Weekend Wrap-Up

We've had a busy-but-smoother week. Schoolwork every day, housework every day, garden stuff every day, lots of food every day. Mean Ol' Mama is finished with College teaching until June (yippee!!), we're between competitions and performances (yee haw!!), and the boys have been feeling the urge to burn energy. They've been jumping, running, wrestling, sweating, and having a good ol' time. And it is fun to sit out in the cool weather and watch these boys/men as they grow...

And then there's ChubChub the Cutie Pie. See what a romancer he is? Flowers for Mean Ol' Mama...Who could resist?

...jumping doubles...

...trying to stay a-foot...

...two at a time...

...even three at a time!!...

There's that cutie again!

The Girl and Branch helped our Very Special Cousin make decorative bags for a project.

Last weekend's bird competition went well. The team placed 2nd in the High School division with a total of 144 birds, only 4 behind the 1st team! We're really proud of the boys (Branch is not in the photo below, but he's on the team, too). They raised $505 for Birdsong Nature Refuge in Thomasville, and they took the check by on their way to band in Tallahassee. No sleep for two days, rainy weather, and racing across the state really shows what these boys are made of...

Another busy week is headed our way. We have two performances on Tuesday, schoolwork to catch up, the migrant camps should be filling up this next month, but we're going to be just fine. Yep. Keep easin' along...

Mean Ol' Mama and the Big 40 !!!

Mean Ol' Mama's birthday began nicely with a gift of rosemary and oregano for the herb garden. ChubChub decided to celebrate by making a kite out of plastic bags. Oh, to be so young again...The Girl, MOM, and Chan spent a relaxing evening with a puzzle. It's amazing how fun/frustrating this hobby can be!

Poppins has been working diligently in the blueberries; he's trying to improve the soil and other growing conditions. He's quite a fellow, that Poppins...

"Yoo-hoo! Where's ChubChub?"

Poppins and the boys industriously gleaned some pine bark mulch that was spilled by the side of the road. Just a bit of time resulted in quite a bit of mulch for the garden projects.

The bags were almost as heavy as Branch. He's quite a helper, though...

And to top off a nice weekend, Poppins gave Mean Ol' Mama this beautiful flower for her 40th birthday. Isn't it gorgeous?

She also received cards, a cookbook, and chocolate (of course). There were other sweet gifts, and each was so much fun to open. Thanks, everyone!

What's New / What's Cooking Wednesday

Yep, folks, another busy week is speeding by. College classes are wrapping up, and Mean Ol' Mama goes to bed with visions of essays dancing in her head. What's new in our lives? We've been reorganizing the schoolroom, which is always fun. We moved Middle Ages/Renaissance books to a more space-appropriate spot. Lots of books heading our way when we "leave" Ancient Rome...Josiah helped to hang different posters over the "teaching couch", where one-on-one instrucion takes place. The kids really enjoy interesting posters. Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome are still in the same spot, along with many reference books, "Mama-only" books, and not-so-often-used Great Books now occupying the top shelf. Science books still fill the section on the bottom (not in the photo).

Wow! Empty shelves just waiting to be filled (..ahem...)! American History occupies this book case, but the shelves still need to be re-labeled.

The rest of the schoolroom is pretty much the same. Re-organizing gave us a bit more breathing space, though, which is always nice.

Paper for projects...

...and a dresser full of glue, art supplies, and assorted "special" art goodies.

The boys' free-for-all shelf is still overflowing with "fun" reads. With many assigned books in their yearly Reader Boxes, the kids are not supposed to read these except on weekends, but... All of the orange books on the 3 middle shelves were once located upstairs (out of reach), but the boys begged to read them, so they were re-located for easier access. We had to move the kids' Greek and Latin books upstairs in order to gain this space. The shelves directly above and below the orange books are full of entertaining books that Mean Ol' Mama reads (one at a time) during morning memory time. These are just neat books that she wants to read for no particular reason except to enjoy them. Good enough reason, though... Stennes has been working a lot at the U-Pick farm, Josiah worked with his uncle hauling branches, and Anders has been working diligently with Pop, helping him regulate the egg incubator. Yep, it's been another busy week. Hopefully, things will settle down again for a few months. Mean Ol' Mama is almost finished teaching, no more competitions (except one) for a few weeks, and work in the gardens should be slowing down a bit.
For "Dinner at Our House", we're having sloppy joes on whole wheat buns (made by The Girl), fresh melon, pineapple, and broccoli, fried potatoes, and whatever else jumps in the pot...

Weekend Wrap-Up

The Girl and Branch enjoyed a race in their Greek lesson. They both did very well, and a tie was declared. Our Very Important Cousin came for another visit and brought a...well, what is it, exactly? Hmmm....

Wow! A floating island! Looks like we have plans for the afternoon...

Too big for you to carry, Josiah? That's what trucks are for, eh?

Getting ready to take her out for a spin...

Isn't that a peaceful scene? [If only you could hear the squeals and shouts of delight...] The floating island even comes with its own waterslide. Josiah bravely tried it out first.

Meanwhile, Mean Ol' Mama headed out in the canoe with her 3 close friends: Me, Myself, and I.

The floating island is always in view, though, so she doesn't get too lonely. Yeah, right...

A small cove was calling her name, but she and her 3 friends prudently steered the canoe back 'round to civilization...

After the death of his "mama" pigeon, Branch found himself a surrogate mother...er, father...well, he's the one in charge now! Poppins helped him research feeding options, and they set up a station to stuff those squeaky little fellows full of warm food.

Not to hurt the poor birds' feelings, you understand, but they sure aren't very P-R-E-T-T-Y. [Don't say it out loud, please; their feelings might be slighted...]

The Girl spent a whole 35 cents on 3 big boxes of very expensive, very new craft supplies. What a deal! As she was leaving the yard sale, the sweet little old lady (gotta love 'em) came out and gave her a brand new pasta machine from Italy, still in the box. Mean Ol' Mama looked up information on the machine and discovered that it costs $75.50!!! So, out came the flour and eggs...

Fresh pasta with chick peas, olive oil, tons of black pepper, sweet basil, spicy globe basil, and 2 stalks of asparagus from the garden...Mmmmmm....

We had 2 good meetings in Cairo this evening. The first was in a small community called "Hotbed" (fabulous response!!), and the second was in a large Hispanic trailer park (another fabulous response!!). God was very good to us today: great preaching time, fresh pasta at lunch, more at supper (in a swiss sauce), and to top it all off: TAMALES!!!

What's Cooking Wednesday / A Small Tour

Branch built a self-propelled go-cart, and Levi added a handle to give an encouraging push. Poppins set up a caravan to pull the little ones around the yard on a "wild ride". The Girl posed on the lawnmower just for effect; she and Branch actually switched places for the ride.

Poppins planted quite a few cherry tomato plants. The bamboo stakes are necessary, as some of the plants quite often grow well over our heads.We're experimenting this year with more container gardens. Because our yard is so full of beautiful, not-to-be-cut trees, sunshine is at a premium. Poppins thought that it would be interesting to use more containers, sort of a combined raised bed/square foot concept. The plants could be packed closer together and also remain free of weeds. Some of the pots contain seeds from our Thai friend in Minnesota, so we're not quite certain what's going to come up! The seeds were precious to her, so we're excited to share in whatever harvest happens. The "yard" behind the pots is planted with a peach tree, cucumbers, blueberry bushes, and a few rogue tomatos.

Here we have another peach tree (in the pot), a gorgeous (and now valuable Satsuma), more tomatoes, and assorted peppers. The Girl also put in a small plot of poppies.

Peppers, peppers, and more peppers (and ChubChub's peas...). The fenced area encloses Mean Ol' Mama's beets, which are now up and growing nicely.

This raised bed is now exclusively for asparagus. A few of last year's planting have sprung up, and hopefully we'll have many delicious meals in the future.

Josiah's potatoes are growing beautifully. He has a few pepper plants, as well. Poppins has an area behind Josiah and along the front of the property for blueberries. Right now we have at least 50 plants that are doing well. Exciting! Stennes has a large garden in the Goat Pen, full of potatoes and a few cabbages. We'll be planting pumpkins as soon as the potato harvest is in.

For "Dinner at Our House", we're having roast beef in gravy, potatoes, pineapple, fresh buns, butterpeas, and whatever else strikes the moment. Dessert will be a new recipe: German Chocolate Bars.

The four Big Boys are just now leaving for 4H Poultry Competition in Tifton. This is the first year that they have participated, so we'll see how much they've learned. Tough stuff, these competitions...