Knock, Knock...

Who's There??

Hey There Blog Readers.... who are you??  So I am just wondering who actually reads this other than my family!  I know a couple other friends do... but seriously who else?  I'd love to know:)  I love the comments that I get, but other than that I have no idea who's checking me out.  This drives me a little crazy!  I mean - maybe there is some weirdo stalker reading about my enchanting life?  Anyway if you are reading, (I realize it is a pain without a google account), shoot me an email here and there pleeeeease:)  I want to know about you too.

It was a great day.   E- volunteered at the library for 5 hours signing up cute little kids for summer reading. She still loves the library.  M- organized a nerf battle at the park with some homeschoolers.  Word got out and he had a little over 20 kids (he would have been happy with 10).  It was awesome!  He was a leader, he was organized, he had fun and he had the moms in the palm of his hand.  They were impressed with his games and leadership.  The kids had a blast - many had never done this sort of thing before - and they all asked "When is the next one?!"  3 hours of fun, all ages, no injuries, no issues... this is what I love about home-schooled kiddos;)

Been fun not having school this week.  E- especially loving her freedom.  She's been outside most of the week catching lizards.  She likes to bring them inside and stick them as close to my face as she can - I don't like them.  A little too much like snakes to me - which BTW, we saw a very large snake in the road yesterday.  Guess this will be the end of my yardwork days until they go into hibernation again.  Seriously, I will have a heart attack if I see one in our yard.  I hate them.

Nigel the Whiptail Lizard... he's the state lizard!  Any yep - he's missing some of his tail.

I'm Addicted to...

Got your attention didn't I?  I made ice cream this weekend for the first time and I am addicted!  Michael's mom gifted me an ice cream machine quite a few years ago and sadly, I have never used it.  What was I thinking?  Obviously, I wasn't... this machine rocks!  I followed the machine recipe for the first batch - it was goooood.  The kids actually said it was the best ice cream they had ever had - no doubt with the heavy amount of cream, half and half, and sugar:)  Here it is:

Today I tried a recipe from the Pioneer Woman and  to quote the LEGO Movie - "Oh My G-O-S-H!"  I made Grater's Blackberry Chip ice cream!!  For those that don't know, Grater's is probably one of the best spots in Cincinnati, and definitely the best ice cream shop in the country!   Their ice cream is so rich and delicious and full of chocolate chunks.  Anyway, here's the backstory:  While I was pregnant with E-I had gestational diabetes which meant no sugar!  After I delivered, my good friend Angie sent me a box of various flavors of  Grater's ice cream from Ohio.  This is probably my favorite delivery of all time! Both E- and the ice cream (haha)  Anyway, I have never forgotten and although I have seen a few flavors of Grater's ice cream in a few supermarkets here and there, now I can make my own!!  

This is amazing.  This is magnificent.  This could be a problem....

Thank you Pioneer Woman!  I had to have a little of both -  it started melting in the heat!

Nature is Exploding in our Backyard!

Ooooo - how I love this time of year here!  The birds, the flowers, the amphibians and reptiles...so much fun.  Everyone finished school - mostly.  Kids will do Spanish for the summer and E- has a couple weeks left of geometry, but otherwise we are done!  End of year test scores are in, report cards are complete (sort of) and we are ready to welcome summer!  Today I will attempt to make some homemade ice cream.  Despite having an ice cream maker for a number of years, I've never used it!  Seems like good Memorial Day weekend fun - so we'll see how it goes.  I'll post if successful!  For now enjoy these pics of the wildlife in our backyard!

The flowers are popping in the pond!

Jeremiah and Plato sunning themselves

One of many fat tadpoles

E- attempts to sneak up on Jeremiah

E- catching the fish

Hummingbird

E- finally caught a lizard (check her blog for better photos)


Enjoy the Weekend!

M-s Weekend

M- became a member of the Order of the Arrow for scouts this weekend.  From Wikipedia: 

The Order of the Arrow (OA) is the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). It uses American Indian-styled traditions and ceremonies to bestow recognition on scouts selected by their peers as best exemplifying the ideals of Scouting.

We are proud of him!  In short, he spent Friday night through Saturday evening without speaking, camping under the stars, building tents for summer camp, and eating minimal food.  There is a reason for all of these crazy things, but being that I am not a scout - I can't tell you!  At any rate, M- did awesome.  Actually I think he loves the challenge - still military minded.  So awesome that his dad was able to enjoy and experience all of it with him! Looks like  he is well on his way to become an Eagle Scout - just like Daddy:)  

10 Things

Here are 10 things from the week:

1)  E- took the AP History test and survived!  It was a little weird for me to drop her off at the high school which is HUGE with 2500 kids - but I survived too:)

2)  M- finished end of year testing (CAT) - YIPEE!  This always makes us feel 'officially' done with a grade and boy are we ready for this year to end.

3) We had our end of year homeschool p.e. swim party and it was AWESOME!  2 hours of swimming with friends, an hour of party food time, and a very sweet speech from the coaches.

4) I gathered a large list of emails from the moms at p.e. and suggested summer play gatherings - there was much enthusiasm as most don't have a group. I had visions of starting another homeschool group - hubby just shook his head... I probably don't need to take that on again.

5)  A duck decided to make a home in the pond.

6) M- got to play at a new friend's house for 4+ hours this week - they are already plotting sleepovers and future get-togethers.  Took us 7 months to find a 'fit', but I think this may be it!  Hallelujah!

7)  E- and I spent 3+ hours on a virtual pig lab dissection Friday... the LAST lab for biology!  Then we went out for the night enjoying some girl time with movie and shopping:)

8) We have baby grapes!  Lots of them....

9)  Cecil (our tadpole) has 3 legs now... who knew it took months for tadpoles to turn into frogs?

10)  M- is getting initiated into the Order of the Arrow for scouts this weekend and then head's to another leadership camp in a couple more weeks.

BONUS - some photos from the week.  The full moon over the Sandias is quite a site, everything is blossoming in our yard (so pretty), the frogs are enjoying the lilypads, and the roadrunners are catching the lizards!  Enjoy the weekend.

Happy Mom's Day!

Hey Moms - Happy Day to you!  Hope you are all taking at least a little time to enjoy something that makes you smile.  I started my celebration early Friday night by taking in a movie with some mom friends - "Mom's Night Out".  Go see it!  So good, so funny, so true, and a good message for us moms who think we aren't doing our best or need to be more perfect.  Honestly - I love movies like this.  We need more of these - I want to take the kids and hubby as they too will appreciate the humor and truthfulness of the film.

Last night we celebrated with a fire on the porch and s'mores (yea for relaxing in the backyard!).  S'mores are fun and I fell game to the advertising ploy of the new square marshmallows and pre-cut graham crackers while at Walmart yesterday.  So fun!  Hubby and I even got to enjoy the peace and quiet of the crickets and the almost full moon while kids went in to bed early:)

I know the pics are all in weird spots.... E- usually helps me, but she is taking a practice test at the moment and I want to get this post done.  Don't know what we'll do this afternoon - was hoping for a little hike or walk along the river... but it is super windy here!  Maybe we'll go see the movie again?  

Hugs to all the Moms!

Relax your Chi with Tea!

So, last week I went to my very 1st acupuncture appointment.  My knees had been killing me for too long and despite the continued exercise/stretches and occasional ibuprofen (which I hate to take), they just weren't getting better. In my opinion, if you're going to have oriental medicine, you should have someone who is from China.  Even better if they have a heavy accent and are difficult to understand:)  I found someone nearby and booked an appointment.  I wasn't really nervous as my grandmother did acupuncture at 80 for her arthritis, my mom goes regularly, and my husband has had success with his back in the past.  The doc checked my pulse, looked at my tongue, felt around my joints a bit and says - "You have bad chi - your energy is very bad - very stressed".  I laughed - didn't surprise me!  In fact the entire family laughed as none were shocked that I was stressed (I did just spend $1500 on the car the day before!).  Needles went in - some hurt more than others.  "Why?"  I asked - (the one in my forehead especially hurt).  Dr's response - "You think too much!".  Too funny!  She had me pegged.  I desperately tried to relax for the hour - couldn't do it.  But, after the needles came out and I got home, I was exhausted.  Really exhausted.  I slept great.  And you won't believe this - my knees... they felt 80% better after 2 days.  I went again today - actually relaxed this time (though my chi is still bad per the doc).  I might have even slept for 5 minutes.  

I am hooked - feels so good!  I want to go all the time.  But, mainly I know I need to make time to relax every day.  Therefore, my new mantra - Relax your Chi with Tea.  This past week I have taken 20 minutes with a cup of tea and sat down quietly (kids aren't supposed to talk to me).  Honestly, I am really bad at taking time (other than exercising) for myself and don't usually sit down until later at night.  So - moms give yourself the gift of "chi" time for Mother's Day (and every day) - get some tea, sit down, and relax:)

A Weekend at Home... sort of

Ah!  We finally had almost an entire weekend at home.  Between kids activities and travel, we have not had 2 days in a row home for a looooong time.   Did we relax during this amazing 80 degree weekend?  Of course not!  Hours were spent cleaning up the yard (the previous owners did nothing for years), trying to get the pond squared away, getting the swamp cooler ready, and pruning the grapes.  We rocked the weekend though and it is coming along - as you can see from the rooftop photo I took of the back corner area.  Maybe we'll get to relax in those lawn chairs in the coming weeks!  It is beautiful and so green right now - I love spring:)

Here are just a few rows of the vineyard - there are 12 total and we thought we may be low on grapes this year, but it looks like they are all budding out after pruning, so I think we'll be knee deep in grapes by late summer.  Grape-stomping party anyone?

These 3 braved the pond  in an attempt to fix the center 'island' (it was pretty ugly) and get a new waterfall going.  The pond is our nemesis!  We love it, but not quite sure what to do with it - it's very large.  After winter we had an abundance of gold fish (like 100's), but we haven't seen any for a couple weeks.  We have seen 100's of tadpoles and a few bullfrogs though, so we assumed they had eaten all the fish.  Wrong -we saw a few swimming around the kids while they were in the pond.  At any rate, 100's of tadpoles are too much so we are catching and donating to a local pet store and maybe some homeschoolers who want a science project.  

Is this guy eating all the fish?  Guess not!  FYI, bullfrogs do not sound pretty when they croak at night - kind of like a dying cow.

This is Plato the turtle - he also lives in the pond.

And this guy - (bad picture, I know) landed Friday evening on the island.  Super cool - it is a night heron!  Maybe he is eating the goldfish?

Here's what hubby and I wanted to do after the weekend of work - sit and enjoy a bottle of wine from the top porch.  It didn't happen as we had to drive the kids to separate activities until 9 pm.  This was taken a while ago - but it makes a pretty photo.  Maybe next weekend?!  Enjoy the week:)