{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

I've wanted to join in this lovely community for quite sometime, as I always enjoy reading other's posts.  I finally had a quiet moment to get one together.

{pretty}

Because she is just so pretty!  God made her especially beautiful.  And quite a good girl, adjusting to her new adopted family.

{happy}

Nothing makes them happier than to dig in sand by the lake.

{funny}

This was a harder category.  I think this is funny, because it captures a fun moment for my oldest.  He got to go swimming at Nana's all by himself (and Nana of course.  )

{real}

Not very glamorous fare, but we managed to eat well while camping.  I only resorted to hot dogs (kosher at least) once.

Please visit Like Mother, Like Daughter for more posts that capture contentment!

Weekending at Lake Michigan

We survived!  It was a splendid weekend, but HOT, which made camping not so much fun unless you like hot weather.  I am not a fan, so I spent time reading in the air conditioned camper on the worst day.

Temp when we arrived. 

Friday was an awesome day.  We went from hot and humid at home to a cool 68 degrees at the lake in the afternoon.  It was glorious, but we knew it would not last.

Saturday, the heat came, and unfortunately, I did not pay attention to keeping hydrated.

By Sunday morning, I had a headache, was dizzy, nauseous, and weak.  Thankfully, I finally realized that I was suffering from dehydration and drank tons of water and Gatorade, rested in the camper, and took it easy all day.  I think it reached 96 this day.  Crazy. 

Monday was still hot, so we packed up and came home a little early.  It was good to be home.  Dorothy did well all by herself, but she missed us, too. 

All in all, it was a very nice weekend.  We got to see our family who live up there, listen to a lecture on Cuban birds, ride bikes, swim, and do some hiking, which makes it all worth it.  Oh, and it did not even rain once!  There were big storms in the area just north over the lake.  I am thankful they did not drop down south, although, it might have cooled us off. 

Next trip is in three weeks, Father's Day!

This Week At Home, 2012, Week 20

Little notes I write to remember each precious one!

Ryan and our Dorothy, the blur. 

Monday...

Praise the Lord for rain and a cooler day!  The rain came through while we were sleeping, but left cooler temps.  I was a bit worried when it reached 90 this weekend.

Today I had three or four simple goals that turned into a total tidy of the house and working on mountains of laundry.   We changed all the linens on all the beds.  Picked up and put away things.  Got the bathrooms clean.

The kids also got their Summer Enrichment Program up and going.  That's our fancy name for summer school.  They don't want me to use the "s" word. 

Dinner was a simple chef salad to use up some vegetables that needed eaten.  Plus, we have had such feasts all weekend long that we needed to be "good" tonight. 

Park playdate!

Tuesday...

I am loving, loving, loving this weather!  It's sunny, warm, and there is no humidity!  We are also loving our Summer Enrichment work.  The younger two actually begged me to start reading aloud again.  So we started reading The Phantom Tollbooth, a funny story about a boy's travels through an imaginary world.  The youngest also finished their first week of spelling work, getting all their words correct on the post test.  And they both did a little math.  Trevor exclaimed tonight,"I love summer school!"  (Score one for mom.) 

After lunch, we spread a blanket on the trampoline and enjoyed the sunshine,and some giggles.  We also were able to see our bird friends, the Scarlet Tanagers, which only visit the tree tops! 

Dinner was an experiment. I took my regular meatloaf recipe, shaped it into a round flat circle, put it in the middle of the crock pot and put four pricked potatoes around it.  I wasn't sure the potatoes will cook right, not being cut up, but the whole thing was a success!  I am going to do this again.  It's nice not having to heat up the kitchen.  (Still no oven and no word about when that will change.) 

Library time!

Wednesday...

Ah, Wednesday!  The weather continues to be perfect, by the way.  It's warm, but the humidity is low.  Yippee!  Today, we took our little friend to the bakery and library.  Then we  went home for grilled cheese.  We also had the pleasure of  meeting friends at a park in the afternoon.   We had a nice time at the park with our friends.  The mom has been Grace's small group leader this year in Sunday school, and I've known her forever, too.  Our sons are great buddies, so it was nice to get them together.  We didn't do formal studies today.  Life was enriching enough! 

Dinner was chicken brats, brown rice, and steamed zucchini.  The handy man called and is coming tomorrow morning!  I may have an oven next week! 

New shelves installed, waiting to be painted.  Old stove on the floor. 

Thursday...

Jeff is off today!  It's a day for mowing, running errands, karate, babysitting, and the men came to demo the kitchen!  That leaves me without a working stove/oven now until sometime next week.  They removed the upper and lower cabinets and built an upper and lower shelf.  It's not ideal, as I did not have cabinet space to loose, but I think it will work since that is the only option without getting a totally new kitchen.  The new stove/oven will be so nice.  And right now I am getting really skilled at cooking without one.  I do miss baking, a lot.


Friday...

Packing up and shipping out!  See you Tuesday!!  

Lake Michigan! 

Weekending Notes

Just a quick note about our weekend.  It was the perfect balance of leisure and commitments.  

Saturday highlights: 

• Coffee on the cleaned up deck Saturday morning with my dear one listening to big band.
• A trip to the best farm market around.  
• Grilling once and eating 4 meals from the bounty.
• Sweet, juicy watermelon from Florida!
• Angelfood cake (from the market) with strawberries and whipped cream.
• Reading old homemaking books on the Nook. 
• Listening to the 3 guys passionately playing Wii together! 
• Daughter volunteering to wash and slice 4 pounds of strawberries.   

Sunday highlights:

• Meeting with the youth pastor and other families to discuss 7th grade promotion.
• Going to the 8th grade graduation, worshiping with teens.
• Eating more leftovers!
• Watching my daughter try on my wedding dress and then spending two hours looking at wedding gowns online. 
• Listening to my two boys playing together.  
• Thankful for a husband who takes youngest son to his choir rehearsal.  
• Rain!  It's been so dry.  I am thankful it rained in the evening. 

This Week At Home, 2012, Week 19

Little notes I write to remember each precious day!

Grandpa's geranium is still alive and well! 

Monday...

First, I must report that our weather is perfect!  There is no humidity to speak of and the temperatures are in the 70's.  This has a negative effect on our studies, however.  The better the weather, the more excuses we find to do other things.  Distractions abound.  But, we did manage to get in a good day of lessons today.

Still no oven, but there is hope.  The process for a new one has been approved, so at least I now have an end in sight, although, the process is probably going to take another two or more weeks!  *sigh*

Tonight, I made a stir fry with vegetables and chicken with brown rice for dinner.  We had our AWANA closing ceremony  at church.  I will miss the girls.  Grace is now thinking she really wants to go on to Trek, the 7th and 8th grade AWANA program.  If she does, I will probably join her.  (Yikes, did I just say that? )

She is art! 

Tuesday...

Another beautiful day!  We are now firmly in summer weather, I think.  The 70's and 80's are here!

We did most of our work today.  We are really done with science, but there are some holes in our notebooks that I want "filled".  Going back through our notebooks has been a good way to review, too.  I want the notebooks to look good when we show them to grandparents very soon.

Tonight, I go to my bunco group for dinner, so the fam will have pancakes and fruit.  

My favorite garden at Conner Prairie.

Wednesday...

Today was a beautiful day in every way. Because the boys had other plans, Grace and I were free to go to Conner Prairie all by ourselves!  We started with lunch at Panera, Grace's choice.

 Then, we did a garden tour at the prairie.  We talked to many people about herbs along the way. I can't wait to go back very soon!

My prairie girl. 

When we got home, the roofers had arrived and they were like busy little bees tearing off the old roof.  They stayed until dark. 

Thursday...

The roofers were back at 7AM.  We did our lessons and then went to get groceries.  It's noisy in the house today with all the banging up there, but we will survive.  It's going to be nice having no more leaky roof!

The roofing made playing outside challenging this afternoon for Grace and our little friend.  Thankfully, all the tossing off the roof seemed to be done.  Now it was just avoiding nails that seemed most important.

Dinner was scrambled eggs, breakfast blast bread from Great Harvest, canteloupe, and bacon!  We dashed off to karate to discover it had been canceled.  Thankfully we only live a mile away.  We dropped the kids back at home and Jeff and I went off to Costco to get our weekly supplies there.  

Flowers from a friend.

Friday...

Today is the last official day of school, or day 180 to satisfy the state of Indiana.  Not to worry, school will go on, but not in the same way.  Monday the younger two will begin our new spelling curriculum.  Along with that, Grace and Trevor will be doing math and reading all summer long.  Ryan will be finishing up his science curriculum and working on his math as well.  It probably won't take them more than an hour a day, if they are diligent.

This afternoon is a rare treat.  We're going to a friend's heated pool.  They are homeschoolers and have invited others to join them in celebrating the end of the school year!

Update:  Pool time was excellent.  The weather was perfect, warm and sunny.  We had a great time.

I hope you all have a great weekend.  Thanks for reading!
~Jenn

Trevor and some friends. 

Wordless Wednesday: Phone Picture Time

Grace got hold of my phone and took this picture of Dorothy one evening. 

Happy 90th Grandma!

Today, my grandmother, turns 90!  We celebrated her birthday yesterday.

This Week At Home, 2012, Week 19

Little notes I write to myself each day in order to remember each precious one!

Packed up and ready to go home. 

Monday...

Thankfully, I am not as tired as I thought I'd be.  (Dorothy kept coming into our room last night,probably making sure we were still there!)  I worked through the laundry.  Blankets will have to wait until a sunny day for airing outside.  I don't wash them every time like I used to.  Sunshine does wonders for campfire smoke.

We got busy with our lessons.  I want the last 9 days to count for something, no fluffy days for us!  I did hear some groans.  "I wanted to sleep in today," one unnamed student complained.  Tough.  I didn't sleep in today either.  *grins* 

I started reading, Fast Food Nation.  It just makes me want to run away!  How can we be such a nation of dumb people who think fast food is food?  And now they want our babies to drink cola.  Don't laugh.  One fifth of one year old babies drink soda!

I took Grace to dance and Jeff had a meeting at church tonight.  We had pancakes with grilled bananas on top since it was just us four.

We also got word that our landlord is going to try to rebuild the cabinets to accommodate a new stove.  I sure miss baking!  

Tuesday...

It's getting harder to get our lessons done.  I keep reminding the kids that we need these last days to be solid ones or I will tack on more until I am satisfied.  And yet, it is really my own desire to be done with the year that is disturbing our efforts!

Grace and I planted some of the seeds that arrived.  I have high hopes for these seeds bought from a local company.  They are supposed to be made for Indiana.

Still no oven, but a guy came today, who is going to give a quote for cutting out cabinets and put in a new regular sized stove!  There is hope yet!  But nothing happens as fast as I'd like.

Wednesday...

No AWANA tonight means the stress level is lower today.  A crew of guys are here rebuilding the outside of the chimney, which is crumbling.  Another nice thing about renting, not having to pay for a house that needs so many repairs!

The younger two finished their science curriculum today.  Now we will work on finishing up our notebooks.  We are enjoying a new read aloud, Loving Will Shakespeare.  Trevor is starting to write his term paper on Indiana Dunes State Park, a combination Indiana History and composition assignment.  Ryan listened to a Great Courses CD about Black Holes.

Dinner was vegetable chili, which did not thrill my kids, so they had to fend for themselves.  :-( 

Ryan went to youth group and the rest of us played Pictionary.  It was such fun. 

Thursday...

Need to get bread today.  I could not even bake if I wanted to! 

Got our lessons done.  Babysat in the afternoon.  The chimney was completed.  Looks really good.  I'll be glad to have workers gone. 

Karate tourney night!  Grace and Trevor are alternates this year, so unless someone can't compete, they are just going to watch and eat junk food. 

I fed them eggs, fruit, sausage, and toast for dinner. 

Friday...

Three stores to hit today and the farm market tonight!  No time for lessons, except finishing up writing assignments.  The laundry somehow got out of control again.  Oh, wait, it's all the laundry that has been hiding in Grace's room that she finally had to clear out so she'd have clean clothes!!

Dinner is BBQ chicken sandwiches, salad, and fruit.  

Saturday...

My hopes for today include getting the "pool" raised bed and tomato containers filled with new dirt and planted.  I now really wish we had started tomato seeds this winter, but hey, next year we will give it a try.

Grace is having lunch with her beloved Sunday school teachers.  The kids who read the entire Bible and wrote a summary of each chapter get this as their reward.  She worked so hard to make sure she kept on top of the reading assignments.  She did not want to miss her chance.  

Sunday....

We're going to see my Grandma at her nursing home.  It's also her 90th birthday in addition to Mother's Day.  

Have a wonderful weekend!
~Jenn

Wordless Wednesday: Let Sleeping Cats Lie

First Camping Trip of 2012

Just back from a whirlwind trip to our favorite lake, Lake Michigan at Indiana Dunes State Park.  For 24 hours, it was "make the most of every moment."  We'd been obsessing about the weather for a week.  I really didn't think we'd get to go, as we only had a day and I was not interested in going if it was going to rain. 

Thankfully, the weather was absolutely beautiful!     We did a craft at the nature center. We hiked. We played at the beach.  We had Grandma and her friend over for dinner. We watched a sunset.   We enjoyed our camper.  (I wish I could say that we enjoyed sleeping in our camper, but a noisy bird kept us awake off and on!) And then we packed up in a big hurry the next day after lunch to avoid the storm that was threatening our happiness!