Enjoying Summer!

Enjoying some free ice cream at our county's "Breakfast on the Farm"

Wow, when I said I thought things would slow down a bit on the blog this summer, I had no idea they would slow down this much!! Here I am again and in 2 days it's one month since my last post.

It's time for a photo montage!! That will be my project this week (hopefully).

Our first time participating in a CSA at Tipi Produce

I hope you all are enjoying your summer. Ours is going very nicely, but Southern Wisconsin is experiencing a severe drought! We are also having one of the hottest summers on record with several days strung together reaching over 100. Now that is HOT. I was thankful our pastor asked our congregation to join him in praying for the local farmers who are being hit extremely hard. I pray for them every time I drive by the drying corn and soybean fields. Surprisingly, my garden is still doing well since I've maintained a fairly decent watering schedule. We are looking forward to some garden-fresh, juicy tomatoes! This is also our first year joining a CSA (community supported agriculture). We get a box of fresh vegetables every other week and I've been cooking with lots of fun things like bok coy, kohlrabi, beets and turnips. Things I've never made before. Our insurance provider reimburses us $200 so it is very affordable. We will probably do this every year now.

Our 20-gallon bucket "tank" with our 5 new tadpoles 

(you can just barely see two of them swimming at opposite sides here)

We also have a fun project - we're keeping TADPOLES! Ever since we watched a caterpillar transform into a butterfly, I've been wanting to find tadpoles for my science-loving son to see transform into frogs (in this case toads). He gets a big kick out of saying "metamorphosis". My sister had some toads lay hundreds of eggs in their backyard pond so we brought home five of the tadpoles. We're keeping them in a 20 gallon square bucket and we had one of them just develop legs.

What are some of the fun things you've been enjoying this summer?


Thanks for visiting!!

To My Dad on Father's Day

Picture Credit: 123Greetings.com

Happy Father's Day

Wishing a Happy Father's Day to a wonderful husband and great Dad. 

Thank you for the hours you spend with your son playing ball, wrestling, reading picture books, doing potty care, teasing, tickling, dressing and undressing, kissing goodnight, disciplining and guiding him in prayer. 

Thank you, above all, for pointing your little one to Christ  in the incredible example you are of a husband, an incredibly hard worker, an honest and loyal friend, a confidant, and passionate follower of your Lord and Savior, Jesus. 

We Love You Daddy!!


Hope you all enjoy a wonderful day celebrating Fathers, and our eternal Father in Heaven.

Summer (Blogging) Slow Down

I miss my blog and readers!! Over the past several weeks, we've been getting outside more - doing more activities - and just busier. I picked up some work making meals for a local family, so I'm working about 16 hours a month at HOME. A nice way to bring in a little extra money and help out a lovely family.

I have all kinds of different post ideas spinning around my head, I have yet to set them down on paper. The most appealing to me is to do a post that somehow combines the highlights of the latest happenings and some fun pictures. The pic above is from a fun morning at the 33rd annual "Breakfast on the Farm" which we've attended the past three years ... can't wait to share more!

I hope to get a post up soon. Hope you are enjoying the almost-summer season!!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Photo Credit: Microsoft Clip Art

We're off to the Chicago suburbs to spend time with family for the holiday weekend. We're invited to swim at my sister's house (who is on a trip) which will be a wonderful escape from the predicted 95+ degree heat on Sunday. Things have been quite busy here, but I hope to be back to posting in the coming week.

In the meantime....

May all your weekend plans be filled with warmth, laughter and the love of family and friends. 

Thanks for visiting!

Catching Up After Last Week (post-funeral)

We had a nice week together as a family, recovering after the loss of my husband's father. He received 5 days of paid funeral leave, so it was a blessing to have that time together. We attended the funeral on Monday and spent some time with L's sister and nephews whom we don't get to see too often. I was so impressed with how well-behaved J was at the service, other than a few silent protests of "is it done yet" and "I'm hungry Mommy!!"

On Tuesday, L got to join J and I at his sport's class at the YMCA. It's called "Intro to Sports" and they're introducing everything from basketball, football, soccer to floor hockey to give the kids a flavor of the various sports. I love what he's learning about moving his body, being part of a team (they put on little colored jerseys as part of the class) and following instructions. He is doing great and a blessing is that the coach told us how impressed he is with J's confidence and enthusiasm which he said stands out for an almost 4-yr-old.

On Thursday, we had a beautiful day and L had the idea for us to spend the afternoon at the zoo. We are so fortunate to have a zoo that is free and we just love it. L has a great time putting his face in all the cut-outs like the ones daddy and I are in below ... and the polar bear. He got to take a train ride and play at the Zoo Park too. By far, though, his favorite place in the zoo is the Discovery Center and Herpetarium. He loves going to all the different learning stations and looking at things under the giant magnifying glasses like animal skulls, fur and feathers. All that action left him pretty tuckered out at the end of the day, and he fell right asleep on the car ride home.

 

Thanks for visiting!

Menu Plan Monday - 5/14/12

Here's what's cooking at our home this week:

Monday 

Beef and Bean Burritos from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

I am "reading" a couple of her cookbooks right now and really enjoy them. She adds in a lot of background info about her family, her ranch and her cowboy husband. They've been fun to read. I now use "El Pato sauce" for all things Mexican instead of the taco seasoning packets with all those not-so-good preservatives.

Tuesday

Hoppin John

We have a friend from down South who is a wonderful cook. We loved this meal she made for us a few years back, which is a favorite Southern recipe. It's the only recipe I have for black eyed peas, and they're so good. **You may notice this has been on my menu the last three times. Well, I experimented with dried beans/peas and kept forgetting about the amount of prep time I need for that. I'm not so sure that will be a "shortcut" I'll keep - the dried beans thing.

Wednesday

Indian Chicken over Basmati with Pea Pods and Green Beans

We seem to have a lot of ground beef and tomato sauce meals, so this brings a little variety my husband will enjoy. We love Indian food and this is simple to make.

Thursday

Leftovers 

Friday

Honey BBQ Chicken Pizza

I can't wait to try out this recipe for homemade pizza dough and then make this pizza.

Saturday

Possible Date Night!

Sunday

Always my night off!

Click on the links below to see what others are making this week!

Linking Up To:

On the Menu Monday At Stone Gable

SusieQTpies Scraps of Life

Thanks for visiting!