Slices of Life

 It's time for another Wednesday Hodgepodge with Joyce over at from this side of the pond.    1. The Hodgepodge lands on National Picnic Day...will you celebrate? Do you enjoy picnics? Dining out of doors picnic or otherwise? What are three or four things I'd find in your picnic basket?  While I enjoy a good picnic it is much too cold and rainy and windy this time of year to enjoy one just yet. As soon as it warms up and we get out all the patio and deck furniture I try eat just about any meal that I can outside.  The boys and I used to picnic outside ALL the time! While I've never owned an official picnic basket you'd probably find fresh fruit, salad, iced tea (though I haven't had any in months since I gave up sugar!), and utensils in my picnic basket.  2.  A time recently where you felt 'antsy'?    Gosh I feel like I have been antsy so often lately! I have been unable to sit still as my mind is constantly whirling. We have a whole lot go...

Originally posted April 23, 2015 when my boys were 10, 9, & 7.    Today I'm talking about our schoolwork.   With a dentist appointment scheduled for Evan this morning and some errands to run, I knew we needed a shortened day of school today.  I asked the boys to do math and reading and told them they would be free to spend the rest of the day however they liked.  Needless to say they were thrilled. We  have days when there is just so much going on that we don't have time to fit in a full day's worth of school.  Sometimes we have appointments scheduled during school hours, we have homeschool activities planned, we have field trips, or we have family obligations. As long as it doesn't happen ALL the time we can work around the time crunch. On those days that time seems to be against us we have several options: Do a shortened day of work and just cover the basics Bring the work with us and have the kids work in the car Give them some...

I hope, if you celebrate Easter, that your family had a good one. We have a very busy week or two staring us in the face and I might not make it around to comment on everyone's posts but I promise to at least visit and pin them whenever I get a chance!  With spring finally starting to spring up here, I couldn't help but notice lots of gardening posts linked up with us last week. I hope to tackle my own flower gardens soon and at least get all the leaves raked out of them. Do you have a garden? The link with the most views from last week's party: Nurturing Nature: A Gardening Journey by Thrifting Wonderland     A few that caught my eye: 12 Slow Down and Breathe Quotes for Your Busy Mind by Filling the Jars Creamy Chicken Stuffed Peppers by Just Plain Cooking  Tuesday Tidbits #320 The Living is Good by Two Trails One Road   This party will remain open until the weekend.  My hope is that everyone will share all sorts of wonderful posts: travel, recipes, how...

 Gosh it does not seem possible to me that I'm going to have a 21 year old. It's funny how those days with little kids and exhaustion can feel so very long but then looking back it feels like they grew up so fast.  Ian turns 21 this week and I just can't wrap my head around the fact that I am old enough to have a 21 year old. I mean I don't necessarily feel young when my joints or back are hurting or I'm falling asleep at 8 or 9 at night but I still don't feel old enough to have full grown adults!  I didn't have much to write about this week so I thought I'd just have fun sharing some pictures of Ian.  Ian in the yellow and Alec in the blue (I was pregnant with Evan-- and had the morning sickness to prove it) he was ALWAYS building and playing with trucks-- my only one that seemed to care at all about trucks We always referred to him as a "little man" since he seemed so grown up for his age right from the start. Always smiling and happy but som...