Family, Friends, and Fellowship

Yesterday was a beautiful day! There is finally a "cold front" that has moved in! (It's been in the 70's, but it's so nice! It's more like a 'cool-front'.) Yesterday we (us 4 older girls) went over to a friends house to do a period western photo shoot! The weather was perfect. Not too hot to attract too many mosquitoes. ;-)
We were dressed to the nines in costumes and props!
The photo shoot lasted about 3 hours!! FUN! We don't have the pictures yet, but our wonderful friend Lacie, from A Blessed Life is working on editing the pictures, so soon after we have them, I'll post some up here for you all to enjoy! (Within the next week or so) So until then, here are some from these past few months while we lived in NC and then a couple from after we moved back to TX.

We bought some strawberry plants from someone we knew. They thrived for the first few weeks when I had time to care for  them. Sadly by the time we moved, they were all either dead, or mostly dead. They gave us some berries, but the birds got to most of the ripe (& sometimes not so ripe) ones before I could get out in the morning to pick them.

Emily

 Our lovely kitty, Trinity! She joined us for tea one evening.

Me reading a book and relaxing after kitchen work. It was fun living in the country for a while.

We dressed historically several days out of the week!

Jaden being cool! ;-)

He enjoyed playing on the step ladder whenever it was out :) Before this pic, he climbed up and was reaching high pretending to fix the light like my dad was doing (he needed an incentive for this pic! lol!).

Lydia and Jaden watching a video and eating gold fish! MM!!

Jaden donned Aaron's belt and began to wrestle Daddy to the floor. He won! 

Our eggplant. Our garden was bountiful, but sadly, we had to leave it behind. (It did feed God's creatures, though!) This is what an egg plant looks like while it is growing. The vegetable begins out white, like an egg, and then turns purple! So pretty!

(The pics below are from TX)

 At Penny's... Anyone want some coffee? ;-)

 At Costco: Your not so average camping chairs

Jaden helping Daddy fix the dish washer

Lydia with her homemade ladies hat and fan!

Here is some fun news!!! 

My mom is expecting #8!!! She is due in mid May! She is 7 weeks along today! We are all super super excited, and can't wait! My mom & dad have decided to wait & not find out before hand if it's a boy or a girl, so that makes the suspense all the more fun. :D Pretty soon we will be a family of 10! SO COOL!!!

We will be getting school started up again for the year next week. (the 4th) I have decided to so some higher grade history (studying some eras I hadn't done in school.), & to brush up on my science. (nothing like chemistry or biology..Just basic science as a refresher.) I will also be teaching Liana & Lydia this year. I have dome some reading & such w/ Liana on & off these last 2 weeks, and she can now read simple 3 letter words & easy easy sentences! :D I'm so proud of her! Doing school every day will really help her & she will progress quickly! 

The Legacy Doll Shoppe is now on Etsy! (Some of you may have noticed the image link on my sidebar) I will be adding new items periodically, so check my Etsy shoppe, or the blog sidebar for updates now & then :)

I'll post again when I have the pictures :)

Pic credit goes to my wonderful friend, Brianna. Love you, girl! <3

New background & header

Hello everyone! I *finally* got the new background & header up!! (Yes, this means more posts soon!)
Since Wednesday, (the 22 nd) is the first day of Fall, I thought a lovely fall theme was appropriate!  I hope you all like it! I'll try to set some time aside this week to get an update done for you all! (Yes, life is busy here!)

A Note to My Readers

Hello all my dear friends!
You may have thought that I have officially fallen off the edge of the earth since I haven't posted anything in FOREVER!! Well, I have not! I have been lovingly held by my Savior's hands! <3 We have had a lot happen since I have last posted. Many of which we had no idea would happen. But, since life is unpredictable moment by moment, we just take it all in stride. (well, most of it! :-P )

You all (or those who I don't e-mail or keep updated on FB) will be surprised at most of the turns that have happened. Namely; moving back to Texas.
Yes. You read that correctly, & no it's not a typo.  Let me explain: (long story short)

Yes, we moved to N.C. for work, & to be closer to family. We were all excited to be closer to our family, & the fact that my dad had some work up that way. (It was little to nothing here) We moved there, but after a while, there wasn't any work coming. (Like I stated above, "Life is unpredictable".) Of course we needed money to pay rent, & to buy food, & pay bills. It's really hard when there isn't any of it coming in to do so. We needed to go where there was work. The Lord was providing work for my dad here in Texas. (& graciously still is!) We all talked & prayed about coming back here.
Believe me. We prayed a LOT about moving back. It wasn't just on a whim.

God has been so gracious to us through everything. He provided a way for us to come  back home. (He truly did.) Our wonderful church family welcomed us home with open arms & hearts full of love! We are truly blessed!

We have now been home for about a month & a half. We have been welcomed into a friends home until we were able to find a place of our own. God has provided such a place in HIS timing! We will be moving into our new place this weekend! God is so wonderful!

I plan to get up in journal format what we did up in NC. But that will be on & off & when I have time. (Life has been getting busy!)

Aaron (my amazing brother!) will be starting college this weekend! I am very excited for him!

Emily & Caley have both had birthdays these last 2 months! Emily is now 16, & Caley is now "a boring teenager" at 13! ;)

I will be 19 (goodness, already!?) at the end of September, & the beginning of October is my dad's & Liana's(she'll be 5) birthday! (A birthday weekend!)

I can't remember if I posted anything for the birthday's earlier this year, so if not, here it is for y'all's benefit! :) Lydia is now 3! She had her b-day in June, & Aaron is now 20! His b-day was in May.
It's amazing at how everyone has/is growing!

I now have an Etsy shop for The Legacy Doll Shoppe! I will be adding more items after we are moved in & I can find our camera! You can check it out here.

I will try to post more as time allows! Until then,
-Megan

P.S.
I'm working on the background & header, & I need to get off, but I'll have it matching & looking nice soon!!

Christian Dance Camp for Girls

"Dance isn’t just an art form; it’s a form of communication. At Jeremiah 31 Dance Productions, our goal is to communicate God's truth, love, hope, and joy through dance--ballet, tap, jazz, Irish step, theatrical, and lyrical!

Jeremiah 31:13: "Then young maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow."

We are located in Parker, Colorado."

My friend is starting a day camp for girls ages 4-7 starting July 5th.
The camp is from 10am-12pm four days a week. Each week has a different theme to it, & a different style of dance. At the end of each week, there will be a dance showcase where your little girl(s) will do a dance routine (to a Christian song) to show the parents (& friends) what they learned!
To register your daughter(s), or to read more about Jeremiah 31 Dance Productions, got to their website at: http://jeremiah31dance.weebly.com/index.html


P.S.
I PROMISE!! SOON! I will give an update soon! Life is just so busy!

Just a Quickie

Trinity & I curled up with a good book!

(Created to Be His Helpmeet by Debi Pearl)

We have INTERNET!!! & It's not just on our phones! I'm so glad to be able to look at a screen that's not the size of my hand anymore! lol! I will be getting my major update post together soon w/ lots of updates on what we've been doing this past month (wow..already?) along w/ a plethora of pictures for you all to enjoy! Thank you for being so patient!

Trying a New Layout

 Blogger has this thing called Blogger Draft, and Aaron told me about it, & showed it to me this morning. So, I thought I'd try it out for a little while, & see how you all like it :)   I'm not totally done w/ it since some of my sidebar pics are over part of my posts, so I need to figure out how to fix that...So, my layout/background & everything might change, since I'm only testing Blogger draft, but we'll see.

A Walk in the Park

 (Aaron & Jaden walking back to the car)

Today we went to a park that is about 8 minutes from us. It was a lovely day! A nice occasional breeze, & plenty of sunshine!

Here are some pictures. :)

In a covered area, there is a hop-scotch thing painted on the pavement. We all enjoyed playing! Here is Liana jumping on the two squares! (She did very well!)

Peek-a-boo!

Lydia running

On top of the barrel tunnel thing.

Liana doing very well on the uneven things...(Anyone know what they are called?)

Trinity Goes for a Ride!

Yesterday the weather was just lovely! In the early evening, we were outside, and I was pushing Jaden in his stroller, & since Trinity was just itching to go outside, I put her in the basket of the stroller. I just walked up & down the sidewalk, but she & Jaden loved it! :)  She also curled up on the loose fabric between the cup holders of the stroller, & the stroller seat! She liked it there even better!

Here is a video I took. It's short because my iPod died while I was filming...Also, sorry the video is sideways. I didn't realize how I was holding my iPod while I was filming!
I'll try to remember to take a better video another day for you all! :)

Quilting

Well, so far my quilt is turning out! :)  Below are some pics:

The pieces laid out, & the bottom right corner is pinned & ready to sew!

Sewing the 2 triangles together.

Most quilts (well, all the ones I've read about) don't do a serge stitch. I decided to do it since the seam is a scant 1/4", and I didn't want the seams to pull apart, and I want it to last a good long time!

 All the triangles sewn together to create the small squares. I have it pieced together to see how the finished block will look like.

All the little blocks sewn together to create the larger block!
I now have all the other triangles sewn together, & pressed, & ready to be pieced together! I'll take more pics of the progress later.

Cute Little Bunnies!

In the Family Fun Magazine, we saw a craft to make little sock bunnies! Aaron helped the little girls make their own little sock bunnies this afternoon. They are really cute!

Step 1:

Find a missing sock!  ( good luck w/ that! lol!)

Step 2: Fill the sock up just past the heel w/ rice, or whatever..(the magazine suggested dried lentils)

Step 3: Tie off the sock at top of the heel, and just below to create the head.

(We used yarn, but the magazine suggested rubberbands.)

Then tie a colored ribbon around the neck for it's bow!

Step 4: Cut down the center of the top of the sock. These will be the ears of your bunny.

Step 5: cut one "ear" on the diagonal to creat a tapered look for the ear.

Step 6: Cut out 2 black felt circles for the eyes, 1 pink triangle felt piece for the nose, and 1 whit felt rectangle for the teeth. (For the teeth, cut the felt rectangle half way lengthwise to create teeth.)

Step 7:  Glue on the facial features! (Make sure the glue is dry before playing or messing w/ the bunny. I suggest stitching on the facial features cause they kept falling off...)

TaDa! A cute little bunny! :) You could even fill the sock bunny w/ potpourri and keep it as a decoration.

A Bible Verse

Recently I've been struggling with being content in my circumstances & waiting on the Lord. Waiting for HIS timing, and HIS will to be done.
I want to share a bible verse (well, a chapter, really) that really encouraged me! (I copied it off from Bible Gateway)

Philippians 4 1-20 (New King James Version)

 "¹ Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.

² I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. ³ And^[a] I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life. 

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 
⁵ Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 
⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. ⁹ The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

¹⁰ But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. ¹¹ Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: ¹² I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. ¹³ I can do all things through Christ^[b] who strengthens me. 

¹⁴ Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress. ¹⁵ Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. ¹⁶ For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. ¹⁷ Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. ¹⁸ Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the thingssent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. ¹⁹ And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. ²⁰ Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. "  (bold emphases mine)

Some pics!

Well, since I can't think of anything to post about today, I decided on posting some pictures. :)

Always my hard working Daddy!

Mom & Jaden (3weeks old)

Aaron & our Mémère at my graduation.

me :)

Emily & her horse, Satin! 

Caley :)

Liana! (age 2) I had to post this pic! It's just so cute!

& age 4!

Lydia (age 2)!

Jaden (5 or 6 months I think he was when this was taken)

SNOW!!!!!

It's SNOWING outside! HERE! IN TEXAS! Of all places! lol! & sticking, too! They say we're supposed to get about an inch of snow! Oh how I love snow! All we've had is cold w/ nothing but brown...White is much prettier! Below is a pic I just took of the snow!

It's not the best picture, but as you can see, it's piling up on the fence, & the windshield of the car! I hope it sticks to the ground soon... :)  (Click the picture to see it better...)

Just a Quick-y...

I just thought I'd post a quick little update.

Things are going well here! We were able to organize the warehouse area today, & now we have a nice little living space out there with rugs & rocking chairs! it's very nice! I'll try to get some pics up this week.

I also found my sewing scissors!! YAY! I have just a few of the skirt pieces cut out. Hopefully I can get the rest done tomorrow, & hopefully have a lovely new skirt by the weekend! (Yes, I'm ambitious! lol!)

Well, that's all for now!