Weblog
Friday, 16 October 2009
-
The First snow...
So yesterday there was a few of light flakes floating around all day and then this morning we awoke to this...
The girls put on their snow things and went out to play in it...they made a few snowballs and the first muddy/leafy snowman of the year - he ended up only being about 1 ft. tall.
Hope you all have a nice weekend - they are calling for more snow here tonight and tomorrow...
"Come now, let us reason together,"
says the LORD.
"Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;"
Isaiah 1:18a
Tuesday, 06 October 2009
-
Fall Family Fun...
Just catching up on posting some of the fun we had this past weekend. Fall is in full force here in Upstate NY. The trees are so beautiful, and the weather on Saturday was a cool crisp 60 degrees and sunny. We decided to head to a local state park for a picnic in the fall foliage. When we got there the gate was open but there was no one at the booth for admission - so we just drove into the park to the area of the lake. Here is a picture from the road leading to the park...Oquaga Creek State Park
There were no other people in the park...we had the whole place to ourselves...
We had brought our bat and ball and played a little backyard ball...
The girls also brought their scooters and roller blades -
The lake has a sandy beach in the swimming area (imported sand of course)
Notice the Canadian Geese in the background above.
I don't think the girls even realized that they were walking in age order...
More of the geese...and the lovely trees in the distance.
We even took a group shot using the timer on the camera.
After our picnic we decided to go for a little walk before the sun set...
The girls loved rolling down the big hill.
And tossing rocks in the lake with dad - of course you have to have a stone skipping contest.
This was my last picture in the park...I loved the calm water reflecting the autumn leaves.
Prayer Request: My Husband's Aunt passed away on Sunday night, and my father-in-law is traveling to North Carolina for the services on Thursday. (it is about 11-12 hour drive that they are breaking into 5-6 hours over the next couple of days) Also my husband is on a business trip for today-tomorrow to New Hampshire...he will hopefully be home tomorrow evening. So I am on my own for the next couple of days. Most of my girls are now battling head colds. So please pray for safe traveling for my family members, and for health for my children and myself.
I want to end todays visit with the comforting and familiar words of Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.AMEN!
Thursday, 01 October 2009
-
It's Apple Pickin' Time!
For our homeschooling gym class on Tuesday, we moms decided to take the kids apple picking instead.
It was a cool rainy day but we all had a lot of fun.
Thankfully the Lord held off the rain while we were picking.
The original plan was to have a picnic after picking.
As we were finishing picking the rain started again, and the wind was quite cold up on the hill.
So we all had our lunches in our cars and headed home.
It didn't take long for my girls to fill up their bags - they wanted to keep picking but we had to have a reality check on just how many apples we had already picked. We ended up picking 48 pounds of apple in less than a half an hour...and now I have a lot of baking and canning to do.
These are all the apples laid out on our dining room table.
I have made a batch of applesauce and an apple cake so far. On Saturday I plan on making apple pie (French crust - it is the only apple pie that tastes like home made to me...) and also this will be the first year that I try and can apple pie filling - I hope to be able to use it for ice cream, pies, turnovers, and who knows what else.
Here is the recipe I am going to try for canning the pie filling for those who may want to try it...I'll let you know soon how it turns out.
Apple Pie Filling for canning:
7 qt. canning jars, cleaned & sterilized
mixed apples, peel, slice and fill the 7 qt. jars
Syrup:
4 ½ cup sugar
2 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 cup cornstarch
¼ tsp. nutmeg
10 cups water
Cook syrup in a large pot until thick. Add 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Pour over apples in the jars, being careful not to get the rim dirty (I have a cheep canning funnel for this). Seal with canning lids and process in a water bath for 20 minutes.
Friday, 25 September 2009
-
Emily
On Wednesday we had the pleasure of getting to "baby sit" a niece of mine - Miss Emmie...
She is just over 1 year old and just loved being the center of attention with 4 other girls...
Her favorite things that we found at Aunt Colleen's house were the "kitty"
And all the balls... she went around gathering all the ones in the yard - and then Madelynn went and got out her large play ball.
Emmie just loved the little people we have - not to play with but to taste...she tasted about 10 and then settled on this doggie. She carried him around for about half an hour...
I love this little sweety...and I hope you all enjoyed the photos. I know some of the family doesn't get to see her often so I thought I would post some pictures of our visit together.
I hope you all have a great Friday. As you can see from the pictures we are really starting to look like fall here in our yard.
I will sign off with some of the lyrics to my favorite Hymn - Be though my vision...
Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'ns Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.This is my prayer song on so many days. I just want to have God as my focus and vision - and not just who I think God is but who he truly is. The difference is that so many times Christians get into arguments about what they believe about God, when we should just look to the scriptures (as a whole, not just certain verses) and see who God says he is...So my challenge to you is to seek out God, take something that you believe about Him and search the scriptures for the truth of that belief.
Monday, 21 September 2009
-
another update...
Our weekend here was full of fun, family and friends... Saturday was a day for birthday parties - Molly went to her best friend Becca's house for a b-day party/sleepover, the rest of us stopped by Colin and Gavin's party for a little while (my great-nephews), then Meghan and Marissa went to spend the evening and overnight at Aunt Mary's house (a great time as usual - Thanks sis! You are great!), Madelynn went to her friend Autumn's house for the night...so all 4 girls were divided up and they all had a great time at their sleepovers.
Hubby and I then met Elisha & Jeremy and another couple from our church for dinner out before going to the Come Alive Concert! (Mark Schultz, Point of Grace) It was a great concert - one of the best that I have been able to attend. I love both of their work and would have gone to a concert to see just one of the groups but to have them both together is amazing. They are traveling the country so go to their website to see when they might be coming to a city/town near you! After the concert we all went out for desert and a little more visit time. We got home around midnight.
Sunday was full of church and then Meghan had a couple of her friends over for the afternoon. All the girls were tired and cranky but they still had fun. Evening church,where we had to have Molly down to church early for Youth Core. (fellowship time for our church teens) I can't believe that Molly is now a Jr. High student...7th grade! She is no longer in the children's ministries - she is part of the youth ministries...which is both a happy and a sad time. While this may be a transition time, I think I will have a harder time when my youngest reaches the youth group...
Here are the last pictures from our vacation to Maryland...
The Pirate ship playground in front of the hotel
The indoor mini-golf course...with an under water theme...here we are in the submarine.
before we entered the cave..
Next to the waterfall hazard...Marissa managed to hit her ball into every water hazzard in the course.
Everyone had a good time - and at least we found something to do while it was cool and rainy outside.
These are the gulls that were outside our hotel all the time...waiting for someone to feed them. The last day we were there someone threw at least 6 slices of pizza off of one of the upper balconies. What a feeding frenzy that was...
each of our footprints in the wet sand (Meghan had a hard time pressing her foot in hard enough to make a print - she is such a peanut)
One of our last walks on the beach before we left Ocean City...
Marissa filled her overall pocket with treasures found on the beach...
Wind blown Meghan...she was having fun trying to keep her hair out of her face so I could take a picture.
I love this picture of Molly...my almost teen.
Classic Madelynn - why do you need a picture mom?
Bare feet on the smooth sand...
In side our hotel...a bridge over the Koi pond.
There were about 10-12 parrots that were in cages throughout the atrium...this is just one of them. Many of them talked and some would whistle at you as you walked by. They all had name tags on their cages.
Dillon
The indoor pool where the 3 younger girls spent many hours with some homeschooling girls we met at the hotel.
Over all I wish the weather was better - but then we might not have spent so much time indoors meeting the other family. A wonderful place to visit - I hope to go back again.
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
-
Feeling less Stressed...
Yesterday was a really stressful day both at home and also at my workplace. I work 2 evenings a week as a nursing supervisor at a Nursing home...last night was probably among my 5 worst shifts ever. I have been at the same job for 10 years - so I have dealt with many stressful situations...but nothing like I experienced last night. I saw for myself how unreasonable some people can be, how caught up in being angry, how shut off from others...other people saw the situation with fear, or anger...but my thoughts were more about how sad the situation was. I was only praying for a chance to diffuse the situation and to show Christ's love. I know my staff has been blessed by my calm under fire in the past (which only comes with resting not on my own abilities...but on God's wisdom and guidance). They also saw it again last night and for a change it didn't diffuse the problem. I don't know the reasons we all had to experience this stress, or what all the results will be...but I can only trust that God has His reasons and I only have to follow His principles.
Do not fret because of evil men
or be envious of those who do wrong;for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away.Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.Psalms 37:1-8
On the homeschooling front - today has been much better. Thanks for the suggestion aseamstress - that was kind of what I was thinking of doing. I have also been focusing my children on memorizing and applying 1 Corinthians 13. Today was our first day of home school gym for this year...what a blessing. I think we moms had as much fun as the kids - we all hung around for an extra 45 minutes after our usual end time. It was nice to catch up with everyone after the summer break. We are planning on going apple picking in a couple weeks at a local orchard with the whole group. So things are improving and we will all continue to grow in wisdom and grace.
Monday, 14 September 2009
-
Homeschooling...
This year has been very difficult to deal with...this is the first year that I am schooling all four of my girls. We are struggling with attitudes and emotions. I am trying to figure out how to deal with the girls comparing themselves with each other. Also it seems like once one of the girls starts having a bad attitude it grows to in infect the others. Little biting comments, accusations, etc...just seem to grow and spread. So here is my question - How do others deal with this in their families?
I think I am to the point that I need a rough schedule to the morning. I am going to institute a start time - I have tried this in the past but have not been faithful to it since I myself like to have a leisure morning. But there are sacrifices that have to be made for our school to run effectively. I have a no TV policy until the schoolwork is done, but I also think I will have to institute a no computer/video games until school is done also. I also want to start having an opening thought/devotion for the day...something to get us all focused for the schoolwork ahead. Do any of you have a good site/source for some reference tools for this? I really do not like the "Bible in a can" devotionals - I like coming up with my own thoughts, topics, theories in my study of God's word. But I can see that this might be a stumbling block for a daily talk with the girls - or maybe I will have a topic for the week and break it up into 5 smaller talks. We will see.
Feel free to leave any constructive comments, tip, advise, etc. But please no homeschool bashing...I firmly believe that every parent has a right to choose how their child should be educated, and that there is no "right way" to raise children. Just as each child is different, each parent is different, we all need to respect each other and encourage each other in our roles as leaders in our homes.
Sunday, 13 September 2009
-
Trip to Ocean City, MD
Well we just returned on Friday from our last vacation of the year. One of the many joys of homeschooling is traveling in the "off-season." We travel to many places this way and we save a lot of $ and time this way...we just went to Ocean City, Maryland for 4 nights for what it would have cost us to go for 2 nights on season. We went to the hotel on Labor day after having a nice picnic with my husband's family in VA. As we were driving to the MD coast this was the traffic coming the other direction...
We arrived Monday evening and checked out our hotel room right on the beach.
We went right out even though it was starting to get dark just to get our feet on the sand...
One of the nice things about staying right on the beach is that the small deck we had on the ground level opened right out onto a great sand box for the girls to play in...
Most of the weather while we were there was very windy and rainy since there was a low pressure system hanging right off the coast...
We were able to have one very nice morning on the beach Tuesday... we awoke to a beautiful sun rise over the ocean, and hubby and I snuck out and had coffee out on the deck...
These were photos I took right from our deck...no altering of the photos at all...
I'll update the rest of our trip tomorrow...
Friday, 14 August 2009
-
Summer flower gardens
There has been a lot going on around here this past summer. But instead of boring you with all the details, I thought I would share some of the beauty that I have captured over the last couple of months.
The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:11
Shasta Daisy
Daylilies...
Sedum in my old apple tree stump.
Sunflower - these are ones I did not plant - They have sprouted from the bird seed under my feeder.
I do not know the name of this one - it grows very tall - about 4-5 ft tall and has long spikes of these flowers.
Dahlia - it always amazes me that these flowers are so intricate.
Hope you all enjoyed the garden tour. Enjoy the last couple of weeks of summer. I am planning on starting the girls schoolwork on Monday.
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
-
done, done, done...
We made it through our weekend marathon...everyone had a lot of fun. But it certainly didn't feel like we had a three day weekend.
Marissa finished preschool...a bittersweet time for us. She is the last one to go through preschool and now we really don't have a little one. We now have all school age children - my oldest will be in 7th grade next year! (I have a harder time realizing that she will be a middle schooler)
We took a picture with the girls with one of the teachers (now the director of the school). Each one of my girls had Mrs. McLean as a teacher. When I look back I realize that I have been traveling back and forth to preschool for 8 years. I think I'm going to have trouble getting used to not making that trip at least a couple times a week.
Our birthday party Saturday for Molly was great - the cake turned out rather well. Molly was very pleased.
It was fun seeing a lot of the family, and visiting with each other. Plus, Molly enjoyed all of her gifts and was so happy with her day.
Sunday was another full day but by that time I was pictured out and didn't carry my camera around for the other birthday party we went to. Another great time of visiting with people from our church. So now we are back to our routine of work... and enjoying the summer off. Thanks for catching up with me. Happy Tuesday!
colleena146
-
- Name: Colleen
- Country: United States
- State: New York
- Metro: Binghamton
- Gender: Female
- Member Since: 1/31/2006
-
True 
Premium
About Me
-
Homeschooling Mom of 4 girls, Married 16 yrs in July, Registered Nurse working part-time in a nursing home - one of my favorite quotes -"The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller
Connect
Inspiring Quotes
A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway. -Fr. Jerome Cummings
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. - Confucius
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.
