Summer days

 

This summer has been busy already. It has been HOT. We have been having fun. I bought the kids a little wading pool and they have spent many hours playing in it. The girls also got new swimsuits last week. that was exciting.

 

One Very hot (100*F+) Sunday afternoon we went for a walk at a state park not to far from our home. It was really pretty. We went down quite a long large hill and across a creek. then met a sign explaining that whatever way we went it would be up hill and several miles. We opted to go only a little farther along the creek and then go back.

  

We had to climb the very big hill in the very warm weather. some of our group were afraid they were going to have to just live at the bottom of the hill it seemed to hard to get to the top.

 

We all made it, but as you can see it was exhausting. :)

  Today the kids had a bike wash going on in the garage. I did some spray painting touch ups on a couple of the bikes. It made it seem like they had new bikes. Oh, we aired the tires too. Molly also took the broken hand brake off of hers.

H day

day 39
Tonight for dinner we will be having Ham, Hungarian green beans, Herb roasted potatoes and Holiday bread from Morocco. I am excited about our menu. It is all smelling yummy.
For our other meals today we did not remember to be H-ish. :)
We did some yard work today and some school work.
Some of us seemed to be having a hard time with it being Monday. At least he was very grumpy and fussy until naps. Oops, I said he. :)
We are listening to music again tonight.
I need to rake my yard because it is looking more orange then green.
The weather is still rather chilly.

Day 36 - E day

We've been pretty busy this week. both yesterday and today we had friends over for the afternoons.
I sewed some PJ pants for Molly today. They were super easy to do because I had a pattern out to cute them out then I found some of mine that I was going to get ride of and I ended up just cutting them down to fit Molly. They are a little wider leg than I wanted for her but oh well.
We had enchilada's tonight for supper for E day. They were good. the last time I tried to make them they were not so good.
We have a well out back of our house because this house was built before this area was part of the city. A few years ago the house was hooked up to city water but the well was left back there and the man we bought it from said that he used it for watering his grass. But, after we bought the house we found that the well did not work at all. Apparently we had left the water hydrant wide open after looking at it some time because this morning when I went out water was coming out full blast. And I sang praises to my God who gives gifts to His children.

C day

Day 34Molly wore Clean Colorful Clothing for C day.
I wore Cream Colored Clothes for C day. Lars wore Colors.
Heidi wore a very Colorful Costume.
We did some Cleaning,
we ate Corned beef hash for breakfast.
We are about ready to go to ChurCh.

B day

Day 33

Today has Been Basically Beautiful!

• The kids tried to Blow Bubbles with their gum. Molly almost got it.
  
• We wore Black, Brown, and Blue clothes.
• We had BlueBerry Buckle for Breakfast.
• I Baked Bread today.
• We just had Burgers on Buns, Baked potatoes and Beans (green) for supper.
• The kids also watched some Birds in the front yard.

Day31

We have had a fun busy weekend.
On Friday night we went to the Army Soldier Show. It was very fun. I like watching my kids enjoy things. For a large part of the show Lars sat in his seat without hardly moving at all just watching watching. The show was a musical, dance skits kind of talent show sort of. I think if you searched it on you tube you would find some of their shows.
On Saturday our church had a cowboy themed fall party. We dressed up in clothes of that era and ate chili and put each other in jail and roasted marshmallows over a fire. Some people bobbed for apples and others carved pumpkins. They also had a pinata.
I was put in jail for visiting to much and Molly was sent to jail for being too blond. We had to sit in jail for five minutes and pay a 25 cent bail to get out.
Molly won the award for the nicest costume. ( when I explained to Heidi why Molly got the prize she wondered why she did not get one, Did not they like her clothes too?)
I hope to post pictures of the fall party sometime.

Day 29

This morning I went for a slow jog while my kids rode bikes. If it had been just the girls I would have had to run pretty fast. But since Lars still uses training wheels he slowed us down. We were going on an unpaved trail which made it even harder for him. It was a really pretty trail in the woods.
I am really excited about company for Thanksgiving!!
Heidi is still not feeling very well. I am praying that the rest of us will not get sick. And, that she will heal quickly.
We did some playing in the dirt this evening. I planted my clematis. I hope it like its new home. It really took me a long time to decide where I should put it. I think I will like it where it is. I might be too used to plants in pots that I can move to a new location any time I want a change of scenery.
The weather is funny around here. yesterday we had a warm wind that blew some hot air and we were very hot, Made me want to turn on the air conditioning again. Today, we woke up to rather chilly weather again and needed to wear sweatshirts when we were out.

Day 27

We are now reading Homer Price out loud together. Today we read about how the doughnut machine kept on making doughnuts, It just kept dropping rings of dough into the hot oil and a gadget kept turning them over and another gadget kept rolling them down the chute.... Anyway, the more I read about doughnuts the hungrier I got for fresh doughnuts. By the end of the chapter I had decided I must make doughnuts today. I did, and they were good.
Today is rainy and gray again. must be autumn.

Day 23

Yes, we are fine today too. I'm not going to take much time tonight for this.
The dresses are done and ready to wear to church on Sunday.
The kids played in the back yard most of the day. They were playing some sort of house while playing in the dirt.
night all.

Day 22

Counting days is kind of odd for me. I never stick with it so mostly I just don't try.
Today was a pleasant day.
We are doing very well with our school. I'm not sure what else to say about that.
I am almost to the point where I will be able to post pictures of some girls in new dresses. :)
Oh, if you want to have a pineapple plant. Buy a fresh pineapple. Cut the top off with maybe a little more of the fruit with it than you normally would and stick that in some peet moss mixed with potting soil. Don't let it dry out and eventually, it will start to grow. One place I read about it said that the plant had to get six feet wide before it would produce fruit, or something like that.
I have been seeing blue Jays lately. I like them. I saw a Monarch today too. Made me wonder if it was on it's way to Mexico. I really want to make my back yard so that birds and butterflies would like to visit us.

Day 20

Today has been a very nice day.
The weather was in the low 70's all day. It was breezy, almost windy. Very lovely.
We did some of our book work this morning and then went outside. We worked in the back yard. Well, I worked and the kids played. I picked up tons of pine cones and raked and then mowed. It looks so nice and inviting back there now. The kids worked on turning one of the sheds into a club house. some of the time.
Lars was running with a kite this morning and I guess it malfunctioned because he ended up running into a tree. He got a quarter size raspberry on his forehead and scratches on his nose, lip and forehead. It was a rather bad kite accident.
One of my cupboard doors has had the habit of hanging open and I fixed it today. It is so much nicer to walk into the kitchen now. (smile)
I made a caramel apple cake today. I will have to post the recipe on here for you some time. It is very yummy.
We are supposed to have 40 degree weather tonight. I brought in the avocado tree in case it would not like it that cold. I also brought in the pineapples. Oh, and one of the pepper plants. I hope everything else does not mind a slight chill.
I worked on the dress for Molly a little today. Mostly I was outside though.
Yesterday I was simply not in the mood to blog so you will have to just assume everything was fine then. (smile) Oh, and for the day before too. (bigger smile)
Tonight the kids helped me make supper. Molly made our hamburger buns all by herself. Heidi helped cute the potatoes for french fries. Oh, Lars helped shape the hamburger buns. Heidi helped shape the hamburger patties.

Day 17

Wow, I am really sleepy.

• I got Heidi's dress almost done. But then found out I didn't have the right size zipper on hand. Oh well, Wal-Mart is open tomarrow.
  
• The girls helped me with dishes today. I have not had them do this very much before because my set up was not child friendly. But, today I got a dish drainer so they can stack the dishes in it to drain. I know, some of you are thinking, "you didn't have a dish drainer? What kid of kitchen was that anyway?" :) We enjoyed working together.
• The kids felt rather caged up this morning because of the weather, cold and wet, and then they felt at a loss for what to do because I did not want to do school. finally they asked if they could, "just do some school." Makes a mother smile.
• Dog sitting is going fine. she is a true dog. She refuses to go in the shed that I cleaned out for her. And, more importantly, she thinks the best place for her to lay is in my new flower bed. I even had her food in the shed but she would not eat it in there but left it for the ants to get into. I washed out her dish and put it on the back step and she ate it right away. At least one can count on a dog acting like a dog.
• I got a catalog from a nursery this week. I am dreaming of what kind of trees to plant in my yard. I am also trying to decide what color and kind of roses to plant.
  

Day 16

Aw. A nice day.

• We are dog sitting for the weekend.
  
• I was so, proud of Molly. She went outside with the dog and pet her and did not panic at all. The dog was pushing against her and just loving it that someone came out to see her too.
• We made cinnamon caramel sticking buns for breakfast this morning. Everyone helped. Lars also got the job of licking the butter and cinnamon and sugar bowl. He said, "this is so tasty."
• The weather cooled off this evening.
• The kids are playing their version of hid and seek now.
• We finished reading Charlotte's Web tonight.
• I did not mow the grass again today. I was planing to do it in the afternoon when we were done with school but, it started raining right after lunch.
  

Day 15

• We got our school work done right at noon today.
• I made a stew for supper that I thought was rather good but the kids thought it was nasty.
• It was a hot and humid day today. Another day to be thankful for AC.
  
• I cut out a dress for Heidi today.
• I stood out in the front yard visiting with my neighbor after supper while our kids ran around in the yard.
• I made a bow for Lars out of a branch from the crepe myrtle and a piece of yarn. The kids thought it was so cool. He stood around trying to get it to work for the longest time.
  

Day 14

• We had to make a couple runs to the pharmacy to get my prescription taken care of. It has changed so I have to take a different does every other day. I'm glad. I was thinking it was too high but not sure. But my LAB work said it was so now I don't doubt.
• Went to church again tonight, This time we all went to our own classes and we all enjoyed them.
• Lars was telling about the video he watched in class. He said, "...and they walked, no, they bounced..." So, can you guess what kind of video he was watching?
• I made some bread today. We enjoyed some of it fresh with butter and honey.
• It rained again today. I have more wet laundry to do. This afternoon it kind of surprised me because it was very bright and sunny but it started showering very heavily.
• We ate supper at church.
• That is all. good night.
  

Day 13

• I made Apple cake in an iron skillet Today. So very yummy. But, if you make it do follow Keren's advice and use only 1 stick of butter in the first part of the recipe. I did, and I was not sorry.
• It was a rainy day. Made us really need our naps this afternoon. It was very nice to have rain though. We've been having gray days a lot lately and it is much nicer to have rain with the clouds. In my opinion.
• The kids went out and played in the rain off and on today. They were collecting rain water in buckets and cups.
  
• We did our school work in very good time.
• My arm and finger are still sore from using the spray paint for Lars' bike. I find it kind of funny while it is annoying.

I better get these kids to bed.

Days 11 and 12

I forgot to blog last night until I was done reading and had turned the lights out. I did not feel like getting out of bed and turning the computer back on.

Yesterday;

• We walked to church. We all enjoyed that a lot. We saw two of our friends drive by while we were walking and that was very fun too. It took not quite 10 min.
• We spent a very lazy afternoon.
• In the evening we went over to the neighbors and the kids played.

Today;

• We did vary little school work.
• We went to Aldi and Wal-mart before lunch.
• We went to the Commissary before supper.
• last night our fish died. he died of lack of care.
  
• We had taco salad for supper.

Other things happened I'm sure. :/

Day 10

Today was kind of an odd day. I thought about northern MN a lot.

• We turned an old little girls bike into a boys bike today. It still has white tires but some things can't be helped. The other thing that is a problem is that I am really bad at spray painting. :) It was fun to do.
• Worked on the rag rug again today. Oh, and no I don't have a pattern I just started crocheting around in circles. I should have used a pattern and I should have redone some of it because it has some really bad looking spots. But I am too lazy.
• I tried to sleep in because three kids kept taking turns coming into my room with complaints all night long. But they were up and raring to go bright and early. oh well, I really haven't been tired today.
• The kids went outside right after breakfast this morning and did not come back in until I called them in at 3 pm. They went back out right after naps too.
• I had the kids pose for some pictures this afternoon. I had been looking at some other peoples posed pictures and thought I should get some of my kids because it has been a long time since we did any kind of portraits.
• I've been pre-reading some of our school books for this year. they are some really good books. They are Sonlights Core 1 books.
  

Day 7

• I did a bunch of rearranging again today. Getting things to fit in a new house has been a little challenging since we have smaller living rooms (dinning and living) with more doors in them so it is harder to get stuff to fit in a comfortable way. I'm liking it the way I have it now. The other thing that changed with rooms, We are trying to have a school room now.
• We went to Wednesday night church today.
  
• We are reading Charlotte's Web this week.
  
• It rained here today. The kids ran around in the rain for awhile this morning. They thought that was great fun.

More.

here are more retreat pictures. I have been having trouble keeping up with this lately. I shall try harder. maybe.



these are of some of my friends and the fun that was had at the BWR.