Sunny Saturday

Fall might be just around the corner, but it still feels a bit like summer here on the Trail.  It hit 90 degrees a couple days this week and as badly as I wanted to pull on my sweat pants, mother nature had me reaching for my shorts for a little while longer.

Our homeschool routine is getting a little bit better each week and I feel like we maybe, could be, in a bit of a groove.  I have had to say 'no' a few times to friends getting together and playdates, but I know it's all part of this season.  We try and say 'yes' as much as we can, but know we need to be home a certain number of days during the week to complete preschool activities.

This week I'm sharing some things that made this week a bit sunnier.

Youtube.  As a new homeschooler, I have been using Youtube for mini lessons and songs and a reward for completed school work.  They are almost always short and under ten minutes, but they provide value to our learning and give Luke an extra incentive to get his work done.  

Our preschool theme this month is apples.  We have been painting with apples, performing apple experiments, counting with apples, and reading loads of books about apples.  Even though we have a plethora of apples right outside our door, a friend asked us to go to the apple orchard and it was a perfect way to tie everything together.  Tress, Shrubs, and More is a sweet orchard.  It is small and quiet and my littles loved running down the rows and pulling their wagons while apples bobbed inside.  After we tasted all the apples we could, we went to the nursery and I picked up this ornamental kale and purple aster.  The kids helped me plant them this week and they look so fall-y on the back deck.

As most of you know, I am an avid reader of anything in the genre of simple living.  I recently subscribed to a quarterly online magazine called Simplify Magazine.  I signed up for a lifetime subscription for a mere twenty bucks and have loved every single article that has come across my screen.  Two of my favorite simple living gurus, Joshua Becker and Tsh Oxenreider, created this magazine, among others.  You can still snag a lifetime subscription for $20 if it's something that peaks your interest.

As I mentioned in my last post, Kevin's parents are raking in the homegrown goodies.  They have been so generous with their zucchini and I have been baking bread like it's 1950.  This zucchini bread is so tasty, my kids will stuff it into their tiny mouths any chance they get.  In college I would make zucchini bread with a hand held shredder like those mommas doing their thing in the 50s and this time around I am using my food processor and it. is. life. changing. I can whip this bread up and have it in the oven in twenty minutes.  It's perfect for a mid morning snack break.

I am spending today celebrating a friend's birthday and then it's football, football, football all weekend long.  Hope you have a Sunny Saturday wherever you may be today!