Weekending

Our weekend was full, filled with time outside the home and time spent together inside the home.

Saturday was 4H with friends for a practice day then grabbing some lunch and heading for a short swim at a pool with friends too. Thunder and Lightning off in the distance made for a short swim, but fun to spend time with friends none the less.

Sunday was quiet...some morning devotions, prayers, animal feedings and chores. Our son announced he would like to bake something and rummaged around until he found chocolate chips so with my help we baked chocolate chip muffins. Momma made another loaf of banana bread...his breakfast of choice lately. We all kept cool from the heat, taking some quiet time to read. After lunch we ventured to the library with nearly over due books and picked up new books...

We brought home...

Medicinal Herbs

Wild Edibles

Mushroom Identification

Log homes

The big book of Parrots

Country Living

Lego Chima

Avatar Comic Book

Naruto 

Vegetarian Times Magazine 

 In the eve I cooked dinner -Lentil Curry over rice with home made Naan bread. And after dinner we took a nature walk...bringing the mushroom identification book our son choose because he had seen some mushrooms growing on the side of a tree near our home.

 Blueberry Muffin Recipe - - Replaced 1 cup of blueberries with 1 cup of Chocolate Chips! Yumm

and Eggless too! 

Red-Lentil-Curry Recipe
(we added chopped carrots and potatoes to the recipe too)

Good Morning Beautiful MONDAY...

Blessings to you and your families this week what ever it may bring.

{this moment}

Our moment..flashback...2 years ago

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{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual.  Capturing a moment from the week (2 years ago). A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

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Linking to Soule Mama 

 A few years ago..we had a puppy..a few years ago our children were younger...how time does go by so very fast. Cherishing the wondering memories in my mind and heart and the wonderful photos I remembered to take to capture those moments.

This Week

This week has been somewhat slow and slow down is good. Rain over the weekend made it a great time to clean, be outdoors in the cooler weather and get some outdoor work done. Monday hubbie took off of work and we all headed to the river come eve for a picnic dinner, swimming and star gazing. We tried a new recipe of 'Tuna' Sandwiches minus the Tuna (see below). Tuesday brought 4H and a late night at home family movie (Divergent) with kids getting into bed at nearly midnight. As hubbie and I celebrate our 15 year anniversary this week we escaped for a movie date (we saw Lucy) at the theater which we couldn't even remember the last time we had been to the movie theater- we laughed about it because when we were dating that was pretty much our go to date was the movies. It was a nice outing just the two of us...movie then picked up dinner to bring home to the kids so we could all eat together. Now its laundry day, work day, clean up day...and sneaking in a little board game and chess fun too.

Looking forward to a fun friday and weekend as our daughter has a sleep over with a friend, we get some one on one time with our son and we venture to a small stock animal practice for 4H to prep for the upcoming Fair.

Rain

It's 7:00am in the morning...the dogs rose early beckoning me out of bed at 5:00am. They didn't seem to realize it is Saturday and I have no work this morning and no reason to get out of bed while it is still dark out. But yet they are always accustom to routine so very rarely do I get to sleep in on a weekend morning. Thunder already rolling in the skies and one shoot of lightening was more than enough to make our big dog assume there was rain although there was not. So out she did not go. Whining at the door way putting her brakes on. I stepped out and coaxed her outdoors and shut the door behind me. A few hours later now, the children still sleep, hubbie is not yet home from working night shift and the thunder increases. I take the pups again outside to snap a few photo's of the coming rain clouds. I notice it is wonderfully cooler is it outside than indoors. I believe this calls for some outdoor work...quickly while I still can before it down pours. Thank you Lord for the coolness of today- the breeze blowing from outside to in is definitely a blessing from the heat we have been experiencing.

Weekending ahead...

big plans to...clean, tidy, animal cage clean, bake banana bread, get lost in a few good books, play some board games- monopoly and chess, enjoy family time, enjoy the cool rain while we can.

 Enjoy your weekend all, whatever it may bring!

{this moment}

. . . . . . . . .

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

. . . . . . . . . .

Linking to SouleMama 

 Goofy, silly, extraordinary, smart, playful, kind, loving - our son.

4H, Park Play, Nearby Fire

Over the weekend our daughter had a 4H event, a challenge day to complete written tests, demonstrations with friends...to learn and have fun. She had a friend stay the night and the girls stayed up until the wee hours...and our son got a sleep over with me although none of us got much sleep! Come Monday feeling not very rested up our daughter again ventured to another sleepover at a different friends house...so thankful for close friendships she has formed. She's a bit sad though because this one friend is moving very soon. Dropping her off, our son and I went to the park as the storm clouds rolled in and the winds got heavier we headed home. That eve a rain and lightning storm came. My camera just couldn't snap them quick enough...but it was as if it was right outside our window dancing. Amazing. We both watched for nearly thirty minutes at it all. This morning momma rising early with the pups I saw the field next door had bales of hay on fire..I almost thought of calling the fire department as the dogs paced the fence line and whined as it was so close since I did not see any people or vehicles near...until finally behind the corner tree and bush I did see truck lights and felt relief. What a scary initial thought of a fire being so close. Tonight brings more 4H and our daughter coming home....everyone to bed as early as is possible then recouping and relaxing tomorrow.

 5am and flames...

 By 8am they were burning much less..

A step back in Time

Usually going to the library on Friday or Saturday each week we missed it this week so we ventured there yesterday. We could not go a whole week without a trip...and there were books due...books waiting on hold. There is excitement knowing you have a long awaited book on the hold shelf ready to be picked up. Therefore, off we went to gather them up. A few Lego building books for our son, science books for both the children, a history and grammar book for our daughter, along with a few history video's - "How the States got their Shapes" and "10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America".

And then Momma got a book too. I've read it before and loved it and felt it was the right time to read it again, revisit the adventures, the hardships. A family of 3 that makes a huge decision to leave the city of New York to live their life as if in 1900 for one year, for four seasons...growing their own food, they have a horse and wagon, cooking food on the wood stove, no electricity. It is inspiring both the hard times and the joys they experience. It is inspirational to me personally to just look at our current life and simplify, to concentrate on whats most important, to find ways daily to get personal with mother nature, with hard physical work, with self sufficiency. These skills are becoming a lost trade yet so important.

 The afternoon was enjoyable...hubbie sleeping...both kids laying on the couch reading, Momma on the couch reading...pups sleeping. Quiet. Taking a break from my book I had heard of two shows on PBS, Frontier House and 1900 House and decided to check out the first episode of Frontier House. Both kids put down the reading for a bit to watch the episode. Both discussed the clothing, what they thought would be hard, what they could live without. It was a good show to open some discussions...we'll have to wait another episode or two to see if we are going to really like the 'show' though.

Daydreaming again...look at this recently found gorgeous land. 20 acres, 8 of tree's and the rest of pasture. A creek year round. Lovely and breathtaking.

May you enjoy the week ahead and concentrate on the important things in life...not the busy hustle and bustle but family and simplicity.