Guess what?

-You know you are tired when you are a home school mom and you hear yourself saying you need to have a parent/teacher conference. LOL!

Oh, Spring Break, you can't get here too soon! : )

~Becky

Spring fever

I spent my weekend on a spring cleaning campaign/rampage and had a great time. :)


-Cleaned and rearranged the family room -check!
-Found a new home for 3 huge science kits -check!
-Cleaned out the drawers in the kitchen island -check!
-Cleaned out the laundry room cabinets -check!
-Cleaned out the linen cabinets -check!
-Had kids clean out their drawers-check!
-Cleaned out our closet, drawers and under our bed-check!
-Planted about 20 little marigolds in our flower beds. -check!

Found a new home for:
the vacuum, all the fabric I'm not using at the moment because my sewing machine is broken and a new place to store all our love letters from our college days and wedding mementos!

New discoveries:
I found our marriage certificate in that bunch of mementos, which surely needed a better home.

I found a paper I wrote in college about falling in love with my (now) hubby. I didn't see what the grade was, but I had quite a few sentences that the teacher marked as "trite." lol . Maybe it was for a marriage and family class or something. Or maybe he was the only thing on my mind at the time so I wrote about him.



When I went to bed on Saturday night, I was sore all over.
But I was also too excited to sleep! De-cluttering in a small house is quite exciting. ; )

Hooray for:

more space,

less junk,

spring,

marigolds,

and 20 year old love letters!



~Becky

Muffin mania

So, I've decided that making bread is too time consuming and muffins are my new love!
(maybe because I don't have a bread machine and do it the old fashioned way) : )

No butter or honey are required by my kiddos when they pop one in their mouths for quick, easy, healthy snacks! And they are so EASY.

This is the basic muffin recipe that I've been using and then I add things to it.
It is from the Bread Beckers.

2 1/4 cups fresh milled flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 oil
1/2 honey

Measure dry ingredients into mixing bowl. Add liquids and mix just until well blended. Drop by spoonfuls into greased muffin tins. Bake at 400 for 15 min.


My hubby and I are trying to stay away from white sugar. Actually, he's trying and I'm failing. : ) I think muffins made with honey instead of sugar are just as tasty!


First batch:
I added two mashed bananas, 2 T. flax and 2 T. millet and walnuts! My hubby thought these were the BEST!

Next batch:
One apple (diced), 1 c. of dried cranberries, 2 T. of flax seeds
(Joy noticed the millet as being one of the same things that Jimmy eats











so I left it out this time. lol)
I thought these were the BEST!

Waiting for blueberries go on sale!

-Love to hear what your favorite muffin recipes are!

~Becky

Spring!

I thought you would never come and here you are! Hooray!

Here are some of my favorite things about spring:

~Rye grass!!!



(I will definitely NOT be posting a picture of what our grass looks in the summer!) ; )

-I received a challenge to show my favorite view around my home, and right now, this is it, SP. Thanks for asking!

~Going for my yearly trek to the boonies to buy a 50 lb bucket of wheat. I have lots of fun baking ahead of me! Muffins, pizza dough, waffles, bread...

~Our tax return (curriculum shopping here I come! Hooray!)

~Going strawberry picking!!! Due to the extreme cold weather we've had, the "u-pick" season has been delayed. I don't think it will really feel like spring until we've gone picking.

~A week long visit from my BFF and her children during spring break! Whoo-hoo!

Happy Spring, Everyone!

~Becky

Frisbee golf in Florida

My hubby and our kids have often played Frisbee golf at the park,

making their own course as they go

but someone recently told my hubby that real Frisbee golf courses exist!

So, I went surfing the Internet and found out that it is actually called "disk golf." (and it looks serious!) And I found a course near us!

It cost $6.42 a person. Did you catch that? Not $6.40 or $6.45...go figure. : )

The owner told us that your Frisbee throwing skills don't really matter at all because this is so different. Have I mentioned that my hubby has some mad-skillz when it comes to Frisbee. : )

Our kids are really good at it too. Since I barely have any Frisbee throwing skills period, I opted to be the score keeper and read the map except that I am map-challenged too and so that might not have been the best idea...lol but I only got us off course twice!

The disks are smaller than a normal Frisbee and a little heavier. Since we don't happen to own 5 Frisbees, we also rented some of their disks.

It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day to be outside. It was in the high 70's!

Directions with Dad:

Here is what you are aiming at:

Here is what you are avoiding
because a new disk cost $5.00. This pond didn't have an alligator but the larger one did.

I thought this basket was far away. Ha! -I had them throwing at the wrong one! They were always much farther away than this and sometimes had trees in the way:

Nathan and Dad:
Joy, Nathan and Zac:

Up close:
And the winner was Andrew!

Let's hear it for the youngest!!! Whoo-hoo!

~Becky

What the weekend may or may not hold

My hubby is home and we are planning some fun family time this weekend...
Things like having a BBQ and going to the park for a game of Frisbee golf.
That is, if everyone is feeling better.
A couple of our kids caught a wicked virus at the Junior Bible Quiz Districts last weekend and that has had them feeling pretty puny all week. Those two are on the mend now but when I came home from running an errand I found out that another one is down. (crawled into bed in the middle of the day with a tummy ache) : (

So, not sure what we will actually do, but we will be together and that is the best fun of all!

~Becky

Chocolate colored goodness

I bought this new comforter set ON SALE with some of my Christmas money. It was SUCH a great deal! I just love it.

It led to the need for a new window treatment (with the rest of my Christmas money) that I was too excited about to even iron first.

-This almost led to PAINTING the whole room but I successfully resisted that temptation. ; )

With new brown sheets, I woke up feeling like I had been sleeping in a "sea of chocolate."

And now, that is what the kids call our bed -"the sea of chocolate."

When one of our kids was sick, I had him take a nap in our bed. Then I heard one of the other kids say "I can't wait until I get sick so that I can sleep in the sea of chocolate."

And I got a kick out of them asking me if "I woke up on the wrong side of the sea of chocolate today." Is that possible? ; )

~Becky

The bad news and the very, very good news!

My hubby left for Denver on Friday evening to go and see his brother.

(He is only 49 and had a massive stroke while skiing)


His flight got cancelled after they sat on the plane on the runway for 3 hours due to problems with the plane. I guess we are glad they found out about those before they took off. Amen?


He was put up in a hotel and given meal vouchers...and a had very long night waiting in line after line for re-booking, hotel, shuttle etc...


Saturday he was booked on the last seat on a flight out to Denver that night...

Snow ended up delaying the incoming plane by an hour...which he said caused a mini riot with those who had been waiting SO long.


Then at 11:30 at night, with 3 policemen present, they announced that because of problems with the hydraulic system, this flight was now cancelled.


My sweet, exhausted hubby waited in various more lines for two more hours...and was put up in another hotel for the night.


Whenever we talked, he would say that if he only had 5 minutes to spend with his brother after all this, it would be totally worth it. : )


I'm happy to say that he FINALLY reached Denver on Sunday evening!
Even if it was 48 hrs after he left FL! They found a flight for him on a non-stop which they thought was already full!!! The attendant thought it must have been 'karma' but we know better! : )


So, we are asking God to bless every minute of his visit and to make him a blessing to his brother by doing whatever he can to help.
And tomorrow he flies home. We are hoping that getting home is much easier than getting to Denver was, for goodness sake....



The kids are missing Dad (who they say is the 'fun parent' lol)
and have successfully talked me into making them fettuccine alfredo tonight. (because somehow that helps?!) They mentioned that they might be 'staging a coup' otherwise. Ba ha ha ha.
They are pretty funny. : )


And there is good news! -The surgeon said that in a few months my brother-in-law will be home and functioning. Whoo-hoo!!!!!! PTL!


~Becky

Let's see...

~ The jar is working. Yay!


~Andrew has a Junior Bible Quiz match this weekend where we will find out which teams in FL will be heading to Regionals and Nationals! Whoo-hoo!

~Our 'friends from Texas' who are now our 'friends from California' -are coming to spend spring break with us again. Yahoo!!!! Can't wait!



~My sweet dad in CA and had knee replacement surgery last week. The pain sounds tremendous! (I hope my knees last until I go to be with the Lord!) He is improving and the pain is manageable now.



~I just found out that our GPS has longitude and latitude on it. (but maybe that is a given) Anyway, I may get to drag my family out for a geocaching experience here pretty soon. And I do mean DRAG. They have a little bit of pretend trauma from a letter boxing experience gone bad when they were little. LOL!



~Nathan tried out for the worship band in youth (he plays the keyboard) and he played for the very first time on Wednesday night. Yay!!!



~Speaking of Nate and music, he's been working for my hubby for a couple of months on Saturdays and he was just able to buy this: I'm just sure this is the smallest and cutest synthesizer around! Love the color! He plans on playing lots of Owl City songs on it and using it in the worship band.


That's what is up around here! Hope you have a great weekend!

~Becky

Thanks for praying...

As I mentioned the other day, my brother-in-law had a massive stroke while skiing.

Today we are thankful:

-that he is coming in and out of consciousness
-that he can talk (although it is painful)
-that he remembers the whole event, even the helicopter ride
-that he recognizes the people who are coming to visit him (and it is standing room only in his room)
-that all his vitals are good
-that he will be out of ICU in a a couple of days

Praying for:
-His fever to go and for complete and total healing, in Jesus' name.

~Becky

In our thoughts and prayers

My dear brother-in-law had a stroke yesterday. He was skiing in CO with his friends in the ski patrol...and then they had to rescue him. : (
He is recovering today from brain surgery. That is all we know right now...

~Becky

Forever and a day

...is about how long it takes me to text!

-Just ask my kids.

Last night, when I needed to find my boys in the Barnes and Noble, I decided it was just about quicker to look around the store then for me to text 'Where r u?' lol

(and let me just say that 'r' and 'u' are about the extent of my texting lingo, if you don't count lol)


I have a Tracfone, so it is not like I do much calling or texting anyway. My kids tell me all the time how 'lame' my phone is, but it is cheap and it works for me... (cheap is always for me!)

I remember being in the Arby's this summer and sending my first text to someone. My hubby read it and assured me that it was going to be the longest one that person had ever received.

Just last night when I had to send one, I stopped in front of an interesting looking display to text, because as I told the kids, they were going to be standing there for awhile.

We happened to see some cute mugs that had texting lingo on them and I learned a new phrase which I decided to send in a text to one of my kids...
which resulted in completely confusing them and making them think that someone had taken my phone! lol (except of course, who would steal a Tracfone?!)

So, I guess I will just stick to my detailed, time consuming, lengthy ones after all.
They will always know those are really from Mom! : )

~Becky

Sweet boys

During Joy's dance practice, the boys and I went to the mall.

Zachary and Nathan went their own way to exchange a shirt and look at shoes while Andrew and I went into Barnes and Noble. We read some old favorites and then bought cookies.

Walking with my guys towering over me, (all except Andrew who is as tall as I am now)
I was struck with the realization of how very blessed I am.
Blessed to be the mom of some wonderful young men.

They are so much fun. I love hanging out with them! They love to tease me and somehow I give them plenty of fodder for jokes. We have a great time together. (and they keep me oh, so humble!)

God is doing a good thing in each one of their lives and I'm blessed to get a birds eye view

Thank you Lord, for such awesome sons!

~Becky

Making our words a blessing

This jar is our reminder that what we say to our siblings cannot be hurtful

or it will cost you a dollar! : )

And it will go to benefit those in need in Haiti.
If you happen to be broke, you can do an extra couple of chores instead.

"So they all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth...." Amen!

We are working on having gracious words around here. : )

~Becky