How I spent my weekend

Looking back at the past few days...wow...we did a lot!

We started off Friday night by making a hanging garden. I am not really into anything that requires a lot of hard work (in other words I'm a bit lazy). When I saw this concept I knew it's what I wanted. Each of these buckets have two plants, a tomato plant hanging out the bottom and something else on top. We have a variety of peppers, cilantro and a couple of strawberries. I'm hoping that having these up off the ground will prevent most pests from nibbling and help so we don't need to do any weeding. :)


Then Saturday we took the kids to do a little fishing. We learned that neither I nor the littles have the patience for that yet. *blush* We did get to see these friendly guys though.

Here's Josiah waving at them. ;)



And we did manage to catch a few sunfish.


Later in the day we took off to the other side of this park where the pools just opened up!! I forgot to take any pictures of that part but there were fountains, kiddie pools, slides, $0.50 ice cream cones...needless to say it was TONS of fun and we'll be going back SOON!

Church on Sunday and a date night out to see a movie....BBQ on Monday with new friends....

and now we're back to regular non-exciting stuff like laundry! :)

That's what I'm talkin' about!

Before summer comes I figure I'd better get some baking done, because I'm not going to want to run my oven then! So I'm trying out a few new recipes and some classics.

Today I made Cinnamon Rolls, the recipe courtesy of Pioneer Woman. If you've never been to her site PLEASE go now, she has incredible recipes! I mean really, who could resist these?



I'd describe them as cinnamon roll meets maple donut...pure bliss!

Never a dull moment

When it's rainy outside and your kids need to burn off some energy, what do they do?

This is what my kids do...







I foresee cliff diving in their future ;)

Rosetta Stone contest!

Jen is hosting an incredible contest right now, giving one lucky winner this:

Rosetta Stone is the fastest way to learn a language and has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while — and you can WIN the *all new* version 3 Rosetta Stone Homeschool LATIN program… FOR FREE! This is the first year you can get Latin in the brand new Version III update.

This is a $259 program (and believe me it’s worth every penny!)
This is a computer based curriculum and Rosetta Stone will also include a headset with microphone, and a supplementary “Audio Companion” CD so you can practice lessons in the car, on the go, or where-ever! Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress- I love that!), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.

To win this most excellent Latin program copy these paragraphs and post them in (or as) your next blog post, and/OR link to the contest from your facebook page and/OR email the information to your homeschool support group – Then go to the original page http://Jeneralities.com and leave a comment saying that you’ve posted about, or have linked to, the contest. Please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post. And good luck!

A $259 program!!! How cool would it be to win that!?! Hop on over and enter in :)

Yesterday we had a great day! We got the opportunity to meet Michelle. She has been my blogging friend for a while now and our move to the mid-west has made it so that we are WAY closer geographically. She drove down yesterday and we got to spend the day with her and her cute kiddos. I had a lot of fun and hope that we'll get to do it again!









(try not to focus on me this isn't exactly the best picture...instead look at Michelle, isn't she cute?)

Pictures of projects, accomplishments and a birthday!

I completed a project (well, almost...the ottoman still needs a couple finishing touches.). Ian and I have been working on building some furniture for our living room. It involved lots of building, sanding, staining, varnishing and cushion making! We also found a couple of end tables that we repainted too.

Doesn't it look nice?

This week was the kids' last week at their AWANA program for the year. They celebrated with an awards ceremony and lots of cookies and lemonade...they are already anxious for next year!




And last but so not least...this little guy turned one last week! He sure enjoyed his cupcake. :)

Scheduling

Back before all the chaos of moving, I had implemented a schedule to our days that we all seemed to do well with. I've missed it. LOTS! Life hasn't been bad, but I've seen a few things cropping up here and there that I think are a result of too much free time (for the kids and myself). So this week I'm starting a schedule again. I think the first few days are always the hardest. Making myself focus and keeping kids on track where they should be. Between that and the sunshine I may be a bit sparse around here this week, but it's for a good reason! :)