Sunray Farms, Piedmont, South Carolina

The kids and I took a break away from the house and went on a fun farm field trip to Sunray Farms.

 It was another group trip that our friend organizes. She does such a great job.

 We learned about horse/pony care. Amy McConnell opens her home to a wonderful time. The girls said this was their favorite field trip so far but it did tie with our trip to Roper Mountain Science Center.

Cinnamon labels Cookies upper lip.

We found new uses for stickers and played pin the sticker on the live pony. They each had a sticker to label the different parts of the pony named "Cookie". She was so sweet..ha..yeah that was awful but I had to say it.

It was a Green grooming session.

So proud that Emily let Cookie eat from her hand.

All the kids got a chance to groom Cookie and give her a treat for being such a good pony.

 There were some simply perfect play things for the kids to climb all over. Emily had the roping thing all figured out.

 Lauren was more concerned for the farm owners little girl who was sitting all by herself. She said she thought she was lonely over their and that she could be her friend.

 They have a small pond and creek and Thomas was thrilled to throw every stick he could find in it.

 The girls and Cinnamon were busy snake hunting. But the only thing that was found was a wasp that stung Emily. It was the first sting for all three of them. Emily still claims it was a brier. She recovered quickly and was soon roping anyone she could.

And what farm trip would be complete without a golf cart ride. Amy drove them around the pasture. She even filled up their water bottles.

I'm looking forward to more of these in cooler weather.

slowly moving, moving slowly

So God is teaching us patience. We were told that they were working to close by the end of the month. Well, we didn't close today...so we wait.

Realistically the closing on our contract states September 15 or earlier so there is plenty of time. I feel like a little impatient child, stomping my foot that things haven't gone my way. So I need to grow up a little and get over it!

I am blessed with so many friends that have offered to help us move. One friend is going to be my painting buddy! I have my paint chips and my list and I am ready to go. Just so excited to see how we are going to be able to use this land in part of God's plan.

Meanwhile I box things up...a little each day...well, not today...but tomorrow.

Future plans are also to plan my baby girls birthday tea party! She is so excited and I don't want her to get lost in the busyness of the move. We have the plates and invitations ready to go. Plenty of pictures to come!

what He has done

1 Chronicles 16:8
Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.

Grocery store field trip

No, I didn't pretend a trip to the grocery store would count as a field trip. It was a real bells and whistles tour! A group that we go on field trips with organized a tour of Publix grocery store.






This was the most important part of the tour. I don't know why the manager didn't point them out herself but I made sure everyone saw the Blue Bell....sadly there was no Happy Tracks today.














The kids got to see how incredibly skilled and fast the ladies are in the bakery. She made a beautiful yellow rose within a minute!

They also gave them a squirt of icing....none for me though. We walked in their coolers and freezers but first the girls turned into Lavern and Shirley...

So hon, what size cut of turkey can I slice for ya?


We then ventured over to the produce isle....Now there have been moments that I've been in produce and I just wanted to throw my hands up in the air and scream to the top of my lungs.

Well today.... I didn't. But I could have! Hopefully the kids will understand the next time we're in produce and not scream to the top of their lungs again.

We soon sailed on to our favorite part of the tour...seafood!

The guy in seafood was great. He had a whole show to perform for the kids. I learned a lot about lobster too.

He let the kids pet the lobster if they wanted. He even brought her over to Thomas so he could pet her. This sent Thomas into fetal position and thinking of a happy place....yeah, he was not impressed!


For his big finale he performed the famous lobster sleeping jedi mind trick. I never knew you could make a lobster stand on it's head and go to sleep!

It was a great time and the kids loved it. It was also a nice escape for the business going on right now.



Now I'm going to go rub my back and fall asleep on my head.

Busy busyness

Things are going fast and exciting! So neat to see all the wonderful friends and family around us volunteering help.

It's amazing to see how quickly our little green people are growing. I'm so proud of each one of them.




We are finishing up week 10 of school and the world is giving us so much to explore. We've had earthquakes and a looming hurricane to spark curious minds. I've been fairly dependent on the computer since all my resource books are now packed but I've loved kids natural curiosity....well, most of the time.

I will miss the beautiful sunsets we have at this little house and the numerous opportunities the kids have to be with family.

We have been so blessed.

She's a Big Girl Now!!

So proud of Lauren...she road her bicycle without training wheels for the first time today!! She of course was not happy with her progress but she went completely across the yard! She is so tough on herself.

Tomorrow we start our co-op classes and Emily is sooo excited. She had a hard time getting into bed. She was preoccupied with thinking about wearing her ballet clothes.

Bicycle and ballet pictures to come soon!

tomatoes, toomatoes, tooomatoes!!!

Every year we usually have an abundance of at least one crop. This year tomatoes may have won out. I've ended up with 20 quarts of spaghetti sauce and still have more coming in..although those will turn into salsa. But this season I have had an awesome new tool in my kitchen:

The Good Grips Food Mill is so handy. I do have a motorized mill but it would get clogged with the tomato skins on. If you look closely you will see here the skins have risen to the sides of the mill. Yes! You don't have to remove the skins. I just seeded them and chopped and milled and presto!

This is perfect for us since the kids don't like the big chunks of tomatoes in their sauce. Enjoy!

Nope I don't sell 'em but I love 'em!