Friday, July 30, 2010

Peaches!

Yes, two posts today! I have a mile-long list of things I want to post and it would be ages before this made it in, so here it is!

Two bits of housekeeping first:

- My links are finally finished! Click on that cute framed flower at right and you'll be directed to my inspiring links. I've also begun adding some favorite resource links at the bottom of that if you are interested.

- Blog categories have finally all been updated! Yeah! I'm relieved to have things easier to find, more streamlined, less categories. Hope you like it too! There were a few categories that I kept but did not list in the sidebar - they are linked up with a photo further down the sidebar for your ease of navigating to Handcrafted Christmas, Proverbs 31 crafts and Fruit of the Spirit study for preschoolers.

Now, on to the inspiration from yesterday ....

God's beautiful creations are delivered to my door in surprise this week!
What a blessing to enjoy these sweet beauties!

As I'm peeling off the skin and revealing the flesh - I'm thinking of all kinds of spiritual applications. I'm eager as can be to take some pictures of these - God's beautiful creations and generous provision to us.

Nineteen quarts are now waiting canning in my fridge ~ waiting because I'm terrified of bugs and the canner was in the shed. I must wait for brave hubby to get home and do battle with the bugs for my enamel pot!



Meanwhile, lots of reflecting going on over all the peeling, peeling, peeling and pitting. Slicing the juicy flesh in half and filling the clear jars. My hands are scented with the peachy perfume for hours afterwards.

I don't know why I like photographing fruit so much! But, it is just so photogenic. I'm an amateur at best - but enjoy the process and the results!

Beauty so inspires me - and delights me - and refreshes me - and energizes me!
What does that for you?

Fun Snack!

My Mom and I used to go out shopping/thrifting and this was one of our favorite lunches! We often do it again when I'm in town out of the fun memories and tradition of the event - we go to Fazoli's and order breadsticks and Coke! YUM!

What a fun memory with my Mom!
And, now one that I can share with my own children!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Camp Grammie & Pepaw!

My girls have been asking and asking to go camping! And, we knew we wanted to make this work while in Colorado, however - my mom suggested camping out in the backyard for starters until they got a bit older. This worked out great! Enjoy the photos!

The tent is ready for camping! The smell of the material and the sound of
the zipper brought back so many memories from my childhood!

A happy little camper and her pink elephant!

Another happy little camper!

Our faithful cook!

Have you ever done this? For as long as I can remember when we camped,
my Dad cooked the baked beans right in the can!

My beautiful Mom!

Dinner table - love how we used all of the picnic cloths, dishes and silverware!

My Dad heated water on the grill for us to wash dishes; just like camping!

The boys!

Emily's turn doing dishes.

We went for a "hike" down the alley and around the neighborhood!

Did you ever make a sit-upon in Girl Scouts? This is one I made when I was a little girl!

No camp fires allowed in backyards of Colorado!
So, we went inside to toast some marshmallows for S'mores!

After S'mores - we popped popcorn too!

Then it was time to get pj's on and snuggle up in the tent to read stories by the lantern light!
It got down to a cozy 56 degrees that night - heaven for the heat-weary southerners!
It was Samuel's first experience out of a crib and he tried so hard to be good, but he was curious! And, he heard every sound! As I whispered to him to lay down we heard, "Ok, Mama" many times that night! Once, he popped up his head and said, "(gasp) I hear woo-woo (that's a siren) Mama!"

In the morning, my mom hid little boxes of cereal and juice for a Scavenger Hunt like we had done as Girl Scouts!

And, we made pancakes (with help of our outdoor electricity), Rachel thought this pan looked like the "spider" Ma Ingalls used to cook on out on the prairie.

Have you ever camped out in your back yard?

Monday, July 26, 2010

We're Home!

Good Morning, Ladies!

I did not intend to take a week off from posting here - but that is the way things worked out! We arrived safely home - had a great drive visiting family and seeing our beautiful country!

Rachel has celebrated her fourth birthday and I have so many ideas swimming around of things to share here.

A few things I've been thinking about:

~ home schedule; what activities outside the home to add in
~ chores with our children; cultivating a good work ethic
~ TV/Screen time; what limits are we going to choose to set on this
~ homeschooling preparations
~ creating a house of prayer
~ mulling over recent reads
~ pondering, enjoying, loving and living

I'll look forward to sharing more with you soon! I still have Colorado things to share!

Before I close for today, there will be one change that you'll notice in this place - I'm going to reduce my posting to Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sometimes I will have more than enough ideas for only three posts a week - but I'm going to try this and see how it works out.

If you are a faithful visitor/commenter here - I am thankful for you! And, appreciate that you take some of your valuable and precious time to visit this community. It is a blessing to me.

Have a great day!
Monica

Monday, July 19, 2010

Happy Fourth!















Friday, July 16, 2010

Colorado Beauty




A few glimpses of beauty we've seen!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Street Breakfast

Another fun thing we did was attend the 50th Annual Street Breakfast! I'd done this a couple of times, but it had been years! They block off streets downtown, haul in the bales of hay and cook up lots of pancakes! This is also the beginning of the Range Ride - so lots of horses and cowboys can be seen as well! We had a great time!!