Random

I feel like my little home on the web is being a little neglected. I still have that nagging cough, but thankfully most of my energy is back. Until evening that is, so I have been hitting the hay early.

I receive an early Mother's Day present.


This isn't where it will be staying, but I was anxious to see it together. I am planning to start seeds this weekend and move them to the greenhouse as soon as the weather permits. This is something I have been dreaming of for a long time.

These cute pajama clad little guys keep me on my toes.


Their schedule has been a little wacky since the first of the year. Mom started a new job that requires her to work five days and dad lost his job. Another one of those losses due to the economy. I have been watching them on a day by day basis. Thankfully dad found a new job and starts next week. Not only will I have them five days instead of four, but they will be here an hour early each day. Yikes! Hope I can keep up. The boys certainly have a lot of energy.

I am using a new cleaner.


I make a gallon at a time and then fill up my bottle as needed. I love the way it makes my home smell!

Speaking of cleaning...

are you feeling the urge to spring clean? I am, but I am not quite ready. I am still catching up on general cleaning from last week. I am thinking of making a cleaning list this weekend.

Today the weather was wonderful. Rain moved out this morning and the sun came out.


It was 72* and I had the windows open. Open windows are one of my favorite things. No wonder I am feeling the urge to spring clean. :)

Good use was made of the warmth and sunshine. The kids rode bikes, picked up sticks to build a fire, played on the swing set and planted sunflowers.


Wednesday was a great day, but now it time to take my tired self to bed.

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

The Week Ends...

and I am so grateful. This had been a looooong week. I started feeling under the weather last Saturday. I still have a nagging cough and very little energy. My week consisted of the bare necessities. To top it off the little guy I watch ended up with the stomach flu. Not a fun week, but I don't think you can truly enjoy the great things without a few trials.

Here are some random pictures.


My beloved tulips for Valentine's Day.


Megan playing school.


Utensil crock that says "happiness is meant to be shared." How true!


An old pair of binocular from Grammi and Grandpa (my parents). They are quite the hit.


Great for bird watching.


Reading to Daddy.


Enjoying some rare flurries. It is still winter, isn't it?

I have orders to spend the entire weekend at home resting. Chuck and Megan are out on a few errands. I think I might grab some yarn and try my hand at some crocheting.

One more thing. If you are a homeschooling family in the state of Indiana and would be willing to chat, please, leave me your contact info. :)

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

Kitchen Table Science: Rain Clouds

This week we have had snow then rain and one thing led to another and we were talking about evaporation and such. I love a visual so we did a little science. First we put water into clear cups. This was our puddle. As the puddle evaporated it formed a cloud. Made out of shaving cream.


Blue food coloring was added to the shaving cream to represent the water that had evaporated into the cloud.


Then the cloud burst and down came the rain!



Simple, fun and educational! When Conner's mom came he was excited to show her what we had done. I loved listening to him explain it to her! Makes all the effort worth it. Megan is already asking what experiment we are doing tomorrow. Looks like will need to plan these more often.

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We have been busy little bees doing some Valentine things. The class valentines were completed over the weekend.

I found them here. They were fairly easy and I think they turned out cute.

I spent the evening making cookies for Megan's class and for Chuck to take into work.


While making cookies for the school bake sale last week Chuck suggested that I put flour into a shaker for the counter.


Pure genius!

I am off to do a little housework before heading to Megan's classroom. Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

A Little Organizing

"If you look at your entire house as one unit of junk,
you'll never do anything because the job is too overwhelming.
Take it one drawer at a time." Janet Luhrs

That my friends is the state I find myself in often, overwhelmed. One of my goals for the year is to go through every nook and granny. This weekend I started with one shelf in the pantry.


Not horrible, but not pretty either. There were things that were annoying. Like thinking I had a whole box of elbow macaroni and then finding out there wasn't enough to finish dinner. My solution was to purchase glass jars.


I think it looks pretty and there are even empty jars in the back. The solution if I needed cooking directions was to print them off and then cut it fit the lid of jar.


Since the storage solution for toys in the living room is working so well two units were purchased for Megan's room.


Much, much better. Megan did a great job purging. We ended up with two trash bags of items to give away. I was able to move the craft items out of the closet. They drove me crazy in there because the doors were always open.

I am making labels so we know were everything goes. I am hopeful that this will take care of some of the issues we were having with a messy room.

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

When the Sun is Shining...

and the birds are singing it is hard not to have a smile on your face and joy in your heart!

The sunshine has passed and the winter gray has returned, but oh how it lifted my spirits the day of its visit. This week has flown by! I am happy, happy, happy that it is almost Friday. Did I mention that I was happy?!:)

I spent a good portion of an afternoon making cookies for a school bake sale.

Chuck took a vacation day to take advantage of the sunshine.


He was given a some steel junk and old gutters. He is getting it all together to take to steel recycle. We are excited to have a little more to add to our fence fund!


Megan doing some school work.

I finally made a successful homemade biscuit!


Not exactly the taste I am looking for but I am encouraged since it was edible.


Super Megan came for a visit.

Old crayons peeled and waiting to be sorted and melted.



It has been a full week and I am looking forward to some calm and quiet this weekend. I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

Making Butter

In the afternoon we have been reading a chapter aloud from Little House in the Big Woods.


When we read the part when Ma list her weekly chore of "Churn on Thursday" Megan asked what that was. We talked about it and I knew that we needed to try making butter.

Pouring a cup of heavy whipping cream into a jar.


Then it was time to shake,


shake,


and shake some more.


Finally butter!


The buttermilk and butter were separated.


One happy girl with her jar of butter.


It is currently chilling in the refrigerator. Waiting for the homemade buttermilk biscuits that will be served with tonight's dinner.

Chuck joked and said that now we won't have to buy butter. I don't know about that. I would need to do a cost and time analysis to consider that. Seriously, it you haven't tried making butter you should at least do it once.

I am trying a new recipe for biscuits and will let you know it I finally master them. :)

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

A Little Love

I saw this sign and knew I wanted to make it.


I wanted this project to be as frugal as possible. Instead of a canvas I had Chuck cut a scrap piece of wood to my desired size. All of the paint was from a previous project. I looked at three craft stores and could only find small rosettes and they were not economical. I opted to use buttons. I used scrapbook stickers for the lettering instead of rub on letters and the ribbon was found in the bargain bin.

I struggle with what to put on the front door between Christmas and spring. I am pleased with how this turned out.

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!