House Update...

We took a trip to the house to check on the progress today.  WOW is all I can say.  They are working so fast...I'm amazed!! I know it will all slow down once they start on the inside.  I'm pleased with how it's going so far. 

Now there are windows.  I thought the front window where the kids room is was going to be a little bigger.  I'm happy with it, though.  I also really like the little windows above the front windows (it's hard to see in these pictures.) 

This is a view of the kitchen from the back door.  It will be SO nice to be able to see into the living room when I'm cooking dinner in the kitchen!!

This is a view of the back patio.  There is a large portion that will be covered (YEAH!!) and then we are going to extend the concrete back to meet the back around the side to where the master bedroom sticks out.  So, there will be a big slab of concrete basically that sticks out past the part that is covered.  Our builder said he can stamp the concrete for us to make it look like stones.  That area in front of the kitchen windo will be great for a picnic table!!  Plus, we can sit where it is still covered and be blocked by the wind. 

This is a view into the living room from the front door.  I'm SO glad we decided to do cathedral ceilings.  I know it will be a pain to change the light bulbs but it's going to be SO PRETTY!  I feel so blessed and thankful that the Lord is blessing us with this opportunity to build our home.  I am so excited!! 

A Little History Lesson...

I have a sweet little Susanna and today I was wondering about her name and the song everyone has heard..."Oh Susanna!"  Well, all I could ever remember was the part about coming from Alabama with a banjo on my knee.  So...with the help of the internet I was able to do a quick little search and find the history of the song. 
Apparently it was written by a man named Stephen Foster in the 1840s.  There was a form of entertainment called, "blackface" minstrel shows.  You can read about the here: blackface. From Wikipedia, "In 1848, blackface minstrel shows were the national art of the time, translating formal art such as opera into popular terms for a general audience. ...Blackface was an important performance tradition in the American theater for roughly 100 years beginning around 1830."
So, Stephen Foster wrote the song for a contest in 1848 and it was performed by Christy's Minstrels. 
I found the lyrics here:
The traditional lyrics are arranged in four verses:

I came from Alabama, Wid a banjo on my knee,

I'm gwyne to Louisiana, My true love for to see.

It rain'd all night the day I left, The weather it was dry,

The sun so hot I froze to death; Susanna, don't you cry.

Chorus:

Oh! Susanna, Oh don't you cry for me,

cos' I've come from Alabama, Wid my banjo on my knee

I jumped aboard the telegraph, And trabbled down the riber,

De lectric fluid magnified, And killed five hundred nigger.

De bullgine bust, de horse run off, I really thought I'd die;

I shut my eyes to hold my breath, Susanna don't you cry.

CHO: Oh Susanna &c.

I had a dream the odder night, When ebery thing was still

I thought I saw Susanna A Coming down de hill;

The buck-wheat cake was in her mouth, The tear was in her eye;

Says I, "I'm coing from de south, Susanna, don't you cry."

CHO: Oh Susanna &c.

I soon will be in New Orleans, And den I'll look all round,

And When I find Susanna, I will fall upon de ground.

And If I do not find her, Dis Darkie'l surely die,

And when I'm dead and buried, Susanna, don't you cry.

CHO: Oh Susanna &c.[1]

Due to the belief that the second verse and colloquialisms were racist, modern verses have changed to be less offensive:

I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee,

I'm going to Louisiana, my true love for to see

It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry

The sun so hot I froze to death; Susanna, don't you cry.

Oh, Susanna, don't you cry for me

cos' I come from Alabama

With my banjo on my knee.

had a dream the other night when everything was still,

I thought I saw Susanna coming up the hill,

A buck wheat cake was in her mouth, a tear was in her eye,

I said I'm coming from the south, Susanna don't you cry.

I soon will be in New Orleans and then I'll look around

And when I find my Susanna, I'll fall upon the ground

But if I do not find her, this man will surely die

And when I'm dead and buried, Susanna don't you cry.

The nonsense verse that opens the song hints that the song is not intended to be taken too seriously. The coarse[2] African-American dialect of the original lyrics reflects the minstrel show tradition that Foster worked in.

And here is a link to the song on youtube. (be sure to pause my playlist first :)  OhSusanna!

It is what it is.  Some will hate it.  Some will appreciate it for what it is and the time it was written.  It's a catcchy little tune and my baby girl is named Susanna.  So, now I know what it's all about. 

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!

***WARNING****This post contains TONS of pictures!! :)

I am sitting here in the evening of Christmas Eve with my little ones in their beds and visions of sugarplums in dancing in their heads :) I have been busy playing Santa to my sweet babies and thought I'd sit down and blog a bit - it will probably make me sleepy ;) (pics of that in the next post) I have felt so blessed this week! My Madeline was out of school all week and we've all had so much fun together! We had some of our favorite friends come over and spend the day on monday and then our cousin Rylee stayed the night on Tuesday. Yesterday was full of making Christmas goodies and just relaxing at the house...all the while listening to Christmas music. I have come to realize that I really like Bing Crosby!! I have listened to a Bing Crosby c.d. a lot this season!! Anyway...I just thought I would post some pics of my sweet family. We are blessed and so thankful for Jesus! I love that my daughter has drawn more pictures of the Nativity this year than any other Christmas symbol.

We had fun making glitter snowflakes today!

Daddy and the girls made yummy cinnamon rolls from scratch!!

Madeline makes hers for Santa!!

Last night we had a blast singing Christmas songs. Philip LOVED singing and of course I did get some video!!

Violet loved Madeline singing to her!

My American Idol!!

Madeline helped me make the goodies for the gift tins...until she got a little bored ;)

Everyone took a break yesterday to burn some energy on the trampoline!

Let's make some fudge!!!

My best friend Stef found a recipe for some "homemade potpourri" and it made the house smell so festive!!

She LOVES to help with the baking!!

Stirring up some peanut clusters!

The finished product - yummy 5 minute fudge!

House Update...

LOOK!! LOOK!! They have started building the actual house!! I'm so excited...it seems to be coming right along! I drove by today but only took a couple of pictures from a distance. There were several men working and several of their cars parked in the cul-de-sac and I didnt' want to interrupt them with my camera. So, I plan to go back later this week so I can walk through. Matt walked through last night and said you can see where all the rooms will go. I can't wait!! I told the girls today that as soon as Christmas is over we have to start getting BUSY packing stuff up, taking things off the walls and getting rid of things we don't need/use anymore. They seem to be excited about the thought of moving!!

A view of the front side of the house...

This is a view of the back of the house...

Snow Much Fun!!

We had a really fun day today with the Parnell kids!! Stefanie and I decided to do a Christmas craft with the kids. We found a cute idea on the Sugar Pie Farmhouse blog to make snow balls from glitter, glue and foam balls. We watered down some Elmer's glue and painted it onto our foam balls (stuck with craft sticks). We then rolled them in glitter and voila!! Glittery snowballs. The kids really had fun and so did the mommas!! We plan to start earlier with these next year and make several more and in different sizes.

The Finished Products in their jars!!

The girls with their own jar of snow balls for their rooms.
These are the supplies...


The girls working having fun in the glitter!!

Even Philp had FUN!

Baby Violet hung out in her swing while the glittering was going on...just wait 'til next year baby girl! Felicity had fun just hanging out with Violet!

The cute kiddos!

What The...????

I have been playing on my blog and trying to update it to a "Christmas" theme. i have gone and changed things that shouldn't be changed and therefore messed it all up. And now I don't have the TIME it will take to research how to fix it. UGH. so, it's all jacked up. Maybe one day I'll find some free time to fix it. ;)

What Do You Think?

Hey everyone! I need your opinion. I came across this very fun old Thanksgiving post card on e-bay recently. It has a postal date stamp from 1909 on the back. It was from a man named Frank wishing Anita a Happy Thanksgiving a long long time ago!! The thing I love about antiques is that I love the stories they hold. I am always saying I wish I had the ability to go back in time and "be a fly on the wall" for a few hours. I would love to see the receiver of this post card as they turned it over and read their well wishes. I would love to see where they put it for safe keeping...because it's over 100 years old and it is in amazing condition. Anyway...I've been trying to find a frame for it so I could display it. I was in Hobby Lobby today (in the middle of the rain monsoon - and YES with three of my kiddos). Anyway, I found this frame marked down from $29.99 to only $10.00 so I bought it. I thought the frame was really pretty. Anyway, after I put the post card in it I wondered if the frame was "too much"?? What do you think? Be honest. Here is a picture of the frame on my mantle. Let me know....

Is it Just Me??

I took Philip to a local business to get his haircut last friday. This place specializes in children's haircuts. However, the day I went, the lady who cut Philip's hair was less than professional. I'm not going to get into specifics but I was not happy with his haircut. Even though I wasn't happy, I just paid the $15 and left. Later in the day as his hair dried it looked worse and worse to me...so much so that I called the owner (her name was on the business card) and ask if I could take him back to their other location and have them fix it. We had pictures scheduled and I didn't want him to have a "bad hair day" :)

I ask Matt what he thought and he said it was fine. But I was not happy with paying $15 for a haircut that looked like something I had done!!

Here are some before and after pictures. Tell me what you think. The girl's at the second store agreed with me and thought his haircut wasn't that great and they did the best they could to fix it! :)

Here is a cowlick that Philip has never had before.....

The right side and the left side are uneven and don't match...

Oh, and crooked bangs!!

Here are straighter bangs - a little short but at least they could straighten them!

Even hair above his ears - and it matched on both sides!

It's Official...We're Building a House!!

Well, I guess you could say it's now official. We are building a house!! We are currently waiting to close on our "Construction Loan" in a couple of weeks. We purchased a lot in a neighborhood in Blanchard. It's kinda confusing b/c the address is "Blanchard" but we are right next to the Bridge Creek Schools and the Bridge Creek Fire Dept. So, I don't really know what to say. Anyway - I guess since the address says Blanchard I will say we live in Blanchard! :) We bought 1.4 acres and the owner accepted our offer of $3,000 less than what they had it listed for!! Hooray!!
Last night we met with our builder and signed our contract with him to build our house. We've met with the architect already and these are the plans we have come up with. Now we just need to make sure that the developer in the neighborhood we are building on is okay with our house plans - they have covenants that we have to follow. We are on the end of a cul-de-sac and we have a pond on our lot!! It's so perfect for us!! I just have to praise the Lord for this b/c I feel like it really is an answered prayer. We've been waiting so long to be able to have our own house and I've been saying that I would love to live on an acreage with a pond. And now we have found one PLUS we get the added bonus of being in a neighborhood so the kids will have friends to play with (hopefully). If not, they will have plenty of space to find things to do!!
Another thing that is going to be SO EXCITING is that I get to pick out everything - colors, fixtures, and where it all goes! (Within our budget of course!!) My big splurge is my kitchen sink - I picked out a beautiful Kohler Apron front sink. I am going for an American Farmhouse look. I have been buying and reading books about farmhouses and I just love them. They are simple and cozy and comfortable. So, I will be trying to go for a "modern" farmhouse :) I will be sure to blog about the progress for the one or tw of you out there that actually read my blog and care :)

Oh and in other awesome news - I am not going to have to have surgery like I have been thinking. I went to see the surgeon yesterday and she said I don't really need surgery right now. Praise the Lord!!

And in other news I found a new job. This too is a blessing if it all works out. I will only be working on friday late afternoon/evenings. Matt will be home from work by the time I need to leave. The position seems really laid back. So, we'll see how that goes!!

Here are some pictures of our plans.....

Here are some pictures of our lot....

The water in the pond is low and there is a lot of moss...we are going to try to work on landscaping and getting rid of that moss...but that is a project for later!!