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!

Mail Woes

Hey there! I hope that someone is reading this since I don't write often enough but, if not oh well. I will consider it my online diary.

Okay, if you are a home schooler or a book purchaser you would know that when most of us buy curriculum and books we will ship it via media mail. Which usually works fairly well, it's a little slow, but cheaper to mail items. Well, May 31st I bought my Tapestry of Grace and it still has not arrived;( The worst part is we didn't insure it or track it!! (Note to self, next time insure and track anything that is $225). Anyhow, the poor soul refunded my money even though she has no books or money since the books are MIA somewhere in the vastness of the US Postal Service. What a nice person, but to be honest I just want the mail man to deliver the box. I don't feel like I can order a new one until the 6 weeks is up just to be fair to her. So, believe it or not I have prayed over a box of 3 ring binders daily! But you know God has given us so many seemingly unimportant things and I know he cares about my desires. It is my desire to give this lady her money so she isn't out $225. The worst of it is her husband is active duty military and I feel so guilty taking money from someone who is serving our country. So, pray God will bless Diana and her family finically if the box never is found.