Season of Rich Nourishment

Tables of food, hours of sharing of hearts,discussing of the Word, surprise guests and gifts--these all served to be quite the distraction to blogging on any regular basis,it seems.
We are well and enjoying the more relaxed pace of the holiday season,nourishing our bodies and more importantly our souls with the blessings God has so generously given us.

Seasons of quiet can be so inspiring sometimes and preparation for times of days of much work,physically and spiritually. For these seasons I am thankful!

My children,are awake, having tea and listening to Pilgrim's Progress. They will have breakfast soon and tidy the kitchen. I need to get a load of laundry into the dryer shortly and decide on the course of the day. Seasoned venison is slowly baking in the oven,readying for a night of food and fellowship,New Year's Eve. May the Spirit of Prayer flow through our home,and yours also ,in these days of extra rest!
Celebrate His Love! Marcella

Home Again!

Well,the long planned for, trek to Texas, is now history,and what a lot of memories remain for our little family. Playing Last Word in Tennessee and fellowshipping, driving into Arkansas,Lee's birth state on his birthday,driving over the Mississippi River,listening and imagining with Christian on our first ever listen to Pilgrim's Progress on CD, starting our first chapter of the Betsy-Tacy books,seeing an accident soon after it happened.............. and the pure historical feeling of driving into a Texas sunset in ranch country.Isn't it beautiful?

Descending on Dallas at night-is that city BIG or what? We had dinner and a lovely welcome from Lee's brother ,along with a birthday cake and smuggled in presents from our suitcases.We researched our tourist options and fell into bed....

The next morning we hit the zoo,a first for quite a lot of our crew.

Those otters sure were a great favorite and showcased very well! This was a relief,right after seeing the tiger,which was not as scary as the boys had hoped,I think!

Now,this snake's worth photographing......

and sculptures were plentiful,as were the huge tortoises from the Galapagos.

An underground zone for the little people-and some not so little people too......(so I hear?)

One of these dinky penguins could almost be a bathtub pet,huh? I,myself,prefer the chimpanzees.

Since they didn't offer any of these as souvenirs I came home with a cheetah magnet.Not quite as playful,but far less work.

After the zoo workout(was it ever a workout too!) we found a little German diner/bakery/store which served very homey food.Tempted to go for a staple like a chicken sandwich, I decided to try my first ever hot,pastrami sandwich in the name of broadening my cultural knowledge.I wasn't sorry. Lee and I really enjoy little out of the way places like these ,and tend to ferret them out wherever we go...

We proceeded to drag Lee's very patient brother across the street to a very large ,used book store. We emerged after dark-us book people:)

Back for dinner, and then a DVD for the guys,we girls couldn't stay conscious any longer.

Thankfully,the next day was a much more relaxed pace,time for leisurely visiting and cleaning and then we hit the road again.

That last stretch was a whopper-by the time we arrived home the next day,Lee and I were quite dizzy! Lee hauled our garbage,I unpacked as fast as possible-I've found the faster you get the suitcases unpacked,the faster,you get truly settled in.Lee baked bread and I cooked supper and we were off to bed!

We're trying to get back in the swing of things,a lot of the vacation laundry is done, some homeschooling projects getting done, and most of the gifts for friends and needy friends are packaged and or out. Lee and I are not big on the holidays,but there seem to be enough presents of dessert around here to feed two families anyway! Best of all we got carolers tonight.SquirrelGirl loves the song "Angels we Have Heard on High" and so I think even she was delighted.

May tomorrow bring you many blessings,chiefly the Blessing of loving the One ,whose birthday we say we celebrate!

In His Love!

Marcella

Howdy from Texas!

Just a quick hello from Texas! It's been quite the trip! Pictures and details later.We're well and have been having a nice time. It's been quite relaxing for the most part.

Well, I need to keep moving here! Just stopping in for a minute:).
Marcella

Crafts and A Christmas Song

I'm almost done showing my stuff,I promise! Here's my popsicle stick tree,made on craft night at our community center.Origami was another choice,but what mother of four has the energy to learn origami folds in the evening,I ask???

Cinnamon dough ornaments-made at a craft night. They're lovely,but highly breakable. Ask me how I know.

And something I imagined in my head and created for our living room wall. This is a piece of art canvas painted with brown acrylic paint and left to dry. When it was dry I penciled on all the words,then went over the words with a fine brush and black acrylic paint. There would be far better quality brushes than what I used,but this still turned out half decent. And it's a craft that's quite easy on the pocketbook,especially when you nab a canvas at a good price.

And here's a Christmas song I really appreciate- It's About the Cross ,which School in Our Home has posted on her blog and I've also heard on the radio recently. Go here to listen-http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/SchoolinRhome/.

Well,I have carrot cake and broccoli soup to take in to Lee's workplace today to share with the staff and then continue prepping for an adventure we Pilgrims are about to embark upon.Stay tuned!

Celebrate His Wondrous Love!

Marcella

Still more playdough....

As we pack up lovely packages of special things for family and friends these days it's nice to add some unique little things. Packs of this playdough and the leaf votive holders added some handmade goodness to our gifting.You can find the recipe for the playdough and also Candy Cane Playdough at School in Our Home blog listed on my sidebar. Look under Arts and Crafts.

From my northerner's perspective,it's way too warm to be December, but there it is! Sunny and no snow in sight. I'd like a good,old snowstorm for a change!

Well,there's a wee girl who needs her diaper changed, some soup to start simmering, laundry to finish, maybe some sort of pie to bake,and so that said,I remove myself from in front of this screen. Wishing everyone a lovely night!
Marcella
*edited to add that the leaf votive holders can also be found at School in our Home! Happy "making"!

A Bucket of homemade playdough

-or keeping a four year old busy! I keep striving for rhythm and organization in my days and the days of my children,particularly my third child.She keeps being at loose ends,this number three of mine. I don't want that to be her memory of her childhood and the only way to remedy it is to plan.
So, jumping in one day, I mixed up a large batch of this homemade playdough,stuck it in an ice cream pail and labeled it. And you may notice it's colored pink! There was one activity,ready to go. By default a small table just her size was moved out of our Learning room. And a tiny chair from the depths of a closet. They came into the already narrow aisle of my kitchen. But it was just right for her. Near Mommy. Imaginating. Perfect.
Today I typed up a list of ideas for her . Painting with my fancy watercolors,which she adores. Coloring(probably more pink cats,forthcoming),playdough of course, helping me cook a recipe, and perhaps working on a thinking skills workbook. Sometimes it really is about the details and the planning....
Now for our mother-daughter,morning reading time. The special storybook basket has already been conjured up in my imagination.....More details later!
And it looks like I'll have a few new and interesting book additions winging their way to my house soon-I won a giveaway for three books from Chronicle Books from none other than Scribbit of Wall Street Journal Fame! You can find Scribbit's blog on my sidebar. I'll try to get pics of the loot when it arrives.
May your day go well! Celebrate His Love!
Marcella

The Learning Pursuits of a Seven Year Old Boy

Messing with his guitar....

Jess is my resident seven year old who probably knows more about our digital camera than I do. I cropped this picture he styled and lost some of the effect I think. At least it was appropriate subject matter. Ahem. We're still working on differentiating the finer details of that. He actually takes some pretty artistic pictures on occasion. Homeschooling gives him time to hone his photography skills which I find very practical:).

He checks the weather forecast daily on our homepage and that's opening new doors of knowledge for him also.

A 3D house design program his daddy bought for use on our computer has also piqued his interst and Ifind lots of houses on the computer screen nowadays.

And a book has opened the delight of a book series to him. None other than The Boxcar Children! The bookworm side of me wiggles in anticipation :) And Narnia is also a new interest. Hope my voice holds up!

And then there's chess. My mathaphobic brain tells me to stay out of this. Outsource little mother,outsource. And thankfully I've had no shortage of chess teachers generally.

And now the guitar. I think I can handle messing with the guitar. And fortunately,we are blessed with lots of guitar playing Christian "uncles". Maybe we can do this homeschooling thing afterall. Even with a time consuming one year old on the loose.:)

We love because He loves!
Marcella

The Blessing of One

We've celebrated a lot of blessings in this time of Thanksgiving. One thing we are supremely thankful for is one full year of loving Wrenbird, now known as SquirrelGirl. The sweet,fuzzy feel of her soft,fluffy head in the morning, her contentment with cheese and green beans, the feel of her little fingers pulling my hair and her little voice calling "come,come" delight us over and over.Her turning One kind of shocks me-it seems like a year passed so fast. But as she starts to stand on her very own I'm sure the second year holds much more precious promise,Lord willing.We love you,Squirrel Girl!

On her birthday,ready to head to church.

And last but not least, handmade gifts from our kitchen studio! Tea light holders. I'll have to get a link up on how they're done. I'm so keeping one of these for us!

May your day be blessed. Celebrate Love! Marcella

Feeling Green

I always feel "green" when I set my table with my "new to me " baskets holding paper plates instead of foam disposables. The baskets seem so much more lovely than the foam too. And take a look at the beauty of the speckles on those apple slices! The art in sliced fruit if it's cut and arranged properly is wondrous to behold!

Today I realized yesterday was my blog anniversary! It's amazing how a year of life can be captured here on these little online journals!

We just returned from a Christian music and art get-together and all I can think about clearly is sleep,so I'll take my leave. TTFN!
Marcella

Over Tea,Cookies and in Many Places...

My new favorite mug-recently discovered in the thrift-treasure shop. Can you guess why?

North Carolina this weekend. Lots of lovely fellowship was had by all and we even made new friends!

Lovely cookies brought by a friend I was babysitting for.

I've been realizing how many of my days have opportunities in them to sit over a craft or tea(or cookies) or so very many other things and share hearts with people. In faraway places or near, people have stories to tell and I am blessed to be able to listen, find nuggets of wisdom,share my own heart and experiences and be enriched. This is better than riches, people! Material riches have no warmth and no soul, no beating heart, no eyes filled with untold history. Yes, this is a rich life I live!

This morning is so lovely,with the children all fed,the kitchen tidied up, my small helpers done washing most of the dishes and ingredients ready to make a nice crockpot soup. I am peacefully drinking my tea and pondering what project to put the boys to. Chelsea is busy watching a video on elephants in between brushing my hair. Ahhh! Being a mom is good!

Celebrate God's Love and Blessings!

Marcella

Anniversary Love All Year Long

I found this old photo in the picture files this morning and it went perfectly with my theme.Even though the picture is a couple years old!

I'm not one who considers myself any kind of expert in marital advice.I guess I feel that those of us that have been married less than ten years are still very much beginners. But with eight years of marriage behind me and working on the ninth one I feel qualified to say at least one thing. Marriage takes work.And a happy,thriving marriage takes quite a bit of work and sacrifice.

But girlfriends,I give thee some hints.It seems like it's those little things that work to make a stunning, whole picture. A marriage that is amazing. Remembering to wash that coat without being asked. Being ready to leave the house on time when going out. And here's a new little way I love Lee. Cards. For no reason. Except loving him. He loves it!

It doesn't have to be expensive. It could be a free e-card. Or one of those 2 for a dollar Husband cards. Or it can be an expensive, beautiful card with a picture of his feet and her feet side by side and a perfect message.It can be almost anything. Just don't forget to tell him he's your best boyfriend. Amazing what that does for a guy! Try it sometime. But it has to be just because.

And there you have it. Anniversary style loving all year long!

Celebrate Love!

Marcella

Plastic Bubbles and Blessings

We've been playing with some mighty interesting bubbles around here these days-plastic ones.They come out of a tube, smell rather strong and the small experimenters think they are great fun. I believe they are called B'loonies in case you want to check them out for yourself. All in the name of science perhaps?

I have been marveling at God's faithfulness in so many ways recently,spiritually and materially.He truly knows our needs and provides just what we need at the proper times. Acknowledge that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and believe in the saving blood of Jesus Christ! God truly loves that confession and works miracles, of all sorts. Whether He sends much needed revelation or all the beds and parts you need at a time when you are greatly in need of them, He watches over the sparrow! I love you, Lord!

Celebrate Christ's Love!
Marcella

Gratitude and Rain

Feeling gratitude for: Snuggly places and clothes on this cold,rainy day.

A child's joyful voice proclaiming that there were puddles !

Bowls of Oatmeal, cooked in milk and covered with stewed prunes.

Heat

Warm tubs of water.

What are you grateful for these autumn days?
Celebrate Love!
Marcella

A Birthday Tea Party

There was a theme to this birthday gathering. A tea Party. Chelsea is the first girl born to this bookworm mother who disdained pink as a young woman and then as the mother of two sons. Enter daughter number one. God must surely have felt that there was a certain someone who needed some rounding out in the femininity department. Pink must be one of Chelsea's favorite colors.Ahem.

Last year was the year of the first nice doll and a carriage. This year Lee and I built a large dollhouse out of scraps. And I found four little teacups in the thrift store, a beautiful fake, pink orchid and used the heart teapot I found as a free yardsale leftover. A friend brought a pink cloth remnant for the tablecloth. We pulled it together although imperfectly.The cake was quite plain,the gifts hastily wrapped and I've gathered no saucers in the short time we've been back in the States, but we had wonderful food, happy friends, the blessing of nice little gifts, songs and creativity.And so together we ushered in Chelsea's Year of Being Four. Four is big.Four can start being Mama's Right Hand Woman. Thank-you Lord for this privilege,however different than me this Four year old is!

The dollhouse. And...Joy.

As mothers we model loving our husbands, loving our children, being good, cheerful keepers at home, and making a haven for family and ministry. May we do our job well.

Celebrate Love!

Marcella

So often it's the little things that count so much. A walk through the pastures and woods,gathering leaves to press and acorns,taking pictures and chatting are stones in the wall of relationship I'm building with my sons. They want my time and interest,my presence. There is only one Fall 2008. I'm so glad we spent a few hours together on this. Yet one more stone in our wall.

I have a large project staring at me so I must take my leave but check out my sidebar. There are some new links including one I practically hopped out of my chair with joy for! Heart to Heart is a new blog from an experienced homeschool mom, author and co-producer of a great homeschool product catalog.She writes deliciously and is an inspiration in the homeschooling journey. Enjoy!

Celebrate Love!

Marcella

Laundered Teddy Bears

The little folks decided to use markers as face paint on some especially special teddy bears.
Here they are hanging on the line and freshly laundered. They came through sparkling clean!

For me,part of keeping a home, is making sure upkeep happens. Which means you will occasionally find clean stuffed animals hanging on my clothesline.

I dislike stuffed creatures,but my children have their special babies. The time in their lives that they'll treasure teddies is fairly short. I'll try to keep it sweet!
Celebrate Love!
Marcella

Paper Bag Breakfasts

Brainstorming while responding to my children's pleas the other morning to eat breakfast outside,I thought of sandwiches wrapped in wax paper.Which led me to think of egg salad sandwiches. I needed a breakfast idea after all. Then, I thought about paper bags at some point in the game.And the whole paper bag breakfast menu kind of just fell together.

The Garfield bags happened to be a yard sale find I had around the kitchen. Homemade bread with egg salad made up the sandwiches,which were wrapped in wax paper(wax paper can be so useful), napkin, disposable spoon, each a pack of leftover holiday candy and individual applesauce packs which were purchased for pennies at the scratch and dent type grocery store.

Actual price-quite cheap. Memory value-priceless. My little people carried them off to the storage shed(really a rocket ship) and flew to the moon. Bon voyage!

And one more tidbit- a longlasting craft to do with the young people in your house:http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NatureNotesFromAbove/560666

Celebrate Love!

Marcella

Family Time

We took advantage of Election Day afternoon to have family portraits done. Historic photos,eh?

These were done in a nearby park. Rich autumn colors were in abundance and the water mirrored the trees above.Yes, a fine day for pictures!
Celebrate Love!
Marcella

November : A Month of Nurturing Home and Fellow Man

Pumpkin Cookie Pops served with tea and honey for family and friends.

Cookie Pops-popsicle sticks inserted before cookies were put in to bake.Frosting colored with coloring pastes in Autumn shades.

"Love not the world neither the things that are in the world,for if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." says the Bible.(Not copied word for word) I believe the Bible is written in a way that is quite confusing and cannot be really understood unless it revealed by the power of the Holy Spirit. In this verse that I'm still digesting ,I feel that what is being referred to is loving things in a way that implies that they are the end goal or the product to be striven for,The Important Point. Which they are not, in the whole and splendid scheme of things. But I feel at this point, that things can have a God honoring purpose if used to bless our fellow man and ultimately to bring Glory to our Father. It is a state of heart,a certain spirit we wish to avoid pertaining to things. And last but not least, we need to pray for God's leading on how we use the resources of time and materials He blesses us with.

This month, especially in this time of tension as a nation and with all the gloom and doom being spread on the news, I'd like to focus on positive notes and nurturing moments of home and one another. Life is uncertain,things happen that seem scary,but God is faithful and He gives us confidence to be trusting and thankful in each day and bless one another with Love in many forms!

Celebrate Love!

Marcella

Special Days This Autumn

Blowing out Seven candles is hard work! My beautiful, precious firstborn! Eternal soul ever dear to me. May God hear your mother's prayers for the preservation of your sweet heart.

My bear design was last minute work-can you see the drippiness? A friend offered to let me use her Wilton decorating kit next time.I could use that and more time another time!

Alex's Aunt S. was making a rare visit and managed to get to help Alex cut his volcano cake.We held Alex's birthday celebration at the soup kitchen where we volunteer.I worked like mad making food and a Lot of cake to reach around for everyone! It was a bit wild! Aunt S. helped keep everything running smoothly so that sure did help.

The volcano cake also got done pretty last minute-Alex still looks satisfied.

Alex,my artist,my fix-it man and a generous soul, I look forward to working with you in Vineyard of the Lord as you grow older,Lord willing!

Last,but absolutely not least on the last day of this month,I remember the first, which marked 8 years of matrimony with the biggest boy of all and Chief Pilgrim in our house,my sweet Lee.

It's only getting better, like a vintage wine or something,sweetie! Or maybe an aged cheese?

Above is how we started our special day with a cheesecake,a card and special chocolates from my sister.Lovely! We tried to have a romantic dinner at a long agreed upon spot in an Indian American cafe,but it was a little difficult to get too carried away with Wrenbird squirming around in our booth! We did a few other things afterwards including going to the dollar store and each getting the other a gift of the type one would usually think to buy for one's beloved before one marries and tend to forget to think of after one marries. We hid our gifts from one another and opened them later. My gift to Lee was a hanging frog to hang on his mirror in the van.

You see? The type of gift I would usually forget to think of. The object was love,not price tags! Whoever said you couldn't enjoy yourself on a small budget? I dreamed up that idea and Lee enjoyed it so much! He got me some neat stuff too!

Well,we returned home from one fall fest tonight and plan to do a booth at one with our other fellowship tomorrow.I dressed up as a Peruvian lady wearing a Peruvian tablecloth as a sort of dress/skirt over my clothes and a Guatamalen tablecloth as a shawl. I carried a Peruvian handbag and wore a Peruvian hat and managed to snag a tie for Most Unique in the costume contest. I think Lee thought I wouldn't dare do the catwalk! Heh!

I dressed Wrenbird as a Peruvian baby and rustled up a Native American costume for Jess, a fireman one for Alex and Chels went as a purple robed princess.

Today,as it often is,was busy.Laundry often pursues me and today after Wrenbird being sick a lot,I had poop stains, puke stains and I don't know what else to clean up. Still working on it!

I still am changing the family wardrobe over too,which is no small task I tell you! Storing what can work for next summer,giving away what won't,tossing what's practically threadbare and replacing with bits and pieces of warm clothes from storage is actually a whole organizational feat! I love my sister for buying Jess warm winter pajamas for his birthday! We have almost all our coats set for the cold season and now proceed to fillin the sweater gaps. And where do we store and organize everything?

In the middle of everything, our landlords asked for a bed platform and mattress and boxspring set I'd forgotten they were loaning us.So I had to quickly clean and tear bedrooms apart,removing pieces from their respective spots.Thankfully, we had an air mattress loaned from my sister so the boys had a temporary bed!

Well, I should proceed to other late night tasks! Be well. Marcella

Blackboard Ideas

http://www.hollymathisinteriors.com/ Here are some great blackboard ideas-I'm thinking of a certain soon to be 4 year old's birthday! Or perhaps a dollhouse made out of an old dresser so we can build various stories....Hmmnnn.
Marcella

An Awesome Chariot

Straining grape pulp from free grapes Abuela and Abuelo picked for us.My,how we feasted on fresh grapes too!

Today an aquaintance of ours and the very good friend of some of our best friends passed away. She was close to death for a number of days but rather quickly took a turn for the worse. And it got me reflecting on death.For a Christian the part of death that's sad is the leavetaking,I guess. The good-byes.It's like going on a long,long trip or rather like moving away from a beloved neighborhood forever. And when you love someone,you don't want to say good-bye for long.See you later is much preferred. But dying,especially for those left behind,feels so permanent. For the human part of us, we know and plan to meet one another in that place we call Heaven. But it feels so different from our current reality that it's hard to comprehend.If we dig a little deeper the soul knows and yearns to return Home,our real Home and our Father,Abba Father.

This is where I want to focus and teach my children to focus on . I remind and teach them that true reality is that our bodies are shells for the everlasting Real part of us which comes and returns to the Father.I tell them about Home,of golden places. I want them to have an underlying reality of something bigger and truer than what meets the eye.

"...but I know to be absent from this body, is to be present with the Lord,and from what I know of Him,that must be pretty good." approx. words Sara Groves song

Let's learn to think of death as a natural part of life, to live more comfortably with it's ever present shadow in our lives. So Death, when you come with your Awesome strength, you will not take me entirely by surprise. I'm gonna be sad for those left behind,but beyond that I want to rejoice when that impressive chariot of yours rolls up. For I trust Paradise is the destination.

May we all meet one day at the golden gates! Glory!! Marcella

Enjoy the Weekend !

Jess and Alex at an international fair one weekend.

Is it cheating if I didn't exercise and still want to wish you a happy weekend? Good! Happy weekend everyone!

And if you need quick meals for a busy weekend I noticed Hillbilly Housewife has lots of nice recipes up right now! http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com
Marcella

A Blog beauty to share

Garden harvest-photo styled on his own by Jess.

When I was in my late teens, homesteading and homemaking books and magazines were my big interest.I was gaga about handmade things. Dreams of homey, rustic places to creatively and frugally live filled my mind.
God stepped in. I got married and my life was shaken and turned topsy turvy in so many,many ways! I'm a newly turned 26 now, with a husband and four children to boot. Our lives overflow with -well life! Ministry for our beloved Jesus eats up our extra time. But in all the living and growing and experiencing (how can eight or nine years seem like they held so much?) I feel like I've come rather full circle. Homemaking as an art, homemade, homegrown is what I care for as a woman and enjoy as God sees fit, in this my pilgrimage time on Earth. These days I thank God for little moments. In uncertain times and even in more"certain" times there are never any guarantees. Nothing except this moment. And God the Father can be in each of them !

A favorite blog in the "home" category is back, as I excitedly discovered today! May I introduce you to www.eyesofwonder.typepad.com. I leave you with this goody. May you enjoy your homemaking today! Marcella

Soup,Exercise and Prayer

Jess making phonics cards,using pictures cut from old magazines...

It's an amazing season in life right now for us. First I'll explain my hiatus from this blog though! You see, I'd made a deal with myself that if I kept my exercise routine, I was allowed to blog. Well, with life so full, I have really struggled to add my exercise routine in there these days. But a season of many long distance visitors is about over, I crashed for about a day-barely able to muster the energy to do basics and all that rest helped me start over, and a new element or two is coming into our lives which have not been there for quite a long time and are met with much thankfulness for the routine and order they should bring to us. All that to say I feel like exercise is doable again. And my fingers itch to blog. You can look to see me around again.....

Soup is definitely in order these days! All kinds. Some sharp, smelly cheese or even a milder slice is very good to go with this. Bread is good too. Crunchy apples for snacks refreshes your palate. Wonderful autumn food abounds. Eat it with gratefulness to the Giver of Life and all blessings.

Prayer. Praying without ceasing is never too out of date. God wants to hear from us. A lot. Want to see good things happening in your life and in the lives of others? What are you sowing? Idle thoughts or fervent prayer?

Seek the kingdom of God, friends! You will never be sorry!
Marci

Scarecrow Man's Debut

We're not saying there won't be finishing touches,but here he is in all his simplicity.

Dry cornstalks from the garden, potted coleus gifted from a friend, and the scarecrow himself sports Lee's old,torn jeans, boots from a Costa Rica trip,I think, a one dollar shirt from a yard sale, and a yard sale hat.

Scarecrow's head is a plastic,gallon jug covered with burlap that I had rescued from a free pile at a yard sale also. I glued on felt facial features from my tiny felt stash. All this is held together with safety pins. He's stuffed with plastic bags and newspaper. We gathered long,dry grass from the yard to make his hands etc.. This scarecrow is a first for us but it was easier to make than I expected. So many things can be accomplished when we dare to jump in and try things!

Snuggled around our stuffed creation!

Enjoy these autumn days,friends. We have rainy,wet and cold weather in our area right now. Tea, soup, and a supper like I'm preparing right now-mashed potatoes,bratwurst and sauerkraut are on the menu. Stay warm!

Marcella