Ever After

This year, Ariana has had the opportunity to participate in several choir performances as a member of … our church choir … and her school’s honor choir … and “All City Choir” (she is one of three children from her school to be a part of this prestigious performing group). One particularly fun performance was [...]

‘Twas the night before the night before Christmas, and all through the house … All we creatures were stirring, especially my spouse. (The girls and I had come down with a very nasty stomach flu, and BT was having to take care of the unpleasantries) The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, But [...]

I’ve fallen IN LOVE with a line of children’s clothing patterns called “Oliver + S“.  It doesn’t help that I also have an addiction to paper dolls and all things vintage, but patterns just don’t get any cuter than this: These are just a few of the patterns that will be arriving in the next [...]

This year, Ariana divided her Christmas list into “Needs” and “Wants.” Being the frugal little soul that she is, there was only one item in each column. (Uncle David would be SO proud). Need–a belt Want–string The belt, I understood. But string??? When pressed for an explanation, she indicated that it would be really handy if [...]

Between being gone for a week and a half on vacation, my suddenly busy little jewelry & photo card business (simple-blessings.com), homework, etc., etc. Halloween had long since come and gone, and our pumpkin remained uncarved.  I was grateful when BT and the kids sat down one evening and worked their magic. I thought it [...]

READER ALERT: The following post is a boring travelogue. If you choose to read beyond this point and end up falling asleep, don’t say that I didn’t warn you. For nine glorious days, our Tolbert tribe basked in the sunshine (and a day of rain) in Orlando, FL over Thanksgiving break.  I even embroidered/appliqued matching [...]