Free Dance Lessons

Yeah you heard me "Free Dance Lessons". Praise the Lord! We are on a very tight budget, like most people we know. So dance lessons are a bit of a luxury. Lily has wanted to take dance lessons for some time now and talks about it quite often. A few of her friends take dance, including our neighbor's little girl , who is Lily's good friend and only a year older. So Lily would often see her coming home in her dance outfit and even saw her all dolled up for her recital. So you can imagine my heartache, when we had to tell Lily "Maybe the next time sweety". It was not only the cost of the class, but the gas to and from and the outfits and the shoes too. Cha CHing! So anyways, I hadn't mentioned anything to anyone, partly out of shame for not being able to afford it right now, and hating to deny my child of something most little girls dream of. Well a few weeks ago, I received a phone call from a friend @ church. Here is the short version of the conversation.

Mrs. P-"Hey Molly, I'm not sure if you were interested, but I've been talking to Mrs. K and we've been praying about starting a free dance class out of my house."
Me-Are you kidding?! I can't believe it. That's all Lily ever talks about. We dance in the living room every day. She would be so blessed.
Mrs P.-"That's great, we were thinking we would meet here on Mondays around 2 after everybody's nap time."
Me- (still shocked and excited) Wow are you sure Mrs. K wants to do it for free? Is there anything we can do for her?
Mrs.P- "She refuses to be paid, she loves to dance, and just wants to bless the kids."
Me- "Oh my Word! Thank you so much! I am so excited I can't wait to tell Lily."

So I told Lily, and she was obviously very excited. Then three days later one of her friends from the neighborhood just happens to give her a hand me down Black dance leotard with the little skirt attached, so cute. She wore it the first day. When we arrived the girls were all dressed so cute. And Mrs. K Said they could wear whatever they wanted to dance class. Learning this, Lily couldn't wait to bust out the big pink tutu she wears when we play dress up and have tea parties. So I just had to take a picture, or ten. These pics are from Monday, Right before we went to her third dance class. Of course Eden wanted to dress up too.

God is Amazing. Yet another answered prayer. Mrs. K is teaching the classes, is a great dancer, and a wonderful woman. And Mrs. P, who is hosting the Dance Classes is only 2 minutes down the road from my house. So we don't even have to worry about gas. We are so very very blessed. Praise Jesus!

So needless to say I would like very much to do something special for them both. I appreciate any ideas you might have, besides the obvious fall backs like gift certs. I would like it to be thoughtful and creative. :) Thanks in advance for your comments/ideas.

Ice Princess

Lily took this picture of her new skates. New to her anyway ;)

It all started when Lily and Mommy watched the movie Ice Princess. Yes I am a total dork and I like teeny bopper princess movies. And I think figure skating is pretty cool. But I am not coordinated or graceful enough for that. Haha So ever since we saw that movie, probably six months ago now, Lily has had a desire to try it out. Of course they make it all glamorous, what little girl wouldn't want to. So Kevin and I looked in to lessons and found that they were quite expensive and what was I going to do with Eden while Lily is on the Ice, try to entertain her in the lobby or try to get her to sit still and watch her sister have fun. Then we thought we could get her some skates and take her to Grampa's lake house, but it hadn't been good weather, and we hadn't gotten any skates yet. Well this past weekend, some friends from church stopped by with a great big bag of hand me downs. Lily loves getting Hand me downs. It is a treat to get new threads. Especially since we don't do much shopping @ all. So after they left we dove in, and in the bag was a pair of beautiful barely used Ice Skates. Lily was so excited I wish I had the camera on Saturday to catch her reaction. "Praise Jesus!" she said. I was so happy she gave the Glory to God. He knows the desires of our hearts. Even little hearts.
We also got a really good freeze on the lake this week. The weather was cold, but sunny and tolerable yesterday. So Grampa took us out on the Lake and Lily had a blast. She was quite the little princess. I could tell she felt like one. :)

Grampa and I each held her hand and walked along with Eden too, but for the Sake of taking a picture Grampa had to let go and take a step back. We just had to get a picture of this happy day. Then the camera battery died. Glad we got one.

Hand Me Down Flowers

Okay another post about Gardening & the approach of Spring. I can't help it. I am so excited. After all, one of my favorite things is gardening. And all the Gardening magazines/catalogues are filling up my mail box. I don't know about you, but we certainly don't have the money to be buying up all the beautiful blooms advertised in those fabulous mags. My mom suggested that I spread the word that I was looking for free Flowers. She said "People are always splitting thier bulbs and thinning out their gardens to neaten them up, and prevent them from getting over crowded." So in the past couple years I have put the word out, that I was starting a few gardens of my own, and would love to give any orphaned flowers a good home. I was surprised @ the turnout. One woman actualy wanted to tear up her garden completely and start over. So my friend called me up and we took everything she didn't want. Another friend had far too many flowers and they were starting to choke them selves out. Others have saved me their seeds. I have been so blessed. And another cool thing about this is that when you look @ your garden you remember the friends who helped you to fill it with love.
You can also check Craigs List and Freecycle for flowers.

Here is a list of flowers I have been given for my garden, in the form of Hand Me Downs.
I will try to update it as it grows.

Bachelors Buttons
Black Eyed Susans
Cosmos
Daisies
Grape Hyacynths
Hens & Chicks
Holly Hock (seeds)
Hostas
Iris
Ivy
Lilac Bushes
Purple Cone Flower (echinacea)
Sunflower (seeds)

So spread the word, and watch your Garden Grow! ;)

Gosh I love Hand Me Downs!

Eden enjoying her hand me down exersaucer. Wearing her hand me down Hat and hand me down fleece ducky outfit. All from the Barn Blessing. The Uggs were Lily's when she was a baby, a gift From Auntie Katie.