Spring is about to burst here!

We have these trees in the front lawn.  Three cherry blooosoms.  They are trees that have been here ever since we bought this property.  Each of the children have climbed all over the beaches and each year they grow a little bit bigger.  They are full of pink blooms right now and look so beautiful!

We ordered 15 yards of bark mulch and it was delivered the other day!  Saturday, was so beautiful and I had the big boys help scoop mulch while the Littles and I spread it out!  We got the front of the house completed and the back will get down later in the week!  

Matthew and Mike were such a big help!

I bought Snowdrift Petunias and Black Cherry Petunia's and planted them!  They look great!

And while the outside is warming up and the weather is going to get warm one of these days, I've been working on some sourdough techniques.  Mim and Hadassah wanted some of starter at the cabin a few weeks ago and both of them have been asking questions.  I don't know much about sourdough and they had me watching some videos on Youtube and it helped boast my starter!  I made this cinnamon sugar loaf on Saturday morning and it was delicious!

Spring is such a fun time to go visit greenhouses, work outside, play outside and begin all those summery activities!  Camp fires, ball games, moped rides and going barefoot!

I love Spring!

Back to the ballpark!

 Austin played his very first baseball game last night and he was so excited to play!  We were excited to go and watch!  We wrapped up in blankets because the weather is still chilly here in our neighborhood!  We are really ready for barefoot weather to come and stay but the chill in the air didn't seem to effect the boys playing baseball!

We signed Austin up in the same league that Matthew played in for many years.  It felt good to go back and sit on the sidelines of a ballgame!  We used to do this SO MUCH every summer when Mike played a few nights a week and then Matthew played and we were busy but going to the park as a family was always fun for our family!  Mike and Matthew now are playing golf and not baseball so it was fun to watch a ballgame again!  Especially with our son playing in it!

Austin plays for the Flames and they had the late game.  As we waited for their game to begin, Austin and I were bundled up to stay warm!

Such a cute dude wearing his number 44 jersey!  Just like his dad!!!!

In this division, the players play in different positions each inning.  Austin played right field and back catcher!!!!!

He had three at bat and three hits!!!!  He did great!

The Flames won 14-13!  Austin was so happy!  We came home tired, dirty and ready for bed!  This is going to be a fun summer watching him play ball!  Mike was the Flames pitcher for their first game.  The dads pitch and the boys hit and run!  The game goes much faster this way but when they advance in the league, the boys become pitchers and the competition gets much tougher!

Let's go Flames!!!!

Garden.

Plants are being planted!  The early plants like lettuce, kale, spinach, carrots, beets and radishes are all popping through the dirt but growing slowly.  The weather here has been so cold and we even had snowflakes dancing through the air earlier this week.  We are SO READY for the warmer tempts to come and the garden is waiting for the sunshine to warm it up too!

Here I planted cabbage and celery.  Cabbage is one of my favorite vegetables to watch grow!  It begins with such a small plant and then grows nice and round and so full in only a few months!  Celery is something I eat every single day and last year I decided to plant some in the fall but it got cold too soon and I didn't harvest any celery.  I'm excited to see it grow this spring! 

Broccoli is a vegetable that Austin eats!  So we plant it!

I've been dreaming of making the garden area more beautiful and adding some trees sounded like a good idea!  Spring time there are many trees with pretty blooms and I think our garden could use some depth and trees!  I asked around to other friends that have fruit trees of their own and asked about the work or spraying and trimming and everyone said, "Go for it!"  Mike wasn't that excited because as a young boy, he had to mow around this parents small orchard and didn't like that job!  He did smile and agreed to a few trees!  Jody and I went together and each bought some trees!  I got a Honeycrisp Apple tree and two peach trees.  One Contender and one Red Haven!  Mike planted them for me the other night and I cannot wait to watch these grow and give us some fruits and pretty blooms!

I also grabbed four red raspberry plants that we planted in the garden area!  The kids are going to love these!

I love my garden area and really like that this hobby is fun for me and not too much work!  Adding these trees and bushes I think are going to be a great thing for us!  I love fences and gates but I don't want to fence in the garden because it feels to me like it can't expand.  I am searching Pinterest for some ideas and thinking maybe some kind of big gate for an entrance would be nice!  Any ideas???

The boys are getting ready for Austin's first baseball game next game and Mike invited Matt and his boys over for some batting practice!

They had ice cream as a treat.

These girls are just the best of friends!  I love to watch them together!  Zayla loves to follow Ashlyn around and feed the neighbors horse!

Sourdough is something I am still figuring out.  I make bread now and then.  I've made quite a few English muffins already with my sourdough starter but at the cabin I noticed it wasn't rising the best for me.  I called my friend Clarita for some tips and watched some Youtube videos to learn how others care and feed their starters.  I came to realize that I'm not feeding my starter properly!  Yesterday, Hadassah and I both baked a loaf that we mixed together the night before and the dough didn't have the best rise but it still turned out OK!  I hope to get my starter in better condition and then try again!  There's much to learn with sourdough!

Hadassah and Jer love the sourdough sandwich bread I make!

The weather has been chilly around here this spring but I still bought some of my favorite white petunias the other day and planted them around the house!  They can handle some cold and we will soon be ready for mulch!  It's being delivered today!  The palms will have to stay in the garage a little bit yet.  It's still too cold for them to thrive outside.

We are waiting for the weather to warm up and begin the baseball season in the park!!!  The weather forecast is saying warmer for this weekend which means we will be outside a lot more!

Let's go Spring!!!  The garden is waiting to thrive!  The trees in the front lawn are ready to burst with pink flowers!  The grass is so green and already growing a lot!  It's been a month of Spring now and we are super ready for weather to prove it and get warmer!

Have a great weekend friends!  The kids are counting down the school days and I think they are in the low 20's now!  It won't be long before school will be out and summer on it's way!  Yeah!!!!!

"For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.  The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land."  Song of Solomon 2:11-12

Easter, 2022

We spent Easter Weekend at the cabin with my family and it was so fun!  It's been a long time since every single person was up at the same time!  The cabin was full of much laughter, chocolate bunnies and we played a lot of games!  Four up and four down was a favorite game!

The cousins had a blast all weekend!  They stayed up late, played games, painted eggs and had an egg hunt outside!

My Mom always gets chocolate bunnies for the kids!

We started and finished a puzzle!  Mommy D was along this time and she loves puzzles.  We had lots of hours hovering around the puzzle looking for pieces to fit!

My mom makes the best shoofly pies!

I never saw a live elk and so we took a drive to see if we could find some!  There were lots out in the woods!

Everyone made a meal and I made a breakfast!  Sourdough English Muffins are so good and I made some the last morning we were there!

Easter is a Christian Holiday celebrating the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus!  Sunday morning, we sat around the cabin table discussing the events of Jesus being crucified.  There's lots that happened on that day!  Jesus did die.  He was carried off to a new tomb and wrapped in grave clothes.  A stone was rolled to close the opening of the door.  The women that cared for Jesus while he was on earth, mixed spices and aloes and took them to the grave as soon as the Sabbath was over.  They wondered who would roll the stone aside for them to enter but when they walked up to the tomb, the stone was rolled away!  Angels were sitting by the grave and told them that Jesus is alive!  He arose from the dead!  They were to go tell the disciples what happened!  (Read about it in the last chapter of Mark!). 

Easter is such a wonderful time to read and think about how Jesus died for ALL SINNERS!  He died so I can live!  I printed out a Easter timeline paper from Pinterest and we read the scriptures each night that lead up to the death of Jesus!  I love doing things like this as a family!  To teach the children the real meanings of Christmas and Easter is such a responsibility!  My parents taught me ... I must teach our children!

Go read about this true story in the Bible!  All four gospels tell the story!

Happy Easter!!!

Spring weather is delaying.

 All last week we had rainy, cold weather.  This kind of weather makes me wonder if Spring, the warm Spring weather that we love so much, will ever come???  It "seems" so long since we had warm days!  

And then ...

Austin was sick all week too and we prayed so much that God would take away his belly ache and that he would stop throwing up and feel well!  Sunday morning, he woke up not well.  He laid on the couch ALL WEEK LONG!  I felt so bad for him.  No school until Friday.  And then he was feeling better but still tired.  He made it through the day but the minute he was home, he curled up on the couch and slept.  The day exhausted him.  He was feeling SO MUCH better on Saturday and he's been eating us out of the house ever since!  Thank you Jesus that Austin is well again!

I loved how each of the children expressed care and concern for Austin when he was sick.  Ashlyn would wake up each morning asking if Austin is going to school today?  Matthew would come home each day after school and go straight to the couch and check up on how Austin was feeling.  Hadassah texted or called each day asking if he's well yet.  Mike and I took turns sitting with Austin and caring for him.  I read him books and we watched some Lion King together.  I tried to make the best of it all week but I was so ready to have our Little Man well!  Thursday, Austin was finally on the mend and Ashlyn started helping him with some school papers.

When I heard him giggle and laughing, it was music to my ears!!!!!

This is some of my home redimedies that we used while Austin was sick.  Jello.  Gatorlyte.  Water. Lots of tea!  Vapor Rub. Oils.  Fishies, crackers and pretzels.  Toast.  Skinners.  Vitratox.  Tried peach juice.  It was a bunch of things that we thought would help him get better!!!!

Thursday, he felt better but still looked not so well out of his eyes.

While he was on the couch, I bagged up boneless chicken thighs and ground beef from Centerville's Meat Sale.  We are excited to start up the grill and make burgers on those warm summer nights and grill up a good dinner of grilled chicken!

We tried blueberries too!  When Austin mentioned muffins, I whipped up a batch of the best blueberry muffins around!  (Food From the Heart Cookbook). They were so delicious!

I was feeling housebound and weary for caring for a sick child all week but I woke up to this on Friday morning and let me just say that God gives me much energy on the sunny days!  Austin woke up happy and well and was off to school and just in time for me to join a "Cousin's Day Event" that I was really hoping I wouldn't have to miss!

The kids were off to school and I was delighted to see the sun finally shining and get out of the house for this fun brunch!  A few weeks ago we gathered in Aunt Ruth's new home and had so much fun together!  I grew up living right next door to the Beiler's and it's always so fun to get together with them!  This time, Jenn invited us to her beautiful home!  We ate good, sat around her dining room table for hours and laughed!  Thanks for having us Jenn!

Such great family!!!!!

I came home and hopped on the mower and cut the grass!  Spring is here and the mowing has begun!  Jody has pretty trees at their house and I added these to the island for a spring flare for the weekend!

Spring is so pretty but it can be still cold and rainy!  I'm so ready for the weather to get warmer, the sun to shine nonstop and let the kids play outdoors more!

We are so blessed to have complete health back to our family, pretty blooms all around and a church to celebrate the Easter Season with!  There's much to read, pray about, think through with the Easter Story and I hope to do all of these with the kids and family all week!

Happy Spring!

April 2022 ~

 This is the month that really makes Spring come true!  The trees are starting to bud and bloom!  The lilac bush is shooting green leaves!  The grass is turning green and growing!  I mowed it twice already.  The garden hasn't been tended too much at all since I planted the lettuce because it's been cold and wet and just not good gardening weather the past two weeks!  I did notice the radishes are coming through the soil but we need lots of sunshine to make them grow!  

We've had a really busy month in March and now Ashlyn is finished with her short basketball season!  Austin had his first baseball practice scheduled for Monday night but he got hit with the stomach bug over the weekend and couldn't attend.  He woke up Sunday morning with a belly ache and throwing up.  He's been lying around for three days now.  He's not in school yet but we are finally on the mend!  He needs to eat, prove it can stay in his body for some time and regain some energy before getting back in the classroom.  I've been his caring nurse and mother the past days and I'm ready to see him back to good health!  He's so tender hearted when he doesn't feel well!  He asked A LOT for us to pray for him!  He knows that Jesus can heal his bellyache and he asked for healing a lot the past few days!  I'm happy to serve him some toast and hot chocolate this morning!  We are improving!!!!

Crazy hair day last week at school was fun for these cousins!

Because of Ashlyn's super busy basketball schedule last week, we decided to wait to celebrate her birthday dinner with the family till this week!  She gets to pick out a restaurant to eat and we can't wait to celebrate her again!  She loved her party and her school friends are her favorite!

Matthew hasn't been too bored with basketball now over.  He had a very fun weekend with his classmates at the cabin last weekend but he came home with a sore throat and terrible cold.  We all had a touch of sickness last week and now with Austin having the stomach bug ... I am REALLY ready for everyone to be healthy and have the sun shine again!!!!  Sunshine just seems to add instant health when we don't feel well!  He's on the mend too and there's not a whole lot that keeps a sixteen year old boy down.  Matthew is playing some volleyball at school and seems to be liking this!  His intern at JR's Auto Body has been something he is enjoying as well!

Mike is busy but really does a wonderful job at handing off his work load to others that can help if needed!  Lapp's are doing a remodel at the shop right now and that had the entire office staff move out and go across the street to work.  There's a lot happening but Mike doesn't use that ever as an excuse for being late for dinner or away evenings!  He also just finished up a project upstairs here at home.  We finished some space up there and the carpet got laid last week.  The kids are excited to add some exercise equipment and use the golf net more in this space!  Mike also just taught his very first class at school!  😃  Pastor Merv Charles at Honeybrook Community Church asked Mike to fill in for him yesterday and teach a class on decision making.  Mike was nervous and made a comment that he would rather speak to a group of billionaires.  I laughed because Mike loves young people!  I was surprised he was even nervous but when he texted yesterday saying that he's not afraid or scared of the Junior High School Class, he just wanted to make a big impact on them in this one class!  Matthew sat under his dad's class and said he did good!  I'm sure he did!  Mike is a good speaker and always makes learning fun!  I'm proud of how Mike says yes to hard things like this!

Jeremiah and Hadassah are doing well!  She is healed up from a terrible kidney infection a few weeks ago and her goal was to be in complete health for Jess's wedding!  We celebrated Jordan and Jessica last weekend at their beautiful wedding!  There's so much fun watching a young couple in love and having a good time on their wedding day!  I helped with wedding coordinations and was tired at the end of the day!  Jer and Das had a fun day and I was touched to see Hadassah cry happy tears with her best friend on this important day!  I was so happy that Hadassah felt well!  Congratulations Jordan and Jess!  Love you guys!

Last night, we attend the Spring Banquet at school and was again reminded by watching the movie "Like" just how important it is to stay engaged with our children.  To lay down our gadgets and get into our kids emotions and hearts!  So much knowledge was shared last night and it's exciting to have a fresh reminder to be aware of what's out there on social media and to keep persuing the lives of our children!  A quote that I really liked from last night was "Let's raise young people up to become old people for Jesus!"  In other words, we need a generation today of young kids living and loving the Lord but to then stay on the right course and fight for righteousness as they grow older!  America needs young and old people living for Jesus and with that we can impact the world around us for good!!!!

Well, it's April and it's raining and wet outside today.  We all know the saying, "April showers bring May flowers."  As much I do love spring and all the pretty it brings out in nature, I'm usually ready to have the rainy days go by quickly!  Looking ahead, Easter is just around the corner!  It's the best holiday for Christians and we are excited to celebrate the death, resurrection and life that JESUS offers to everyone!  I'm excited to watch Austin start baseball!  We are more than ready to start up the moped rides and campfire nights!  Spring time is so beautiful!

Happy April!