Summer Vacation

With it being summer I haven't been writing quite as much. We have been busy having fun ! Last week we traveled the very long hour it takes us to go to our family condo at the beach ;) By family I mean my parents ...lol. Chad was able to get in a week of forensic science camp were he learned all kinds of neat things.  He went for a good part of the day each day. We also got in some swimming, a Lego exhibit , a movie , some shopping and more . I had invited a friend to go along with us for the week. She has two boys around my sons age. Shortly before our planned trip my van broke down and I am so thankful for my friend who joyfully did all the running for the week. Our husbands had to work so it was just us mommas with our boys. Some good memories. This week I am going to concentrate on all the work around the house that I have been procrastinating on. I also need to go through our homeschooling stuff and get organized for the new school year. I have a lot to do !  What are you up to this summer ? Until next time .... take care !

Memorial Day Fun !

My hubby working hard

fence

Front driveway with new fence panels

What is it going to be ?

Working on the Tepee

Can't wait till the beans grow in !

Knocking plaster off the bricks

Working

Chad did a great job helping

I love the fire pit :)

Mulch

Mulch

Time to start the family pinic in the back yard !

Making hotdogs

Chillin

The face says it all !

Hot Chocolate ~ Yum !

My boys watching the stars

We had a really nice memorial day weekend. Chad got in a sleepover with a friend. We all were also able to hang out with friends, have a church picnic, help hand out free hot dogs and water with some friends from the church, get in some baseball, hang up a few fence panels, mulch the flower beds, make a fire pit, go to a pool b-day party, plant a bean tepee, do some baking, make home made macaroni salad along with avocado dip and have our own family picnic in the back yard. I wanted to also make some more strawberry jelly but I didn't have enough time.  Over all our weekend was a great way to start off "summer vacation" !

Our Outside Forest

 Hit that nail !

The box is built

daddy and Chad working on the river

we still need to cover the dirt with moss for our "grass"

river

playing

I have recently become somewhat addicted to pinterest. I just love this site ! It is helping me be so "creative", lol ~ Thanks to pinterest, we now have so many things to try on our "to do list". Here is one of the fun ideas I found and we have started implementing. I am really excited about this one ! In the original idea we found they did it in a big flower pot. We were going to do that but then decided why not have Chad and dad build a box ~ and it brought another learning element to the project then too ! We are not done yet but Chad couldn't resist. He had to get in some play time. In the next couple weeks we are still planning on adding moss for "grass" along with some more rocks. Who knows what else we might add ! We are going to use this to play out our own battle re-enactments this year. I'm sure we will find some more things to play in it also !

Prayer Flower Pot

In the last month or so I have come across a million great ideas on pinterest. Today we decided we were going to put one of them into action. A prayer pot. In the original idea I found they just wrote their prayer request on the Popsicle sticks and put them in a pot. I decided to take it one step further. We took a flower pot and made flowers. On each flower we then put a friends or family members name. Over the course of the next month or so we will be adding more flowers/prayer request to our pot. *** BTW, As I write this my hubby is helping Chad with another school project we have started today. I am really excited about this one as well. I will post a "hint" picture soon !

Summer and Water Park Here We Come !

Our fourth grade home school year  is rapidly coming to an end. I have to admit I am ready for it to be over. I know we are all welcoming some summer time around here. Trips to the state park to explore all day,  water park or the beach. Days full of nothing ........ lol, well not really but one can dream , right ? Actually we will be starting the 5th grade in June. I have decided that this year instead of taking the whole summer off we will incorporate a few (1-3) school days into every week this summer. What a great season for some fun learning. Between science camps, and educational day trips we will also go explore and do a lot of hands on learning. So, I thought why not break out the new books and throw some of that in also ? That way by time the official  traditional school year starts we will have already had a head start on our year ! We are trying some new curriculum this year. Much of it will be on the computer. Chad loves to be on the computer. I am hoping with the newness of it all and being "computer time " that Chad will not mind the summer work. Even 1 or 2 days a week will add up by the end of the summer. I am also stocking up on learning cd's and dvd's for the hr car ride to the beach and water park. I plan on driving there about 2 to 3 times a week. Hubby decided to buy us season passes to the water park and we are gonna use them..... a lot ! Another idea I plan on implementing is folder lessons. I am going to make up lessons and have them on hand for our car trips to the beach. I figure we mind as well take advantage of the hour ( one way ) trip there and get in some learning. ( On the way back I know he will be to tired to get in any learning so won't I expect that. ) I am thinking we can get up extra, early on a water park day and get in a few lessons on the computer, maybe a table lesson  along with Bible and some quiet reading. Once we are on the road we can then also get in some learning and let's not forget swimming once we are at the park. That is gym class ! If I do school days on water park days the afternoon at the water park will be like a reward for doing school work in the morning. The park is open late so I am not worried about only getting there in the afternoon. Last time we had season passes we quickly realized it is too much to try and go from opening to closing time. So an afternoon is a perfect time to go. Tomorrow is Friday and then next week is officially the last week of 4th grade. Yay !

Early Crop

some of our early crop

onions

green beans

Chad helping cut off the ends

Ready to be put in pot

boiling

blanching

I love this time of year when we get to put up stuff from the garden. We already have collards and some beans put up. I am excited to keep adding to our stash ! We just finished eating the last of our collards from last years crop about 3 weeks ago so I am happy we now have more to put back in . I had Chad help put up some green beans. I am happy knowing that some day he will know how to do these things and be able to help his wife :)

FUNtastic Friday ~ Jelly Making

Strawberries

cut and ready for crushing

1st batch Berries all crushed

Crushing Strawberries for 2nd batch

Ingredients  



Ingredients together



Mixing

Ready for jars

Ladeling into jars

Finished

Yum !

Today was what we call A FUNtastic Friday in our home school life. I have decided that if possible I want our Fridays to be a little different with some EXTRA fun in our day :) Really the day had it's bumps ( I am gonna fess up and be honest ) BUT it ended with a smile and good note. Chad's baseball game was intense. We ended up in overtime. I was so proud of Chad as we got 3 runs in our inning of overtime. One of them was his hit /run :) I was so excited for him ! Our game started at 5:30 and didn't end until about 8:30. We had to then get some supper in our bellies ! But OK,enough baseball talk I am gonna post pics of our strawberry jelly. We made the freezer kind. It requires 4 cups crushed strawberries, a envelope of pectin and cup and a half of sugar. Super easy !