Home*Kids*Sunflowers

{{Remember I am blogging over here now.

Please join me.}}

So we made it back from Texas.  It was a nice, quick trip, jam-packed 

with adventure.  I left the picture taking to the grandma's so 

I will share some pics if I ever get any. ;)

Meanwhile, here are some random pictures from my camera this week.

In no particular order.......

1.  Fall decor.  I.love.fall.

2.  I have a love~hate relationship with play dough.

I love that the kids love to play with it and I hate cleaning it up.

3.  I love coming in and kissing on this boy after his nap. XOXO

(notice the outfit of his choice. camo shorts, polo shirt on backwards)

4.  New hallway art from IKEA.  Shawn really liked this and 

I was surprised and proud that he loved something funky.

5.  Ahhhh.  Went to the Sunflower Market and loved everything but

the CROWD.  Some of my goodies were delicious tomato bisque soup

from the soup bar, fresh herbs to plant, Burt's Bees' face moisturizer, and of

course, sunflowers! 

6.  Now that the weather is so glorious, our morning routine includes

playing in the sandbox and swinging before school.  We have even 

brought our school work out to the back porch a couple of days.

I.love.fall.

7. New IKEA frames with some more foolin' around in Photoshop

and DIY art. I made these for my sister but had to try them out in the kids 

bathroom first.

The End.

Happy Monday.

Random Tuesday: {I'm a Believer}

Thank you for your faithfulness to me.  The last 4 days of school

have been some of the best I can remember.  

Berklee's favorite subject ~b y f a r ~ has been art.

She asked to do the worksheet above 4 times in a row! And she

made sure each time was better than before.

This little guy hangs with us for quite a while and then does his

own thing.

The picture above has something to do with the

{I'm a Believer} post that I'm going to write soon.

If you are a mom of young children and you would like,

for example, your kids to make their beds each morning then

you will want to check it out!

Oh, the conversations.  I wish my mind could

remember all of them!

Happy Tuesday.

P.S. I'm still posting over here because I still have people reading here.

But you can head over to the new blog and get the same posts. :)

{From Sheet to Chic}

I have been searching for a while for affordable curtains with a

modern design.  Expensive would be the word to describe 

what I was looking for.  Then today at Ross I ran into this 

sheet set for 20 smackaroos and can you say search

OVER!!

Before.

After. I just cut the flat sheet in half and know I will find a purpose for the rest

of the set!!

Just in case you are still HERE.  A reminder that we have moved.

HERE.

{{Deleted}}

It is so easy.  Unbelievably easy.  To get sidetracked.
I love the blogging world for so many reasons.
And I hate don't like it for many reasons.

I oftentimes wonder if some of these blogger moms, who homeschool
their kids, make gourmet meals for dinner (with dessert), sew pillows to
match their quilts, attend all of their fantastic social events each
week, AND blog about it ALL, are on CRACK?  I'm being funny of course,
but seriously?  Maybe they have a different, better, faster genetic code than I do.
Or maybe they have different priorities.

So I'm sorry that I was here one minute and gone the next, for those of you
who wondered what in the world happened.  As a busy disciple, wife, mom,
teacher, friend I made a list of important things and checked it twice.  My days
were still too short and my list was still too long, so I checked it a third time.  The
last two things on the list were facebook and blogging about things that
distracted me from the human things higher up on the list.

I still love blogging for the fact that it is a way for me to record the moments
of my kids lives in simple words and pictures, a way for me to easily share those
moments with our friends and relatives who live far away, and to occasionally share
about how great my God is.

If that is more your style too, you can check out my more simple version of
blogging at  The Maguire House.

In Christ,
Tanda

Somethings Wrong....Robin's Egg Blue

I cannot get my mind off of something.  I HAVE to stop.  Or take action.

I don't know how it started.


I don't know why it started.


I can't even remember when it started.  But it was recent.


It seems silly.  I am confessing I am ashamed that I am even spending
energy on these thoughts.


But if I don't purchase or paint something in the following color
ASAP I might have a melt down.

Robin's Egg Blue=My Next Project

My thoughts from Christmas and a Sidenote.

Wow!  What a Christmas!  I just took all of the decorations down
while the kids whined and cried and made me feel horrible for doing so. 
But I agreed to listen to Christmas music while I was working. 

Every year we spend Christmas in Florida I still have to constantly remind
myself that it really is Christmas even though it is warm and sunny outside. 
I don't know if this Okie will ever get used to it.  But this Christmas was
unique for other reasons.  Without writing a novel today I will just
say it was a revival.  We met with around 50 other believers from all over the
country and even Brazil 3 different times for worship and breaking of bread
and teaching on Hebrews. It was surreal and the most memorable Christmas so far. 
I'm sure I will share more as the Lord leads me about what Shawn and
I are learning about what it means for Christ alone to be the
head.  The head of our lives and the body that we fellowship with. 
It sounds simple but it is rocking our world.

The following are some thoughts that have been on my heart that I
felt it was time to put on paper.  They are not rules for my life or yours,
just things to contemplate......

...........the most important priorities in my life are to
1. have a REAL and intimate relationship with the Lord  
2. complete the work of the Father
(Eph 2:8-10)
3. show my kids the best picture
of Christ that I can through my relationship with my husband  and
4. teach and mold my children

So with those in mind I wrote the following:

What we were and were not created to do.  God could have made 48
hour days but he didn't. Why?  Because he knew we would waste that too!

1.  We weren't created to maintain 1600 plus square foot homes. 
Including cleaning, fixing, improving everything in and outside of the house,
 not to mention doing all of that for each possession in our homes. 
Think of ways to simplify and reduce time spent cleaning and re-cleaning earthly
materials that will have no value in eternity and begin spending that time on
kingdom building things like teaching your children or time with the Lord.

2.  We weren't created to spend 2-10 hours a day watching TV or
spending time on the computer.
Weren't we just fine before www took over the world?

3.  We weren't created to maintain and put time and effort into people
and relationships just for the sake of good conversation.  We were created to
be a light unto the world and live in COMMUNION (having everything in common)
with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Hebrews 3:13 says that we need daily
encouragement from one another so that we are not hardened by sin's
deceitfulness.  Our relationships should be purposeful and bear fruit.

Our body does nothing without our brain's direction. 
Our lives should be so submitted to the
the Father that it functions the same way.

In Christ,

Tanda

Sidenote:  After 16 years I am now a full-fledged-brunette! 
I'm loving it and so is the hubby and I actually changed my name
to Sasha because I cannot possibly be a brunette Tanda.  :)