Musings of a Little Girl

The other day my youngest daughter and I were walking to the barn to do the milking. She was telling me about how she was going to be a mom when she grew up and then she could do anything she wanted. I then told her that I couldn't do anything I wanted. If I didn't do the laundry, she would not have clean clothes, if I didn't prepare meals, she would have nothing to eat. She then said that she would do all those things, otherwise she would be a bad mom. Love my little girl!! I think she understood a little bit of how mommys can't just do anything she wants....

I love my beautiful calling....

Summer.....

I know it has been some time since I've last updated here!  The days turn into weeks and the weeks into months and I still haven't taken the time to post.  I need to change that!  This is my journal of sorts and I don't want to forget these precious, yet very busy years.  So I must schedule time each week for my humble blog.  :)

Trying to grow potatoes in a bin this year, I'll let you know how this works come the fall.  :)

 Where to start?????

Well our garden is doing well, thank you Lord!  We have been harvesting beans and pickling cukes.  I have peas, but here's a very honest moment from me...  I know the peas are ready, but I haven't even taken the time to pick them.  They fell over and that is the only patch of the garden that is weedy.  I've come to think that peas are not worth the time it take to pick and shell and then you have just a tiny bowl to show for it.  So next year I'll just plant a row and trellis them right away and just enjoy them for eating.  That all said, I'm hoping to pick them tomorrow.  :)  I just have a couple rows.....

Beans are doing really well, I have many large ziplock bags full in the freezer and I've also pickled a few.  Yum!!

Pickling cukes have doing well and so far I have close to 60 jars.   No signs of dying back yet.....

Right now as I write up this post I'm up cooking a large pot of relish!

Everything else is growing well and we are staying up top of the weeds.

So that is a garden update....

Garden from the front porch.....

I'll save other updates for the next few posts.....  For now I must take care of the relish!

Happy Homemaker Monday - Last Monday in April

Click on the above picture to join right in.  :)

The weather:
Cloudy and rainy today with a high at 18C.

Right now I’m….
Washing lunch dishes, but I’m finishing up this blog post first.
On my reading pile:
Not much, studying the book of Luke right now with Good Morning Girls, TrueWoman101,

On my TV:
No tv here….
On the menu for the week:

I don’t plan the menu for the whole week, but it is something I want to start doing.

Blog hopping (newly discovered blog)….


On my To Do List:
Finish homeschooling for the day – two are done, just our oldest has to finish 
Clean out our minivan
Fold last week’s laundry
Tidy master bedroom

In the craft basket:
Matching quilts for the boys
curtains for the bedrooms
Couple skirts for youngest daughter

Looking forward to this week:
Home school convection this weekend!!
Meeting a missionary family we support at church, they are coming home for a number of months
Looking around the house:
Right now little ones are playing nicely with the legos, Baby Dear must be hungry and ready for lunch, because he is taking food items out of the pantry cupboard.  Two oldest sons are doing school.

Favorite the camera:
I just had to share two today… 

On my Prayer List:
Family, Missionaries, wisdom as a homeschooling mom, wisdom to raise/train our children for the Lord

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:

 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

Luke 13:10-17

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!

Happy Homemaker Monday

I was recently going through some older blog posts and I saw my Happy Homemakers Monday posts and thought it might be something fun to do again on Mondays.  :)

So here goes....  Have a happy Monday!!

To join in, click on the above picture.

The weather:
 Sunny and 5C.  According to the weather, we should see highs of 14 C today.  :)

 

Right now I'm....
Finishing this blog post and then I'm off to wash dishes and tidy up the kitchen.



On my reading pile:
Not much, studying the book of Luke right now with Good Morning Girls, TrueWoman101,


On my TV:
No tv here...



On the menu for the week:  
Not sure yet....

Blog hopping (newly discovered blog).... 


On my To Do List:
School- done
Give a good cleaning to both bathrooms - one done, one to go

A load of laundry - sheets - done
Fold some laundry from last week


In the craft basket:
Sew some skirts for youngest daughter
Order snaps, so I can make a couple more diapers
Matching quilts for the boys beds
Curtains for a bedroom

Looking forward to this week:
A visit to the butterfly conservatory on Friday with our homeschool group.!

 

Looking around the house:
House is very quiet right now, baby is napping, children are outside playing and the two oldest are still at school, or should I say on the bus heading home.


Favorite the camera:

I laughed so hard when I saw this!!  I had to take a picture.... he found some clean laundry and decided to wear it.  He is too cute.  :)

On my Prayer List: My family
patience and wisdom to raise my children for Jesus

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses: 

"Forgiveness clears a path for our lives to be content, but most of all it frees us to come purely before the throne of our wonderful Saviour." Vicki Olivas

  I heard some very good talks this past weekend at our women's retreat at church.  I was again reminded on some many things.  It was very good!!  

Here's a quote from Joni Eareckson Tada....  "Justice is when we get what we do deserve, and that is hell. Mercy is when we do not get what we deserve, and that is salvation. Grace is when we get what we don't deserve, and that is forgiveness, peace and joy, strength in our weaknesses, an audience with God through prayer, a home in heaven, an inheritance with Christ, and service in God's kingdom for all of eternity, and so much more!"

A New Season in Our Home School World

I always thought I'd home school all the way, but not now. We've struggle with high school and my husband and I decided we would put our two oldest daughters into the local private Christian Reformed school. Our oldest will be redoing grade 9 (she was already ahead with her age, so doing this will fill in the missing gaps and also put her with others her age) and the next one is going into gr 7, we wanted to have both go, so one was not alone there. Our oldest really wanted to go to school, our other one was not so sure.  The first day of school she went through what first graders go through on the first day of school.  She was in tears...  My mama's heart broke for her.  Anyway, we went to school later in the morning and she was with the other girls in her class and all was well.  She came home beaming and she couldn't wait to go back the next day.

It took me a while to get use to this idea, I felt like I had failed as a homeschooling mom, but I've gotten over it(I think) and am happy for them. I will still be homeschooling, I'll have one in grade 4, one finishing up grade 1 and going into 2 and another in kindergarten, this has given me a lot more time to focus on the younger ones.

I was home schooled myself, but I don't have all my high school. During my high school years we were with friends, that did not put much importance on getting your high school education, I'm not blaming my parents in anyway, but that did affect the high school I was able to get. I don't want this for our children. If I just had the two girls, then I'd learn right alone with them, but I don't have enough hours in a day to do it all!   So for now this is what works, we will see how the Lord leads us in the future. 

So this is a beginning of a new season, school has been going for 3 weeks now.  So far so good!  I'm so glad I still have children here, I miss my girls and it did take us a while to adjust to our new routine, but everything is falling into place nicely. 

So now I'm in the mix group of home school and private school... not sure what to call it.

Just wanted to share, I've had a bit of fear of what others would think, but I remind myself we are raising our children for the Lord and not for others. The way we school our children is also not my identity.  The Lord has been clearly leading us and for that I'm very grateful. 


This is what we are doing this year

Grade 4
Math - finishing up some math from last year and
Word Building(Spelling) - ACE
Language Arts - A Beka
Apologia Science -  Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day
Reading/Literature - Building Our Lives and Workbook (Pathway readers)
Social Studies - Into All The World (CLP)
Bible - (CLP)

Grade 1&2
Math - CLP  We have 4 more booklets and then we are start gr. 2
Phonic - Explode the Code
Apologia Science -  Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day
Social Studies - Our Father's World (Rod and Staff)
We will be starting the First grade reader soon, He is now starting to read the sentences in his phonic book.  Teaching him to read has been a bit of a struggle, but he is doing well and I can see him taking off soon!  

Kindergarten is made up of the preschool books offered at Pathway and CLP
Also we are going through the first set of books before you start the Explode the code.   Our little girl loves to do school. :)

We sit at the kitchen table and we can usually get our school done by lunch time.  I'm really enjoying doing the Science with the boys.  We do it together and we are all having fun!   We love the Apologia Sciences and Journals that go with them.  :)

So that is what is happening here this school year.   God is good!

Bountiful Corn

We picked our first big picking of the summer!  I was surprised and so very thankful on this blessing.  It was so dry for so long, I did water the garden where I could, but still that is not the same as a good rain.  Anyways, surprisingly we are harvesting a good crop of corn.  This was just a start, we have more to pick tomorrow!  Thank you, Lord!

I also picked basil and made a batch of pesto.  I am hoping to make a few more, I'm freezing it and looking forward to enjoying it all winter.  :)  It is so delicious on tomato sandwiches.  :) Here is the recipe if you are interested.  :)

Pesto Recipe



2 c. basil leaves


1 c. almonds


3/4 c. olive oil


1 tsp. salt


2 Tbsp. lemon juice 


1 lrg. cloves of garlic (or to taste)


parsley & oregano (optional)



Process in blender till smooth

Tomorrow I hope to make more pesto, freeze more corn and pick tomatoes to make salsa.   Sounds like another busy day!  The Lord is good!

Can't Believe Summer is Almost Over

My little man in the garden

What a busy, yet fun summer we have been enjoying!!   It just went by far to quickly...

Last week, we enjoyed a lovey week helping and attending VBS.  What a fun week at SonCreek Junction!  I was a group leader for the very first time, our oldest daughter helped with games and the rest were in VBS.  We learned a lot and had a great time.  It was such a blessing for me to help out, the children in my group ranged from ages 4-6, but they did really well and it was so sweet to hear them share at Bible Story time.  The most children we had in one day was 139, lots of children, but lots of help and it went quite well I think.  :)

Gardening was sort of put on the back burner, I need to go out tomorrow and take a look at the tomatoes.  I hope to make/can salsa next week.  Pickling cukes have died back and I have basil I want to turn into pesto and then freeze.  Pesto is so delicious!!  I should take a look at the green/yellow beans, they came on rather slowly and then last week with VBS, plus 4 bushels of peaches to can, we only got to picking them once.  I have put a lot in the freezer already, so I wasn't to worried.  I wonder if there are still nice ones out there.  We ate our first corn of the season yesterday and it was so yummy!

Otherwise, in news around here, I've been busy trying to get some projects here in the house done etc. before school starts back up again. We have been organizing in the basement. I cleaned up our loft upstairs today and a number of other small projects.   We have just two more weeks and then bring on the school books!  We have changes this year in regards to school, but I'll save that for my next post.  :)   Plus, I've been fitting in a little bit of sewing.  Busy days, but it has been a great summer. 

Already 9 months old and he is such a dear.  So precious!!

My little man helping me in the kitchen  :)

Story time...  :)

Look who is out of diapers!!!  YAY!!  I bought one package of pullups and he doesn't even need to wear them at night.  Anyway, he is so funny and thought this pullup would make a nice hat, it is clean by the way.  LOL

Another adorable baby picture...  :)

Thanks for stopping by and please leave me a note.  I love hearing from you!

April Challenge

On MOMYS some of us are doing a month long decluttering challenge.  This is our second week, some of last week's jobs were to go sort/clean out one junk drawer, go through the bookshelves, toys, and so on.  I did well last week.  We have bags and boxes ready to go to the Goodwill!! This week I didn't get to join in until today, so I did 4 of the jobs this afternoon.  One was to go through the cookbooks, purse, sewing room, and one pile of papers.  I had a pile of papers which got transferred to a box recently, so that is what I tackled.  I cleaned out the diaper bag, which is also my purse and I spent 1/2 hour in my sewing room.  I made good progress and was able to sort some scrap material, my notions and organize that.  I'm excited about having a sewing room!!  The room is not finished yet, but hopefully we can work on that sometime.  I'm just happy to have every thing all together.  This challenge has been good to keep me motivated on organizing/decluttering our home.

I have to keep in mind that my family is important and not to allow this to become my focus.  I know what I want done and then I want to get it all done in a day or week, but it is going to take time.  My family's needs come first.

Anyway, just thought I'd share what I've been doing!  Tomorrow, I hope to post part 2 of our trip, or  at least get started on it.  :)

Spring Days

Spring days are always so lovely and pleasant.  The house has been quieter in the afternoons, because the children have been enjoying the great outdoors.  Today our big boys helped their Opa finish cleaning up the garden and Opa also got it all tilled.  I'm looking forward to planting season and watching the garden grow!  Which reminds me I had better place my seed order!!

I spent the day indoors, Baby Dear is sick and I needed to stay close to him.  He did have a good nap and seemed a bit better this evening.  I think the fever is from teething, poor little fellow.

Anyway, I had lots to keep me busy with while he napped.  I had decided to have my sewing station up in our loft upstairs, but now we have decided that the loft would be a great school area for our big girls.  Plus my sewing area is needing a larger room and I'll be honest, my sewing area is not always neat.  So passing that every time I went to my room was discouraging.  LOL

So we are making progress, I have a room in the basement that I can organize as time allows and one day we will put down a flooring and drywall the walls and it will be my little sewing haven.  :)  Until then, I'll make do with what I have. 

Pictures!!  Like I have mentioned earlier I now use a different computer, so I have yet to hook up our camera and see how it all works.  Hopefully this Mac mini doesn't complicate my life to much.  I have that on my to do list for tomorrow.  :)  I have pictures I want to share from our trip, plus I want to share more details!

A little funny from today...

This evening when I went to the barn to do the evening milking our toddler accompanied me .  My big girls take turns helping and tonight it was my oldest milking on one side and I on the other  She called M. over to watch her and she asked him if he wanted to drink some milk.  She is my child that will do many things I'd never do! Anyways, she squirted the milk over and drank what she could catch with her mouth.  Needless to say, M. didn't want to try it and he told S. that it was gross.  LOL  He is only 2 1/2.  I had a good chuckle...

A Good Start For The Week

We are enjoying a lovely day here, in spite of the fact that we have sick ones here.  Yesterday, 3 of our four boys were sick, although the baby seemed a little out of sorts, so he was most likely not feeling well either.  Today the said 3 boys are feeling much better and are up and around a bit more and the noise around here has risen.  Yesterday it was pretty quiet here.

Baby is fevered, I'm not sure if it is from what the other 3 boys had or if it is teething related.  He has two pearly white bottom teeth!  I first discovered them the night before we left on our trip.

I'm hoping to have a bit of time to upload some pictures and share about our trip soon!!  Plus our baby is the sweetest and so cute!  It has been a while since I shared one of him.  He is 5 months and about 20 pounds.  :)


But right now, I'm off to do a bit of cleaning and organization.  I have some ideas on how to set up a school station, but that means I have to move my sewing station.  We will figure out how things work best in our home and family one of these days!  LOL  We also have some renovation ideas that we want to do, can you believe it, a new house and we already what to change things!  LOL  It is in regards to our laundry/mudroom.  The design we have is not good, to small of a room for both and out in the country trying to share a mud/laundry room IS NOT a good idea.  I'll share more on that later on...  This may not happen as soon as I would like, but it is fun to dream and plan with hubby.  :)

I had better get going if I want to accomplish anything here this afternoon!