HOW did THIS happen???

Oh my, apparently money does not grow on trees, but kids GROW!!!

Sept 2007

Sept 2008

Sept. 2010

This year first day of school, one 10th grade and one 8th grader…….how did this happen!?!?!?  Wouldn’t trade a moment of all this growing and changing!

 

Been jammin!! – Freezer Jam

I just LOVE strawberry season!!  Fresh strawberries are in abundance where I live in farm country!

So every year I make lots of strawberry jam…….unfortunately I did not have a lot of time to make my usual 12-15 pints of jam.

So I bought ONE quart of strawberries and made 4 pints of jam…….it took about 30 min. from start to finish!

S.I.M.P.L.E!!!!!!

Have you made freezer jam before?  If not let me show you HOW simple it is!

First start with this – ONE quart of strawberries

Wash, cut off the stem and mash.

Add 4 cups of sugar (yep 4 cups!!) – Let the berries and sugar sit for 10 min.

Stir

Boil 3/4 c. of water and a packet of Sure Jell

Pour the sure jell mixture into strawberry mixture, stir well and there you have it Homemade Strawberry Jam!!

In case you are wondering why the jam upper right side container is almost empty….well what do you expect I made the jam 2 days ago!!

And it is SO delicious!!  It makes great PB and J sandwiches, great on toast and biscuits in the morning……and my all time fav, it makes a wonderful topping for vanilla ice cream!

I am off to enjoy some on ice cream right now.  Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

 

Snow/Slow!

Isn’t it nice how a simple 3 inches of snow can just slow life down for a moment!  We had a glorious 2 hour school delay, and it was so nice to just ease into the day.  Sleep in a bit, sip some coffee while I read the newspaper, do a little evil laundry, (sorry but laundry is always evil to me), take in the morning at a slower pace.  I even enjoyed a morning devotional at this site.    Snow can just bring a busy life to a screeching halt, so tonight I am thankful for the slow snowy morning.  They are calling for more snow this weekend, I am actually really looking forward to it.

 

Trying something new

I have been quite addicted to Twitter lately.  It took me awhile to figure it all out…..but now that I am getting it I love it!  As a result I have found tons of new blogs I like.  Including Elizabeth Esther.  She is starting a new blog carnival called Saturday Evening post.  The goal is to pick a family-friendly favorite post from the last month.

So I thought I would give it a try.  My favorite post from Decemeber is this post about the Nativity that still stands in my town.  I live in the coolest, most quaint town around.  And right in the center of town is a lovely, traditional Nativity.  It just touches my heart every year to see it there, so that is why it is one of my favs.

It’s a cold, frigid day today and I am looking forward to staying home and reading some blogs!  A nice way to start the new year.  I think I will also start a pot of beef stew in the crock pot and make some cornbread to go with it.  Wish you all could join me!

Happy New Year dear friends!

 

5 minutes in a car

I was thinking about something The Inventor told me the other day, and that reminded me of  something SportTman and I had been discussing.  It was at that point I realized that both of these insightful, bonding conversations took place during our drive to school in the morning.

I am so fortunate to teach in the same school district/school my kids attend!  We drive in to school together every morning.  Some mornings we even stop for a bagel and coffee at my fav local coffee shop, or a donut at Dunkin Donuts ……but what is actually better than the coffee, donuts and bagels is our conversations.

I pray for the kids every morning while we drive in together.  We talk about our day and what lies ahead, the good and the bad, we observe our town, and just savor a brief but increasing special time together each morning.  Now that I am the mom of teens, I see such VALUE in just spending time together and talking and interacting during that time.  Not just cranking up the radio and guzzling down coffee on the way to school, but talking……..what a treasure!

Talking to Teens is certainly something to Treasure!

And on this Thursday before Thanksgiving, that is something I am thankful for today!

Here is a fun picture of SportTman and Drums in my classroom before school in the  morning.

 

Corn

The corn is gone,  I noticed it the other day while out for a bike ride workout.  I could now see the beautiful fall view beyond the tall corn.  It has now all been harvested, and stored away for the winter.   There is nothing left but a brown faded stump of a corn stalk.  It seems like just yesterday I was out riding and noticed those teeny stalks of green corn emerging from the soil.  Now the field looks so bare and empty.  The splendor of a healthy summer crop is gone.

While continuing on my bike ride I was reminded once again that to every thing there is a season!

Ecclesiastes 3

¹ There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot

I am in a busy season right now with my kids and family, but it seems like not that long ago  I was a stay at home mom with a 2 year old and 4 year old. Or I was up nursing babies in the middle of the night and wondering when I would ever be able to sleep through the entire night!

Now I am sleeping through the night, but I am still exhausted!   But I am reminded  this is a season, things will change, just like the corn does.  It’s all part of God’s plan and I am so thankful that I can see God’s handiwork and plans in our life.

I miss the tall, lean corn stalks that greeted me on my summer rides, but I love the farm view that  the corn stubs now give way to.  Seasons change, and so does my life, it’s all part of God’s plan, the good and the bad.

 

Friday Fave Five

Friday again….how did that happen!?

What a week, I am thankful for some down time to reflect on the week.

I LOVE the stunning fall colors I see in my front yard!

I got out for a nice, long bike ride on a beautiful evening yesterday.  I love the stunning beauty of this time of year!

Well going with the fall theme, I am really LOVING this coffee each morning!

We are Phillies fans, so we have all be staying up to all hours of the night to watch our Phillies win the National League Championship and head to the World Series for  the 2nd year in a row!!  It’s been a fun week, but we are all tired!

Taking my students on a field trip today, we are heading to Subway for lunch and walking into our town.  Should be a great day for it!

How was your week?

Please visit Susanne for more Friday Fave Five!

 

Friday Fave Five

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Wow this week sure went fast, can’t believe it’s time for another Friday Fave Five!  Susanne is such a wonderful host of the Friday Fave Five each week, please stop by and visit her bloggy home.

It’s spirit/homecoming week at the high school I teach at this week, so I got to wear jeans twice this week!  That is ALWAYS a favorite of mine!  Here I am with 2 of my students wearing jeans and my favorite football teams shirt for sport’s day.

Typos, yes typos!  It’s such a good thing I proofread!    But they sure have given me a good laugh this week.

Almost sent this to a parent – “thanks for keeping me in the poop!”  meant to say keeping me in the loop!

Almost sent this one to a teacher – “please stop by our class boob“  meant to say stop by our class blog!

Watching Drums be a cheerleader at our HS football game!  It was “Dad night” for the cheerleaders.  One of his students didn’t have a dad that could be there for the special night.  So she asked her favorite teacher and he graciously filled in!  What a hoot to watch, he is a heck of a nice guy, but has no coordination!

I had a bit of a migraine Wednesday evening, but it made for a great excuse to lay around and chill out the entire night!

Homemade soup!  It was a very cold and rainy night yesterday, I came home from school and made yummy chicken vegetable noodle soup.  It was so soothing  and comforting on such a chilly fall night.

How was your week?

 

Friday Fave Five

This has actually been a rough week! Well, that is a great way to start off my Friday Fave Five?!  So let’s see if I can come up with for some favorites amidst a frustrating week………

• SportTman and I were stranded in a Burger King one night for about 2 hours, while we waited for Drums to pick us up, but he could not get to us.  He was surrounded by a parade, he parked in a neighborhood to watch SportTman run a race, but apparently there was NO way out.  He was totally closed in by the parade route!  So SportTman and I tried to make the best of it and made tons of goofy recordings on our cell phones of our adventures in Burger King.  The videos were actually quite hilarious!

• We had a free spaghetti dinner at our church for The Inventor’s cross country team.  It was a pre-race pasta party.  About 40 kids from the team showed up and it was a GREAT outreach.  The kids got to hear testimonies from 2 local runners, and they clearly heard about coming to  a saving knowledge of Christ.  What a great outreach for a public school cross country team.

• I was having a crazy day yesterday, going to school and taking care of the poor Inventor who was just diagnosed with swine flu/H1N1.  After a long visit to the Dr, I dropped her at home and made a much needed grocery store stop.  It was right before dinner, but I must confess that I indulged in the most scrumptious pumpkin doughnut I have ever had!  I am looking forward to heating one up in the microwave for breakfast this morning.  Pumpkin doughnuts….Mmmmmmm!

• I live in the greatest small town around!  The Inventor and I had such a glorious, relaxing, FUN Saturday morning last week.  We went to a few yard sales, got a NY style bagel and cream cheese and coffee for me at my fav local coffee shop.  We then hit our local farmer’s markets for yummy baked goods, fresh made concord grape juice and some delicious raisin bread.  It was a beautiful fall morning and the two of us had fun together and had vital time to chat about things that had been on her mind.

• Today is a dress down day at school, it’s a rainy Friday a perfect day for a dress down day!

Yipee, I came up with 5 things!  Now I am off to put my jeans on, eat my pumpkin doughnut with a good cup of coffee and head off to school with a better attitude!

For more Friday Fave Five visit Susanne.

* For those wondering about my daughter with H1N1, it was running rampant at her middle school!  Several of her friends have already had it.  It tends to last about 2-3 days, and kids usually run a high temp with it.  She is on day 2, and had a much better night last night.

 

Not Me Monday

I have not participated in a Not Me Monday in some time, but after a few vintage goofs on my parts I decided to let the world know that us busy women can all be prone to losing their minds at times!  For more NOT ME fun visit MckMamma.

• It was NOT ME that put my black dress pants on inside out with out realizing it……until I was about to walk out the door to go to my teaching job!    It was a good thing I thought to myself as I glanced down at my pants while drinking my coffee running out the door, “man these pants don’t have a thick stripe going down the side!“

• It was NOT ME that actually encouraged the 6th grade neighbor boy to climb into a dank, dark, drainage tunnel in our neighborhood.  It was NOT ME that held a flashlight as he climbed in………………to rescue my daughter’s pet bunny that had run 30 feet  into the tunnel!  And it was NOT ME that exclaimed to the kid, “Oh I could kiss you!”  when he came out with the bunny.

• It was NOT ME that slept all night with my contacts in, and had no idea I had done it!  It was NOT ME that woke up the next morning perplexed as to why my eyes were so dry, and painful.  It was NOT ME that actually thought for a split second that maybe God had healed my vision while I slept since I could  see so well.  It was NOT ME that had no idea as to what was wrong with my eyes until I discovered my EMPTY contact case!!

• It was NOT ME who helped with a cross country team car wash, and “accidentally” sprayed some of the teens with the hose!

Yes, being a busy mom is s fun life, and one of the best cures for the “NOT ME’s” of life is to look back and laugh at yourself!

 

Friday Fave Five

We have been a busy clan again, but I love reflecting upon my week with my Friday Fave Five.  Lots to reflect upon this week.

• I just went for a power walk workout outside, and it was a lovely night.  The air was crisp, the moon was full, and I could smell a fire in someone’s fireplace in the air.  I felt like I should come home and drink apple cider instead of water after such a beautiful fall night!

• I have been helping out with The Inventor’s cross country team twice a week right after school.  Some days I just want to go home and chill out afterschool.  But I must admit, when I get there I really enjoy the team, they have over 70 7th-9th boys and girls on the team.  So they can use all the help they can get.  I can’t run with the team so I ride my bike with them on their runs.  It has been fun, quite refreshing and dare I say these teens are really quite enjoyable!

• I am so busy and not much of a fashionista, but I did buy a few new clothes this week, and I must admit I am enjoying not feeling so frumpy all the time!

• We went with friends last weekend to ride bikes around the battlefield at Gettysburg.  We got our bikes out, started out onto the battlefield, got to our first stop and it began to POUR down rain!  Being the optimists that we are, we continued thinking it would not last.  However, it continued to pour, we were soaked, and cold, and decided to send the men for the cars.  So you are probably wondering how a wet bike ride made it into my top 5?!  Because after we dried out a bit, we all made the best of our day, made some lasting memories and had fun despite the tough beginning.  And I am thankful for friends who were troopers and willing to make the best of a rainy day!

• And I am thankful for all those fall treats, like apple cider, candy corn, apples and pumpkin roll!  All treats we enjoyed this week!

For more Friday Fave Five, please visit Susanne, she does a great job each week!

 

Run the Race

I have been so immersed in The Inventor’s cross country races lately that it seems that I even dream about running!  I some how relate everything to running and races.   I even found myself at the busy grocery store last week, thinking I had to “beat” the lady in front of me with the fully loaded grocery cart to the check out line.  And let me tell you, I cruised right past her, and into the check out line in no time. I left her in the dust baby!

See I told you, I have issues!!!

As was the case on Sunday while teaching my favorite Jr. High Sunday schoolers, I read them this verse;

1 Corinthians 9:24

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

It related to the lesson, and it must have also related to my life.  I just kept thinking about that verse all day!

The Inventor has run many races lately, and in each one, I know she gives it her all!  She runs to win.

It got me thinking about my life, I run lots of daily races/activities, do I always run to win.  Do I put my whole heart into something?  Or am I running just too many races, that I am too tired to run to win?

I tend to think that I do an ok job of balancing all “my races.”  Sure, I grow weary in the races at times, but I think I usually give it my all!  But that is ONLY because several years ago as a means of survival I had to learn to say NO to certain races(activities)!  I had to learn that even though all those races looked like something I wanted to do, or thought I should do, or I felt guilty that not enough people would run so I would have to.

I  soon realized I was not running my races well, I had too many races(activities) and I was suffering from fatigue and overworked muscles!

But now I have learned that it is ok to say no to certain commitments and to keep my priorities lined up so I can “run in such a way to get the prize.”  Are you doing your best in all you do?  Or are you over committed, fatigued and weary?

Trust me as an experienced “racer” it is good to say NO to certain races(activities), and I am thankful for God’s reminder this weekend to say NO to things.   So I too can have enough energy, strength, and motivation to run to win in all I do!!

Runners to your mark, set…….GO!