In our lives these weeks…
Busy, busy. That describes the last two weeks. Miss 16 came home from her math conference where she had a wonderful time. My husband attended his last conference of the spring. We ended the school year, finished planting the garden, and struggled with colds that came from distant conference places and spread like wildfire.
But these weeks were also fun. We had friends over several times, chatting and laughing over meals and walks and cribbage. We swam a bit, shopped a bit, hung out with friends at church, attended Bible study, and visited.
And we saw so much wildlife! We watched a porcupine waddle across our lawn, laughed at a sweet little field mouse peering through the window into our dining room, saw a deer near the road (but didn’t hit it), rescued another mouse and brought it across the river to set it free, observed a bunny sitting motionless near our garden (so that’s who’s been nibbling!), and started psychological warfare against chipmunks and rats, both of which are too smart to catch in normal ways. While splitting logs my husband found grubs so enormous that the chickens could not swallow them and raced around the coop being chased by a horde of jealous hens, cackling madly. And last night a neighbor found a motherless raccoon right by our driveway and its screams woke Miss 11. Today it’s going to a wild life refuge. Some black birds, we’re not sure which kind exactly, have discovered the dog’s food bowl but will only eat the red kibbles, not the brown ones!
In our homeschool …
We studied hard these weeks, after completing each day’s gardening.
Yesterday, while I was trying, unsuccessfully, to explain the basic equations of the physics of motion to Miss 14, she suggested, “Why don’t we just stop now.” I had been planning the end of the school year for the end of the day, but the time seemed right, so I hauled out the celebratory bag of cherries and the girls found the cribbage board, and our summer holidays began.
Even though the planned work has not been completed, our school year is officially finished. We’ll deal with the unfinished work later. For now, it’s holiday time and the schoolbooks are packed away, although Miss 16 has reserved the right to do math in her spare time.
In our gluten free kitchen… Lots of soup. Carrot cake. Chicken, breaded, in soups, or smothered with a delicious sauce. Grilled asparagus. Spinach and lettuce from the garden. Stir fries with garden greens. Roast. Hamburger. Hot dogs (eaten outside since they are not gluten free). Corn pancakes. Bacon. Sausages. Oven fried potatoes. Tiny chocolate cupcakes. Pork chops. Yoghurt. Steaks. Porridge. Lots of vegetables. Not enough left overs.
In our garden
We worked hard, planting, replanting, weeding, transplanting, and mulching. The basics have almost been completed. We hope to finish mulching today, and I’ll need to finish transplanting next week. Mr. 19 had some time off work and did a lot of pruning (wrong time of year, I know, but so necessary) and dug a trench.
Some of my favorite things were…
- Time with friends.
- Ending the school year.
- Slowly getting things done.
- Cherries.
- Warm sunshine.
- Actually getting the vegetable garden planted and even fixing up some of the flower gardens.
Questions/thoughts I have… There is a lot more talk about the importance of sleep these days. It is not surprising that those in our family who struggle with sleeping have colds right now. One of the benefits of homeschooling is that normally homeschooled kids and teens can find enough time to sleep.
Fitness… I’ve been managing about 10,000 steps a day as well as light gardening most days—the kids do the heavy yard and garden work. I’ve also done some strengthening exercises and, unfortunately, tried to push too hard. Or maybe it’s this cold that my husband brought home from the Rockies. In any case, I’m tired…which is good for reading and sleeping and visiting, if you look on the positive side. I’m also well on track to losing the two pounds I aimed to lose this month, which is nice.
Some of the things I’ve been working on…
- Homeschooling.
- Gardening.
- Keeping up with the housework.
- Resting.
- Planning the summer and the next school year.
I’m reading… John. I finished A Godward Heart, Finding Spiritual White Space, The 40 Most Influential Christians, Mastermind, and Child of Mine, and started The Meaning of Marriage for Bible study and What the Plus because I’m intrigued by Google +.
Reading Aloud… We’re reading Ezekiel, the Kids Can Press French and English Word Book, Volume 2 of Young People’s History of the Church, In de Zoete Suikerbol (Volume 6), and Albrecht Durer.
When my husband is home for meals, we read Revelation.
I’m grateful for …. Rest, sunshine, green growing things, hard-working kids, and wildlife.
Quote or link to share…. Carol’s lovely post about contentment, appreciating everyday life, and seeing poetry in pots and pans.
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This post is linked to Kris’s Weekly Wrap Up .
Sounds like a great couple of weeks, and what you’ve made in your kitchen looks yummy. 🙂
A good reminder that sleep is important. Our 2 eldest are getting up early to care for small children while I recover from the birth of our new baby. I need to work on having them get to bed earlier!