Summer Wrap-Up

Yes, it's been 4 months since I've blogged something! I thought I'd do a little overview of our summer since it's fast coming to an end. The girls go back to school next Tuesday so for me that sort of is the end of summer.

With the ending of this season comes the opportunity to can and freeze a variety of fruits and veggies. From my small garden we've enjoyed fresh lettuce, sugar peas, basil and LOTS of tomatoes!! For me it's been fun taking care of this little patch and watching the first shoots push out of the ground and now to be able to pick and enjoy the harvest. I've made pesto with the basil and about 18 pint of tomato juice. I'm thinking about enlarging the area for next years garden, but Kent's not so sure about that idea (we shall see)!

As a family we enjoyed 2 vacations this summer. Lake Cayuga in NY has been a place that my family has been going to over the past 4-5 years. It's quite beautiful and peaceful by the lake and very handy for lots of fun on the water. With the girls getting older it's been fun watching them trying new things! This year all of them went tubing and loved it! It was fun to see their apprehensions turn into laughter and a desire to go again!

We came back from NY and 3 days later left for a week at the beach with Kent's family. This to was very relaxing with a variety of things to do. Many crabs were caught and returned to the water, swimming with cousins, aunts, uncles, and jumping waves! What a blessing to be apart of families that are still whole units and enjoy being together!!

This summer we invested in a season pass to our community pool!! What a sanity saver for me!!! The girls are old enough to not need a constant eye on them, so this allowed me the freedom to sit and read while they played!! I truly believe this is why our summer has been pretty fun! It gets them out and way from picking on each other and pesting me. It also tires them out which allows for me sleeping in!! I guess that will be ending next week, but since Hannah is starting school I'll have 3 days of uninterrupted time! I do love my girls, but I refresh with having time alone.

We haven't done any remodeling project in our home over the summer. But we've been talking and I think something will be in the works again soon. Kent has some ideas for making an existing side porch (it's very small) into a closet that can be accessed from in the house. It would be very useful since we currently do not have a coat closet. We would also like to redo the small bathroom downstairs and paint and decorate Natalie's room as a b-day gift to her. I can see already how my "quiet" alone time will be put to use!

What I've been up too.....

Days have been moving on by and I'm really glad that spring has slowly begun to push it's way in!! I've realized that I haven't posted something for quite some time so I will share a bit of what I've been doing the past month.

(New use for a bag wagon!!)

Probably one of the bigger accomplishments was moving our shed in the back yard. The prior owner had it nicely snugged up against our house blocking the view from my kitchen sink . Kent is very good at figuring out ways to do things himself and once again he conquered this not so small task! With the help of round fence posts, me, and a few extra hands along the way we pushed and pulled that shed across the yard, turned it around placing it in another corner of the yard.

Kent and I moved it across the walk.

Merle helped Kent turn it around and line it up for it's new resting place.

Tadda! Now for some flowers!


I'm also putting in a VERY small garden just for some fresh veggies. I enjoy watching things grow and produce their fruits. For some reason this excites me as long as I don't have to do it on a larger scale! The trick will be in keeping the rabbits out!! So I'm anxiously awaiting the warmer weather to get those little seeds in their places.

Natalie started softball so we are getting used to running to practises and soon games. She really enjoys it and is doing quite well for it being her first experience with a sport.


All in all life has been good and pretty normal. I've much to be thankful for. It's been a year now since we moved from Colorado. The past year was sure a roller coaster but it seems that we have finally settled into our lives here and it's been good!

I just love the smell of Lilac's

Here are a few things that I'm looking forward to.

- planting my garden and flowerbeds

- the end of the school year (no more school projects to help with)!

- a week at the beach this summer

- warmer weather!!

- seeing what Kent has up his sleeve for my birthday/anniverary/mother's day!

Natalie's Piano Recital

It's been a desire of Natalie's over the past several years to be able to take piano lessons. Since moving back to PA last year it was our hope that some how we could either find a cheap piano or even a free one. I told Natalie to keep praying for one and God blessed us with a free piano several months ago!! She has been taking lessons the past 3 months and is doing quite well. Her first recital was last week. It's been a blessing to me to see one of her hopes become a reality. Enjoy watching!

Another room down

It has taken us about 6+ weeks to finish remodeling our family room, but I'm proud to say that the only thing left is to order the window treatments!! We closed in an outside entrance that never got used and painted all the trim. Once we had those steps finished it went faster. This was also the first remodeling project that we installed the carpet ourselves. I must say that hubs and a friend did a very nice job! Just don't look to closely! Ha Ha!

We are still having difficulties figuring out how to furnish the room. It's rather small and the furniture we have is rather big! I've been looking for a love seat and a TV stand on the smallish side to save space since the room will also become a play room. I've also been on the look out for a creative way to store toys that doesn't look to chinsy. I'm open to suggestions!

I will try to remember to post another picture when it's furnished and finished!

Back to Normal?

This morning forced me to get back to the once "normal" schedule of our household. The holiday vacation is over and I dragged my tired self out of bed to get Natalie up and going for school. It will be good to be in a routine again, but I sure enjoyed those lazy mornings of not having to stick to a time schedule.

So today I'm facing over-flowing laundry baskets and a sink full of dirty dishes. I know that even though these things are such mundane daily tasks that I grumble about there is a positive way to view them. At least we have plenty of clothes to wear and active kids that make them dirty. The dishes prove that we had food to eat. Like most things in life, even though we detest certain things for what they are, we can usually find a positive in them as well. It's very hard for me to keep a positive out look when dealing with things that I dub as negatives. And yet I know in my head that I'm very blessed. Sometimes when I look at my blog the title mocks me. Am I really embracing my life? I know that in my heart attitude I have not been. It's so easy to look at other people and say, "If only I could be were they are" or "they seem to have it made."

It will be very interesting to look back a year from know and see what 2009 will have held for us. I know a lot of how I embrace the things that come our way will determine my view of the year. Will I determine to seek to see the positive in the things that I easily dub as negatives?

So is 09 going to be "back to normal" for me? In some ways, but I think our "normals" are always evolving into "new" normals. So I pray for myself and all of us that we can embrace whatever the new normals that this year brings us. Whether they be things we like or don't like.

(Now a dishwasher is something that I know I will have NO problem embracing!!!)

It's Christmas

I took the time to do a bit of decorating around our home. It took some will power on my part to make it happen because first off I don't feel very creative. I also don't enjoy taking the time do something that I know in about 3 weeks I'll need to undo. So here are a few small areas that I made "Christmasy".

We were sitting around reading one evening and this was how Hannah decided to be apart and also get some attention.

Last week Katie made a Gingerbread house in school. She was very proud of it. Today she asked if she can start to eat it.

We hope each of you have a wonderful Christmas week. Enjoy the times spent with family, laughter, and great food.

Random Things..... hmmmm?

I was tagged by my friend Jessie to list 7 random things about my self. So here it goes...

1. My third and 4th toe are about the same height (the 4th might be even slightly longer !!) And I have an "elf" ear. :) Could it be I'm not fully human!!! Yikes!!

2. I like peanut butter on banana's.

3. I would love to some day own a Nissan Murano. I think they look so cool!!

4. I home schooled for 4 years when I basically swore to myself that I would never be a home school mom. Life sure can play tricks on you!!!

5. We have lived in 7 different houses during our 12 years of marriage. I'm VERY ready to have a house that I would be happy to stay in for at least 10-15 years. Yeah, our current home is not it!! But I'm trying to make the most of it.

6. I've never had any cavities.

7. I really want a dishwasher!!!