Monday Meaderings

Thought I would do a catch up post. Still been too busy to blog much. Josiah took this pic of my twin sis, Stacie and I, when she was up for a visit last week. She came up all by herself to relax. Her husband was gracious enough to take all 6 of her children to the beach so that she could have a time of rest. We had so much fun. I was able to take her to a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting as well as the women's weekly bible study I'm a part of. It was so fun to be able to show her off and for her to meet my friends. I was sad for her to leave though. I miss her so much, but I'm thankful we are able to call each other often.

It has been a fabulous year for tomatoes around here. My 20 tomato plants (think I'll scale back a little next year) produced more than we could handle. My freezer is full of diced tomatoes, frozen salsa and tomato sauce. 

My mom came over and helped me make freezer salsa for the first time. It was so nice having her help and being able to visit, too.

I quickly learned that tomato sauce isn't worth the effort in my opinion. 5 gallons of tomatoes ended up equaling about 1 gallon of tomato sauce. 

We pulled out our entire garden this weekend and saved a bunch of seed. Here are some seeds that are drying. After they are completely dried, I put them in labeled paper sacks and staple the tops down. Easy peasy! I'm hoping to save myself a bunch of money next year when I plant. The beauty of heirloom gardening! 

We were listening to bagpipe music the other day and Josiah grabs the paper, staples, tape and yard. He quickly whips up a paper bagpipe and comes out in his kilt and hat to play. Just cracked me up!

Front view of my piper.

Michael tried teaching Hailey how to braid. He tied three strands of yard to her toe. She pretty much just twisted it, but she had a great time doing it and it kept her occupied for quite awhile.

Hailey and Josiah are just like me. They love puzzles. The hardest part is getting them to work together to complete a puzzle - not against each other. I don't know if it is the red hair or what, but they are both so competitive. I was thrilled when I saw them complete this whole puzzle without getting on each other's nerves. 

Yay, teamwork! It's a good thing ;o)

We started the homeschool "show and tell" time at the library again. We had two or three times the amount of families we did last year. It is exciting to see the homeschool community growing by such leaps and bounds. Our children's librarian even got a grant for buy specifically homeschool materials and we now have our own section. How cool is that?

Our family joined the Celtic Society of Eastern Oregon and Michael was voted in the Sergeant of Arms for that group. 

We have also started seriously looking into Civil War reenacting. Unfortunately, it is pretty expensive. Hoping to start buying one item a month for Michael's uniform. We found a Cavalry unit out of Eastern Oregon and can join up as dismounted Cavalry as soon as we can get Michael's uniform together. Buying the proper gun is the real expense. Everything else can come later. We would probably only get to go to one or two events per year, so it isn't much of a time commitment. 

Homeschooling is going really well. Still working on attitudes (including mine), but it is much better than last year at this time. It is exciting to see their progress. My biggest challenge is to keep from getting too busy! I'm sure you can all relate :o) Sometimes we have to say no, even to good things.

God Bless,

Jackie