wordless wednesday!

random pictures

Eva Rose at ChuckE. Cheese

Abby, Olivia, and Lily at Chuck E Cheese

By the waterfall last summer at Anderson Gardens

A backyard picnic

Frugal Fridays!

Nifty Thrifty Summer Fun

Create some of those wonderful summer moments for your children without leaving your home!

Here are some old Fashioned ideas to get you started!

Sleep outside and do some stargazing

The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Psalm 19:1 Sleeping outside is and adventure in itself. Plan your outing for a clear night with moderate temperatures. New Moon days are the best times to stargaze. If you'd like to take in a meteor shower, this year's peak of the Perseids meteor shower will fall on August 12-13 2009. October 20-22 is the best time to observe the Orionids meteor shower. You may want to do a little homework ahead of time in case your children have questions. It is especially fun to listen to night sounds. Who knows what you might hear. Yes, you might miss your comfy bed, but sleeping outside is and experience your children will long remember.

Make Crayon Rubbings

All you'll need is paper and some crayons- old broken ones will work just fine. Simply place a leaf under a sheet of paper on a hard surface, and rub with the crayon over the paper to see the leaf pattern appear. You don't have to stop with leaves. Children can do bark rubbings and make a scrapbook showing the bark and leaves of different trees on each page. Coins brick patterns or other textures make for fascinating crayon rubbings. Another project, is to print out a simple coloring picture, then fill each blank area by crayon rubbing different textures. You'll have some interesting results!

Catch Fireflies

This is a turly timeless summertime pursuit. All you'll need is a jar with a litd. Punch a few small holes in the lid, and drop a few leaves in the bottom to provide a cushioning. Fireflies are fairly slow-moving and are easy to catch by hand. They don't bite or sting and are non-toxic. The best time to catch fireflies is around dusk and an hour or so afterwards. Be sure to release your catch the next morning, after you've had a chance to enjoy your firefly lantern. Did you know that fireflies are neither bugs nor flies? They're actually beetles!

Blow some Bubbles

Even older children can't seem to resist blowing bubbles. Make a big batch of bubble solution by mixing 6 C. of water 2 C. joy dishwashing liquid and 1/4 c. of corn syrup.Plain straws can be used to blow bubbles, but experiment with coat hanger loops and other "wands" to creat giant bubbles.

Press Flowers

This activity can be as simple as pressing daisies in a heavy book or as elaborate as cataloging a collection of flowers dried in a home-built flower press. Simply place the flower inside a tissue and then put the tissue inside a thick book ( I buy these from rummage sales for around 50 cents) Placing something heavy on thop will help. Set aside for two to four weeks, or until completely dried. These are lovely pressed into a homemade beeswax candle! (a project I might post about in the winter time)

Of course there are many backyard activities you can do with you children at little cost. Papier-mache projects are fun for outside and so are tie-dye projects. How about building a bird house? Making a windsock or windchimes, or painting a giant mural on a roll of craft paper? The important thing is to just get out there!.........and don't forget your camera.

Keeping our children active and creative at home will keep their hearts at home as well, and strengthen family ties.

Happy Summer!!!

wordless wednesday!

menu Monday!

this is my menu for the week!

Farmer's Delight. (this is just meatloaf with mashed potatoes, and cheese on top. Delicious served with peas).

Spaghetti, garlic bread and salad

Chili

BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes (leftovers to be used in farmers delight) and a vegetable of some form.

Chicken salad sandwiches and fruit.

Tuna Casserole

Mac and cheese, and brussel sprouts

Hot dogs on the grill, cheese balls, and melon

Stay tuned for the progression of our addition in pictures. They have the roof on now and I took a picture this afternoon and plan to post in a few days. Have a great week!

wordless wednesday!

some like it hot!

Well.....it hasn't been terribly hot around here lately, but we have managed to have a few pool days. Enjoy the pics.

wordless wednesday!

Independance day!

This holiday was spent at home. We cooked on the grill, had potato salad, and cherry and blueberry pie. Just like it we would have gone to my parents home. Mom was still in the hospital and didn't come home until this afternoon. Praise the Lord! Im sure she is glad to be home again!

We did sparklers, and snaps. We also did where we made a Heffalump (from Winnie the Pooh stories) out of Cantalope, a mango was it's head, and marshmallow arms, candy eyes and nose, raisin mouth and Apple jack hair! We hid it in the yard and the girls came out and found it. How do you get rid of a Heffalump?..................you eat it!!! We concluded our day with more sparklers, and then went to our communities fireworks display, and then came home and had a snack and went to bed. Our neighborhood was filled with smoke as if in a fog with all of the fireworks being lit off through the night. We could have stayed home and watched them from our porch! :-) There is something about going to watch them. Must just be tradition!

why is this such a sleepy blog??

This week has been a very emotional week. My mother became gravely ill Monday morning. My father had gone to the grocery store and when he arrived home he could not find her. After a search he finally found her in their bathroom with the lights off and she couldn't figure out how to get out. They have lived in this same house for 40 years. When he found her she was very disorientated. She didn't know where she was or even who she was. He called my brother and my mom's best friend and they were going to take her to the hospital, but she began to fight. So my younger brother called the paramedics. It took 4 paramedics to get her on the gurnie and strap her down so they could get her into the ambulance. As the day progressed mom became unconcious, and the liver shut down. They did not feel she would make it through the night. However the Great Physician stepped into my mother's room and preserved her life for a time. She did live another day, and actually began to start to show signs of her personality coming back. Today almost one week later, she is still acting like herself, she is hungry and thirsty (which is a good sign) and beginning to ask when she can go home. She is talking again, but is not up walking around, and we don't know if we will see her do that again, but certainly God has brought her this far and who knows how far He may take her. On the other hand He may just take her home to glory. Last I heard she is due to come home sometime Monday or Tuesday with hospice care. We are praying for another miracle, that God will completely heal the liver and get it working again. We have every faith in His healing power but also realize that we are only given so many days. If it is His will I'm sure we will all except the outcome no matter what it might be. More to come!