I have been very quite here on the blog this week and very busy around our home. We had a full week of school lessons, met with our homeschool group at the playground one afternoon, worked in the yard, and completed the planned spring cleaning tasks.
We've had nice weather the last few days. The kids have enjoyed playing outside in the afternoons without their jackets. The winter things were put up in the attic just a bit too soon; it's supposed to be in the 30's the next couple of nights!
I didn't take many pictures of our activities this week, but there are a few to share.
One day after a rain shower Mr. C found a baby turtle and gave it to the kids to play with. Curly Girl loves little critters and was disappointed to not be able to put it in our pond, which is currently undergoing a facelift.
Mickey discovered a baby snake slithering in the woods. He and Curly Girl took turns carrying it around.
Bookworm treated her sisters to a "spa day". She styled their hair and painted their toenails. Since we didn't have any cucumbers on hand, she improvised a bit so that they could have an eyelid refresher. Notice the artwork taped to their eyes. :)
I spent most of my free time working around the house (hence the lack of blogging). One afternoon I tackled cleaning out my dry goods pantry. I removed the contents, removed and washed the shelving, and then replaced the goods. I was surprised to see how many processed foods were in the pantry. While I enjoy cooking from scratch, I do keep a lot of extra things on hand for when I'm in a pinch. After taking inventory of what exactly was in the pantry, I realized that there is enough food on hand to last us quite a while.
The next few weeks I plan on only purchasing dairy items and fresh produce at the grocery store and using up my pantry supply. I have enough vegetables and meat in the freezer to last a while, and then there's always Mr. C's deer meat, too. :) This week's shopping trip only required 2 gallons of milk, 10 pounds of apples, 4 pounds of grapes, 4 pounds of bananas, 4 pounds of pears, carrots, celery, and 4 boxes of cereal. I usually pick up a bit more produce halfway through the week.
I am looking forward to seeing how creative I can be with our menus and also save some $$ over the next few weeks. My Suburban will be eating most of the savings, as right now it's costing right at $100 for a full tank of gas. :(
Preparations for Sunday are almost complete. My church tote is by the door and everyone's clothes are ironed. I am looking forward to seeing the sweet kids in my Sunday school class and hearing some great preaching tomorrow. I hope you have a wonderful Lord's Day!
Labels: Daily Life, In the Kitchen, Keeping the Home, Outdoor Life, The Kiddos