Our Humble Homestead

Mom's Retreat!

I had the opportunity to spend some time with several christian ladies at an Mom's retreat in Greenfield, IN.  We listened to Marilyn Boyer speak, she is an avid Homeschool mother of 14 children, and loves every minute with her family.  What a fantastic lady, she has such a passion for the Lord and her smile expresses that.  She is an auther of sereral books on Home Education and Christian Parenthood.  If you have the chance check out her web site@ www.thelearningparent.com.

We also had fun singing along with Tia Ciferno, she has such a wonderful voice and a spirit for the Lord that is Amazing! 

Both ladies were such a great encouragement for the homeschooling mother and I had such a relaxing time.

Blessing's,

Heidi

Our "19th" Wedding Anniversary!

My husband and I celebrated our "19th" year Anniversary!  It's hard to believe how time passes so quickly.  My husband and I both feel very blessed that the Lord brought us together.  We have two beautiful children Kelsey & Kyle.  They keep us very busy, but we wouldn't trade it for anything.  We had the opportunity to get away for a few days and go to Southern Indiana, we stayed in a cabin and had a wonderful time together.  You couldn't have asked for nicer weather.  We drove into the Brown County State Park and looked at the beautiful overlooks of the park.  What a sight!  We drove around the country side and stopped at an old restored grocery store/community called "Storey".  They turned the grocery store/gas station into a old time Restaurant.  We had a lovely lunch and enjoyed looking at all the antiques.  It was nice to just spend time together.  How blessed I'm to have a sweet and loving husband/& father to our children.

Blessing's,

Heidi

First Day of Fall

What a Glorious Fall Day.  It's my favorite time of year.  My favorite Fall Poem is called "September Days".  I'll have to add it to my blog soon.  I just love the fresh autum smell, pumpkins in the field & on our front porch, fresh apple cider, camp fires, and so on.  I hope everyone has a great fall season!

Blessing's,

Heidi

Apple Time!

Yesterday my daughter and I picked fresh apples from our neighbors small orchard as well as from a friends house.  We have been putting up fresh apples for the winter.  I like to do juicing so this has been a blessing for us.  My friend Paula introduced us to an apple called "Snowey" or close to it.  When you cut into the apple it is as white as snow and the fun thing about it is it dosen't turn brown very quickly.  So they are nice to put on salads!  I recommend trying this apple, I'm sure you will like them.  They have a great taste as well. 

Happy  Fall Harvest,

Heidi

Happy Labor Day!

Our family has had a some what relaxing Labor Day weekend.  We took the children to the park yesterday and let them have fun playing, afterwords we stopped for a refreshing ice cream treat!   Great way to cool down from all the hard play!  This morning we picked some fresh sweet corn, tomatoes, & a few green bell peppers.  The sweet corn this year has been very good & tasty!   

Hope everyone is enjoying the last official day of summer!  I'm looking forward to the Fall Season. (Pumpkins, gourds, Mums, Cider).

Blessing's from,

Our Humble Homestead

Picking Vegetables

Yesterday our daughter and I picked fresh green beans, and tomatoes!  YUM!!!  Our son helped me snap the beans. The help was greatly appreciated!  I just love fresh veggies.

Heidi

Fanny Crosby Evening!

What a wonderful evening!  My family had the privlage of learning about Fanny Crosby.  She was a dear christian women who loved the Lord!  She wrote poetry & well over a 1,000 hymns.  The very one's you sing today in church.  Some of her well known hymns were:  Blessed Assurance, Redeemed, How I Love to proclaim it, and many more.  Our daughter did a report for her homeschool co-op last Spring on Fanny, and it was such a treat to watch someone portray this remarkable women.  If you have time, check out information on this lady.  You will be surprised!!

Blessing's,

Heidi

Baking Day!

Today I decided to bake fresh zucchini bread.  I had extra zucchini and didn't want it to go to waste, so I baked six loaves of good smellin bread.  I plan to freeze them to have at a later time. 

Do you have a good zucchini recipe that you love and care to share?

Blessing's,

Heidi

Garden Fresh Organics!

This has been a great summer for fresh organic vegetables and fruits.  The cool days have helped with the supply.  We have had some nice items in our garden, but I've been blessed with a friend that is local and sells  a wide variety of organics at a great price and I know she puts a lot of love & time into her garden.  Make sure and support locals.  I'm sure  going to miss the summer fresh veggies, come fall/winter season.  Next year, Lord willing I would like to double my garden in size and try to store as much as I can for the winter.

Blessing's,

Heidi

Local Homeschool Fair!

I went to an homeschool fair last week and had a good time.  I ended up getting some curriculm that I was in search of, free of charge!  What a blessing.  I also ran into some friends that I havn't seen in a while, it was nice  seeing the ladies again.  

Happy Homeschooling!

Heidi

Another year of Homeschool!

  After having a nice summer, we are ready to get back in the swing of our regular routine of homeschooling.  We jumped in yesterday with some our curriculm and had a great first day.  I have decided to do the Charlotte Mason approach, I think this will work well for our family.  If you the reader has any suggestions/and or websites to share that you like feel free to pass along my way.  Listed below is our curriculm for the year.  Give or take a few.

Simply Grammer

Teaching Textbooks (Math)

Story Starters, (Writing)

Pentime

Working with words 

Spanish

Bible

Apologia Exploring Creation with Physical Science

Nature Science (Pocket Full of Pinecones)

United States History

Physical Education/ Outdoor free time

Fine Arts & Art Pac

Free Reading on Living books

And to Teach Life Skills:  basic meals, gardening, laundry basics, needle skills & sewing machine, & much more. 

Homestead Mom of :

Heidi

"Our Humble Homestead"

We have a Piano!

We had a busy weekend, lots going on.  But I was so happy to receive a free piano for our daughter.  She has been taking piano lessons for a full year now and seems to enjoy it.  We were on a search for a piano for our daughter and our prayers were answered!  It's a cherry colored and it was made by Henry Miller Co.  I'm sure our daughter will get hours of enjoyment from it.

Our Humble Homestead,

Heidi

Year End Recitle!

Sunday afternoon, our daughter played in her first piano recitle.  She did a great job!  She played three songs:  Hummingbirds, Halloween Fun, & Fur Elise.  This was her first year of taking piano and she has cought on very quickly.  Her father and I are very proud of her accomplishments.  As well as her grandparents!  Way to go !!!

Love,

Mom

Mother's Day!

Friday evening started off my Mother's day weekend.  My  best friends mother invited  my mother, daughter and I to a Mother's Day banquet at her church.  It was nice to spend time with my best friends as well as my mom and daughter.  It was  a well deserved ladies night out!  On Saturday, we watched our son play a game of baseball, he did great!  Then on Sunday, we went to church, spent time with our mother's (mother-in-law) and had a lovely meal prepared by my husband and children.  It was a busy weekend, but very enjoyable.

I hope every mother had an wonderful day!

Blessing's,

Heidi

Earthquake!

I didn't have the opportunity to write about the earthquake that took place yesterday, but wanted to make a note of it in my blog today.  I was awake early in the morning to take our dog out for a potty break and come back in to lay back down and all of a sudden I hear the side of our house make a huge bang.  It sounded like high winds hitting the house, but I knew there was no wind because I had just been out.  A friend called us at 6:00a.m. and said, did the earthquke wake you?  I couldn't believe it! 

Then at 11:15a.m. I was setting at our kitchen table typing on my computer and then out of know where the kitchen table starts to shake!!!  The effects of the aftershock.  I have to say it was an unusual experience.

Humble Homestead

Homeschool Convention!

Today my husband and I went to the Indiana Homeschool Convention.  I have not been in  a couple years, so it was nice to go and check out all the wonderful materials.  I have to say that it was not as packed as it has been in the past.  I'm sure the economy is playing a huge role in that.  I was able to find some good curriculm books that were on my list in addition to some items that weren't on my list!  I feel like a kid in a candy store when I have all that material available at once.  Oh well, we had a nice time and now we have to go and soak our feet from all the walking we did. 

Happy Homeschooling!

Heidi 

Nature Walk!

This afternoon my husband, children, and family dog took a walk.  The weather was so nice.  We walked down to the local creek.  Our daughter spotted some racoon tracks along the creek bank a woodpecker hole (nest) in a tree.  My son picked some flowers for me.  Two rabbits ran across the field, and we heard the robbins talking.  We enjoy family walks.  I'm looking forward to more warm days!

Humble Homestead Mom,

Heidi

Chickens!

Today we picked up some little baby chicks.  They are so cute and the children love to keep and eye on them.  They are called straight run chickens.  I'm looking forward to  fresh farm eggs down the road.  Our daughter is going to enter a couple chickens in the county fair this summer.  That should be fun.  I would like to get a couple ducks and turkeys.

Happy Homesteading,

Heidi

My Birthday!

Today was my birthday!  It was a beautiful day, as well as relaxing.  My mom prepared me a very nice lunch.  It was yummy.  Afterwords she gave me a beautiful vase full of fresh cut tulips.  In the evening we had a nice lemon cake, it tasted great!  My husband and children gave me birthday cards and a gift.  My dad and his wife come over and spent the evening visting.  They gave me a neat book shelf.  I was happy to receive it, as I'm collecting many books and have limited space to put them.  It's hard to believe I'm 38!  How time flys!!!

Heidi

Brown County Visit!

We visited Brown County again this weekend.  My husband did some electrial projects for his brother on the recent cabin they purchased.  When the cabin is finished it's going to be so neat.  I'm looking forward to spending an evening in it with our family. Our children love being outdoors and explore nature.  Has anyone ever restored a cabin?  It's a lot of hard work! 

Blessing's to all,

Humble Homestead Mom,

Heidi