April in a Nutshell - Thifty Finds, Sandbox, Decks

Here is a quick post with what has been happening around here the last few weeks.

Larry bought a grain truck at an auction and we drove out to get it. I was SO happy because I have been dying to go on a road trip and it was a bit of a journey to get there and back.

Larry and the boys were able to build a sandbox. When we bought this house, piles of sand and gravel were left on here, so they were able to use the sand. 

Jacob got his permanent cast on. It was so easy and fast. He also was able to pick which colour he wanted it to be.  Just 2 more weeks and hopefully it can come off.

The weather got a lot warmer and the snow melted in just a couple of days. It's always like someone just flicks a switch around here in between seasons.  Then I noticed that the 3 rhubarb plants I transplanted from our old place were sprouting! Yeah!

It also finally got nice enough out to start drying our clothes outside. I am very happy about this because our electric bill is a lot more for this house and we need to start cutting our use down.

This is the time of year to deworm your animals too. So, Rebekah dewormed the donkeys yesterday.

Larry also decided to add on to our little deck. He wanted it big enough for us all to sit out there. Our plan is to make it way bigger and build it out to the kitchen, then add a patio door in the kitchen out onto the deck. I can't wait! But this is nice for now.

He just put down OSB for now until we can afford decking wood. He is also putting a railing around it.

Here is a picture of the spools Larry is hauling right now. He says these ones are small compared to others he hauls and they are usually spooled with metal pipe.

Strawberries were on sale last week, so Rebekah and I made jam. 4 batches in total. That should be enough to last a year. We made sure to put the best jars aside to enter in our county fair in August. We have to start thinking now about all that we would like to enter. Rebekah is busy working on a cross stitch picture as well right now.

Here are a few of my favorite thrifty finds last week.  I love the vintage metal "Soup of the Day" sign. You can insert the name of a soup in it.  I also love the little duck covered dish I got form the thrift store for $1.

I use it to hold my homemade butter.  It holds the perfect amount so that I can leave it in the cupboard and we can use it all before it goes bad. That way it's always soft. So cute hey?

I was going to have pictures of the boys playing soccer because it was supposed to start yesterday, but the weather has taken a turn for the worse. It was so windy and snowing yesterday and today is so cold and windy.  So they will start tomorrow and we will be in town 4 nights each week until the end of June for soccer. But it's good for the boys to get extra exercise.

Anyway, that is what has been happening around here lately.
God bless.

No More Foil!

I came up with this idea out of sheer need. I had no aluminum foil and I knew it wasn't on sale anywhere. Needing some to cover a lasagna I was making, I used what I had on hand. Which was a metal cookie sheet. I just put it on top of the baking dish and it worked great!
Now, whenever something needs to be covered, I just use my cookie sheet.  This is now one less thing I have to buy from the store.  Yay!

 

This post is linke up to Thrifty Thursday

Homeschool Conference 2013 With Voddie Baucham

Larry and I finally attended our local Homeschool Conference this past weekend. We have missed the last 5 years and missed some really great speakers. such as Ken Ham a couple years ago.

When I found out Voddie Baucham was going to be the key note speaker, I jumped at the chance to go.

 Larry and I learned SO MUCH from this man.  His lessons were;

Don't Let Home Education Destroy Your Marriage!
Teaching Your Children with Your Grandchildren in Mind
Biblical Manhood in the Home
Bible Study Basics: How to Study and Teach the Bible at Home
Biblical Womanhood in the Home
Culture Wars

We learned the most from the session on Bible Study Basics. It was really eye opening. Of course I learned a lot from Biblical Womanhood in the Home. These were all truths that we Christian woman already know, but it is so good to hear them again.

You can search YouTube for audio and video segments of his preaching.  Also, you can check out Grace Family Baptist Church where he is the Pastor of Preaching to hear some of his sermons or check out his books, DVDs and Cd's for sale. You can also purchase Voddie's merchandise from Vision Forum.

I am now looking forward to our next year's conference where Doug Phillips from Vision Forum will be the key note speaker.

A Trip To The ER

Our poor little Jacob broke his arm today.  He was "playing" (or maybe fighting) with Ben and somehow slipped on our laminate floor. He landed face down on top of his arm and it just broke.

He has a temporary binding on until Monday to let the swelling come down. Then he will need a cast for 4 weeks.

Here is Jacob at the hospital waiting. They had to cut off his shirt. Isn't it funny what a mom can find in her purse? Like a mechanical Yahtzee game and a balloon!

 

 

 

He started playing right when we got home from the hospital, so I'm sure he will get through this fine.  But what made my heart melt was when he said to Ben, "Ben, I'm sorry for being so angry with you." I love this little guy!

A Quick Fun Lunch

My kids and I always enjoy Chicken Quesadillas for lunch, but to switch things up, I tried, PIZZAdillas the other day. We tried them once before, years ago. Rebekah and I loved them, but Ben and Jacob didn't so much. This time Ben even really enjoyed them and Jacob ate half of his. Maybe next time, everyone will be excited.

The ingredients are things we usually have on hand.

Tortillas
Mozzarella cheese
Pizza sauce (or I just use pasta sauce if that's what I have)
and your favorite pizza toppings

Heat a pan over low - med heat and place a tortilla on it. Spread some sauce, cheese and add your toppings.

Add the top tortilla and cook until the cheese just starts to melt. Keep checking the bottom to make sure it's not getting too brown. Flip, and cook until the cheese is totally melted.

Cut into wedges and serve.

I think these would would great cold for a picnic or car trip too. Easy and healthy!


This post is linked up to; Hope in Every Season, Growing Home, Raising Homemakers,

A Teenager, Really?

2 weeks ago, (ya, I know I'm a little behind) my oldest turned 13. Wow! It's a little strange being the mom of a teenager, it kind of makes me feel.... middle aged!

Oh well. It's all apart of life and I feel SO incredibly blessed to be the mom of this amazing girl.  I love to see how God is working in her life and molding her into a beautiful woman of God.

So, she had a party. We were expecting her pen pal that lives just over an hour away to come. So I thought of some "Minute to Win It" games to break the ice. BUT, thanks to a 100 car pile up on the highway the day before and not nice driving conditions, she couldn't make it. The girls did humour me though and played the games.  Because we were having an Asian based supper, I decided to play games that involved chop sticks, which the girls were able to take home as part of their party favors.

The first game was, "Chap Stick Stack" or something like that. They had to use only chop sticks to stack 3 chap sticks on top of each other end to end and stay stacked for 30 seconds.

The second game was, "Pop Can Pyramid". The girls had to stack 6 pop cans in a pyramid shape using a chop stick in their mouth.

For prizes for these games, I bought really pretty wooden fans.

For supper I served "Rice Bowls".

 

Rebekah loves rice and I wanted something interactive for supper. So I made a huge pot of rice served with a lot of toppings. These are the toppings I made;

 

Teriaki chicken

Julienned, cooked carrots

Steamed broccoli

Steamed bean sprouts

Green onions

Toasted sesame seeds

Soy sauce

Extra teriaki sauce

 

We served this with Asian Noodle Cole Slaw and Spring Rolls. The girls said they absolutely loved it all. I was really happy.

 

After supper they had visiting time and then cake. Then it was movie time! Rebekah picked "Summer Magic". A Disney movie from 1963. It was really cute. I served popcorn, sour gummy worms, gummy bears and pop with the movie.

 

There was lots of fun that night and I was happy to see everyone enjoy themselves.

What a Glorious Easter

Hello everyone. We have just had the most beautiful Easter weekend. I believe the reason why, is because we really tried to stay focused on what Jesus did on the cross for us.

This is the first year we didn't give the kids Easter baskets. I gave them some chocolate on Saturday for a treat, but I didn't stay up late Saturday night so that I could sneak into their rooms and put baskets FILLED with all sorts of treats that "supposedly" came from some mystical bunny.  They never even mentioned anything about it.

We started out our weekend with a Good Friday joint service, which our new associate pastor spoke at. He spoke about 2 Corinthians 5:21;

^" For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

.... the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God in Him! Jesus, who never sinned, took ALL of my sin,as He died on the cross, so that I could be covered by His righteousness before God. I understand that more and more as I understand how much GRACE God has to pour out on me everyday. As I get older, I guess I can see myself more and more honestly and I realize I'm not as perfect as I once thought I was years ago! In fact, I can see in light of scripture, how completely inadequate or sinful I really am, BUT Jesus took ALL of it so that I stand in righteousness. Praise the Lord!

Saturday we were invited to some friends that we haven't visited with in a long time and it was really nice.

Sunday morning we were up bright and early to get to our sunrise service. Then our church had breakfast, then we had morning service.

I made a turkey for an early supper. I had time to boil up the carcass right away, so we can enjoy turkey noodle soup on one of the cold days coming this week.

God bless.