Falling

I can feel the taste of Autumn in the air and in myself. I Love this season.

 So full of color and renewing. Everything sheds last years newness and settles into just being what God made it to be somehow.

 I feel myself taking things slower taking care of those little things that since January I have been putting off. I finally notice the unfinished mending, the cluttered laundry room floor and not only do I notice but take a few minutes to actually do something about it.

The house is still a turmoil, my mind still tells me it is far too imperfect to reflect God to others, myself still feels that bit of shame when someone stops by, but there is more Hope within me that I am who God made me to be and He Loves me.

 Why a new season is needed to remind me of that I will never know, but I am happy it always comes and renews me because I weary far too easily.

Today I rejoice

 Nature Friday with some cousins.

 The first day of school

The Long Break

In January my life was overfull and busy and I stopped writing. It seemed very much as if no one would wish to hear my thoughts at that moment. :) Pretty sure I was trying to avoid them myself. Life is still full and still busy and we keep moving forward and God keeps us on our feet when we sometimes feel like laying down.

We had to reroof the house this year or lose our insurance. We were so amazingly blessed to have family and friends come and donate time and sweat to help us. Our home is once more protected from the rains just as the Lord has quieted and protected my heart this year. Now we wait for the insurance to okay us once more.

Now we start the process of painting the house a little at a time and attempting to figure out a Household budget. The budget has been hard to build since we have had so many financial changes this year. It is time for us to get serious and somewhat drastic and that will take some serious prayer and trust in the Lord. It can be so hard when you have to say no to simple things and other people just do not always understand.

The kidlets need to start school soon, very soon. Am I prepared? How did I get a 6th grader? How will I teach 4 at the same time who are different levels? How will I work it into our work schedules? Once more I trust in the Lord and know that he will carry me through.

So I am back to writing, what that means? I do not know.

The boys new Lego Room

We decided to decorate the boys room in a Lego theme late last year. I Love the browns the walls were already painted so we stuck with those and just added touches of Primary colors. The bedding was from Target early this year in the Back to College section. I Love it because it is thin and holds up to many washings. (It has been washed at least once a week since January.)

I got the boys the car carpet for Easter last year. I Love how the bright colors add to the room plus they can use it for play time. :)

We were blessed to find a projector last year at a yard sale for 5 dollars. We projected Lego men on the walls and traced them in pencil.

Then Justin painted them.

Here is our boombox man. (I also replaced the doors on the closet with a curtain which I love) The doors always broke off and they were hard for them to open and close.

Here you see the Spaceman and The Police officer.

Here is the Hopscotch boy in the back and to the left you see the framed board my Dad made for me. I glued base plates to it so they have a vertical building area. They are loving this so far. I made sure to place a Lego over each gap as they dried so that the spacing would be correct.

Here are some fun initials Auntie Amy made for the boys last Christmas. We finally found them the right home.

The boys love there new room and are having a blast showing it to all of our recent guests.

The Mixed Up Garden of Mrs Ballenger

Today I am Thankful for the sunshine, my garden is loving it and soaking it up. My kids are also loving and soaking it up!

This is my left garden bed - Zucchini, Acorn Squash (a bit nibbled on pre fence), Lemon Cucumbers (A tad droopy), carrot seeds (not sprouted so we shall see), Cauliflower, Pumpkins (Also droopy) and some herbs and a few marigolds.

Right side bed - Basil, lemon balm, Tomato plants, and some other herbs. 2 pots in the middle with radish and green bean seeded but not sprouted.

Some herb can't remember what I planted here. :)

My Strawberries are doing well!

Each of the kids picked a pansy plant awhile back and they adore this weather. :) Love the variety reminds me of my amazing little ones and how different they each are every time I see it.

Remember the Easter morning Garden? It has gone wild. Whatever the white one on the right is I need to transplant it soon.

Pretty pop of blue against the Orange pot.

Haven loves the Garden and will help me every time I head out there.

Simple Womans Daybook - On a chilly Feb morning

FOR TODAY
Outside my window... Fog and Frosted grass
I am thinking... That we need to start our school day soon with our devotion reading time
I am thankful for... My husband - God really knew what he was doing when he brought us together
From the learning rooms... I am trying to make decisions on next years curriculum
From the kitchen... It is actually cleanish - might go make a hot pot of tea soon
I am wearing... Old blue Cord pants, old boots, plum long john style shirt and a brown zippered hoodie??? Ya I don't coordinate today
I am creating... Bean bags for my boys, hope to finish them today
I am going... No where today - Home Sweet Home
I am reading... Not much but I want to start soon
I am hoping... That I can get our taxes filed today
I am hearing... A leap pad being played with in relative quiet
Around the house... Kitchen chairs need recovered today, Laundry room needs reorganized, other than that it's pretty clean and calm. For now
One of my favorite things... waking up to a delicious hot Latte
A few plans for the rest of the week: Homeschool co-op tomorrow, grocery shopping
Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

Waiting for his Cocoa - Kinda how I feel waiting for my coffee. :)

Join other Daybookers here!
Simple Womans Daybook 

August comes to a close.

We cleared about half of the wood/ metal rubbish that was left behind on our property when we moved in. We still have plenty to clean out though.

Haven my little baby boy, quickly becoming an independent little man.

We ripped out the living room carpet. I found it creepy imagining the mystery germs left behind. On top of that it had plenty of visible stains. :)

I revamped one of Justin's older Dress shirts just because I liked it and was in an odd mood. :)
Here is a beautiful pic my girly took of me in it. hehehe

I was in a pin cushion swap with the girls over at The Homeschool Lounge.

This is the one I mailed out

This is what I received in return.

 It is awesome and I have already started filling it up and using it. :)

Curtains and more :)

Just to have a nice record for my sewing challenge this month I will be attempting to post a pic of each of my projects from the month.

A set of curtains that are for a friend. Already gave them away and sadly the only pic I took is very dark :(

I made 2 sets of John Dear Curtains for a babies room. A friends not mine :)
Also serged a cute extra piece of farm fleece I had for the baby.

Serged a huge batch of Bandanas for a big family B-day party we had this last weekend. We had a blast on a scaventure hunt and each team had it's own bandana color to wear.

Made some tiny little newborn headbands for a friend. Hoping her little one will fit them and they aren't too small or too big.

Sewed 2 valances for Grandma Ardels playroom. Was gonna use veggie tale fabric but the kids voted for the monsters.

Did not have to buy one thing for any of these projects which is awesome. Love curtains easy and fun!!!!

Friday afternoon lunch. We decided to make mini burgers.

Here Timmy is cutting out mini buns from bread with a cup. :)

Here Evangeline is cutting topping. Mini slices of cheese and cherry tomato sliced

The mini burger bar we set up. Yummmmm

We finally have a GI JOE room for our boys. Something my hubby has been waiting for since we had a boy. They loveeeeee it and Timmy likes to sit on his bed and just look around at his room.
(he is pretending to sleep here just for the pic)


Picked up a Draw Write Now book from the library after Abbie finally showed me where they were. :) Timmy loves them and here is his first masterpiece. Notice he cut his tree top out to be a heart.

Strangeness and ackwardness

This inbetween time I seem to find myself in is leaving me a bit befuddled. It's as if summer has ended and somehow I missed most of it yet Fall still hasn't arrived. I am no longer in a house I am trying to sell yet can't seem to motivate myself to start making this one my own.

I want to, I really do yet I sit. I should be starting school on Monday but I may just move that back a week or two as well. Hopefully prayer and delving into the Word will fill my soul and help me past this bump in the road. I know the Lord can remove my weariness and give me Joy for the day to day again. Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.

Inspired by Tiff!

Okay so here is my To Do for this week. Or a rough outline at least, hoping that putting it down on paper (Well typing it on computer) will give me an idea if it is doable and help me prioritize all of it.

Get all my Laundry caught up by the weekend

Finish packing all of the garage and start on the kitchen

Keep on top of the dishes so they don't get backed up

Pick berries at some point in this week so I have some for the mops pie sale at the end of the month

Do some sewing and hopefully dwindle the half sewn project pile so I do not have to move it all to the next house half done.

Friday I must bake Calebs B-day cake and make any snacky foods for his party and finalize any party plans.

Friday afternoon Happy B-day Russ Party

Saturday morning go get balloons and go have a party for my 3 year old. :)

Sunday Benny's B-day (Note to self don't forget the present)

Also need to finish OHP application and call wic.

Oh and we have to get rid of our mousey houseguest too. :)

Possibilities

The lovely back yard, we saw a few snakes hehehe

The main Living space Living room/ kitchen awesomely open

The kids testing out the house. :) Yep good for running

The front porch

The possible house

Please keep us and this house in your prayers as we go through the process of inspections/ loan/ ect... We are just trusting in God and starting to pack ect... We need to be out of here the 15th of July and we are hoping and praying to have a new home to move into.

Kitchen redo

Kitchen work for all to see. :)

Grouting the tile on the countertops

Still grouting those tiles

The snipper

Pretty floor (Still wet in this pic)

Oops the lens got dusty

Scrapping the yuck off the wood

More scrapping the yuck off the floor. :)

Pre- pretty floor

I will post another post with some pretty after pics as soon as we completely finish. Prepare to be amazed. hehehe