Strawberry Shortcake Cake = Yummmmmmmmm

(photo from/by The Pioneer Woman)

Thanks to facebook my husband reconnected with an old high school friend.  He and his family came for dinner the other night. What a delight!  We had a wonderful visit.
My husband was blessed to go to a small Christian school his entire life and his friends....well they are a treasure!  We had another in town a few weeks ago.  With both, it's been such a blessing to sit around chatting about mission work, Bible class curriculums, homeschooling, our Christian walk, struggles, etc  When chatting, my husband and his friend that came this weekend didn't think they'd seen each other since graduating high school, yet it took one conversation to realize they still had tons in common and were in similar places in their lives and desires moving forward!  I look forward to getting to spending more time with this precious family in the future!!

  As is the usual routine before having guests, I looked around the internet for a  good recipe.  I wanted something relatively easy, and summery...and of course delicious.  

We were doing the typical Memorial Day weekend cook-out.  So I also needed something that paired well with burgers, etc.  Oh and with the 6 kids that would be here,  I wanted something kid friendly too!

After being a bit overwhelmed by all the selections on Recipezaar, I headed over to The Pioneer Woman.  You just can't go wrong I don't think with her recipes!!  Sure enough, it's one of our new favorites.  I didn't have time to get any pictures of mine, we were rushed and running a bit behind and then....it was gone.  

But while the strawberries are still in season, go....no RUN....

get some berries, and then make this cake.  It's even better the next day after being in the fridge and all the juices soaking through the cake.  But warning...it's super rich!! 

A quote in the meantime

Our days have been filled with schoolwork, yardwork, testing and play. Leaving very little time for blogging or even blog reading.  But I've got some yummy recipes to share soon, til then....

 from Charlotte Mason:

"The atmosphere in which a child gathers his unconscious ideas of right living emanates from his parents.  Every look of gentleness and tone of reverence, every word of kindness and act of help, passes into the thought environment, the very atmosphere which the child breathes; he does not think of these things, may never think of them, but all his life long they excite that vague appetency...toward things sordid or things lovely, things earthly or divine"

one of my favorite pictures from our trip to the High the other day.  Hopefully we'll get
back in the next week or so to wander around some more.

So this year we planted a vegetable garden.  Our goal was small....but we wanted to use heirloom seeds and do it organically.  I've done tomatoes and a few other things before and we have herbs and some fruits, but a full fledged garden is a new experience. We got the seeds from Seed Savers , followed the Square Foot Gardener method and were determined to keep it relatively small and simple this first year. Our one goal....grow enough tomatoes to can a bunch of sauces and pastes for the year....the rest would be for fun.

Well guess what? Everything else is growing pretty well (this is the green beans a couple weeks ago) EXCEPT the tomatoes.  Sigh.....and there are LOTS of tomato plants.

Have I ever mentioned I have a totally black thumb??  Seriously black...no talent for growing at all.  But I THINK I've figured out the problem. Thanks to a friend from church that owns a local organic farm and from lots of reading online.  One site I found thanks to Homestead Revival  is www.chiotsrun.com
I think we had a nitrogen deficiency and a over-loved issue!!  So I added a bit of nitrogen this weekend and I'm leaving them alone to fend for themselves a bit.  They've already started to green up.  now if the soil would just heat up and we'd stop having cool weather than I think they MIGHT take off!!  MIGHT.....remember that horrid black thumb...who knows??
They aren't dead yet, just sort of stopped growing.

But realistically, the odds are not necessarily in their favor?!!  

The best part of the veggie garden is enjoying it with my amazing hubby.
Mornings you'll often find us, coffee mug in hand, wandering around the veggie beds discussing what's growing well, what's not, etc. what we will do differently in the future, etc  Evenings....same thing.
Mid day...same thing.  ha ha!!  We are enjoying it....together!!  So if nothing lives or produces we will still have enjoyed it...and won't give up!

NOTE: please excuse the hideous yard in the background.  our current project is that we tilled up our entire backyard, put down tons of topsoil, tilled it in, picked up loads and loads of rocks and the sod will be delivered TOMORROW and yes we're laying it ourselves!! Hopefully by next summer I'll have a lush backyard!!
We've had all sorts of issues with seed in the backyard (our front was sodded when we built), so we just decided to bite the bullet and go with sod and redo the soil from the lousy job our builder did and do it right!!   My sweet neighbor  brought over this cool book the other day on organic lawn care.  It's a MUCH easier read than any other's I've looked at (and bored of) and has some really interesting tricks.  I'm going to hopefully be giving one a try in the next few days.  More on that to come......

Field Trip

Today we took a field trip to the High Museum of Art.  We had a great time....

Really!

okay so John Mark wasn't too much into the curved canvases.  

But hey, maybe we got some culture today....

MAYBE!!!

but the truth of the matter is, some of the time the kids said "Why is that ART?"  I would be thinking the same thing.  I know I know...bad uncultured Mommy! 

Perhaps not what the artist had intended for this piece, but we really liked it!

Makin' Memories

A few years ago my parents stopped getting gifts for my kids for their b'days.  Instead they started taking them on birthday outings or trips.  

Each year the birthday child is given a few options to choose from for their birthday trip.  

This year John Mark chose to go to Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville, TN.  They stayed the night at Fall Creek Falls Inn and wandered around Fall Creek Falls some before going to the Cave.  

They had a fabulous time....even better, they made more amazing memories!!!

(I grabbed some of Mother's pictures from facebook...hope she doesn't mind)