Simply Renovated

 

 

 

Summer has sprung around here!  We have been picking our strawberries and taking care of the garden anxiously waiting it's produce!

 

 

Shhhh....don't tell the boys but we are still schooling on.  I haven't made an official announcement that "School is done!"...and I'm okay with that.  If you don't know this was my first year homeschooling.  Let me tell you again why! It is not because I am afraid of the government getting their hands on my children.  It is not because of the constant news that yet another teacher had another inappropriate relationship with a child.  It is not because teachers secretly push their agenda on the students and it's not because of common core.  It is simply because for us...public school wasn't working for our family.  My kids turned into completely different children once all day everyday started and in my opinion for my kids...it was too early and too much.  So through prayer and my husbands complete support...we pulled them out to teach them ourselves.  I cannot describe what a blessing that has been...being a family 24/7 and not rushing...purposefully living the slower life.  I am in love with it!

 

So we finished a homeschool group with a lot of other boys and although we didn't get to make it to every one it was still beneficial and fun!  We started immediately a series on gardens and growing God's garden.  The first week we talked about our garden and what we need to do to prepare our garden.  We then talked about God's garden and made a relation to everything in our garden to God's garden.  So prepare the soil...preparing our hearts.  Weeding out the bad weeks and stones...getting rid of bad attitudes and sin in our lives.  The second week we talked about planting our garden and planting in God's garden.  This was a two-fold.  Obviously we talked about what needs to be done to plant in our garden but what needs to be done to plant in God's garden.  We made the relation of planting seeds...going out and telling our friends about Jesus and what better way to do so than living it! And we talked about planting the Word in our hearts because "what our heart knows by heart is what our heart knows". We will continue to learn (it's a 7 week study) and I'll keep you updated.  But I found this book at the Spartan Variety (if you haven't been there you really should because it's not a dollar store...I basically get all of my gifts from there and decorate my whole house from there).

 

It's called "Seeds! Seeds! Seeds!" and it's about this grandpa who sends his grandson five different bags with crafts for him to do regarding seeds.  It's awesome and it made my kids want to do it.  So right now we are collecting seeds from fruits and vegetables we eat and putting them on a seed chart, comparing and contrasting them and learning about the different types of seeds.

 



 

The boys made a list of vegetables and fruits they would like to plant in their garden and so we did...we learned the different parts of plants and a little bit about organic gardening!

I will keep you updated on how that continues to go!

 

For the TASTE BUDS!

 

Yes this is a long post but I wanted to share two things I made yesterday and fell in love with!

First of all a couple times a week I'll do a mix of round potatoes and sweet potatoes grilled...I do this because occasionally a sweet potato with slip in my kids mouths and they don't complain ;).

Yesterday my husband was grilling them when he went to fridge and found Sargento Bruschetta Cheese in the door that I had bought for our anniversary.  His eyes lit up and says, "you're speaking my language now!".  He shredded that cheese right over top the potatoes while on the grill and OH.MY.DELICIOUS!!!! Seriously I suggest you all go out and try it this week! He sprinkled the potatoes with some salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, a little olive oil and topped it with the cheese!!!!

 

 

 

THEN.....for dessert!!!!!  I canned peaches last year and I was really stingy on when we as a family could dive into them.  I gave the "go ahead" a few weeks ago and we have been eating them weekly.  Now I am realizing that peach season is approaching again and I have cupboards full of canned peaches!  So I took some peaches last night and divided them among a muffin pan.  I lightly sprinkled them with cinnamon and brown sugar and popped them in the oven.  I baked them at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  I scooped out some fat free frozen vanilla yogurt and threw those peaches right on top and then sprinkled my delicious homemade granola on top and served it!!! Again...I was on cloud 9!!!!

 

 

 

 

As some of you know.  I felt incredibly blessed to be able to get away for the weekend to Mackinaw Island, MI with my husband.  It's rare that we get a trip just the two of us...in fact we did one two years ago in the WINTER to the U.P. so I'm not sure I call it a "vacation" but the one before that was on our honeymoon.  This year we celebrated 9 years of marriage and 16 years of being together!  We wanted to do something just the two of us, even if it was small and short.  We learned A LOT! Like you don't necessarily need to go to Mackinaw Island during the Lilac Festival because my HIGH (apparently out of this world high) expectations were not met as far as lilacs go! ;)  Mackinaw is definitely a trip you should budget for.  We figured we definitely could have both gotten Kayaks for the price it costs for this trip BUT we made memories! Thankfully we were told to bring our own bikes and thankfully we were told it's cheaper to go from St. Ignes so we did.  Everything on the Island costs money.  Even to go in front of the Grand Hotel costs $10 per person.  We just wanted to see a fountain...that was it and it took four attempt to get there so we gave up ;).  A hamburger costs $10 and a small Hi-C drink costs almost $3.  However...we had fun.  We watched the Lilac Race take off and we rode our bikes around the whole island...IN A DRESS! They had shirts there that said, "Mackinaw Island...biked it"...if they had one that said "in a dress" I would have paid the $25 for it (again everything was expensive).  We paid the little free to do the wine/beer tasting and surprisingly I found a beer that I actually liked! We biked to the Mayors Summer home and the fort, to Arch Rock and the Cemeteries, to the Grand Hotel and all the little side streets in between!  We laughed!  It felt so good to not have many worries and just be with each other...I tried to remind myself the whole weekend to not take that for granted! Friday when we got there we walked around the city of Mackinaw! That was fun going in and out of the shops and we found a few treasures.  We crossed the bridge and checked into our hotel room.  We went and got caramel corn at a cute candy shop and went out to dinner.  We got back to the hotel room around 7pm...sat in a HUGE Jacuzzi tub and literally vegged around until bed time.  We watched movies, watched the sun set on the Island and laughed, laughed and laughed some more!

 

The Grand Hotel...the longest hotel in America...

 

This is as close as I could get without paying the $20!!!!

The bridge while we were on the ferry.  There was a man behind us telling his girlfriend all of these facts about the bridge.  Did you know that all of the steel for the bridge was manufactured in the U.P.? It's a Michigan Made bridge!

Something about giving a photographer an iphone...not good...or good but annoying? I took a lot of pictures with my phone!

Good morning Mackinaw Island!

 



good night Mackinaw Island...

 



We laughed and laughed at this.  I really wanted to get a nice room for us.  They didn't have any Kings left just two queens with a Jacuzzi and a view of the Island.  We took it.  Funny this is Brian's back was super sore from driving (yes he is 30 going on 60) and so we slept in separate beds like old people! Hey we just figured it out early is all ;)....



 

 

Standing in front of the bridge swatting the horrible flies that were swarming the lakeshore (just in the City thankfully)...

 

I always try to be super grateful for trips like these because it gives me time away from the kids and allows me to come back refreshed and ready to be called mom again.  Anyone with me on that one? I from time to time change my name ;).  Sunday after church we spent time together as a family.  We took a bike ride to the lake and I was able to just soak in my family...their laughter and God's beauty! I was incredibly thankful and felt incredibly blessed!

 

 

 

We are purposefully trying to slow our lives down.  Because hurrying...it hurts.  It wastes.  I don't want to miss this time in life and be so busy that I miss my family...my kids...these moments.  I don't want to hurry so much that I forget to be thankful for the little things God gives in our lives...

 

 

 

like the abundance of strawberries growing out the dining room window...

 

One last thing! We are doing lots of reading this summer and I am committing as well....here is the one I am reading right now...I wanted a good book on the Holy Spirit and the very wise Doug Scott told me to never read a book unless it was recommended...well he recommended this one...

and I do as well ;)

 

 

I would love to hear some of your favorite recommended books!!!!