my blessed life

I've been wishing for more of those lazy days of summer, but even though it's been super busy around here we are having a good summer.  Just not a lazy one ;)  I'm completely tempted to give myself an extra month of summer an not start back-to-{home}school until October.   I'm kidding.   Maybe.   So thought I'd give you a little peek at what we've been up to lately.   We love Christian Way Farm!  There's always something fun to do there!   And playing mini golf in 90+ degree weather is definitely fun ~especially for kiddos who score holes-in-one and get a freebie from the drink cooler! The Princess has begun guitar lessons from my dad.   She is liking it so far, although she did confide to me that she  didn't realize it would be "that hard".  Ah, the joys of practicing.   Did I mention that we start piano lessons next month? We are starting to harvest some pretty little cherry tomato...

So, yes, I'm a day behind in posting this.  I hope you'll understand. Summertime is here and I'm feeling a bit lazy this week.  It's been so hectic lately that I've enjoyed have a little more downtime at home so far this week. We did have a lovely 4th of July weekend though~how was yours?  We had a friend visiting from Alabama and we just hung out doing things like grilling out, eating on the deck, watching the kiddos swim, discovering a new farmers market, going on wild goose chases looking for some bookstores, and playing Mario Kart :) But I neeeeeed my menu plan.  Our evenings don't go well without it. So in the spirit of staying on track, here it is: Monday:   Rotisserie chicken with white sauce, baked beans , fried okra , and twice-baked potatoes Tuesday:   {Date Night!!} Wednesday:   (Mexican meal at our small group leaders' meeting)  I'm taking Black Bean Salsa & tortilla chips Thursday:   Crockpot Honey Garl...

While we wrapped up our homeschool year lesson-wise on May 30th, our year with our homeschool group didn't officially wrap up until this past Friday at our annual Field Day and Yearbook Release Party.  We had been looking forward to this day for quite a while and it did not disappoint!   Well over 50 kiddos from our group and their families turned out for some good ol' outdoor fun--you know, the relay race-type-of-fun!   It was a great way to finish up our year and get to hang out with friends--some of whom are moving away this summer.   At the end of the games  one team was awarded a Good Sportsmanship Award.  We were grouped by PreK/K5, 1st-3rd, 4th-6th, and 7th-12th.  Each age group competed amongst itself.  And each team was awarded with a very nice participation medal.  My kids were so proud of their medals!  They had a total blast! And before everyone headed home we rounded out Field Day with picnic lu...

I have aspirations of having a freezer full of yummy food to pull out at random for my family's eating pleasure.  I have yet to make this happen .  However, occasionally I do whip up an extra casserole or something to pop in the freezer so that it isn't completely bare in there. This past week I decided that having something easy for breakfast would be nice to have around.  Something besides Eggos, you know.   So I thought why not make up a batch of muffin-sized quiches and freeze those!  I have a great Quick Quiche recipe that works great (no crust needed!) and it turned out well in muffin form.  I also used my handy silicone muffin cups which made the whole process unbelievably easy.  I highly recommend these!  My mom gave me this set so I'm not exactly sure where they came from, but I know you can find them online. Just one batch of the following recipe made 15 of these muffins!   Quick Quiche 3 eggs 1/2 cup Bi...

Even though we have officially wrapped up our school year, the learning doesn't end there.  It just looks different for the summertime. One of the most fun things we do to continue learning through the summer is to READ!!   In years past we have participated in lots of reading programs (you can find a great list of those here ) from stores to libraries.  And they have been varying degrees of fun.   Sometimes we live too far from a particular store to really reap the benefits of the program.  Sometimes the program is too complicated.  And sometimes it's just not fun.  And I think reading should be fun! {reading 'in a favorite chair'} So this year I decided to come up with our own reading program with great incentives.   I found some great free printables online and pretty-much cherry-picked what I wanted from them.   I am using the awesome reading bingo cards and prize coupons from HowDoesShe?'s Summer...

Yes, it's been quite a while since I posted my menu plan.  April and May have been some of our busiest months in a long time and while I have kept up pretty well with my menu plans on paper, they have not always been executed very well in real life.  I am working to get back in a good cooking groove though. Also, in an effort to eat more fresh foods I have started ordering occasionally from Bountiful Baskets .  Do you have one of their co-ops in your neck of the woods?  If so, have you tried them out?  I definitely recommend giving them a try.  I have been very pleased with my baskets so far.  And they sure do encourage my family to eat more fresh fruit and veggies! Here's a shot of my last basket offerings (except for the blueberries--I ordered a flat of those as an add-on to my conventional basket) : So far this order has yielded us delicious salads, limeade, mango salsa, blueberry muffins, and much freshly cut fruit to snack on.  Can...

I know it's been a while.  And I've missed being here.  I hope things are going well with you. Life has been fast and furious around here these past few months and I simply needed to step away from so much time online in order to keep my sanity. I had lost my zeal for blogging.  Sort of lost my direction, in a way.  There are so many voices out there telling me how to improve my blog, how to make more money from  blogging, how to promote yourself better...  I just got tired of it all. I needed a little break.  So I took a couple of months off and it's been good. ***** Life has been a bit hectic lately and I am desperately trying to be intentional about how I spend my time.   More intentional in my walk with Jesus.  More intentional with my children.  More intentional with my marriage.  More intentional in my home. Believe me, I'm not getting it perfect.  In fact, most days I fail miserably.   Bu...