.( Hee he...I escaped the 40 flamingos in the front yard on my 40th today )

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(to join the fun head on over to Carol's Weekly Wrap-up , go HERE )

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 From the Heart:

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This week has been real good.  If you read last weeks WWU then you will read  who Essie is.  I have been soooooo blessed by her.  She is not someone who is fleeting and short lived in our lives.  She has been apart of our lives for a few years now and I can see being a permenant ( Lord willing) apart of our lives.  I love her like a daughter and hope some day that she will be.  My first ds is courting her.  It is a beautiful relationship and is everything I have prayed for my son to have.  I feel like she is a gift from God and thank the Lord for her constantly.  This is a part that many hs moms dont blog much about but I think I will try to share in the near future what the Lord has taught us. 

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Essie and I have had a lot of fun together.  She has been such a blessings in all the help she has given the last week.  Each morning we started the day with weeding and talking for a hour in the strawberry beds.  We have shared our thoughts and feelings about so much.  What a blessing !

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On the Homefront:  

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Trying to keep up with the watering and weeding.  Plus working on decluttering and cleaning the house. 

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In The Garden:

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Water, water, water, weed , weed , weed.    We need to tie up a few more pea fences and finish weeding the strawberry beds.  We are now eating snow peas from the garden and huckle berries are starting to happen.  We are also  getting lots of strawberries still.

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Bible: 

We are almost done with reading and discussing "Created For Work" by Bob Shultz .

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My Boys Read Out Louds: 

  Luke ...is reading "By the Shores of Silver Lake" by L. Wilder

 Noah... is reading Farmer Boy.  

 Nicolas.... is working his way through SSR&W books.  

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 Our Read Aloud :

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The Young Fur Traders by ... R.M. Ballantyne

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In The Craft Corner: 

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I have been having a blast beading and creating wirework with Essie .  I am learning a ton of new skills  right now. 

Here is a sample of what I have done (on Tuesday I will share how to edit your photos like this for free !) ...

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In the Kitchen: 

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I didn't get to the bagels yet that I posted about last week.  Maybe this week or the next.  I did make the greek style yogart that Tina mentioned on one of her Tightwad Tuesdays.  You line a colander with a cloth or clean coffee filter drain over a bowl for the day and you have the consistancy of sour cream.  This is soooooo cool that it works and is EASY.    Handsome used it in my birthday cheese cake instead of sour cream.  That was such a blessing b/c that I could make it from goats milk.  My 2ds is allergic to cows milk products.  Plus it saved me A LOT of money.  Goat milk products are very expensive and hard to find so making them myself makes life easier. 

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There is the reflections and ramblings for this week.

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I hope you are having fun this summer.  This last week has been a lot of fun for me.  My 1ds girl Essie is spending a couple weeks with us and I am loving all the girl time I am getting.  This is so fun for me b/c I am surrounded by males and to have someone else who has the same intrests as I do and we are having a blast doing it together.  Essie and I went bead shopping on Tuesday and we have been playing with the new beads we bought and I got a really neat book to learn all kinds of neat new techniques for wirework.  I want to show off a bracelet I made last night.  I will show some more pics tomorrow of our week tomorrow on Weekly Wrapup. Sooooo here it is...

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Now if you want to join us in the fun of Show and Tell Friday  just....

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~Make a Show and Tell Post and make sure it is wholesome.  It can be pretty much what ever you want to share.  It could be about you ...or your family ....or what is going on in your homeschooling.

~Some how link me ( Mary @ Raising 4 Godly Men or Canadagirl ) so others will know where to go to join S&T.

~Come back to me and let me know you posted your S&T by clicking on the Mister Linky Graphic and using your exact URL to your Show and Tell Post.   ( I need you  to tell me each week that you want to participate, okay ?  )

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~If you want the S&T button to put on your blog go HERE

~Then

" please go visit other gals wonderful Show and Tells !  Oh,  don't forget to comment.  EVERYONE  loves comments."

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  *Click onto the Mister Linky graphic below and link away.  And to view other Show and Tell participants also click on the Mister Linky graphic to see all the links.

Hi All !

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Life is full but good.  Yesterday Essie and I got a girls day out and had a lot of fun.  I had all kinds of stores in mind to go to but only made it to a few.  We went to the three places I like to go bead shopping.  I am very excited b/c I got a bead kit that was soooooooo neat.  I will be learning all kinds of wire work that I have been really want to learn and it came with some pretty green and blue beads that I will be learning with.  We also dropped some necklaces off that at the store that sells my beaded bookmarks and jewelery.  It made me feel very good when the gals at the store were very excited about my necklaces.  I have been needing some encouragement in this department.  Plus the book that came in the beading kit got me so pumped to learn all kinds of new things.  We also looked at the mall and I ended up buying a skirt on clearence.  Maybe I will modle after Essie take some pics. ( she is a budding photographer !)  

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Today is Canada Day and we plan weed the strawberry bed , clean the house for my mom and brother ,( who are showing upo Saturday) I am hoping to squeaze in some beading, and we are going to town and watch the fireworks over the lake.  It is always such a pretty show and we have GREAT weather this year to see it.  My 1ds hasn't been feeling well (he has been fighting a fever) plus two other boys and I are at the tail end of this yucky cold.  So I hope all will feel good and have lots of energy for tonight. 

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Well, that is all for my Canada Day ramblings. 

Blessings and ((HUGS))

In Him<><

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A Dirt Cheap Cake [0;

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I had to share a family tradition for birthday cake of my boys choices.  I saw this a few years back and it has been a hit ever sense.  It is a Mud Cake.  I make a chocolate cake and add cocoa powder to the frosting to make it look like dirt and decorate it with gummy worms  and oreo cookie crumbs to give it that extra dirt look.   I even cut some worms and poke them in and out of the frosting to look like they are crawling in and out of it, lol.  It is a hit !

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I got a email from my friend jenn4him and she shared with me a neat tip !  A free ebook give away.  Go check it out.  "Thriving On Less ...Simplifying In a Tough Economy" by  Leo Babauta.

To join in the fun of Tightwad Tuesday....

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  To link your TWT post click on the Mister Linky graphic and give exact the URL of your post.   (each Tuesday that  you join in on the fun)  

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Also see these WONDERFUL Tightwad Tips click on the Mister Linky graphic and click away to visit all the TWT tips.

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example of a URL ...

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Canadagirl/693425/

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  Now go ahead link and read and comment on all these other's wonderful TWT's. 

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 Lets save our pennies, nickles, dimes, and dollars  together !

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"There are only a few big ways to save money but there are many small ways ....that all adds up."

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(to join the fun head on over to Carol's by clicking the graphic)

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 From the Heart:

 I have been busy getting ready for our special guest who showed up on Friday night.  I have been given permission to let the cat out of the bag.  My 1ds's friend who is visiting is his girl that he is courting her.  We affectionaltely call her Essie.  I am very excited to have some girl time with her and get to know her better for the next two weeks.  Also there is  going to be a big celebration happening on Saturday for my 40th birthday.   Shhhh I didn't say that. [0;    I can't wait till Saturday b/c my mom and older brother will be showing up too.  They will be visiting for a couple of days. 

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Ohhh I cannot for get to share that my 3ds is turning 11 on Moday ! There will be a candy treasure hunt with the cousins and cake and ice cream.  Plus on Tuesday's and Wednesday's  I look after 3 boys so we will have some kind of treasure hunt too and a cake too.  Ohhh to make it a week of Celebrations we will be going to the Canada Day fireworks on Wednesday night.

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On the Homefront:  

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It has been sunny for the last couple of days so we got some things done in the garden.  But when it was raining I got lots done on purging, organizing, and pitching in the Learning Room. ( I still have more to do  before my mom and brother show up.)    I even found things I have been wondering where in the world it had gone.  

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In The Garden:

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We replanted summer and winter squash that didn't make it.  Plus  our friend Essie and I tied up the peas and cleaned up the  swiss chard plants that we are letting go to seed. ( it takes two years to go to seed) and we are almost done transplanting the two types of basil. 

In the School Room:

I don't know if it will be happening or not but I am hoping my brother will show us how to make soap this week end. 

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There is reading, a bit of math, a lot of delight directed studies, and swim practice at the beach this summer.

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Bible: 

 discussing "Created For Work" by Bob Shultz .

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My Boys Read Out Louds: 

  Luke ...is reading "By the Shores of Silver Lake" by L. Wilder

 Noah... is reading Farmer Boy.  

 Nicolas.... is working his way through SSR&W books and  BOB Books. 

 Our Read Aloud :

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The Young Fur Traders by ... R.M. Ballantyne 

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and for fun we are also reading " Taggerung" by Brian Jacques.

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Nature Study:

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We didn't get much done with all the cleaning and having friends over.  We need to set a day and let the rest be naturally found. 

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In The Craft Corner: 

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 I am knitting a new pair of socks,  NEED to finish second gauntlet (before Essie leaves in two weeks) and I am starting to knit these real neat scarves for presents.  They knit up real quick and easy.  The socks and scarves are what I call no brainer projects.  I can knit them without counting and much thought. ( very therapeutic for this busy mama )  The guantlets I have to count and pay attention.   Because of this I tend to knit these when I am not chatting with anyone or when kids would need me.

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In the Kitchen: 

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This week I want to make some no fat bagels  that I got from  Kristen's blog. 

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Mother Culture:( for definition go HERE ) 

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I took a momentary break from my other books to read one of my friend's new books.

"Treasures of Darkness finding a Hope Stronger Than Our Hurts" by Esther Mannuel.    go see her other books HERE

There is the reflections and ramblings for this week.

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I have to show you what God surprised me with this week in my garden.  I wasn't even the first to discover it.  Handsome my hubby found it and asked me if I saw it.  I have a old wagon filled with Hens and Chicks catus plants.  I have only had it for a couple of years now and it has filled up the wagon and is desperately needing to be thinned out.   But something very special happened.... one bloomed !   I didn't know it could. I knew some catus' bloomed but I didn't know these did. 

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  I am very proud of my picture.  I am hoping over the next year to take my picture taking to a new level.  I love anything that has a creative and has a artistic twist.  Taking pictures is for sure one of them.  If anyone has hung around my blog long enough they will find out how I almost don't feel like it is a complete post without a picture in it.  So .... here it is.

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Now if you want to join us in the fun of Show and Tell Friday  just....

.
~Make a Show and Tell Post and make sure it is wholesome.  It can be pretty much what ever you want to share.  It could be about you ...or your family ....or what is going on in your homeschooling.

~Some how link me ( Mary @ Raising 4 Godly Men or Canadagirl ) so others will know where to go to join S&T.

~Come back to me and let me know you posted your S&T by clicking on the Mister Linky Graphic and using your exact URL to your Show and Tell Post.   ( I need you  to tell me each week that you want to participate, okay ?  )

.
~If you want the S&T button to put on your blog go HERE

~Then

" please go visit other gals wonderful Show and Tells !  Oh,  don't forget to comment.  EVERYONE  loves comments."

.

  *Click onto the Mister Linky graphic below and link away.  And to view other Show and Tell participants also click on the Mister Linky graphic to see all the links.