Summertime!

I know...it isn't technically summer, but I consider June the summer season. A lot is going on but I just wanted to take a minute to share a couple of pictures. First up is a picture of my garden. I am pretty happy with it. We have 9 raised beds now and next year I hope to have more. :-)

Here is a link to my post about the first garden at had at this house. Only 2 raised beds....it has come a long way. :-)

Next up is just a photo of me at 21 weeks. It's amazing how fast time goes by. Soon Big T will be 6, the garden will need harvesting, and then the baby will be here.

So...that's all...just a couple of pictures. :-) Hope you are all having a blessed week.

Homemade Yogurt!

For the first time last night/this morning I made homemade yogurt! It is great. I just have a few quick photos to show the process. First I added my yummy milk to the crockpot. Once the milk was in the crockpot I turned it on low and let it set for 2 1/2 hours. When that time was up I unplugged it and let it set for another 3 hours with the lid on.

After 3 hours I whisked some starter into my milk. In this case it was some organic yogurt.

Once that was done I covered the mixture (still in the crockpot) with the lid and then wrapped 2 bath towels around it to hold the heat. Then....I went to bed! Yep...this is the super easy way to make yogurt. When I checked it in the morning this is what I had. Yes...it's yogurt! As soon as I took the lid off I said "It smells like yogurt!" So I knew my first attempt was successful. :-)

I then put it into a glass container and left some in another container to use it as my starter. With how well Little E and Beloved liked it (along with myself) I have a feeling I will be making more very soon. :-)

We even had some for dinner. I added a little Stevia to the yogurt to sweeten it and then added homemade granola and raspberries. It was delicious! Also for dinner we had chicken salad with the greens from our garden and the radishes from our garden. Oh...I even made homemade croutons that I drizzled with coconut oil instead of butter. Those were delicious as well.

I know this next photo is pretty random but I love getting packages in the mail. Yesterday I got the order of vitamins for Beloved and I. I just have to say how much I love these vitamins...they are so great. Although....we sickness off and on during this pregnancy...I have to wait to take them until right before bed. If you are curious about these vitamins you can find them here at Beeyoutiful. They are a great company to deal with...if I do say so myself. :-)

Oh and before I forget...if you would like the exact recipe on how to make the yogurt you can find it here at Nourishing Days. I pray that you all had a wonderful God Filled day! Blessings :-)

If Ever You Worshipped

I needed to hear this today. I thought I would share it with all my friends. :-) Blessings to you all.

Planes, Flubber, Owls, and much more

So much has happened this month. I don't have as many pictures as I should (Praying we can get a new camera soon), but I do have some to share. Earlier in the month Beloved had to go to Philadelphia for a business trip. It's the first time he has been away from the family for that long. The children weren't to happy with the idea of waking up early so we could leave at 6:30 to get Papa to the airport. But we did make it in time.

Even though we couldn't walk Papa to his gate we went to the top of the parking garage to watch some airplanes. This picture is not of his airplane but it was at his gate at the time and so it made the children feel better to see Papa's plane. Made leaving a whole lot easier. At least I thought...as soon as we got out of the parking garage Big T cried for at least 30 minutes. But we made it through the week just fine!

Then another day this month Miss Hannah brought over some flubber for the children to play with. it was so weird...the feeling of it was, but the children and a blast with it. The children and I will have to make some of our own soon.

Once our Papa was back home we went out and purchased some crafts to make for the residents at the Country Club Retirement Campus. The children had a lot of fun making these flowers and I think they turned out very well. It was nice to see how much the residents smiled when the children gave them each a flower at the church service on Sunday.

Then of course there was a lot of work to be done in the garden. The children have taken it upon themselves to scare the birds out of the garden area. This first picture was taken we I caught Sweet E and Big T trying to sound like owls to scare the birds away. It was so funny and cute to watch.

Then the children helped me to pick the large rocks out of the garden beds. There are still a ton more that could be taken out, but we did what we could this year. Maybe we can get some more in the fall and next year.

Then we had some wonderful friends come over to help us with a big job. The neighbor's tree was hanging on the lines to the house and causing too much shade for my garden. So Josiah trimmed that (very large) tree for us and a few others around the house. The children were fascinated with the whole process. Not because they saw Josiah up in the cherry picker, but because the backyard became their "jungle."

This picture was taken early on in the process. This was probably only 1/5th of the wood that was cut out of the tree. It was a lot of work, but praise the Lord we had a lot of help so it went much faster.

And just one last thing. I harvested the first radish from the garden. This year I planted tri-colored easter egg radishes. This first one that was ready was purple and delicious! I can't wait for more things to be harvested from the garden. :-)

I pray that you all are having a blessed day and week!

Sorry..

Wow...I can not believe it has been almost a month since I have posted anything. This is just an extremely busy time of year. We have finished school, hubby was gone on a business trip, we almost finished up the garden, etc. So...hopefully we will be able to get back posting more regularly very soon. :-) I have also ventured into making my own laundry detergent. So maybe I should post on that very soon. :-)

God is Good!

All the time! I just wanted to take time to praise the Lord. The children and I had a wonderful time outside this afternoon working in the garden. (Our wonderful neighbor even came by for a visit. :-) ) It was such a beautiful day that it helped me to forget about my nausea and such. Except I realized that I move slower than I did a few months ago. lol Oh well....I only have till October right. :-D To be outside in our Lord's creation is such a blessing and I just had to share that with you all. So please....if you have nice weather where you live...take advantage of it! And if it is raining...praise the Lord for his goodness. People in North Myrtle Beach could really use it right now (It's where my parents have their second home) and their good friends may have lost their home to the fire. Please pray for everyone down there. Last I heard 70 homes where lost, 100 homes were damage, and many areas are completely destroyed.

Show and Tell (4/24)

Welcome to "Show and Tell Friday!" Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there's a story behind your special something, that's even better!

I haven't shared in a long time. I know...shame on me. :-) I have already shared these before with others, but I wanted to share a couple of the dresses I have made for my Sweet E. She is such a pleasure to sew for. She loves getting new dresses and I enjoy creating new things and practicing my sewing skills. :-)

This is the dress I made for her birthday. She requested pink and red...so I picked something in the middle. I have never made this dress before but love how it turned out. She has already worn it many times!

I enjoyed making this jumper as well because she can wear it during any season. :-)

I just realized I don't have a picture of her other birthday outfit. Shame on me...I will have to get a picture of that one soon. :-) Hope you enjoyed these! :-)

What...you don't do this?

This past Saturday was the perfect day to be outside and get some yard work done. I just wanted to share some pics of the children helping to measure a post hole. What? You don't measure your post holes this way? It makes it super easy. :-) Try it some time. lol

Yep...It's a good depth now. lol :-)

(I just have to say...our camera keeps getting worse...the pictures are not great anymore. Praying to get a new one before the baby comes.)