week 30 in pictures

sunday: our neighbors, who live on the lake, invited us for dinner. we had a lovely salmon dinner on the deck on a lovely summer evening. the kids enjoyed their hot tub, we had an amazing fly-by by two hot air balloons, and then we took a little paddle on the lake in one of their canoes. it was a very fun evening. we are blessed with a lot really wonderful neighbors.

monday: looked out the front window in the morning to see this pair feasting on my neighbor’s huckleberry bushes. we watched quietly and took pictures until they made their way across the street and toward my garden… then there was much shouting, window banging, and shane chasing them out of the yard!

tuesday: well, not really. this was actually sunday, but I don’t have a picture for tuesday, but had 2 from sunday. the weather was FINALLY nice enough for shane (and micah and layla) to try out the slip & slide he got for his birthday. it was VERY entertaining to watch. shane was probably a little too big for it, given that he slid off the end every time. micah was probably a little to small and couldn’t figure out how to dive onto his belly. he kept doing these knee land/belly splats which were hilarious. layla decided she was feeling well enough to try it out a few times too.

wednesday: I was making a blenderful of smoothies in the morning, when I heard a ‘rattling’ sound. then the contents of the blender stopped mixing. I lifted up the pitcher and saw this! crazy!

thursday: I decided to try my hand at making some beef jerky. used angie’s recipe and a roast I had in the freezer and put it in my dehydrator. turned out pretty good!

friday: I posted this before. the kids playing restaurant after team-cleaning the table and stools.

saturday: after several days of rain and cold weather, it finally got warm enough to swim again. layla, in her stack of tubes.

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first day of school

so, we started school today. this is a big deal because it is OUR first day of official homeschooling. you know, here. at home. most everyone reading this is already aware of the fact that shane has been homeschooled since first grade, but that he has spent the majority of that ‘school’ time, with my mother as his ‘teacher’. this was a fine arrangement, she was willing and more than qualified, and he was learning. but for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being my mother’s current cancer issues, it had become clear that it was time for me to take over. AND,with layla being 4 now, i really wanted to do a little bit more preschool stuff with her. being a little bit of a chicken flake, i (with much urging from my loving husband) decided the best route to go would be with a packaged curriculum. i figured it would be the most time-effective way to cover what we needed to cover, and be somewhat dummy-proof, but at the same time, having the option to supplement with as much

does home ec even exist anymore?

my last post got me thinking about how i somehow missed 'learning' all of those things which are essential in running a successful home. i'm wondering who dropped the ball on this (because, i can't possibly take responsibility for my own shortcomings here). i guess traditionally, one learns these things from their parents. i suppose i did learn a lot of my domestic skills at home. for example, the husband is supposed to eat the leftovers in the fridge. when making a bed, the 'top' of the top sheet goes down so that when you fold the edge over the blanket, the 'top' side is then up. why this matters when you are just going to cover the whole thing with a pillow and comforter is totally beyond me. but that's how you do it. so yes, my mother taught me how to iron, do laundry, clean a toilet, etc. my dad taught me how to plant a garden, mow a lawn, appreciate baseball, etc. and then there's home ec. do people still take home ec? i took it

for my not-so-american friends

i didn't have an actual roll w/ the green plaid on it, but i found a refill and an empty roll in my junk drawer (yeah, i know, that should tell me something). but even the empty one says 'scotch' on it. there you go! SCOTCH TAPE!

project life 2014 week 3

monday: every time I get out of the shower, this cat is waiting for me, so he can get in and lick up the water off the floor of the shower. it’s his favorite way to get a drink. cats are weird. tuesday: this cracked me up. had micah at the grocery store with me and he spots the produce scale. so of course, he wanted to weigh something. he went for his little donkey kong lego toy that he had with him. tuesday: this is my parents’ cat, beatrice. she is small and feisty, and has the prettiest eyes ever. she’s not so fond of it when I come over to make up beds, and usually finds herself made into one because she refuses to move. wednesday: layla has been very interested in all things domestic lately, and really wants to learn how to cook. so I told her she could start helping me make dinner. this night, it was homemade, cheesy mac & cheese with ham and peas & carrots. she did almost all of it herself. from boiling the noodles, to cutting the cheese (yes, I did just say that), mi

i have "done something"

about shane's room. if you notice over there on my BIG FAT TO DO LIST, for ages now, i've had "do something about shane's room" on the list. and it has sat there on the list, doing nothing. well yesterday, we "did something". i couldn't put "clean shane's room". that wouldn't really cover it. i wasn't sure exactly how to phrase what is was that needed to be done in there, mainly because i don't really know the proper grammatical term for "set off 4 sticks of dynamite followed by much jackhammering and industrial vacuuming". needless to say, it was a pit! every saturday, one of his chores is to clean his room. but at this point, that was just putting clothes in the basket, books on the shelf, toys in bins, etc. anything else was WAY too big of an undertaking for a 9 year old boy on his way out the door. sadly, i didn't think to take a 'before' picture, so i didn't bother with an '

rachel's continued ramblings

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