My Bearded Man

I feel it necessary to write about my wonderful husband today! He is my rock, best friend, bearded knight in shining armor, and the one who made me the "Hillbillie Housewife"!!!!  We have had our fair share of ups and downs in our almost seventeen years together, but each challenge has made our love that much stronger. I can honestly say that we are closer today then the day we were married, and I couldn't do this thing called "life" without him!

Almost two years ago, I took up running. I have (to put it mildly) fallen in love with it. There is NO WAY that I could do this for fun, exercise, and certainly not for competition without the help and support from my husband. He has been there for me from the beginning and is so encouraging and supportive. I never get tired of seeing him and the kids on the sidelines at each race cheering me on. In fact, I get teary eyed EVERY time! He definitely has his hands full on race days with all the kids, but NEVER complains.

We started doing foster care almost 5 years ago. Aaron has also been very supportive in this and we are learning and growing so much through these experiences. I have been homeschooling our children now for going on seven years and whenever I am ready to give up and throw in the towel, he is there to help me through.

I love this life and I am so happy I have someone as special as my bearded man to share it with! Thanks so much honey for loving, supporting, and encouraging me always!

Surprise for Mom

My two and four year old children have been collecting pine cones for several days. They wanted to make a craft with them, so my eleven year old daughter helped them make this! It is a beautiful centerpiece and was so simple and easy to make! Looks great with our other decorations too. They surprised me with this, then asked would I do a "blog post" on it, so here your go. Hope you all enjoy it and will make some with your little ones!
Fun for everyone and Mom is enjoying having a little bit of fall indoors!

To make:
Simply arrange the pine cones in a vase. You can put a few pine needles and sticks in too if you'd like. Also would be neat to spray paint the pine cones for a winter or Christmas look.

Jar-O-Lantern

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year! I get very excited right about now preparing for pumpkin flavored goodies, trick or treating, and the falling leaves! Not to even mention the cooler temps!

The kids and I created an art project that was very simple and turned out great! The kids (all ages) loved doing this one.

 Also, great if you have left over canning jars from the summer. I was able to pull this one together with just things we had around the house. Fun for all and makes a great decoration for fall!

You can use Ball jars or empty pickle or salsa jars work well too. I prefer plain jars (they are easier to paint).

Cut your eyes, mouth, and nose and place on the jar. We used the blue painter's tape.

 

Choose your paint. LOVE this craft paint, and it works well.

 

 

 

 Begin painting the jar all over even the mouth of the jar.

 

 You might want to apply two coats, just wait for it to dry and decide. We applied two coats.

Our finished project!