Strawberries!

Every single year I vow to go pick strawberries. I'm not a big jam maker, but I love eating them and using them in smoothies. However, it seems like every year I get so busy that I miss the season.

FINALLY! This year I managed not only to go once but twice in the same week. And man, was it worth it! These were the best strawberries I have ever eaten in my entire life. Seriously. So sweet. So good.

I brought along my trusty side-kicks - aka Mr. T and my youngest. My youngest son was a huge help the first day and the second day as well. While he needs to work on his technique, he worked diligently both times we went. However, this was his very first time every picking strawberries.

Mr. T was a big help too - we would take turns handing him strawberries and he would place them in the flat for us. He did excellent and stayed right with us, in the sun, for the 30 minutes it took us to fill two flats of strawberries. I ended up with about 14 pounds that first day. And for his first time, I must say that my youngest did great and picked six pounds all by himself!

I went again a few days later and met up with my sister. I had noticed that they were also selling peas and you could pick your own so I was excited for fresh peas. We started in the pea field this time. They were a lot fewer and farther between this go round and we had extra "help" as well.

My niece and "Mr. T"

Showing off the peas they picked. 

Actually our biggest challenge today was keeping two 2-year-olds from running all over the pea field while we picked. We worked for about 30 minutes and I only managed to get six pounds. I split that between myself and Mr. T's mom. 

After shelling what I kept, I ended up with enough peas for two meals. Hmmm...may have to rethink this in terms of "what I get for the amount of time I put in." Or plant my own garden next year. 

We then headed to the strawberry field and each picked a flat of berries. My niece loves berries and my sister had a hard time getting her to not pick since she would pick anything and eat anything that remotely looked like a strawberry. 

I did manage to snag a couple photos of them both looking cute. 

I tried to get Mr. T to eat one, but he wasn't all that sure about it.

I lost count how many she ate. 

Thankfully I had washed and hulled the original 14 pounds of berries (after giving two quarts to Mr. T's mom) and they were already in the freezer. 

The second day we went to pick I processed all the peas (shelled and ate/stuck in the fridge what wasn't cooked), all the strawberries (washed, hulled, and frozen whole), and the 15 ears of corn I had bought earlier in the week (shucked, blanched, and frozen). Our local grocery store was selling corn for five ears for $1. We ate some and I processed the rest. I'll probably wait until the farm where we picked the berries at has some later in the season though before I do any more.

All in all a good start to summer! And I may just go back for some more berries this week!

Throw Back Thursday

I was looking at some old photos just the other day and I was reminded of all the walks we took when we lived on the family farm. We did this especially in the spring once mud season had passed. Cabin fever from being stuck inside with three boys all winter would just make me want to get outside as fast as I could!

I came across these photos tonight:

My middle son - age 7

My youngest son - age 3

There is a large rock about a mile from our house. My boys would always want to climb up on it and have me take their photos. I'm so glad I did all those years because now I get to look back to see how they've grown!

This past fall we went back to visit family on the farm for an afternoon. It was one of those really nice fall days and we had hauled the boys bikes up with us. While my hubby and older son were helping his dad and granddad move a water heater, the two younger boys and I went for a walk/ride with my mother-in-law. 

My boys actually asked to stop by "the rock" and pose. I'm so glad they did.

September 2014

Ages 10 & 13

Homeschooling Update

Our homeschool year has been going very well this year. In fact, it's probably one of the best years we have ever had in the 11 years we've been on this journey. Part of what is making things different this year is that I have been working to be far more consistent. I'm thrilled where we are at with our days completed.

It's also different in that we are doing far more outside classes. Most of them have been good fits, but not all.

We have been doing:

• Bi-monthly enrichment co-op
• Weekly swim lessons at the local college for the two younger boys (on break for now)
• Bi-monthly Spanish lessons 
• Online literature course for the older two boys (last class was today - we'll be doing this on our own at this point)
• Bi-monthly art class - for drawing instruction
• Bi-monthly art class - more "messy" art. A lot of pottery plus other fun mediums. These two art classes are taught by two different instructors.
• Weekly piano lessons for the two younger boys (taught by the same gentleman who does our drawing class)
• Monthly 4-H club meetings
• Martial Arts instruction twice a week for my younger son 

This doesn't even include all of the field trips we've taken! So far this year we have gone to the:

• Common Ground Fair
• Maine Maritime Museum
• Rangeley Logging Museum and Quill Hill
• a production of Twelfth Night
• Old Fort Western 
• Old York Village
• Strawberry Banke
• Portland Art Museum
• (and later this week) Bates College Art Museum

Here are a few fun photos of some of our adventures so far this year.

Middle son building at the Common Ground Fair

All the boys at the Maine Maritime Museum (including the little boy I watch part-time)

This informative and personable gentleman was our guide at the Rangely Logging Museum.

My youngest and my nephew loading the canon. And yes, they did fire it - minus the canon ball.

This was part of the program they did at Old Fort Western. They learned about life as a solider.

Fantastic living history program at Old York. They went to different stations to do various hands-on activities. One was in the kitchen and they made molasses cookies. At the end of the program, we all got ot eat one. They were really yummy!

We took a friend with us when we went to Strawberry Banke and Old York Village (we did both in the same day). Here three of the boys are working in the kitchen. Two are stringing green beans to dry and my youngest is grinding corn. 

This was the boys favorite part of the Portland Art Museum as it was hands on. They could have stayed here all day.

We've had a great time this fall in our homeschooling. I'm very much looking forward to our upcoming Christmas break. We'll be taking a week and a half off from school. This will give me time to schedule out our spring semester. 

Insta-Friday

 

Insta-Friday @ Life Rearranged

Once again it's Friday. Time to share my Instagram pics. I need to get better at taking more. It looks like we didn't do a lot this week but it sure feels differently!

Early in the week I took the kiddo for a bike ride down the road. We did an easy six miles. We stopped half way for a quick water break. I attempted a self-portrait. Obviously it's a skill I need to keep working on.

My oldest son is ::gulp:: 15 years old. He actually turns 16 in just a couple of months. Next week he will be starting driver's education. Oh my. It seems like yesterday he was just a toddler running around! Now he's yards taller than me (not hard to do) and growing by leaps and bounds. 

On Tuesday we had to make a trip to "the city" where we used to live and the boys were born. In gathering the paperwork and things he would need to sign up for the class, I realized that the only copy of his birth certificate was the hospital souvenir copy. When I called the City Clerk they said I could walk out with the copy I needed if I applied in person, so rather than trust the postal service, we headed down.

Being the homeschooling mom that I am, I wanted to add something to the afternoon to round out the educational opportunity. We started the morning at piano lessons. At City Hall, while I waited the ten minutes (seriously - I was amazed at how fast it was!) to get the copy of the birth certificate, the boys spied a fantastic clock in the hall that spanned two floors. I did not get an Instagram photo of it, but I did snap this one....

We then headed to the local college to check out their art museum. They had a display of astrophotography that was very impressive. The boys had a good time, but we didn't spend a lot of time there. We arrived as a lecture was happening on the lower level. I was also told no less than three times by the kind elderly volunteer..."They won't touch right?" ::sigh:: So we looked and took a bit of photographic proof we attended and then walked the grounds a bit (where the photo of all three of them above was taken).

Yeah, they were that thrilled to pose for a photo for me...again.

Wednesday found us at our cooking class. This is week five of six and it was a bit different. We met at the local Farmer's Market. It's held at the old jail location and we were able to use the kitchen facility. We made some homemade ranch dressing and had veggies to dip and some toasted bread with sunflower oil on it (yum!). We were also given a tour of the market. Unfortunately, Wednesday afternoons are still pretty slow there. They are also open on Saturday mornings. Unlike most of our cooking classes, we didn't spend the time cooking this week and did not make a full meal. 

My youngest getting help slicing up a radish. 

After our tour we headed across the river to a great new park that was created last year. It follows along the river and has workout stations along the way. They use your own body weight. For example, there is one where you stand on a small platform and rock side to side to work your oblique muscles. There is another machine that works like an elliptical and another that is a climber. All told I think there are about 6-8 stations and the path is about a 1/4 mile long. 

We ended the evening with a shopping challenge. Typically we are given a bag of "take-home" groceries which is a set of ingredients for whatever we made in class. Since we didn't cook a meal this week, we were all given $25 to shop at the market but had some parameters to follow. We had to shop as many vendors as possible (there were only five), not go over the $25, and hit as many of the food groups as possible.

There is only one other family who does this class with us and we both ended up buying virtually the exact same ingredients. They included a pound of grass-fed beef, raw milk (we bought a 1/2 gallon, they bought a pint), a bag of salad greens, a wedge of Gouda cheese, a loaf of bread, and a bunch of radishes. We came in at exactly $25 and got extra points for bringing a reusable bag. What did we win? Gratification and yummy food!

And at the end of the week, we spied this moth drying its wings in a parking lot so I had to snap the photo.

It was large - about 4-5 inches across. It's wings were vibrating and slowly moving up and down. Interestingly enough after I snapped the photo, I had someone drive over to ask me what I was taking a picture of. Just a pretty cool looking moth.

Insta Friday

Insta-Friday @ Life Rearranged

Apparently I was so busy this week that I only snapped two photos with my cell phone. Yeah. It's been like that lately.

On Sunday, in driving rain conditions, my 11 year-old son & I biked in the Tour de Cure bike ride. Ironically enough, I was pregnant with this kiddo when I was first told I was a diabetic. It was when he was just four months old that I found out I was a Type 1 - at age 28. Yes, it's considered "juvenile type" diabetes, but I was long past the juvenile stage. It does mean my body doesn't make insulin and I do wear an insulin pump 24/7. But it's purple so that makes up for some of it. And I don't have to give myself 4-5 shots a day so that is awesome!

Anyway back to the ride....saying it was raining would be like saying an earthquake was just "shaking" a tad. It was pouring. Blinding rain at some points. It was was so hard to see at times. My glasses were fogging up so I rode without them. It's okay, I'm not completely blind without them.

My MIL also rode with us. The two of us have done this ride now about 7-8 times. We forget how many. I do know that we've only had sun 2-3 times!! It seems to always be raining! We started out riding the 25K, then moved up to the 50K, and now back down to the 25K. As my boy gets older, we'll probably bump it back up.

But we managed to complete our 25K (aka 15 miles). The kiddo & I were soaked through but I had at least thought ahead to bring a change of clothes and shoes for both of us which was a good thing as we both really needed them!

This shows my grocery shopping for the week. Actually, half my shopping as I had picked up some things earlier in the week. I had two paper bags and two packages of meat underneath that you can't see in the photo. What is sad about the whole thing....it was $70 worth of food and I could have carried it all myself. I really dislike the rising food costs!

That's just a small glimpse of my week. Tomorrow my boys are participating in an Educational Fair.  Our 4H club is hosting it for area homeschoolers. Phew! It's been a lot of work and I will be very happy when it's done, but I know everyone will have a great time.

Insta-Friday Newbie

 

When my hubby first gifted me with my Droid phone last December, I kid you not that the first words out of my mouth were...."Now I can do Instagram!" Sad but true. And it took me almost six months to finally get the app downloaded and start clicking. I've been watching these Insta-Friday posts for a few months and finally decided to jump on the bandwagon today.

Yesterday I had to travel to the "big city" for a doctor appointment. Whenever I head south, I make a day of it. It's at least a two hour drive and considering how tiny our town is (population under 900), there isn't much in our area. I like to take advantage of the conveniences of the city including the fact that there is a Trader Joe's and Whole Foods within site of each other.

I typically take my two younger boys with me. At ages 8 and 11, they enjoy the day as well. It includes special treats such as eating out at a restaurant, road-snacks, special drinks (i.e. soda which they rarely get), and playing on my phone and Kindle while I'm at my appointment. This makes it a "good day" for them.

My youngest wasn't feeling great yesterday and I knew we had a busy few days coming up, so I decided to leave him home with my oldest son. That meant it was just my middle kiddo and I for the day and, boy, did  we make a day of it! We left our house at 10:30 yesterday morning and didn't arrive back until 9:30 that night!

One the way down we had some time so we stopped to check out the world's largest globe.

The last time we were here they were working on the motor so it wasn't revolving and rotating. Today it was and N11 was thrilled.

After my appointment and a bunch of errands before and after, I decided to surprise N11 with a very special treat. We headed to the local airport. Well, it's actually a "jetport." However, he didn't care. My son has gone from being a train fanatic to a plane fanatic. He can rattle off makes and models like he was saying his ABC's.

We did a quick walk-through of the terminal, but thanks to all the newest security measures, you can't really get to a good spot to see take-offs and landings. Not to be deterred, I decided we'd just head up to the top of the parking garage. It was perfect. We saw four take-offs and two landings.

He declared me the "best mom" ever - or at least for the day.

I Heart Faces: Whimsy

I haven’t participated in an I Heart Faces challenge now for quite some time. This weeks challenge is “Whimsy” and I remembered a photo I took of J7 a few weeks ago that I thought might fit that theme. (Click on the photo to see it larger.) 

Friday's Fave Five - 7/23

Living To Tell The Story

1. Swim lessons. For the last four years our town has hosted swim lessons for two weeks for not only our little town but surrounding towns as well. The first year I had to pay a little bit per child. Last year it went up a tiny bit (okay doubled). This year, however, they are free. Two weeks. An hour each session. Rain or shine (and thankfully we've had more shine than rain this go round). While it's a hassle in some ways - middle of the day time slot - it's wonderful because I couldn't do it any other way. N9 is thriving this year and progressing by leaps and bounds - at least in my eyes. J6 is making slow progress. This is only his second year so once he gains some more confidence, I'm sure it will come.

2. Watching TV with hubby. We have a few shows that we like to enjoy together. We're currently watching Season 4 of "Bones" (and loving it!) through our Netflix account. We have the little disk that allows us to stream shows from Netflix through our Wii. Once the boys head to bed, we watch one or two episodes of Bones and relax and enjoy. It's wonderful.

3. Miss H turning three. Her actual birthday is today but Miss H (and Mr. H) were here three days this week so we celebrated Miss H on Wednesday. I started watching her when she was 13 months old. She turned three years old today. Amazing.

Miss H - age 13 months

Miss H - age 3

4. Watching this little girl grow over the last year. I took her newborn photos.....

And this week I just did her one year old photos...

5. Celebrating life. Tomorrow the hubby's family will be gathering to celebrate his grandmother's 90th birthday! She lives at home with her second husband who is 95 years old. They go out to eat lunch just about daily - yes, still driving themselves. This is the house I go and clean every week because, well, when you are 90 and 95 years-old it's a bit harder to make the bed, dust, and sweep and mop floors. It will be great to see family and to just enjoy the day.

Belated Fourth

The Fourth of July here at the Berry Homestead was pretty low-key. We went to church and enjoyed a really wonderful church service. Then we just enjoyed a quiet day at home. The boys reminded me that we had bought some super-sized morning glories so we ended the night lighting those off.

The Latest Pet News

As I have mentioned before, we've been on "egg-watch" here for at least the last month. Our older "ladies" arrived just before Memorial Day. They are definitely full grown or pretty close at this point. But no eggs. There is even a couple at church we added chickens to their house just days before us & they have been getting eggs now for a couple of weeks.

Thursday morning B13 went up to the barn to do the animal chores. I saw him running back down with this.....

our first egg!!!!!!

To say we were excited was an understatement! It is going to be so nice to start having our own fresh eggs. Today (Friday) we added a second egg so obviously we have at least one chicken laying. I even went up shortly after getting up at 6:30 this morning so I could be the lucky one to get the egg. However, the chicken didn't lay it until mid-day.

I need to talk with hubby about putting a light in the chicken coop. I hear that helps with encouraging them to lay. The days are very short right now. Sunrise is around 6:30 & sunset is about 4pm so the chickens don't have as much daylight & it's going to continue to get worse for the next few weeks. The only problem is that there is no lights in the barn and the closest power is Grandad's house. I need to look for solar powered lights I think.

As I mentioned, we now have bunnies. I'll be the first to admit we are totally spoiling them. Totally. Each morning they are given some pellets and fresh hay. Every afternoon I make them a "bunny salad." It usually has at least three of the following in it: broccoli, romaine lettuce, apples, celery, or carrots. I know they love it because their bowls are empty in the morning. Today I even gave them each half a graham cracker. I know they don't need those but their previous owner told me they loved them. I figured once a month or so would be okay.

I even have some other treat things for them. This week I bought a treat "thing" that hung on the side of their cage. It only took them each a couple of days to go through that. When I bought the treats, I also bought this....

Not the cute boy...see the leash....

Yup, it's a bunny harness with a leash so that we can give them each some exercise. Sad I know but so much fun! B13 had Snowball out yesterday for the first time with it. We read that bunnies don't like to be carried. Snowball needs to be brushed every day so we've been carrying her down to the house every afternoon for that. Now that we have the harness and leash, she can hop on down instead.

She is a good bunny though & typically doesn't mind being carried. B13 & I are getting better at holding her. Today I was even able to get her on her back so we could brush her belly. She had a small mat in her fur there we needed to get at.

We are hoping to get Hershey to used to the harness soon as well so she can have some "outside" times. We love our bunnies & we are having a great time with them.