Monday Misc. and "Losin' with Lemons"

I have hardly had a moment lately to be bloggin'.  Things have been a bit escalated around here.  
~First, my sister and her five children arrived safely from the UK and it has been so great to have everyone enjoying each other.  The children have played and played at VERY high speeds!  :)
~My brother graduated and drove here and spent two weeks with us all.  He and Holly have left and are soon to be settled in at his first stationing in Virginia.
~Mom and Dad hosted a "shindig" for Holly and Jon while they were here.  P made beautiful cupcakes and they had a houseful.  After most of the guests were gone, they opened their gifts.  It was a very wonderful time together.  P made an absolutely gorgeous quilt with their wedding picture and all the air force symbols on it.  I made them a wedding scrapbook album.  It was a joyous time.  We enjoyed the two weeks with them immensely and are so excited for them as they begin their life together.
~D turned 6 and we had a big "camo" military birthday party for him...a big crowd of family and friends and lots of fun.
~Our church had a psalm sing the following Friday night.
~The next day was our Keepers At Home...learning homemade strawberry jam and we went strawberry picking.
~We left for Tn on Thursday afternoon and headed up for spending time with Steven's side of the family--the children got to go swimming, visit Uncle Tommy's farm and ride a donkey, a four wheeler, see lots of hunting dogs, and enjoy their second cousin.  We had wonderful food and laughter at Uncle Jimmy's, had a great visit at Aunt Bess Ann's (not to mention the best stack cake), and enjoyed spending time with so many family members.  Saturday was the actual reunion...Aunt's Uncles, first-second-and third cousins, brothers, sisters...the list goes on.  And food, food and more food!  We arrived home very late Sat. night.
~Yesterday at church we invited our dear friends the Broyles to come spend the night so they could spend Memorial day with us.  We had such fun today..shopping, ping pong, watching "The Young Victoria" and grilling hamburgers for supper.  We surprised S and had his birthday a couple of days early.  I secretly passed around horns and on cue everyone pulled them out and blew them.  Stef had secretly baked and frosted a chocolate cake and it was yummy!

So as you can see, that is just a few things to have going on in two weeks time.  Can I say I am a little bit exhausted?  But, we are so blessed and filled to the brim with mercies.

And now for the announcement.  I plan, Lord willing, to do a brief daily update blog the next ten days because I am embarking on a ten day cleanse.  Several in our church (including my dad) have done it with good success.  In a nutshell: The Master Cleanse is such a simple program. First, squeeze Fresh Lemon Juice, then add Rich Maple Syrup, andCayenne Pepper into Pure Water. Drink a minimum of six to twelve glasses throughout the day whenever one is hungry. Take a laxative, morning and evening; or instead of the morning laxative, you can do the Salt Water Flush. Every day of The Master Cleanse that you overcome the psychological need to eat, you feel a growing sense of control that motivates you to complete the process. The Master Cleanse is by far my favorite of the Detox Diet Recipes.


I hope to shed several pounds through this and am excited and hopeful that I can actually do this.  I have never done anything like this though.  So we shall see.  My father-in-law is so sure I won't be able to finish this can do this that he is going to give a dollar for every pound I lose.  Hmmm, think I can lose a hundred pounds?  
I hope to do this for 10 days...but it can be done as long as 40--but no, 10 sound plenty long right now.  So tonight I savored my last solid food for a long time.  And tomorrow, well, I hope to be a little lighter and healthier.  :)


So for those of you interested, I will try to do a daily update on my progress. "Losin' with Lemons".  And for those of you not interested?  I am still going to update. :)


Who wants to join me?

KaH pictures!

Hop on over to Stef's blog for lots of beautiful pictures of our Keepers at Home class this past Saturday. We had great fun!

Happy Birthday!

Our precious D is 6 today!  And what a blessing this child is to us.  There is something very special about him..he draws so many smiles and laughs from everyone he is around.  He was born in the water and had the gentlest birth...but ever since then he has been going at full speed.  We love our Dbo so much!

D as a newborn

Mommy/son love

What a character.  Sarah took this at the park back when we lived in Sugarland.

This is Dbo with his cousin Brittany last New Years

Tonight we are having a family get-together and celebrating D's 6th birthday.  I will let you in on a secret.  

Daniel is a HUGE animal lover.  I found him kissing a baby chick and telling it "I love you" before he left the house one day.  So for his birthday we are getting him two of these...

Pigmy Goats!  S is picking them up on the way home..I think he is going to get all white ones.  Fun, fun!

70!

Another Happy Birthday...this time to my dear Mother-in Law.  Happy 70th, Nona...we all love you very, very much!

Happy Birthday to my dear sister in law!

  Happy Birthday to a dear sister in law and a dear friend! We love you so very, very much!

 How does it feel to be 21?  :)

W's 11th Birthday!

 I am just a few months late in blogging about W's 11th birthday.  

The Birthday Boy

We had our dear friends the Broyles over for the occasion.  

    

Can there be a more handsome fella?

Little H loves birthday parties

B is eager to help

 

Mr Broyles drew this amazing tank for W!

A happy little girl with her cake.

A bb gun for his birthday!

What a face!

Another face! 

The theme was Jurassic Park

Everyone sing!

♫♫Happy Birthday to you...♫♫

E is enjoying it all!

After our supper, cake and presents..we all watched Jurassic Park using the big screen projector and speakers.  It was great fun!  Happy Birthday to my favorite W in the whole world!

Lord's Day Gleanings

"Christ is the most cheap physician, he takes no fee. He desires us to bring nothing to him but broken hearts; and when he has cured us he desires us to bestow nothing on him but our love."
Thomas Watson


Happy Sabbath Day everyone!

End of schoolyear celebration

In celebration for completing our 2009/2010 school year, we went out to our local homeschool owned restaurant called the Turtle Parfait, for double scoops of ice cream!

D is very excited about this prospect!

So many choices!

My rising 6th grader and 9th grader

J is seriously contemplating this.

Can I really pick out whatever flavor I want?

My rising 5th grader

So I guess there is more than one way of eating an icecream cone.

My crew!

The SpringMeadows gang!

Last Day of School!

We are done with our school year 2009-2010!  We plan on continuing Latin for a few more weeks and I will have the children doing independent reading through the summer.  And piano lessons will continue.  But, after the children finish their assignments this afternoon..we are done!  

The children have spent alot of time reading...

and writing...

We loved using Teaching Textbooks this year!  It's a keeper!

You all know how much I have loved using this!  I am passionate about this for sure!  I love this history course and am looking forward to the next Volume next year.  I also use this in conjuction with this... 

I feel very blessed to have my children home with me each day.  I realized again today what a great life we have here in SC.  Out in the country, where my children can ride the go-cart, have chickens to care for and gather eggs, see the horse in the pasture, run and be children...grow up with each other and learn every day.  I love being able to see the lights go on as I teach them something new.  Yes, this life is hard, but a blessed one.  In our weakness, He is made strong and may He be glorified in our home.