YES, I'M STILL BLOGGING!

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!