~~party at my house~~

Not only is it MY very special 40th birthday!!!!!

(One of my little stinkers wrote on the calendar!!)

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But, it's also the kick off of the 2012 Ultimate Blog Party, brought to you by 5 Minutes for Mom!

If this is your first time to my little world...let me introduce myself.

I'm Charlene, wife, mother of 6 and blog author.

Yes, that says mother of 6!!

My husband and I have been married for almost 20 years and we have 6 beautiful children...Amanda, 19; Anthony, 18; twins Sarah and Zachary, 14; Nicholas, 10 and Nathan, 6. 

 

I'm a stay at home mom, but I'm planning on going back to school this fall and getting a degree in elementary education/early childhood development (I'm super excited about this opportunity).

As a wife (for over 19 years) and mom of six...I can say that my life is like one big adventure.

I first started blogging in 2006, when my youngest was almost a year old.  I decided I needed a place to put my thoughts and keep my memories, a place that my children can look at and read about their childhood.  Memories are fleeting as they say, so it's nice to have it all written down somewhere, even if it's written in a place for the whole wide world to read as well.

My blog is mostly about my life as a mom of a big family.  I love crafting, sewing, cooking, baking, thrift shopping, gardening/canning and hanging out with my family.  My heart is happiest when I'm home with my family.

Some fun things you will find on my blog are a kids activity link party called Hey Mom, Look What I Did....featuring children's arts and craft activities.    I love to read about other moms that blog, so I have a Moms That Blog (the interviews) series where I interview some of my favorite mom bloggers.

  I love crafting and also doing projects with my kids (you can find lots of kids projects on my pages Arts and Crafts for Kids and Kids Books and Themes)

My kids love the little arts and craft projects that we do, like


Nathan's Toilet Paper Snake

I also love getting ideas for crafts using children's books like the wall whale art that Nathan enjoyed.

Rainbow Octopus

I love cooking, baking and sharing my recipes.

Like this one for my cabbage rolls

And I LOVE decorating cupcakes....so much so that I have hundreds of sprinkles, cupcake liners and other fun baking decors. 

  

My latest love is sewing....I'm a beginner seamtress (can I call myself that??) and love perusing Joann Fabrics. I love walking through the aisles of fabric and touching them, I love the rows of ribbon and pompoms, the baking supplies, etc.

I recently started an Etsy shop selling my womens and childrens aprons.

I also love making pillows and buntings...and will probably add these items to my shop eventually.

I love making wreaths and decorating our house with all the fun stuff that I find thrifting or making with my own two hands.

(rainbow rag wreath that I made)

(my childrens art gallery and bunting that I made)

I love trying new things.  I have sort of an addictive personality when it comes to my hobbies, which is why my cabinets are crammed full of baking supplies.  My closet is jammed with art supplies and my sewing basket is so full of thread and bobbins that I can hardly close the lid.

Mostly, I just love being with my family and going on little adventures with them.

For more about me and my family come check out my about us page

Hang out with me on twitter or  facebook, I love chatting with friends!!

Hope you enjoy your week of big party adventures and stick around and keep on reading mine :)