his Master's in Mechanical Engineering. Friday afternoon we rushed home from yard saling, scarfed down some pizza with Andrew and Clay who then left to meet Daddy and Benjamin at Tech, took quick showers to wash off our yard sale sweat, and then proceeded to get all dolled up for the big night. Grandmama and Granddaddy rode with Mama, Molly Elizabeth and I to Tech, where we circled the block for about 15 minutes looking for a place to park. It seems there were a LOT of people who wanted to see Andrew graduate. Aunt Celesta, Uncle Steve and the kids were coming separately because they had to make a quick trip to the dentist. Since we were a little bit late (who's surprised?), we didn't get to see Andrew before the ceremony, but we met Daddy, Benjamin, and Clay, who had saved us seats, and proceeded to spend an exciting hour waiting on the ceremony to begin.

Benjamin, Granddaddy, Grandmama, Susan Liana, Clay, Clark, and Miranda waiting for the ceremony to begin. We were very thankful that Grandmama was feeling well enough to come. Doesn't she look pretty?!

Finally, Pomp and Circumstance began to play and we enjoyed watching all of the graduates march in, all 542 of them. It only took 30 minutes. Andrew was very near the end of the line; I guess they saved the best for last!

Andrew marching in.

Aunt Celesta, Uncle Steve, Audrey Kate, and Evan finally made it inside right after the processional. I say" inside" because they had been driving around campus for about 30 minutes looking for a place to park. Again, let me emphasize that there were a LOT of people who were anxious for a sight of Andrew in his cap and gown. The speaker, the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy, gave a pretty good speech. At least, I remember it being good, though, besides telling the graduates that they would be influential in saving the world from global warming, I can't say that I remember what he talked about. Oh, well.

After the speaker, we sat through the Ph.Ds getting their diplomas and then, finally, the moment we had been waiting for, sort of. The Master's were next, but, as I said before, Andrew was near the back of the line, which in this case was about 400 people long, and, so, we waited another 30 minutes for Andrew to walk across the stage. It was worth it though. Andrew crossed the stage amid clapping and cheering from his delighted family. In fact, Aunt Celesta's enthusiasm moved Audrey Kate to tears.

Andrew receives his diploma.

Then there were just a few more things - a short talk from the Alumni Association, the singing of the Alma Mater - and, amidst a shower of balloons, it was all over.

GA Tech does things a little different. Instead of throwing their hats in the air, Tech graduates pop balloons.

As we waded through the crowd trying to find Andrew, we couldn't quite believe that it was all over and Andrew had just graduated with his Master's Degree. Time surely does fly. We are SOOO proud of our graduate!

Front Row L-R: Susan Liana, Audrey Kate, Molly Elizabeth, and Evan

Back Row L-R: Grandmama, Miranda, Granddaddy, Andrew, Uncle Steve, Benjamin, Aunt Celesta, Clark, and Clay

Part 1 of Our Trip: Yard Sales!

2010-05-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

Susan Liana and Audrey Kate, the Yard Sale Princess, with her newly purchased (from a yard sale, of course!) tiara.

We just can't stay off the road. Last weekend found our family in Atlanta (again!). We went for Andrew's graduation, but, not being folks to pass up a chance to save (?) money, we took advantage of the opportunity to do some serious yard saling. We headed up to Aunt Celesta's house on Thursday, arriving in time to make a trip to Goodwill before supper. Friday morning was our designated yard sale time. Miranda, Susan Liana, Molly Elizabeth, Aunt Celesta, Audrey Kate, and Evan woke up bright and early and hit the first yard sale about 7:45. As we pulled in, our adrenaline was pumping and Mama had that "I'm going to find a bargain" look in her eye. We all leaped out of the car and descended upon the poor man, who was still trying to set out his stuff, and immediately began bombarding him with questions about prices. Before leaving, we carefully scanned and rescanned everything to make sure we weren't missing anything, proudly loaded our new found treasures into the back of the Suburban, and headed on to find our next conquest. Somewhere along the way, Mama's cousin, Sheryl, joined us, proving herself worthy of the yard sale team and hanging with us 'til the end. The story was pretty much the same at each yard sale; Mama would pull up, her eagle eyes scanning the piles and instantly picking out treasures that were barely visible to the rest of us, hardly able to contain her excitement long enough to put the car in park, then we would all pile out and eagerly race off to find all those treasures we just knew were waiting for us. I have to say, Mama can practically smell a bargain and has better bargaining skills than the rest of us. After carefully sizing up every potential purchase to make sure it was really something we needed, we would load up our car and race off to the next sale. We covered about 15 yard sales before we called it a day and headed home to hurriedly dress for Andrew's graduation that night. (More on that later.) We felt that we had done very well, and, after hitting a few more sales on Saturday, were extremely pleased with our success. On the other hand, all Daddy could think of was how hard it was going to be to pack and WHAT were we going to DO with all of that stuff. Suffice it to say that we had to buy a new car to get it all home! (More on that later, too!)

Mama's antique picket fence that she got to go around her garden. It loaded very nicely on top of the Suburban.

Susan Liana's vintage purchases: antique ribbons, writing desk, sewing pattern, and book of poetry.

Susan Liana's favorite purchase; a whole bag full of ribbons!

Most of our yard sale finds. Some wouldn't fit in the picture!

Happy Yard Saling!

Susan Liana

Youth Choir Trip

2010-05-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went on the Youth Choir trip to Atlanta. It was so much fun, but unfortunately I just found out that we didn't make very many pictures at all! After the fun 5-hour car ride we made it to the Braves' game early. Contrary to most of the girls' expectations we had a lot of fun at the game! The Braves won 10-1. Cici's Pizza was the next stop for dinner even though we weren't really hungry because we'd all eaten so much ice cream at the game.

To wrap up the day we went to the Laser Light Show at Stone Mountain which was really amazing! It's the largest laser light show in the world! Everyone was tired, and it was quite late as we headed back to the hotel for the night.

The night seemed really short as we had to get up early Sunday morning to get ready and out the door by 8:00 a.m. for church. Our choir was singing at Old Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Duluth, GA. We sang in both services and afterwards had a pot-luck lunch at the church. It was delicious...just like an old-fashioned dinner on the grounds.

After another fun 5-hour drive back home, talking and playing group games, we arrived back at IPC, too late for the service, but just in time for Miss Kay's yummy fried fish dinner! Everyone was tired, but it was a wonderful, lightning-quick trip.

Susan Liana and Ashleigh posing at the game.

Clay at the game...

Andrew M. having fun with Anna's sunglasses and Andrew G. giving a sensible smile. They took a couple of hours off of studying for finals at GT to meet us at the game.

Susan Liana and Jennifer enjoying the ride to Atlanta, while Jessica and Wesley were having fun in the background.

Sara Kaitlin, Leah, Breck, and Wesley watching the game...

In a nut shell that concludes everything we did this weekend. We had lots of fun and are so glad we went!

Molly Elizabeth's Granola

2010-04-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

I like to mess around in the kitchen making up recipes and reading them out of a cookbook. This recipe I made up about a week ago because we wanted some granola, and so I made some! Here is what I came up with:

4 cups 6-grain (or oats if you don't buy 6-grain)
1 cup 9-grain (ground) (or any other grain you may have; you could also add sunflower kernals, etc. here)
1/2 cup flax seed (ground)
1 cup peanuts (chopped)
2/3 cup coconut
2/3 cup craisins
1/4 cup butter
1/4 coconut oil
1 1/2 TBSP cocoa powder
1/4 cup honey
1 cup molasses
1/3 cup of peanut butter

Pre-heat your oven to 350. Mix your dry ingredients and fruit in a large mixing bowl. In a small bowl mix your melted butter, coconut oil, cocoa powder, honey, and molasses. Pour your wet ingredients int0 the large bowl and mix until moist. Pour your mixture into a 9x13 pan and bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

We like to eat it in milk, yogurt, and just by itself. It is very healthy, but if you are on a diet you can see that it has a lot of calories :). Sometimes you have to sacrifice for healthy and delicious to be mixed into one, but I'm just here to tell you that this one is not a sacrifice.

Have fun in the kitchen!

Molly Elizabeth

Strawberries!

2010-04-14T04:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Mama, Clay, and Molly Elizabeth decided to go pick strawberries at a local u-pick farm just up the road. All of our cars were in use somewhere else, so that only left us the stick-shift, yard truck bumping down the dirt roads. We really felt like hicks from the sticks with the three of us crammed into the small cab, but it was fun! Clay drove us there so that he could practice driving the stick shift. I must say, he's a very good driver; we only stalled out twice.

The day was warm and the strawberry field was beautiful and green. There was no one else there except a man working in the field. We each took a row and within just a few minutes our baskets were overflowing with beautiful berries. The hardest part of picking things you love is knowing when to stop. We try to be finished, but, as we leave the field, it is so hard not to notice berries that are just begging to be put in our baskets and taken home with us! It didn't take long to pick three baskets full of beautiful, red, ripe strawberries. What a fun little excursion!

Those beautiful strawberries reminded us of a favorite children's book, The Big Hungry Bear, that we all loved as children. Benjamin read it MANY times to my cousins last week and Evan,who is three, had it memorized by the end of the week and was "reading" it to himself.

"Hello, little mouse. What are you doing?

Are you going to pick that red, ripe strawberry?

Don't you know the big hungry bear loves red, ripe strawberries?

Especially ones that have just been picked!"

Those strawberries are so delicious that we will probably have to pick every few days. In the last 12 hours our family has eaten over half of them....!

Photo shoot

2010-04-08T12:05:00.001-07:00

Clay was having fun with the camera while we had Celesta, Audrey Kate, and Evan here this past weekend and made some fabulous pictures of Audrey Kate. Here they are. The baby pink dress she is wearing in the 3rd picture, was the dress that Susan Liana wore in her portrait that was painted when she was 5.

Braces

2010-04-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, Molly Elizabeth got her braces on! Her teeth still hurt a little, but, according to experienced people, the pain will ease soon. Celesta, Audrey Kate, and Evan were here when she got her braces on, so the kids stayed in the back with "Aunt Randi Jane" reading and playing little games. What was supposed to be an hour and a half appointment turned into two and a half hours. It was fine, though.

We met Benjamin in a park for lunch and ate our corned beef sandwiches there. Thrift shopping at our favorite thrift stores rounded out the day. It was such fun to bargain shop together.

Rearranging...again!

2010-04-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

Periodically we get the urge to rearrange ...This week we got the urge and nothing will do until we change everything. You get a new house without having to move.

We moved the library/school room to the room with Clark's computer. Susan Liana spent hours getting our books back into place! While unloading books from shelves we thought often of our dear friends, the Rustines, as we handled so many of their lovely books that they shared as they left for the mission field. Those books are like having a little part of our friends with us!

The TV left the room above and moved to the old school room that also doubled as a guest room...we kept that room as a guest room with a sleeper sofa where we also watch TV.

What was our dining room a week ago is now our living room. Of course, it was originally designed as the living room!

The dining room relocated to the old living room, which was originally the dining room. Are you confused yet?

We brought Clay's portrait from the stair wall to this one and it seems like a brand new painting to us!

Don't you love the new coffee table that we found at Blessingdales while thrift shopping with Celesta?

The shelves below were in the sitting room, but make me think of a Welsh cupboard so we moved them to the kitchen. They replace a makeshift cabinet we've used for years that used to hold the children's legos. This is much prettier and saves so much space yet stores the same things.

We had a whole week of fun sifting all of this until it all finally fell in place...

Williamsburg, VA

2010-03-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

This was our 5th Annual trip to Williamsburg, VA and we had so much fun, just as we have in past years. This year the Heritage family came with us which made the trip even more delightful! You are probably wondering what we do there...Well, all of us dress in authentic colonial clothing and stroll the streets of Williamsburg, shopping in the 18th century shops such as Mary Dickenson Millinery (ladies' accessories and hat shop), Shields Tavern or Raleigh Tavern Bakery (where we get our hot apple cider and baked goods), and Greenhow's or Tarpley's General store. We tour colonial homes and learn about the families who lived in Williamsburg around the time of the War for Independence and enjoy visiting the different tradesmen and learning of their trade. Favorites include the milliner and tailor, silversmith, blacksmith, cabinetmaker, and weaver. I think that one of our favorite things to do is enjoy the Palace Gardens behind the Governor's Palace, walking along the little paths that meander everywhere. We have a fabulous time living in the 18th century for a week!

I guess you are ready for the pictures...that is my favorite part! :)

Susan Liana and Molly Elizabeth decorating hats with Rachel, Anna and Miss Kay on Monday night so that we can wear them the next day!

The girls sitting on the bench in the Governor's gardens listening to Patrick Henry's speech...

Mom and Miss Kay at the Magazine!

The whole family at the Governor's green on the last day.

We had a wonderful time!