I look at this little guy and wonder where he went. My youngest Joshua turned into a teenager this year. While that is hard to believe he's a teen, I can see that there are things we need to work on and that means setting some goals for growth
Before I know it he will be a young man leaving home for college or a job. The next 4 years I know it is VERY important that I focus on the skills and knowledge that I want him to have before he leaves home.
The air is cool and nippy this morning. Jeans and sweatshirts are sounding cozy instead of hot.
Our crazy garden is still producing. We have tomato puree & tomato sauce to last the winter.
And we are still picking.
The green beans were not as abundant due to the water flooding the garden after we planted in the spring. Thankfully we have green beans from last year so we can make them stretch.
The weeds have finally gotten ahead of us but the hay on the garden kept them away most of the summer. We had to do some minimal watering in August and September.
This method did a great job of retaining the moisture and giving us an abundant amount of tomatoes! The tomato plants have gotten so heavy that they are bending the supports and falling over. And I don't really care.
My focus has switched from spending time out there every day to going out every couple of days to pick tomatoes and nothing else. That makes it easy for the weeds to win.
But I'm ok with that. Frost is coming.
Our pumpkin plants did well again. A few big ones and several little ones!
I'm thrilled with the deep mulch method. Putting hay on the garden was a BIG success.
So after the frost we will be covering the garden with a layer of leaves and hay. Then next spring we can start again. We have learned some things and will be making some changes.
But I'm not ready to start dreaming of 2016 yet. That's what January and February are for right?
Did you have a garden this year? Tell me what you harvested in the comments!
Fall has arrived this week. I'm in jeans and sweatshirts instead of shorts and sandals. Normally I grouch about that because I love warm weather & summer so much.
But I'm good with it this year. More than good. Blessed.
I love summer more than winter. But I also love the trees changing and drinking hot tea snuggled under a blanket. Those things are much more appropriate for cool weather.
Are you pulling out your winter clothes yet? I'm thinking about it.
I don't know why but I love hay bales in a freshly cut pasture. My kids think I am weird when I stop to take a photo. Just another reason that I love living in the country.
3. Parallel parking
Megan is SO close to getting her license. We set up the cones this week in the yard and she's had a couple of parallel parking practice sessions. I can't wait for this girl to pass her test.
4. Pumpkins
The garden is about done for this year. Let me rephrase that. I am about done with the garden for the year. But we got some really nice pumpkins. A few to carve & a few to cook up for pie, muffins & other yummy goodies.
5. Quick visits
Michael, Rebekah & Cecily made a quick visit on Monday evening. We haven't seen them for a few weeks so it was good to be together even if it was just for a few hours. Cecily has grown a bunch! Sorry for the dark picture but I was too busy snuggling to go get my good camera.
I'm choosing joy as I count my blessings! What blessings are you counting this week?
A girl was given a camera to take to camp. She fell in love with taking photos.
It was a steady relationship. It started with buying film(I know I’m dating myself here), then catching fun shots and getting the pictures back. It allowed her to share and treasure those memories from special times in her life.
This love of pictures followed her in to adulthood. As she started a family, it quickly became a hobby and a way to connect with other moms who had a similar love.
Do you have a similar story of your first camera?
Links in this post may be affiliate links--just in case you wanted to know.
Since early August, I’ve (been forced) to change into a morning person since my brain has been wide awake at 6 a.m. no matter what time I go to bed.
How crazy is that? So if I want to use my mornings well I cannot stay up late. Being up late robs me of being productive or happy the next day.
Also in August, I started to think about our daily routine and decided that it needed revamping. There were things slipping through the cracks. I had some personal goals & family goals to work on.
Surely there was a way to use these early morning hours productively.
There was.
I've followed Crystal Paine on www.MoneySavingMom.com for years. She is a sweet Christian woman who runs an awesome blog, business & home schools her kids. When she came out with an on-line class in August called Make Over Your Morning, I knew I needed what she had to say. (affiliate link).
For years my morning schedule has worked great. However, that was when I NEEDED to make breakfast for the kids and be the task master of their mornings. As they have grown older and can be more responsible for their time, I've found that I like a more leisurely start to my mornings.
It's wonderful sipping my tea in my pjs before I take a shower. I like doing my quiet time in the dark before crawling out of bed. That is the freedom of homeschooling I guess. We can shift the structure of our day to suit the needs of the season that we are in at the moment.
This fall's schedule is WAY different because Megan started taking classes at a local college 3 days a week. That means an hour round-trip for me Monday, Wednesday & Friday’s until she gets her license(can't come soon enough). I'm glad she has this opportunity but it seriously eats into my work time at home.
So getting up early and getting started on the day really has helped with that transition. But I wanted to be intentional about my "quiet" work time while the kids were still sleeping. So here is my new morning routine.
The course does NOT say you need to get up early or become a morning person.
What Make Over Your Mornings does cover
Make Over Your Mornings has helped me to reform my night owl ways in just 14 lessons. The lessons were pretty short(15 minutes or less) so they were very doable each day. My biggest take away so far is that I need to set my priorities and then build a schedule to get the most important things done first.
Any day where I can start the day with my priorities in mind and have a routine in place to get things checked of my to do list is bound to be AWESOME! This course has really helped me become a more productive blogger, home school teacher and mom.
If you are looking for a way to reset your mornings, then I highly recommend checking out the 14-day course Make Over Your Mornings!
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