a bit of this & that

Today we started our 4th week of homeschooling .... the kids are really enjoying everything that we've scheduled (well, okay, maybe Charlotte isn't thrilled about Science .... but, we can live with that, lol).

The best part of our day is our first class - we begin our day with Bible ..... after gathering our beverages (usually tea for me, coffee for Josh & hot chocolate for Charlotte - especially since it is starting to turn cooler in the mornings), we settle at the kitchen table & we pray - sometimes it is the Lord's Prayer, but most often, we pray for our day/friends & family/safe travels when we have to go someplace later on in the day/most of all, though, we pray that God is with us throughout the day (sometimes with an arm around our shoulders & sometimes with a hand over our mouths, lol).  After we have prayed, we open our Bibles & we flip to the current book we are studying (right now it's Micah) .... we take one chapter at a time & we all read a verse until the end of the chapter, then it's discussion time about what we've read & we use the Bible marking pens that I purchased at Scott's Parables (specifically for this time).  It's really great to hear the kids insights to what we're reading & see how they are applying these lessons in their daily lives.  Once our Bible study session is completed, the kids work on their memory/copywork exercises - they currently have 2 memory verses down and are working on their 3rd one.  ˚Ü˚

The other day, I glanced over at Josh and was amazed at how much he has grown .... not just in stature (he's tall & getting broad across the shoulders), but maturity as well - I'm pretty sure that his job has had a lot to do with that.  It reinforces, to me, how important it is to surround yourself with Christians that actually "walk the walk", not like some people who only claim to be Christians but only give it lip service & help those who they feel are worthy of being helped - Josh's employers are definitely Christians that walk the walk & you can feel it as soon as you walk through the doors of their restaurant.

Last month I had some of my woven items in a Handcraft Show - there were no prizes for doing this, it was simply a way for people to check out what can be done with weaving.  I had three items there:  the very first blanket that I wove on a floor loom, my Skittles bag that I made on my rigid heddle loom & a shawl that I made on a 4-heddle table loom (first time using one of them) ... here are some pictures of it (both in progress & completed):

This is shortly after I started weaving the shawl

 

I've got quite a bit done on it, now - it's looking really good.  ˚Ü˚

Charlotte modeling the shawl for me

the front of the shawl

a close up of the pattern that was used.

In our front yard we have an apple tree - the tree produces medium sized yellow apples that are quite tart if you just pick one off the tree and start munching on it.  But, I've discovered that it makes amazing apple juice, soooooo, I've been very busy with making & canning the apple juice - as of tomorrow, I should have 30L of apple juice made (thanks so much for the recipe, Mom):

first batch of apple juice made.

Another item that will be made & canned, using our apples, is Crockpot Apple Butter - a friend of mine shared the recipe and it is sooooooooooo good.  If I have time, I'd also like to make & can a few jars of apple pie filling (the recipe for that is in the Company's Coming Preserves cookbook.  ˚Ü˚