Weekend Chit-Chat

Hello! This week has gone by so quickly and we still have plenty to do for Thanksgiving, next week. A few evenings ago, the girls had a friend over and they surprised me with a homemade spaghetti and meatball dinner.


They even set the table, folded fancy napkins and lit candles. Oh, and loaded the dishwasher! Everyone finished up their schoolwork and are looking forward to a week off.


Progress is being made on the patio. The 3 underground drains are finished and the next step is to fill in the entire area with cement.


I found new fabric for the patio furniture cushions. Now, I just need a sewing machine. Any recommendations for $150.00 or less?

I'd also like to finish up my kitchen deep cleaning and organization. Thank you for stopping by for a visit and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Back Patio - Before and After

d
Hello! I hope your November is going well. We've started a new project at our house. Some of you may recognize this as our back patio, fairy garden and water garden area, except it's not looking as nice as it did 2 years ago.

It all started when we had the rusty and leaking gutters removed and the house painted. We discovered that the wall to the left had so much damage that the ivy and flowers had to be removed and most of the wood replaced. I was about to start over when we found termites and the company recommended that we get rid of the dirt and wood chips up against the house.


This past week we called the company that converted our garage to completely re-do this area. The plan is to do put in a better drainage system (that is what the ditch is for) and stonework from the back door all the way out to the gate. Most of the area in the picture will be a patio table and lots of flower pots.

I'll be sure to share progress pictures once the rain stops. While all this work is going on outside, I'm about to clean and organize the kitchen from top to bottom. Just in time for Thanksgiving!

Until next time...

Autumn Decorations

Happy November! Today, I would like to share my fall decorations, starting with the front porch.


A few of my favorite things: a picture my mom painted, Indian corn, and corn husk dolls.


If you would like the make your own, the instructions are HERE.


Since having the garage converted to the family room, the living room is for relaxing and reading.


My mom sent the white mini pumpkins from Rhode Island.


Thank you for looking at my fall decorations and I hope you have a wonderful week!

~November~
Now the autumn days are gone
Frost is sparkling on the lawn,
Windows winking cheerful lights
Warm the cold November nights.

A Double Rainbow

We've had some much needed rain for the past two days and were especially happy to see a beautiful double rainbow!

I hope all of my US and Canadian friends (especially PEA!) have a wonderful long weekend!

School Room and a New Year

Hello! Today was the first day of school and we have been hard at work for the past few weeks on a school room project. This room has had a few different looks over the years...

August 2007

August 2008


March 2010

We moved the piano into the family room which gave us enough room for this wall unit and desk. All of the new furniture is from IKEA.

Phillip put everything together and the kids and I organized all the old and new books.

For those interested, I will list our curriculum for this coming year. Up until now, we have used Sonlight, but are adding some new things, including outside classes specifically for homeschoolers. We are also meeting with a possible grammar tutor (for the girls) tomorrow evening for some extra help.

Grace (7th grade)

At home:

Math: Math-u-see

Language Arts: Abeka

Typing: Mavis Beacon

Outside classes:

English I (they are reading 4 novels with focus on spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and reading comprehension)

Science: Apologia General Science

American History (includes speech, debate, and plays)

Emily (6th grade)

At home:

Math: Math-u-see

Language Arts: Abeka

Typing: Mavis Beacon

Outside classes:

Science: Apologia human body

American History (includes speech, debate, and plays)

Benjamin (4th grade)

At home:

Math: Math-u-see

Language Arts: Abeka

Science: Bob Jones

History/Geography: Abeka

Typing: Mavis Beacon

Outside classes:

"Friday School" is a fun supplement to regular at homeschool lessons. Includes reading/phonics, science experiments, art, history/geography lessons, math facts, PE, music, drama, foreign language, holiday fun, and Show and Tell.

Thank you for stopping by for a visit and taking a look at our new school room!

Vacation Pictures

Hello! I thought I would share a few of our vacation pictures. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut are such beautiful states. I especially love all of the trees and the lakes.


Lots of swimming at the lake with Grandpa.

I hardly saw the girls and Benjamin the entire time. They were off playing with their cousins!


One of my favorite things we did was visit Plymouth Rock. Since we are learning about American History this coming year the timing was perfect.

The rock was a lot smaller than I expected, but you can read why here.

We also visited the replica of the Mayflower and Plimoth Plantation.

A birthday celebration with a pinata.

We had plenty of time to relax and are already looking forward to visiting again next year. My mom and I also went to quite a few antique stores, so I will share some of my new finds soon.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

We are home from our vacation and had a wonderful time visiting with Grandma and Grandma, my sister and her two boys. The two weeks went by quickly and now we are trying to get back into our routine. I'm almost caught up on laundry and I've been doing a little school planning, too. Everyone starts back on August 23, which is just around the corner.

Btw, Target has sheet sets (includes 4 pillow cases) on sale this week. Any size, 450 thread count, and several colors to choose from for $34.00. I picked up a green set to match my comforter.

I'll be back next week with vacation pictures!

July 12, 2010

Good morning! We've had a fairly cool July thanks to rain almost every day.


My water garden has been very neglected this year. I haven't cleaned it out at all.


It seems to have created the perfect environment for new goldfish babies! There are at least 4 (1 gold and 3 black), but they are very camera shy. The fish in the picture is one of the adults.


I hope your July is going great, as well. The kids are I are about to leave for Rhode Island to visit Grandpa and Grandma. I'll be back to 2 weeks with pictures to share!

Hello!

Happy July and Happy Canada Day to all of my fellow Canadians! It is also my brother's birthday, so it's a good day. I received an email requesting that I share pictures of a flower cake from the May 2000 Victoria magazine, so here they are...

So pretty! I wish I could make roses like that.

As you can probably tell by the lack of posts, I've been struggling a bit with finding the time to blog. My style is to share a lot of pictures and have some sort of theme, but Phillip and Grace have been encouraging me to try shorter, more simple posts. I've spent that past two weeks thinking I couldn't do it, but now I'm going to give it a try! Hopefully, it will work out better and you won't be too bored. :0)

I'll be back soon!

Touches of Yellow

Good morning! I hope your week is going well. It's the last day of public school, so I'm sure our door bell will be ringing non-stop for the next 2 months! We are keeping up with a few subjects (math, grammer, reading) and we also have swim lessons, Boy Scout day camp (the girls can also go, too) and a trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Rhode Island to look forward to.

Today, I'd like to share a few touches of yellow (my favorite color!) in my kitchen/dining room area. Some of you may remember the walls used to be yellow, but I painted them a more neutral color this past fall.


Sunflower tea towels.


We visited my friend Revee and her girls last week and she had these wonderful old fashioned soap bottles in her kitchen. I stopped by Target on the way home and picked up a few for myself.


It doesn't suds up as much as I would like, so I will refill the bottles with a different soap once they are empty.


I also have a bar of Lemon Poppyseed soap on a teacup saucer. Doesn't it look good enough to eat?


And finally, pretty handmade dishcloths, a gift from my mom.

Thank you for stopping by for a visit!