Vacation

We are leaving tomorrow morning for a much needed vacation. Sun, sand and beautiful ocean view!

I have been so busy that I haven't had time to get any post together. I received a great swap package and will share it with you when I return.

Hope you all have a great week and a Happy 4th of July!

Hot! Hot! Hot!

That is exactly what we have been experiencing. Heat, humidity and lots of rain. Monday night into Tuesday morning we had 4.5 inches of rain. That is a lot of rain in a little bit of time.

To beat the heat Megan has been spending time cooling off in her pool.


While she was playing in the pool I was near by pulling weeds.


It has been so hard to get out and I am ashamed that they got this bad. The good news is that the section is cleared out and I will hit the top section today. The mosquitoes were getting bad so we had to head in.

My sister had an air conditioner sitting in my parents garage. We offered to buy it and they were gracious enough to just give it to us. Free is always good!


We got it for our garage. Chuck put it in on Monday night and it so nice to be able to do laundry with out breaking into a sweat! He is so good to me :)

Life is moving right along here. My days are exceptionally full this week since we are leaving on vacation Friday. I hope everyone is having a great week!

Fun in the Park

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I told Megan we were going to go have lunch. She started to fuss when I hit the drive thru instead of going in. I keep telling her that what we were going to do would be much better.

She wasn't sure about this swinging bridge at first.


She asked that I take this picture saying she was a statue.


Abe is starting to walk. Boy, does not keep me on the run!


This is a small park and we were the only ones there. The only downfall is that these are the only swings.

We had a great time and will be stopping by again.

Megan's Room

One to many afternoons I found Megan's room looking like this.


There was some fussiness about cleaning this up and I had just had enough. I spent an afternoon re-arranging, cleaning and getting rid of lots of stuff. I told Chuck that if I am still finding it as disaster and having a little one that will not pick up I will go back and clean out some more stuff.




Megan was so proud of her room when she went to bed.


I am a happy girl that it is staying neat.

Storms

I love a good thunderstorm. With all of the heat and humidity we have been having it seems to be a daily occurrence. I enjoy sitting out on the porch and watching it roll in.

Life is full of storms, but through it all God is good.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all. ~ Psalm 34:19

Luckily not all of the storms we endure are large, but it gives me a feeling of security knowing that He is always with me. Our storm this weekend was minor and certainly related to storms. With all the rain there is lots of ground water and it has flooded our septic. Chuck showered yesterday morning and when I went in there was the dreaded gurgle sound that means the septic is full. It is an easy fix. Today we will have someone come out and empty the tank and off we go.

Instead of getting upset this happened I choose to be grateful. Grateful that it would be an easy fix. Grateful that we could head to my parents home.

Since I was not sure when this will be taken care of today we loaded up ourselves and the laundry and headed to my parents. I worked on laundry between pool time.


Megan loves the water! She can't swim yet but still moves around like a little fish.

All of the fun in the sun made for a tired little one.


She fell fast asleep on the drive home. I put her on the couch to change her and she didn't wake.

I am off to run to my parents for a shower and then back here in time for Abe to arrive. I will hang out at my parents until I can run water again. Have a great day!

How Much Should You Can?

My mother-in-law recently gave my a Ball Blue Book from 1941. It has been a fun read!


There was a section that listed the amount of canned goods you should put up.


For a family of five it states you should store between 800-100 quarts. I don't know about you, but I think that is a lot of jars! I am not sure where I would store that much. I will say that the idea of putting up my own canned goods and not purchasing them at the grocery really appeals to me.

There was also a chart (click to enlarge) that list the amount of each item to put up and how many jars you would get from each bushel.


There are many, many recipes in this book. It list how to can pumpkin, pumpkin preserves, celery, many soups and stews and all kinds of meats. I can't wait to get in the kitchen!

Flower Tour

One of the things I love about summer is all of the flowers. Here is a little tour of some of my flowers.


A window box on a garage window.


Lilies are just starting to bloom.


I have four containers with petunias on my back porch.


Clematis climbing up an old screen door.


Impatiens tucked away in the front landscape.


Impatients are in the window boxes on the front of my home.


A huge hosta by my front door.

Hope your enjoyed a peek at my flowers!

Family Fun: Catching Lightening Bugs

For a long time we have been wanting Megan to see the lightening bugs. It is a hard thing to do since it doesn't get dark until so late. Finally I decided we were going to just do it!

It was so much fun! Megan ran around like crazy and Chuck and I laughed and laughed at her antics.

Do you know how hard it is to get pictures at night? Especially of fireflies. If you look close you can see the two little dots that I did catch.

There were so many out that it was really breath taking. Finally Megan was able to catch one. She really wanted to take inside to light up her room.

We convinced her it would be best to let it go. I certainly didn't want to explain if the poor little guy didn't make it through the night. Have you taken time to admire the lightening bugs lately?

A Simple Day

After a couple of weeks of heat and humidity some thunderstorms blew through and took the humidity with it. Without all the nasty humidity it has been so pleasant. All of the window have been open. Which I love! I would much rather have the windows open then have the air conditioning on.

While I hung out laundry Chuck worked around the yard.

He did some weeding and then put the fence around the garden.


My green beans are coming up and I was staring to get worried the little bunnies were going to have a smorgasbord! Megan was right beside Daddy helping out.


She loves helping and Chuck took the time to let her tie off some of the fencing.

Of course after all of that hard work you need a drink!


I thought it was funny that the cup is almost bigger then she is!

We then headed in for a dinner of roast, glazed carrots and green beans with new potatoes. I love a day filled with simple things!

Strawberry Sundae Topping

Oh my, this is good stuff!

Crush 12 cups of strawberries in a sauce pan. Heat to a boil and then simmer until soft. Approximately 5-10 minutes. Strain hot through a colander and drain until cool enough to handle. Strain juice through cheesecloth. Discard dry pulp. You should have 4 1/2 - 5 cups of juice.

Combine juice, 6 3/4 cups sugar and 1/2 cups sliced, diced or whole strawberries (whatever your preference is).

Bring to a rolling boil; boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off foam. Pour into 4 pint jars and process for 15 minutes in water bath canner.


I plan to use these as some of my Christmas from the Heart gifts. I will be looking for some cute ice cream cups to go with this.

Family Fun: Strawberry Pickin'

Saturday morning we headed out to pick strawberries!


Megan was so excited. On the drive there she keep telling us that the proper way to pick a strawberry was to "twist and pull." Then while we were there she keep asking "are you twisting and pulling?" She only said this a thousand times. Now all Chuck and I have to say is twist and pull and we both crack up!


We left with 2 1/2 of these containers; about 8 1/2 quarts.


We shared some, eat lots and made strawberry jam.


There are still lots of strawberries left. I plan to get the kitchen and create some more goodies today. Have a "berry" sweet day!