Show and Tell Friday, Heirloom Treasure

Thanks to Cindy for Hosting Show and Tell over at her very lovely blog called My Romantic Home.

Today for show and tell Friday I would like to share and heirloom with you. My grandfather was very skilled with his hands. He was a carpenter. He made beautiful furniture. I am fortunate enough to have a few pieces of his work. I have a beautiful trestle table, the doll house he made me, and a lovely jewelery box that my mother gave me. I currently keep these things at my fathers house since we have been moving a lot recently I did not want these things to go missing or get broken.

When I was visiting my father a couple weeks ago I took some pictures of my jewelry box. This jewelery box has a beautiful inlay pattern which was one of the skills my grandfather loved to use in his pieces.

My grandfather is no longer living but it is so nice to be able to admire his wonderful gift and to have an heirloom to share with our family.





We hope you enjoyed the pictures.

"How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you."
2 Samuel 7:22

Keeping The Dolls Happy!!!

Well Anna and I are just exhausted from all our crafting. Anna's dolls have been very unhappy and complaining non stop since we arrived in California.
Baby Doll Catherine has been freezing cold and demanded something to keep her warm so we knit her a hat and blanket.

She seems happy now and we have not heard a peep out of her since....

Small Doll Katherine was complaining about not having her house and accessories and how she was just feeling all out of sorts.

So we made her a purse....

And some lovely furniture and we are very happy to report small doll Katherine has stopped complaining as well.

Well now that brings us to Rag doll Molly. I can't blame all of Anna's dolls for complaining we picked up Molly on our way to California from my Dad's house. Molly is my childhood doll. One of my favorites actually so when she complained about being lonely and how she has been having a hard time finding friends cut from the same cloth well we just had to do something about it.

Anna and I have made a few phone calls and a few days later in the mail arrived some wonderful doll making supplies.

We have been busy reading instructions and drooling over all the wonderful wool, and natural doll making supplies.

The wool doll hair looks so wonderful I am thinking of making a wig for myself! What color do you think??

I can't wait to work with this wonderful wool.

The head is well underway and having recently read Frankenstein I feel a little odd having all these doll parts around.

We have never made a Waldorf doll before so we are taking our time and going slow as we learn a new craft. But how enjoyable it is to make a doll and hopefully in a few days Rag Doll Molly will stop complaining also and finally have some friends to play with. And over on this side I am smiling wide as I get to live out a little dream of mine and become a doll maker!

Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.
Psalm 32:10

A Rather Blustery Day!

The weather in San Diego has been here, there, and everywhere. Hot and Cold! But we absolutely love it! After having the intense tropical heat of Miami the weather changes feels so great. The cool Pacific ocean breeze is wonderful and refreshing.



Noah celebrated his birthday this weekend he is now 13. I can hardly believe we have an actual teenager in the house. For his birthday we got him some software for the computer called weekend explorer by National Geographic. This is a great program to draw up your own hiking maps. We are thinking that we are going to take a few classes at the local REI on compass and map reading as well as back country skills. Since it has been several years since we left Alaska and our more serious hiking days we are looking forward to picking up this hobby again that we love and we are looking forward to getting back on the trail here in California, which has some fabulous places to hike.


This weekened we visited the San Diego Zoo. Apparently there are 2 zoos and we ended up at the more boring one. But we still enjoyed it with lots to see.








We were all thinking instead of getting a horse maybe we could get a camel lol!! Dream Big Right!!! ;D

We also took a trip back to the tide pools at high tide. We were just to curious as to what this area would look like when the tide was in. It was quite impressive to see the water so high and crashing into the rocks.


This whole area we normally walk all over and explore.






It was nice to get out and stretch our legs. The salty ocean spray misting our faces felt fabulous. We are still waiting to hear word about our house. Just when we think we will hear something they say they need to do yet another inspection. Well it has all been such a good lesson for us though and certainly blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. We are all learning that you can't just sit around and wait for what you want to happen. You have to be content and live each day to the fullest, right in the here and now, Here is where we insert the verse "This is the day the LORD has made let us rejoice and be glad in it."Psalm118:24 That is certainly easy to do when everything is going your way but wow this verse takes on a whole new meaning when your waiting on something. And to be honest it has been really hard waiting, but my soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.
Psalm 62:1 and we have no doubt of HIS love for us. So our family will keep waiting and even if we have shallow roots in our temporary abode right now we will still bloom where we have been planted and enjoy the blessings at hand.

He said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty."
Zechariah 4:6

Show and Tell Friday SHHHHHHHHH it's a secret!

Who doesn't love a good secret???


Thanks to Cindy for Hosting Show and Tell over at her very lovely blog called My Romantic Home.

This week for show and tell, I have a Christmas present that has been tucked away to surprise a special little girl in my house. When I was at the thrift store the other day I stumbled upon a beautiful dress that I happened to be familiar with since I have a young daughter who loves to look at the American Girl Doll catalogs that come in the mail.

I found from the year before the American Girl Christmas dress for 4$ in Anna's size!
When I came home I snuck on to ebay and also found the matching doll dress as well and that is on it's way in the mail.
Don't you just love thrift stores! Anna will have a blast dressing up in this gown. It feels wonderful. I sure am glad I found it for 4$ instead of 80$.



Have a Blessed Day!
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:12

Celebrating Autumn Tasha Tudor Style

Our family is new to the world of Tasha Tudor, and a warm thanks to the Graham Family for introducing us to these wonderful books over at the lovely Old Fashioned Sweet Felicity Blog. Our family can certainly appreciate simple living and old fashioned values with the celebration of family heritage. So we have been enjoying crafting in an old fashioned way this week thanks to the enjoyable reading of Tasha Tudors book Old Fashioned Gifts.

We decided to make a cornucopia filled with yummy sweets to share with each other. We have limited craft supplies but if you have access to printed card stock and ribbon the sky would be the limit with this craft. The children drew names and is keeping it a secret who the cornucopia they are making is for. For even more fun they could be hidden around the house for an Old Fashioned Autumn Treasure Hunt.

If you would like to join us in some Autumn fun the directions to make one are below.


Curl your paper and glue or tape into the cornucopia shape.



gather print or colored paper and cut out some leaf shapes click the pattern below to print the shapes we used.




set out all your shapes and grab some glue.


pick your shapes and glue them on.


It's that simple and there you have it! A wonderful fall cornucopia!


Now gather your treats to fill it up. Anna made some chocolate. Popcorn would be great and homemade cookies or trail mix would be yummy also.


We made some paper grass to fill the inside and then placed the treats inside. Now it's ready to share.
To make them an extra blessing you can pick out a favorite bible verse and tuck that inside with the treats also.
We hope you enjoyed our Old Fashioned Autumn Treat
~Blessings From The Watts Family

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Psalm 119:105

This and That!

We are still waiting for some good news on our house but we have not heard anything yet, but we haven't heard any bad news either so that is a blessing. We are hoping that by the end of the week we will know if we will be getting the house and land. It has been appraised, and inspected. Now were just waiting for the underwriters for the bank to approve it all.

Over the weekend the children had the opportunity to meet Alton Brown of Good Eats and have him sign our cookbook. The children enjoy his show and find him to be very funny. He has a very interesting cooking show called Good Eats and you really can learn quite a bit of science from him as well.





As I was looking at the pictures from the book signing I discovered that some how my son had a grown a mop on his head when I wasn't looking!!! Where did all that hair come from????? And why can't my hair grow like that???



Well before we left the book signing at Costco we also picked up some hair clippers and gave everyone haircuts this weekend. And I was so happy to see my son again under all that hair!



We are trying to keep busy in our home as we wait for news on the house. Right now our home is a temporary apartment that does not always feel much like home. But that is okay, we know we are in a temporary season and it is a real blessing to be busy at home and to strive to be content in what ever circumstances the Lord places our family in. It makes all the waiting bearable! The bible is a great comfort for this season. There are many people in the bible who have ended up in places where they have needed much patience to wait upon the Lord and in much more difficult a circumstances than our own for sure, and we draw much encouragement from the strength they have shown in their trials and the faithfulness of God that is always present.

Psalm 40:1
I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry


Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer



We are also busy in school we started Volume 3 in our Weaver studies and the children begin with a character sketch of the lineage that came from Abraham and the covenant that God made with him. Last year in Volume 2 we covered the Exodus and we will now be studying in the books of Joshua, Judges and Ruth. For Social Studies we will begin in the Weaver with the Age of Exploration, and for science the topic will be ships, stellar navigation, and wind currents and for Noah who is in the supplement(weaver for grades 7-12) it goes into these topics with much detail. It all sounds so interesting to me and I am happy to be back into our Weaver studies, we have some good libraries nearby so that has been a blessing also that we have been enjoying.

Here are some snapshots of our This and That....
















James 5:7-8
Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near

Re~visiting the tide pools of the Beautiful Pacific....

We have endless hours in our future I am sure of exploring the tide pools. Today was absolutely dreamy outside. A late afternoon fog rolled in over the pacific and was such a beautiful sight. It made exploring the tide pools feel even more magical as we climbed around the wet rocks and looked under crevices with the clouds falling around us. I wish I could have bottled the fog and sent some out to all my blogging friends to enjoy.

Here is a poem and some snap shots of another day exploring the Beautiful Pacific.
Devotion
By Robert Frost
The heart can think of no devotion
Greater than being shore to ocean -
Holding the curve of one position,
Counting an endless repetition.




































Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His splendor is above the earth and the heavens. Psalm 148:13

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him.
Psalm 62:1