Show and Tell Friday

Well it is hard to believe that it is already Friday, where did the week go? Thanks again to Kelli for hosting the Show and Tell Friday.

Our Family would like to share with you this week Tea Time and Primula the Flowering Tea.
In the Watts Home we love tea. I grew up in Canada with very cold winters. Tea and cookies are always a pleasant reminder of coming in out of the cold, warming up and sharing that special time with my family in the afternoons. As a child it seemed like time stood still, while you sat back and sipped some tea.



Anna baked us some yummy gluten free chocolate chip cookies!

We also found a new little table this week on clearance for a ridiculous price it probably cost less than our tea and cookies lol! We do not have a coffee table so it was so nice to find a cute small table that we can pull out when needed to set our tea cups on! And it is just the right size for the Watts Family!





This week we also tried out a whole new Tea Experience. It is called the Primula Flowering Tea. It is basically a tea pod that is hand sewn and when hot water is poured over it, the pod opens up and blooms into a beautiful flower. If you would like to read more about it you can check it out on the Primula Website.
This week we tried out the wildflower tea and enjoyed a dab of clover honey in it as well. The Wildflower tea has Green Tea , Jasmine Flower , and Globe Amaranth Flower in it. And it was absolutely fabulous. I did not expect it to taste so fresh. It tasted as if someone had thrown a bunch of wildflowers into my teapot, and the smell was amazing as well.


We put the flower pod into the teapot and the children were all crowded around waiting to see what happened!




We just happened to have some classical music playing and the pod danced and spun around in the teapot as it gently opened and bloomed into a flower! Who knew tea could be so exciting!
Now if you would like to know the health benefits of such a lovely tea
Jasmine Flower : Jasminum Sambac Brightens eyes, nourishes and moistens skin, improves skin tone, improves sleep, soothing to the stomach.
Green Tea : Contains antioxidants, lowers cholesterol, reduces oxidative damage that slows cancer cells, quickens metabolism, prevents heart disease.
Globe amaranth Flower : Globe amaranth Nourishes skin, helps regulate menstruation, soothes asthma and reduces phlegm. believed to help reduce blood pressure., contains vitamin C,E.

We hope you enjoyed sharing our tea time this week with us and we hope you have a very blessed weekend filled with good health, faith, hope, love, peace, grace and maybe even a spot of tea.

"For God rewards the greatness of love that prompts a man, rather than the greatness of his achievement." Thomas a Kempis

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away
1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Bookmark Fever and Nature Study.......

The children have been busy thinking of crafts that they would like to do, and Noah said that they felt like they had Bookmark Fever. Are you wondering what the symptoms are? Well for some unexplained reason you feel like making tons of bookmarks and you may giggle alot as well.
Here is a brief tutorial on how the children made there bookmarks!
They first cut out some rectangular shapes from the file folders we use for lapbooking.



Then they recycled a nature magazine that we had by going though it and cutting out there favorite pictures that they thought would look nice as a bookmark.




Then they glued them onto the rectangular pieces.


We then chose to laminate them since we do have one on hand from our homeschooling. It is a nice thing to have if you are looking for an inexpensive one for laminating your childs art or schoolwork Walmart now sells one for around 25$ and this is the one we have it works very well.


The children then punched holes in the top of some of them and added ribbons and beads. And now we have tons of bookmarks for all our favorite books and our bibles and even a few to pass on to friends!

Okay maybe that wasn't so brief lol! Here is what we are doing on our nature study. The children visited with a new butterfly the clouded skipper! They have also been catching lots and lots of lizards looking for all different kinds. And we are still enjoying all the butterflies, drawing and even painting some.
Here are some snapshots of our Nature Study.




Anna's Nature Journal ~The Clouded Skipper


Lots Of Lizards!!



Liam's Nature Journal



Anna painting her favorite thing to do!

Whoa! This post is a long one but we hope you enjoyed the pictures. We had fun sharing them with you. And we hope it encourages you to get outside with your family and have an adventure. Rest assured there is one out there just waiting for you!

"You let me rest in fields of green grass. You lead me to streams of peaceful water, and you refresh my life. You are true to your name, and you lead me along the right paths." Psalm 23:2-3 CEV

BonJour Decoupage!

We set out early on our bikes this morning only to look up and realize we better pedal real fast before we are washed away with the thunderstorm that blew in rather swiftly.


Anna and I decided to try out a new craft. My friends birthday is next week and she loves handmade stuff as much as we do so we wanted to make something special for her. So we thought we would try decoupage, Anna has been asking to try this out for a couple weeks now since she read about it in one of her craft books.



This is a very fun craft and we really enjoyed it. We have definitely not mastered this yet we seemed to be getting glue every where yet our paper was still curling up lol!





We used our scrap booking paper as well as some paper fairies we purchased from Micheal's that we thought were pretty.


Anna's Box.



My Box.

Now we just need to fill them with chocolate and a few handmade treasures and wrap them up with a nice bow for a lovely birthday surprise!

The boys were busy doing things alot less girly! Reading, playing guitar, drawing, things like that!!




I have learned that spending unhurried time with my children showing them how to draw, making crafts, playing an instrument, showing them a good book to read, introducing them to nature, I have found that time well invested. So often now I will turn around and see my children start a project on there own keeping themselves busy, cultivating character and blooming into the person God has planned them to be keeping busy in the home. And you know what that means? They are not asking to play video games, bickering with each other, eating snacks when they are not hungry, asking to be brought somewhere and the blessings of this are a mile long.

The bible has alot to say about being idle and lazy. In our house when the chores and work are down I allow quite a bit of creative freedom we certainly do not mind a creative mess or two around our place and we are always open for a new adventure!

“Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise” (Proverbs 6:6).

FairChild Botanical Gardens Miami Florida

This weekend was Butterfly Days at the Fair Child Botanical Gardens, we like to visit here often. It is an amazing place to breathe in some fresh air, enjoy some peace and quiet, and look at some amazing plants.

We had hoped to see some different butterflies from what we have been seeing around our home but as they say in the hundred acre wood the rain rain rain came down down down. And we saw only one butterfly lol! We did have a great time listening to a lecture all about the local butterflies and the plants that they enjoy. We also learned a few things about edible plants that I have definitely seen around were we go hiking. Although I am not brave enough to eat anything yet.

Here are some snapshots from our day at the garden as we enjoyed the sights and crafts in between the rain showers.

Anna all ready to catch some butterflies!


Making some very fluttery crafts.


Out of her Chrysalis it is the Anna Butterfly!


Are you thinking what I'm thinking yet?? Of course Anna is allergic to face paint a not so happy Anna with a very red cheek!


Can you spot the Iguana??????



Lots to see inside the lecture hall!


Of course one of my children have to be climbing way to high up in the trees lol!



Soft Shell Turtles!


A Family Photo!

"Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls." Jeremiah6:16

And in case you could not find the Iguana here it is inside the pink circle!!

Show and Tell Friday and Oatmeal Soap

We are joining Kelli again for another show and tell Friday, and a special thankyou to Kelli for hosting. This week we would like to show a treasure that has been passed on to us.

I would like to share with you a gold charm bracelet my mother gave me. It has two little baby shoes to symbolize my brother and I. And then there are also 2 silhouettes one of my brother and one of me. Then there is a lucky 4 leaf clover. My mother also had a pair of ice skates, growing up in Canada she did some figure skating when she was young.



The last charm has always been my favorite it is a little house that opens and reveals 2 little beds with heart pillows on it. I remember this charm well as a child I would peak into my mothers jewelry box and I would always find the little house and open it up and look inside.



ALMOST HOMEMADE OATMEAL SOAP
We tried out a recent recipe from Carrie's Blog Farming on Faith. She always posts such great recipes for everything homemade, this one looked so simple and fun we just couldn't pass it up.
If you would like to make some for your self you can find it at Carrie's Blog just click here!

Now here in the Watts Villa someone always has far to many mosquito bites from our wanderings around the canals or with our vast and exhaustive amount allergies one of us always has itchy skin. So we love oatmeal soap it is so soothing and for some strange reason we are not allergic to it!

We chose to use some plain Ivory soap, and some good old fashioned oats. We do not own a microwave like the recipe suggests so we just used an old pot and melted it down on the stove and we found this worked fine.


Noah melting the soap.


We used a heart shape silicone mold, this worked really well since it was so easy to pop the soap out of the mold.


All wrapped up to share, but almost looks like a frosted oatmeal cookie, I will have to make sure my friends know not to eat it lol! ;-)

"The more humble and obedient to God a man is The more wise and at peace he will be in all that he does."Thomas A Kempis

"Happy is the person who finds wisdom and gains understanding. For the profit of wisdom is better than silver, and her wages are better than gold."Proverbs 3:13-14

This and That!

We have been doing a little of this and that around the Watts Villa. We are gearing up for a fresh start and a new school year. So we are doing a little organizing and cleaning out of clothes that no longer fit, school books no longer needed, and toys not played with anymore to donate. We have been bike riding around the canal in the mornings when it is cool, but we have left the cameras and all that sort of stuff at home and just enjoying what we see tucking it into our memories. We have also still been drawing this and that in our nature journals enjoying and remembering all that we have seen this summer. Noah also today set up a habitat for his green anole that he caught since he would like it to stay for awhile. I have been tying up some loose ends of things I have needed to do for the children's ministry, and also sewing some clothes for the fall. So as you see a little of this and a little of that.
Here is what this and that looks like at our place.

Painting shelves for all Anna's friends!

Shelves up and all her friends have a place. Wow Anna has alot of friends lol!

Green Anole habitat.

A sweet surprise in my sewing pins from Liam....

Another surprise on my fridge from Anna.

Sketching in my journal.

A Symphony of circle skirts for the Fall!! Made out of heavy bottom weight material that I got from Joann Fabrics on clearance for 2.00 a yard!


One long pretty plaid skirt that I think will look nice with my brown riding boots...


I really enjoy being busy in the home and I am very thankful for these quiet summer days filled with this and that together with my family.

Let us acknowledge the LORD, let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth. Hosea6:3