I miss it

I have not been blogging and I miss it so much!  So briefly here’s what’s been going on around here.

 

One day I looked after a little boy, same age as Matty.  They played the piano together; it was so cute!

 

Matty learned to climb the stairs!  He’s fast!

 

I created a new 3 day/week homeschool schedule.  I’m kinda excited about it.  We will start on Monday.  I’ll try to write more about it soon.

		ACSI Math Gr. 2	Building A Life Gr. 3	Human Body Gr. 2-3	God’s Wonderful Works Gr. 2	Books Read
Week 1		Do 6 pages.	Do 4 pages.		Do 4 pages.
Week 2		Do 6 pages.	Do 4 pages.	Do 4 pages.
Week 3		Do 6 pages.		Do 4 pages.	Do 4 pages.
Week 4		Do 6 pages.	Do 4 pages		Do 4 pages.
Week 5		Do 6 pages.	Do 4 pages.	Do 4 pages.
Week 6		Do 6 pages.		Do 4 pages.	Do 4 pages.

 

I have talked in the past about purchasing and teaching through the Tapestry of Grace program of study.  I have decided that it is not a fit for us.  Too involved.  So instead what I am doing is taking their book lists as a jumping off point.  I order as many of the books from the library from the list as I can find.  I’ll order 10 or 20 at a time.  As they come in we spend some time looking at them together at the table.  I even ordered from the lists for the high school students.  Right now we are reading about ancient Egypt.  The kids are having fun with the information!

 

Jason got a raise!  I’m so proud of him for working so hard and sticking with this company, even when things were really tough this winter.  The guys (and gals) that he works with are decent people and they get along pretty good.  He likes the work.  He’s working in the shop at the oil field safety company that he was doing fire watch for the last year and a half. 

 

Oh and because of the raise, we’ve also decided to keep the bus!  I didn’t realize how attached I was to my bus until we re-discussed the sale.  I love my bus!  It is perfect for what I want and need.

 

The garden is mostly in.  Just onions and cucumbers left to put in the dirt.  We were planting bean plants (Jason started them in the house.) the other day.  We had to hurry at the end because a storm was blowing in fast!  We were cleaning up the trays and pots just as it started coming down hard.  I can’t wait to see what this year’s garden produces!!

 

I took this picture of my favorite beverage:

 

Just a couple other quick things:

• the 2 big girls went to the store by themselves!  They did so great!
• shingles are on sale this week and pay day is this week!!!!

 

 

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Another Thanksgiving Long Weekend Is Upon Us

Remember this post from a year ago? Fast forward 12 months and you can picture what we did this weekend. However, this year it is a lot cooler! There is even snow on the ground this year. I'll try to post some pictures.

Last year J participated in Heroes in the Sky by sleeping on the roof of a restaurant. You can see photos here. That was in September. As you can see from the pictures it's quite warm. The two who slept on the roof Friday night were dressed much warmer! They are in full bunker gear - head to toe, from what I understand. It got to a low of -6C or about 21 or 22F. If the reporters for our paper showed up, I'll post pics when the paper comes out with them.

On Sunday we had thanksgiving dinner with my brother and his girlfriend. We had a nice day.


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Books and Coffee

Just a quick list today as life is pretty crazy. Not feelin' this blogging thing, but wanting to. Know what I mean?

So check out Little W's day here.

Books:

Just finished The Vision by C L Talmadge.

But Then Again I Could Be Wrong by Jim Rising; I'm reading this one now.

Also reading Every Thought Captive by Richard L. Pratt, Jr. during my devotional time.

I'm part way through an ebook called Fascinating Womanhood.

Gardening and preserving:

beans, almost all cut and froze.
peas, 5 bags froze, done.
corn, eating fresh every other day.
carrots, still in the ground.
cucumbers, just getting going.
spaghetti squash, need a lot more time.
onions, ready to store.
beets, waiting in the ground to be pickled.
tomatoes, ripening on the vine.
peaches, going to freeze (3 cases).
apples, from friends and neighbors, slicing and freezing.

We decided to freeze everything that we could; I find it easier to do that than canning at this point in my life.

Homeschooling:

We are really enjoying Beestar Math and Spelling City.
We are trying to finish our math work book (ACSI Grade 1) by Christmas; it means 3 pages a day 5 days a week. I hope we can do it; they really want to!


Don't forget to enter my giveaway here.


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Don't forget to check out the great giveaways at Simply Sensational Divas Review.

Do Not Disturb Tuesday was a bust today.

After having such success with Do Not Disturb Tuesday for the last few weeks, I was a little sad that I did not stay away from the computer today. I'm blaming it on the long weekend.

Despite being on the computer some today, I got a lot accomplished. J and 7 picked up and brought me a new-to-me office sized desk. The desk I have been using is tiny tiny; this one is a monster in comparison. So that required changing the WHOLE living room around. I had this place torn apart. I took before, during and after pictures, but they are so dark that you can't see them. So I'll have to take some now that it's almost done, in better lighting and post those. I'm so sad! Oh well, such is life I guess.

We love the changes that we've made in the living room. So all in all, I had a product "disturbed" Tuesday in the real world.

J was productive as well. He got the garden covered in plastic a-frames. There is a threat of frost soon. We can feel it; the leaves are changing color; the days are cooler and the furnace was needed this morning. With the a-frames over the corn and cucumbers, we are hoping to still get some fruit of our labor over the summer to feed us through the winter. We have not yet figured out how to cover the spaghetti squash to protect it; there is some beautiful fruit on those vines; I'd hate to loose it.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

How does your garden grow?

My dh loves gardening and each year I try to be more and more involved. If you want to see some things we've harvested last year you can check out our tomatoes (here and here), our pickles and relish and our carrots.

This year we are branching out, trying more vegetables that we tried in the past but that did not grow very well (squash and beans). The veggies we will be growing this year are listed below. I'll probably be canning and pickling those marked (*). We will freeze those marked (**). Of course, we will eat lots of the product before it ever reaches the storage stage!

• corn**
• potatoes
• peas**
• cucumbers*
• tomatoes*&**
• spaghetti squash
• beans**
• onions
• carrots**
• beets *

I am so very excited to get into the garden this year. J has already tilled it up and has started hilling the raised beds. The weather has not been cooperating - cold and raining - but I know it won't be long until we are digging in the ground. I can't wait to help the kids grow some seeds too. The older the girls get the more they understand and the better their seedlings do.




Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

My Man aka J or DH

First, he is a husband and a father. He has always said to me, "I didn't get married to be single." We do everything we can together. We don't go off to ladies' retreats or mens' seminars. I don't go on vacation without him and he doesn't take a job that requires him to be away from home overnight. We love to be together. We love to work side by side. We are partners always.

He provides for us first and often puts his wants and sometimes his needs aside for us. One thing, that kinda drives me crazy even while it makes me admire him more, is that he waits until the kids and I have dished up our meals. Why? So that we get full first. He waits in case I didn't make enough supper. He wants us full of supper, because if it comes down to it, he can make or find something else to eat.

He protects us. He insists on locked doors and an alarm system. He doesn't want just anyone walking in on us when I'm busy with something and he's not here to protect! And because of the way he sleeps (very very deeply and a slow wake-up time) the alarm system is an added protection. He wants the sick babies or children close to our room at night, so I can tend to them quickly and we can listen to their breathing.

He plays with us. Not in the typical way, but rather he makes work fun. Gardening is such a joy to him that the kids love to be with him and help him every step of the way. (Okay, weeding the garden is never fun, but everything else.) He encourages the children to explore their talents and adventures. He loves to hear their stories and to listen to what we do each day.

J is a fire fighter. For him, that his is ministry and service to his community. This is the job he loves the most. If it would pay enough to sustain us, he would do it full time. The fire pager is the only thing that gets him out of bed in record time. He can be in a deep sleep and be dressed and out the door in less than 2 minutes. The fire hall is not far away, either. He has one of the fastest response times, often being the first one to the hall.

He is a loyal and supportive; he likes to help the underdog. If you treat my man right, he will stick with you and serve you and help you through thick and thin. If you treat him poorly . . . he will fight for his rights and for the rights of others. This could be in a work situation or just a friend. He loves to learn the law and help those in authority measure up.

He loves to have fun and make life easy for those he loves. There was many a night when I was pregnant with our last baby when the air was so hot and he knew I didn't want to cook and he didn't want to cook. He would come home from work and say, "Get the kids dressed and lets go out for supper. I know you are too tired and don't need to cook. Let's bath the kids now so that when we get back, they can just go to bed." WOW! What a blessing to me! There's been talk of hired help (not in the near future, but one day). If a small appliance will make my job easier, and we can afford it, we purchase it. If something is working for me and yet I want to change it, he reminds me that it's working, so why change it. Laughter is a big part of our life. He loves to poke and tease the kids and takes the poking and teasing back from them too.

Happy Birthday, My Love!

Tomatoes Continued

Well they aren't done yet, but there are a lot more of them in the freezer! Here's the latest photos (I've put more away since these were taken):

We're down to what is on the table now and should have those put away by the middle of the week.

Our Thanksgiving Day Long Weekend

Saturday, October 11, 2008

We took it easy in the morning. DH slept until after lunch. He's been so incredibly busy and stressed with work and sleeping in is one thing that he loves to do from time to time. We let him sleep until he decided to get up. We just carried on as if he were not here. We played and watched TV and spent time on the computer. Once he was up and going we got busy! What an afternoon and evening!!!

J started by running over to work and borrowing an old washing machine that he'd removed from one of the homes. He set it up outside with the garden hose and a very long extension cord. We let it wash through once or twice with nothing in it to get the soap residue out. While that was washing we started picking carrots from the garden. We topped and filled up the wheelbarrow with just carrots.

When the wheelbarrow was full we started loading the washer. We did this twice and then took a big break to eat and run to the store.

When we got back CJ and I started the second step of the process while K and J continued out in the garden to wash a third load of carrots. Each load filled a Little Tykes wagon!!! J figured we pulled in and processed 3 bushels that night.

The second step was cutting the end off and putting them through the food processor to slice them to freeze! Ready to eat. So I got a knife and started topping while CJ put them through the processor.

Once we had a very large bowl full of sliced orange yummy-ness, she started bagging. Bagging was I think the hardest part of the job! Once we had a bag full, we handed it to W (20mo) to take to the freezer. He'd hop up on a little red chair, open the lid and drop the bag in! He was SOOOOOOO proud of himself! He would run back for the next one and if we didn't have one ready, he was so impatient!

By this time it's getting close to 7 or 8 o'clock at night and the third load is still outside. I had CJ put the littles in the tub and she got in with them while K helped me slice and bag. We got a lot done before I sent her to the tub too. I got the littles and CJ dressed in jammies. Then we pulled out the milk, strawberry and chocolate sauce and protein powder for milk "shakes" (no ice cream though). So, they drank their suppers, watched Dora the Explorer and then I headed them off to bed.

J and I continued working on loads 2 and 3 until close to 11 o'clock! Some hints, if you want to give this a shot:

1. When pulling them out of the garden, have lots of "runners" - little kids with buckets to run back and forth to the wheelbarrow. Even the littlest can have a job.
2. Knock a lot of the dirt off and all the tops before putting in the washer, especially if you are using your normal day to day washer!
3. When cutting ends off, pick large carrots and lay them all the same direction. It seems like you are wasting time sorting but really it goes a lot faster! No sorting through little ones to get a decent sized carrot to cut.
   
4. Place carrots into feeder (food processor) big end down.
5. Don't slice the little ones! They are bite size anyway. Just freeze them whole or save for snacking.
6. Don't pull more than you can process in a day. Take lots of breaks if you start to get tired! After 7 hours, I was wiped!
7. Snacks, besides what you are "putting up", are great too. We had chips and dip, pop, coffee and chocolate bars (those mini ones).
   
8. For a family of six (with little kids) one medium ziploc bag is perfect for a meal. That's the size we freeze in.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

We didn't go to church this morning. We slept in, all of us. J and I actually were in bed until close to 11AM. It was great! The kids just watched TV and played. We took it easy for most of the day and only started on the carrot process around 3PM. That process started with re-organizing freezers.

Saturday night we just threw the carrot bags in wherever they would fit. We have two little freezers. One will be for only carrots at this point and the other for everything else. So I had to remove what was in the "carrot freezer" and lay the carrot bags nicely to get the best use of space.

Part of this process was to clean out the build up of ice on the edges of the freezer. I, being 37 weeks pregnant, could not get the ice out of the bottom! So, I put little M (3yo) in the freezer with a dustpan to get the ice out!

Saturday's work filled the freezer a little more than half full. And the "everything else freezer" is 3/4 of the way full with other stuff.

The cutting and bagging part of the process started around supper time on Sunday. With all the help that we got from K and off and on from the other kids we were done in an hour.

We have WAY more carrots than we have storage space. We are not set up with a cold storage room so freezing is the best option for us.

Also, we're taking a box over to a neighbor and we've found a family whose garden did not do well this year and they are coming over to help pull up the other half of what we planted. That's Monday's job. We'll see if that gets blogged about or not!

Tomato Harvest

So we got tired of trying to keep the tomato plants in the garden covered against the frost. We've had about a week of frost or frost warnings and even though the plants and fruit were still doing well, we started to worry about loosing the whole lot of them. Saturday afternoon we clipped all the plants and brought the fruit inside. We had some for supper. You won't get tomatoes like that from the store! They were tasty!