Pinewood Derby

Danny participated in our local Scout troop's Pinewood Derby race this past weekend.

He did GREAT for his first time!

Dan took fourth overall in his division and won a medal for most patriotic paint job for his car.

He's already making plans for his car for next year!

Ash Wednesday

I was blown away by the announcement by Pope Benedict XVI that he would be abdicating his Chair at the end of the month. Questions and fear plagued my simple little brain...until I heard these wise and kind words from Cardinal Arinze. 

 He sums everything up simply and beautifully:

 And  today is the beginning of Lent - a time for strengthening and purification. Yes, dear Cardinal, I think the Holy Father is teaching us more than we realize!

Bloomin' Broccoli!

We've been having a really warm winter here in south Texas

 (sorry to all my peeps up north!)

so I wasn't too surprised to see that my broccoli had gone to bolt!

I'm sure it wouldn't have done any harm to eat it, but it was just so darn pretty!  So I cut a head off and stuck it in a pitcher of water to enjoy inside.

John Paul says he enjoys broccoli this way MUCH MORE 

than eating it!

Getting garden ready!

Last weekend we had a garden workday.  

I hauled everybody outside to get our garden boxes ready for this spring's plantings.  But then it quickly turned into garden play day...

The power drill got Kyle's attention and he reinforced all the boxes with "L" braces.  I think I can get one more growing season out of these boards before they will have to be replaced.

It was such a blessing to have the boys out there to help!  This mama's back doesn't hold up to much bending after 20 years of being a nurse...just sayin'!

John Paul and Danny did quick work of spreading thick newspaper and then a good 4 inch layer of hay over the boxes.  Truth be told, we should have done this back in November.  The garden is very forgiving, though, and we should be fine for May plantings.

And of course, the Divine Miss M was there to oversee it all!

In the fore ground is a finished box 

(that's motherwort still growing in the front right hand side!), 

and a weed ridden bed in the back ground.

I also ordered all my seeds from 
Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.
I'm very excited about some of this year's seeds (you can click on any of the listings below to see what the variety looks like and read customer reviews!)  Some of these are very exotic, like the Chinese Red Noodle Bean, and I cannot wait for the kids to experience the growing and eating of these varied, heirloom, and non-GMO vegetables!

Calima Beans

Hutterite Soup Bush Bean

Chinese Red Noodle Bean

Beit Alpha Cucumber

Boston Pickling Cucumber

Fengyuan Purple Eggplant

Little Gem Lettuce

Emerald Okra

Lightning Mix Peppers

Emerald Giant Bell Peppers

Purple Beauty Bell Peppers

Caserta Zucchini

Candy Roaster Squash

Vegetable Spaghetti Squash

Rio Grande Verde Tomatillo

Black Cherry Tomato

Ingegnoli Gigante Liscio Tomato

Solar Flair Tomato

White Horehound Herb

We play with our food!

For Christmas, Uncle Scott bought Mary Grace a plate with the face of "Wooly Willie" on it. You know the one, it's where you move metal shavings around with a magnetic pen to give him different looks.  With this plate, you use food to dress up Willie!

Turns out my bigger boys have been playing with Willie at meal times!  They load up their plates and work their way down to his smiling face.

Danny gave Willie some sun glasses and a beard out of pancakes.

Then the glasses get moved to hair on top of Willie's head.

Then Danny eats his beard and shoves the hair to the sides of Willies head and says...

...and this one looks like daddy!

Inspired by Spring (and a cute little redhead!)

I guess I've been on a bit of a blog break. I didn't intentionally mean to take a whole month off, but between work and daily life I haven't really felt inspired by much...until now!

I decided to make the Divine Miss M a spring wardrobe full of colorful, frilly, girly loveliness and it all started with this free pattern from
Oliver + S ~ the Lazy Days Skirt.

I adore this quick little skirt! 
 And I love that there is ribbon along the bottom edge of the skirt and that it makes for a neat and clean hem (I HATE to hem!).  
It's a great way to use up scrap fabric, too.

Most of these went together while Mary Grace was napping.  She's got one for every day of the week and then some!  Who can blame me for wanting to whip up dozens of these pretties?

Especially when my model is so adorable in them!

This Advent

This time last year I was struggling my way through the newborn haze (and a bit of postpartum depression). I was panicked over money (even though Doug had been blessed with a good job) and freaking out about having to go back to work and leaving my new baby.  It took so much away from our Advent season, we had been given so much and here I was worrying about all the wrong things. 

It's so in my nature to think of the worst.

That is NOT something I want to pass along to my kids.

So I'm taking time to savor these Advent days and make them special.

Oh, I'm still worrying about money and working

and being away from my family...

 but I'm enjoying seeing this season through the eyes of someone experiencing it for the very first time! 

And it ONLY took 18 years...

I finally got a Christmas card picture of the kids where everyone is looking at the camera and no one is crying! 

Truly a Christmas MIRACLE!

Check out our previous Christmas card debacle photo sessions

HERE,

HERE, 

and HERE!

Thankful...

Dear God,

Thank you for this beautiful life, 

and forgive me if I don't love it enough.


Happy Thanksgiving
from the Creamer Family!

An "OMG" moment...

Nothing like looking through old family photos 

only to discover that you were the 

ORIGINAL 

Honey Boo Boo!

My life is reflected in my garden

October is such a busy time of year for the Creamer family.  It never fails, I so much want to enjoy these lazy days of Fall but it seems like it's always go-go-go.  Having a toddler in the house again is keeping all of us on our toes, she is one busy girl!  The boys have their activities and interests that send them in a million different directions (most of them away from me!), and Doug has gone back to school.  Plus, I have this little gig called a full time job that leaves me exhausted and in pain most days.  

It's a "growing" season for the Creamer Clan!

My healing medicinal herbs are taking off with this cooler weather!  And like a salve to the soul, a good Confession does wonders!  I've been in a spiritual funk lately.  I work every weekend and do not get to attend Mass...and I feel it.  But Doug and I went to Confession together yesterday and it restored my soul.  It's time to do a little "prunning and weeding" to get ready for the upcoming Advent season. 

And I couldn't end this post without a picture 

from the pumpkin patch!

It is where my heart lies these days.

Happy birthday, John Paul!

Now it's JP's turn! 

Happy birthday to our sweet and funny John Paul!

 We had a lazy afternoon lunch and shopping 

for birthday presents, it was perfect!

I took this picture of JP being, well, JP.  And thanks to Pinterest, I scribbled some of the things he is all about right now at eleven years old.  I hope to do this with all the kids 

(and wish I had discovered it sooner!)

We came home and had a nice dinner with Doug's mom and dad and then dove into lemon LEGO cake.

I think the smile on his face says it all.

Getting ready for flu season

Instead of getting a flu shot this year, I am stocking the pantry with an arsenal of healing herbs and vitamins:

Mullein and garlic oil for earaches.

Dried mullein leaves for tea.  Mullein is great for respiratory problems such as bronchitis, colds, coughs, and sore throats. Mullein tea has anti-bacterial properties that can help to reduce inflammation and infection. It is also a natural expectorant that can expel excess mucus from the airways.

Honey and garlic are like antibiotics.  They carry multiple antiviral, antifungal, and antibiotic properties.

Elderberry syrup/tincture is an especially strong immune system booster!  We try to take it daily in a little juice.  Studies have shown that it is better at combating the flu than Tamiflu!

Astragalus root helps increase white blood cell count, stimulate growth of antibodies and elevate body’s resistance to bacteria and viruses.

And mega doses of vitamins C, D-3, and zinc round out our cold and flu arsenal.

I'll also be supplementing our diets with probiotics in the forms of kefir and apple cider vinegar.

We've done really well in past years using these remedies and I am hopeful that we'll be flu/cold free this season as well!

Our precious girl turns ONE!

Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated Mary Grace's first birthday with us!  And God bless our Mary Grace with many more happy birthdays!

First Haircut

 Before

After