Just way too much fun

I keep telling myself I'm going to put a new post up on this blog.... and usually I mean it. I have some new recipes I would really like to share with y'all and some more ways that our family is saving on things around the house and enjoying it. It seems like lately though we are just having so much fun doing all of those things that we stay way too busy doing to turn around in the same spot twice that I just haven't had the time to sit down and type out one good post.

I'm really really super sorry! Will y'all forgive me?

I can give you a quick update on all that we've been accomplishing if that helps any. Fred is learning to sew... sort of. I sew kind of like I cook, I get an idea and sort of a basic plan to follow and dive right in making adjustments as needed; then if it works out we all love it and if it doesn't work out we turn it into something else. So poor little Fred, my sweet girl who is someday going to have to learn to do this the right way, is making a dress for old fashioned Sunday at church. So far it looks great, just way way too big... but I think I can fix that too. Then we are making me a dress and whatever else we have the time to make.

We are slowly but surely reclaiming our garden (again) from the weeds and wildlife. I found myself just today having quite the talk with one of the resident bunnies who has decided to live there and eat all that we plant... I only wish I was joking with you. The kids and one of our neighbor ladies just stood there slack jawed while I told this little rabbit that since it wasn't rabbit season just yet he had very little time to finish packing up and move on, but that if he just couldn't pull it together and get out of there... well then I was going to have no choice but to collect all of the months of rent and board that he has stolen from us. He just sat there on his hind legs gladly chewing away on one of our bean plants looking at me like we have this conversation on a regular basis. I almost hope he sticks around, wild bunny makes great stew.

The boys and I have been slowly but surely gathering as much firewood as we can, but it's slow going right now. We are all very sore and really wishing that my sweet Hunk O' Honey had the daylight hours and a chainsaw to cut our wood!! It's good exercise though and we've had enough wood to keep warm everyone of these really chilly nights except for one and it wasn't too terrible.

We are working on starting our garden beds closer to the house for the veggies this spring too... it's still in the planning stages but at least this time we are planning instead of just tossing seeds in the ground. We will still have the huge garden in the back but I think we will be better off with some things closer to the house in smaller and more manageable beds. We put in a fall salad garden in a cloche so that we can (prayerfully) still harvest some lettuce and spinach over the cooler and maybe even cold months, and we are hoping to add some other veggies soon.

On top of that we are still schooling everyday and taking care of all the critters and doing all of the other things that we normally do. The Lord has been so good to our family in giving us such blessings!

I'll try to put up a better post soon!
Take care everyone.