my blessed life

This month has been so incredibly busy.  I still can't believe that it's nearly over.  And May is shaping up to be a total blur! Sometimes you just have to let some things go and hang on for the ride.  I feel like that's what I'm doing these days.  There is just so much going on at this time of the year every year. End-of-the-school-year wrapping up, Mother's Day planning, church yard sale, special church events, science fair, co-op, upcoming mini-vacation, finalizing yearbook pages for our homeschool group, special ladies' events at church, helping my mother because of her broken shoulder, helping my husband every way that I can because he wears too many "hats", trying to plan our garden, ...the "list" never stops, right? And sometimes I don't do so well when I'm feeling overwhelmed.  I really just want to curl up on the sofa with a pint of Graeter's Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip ice cream and watch hours of Psych.  No

Welcome back to Tasty Tuesdays ! I don't know about you, but I am always looking for ways not to buy mixes at the store anymore.  Now, granted, there are a few that it's hard to do without, but overall things are just better--and better for you--when they're from scratch.  And usually it's surprisingly easy to make things from scratch once you get in that habit.   This is one of those kinds of recipes.  I can't tell you how intimidating rice used to be for me.  If I didn't buy it in some kind of flavored, pre-seasoned mix, I didn't know how where to start.  But then I noticed just how cheap a big bag of regular ol' white rice is at Aldi and I've been buying it ever since.   This is one recipe that I love for making a really great, Tex-Mex restaurant kind of rice.  And it's super easy! It's a great compliment to your meals of tacos, burritos, or any other Mexican style of meal.  I think you'll love it! {homemad

Well, I survived last week by the skin of my teeth (whatever that means!).  It must have been the busiest, most hectic, full week that I've had in a while.  I was never so glad for an overnight getaway on Friday with my hubby to just relax (happy anniversary to us!).  It was 24 heavenly hours of R & R!  Oh, and lots of good food, too!  I so need to go on a diet now.   And then we came back home.  To a mountain of laundry, another mountain of ironing, a desk full of things that need to be taken care of, and what-feels-like-100-more-things that need to be done.   Right now .   Plus we get busy with homeschooling again this week, after a "break" last week.  I feel like I need a break from my "break! ha! So I'm taking it one day at a time.  And one dinner at a time:) Monday:  Garlic Lime Chicke n   Tuesday:   BBQ Chicken Sandwiches {slow cooker}  Wednesday:   Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes Thursday:  Sour Cream Noodle Bake with Gar

{If you are visiting from Hammock Tracks this week, welcome!  I am honored to be featured by Savannah on her weekly Homeschool Review interview this week.  I hope you will hope over and visit Savannah.  She has a lovely homeschooling blog and I am so enjoying getting to know her.} Did I really say at the beginning of this week that we were having a spring break?!  This week has been one of the busiest and most exhausting weeks I've had in a long time.  The only ones getting a break around here has been the kiddos~but then that's what spring breaks are all about, right? In our homeschool this week... I gave the kids a break from any book work.  We were only going to be home for two days out of this week anyway, so I thought I'd give myself a week off from teaching as well. Places we're going and people we're seeing... We took an incredibly fun field trip on Tuesday to Chaney's Dairy Barn with our homeschool group.  I blogged all about it here .  If yo

Like I mentioned on Monday, we are enjoying a spring break of sorts at our house.  That doesn't mean there isn't some learning happening though. Yesterday we enjoyed a field trip to Chaney's Dairy Barn in Bowling Green, KY.  It was the perfect spring day: not too warm, not too cool, with sunshine.  Absolutely beautiful! Our homeschool group met there for a tour.  We took a hayride from the ice cream and snack shop over to the farm with the owner himself where he introduced us to his start cow Miss Glimmer.  They gave us a great presentation on dairy cows and how they milk them.  Then we got to have ice cream! If you live near Bowling Green or you are visiting that area I definitely recommend dropping by Chaney's for some farm fresh ice cream!  It was delicious!  I had the cookies and cream flavor and it was the best I've ever had!  It's also a great place for the kids to play since they have a huge playground in the back.  Our kids played for the longest

Yea!  It's a Spring Break of sorts around here this week!!  This mama is just as excited as the kiddos!! I've got lots of fun things planned, such as scrubbing bathrooms, switching out the clothes for the spring/summer seasons, gathering up yard sale items (for our upcoming church yard sale), cleaning out my kids' rooms (yikes!), and much more fun:)  Mind you, I have to cram all of that into the two days I'll actually have at home to get any house stuff done--the rest of the week is super full! Monday: ~clean bathrooms ~do laundry ~clean The Princess' room and switch out her closet for spring/summer ~ Dinner:   Chicken Pot Pie Tuesday: ~Field Trip!! ~ Dinner: {out} Wednesday: ~clean Mr. B's room and switch out his closet for spring/summer ~switch out my closet for spring/summer ~finish gathering up yard sale items (and drop them off!) ~Bible Study ~ Dinner:  Pigs-in-Blankets Thursday: ~take The Princess for orthodontist consultation ~Field Tr

It has been a lovely week!  One of those weeks where most things go the way they are supposed to go and you just really enjoy life.  I {heart} those kind of weeks! In my life this week... It all started with a wonderful Sunday.  We had such a great time of worship at our church.  It's incredibly exciting to see what God is doing in our community!   Lunch out with the family is always fun, especially when you find a yummy new restaurant.  I was able to finally have that pulled pork bbq sandwich that I was craving.   It has been so refreshing to my soul to have lots of sunshine this week, too.  It seems as though spring is finally here.  The winter has seemed so long, but the reward of spring is worth the wait, I think.   Lovely warm temps, much-needed outdoor play time for the kiddos, time spent loving on our sweet dog, Holly, our first grill-out on the deck, our first picnic, flying kites, park time with friends, ....yes, we have really enjoyed this

Yep.  I have been bitten by the gardening bug again.  It's been a couple of years since I've tried anything, but we have the perfect place for it in our backyard and I just can't stand it if we don't at least try this year.   We have wonderful farmers markets here because the area we live in is full of beautiful farms (both Amish and "English") and last year our sweet neighbors shared much of their garden bounty with us.  So we were very blessed with lots of fresh produce.  You may remember that I learned to can tomatoes last summer because we had so many from our neighbors' garden.  We sure have enjoyed those all winter long! So far my gardening experience is extremely limited.   The first year we tried it everything was in containers .  Then we graduated up to a raised bed .  The next year I experimented with starting seeds .  But last year I tried nothing at all ...and I was a little sad about that.   This year may be a total bus

Spring has finally arrived here in Kentucky and we are so thrilled!!   The winter has seemed so long and wet and cold.  The sunshine and blue skies are a welcome sight to our eyes. We took an afternoon earlier this week and headed to a new-to-us park for a picnic and kite-flying.  So refreshing! While we aren't officially taking an entire week off for a spring break this year, we are making time in our schedule for some extra fun activities on days when the weather is the nicest.   Just relaxing, walking, and playing outside with my family is truly good for the soul. These windy spring days are so perfect for flying our kites~I love seeing the kites' tails blowing in the wind. And there's something about playing on the playground that just makes you feel like a kid again ...in one way ...then in other ways, a tad bit old...heehee So, Happy Spring to you!  Go fly a kite! ***** Don't miss a thing here at My Blessed

Welcome back to Tasty Tuesday ! I don't know about you, but I start to crave salads more when the weather warms up.  There's just something about a warm, sunny day and a delicious, fresh salad that go perfectly together.  I recently made one of my favorite salads that I hadn't had in a while and it tasted soooo good!  I know you'll love it, too! Broccoli Delight Salad {salad} 1 lg. bunch fresh broccoli, cut into small pieces (about 4-5 cups) 6 strips bacon, fried crisp & crumbled 1 cup seedless red grapes, halved 1 cup raisins 1/4 cup red onion, diced {dressing} 3-4 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar 1/2 cup light mayo ***** Place washed and well-drained broccoli in a large bowl.   Add bacon, grapes, raisins, and onion.  Mix together the dressing ingredients and  pour over salad, stirring well.   Serve and enjoy!  *Fresh cauliflower also works great in this recipe. ***** Don't miss a thing here at

Somehow I managed to not cook a single meal this past week!  Not sure how that happened, but I suspect  it was part lack of planning on my behalf and part being way too busy and on the go a lot.  This week will not be like that--at least not the lack of planning part!  I don't function too well without a plan, at least not for very long. This week I'm also looking forward to some more grilling out.  Last weekend Vince grilled for the first time this season--on his new birthday grill!  I'm planning to put him and his grill to work a lot this spring and summer:) So here's this weeks' plan: Monday:   Beef & Bean Burritos Tuesday:   Chicken Pot Pie Wednesday:   {snacks} Thursday:  Meatloaf, Spaghetti Squash au Gratin , Baby Limas Friday:   Grilled Hot Dogs Saturday:   Grilled Tuna Melts   with Campfire Potatoes This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie . ***** Don't miss a thing here at My Ble

It has been a few weeks since I've had a chance to do a weekly wrap-up.  I can hardly believe it's already April!!  March definitely was a whirlwind for us, but that's to be expected when we celebrated two birthdays and Easter all in one month! In our homeschool this week... We buckled down and really got some work done.   Shhhhh .....don't tell my kiddos but each day this week (except for today, when we have co-op) we accomplished two days of school work!!  Yea!!  After looking at the calendar I decided we need to make a little better time in order to be able to take a summer break when we need to do so.  So I am lesson planning accordingly.  We won't do this every week, but maybe every other.   (the kiddos looking at slides of winged insects for science) I am however incredibly in need of a Spring Break though.  But rather than taking off a whole week at a time, I plan to spread out some "impromptu" Spring Break days throughout thi