The view from my back porch this morning…

…was incredibly beautiful. Despite the fact that this winter has been unseasonably warm, and we are used to getting snow every week during the winter… yesterday it snowed and snowed. I think we got about five inches or so accumulated.

The girls went sledding yesterday afternoon and are currently out there enjoying the snow and their sleds. Hmm. They asked for a carrot and some raisins – to build a snowman, I suspect.

Here’s me, the height of fashion wearing pink, green, and blue stripped pajama bottoms, a green and brown flannel shirt, and green muck boots – standing on the back porch with Lucy who looks like she is kissing Charlie, the next door neighbor’s pup. Lucy is our sweet, sad little dog. She’s mostly blind and deaf (and dumb.)  Charlie likes to spend her days at my house. See how she’s sitting on the porch next to me, like she belongs??? That’s okay, we like Charlie. You can also see some of our firewood ready to be burnt up today.

Here’s my husband scraping the snow off the rental car so he can go visit his brother Steve in ICU this morning: (No, he wasn’t too keen on my taking his photo, hehe.)

So while I was standing there taking pictures of Mykal, I noticed over next to the driveway, my first flowers of spring peeking out of the snow!

Hannah and Laura have been spending warm days building this fort:

They have a lot more planned for their fort, but it stayed pretty dry in there:

Here is our little bridge that leads over the path to the fort:

One of these days maybe there will be a little fish pond under the bridge!

And finally here are some more random pictures from around my yard:

 

 

Spring Clean, Year ‘Round: Product Review

Spring Clean Year ‘Round

I received this lovely tin in the mail today! It is made by a very creative lady who has developed a clever system for keeping up with all the major chores around your house! No more big spring cleaning! Instead, you can do a little every day of the year!

Most of us don’t really enjoy the cleaning part. There are a few chores that I do enjoy, but mostly I just do what I need to do because… well, because I need to. According to Travis, Spring Clean Year Round designer, you can keep your house “spring clean” clean in just 15 minutes a day! Now that sounds like a deal to me!

How does it work?

The system is divided into daily, weekly, and monthly chores. Each day you pull out a card and do the chores suggested. You then return the card to the tin to rotate it.

Here’s what Travis says about her system:

“This system includes most common chores necessary to keep your home “spring clean” year round. It is not exhaustive and therefore blank cards are included for your personalization. It does not include the daily grind kind of chores like washing clothes or cleaning up after dinner. The frequency at the top of the card can easily be changed to suit your personal needs.”

The tin is sooo cute, which just makes you want to use it. I mean, if you have to clean, why not make it fun, right? Also, the individual cards are really pretty, too! Some other things I like about this system are:

• each card is labeled weekly, monthly, or yearly
• each card has a helpful hints
• each card lists the tools you will need for that chore
• each card has an “age appropriate” suggestion so you can have your kids help
• and did I mention it’s pretty?

I know you will love this Work-at-Home-Mom creation! You can purchase Spring Clean Year ‘Round from Travis on her website.

I love the snow…

I mean, really. What’s not to love? I love the fact that snow allows me to hole up at home and do homey things… like plan homeschool lessons, read good books, clean the house, and do the laundry.

It’s been snowing all day (again) and we are happily sitting by the fire with my girls all looking at books. It’s about time to eat lasagna for supper and we had potato soup for lunch and I am thinking about putting in our Les Miserables’ Broadway play in the DVD player in a little bit.

I love home and snow let’s be at home. I hope if it is snowing where you live, you are enjoying this time, too!

Cheerful Homes will be a Light to Neighbors

We need more sunshiny parents and more sunshiny Christians. We are too much shut up within ourselves. Too often the kindly, encouraging word, the cheery smile, are withheld from our children and from the oppressed and discouraged.

Parents, upon you rests the responisbility of being light-bearers and light-givers. Shine as lights in the home, brightening the path that your children must travel. As you do this, your light will shine to those without.

Frome every Christian home a holy light should shine forth. Love should be revelaed in action. It should flow our in all home intercourse, showing itself in thoughtful kindness, in gentle, unselfish courtesy. There are homes where this principle is carried out – homes where God is worshiped and truest love reigns. From these homes morning and evening prayer ascends to God as sweet incense, and His mercies and blessings descend upon the suppliants like the morning dew.

- Ellen White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 144

Preserving 2009

This year was a good year for canning! I was able to get a lot done!

Strawberry Kiwi Jam
13 quarter-pints
13 half-pints
6 pints

Strawberry Marmalade
2 quarter-pints
3 half-pints
2 pints

Blueberry Jam
11 half-pints
1 pint

Blueberry Syrup
1 half-pint
4 pints

Lemonade Marmalade
5 half-pints
3 quarter-pints

Kiwi Jam
13 quarter-pints
2 pints

Peach Jam
4 half-pints
3 quarter-pints

Blackberry Jam
5 pints
2 half-pints
14 quarter-pints

Blueberries
5 quarts (frozen)

Blackberries
6 quarts (frozen)

Bread and Butter Pickles
7 quarts
8 pints

Cherry Pomegranate Jam
8 half-pints

Pear Honey
2 pints
1 half-pint

Spiced Orange Pear Butter
1 pint
3 half-pints
1 quarter-pint

Apple Butter
11 half-pints

Tomato Relish
12 half-pints
1 quarter pint

Pineapple Cilantro Salsa
9 pints

Carrots
9 quarts

Pineapple Glazed Carrots
2 quarts

Kentucky Wonder Beans
3 quarts
4 pints

Okra
2 quarts

Sliced Mushrooms
4 pints

Plum Jam
3 pints
8 half-pints
1 quarter-pint

Sweet Potatoes
14 quarts

Collard Greens
12 quarts

The Sweetest Type of Heaven

Home should be made all that the word implies. It shoulf be a little heaven upon earth, a place where the affections are cultivated instead of being studiously repressed. Our happiness depends upon this cultivation of love, sympathy, and true courtesy to one another.

The sweetest type of heaven is a home where the Spirit of the Lord presides. If the will of God is fulfilled, the husband and wife will respect each other and cultivate love and confidence.

– Signs of the Times, Ellen White, June 20, 1911

Home is the Heart of All Activity

Society is composed of families, and is what the heads of families make it. Out of the heart are “the issues of life”; and the heart of the community, of the church, and of the church, the prosperity of the nation, depend upon home influences.

The elevation or deterioration of the future of society will be determined bu the manners and morals of theyouth growing up around us. As the youth are educated, and as their characters are molded in the childhood to virtuous habits, self-control, and temperance, so will their influence be upon society. If they are left unenlightened and uncontrolled, and as the reult bcome self-willed, intemperate in appetite and passion, so will be their future influence in molding society. The company which the young now keep, the habits they now form, and the principles they now adopt are the index to the state of society for years to come.

– Ministry of Healing, Ellen White, p. 349

Sunlight in the Home

We have had so much rain this year. The sky has been cloudy more often than not where I live. In fact it seems that it has rained nearly everyday for the last two weeks! So, when the sunshine came out this afternoon, even briefly, it was such a welcome sight! This evening I picked up the book Counsels on Health which I have been reading and came across the following statement. It rang so true I had to share!

If you would have your homes sweet and inviting, make them bright with air and sunshine. Remove your heavy curtains, open the windows, throw back the blins, and enjoy the rich sunlight, even if it be at the expense of your carpets. The precious sunlight may fade your carpets, but it will give a healthful color to the cheeks of your children. If you have God’s presence and possess earnest, loving hearts, a himble home, made bright with air and sunlight, and cheerful with the welcome of unselfish hospitality, will be to your family and the weary traveler a heaven below.

- Counsels on Health, Ellen White, p. 196