Our Little Cottage
Our Good Evening...
Yesterday after we all went grocery shopping, Danny took us to the park to play! {YEAH Daddy!!}
My two blonde haired boys...
Check out that hair!!
This is Danny trying to get away from me taking his pic!
Awwwwww....
Arlee and Frosty's rear...
Arlee in motion...
He's always looking to the stars!
Frosty in motion...
What a pretty smile!!
Can't you just feel the fun he's having??
My boys!
My girl!
Swingin' with Daddy!!
Someone loves her baby brother!!
Higher Higher, Daddy!!
What a cool little dude!!
Laying down watching the first stars come out!
My FAVORITE picture of the evening! What a beautiful family I have!
After we got home, had some dinner, and put the two little boys to bed...Danny started a fire in my little fire pit thingy I got earlier this summer...
It was so much fun! Here is Danny getting the fire going...
Here is Arlee and Frosty with their blankets anxiously awaiting their marshmellows!!
Awww...that's better! CHEERS!
Oh...this picture is funny! Frosty was talking, saying he hasn't had smores in like a year. Arlee gives him a little attitude while asking him, "a year???" You can almost hear her saying it from this pic can't you??
Mmmmmm...Shmo's!!! {smores!}
Now it's time to bundle up and enjoy the fire!
We played a fun little game...one of us would start a line to a poem...then someone else would add another line...and so on. here is our favorite that we made up...
My shmo is filled with sticky goo,
Yum, Yum, Ew Ew
Ah, some just dropped on my shoe,
Well, at least it's not dog poo!
LOL...so much laughing and giggleing and just FUN!
It was such a great day!
Sharing Pics.
Just wanted to share some pics that I've taken lately.
Here is the kids working hard on our first day of homeschool...
Zach's letter "A" paper...
Zach and his shapes project...
Liam and his drawing...I know you can't see it very well, sorry...
Liam with playdoh...
Zach on my computer playing a phonics game...
Arlee & Frost working on their packets...
Zach & Liam playing in beans...
Boy...Liam was working hard!!
He even cleaned up himself...
Frosty working on his packet...
And what is the best thing to do after a hard day of learning??
Snuggling with Daddy, of course...
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We are starting a new family night...on Thursdays while my pizza doh is being made in the bread machine {1hr 30 mins} we will be doing Science stuff.
Here is my pizza "before" pic...Just about to go in the bread machine...
We started off by Danny working with Arlee & Frosty on a decompost station. They used a cut off clear 2 litter bottle....
Arlee wrote up their experiment paper to keep track of the results...
They added dirt. Then added, close to the sides of the bottle, egg shells, a dead bug, piece of plasic from a newspaper bag, a piece of newspaper, a lettuce leaf, and a peach peel...
Then added MORE dirt...
Topped it off, then added a little water {sorry this one is a little blurry!}...
Put a big freezer bag over it...and now it will sit for a few weeks. We will watch to see if and how things decompose!
Now it's time for ALL the kids to do a project...someone is just a little happy about this....
We are doing volcanos tonight...all four kids got their own sand filled plastic shoebox container...
Next they made their volcanos {a mound in the sand}...
We added a bit of baking soda, and a bit of kool aid to the top of our volcanos...
Then the vinegar...whoo hoo...magic!!
Here's Zach's...
Frosty's....
Arlee's...
And Liam's....
Here is Arlee's multi colored volcano...
And Frosty's multicolored one...
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Alright, well by now it's time to clean up and get the pizza crust ready! Arlee, Frosty, and Zach helped put on the pepperoni and cheese!!
And here is our pizza after we put on the cheese...
And here it is all cut up and ready to eat....
And let me tell ya...after I already put the dough in the bread machine, I realized that I had forgotten to get tomato sauce at the store last time! So instead I used a jar of salsa I had as the sauce in our pizza! I added a little sugar to it and some Itallian seasonings. It was REALLY good!!
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Well, that's what we have been up to this week. Thanks for dropping by! Have a great weekend!!
Spoiling My Daughter {just a little}
I had to go grocery shopping on Saturday. And just like EVERY time I have to go to the store Arlee and Frosty were arguing over who was going to be going. "Well, I asked first!" and "You go to go last time!" was all I was hearing! I hate to have to choose between them because someone is going to be disappointed...and one of them has to stay at home to help out Daddy.
When Danny and I was having coffee that morning I said to him that I was just going to go by myself shopping that way I can get some time alone. He said that sounded good, and that I needed some alone time. BUT, when I was getting ready....I started thinking about Arlee. She's 11 years old now...growing up ya know...around a bunch of boys! She's been getting quite the attitude for the past couple weeks or so{nothing too awfully bad, rolling eyes, grumpy and moody more often those types of things}. So I thought maybe some girly-girl time might help her out a bit!
So Arlee and I got ready and headed for the MALL...oh boy was she stoked! This is the first time she has actually been to the mall that she can remember...we used to go more often when she was younger, but not as much for the past few years. When we got there, we were both STARVING so we headed to the Food Court. Had us some Subway {which was really good...I haven't had Subway in some time!}. Of course, we got the cookies that came with the meal. Both of us ate one and saved the other for Daddy & Frosty.
When we got done eating she wanted to ride the merry-go-round. It's so funny going out with a "tween"....she wants to "go to the mall" because it's cool but when she gets there she wants to ride the merry-go-round....LOL! After that we hit up Claire's {a jewlery store}. Arlee found a ring that she just LOVED. We went ahead and shopped around the rest of the mall to see if she would find anything better {or cheaper}, but she didn't. So we went back to Claire's before we left so she could get her ring...
She paid for it with her own money too! Daddy paid her $1 for each mastered subject from school...which equalled like $8. And she had a little saved up from here and there.
While at the mall I was able to get me some new shoes, too! Oh my did I need some!! My MIL got me a $20 gift card to Payless Shoes, but I just never got to go until now! I'm SO EXCITED about my new shoes....
These were $19.99, so the gift card covered these... 
These ones were only $8, so I got them too because I just couldn't put them back! I thought they were both so very cute...
We even saw our friend Angel_Kisses at the mall! That was an unexpected surprise! It was very nice to see her and get to talk to her for a minute or two!
After the mall, we ran over to Aldi to do our grocery shopping for the week. When we were done at Aldi, we went thru the drive thru at Steak-n-Shake for me an orange freeze and Arlee a strawberry fruit yogurt smoothie thing! They were so yummy on that hot day!! Mmmmm!
Our last stop was over to Wal-Mart. I had to pick up steak and some Itallian seasoning. While there I picked up 2 cool school binder-portfollio-trapper keeper thingys for Arlee and Frosty. I really liked them because of the little file folder part it had. I got them both 2 regular folders too to put in them. Arlee got to pick hers out...one was a pretty little purple one and the other was a High School Musical one! {giggle!}
While we were at WalMart I let Arlee pick out a yummy smelling body spray too! She picked out a Vanilla flavor. I also got her a clear nail polish that has these little hearts that will go on your nails right out of the bottle!
I cleared off a small shelf just for her "girly-girl" stuff in our medicine cabinet too! She added her new stuff and some lotion and such she already had...she was SO EXCITED about this one! Oh, she also bought herself some new LipSmackers chapstick at WalMart too...cookie dough flavor!
I almost forgot that I also got her a magazine! Girls Life! Oh, she devoured that one as soon as we got home!! LOL! I also got a quad mag for Danny & Frosty to share!
We had a really good day together!
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I don't think I've written since Danny got his "new" truck...Danny got is as a work truck...not to actually drive to work, but for like carrying gravel, quads, and such. A truck that he doesn't have to worry about getting dirty or scratched up! He's so excited about his truck. He was working on it on Saturday doing an oil change and changing the spark plugs and stuff. Danny's been talking for quite some time about wanting a truck so we don't have to ask someone else when we need anything hauled.
Here's a picture of it...
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Well, since I've been having so much trouble with my computer I'm going to going ahead and end my journal here. I hope everyone was a great week!!
Our Turtles...
Since I put up pictures of our turtle habitat yesterday, thought I would give formal introductions today of all our turtles...
Here is Speedio, our smallest turtle. He lives inside, in an aquarium. He shares his space with a toad, a Jefferson salamander, 2 water frogs, and another small salamander...
Our next biggest turtle, which isn't really too big, is Rexie. He/She {thinking girl, but not positive on that one yet!} is a juivilnlle turtle. Still pretty young. She lives outside in the "play pen"...
Okay, so now to go thru our adult turtles.
This is Danny's Girl, yep that's her name! LOL! Poor little girl has holes in the underbelly shell, a stub for one of her back feet and does not have a tail. She's had a rough life, but she is loved very much now!
This one is the smallest turtle in the turtle habitat. He's pretty new, and doesn't even have a name yet....still learning his personality!
This is D.G. She has recently started digging in our walkway in the habitat. Digging with her back legs...maybe dropping some eggs soon???? {fingers crossed!} Here she is sitting in the cool water of the small creek...
Here is Stubs {I'm thinking you can figure out why we call him that}. He has a stub for a foot in the front...but it doesn't slow him down one bit! He's one of the biggest turtles we have in the habitat. I call him our old man because that is what he looks like to me!
I do believe this is Mr. Bump. He's got a lot of bumps on his shells...very fancy! LOL!
This is Hunter. He's the first turtle we saw that actually went after his own worms! The mighty hunter stalks his prey!
This is Pyscho...He's another one of Danny's favorites! Pyscho was the first turtle to really eat out of Danny's hand. He earned the name Pyscho when he dove into our pond and drug out a BIG dead fish to eat!! And I think he just has a crazy, pyscho type look to him!
This is one that our neighbor dropped off with us. We haven't named this one either...still learning about him.
This one is Lightening. Frosty just got him about 2 weeks ago.
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Danny is home from work today because of his sore back. He has a dr's appt in just a couple hours. I'm hoping they will give him something good to take care of his pain...I hate to see him so miserable!
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I've been reading Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka. This is the 2nd time I've read this book. I actually got a bunch of books from the library about spirited/strong-willed children. It's the one I like the best out of them all.
It talks about planning for success. And that is what I will be doing today! We have plans to meet up with some friends on Thursday at a park in the evening. I've been racking my brain for the past few days wondering what things we can bring or things we can do to ensure a successful evening with our boys.
We will be taking Liam's high chair with us. That way we will only have to make sure Zach sits when we are all eating...he usually does good with this, but being in a new place with a play area within sight, it might cause some issues.
When I go to the store to pick up some goodies for the picnic I will pick up some playdoh, bubbles, and coloring books for all the kids to play with. Having that opportunity for a little quieter play might be great to have on hand...just in case!
It's been VERY peaceful here this morning...and I am VERY thankful for it!
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Well, I guess I should go do something other than sitting here...
...have a great day!
Cleaning My Kitchen {yet again} & Pics of Our Turtle Garden
Good Morning! I hope everyone is having a good morning today.
I was laying on the couch cuddling with Zach and Liam, to our surprise there was a knock at our backdoor. YEAH, Daddy stopped by for a quick visit. He had to pick up some cable stuff for work today. Poor guy had to load these heavy reels of cable with his back still giving him problems. He even came in to get some pain medicine after load his things. Danny was only able to stay for just a little bit, but we are so happy he did stop in!
Before I get too far into this journal entry I wanted to add a photo just for aggiewife...
{I don't know if you can really tell, but Arlee's eyes are her hazel color still ~ trying to be a little artistic~lol}
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Yesterday, I took some time to clean my kitchen...I feel like I am ALWAYS cleaning my kitchen, LOL! From what it looks like this morning...you'd never guess, though!
Ahhhhhh! BUT, I do have proof that it was cleaned up yesterday!
Here is my old homeschool bookshelf. I now have a bigger bookshelf in the living room for all the homeschool things, so I decided to put some of our "pretties" on this one...
I know all our shoes arn't that pretty, but it gives us a place to put them that isn't in the middle of the doorway!
Here's my stove...
If you look way back in the right hand corner of the stove, that is not a smudge spot....
It's my kitchen moth...
See how nicely he matches my stove?
And here is my bowl of nuts I got from our Walnut tree...still researching what I need to do with them, lol...
And here is the rest of the counter space around my kitchen...
See that piece of paper sticking on the inside of my cabinet door? That's my Sweet Cornbread Recipe!!
Did you see the basket with my coffee in it up inside the cabinet? Makes it so easy to grab!
There's my beans cookin' in the crock pot! Mmmm!
There is the bowl of cherry tomatoes. Some are from our garden, and a few from our neighbors garden! Yum Yum!
That's my "junk" cabinet. It does have all our plates, bowls, and cups/glasses too, though. I have a bunch of odds and ends in that brown basket up there, batteries, my dishwasher detergent, washing soda, and borax.
Oh, see...another recipe! That one is for my Zuccini Bread!
I love that candle there too. My MIL got me that for Christmas this past year. It smells like sugar cookies!
Hmmmm, ever since I cleaned around the coffee pot...I've been thinking about making me some more...Time for a break, a snack, and a cup of java...
Mmmmm...that's better!
I don't think I've posted what the front of my homemaker's binder looks like before...
Under where {ha ha} it says Home Management Binder there are 3 sticky "diamonds". Then the cute little kola bears which I put each of the kids' names under. Then the quotes {I love quotes}...
"The darn trouble with cleaning the house is it gets dirty the next day anyway, so skip a week if you have to. The children are the most impotant thing." ~Barbara Bush
"The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it." ~ W.M. Lewis
"There's no place like home." ~Dorthy Gale
I'll have to get into what all is inside on another day. I love my binder and use it just about daily.
When Danny got home, the kitchen was looking pretty good and the beans where done cookin'....
I made some of my sweet cornbread, but forgot to take a picture of it.
Before we ate, Danny and I went out the the turtle garden to let the moth go.
We took a walk back to our garden, which is looking better, but still pretty sad. After all the rain and loss of some of the plants, we just didn't have the passion for our poor little garden as we did last year. But we are trying to bring it back.
I did get a picture of a peach on our peach tree...
I can just taste the peach crisp already!
In one of my groups, I had a request to see the turtle garden. So this morning I took a bunch of pics of it...
This is walking up to the turtle habitat...
Those are strawberries running along the wooden fence for the turtles to eat. And, that is Frosty's weather station he made in Boy Scouts. You can't really tell, but behind the gray square is a turtle hut {or what's left of it, it's caving in from turtles climbing on it and such} that Danny made for the turtles for the winter months.
More strawberries along the fence. And there are Danny and my chairs where we sit back here!
Here's the pond {and my hubby!}.
Another pic of the pond...you can sorta see the waterfall in the back.
Awwwww...Someone is in the pond!
This is toward the back. We've left it very natural back there. You can see the other, bigger turtle hut where some go to sleep. They will use this area for hibernation too. And it the bottom left of the picture is 2 of our girl turtles.
Here is a little better close up of the girls...
Here is someone walking out of the bigger turtle hut.
Here is the smaller wading pool and waterfall. Many of the turtles walk thru here to get a drink of water. They will, for some reason, try their hardest to climb up the waterfall!
Here's Stubs...he's digging for worms...
Well, that's all I have for today!
Thanks for dropping in for a visit!
Hope to "see" you again here soon!
Weight Loss Journal ~ Wishful Dreaming ~ Pictures
Well, let me get my talk about my weight loss {or lack there of} first. I just don't know...I know it's been a long while since I lost my weight for my wedding...but you'd think I'd still remember how it's done! But instead...I'm going in the completly WRONG direction! I weighed myself this morning and the scale read 194. That's 2 pounds HEAVIER than when I first started...Ooopsie!
I will do good for about 3 days...then loose my focus I guess. I just can't seem to find the same motivation/willpower I had the last time I had a lot to loose. Why is that??
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Danny was home for 4 days this weekend! YIPEE...it was AWESOME having him home so many days in a row! We were sad this morning when he had to return to work.
Over his long weekend, we had the opportunity to dream about our "perfect" homestead! I ended up stumbling upon this...
http://www.unlimitedrealestate.net/displaylist.asw?listnum=1133208&mls=cincy
This place is so close to being EXACTLY what we are looking for it's scary!! Of course, it is just a tease, because we are NO WHERE near ready to move. There is SO MUCH that still has to be done here in our "now" house before we can sell it. I just wish there was some way to sort of "trade" houses.
I don't know if any of the rest of you believe in the Law of Attraction, but I have turned my fridge into my vision board for this house {or one like it}.
On the left is the print out about the house, on the right it says...
If this is in the highest & best interest for me and those around me, then please allow it to happen.
{deep sigh} One day we will be "there".
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Thought I might share some pictures with you today since I had to clear out our camera {it was like 352 pictures!!}
How about some pretty nature photos??
Danny found this strange creature fluttering around the flowers that are in our turtle pond...anyone know what it is??
We found this BEAUTIFUL moth in our house. It's a Large Lepord Moth..I believe that is what it was called, I don't remember exactly. We did have the caterpilliar in an aquarium that we were taking care of, that was starting to make it's coccon, but we thought it had died in the process. Now we find the EXACT moth...so now we arn't too sure....but either way...it's it gorgeous??
We also have a female turtle that is digging in our walkway! This is EVERY exciting news...sort of! We are very happy because she is showing the signs of wanting to drop some eggs, but where she is digging is not the best spot for us! She has taken over 1/2 of our walkway!
The kids got little Rexie out and played with her in the sandbox. She is one of our younger turtles. Sorry, this picture is a little blurry, but I thought was still VERY cute...
Well, I'm sure you are wanting to see some pics of the kids as well...
Here is some of the boys playing outside...
Little guys with their freezer pops...
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Well, that's all I have for now. I'm off to do a bunch of cleaning.
I hope everyone has a GREAT day!
How Has Your Morning Been? Here's Mine!
Had to get up a little early this morning because Arlee starts her Girl Scout day camp. She was SO excited that she woke up around 4:20 am and couldn't go back to sleep! She is going to be SO tired by the time I pick her up this afternoon at 3pm! I know she will come home and probably just crash!
Her theme for camp this year is, "A Pirate's Life For Me"...LOVED IT! So we had to deck her out this morning for her first day of camp, of course! Here are the pics I took of her before she left this morning...
And here is one when she was putting on her sunscreen right after we arrived at the camp area...
She's going to have such a blast today! Her best friend, Miki, is in her group so she is SO excited about that, too! This is Arlee's 3rd year, I think, doing day camp. She looks forward to it every summer!
When I got back from dropping Arlee off, I finished watching a Tarzan episode with the boys. Cuddled with Liam. Then I had to start getting the turtles food ready...
Looks yummy, huh??
Danny brought home a new turtle this morning before Arlee & I left...
Ooooh, pit stop to see Danny's pond flowers...
Arn't they beautiful??
Three turtles so far have come out to eat...
Here's one I took the other day. I thought it was great to see 4 of them eating together...
After this day, I started leaving the BIGGER plate over in this area!!
Well, this has been my morning so far. I've got oatmeal setting up while I'm putting this together for us all to eat.
Thanks for dropping by. I hope you all have a wonderful day!
For MIL...
Here are some of my pics that turned out pretty good. I'm sending you the pics below. Let me know if you want me to or need me to send them to you as an attachment so that you can fix the size or whatnot.
If they have a catagory for children or portrait...here is a perfect one....
And on another note....here was Arlee before we left to drop her off at day camp....it's "A Pirate's Life For Me" theme this year....YEAH!
A Look at My Day ~ Late Afternoon/Evening {yesterday}
This was actually written on June 6th...
Zach didn't sleep too long. I finished cleaning off my kitchen table, uploaded some pics, and folded a little laundry before he woke up though.
After he woke up, and saw that Liam was still asleep, he wanted to draw. So I got out a couple pieces of paper, some heart stickers, and the coloring bucket {has crayons, colored pencils, and markers in it}.
You can see Liam on the couch still sleeping.
Here is Zach's finished picture...
I drew one too...
After Liam woke up, he wanted to draw for just a minute...
...then he was done.
Zach got out a book and started reading to us...
And, of course, if big brother does it...
Little brother has to, too!!
Then Zach just wanted his picture taken...he's quite the ham isn't he??
After playing around for a minute, I went and started a bath for Zach. Frosty sat with Liam while I was in the bathroom with Zach.
Here is Zach posing after getting dressed...
This one is a little blurry...I don't know if I moved or he moved or a combination of the two, but I thought it was still really cute...
There's that AWESOME smile...
I think that I've sort of strayed from actually showing what I do all day...well, not really, I guess....since as how I am usually looking at Zach and Liam all day long!! LOL!
We had a late lunch today. I made some Raveloli...Mmmm, I love that stuff!
Here's the boys enjoying their lunch while watching some tv.
Notice Zach there...in the blue shirt...right after he's had his bath...LOL!
Now that everyone is done eating, it's Liam's turn for his bath!
So here is my Liam after he was dressed. Clothes don't last long on him...so I had to take these quick!
And I know ya'll want to see his curls while they are wet...
When I was giving Liam a bath, Frosty was watching Zach for me while watching tv...
He looks SO EXCITED doesn't he?
I went outside real quick to pick up around my back patio area so I could take pics of it...and here they are...
I was just telling aggiewife about our new little fire thingy the other day. I got it up at Family Dollar for like $25....
Isn't it cute? We've already used it to make some smores...and it works great! Can't wait to use it again!
And what was my wonderful husband doing?
Mowing grass, of course...
He even found a frog while he was mowing...
...this man has THE most amazing eyesight I swear! I mean, how do you find this dark little frog in the grass when you are mowing??
Well, when my hard working man got done cutting our grass, he decided to have a little fun...
The rest of the evening/night just mostly consisted of dinner and getting kids to sleep! Danny and I did end up watching a movie together though. I didn't go to bed until almost 2am!
Well, I hope this gave you a little peek into my day. Having the camera is SO MUCH FUN {thanks again aggiewife...YOU ROCK!!}
A Look at My Day ~ Afternoon
This was actually written on June 6th...
Here is three of the turtle pictures I promised on my last entry...
Not too much to report. I finished cleaning up my counters and doing dishes...
There's my breadmaker! I love it! My good friend, Holli, gave that to me. She was going to donate it to Goodwill, but I happened to be visiting that night so she gave it to me! YEAH!
Can you see Zach in the pic above? He's sticking his head through one of the shelves in the wall that separates our kitchen and living room! LOL!
Arlee called a friend of hers to talk. The friend invited her over to swim in their pool. Danny had to go out to pick up a part for his lawn mower and run to get a few other things...so he dropped her off. I think Arlee is most excited because she gets to wear her "new" bathing suit.
I decided we where having roast for dinner...
I'll add some green beans, whole sweet corn, and sliced carrots here soon. Our neighbor, Earl, gave us some onions from out of his garden. Danny wants me to clean them up, chopp them up, and throw those in, too!
I went outside and around the house taking a few pics of the new siding. Please don't mind all the HUGE weeds everywhere! Danny's weedeater is broke down...something else on his list that needs fixed!
Ok, front of house...
Here is my front stoop....
And a side of the house....
I'll get the back porch a little later. I've still got coolers and such on it from when we went to the park! Oops! I'll get that stuff put away then I'll take pictures of the back!
I did take some pics of our side yard, though...
Side-front...
Side-back...
You can just about see our red tent back there! That's where Danny, Arlee, and Frosty go when they camp out in the yard! We have a burn pile {aka bonfire area} where they can have a fire too.
Now this one is actually the field behind our house. It's not ours, but I'm SO glad it's there! You can see our chain link fence in the corner of the picture...on the other side of all that water {thanks to all the rain we've been having} is our neighbor, Earl's, yard. The high grasses starts the farmer's field.
It makes for a pretty view!
I have more cleaning to do, but the little boys are acting up. I'm going to try and get them to lay down for a nap. While I'm doing that, I'm going to try and read a little more in the book, Living Simply with Children.
Yeah...BOTH the younger guys are sleeping. Went to check on Frosty to see what he's doing and this is what I found...
Playing video games in Daddy & Mommy's room! Go figure!
Since Zach & Liam are sleeping, I'm going to go find something to do. The camera keeps trying to tell me that the battery is low, so I'm going to let that charge while I go fold some laundry or something!
Pictures of me?? Well, I might get brave later...if I get a chance to fix my hair and stuff! I just don't like myself in pictures much anymore...sorry!
Check back in again later for my late afternoon report!
A Look at My Day...My Morning
This was actually written on June 6th...
Good Morning! I woke up this morning at about 8:10am due to the phone ringing. I answered with I'm sure a quite groggy, "Hello." I'm assuming the person on the the end of the line said something like, "Sorry wrong number." I can't be sure though because I believe they were speaking Spanish!!
Ok, so I'm up...might as well get started! I jumped on CafeMom really quick just to see if I had any new messages...Nope. Looked around at some of the activity in the posts. I don't know if it's just me or what, but there seems to be a huge cloud of negativity looming over the posts the past couple days. I don't know, maybe I'm just reading the wrong posts!
Now to get my coffee started! Got it all in the pot and brewing! 8:25am I headed to get dressed, put up my hair, and wash my face. I'm know that I really need to do some laundry because I'm down to this one blue shirt that I really don't like so much. I'll have to add that to my list of things to do today!
Ahhhh, coffee is ready. Mmmm! Well, since I'm having my coffee...and it usually is at my desk while on the net in the mornings when I'm drinking it...here is a pic of my desk...
This is MY spot! I do my net surfing here, my banking here, my bill paying here, my menus here, my to do lists here, our home school things here, and much much more!
Well, the little ones are still sleeping...why don't we go see what is going on outside this morning!
But, first, we better make a pit stop at the laundry room to get a load of laundry going!
Sissy puppy, our old dog, wanted to go outside with me, too!
And since we are introducing our furry friends...here's Shakes...our watchdog!
Ok, so on to the habitat garden. When I come out here and sit down for a quiet moment in my chair...this is what I can see...
It's a wonderful little spot just to take a moment.
Ok, well, let's walk around and see if we find any turtles out yet...
Oh, here is one of the girls...
Do you know how to tell if it's a girl or boy turtle? The girl turtles usually have darker heads and their shell on the bottom is flat. A boy turtle has very colorful heads. From what I've seen mostly yellow and orange mixed with black and/or brown. Male turtles also have an indent on their belly shell {I don't know if that is a "technical" turtle term, but that's what I call it!}
Oooh, here's Physco...this is Danny's favorite turtle...
Doesn't he have a little scary look to his face? I think so! He's still very cool though!
Ok, well...it's 9:17am and Zach and Liam are awake!
9:32am...Time to figure out what's for breakfast! Hmmmm??? Oatmeal, I guess!
Let's see...what can we do to make it a little more exciting for the youngins'? Add color!!
While the water was boiling and the oatmeal setting...I rinsed off some dishes. Yep, I'm one of those who has to rinse my dishes before putting them into the dishwasher...crazy stuff, huh? Our dishwasher is older and I guess just not as powerful or something as those nice ones that will actuall get rid of the food particles!
I also got the coffee pot ready to make another pot of coffee when Danny get's up...he needs his coffee to wake up on his days off!
Well, well...there he is! Sorry...no pics of him! He's a little camera shy...so am I!
Well...that's about it for my morning. I did go out to the habitat garden with Danny for a little while. We took some pictures of a few turtles...I'll try and add them in a little while! I'll be back later to update for my afternoon!
Thanks for visiting and hope you enjoyed your stay!
My Mother's Day & Why I Love Our Cable Box
Good Monday morning, friends!
How was your Mother's Day?
On Saturday, I recieved my first Mother's Day suprise which showed up in my mailbox! I received a package from my friend Ky Mama! I opened it up....it was the prettiest little apron I have ever seen!! Handmade by her. I just about cried when I saw it because it was such a sweet thing for her to do! So I want to send out yet another Thank You just to Ky Mama!
On Sunday, when Danny woke up he made my coffee and made me breakfast {with help from Arlee}. I just LOVE Danny's scrambled eggs....Mmmmm!! And he just helped so much that day with the little guys! Right there would have been THE best present in my book!
After breakfast, I got some more suprises! Arlee brought me this really cute card that she had made and a Carmello bar {my all time FAV candy bar}! She also had for me a hanging basket of impatients. Frosty had me a pot of those large orange hybrid lilies. Danny and the little boys had me another hanging basket with some of the prettiest pink flowers {I'm not sure exactly what they were called}
Danny hung my hanging baskets outside on each side of our arbor that goes into the turtle garden! They look SO pretty! I just love my family so much!
We took ALL day to get ready to go out and visit with Danny's mom. We hemmed and hawed around inbetween baths and showers! We wrapped her present we got for her {a new dvd player that she's been wanting}. We didn't have any plain or non-mother's day wrapping paper so I grabbed some birthday paper and turned it over to wrap the box. Then the kids decorated the paper themselves! {I think Sue was wanting to save the paper after she opened it! LOL...she's so sweet!}
We left the house around 7pm...the day really did end up getting away from us. It was very very chilly and rainy...I guess we really just wasn't anxious to go out into the yucky weather! Sue really liked her present...we even gave her some movies to get her started with her new dvd! She got me this big pot of panseys! They are a light purple and white! So pretty! I got very spoiled with flowers this year!
We had a good time visiting with Danny's parents. After we left and got back home, Danny made us some more coffee. Then we all started to get ready for bed.
What a great day!
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Here's a little back story....Last week, when we went shopping for plants for our garden, we ended up going a little farther out into the country. Of course, we saw cows. Well, Zach would start belting out this new song of his "Cows, Chickens, Pigs". It was so cute and so funny! He LOVED singing this song.
Just the other evening I was in the kitchen just starting dinner. I had put on Noggin to keep the little guys occupied while I was cooking. Next thing I know, Zach is screaming, "Mama! Mama! The curious buddies!!" I went to go and see what on Earth he was talking about....with Zach, you just never know! LOL!
Well, right there, on Noggin the Curious Buddies was singing his song! I had to pause it, and rewind it just a bit to get it back to the beginning. Then I called for Danny to come and see it!
Once Danny was in the living room, I had to play it....if I hadn't, I think Zach would have exploded! He was so excited! I "heard" the song on the tv, but I don't think I "saw" too much of it...I was too busy watching Zach and Liam! They were just too funny singing the song!
So, of course, with such a cute show from the two little guys what was the normal thing to do next? We rewinded it to listen again! And again! I just love our cable box...it brings such joy to my children! LOL!
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Thanks for stopping in! I wish everyone a great week!
Our Week So Far...
Sunday we decided to head to Georgetown...ROAD TRIP! It was good to get out of the house for a bit. It's only about a 20 min drive to Georgetown. We went to Save-a-Lot to pick up some big bottles of vinegar. At Aldi's they only sell the smaller bottles. Danny just ran into the store to get 6 bottles for us, the rest of us just stayed in the minivan.
Next we stopped by McDonald's to pick up Zach & Liam Happy Meals to eat. We went to Long John Silvers to get lunch for the rest of us. Oh, it was SO yummy! We just went across the street to a little sport park to eat in the van. At the end of the parking lot was a small place with ramps and such for skateboarding...Frosty was very interested in this!
Then, after we all finished eating, we headed to Glenna's Nursery to pick up some plants for our garden....YEAH! We bought a flat of different plants. Tomatoes, cabbage, jalepeno peppers, melon, and egg plant. I think that was all???
On our way home we stopped by a local farmer, just around the corner from us, to pick up some eggs. I LOVE farm eggs! Yummy!
After we got home, Danny and I got our garden ready to plant. We made mounds for all our plants and seeds that we had left over from last year. We put the tomatoes, egg plants, peppers, 1/2 runner beans {seeds} and cabbage in so far. Hoping this coming weekend we can plant the rest. The kids helped with the planting. It was a fun time!
Monday was a sad day...Danny had to go back to work after being off for like 17 days! He ended up getting Sunday off because he had to start a class that will run M-F for about 3 weeks or so. He has to drive all the way to Dayton for the class {long drive}, so he has to get up SO EARLY in the morning. He was so tired by the time he got home.
In the morning, I made my coffee and went to sit in the turtle habitat...alone. I missed having Danny sitting and talking with me.
Arlee ended up having a conference with her teacher from the virtual school that day. I just love talking with Arlee's teacher...she is so much fun! This might have been the last conference for the year.
I put together a plan of what we need to do each day for lessons to make sure we are done by May 28th {or at least attempt to be done by then}. I'm hopeful, and am pretty sure we can do it...as long as there are not too many interruptions!
Tuesday....We got serious about our school lessons today! We did A LOT! Off to a great start of our goal! YEAH!
I did lessons with Frosty first. We grabbed the books and such that he needed and headed out to the turtle habitat to do school! It was great! The weather was perfect! We even got entertained by some turtles and baby bird stopped by to take a bath!
We came back in to finish up school that we had to do on the computer, history & science. Then we had lunch. After lunch it was Arlee's turn to do school in the habitat. I'm looking forward to doing that again!
Well, that brings me up to today...Wednesday. Of course we have lessons to do today. Hopefully I can fit in a little cleaning. Frosty has a boy scout outing later today. And, well, that's really about it!
Time to get started! Have a great day friends!
Just Another Thursday Morning...
I'm up early this morning, but I just don't feel like going back to sleep. Very strange for me! So I thought, with my found "free time" this morning I would write up an entry.
I am so happy that testing is over for Arlee & Frost. But, the sad part is, now that testing is over...Danny's vacation almost is as well. He goes back to work on Sunday. Only 3 days away! Very sad. I have so much enjoyed him being at home with us. I wish that he could just stay at home always.
On our back patio, right over the gutter there is a robin's nest. It's empty now, but only since the past couple days. We were all sad when we came to look out the back door and didn't see 4 little heads sticking out of the nest. We did end up finding one of the young birds hanging out in our turtle garden. He couldn't fly really well just yet. Momma Bird is close always, though. Keeping an eye on him and bringing him food now and again.
I did see Baby Bird fly yesterday a little bit. It is so interesting to have got the chance to sort of watch him develop his skills. He just needed a little more time. He was the type that just did things when he was ready. Hmmm...that sounds familiar!
I hoping, that if Danny is feeling better today, we can finish putting our new flowers in the turtle garden. The ones that have already been planted look so pretty. I'm hoping to have the turtle garden done before Danny goes back to work, but if not it's no biggie.
With Danny going back to work soon, we will have to jump back into our school lessons. We haven't done much of anything since he's been off work. No one wants to do lessons when Daddy's home...not even me! We all just want to be with him. I am still very hopefull for a last day of school on May 28th. It's going to be a challenge, but I am confident that we can do it!
Today Frost will be getting ready to go visit with a friend of his, Steve. Steve will be having an outing for his birthday on Friday, but wanted Frost to spend the night as well. On Friday, the boys will be joined by a couple more of Steve's friends and they will all go see the new movie, Iron Man. I can not even tell you how excited Frosty is about this! I think they are all going out to eat, too. What a wonderful time Frosty will have celebrating his friend's birthday!
I think I might try to go do some dishes quietly this morning. I would be very happy to have those already done before anyone else wakes up!
I hope everyone has a wonderful day!
Homemade Pizza & Just Talking About What's Going On Around Here
I had SO MUCH fun making dinner last night! Danny and I worked together to make homemade pizza! This is the second time we've made it...and it was SO yummy! Here's the recipe...
Bread Machine Pizza Crust
- 1-1/4 cups water (plus 1 or 2 more tablespoons if necessary)
- 3 tablespoons olive or other vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups bread flour or all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Measure the ingredients into the bread pan in the order listed. Make a well in the flour and sprinkle the yeast into it. Set the machine to it's Dough Cycle. After the dough has mixed a few minutes add a spoonful or two of water if the dough seems very dry. On my machine the Dough Cylce lasts 1-1/2 hours. The dough will be risen and puffy in the bread pan when it is done kneading and rising. Punch it down (with out hurting your fist on the paddle); and remove it from the pan. Knead it a few times to get it deflated properly. Divide the dough in half. Let the dough halves rest for about 10 to 15 minutes to relax the gluten, so it's easier to roll out. Press the dough into 2 - 14" or 16" pizza pans.
Top the dough with your favorite sauce and pizza toppings. Bake at 400º for about 15 to 20 minutes. Cut each pan into 12 slices of pizza. Serve hot.
Almost Instant Pizza Sauce
- 8 ounce can of tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning OR 1/2 teaspoon basil & 1/4 teaspoon oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon EACH sugar & onion powder
- 1 tablespoon oil for flavoring (optional)
In a large cereal bowl combine the tomato sauce, Italian Seasoning (or basil and oregano), garlic powder, sugar, onion powder and oil. Mix it well and spread it on the pizza crust. This makes enough for a single 16-inch crust. The recipe may be doubled or tripled as desired.
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Danny, Arlee, & Frosty are off to do their last test this morning. Thank goodness! I hate all of them being gone for so long! I've been very spoiled these past few days having the whole family together so much! I've been loving it a whole lot!
Poor Danny hasn't been feeling well the past couple days. He's been stuffy and miserable with a head cold. Poor guy is trying to catch some Z's in his car while waiting for the kids to finish their tests. I feel so bad for him. I can't wait for him to get back home so I can take care of him! He helped out so much last week when my back hurt so bad, I've been trying hard to return the favor!
I cleaned off my computer desk yesterday! It's so nice being all organized and straightened up! {even if it is just a small part} I'm just wondering how long it will stay this way before the clutter comes creeping back! LOL! It usually doesn't take long for piles of stuff to turn up around here!
I have a bookshelf in my kitchen that has become a catch all. NOT GOOD! It used to have all our homeschool books and such in it, but we've moved all of those things to a bigger bookshelf in the living room. So now we just throw anything and everything on this bookshelf. I'm now looking at it and wondering how to turn that space into something a little more functional and a little more organized.
I've got some ideas for the bookshelf that I've been thinking about. I might have to run out later for a couple things we need from the store, so I might just stop by The Family Dollar to see if I can pick up some organizing bins. It will be so nice to see this area nice and organized.
I've been so "off" with everything around here. With Danny being home, my back going out, Danny being sick, the kids' testing, and such. I need to get caught up and back on track! I hate being behind on everything, but I usually am! But that's ok....I never have a lack of things to do!
Well, I'm going to go sit with the little boys for a bit...then hopefully be able to get something started around here!
I hope everyone has a great Wednesday!
Thanks for stopping in!
Happy Monday, Friends!
What a pretty day I'm seeing out my kitchen window! Sunny and bright. It was a little chilly outside earlier when I walked Danny, Arlee, & Frost to the car. They are off to do their testing. I can't wait until they get back home!
Well, I'm up and dressed in my new uniform this morning! Capris {I LOVE CAPRIS!!!} and a scrub shirt {like the ones nurses wear}. It's great! I love the big pockets. Very comfortable, too.
Our garden is ready!!! We are SO excited! A neighbor came over with his tractor to plow it up! It got so much deeper down than a tiller ever could! We paid him $9 for his gas and his time! We just can't wait to get some seeds and plants in the ground! YIPEE! We keep wondering if we could get away with going ahead and planting seedlings, or if we should wait just incase one more freeze comes along in the next couple weeks. We are just anxious to get it all started!
We've seen 7 turtles out and about in our habitat garden so far! It has been the big excitement around here seeing them to start to emerge from their winter's sleep! A friend of ours called over the weekend because she found a turtle on her front porch. Danny stopped by, picked it up, and brought it home to the garden. He was such a bright color of orange!
I'm very happy today because my back is feeling so much better! I pulled it, again, last Wednesday. Oh, it hurt SO bad! I couldn't even stand up straight for two days! It still hurts a bit today, but feels much much better than last week!
The little boys are starting to act up. That's the sign I've been out of the room for too long! LOL!
I wish everyone a wonderful day!
New Family Rules ~ Posting Our Evening Routine
Thanks for stopping by to visit this terrific Thursday!
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Last night after the little ones were all asleep I posted on our living room wall a new set of Family Rules:
1. Obey Daddy and Mommy the first time.
2. Always use kind words, peaceful actions, and gentle touches.
3. Speak softly to each other.
4. Tell each other "I Love You" 3 times each day.
This morning, because of inspiration from a CafeMom Group I'm a member of, read thru these rules with all of the children. We will read thru these EVERY morning together. This counts as Mommy telling them once how what I expect of each of them that day.
I feel really good about th