Ahem...tap...tap...tap...Hello?

Wow. It's been almost a month since my last blog post! I didn't mean for that to happen...but Thanksgiving arrived and I just sort of took an impromptu hiatus from blogging! But, now the year is wrapping up and I'm looking forward to getting a new schedule in place! 
Although my blog won't be focused on homeschool review products this year, I do hope to get back to other things like recipes, crocheting, homeschooling in general, book reviews, and just opening up about stuff! I also want to try to feature some guest posts this year in most of those areas too! 
Thanks for sticking with me this far!  Here's to a shockingly close arrival of the year 2020!

Change is In the Air...

It is so hard to believe that it has officially turned into November for 2019. I cannot believe that the year 2020 is actually on the horizon! November signals the end of all our busy summer activities here on the farm as we shift to preparing for Winter, including separating out the calves. It never really and truly slows down--activities simply change.
But for me, I've made a decision that will help me slow down a little. 

Family Time {Wordless Wednesday}

We have been absolutely loving the intense family time we've been able to have while attending the Feast of Tabernacles. We don't ever get this much intensive time with my husband, so we relish the chance to fill our love tanks! Here are some of my favorite shots from the week so far!

 And lest you think we are too normal....

I will have more photos to post later, but I just wanted to share my fave family posts thus far! We have a few more days left, so we are going to continue to soak up the Word of God, the sunshine, and the love!
*****

A Pool Can Be Painful

So I know we are way late in getting a pool purchased and set up, but my husband was adamant he needed one, even if we only use it for like 4 weeks as the summer ends. Thankfully, a Kentucky summer can last into the end of September! So while others are closing theirs up Labor Day weekend, we will be praying for enough warm days to maximize our water bill for the 4500 gallons we filled it with! But with a pool can come some problems.

No.
Not a leak.
Not bugs.
Not algae.

Scripture Word Art Revisited

Sometimes I like to doodle while I'm listening to a sermon on Friday evening or Saturday. I love creating scripture word art, especially if I haven't done it in awhile. I broke out the pens and my new botanical line art book I borrowed from the library and went to town. I think I'm going to have to buy myself a copy because I love it so much! You can see the little botanicals I added to these scriptures below. 

 Succulents are fun and simple to add to any word art.

This one is my favorite though. I love how the vines and flower worked with the scripture. I plan on working on some more of these. I love this book and want to try more of the botanicals in it.

(click to see it on Amazon)

Things are really picking up now as we gear up for our soft start for school with the beginning of homeschool co-op next week. I'm teaching THREE classes which is going to be hectic, but our numbers have jumped this year from 8 to 25 students! So that's very exciting and we are hoping for continued increasing of the numbers!

Have an awesome week! I'll be back next week with a book review. 

Friendship Bracelets--a blast from the past {Wordless Wednesday}

As part of the Fibreshare swap for this summer, I'm participating in the theme of Friendship Bracelets. This means we have to send a bracelet representing friendship to our partner with the other things. I decided to take this into more depth and actually got in touch with my middle school self and did the old knotted friendship bracelets.  It was NOT like riding a bike. There was no instant recall. LOL. But thanks to YouTube videos from middle school girls (Bwahahahahahah), I was able to make my hands remember fairly quickly. My mom commented, "Oh I remember you making those all the time!" I loved buying up embroidery floss at the store and exploring designs on braceletbook.com and eventually made up three designs to send, and one to send later since it is taking me longer.

These were very fun and I think I'm going to incorporate them somehow into our co-op studies this year during art. Maybe as part of a weaving or handcraft study. I can't wait to finish that watermelon one and send it! Did you ever make friendship bracelets when you were younger?

Summer Storms and pop up...tornadoes?

We had a surprise tornado on the evening of June 16th. My family was in Cincinnati celebrating my brother's marriage...meanwhile, it was a turbulent sunset on the farm. Fortunately, we didn't experience more than a few tree tops snapped. But all around us, there were power poles down. Telephone wires across the road. The hillside looked like a weedeater had plowed a straight line. We spent some time doing cleanup at my inlaws and my parents' homes where they had much more tree debris than we did.

Puppy helped grabbed branches

I had to crawl in the culvert to clear out a bunch of debris...
the next day this was filled to the brim due to another storm

Youngest was great about dragging branches

Cleaning off her fence

Some tree branches--gone at My father-in-laws 

More branches down and a yard pond

Wenching out the limb from the culvert

Using the SawsAll to chop up the larger treetops

Hauling away one of the branches

Thankfully, our power was out for only 12 hrs. We didn't sustain any damage as the tornado went through town instead of veering off, however, there is a LOT of tree damage. Fortunately, only two homes experienced serious damage. They categorized it as an EF0, simply because it kept bouncing around and not staying steady on the ground. But man, chippers and chainsaws have been the sounds during the day, and the scent of "campfire" during the evening as people burn their debris. 

Adventures In Crochet: FibreShare Excitement

Just a quick post to share some Adventures in Crochet excitement--because not only did I get my partner's package completed and ready to ship--but I RECEIVED my own package a day later! It was a yarn lovers dream!

So let me start with what I ended up sending my partner...
She was not a picky crafter at all--instead she was almost TOO easy. Her main crochet crafts are baby blankets and washcloths. She preferred softer shades because of the baby blankets. She also had never used an ergonomic hook before. She also loves to sew aprons as her other hobby. So armed with this information, I set out to put her perfect package together.

June is Busting Out All Over!

Happy June!
I always love the beginning of a new month. There are so many possibilities waiting to happen! I love the song "June is busting out all over" from the musical Carousel. It captures all the excitement that arrives with that first summer month! My June is definitely filling up with some exciting things here on the farm. Here's a run down of some of the larger things going on this month!

A Simple Prayer

Dear Lord. Please bring us cold enough weather to kill all the germs and mold that continues to plague my family and the people around us. Yes, I know I am asking for cold weather. Yes, I know that means it needs to stay awhile. So if it's going to be cold, can you please throw in some snow? That will at least make it pretty and fun to play in. Besides, this weekend is a time when people really want it to be white outside. So yeah. Let's start this weekend, okay?
Sincerely,
A Mom Who is Sick of Snot and Coughs

We interrupt this program to bring you the following announcement...

I am going to be not blogging as much for a little while, besides some required pieces. You see i need to let my hands heal. Unfortunately, I was bitten by a dog on both hands last night and spent several hours in the ER. I left with 5 stitches and admonitions to take it easy. Because typing is painful for me, I am going to have to limit it to the bare minimum until the pain goes away. 

me realizing i have to have stitches....

I ask for prayers as I go through this more annoying than anything trial. I am so thankful that no tendons experienced any damage, but the pain is simply horrid without my pain medicine--I know because i really feel it the last 20 minutes. 

I will still be sharing my reviews this week--but i don't know that I will do much more than that--depends on how well my hands heal up and the pain is managed. At least the main damage is to my left hand--not my dominate hand. But the puncture in the right hand was deep and is continuously sore. 
Thanks again for any and all prayers! I hope I will be able to have updates as the week continues and I visit my primary care doctor. I hope your Father's Day was lovely!