Been a long time

It has been a long time since I've been here. What prompted me was my garden. Our computer crashed and I remembered I had a few pictures here of last years garden. I have been busy. My cousin graduated May 16Th. We had our first home school graduate this year. She got accepted into John Brown University. So, not to bad...

This year we decided we didn't like the strict schedule of Tapestry of Grace and will return to studying the Bible with Robin Sampson's Adam to the Messiah. The kids begged me to return to it. When your kids beg to learn...you do it. I have much to plan this summer if we are going to do this next year.

Which brings another subject...we need to be less busy next year. I am not sure how we will do it...it seems we have nothing to eliminate that doesn't 'seem' important. How does one family get so busy? And once there how do you reverse that? I am sure the kids will not like some of the choices Todd and i make. But, we are the parents.

I've come to the conclusion that my kids need to learn to help more. Don't get me wrong they do help quite a bit. But, they've grown and gotten older and it is time to introduce more jobs and living skills to them. How do you do that? Nothing against my mother but she only taught me how to clean. She really didn't cook much. Especially bake. And to add to the complexity of it all Michala and I are Celiacs. Michala also can't do diary. So we can't just go buy mixes or something. So, this summer the girls will learn how to cook a few things and clean a few more. Michala is also learning how to sew. Which has been fun for both of us. She took a class at the home school enrichment day. I learned a few things to. I taught myself to sew the non-traditional way. So, the terminology is all new to me as well as some of the procedures. I did much of it the hard way. No wonder I have little time to do it.

If anyone is still listening out there. Let me know. How busy should we be. How many days/nights a week should we be busy? How many Bible studies do you do? (we have a family one and I have one for myself) How do you stay not so busy? What chores do you expect out of your 9 and 11.5 year olds? any help would be great. It would be nice to see how other moms do this.

Also, how do you get them to do it? do you pay an allowance? do you give lists? Do you have a chore board in the hallway? How do you encourage them to do it? What if they don't? And the real question is do any of you have children that just get up and do their stuff without you asking? If so, I really want to hear from you!

M's photos

The girls both love to take pictures here is a few of M's. One is off our back deck at sunset and then a light house light in Glen Arbor. I guess I didn't download C's picts. Anyhow, I think M does a good job.

4th of July

Over the weekend we went to Empire and Glen Arbor areas. We had a great time just relaxing and drawing on the beach. Here is some photos of the girls. They weere soaking up the sunshine. It was very nice, not to hot not to cold.

redesigning

We had a bunch of old T-shirts to get rid of and I found a book that uses old T-shirts and turns them into new clothes here is our first attempt.

I like all of them. The butterfly one is very cute I wish we could have coverd up more of the logo on the edge. C wanted "God's Team" to show. With M's it is very cute with pockets on the sides. I think this turned out best. The black is hard to see. It will be mine. I like it however I am doubting my first thoughts that it would be slimming?! Just another warm summer day in Northern Michigan.

Square Foot Garden

Okay, I set off on an adventure this year. I decided to try this Square Foot Garden Book. Since our soil is sandy, being here on the water and very acidic, with all the oak trees. I started to look at container gardening and stumbled on the Square Foot Garden approach in the gardening section of the Library. We didn't follow it exactly but very closely. We used some friends cow manure, some compost, wood ashes, some perlite, some peet moss, and some black top soil. We did this all unscientifically just threw it in said "that looks good" and mixed it up. Fairly complex, huh? Well, the ph measured perfect 6.5-7. So, that is good. And here is some of the results. Our plans are to mulch the leaf pile and put it over the ground between the boxes.

The tomatoes are supposed to climb these fancy cages Todd MDH made out of conduit and tomato fence I ordered on-line. Did you know tomatoes climbed? I didn't. Anyway, you can plant them a lot closer if you have it set up like this. Usually they need 4 ft around them this way you plant one per sq ft. I planted 28 tomato plants, 16 Roma's for canning, 4 cheery for popping in your mouth, and 4beef steak for hamburgers or bean burgers in my case. I have so much planted that I am wondering what I got myself into for canning. Especially after I just stood in the kitchen for 2 days making bread and strawberry jam.

Harvesting

Here is M picking and eating strawberries. The kids were busy playing and eating. In fact I never go one photo of C. She was to busy with friends. I made bunches of jam and need to get up and make more tomorrow.


I made freezer jam. The one without pectin is very sugary and runny. ( I was trying to be thrifty). The next batch was with pectin. I am trying some sugar free stuff tomorrow. It uses natual apple juice for sweetener. I really hope this turns out since the girls music teacher and grandparents are diabetic. I also would like it for us if the taste is good:). I will keep you posted.

Family String Band

If you didn't know my girls play in a band called THE FAMILY STRING BAND. Both girls play instruments. M has played violin for 5.5 years and C has played cello for 1.5years. M loves her fiddle or violin (depends what she is playing) so much some days she plays it over an hour and a half. And for those of you who think she is such a serious musician there are days I still have to make her practice. C on the other hand enjoys it but not to the extent M does. But, M has some years of experiance on her.

Where is this leading to... well M lead a performance at The Spirit of the Woods Festival and here are some photos of it. I wish I had video of her playing. She is really good (of course mommy is talking here) I will have to get some video on and let you guys judge for yourselves.

M is the little one in the front and C is off to the side playing the cello. C is a natural metronome she keeps beat really well. She did so well for being the youngest performer at the festival at the ripe old age of 8.

They play with the Family String Band Studio, Jam before the Bayside Travelers Contra Dances, and also play with the Prelude Chamber String Orchestra. God has blessed them with amazing teachers and a desire to have fun while playing together. I am so pround of them!

My hope and prayer is that God will use their talent and ability to draw others to Jesus and that God will be glorified through their music and love for it. After all he created it!