Easy Entertainment

It sure doesn't take much to entertain three little boys.  A & E slept on an air mattress the other night.  The next day they stuffed in the hallway and had a blast with it.  I was fortunate to catch some cuteness in action!  I love these guys!

Tomatoes

I wish I could say these are from our garden.  We picked them from a neighbor's.   It was pretty sweet watching my little Ethan and Samuel working hard.  Their Gator worked really well!  We picked a ton and shared them all because I am tired of making salsa and sauce already!





Our garden is doing well.  We have had a ton of cucumbers.  We eat those every night for dinner.  The boys still love them, so that's good!  Our zucchini has done real well, too.  I made some zucchini brownies.  See my recipe blog for the recipe.  They were super yummy.  You wouldn't have know they had zucchini in them at all!!

Peppers, onions, watermelon and pumpkins are thriving.  I think we will plant some fall veggies real soon!

Birthday Candles

My little sneaky and gifted husband made these for my birthday.  He left them, along with a sweet card, waiting for me when I woke up this morning.





The boys told me there was one for each of them because there are three different sizes.  They've sang to me several times and we have blown out many candles already.  I feel so loved and so blessed with such wonderful guys in my life.

Meet Oliver

Meet our newest little friend, Oliver.  He showed up yesterday.  We've been smitten ever sense.


Andrew loves sitting with him.  I think Oliver loves it, too.



It is relaxing to sit and pet a cat.  I haven't done a whole lot today because every time I go out I am overtaken by his sweetness.  I really like cats.  I just don't want one in the house again.  So we really hope he sticks around.  The milk and cat treats are probably helping.

So we are taking this time to learn about cats.  After all, it has been beautiful weather and we are doing a lot of sitting on the front porch with Oliver!  I got out this sweet little book to read:

Enjoying Our Week

My nieces Rachel and Abbie have been with us this week.  It has been such a fun time.  We took this picture last night.  I looked at it and thought to myself, "Man, I wanna keep these girls forever."  I just love them so much.  Our week is coming to an end quickly, though.  They will go back home on Saturday and we will hate to see them go.



But right now I'm glad to still have them so they can help with our big co-op picnic here this evening!

A Stash of Salsa

It all starts with a packet of this...



Blanch and peel some fresh tomatoes.  I love doing this part.  Chad says it's because I'm a scab picker.

Chop those beauties with this super easy chopper I got from Melanie.  It's my best friend, after her of course.  I got one for my sister and she also has a new best friend.

Cook 'em up with your mix, some vinegar and some extra yummies like fresh onions and jalepenos.   End up with a freezer full of salsa to last you all winter!

Our New Headboard

Have I told you that I have a very gifted husband that has amazing woodworking skills?  Well, if I haven't I'm here to tell you...He's THE MAN.  I love this talent God has given him.  I really love it.  And I love him.  Thanks, Baby!  Our new headboard is beautiful!

Our Very Own Garden Salad

Zucchini

We picked the first zucchini from our garden!  We've harvested five of these beauties just this week...

So no doubt I will be looking for lots of zucchini recipes!  We love it fried, on the grill tossed with other veggies, and of course zucchini bread.

Our Week with Matt and Bekah

We had a great week with my niece and nephew.  Lots of fun and lots of pictures!

Monday we went to Chad's dad's house to swim and hang out there.  Bekah loved their dog, and she loved her!  We had a fun day there.



Tuesday we went to a local park for their Lunch Bunch program.  They received a great lunch, and I didn't have to worry about feeding them!  Then they played at the park around the creek.  They had a blast.  After that we went to Sonic for some cold slushies.



Wednesday we had to hang around here most of the day because we were getting new gutters.  After dinner that evening, we went to the RC flying field and to Wiggles for a fun treat.



Thursday we got up and pretty much went straight for the pool.  Our dear friends at church have opened their pool to us again this summer.  We are so blessed.  It is just so beautiful there!



Friday we went to ChickFilA for their Cow Appreciation Day.  We all ate for free!  It was pretty funny with all of us in our cow masks.  Matt was thoroughly embarrassed.  But I think maybe he thought it was worth it in the end.  Maybe not.  Heehee.  We had fun and made a memory!  After lunch we went to another park to play.  We also walked some trails.  After getting nice and hot from that, the kids decided they wanted to go swimming again.  So over to the pool we headed!  The family that lives there was going to be out of town all weekend, so we had Chad meet us there after work.  We ordered pizza and hung out until dark!





We played lots of board games, Wii games and watched some fun movies together.  They were Lego and Playmobil maniacs.

I made a photo book for them to take home.  I teared up putting the pictures together.  This was a special week that was about to end.

Saturday we ran around town and did some shopping.  My sister and brother-n-law came later that evening.  We had dinner together.  The kids begged to go swimming again.  This time it was dark, so we had all the lights on in the pool.  It was a fun and relaxing time.  I enjoyed chatting with my sister so much.  We got home late, went to bed late, and got up early for church.  Bekah played the offertory music.  She did such a beautiful job.  After church we all went to lunch.  We all piled in a circular booth at a local pizza parlor.  It was crazy, but a time I'll never forget!  We went back home and saw them off.

They had become a part of our family.  Andrew told me Sunday night, "When someone comes and stays like that I just feel like they just need to go ahead and stay and live with us."  I had to agree with him.  But I know my sister and her hubby were happy to have them back home.

Thanks, guys, for letting us have your babies for a week!  We enjoyed every minute of it.

Bar Project

I found this bar at a garage sale for $10.  I was in the mood to make something, so I redid it!  I took out the crossbar because I don't serve wine!  Actually, a shelf is much better use of that space.  I couldn't remove the wine glass hanger, though.  I painted it with some outdoor paint I already had in the garage.  Now I have a great little bar to serve drinks, etc on outside on the back porch!

A daddy and his boys

Most men will proclaim each his own goodness,
But who can find a faithful man?

Proverbs 20:6

Our Week

We had a really relaxing week.  Not a whole lot planned, which was nice.  We just enjoyed being around the house, mostly.

They enjoyed some window writing with window crayons.



Ethan and Samuel flew kites.  Well, they ran as fast as they could to get their inflated kites to float behind them.  Too cute.  I could watch that all day.

We enjoyed watching many different birds out our front window.

They played "camping" when I had the couch moved around to hang pictures.





Andrew had a blast creating with his Glow in the dark Fun Fusion kit.  He did that all day one day!



Andrew had a 4H meeting one morning, so I took Ethan and Samuel to the park to play.

We went swimming at Papaw and Nana's.  We had a blast, but I didn't take my camera!

We had a picnic out in the yard.  I was amazed at all the food they ate.  I might have to get a job.

We went to Half Price Books and cashed in our summer reading gift cards.  We got six books and three book lights for $1.03!  We picked up slushies at Sonic and went into Chad's work for a visit.

So it was a good week!  We did some learning about fireflies and will post more about that later.

Have a great weekend!

Inspirational Flowers

Our Weekend

We had a good weekend around here!

Friday evening we had our usual pizza.  I didn't make it as planned.  I was just too tired for it!  We had a couple of our neighbor friends over for a throw together firefly party, a great idea I read about in Family Fun magazine!  It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was a good kick-off for our firefly studies!  I will post more about it in my "Firefly Unit Study" post.  Anyway, during that visit with our neighbors, a storm blew in and our electric went out!  So it ended up to be quite an eventful evening!  We finished our visit by candlelight!

Saturday morning I got up and went to some garage sales.  I so love shopping that way!  The cheapest thing I bought cost me 5 cents.  It was this brand new Usborne art book!!

We did some work around the house.  That afternoon Chad went to get a load of mulch.  We finally did it now that it is the middle of June!  But it looks so much better.  This just about completed my pond area.  I still have to get one more stepping stone!





We did make a cute stepping stone with the boys this weekend from a kit a friend gave to us.  It's so precious!



The rest of Saturday was spent at home.  Loved it.

Sunday we celebrated Father's day.  We have been blessed 3 terrific Dads.  And my boys have one fine dad, too!  They were so excited for the day to finally arrive.  We bought Chad a plastic tote thing to hold his Firefly airplane goods when he takes it places.  We filled it with all of Chad's favorite treats.  He loved it all.  I am so very thankful to have him as Daddy of my boys.
Sunday was an exciting day for our church, too!  Our new pastor and his family are here!  We had a welcome breakfast during the Sunday school hour.  They are excited to be here and we are all ready to move forward!

Sunday evening we had some friends from church over for a Father's Day dinner...steak, mashed potatoes, corn, cole slaw, fruit, rolls and two desserts!  I think they liked it just a tad. :)

I didn't get any pictures yesterday.  So I am determined to get a good one this week of Chad and his boys.

Fresh Lettuce

We are enjoying some beautiful lettuce from our garden this week!

Please pray for our garden.  All the rain we had last week has really been hard on our tomatoes and peppers.  I am praying they revive from being so soaked!

Inspirational flowers from my garden

Our Garden

This  is only our 2nd year for having a garden.  We didn't get a whole lot out of last year's.  It's been a fun learning experience for us all! The boys really get into it!

What we have in there:

Strawberries, Watermelon, Lettuce, Green Onion, Red Onion, Tomatoes, Green and Red Peppers, Spinach,Cucumbers,Green Beans, Zucchini, and Radishes.  We also have a blackberry bush and will have pumpkins later.

Everything is growing really well, including the weeds.  Arrrgg.  So we spend quite a bit of time around the garden.  But it's enjoyable. I really wish I would have watched my dad growing up.  He's an excellent gardener, and always seem to enjoy it.

All the plants were started from seed,except the tomatoes, onions and the peppers. The weather has been good, and Indiana soil is always good for growing!  We are really hoping it turns out well, and that we are able to share lots of good crops!

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  John 15:5

What You Might Find…

...in the sink in the house of a little boy.



Dirty shoes, 2 sticks, a hammer and a screwdriver.  Looks frightening, eh?

Flowers

Anyone that knows me knows that I love flowers.  These are the ones in bloom around my yard right now.

My prayer is that anyone that knows me also knows that I love  and serve My Savior, Jesus Christ.

Have a blessed Lord's day today!