joie de vivre

CHRISTMAS 2011

2011-12-24T19:11:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!

Enjoy the Christmas music on the blog!

Happy New Year! I hope to put together a year-end blog post (another name for a Christmas letter).

RECYCLE and REUSE!

2011-04-06T18:39:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog. I love to see new followers.

And PLEASE, PLEASE share a comment! We bloggers LOVE comments! They inspire us to continue blogging!

I save EVERYTHING! Well, a LOT of stuff. I figure I can use "it" for something! Some of my favorite things to save are jars and other containers. Here are just a few containers that I recycle/reuse!

These are glass peanut butter jars. I use these a LOT! Here I have pan drippings from Teriyaki Chicken. FYI, I refrigerate it, and the fat solidifies at the top. Then I just scoop it off and throw it out. What's left, I put in a plastic cottage cheese container--that I recycled-- and add more chicken pan drippings when I get more! Then I use it for soup stock! The second jar has Italian salad dressing in it. These jars are also great for storing gifts like hot fudge sauce, flavored coffees, etc.!

pan drippings, Italian salad dressings

These brown bottles are a fairly new find. One of the supermarkets carries their soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce in these brown glass bottles! Hey! PERFECT for my homemade VANILLA!

homemade vanilla

Next up we have recycled plastic Folger's coffee buckets. The crude labels (on blue painter's tape) are self explanatory! Since then we now get Maxwell House coffee because my husband prefers it. However, their containers are squarish. I don't like them nearly as much as these! It takes several times to clean the coffee smell out of these.

tea bags and oyster crackers (they are in a plastic bag)

Now for my favorite find! We seem to go through a lot of grated cheese! Nathan likes it on his popcorn; and, of course, we use it every time we have spaghetti and meat sauce/meatballs. Love that the lid has two sides--one with a few large holes it in, and the other side has a large open section--kind of like a spice bottle lid, except it's a larger lid with larger holes. I've used them for Grape Nuts cereal (to sprinkle on yogurt, ice cream), Panko bread crumbs, sugar, coarse salt, corn starch, cornmeal (since I use it every time I make artisan bread. I sprinkle it on the wooden peel) and cinnamon/sugar! I can think of even more things! I want to get herbs in bulk from the local co-op, and they're perfect for that--dill, parsley, etc.

Panko bread crumbs, coarse salt, cinnamon/sugar, sugar

We LOVE to grind our own peppercorns. When we got married, we got an expensive set of salt and pepper grinder shakers. Well after several years, they fell apart. Then I discovered that you can find these in the grocery stores. BUT some of them are NOT refillable! Who wants that?! I think one that I bought was $4.50! Then I found this one at Big Lots for $1.00! It IS refillable! So I decided to soak the label off and now it's a nice, refillable pepper shaker!

I hope you found some of these recycling/reusing ideas helpful! Until next time...

blessings, joie

MOSTLY FOODS WE MADE

2011-02-19T12:12:00.000-08:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog. I love to see new followers.

And PLEASE, PLEASE share a comment! We bloggers LOVE comments--even just short ones! They inspire us to continue blogging!

Lately we've been motivated to try new things. I want to be more "homemade". Excited about my vanilla adventure! It's hard to wait 5-6 weeks! Since then, I learned that there are other ways to make vanilla. Another person uses less vanilla beans and let's it "steep" for several months longer. So I did that too--yesterday! I also saw a video last night where a guy was taste testing several vanillas he made with different liquors. He decided the vanilla extra made with gin was his favorite. Hmmm... wonder which is cheaper gin or vodka.

I had recently used up soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce--in brown glass 10 oz. bottles. So needless to say I was tickled to save them and use them for more vanilla! I cleaned them and then I cleaned them again! They have snap-up caps too!

Recycled bottles--from soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce

I bought some more vanilla beans from Vanilla Products USA Ebay store. They need to be in an airtight container--resealable plastic bags don't seem to work well enough. So I wanted to put them in a quart canning jar. But they didn't fit, and I was bummed until I remembered my green glass canister set--I can put elbow macaroni in any other container. The vanilla beans altogether in their package were perfect for this taller jar! I get excited over the simplist things sometimes!

I kept them in their original plastic bag and then bagged them in a
resealable gallon storage bag before putting in them in this canister. Now that I notice, I didn't have them in the resealable bag until after this photo was taken.

Nathan found another "soft bread" recipe and tried this the other day. This is the one he made for friends of ours which we delivered that afternoon. Always a delightful visit!

before

after
with melted butter basted on the top

We're still LOVIN' our artisan bread. It's so easy to make!

I also decided to make up Bisquick-type biscuit mix. It can be used for other things besides biscuits. Last night, I made up what is called "Impossible Cheeseburger Pie". I call mine just plain old "Cheeseburger Casserole". I like making it in a wider area-- in a 9 x 11 baking dish. I just add all the things we like on cheeseburgers (ketchup, mustard, pickle relish and onions) to 3-4 cups of already browned ground beef. I buy big packages of ground beef and brown the the same day. Then I store them in 2 cup portions in quart-sized freezer bags until I need them. That's what I used for the recipe. After spreading that in the pan, I place slices of American cheese across the top. I only remembered to take one picture of that. If forgot to take pictures after that! After making up the biscuit recipe, I drop small dollops of biscuit dough all over the top of the meat mixture. It's hard to spread the dough--so do what you can to cover the top. then bake for 1/2 hour--until biscuit topping is golden brown, like you would for biscuits!

Cheeseburger Casserole

Bisquick-type Biscuit Mix

I week or so ago, I finally got around to making a recipe that I had for a while--Almost Almond Joys. The recipe comes from one of my favorite websites called Mommy's Kitchen. Tina is so nice and she has wonderful, well photographed recipes--with great tutorials. I'm sure I've said it many times before, but I'm a very visual person! I love photos!

I mixed the ingredients together and pressed the mix into a baking pan. After letting it chill, I cut them up into rectangles.

I toasted the almonds in the oven. WOW! What a difference in the taste! I loved them--just to munch on too!

Melted milk chocolate chips for dipping!

Finished product--Almost Almond Joys!

They were DELICIOUS! I will be making them again! NEXT time I will cut them into 1" squares for bite sized pieces. They were hard to dip. Smaller will make it easier. AND they're very rich (I think)!

More things to share, but I'll wait until next time!

blessings,
joie

WOW! FEBRUARY 2011 ALREADY!

2011-02-08T20:13:00.000-08:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog. I love to see new followers.

And PLEASE, PLEASE share a comment! We bloggers LOVE comments--even just short ones! They inspire us to continue blogging!

It's been a snowy winter for us thus far. It's already February! Our biggest snow fall was about 15 inches, but it hasn't melted very much; and we keep getting a few more inches (or 12) here and there! Here are some pictures of this winter's snow AND ice!

Snow play early in the season

Jared and Owen cleaning the car

Nathan using the "new" snow blower that Nana gave us--she had it for years,
but it's a John Deere!

Nathan and Jared working on snow removal

Thankfully, Jim came home early and was able to help the boys out with snow removal. I can't remember what we got that time--last week--I think 10+ inches...?

Our latest few inches from this morning (Tues. 2/8/11)

We've had a lot of ice build up this year as well. EVERYONE has. I don't think you go past a house that doesn't have icicles! Our neighbor has one that is probably 10' long.

This is what it does as it slowly slides down the roof!

Pretty wild, huh!

I've been trying to be more of a creative, "from-scratch" homemaker. I've been wanting to make my own vanilla extract for a long time now. Finally I found a place on Ebay to get the vanilla beans , called Vanilla Products USA, at a reasonable price, so I ordered them last week and got them in a few days. Yesterday I ordered more, because the day before I made up my first jar of vanilla extract! Jim got more vodka today, so I made up another 4 jars. I watched a Youtube video with instructions on this. I really like this woman, and I can't wait to watch more of her videos!

First you cut up 6 vanilla beans per 8 oz. jar

Fill the jar with vodka--this will NOT be 8 oz. of vodka

Close jars tightly and shake a little. Store in cool dark place. I put ours in the back of our pantry--behind the cereal. (the "pantry" has doors, so it stays dark) I will shake the jars every 3 days for 5 or 6 weeks! I even marked the calendar this morning when I should shake the jars and when they'll be read! I can't wait!

I will be adding more pictures of foods we've made and things we've done in the past few months (I hope soon). I'm also wanting to change the name of my blog. But I have no idea of a creative name to give it. Still waiting for my creativity to come back! ALSO, I want to make a more craft, creative title. I don't do digital scrapbooking, so I don't know how to do it...then again, I should talk to my friend, Sunflower! She's always doing that kind of stuff on her blogs!

Until next time....

blessings, joie

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-01-13T16:18:00.001-08:00

New Year blessings to everyone!

CHRISTMAS BAKING!

2010-12-05T18:30:00.000-08:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog! I love comments! They inspire me to keep blogging!

Enjoy the Christmas music!

The last few years I haven't been doing a lot of decorating. I do, however, love to hang colored lights around the house. Of course, we always put a tree. With a small house and BOYS, I don't put out things like Nativity Scenes! I have a beautiful one that Jim's brother gave to me years ago--before children. Someday when I have a surface that's safe, I'll display it! Until then, colored lights and a few things we can hang, like wreaths, will suffice!

Seems that the pink always stands out... :o(

Nathan took up birdwatching and feeding a couple of months ago. We're enjoying all the different birds that we've seen. We've taken several pictures from our kitchen window. Here are just a couple.

Chickadee

Downy Woodpecker

Christmas cookies! We started baking yesterday. When I was growing up, we made a "butter cookie" that wasn't even made with butter. We used oleo. Since that was replaced with margarine, they didn't taste good to me anymore. As an adult, I've tried to find a cookie to replace it. Last year we found a recipe that we liked, but it was made with oil and was greasy. Yesterday Nathan found a sugar cookie called Cracked Sugar Cookies on www.allrecipes.com . He made them, and they are delicious! It's a keeper! I think we'll leave off the word "cracked", though. Don't like it.

Our latest find in Christmas sugar cookie recipes.

"Amazing" pork roast
My son's words! (wasn't that good, but it was nice compliment!)

Tonight at bed time, Owen said to me, "Seriously, there isn't a girl beautifuller than you!" He's my cornball!

Until next time...

blessings,
joie

LAST DAY OF NOVEMBER 2010

2010-11-30T20:22:00.000-08:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog!
I love comments! They inspire me to keep blogging!
Enjoy the Christmas music!

Today we did some more outdoor work that we hadn't planned to do. I had thought we could just pile up leaves in our corral--that hasn't been built yet with pallets. But I learned that they'll just mat and mold. You have to chop them up. So that's what the boys did today down the hill--with the mower. We didn't get as much done as we wanted before the rain...

It was a quick and easy process--even though it was awfully windy!

We have many leaves left!

Until next time...

joie

HOW TO WRAP A CAT FOR CHRISTMAS!

2010-11-29T12:21:00.001-08:00

I AM STILL HERE!

2010-11-29T08:44:00.001-08:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog. And I love comments! They inspire me to keep blogging!!!

I'm sorry that I haven't put up a new post in 5+ MONTHS! Shame on me. No excuses. Now it's Christmas time--well actually it's not even December. Every time I advise anyone on starting a blog, I tell them: DON'T put off posting because it'll just get overwhelming and you'll shut down! That's what I did here! For now, I'll post some recent pictures. Of course, we took SO MANY pictures over the summer --garden, playing, etc. Maybe if I didn't take SO many pictures, I wouldn't feel that I had to include so many, and then I might not feel so overwhelmed!

I apologize to those of you who aren't on Facebook to follow my daily life! My blog looks like I dropped off the face of the earth!

This post will be the first of many throughout the holidays! I have loads of pictures to post since JUNE! I have to start slow though--overwhelming!

I have my Christmas music up now, so I want to have some holiday pictures!! I keep my blog up often listening to the music while I work around the house or do other things on the internet!

This was made for me by my friend Chrissy YEARS ago!

Daytime pictures don't look so great!
Owen wants to put strands of shiny red beads on the tree. He said we did last year.

More pictures to come soon. I promised Jim I'd get stuff done while he and the boys ran errands!

Until next time...

blessings,

joie

SUMMER UPDATE

2010-06-28T11:30:00.001-07:00

Please add yourself as a follower of my blog! I love followers, and a I love comments. They inspire me to keep blogging! Many a blogger has given up because they don't think anyone is reading it!

I started this blog last weekend:

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at my sister Brenda's for my niece's Sweet 16 birthday party! It's always a good time to talk with relatives and friends that we only see a few times a year. We let Nathan and Jared spend the night afterward. Turns out, they hardly slept! I really didn't expect them to. They did, however, have fun! Explains why they're napping this afternoon! I hope they don't stay up late tonight! (They didn't! They were asleep by 11:00!)

My nephew (17) enjoys making videos/movies. Last year he made a short western movie here at my house. The boys loved being part of it. Yesterday they did it again. We saw the edited version today. It was really neat and fun! TJ does a great job editing. Now we'll just have to get them in full costume and do another one!

Owen

TJ with Owen

During this past week, the boys start video taping themselves again. I suggested they make a slap stick "movie". That way, it's more fun and they can laugh at themselves as they're learning! They love Buster Keaton movies. However, I hope they don't try the stunts that he did! He was a master! Nathan was able to show me on the camera Jared's video taping in fast motion. It was hysterical! I'm sure they can do that with a video editing program. I suggested they make it black and white or sepia for added effect!

This moth was on my parents' porch.

I love to watch the day-to-day progress of our garden. Nathan said the tomato plants have flowers! So exciting! This isn't the first time we've had a garden, but we're much more serious this year! It's important! We're praying for a good harvest so we can do some canning!

peas

Jared with one of the lower boxes

Not sure if this is a cucumber, pumpkin, or zucchini plant! They all look the same at this size! Actually, this photo was taken almost a week ago! They look different now!

Ever heard of Bangers and Mash? It's a traditional British meal. We've made it a couple of times, but we haven't found the right tasting sausage. It should be a mild NON-Italian flavored beef sausage. The gravy is outstanding--you fry up onions and caramelize them! The recipe we used was from an e-how video .

I love making greeting cards, and now that I have good ink for my photo printer, I'm having a blast printing photos for cards! It's always great when you can use your own photos, but it's handy that we can print out any image from the internet and work with it! Yesterday, I had Nathan find me an image of a horse --my niece loves horses. So we found a beautiful picture of a horse's face, and I printed it out for a card! Now I'm not selling these cards, so I'm pretty sure I'm not violating anything. I forgot to scan the card. But I mounted it like the card you see below. The picture of the dandelion I took a couple of years ago! So a couple of weeks ago, I made it into a card for a friend!

A photo that I'm considering using for making note cards.

Just having fun playing with the camera!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

PHOTO UPDATE

2010-06-17T17:21:00.001-07:00

I'm going to make this post mostly about the pictures this time. I'm so far behind, so this is the quickest way to catch up! Not sure I like my new blog layout and design, but I'd rather update it than spend time playing with the design layout!

The boys always love hanging out with Dad at his truck!

Owen "driving"

Jared helping with the landing gear

Nathan helping with the landing gear

Jim picking up his truck after having it serviced.

We went to Massachusetts to get pure maple syrup--got some there in March Ioka Valley Farms

We also went to buy strawberries at Ioka Valley Farms. They were $5/quart, but they are organic (I think!)

I thought that was pricey, but then again I haven't bought strawberries from a stand in a long long time!

Across from the farm on a hill are some wind turbines. They're huge!

Nathan's my bread baker! 4 16" loaves this time. He cuts them up and freezes them.

I re-potted some herbs--basil and oregano and parsley. The latter two are a little straggly!

Somethin's got this one... not all of the broccoli are like this.

Llama bean tea! I read on the internet that it's most effective this way. Add 1 cup llama manure to 1 gallon water. Let it sit for a couple of days. We think it's helped our tomato plants come back to life!

Our bush beans have taken off, and the tomatoes are looking better!

I hope I didn't leave too much out! Until next time...

blessings, joie

SERIOUS CASE OF BARNHEART

2010-06-04T19:29:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a follower of my blog! I love followers, and a I love comments. They inspire me to keep blogging! Many a blogger has given up because they don't think anyone is reading it!

Today, I have a serious case of Barnheart*. I thought we could bring the farm to us--at least for the time being...

{*Barnheart is that sudden overcast feeling that hits you while at work or in the middle of the grocery store checkout line. It’s unequivocally knowing you want to be a farmer — and for whatever personal circumstances — cannot be one just yet. So there you are, heartsick and confused in the passing lane, wondering why you cannot stop thinking about heritage livestock and electric fences. Do not be afraid. You have what I have. You are not alone. (Jenna Woginrich)}

Only this isn't sudden. I think about it all the time. Sometimes it makes me cry. This idea for making chickens work here, where we are, started when my brother-in-law decided to have chickens. I admit, I was envious. But I was happy for them too. But why couldn't we do it here? In a Google search for the West Ladies' Homestead Blessings videos, I came across a website of a family in Pasadena, California, homesteading on 1/5 of an acre. The story of the Dervaes family is so cool. They happened to be giving away the Homestead Blessings videos on their website, and that's why I found them in the Google search results. Then I started taking out books from the library about raising chickens and homesteading in cities and suburbs. People do it all the time! I read and learned about raising chickens in small areas. There are those who have cows and pigs, as well as chickens, and a big garden with less space than what we have! Then when Jim came on board, it was full sail! Until yesterday when the wind was taken out of our sail! Nathan has upped his internet search for real estate. There is a lot of beautiful land out there for decent prices--IF we don't want to have a house!

Yesterday, Nathan was practicing using this lamp and getting the temp right for the chicks that we almost bought! I since learned that we should use an infrared lamp...

Yesterday, Nathan harvested our first salad greens! The garden's growing, that's for sure!

Nobody liked the arugula--the one with the oak-like leaves. It had a peculiar taste.

Potato plants coming up!

Nathan grew many marigold plants from seeds. Here are just a few that we re-potted so that we can take them to wherever we need them! Thanks, Tami, for the pots! They came in very handy!

The pea plants are growing fast! Nathan said he saw a flower today!

I tried something different for dinner last night. I had chicken tender strips. And I had a head of lettuce that I hadn't been using. So I looked up on the internet for a recipe for stir fry lettuce. Believe it or not, I found a recipe. So I tried it--but added the chicken and some chopped bacon. It was delicious! The flavor was "outstanding", my husband said. Jim's not a picky eater, but he reserves the big compliments for things that he really likes. I never make homemade Chinese food, so this was fun to try. I did NOT use any homegrown greens in the recipe.

The lettuce doesn't look so good, but it tasted delicious!

Today we took a little break from our disappointment [losing approval from the neighbors to have chickens--see my last post] by going "train watching" The place we usually go to had some work being done on the tracks, so we went further out--to the boys' favorite place. I don't like going that far since it's a half hour away, so more gas is used. But Jim had taken them before and they love this place. Plus we hadn't gone train watching in a while. We ended up seeing 3 freight trains in less than 15 minutes!! THAT was cool! Nathan took some videos and I got some neat shots of the tracks. Then we stopped at Stewarts to get gas--so we had ice cream cones too!

My guys

It was fun to take pictures of the tracks! This is one of several.

When we got home, the boys went in the pool. The weather has been hot enough in May and early June to warrant going in the pool! It's still unseasonably warm--80's to 90's. The average for this time of year is mid- 70's.

I call them my "goggle geeks"!

Here's a better look a the blue tarp where the boys put grass clippings and mowed-over leaves. The worms living and working in there are incredible!

My sweet and adorable Owen!

Owen has gotten so good on the rope swing!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

CHICKENS. TO BE OR NOT TO BE.

2010-06-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a follower of my blog! I love followers, and a I love comments. They inspire me to keep blogging! Many a blogger has given up because they don't think anyone is reading it!

Yesterday we did more gardening--16 tomato plants [10 Romas--for canning, and 6 beefsteaks], rainbow peppers, and bush beans in the 16' x 2' box down the hill. This is Square Foot Gardening. We choose the size of our boxes based on what our space needs are. It's still Square Foot Gardening. It took me a while to convince Nathan that we're not going against anything that Mel, the creator of this system, says.

I love to see Nathan tending to the garden. He's planting the tomato plants that he grew from seed. He loves it.

Jared talking with the neighbor boys about gardening.
See that blue tarp in the background? It's loaded with grass clippings and chopped up leaves--it's damp because of past rainfalls. If you push over a corner of that pile, you find LOADS of red wiggler worms! Did I ever think I'd get excited over worms?? Nope! But I do now!

The boys played in the pool with the neighbor boys, Anthony and Alex. Actually it went better than I expected--FIVE boys in a small 12' pool! They listened to me when I told them a few simple rules, and I only had to remind ALL of them a few times!

Having fun with the neighbor boys

Jared and Owen

Busy planning for our 16 chickens! I ordered them today. They should be in June 24th. It's hard to wait 3 weeks, but it's best to get them all together instead of 8 today--which we could've picked up--and 8 more in 3 weeks. What to build for a coop? How to configure the yard?

UPDATE: Jim found out this evening that our other neighbors are NOT okay with us getting chickens like they had told us 8 days ago. When were they going to tell us?! Did they not think about us having to order chicks and supplies?! Jim walked outside to hear the two neighbor ladies talking to each other about it on the sidewalk! When he approached them, the other neighbor lady said to him that both couples were going to have dinner together tomorrow night to discuss our chicken situation. She went on and on to him about how bad having chickens next door would be. I'm thinking Twilight Zone here! She said "well I did some checking and found out that you can't have chickens unless your neighbors agree." Okay... now I know we're in the Twilight Zone?! Jim explained that to both of them last week (because both couples had asked!)--he graciously reminded her of that. Then he came right in to talk to me. After a short discussion with me, he went back to them and told them that we had decided not to pursue the chickens--if they didn't want us to. Can you imagine living under their scrutiny if they had reluctantly agreed?! I'm very sad about all this, and so are the boys. I know God has a better plan; I'm just trying to be patient waiting for it. SO glad that He stopped us from picking up day-old chicks today! I'll have to cancel the chick order tomorrow... :o(

That's all for now...

blessings, joie

Happy Memorial Day!

2010-05-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a follower of my blog! I love followers, and a I love comments. They inspire me to keep blogging! Many a blogger has given up because they don't think anyone is reading it!

Today was officially Memorial Day. Every other year the local parade goes by our house. This was our year! A half dozen fire companies came through--of course the boys LOVE it! Jim has worked the last 2 years on Memorial Day, but this year, Monday was his day off. So it was nice that he could enjoy the holiday with us.

A favorite past time--jumping off the swing! Love trying to catch those mid-air shots!

Catching Jared in mid air!

Occasionally, my boys will work cooperatively together...

A week ago, Jim and the boys started putting up the pool. It went very slowly because we were using creek water using a sump pump that uses a regular garden hose. Since we were taking it UP the hill, it came out of the hose at about 1/4 of it's regular force.

After about 6 inches and 5 hours, we shut the pump down for the night. In the morning when the boys went to plug the pump back in, they found an empty pool! Nobody thought to take the hose out of the pool, and gravity took care of the rest! Who knew! After running all day on Monday, the pool was full. We threw some bleach in that night and the boys got to play in it the next afternoon!

Preparing for the mats to put under the pool

We found use for the trampoline that broke last year. We used the jumping surface to put under the pool! Jared is cutting the rings off!

The distorted "goggle face" makes me laugh, but at the same time it creeps me out!

Last week we took the boys to Fun Plex. Their 2 aunts, my sisters--gave them gift cards LAST year for their birthdays. They played mini-golf and went on the go-karts.

Jim with Owen. In these go-karts, Owen has a steering wheel so he can also "drive", but he really has no control.

Nathan speeding by!

Jared speeding by!

We're still working on getting boxes made for our Square Foot Gardening method. Things had to wait until we knew for sure where we wanted to put them. After knowing that, we'd know what size to make. Jim had made a 16 x 2, but we didn't have a place to put it, yet...

This section I wrote last Monday 5/24. I'm telling you the date for a reason: I've been reading a LOT about raising laying hens. Still working on Jim. He's been very skeptical about it because we don't have much room and he wants to move. So do I, but I think we should do something NOW, if we can! Most of the books I've been reading deal directly with small urban or suburban flocks. It can be done here, but we'd have to check with our neighbors to see if they're okay with it since we're not in an agricultural zone. They say that chickens are less intrusive and less of a problem than many neighborhood dogs! You just have to take care of them and keep their living quarters cleaned! We'd love to do meat birds, but we definitely don't have the room for that. I'm trying not to bug Jim about this.

Now here's the update: On Wednesday, Jim got home from work early. We walked around outside and talked about where we were going to put garden boxes. After a while he went inside. When I came in, he wanted me to see something on the computer. He'd been looking for Youtube videos about raising chickens. He explained to me that God had been working on his heart about doing it here and now. He REALLY wanted to do it now. So that evening, he spoke with our neighbors on both sides. One couple reluctantly agreed, and the other couple was all for it. We were very thankful. The next day, I was itching to get started and order "stuff" related to our chicken project. But thankfully, I didn't. Later that night, Jim opened an email from our neighbors--the ones who weren't thrilled about our idea-- explaining that they had to reconsider and do some research on their own before agreeing--they were concerned about the noise, the husband's allergies, etc. That was Thursday night. For 3 days, it really brought me down. And yesterday afternoon, I was a nervous wreck--not having any idea what the final answer would be. S0 last night (Sunday) Jim re-visited with them, and they said yes--with conditions. Oh well...

We ended up putting the 16' x 2' box up along the property line between us and our "reluctant" neighbors. This way, I can TRY to hide our chicken yard with climbing/vining plants that we'll trellis. They live in the upstairs of their house, and they can see EVERYTHING on our property. Even with an 8 ft. fence between our back yards, they can see it all because they're above it. It's frustrating. But I can only do so much.

Just a couple of the books I've read about the subject

Every few days, I take our kitchen scraps and put them through the food processor to break them down for our compost bins. If we didn't need it ASAP, I wouldn't take the time to do this step. Wish we had started this 6 months ago!
Chickens are going to love kitchen scraps too!

My beautiful friend Tami and her youngest of 8, Levi!

That's all for now. Until next time...

blessings, joie

I HAVE BARNHEART...

2010-05-21T06:51:00.001-07:00

Please add yourself as a follower of my blog! I love followers, and a I love comments. They inspire me to keep blogging! Many a blogger has given up because they don't think anyone is reading it!

I learned last night that I have "Barnheart".

There’s a condition that inflicts some of us that can only be described as Barnheart.

Barnheart is that sudden overcast feeling that hits you while at work or in the middle of the grocery store checkout line. It’s unequivocally knowing you want to be a farmer — and for whatever personal circumstances — cannot be one just yet. So there you are, heartsick and confused in the passing lane, wondering why you cannot stop thinking about heritage livestock and electric fences. Do not be afraid. You have what I have. You are not alone. (Jenna Woginrich)

I thought it was just me that felt this way (pretty much all the time)! I've learned that there are many people going through the same thing. I'm reading this book called Made from Scratch by Jenna Woginrich. I borrowed it from the library a couple of months ago, and just scanned through it thinking it was a book with nice homemade ideas. But usually I have SO many library books out, that I can't get to them all. Why I borrowed it again, I don't know. It's so different than what I thought. Jenna tells of her experiences (good AND bad) starting to raise chickens in the city and then angora rabbits. She also gardens, bakes her own bread, spins fibers and knits, and plays mountain music--teaching herself how to play instruments relating to mountain music. She's witty, funny, and has a real heart for caring for creation (although she might not use that term--last I knew she was a "Buddhist vegetarian") On the back dust jacket of the book, they have a little profile info on Jenna. She was only 26 when she wrote the book! 26! There was a blog website listed so I looked it up. Turns out she just bought a small farm in "Upstate New York"--less than an hour from us! I would love to visit her farm with the boys! Here's her blog: www.coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com

She's very inspiring, and I'm more determined to make our garden a great one this year! Still would love to have chickens--layers. I know we could do it here...

fortunately, our "grow room" is just off the porch, so it's easy to pass plants out for hardening off!

Busy day planned--finish up learning (I've learned to hate the term "school work"), off to run an errand or two, lawn mowing, potato planting, and hopefully FUNPLEX later with Daddy!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

PLANTS!

2010-05-20T07:20:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a follower of my blog! I love comments!
They inspire me to keep on blogging!

I was reading my blog that I posted yesterday and noticed that I forgot to mention that the birthday party was for NATHAN! But y'all probably figured that out.

I received a comment from my sister telling me to post photos of my plants. I can't believe that I didn't do that already! We've taken LOTS of them! I add a lot of photos to my Facebook page, so I forget what I've done where! Sorry about that Nikita!

Nathan has 196 plants here. That includes the tiny ones--
this picture is from a month or so ago.

Thought this view was cool--Jared's photography!

Owen a couple of weeks ago with our latest box. This is just our dirt and compost. (This is NOT Mel's mix of vermiculite, peat, and compost.) There are onions, lettuce, broccoli, and carrots here so far.

The indoor pictures are older. We now have several flower buds on the marigolds! On sunny days, Nathan's been taking his plants outside to get used to the sun! (hardening off) We have more boxes to build, and we have to purchase more vermiculite. It's very expensive--$25/4 cu. ft. You use 3/4 of a bag per 16 square foot gardening box. BUT the mix of vermiculite, peat moss, and compost can last 10 years! Nathan found something doing a Google search yesterday. I guess roofers who make concrete roofing tiles use vermiculite. A woman called a local roofing company's supplier and they sold it to her for $7.25 /4 cu. ft. bag! So far we can't find anyone who makes concrete roofing tiles around here.

We should be planting in the ground next week!

There are other things in this box, but the peas are the big ones you see.

Since Nathan's party, the boys have been playing badminton

My handsome husband grilling today--potatoes and cheap london broil. It was delicious! I'm happier when a cheap piece of meat tastes pretty than when a more expensive cut of meat tastes lousy!

Jared.

Until next time...

blessings, joie

PICTURES!

2010-05-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a follower of my blog! I love comments!
They inspire me to keep on blogging!

FINALLY GOT OUR NEW CAMERA! We've taken more than a thousand photos already! Nathan takes a lot, and Jared has taken some. I say to anyone who wants to use my camera "put it around your neck and LEAVE it there!" (keep in mind that my last one was ruined because I dropped it.)

Last weekend we had a birthday party with family and friends. His birthday was in March, but we waited until good weather. Since Nathan turned 13, we wanted to have a big party for him. My sister Donna offered her home (as she has done several times before for us) since our house is quite small. I wanted to wait until a time when kids could play outside. It turns out that the weather was PERFECT--low 70's and sunny. The kids had a ball outside, and some adults enjoyed sitting and visiting on the back deck. THANK YOU, Donna!!

l-r Owen, Jared, Peepa (my dad), Nathan, Terri,
Donna, my Aunt Jeannie, and my Aunt Hellen.

almost the same people with Jim, my cousin Gin (in red), Brenda in the background and my niece Leighanna to the right.

Nathan and Owen in the middle of a badminton game

My niece Rebecca took this picture of her Uncle Jim. She was quite proud of it.

Jared and our friend Butch playing horseshoes!

Our pea plants are growing like crazy. Soon they'll be ready to vine and attach to the trellis. We have in: arugula, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, carrots, and onions. Our tomatoes are ready to go; just waiting for the freeze threat to expire. Probably next week.

I'm going to close for now. We have to run out. I'll write more tomorrow of the next day.

blessings,

joie

LET THE GARDEN BEGIN!

2010-04-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

PLEASE ADD YOURSELF AS A "FOLLOWER" OF MY BLOG!

I love comments! They inspire me to continue blogging!

Well, we have one "square foot garden" box in. Nathan, Jared, and Owen put in cold crop seeds -- lettuce, broccoli, spinach, etc. Problem. The next day, they discovered squirrels had dug the seeds up! Oh, the trials of gardening! Now, we'll get some blood meal to deter them. We might have to make a cage from chicken wire to keep them little varmints out!

The weather has been all over the board lately! It's been really warm--hot even! Then it's been down to the 40's! There was a frost warning a couple of nights ago! Must be the global warming.

The boys and I have been sick with colds. First it was Jared, then Nathan, then me, and then Owen -- all in stages. Owen and I stayed home from church today. Thankfully, Jim hasn't been sick. He's still dealing with hearing loss in one ear (from a virus a couple of months ago), so your prayers are appreciated.

Since I have no current pictures yet, I just wanted to post a few from the past just for fun.

Meema (my mother) with Nathan--don't think he was 2 yet

Owen and Uncle Tim--almost 2 years ago Memorial Day weekend

Cousins--Memorial Day weekend 2008
TJ (back), Rebecca, Owen Leighanna, Nathan and Jared (the front)

Nathan, Asha, & Jared many years ago! We decided to stop at our local thrift store and Saro was there with her family. That was when I had 2 and she only had 3 (now she has 6)!!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

YES, I'M STILL BLOGGING!

2010-04-11T07:21:00.000-07:00

Add yourself as a "follower" of my blog!

I love comments! They inspire me and keep me motivated, so that I'll keep posting!

I can't believe that I've let my blog go for 3 months! The longer it is, the harder it is to post!

Still don't have a camera, but I hope that's coming soon since we JUST got our tax money. Found out that I probably couldn't have my broken one fixed for free even if I found the warranty (which I don't think I ever received). The warranty I'm looking at on the new camera that I want covers DROPPING! For an extra $20, I think it's worth having! Having pictures is one of the great motivators for me to post. Soon! Here are a few random pictures:

Love the serious pictures! One of the three Christmas photo shoots!

Photo session for Christmas card photo. Didn't use this one.
Never even sent anything out this year! Oops!

Ancestors on my mother's side -- The Abraham Dixon Family

Love these old pictures!

Jared and his birthday cake that I made.

Nathan & Jared, along with cousins, Leighanna and Rebecca in a
special youth choir for Christmas. (N & J are the only boys in the front row. L & R are in the top row--2nd & 3rd from left)

Still on Facebook. I'm on the computer way too much. It's not just connecting with friends that I like about it. I'm a fan of SO MANY groups that I like to keep updated on--conservative, Christian, homeschooling, scrapbooking, music, etc. That's who I am. So I spend a lot of time reading articles, updates, columns, etc., as well as following friends. Through Facebook, God has given me new friends, revived OLD friendships, and connected me with people that I just wouldn't be in regular contact with! I have a couple of cousins that I only saw at funerals... now that's depressing! Now on FB, new relationships have developed!

The boys have a good chunk of the schoolyear behind them. Jared is now 11 and Nathan is now 13! And the attitudes of those ages have come as well! NOT saying it's okay! Just challenging! Nathan is learning in 7th grade math-things I never learned. I only took math up to Algebra in 9th grade. Owen's learning is more laid back as a homeschooled Kindergartner.

We have decided to garden this year with the Square Foot Gardening method. Here's the link where we found the idea. This is from Robin Sampson, homeschooler and author. She has several links that you can click on to find more information about Square Foot Gardening. Nathan has plants started indoors, so they'll be ready to be put in the ground later in May when the threat of frost is gone. The plants look beautiful! Can't wait to take pictures. Nathan LOVES doing it! We're doing everything organic--that includes organic seeds. More costly, yes. But it's so worth it! Think of all the "fruit" from those seeds--that I won't have to buy in the stores! We'll build a 4' x 4' box and make 16 separate 12" squares (hence the name square foot gardening) Then we'll fill the box with a mixture of equal parts of peat moss, vermiculite, and humus (which is completed compost). We have a compost bin working now, but it's not very big--a plastic garbage can. We need much more! The vermiculite is NOT cheap. We have ideas of SEVERAL boxes, but I'm not sure we can afford it all! Once the box is full of the 3-part mixture, you never have to replace it--except for the spaces that you take out a dead plant (at the end of it's growing season) you put compost in it's place. This will replenish the nutrients that the plant has taken out. We're eager to can tomatoes, beans and peas later in the summer. I won't list all the plants we plan to grow until they're actually planted--in case some of our ideas don't work out.

A few weeks ago, we went to a maple sugar house on a farm in Hancock, Mass. The farm is called Ioka Valley Farm. It's only 27 mins. away, and I had been wanting to buy real maple syrup. It's much less expensive to buy it in a gallon here at this farm than to buy it in the store! I paid $50 for a gallon. In the grocery stores, you'll spend anywhere from $74-$100/gallon! My father came with us. It was a short visit, but it was really nice! We got to taste all the grades of syrup, maple butter, maple barbecue sauce, and maple mustard! YUM! This farm will open to the public again in June for strawberry season. We plan to go back! They'll have a petting zoo and a play area for the kids. Then they're open for fall and winter activities. They have a good website, so check it out!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

p.s. pardon the spacing in this blog. I keep moving things around, but when I publish it, the spacing goes back to where I don't want it--squooshing everything together!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2010-01-04T10:59:00.000-08:00

PLEASE ADD YOURSELF AS A FOLLOWER TO MY BLOG! Just click on "follow blog". I love comments, so please feel free to leave me a note. It inspires me!

Happy New Year!! I hope that everyone had a fabulous Christmas! Ours was peaceful. FYI, I'll be switching my blog music back to my regular music AFTER our last Christmas celebration is over -- Sunday, 1/10.

Nathan asked my neighbor if I could borrow her camera again--for Christmas day--so I was able to take pictures! We plan to purchase another, but we want to wait for tax money. Things are slow at work for Jim, so I want to spend money wisely. Good stewardship is a goal of mine for the new year. My interest in photography is growing! I love taking pictures--just about EVERYTHING!

I'm not a New Year's person. The old year goes out and the new one comes in quietly in our house. No celebrations. And I don't like making "resolutions". However, it IS a new year, so I chose to make goals instead. Here are some goals, off the top of my head (not necessarily in order of importance):

1. Be a better mother; spend more time WITH my boys.. not just live in the same house.
2. Be a better homeschooler; be more organized but still have flexibility
3. Be a better homemaker; again, organization
4. Do whatever I can to make selling our house and buying a house with acreage happen sooner than later
5. Make Christmas gifts throughout the year, so that I'm ready!
6. Take more pictures of more things!
7. Be a better blogger
8. Be a better friend--keep in touch better. Happy that FaceBook helps with that!
9. Be a better follower of Christ
10.Be a better wife; learn the art of submission ;o)
11. Be a better steward

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! ~Philippians 4:13

That said, we had a productive first day back to school. Still can't figure o
ut how Melissa and Tami do it with 8 children each!

Back to Christmas. We had a peaceful Christmas Eve. We decided to stay home this year, instead of going to church. I took the boys last year while Jim worked. It was kinda depressing. I wanted to spend the evening with Jim, so we had our "service" at home. Had all my wrapping done before Christmas Eve--oh, except for the 3 pairs of jeans that I ended up buying that day WITH the boys! I didn't have a chance to get out in that week. Okay, so they weren't surprised, but that's okay! Yes, I went shopping -- with kids in tow -- Christmas Eve day! Am I crazy? Yes! Actually, it wasn't that bad probably because it was early in the day. AND Walmart was smart enough to have the registers well manned!

Christmas morning was nice too. Christmas Eve and day is just our family. The boys opened gifts quickly. The pictures will say more about that. After which we had a breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls. Then there was LOTS of video watching. The boys got several videos: Daniel Boone TV series (seasons 1 & 2); comedian Tim Hawkins (both videos); Golden Age of Steam and America by Rail (train video sets of 4); Homestead Blessings series (6 videos--a family gift for all of us); Guidepost Junction video (w/Jodi Benson) for Owen; and Andy Griffith Show (seasons 7 & final season) They also got some audio series(s) -- Jonathan Park (Vol. 4 & 5) and Adventures in Odyssey--The Truth Chronicles. Plus a couple of other AIO audio albums on cassette. They're no longer available at cbd.

Although Jim and I are NOT opposed to technology, I think that kids, when allowed to, can become dependent on things like video games, hand-held video games, the Wii, texting, MP3 players, etc. My boys have played the Wii at my sister's, but we don't want one for our home. Unfortunately, that doesn't always go well--unsupervised, that is. Nathan and Jared are allowed to play computer games at home (racing, driving or learning games) for 20 mins. a couple of times a week. Nathan bought a truck driving game, but it didn't work on our dinosaur computer! When we upgrade, they'll be able to use it. They received MP3 players from our neighbors, but they will be limited. At this point, they're just listening to the radio and recording messages! We'll figure out the music downloads when we can! All that will be under supervision; songs must be approved by me. Believe it or not, there are a few songs on the Christian radio stations that Jim and I don't approve of them listening to over and over... sadly. Yesterday, Nathan wanted to listen to his MP3 player while he was shoveling. I told him that he couldn't since he was working with his dad and his brother. If he was shoveling alone OR mowing, that would be different. We want to promote family communication not isolation. Properly used, the player will be fun for them!

Jim's back to work, which is always sad after vacation. This was his first vacation in 2 years! Remember that Jim doesn't get "weekends" off. He always has Sundays off, but his 2nd day off is an assigned floater. He never knows earlier than the afternoon before what his day off will be. So we can't do weekend things--like visit his mom in Plattsburgh. It makes it hard. BUT it's a season that we'll get through! It could be much worse. He could be on the road for 5 days to 2 weeks at a time!! God is good.

Jim worked on Saturday (his regular day) so that he could have the whole next week off for vacation. We just hung out together on Sunday and watched videos. His mother called us and said that the weather was supposed to be bad for Monday, so we waited one more day . We left a little before noon for the 3 hour trip up north. The boys were thrilled to go to Nana's -- we hadn't been there in almost 2 years (for her birthday in Feb. '08) My boys, Nathan and Jared, are into the sites and smells of memories. We had a nice time visiting with Jim's mother and his brother's family. Jerry's kids are growing so fast! We left around noon on Thursday--New Year's Eve. On Saturday, Jim made the mistake of answering the phone when his boss called. He thought that he called about his truck that was in the shop while he was on vacation. Nope. He asked him if he could work. :o( I wasn't very happy about it, but the hours are nice to have. It put a damper on him relaxing his last couple of days.

Then my family's Christmas gathering was cancelled for Sunday. We'll get together this coming Sunday. The weather wasn't so nice anyway. Now I get to listen to Christmas music for an extra week! That's my excuse.

Well, here are the pictures:

Jared and his new cap gun!

Owen pouting because JARED got a gun!

Owen and his Bibleman figures form Nathan and Jared

Jared with new train from Doc

The Pajama Cowboy

Jared and his new hat from Nathan and new gun.

Our Happy Birthday, Jesus cake

One of Owen's favorite gifts--a "vitamin" case!

Nathan with his trains, some he got for Christmas

Nathan with his train gifts from Doc!

Owen with his new cowboy boots

New Year blessings, joie

PICTURES! YES PICTURES

2009-12-19T05:50:00.000-08:00

Please add yourself as a follower to my blog. I love also love to receive comments! It motivates me!

PICTURES! Yes, pictures! Thanks to our friend and neighbor, Pam! My mother-in-law came down (3 hrs. away) on Tuesday. I asked her to bring her software for her camera so that I could load it on my computer. That way, whenever she comes to visit I can get the pictures right away. She doesn't have a computer, so she just uses her memory card at Rite Aid. I took several pictures of the boys for our Christmas photo, only to discover that we never thought of her USB cable! She never uses it, so she didn't think of it... Then that same night, I called our neighbor who has the same camera as my broken one. In fact it's because we liked hers that we decided to get the Fuji FinePix! I was able to borrow it for the next couple of days. I took LOTS of pictures. 71 of the boys the first day and 102 of them the next day. Believe it or not, there were only 3 pictures to choose from (out of 173--so you don't have to do the math!) Sure there are a lot of fun ones--making faces, turned away, laughing with mouths wide open! It was difficult to give back ;o( Didn't realize just how much I missed taking pictures!

Christmas is coming too fast for me! Not ready yet. It took me quite a while to get in the Christmas mood. I don't know why... maybe it's the weather. We had a little snow a couple of weeks ago. That helped. It sure is cold now though! Glad I'm not in Virginia or Maryland!! That's where my mother-in-law is now visiting Jim's brother! They're getting hit hard!

Last Sunday was the Christmas Cantata at church. My niece Leighanna is in the adult choir. Nathan, Jared and my other niece Rebecca sang in a small group of 9 kids for a couple of songs with the adult choir. At the last minute, Jared had a small solo in one o the songs--the other boy didn't feel well. It was sweet to hear Jared. They sang the contemporary version of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. Typically I don't like modernization of traditional songs, but I really like this. It's arranged by the lead singer of Casting Crowns. Here's a link to a video of the song.

This coming Sunday, my boys and my nieces will sing in a worship choir for the Sunday School Christmas program at church. I can't wait! They have a 2-hour rehearsal tomorrow, and Jared really wants to sing a solo! They'll know who gets what solos tomorrow! I wish Nathan would do a solo, but at this time, he thinks it's a fate worse than death! Owen can't wait until he can join a choir!! They all sing well. Both N & J can sing harmony, which I think is a blessing. A couple of weeks ago, I heard Owen sing a harmony line in a song. I was so excited! I taught them when they were very young -- it comes naturally to me. They also listened to the Gaither Vocal Band regularly when they were little, so hearing those harmonies helped reinforce harmonies.

Owen will be dressed as a shepherd singing with his Sunday School class.

Next Wednesday, Jim's Mom comes back this way -- she'll fly into Albany from Baltimore. She'll spend the night with us, and the boys and I will take her half-way home where we'll meet Jim's brother Jerry who will pick her up. For some reason, she was okay taking the bus to Albany, but she doesn't want to take it going back home. It's the day before Christmas Eve... it'll be a really tight squeeze, time-wise, but we'll get it all done (I hope!!)

I still haven't composed a Christmas family letter! I don't know if I will get one done this year.

Here are a few holiday pictures...

Blue Ribbon Sugar Cookies (we love them, and they're super easy to make!)

Owen posing in front of our tree (doesn't he look innocent?)

Our basket of Christmas books

Just one of the many goofy photos I got the 2nd day!

I think it was finally getting to Nathan! This was near the end of 102!

Gotta call it a night. It's late again. I never manage to get to bed before 12:30! Until next time...

blessings, joie

MORE SNOW!

2009-12-09T09:43:00.000-08:00

This is our second snowfall of the season! The boys are outside shoveling our "parking lot". The idea is grand until they do it for a short while. Then they're complaining! Not a good thing...

Update: Nathan and Jared ended up doing a great job on the driveway! Dad was really pleased!

I'm adding a few pictures from Christmases past...

20 years ago with my sisters!

I can hardly believe it's already the 9th of December! I'm not ready for Christmas yet! I cannot proudly boast that I'm done with my shopping. Hey! Christian Book Distributors (CBD) has a free shipping deal going on until midnight tomorrow (12/10) I'm definitely taking advantage of that! Your order has to subtotal $35 or more to get the free shippig--easy to do! I placed one order already for Christmas, but I found that there are several more things I want--marked down 90% Gotta love that! Just enter promotion code 305633 at check out!

Sisters 1972

Hoping to make cookies and watch a Christmas video today. Sadly, Nathan and Jared don't seem to be interested in Christmas videos this year.... :o( It kind of surprises me. Owen has watched The Little Drummer Boy 4 times already!

Christmas with my cousins--1964

(I'm front and center!)

Instead of "Keep Christ in Christmas", we believers should "Keep Christmas ABOUT Christ!" There's a world of difference!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

DECEMBER ALREADY!

2009-12-05T08:47:00.000-08:00

Well, the Christmas season is upon us. It doesn't seem that long since we celebrated last year! It's a little like the Twilight Zone!

I'm writing this blog AROUND the pictures I posted from Picasa. I can't change the order, once they're on, but I can move my text around.

As you can hear, I put up my Christmas playlist on the blog! It was fun creating it! There are a LOT of songs that I would've like to put on it that just aren't on Playlist.com.

I STILL have no camera to use; it's so frustrating. Not sure what I'll do for Christmas. I really don't want to get a cheap camera just to get by. Since I love to add pictures on my blog, I decided to use some from LAST Christmas.

A cute photo of Owen from LAST Christmas

This is the picture I took last year of my neighbor's lawn that they used for the Christmas card. I was so tickled!

We have our tree up and many colored light strands around the house. We even have lights up outside this year! I think it's the first time ever. A few years ago, Jim thoughtfully put up C-9 lights along the A-frame of the roof. When we plugged them in, they didn't work anymore! We were all disappointed. After all that work, I told him to forget about them... Nathan's the one that's hung ALL our lights this year. He enjoys it and I have no problem letting him!

Our tree from last year with some notes I was going to scrapbook with.

After much thought, I've decided to let Nathan start his own blog. Actually, it was MY idea! I read recently on a homeschooling/homesteading blog of the value of kids doing blogs. I want it to be his, but he has rules to follow. I consider it an on-going learning project--part of school. He'll develop skills in: typing, vocabulary, punctuation, spelling, creative writing, communication, and faith-training--just to name a few. I'm excited about this. Jim, on the other hand, doesn't share my excitement. I assured him that Nathan's time will be limited, and EVERYTHING will be approved of by me before it is posted--even down to his playlist! We spent time last night creating his blog playlist together. Since the advertising messages are sometimes offensive, I'M the only one who will be on the Playlist website. My goal is to help him with the sharing of his faith, his ideas, and his interests. He's already planning on adding recipes, Scripture verses etc. I have to be careful, as I'm very controlling, and want this to be his. Again, as in life, there are rules to follow. He's only put a very short post on so far. Last night, after creating his playlist, it was too late. So shortly he'll be creating a new post. Check out his blog at www.nathandslife.blogspot.com Your encouragement and comments will be so appreciated by both of us! Add yourself as a follower to his an my blog! It only takes a click if you have a google account. If not, it only takes a minute to sign up!

(last year's Christmas photo shoot)

Please add yourself as a FOLLOWER of my blog! It's easy to do. Also there's an opportunity for you to add comments. They're always welcome and invited! I love comments! They inspire me!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

PERSONAL APPEAL

2009-11-27T08:41:00.000-08:00

Please think about the "KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS" war that's going on. It's NOT showing Christ's love. Showing His love is living in a "Christ-Like" manner We should remove the obstacles that keep us from making Christmas ALL about Him. We MUST NOT have an "in your face, I'm gonna say Merry Christmas whether you like it or not!" attitude! NOBODY can really take Christ out of Christmas--not even our government. They can try, but it's up to us as Christians to personally make Christmas about CHRIST in our own homes and in our attitudes toward others!! So say "Merry Christmas" this season. But do it lovingly. Leave the pins, buttons, and bumper stickers home this year!

On that note... I don't think putting up a Christmas tree is a bad thing. We're not worshipping the tree. In fact, I DESPISE the song "Oh Christmas Tree". We're not saying that Christmas decorations have supernatural god-like powers and can take the place of Christ--they can't see us when we're sleeping and know when we're awake.

Focus on Christ with the music you listen to, videos you watch, and the books that you read with your children. Winter songs are nice, but I try to keep them at a minimum. I'm still planning to put my Christ-centered Christmas books list together, but it's so time consuming, and I've not yet had the time to do it.

Until next time...

blessings, joie

2009-11-17T12:10:00.000-08:00

Please add yourself as a FOLLOWER of my blog! It's easy to do. Also there's an opportunity for you to add comments. They're always welcome and invited! I love comments! They inspire me!

Just sitting here compiling and enjoying my http://www.playlist.com/ Christmas playlist. I sneak Christmas in a little bit everyday! I know that a lot of people struggle with Christmas being out in the stores WAY before Christmas. It's what stores do -- sell things! It doesn't bother me because I'm thinking about Christmas gifts in September (do I start my crafts then, when I should? No! In fact, I haven't started yet, and it's 30+ days away!) We don't do anything with Halloween, and for me it doesn't take away from Thanksgiving either. As believers, we should be thanking Him everyday for our blessings anyway! We don't save it all for one day of the year, do we? I hope not! And what are we MOST thankful for? A REDEEMER! So to me, it's all one big holiday celebration to honor our God and King!!

We love our new car, Mark! For us, it's like a brand new car! Still no camera, so still no pictures. Jim's hinted that we might replace our digital camera with an upgraded model! YAY! I don't think they make the model that we have anymore: Fuji Finepix S5200.

Haven't figured out yet what I'm going to do about a family Christmas photo. I think I'm going to ask my sisters to take pictures at our annual Thanksgiving family dinner. We'll get together the Sunday after Thanksgiving for a traditional turkey dinner. I our home, on Thursday, we've decided to make homemade pizza a tradition for Thanksgiving! This will be our 3rd year. We'll have our family dinner at Donna's on Sunday. The day AFTER I'll make a roast chicken and have the traditional sides. (Jim and I prefer chicken over turkey). It's always nice to eat "leftovers".

I better start putting together my yearly Christmas letter! In the past I've kept notes in a word processing document of what's happening during the year. This year, I forgot. So I'll just have to go by memory.

Nathan's latest passion is learning about raising ducks! He wants to start in the spring, but I don't know if we really can do anything here. There's just so little room on our lot. Half our lot is taken up by the house and "parking lot". Everyday we read the duck-raising book together. It's his choice to do it with me. He also enjoys Bible reading with me. Again, his idea. We're both reading the book of Luke, so he asked me a week or so ago if we could read it together. We're also trying to get devotions in during the day instead of at night. We always seem to run out of time, and we're in a hurry to get through them. It shouldn't be that way. I really enjoy reading allowed to the older boys after Owen goes to bed, but we haven't had time to do that lately. The book we're reading is Carry On Mr. Bowditch.

Speaking of reading allowed, Owen wants me to read Jotham's Journey to him this year. Jim and I have talked about it. Jared was almost 6 when I started to read it with them. We're considering it. Jim actually doesn't think it'll be a problem. I know that some people won't agree with that; but we as parents know our own children better than anybody. I know what he can and can't handle. If I find there's a part that just won't do, I'll skip over it. I also want to purchase the next book in this series Bartholomew's Passage.

Nathan's making our own Advent candles this year. I bought the boys a candle-making kit last spring. It has metal votive candle molds. So this year we'll use votive candles instead of tapered ones.

Last year in my Christmas letter, I mentioned how Jared was FINALLY a real reader. I was so excited because, before that, I couldn't get him to read more than one book here and there. He was really into reading Hardy Boys books last Christmas time. Unfortunately, the spark fizzled out right after I wrote the letter!!! It's taken him pretty much all year to get that spark back. Now I think it's here to stay! Because he's not a fast reader, I think it's been discouraging for him. Although he reads his Bible daily, I don't think its the same as reading for entertainment. Besides, Jared is busy doing other things in the summer.

I'm considering letting Nathan start blogging. I'm not sure how yet. I'm reading about kids learning through blogging. It's also a way for kids to share their interests and projects with family and friends. It's also good for typing and language arts skills!

Went to our local thrift store last weekend for the first time in ages. Hit a jackpot. For $2, we bought 1 Hardy Boys double feature book (Jared's thrilled), 2 decorative votive candle holders (for Nathan to use for Christmas gifts), 2 decks of cards (for Nathan's card collection)1 Scrabble game (see picture below) 1 shirt for Owen (the reason why they gave it away is because the collar is crooked! It'll be fine for play around the house! Lately he's been a cowboy, so his bandana covers it completely!)

I just love dimensional decorating with letters!

I love my new Christmas tree embossing folder!

I'm going to try and add an old picture -- from my childhood or of our ancestors with each blog post...

My mother's maternal grandmother,
Maria Toth Graf

Until next time...

blessings, joie

NON-SANTA CLAUS CHRISTMAS VIDEOS

2009-11-12T18:08:00.000-08:00

FYI: There are several Christmas videos (and books) for young children that aren't about Santa Claus. I've enjoyed discovering and acquiring these over the years. Here is a list of the videos that we still enjoy! I will post my list of books as soon as I can. I'm eager to hear more ideas! Just leave a comment! ***NOTE: This is only a list--to give you ideas of what is out there. These are videos that we have in our home library only. The links will take you to Christian Book Distributors, Amazon, or Ebay where you can find more information and/or purchase them on your own. ***

* The Donut Man, The Best Present of All

* Quigley's Village, Christmas Story

* The Little Drummer Boy (yes, the one we watched when we were kids!) *

* Veggies Tales, The Toy that Saved Christmas *

* Veggie Tales, The Star of Christmas

* Cedarmont Kids, Christmas Favorites

* Cedarmont Kids, Christmas Carols

* The Crippled Lamb

* Alabaster's Song

* Bed Bug Bible Gang Christmas

* Christmas Is

* Red Boots for Christmas

* First Christmas (clay animation)

* The Christmas Story Keepers *

* The Beginner's Bible, Story of the Nativity

* The Greatest Adventure Stories from the Bible, The Nativity

* The Visual Bible for Kids: The Birth of Jesus (w/Kirk Cameron)

* Nanny & Isaiah Adventures, The Secret of the Second Basement (featuring the Peppercorn Puppets)

* The Prince of Peace

* A few marked with a lavendar asterisk are available in our local library system!

I'm CONSIDERING getting the new Veggie Tales video about St. Nicholas, but only IF they don't indicate that that's where Santa Claus comes from. St. Nicholas wasn't a magic, supernatural being with supernatural God-like powers that "knew when you were sleeping and knew when you were awake and knew if you'd been bad or good." AND if you were bad, you just might be punished with coal in your stocking and no gifts!

I also just learned that there's another Nanny & Isaiah video "...welcomes the Savior". I'm going to buy it used on Amazon. I'll add it if we like it.

Some of these videos are only available "used". Some of my links take you to Ebay or Amazon Marketplace.

SO glad I don't have to give up these precious videos yet -- with Owen being little still! I'll miss them when he grows out of them! I'll play them for myself then! Or I'll just MAKE my kids watch them!! ;o)

I hope this list helps! I'll add to this list if I find anymore videos.

Please add yourself as a follower of my blog. It's simple to do. I love your comments, so take a minute and leave one if you'd like! They inspire me!

blessings, joie

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2009

2009-11-09T14:39:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, Sammy Grayson stopped working. :o( Sammy is our Ford Escort. The transmission went. Uggh! We've been without a second vehicle for a while. Thankfully, Jim has had the pick up for work. Since then we've been looking--actually, we've been looking for a long time because Nathan barely fit into the backseat of the Escort. We wanted a diesel van, but they're hard to find used. Because the need to replace our car was so great, we had to put aside the idea of getting a diesel and get another car quickly. Our friend, mechanic and Christian brother Joe did some shopping around for us and got us a nice Mercury Grand Marquis. When I get my camera working again, I'll post a picture. It's really nice. Joe came by this afternoon with the car on a lift truck. The boys were so excited! He then took away our van Lucy and the Escort, Sammy Grayson. Lucy's been sitting in our driveway unusable for 2+ years! The boys were sad to see them both go, but life goes on. We haven't named this car yet, but rest assured, we will soon! We are so thankful for Joe and all the work he did on our behalf -- running to DMV twice, bringing the car to us, adding some extras, etc. God is good! Update: the boys decided on Mark for the Marquis!

Ran errands today with Jim. I really DON'T LIKE running errands. It makes me grumpy. We went to the Walmart at Crossgates Commons. I haven't been there in a long time--before the 2-levels with the escalators! The boys couldn't wait to show me! Jim had taken them there in the past. While we were there, we ran into Laura, a girl that Jim had worked with at Fed Ex. Jim always spoke so highly of her. We met her for the first time today. She was so nice! She recently got engaged!

Pictures from the recent past, PCB (pre-camera breakdown). I might've mentioned last time that Nathan and I like to photograph our food! We want to make a cookbook of our favorite family recipes! THIS is when I wish I did digital scrapbooking!

Nathan's drawing of a CSX truck! Nathan isn't interested in drawing, so I was surprised and really impressed!

Pizzadillas! (quesadillas with mozzarella cheese, pepperoni and sauce) YUM!

flowers from my sweetie--no special reason

Quite the load of dirty laundry, wouldn't ya say!

Borrowed several Thanksgiving videos from our public library. Tonight the boys watched Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving. It was terrible! Pointless. They talked very little about the first Thanksgiving--which is why I borrowed it. Just awful... We also borrowed The Mouse and the Mayflower. I watched that as a kid! It's very cute. They love that!

I'd like to write more, but I'm very tired tonight, so I'm going to turn in early.

Until next time....

blessings, joie

STILL HERE!

2009-10-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

On October 15th, Jim and I were married 15 years!!

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post! There's nothing out of the ordinary going on, I've just been lazy about blogging! What's going to make it tough for me now is: MY CAMERA IS BROKEN! I haven't been able to take a picture for almost 2 weeks! At first the error message was "focus error". Then it changed to "card error". It's not reading my card. The drop (I dropped it) caused the card to not stay down into the slot as far as it needs to. Then today I figured out that I could use a folded-up piece of paper and wedge it between the card and the flap/door. It worked! I even took a few pictures of the boys outside! Then as I was taking pictures, it got blurry. Now "focus error" comes up. I can't use the camera! It's strange how the focus was fine a couple of minutes before! VERY Frustrating!

Even though the date at the top of this post says something different, today is October 31st. We do not participate in the tradition of celebrating Halloween. The Lord convicted me of that long before we had children. We are to be "set apart" from the world and not participate in the things that would offend God. If we don't feel "in the wilderness" (out there) much of the time, then I wonder if we truly are "set apart". If we're comfortable being part "of the world", then maybe a re-examination of the heart is necessary. As far as Halloween goes--is dressing up offensive to God? No, I don't think so. But why is Halloween the only time we or our kids can do that? Why not be different and have a costume/birthday party? Or a dress up party in the middle of the winter when we all have cabin fever?!! I've also heard the argument, "we have to be a 'light' on Halloween. How is participating by giving out candy or trick or treating being a "light"? I'd much rather be a "light" by gently telling someone that we don't celebrate it and explaining why we don't IF they ask! I have to leave that up to God. I know that some people don't want to offend family and friends by not being a part of things. It's just easier to go along with things and "not make any waves". Let me tell you, when Nathan was little, he told a grandparent that he knew Santa Claus wasn't real. He was almost 3. That person was so upset. Jim and I listened to a 1/2 hour of angry words over it. We had to endure that. We lived through it, and eventually that person accepted it. That doesn't mean that family or friends LIKE it, but they have to agree to disagree at some point. We don't compromise on these issues. We don't rub it in their faces either! It's been hard over the years because the boys have shared with other kids about Santa Claus and that has caused some friction (even though we've told them not to). I am finding that it's more difficult to talk with Christians about these issues. Listen, the enemy is hard at work here! He loves it when we make excuses for the things we do!

Having said all that... I have posted a bunch of pictures in random order, so I'll note what each picture is as I go along!

Owen with the remote control of his new dragon fly (that the boys convinced him to get with his birthday money!)

The dragon fly flying

Owen writes all the time! This is so cute! (Of course, someone told him how to write this)

Autumn in our little part of the world--on the way to church!

Fishing at the Harrises in early October

If there's a tree to be climbed, Jared's there! (at the Harrises)

Owen with Mr. Harris! He told me later that he didn't really like it; it was too scary! Nathan and Jared rode with the girls, but I forgot to take pictures!

Our friends Lori-Ann and Graeme were passing through town. So they called us, and we met for lunch. They live in Maine. We had lunch with our boys. Jim happened to get out of work early.

I'm having fun taking pictures of food we make!! This is Apple Crisp (w/ an oatmeal topping)

The boys sang with their cousin, Rebecca, and 2 other girls WITH the adult choir for special music, kicking off Mission's Week at our church.

Jared's long-time dream--to carry a flag during the opening ceremonies of Mission's Week! Nathan carried a flag too, but the pictures are so blurry! Didn't plan that well...

A few weeks ago, Nathan and Jared started Christian Service Brigade at our church. They're loving it!

Until next time (hopefully, not long from now!)...

blessings, joie

Goings On

2009-09-18T21:37:00.000-07:00

Late last week, I caught a 9" trout. We went fishing Sunday, and Jim caught 2 crayfish (crawdads) I can't believe that they look exactly like a lobster only little! The ones we got were about 3" and 4". We kept them for a couple of days in a bucket. Nothing exciting happened! We fished again today, and things were really slow. Owen caught one small trout and Jared caught a crayfish. Actually Jim and Jared didn't exactly "catch" them, THEY caught on to the worm and just held on tight! The creek is so low. We watched Owen's fish hiding under a rock for a while. His tail was sticking out about 2". It was like a little kid hiding with just his head under a blanket! He would turn around and snatch the worm (but not the hook). He did that a couple times, all the while we watched him! Finally he grabbed onto the hook. It's weird for me. I'm used to fishing in the St. Lawrence River (as a kid) and not being able to see anything in the water and being surprised when we caught a fish.

9" trout that I caught

Last week, Jim drove through town. He's done it a few times in the past, but it's been quite a while. Of course, he called me a few minutes before he was coming into town. It's always a thrill to see him!

Jim coming down the hill into town

THIS is a bummer! On Friday our trampoline broke! The boys had just gotten on it the day before for the first time since May! They were out alone for a while, and I decided to go out and sit on the back porch. A minute later, they called to me and said they needed help (not in an urgent tone). I couldn't figure out what the problem was at first. All three boys were in the part that collapsed. It turns out that a screw (actually there were 2 others around the trampoline) had come out on one part of the U-leg. The other half of the U-leg has a nut and bolt and is attached to the upper enclosure. And this happens when they jump on it?!!!! I'm angry, disturbed, sad, and furious about this! I have to call or email the company to see what they have to say. It's $350 thrown away!!

Here's Owen with his new friend Crystal! She helped out in his VBS class. This picture was taken during VBS week.

Please add yourself as a follower of my blog! Then I can send you an email each time I update it! I also love to read comments that you leave! It inspires and motivates me! (I need that!)

Until next time...

blessings, joie

LIFE IN MY HOUSE

2009-09-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

Nathan's been makng some yummy things lately! Here are our favorite chocolate chip cookies! They're thick and chewy! Usually, I prefer chocolate chip cookie dough over the cookies, but these were the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever tasted!! {Nathan will be the first to tell you that I'm his toughest critic-seriously. If I think that something doesn't taste good, I'll tell him. How can he improve on something if he doesn't know the truth about it! Afterall, I'm his teacher!} Then you see Herb Wine Chicken (a dump chicken recipe). With dump chicken, you just whisk up a few ingredients in a bowl, place chicken {we use 8-10 bone-in thighs} in a zip lock freezer bag, pour whisked ingredients over the bagged chicken and freeze! When you're ready to use, thaw for a day or two in refrigerator, DUMP into a baking dish--we use a 9 x 13 large glass Pyrex baking dish and bake at 400 degrees for about an hour. Your baking time will change, of course, with boneless chicken. If you have a larger baking dish and want to use 12+ pcs. of chicken, the liquid ingredients should be plenty!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Herb Wine Chicken

We're back to homeschooling--starting out slow. I'm working into our social studies subject of New York State History. I'm still collecting books from the library. (yes, I know I should've already done that. Sometimes I have to wait for books, if they're not in the libary that we regularly go to) I think I have enough to started. I'm looking forward to some field trips. I'm considering the Iroquois museum and Fort Ticonderoga. I welcome any suggestions!!

Below are some photos of how we've used these inexpensive bookcases from Big Lots! I just bought another one yesterday to keep my books close by me. I sit at the desk a lot, and I like to have things at my fingertips: Teacher guides for correcting work and tests, unit study guides, devotionals, homeschool books, library books about homeschooling, etc. All of our library books have been in a basket in the livingroom, and I was never reading the books that I took out for myself! Now, I have them right next to me, so I'll remember that they're here!

I'm looking for function--we're a homeschool family, so matching, beautiful [expensive] furniture isn't a priority. This is our former dining room. We gave it up YEARS ago for a homeschool room. We bought a "school table" for Nathan and Jared when they were K and pre-school age. It ALWAYS had stuff on it, and they hated to clean it! So they gave up the school room, so they didn't have to clean it! It's since been a playroom and now the office. It also houses my scrapbook supplies and work area. (the playroom is where the office used to be). It's important for us that the computer and desk are in the main area of the house. That puts me and/or Jim in the center of daily life. And when Nathan and Jared are on the computer, they're right where I can see them. And where my scrapbook area is, I can look up and a tiny bit to the left and I can see what's on the computer screen.

My new bookcase!

desk with bookcases used for hutch

scrapbook area with book cases used as hutch

My 5 yo cutie after a cider donut

Owen playing on swingset

Please add yourself as a follower of my blog! Then I can send you an email each time I update it! I also love to read comments that you leave! It inspires and motivates me! (I need that!)

Until next time...

blessings, joie

BOY, OH BOY, OH BOY!

2009-09-11T16:57:00.000-07:00

Today Stacy, Roger, Christopher, and Peter came to visit us. The weather wasn't nice, so we had 6 boys in my small house!!! The weather has been picture perfect...until today! They did fine though. They played and watched Veggie Tales. The boys really enjoyed the visit; and Stacy and I had some nice Mommy-fellowship time, talking about homeschooling and BOYS!!

Peter (just about 2 yo)

Roger (4 3/4 yo)

Christopher (3 3/4 yo)

Peter--all worn out!

Please add yourself as a follower of my blog! Then I can send you an email each time I update it! I also love to read comments that you leave! It inspires and motivates me!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

FISHING SOME MORE!

2009-09-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

Lately, we've been a fishing family! Now that we've discovered that we can fish in the creek behind our house, we've fished 4 times in the last week and a half! The quest has been for Nathan to catch his first fish! So today, he finally did! Yesterday we fished, and fished, and fished, and got at least 100 bites/tugs, but we caught nothing! Smart fish! Nathan got his fish today.

Owen got a little bored, so he moved a few rocks and found worms. We all got so excited that he was finding FREE worms! (they do cost money in the store!) He found one after another. I think he got 10! We used a couple right away, so the picture you see below doesn't have all that he caught.

Owen fishing yesterday

Nathan's first fish, today!

WORM HUNTERS!

Ewww!
That night crawler is a little creepy! I wonder how long he is when he's stretched out!

We're gearing up to start our school year on Monday. Tomorrow I have a friend coming over with her 3 boys (4 and under!) to visit AND to learn about how we've homeschooled over the years. I have lots of resources, so it'll be cool to share ideas with her! Every child learns differently, so these are just ideas for her to work with.

Soon Nathan is going to learn how to bow hunt from an avid, experienced bow hunter (the husband of a woman I know from church--Nathan's first VBS teacher). John's excited, Nathan's excited, and I'm excited about it! Plus it's also great how they live only a few miles from us!

Car's in the shop, so we're homebound this week.

I found a storage cabinet at a local warehouse store that will work great for the extra storage I need for kitchen stuff. Problem is, I can't pick it up with the Escort. So I have to depend on Jim to do that. And he doesn't have time at all. He worked a lot of hours last week, working 6 days.

Please add yourself as a follower of my blog! Then I can send you an email each time I update it! I also love to read comments that you leave! It inspires and motivates me!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OWEN!

2009-09-08T07:16:00.000-07:00

Monday, September 7, was Owen's 5th birthday. We started celebrating on Sunday, because Jim had to work on Monday. After fishing in the creek, and only Jared catching one fish, we had grilled burgers for dinner. Afterward, we did cupcakes and presents. He was pretty happy, as you can tell by the expression.

Then on Monday, Meema & Peepa came to visit. They had lunch with us and left in the late afternoon. For Owen's birthday dinner, we had homemade pizza, made mostly by Nathan.

Enjoy the photos!

Please add yourself as a follower of my blog! Then I can send you an email each time I update it! I also love to read comments that you leave! It inspires and motivates me!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

PRAYER REQUEST & FISHING!

2009-09-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

Prayer request for Jim: He deals with migraines regularly, as some of you know. Because he ends up taking his meds so much, it has caused a skin reaction (this happened on a smaller scale years ago) -- all over his body. Last week he went to the dr. and got meds for helping to stop the migraines, so he wouldn't need to take his pain meds, and the rash would go away. He took the new medicine Friday night before bed. At 3am he woke up with tightness in him chest and had that and some soreness in his chest throughout Saturday. He contacted the dr. and told him to stop it immediately. It was very disturbing and unnerving for Jim. Of course, he didn't plan on taking it again. By Sunday morning, the tightness was gone. Now we're back to square one. Thank you, in advance, for lifting Jim up in prayer.

Sunday, we decided to go fishing--in a spot that was recommended to us. No luck. A couple of bites, but nobody caught anything. The next day, we still had worms, so the boys begged to go fishing in our own creek. Now mind you, we've lived here for 14 years and we've never gone fishing in our creek! I couldn't legally fish--no license, but I helped Owen, who caught 3+ fish!! They were little trout, as you can see below. I say 3+ because the third fish caught, I had JUST put the line in the water for him, and I could feel a tug before I even had a chance to hand him the pole!! He caught a fourth one after that. Jared caught one, and Nathan... nothin'. I've got the fishing bug. I've wanted to fish for a while, but the few times that Jim has taken N & J, they haven't caught anything. Jim bought his license last Sunday--for 30 days; fishing licenses expire Sept. 30. I hate to waste the money for that short a time, so I plan to get mine Oct. 1st. This way, I'll have it for a full year! (of course it's going up $10!--the state needs money, so fees for EVERYTHING imaginable are going up!) After Owen caught the first fish, I struggled a little getting the hook out of his mouth. I haven't done it in YEARS and years! I was explaining to Nathan & Jared that sometimes they swallow the hook ,and you end up killing them to get your line back. This was not the case, of course. The next thing I knew I looked up to see tears rolling down Owen's cheeks! He was crying because he thought the fish was going to die! Of course, a little while before, he was hoping to catch one so we could eat it that night!

Enjoy our pictures!

Owen's last fish, I think

Nathan & Jared untangling someone's line!

my serious one--he loved wading in the creek!

my little guy with his little fish--okay, so it's probably BIG to him!

Owen, fishin'

don't remember when he changed to pants... or did he change to shorts and I just have things out of order?? Whatever!

Jared's catch--these trout were so little!

These guys were cute!

My guys--just fishing. Once Owen and I found a spot that worked, of course, N & J wanted to fish there too! The 4 of us sat next to each other in a space of 5 ft. with 3 lines in the water!

Please add yourself as a follower of my blog! Then I can send you an email each time I update it! I also love to read comments that you leave! It inspires and motivates me!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

VISIT WITH FRIENDS!

2009-08-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a follower of my blog! Then I can send you an email each time I update it! I also love to read comments that you leave! It inspires and motivates me!

Yesterday Miss Micky, Grant, and Mara came to visit us. We had a nice talk while the kids played. (Miss Micky's been a friend since she worked in the childrens library when the boys were little)

Took a walk to the thrift store--the kids are trying to get trucks to blow their air horns!

We stopped at the firehouse along the way to see the trucks!

This girls doesn't stop! It's just full speed ahead!

Yesterday it was barely 70, so the pool was out. But it was still fun to play in a little bit of water! The money we parents spend to make our kids happy -- or so we think! An old dish basin does the trick here!

Still working on purging and organizing scrapbook supplies. It's been hard to stay focused without Jackie here. It's so easy for me to get distracted with the day-to-day little things.

Until next time...

blessings, joie

THE PARTY WENT WELL!

2009-08-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog! Feel free to leave a comment! It's fun to know who reads my blog!

We had Terri's party yesterday. Everything went well. There was good food and good conversation! I think Terri was happy! Jim couldn't make it because he works every Saturday. But he took the time to call Terri (while driving) and kidded with her! I have many more pictures than these 4, but I wanted to post some of my favorites quickly. Terri's friend, Rob from work was there with his wife and two children. His baby girl is almost 4 weeks old. My children didn't ask ME if they could hold this tiny infant, but I walked in to the den to see this picture of Jared and then Nathan! It's precious! I wouldn't let Owen because he's too little. He was not happy! At least he got to play with Randy who's not quite 2!

Jared with Lita (not sure of spelling)

Nathan with Lita

Jared & Aunt Terri

The famous chocolate fountain!
The kids had fun!

It doesn't look so nice because I took a bunch of chocolate out to put in cups for those who wanted to sit at the table and dip and visit! Oh well, it worked fine and tasted delicious!

More pictures coming in the next day or so!

blessings, joie

WHAT'S NEW?

2009-08-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog! Feel free to leave a comment! It's fun to know who reads my blog!

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been de-cluttering! I've gotten a lot accomplished, thanks to Jackie! Yes, we're still friends, and I'm pretty sure she's done with me. ;o( She just got a new job and will start next week! God always amazes me how he works things out. If Jackie was still working at her old job, she wouldn't have been able to bless me with her help (crackin' the whip) AND her friendship and fellowship! She really wanted this new job, and He timed it so that she could help me for a couple of weeks. I hope that I can stay motivated and stick with it. I have MUCH more to throw away or give away! But we made a big impression on the office/scrapbook nook. Back to it on Monday! 12 13-gal. (kitchen) garbage bags-full of STUFF to the local thrift store AND 8+ leaf-size garbage bags to the dump! And it's still a work in progress.

Tomorrow we celebrate my sister Terri's 50th birthday! She's not thrilled about turning 50, so we want to celebrate it with her with a "50 and FABULOUS!" theme. I hope she enjoys herself. Spent the day at Donna's helping her get ready. She was very glad to see us all go! I hope to get lots of pictures tomorrow!

Enjoy it when Nathan makes dinner! Tonight he grilled burgers--old, cheap grill, NOT a simple gas grill! {Sorry, Jan!} They were yummy! And huge! I made them yesterday, and I made them really big because they usually shrink so much. We also usually use bread, since we don't usually keep hamburger rolls on hand. Jim got hamburger rolls yesterday, and they're small! So this is how the burger looked with the bun. The boys cut around their hamburger so it would fit in the bun!

Huge burgers!

Owen borrowing Nathan's (size 9) sandals! It made me laugh!

Nathan's photography. He's going to use it for a card for his Aunt Terri.

Homeschool shelves...a work in progress.

Hopefully, next week, I'll have pictures of Terri's party!!

Until then...

blessings, joie

POOL FUN & PURGING!

2009-08-12T19:43:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog! Feel free to leave a comment! It's fun to know who reads my blog!

Jared had a blast yesterday jumping in the pool! I don't know who had more fun, him jumping or me catching him in mid air on "film"! This pool is so small, but they've had so much fun in the last week staying cool!

For the past 2 days, my friend Jackie has been helping me purge and organize. It's not been fun for me. The conversation has been great, but the letting go is hard for me. It's emotionally draining. Does that make sense! I have a long way to go, but we're making progress. She's getting good at crackin' the whip! Don't know if we'll be friends when we're done! (just kidding, Jackie!!) I've gotten so bad at saving everything. What can I say: I'm a scrapbooker! Where do you think the word "scrapbook" came from!!!!

I don't feel liberated yet, but when I see the office area and my scrapbook area neat and organized, I will. Much of that is up to me. Jackie can't come here forever! She has a life! I told her that if she got other clients--or patients--she could do this for a living! Which means she could join the ranks of Dave Ramsey and Jenny Craig by helping people, and having work for the rest of her life! Somehow, with all the TV shows about the subject, I don't think I'm a rarity here! Hanging on to things is a common problem! But I prefer the term "Clutter Bug" over "Pack Rat". That term sounds so harsh!

I know that the organization and neatness will help put order in our day. It will help in our homeschool efforts -- it will help me to not be distracted and stressed. The boys will know right where to find things. They lose their stuff as much as I do!

Jackie gave me "homework" to have done before she comes back on Friday! I don't want to do it! I think I'll head to bed early--11pm is early for me--and wake up rested and rarin' to go! Yeah, I think I'll do that!

If I have time tomorrow, I'll post again and add a few more pictures that my MIL sent me of Jim and the boys at a lock. They're cool!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

2009-08-07T21:15:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog! Feel free to leave a comment! It's fun to know who reads my blog!

Owen, as most of you know, will be 5 next month. We've had this smaller pool since he was born--last year was the first year we did not put it up--we had our 12' Intex pool up last year. But he hasn't been able to go under the water ever. He's prayed and tried, but he hasn't been able to make himself do it! This summer I bought the boys goggles. So the other day--Thurs.--he finally did it! He went under. (the pool only went up Wed.) At least his face is totally in the water! Not sure if he has actually been submersed yet! He's so proud of himself! And I'm just tickled for him! Jim and I think it was the goggles that really helped him. I think it gave him a sense of security--they also cover his nose. That's a biggie! He's such a cutie!

*Nathan informed me last night that Owen did, in fact, go all the way under the water--while they did repairs on some vessel under the water!!

bagels and "bagel cream"

This has been such a beautiful week! The boys enjoyed the sun, and I enjoyed the shade of the porch! In fact, there were times when the breeze made it down right cool!

Yesterday I finished Home Educating With Confidence by Rick & Marilyn Boyer. It's an excellent book , which I'm glad I own. I'll refer back to it time and again! I'm back to reading Home Sweet Home-School by Sue Maakestad. I started it a while back and stopped to read a couple of library books. I still have SO MUCH to read! There's always something to learn!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

SUMMER'S STILL HERE

2009-08-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog! Feel free to leave a comment! It's fun to know who reads my blog!

"It's SOOOOOOO hot, Mommy! Can we put up the little pool at least??" I agreed, because it fits into the back corner of our driveway (small parking lot). So they figured out how to use Daddy's air compressor, and work began...

Remember, it was SOOOOO hot?!

They filled it with the hose --nice, cold well water.

They're wearing their shirts in the water, AND the pots you see next to the pool were filled up (multiple times) with hot water from the house. And it was still SOOOOOOOOO cold!!

blessings, joie

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL SUMMER DAY!

2009-08-03T18:42:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog! Feel free to leave a comment! It's fun to know who reads my blog!

Spent a few hours today reading on the back porch again -- beautiful day! In fact, there is no rain in the 7-day forecast! That's a first for this summer, I think!

It's like pulling teeth to get my boys to stay outside on beautiful days! I don't get it! Foolishly, I let them watch the NASCAR race at noon--it was rained out yesterday. Their guy didn't even win! I won't do that again. I've got to limit race car watching to the last 1/2 hour to an hour! Its crazy to watch it for 3 or 4 hours. Their guy may be in the lead for the first 30 laps, then lose miserably. And they get all worked up! It's not worth it -- unless Jim wants to watch it.

I'm really enjoying this book by Rick & Marilyn Boyer. They've written several homeschool books, but this is my first. Our library system doesn't carry their books, but maybe the church library does.

Owen played in water for several hours this afternoon. I love the pretend play!

I love it when I don't have to make dinner! Nathan made homemade pizza! He even made the dough! He loves to cook and bake! It's a break I really love to have once a week of so! I tell him "chicks dig a guy who cooks!"

love this!

What do you get when you cross a "big bumpy pickle" (Goliath from Veggie Tales' Dave & the Giant Pickle) with a T-Rex?

This!

MMMM!

blessings, joie

SPRINKLER FUN!

2009-08-01T17:01:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog! Feel free to leave a comment! It's fun to know who reads my blog!

So fun to see the boys in the sprinkler! We aren't going to be putting up our Intex pool this year. :o( The only level place to put it -- other than the driveway -- is down the hill next to the trampoline. And since it's rained SO MUCH this summer, there's always standing water down there! Maybe next year..

Jared

My little boy -- almost 5

Until next time...

blessings, joie

PICTURES FROM 2008 (from my draft folder)

2009-07-31T07:04:00.000-07:00

If you go to the link below, it'll take you to Dec. 20. 2008 where I had started to highlight the year in pictures from 2008. I found it in my "draft" folder, so I thought I'd post it with pictures from New Years to my birthday. It's just a bonus, since I highly doubt I'll finish that project. I hope you enjoy them.

blessings, joie

http://just1joie.blogspot.com/2008/12/july-30-2009-2008-highlights.html

2009-07-29T19:04:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog! Feel free to leave a comment! It's fun to know who reads my blog!

Try as I might, I can't get videos on here! I'll attempt it, it takes forever to "upload", and when it's "done", the video isn't there! I didn't take many stills of the VBS musical, because I took several videos. Oh well! First is a picture from VBS week with Sandra teaching the kids the hand motions to the worship songs. When you register for VBS, they give you a cd with all the songs for the week. My older boys thought that the songs were babyish when they first got the cd, but once Sandra got ahold of them VBS week, I couldn't have stopped them singing and doing the hand motions even in public if I tried!! They really love VBS week!

The musical on Friday night was wonderful!! After seeing alot of the last week's rehearsals, I was concerned that they might not be able to pull it off. But the kids did great! I could see and hear some small mistakes because I knew what was supposed to happen, but none of the kids faltered, and they just went on like nothing happened. Nobody knew the difference. That really impressed me! I was so proud of my boys. Nathan had a pretty long speaking part, and he did a great job! Jared sang a solo for the first verse and half of the second verse of a song. He even had to stroll across the stage (platform of the sanctuary). He looked so natural, and he sounded so good! Jim's mom came down for a few days so that she could see the show. Jim made it for part of the show, but I have video, so it wasn't so bad that he missed some of it. I was able to upload some videos on my facebook page, so some of you can see them there.

I love seeing this view of all the kids, leaders, teen helpers, and other adults participating!

Owen, front-and-center, singing worship songs with other kids from VBS on Fri. night before the musical

Jared is far left (in blue), Nathan is center (in red), their cousin Rebecca is far right (w/apron --camp cook)

Jared really got into things! He's very animated! And he keeps a great beat (its naturally in his head all the time)! He played the part of a camper.

There were hand motions for every song. I can't believe they memorized them all!

Nathan played a junior counselor

There IS life after the VBS musical! The kids had been practicing since early March! Here are just a few more pictures.

The boys and Nana just before she went home

Just playing in water -- with a really big bowl, a cup, a piece of wood and a straw! What could be more fun when you're a little boy of almost 5?! (especially since your mother doesn't let you blow bubbles in your drink!)

Until next time...

blessings, joie

SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2009

2009-07-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog! Feel free to leave a comment! It's fun to know who reads my blog!

We've been pretty busy the last couple of weeks! I put this post together several days ago and have been trying to get videos from the boys' VBS musical posted on my blog. But it is taking forever for each video to upload. So for now, I'm just going to post this one.

It's all about hanging out with our friends Don and Ellen. They live right here in town--well just outside of the village; but they have a piece undeveloped property about 15 minutes away. Most of it is wooded and there were tons of mosquitoes, but once the fire got going, they weren't so bad. Off spray helped too! We had a wonderful time! After lunch, we headed down to the creek. It wasn't that hot, but the boys just had to go in! Its a beautiful spot and can't wait to go again. Jared and Nathan were invited to a birthday pool party the same day, but I let them decide which one they wanted to do. THIS is what they wanted to do. They'd been waiting for a few months for this outing. Don & Ellen and fabulous people!! We just adore them!

Mr. Vosburgh with the boys

Mrs. V's hammock

Jared in the hammock

The guys just hanging out by the fire

(Nathan very content after starting the fire!)

Heading off to the creek

In the creek (aka Rootbeer Creek) the water has a look of rootbeer color--its clean!

Beautiful spider web!

Relaxing again with dessert

Mmm...S'mores!

Wait! Is that an Oreo cookie about to go in his mouth?!!

(I don't think I knew that at the time!)

Wrapping up the day

Until next time... hopefully soon.

blessings, joie

INDEPENDENCE DAY GREETINGS!

2009-07-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" of my blog! Feel free to leave a comment!

Today is a quiet holiday. Jim's worked all day-- a usual Saturday. 6-days in a row, and he's exhausted. He's up to at least 74 hours now, and he's a few hours away from being done! Yes, I know: cha-ching! But I'm concerned with him being so tired and run down... and being disconnected from us! The company he works for is planning to hire a 3rd driver, so that'll make it better. But until then, it's a busy, busy time! He'll have tomorrow off, but if he has to work Monday, he'll be in bed by 7pm tomorrow!

We thought there was a local parade this morning, but we couldn't find it! We went to the park where we watched it last year, but there was nobody around! The boys want to watch fireworks tonight, but I really don't want to go out without Jim at night on the fourth of July! I can't expect him to take us -- we wouldn't be home until 10:00! HOWEVER, there's a local summer festival next weekend, so we can see fireworks then!

Reading, reading, reading! I have 3 books going at once right now! I'm reading The Joshua Generation by Michael Farris, 30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family by Rebecca Hagelin, and Home Sweet Home-School, by Sue Maakestad, and I just got The 4:8 Principal by Tommy Newberry (about Biblical positive thinking from Philippians 4:8). A couple of books are from the library and are only signed out for 2 weeks, so I read them during the day when I have free time. The other books are mine, so I read them at my leisure at bedtime.

Been thinking about starting a book-share with friends, family, and acquaintences -- its so costly to buy all the books I want to read (I borrow what I can from the library). I have books about conservatism, homeschooling, faith, money management, etc. Anyone interested, let me know.

Now to some pictures!

Here's an example of the many mismatched shoe days that Owen has. He's always misplacing his shoes, so he grabs whatever he can find. He's gotten to the point where he doesn't like me taking his picture. So I told him he needs for keep track of his shoes then! Today is was 2 different sizes of different colored flip flops (one that fit, one a size too big) PLUS they were for the same foot -- TWO LEFT FEET! He played like that for a quite a while!

my mismatched monkey!
playing airport with Jared

We went to my sister Brenda's house last weekend for my nieces birthday gathering. At the end of the party, we all took a walk down Brenda's road to a railroad bridge where the road is now closed.

l-r: Rebecca, Owen, Jared, & Leighanna

Sister, Terri, with one of Brenda's kittens.
He laid there for a long time while we chatted!

Brenda wanted to weigh the kittens, so she put each of them in a bowl that was on top of a scale. I wouldn't have believed it--that they would stay there in the bowl...

...but each of them did!

blessings, joie

2009-06-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

My latest read-aloud book with N & J is Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen, It's about a 12 yo boy who gets an old lawn mower from his grandmother for his birthday. He, quite accidentally, starts a lawn mowing business that continues to grow with the help of a hippie financial advisor/stock broker! It's a little peculiar, but it's a great introduction to economics, captalism (in a time when it's becoming politically incorrect), the stock market, etc. It's kind of funny and kind of wacky. Nathan got it for Christmas from my brother-in-law. Don't know if he knew what it was about. Nathan's read it twice, but he liked it enough for me to read it aloud to Jared and him.

In my last post, I talked about the movie Pendragon, Sword of His Father. Here's a photo of the dvd case.

great movie!

Love to see Jared reading. He doesn't take the time to read for entertainment. He's too busy. He reads his Bible! Almost every night. So I can't say he never reads. He's very capable.

Jared reading Frightful's Mountain

Owen with our neighbor's grandson, Kyle (10 mos. younger than Owen)

Owen is NOT a slave to fashion! With Jared and his new life vest!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

Greetings!

2009-06-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

Last week I watched a great movie with the boys (not Owen) that I had purchased. As you may know, I'm very particular about what my boys view and listen to. Well, this
one was perfect for them! It had a hero, a villian, action, adventure, battles, defeat, victory, sadness, happiness, and more! The movie is called Pendragon, Sword of His Father. You can see a movie trailer by going to the website. It's set in 411 A.D. on the Isle of Brittania when the Saxons wanted control of the island.

It's recommended for 12+, but it was fine for Jared. However, it might not be for other 10 year olds.

Owen made a gift for his daddy for father's day...

The photo is from 2.5 years ago!
Jim had never seen it!

Nathan and Jared made pizza for Father's Day dinner. I napped on Father's Day--4 of us have had colds. Mine is on the downside and N & J are almost done. Owen, fortunately, didn't have it too badly.

Tonight I finished reading aloud On The Far Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. It was a great story, and what made it extra cool was that it was set in the Catskill and Helderberg Mountains. My mother grew up near the Helderbergs, and all the towns the characters went through were all familiar to me! This is the 2nd book in a series by Mrs. George. The last book, Frightful's Mountain Jared wants to read by himself. He's not much of a reader, so I'm happy to let him! Nathan's not too happy, because he really enjoys me reading aloud to them. Nathan has already read all three books, but he wants me to read them aloud. He's my reader. He'll read just about anything. We'll just have to find another book to read aloud. I have several to choose from.

It's been a strange June. It's been hot here and there, cool at times, rainy at times. We haven't put our Intex pool up yet, pretty much because it hasn't been hot very long. NOW, it's hot! Jim wants to make a wooden frame and fill it with sand to put the pool on. Last year, it was in a spot that never dried, and it smelled like cows lived here! We're very limited to where we can put it because we want to keep it as level as possible. The boys are complaining alot today about the heat! And I'm limited to Jim's days off--which we never know from week to week when they'll be! For instance, he just found out an hour ago (3:30) that he has tomorrow off!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

HAPPY MONDAY!

2009-06-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago, Nathan made a butterfly habitat in hopes of raising butterflies this summer. I think we'll do nature studies as our science this summer! Plus the boys are designing their own houses on graph paper--there's your math!

Owen with his homemade Bible Man suit of armor

Haven't been able to make any pages lately--here are a couple pages from the past.

Jared 1 & 2 years old!

Still bewildered over the appeal of Facebook. I'll admit, it's been cool finding people that I've lost touch with over the years and a few people from my distant past. Not sure the appeal of the quizzes and games and such. I guess when I want to write what's on my mind, I have more to say than most! One line just doesn't do it for me! That's why I enjoy updating my blog. I'd much rather have many people following my blog than large numbers of "friends" on Facebook -- C'mon now, are ALL those people really your friends?! HEY, that's just me!

Until next time,..

blessings, joie

LONG MAY SHE WAVE! HAPPY FLAG DAY 2009!

2009-06-14T13:01:00.000-07:00

Please add yourself as a "follower" to my blog! I love to see new people watching, AND I love comments. It's very encouraging and inspiring! As a stay-at-homeschooling mom, I get little encouragement! {sniff, sniff, sigh}

It doesn't phase Owen at all to put on two different shoes. Now, these are the same size flip flops, just different colors; BUT he's walked out the back door before wearing a rubber rainboot and a sandal--because that's all he could find! It's unbelievable to me! Its happened more than once that I've had to call him back inside for mismatched shoes! It's just laziness--and its not that important to him!

Someday I'll do a scrapbook page with the title something like "He has another pair JUST like it!" He's a hoot!

Menu planning--a project that we're working on--with the help and encouragement of Nathan. Basically it was his idea. I'm terrible at that stuff. I do a lot of things (like preparing dinner) by the seat of my pants--YIKES! First we made a list of meals that we like and have had in the past and then a list of things we'd like to try. From there we'll plan weekly menus. If anybody knows of a website that helps with menu planning, please let me know! Nathan is a great help at making meals. One thing I hate to do is pound out chicken breasts--he's happy to do! And I'm happy to let him! We're in the process of looking up new recipes on http://www.allrecipes.com/! I use that all the time! I want to do a lot of crockpot cooking this summer. We don't have central air, and I hate to run the oven on a hot day! Any favorite recipes, please pass them on!

looking for recipes in the boys' Emeril cookbooks!

my cute boy!

Speaking of my cute boy... he's been quite a handful lately. Remember the little girl with the little curl right in the middle of her forehead? Well, that's my boy. He's the sweetest, most loving little guy. But he's also, at times, HORRID! "I don't like you!" "I wish I didn't have a mother!" "You beat everything, you know that!" (taken from an Andy Griffith episode when Barney is mad at Andy) I don't like this new stage. It's a constant battle. I know I'm fighting the 'enemy' (no, not Owen!) My own armor is rusty and crumbling. I think I'd better try God's armor--DUH! Shame on me for not already having done so! Am I the only one who tries--in vain--to solve problems on my own strength?! I'm great at trying to teach my children God's ways, but I often forget that His Word applies to me too!

Church today was a battle. First of all, Jim was home with a migraine. Owen wouldn't sit still in church. He was being punky. Now before you say "oh, he's just a little boy!"... He's perfectly capable to sitting quietly in church. Between the singing and a bookbag filled with books for him to read during the sermon, he does just fine every week. Believe it or not, I had to take him out of the sanctuary. I've been listening to The Strong-Willed Child (Dobson) on audio, and I was reminded that I can't back down. It was not a pleasant hour, but he didn't win--get to do things he wanted. He had to stay with me--no playing, reading or going for walks. Nathan & Jared stayed in the sanctuary by themselves. I knew they'd be fine, and there were plenty of friends around them to keep an eye on them. The only thing was, I understand, Jared kept looking up the aisle waiting for me to come back. I should've sent word that I wouldn't be. Live and learn. Can I just say that having 3 strong-willed boys is exhausting?! I know that being diligent in raising them right is imperative, but its still exhausting!!

Have to get dinner on and get the boys to rehearsal for 6! Until next time...

blessings, joie

WE HAVE BUTTERFLIES!

2009-06-06T07:47:00.000-07:00

All five Painted Lady butterflies have emerged -- over a 3-day period. We were even blessed to watch ONE emerge! Its incredible! God is AWESOME! The rest snuck out while our backs were turned--literally! I checked on them one time, took a phone call from Jim, turned back, and one was out! It was a much quicker process than I had thought it would be. We'll probably release them today or tomorrow--depending on the weather. We keep them fed by putting sugar water on tissues at the bottom of the habitat. Pictures don't come out well because the habitat has a tight mesh, and its not great to see through.

Doing the Facebook thing--was reluctant at first. Found a few people from my past life--that was cool! Still prefer my blog.

The boys have rehearsal for the VBS play this afternoon, plus I have other errands to run. I wish Jim didn't have to work every Saturday, but I guess that's just the way it is right now.

Owen is getting really good at the rope swing!

sweet picture of my niece

Chloe's quite the conversationalist--chatting with Uncle Jim

Until next time...

blessings, joie

2009-06-02T18:55:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we FINALLY had a family get together for Nathan's and Jared's birthdays (from Feb. & Mar.)! I'd been putting off doing anything because our downstairs bathroom is under construction. So when I mentioned it to Donna a couple weeks ago, she said, "why don't you just have it here!" So, we did! I've referred to Donna's as "party central" for several years now! We had good food and a nice visit with my family. The boys were happy to get bowling gc's and a pass to the local fun park -- where they like to drive go-karts!

Jared's been trying to "pop-a-wheelie" for a little while. He was so happy tonight when he finally did it!

my littlest monkey on the rope swing!

Old page I did years ago with Creative Memories--Nathan at 2+ with Jim's Dad.

We don't realize just how precious our pages are until special people we love are no longer with us. I have many more pages that I need to do of Nathan and his Papa -- and some of Jared, who was only 7 months old when his grandfather took a turn for the worst and 9 months old when he died...

note: our butterflies are safely tucked away in their chrysalids undergoing the amazing transformation that God is orchestrating! I'll give you pics and more info when we have butterflies! Can't wait to take pictures and do a page! OMGosh!! I just looked over and saw a butterfly!!!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!

2009-05-26T18:05:00.000-07:00

Sunday, we got together with Jim's family for a few hours. They live 3 hours from us. The story: My mother-in-law wanted to come to Albany to visit her sister-in-law, who was transferred from their hometown hospital to a hospital in Albany. Jim's brother and family came as well, and we all got together at Jim's cousin's house in Albany. We had a terrific time as the kids played with "Uncle Paul". He's wonderful with the kids! Of course, they all love him!

On Monday, the boys and I went to my parents' and sister's house for another outdoor celebration and a time for relaxing and chatting.

TJ (nephew) with Jared and Owen battling, Star Wars style!

A week or so ago, we received our "butterfly larvae" -- caterpillars for Painted Lady butterflies! For his birthday, Jared received a butterfly habitat. We had to send away for the larvae with food -- all contained in this little cup. This was the day he received it in the mail. Now, a week later, they are all hanging from the top of the cup in their chrysalides. The last two began that leg of their journey this evening. It's incredibly awesome (and mind boggling) what happens! It's been so cool to watch! They'll hang like this, and tomorrow probably, I'll carefully transfer them to the mesh cage (habitat). Under the lid is a piece of paper that they're attached to. I'll remove the paper and pin it to the habitat. It'll be a week or a little more before we see butterflies emerging! It's so cool!

checking out the caterpillars

I LOVE thrift store bargains, as I've probably mentioned before. Today I dropped by our local store to see if they had a pair of sneakers for Owen -- his are really worn out. At Payless the other day, I found some for $15! I don't think so! So then, jackpot! I found a great pair of barely used sneakers for $1 AND a pair of Owen-sized LEVIS for $1.00 (retail: $30)! They're barely used as well! Of course, I had to check out the video and book section! Got White Christmas and a Veggie Tales videos plus several books: about adventures, about animals, and about Bible stories (Arch books). All for only $6!

My late nights are catching up to me. I'm SO TIRED lately! So I'm off to bed now.

Until next time...

blessings, joie

SCRAPBOOK PAGES

2009-05-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

Not much going on. Just thought I'd post a few scrapbook pages. The first one I did recently; the 2nd one I did a couple of years ago; and the last 2 were during my Creative Memories (R) Days -- they were 2 of my favorite pages back then!

Love this picture of me with my sister Brenda -- when she was in the Navy in 1990

too cute!

Where my MIL lives it's always windy. Nathan used to LOVE flying kites!
Someday I want to get good quality kites and make this a family activity here at home on those windy days!

This page was fun to make with all the handmade "splashes"! The pictures are precious of the boys (Jared was 16 months or so) and their cousins! Oops! Just noticed that I spelled "waist" wrong on this page! Hate it when that happens!

Hope you enjoyed!

blessings, joie

GETTIN' INTO THE SWING a' THINGS

2009-05-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

...will be the title of a page when I make it of Owen learning to swing on his own. It may not sound like a big deal, but to me, it's a milestone. I still remember when my other 2 boys learned to swing [pump] by themselves -- totally independent of anyone else! They have a really cool freedom in that! Here are just 2 pictures that I've taken in the past week. He swings every chance he can -- even if N & J are riding their bikes.

My little swinger

Let me set up the next photo. Nathan & Jared were doing a coin toss to figure out who would do something -- can't remember what. So, of course, Owen wanted to do a coin toss too. I told him he had 'tails'. He said,

"it's a HOUSE!"

This is so cool!

This is my mother when she was about 10 (circa 1947) with her grandmother!

Donna recently was contacted by an unknown cousin in Australia! Let me try to explain. Donna has been into genealogy for some time now -- tracing family back to the Civil War and the American Revolution! Its so cool what she's found out! However, when it came to immigrants, it was difficult to find information before they came to America.

One day a month or so ago, a cousin, who's family was originally from Hungary (where our great grandmother is from), contacted Donna via email. His grandfather was my mother's grandmother's brother! Paul, our 2nd cousin, twice removed (sorry, Donna, if I got that wrong) is the nicest guy, and he and Donna are in touch regularly sharing family information and LOTS of photos! In fact the above picture of my mother and her grandmother was never seen by my mother! It was sent to Paul's family years and years ago! He emailed it to Donna -- his mother had it! WILD! And my mother had a couple of photos of Paul's uncle that they had never seen! His mother, who speaks Hungarian, has been able to translate several postcards that were sent to my mother's grandmother years ago. I appreciate so much what this relationship has done for our families! Paul is as into this as Donna is!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

MONDAY...

2009-05-04T17:07:00.000-07:00

Jim is in bed, Nathan's grooving to his new Lincoln Brewster cd in the kitchen, and Jared & Owen are watching a StoryKeepers video. This is my computer time.

We were out today for a while; Jim was home. We went to a local [small] fun park, and after that we went to Walmart to get the boys workboots. Unfortunately, Jim was called in by his boss, so he had to quickly take us home so he could go in for a couple of hours. It put a bit of a damper on the day -- we weren't able to get the boots. This has happened a few times during his day off, and it's frustrating, but... he has a decent job and we get over it.

There are advantages to Jim having a week-day off. There were only a few people there (about 18) -- one group gave us their leftover tickets when they left. And another kid gave us his extra tokens when he left! Jim and the boys LOVE the go-karts. They also did the batting cages and mini golf. I was photographer.

Owen regretted his choice of a baby ride, but it made a cute picture!

love this picture!

It was so hot last week -- 80-90 degrees for several days -- unseasonable warm. Since we don't have our pool up or have ACs put in, we were pretty hot. The boys filled up large storage tubs with water and they kept cool that way. Owen's hair was getting long, so Nathan squished his hair up, and he looked like Lincoln Brewster! See below.

Here is Owen -- my little Lincoln Brewster!
{It's the hair}

It's back down to temps in the 60's -- much more seasonable.

Until next time...

blessings, joie

THIS IS THE DAY...

2009-04-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

...which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it!! Psalm 118:24

THIS DAY, LIKE ALL DAYS, WE THANK YOU, LORD, FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL WORLD THAT YOU HAVE BLESSED US WITH!

Let EVERYTHING that has breath praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord Psalm 150:6

Until next time...

blessings, joie

APRIL 20, 2009

2009-04-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

I'm having fun editing photos that I've taken over the last couple months! Again, I take pictures more when the boys are outside. I don't have much to say -- nothing new and exciting going on.

My Everyday Cowboy
He ALWAYS wants to wear his hat, boots, and a pair of blue jeans. When the other boys were little, they didn't care what they wore. With Owen, it's always a battle over clothes! He wants to look "tough".

I've said it time and again: I love to see my boys reading! We just discovered the "My Side of the Mountain" series. I knew of it years ago, but I never read it. When I looked through a list of recommended reading for Nathan's age, I found it. It had great reviews, AND I liked the description. I went to Amazon for reviews. Also on this list were MANY books that were about death, witchcraft, the supernatural, etc. I'm VERY particular about what my children read and see. It's nice to find books with a great story line while, at the same time, learning something. Many of the reviews said that a kid -- especially a boy -- would just dream about doing what Sam Gribley did -- living in the wild. Nathan, of course, loved it so much that he asked me to do a read aloud with him and Jared. It's a cool book! He's finished reading all three books in the series.

Jared showing off with 2 of his decorated eggs! They LOVE dying eggs. We had one of those wax crayons so that you could write on your egg and the dye would resist the wax. It was very cool! Even I had fun with it!

Check out the National Day of Prayer website!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

WOO-HOO!

2009-04-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

WOO-HOO! I finally figured out how to get access to my photos! (thanks, Terri, for your input).

God gave us a perfect weather week for Spring Break! Everyday was sunny and nice (a few days were pretty windy, but the sunshine made up for it!) We were outside most of the week. Tuesday, we went to lunch with Jim and ran some errands. Wednesday we had a packed lunch at the airport. Thursday, Brenda and her family came over, and we went to the local playground. The kids had a blast! From ages 16 down to 4.5, everyone had something fun to do! The rest of the week, the boys played outside. I sat outside a lot of the time too.

We start "back to school" this week; and it's supposed to rain, at least some, every day--according to The Weather Channel!!

I haven't stopped taking pictures; I just couldn't figure out how to get them to Picasa to edit them and get them to my blog. I don't take many pictures inside; I take lots more when we're outside. I'm so relieved that I can get to them now!

Our Easter eggs

This looks staged, but Owen was REALLY sleeping. He insisted on going to sleep like a real cowboy does!

Scrapbook page -- I think it's self explanatory! These photos make me laugh everytime I see them!

Six cousins at the playground

Until next time...

blessings, joie

He is Risen indeed!

2009-04-14T08:48:00.001-07:00

A belated Blessed Resurrection Day greeting to you all!

We had a nice holiday with family -- and seeing friends at church. After church I made an egg trail with baskets at the end. It was very chilly, so I put down a short trail in the house. The boys always get a Christian cd, dvd, or book (or toy when they are younger) in their basket, plus candy, of course. This year I waited until the last minute and didn't end up ordering gifts until Thursday (they didn't come until Monday--after Easter). However, in my gift storage tub, I had a few things left over from Christmas, so I was able to put something in their baskets for Sunday (besides candy!) Since we don't do the easter bunny, it was easy to explain to my older two that their gifts would arrive on Monday. I had a Larry Boy beanie toy that I didn't use for Christmas, so I had that for Owen. Needless to say, he was thrilled! I ended up giving them the new Veggie Tales Video Abe and the Amazing Promise, a dvd of Guideposts Junction featuring Jodi Benson and a cassette set of The Pond radio show. I get everything from Christian Book Distributors, better known as CBD.

Today was Jim's day off. Since we had an Olive Garden gift card that someone gave us a while ago, we went out to lunch! We almost never do that -- okay we go to Burger King once in a while, when I'm out running errands with the boys. It was a nice treat. When we got home, Jim found out he had to go into work for a few hours -- the same thing happened last week on his day off. It's maddening!

Hey, I just figured out something with my pictures! For now, here are a couple of adorable pictures of Jim with Nathan in 1998! These pictures, of course, were scanned. As you'll notice, I don't know how to edit them yet because I haven't figured out how to use Picasa as my photo editing program with all my photos on the external hard drive! Now I just have to find my other pictures that I've uploaded from my camera!

When I don't post regularly, I forget things that happen. I don't think there's anything else going on...

This week off from school, the weather is supposed to be beautiful all week!!

Until next time (when I figure out how to get the rest of my photos from my external hard drive!)...

blessings, joie

HAPPY SPRING! APRIL ALREADY!

2009-04-06T07:12:00.000-07:00

Still here! I can't believe I haven't written in so long! As I write, Jared is sitting beside me doing his science work. Nathan's upstairs working on something and Owen is flying paper birds! We found these really cool books by Norman Schmidt -- flying birds, paper airplanes, kites, etc.

Our weather has been so crazy! Last week, even I was outside -- on a high 60's day! Then it got really chilly -- 40's rainy and/or windy! Today its rainy.

The boys are involved in a musical in church. They've been rehearsing Sunday nights and will be until the show in mid July--wrapping up Vacation Bible School week. In the beginning, Nathan didn't even want to try out for it! Jared is very animated, so it didn't surprise me that he wanted to get involved. In the past, if you were in the VBS production, that was what you did all week for VBS. The boys want to be involved in other things, like the sports program or another workshop. This year, they're doing things differently. You don't have to give up a workshop to be in the production; that's why they're doing rehearsals all this spring (minus holidays and spring break) But I remember when they first started, Nathan reluctantly agreed to go to a meeting just to check things out. He was willing to sing in a group... then after a rehearsal or two, he decided he might try out for a speaking part! He ended up getting a speaking part with several lines. Although Jared's part only has one speaking line, he will be singing a solo! Needless to say, I'm thrilled! Granted, they found parts for all the kids that tried out, but I'm still tickled about it! We will be working on pride over the next three months (for me too!)

Speaking of pride... Saturday I was taking pictures of Owen and myself goofing around hugging--picture it: I was holding the camera pointing at myself! Anyway when he looked into the display on the back of the camera, he said that he didn't like the way he looked in the picture. Without hesitation, he said, "THAT'S pride!" My heart just melted. I couldn't believe that my 4.5 year old recognized that right away. It's a nice feeling that we're doing something right (or maybe it was from a Bibleman episode -- I'll take it anyway!

I haven't yet found out how to upload my pictures from the camera. Sorry!

Until then...

blessings, joie