my blessed life

How is your summer coming along?  I can hardly believe that June is over --that half of 2012 is over!  We are really enjoying our summer so far though and are looking forward to more of it (even if the temps are ridiculously high).  We have already been able to check off lots of things on our summer fun list and several places on my own personal *field-trips-I-want-to-take-this-summer* list.  Another place we checked off this month was Nashville's very own full-scale replica of the Parthenon .     While we chose not to tour the art museum the day we went (our day was just too full), we did have a great time simply walking around the grounds and the adjoining park area.  A visit to Greece is at the tip-tip of my own personal bucket list, so I really did enjoy looking at the architecture.   Mostly I just loved spending time with my family though.  Often when we go on a field trip, I don't necessarily announce it as such--at least not when it's summertime

If you live in the Eastern part of the United States you have probably heard about "Shakers".  I won't go into detail about the religious beliefs of this group, but you can read more about them here .  To my knowledge, there is only one, tiny community of Shakers left in Maine, but the group did leave us a few of their villages, or "Shakertowns", that are incredibly interesting to visit.  There are two such villages in Kentucky.  I visited Pleasant Hill when I was much younger and really enjoyed it, so I was excited to find out when we moved to Kentucky last year that we now lived near the other Shakertown, South Union , in this state.  This month we were finally able to take a "field trip" there and had a great time! This is the Centre House where most of the daily living happened.  It is segregated by two mirroring sides of the building: the women's side and the men's side.  Today it has been restored to a beautiful condition and

It has just occurred to me that I haven't shared all of the Star Wars fun we had for Mr. B's birthday !  We whipped up some galactic fun that made for an awesome day.   There was the Lava Planet cake that I baked and Vince decorated for me.  He can really get inspired with a theme like Star Wars.  Tea Parties...not so much..haha Our whole menu was Star Wars themed and I can thank Pinterest for helping me find lots of fun ideas--so many that it was hard to choose which ones to do! There were Darth Maul Dogs (aka: hot dogs wrapped with crescent rolls around the middle). There was Yoda Soda (or...Sprite with green sherbet) and Jabba Juice (fruit punch). We had Hunger Fighter Sandwiches (PB&J's made with our fave Star Wars sandwich makers ).     We made edible light sabers with giant pretzel rods covered in white almond bark and sprinkles (yes, that massive collections of sprinkles of all colors really came in handy!).

You may remember my rather large purchase of peaches last summer.  All year long I have been slowly using up the stash of them from the freezer.  And  I have to admit I was getting a little tired of the desserts I had been making with them. Then I found the idea of peach BBQ sauce...mmmm! Peach BBQ Sauce 2 lbs of frozen peaches, thawed 1 bottle of BBQ sauce, your choice 1/2 cup ketchup 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce 3 cloves of garlic, minced 1 tsp. ground ginger ***** Put the peaches in a food processor and blended until pureed.   Add the BBQ sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and ginger.  Process again until well blended.   Pour mixture into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.   Reduce to low and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until sauce has thickened. When sauce has cooled, pour into jars and refrigerate.   This week we grilled chicken with this yummy sauce and we loved it!  You will, too!

It's definitely feeling like summertime around here!  Yes, that does mean that it's really H-O-T, but I think the fact that we don't have our regular daily schedule makes it feel more like summer. This week I'll have a few mornings to myself while the kiddos are at Vacation Bible School and, frankly, I don't even know what I'll do :)  I'm quite sure I'll come up with something though!  There is no shortage of things I need to do around the house.  So even though I'm leaving this plan a little sparse, I have lots of things swirling in my head with which to fill it up. Monday: -Catch up around the house -Dinner: Grilled Peach BBQ Chicken (new!), Baked Potatoes and Grilled Zucchini Tuesday: -VBS for the kiddos -Dinner: Cajun Pasta with Garlic Toast Wednesday: -VBS for the kiddos -Farmers Market -Dinner: Fish Stick Po' Boys with Chips Thursday: -VBS for the kiddos -Dinner: Ricatoni's Pasta , Fresh Bread with Bruschetta Fr

This summer we are continuing to do some school and keep our minds fresh to avoid the dreaded summer brain drain.  Because of this I was very excited about reviewing IXL !  IXL is a very straightforward website all about practicing your math facts, from addition to exponents and roots. IXL focuses on five main areas :  math for the left and right brain : they mix it up in the way problems are presented so that there is something for every learning style. math learning that sticks with you : creating an environment that rewards the students work and helps them to actually "get" the concepts. math practice that keeps you in the zone : a focused learning environment math at its most mesmerizing : creating an environment that is pleasant for the student never miss a math moment : providing the parent with detailed updates and reports Also, if you're concerned about how your student will do on standardized tests, you can look up the common core or even