For Today - First Monday in August

FOR TODAY

Outside my window…  Sunny, blue skies and fluffy white clouds
I am thinking…  Lots of thing rolling around in my mind….  first I need to tackle the mess in our kitchen and plan our lunches for this week. 
I am thankful… Thankful for a good morning during our first morning at VBS.  I have a great group and we all had fun!
In the kitchen… No much, except lots of dishes need washing….
I am wearing… Denim skirt and red tee shirt
I am creating…  At the moment I don’t really have any sewing projects on the go, although I have things I’d like to sew!
I am going…  To work on some chores here in the house and we need to pick beans and cucumbers.
I am reading…  Just the Bible right now, I just finished a book by Jennie Allen called “Anything”  Gave me lots of ponder and think about!!
I am hoping…  For for a few things…. 
I am looking forward to… tomorrow morning at VBS!
I am learning….  that I need to continue to keep pressing on and that Jesus will give me wisdom and strength even when I feel so insecure and inadequate to filful my calling as a mommy.
Around the house…  children are playing for now and baby dear is napping.
I am pondering…  Just finishing up planning for this coming school year. 
One of my favorite things…  A tiny voice saying, “I love you!
A few plans for the rest of the week: VBS each morning and gardening in the afternoons.    Plus school planning for this coming school year and whatever else comes my way.    Keep up to the housework and laundry.
A peek into my day…

First time experience!!

He thought having the clothespin in his hair was funny! He didn’t want me to take it out. Not sure which of his older siblings put it in….

A Walk In Our Woods

A couple of weeks ago now, the boys and I went for a walk in our woods.  It was such a delight to see green, splashed with colour here and there.  I love the season spring!!  So much new life....

We were walking along the path leading to our woods, when all of a sudden a duck flew out of the grass. We soon saw this nest! I just checked on this nest a couple days ago, and mama duck is still sitting on her clutch. I was surprised to find this nest here, I thought they would nest closer to the pond.

Me and two of my boys.... :)

These are the boys that came on the hike. :) Baby Dear was napping. :)

Pretty violets

Pretty yellow violets

Jack-in-the-pulpit...

This fern is almost as tall as me, mom! :)

Interesting fungi...

Beautiful apple blossoms..... The trees are loaded out back!

Lovely meadow, so peaceful... :)

The purpose of our walk was to go and see if the trilliums were blooming. We found some, but they were not as plentiful as it has been in years past. They were still lovely and we enjoyed a great walk!

Here in the house, we've been busy planting in the garden and getting school work done.  One son is just about finished for the summer, the other one has a bit more to do, but it shouldn't take too long.  I'll post an update on life here next week.

Blessings!!

Just a note....  I've been slowly working on creating a new blog at wordpress...  Here it the link...

A Beautiful Calling At Harmony Acres

Muffins, Cleaning & More

 Just an important note, I'll be blogging over here soon.  

I don't have the blog quite ready, but once it is, I'll let you know!  :)

Here I'm sitting again at the computer while my bread sponge is rising again in the bosch.  Hopefully, I don't forget it like last time!   We can honestly say we have no bread in the house, so I must bake if the girls are going to have bread for their school lunch tomorrow.  :)
Today, we enjoyed a cozy day in the house while outside it rained most of the day, which then turned to snow.  Thankfully the snow is not staying, but that wind is cold!  My seed order was delivered right to our front door this morning by the mailman, so now I'm itching to get my hands in the soil.  According to the weather forecast warmer weather is coming back.  :)

A little boy disappointed that he was not able to go out and play today. He loves the outdoors!

School wise, the day was ok.  Had some rough moments, but also some moments worth more than gold.  :)  I caught up on some ironing too while helping one son do his math, so that was good!  We have a goal of being done school for the summer by the first of June.  Although, I am planning to have the boys do one page of math about 3-4 days a week.  Our oldest son really struggles with math and so I would hate to lose it all during the summer.  We shall see how it goes....
Just before supper, I made up some muffins, using the recipe below.  I was just about ready to fill the muffin cups, when I realized I had used way too much butter.  I used enough for 4 recipes, not 2.  So out came more ingreds. and I ended doubling the recipe times 4.  First time I made the recipe and they are so delicious!!  Good thing, because four recipes made just over 4 dz.  :)

Mmmmm….. look at those delicious muffins!

Chunky Apple Muffins

• 1 medium Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and quartered
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon plus 2 pinches salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (omit if serving to children under 3)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put muffin papers in muffin tins or spray tins with oil and set aside. Cut 3 apple quarters into 1/4-inch dice; cut remaining apple quarter into 12 thin slices for garnish.
2. Whisk together sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add diced apple and walnuts, if using; toss to coat.Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and butter in a small bowl. Gently fold buttermilk mixture into flour mixture until just combined; do not overmix. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each about three-quarters full. Top each with an apple slice. Bake until muffins are brown around edges and spring back when touched, 16 to 18 minutes. Let muffins cool slightly, about 5 minutes, before turning out of tin onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

My kitchen was a real mess this evening and here's proof.....

Now that looks much better!! It will be a lovely sight in the morning too.  :)

Bread rising in the oven, although now it is baking.  :)

A lovely stack on muffins!  Wonder how long they will last...  I keep hearing how delicious they are.  :)

Well, I’m off to read a story to the children before bed time.  We are reading “Because of Winn-Dixie”, it’s a cute story.    It was a good day here.  God is faithful and oh, so good!

A Note From Baby Dear

Just a quick note, my mommy does want to blog, but right now she doesn't have time.  Maybe later on today once things wind down and the house is quiet.  Mommy is my favourite person in the whole wide world!!  She loves me and I love her.  :)

She wanted to let you know that she is busy with us children, the goats and sewing.  She hopes to share pics and come take time to write soon.  This is her way of writing down the memories she wants to remember forever.    This is her journal....  :)

Love,

 Baby Dear

Middle of March Update :)

So it is already the middle of March!!!  Yay!!!  I'm so ready for spring to arrive along with the warmer weather, spring breezes, open windows and all that goes along with that.  :)  Come spring!!!

This past week went by so quickly!  Since the girls had no school, I kept our homeschooling week very light.  My plan was to just do math, but one son got sick, so we did math on 2 or 3 days.  That is ok, next week we will begin in earnest and see if we can be done school for the summer by May.  :)

In other news, we have a goat/s!!  We have selected two does, and we brought one home about two weeks ago and she kidded last weekend.  She had a healthy boy and he is so adorable!!  Both are doing well.  :)  The other doeling is still with the buck and we will bring her home the beginning of April, so just a couple more weeks.  

We named the doe Morning Star and her baby is Moon.  :)  Moon is a frisky little fellow and when we sit in the pen, he loves to jump onto our laps, we like to imagine that he thinks he is mountain climbing.  LOL  K. just loves being with him and giggles when he is jumping all over her.  So cute to watch!  I'm hoping to milk the mama at some point.  Right now I'm letting the baby drink all he wants.  :)  So that has been a bit exciting!!  I was there for the birth....  Morning Star is such a docile doe, I'm hoping it works out well for us to milk her and we LIKE the milk.  :)  Growing up we had goats and I don't remember goat's milk tasting any different then cow's milk, but now I'm older and I'm not so sure.  LOL

In the sewing "room",  I was able to sew one skirt last week for R.  She really needs some new skirts.  I was hoping to get a couple more sewn, but the week just went by to quickly.  I sewed up another diaper last week!  Now I'm out of snaps....  So I need to order some more, I do enjoy using cloth diapers and think of the money I'm saving.  hee hee  :)

At church, we just started a monthly ladies Bible study,  we are going through "True Women 101 Divine Design" by Mary Kassian and Nancy Leigh DeMoss.  It's an eight week study, but we will be doing it once a month instead.  :)

"True womanhood is a distinctive calling of God to display the glory of His Son in the ways that would not be displayed if there were no womanhood." John Piper

It was a good discussion.  Our purpose in life is to put God on display - to reflect His glory in ways we as women were uniquely created to do. I never quite thought of this before.  I'm so enjoying our church!  It's been so good.

So that is in a nutshell of what I've been up to lately.  :)  Life as a wife and mama can keep one very busy, but I'm happy and content in my calling here.  God is so good and I've been so blessed.  :)

The Weeks....

His love for horses has started young....

Weeks come and weeks go....  Time has a way of ticking by quickly!!

It was a good week here, school went very well and what a change today, our now 10 yr son started school on his own accord this morning!  I can handle that!!  :)

Since I wrote last, we do now have a son who is 10!  He has entered the double digits...  :)

Today, we were suppose to have LITE Day with our homeschool group, but because of a blizzard that passed by today it was canceled.  I was thankful I didn't have to go out and we could stay home safe and cozy in our house.  The children had fun playing out in the snow too.  It was a snow day for the girls, so it was pleasant to have then around today.

Last weekend some of us enjoyed a lovely walk in the nearby forest.  We have a lot more snow now!    I think we will have to venture out there tomorrow... 

Sweet girl with her new hat. 

Our busy 3 yr old...  

Our inquisitive 7 yr old. 

Look who is 10!!!

I took this picture through a hole in the tree!  B. was on the other side looking in.  :)

Easy way down the hill....

One afternoon this past week, I was able to get some sewing done.  Our much used highchair needed a new seat cover, so I sewed one up.  While looking through my material stash, I found some denim and sewed up myself a skirt.  It was a productive afternoon.  I was able to sew while the baby napped and the children played outside.  Such a rare treat!

Blessings to you today!!

Camping on Labor Day Weekend

We enjoyed a lovely mini camping trip over Labor Day weekend.  We could only get away for one night, but it was worth the work and effort to go.  We made great memories.  We hope to go again next summer and make it a day or two longer.  :)  We are beginning to love camping!

First time we used our new tent!  :) 

The girls wanted to have their own sleeping quarters...  :)

We spent most of the day by the water...  It was so relaxing...

He so enjoyed this

Perfect place for young ones to play

Baby dear thought this was great!

Precious daughter

Fun in the sand

You could walk out a long way...  Muffin (our dog) came along with us, she LOVED the water.

Sand time

Nap time, baby dear slept while we packed up after lunch.

 Hubby and I got to enjoy some time sitting and talking by the campfire.  It was lovely family time together before we got back to school.  The first evening, the only evening, we raced down to the lake to see the sun set.  It was pretty!  That reminds me hubby has pictures on the other camera, I should go and get those on my computer.  The light then was so nice...  :)  We usually go the Lake Erie, so being at Lake Huron was fun!

I love my family!  :)

Fall Harvest

We were blessed this year with a bountiful crop of potatoes.  These are not just small potatoes, they are medium to extra large.  I'm so thankful for this blessing.  It was such a dry summer, but the potatoes did very well.  Thank you, Lord!

My potato diggers.  We enjoyed a great time digging up the potatoes together.

 

This was just the first couple rows, we had about 7 rows total and we have dug up about 7.5 bushels.  We will be enjoying these all winter!