Works for Me Wednesday

A couple of weeks ago when I had to go get Christiana and Josiah supplies for camp I decided to start off at the Dollar Tree. I'm so glad I did. Remember those travel size soaps and toothpastes that use to cost about 50 cents at Walmart? Well, they are no longer 5o cents. You pay about 97 cents for a little tube of toothpaste and a small bar of soap. Well, not for me any longer. I have learned that you can go to the Dollar Tree and buy two full size bars of Irish Spring or Dial or a couple of other brands for only $1. You can get deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrushes and snacks from there and get more than the little sample sizes. So, from now on when going on a trip somewhere we will always go to the Dollar Tree first and get full size items. Works for Me!

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Big Helper

I love that our little guys enjoy helping around the house and what better time to encourage them to help but now when they are so willing to do so. Jonathan felt like such a big guy when his Daddy let him use the weed whacker to trim around the porch. He did a great job and so enjoyed it. So I say, "Why not," with continued practice he'll get better and better before long he'll be able to do it on his on ( in a few years before he does it with no supervision).

I believe we do our children a disservice by not giving them the opportunity to help. We are not taking their childhood away from them when we have them do chores. We are, however, helping them be more responsible and giving them skills they will need as adults. Keeping a home, cooking and cleaning does not just come naturally when they become adults, it's much better that they receive training while in the safe learning environment of home. And it's never too early to start.

Did you have chores as a child and are you grateful, or maybe you didn't and had to learn everything on your own as an adult? How did your experience make a difference in your adulthood?

Pregnancy Update

Thought I would send out an update on my pregnancy for those of you wondering how it's going so far. I am about 11 weeks and doing well. I have a little pooch already and not much nausea anymore. I am still tired a lot. I do have days where I will have lots of energy and I will accomplish things like rearranging and de-cluttering our master bedroom or tackle projects like cleaning the boys room (with the boys, of course). Then I will have days where I don't even feel like I have the energy to crawl out of bed. That's all quite normal for me.

I spoke to a midwife this week and I'm planning another home birth. I love having my babies at home. I've had my last two at home and only wish I had known about birthing at home from the very beginning. I'm looking forward to meeting her and getting to know her.

I will keep you posted as I go. I'm due January 12th for those who don't know, but I normally tend to deliver at 41 weeks instead of 40 weeks so this date is just a ballpark idea for me. The interesting thing about this is that our last baby was born on January 12th and a week after his birthday is Kaitlyn's birthday so we will just have to wait and see what happens. Will someone share their birthday? Who knows :)

They're Coming Home Today!

Christiana and Josiah

Monday, Christiana and Josiah headed out to youth camp with our church youth group for five days. We have missed having them here at home and are so excited that they are coming back home today. This is the first time they have gone to youth camp and the first time they have been away for five days straight. I'm sure there will be lots of stories to hear from them about all their adventures. I'm looking forward to hearing what God has done in them during their time at camp. Can't wait to see them and squeeze them tight.

More Garden Fun

So yesterday we decided to take care of some garden harvesting. Since it's still only the beginning of our harvest we are just starting to get a few things.

Picking green beans with the kiddos

Kaitlyn picking green beans

After we got back in the house we cut and cleaned our green beans added them to what we had gathered the other day and had enough to can 5 quart jars. I was so excited because it was the first time I had ever canned green beans as well as the first time I had gotten to use my new pressure canner. It was very simple and now I can't wait to do more canning.

My canned green beans (don't they look great!)

So for supper that night I decided to use some more garden goodies and we had quiche with zucchini and cheese. I also cooked up a batch of green beans that wouldn't fit into another jar for canning. They turned out great, everyone loved the quiche and asked for seconds.

Zucchini and cheese quiche

Supper plate, quiche with garden fresh green beans. Yum!

Keeping Cool - Wordless Wednesday

Garden Veggies

Zucchini bread

Kaitlyn helping cut green beans

Micah helping cut green beans

Garden fresh green beans

I grew up on a small family farm and one of my favorite times of the year was summer when all our garden veggies were ready to be harvested and prepared for meals. One of the things I loved most was stringing and cutting green beans. Everyone would gather together in my grandma's living room and help string and cut the couple of 5-gallon buckets full of green beans. I loved the smell of the beans and the fellowship of everyone hanging around together and helping.

This week two of my older children got the chance to help me with our first batch of green beans from our garden. I didn't have a 5-gallon bucket full but I did have a large bowl full once we were done. My kids were so excited to help and the smell of the fresh cut green beans took me back to a time when I was young and helping my grandma.

That morning we had fresh zucchini bread for breakfast with the first zucchini from our garden. It was delicious and eaten up rather quickly.

I love gathering and cooking fresh veggies that we planted and I can't wait until my tomatoes are ready, they are my favorite fresh garden veggie (I could live off of tomato sandwiches all summer).

I'll keep you posted as more veggies come in and on my storing plans. I plan to do some canning if I get enough veggies to do so. Our family eats quite a bit as it comes in, so we'll see how that goes. Until then blessings to you and yours.