Some "thingish things" for the weekend

Last night our good friends Ryan and Starr came over for dinner, along with newborn baby Ary:

Starr and Ary with our girls. Jonathan and I were able to see Ary in the hospital, but this was the first time for the kids to see her up close. I have to chuckle every time at Kate's face in this picture.

We all love when Ryan and Starr come to visit, because they truly are like family to us. We had a wonderful dinner of burgers and corn on the cob, and then we let Ben stay up with us "grown-ups" to watch National Treasure 2!

Today was so hot that we stayed inside most of the day, but after dinner we took an impromptu nature walk.

Our landlord planted this lily for us while we were on vacation last year, and it just started blooming today! Every time they bloom I am reminded again of what a thoughtful gift they were.

We also found some beautiful sights just across the road. I am badly in need of a good field guide to help identify these, but even though I didn't know what they were, I wanted to share them with you.

Kate was fascinated by the remains of the tree in this next shot. We were all watching a tiny frog hop through the moss when she stepped back, looked up and started laughing. I'm not sure what it was she found so funny, but I did think it made a beautiful picture.

The simple woman's daybook

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Outside My Window... the "bridge" that Kate drew across the sidewalk in yellow chalk, using the chalk holders that were a present from Daddy

I am thinking... how quiet it is in the house with "the boys" gone to church together

I am thankful for... the pond across the road, night noises that always calm me

From the kitchen... sadly, no more frozen lemonade pie...it met its tasty end today

I am wearing... my jammies!

I am creating... a dress for Kate, still

I am going... to brew a cup of chamomile and enjoy the silence

I am reading... three different non-fiction books. Emma by Jane Austen. Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. A novel by Jimmy Buffett, surprisingly good so far. Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. That should last me through the week...

I am hoping... to spend time with friends this week

I am hearing... the girls talking quietly in bed, making up songs for our friends Tim & Lisa

Around the house... things still out of place after a hectic weekend

One of my favorite things... beautiful bookmarks

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... an end of the year party for our Wednesday night Bible study, visiting a new library

Here is picture thought I am sharing... memories of last summer

Just when you thought there was a website for everything

This afternoon I was tidying up the kitchen when Kate came in. We have a computer in there, and our screen saver is set to rotate pictures that we have saved on it.

Kate watched for a minute, but then accidentally hit the mouse and the screen saver went away. She walked over to me, looking all disappointed, and said, "Mommy, I need you to make the pictures come back."

I told her that I couldn't make them come back, that we would have to wait until they started running again.

She shook her head and told me, "We don't have to wait, just type in pictures dot com!"

At least she's got an idea of how the whole system works, huh?

Holy is the Lord

This song has been on my mind a lot this week. Andrew Peterson is one of my all-time favorite Christian singer-songwriters. This is a very powerful song, made even more so with excellent editing from the TNT movie about Abraham. You will need your hankie for this one:

School's out!

Have I mentioned how much I love being the principal?

Each year we continue formal studies in language arts and math over the summer break, as well as whatever informal studies we can dig up! (No pun intended...)

This year, though, I'm going to take a couple of weeks off and tackle our closets and basement! The weather is still cool enough outside so that the kiddos can get out there and play most of the day, and mommy can get busy decluttering and organizing.

We've taken more time off than usual this year, but as I've heard so often, that is the beauty of homeschooling. We'll have all the time in the world to catch up when the weather is too hot to get outside this summer! We're probably going to jump back into the middle of things around the beginning of July. If anyone knows of a great unit study for the 4th of July, I'd love your recommendations!

Until then their main subject will be:

From allposters.com

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Alas the best-laid plans...

I had truly meant to show you pictures of my clean refrigerator and dining table, but I took the pics without my memory card in the camera and I haven't yet worked out all the kinks to get those to where I can post them.

Now that my fridge is clean (and empty!) I'm finally starting to meal plan. I looked at tons of sites last week on the best way to get started, and here are some of the helpful links I've found:

I've gotten a lot of menu planning ideas from Life as Mom recently. Here's a link to Meal Planning the 1950's Way . I think this is a fascinating idea and would save me loads of trouble...if we were eating more meat. As it is, we've cut way back on meat to save on cost and calories, and it just gets too depressing writing out "pasta" or "vegetables" for every night of the week. Maybe after I get a larger recipe bank built up I'll be able to categorize better and utilize this idea.

And here is a link to her last week's menu plan. (And a quick note...looks like she also posted on meal planning today, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet!) Instead of listing out the menus day-by-day, she lists the number of dishes she will have for each type of meal. I'm not sure how to explain it better than that...just go check it out! I think that this will work fabulously at our house, as we typically change our minds about what we'll be having for dinner, or inviting people over at the last minute. Truthfully, that's one of the reasons I've been procrastinating about meal planning. I guess this takes away my excuses, doesn't it?

I love the way that Michele lists her menus at Frugal Granola. Here is her most recent. She lists items to do along with her daily menu so that everything will be ready for the next day! I'm hoping to incorporate this somehow, I'll have to let you know what I figure out on this one.

And for those of you who like more specific meal planners, here's a link to some beautiful FREE meal planners from Heavenly Homemakers. She also has tons of meal planning and healthy eating ideas on her blog.

I'm actually excited about grocery shopping this week! I'm starting out with just three days' worth of meals until we find a greater variety of healthy meals that we love. Baby steps...

From allposters.com

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Please continue to pray for Beth and Jimmy...