Quinzee Hut

During yesterday's storm the girls and I put my Winter Ecology class to good use. 

We piled the fluffy stuff (no good for snowballs) into a gigantic pile.  We found 10 inch sticks to push into the sides and top of the pile (to insure we didn't dig too much)  then let it sit for two hours.  Thanks to deconstructive metamorphosis, the snow sticks to itself. 

This is the second year we did this but the kids were still amazed it held together as we dug a hole and began to carve out a cavern in our snowpile.  After digging for what felt like forever, we had a nice shelter from the storm, complete with outdoor patio and turrets.  We had to do something with the excess snow :)

 It doesn't look like much from this picture but three kids and I fit inside! 

A wonderful day of play!

Remembering to enjoy the little things

As a child I constantly took time to appreciate the world around me.  Smells, sights, sounds.  Some called me a daydreamer, I viewed it as stopping to smell the roses.  As I've gotten older, I've lost touch with that ability.  Now life passes by at light speed.  Juggling three kids, a husband, and being a full time college student....  being busy is the nature of the beast. 

My oldest daughter is also a "daydreamer".  Lately, she has been pointing out  natural occurrences that make her smile.  They make me smile too.  These little messages from God help us stop and focus on what is really important.  (such as beautiful daydreaming daughters!)

This one came to us in the middle of a busy day.  We stopped at home between activities, as we were exiting the car she said "Hey mom, let me see your camera".  I gave it to her in the midst of stopping bickering twins from killing each other and bringing groceries into the house.  A few minutes later she made me look at this picture.  I didn't see it at first.  Then I smiled.  Wow, in the middle of the icy driveway laid a perfect heart.  Thank You God, I got the message :)

Re-Cap of 2010

Hello my long lost blog, how I have missed you so!  2010 ran past in the blink of an eye, with me just holding on for the ride.  Since it is my very first day of the "Me Time" portion of winter break (the kiddos had two weeks, now I have two "Me" weeks), and I really don't want to fold another piece of laundry or clean under the (still up and green) Christmas tree I thought I would catch you up on life.

I am halfway through my Junior year as an Elementary Ed. Major.  I have a 3.88 GPA- after receiving my first two B+s this semester.  I'm OK with it, really!  I know I tried my best and it's all I can do!

The three girlies are growing up fast!  My 11 year old just found out Hogwarts School for witchcraft and wizardry isn't real, thanks to the lack of a (real) owl delivered letter of acceptance.  Growing up is hard but she's taking it in stride.  She confessed last night that she still loves Harry Potter, even if it isn't real!

All three girls have auditioned and made the cast for an upcoming local play!  Two have speaking roles, one has the role of a child, but she tells me "that's OK I'm in more scenes!" 

The twins are still enjoying crafting, and are using their great imaginations!  Box robots, volcanoes, paintings, snowflakes, and other things leading to many many scraps of materials on my floor, have been created this year!  My favorites were the canvases given to me for Christmas.  With the help of Grammy, the girls each created paintings to coordinate with my newly painted kitchen (The weird fruit wallpaper is history!!!)

We rounded off our year with soccer, gymnastics, Girl Scouts (of course- I'm still leading!), rainbow girls, and a not so great experience with the flute.  Yeah, that's being returned this week!  Thank goodness!

My Hubby has taken up the guitar (into his second session of lessons) and each girl received one for Christmas!  He is making real progress and I hope the girls all enjoy it, especially the oldest after the flute fiasco!

Life is good, and I am truly blessed!
I'll end by wishing you all a happy, healthy New Year!  I hope for great and wonderful things for all of us!

School Days!

Ready or not... September has arrived!!!!  Gone are the lazy, hazy, albiet sometimes crazy, days of summer.  Here comes apples, backpacks, bedtimes and early mornings!  Let's hope we all survive! 

Summer Loving

*not so* Lazy days, long nights, many adventures, lots of things to love about this summer! 

Our very first strawberry harvest in our backyard garden!

Movie nights under the stars

Camping close to home (this was a Halloween theme weekend)

Catching frogs (tadpoles, minnows, fireflies... the net found many uses!)

Wishing for a dog of her own

An almost complete play set for many hours of fun!

Wild Raspberries in abundance

Many hikes in search for natural treasures

Viewing life from the top of a mountain with a best friend

Adventures in bicycling.... family style  (*while ignoring the whining from unwilling participants)

Life is good, life is blessed, life is an adventure and I'm living it! 

A new twist on smores

The 4th of July was spent with family and friends at a local campground. This campground was 15 minutes away!  We have spent many vacations traveling for hours to turn around and come home.    Where we are a 1 hour radius gives us many options to explore; therefore, we are staying local this year! 

During a nightly campfire my aunt brought out smores.  She had regular Hershey's chocolate bars but also miniature resses peanut butter cups.  WOW!  So good!  You must try them.

The next night we are sitting around and my friend says "If we can do resses why not Junior mints?"  They just happened to have some....

Holy Cow!  I can't describe how amazing these were!!!!!  I don't believe I will be able to eat a boring old smore again.

The girls made an ultra smore with a hershey bar, peanut butter cup, and junior mints... a little over the top for me but they loved it!!

This got us to thinking; what else could we put in our smores?

Caramello bars, miniture candy bars... the possibilities are endless!!!

Berry Heaven

Blueberries, Strawberries, Raspberries Oh My! 

The strawberries from our 1 year old plants were a bit tart but with sugar or cooked up in muffins and crisps... yummy!  We picked about 3 quarts from the 25 plants.  We have many more for next year!!!!

The wild blueberries and raspberries have started producing juicy sweet berries a month early!  We have been out picking every night... somehow we just haven't had enough make it into the kitchen to cook with... go figure??  Next year we will have our plants produce and I just cannot wait!!

Another yummy product of the garden has arrived this weekend- sugar snap and shell peas!!!  Oh so good!  We have many more than we did last year (oh what a pitiful harvest of 4 snap peas) but for some reason only a couple have made it passed the front door also. 

I think it is something to do with fresh, organic produce eaten outdoors, our eager hands and mouths just cannot resist!

Enjoy the bounty of the season!  I do hope our summer crops blossom as heartily as these spring ones!