December 4 & 5

Bah-humbug! 

That sums up how I’m feeling right now.  Between my being sick and the kids taking turns being sick and the warm weather, I’m not feeling the whole Christmas spirit thingy right now.  I know, I know…this is all a bit of downer right now.  Sorry. 

So what’s a sick mom to do on December days when she’s sick and not feeling the Christmas spirit?

December 4

 

maybe a little knitting and watching a little Downton Abbey…

December 5

and chilling with my sweet baby girl who is also sick…and reading lots of books and knitting for when the sitting still gets a bit old.

Hopefully tomorrow will look a little different even though I am enjoying getting some rest and all of the snuggles.  {smile}

Linking to:

December 1 - 3

Oops!  I’m a tad late but joining up anyway! 

The December Photo Project is a challenge to take a picture everyday in the month of December. 

I’ve always loved to look at the DPP photos on blogs that I read and thought that I’d join up this year.  You can join up too by visiting this link. 

December 1

 

The lighting of the candles around the advent wreath begins.  Every evening as we gather to eat, we talk about the Light of the world.

December 2

 

The children’s choirs perform.  I don’t know if there are many things sweeter to my ears than the sweet voices of children singing such sweet songs!  {I wish I could show all of their sweet faces  (and the picture also wouldn’t be so badly distorted either) but they aren’t all my kiddos and I don’t want to post without permission.  But trust me, they have some sweet, sweet faces!}

Did I overuse the word sweet or what? {smile}

December 3

 When Momma is sick and school is cut short for the day, the crafting begins!

 

 

Linking to:

Friday favorites {cold weather edition}

This little space in our bedroom is my “office”.  I sit here to write and plan.  I watch kids out the window as they play.  Sometimes I watch the butterflies & hummingbirds as they zip around the garden flowers.  I love the way the sun comes through the windows in this room.  I just adore this little space in our room! 

As I was standing here, I realized that this little space held some of my favorite cold weather things.  (Under the desk, you may see a box of stuff.  That is actually a box of homeschool books that my friend gave to me.  They are in this spot so I will remember to sort through them and find a spot on the shelves.)

Some of my favorite cold weather things are:

• cozy sweaters

I love a cozy sweater!  We live in an older home and it can be a little drafty.  A cozy sweater is a must!

• knitting work in progress (The Weekend Scarf found on Ravelry)

Knitting is my new hobby.  I am loving it!

• Starbucks Caramel coffee (with half & half and sugar)
• things to read 

Books on the Kindle, real turn-the-page books, or blogs on the computer…I love to read!

• fleece

I love fleece and all of its coziness.  The big piece of green fleece is put on our windows at night because the neighbor’s light keeps me awake without it.  (Making some light blocking curtains is on my to do list…one day!)  My kiddos love to snuggle to sleep under fleece and have asked me to make blankets for Christmas presents.  {smile} 

What are some of your favorite cold weather things?

Spring is springing in the deep south

It’s February 23rd, right?  As in the season of winter?  Did someone forget to tell the deep south that winter comes between fall and spring because I don’t know that we’ve seen winter yet around here.

Today we are experiencing a high temperature of 84 degrees!

I mentioned earlier that it is winter, right?  Crazy, I tell ya!

And I just can not stay inside.  The beautiful sunshine, the blowing breeze, the green popping up everywhere, and the warm temps call me outside often.

And if I’m outside soaking in, I have to get my hands into the dirt.  The dirt makes me happy.  Well, maybe not the dirt.  I don’t care for it so much when it is inside my house.  But the working in the dirt and growing veggies, fruits, and flowers – that makes me happy.

The weather has been so nice that I couldn’t  say no to a request from the kids for a picnic lunch outside.

I mean, who doesn’t like a lunch outside with a sweet, dirt-smudged face Sunshine Girl chattering away?  How could I say no to that?

While eating my lunch and chatting with Sunshine Girl, I watched my family enjoy the spring-like weather.

I laughed as my husband tried to start the weed-eater in his white shirt and tie (work dress code).  This still cracks me up every time I see it!

And I watched my kids working hard to haul the mushroom compost from the truck to the growing pile in the garden.

We’ve been working hard and enjoying this beautiful weather because we know that winter in the deep south is a mix of warm days and cold cool days.

  

So when we see spring in the middle of winter, we enjoy the blessing of sunshine and the beauty of spring springing.

How’s the weather where you live?  Anyone else experiencing a very warm winter?

 

 

 

February garden update ~

 

The weather has been absolutely beautiful here in the deep south.  I simply can not resist the pull of the outdoors this time of the year!  Of course, the warm weather makes me eager to work in the garden.  Here’s what we’ve been up to in the little white house garden~

David built two more 4 foot X 8 foot boxes for a total of four boxes across the northern end of the garden.  He also built another 4 foot X 4 foot box on the southern end for a total of three boxes.  I’m still contemplating adding a few more long, skinny boxes to fill with berries. 

One of the larger boxes in front is what I call my “salad garden”.  It is planted with english peas, lettuce, spinach, carrots, and radishes.  A smaller box in the back is planted with snow peas.  The peas are starting to break through the ground.  Those first glimpses of green are so incredibly exciting! 

 

Last year’s cucumber trellis is now the berry garden trellis.  I plan to keep small flowers in the front of this little area and let the berries trellis up around them.  We are planning to add a few more berries here too.

One entire 4 foot x 4 foot square is planted with onions and shallots.  About one third of the square was planted to be used as green onion and the rest as bulb onions.  There’s a whole lot of onions there!  Hopefully, I’ll have better luck than I did last year with my onions. 

We used all of our cooked compost for two of the longer beds so we added a new composter.  Here in the city, we need the compost to be contained so we don’t have pest problems.  We were able to get our new composter at Sam’s for a very good price.  I’d like to buy another one so that we have lots of beautiful compost.  My older boys want to buy one to use as a trap!  Boys and their traps, I tell ya!  I also have big plans for that drab looking area behind the composter.  I’m thinking butterfly bush and hydrangea to brighten up the area!

Let me tell you about my newest gardening tool:

My rubber boots! 

I have been wanting some rubber boots for the longest time.  I really wanted polka-dots but ended up with some flowered ones.  I LOVE them!  We all ended up getting some new “puddle jumping boots”. 

This time of the year is so exciting as we keep seeing little bursts of color amongst the drab of winter.  Today I noticed this on my golden rain tree.

And soon there will be color in the flower garden too.  Look what’s popping up there:

 

~ Tulips ~

All of the little bits of green and color sure do my heart good! 

 

How is your garden growing right now?

The snow day that didn’t happen and organizing a home ~

Our area was supposed to be hit with snow, ice, and rain today but it didn’t happen. Well, the rain happened but nothing of the frozen kind.  I can’t say that I’m really all that disappointed.  I’m really ready for spring.  My kids are too.  They had all ready said that they didn’t want it to snow today.

The area schools even canceled school last night in an effort to avoid any accidents today.  Since we are homeschoolers, we carried on.  I’d rather get our 180 days in now so we can be outside when the weather gets nicer.

While Flower Girl was reading her book to us, the little ones and I painted with red, white, and glitter. (The silver is actually glitter paint to add to colors.)   Flower Girl joined us in painting as soon as she finished up her chapter.

We painted many red and pink hearts.  The girls have plans to give them away to friends.  I painted this one while planning a little at home date night for my love and me on Valentine’s Day. 

On nice weather days, we usually go outside after lunch and come in for some quiet time of history read alouds while trying to get Baby Boy to sleep for his nap.  Because of today’s rain, we couldn’t go outside so I thought the kids would have fun learning how to crochet.  It is one way to keep hands busy while sitting. 

Everyone tried their hands at learning to crochet.  Baby Boy got so into his crocheting that I had to cut it off of his arm.  {smile}

So we missed out on the snow today but we had a fun non-existent snow day anyway!

 

Now on to organizing a house…

We are really not that big of a family but it seems that since we have added the fifth child that there is a need for improved organization around here.  The need is even more apparent now that I’ve become involved in the music ministry again.  I prayed long and hard about becoming involved in these ministries again.  My family is still my first ministry and I plan to keep it that way.  However, I did and still do feel God leading me to use my talents in these settings.  That’s a whole other post that probably won’t get posted.  {smile}

Now back to organization…

Our family needs improved organization.  I need this home to run on an “auto-pilot” of sorts.  It is exhausting always having to remind this child of this and that child of that.  We need it all written out in a way that everyone contributes to the running of the home and no one has to guess what needs to be done.  I’ve been talking with David about this and am planning to work on it bit by bit, piece by piece until things fall into place a little better.  I think that we will all enjoy a home that runs smoothly and has less stressed parents.

Then, today I stumbled across the blog, Large Families on Purpose.  I truly don’t think that I stumbled upon it.  I believe that God led me there.  She is sharing her organization and it is exactly what I needed to read!  When I shared it with David, I could hear excitement and relief in his voice.  See, we really need some organization around here! 

We are about to enter a HUGE organization over haul at our home and I hope to share it with you!  Look for bits and pieces of it soon.  ~

Snow day pictures ~

We awoke to another snow day today.  I know a snow day is no big deal to many but to us here in the deep south, it’s a real big deal.  This is our second actual you-can-play-in-it snow day this year and we had one last year.  I have not seen that ever in all of my 30ish years of living here. 

The kids wanted to go out as soon as possible but I intended to eat a little breakfast first.  However, it is a bit hard to eat with 10 little eyes staring at you in anticipation of going to play in the snow.  So I just grabbed a cup of coffee and headed out the door.  Breakfast can wait…this is a snow day!

Of course, I had to get everyone to let me take a snow day portrait.

The snow sure does make a good portrait taking backdrop!

I know that I’m biased but I think those are some good-looking kids!

Whenever I got too cold, I had to run in for some more coffee.  That warmed me right up!

Bryce and I worked on a snowman.  I do believe that I may be getting a little too old to make snowmen anymore.  I am so tired and sore tonight.  But I keep reminding myself that I probably burned off some calories today!

 

By the time we finally got to the mouth and eyes, we were too cold and tired to add more buttons.  We decided that three was a good number for cold hands.

I  had to take some snow shots too.  It may be another 5 or so years before we see snow again.  We need some proof that it does snow in the deep south!

And just in case any one ever doubts that it does actually snow here, we kept a bottle of snow for our freezer.  Everyone does that, right!?  {wink}

Our family enjoyed our snow day very much.  Well, everyone but Max.  He wasn’t too happy with us today!  He sat under the truck out of the snow until someone opened the door so he could run back into the house.  Silly cat!

 

I hope you have a blessed weekend!