Breakfast Bread

 Yummy bread for breakfast. Dripping with butter.

Date Night

Over due date night with my love. Nothing special made special by being together.

 Ice cream was a must after dinner at Noddles. I had a bit of a spicy dish.

Sunset at Spring River Lake

We found this great little lake to go swimming at and to play on its little beach. On our way home tonight we stopped to show Sean the spot.                         

God planned for us to see a beautiful sunset over this presten lake.

Giddy Up

Today w spent the day at the barn. The boys all got to ride, Bailey and Betesy. And then after we gave them both a bath. What a fun and wet day.

House Guest Moves Out

A few weeks ago we notice a crysalas in the door frame. We just left it alone to see what would emerge.

Well, today we were surprised with this guest on the door. Not sure if it is a butterfly or a moth, but either way it was pretty. And cool to see it fly away.

Just a Normal Scene

I'm so glad all my boys love to read. Michael is reading Robin Hood and His Merry Men. He couldn't put it down.

Pop Goes a The 4th

We had a fun 4th of July this year. We cookout on the grill with some church family. And then some fireworks.

The boys just couldn't wait till dark to fire them off.

Here is Jonathan and Michael danceing as they sang a song. This went on till they got dizzy.

The chickens did not like the spiny one near there coop. But they survived. And of course to top it all off we roasted marshmallows. A nice day celebrating our independence we still have, and remembering those who helped give it to us.

Warming Up a Corner

Even thou we have been here and moved in for over six months, there is still some work to be finished. One area was around my coal stove. It still was plain and seamed a little cold, so to speak. So, warm it up I did.

I have hung some shelves and put out all my vitiage kitchen goodies. 

Now it's nice and warm, and looks like it's time to bake something.

It still some so adjustments, but that take me a few days. You know, walk by move this. Stop, look, move that. And maybe hang a thing or two. But over all I'm happy. Except I am still on the hunt for a different piece of wood for the top shelf. This ones is dark and doesn't go, but I'll find one.

I love all my bakery bread pans I have collected over the years. I still have a few I can use else were.

And now I have a place for my favorite recipe book. Off to bake some bread now, can you smell it.

Baseball Practice

With the boys in Little League, it's all baseball here. This is the boys new hitting practice station that Sean rigged up for them. It's pretty cool. A tennis ball on a string to help with hitting.

Jonathan is up first. It didn't take long to connect with the ball.

After a few minutes the boys started taking turns. One would hit then run to a base. Then the next hit, and so on. It's pretty fun to watch. Gold star for Dad today.

Spring Clean, The Basement

So on this rainy day Sean, and I hit the basement. First we needed to clean up all the junk, dirt, and miles if cobwebs before we could do our unpacking.

Here is Sean's new work bench. Nice and organized.

This is for all my famers market supplies, and my jams a jellies. Also some of our bulk foods.

Next door is all my jars. Don't they look pretty? 

Rows of jars any size you may need, and of course all my antique jars have a home too.

This is just a small section of a large set of shelves. Here is our camping stuff. 

So there is still more to be done, but I need a break. Looks good thou, and it is so nice to have a basement that you can use.

Color Run, At Last!

For a few years now I have wanted to run the Color Run 5K, but it always seems like the one I can do is schedule on a Sunday. So when I heard that there was an unofficial Color Run here in Harrington, and on a Saturday I jumped for joy. 

This is after the run. You start out clean and then as you run they have stations were they throw powder color on you. It's what makes this run so much fun. For the runners and the people throwing the color.

As you can see the boys got in on the fun too. They meet me towards the finish line ready with there color to throw at me. That was fun for them, there ain't many times it's ok to throw stuff at your mom, and not get in trouble for it.

What a great morning! Not only was it super fun, I was a little proud of myself. I ran the whole 3.1 miles up and down hills and never stopped to walk. Not bad for this old lady. I praise the Lord for my health and the ability to still run around after my boys.

More Spring Cleaning

Today I got a big chunk of time to myself. With Sean and the boys off to take Bob to an appointment then to a baseball game. I got the whole afternoon. I confess I stole a little time to do abosolutely nothing, then to work on the sewing room. This is the last room in the house I needed to get to since we moved in. I had done some work awhile ago, but it still needed some help.

Here is my small collection of art. I love art, but I will admit I'm fussy about what I hang. I found my sewing room was a great place to hang some prints. Pretty ones, always a good source of inspiration.

You can see I am not done. Yes, those are boxes and a bucket I need to get to, but I'm tired, so not till another day.

 I love trunks as you can see, and I have a few great old suitcases. Fun places to hide fabric and unfinished projects. I have a lot as you can from all the space I need. All those spots are filled.

Just a few school book for me please. Over the years I have collected a lot of school material. This is it down to stuff I use. I have been selling off stuff ones I tried and didn't like.

Sew, that's it for now. More to come. And yes this room will get painted soon, not a big fan of baby blue.

Spring Cleaning

This is just a quick shot of hours of work, that is still not done. We have been blessed over the years to have been supplied by God with lots of hand me down clothes for the boys. I have only had too buy things here and there mostly under garments, shoes, and church clothes. I am also a big yard sale and thrift store girl. Kids grow out of clothes too fast and thet tend to get hole in the knees even faster. Today I have 90% of the boys clothes out to take inventory, orginize, and swap for summer clothes. It's hard to believe when we moved I had given away all the smaller sizes to people. Now I just need some large totes to store the stuff. I have alway used plastic bags but this time I want to gets some totes to store the clothes better. We'll have to see on that, for now I need to put all this away. Maybe tomorrow!

Spring Cleaning Room 1 Boys Room.

Spring is here, I think. Still chilly outside, but cleaning must commence. I started in the boys room today. It wasn't too bad but it still needed some work. I finally got Jonathan a school desk so that needed a home and the books need to be moved.

Chalkboard wall,, is still a hit. I just need to get the ladder finished. I will be putting it on wheels with a pole attached to the wall so the boys can climb it.

My boys all doing one of their favorite pass time, reading. There are no toys in their room just lots of books. This keeps it clean and really fosters a love for reading. That it's what they do when the first get up in the morning. All the toys have a home in the playroom.

Another book shelf with the "stuffy" corner.

Aren't  the desks super cute. They each have a antique desk of their own.

More books and their new heater. Love the fact that it can also be used as a nightlight without the heat on. Sooo cool.

Well that room number 1, tomorrow I will be cleaning the up stairs hall and boys closets. Can't you just wait, it's so exciting.

Homestead Kitchen Adventures

I have been making my own yogurt for a few years now, from the raw milk we buy. And it is so easy and good. I also make yogurt cheese by straining off more whey and spicing it up. Well I came across how to make sour cream and cottage cheese on Pinterest, and I had some milk that had started to go sour already. It was so easy and the taste is so much better. I used one gallon of raw milk at a coast of $4 and ended up with 8 oz of cheese spread (ranch flavored) 10 oz of sour cream and 24 oz of cottage cheese. And a lot of whey (that's the liquid in the bowl) which I can use for other things like ricotta cheese and baked goods. I usually spend $1 (when on sale) for 8 oz of sour cream, $3 (on sale) for 24 oz of cottage cheese and I don't buy cheese spread it's not in my budget. So for a better quality and health benefit I think I made out well.  42 oz @ $4 to 32 oz @ $4 (only when on sale) . 

I

Cave Mountain Hike

Took the boys on a hike to Cave Mt.. Nice day, not to hot for a hike and this one is easy till you get to the top. 

At the bottom all smile. Oh if it would only last.

Still toward the bottom. See, smiles.

We finally get to the top and are I little disappointed the cave is not really a cave. That's because we needed to go up a level. And that is were it got steep.

It was so cool. Michael was a little scared and David and Maverick are all over the place. Jonathan was a little of both. So now how do we get down?

Why on our rears of coarse. Nothing like a dirt slid. Well, we made it down and still had smiles.

Tech Kids

It's amazing how quickly kids learn how to use tech stuff. After speech Jonathan asked to keep playing one of his speech games in the van. I said ok, unsuspecting silly mommy move. So here I am on the phone driving home from the laundry mate, when I hear Jonathan say,

"Look at me mommy, so I can take a picture of you.". 

Huh, what!! Click click click and more clicks.

Jonathan had taken over fifty pics before I knew what was happening. I deleted all the driving home shoots and the back of my head shoots too. But I had to show off a few. Here are some of my favorites.

And the winner for best "Selfy" is Jonathan.