Spaghetti Supper

Today we had a cold front come through - what a refreshing treat! I decided to take advantage of it and do a little cooking & baking. First I took the fresh tomatoes I picked last night, blanched them, peeled them & made spaghetti sauce. I even used fresh oregano and basil from our garden! What a difference it made! After that was done I made a big blueberry coffe cake using blueberries we picked. I had a very happy & full family tonight!

Here are some pics from our supper tonight. As you can see we had a lot of fun!

Baby Birdie Bugs ~ Cheep! Cheep!

Member of the 'Clean Plate Club'

Delicious!

Joining in the Fun

Mor-ah, Please!

Mama Mia this pasta is good!

Helping Clean Up ~ My Big Boy!

Decisions, Decisions

As some of you know we have been trying to come up with a name for our homeschool. Our state does not require this it is personal wish of ours. Since we have been homeschooling for 6 years and are about to embark on our 7th year we felt it would be nice to have an 'official' name. I think it will be fun to have an answer when people ask our children, "What school do you attend?" Instead of our usual answer, "We homeschool" we will be able to give a specific name. I don't think it's a bad thing to answer simply "we homeschool", (we've been doing it for the past 6 years, after all), I simply love the idea of a name. Okay, I'm sure you get the point. Lol.

For those of you who know me well it's no surprise that I want to select a meaningful name. Each one of our children have been named very carefully - both first & middle name. Even our email addresses have special meaning to them! Lol! Yep, that's my handiwork! *wink*

Earlier this week I asked some close friends their opinions on some names I came up with. I'd like to hear your opinions if you are so inclined. Please either email me privately, (family & friends - my email address is not public, please keep it private, thanks) or leave a comment here as to your favorites. I have trimmed the original list down to the most liked thus far. This is including the votes of our family.

(All these will be followed by 'Christian Academy' or 'Academy')

Joyful Learning

Guarded Hearts

Hidden Treasures

Heart of the Father

Hearts & Hands

*Lighthouse ~ love it & won votes but it is very popular in the school & homeschool world so am torn (I like to be as original as possible *grin*)

His Crowns

A Sure Foundation

Light of the World

On Eagle's Wings

Greater Learning

New Creation

Integrity of HeartHouse of Learning

The winner will be announced no later than Sunday, August 12th! Check back to see if your favorite won!

My Favorite Color is Now RED

I made a trip out to the garden & picked a large bucket full of tomatoes! Yippee! I might make spag. sauce tomorrow if it isn't too, too hot in the kitchen. I love reaping the rewards of all our hard work. Thank you, God for blessing our garden!


This is what we picked when we came home from PA. We had a few more tomatoes come after that. My Mom was amazed that we were already getting tomatoes at the end of July.

This is what we have now! PTL! The bucket on the right is FULL of tomatoes with a few green beans on top. They are coming like crazy now!

Plugging Away

I'm still working on our vacation photos from the end of last month. I took 200+ of them and am going through them, choosing which ones to share and then putting them in a blog post. I hope to share them soon!

Under the Sea

We started our Ocean Unit today. FINALLY! I have had this planned for at least a month but haven't had time to start it. Life keeps getting in the way, know what I mean? E-boy is super excited to learn about the animals of the ocean. He was full of questions & facts as we read our library books today. It is neat to see how he soaks up the learning. Even Bugs sat with us for the first 2 books & participated in coloring. E-boy is already asking when we can do more of our unit!

(Boo is at Grannie's so she isn't in this set of pics. )

After reading our books together E-boy works on a page from Learning Page.

Proudly Displaying His Work

Sweet Pea working on a page about oceans.

Bugs was excited b/c this time he was actually encouraged to take the crayons!

Bugs coloring his fish.




These are the library books we read today.

We are looking forward to Day 2!

Ahhh......Memories

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. Can you believe it's been 13 years? Time truly does fly by.

~ ~

In the last 13 years we have moved 8 times, owned 2 houses (for a few weeks owned both at the same time!), had 21 jobs between us, owned 8 vehicles, lived in 6 different towns in 2 states, traveled to 11 states (most many times) & Canada, have 3 cats & 4 fish, have had 2 hermit crabs, 1 frog & 12 fish; bought only 7 brand new pieces of real furniture, have seen the price of gas go from $0.89/gallon to $3.05/gallon, had many adventures, and best of all have 5 beautiful children.

~ ~

I have been looking back at our wedding pictures and re-living that day. Thought I'd share a few of them with you. Some of you can re-live that glorious day with us while others can see it for the first time. Here they are!

P.S. Our scanner is on strike so I took pics of my pics. They aren't the same quality but still fun to look at.

Wedding Rehearsal

Originally I had planned to dress up for this. The decorating took much longer than I had thought and I ended up coming in my grubbies. Does anyone see a pattern here? Lol.

The Big Day

My bridesmaid, Elaine helps me get dressed.

Our Wedding Party

Left to Right

Laura (my cousin), Elaine (BF since high school), Mindi (college roommate), Holly (Maid of Honor & BF since high school), ME (Bride), DAVE (Groom), Brian (Dave's brother & Best Man),

Matt (college friend), Michael (college friend), Matt (Dave's brother), Darin (my brother)

Too Funny

I don't remember what was going on but I'm sure it was Nana & my Mom fussing about something & I was just wanting to take the picture. Lol! My aunt or uncle snapped this funny shot.

Don't Be Confused

No, this is not Dave. This is my brother Darin. Love ya, D!

Ring Bearer

Yes, this is Tim. Or as I called him then, Timmy. Can you believe he was once this little? What a cutie pie.

Wedding March

Yes, I did choose to have the traditional wedding march played. I had dreamed of this all my life & am one for tradition. I still remember how exciting that walk down the aisle was.

One of My Favorites
This is one of my favorite pictures. I can't remember exactly what Nana said to Dave but she was giving him a "talking to". You better take care of my granddaughter, Buster!

Passed the Test

Dave said the right words according to the reactions in this photo. Nana & I definitely approved! Lol!

Reception Line ~ My Cousins

On the left is my dear, cousin Kerry & her brother Graham. We all grew up together and have lots of good times in our memory banks. We all miss Kerry deeply.

Grand Announcement

Our grand announcement as we are welcomed to our reception. As we were lining up to enter the reception hall I remember my new BIL Brian turning to me and saying, "Welcome to the family!". That touched my heart.

Our Wedding Cake

Our good friend, Linda made this cake for us. This was her present to us and what a beautiful gift. She also made our flower girl, (her daughter), her dress. Our friend Deb made my veil and our unity candle & my Aunt Sharon & Uncle Bryce took all our wedding photos. My girls made all their own dresses too. I just love that we had a "homemade" wedding. It made it extra special & an expression of us and those that we love.

Cutting the Cake


Goofball
Dave cracked everyone up as he opened wide for his taste of the cake.



The Bride's Turn

I am not one that wanted cake smeared all over my face. Nana was very relieved at this as she thinks that is plain wrong. *grin*

The Kiss
This is one of my favorite photographs.



Kicking Up Their Heels
Our wedding party having some fun.



Sneaky

While we were socializing at our reception our wedding party & some friends slipped outside to decorate our car. Deb even had a string of tin cans on the back of the car. So neat!

Our Chariot Awaits

Dave's brother Brian took us for a spin around town. It was such fun! We sat in the back and he played the chauffeur. He honked as we drove slowly through town and people waved and yelled good wishes to us. I had never heard of doing this before but Brian had done it before, at his brother's wedding, I think. It was a blast.

What a wonderful day!

A VERY SPECIAL DAY!

Today is our wedding anniversary!

I Love Naps

I am so tired. Since Dave went to pick up S.P. and E.B. went with him I had Bugs & Boo here with me. They wanted to sleep in my bed with me so we all snuggled together. It took until 9:30 or 10 before they were both asleep. Even though we now have a king sized bed I only had a sliver of it to call my own last night. Bugs is a "heat seeker" and had to be either right up next to me or partially on me all night. I kept waking up. I woke up at 3a.m. for who knows what reason and then Bugs woke us for the day at 5:30a.m. Plus he was soaking wet.

I've been trying to keep busy this morning but can hardly wait until nap time. Boy, the day is long when you start it at 5:30a.m. Remind me not to do that again, okay? *wink*

Blueberries

Last Sunday we went blueberry picking. Boo & I set out in the van as Sweet Pea was away at Nana's and the boys were with Daddy. We ended up having to turn around and go back home b/c Mommy forgot her bucket. Whoops. We were surprised that Daddy & the boys weren't home yet but grabbed the bucket and headed out again. When we arrived at the Blueberry farm we got out of the van to see Daddy pulling up right behind us! Yay! We all got to pick blueberries together and have some family time too.

The bushes were LOADED with huge berries. As the sign said, it was "Good Pick'in".

Bugs snacked on some berries & played with his bucket.

E-boy did the low branches. Saved Mommy & Daddy's backs!

Studying a berry


Oh So Good!
He ate WAY more than he picked. LOL!

The Crew

They all did a fantastic job. Especially the big kid.

Is That What I Think It Is?

As we were finishing up a lady screamed and came running over to tell us there was a snake in the blueberry bush. He was sitting up high but minding his own business. She wanted some of the men there to kill it but no one wanted to hurt it. He wasn't hurting anyone and seemed quite content to calmly & quietly 'hang out' while chaos went on around him. Lol!

Weighing & Adding

And the grand total is..............

28 pounds!!!!!!!

The owner said we set a record!

Fruit of Our Labor

Here is all that we picked. Well, what we picked & didn't eat. *grin*

Look At Those!

The berries were BIG! Here is a picture to show you some of them.

Comparison

This pic really shows how big they are. Almost as big as the quarter!

Ready To Go

These berries are ready for the freezer. I picked through & washed them and then bagged them up. Most of the bags I used were little sandwich freezer bags that I then put in a larger freezer bag for extra protection. I like freezing them in smaller sizes as it is much easier to retrieve them for baking this way. I found one sandwich bag held a little over 3 cups.

We had a great time and we're thrilled with all the blueberries we now have for the winter!