Summer Vacation 2011

We usually trek up north to Duluth for our family get-away but this time we opted to head south to Wabasha. We spend 3 nights at a little hotel with a pool so one of their main activities (of which we have no photos) is swimming in the pool over, and over, and over again. Please bare with me and the gazillion photos, it was so hard to decide what to post.

Our first full day there we visited Kellog's Lark Toy Store. This place was amazing and oh how I wish it was closer to us. They have an indoor carousel with beautifully carved animals to ride on. There were lots of jitters from Agent E & The General but we coaxed them on for a ride and they were really happy to have done it.



























Lots of hands on toys to be played with.

6 months, 16 days of Pure Lovey

Shortcake's vintage dress dates back to '75 and was previosly worn by yours truely.

Shortcake meets Great Ga

Shortcake and I headed north for her first visit with Great Ga. It was long over due but since we have been without a van we've been mostly homebound. The boys sent their love with a sun catcher. www.grounded-air.net

Agent H . 8 Years

Nerf party! EH's parents hosted the party and pulled out some of their fun camp gear. Add a nice pile of boys and we had FUN!




























CakeBoss' white velvet cake with raspberry filling. Yep, it was VERY good.

























Tearing up the dirt with some Go-carts!























Target practice with paint ball guns.














Agent H's special gift from us this year was this NIV 2:52 Boys Bible. Love, love, love it! More importantly, Agent H loved it.

Shortcake napping

Napping . . . .

Warrior Prayers

"Dear God help me" is probably my most frequently prayed prayer during the day. Sooo when I came across this new book and challenge I signed up. There is something about knowing that many moms are on their knees praying just as you are. The ebook is Warrior Prayers, Praying the Word for Boys in the Areas They Need it Most, by Brooke L. McGlothin.

It's short.

It's conversational.

It's fill in the blank.

So for a period of 21 days, about 60 other ladies and myself have hooked up through Granolamom4God are praying verses over our sons focused on specific areas.

Here are a few of my favs so far:

Obedience: "May Agent H, Agent E, and The General show their love for Christ by obeying His commands" -John 14:15

Agent H's tattoos read "MOM" and "DAD". The picture looks fierce but he was such a softy about his tattoos.

Submission to Authority: "May Agent H, Agent E, and The General agree with God, and be at peace, so good will come to him" -Job 22:21

Integrity: "Like David with Goliath, may Agent H, Agent E, and The General stand up for the living God" -1 Samuel 17

Avoiding Foolishness: "May Agent H, Agent E, and The General have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; for they breed quarrels" -2 Timothy 2:23

I'm more mindful now to stop and pray myself, to recommend they take a moment to talk to Jesus about what they feel, or take them aside so we can pray together about their struggle. It reminds me of this beautiful picture that I found at A Holy Experience. I'd love to nestle a spot like this somewhere in our home.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for hearing the prayers of this momma. I believe you will answer them. Amen

Gift giving crunchy style

Recently a friend gifted me with a stack of reusable cloth gift bags. I must admit that I have already put some to use around the house, and a few will be saved for Shortcake. I just know they will come in handy for carrying little dollies, animal friends, and other girly treasures.

The friend who gifted them to me has moved to New York. . . . New York. So very far away. A dream come true for her and her husband as they live off the land in their early retirement. They are wealthy in their knowledge of all things green and earthy . . . all things wonderfully crunchy. I'm happy for them . . . really. I'm just also sorry to have her so far away.

Roger that

Near the end of this school year Agent H and I studied the Wright Brothers and the science of flight. Coincidentally the Crystal Airport was hosting a homeschoolers airshow. We've been to what feels like a gazillion airshows but when I saw that they were going to give tours of the control tower and were offering a seriously affordable ticket for an actual flight . . . I mentioned it to EH. He was all over the idea. So on a Friday afternoon after homeschool co-op, they headed out for an amazing experience.

This is a picture during flight

Agent H said he was scared at take-off but then he enjoyed it (this was his first flight).

This is one of my favorite pictures of EH. Last summer a friend invited him to go flying.

My happy birthday

I love the gifts EH gave me for my birthday this year. Okay yet again I had them listed on my Kaboodle but I'm tell'n ya' you can't go wrong that way. :)

My apron! I felt a little funny in it at first because I don't think I actually know anyone who wears these anymore. The General brings it to me whenever I'm in the kitchen and that has helped me get used to it (he likes to put things in the pocket and to point to the bow in back). Honestly now I could spend all day in it. I feel so industrious in it. It's well made and I love the fabric. I found it on Etsy at Terrace Hill. (Right so that's not me in the picture just a very cute shop model)

New potholders. Lovely even if they don't actually protect me from the heat of hot pans. I found them on Etsy at Tootsytwo.

And as for my birthday . . . well I'm now officially closer to 40 than 30. Babies must make you feel young because I sure don't feel THAT old.

Summer Sewing Project #1

Another sewing project born out of need. For all those books, toys (and yes the nuk that we haven't kicked yet) that fall between the wall and The General's little toddler bed I've sewn a long, narrow pillow (a bolster?) to stuff in the gap. Now no more digging out from behind the bed. Another bonus that I've found is that it wedges his blankets in tight so he comes uncovered less frequently in the night. If a kid sleeps better at night, momma sleeps better at 

night.

 

P.S. I knew that left over fabric cut off from Agent H's bed spread would come in handy someday. And the stuffing - recycled from old stuffed animals.

ABC Party for Agent E

This school year concluded Agent E's second year of preschool at home. To celebrate we had an ABC party! Here's the story . . .

A buddy, Agent E, and The General trying out their super alpha belts and capes. (A little duct tape and their initials done up on the computer and laminated)

An ABC hunt is in progress. Agent H and I taped alphabet activity cards around the house and the younger boys crossed them off their charts as they found them. Next we collected the activity cards, took turns copying the activity listed on the cards, and finally we sorted them into alphabetical order.

LOVE this homemade pinata! My girlfriend pass along this idea to me just in time. See here for the how to on it. Who knew you could sew crepe paper!?

Time spent in the sprinkler, hot dogs & lemonade in the sun, and some ice cream cones to wrap it all up. Whew!

Our past ABC parties can be found here and here.

French Bread

Some time ago my husband bought me a long loaf pan for making french breads (I want to insert here now much I love Kaboodle - every member of our family has a wish list on there and it has made gift buying so easy!)

So here are the delicious results of my first attempt. I used half freshly ground whole wheat and half store-bought white flour. I doubled the batch so I could freeze some and pull it out throughout the month. Can I say how nice it is to be able to pull out home-baked goods from the freezer to add to meal times? It's been too long since I've felt like I could take on baking our breads again. I'm not saying I'll be doing this every week but it was a nice change from the store-bought variety.

French Bread

1 c plus 2 Tbsp water

2 tsp butter, softened

3 1/4 c flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 pkg yeast (or 2 3/4 tsp)

In your Kitchenaid bowl (I use my Bosch), dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add the butter, sugar and salt and let sit for a few minutes. Add in the flour and mix/knead for about 5 minutes using your dough hook. Cover, and let rise until double. Then I remove the dough from the bowl and place into a greased bread pan or shape into little baguettes. Cover and let rise until double again.

Then bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes.

A visit from some poultry

To my happy fancy . . . these big birds (guinea fowl we're told) ended up spending half a day in our yard. The four of them scratched in our dirt and ate bugs, bug, bugs. I can only hope some of what they were eating were those ants piling up hills all over our yard.

Shortcake @ 4 months

I can't seem to get the words I want to say out tonight. I'm going to blame it on the heat, 102 degrees today is a good enough excuse. So bullet point blogging it is:

Today, Shortcake was laying on her belly and she flipped herself over to her back.

At 4 months she weights 13lb 12 oz.

Still sleeping 11 solid hours at night.

She loves to smile, giggle, and be tickled.

Stealing the show at the boys' AWANA awards ceremony.

Hanging out at my nephew's graduation party.

Being your usual smiley self.