Hi Laura, I’ve been following your blog for some time off and on. I try to catch up on your posts once a week or so.
Right now I’m listening to the dishwasher wasing our dinner dishes. We’ve been out of detergent for some time and have recruited the manual labor of our girls to help keep up with the dishes :)… but I’m really thankful to have my servant back in service.
I’m also listening to my almost 6month old baby sitting in her Jumperoo… she loves it! I got it off of Craigslist for $20.00. She gets so much enjoyment from it, sometimes going absolutely nuts jumping up and down.
Today I worked on reorganizing my neglected home binder. Hopefully I can be more consistent in using it this time around.
Thanks for all the wonderful stuff you post. Have a blessed day.

We returned late last night from camping on Lake Michigan. Today I am doing loads and loads of laundry, unpacking and cleaning everything that went with us, except for the dog – he’s too tired to even eat!

Last week we went blueberry picking and I froze about 12 cups of berries for smoothies, muffins, etc. for the winter – not nearly enough, so we will go back for more this week. I also made jam and will probably make preserves this week.

We picked apples last week and I will be making applesauce and pie filling this week.

I cut up 40 cups of zucchini last week and I have at least that much to do this week.

I really hope to put the finishing touches on our church directory this week.

I homeschool our twins, but we wait until the week after Labor Day to start school. We spend the week of Labor Day going places like the zoo and the park – where the school children are not!

Sorry this is long – I needed a break from all the work I have going on today. After all I am still tired from camping for 4 days.

BTW – I made your Applesauce Bread last week and it was a big hit and a new entry in ‘Our Favorite Recipes’ book.

I’m currently vacationing with my children at my parents in Vermont on a beautiful lake. It’s so peaceful here.

My feet hurt because I’ve been doing a lot of walking and I need new sneakers that don’t give me blisters…

I miss my husband who is home working on projects around the house that are more easily acomplished when we (our four children and I) aren’t at home.

I am enjoying doing a lot of reading that I sometimes don’t get to at home. I am currently reading “From Clutter to Clarity” by Nancy Twigg.

I love all your posts especially the posts about food and recipes.

More recently we spent time with my in-laws, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary yesterday and the entire family was able to be there for it… There are 6 children, spouses, and over 20 grandchildren so with just family it was a party…

Around home I have been trying to gear up for Fall and a new routine!!! I am trying to be more mindful about the time that I spend with my daughter during the day, I catch myself saying “Mommy does not have time right now…” all to often, but I am a SAHM why do I not have time for her? I am planning to start some real informal preschool stuff with her.. some of her peers are already starting preschool this fall and since we are home schooling I thought we might as well start with a short but constant routine that we can add to as time goes by…. (I am hoping that by easing into a school schedule I will figure out what works best for us… what we can stick to…

Lastly I just built a desk in a spare closet in our home and created a craft space for myself!!! I am very excited it turned out perfect….

Thank you for your blog… I am really enjoying your getting real with food series…

It’s great when it’s such a good friend that you know they will not see ‘mess’ but see that life has been happening in your house.

Looking forward to trying some of your recipes – especially the graham crackers seeing as I have no idea what they are! (We don’t have them here. I’ve been told they are like a type of digestive biscuit.)

And what have we been up to? Well we are trying to discover a way to help our two eldest understand that continually teasing their little sister is not acceptable, and to explain to her that annoying her older brother and sister is equally unacceptable. Any hints?

You have inspired me to follow the Nourishing Traditions book (my current favorite book :) for about 3 months now. Lots of fun experiments have been done in my kitchen this week–buttermilk, sourdough starter, bean soaking etc.

This has been a busy week! My military husband has been working longer hours due to an upcoming exercise…poor guy! Thank heavens it will be over in just a few days!

My children (son, 4, and daughter, 20 months) have been sleeping through the night without waking me up/crying out! I haven’t had this much sleep in a LONG TIME! I am extremely grateful for this:)(Last week was a ROUGH week, sleepwise)

Also, i discovered a lovely yarn store near my house that offers free knitting and crocheting lessons!

Right now, i am trying to plan our meals for the week~that will probably be tweaked tomorrow when i get to the farmers’ market…

Thank you~and the other lovely commenters~for all of the inspiration!!!
MarnieB.