Living Liturgically Through Nature

  Some days you wake up overwhelmed and all you see is the mountain in front of you that seems impossible to climb. Sometimes you just can’t get past the next thing that needs to be done because the list seems endless. Nothing stays clean or orderly and life is messy. But sometimes you wake [...]

Read Full Post »

An Impromptu Art Lesson

My son has been taming a cat. Well, more an adorable fuzzy little ball of black fur kitten. He’s the runt of the country kittens living under our porch. And he’s not doing well. He’s being pushed out by the others and not allowed to feed. He’s learned to trust us, especially Luc, as we’ve [...]

Read Full Post »

Things to be thankful for…deer legs and eggs

My son came home with a deer leg the other day. This momma about had a heart attack. He was so proud as he handed over this body part with exposed joint bone and clotted blood. “Can we keep it, mom?” eyes big as saucers he wanted to know as the others crowded around in [...]

Read Full Post »

Fall Break ~ Caterpillars and Remembering 9/11

We’ve been on fall break around here. For me that entails LOTS of extra cleaning and organizing around the house. (Have you noticed it’s been kind of quiet around here?) For the kids it has entailed caterpillars. You may remember our post about our monarch caterpillars? Well, after several died due to Tachinid fly parasites, [...]

Read Full Post »

Fall in the Meadow

It’s been rainy and dreary all week but the cool air is refreshing from the summer heat. Our windows are open. Our cinnamon candles are lit. And we are playing outside more. Even if it means having to clean the carpets of dragged in mud!!! Because, at the end of the day, who can resist [...]

Read Full Post »

Woodland Fairies

A certain pair of aunts heard me say dress up for gift ideas. Dress up conjures up cheap princess style dresses that start raveling at the seams right away and are made up of a conglomerate of synthetic fibers. Not these sisters! They have taste and class. I haven’t the faintest idea where they bought [...]

Read Full Post »

Roommates

Meet our new roommates…. Squirmy and Fred, our monarch caterpillars… and Dooky (don’t ask!), our salt marsh caterpillar. I was so excited to finally find some Monarch caterpillars. So looking forward to the exquisite jade green and gold chrysalis they make. By far my favorite caterpillar to keep and feed! Thank you, God, for the [...]

Read Full Post »

Less Screen Time

So I have in my head this great weekly wrap up on the rocks and minerals unit study we are doing right now. (Sorry, you’ll have to check back next week! But instead I spent much more time doing this… and this… and much less time on my computer. Life is good!

Read Full Post »

Small Town Hospitality in Swedeburg, Nebraska

This past Sunday I got a true taste of small town life in the country! What to do when someone invites you to a church picnic of a church you’ve never attended? Go, partake, and enjoy small town hospitality! It was a beautiful day. The smell of pulled pork tantalized the senses. And the music [...]

Read Full Post »

Camping in the front yard…

Sounds like a good idea, right? Ahhh…memories of my childhood…running around the backyard with friends until 3 in the morning…practical jokes that weren’t so funny to some…eating junk food by the bucketfuls. Glad to pass on the tradition. The kids were super excited tired and in pajamas, ready for bed by 6:30…amazing! Music by the [...]

Read Full Post »

Farm Fresh

The first sweet corn of the year off the farm in Nebraska. Thank you Matt at Melia Valley Gardens! Oh how lovely…shiny silk threads beckon…come…partake!!! My kids feasted in happiness, butter dripping down their chins. I literally had to hoard one piece away to save for the hubby when he got home from work. The [...]

Read Full Post »

Prairie Flora

As I drive around town in the cool of my air-conditioned van running errands I can’t help but notice the beauty by the side of the road. This colorful summer treat has been dear to my heart since I was a little girl picking dandelions. There is a soft spot in me for prairie flora…what [...]

Read Full Post »

Crockpot Peach Butter {and my favorite canning book}

I’m a bit sad to see strawberry season pass us by yet peaches are here and I am enjoying sweet juice dripping down the chin summer eating! Seasonal sales of 98 cents a pound beckon. But with so many peaches in house, ripe only lasts so long. What’s a girl to do? Make peach butter. [...]

Read Full Post »

Camp Wrap Up

Yep, I know…you are all very sad that these are the last of the 100′s of camp pictures posted! My turn at camp with Lilah Jane came.  Our time together was sweet, short and long all at the same time. Two days without my baby and I was sore and needing to nurse ever so [...]

Read Full Post »

More Camp Pictures

Here are my babies ready to take off for camp. I forgot to post them the other day. In fact, I forgot I even took them until sifting through my pictures. Gabe and Lily both used allowance money to buy cameras at the Camp Store. Unfortunately, what you are seeing are not those pics because [...]

Read Full Post »

A Week of Camp

My babies went to camp this week. It has been my first real week without them. Sure, they’ve spent the night at gram and pop’s house or their cousins. But one night is not a week! I was a nervous wreck. I tried properly preparing them last week with a training boot camp of learning [...]

Read Full Post »

Fresh Perspectives

What do you do when your work never leaves you? It is truly a blessing to be a stay-at-home mommy  yet sometimes the amount of work can start choking the life out of you. It is always there…always a constant. You do and do and do some more but there is always one more mess…one [...]

Read Full Post »

Canning No-Chunks, Kid-Friendly Strawberry Jam

Mmmmm….. I’m sitting here smelling strawberries simmering down on the stove top. There is no other smell like it in the world. I can only describe it as scrumptiously heavenly. The childhood memories it evokes…grandma’s house, strawberry shortcake dolls, summer playtime, childhood foraging…is probably as strong as the deliciousness of the smell. And today it [...]

Read Full Post »

Gardening Woes

May I just say that I suck at growing cilantro. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but there are no other words to describe it. This is the third year we’ve tried growing this supposedly easy-to-grow herb. The first year it died within the first month. I thought, ‘too much shade…more sun next year.’ The [...]

Read Full Post »

You Are What You Eat

They say you are what you eat. We joke about it with witty quips about not wanting to live till 100 if it means cutting out all the fun stuff. Until you see it literally staring you in the face. I first noticed it when I made a quiche out of the lovely free fresh [...]

Read Full Post »