MEMORIAL DAY FUN

by Robin

Our street has a huge street party each Memorial Day. People come from everywhere. One side of the street is very kid-friendly and the food is on our side. LOL. The other side is more for adults who want to hang back under the shade of an oak tree, enjoy their ways .... ;o) , and watch basketball on the outdoor tv screen. The entire street is shut down for several houses in length. People bring plenty of casseroles & desserts. Smokers are billowing out all sorts of great smells. We went through over a couple hundred hotdogs & hamburgers too.

There is also a cake contest, karaoke, talent contest, raffles, corn toss, tug-o-war, egg toss and this long slip-n-slide, powered by fun, a little water and lots of bubble bath! My family had hours and hours of entertainment!!! I even did a little "Mustang Sally" on the karaoke, which was embarassing and fun all at the same time. Stop laughing. I had the teens do all the back-up dancing. The crowd was my background singers.








At 9pm, the kids are all sent home or inside for a movie. There is a wheel of destiny that that adults spin. We did not do that, but I hear it is quite the crowd pleaser and the party goes well into the early morning. My neighbor said the cops were called but they walked through and didn't say anything to anybody before leaving. Honestly, it is a very tame party and the volume of noise is pretty hush given all the people. Even Jack said he could barely hear the karaoke music from the end of the driveway.

It is a great thing to get to know my neighbors much better. We have multiple EMT & nurses on my street. You never know when that may come in handy with having boys.

Today, Jack took a couple coworkers out fishing.


The boys and I entertained ourselves by attending the Open House to the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum in Titusville. Imagine our surprise when we pull up and see two of our church/ homeschooling families (friends) also arriving. We crashed their tour which made it very enjoyable for me. The boys had a new audience and I had friends to chat with. The other children's dads were great in taking the reins & answering many of the kids' questions.



I happened to capture this "money shot" pic in the hanger. I love it. I knew it would be a winner the minute I snapped it.



I hope your Memorial Day weekend was as memorable as mine was.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!!!

Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. Lev 25:10

Last year, we were able to return home to our "clan" and family property for the holiday weekend.

This year was a little bit more complicated with furloughs, economy problems and the jubilation of the birth of my new niece. But, all is well and we're all so happy.

Thanks you soldiers, down through the years, for giving us freedoms in America. Freedom to live, love and laugh. Freedom to speak and discuss policies. Freedom to worship as we desire. Freedom to live without fear and to pursue happiness.

This is the land that I love.

Making some Blueberry Jam

by Robin

First start with the freshest blueberries. For me, this was easy since we had just picked them up off the bush the day before.


Here are some green berries. Don't pick them. They won't ripen off the bush and I believe they may be toxic to consume if you got a belly full of them.


Here's a nice batch that I used. The reddish ones are tart. I like them but the kids didn't. This makes no sense to me since they're always asking for those sour gummy worms.


I did everything that you could possible do wrong with my jam and it is still delicious. So, if I can do it, you can too. Don't be intimidated by this jam.

I mixed 2.5 c of blueberries with 2.5c of sugar. Stirred and left them in the frig overnight. My sister said to leave them out. But, I worried about spoiling. She said I would worry. She was right. Then, the 2nd day, I was suppose to boil it, but forgot. I was too busy w/ the pool liner repair. Oh well. Made me feel better about leaving them in the frig for 2 days instead of on the counter.

Day 3, I boiled them, then stopped it, then restarted it but added 1 packet of pectin, as recommended from my friend Sage, from the grocery store. I added a Tablespoon of lemon juice because the directions said so. I boiled it a little bit more. Then, turned that off and let it sit. I then poured the contents into these two jars, letting them sit on the counter until they were completely cool. That's when they jellified. Or is that Jamified?



Then, I refrigerated them. I did not boil any water and sterilize anything. Shame on me. But, my goal is to eat all the jam before it spoils. My sister insisted that it would go fast, and it is!!

Each morning, I wake up to my fresh cup of decaf and some whole grain-seedy bread with blueberry jam on top. It is like having dessert for breakfast.


I forgot to share this picture yesterday. This is a bird that we came across in one of the bushes. I don't know what he is but he's certainly lovely. Feel free to educate me if you know.

BLUEBERRIES

by Robin






I hope you came here looking for Blueberry pickin' pictures. I sure have them! Most are self-explanatory. Enjoy!!



This was our first experience with blueberries and harvesting them. It is nothing like FarmTown. There is no clicking. We really did have to walk miles and wear sunblock. I screamed at a spider walking up my arm. It was a lot of fun!! Really!!







We even ran into our homeschooling friends. Actually, they had one of my run-a-way children with their son. LOL.






Did you know that it is nearly impossible to hear your Mom's calling from one side of the field to the other? Blueberry bushes are much taller than I expected.













Stay tuned for Blueberry jam!!

DELIVERY

by Robin

Today is a very special day in our family. My sweet younger sister is in the hospital right now, about to delivery her fourth baby. She's had a couple epidurals and so I'm waiting on that call that tells me that she is pushing.

My older sister is there to help her take care of the other three kids. My parents are also there, but my Mom had come down with shingles last week, so she's borderline still contagious. I know how it must be killing her to not be with my youngest sister and hold the newborn in her hands.

I know how it hurts because it's how I feel. I'd love to hold Baby S in my arms too! How could anybody say that a baby doesn't have rights to live? Look at these sweet pictures.

Please pray for a safe & quick delivery. This one seems to be giving her a little bit more grief than the others.

PS: Blueberry pictures are forthcoming. I promise!!

CHANGEFEST '09

You'll love this......

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

WARNING: SNAKES ahead!!

by Robin

So many of my friends are taking pictures of baby birds in their nests. Not me... I have snakes, which would explain why I never see any baby birds.

The other week, I was heading out to the pool pump (back when we had water in the pool) to unplug it for the night. I was a little startled to see a snake tail half out of the bushes. Then, a 2nd one slithered away.

I went to grab the camera (ALWAYS!) and alert the boys back in the house. When Simon Peter and I got back, the smaller, slithering-away snake had come back to peek through the boards on the bigger one still half out of the bushes. (Excuse our warped boards.)



It was strange. After my heart stopped pounding and we both stood by for a while just observing. We guessed that maybe they were male & female snakes on some type of rendezvous.

(The assumed male)



Simon Peter even got our diving trident to discourage the smaller snake. He wouldn't budge. It's like he was totally mesmerized by the other snake who still hadn't shown her head.



I missed the money shot of where he was touching the snake. I got greedy with the zoom and focused on the boards instead of the snake head.


Later, I think all our walking around had sent vibrations to the bigger one (female?). She slithered all the way up in the bushes and then curled up.





I can only guess that we'll have a nursery full of young black racers in two months time. Seems like that would be about right. July/August.



It is a good thing these guys aren't poisonous or else we'd have dead snakes by now. It's also a good thing that our chihuahua boys didn't make their way outside first. They usually accompany me on every trip to the pool pump.

Hope you weren't too freaked out by all the snake pictures. (Renee!) It really was a cool experience once everybody was spotted, ID'd & in their proper corners.

Have a great weekend all!!

GARDENING FISHERMEN

by Robin

Every since I was a little girl, I loved to help my dad in the garden. As soon as I had a duplex, I put in a small garden. Whenever we would move, I'd put tomatoes in pots or till ground. It's something that is in my blood and very calming for me.





Many times I love to go to the garden w/ a cup of coffee in the morning. Sometimes I use my time out there to pray to God.



Squash




I really enjoy the good feelings I get by growing something & then eating it. It feels like such a healthy thing to do. I'm not completely organic because of Florida's bugs and lack of nutritious *sand*.... er ..... soil. I do my best to tolerate certain bugs but at some point, I cave in to 7 dust.

Roma toms


San Marzano toms


Anyhow, I love to see the tradition of gardening being passed on to my sons. They're not so much into the weeding part, but they love to sow seeds and then pick veggies.





It is very important to learn where their food comes from and the hard work that comes with growing it. Saturday morning, I'm taking them to a U-Pick-It blueberry farm about 30 minutes away. We're going to have a lot of fun with that too. I've also been enjoying a local farmer's market not far from us. Vendors put out their veggies each Friday at 9am- noon. Yummy.

My children even enjoy farming online with FarmTown on Facebook applications. I guess it runs in their blood too.



I hope you enjoyed these pictures. Our garden is really coming along with the warm weather and recent amount of rain. Tomorrow, I hope to bring you snake pictures,.... then followed by blueberry pictures in the near future.

10 REASONS TO HOMESCHOOL

by Robin
Written by David d'Escoto from This Old Schoolhouse

http://www.crosswalk.com/homeschool/11603305/
The article says "....not to send Christian Kids to Public Schools" but I thought that was a tad inaccurate. I felt like most of these talking points were valid for all parent-children relationships.

Here's some highlights:
*cookie cutter approach
* anemic academics
*misplaced authority
*family fragmentation
*peer dependency
*bad company
*propagating promiscuity
*bye-bye Bible
*perishing generation
*scripturally unsound

On a totally separate note, upon opening up my homepage, I saw the news that Wayman Tisdale died, 44, of cancer. While I did not follow him during his basketball years, I do admit to having some of his CDs. He was a great jazz musician, dedicated family man and loved the Lord. God bless Wayman.

VIGNETTE of GROUCHO

by Robin

Ok.... Andrew doesn't really have Groucho for a nickname but it fits with these pictures. Once in a blue moon, Grouchy is almost more appropriate, but I won't go there with my artsy, funny child. At any given moment, I can walk into the DR and see him schooling math with funny glasses & blowing bubble gum. These pictures are not set-ups. This really is my day - EVERYDAY.



Saturday, I was at a Mother/Daughter Tea to help lead with the praise music. I don't have daughters but I have 2 sons. We tried putting them in the gym, but that didn't work. They were in the kitchen for a while, hiding out until I was done singing. Groucho here decides to walk smack down the center of the room of women and walks right past the teary-eyed pastor's wife who is on the verge of delivering a blessing on the food and comes to me, sitting at the front table. He's not bashful. He's bold. He wanted to know when he was going home. Period. I can't say as I blame him. He sat through 3 rehearsals patiently. He patiently watched me sing from the back of the room. He fulfilled his end of the bargain, in his mind. He was not going to patiently watch me eat with the ladies. A couple cupcakes helped me with bribery but then I excused myself and had some pool fun with them. (until the pool liner crumbled to pieces- that's another story)



He is totally unpredicable some days. Dr. Dobson hasn't written a book that helps me yet with this one. LOL. He's uniquely & wonderfully made. I cannot tell you how many times I've asked him to get down from things. He loves heights. It scares me to death. Nice-n-Easy will not go out of business.



I'm so thankful every day that he gets to call me Momma. He keeps me on my toes and out of my comfort zones. I'm constantly being challenge, but I mean that in a good way. I love my funny guy.