We Found Spring!

by Steph // Monday, May 23, 2022 // Comments off

This past week has been a lot more like May in Wisconsin with 50 to 60 degree days and cold nights.

The furnace has been back on, and we have had frost which has made us cover our garden.

Even though we have not been able to swim (except for on Monday), it still has been a very good week!

Monday was a beautiful day which meant that our read aloud time was outside on the deck.

I have been reading aloud some very good books to Tate and Eliza!

We do an illustration and narration after read aloud each day, which is an activity that allows so much learning as they retell what I read to them with a drawing and words.

I love their illustrations!!

Lane finished his History course and has a beautiful time line he made to show for it.

We also kept up with piano practice and lessons this past week.

Tate and Eliza are back in the same level again, which means they are sharing that piano bench during lesson time!

On Monday we planted our garden.

It was VERY anticipated by us all and we had a lot of fun!

We planned to plant our plants and our seeds during the day that day, but it was so very windy that the seeds were literally blowing out of our hands!

Once Blake was home and dinner was finished, we realized the wind had died down.

We headed back outside that evening to put the seeds in the ground.

Wednesday was a very cold and cloudy day.

We headed down to the library after lunch and before piano lessons.

We haven’t been visiting our library much these days because there is a huge construction project between here and there.

I cannot complain about road construction!

It puts our meat and potatoes on our table!

We decided yesterday we are going to head the opposite direction for awhile and visit a different library to avoid the long line of waiting in the road construction.

We LOVE books though!

I read a very, very good book last week called Chasing Shadows.

It is about WWII.

It was challenging, inspiring, unimaginable and has left a long lasting impression on me.

The courage and faith of the people who lived through that war is amazing!

Thursday I snuck to church for the afternoon to be with a handful of sweet friends.

There was an instant pot class that was being held!

We learned all kinds of very great ways to use the instant pot, including this little do-it-yourself part that can be placed over the release valve to direct the steam wherever you want it to go.

Thursday, late in the evening, brought a pretty bad storm to our area.

It was FIERCE!

Lots of hail, lightening, thunder and it poured and poured rain.

Yes, our little garden was affected.

We lost some of our little plants, but I hope to replace and replant them today!

Friday was my normal get up and run out the door to do all the errands and grocery.

I have a great team in our trio once I arrive home though!

They are a force to be reckoned with!!

We get all that grocery put away fast.

I leave long before my husband does on Friday mornings.

I came home to find notes from him all over our bathroom.

It made my day!!

I love him so much!!!

These were my Friday afternoon rest buddies, because we were having company Friday night.

I had already put in a nine hour day by 1 p.m., crazy as that sounds!

Of course you know that we ate this week!

I’m sure you know that we had fun in the kitchen too!

Long after I was asleep one evening, Blake got our Kombucha ready for its next brew.

We haven’t had any Kombucha for a long time!

I’m so thankful that he enjoys doing that for us!!

I had some this morning and it is yummy!!

Saturday was big kitchen day, but I’m here to tell you YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW.

These kiddos of ours are efficient, fast, diligent and joyful in this kitchen!!

Thankful for all of the time we have together in our kitchen, for how much they are learning, and also for how much they love to do it all by themselves!

Being part of a team brings confidence to children!!

All that to say, big kitchen day was over at 9:45 a.m. and Tate and Eliza headed out with Blake and Grant to go to Grant’s house to work.

Lane stayed behind to mow our land, and I worked on some odds and ends in a quiet house!

Saturday night was our monthly Hymn Sing and it was FABULOUS!!

We had such a nice time even though pretty much everyone there was exhausted.

Seems this crazy pace of life isn’t just happening to us!

We did have cooler and cloudy days this past week, but our the world is coming alive like it does every spring, and there were some beautiful sunsets too!

It seems this week will be cooler too.

Can you believe it is Memorial Day weekend this weekend??

Me neither!!

I hope you all had a GREAT week!!

And I hope you have a GREAT week ahead!!

Summer Are You Here To Stay?

by Steph // Monday, May 16, 2022 // Comments off

Oh my this last week was GLORIOUS!!!

It was HOT, sunny, blue and WONDERFUL!!

We have waited a long, long time for anything that even resembled spring – but the Lord blessed us with summer instead!

Monday morning was the first day of our “summer schedule.”

Our rhythm for this summer will be school like activities from 9-10:30 on Monday through Wednesday, learning new chores, and keeping up with our piano practice and lessons.

The kiddos started out last Monday with new chores to learn.

I change up the chores every summer to help with motivation and so that they all can learn many things that need done in our home.

The best part about doing this, for me anyway, was watching them teach each other their chores!

It was so sweet to watch them interact that way!

I am choosing all kinds of things for our morning school time on Monday through Wednesday, but I am also leaving enough time to read aloud to Tate and Eliza and to work on their piano practice with them.

Lane has been working on his own – with things that we chose with him for him to do.

It has been fun!

As a matter of fact, Eliza asked me last night before going to bed, “Are we going to do that fun school again this week?”

She is so cute.

Because I have a lot more free time with our summer rhythm as well, I have been enjoying trying new recipes and planning the garden.

We have had fun in the kitchen this week!

We have taken a shift in our food choices – from soup and comfort foods – to smoothies, fresh fruits and veggies, and salads.

My menu planning this week looked like this – my favorite kind of book to read is a cookbook!!

I’m sure you know I have had good helpers in the kitchen again this week too!!

We were blessed to have Chad home most of the day Wednesday!

He brings a lot of fun for his siblings when he is here!

Thursday morning Lane started mowing our land for the first time this year.

He came in SO sweaty and covered in grass!

When he took a break we headed to Deep Rooted, which is my favorite garden greenhouse in our area!

We have a plan for the garden and had ordered all of the seeds we need on line.

Then on Thursday we got all of the plants we need at Deep Rooted.

After we finished up at the green house we went to Kay’s and stole two cute boys!

They had a blast spending the afternoon with us, and they all got in the pool for the first time.

The pool wasn’t all the way clean, the ladder was locked shut and we didn’t remember the code to open it, and there were no floaties blown up yet…but they did not care!

I threw them over the side, literally, and they were in there forever!!

It was SO hot on Thursday – in the 90’s!!

Blake brought home all of the new dirt we needed for the garden on Thursday evening.

He also brought the wood to build a grid on the garden because we are trying a square foot garden this year and are following the directions for it from a book I have!

Chad helped put the grid on the garden bed on Sunday.

The other garden bed is going to be full of cut flowers this year.

I will have to take photos of the finished grid and the garden after it is planted!

Friday mornings I head out around 5:45 a.m. to go to town (which is 45 minutes away) to get grocery and run errands.

It is a great time of day to shop because no one else is in the store!!

This Friday after I returned home I was blessed to have three grand babies in my care for the rest of the day!

Blake and I took a much, much needed pause on Friday night and had a date!

We ran a few errands and then sat at the river watching the sunset so we could talk about many things that needed talked about!

It is harder than ever to connect these days – and that is why date night is a MUST!

I would go anywhere with my guy anyway, but the sunset by the river and then dinner just the two of us once we were home was a pretty great night.

Saturday started early as it was the day to stain and seal all of the hardwood floors at Grant’s new house.

Blake and Grant were going to do the job.

They watched a You Tube video first, and then headed down to get after it.

The floors are AMAZING and these photos just don’t do them justice.

Now we can’t be in his house for seven days, but then it will be time to help Grant paint!

On Saturday everyone else was at work, including Lane who had went to work with Chad.

Tate, Eliza and I got after our work here so we could GET OUTSIDE!!

It was another GORGEOUS day!!

Blake and Grant came and went as they waited in between coats on the floors, so Blake opened the pool for us!

Soon Lane was back and joined us too!

I might have one million photos of the sun and blue sky from this past week!

Saturday the sky was so breathtaking!!!

Can you believe those trees???

Look at this photo from last week, and then the one from this week!

Isn’t that crazy?

It was a wonderful week indeed.

How great it was to have nice weather, finally!!

I could not stop thanking the Lord for allowing it for us!!

He is so gracious and kind!

I hope you all had wonderful weather where you are too – it does so much for our spirit, doesn’t it?

Happy Monday, everyone!!

Have a great week ahead!!

Mother’s Day

by Steph // Wednesday, May 11, 2022 // Comments off

Every year for Mother’s Day (and for my birthday) when the kiddos ask me what I want I say the same thing – “Having everyone together…and cheesecake would be nice!”

That’s exactly what Mother’s Day was all about on Sunday.

Everyone was together, and Addie Mae made our traditional cheesecake!

We have not had a day all together since Easter and I was ready for some serious time with my grand babies!!

And David and Kayla too!

It was the sweetest day.

We grabbed some photos before we headed to church, and then I made sure to get a photo with Kayla later in the day.

Lunch was DELICIOUS!

We had grilled Mahi Mahi, roasted red potatoes, roasted broccoli with bacon and ranch seasoning, and a few different salads.

But then there was dessert!!

Addie made some cupcakes for the kiddos too!

The rest of the day we were just TOGETHER – the BEST way to be!!

It rained off and on all day, but in the evening the sun shone just enough to give us this beautiful rainbow!

My heart was so full after a day with my favorites!!

I received sweet gifts and cards too – most of the cards were homemade, which are the best kind!

Did I ever tell you I was voted “most like Mom” my senior year of high school?

I’m not sure that was a compliment back then, ha, ha, but being a Mom has always been the desire of my heart!!

Blake and I struggled to have children – and there was a lot of loss and infertility that filled the first two thirds of our marriage.

It was on Blake and my second date that we talked about our dreams for family, and we both said we hoped to have seven children.

Isn’t that neat?!!

The Lord answered our prayers and filled our arms with children!!

The Lord has been so gracious!!

We are not worthy of these precious gifts He has given us!!

If you are waiting for your arms to be filled with children, my heart is with you.

I hope that all you mothers out there had a wonderful Mother’s Day!

And I hope that your Mother’s Day had cheesecake in it too!!

A Wonderful Warm Week!

by Steph // Monday, May 9, 2022 // Comments off

I know you won’t believe this, but it is 81 degrees right now!!

Spring has come and gone here, and it lasted approximately two days, ha, ha!

We are so excited about this warmer weather!

The week did not start off warm though – Monday and Tuesday were still very winter like!

Tuesday evening the sun came out and Wednesday was the MOST BEAUTIFUL day we’ve had yet!

I took this photo to remember how we turned off the furnace and turned on the air conditioner at the same time.

Crazy Wisconsin!!

I also took a lot of photos of that sunshine this week!!!

It has been missing for much too long!

Because we got home from Indianapolis late Sunday evening, my trio and I spent Monday morning heading after some grocery.

They are great helpers and we had it done super fast!

While the weather was still so yucky, we made our own sunshine.

In the form of lemon cupcakes with a lemon glaze.

Tate and I had a blast making those cupcakes!

I decided to take a week off of our normal rhythm of life and work on some extras that needed done here at Twin Oaks.

We still kept up with piano practice and lessons, and the kiddos helped me out A LOT.

We scrubbed floors, cleaned the storage room, set up our new TV cabinet, cleaned the deck, cleaned up branches on our land, and got out our patio furniture and picnic tables among a million other things!

Blake also had his work cut out for him this week as our dryer is still causing problems and our pool needs opened up for the season!

The pool was very yucky looking, but is getting bluer by the day.

I knew it was spring when I swept the floors and found lots of shedded dog hair!

The kiddos (and dogs!) LOVED the weather as much as I did and we have been outside a lot!!

There were lots of bellies to fill, as always.

I had some great helpers in the kitchen this week, especially over the weekend as we got ready for our Mother’s Day celebration!

I had some special deliveries this week!

The start of our garden plants came home with Addie Mae one evening and Blake brought me home flowers and chocolate on an evening when I had had a rough health day.

I love special deliveries!!

Friday night was DATE NIGHT!!

And we had only a few errands to run!!

Blake picked up a treat at the grocery store and we went and watched the sunset.

That gave me a great opportunity to tell Blake the billions of things I needed to tell him, ha, ha!

The sunset was beautiful!

I have some photos from this past week of things I just never want to forget.

The normal things of daily life are some of my favorite memories!!

How our pups are always by my side, and how Tate always finds a way, and how cooking and working on Bible memory go together here, and especially how Tate and Eliza are always together.

They are so much better together and I hope and pray they will always be best of friends!!