Yipeee!

My new place:

www.thesunnysideoftheroom.blogspot.com

(you may need to copy and paste the link. I am having trouble clicking over from here to there.)

 Please come visit and say, "hi!"

The computer is fixed and I look forward to getting back to blogging. My amazing tech savvy friend, is helping me set up my new place over at blogspot. [Thanks RJ!]

Thanks to all who checked in to see how things were going. It's been a 'busier than we planned' kind of summer. It always is, and I'm alway's surprised.

The six of us are heading out on our last summer trip before we hit the books, so to speak. I hope to put up a blog post this weekend of our trip.

Happy September!

Dana

My laptop headed into the shop Friday and I won't see it for maybe 6 weeks. Our other computer is a slow old dinosauer. So you won't hear from me for awhile. I hope to be back after school is planned and we have a few vacation's in the photo album.

Happy Summer!

Blueberry Cobbler 

Blueberry Muffin's

Purple & Red potatos from the garden

Blue dresses (made by Aunt Diane) & Pink castles (made by Dad, Mom and Little Miss)

* Plant garden

* Prep summer clothes

* Wipe down outdooor furniture

* Tables on big grass

* Runs in the cool,  warm wind morning

* Summer tunes set on the ipod

* Smells of baseball in the heat

* Late evening hang outs with the kids

* Fresh Salsa

* Apricots and zuccinni

Pictures::

J fly fishing on the Tuolumne River,

Z making friends

S working on her stroke with her sweet friend,

C preparing to make a big splash

RIVERBEND RANCH CHARITY CARNIVAL

Mark the 13^th of June!

It's carnival time again!

  "Someday we need to stop there on our way home."

And so we did.

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And had too much chocolate for dinner

It has been busy. We haven't been doing much laying around.

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We've been flexing our muscles

and exercising our brains.

~studied about and painted red onions

Celebrating home runs

and lives of dear ones.

It's been a little crazy.

But we've managed to keep it together. ~ Cousins at Easter

 I took an unintentional blog break.

I have made a few attempts to blog but homeschoolblogger is a bit primitive compared to some of the other sites. They are promising improvements …. I have yet to see any. For now I’ll stay here because this season is way too busy to even think about moving.

Easter is fast approaching.

Time to think baskets.  Time to think consumable gifts that are both smart and economical.

If you are looking for sweet, fun gifts for both adults and chidren, you must check out www.bugsoap.com. Kate has whipped up some creamy soaps, in different scents and colors. She has delicious lip balms and body butters too. I love that the ingredients she uses are good for us. No mineral oil or other unsafe, unhealthy ingredients.

Go check out Bug Soap. Love it!

Little Miss was beyond words when she sat down to her first tea this past weekend. When given the choice between a peanut butter and jelly or a marshmellow and peanut butter sandwhich, she looked at me with the, "Is this for real? Peanut Butter and marshmellow? Well, I never!"

When the beautiful little plate arrived, with a heart shaped pb & m sandwhich dusted in pink sugar, she leaned over and asked, "Is this all for me?" Yes it was, including the tea pot of apple juice, of which she proudly states she drank two whole cups.

She thought to dress herself and her doll Liberty to match.

 Too sweet for words.

Ever have that feeling that yesterday was really today because it all happened so fast?

Hmmm? Yes? K.

Then you know where I have been. Or was.

Thankfully, I take photographs of these times, so I know they really happened yesterday and not today.

This past week we had two bonus kids. A smiley 9 month old and a giggly, almost 2 year old. My kids stepped up to help, and the extra work required to care for these precious two was spread amongst the 6 of us. My Mom called today to do a sanity check – hehe. I explained that I am no crazier for a Friday than usual. We just had a week of a little less of that and more of this ….

During the warmer part of the day, the guy's played outdside the kitchen window while I did dinner prep.

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Little Miss was jazzed to have a volunteer for dress up.

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Books before nap.

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And there was never a shortage of help.

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Thanks to their Mom and Dad, our tropic's lovin' friends for lettin' us love on your kids this week!

Windsor, CA

December 2008

And then the very next day ….

make my pulse race.

I haven’t got a clue as to where the past few weeks have gone since we arrived home from Hawaii. It took a bit to find the groove, but this week looks to be promising. We’re staying home for Thanksgiving, having Mike’s parents and Grandma for dinner. Mike and I cook up the meal together, usually with kids popping in and out to help. It’s become a favorite of mine, cooking with my man. Good Times!

What else?

• Mike and the boys planted winter onions.
• We need a good hard frost! The flies are awful. Nothing new though. Happens every year.
• I happened upon this recipe for persimmon cookies and have decided I love them! This recipe yields moist plump cookies, not hard dry ones like the ones I had in the past. The kids are attempting a second picking in the above picture, but it seems Dad will have to help them with a ladder.
•  Keepin’ school going and trying to plan the holidays.
• I’m all about dinner right now. Obsessing over the perfect soup. Or soups.
• Making broth,  lots of broth from the last of the garden vegetables.
• Even with our warm, afternoon fall weather, the mornings are still in the 40’s. Mike’s back in his routine of starting a fire before he leaves for work, so the kids and I wake up to a cozy family room, where we start our day in the Word.   
• Lastly, I about fell off the couch today with tears in my eyes, laughing at the boy’s who were rolling with laughter themselves, as I read Farmer Boy and poor Little Miss was clueless.  She just kept saying, “ Wait. What? Read that again. I don’t get it. ….. Oh, yes, that is funny! Isn’t that funny? Ha, Ha, Ha. That’s the funny part, right? Ha, Ha, Ha. Funny? Yes? Wait, I don’t think I get it.”

Happy Thanksgiving Week Everyone! Bake On!

Cousin R (third from the left), is a favorite in this family.

He loves fire trucks.  

J knew just what to read for a bedtime story.

Watch Cousin R's face as J reads, The Fire Cat.

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Books are the treasured wealth of the world

and the fit inheritance of generations and nations.
Henry David Thoreau

Karin eventually returned in 2003 which happened to be when Little Miss was born, and again she was a huge blessing.

She has returned every year since to visit not only blood relatives but also all of us (Mike’s family, siblings included), her second family.

This year she brought along her fiancé Wolfgang and his son Jonie. Wolfgang is a landscaper by profession and has the most infectious laugh. He’s the kind of guy that looks for the one unfamiliar item on a menu and orders it. Or climbs a mountain just to see the sun rise. He’s a gem. We all loved him as well as his son. I voted to be the one to take them shopping and introduce them to my favorite Taco Truck.

Yes, it was the least I could do.

While he was here on the ranch, he wove together my (picked too early by some well meaning boys) onions and hung them on the backporch, saving them from a rotting existence.

But now herein is the coolest part:

Wolfgang can play tunes on a leaf. Part whistle sounding, part kazoo. And when I say tune, I’m not saying random musical notes. He can play recognizable songs!

Now check this out:

The man made a whistle out of a walnut branch!

Here's a closer up of Z blowing his.

I had to yell for Mike so he could see how it was done.

That's Karin interpreting for Wolfgang when things got too detailed. 

Little Miss loudly blowing her whistle.

The story continues with Wolfgang catching crickets with the boys and luring fish with them. Forget those fancy lures in their tackle boxes. But that's for another day.

 Wolfgang and Karin are getting married next January, and we hope they make their honeymoon destination America. 

Auf Wiedersehen!

We'll miss you!

Well, my Dad and Stepmom drove off into the morning sunlight this morning. We had a fabulous week of hunting, thrifting, eating, watching baseball, and Swiss Family Robinson.

The weather was warm but not too hot and the evenings were cool enough for dinners on the patio. (Some breakfasts too.)

Hunting

The boys are completely fascinated by my Dad’s love of hunting. J is constantly peppering him with questions.

Mid week my kids were out pretending to hunt and my Dad decided to join them. Somehow, the hunting game turned into a how-to hunt and how-to act like the animal being hunted, let’s say a deer. So in the 35 acres we live on, the kids were stalking their Grandpa carrying play guns and shouting “bang, bang”. So then the kids would take turns being an elk, or a cougar or a deer. You get the picture. It was a hoot. Although, when my Dad was out in the orchards, out-gaming the hunters, he did look a bit too much like a stalker and at one point had me freaked out, ready to call the sheriff until I realized it was him.

A homeschooling mom friend of mine asked me if we had started school yet and I said no because with church family camp and then family here we thought it better to start the 14^th. I then proceeded to explain this hunting thing my kids were playing with their Grandpa. She assured me this would fall under animal science and I had in fact started school. Excellent. I love friends like that.

Thrifting

Jackpot! Holy Moly! 28 books - $.57 a piece!!

as well as other goodies. But the books took the cake. Most were on my ‘someday to buy’ booklist and most didn’t have the spine broken.

Baseball

Yep more up-dates to come. The boys are playing in a fall league and had their first game this past Tuesday. They lost 7-11 but gained experience playing on a field with a longer distance from pitcher to home, evening sun-in-your-eyes trying to catch a fly ball, and learning the feel of a different park.

Swiss Family Robinson

Grandpa Dean thought it a crime that the kids had not seen Swiss Family Robinson. So last night we all hunkered down for the 1960’s something flick and peach cobbler.

Now it’s back to a routine and a bit more schedule planning so we can kick our school year into high gear come Monday. It’s been a great summer and I’m not willing to say fall is here yet – but in two weeks, when Mike starts shaking the walnut trees I may just have to face reality. Until then I’ll keep working on my tan.

He was playing outside yesterday and a wasp flew down and nabbed him just above the eyebrow.

I apple cidered, lavendered and roman chamomiled to take the sting and on coming itch away. But ice wouldn't keep the swelling at bay. His eye was swollen and open when he went to bed, but when he awoke this is how he looked.

Little Miss took one look at him and covered her mouth to stifle her laugh. C's been a trooper. The Doctor said Benydr*el and ice are our best bet. We tried Benydr*el with no real luck.

Things will be quiet around here for a few weeks as we get in our last few fishing & camping trips before we start school, and piano, and acrobats, and baseball & soccer games.

Phew!

I need a vacation!