A little more time!

So my blog, once again... Clearly fell by the wayside, we have since changed our lives a little bit though and spend less time mindlessly sitting at the computer or watching television. We fellowship more, we pray more, we sit down and talk as well as do Bible studies together. We are starting to spend more time outdoors exploring God's creation, and appreciating every little thing He does for us. We have learned to listen to Him and trust Him and it has brought about some major changes in our lives! My husband is no longer active duty Army, and even though we were dreaming of heading west, we prayed and listened and remain in the North Country, but we have moved a little further away from all the madness and closer to God and some amazing people! As I have been sitting here praying over many things lately, I have deciced that I want to continue sharing a little slice of our life with you. Hopefully I have more time to maintain this blog now that we are a little more unplugged from the mindless surfing. 

We are still homeschooling though on summer break currently; my husband has a great new job where he is in charge! I have become so close to our Lord and Savior and have officially accepted Him and devoted my life to him in which I was baptized last week! It was amazing! I will also embark on a new journey this fall in Grad school! So many positive changes! 

So stay tuned as we make so many changes to better our lives and join us in prayer over my educational journey, as well as the next step which will be finding our forever home in the next couple of years and building a small farm. We are taking things slow and know that God already has a plan, but prayers are always appreciated. 

"See" you soon and God Bless!

Yo-Crunch Pumpkin Pie Parfait

What can I say, I'm a "pumpkinhead!" I'm obsessed with all things pumpkin spice that come out during Autumn; I am pretty much drawn to anything in the store that has to do with pumpkins; and here is our latest find.

With only 120 calories when you use the topping (90 if you don't) this is a delightful guilt free snack. Let's face it, most fall and winter treats aren't exactly kind to our waistlines. I had been following Weight Watchers from January-September and I have successfully lost over 50lbs; October-December are my hardest months so I allow myself some slack, but if I am not careful I will put a lot of that weight back on! I'm happy to see there are healthier options out there now for some of my favorite flavors.

What is your favorite pumpkin spice goody or recipe?

John Hancock

We read about the declaration of independence today and we made a quill pen and some ink from berries. The boys really enjoyed this activity. It's quite simple if you'd like to try it yourself, simply cut the end of a feather at an angle and cut a slit in the point. Squeeze berries to get juice out into a small dish and add a little salt and white vinegar and stir well. Enjoy!

Give me butter!

Even before we started eliminating more and more processed foods, one thing we never ate (well at least for several years now) is margarine. We use BUTTER! It may have more fat but it is real! One of our lessons this week after learning bout the pilgrims was to make our own butter! I used a recipe from Fresh Eggs Daily (great blog, you should check it out.) as well as her buttermilk biscuit recipe because of course, when you make butter you also get fresh and delicious buttermilk! The boys made their own portions by shaking the cream and a bit of salt in baby food jars, they had a blast and really enjoyed eating something they made all on their own. I of course used my kitchenaid :)

If you have never made your own butter I suggest you give it a whirl at least once, there is nothing like it! And I shamefully have never made buttermilk biscuits from scratch and must say it will be the only way I will make them from now on!

Summer Break

I always do this, I always let my blogs fall into the black hole of the internet. Life gets busy though and my priorities are my children, not my social media. But I would like to take some time to revive this project so that I have something that even if only for a few minutes or a few times a week, is something I call mine. My life revolves around my husband and my sons; I am a homemaker after all and that IS my job. I take pride in it though and I love what I do, I however often forget to take time for myself. I usually do something mindless like watch a movie or play a computer game; I need that to change. I need to do more reading, and more writing! :) Here are a few goodies from this week, we toured the local cider mill yesterday and the boys were fascinated!

I hope you all had a great summer, we sure did! Ended it with a spontaneous trip to Mass for my birthday, toured Boston, Salem and caught a Red Sox game at Fenway! :) I will devote some posts to that separately. We also went camping and enjoyed the outdoors plenty. We are now back into homeschool full swing since Mid-August and all our fall activities are about to begin. I look forward to sharing more of our adventures with you!
Have a great day and God Bless!

So What Wednesdays

This week I am saying SO WHAT if...
I did nothing but enjoy this day with my children.
I have been doing so well this week that today I just said the heck with it and we went out for dinner, I did order of the Weight Watcher's menu!
I still can't stop thinking about Arizona!
My efforts with certain people are going unappreciated, at least I feel good about what I am doing and at the end of the day if you don't see the good in it then it sounds like a personal problem. Some people need to learn to stop living in the past!

And that's all I've got this week! hehe What are you saying SO WHAT to?

Fire Station - The ultimate boys' field trip!

So we met with a different homeschool group yesterday to attend a field trip at the fire station. First we met for a picnic and some playtime at the playground and then we proceeded to tour the fire station, complete with a round in the simulator trailer. My youngest wasn't entirely impressed but my 7 year old was absolutely loving it! The firefighters were very friendly and helpful, they talked to the kids about fire safety and when and when not to use 911; they showed them the different trucks and described the tools with them and answered questions. The children got a chance to hop onto the trucks and the ladder as well (when it was on the ground of course.) I was very pleased with the afternoon, my boys learned a lot and really enjoyed themselves. At the end each child received a goody back with stickers and information as well as the traditional plastic firefighter hat. Before we joined everyone for the field trip we made our weekly stop at the library where both boys picked out some books about firefighters and fire trucks, and when we got home my 7 year old suited up in his hat and the badge he was given and read the books they picked out. They really made an impression on him and that makes me smile!