Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Homestead Happenings, Aug 2015

Rina loves to get a ride in the laundry basket when I'm taking the clothes in from the line. Our busy summer continued on into Aug. Hailey, our now middle child, turned 8 years old. Rina is is 3 months old now.

 I had a chance to go yard saling one weekend and I picked up two heart shaped cake pans and made my first two layered cake. I put fresh strawberries and homemade lemon curd for a filling and slathered it with homemade butter cream frosting. Yum!!! While, not entirely healthy, it was fun to do something different.

On our way to Michael's National Guard unit's family picnic, Michael spied this square rigger tied up at the dock in The Dalles along the Columbia River. Turns out it was used in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. We didn't get to go for a tour as they were making repairs on it, but we got to talk with one of the crew members for awhile. Michael LOVES old tall ships.

 Michael's National Guard unit. They all got to dress in their civvies for the picnic.
 Some of the kids got to stand with their dads during the closing ceremonies. Hailey was excited about that!
 I hadn't been to a family picnic in probably 10 years, and we all really enjoyed ourselves.
 We got to reconnect with some of our old friends. It was great fun!
 Michael was even able to take the kids out fishing in kayaks that were provided for free by a local company for the soldiers and their families.
 On our way home, we stopped by the Vista House. It was a wayside stop when the Old Columbia River Hwy was first built a hundred years ago and it is still in use today. Gorgeous place with a lot of history behind it and an outstanding view. We hadn't been up there for years.
 My precious family. Am I blessed or what?
 I was doing laundry one day and Champ kept dropping the ball at the base of Rina's seat. He kept doing it over and over and I realized he wanted her to throw it for him. He finally gave up and just put his head on his ball, laid down and went to sleep. Someday soon, Champ, someday soon...
 This summer has not been without its challenges. We had to put a new/used motor in the Subaru because we broke a timing belt and then two weeks later the head gasket blew on the truck. We were out of town when the Subaru broke down, so we had to have it hauled to the nearest Subaru mechanic and have it repaired to the tune of $3500. Luckily Michael is able to work on the truck himself, which will save us a lot of money. We are thanking God that we were faithful to build our emergency fund up this spring, because boy did we need it this summer. NOT what we wanted to spend it on, but at least we didn't have to go into debt.
August just wouldn't be the same without attending the Eastern Oregon Celtic Festival. We had a great time seeing many of our old friends at the festival in La Grande, OR. Our family has grown by one member since last year and it was fun to get to introduce the "Littlest Lamont" to our Celtic family. (I'm hoping to do a separate post soon about the festival).
Some friends of ours gave Rina her first kilt. She looked so cute in it :) She got spoiled rotten at her first Celtic Festival.
We started homeschooling last week and decided to do another round of the Prairie Primer (curriculum based on the "Little House on the Prairie" books) this year with a couple of friends out of our home. Our first co-op meeting was last Friday and everyone had a great time learning together. I will try to post on these meetings throughout the year to chronicle them for our children. Hailey is now a third grader and Josiah is in sixth grade.

 Michael has begun bow hunting, so it continues to be very busy around here as sometimes we go camping with him. Hoping he gets an elk soon so we can slow down a bit.

Whew, feeling more caught up! As we turn summer's corner and head towards fall, I can't help but be thankful that this hot, dry summer is almost over. We've got plenty of wood cut and stacked for our fireplace and our pantry is getting stocked. Hopefully the freezer will be stocked with good, healthy elk meat soon, too!

Have a wonderful day, my friends.

God Bless,
Jackie


4 comments:

Stacie, A Firefighter's Wife said...

Loved every bit of this. You are so blessed!

magnoliasntea said...

What fun you've been having! Love all the photos of your li'l punkin, especially. I can see personality in her darling smiles, so cute. Love the "old" boat photo, and all the pics of y'all in your Scots' wear. How well we know the aggravation of having to fix or pay to fix our vehicles. We had to have the SUV engine rebuilt last year, and it wasn't cheap, sigh. We didn't use the Prairie Primer when we were homeschooling, but it sounds like loads of fun.
Hope September brings lots of happy days, too. :)

Camille said...

SO much going on in your home and lives!! I agree with Stacie...you are so blessed. :) What a beauty your little miss is!! XOXO

Jill said...

Love these pictures! Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Blessings,
Jill

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