And So It Begins....

We officially have a teenager on the premises! Happy Birthday Benjamin! I tremble... but not because of the famed "teen age" years fear. More a fear of ... oh no, how much more CAN he eat????? Thank God for Aldi!

We have been working on some outdoor stuff on these gorgeous spring days as time allows. School has the priority. We are soooo close to be done, that we are not taking any time off. I think everything will be all finished inside of a week. Yay!

Meanwhile, I have been trimming lilac bushes, weeding in the Memorial garden and planting gladiola bulbs, and I weeded around the baby blueberry bushes, put manure down, and mulched, and of course, we had the garden dragged so now it is all ready to plant. My plan today was to get going on the planting, but it is rainy, so I will have to catch up on a few things inside. It has been so nice out I haven't been able to resist the temptation to ignore the indoor stuff and go outside. Below are some pics of what we have been up to.

Missed Monday!

I had a blog post all planned out yesterday and just plain never got a round to it. You know those things... those little round "tuits". One of these days maybe I'll get a bucket full of them and catch up on a few things around here that I haven't had time to get around "tuit". My mother in law was the first one I ever about those pesky little "tuits' from. So, for one Christmas, I gave her a small child's sand pail (new of course) with a bunch of juice can lids that I had cleaned and written "tuit" on. She got a chuckle out of that. That was many years ago, before we had children and I had time to sit and write "tuit" a hundred times for no good reason.

We have gotten around "tuit" on several projects around here anyway. I finished a set of dressed for the twins. Jerusha's dress is one handed down from when the girls were that size. She just wanted to be in on the picture, the little ham.



We've also been working on school, and getting loose ends tied up. I think all the regular testing is done, and we need to order the standardized tests for the twins and Benjamin to take this year. We are late on doing that, but it will have to do. Here are some of the activities we have been doing. One is a lapbook on astronomy. We also finished up a lab book on the U.S. Constitution. I will be posting the more about those with corresponding links that we found helpful in another post. For now, here is a sample pic of two of our lap books:



We have been doing piano/recorder during the year for music. A lot of times I have a rotation of sorts set up for different activities... someone at the piano, someone at the puter, someone reading history, or whatever. After about 20 minutes we rotate. In the afternoons, during quiet time, they do their individual work.





For Mother's Day, Dale had offered to take us all out to eat, but I really wanted to just stay in, relax in my comfy clothes, and have some delicious blueberry pancakes. In the afternoon I got a nice nap, and while I was resting, the children gathered up our recycled craft supplies (ie... juice containers, cardboard, and the like), and made some airplanes, WW1 style. They have this game on the puter called Red Ace Squadron, and got the idea for the planes from that. I must say, they were very creative, and I enjoyed seeing what they came up with.







It is customary for the church to give each mother and young lady a flower for Mother's Day, and the girls all gave me theirs when we got home. They were very pretty, deep colored, red carnations.



Today was one of those days that started out with taking one step forward, and about 10 backwards. We are SO ready for a break from schoolwork! Thankfully, we are almost finished, and only have a few little loose ends to tie up. All the major subjects are done. We are working up finishing book and research reports, memorizing Romans 2, a few more Spanish lessons, and I think the twins have a few reader stories left to do. Other than that, we are pretty much done. Through the sumemr we will be practicing piano, some sewing for the Fibers of Faith group, and math review for Esther starting in a few weeks. Oh, and reading. Our kids LOVE to read.

After an awkward morning, things got rolling just fine. Through the course of the day, all the regular chores were done, I mowed the lawn, and we had the garden plowed and the kids helped Mr. Butch (yes, they really call him that!) shovel and spread shale at the end of the church driveway to fill in a couple of major potholes. We'll be spreading gravel soon, too. Also, Mr. Butch said he would be back to use the drag on the garden. I was so thankful to hear that! He made our garden about 25% larger, which still doesn't make a HUGE garden, but the thought of raking all the furrows out was somewhat daunting. I can't wait to plant! Here are a couple pics:

Mr. Butch plowing the garden:



The kids riding in the back of Mr. Butch's truck back to the house. (No one have a heart attack here.. the house is in back of the church property. Our driveways even connect. He never drove them on the road. )



Isaac has been trying to roll over. He hasn't quite got the hang of it yet, however! I told him he didn't have to be in a hurry, but babies seem to have their own opinions of these things.





This next pic was after I had freshly changed a diaper and was getting him dressed. Yeah, I admit it, I helped him all the way over. He is just so stinkin' cute!



Blessings from our house to yours!

Blog Referral

I hope my buddy Amy doesn't mind :), but please visit her blog for a wonderful post called "Therefore Get Wisdom".

Birthday Blessings!

Esther and Elizabeth turn 11 today! Happy birthday girls! We love you and are thankful that God put you in our family. (( Hugs ))

Most of the family already knows that we celebrate all our May birthdays later in the month. But just for something special, we are having a "Dessert Tea Time" with a couple friends after supper tonight. I will be making pumpkin scones, and we'll have some fruit salad too.

In the meantime, it is beautiful outside today. Lots of sunshine, so I am washing like crazy and hanging as much as I can outside. Also today I would like to try and finish the girls dresses. Those pesky things have been on my sewing table for too long, and I need to finish them up. Of course, there will be lots of outside time this afternoon! All our bikes have been maitenanced by the mechanic and his almost-teenager helper, so we have been enjoying some bike riding, along with basketball, and going for walks.

School is paring down to just a few things per day and we are enjoying some extra time to get some spring cleaning done, and more time outside. Pretty soon we'll be planting the garden! Wohoo!

Baking Day!

We spent the morning yesterday, amidst piano practice, tutoring, chores, and lapbooking, doing some baking. The house smelled reallllly good for a while!

We had several bananas that were overly ripe so we made some banana oatmeal and raisin muffins.



Then I made these gigantic chocolate chip cookies from a recipe off the the No Greater Joy site. Not sure I care for the "cakiness" of them, but that didn't seem to put anyone else off.



Of course, making bread here is an every other day task, for the most part. Yesterday was Elizabeth's turn to mix up the dough, then put it into loaves, and baked it at the appropriate time.



Dale came home in the afternoon to lots of goodies to eat, and he and Isaac had some veggin' out time together.



We weren't the only ones baking yesterday. After prayer time at church, the kids were suprised by this creative cake made by Mary for the May birthdays.



It was delicious! Here is a pic of Butch and Mary, who are our right hands at church.



Each of the kids (except Isaac of course) got a lollipop. Those suckers are 89 cents a pop now! (puns intended... sorry!). YIKES!!!!



After a long day baking, fussing, playing and growing, Isaac had this response to all the hoopla:



As most of you know, Dale has a somewhat dry sense of humor that over the last 18 years I have learned to appreciate, eye roll, and ignore for the most part. His snide little comments are contagious though. The following is a true story.

Dale one night before church was quickly eating in his bathrobe. When he was done, he excused himself saying :
"I need to go throw my clothes on, be right back!"
Esther's response as she non-chalantly continued eating: "I hope you have good aim."

LOL!

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY: May 4th, 2009

Outside my window... Cloudy, gray, a little chilly.

I am thinking... about how to prioritize the tasks I need to do today.

I am thankful for... My sweet husband.

From the learning rooms... Finishing up unit studies on Astronomy and the U.S. constitution, and finishing up different subjects for the year. I will be making a generic list of what we will be doing next year, based on what I can get for free online, or really cheap.

From the kitchen... Just enjoyed some coffee and delicious oatmeal.

I am wearing... My pj's... again. Really, I do get dressed in the mornings! I just wait until after Isaac has his morning feeding. It just happens he is sleeping in a bit today.

I am creating... Heart strings with my children by trying to have more play time with them and not as much "to do" list kind of thing.

I am going... Nowhere this week, Lord willing. Lots of fun stuff to do around here, and I am a hopeless homebody.

I am reading... Still in Psalms. Almost done with that. It is one of my favorite books in the Bible and I like to savor the reading time.

I am hoping... To finish the girls dresses and get their slips cut out and started this week. I didn't spend as much time as I thought I would last week on them.

I am hearing... Blessed quietness for the most part. Everyone but Isaac is awake, but cleaning their bedrooms.

Around the house... Need to make up this week's menu, shopping lists, and start planning next terms school work so I know what to order or look up online.

One of my favorite things... Laying down to snuggle and nurse Isaac in the wee hours of the morning or in the afternoon when the house is quiet.

A few plans for the rest of the week: I still need to make dentist appointments, and eye appointment for Benjamin. Also plan to sew and do some hand quilting and knitting as time allows. Outdoor, weather permitting, planting glads, getting the garden rototilled and started planted, and weeding the memorial garden and figure out what I would like to add to it this year.

Here is picture thought I am sharing:




Thanks to The Simple Woman for hosting this! http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Simple Pleasures

The below is an old Shaker hymn, with a very pretty tune to it.

SIMPLE GIFTS
'Tis the gift to be simple,
'Tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
It will be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,
to bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed
To turn, turn, will be our delight,
'Til by turning, turning, we come round right.

This post is dedicated to the hundreds of simple pleasures in life that get taken for granted. Here are just a few:

Enjoying a nice home made quilt in the early morning chill:


Snuggle time... anytime!


Time to be creative:


Getting the garden ready for planting (yup, that's good ol' fashioned manure, folks):


Tea time: (I love Lorna Doone's btw! Anyone know the history on those? I looked it up out of curiosity, but will save that for another post):


Spring flowers, and a little girl enjoying them:


Snuggling up with a favorite blanky and a good book:


Some other thing that you can't see but can smell:
Bread baking in the oven.
Venison cooking in the crock pot with onions and peppers.
The season's first hyacinths.
Springtime's gentle rain and the clean air.

Some other things you can't see, but can hear:
Peepers
The gentle rain
early morning birds waking up
The children laughing and playing
Isaac squealing and giggling at a sibling
A child practicing piano
The twins doing dishes and singing together while they work.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to appreciate and take advantage of times when we can just simply enjoy an activity together. Lately I have been enjoying bike riding with Benjamin, or going for a walk with a child, or two, or three, or six, like tonight, taking time to have tea with the girls, playing games, etc. There is nothing profound in all this, but just me trying to be more aware of the simple pleasures in life, and sharing them more with my children. They grow up so fast!

So, have you taken time to "stop and smell the roses" today? Either by yourself, or with a loved one?