a {mother’s day} journal

• In my life this week…

School is wrapping up but summer seems to all ready be exploding with activity.  I think we may get to rest once July gets here!

• In our homeschool this week…

This is our last “official” week of school.  Next week will be Classical Conversations practicum for me.  I am so excited about our new homeschooling adventure!

• Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

Even though we are not year-round homeschoolers, we still look for opportunities for learning through out the summer.  My kids will have reading goals and project goals.  And we can’t forget field trips.  Summer is just a very relaxed extension of the school year for us.

• Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

Classical Conversations Practicum {yay!} for me while the kiddos will be spending the days with their grandparents. Coming soon…RVing at the lake. 

• My favorite thing this week was…

Two things…my son making a cake for me and people helping with the chores without complaining. Oh, and my date night with hubby last Friday.  That’s always a favorite thing of mine. 

• My kiddos favorite thing this week was…

My older boys would probably say getting to fish more often at the pond down the road.  All of the kids would say visiting with grandparents and cousins.

• Things I’m working on…

This summer I will have two big goals:  (1) a blog change.  I’ve been wanting to move to Wordpress for quite a while.  I’m in the praying and planning stage right now.  And (2) long-term school planning for the new school year.  

• I’m cooking…

Salads.  Ok, so you really don’t cook those but I have tons of lettuce and spinach in my frig so we’re eating a lot of salad.

• I’m grateful for…

encouragement.  I am a “Words of Affirmation” person and I thrive on kind words of encouragement.  I am so thankful for those whom God sends my way with words that build up. 

• I’m praying for…

a very dear person to me who is fighting for his life right now.

 

• A photo, video, link, or quote to share (silly, serious or both!)…

All of these pictures were taken on Mother’s Day.  They are making me smile this morning.  Such precious memories. 

 

Linking to

ten on ten {May 2013}

 

“Your love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me…” are the first words I heard running through my head as I opened my eyes this morning.  We had practiced this song the previous night at praise team practice.  It’s not uncommon for those songs to get stuck in my head.

And then there was this note I found on the floor beside my bed…

 

She wrote it a while back but I’d say those two things are pretty nice ways to start your day.  Incidentally, this note now sits atop a few loads of laundry waiting to be folded.  *smile*

Speaking of laundry…every morning I take a load out to the garage to start our daily 3 loads a day laundry washing routine…and I usually take a detour through the garden.  Especially this time of year.  Something new every day…

Breakfast is eaten and a round of eye drops is distributed for the pink-eye epidemic in our home.  And thankfulness is expressed for the wisdom of the pediatrician who warned us to always keep pink-eye medicine around because a family of five kids is likely to need it. 

The teenagers still sleep, the littles clean their bedroom, and I steal away for a few minutes of quiet before the day accelerates into not-so-quiet activity.

 

Everyone slowly awakens and we meet for a little math & reading.  We are in the end-of-the-school-year stretch now.  We can feel summer knocking on our door.

 

Lunch.  Time out doors.  Swinging.  Spinning. 

 

David comes home a bit earlier than normal and loads up the kids for a fishing trip at a local park.  I stay home to get dressed for a date night and to work on schedules.  Summer schedules, to be exact.

Trying my best to not get overwhelmed by all the ink on these two months…and the ink that still needs to be applied.  But July is looking quiet – for now.  I’m going to do my best to ensure that July is actually a restful month for us. 

The kids return home hungry and I realize that I need to fix a little supper!  I started proofing the yeast for our homemade pizzas and the next thing I know, I hear a little pirate voice saying, “Arrrgh!” I turn to see my little matey with his dough hook hand!  *smile*

 

Everyone feasts on pizza.  Then the kiddos settle in for a movie with an ice cream dessert.  The teenagers are left in charge as David & I slipped out for a little date night. 

 

 A quick trip to Walgreens and the doughnut shop, and we head home to tuck our babies in for the night. Not a fancy date but still just as special…

Just a simple look at our everyday lives on the 10th of May, 2013.

This post is linked to

reading & creating {knitting}

I have always been a reader. 

As a young girl and even as a teenager, it was not unusual to find a book in my hands. 

I love to create too.  Usually my creations are more on the organized spaces side but occasionally I get to actually craft or knit or sew. 

I have been inspired to share some of my love of reading & knitting by the Small Things blog which has a Yarn Along weekly link-up.  I’m not going to link-up (yet) because knitting is a very new skill to me and I’d be showing the same thing every time because I am s.l.o.w.  But I do like to discuss books and I can show my very slow progress every once in a while.  And who knows, maybe it will even inspire me to light a fire under my slow knitting self and finish in a more timely manner…*smile*.

One of the blogs I frequent told of the Kindle book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver being on sale for just a few dollars (link at the bottom of the post is for the Kindle version at this cost).  Since I have not been able to get my hands on this book through the library, I jumped at the chance to have it on my Kindle.  I’ve not read enough of the book to give you my opinion on it yet.

 

I’m also working my way through the 97 ebooks from this Ultimate Homemaking Bundle download that you probably saw circulating around the internet last week.  These ebooks are my Mother’s Day gift.  That and some free time…which I plan to spend creating something.  Is my hubby awesome or what?  *smile*

So far I’ve read 100 pound loser and I’m currently working through Embracing Beauty. And I’m only half-way through downloading the books.  Ninety-seven ebooks are a whole lot of books, my friend!  I’m in ebook heaven!

 

Now about that knitting…

Many moons ago, I started this infinity scarf and I hope to be able to wear it next winter.  (Trust me, it will take me that long to finish.)  Usually I knit while I’m waiting for the boys at swim team practice.  The problem is, I don’t have any of those needle thingies (see…I’m so new I don’t even know what they are called) and a few stitches slipped off in transit.  It’s got me baffled because I’m trying to figure out which loops to put back onto the needle. 

Plus I’ve obviously dropped a stitch (or even two or three…) because this is a knit 1/purl 1 pattern and it’s not looking like it should.  So I’m at a stand still and wondering…do I carry on and ignore the mistakes or do I take it off the needles and start again?

And I’ve got my eye on making this baby blanket for a friend whose baby is due in June.  And at the rate I go, I’m thinking it’s time to set the infinity scarf aside and get busy on that. 

 Are you creating or reading anything?  If so, I’d love to hear it! 

  This post contains affiliate links.  If you make a purchase through these links, we will receive a small percentage of the sale.  Thanks for your support! 

ten {must haves} in our garden

Every year it happens. 

Those gardening catalogs full of shiny, happy pictures flow into our mailbox and entice me to make a much too long list of plants for the garden. 

And a list I make.  I want to try a little bit of every thing in the catalog. 

But then there’s that whole we live in the city and have limited space thing…so I usually limit trying new items to one or two plants a year.  (But if space were not issue, I would try many, many more!)

However, there are a few things that will always find their ways into our garden. 

Our garden must haves…

1.  heirloom tomatoes

  We are some salsa lovers around here so tomatoes are a must!  I had a friend share some interesting heirloom seed with me and we should have red, black, green-striped, purple, and yellow tomatoes this year!

 

2.  purple coneflowers

 They bring bees, butterflies, and beauty…enough said.

 

3.  blackberries

 Three years ago, I planted two blackberry bushes.  Today, I can’t count how many we have.  These things are prolific!  Good thing though because my kids love some blackberries. 

 

4.  peaches

 Every summer we head to the Farmer’s Market for some fresh peaches.  This year, we will head to our backyard for some.  Excited does not even describe it.

 

5. grapes

 You have not truly tasted grapes until you stand under the vine, pluck off a few, and plop them into your mouth.  The taste is divine!

 

6. okra

 A staple in Louisiana gardens everywhere…the pretty flowers are a bonus!

 

7. snow peas

 My kids are known to bring a little Ranch dressing out to the garden and start feasting on the peas. 

8. potatoes

Last year we skipped planting potatoes.  The potato lovers were not keen on this idea.  This year we are planting them again but trying new methods to help with our heavy soil.

 

9. snap beans

 We planted green and purple snap beans this year.  The yellow wax beans didn’t get into the ground and will have to wait until the fall planting. 

 

10.  wildflowers & sunflowers

  I actually haven’t planted many flowers this year which is weird for me.  But they bring so many pollinators to the garden not to mention that they are so pretty…this is on my garden to-do list!

What are some of your garden must haves?

Many thanks to our hostess:

the pantry challenge {menu plan}

Dave and I have decided to challenge ourselves to eating from our freezer and pantry this week.  We will be making a little store run to pick up a few staples (oil, milk, cheese, fruit & veggies, toilet paper) but that’s it.  We thought this would be a fun little challenge and maybe a way to show ourselves that we can use what we have on hand & save a little money in the process.

It does help that we bought quite a bit of meat on sale last week so our freezer is well stocked.  I’m also going to be making a bit more from scratch than normal. However, with the school year winding down, that should be easier too.

Here is what we will be eating this week:

Supper:

• Slow cooker pork chops, rice, broccoli, bread
• Sloppy Joe’s, oven fries, salad
• Slow cooker Sticky Chicken, rice, green beans
• Herbed pork roast, roasted potatoes & carrots, salad
• Homemade pizza night, salad, brownies
• Mother’s Day picnic - (We’ll probably grill but I haven’t decided what I’d like yet. And it probably won’t come from the freezer so this one is the challenge breaker.)

Lunches:

• turkey, veggies,& noodle stir-fry, apples
• spaghetti, salad, fruit
• soft tacos with fixings, beans, fruit
• hot dogs, chili, oven fries
• sandwiches, popcorn, fruit

Breakfast:

• fried eggs & toast, fruit
• pancakes & fruit
• banana bread, scrambled eggs
• cinnamon rolls & sausage

I’ll let you know how we did next week!

This post linked to:

  

 

winding down {the homeschool year}

The end is in sight.  And we are excited.  Our family loves a little summer break to relax from the school routine and refresh us as we face a new school year.  (But this momma is always so ready for the new school year to begin again so we can get back to the routines.  Kind of funny how that works…)

The kids have been finishing up some of their subjects and as they do, we don’t replace it with something new.  Well, except for math which is usually just a fun review.  And reading.  You can never have too much reading now, can you?  But the other subjects we just cross off as finished until fall.  There is something highly rewarding about that too.

 1 & 2 reviewing math, greek roots, and sight words

3,4,& 5 reading about sharks, The Children’s Homer, and having math fun

There has been a lot of reviewing too.  I’m making notes on things that need to be revisited over the summer.  And when we have a little time this summer, we’ll sneak in some very relaxed learning of sight words or math facts or a little spelling.  Who knows?  This momma just grabs the opportunity when she sees…but she’s kind of sneaky about it so no one even realizes that she’s making them do school during the summer. 

Since the school work is winding down, it’s opening up more time for real life. 

Taking responsibility…

Yard sales…

 

Packing for a quick trip…

 

Time outdoors before the too hot deep south summer descends upon us…

Yep.  The school year is winding down and summer’s calling.  I can just feel summer’s light-hearted times approaching.  And this momma is happy for some carefree summer days…before she longs for the return of the scheduled routine school days. 

Thank you to our hostesses:

it’s {yard sale} season

 

I do believe everything in our house has been sifted and sorted through these past few weeks.  We’re simplifying around here and it feels great!  The house is looking better too. 

This weekend we will be part of community wide yard sale.  I’m hoping our hard work of purging our stuff will return a bit to us with money. And even if it doesn’t return much, the peace of mind that comes with a less cluttered home is enough.

It’s been a while since we’ve had a yard sale so I searched for a few tips on the internet.  Maybe you could use these too:

• Meredith of Like Merchant Ships doesn’t blog any more but I still return to her blog for inspiration.  Her archives about yard sales share information on hosting a yard sale as well as making the most of yard sale finds.
• A quick internet search for tips on hosting a hard sale resulted in:
•  A yard sale checklist
• A Pinterest page with garage/yard sale pins

Do you have any yard sale tips to share? 

Wishing you a great yard sale season, 

Adriane