Birthday and Cherries

Today we celebrated my Julie’s 14th birthday. My, my, how time has flown by. Seems like just the other day, my Lord was surprising me by giving her to me. God is SO good. We celebrated at Groundhog Mountain with hamburgers, hotdogs and chocolate cake. The Horn’s came with us and Dave, Jess and the kids met us on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Meadows of Dan. We had a wonderful day!!

Mrs. Vicki bringing trucks for the boys to play with. You will notice she has on a jacket. It was kinda chilly here this morning. 42 degrees when we got up. I think it is supposed to be about that chilly tonight too. It was a nice day though-definitely not too hot.

Daniel seems to be deep in thought.

Jess and Katie. Katie is staying warm in her blanket.

From the picnic area, we went on down the Parkway to Levering Orchard to pick cherries.

The trees were loaded with cherries.

Can you tell Sam loves cherries!

If you look closely in this picture, you will see a man in the top of the tree picking.

We all had so much fun. I can’t think of a better way to spend the day than with family and best friends. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 2, 2012 7

Birds and Spring Cleaning

The other day when we went to work with Hubby, Grace got these pictures.

I think she did a really good job. Today was spring cleaning day at church. Every spring we set aside one Saturday to come and clean the church. Heavy duty cleaning. We had a great time and the church looks and smells really nice. We were hanging up the freshly washed curtains when I noticed how nice they smelled. I commented on it and was told they had been washed in the homemade lavender laundry soap that I made. How about that!

Here are a few random pictures taken today.

This picture is looking directly across the road from our church. See how green the trees are getting.

Grace cleaning the windows.

Steve cleaning the ramp.

Not sure what Ross is doing.

And they think we women talk a lot. Enjoy your day and God bless.

April 14, 2012 4

Daniel, Sam and Katie

We went down to Jessica’s today and I finally got a few pictures to show you all-thanks to Grace.

Sam was saying “cheese”.

Miss Katie. Hasn’t she grown? She had a well visit check up today and she weighed 15 lb.

We went to work with Hubby yesterday. I will try to get some pictures of his progress next time we go. Tomorrow after school, we will be going to get Grace’s new glasses. I am so glad. For those of you who do not know, Grace has worn glasses since before she was a year old. Last year, when she got a new prescription, I noticed she was wearing them down quite far on her nose. I questioned her and she said they hurt her eyes if she wore them up farther. I should have taken her back but to be honest I guess I thought she had just got in the habit of wearing them down on her nose. WRONG! They had put her bifocal up way too high in the glasses. So I know she will be so glad to get her new ones.

We had a tremendous amount of rain over the weekend. Lots of areas close by had large amounts of hail-3 to 6 in. I’m very thankful we didn’t have any. Temperatures dropped considerably after the hail. This morning it was 28 degrees with a heavy frost. I think I will have to build a fire this evening. It is fairly chilly inside the house.

I’m not sure if this worked or not. I was hoping to show you all a picture of the hail at the shooting range nearby. This is where Hubby and others from church go to shoot clays.

I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

March 27, 2012 4

Now and Then

I posted this picture on March 11, 2012.

10 days later it looks like this. Amazing! Things are really popping out here and I am so glad. Monday and Tuesday, I had to help Hubby with the electrical at the the job site. Today, I am very glad to be here at home. We are hoping to get some outside work done this afternoon after school. I’m not sure though. The morning has been chilly with lots of fog. The fog is lifting now and the sun is starting to lighten things up. It is looking hopeful for outside work.

I wanted to share with you all something I just recently purchased for our kitchen. It is called a butter keeper. Are any of you familar with them? Well I just love it. I love using real butter but do not like the fact that it is so hard to spread when kept in the fridge. Well, this butter keeper allows me to leave the butter sitting on the table without spoiling. And it looks cute, too.

Here’s how it works. Every couple of days, I put cold water in the bottom of the crock. The butter then stays nice and cool but spreadable. I really like it.

Well, it is time for me to give a history test. I hope you all have a wonderful evening and God bless.

March 21, 2012 6

Daniel and Darth Vader

Daniel is SO into Star Wars right now. He has a light saber and everything. He earned his light saber. He has just recently been promoted to a booster seat and was having trouble getting his seat belt to buckle. His mom told him if he could buckle himself in 10 times on his own, they would buy him a light saber. Motivation, you know. Well, it took him a while but he has it down pat now. He was super excited because when they went to purchase his light saber, they found a place on line where they could get 3 light sabers for the same price as one at Wal-Mart. Daniel says he got himself one, Daddy one, and Sam one so they can all be Jedi. Way to go, Daniel.

Today is a BEAUTIFUL day here in Floyd. The sun is shining and the temperature is already 40 degrees. We have gotten a great start on our day. The house chores are done and we even have a few minutes of relaxation before school starts. I was wondering if any of you ladies make kefir and if you do, do you use the powdered starter or the grains? I have made it a lot using the powdered starter but am wondering if the grains would be better. Any opinions?

I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless.

February 22, 2012 5

Julie and Grace’s Sewing Projects

The girls finished their Sunday night sewing projects. I have mentioned before that Mrs. Sally, the pastor’s wife is teaching the girls to sew. The above picture is the dress Julie finished.

This is Grace’s shirt.

Look at the cute little label they made for Grace’s shirt. I think they both did great jobs. I wonder what their next project will be.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

January 30, 2012 7

Jess and Sam

We have had a BEAUTIFUL day here in Floyd. The temperature right now is 60 degrees!!!!!!!!!!!! I absolutely love it. The girls and I worked on cleaning the house this morning, then we started on school. Hubby is working on a chair design for us. He made our kitchen table several years ago and he made benches to go with it. Well, you know how we women are, now I want chairs instead of benches.

After he worked some on the chair, he decided to cut wood. He went up on the hill and cut wood while we finished school. Then we all worked together splitting the wood and stacking it. It was a great day for outside work. My menu plan for tonight has changed. I had planned on meatloaf, fried potatoes and pinto beans but it is a little too late to do meatloaf. Hubby said he would like hotdogs so we are having hotdogs and pintos. Tomorrow we will have the meatloaf.

I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

January 6, 2012 4

A Wood Cutting Day

Yesterday, Hubby, myself and the girls did some wood cutting. It was a beautiful day for outside work. Temperature was warm close to 50 degrees. Sunshine. We cut one truck load of wood, brought it home, split and stacked it. We also split and stacked another truckload that we already had cut.

Our faithful truck. We bought this truck from Hubby’s dad several years ago. He bought it new. It definitely earns its keep.

Another faithful member of our wood cutting crew.

And my Grace, who after working hard yesterday got hit with a stomach virus last night. It started about 1:30 a.m. She seems to be feeling better this evening but it has been a rough night and day. We are praying no one else gets it but I guess time will tell.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

December 20, 2011 5

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello ladies, I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while. For some reason, things have been busy around here and it’s been difficult for me to make a post. Grace is feeling better and I thank you all for your prayers for her. So far, we have been blessed that no one else has gotten sick.

We are on Thanksgiving break from school. The girls are very happy. Today is planned out as just a fun day. We will watch a movie, The Prince of Egypt, also play a few games, and listen to Christmas music. I will also be busy baking today. We are doing Thanksgiving at Jessica’s. Everyone is bringing something. I am to bring the rolls and the ingredients for punch. The punch we all love is called Angel Punch. Jessica’s grandmother, Marie would always make this punch at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We really like it.

My bread machine just beeped so it is time to start shaping the rolls. I better get busy. I pray you all have a safe and happy thanksgiving. God bless.

November 23, 2011 7

Snow and Deer

We had snow overnight! Amazing!!! I don’t think I ever remember having snow here this early in the year. Then we had another surprise.

Hubby got 2 deer! Last day of muzzle loader season. YEAH! We love deer. We are so happy. He got a buck and a doe. Happy, happy dance. Well, I don’t have much time to talk. We have got them skinned out and ready to start working up so I better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

November 11, 2011 6