Gum Paste, Torrential Rain, Weekends and a Winner

We’ve been cooped up for DAYS now with torrential rain just POURING down, flooding the streets with water and the grass with a green we’ve been missing for a long time now. I’ve been grateful for it, and we spent a day last week just hanging out, reading, in pjs (other than getting dressed for grocery shopping :D), watching movies and eating snacks together. The kids were so thrilled, they got a day to do “whatever we want”! Including working TOGETHER to make their OWN lunch!

Note to self: I should do this more often :D

That blessed day of rest was followed by a couple of days of chaos. I had a friend’s wedding I was making cupcakes and a cutting cake for, and I had planned on spending the boys’ VBS week practicing gum paste flowers and covering a cake with fondant (which I’ve NEVER done before).

Alas, it did not happen, so I, of course, left everything down to the last minute. Fortunately, our rainy day in gave me an opportunity to get started, and let the kids play with some of the dough themselves.

They really went at it and had a great time – The Boy even made a fantastic flower on his own!

I covered the cake on Saturday night – I’d made two, but wasn’t sure I would have enough fondant. So I covered the cake for the wedding first. BIG MISTAKE!

I had PLENTY of fondant and should have done a test cake first. I was devastated at the results, but as you’ll see in my post tomorrow, it worked out in the end – Praise God as we prayed, a LOT!

Oh, by the way, this box arrived on our doorstep last week.

My winnings from Jodi‘s giveaway! Goodie goodie gumdrops!

More rain came on the weekend, after a brief reprieve for a Sunday morning walk to church. We spent the afternoon at my parents’, hoping to be outside, with rain mixed with freshly cut grass (think sasquatch :D) kept us indoors. So the boys pretend played Guitar Hero

and Keeker had some story time with Nana.

I drew a winner for the Usborne Great Undersea Search book! And the book goes to…..

JESSICA!

I am beyond thrilled that you won this Jess! I KNOW your boys will love this book, perhaps even more than my boys do!

A quick goals update:

PERSONAL:

I’ve been waking up at 5:30 every day! Except the weekends :D

Quiet time is ALMOST always happening before online time! Praise God! I am so much better focused and open when it does.

The school room is ALMOST done! That is the goal for this afternoon and evening, to get the last few things into place. My brother-in-law has been staying with us for about a week, so the basement has been his room and I haven’t been able to get much done. But we’re almost there!

MARRIAGE:

We are praying more together! Sometimes I’m SOOOO tired, but it’s so important to our relationship!

Date night is planned for this week ;0) (Surprise honey!)

CHILDREN/HOMESCHOOLING:

We’ve been fighting – literally! – a few bad habits and attitudes lately. I think we’re about ready to get back into our normal school routine! My friend Christin has a great giveaway going on (only until Wednesday!) for a Doorposts book (one of my FAVE resource places! If you’ve heard me talk about For Instruction in Righteousness, that’s where it is from!) called A Brother Offended. I’m hoping to get my hands on that to better help our kids with their conflict resolution. We’re memorizing verses on being kind and tenderhearted, and momma is having to practice this BIG TIME too.

Plugging away at August’s habit of putting away what you touch. Weekends are the hardest. But the regular training is helping!

One more goal I’m adding here is getting the kids to record gifts. Even just one or two at mealtimes, I think it is important for reminding us Who provides our every need and loves us so much!

Speaking of gifts, I’m continuing to record my 1,000 gifts daily, so here’s the update!

472. Fluffy white clouds in a clear blue sky.

473. White cap waves

474. Fresh milk from the cooler (we were camping :D)

475. S’mores around the BBQ (due to the fire ban!)

476. Trail mix at the beach

477. Camp food – you’re so hungry by the time you’re finished cooking just about anything tastes amazing :D And NO ONE complains!

478. Birds singing in the morning light over the campground

479. Playing at the beach – my favourite place!

480. Tents and kids zipped into bed

481. Sand between my toes

482. A break from camp clean up