Grandma Odie's Magical Garden

I lost most of the pics of this, because of my new phone, lol. But my grandma odie's yard and gardens are magic. She has a massive yard with rose gardens, special paths you walk thru, etc. I played it in it as a kid, my dad played in it as a kid, and now my babies are just as fascinated with it. I love having a blog for posterity, so I want to make sure that the kids remember, all of the memories of having lunch in the garden, walking all around the yard, timing themselves to see who can run around the house in the least amount of seconds, and getting to smell each and every flower!

So Much To Do!!!!

Today was spent outside!!! The weather was perfect for getting my lovely yard in order!! Finished mowing around the raspberries and the honeysuckle and grape vines..Always a task, plus have to weed around the things that the mower can't get to! Dylan was a hard worker and helped me weed around the trampoline :) He is so dang cute. He was like " Im such a hard worker" yup, you are son!!
The big "project" of the day was getting our sunflower garden ready. Last year we planted a "fairy garden" for the girls, this year we are planting a sunflower garden in that spot, so we are really excited. We have 4 different varieties of sunflowers and they are planted and ready to grow!! Once they are big enough, the little wooden and iron puppy bench will go in the garden for the kiddos to sit under the sunflowers! Sunflowers make me happy. :)
I also finally got the poor birds some new suet for the feeder in front of the dining room window.. its been a few days and they kind of look at me like, hello, did you forget me????
Tomorrow it is supposed to be nice out again, hopefully, so the plan is to get the side of the house all ready to plant... We have 9 fruit trees that line the hill on the side of the house, plus a big fence, oh and a highway up the hill, lol, but we have kind of a neat little spot tucked away from things, and we put a swing over there and solar lights last year. This year we are planting moonflowers, etc... things that will look spectacular at night, and maybe some more solar lights and a table, etc... so that we can have a comfy little spot to hang out at night. Or snuggle. :) I like to snuggle at night on the swing with my kiddos and hubby.
Later in the summer, we have a biiig project planned, but only if money allows. A patio with a chimnea :) Don't you just love that word??? Chimnea. Yup, i had to say it again!!!
Unfortunately, before we go outside tomorrow, we have to clean bedrooms. Yikes. Hopefully we will make it outside hahaha!!! If no one sees us outside, you may need to come search for us, because we are buried under transformers and care bears!!!!!!
I will be going to my inlaws soon to borrow their computer... I miss sooo much having pictures on here!!! It stinks! But I've found a new computer, I just have to save a bit more and I can get it, whew. It is soooooo needed!!!!
Have a fantastic day and know I love you all!!!!! :) Love, JL

So frustrated... and goals for school

Wierd title I know. Im so frustrated with my computer. I can't upload any pictures which makes my blog quite dull :( I can barely write on here without it clicking me off and jamming up my computer. We will see how it goes. Defintely time for a new computer. Anyone wanna make a donation to the help Jaelle get a computer fund HAHAHA!!

We are currently on "summer" break from homeschool, so we basically do alot of fun activities and not so much actual school work. All three kids are done with their "grade level" for the year, so we are having some fun. Here are my goals this week:
Begin teaching Dylan cursive ( this will be done in a calm, fun way, so he ends up loving it!!!!!)
Plant our Venus Fly Trap that we bought from the zoo!!! So cool!
Identify the beautiful gems from the Native American Store that I bought about 2 months ago... yup, just now getting around to doing that lol
Continue reading the general conference talks and playing bingo with different assorted treats :)
Plant Sunflowers in back yard ( doing this today hopefully)
Listen to the Honesty cd from Valuesparenting.com SOO excited for this... It's Alexanders Amazing Adventures and you get one each month, 12 values to teach your kids!!!!!
Thats school for the week..... good goals :)
Plus the normal playing outside as long as it is nice, making dinners, laundry, all that normal good stuff!!!
Love, JL

Beautiful Day :)

Finally! It is nice outside!! Spent the morning cleaning up winter garbage around the yard.. while the kids rode their bikes and jumped on the trampoline! What a great way to start my day! This afternoon I will be working in the strawberry "patch" getting it ready.. we already have little strawberry plants coming up and I need to get alot of work done in it and get ready to plant the new plants!! :) Im a happy girl when I can play outside!!!
Does anyone have any good tips for storing outdoor toys like skateboards and baseball bats, etc???
Love, JL

Happy Earth Day!

Dylan digging his big hole. He loves doing this!

The yellow under her nose is from sniffing to many dandelions!!!!

The longest worm we have ever seen! It was so cool to hold!

Little Apple Blossoms on my tree

Cherry blossom on my tree.

We spent the morning outside! It was BEAUTIFUL out!!!! We had so much fun enjoying our beautiful earth. We fed the birds, watched the bunnies, made wishes on dandelions, and saw the biggest worm ever, lol.

Here are some pics.

Spring--- where are you?????

As you can see I have taken a little blogging break. i actually took a full blown Spring break last week. Was so pooped out from everything! But today is monday and im back!!! We had the wierdest weekend, spring, rain, then snow then some ice, then a big thaw, with sunshine and today it is sunny and muddy. Im exhausted from this weather! I had started planting some things, and so far they are just fine, the ground didnt get cold enough to freeze, thank goodness. Today so far I have done school with the kids, including an amazing lesson on easter and the resurrection. You see, my grandpa is dying of cancer, and my children have lots of questions. My poor kids have lost two very important people in the past year ( well it will be one year exactly in april.) and so we have had this talk quite a bit. But in preparing them gently, for grandpa's impending death, I was very surprised at how well this lesson taught about the resurrection. It was a perfect tie in to the questions they were asking this morning about grandpa Jim. Such a hard lesson for my kids to have to learn at such an early age, with the loss of Moses and Francy, and the upcoming loss of my grandfather, who is truly a patriarch to our family and an amazing example. I was very thankful to God for providing this particular lesson in our books at this particular time. He is a good God, and loving and wants my kids to understand. We decided to head outside after that to feed the birds. They have been hungry birds! We have to feed them almost daily, but it is so worth it to see the different kinds of birds that choose to bless us with their presence!!!! My grandma gave me some aloe vera plant starts last night, mine finally died last year, lol, after much use ( keith has a tendency to be clumsy and burn himself easily, etc!) so we got the starts planted which was great fun for the kids because it involved mud and worms! lol. I need to continue to work on yard sale stuff. I have a big tub in my room that needs prices marked and one in the hallway. Then in the storage unit we have two more tubs and in the storage room we have about three boxes. Freakin huge yard sale!!! Funny thing is, im thinking of listing the clothes on ebay and then just selling everything else at the sale. Get more money from ebay on clothes. I need to make as much money as possible while getting rid of as much stuff as possible!!!! We're going to be purchasing Dylans 4th grade school books soon. Hard to believe, he is only 7 and is ready to start 4th grade. He just adores school and grasps things so easily, we only do about an hour of work in the morning each day year round, and it works well for us. Ok, more work to do. Lots of laundry, dishes and the norm. Plus the yard sale stuff, plus I have these hundreds of children to care for!!! :)

It's Spring!

Finally!!! It is gorgeous outside today! Sunny and 75 degrees!!! Gorgeous! We were able to get alot done outside and play, play, play!! We even had a picnic lunch! Here are some of the things we got done, and did! *found a lucky clover! ( perfect for st pattys day!!) *Cleared out the garden area by Sam's pen, ready for potatoes and zucchini *Got all the lawn chairs and patio chairs out to get dried out and ready ! *Kids dug holes and Dylan found some flint and a worm and "prehistoric rocks!" *Sydney found a treasure! an old penny from Grants Farm, from last year! on the ground, lol. *Got all the planters emptied and lined up to be filled with flowers! *Raked pine needles and got yard ready to mow, as soon as we get some grass! *Had a picnic lunch and played with Aunt Caitie for a few minutes before she had to leave for St Louis to go home. *Just enjoyed being outside and getting dirty!!!!! Love, Jaelle