This Week At Home, Number 25

Another week has flown by.   


In my life this week …
Had two quiet days at home.  Wednesday we went swimming with friends.  Thursday was spent getting us ready for a long weekend camping at our favorite state park. We packed the camper last Sunday, which helped a lot.  All that is left to do is pack our clothes, things to do on the drive up, gather all the food, and go.  



In our {summer} homeschool this week ...
I wanted to get back on track.  My goal is for them to do math 3 times this week, continue reading, and learning through excellent life experiences like camping.  I also am thinking of how I can prepare for our return to lessons in August.  I would like to start the first week of August.  Not sure about that date now. The Principal says do two days a week in August.  I think we will shoot for that. 


Places we’re going and people we’re seeing...
Swimming with friends, going to see Grandma while camping, too many grocery stores, Bible study. 


My favorite things this week were …

•  The cooler weather at night and sunshiny days.
• My hammock.  I could sleep in that thing! 
• Jeff coming home for lunch this week since he was working close to home.  
• Lots of time at home, just doing things here.
• Watching fledgling birds.  We have lots this summer.  They can be quite comical.  
• Cancelling our Direct TV order.  Long story.  More later.  
• Chatting with my dad. 
  

What’s working for us …Life seems to be at a good pace right now.  I know this is going to change with vacations and VBS coming soon.  Grace will be turning 12 in July, too.


Things I'm working on... Just getting us ready for camping.  VBS is coming soon.  I will be working in Trevor's class.  I need to be thinking more about our school year.  Need to order a couple of things. 


I'm reading... Just finished The Principle of the Path by Andy Stanley.  This is the second time I read it.  The first time I think I just skimmed it because I got so much more out of it this time.  Worth the look for it at the library.  Basically, he is saying that you are going to end up where the path you are on leads.  Pretty simple.  He uses the lives of David and Solomon to illustrate this principle. I am still reading For the Children's Sake and going to read again Pocketfuls of Pine Cones.  I try to read it every summer.  Grace and I really enjoyed listening to These Happy Golden Years. Plus, the Duggar's new book is waiting for me to pick it up too! 


I'm cooking... as little as possible! The grill is my friend.  I would like to bake some muffins to take with us, if I have time. 

I'm grateful for...

• Living in a country where I am free to homeschool and worship as I please.  
• Good parks to visit.
• Friends who pray.
• A husband who loves me despite myself!

I’m praying for…  an unspoken need of one of my family members.


A photo, video, link, or quote to share … I just love this room's simplicity. 

Inn bedroom at Conner Prairie.

Thank you for taking the time to visit today.  Have a great weekend!  I'll be back soon with lots of pictures from Lake Michigan, Lord willing.

This post is linked to Homeschool Mother's Journal.  
    

Wordless Wednesday: Back to the Prarie

After almost a year without a membership to our local living history museum, we have been enjoying several recent trips. Here are some photo highlights. 

Helping with the chores.

Saw this lamb born!  

My baby enlisted! 

Even Daddy joined up. 

Time for Moderation

Hello friends. I hope you had a great weekend. 

Recently, I came across a very lovely and encouraging site called Unplugged Sunday.  Right way I wanted to join in.  Unplugged any day is very appealing to me.  However as usual, I jumped in feet first without careful consideration of my family's needs.  Ever do that?
So, after presenting the idea and saying we were going to give it a try, the deal went south pretty quickly.  I had to step back and look at the big picture.  What was my goal?

What I really want is for our default not to always involve a screen.  I want us to use our weekends to connect, not scatter in front of a screen.  Then I realized that we had already done that. 

We spent hours yesterday walking about the living history museum.  Today we worshiped as a family, went to the library and a local park.  Yes, we also spent time on the computer, individually.  But we did not totally ignore one another either.  And the time we spent online was not wasted. My oldest son is writing a book and needs lots of time to flesh it out. The big picture also includes a weekend of camping is coming soon.  We will be unplugged for days.  Yippee!  I can't wait.

This Week At Home, No. 27

Hello friends and family.  I am changing my wrap up format again.  I really enjoy reading Annie Kate's Weekly Wrap Up, so I asked it if would be OK to copy hers.  It's all about keeping it fresh, right?  :-)

In my life this week … This was a very social week for us, not to mention being "tired" from coming off of a camping trip.  Lots of laundry this week and putting away after camping.  Planned and hosted a welcome home party for my brother-in-law. 



In our {summer} homeschool this week ... Life got in the way this week.  Actually, that was just fine with me, although, I know we need to try to keep doing some math.  Reading is our strong suit.  The kids are motivated to do the summer reading program.  Visiting our local living history museum weekly is also a good way to learn informally. 

Our green bean bed. 

The first harvest!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing …Spent time with grandparents Saturday, the boys spent the day with a friend on Monday, visited my grandma on Tuesday, I attended bunco Tuesday evening, friends came over Wednesday, more extended family time on Thursday.  Such a social time of the year! 



My favorite things this week were …

• Getting my laundry under control in one day!  (Even after camping!)
  
• Sunflowers about to bloom.  
• Visiting my sweet grandmother. 
  
• Listening to These Happy Golden Years CDs with Grace
  
• Cooler temperatures. 
• Extended family time. 

What’s working for us … Being flexible is working for us, not worrying about keeping a schedule.  Keeping the outside lawn and weeding up is a big job and the kids are pitching in with happy hearts.  The inside of the house is getting picked up and maintained, too.  It helps having company coming often.  Having a membership to our local living history museum is really working for us right now.  I forgot how much I love to go and just walk and take pictures. 

Questions/thoughts I have …Why does summer have to end? 

A photo, video, link, or quote to share …

A great post I just read from Generation Cedar... Are You Wasting or Living Your Life.  

One of my favorite flowers... Hollyhocks. 

This post is linked to

I Have No Complaints

"One wise mother insisted that her children write out all their complaints in 200 words or more. She received few. This is a good exercise for all of us. Make your list and go over it in your prayer time with God."
~Elisabeth Elliot

"Do everything without complaining or arguing." Philippians 2:14

Shakamak State Park Camping Trip # 3

We are back from trip number 3!  And we are three for three with rain during camping trips.  I think that is going to be the norm this year.  I've measured 4 inches of rain in about 2 weeks!  Our backyard started to look like a lake this morning.  

Here are some photos from our trip.  We were blessed to have Grandpa and Grandma visit us while we were there, as they live not too far from the park.

If you'd like another perspective on our trip, visit my husband's blog, Crafting a Remarkable Life.

This Week At Home, No. 26

Monday:
Knowing that the end of this week is going to be super busy, I purposed to make the most of this day.  So, I wrote myself a nice list.  I kept busy with things like, sweeping the deck, weeding, cutting "sucker" trees, making ice cubes, keeping the dishes and laundry going, and changing the master sheets.  I also made a nice batch of pizza dough for dinner.  And I had time to do Wii Fit this morning. Oh, and the weather is worth mentioning.  It is soooo lovely, cool and just how I like it today. 

Yes, Ryan is now taller than his Nana. 

Tuesday:
Another delightfully cool day!  I took advantage and spent an hour on the hammock reading a great book.  Oh, to have another hour just like it would be great, but the lists must be tended to.  We worked hard sweeping the huge deck, weeding, and doing laundry.  I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the upstairs bathroom.  Grandma is coming to spend the night this week, you know.

And taller than Grandma, too! 

Wednesday:
The morning started with a bang!  Lightening, thunder and heavy rain passed our way making our grocery trip more of a challenge.  Had I known it was going to pass through after lunch, I might have delayed.  No matter, it is done.  We spent the rest of the day making the house ready for guests.  It's our first cook out, since learning the burner was upside down!  Perhaps tonight the food will cook in a timely manner.

Watch out for this one! 

Thursday:
Grandma is coming!  After mowing, we walked around our favorite living history museum for 4 hours. They opened a new Civil War exhibit.  It was fun to explore.  We also watched a baby lamb being born!  Some tense moments, indeed!  Thankfully the little baby and momma are fine.  We will check on them next week.  After that excitement, we dashed home through rush hour traffic to grill chicken legs that had been marinating for 2 days.  Jeff's little cousin joined us.  I call her little, but she is almost 20! 

New recruit!

Friday:  Finishing packing and going to go brave the weather this weekend, camping.  The forecast is for scattered thunder storms both days.  Hoping they miss us, but not too optimistic. 

Camp cook. 

Saturday & Sunday:
Camping at a park 1.5 hours away.  It has a great pool.  There will be dry stretches to enjoy it and the 90 degree temperatures. 

Have a great weekend!
~Jenn

PS.  Jeff got the Magic Jack back online, but I am still not crazy about it.  I just wanted to make that note, in all fairness.  It seems to work half the time.  And it could be our computer is old.  Nonetheless (I just love that word) I am not sold.