Happy Homemaker Monday

Thanks to Sandra for hosting!


The weather in my neck of the woods:
It's only supposed to be 85 deg. but it's gonna be humid.


One of my simple pleasures:
Listening to my children have innocent and fun conversation.


On my bedside table:
iPod



On my TV:
No TV here.



On the menu for tonight:
Teriyaki chicken and edamame



On my To Do List:
Dentist appt for youngest. Costco and grocery shopping. Then...work!



New Recipe I tried last week:
We bought a Vita-Mix at the home show yesterday and had all kinds of different smoothies for dinner last night.




In the craft basket:
Both handles are done, but I did not pay attention the keeping the right tension in my yarn. Now one is longer than the other. I'll probably have to make another one. LOL



Looking forward to:
More photos to share this week!


Homemaking Tip for this week:
I can't stress the beautiful simplicity of making a menu. Every week that I do goes much more smoothly at dinnertime.




Favorite Blog Post of the week (mine or other):
Once again, Julia at Our Simple Life captured my imagination with her lovely post about summer.


Favorite photo from last week:

Lesson learned the past few days:
That I can do this. All of it. (Are you tired of this lesson yet? I must tell myself everyday that I can do this. There is always something that Satan will use to defeat me. But in Christ, I CAN do this...all of it.)




On my Prayer List:
Friends
Family
Fellow bloggers



Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
Joshua 24:15 But if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve...But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.

Snapshots of a Saturday: Zoo Edition

<center><a href="http://www.lifeonthehayfarm.com"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2538/3712146438_74ae990414_o.jpg"/></a></center>

I'd love to have you join my new photo meme! Here's the rules (they're easy, I promise!):

*Any photos you post must be your own.

*Nothing vulgar or obscene, please.

*Mr. Linky will go live late Friday night and you'll have as long as you like to post your link.

*Try to post pictures of your Saturday adventures, but if you have another day you'd rather share, feel free.

*The photos don't have to be from the same day you post. They can be a recent adventure, or something from long ago.

*No subject is too mundane. If you'd like to share, we want to enjoy!

*Please link back to LOTHF by grabbing the header from above. Thanks!

That's about it. I hope this will inspire us to take our cameras EVERYWHERE (well, almost) in case of spontaneous adventure.

Last weekend Ron and I took the kiddos on a mini-vacation. We live just over an hour from Waco, TX, but had never visited there. The town has lots of museums and other kid-friendly things to do, some of which I wrote about in my previous posts.

On Saturday we started out at the Cameron Park Zoo. Cameron Park is large complex of fun stuff like a frisbee golf course, splash pad, etc...and the zoo, of course. I wish we could have explored more of it. I think a family could spend an entire day there!

As a little background before I show my photos: We used to read our kids Bill Peet books all the time when they were little. He wrote and illustrated wonderful stories about crazy animals and people. But one of our favorites was a true story that he wrote about his family. It was called Capyboppy, and it was about how his son raised a Capybara until it too big for their family to handle. Then they donated it to a local zoo. My older daughter, who is 12, has loved Capybaras since that time and has always wanted to see one in person. The Dallas Zoo used to have one, but it died of old age before we were able to visit it.

When we set out for the zoo last Saturday, she asked the familiar question, "Does this zoo have a capybara?" I had searched the zoo's website and didn't find any mention of one, so I told her that it didn't look like it. Well, I think you can guess where this is going. We hadn't been there long when I turned around and spotted this:

What a surprise! My daughter was so thrilled. We must have stood there for a good fifteen minutes just watching it. (And all it was doing was laying there.) I wish that it hadn't been behind that tight chain-link fence. It's so hard to get a good picture that way. Here's a pic I found on the web:

And how cute is this!!

Here's the sign from the zoo for those of you who might have never heard of a capybara:

I got some great pics on the rest of our visit, but frankly, we could have left right after the capybara and still say we had a great time!

Thanks for visiting the zoo with us! Hope you have a great weekend!

A zoo preview

I'll be posting all about our trip to the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, TX, tomorrow for my Snapshots of a Saturday meme. But in the meantime, here's a little preview to tide you over.

Heritage Square

After a brief respite in our hotel room, Ron and I took the kiddos to Heritage Square in downtown Waco so they could play in the fountains. Who needs a swimming pool?

Dr Pepper Museum

Our next destination was the Dr Pepper Museum. I didn't really know what to expect. I'd never been to a museum dedicated solely to a soft drink before. It turned out to be quite interesting!

We were greeted by this gentleman whose name escapes me, but the important thing to remember is that he invented Dr Pepper. Although when it was new it wasn't called Dr Pepper, it was called "a Waco" because Waco was the only place it was available.

Along the tour were special "Twitpic" sites where you could take a photo and upload it the Dr Pepper Museum's twitter page. For some reason this seemed strange to me. That a museum would have a special Twitpic tour, but hey, that's just me. And to satisfy your curiosity...no, I did not sign up to follow any Dr Pepper museum updates on Twitter.

Speaking of curiosities...this little gem really caught my attention. It's a life size model of a horse made from Dr Pepper bottle caps and cans. Seriously.

Here's a close up.

This is the original artesian well that was located in the bottling plant (where the museum is now). It was excavated down about 27 ft. in the 1990's and is now a permanent exhibit. I bet that was some good Dr Pepper!

And on the way out we saw this refurbished delivery truck. That would have been a welcome sight in a small Texas town back in the early 1900's!

There is also a real soda fountain there where they will make you a Dr Pepper or any other soda under the Dr Pepper umbrella. I would recommend anyone visiting Waco or the nearby area to take time to a tour. Fun for the whole family!

Homestead Heritage

We did so many fun things this weekend that I wasn't sure where to begin. I don't know how I'll end up sharing all our fun adventures with you, but for now I'll simply start at the beginning.

Our first stop on our way south was Homestead Heritage in Elm Mott, TX. This is a community that lives together based on their religious beliefs, which I honestly don't know that much about. The reason we visited was to see the self sustaining community they have built there. They have a deli, where they serve an excellent lunch and many buildings you can visit such as the gristmill, pottery house, schoolhouse, woodworking shop, and lots more. Of course they have wonderful things to buy, but what I was most interested in was their cookbooks, particularly one on making cheese. I can't wait to try their recipes!

The kids had a great time exploring, especially once we got to the herb garden and animals that you could pet. You'd think we didn't have any animals at home!

Happy Homemaker Monday

Thanks to Sandra for hosting!


The weather in my neck of the woods:
Probably hot.

One of my simple pleasures:
Kissing my sleepy-eyed children in the morning.

On my bedside table:
iPod and Kleenex.

On my TV:
No TV here.

On the menu for tonight:
I simply have no idea! First day of school here. I'm not a very good multi-tasker.

On my To Do List:
Make bread. This is a priority.

New Recipe I tried last week:
Nothing new because I didn't cook. Hubby was out of town all week.

In the craft basket:
One handle left on my bag. Then once they're attached it'll be all done!

Looking forward to:
Sharing photos from our weekend trip to Waco with y'all.

Homemaking Tip for this week:
Can't think of a single one! LOL

Favorite Blog Post of the week (mine or other):
Hmm...I haven't been lingering over my blogs lately. Too many other things to do before school starts.

Favorite photo from last week: Be on the lookout for lots of favorite photos this week. They're not edited yet though!

Lesson learned the past few days:
That I can do this. All of it.

On my Prayer List:
Friends
Family
Fellow bloggers

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.

These last days of summer

This is our last weekend before school starts and we are going to do our best to enjoy it. I'll check back with you early next week with lots of new photos and to see how y'all are doing.

Enjoy your weekend!

Squash are people too

People that comfort...

Happy people...

People with neuroses...

They're a family...

And they need our love.

Happy Homemaker Monday

Thanks to Sandra for hosting!


The weather in my neck of the woods:
It's going to be hot, but that's ok. This is our last swim of the summer.

One of my simple pleasures:
Spending the day with a good friend.

On my bedside table:
Well, my dd took Eldest so she could re-read the end and tell me what happens. Now it's just my iPod again.

On my TV:
No TV here.

On the menu for tonight:
Only feeding four tonight. Possibly only three. We may just hit Wing Stop.

On my To Do List:
Cram as much fun into this week as possible!

New Recipe I tried last week:
Made an Angel Food Cake from scratch for the first time. It was awesome!

In the craft basket:
One handle left on my bag. Then once they're attached it'll be all done!

Looking forward to:
Having Thursday evening off.

Homemaking Tip for this week:
If you can, find a source to purchase raw milk. It's so much better for you and there are so many things you can make with it!

Favorite Blog Post of the week (mine or other):
Hmm...I haven't been lingering over my blogs lately. Too many other things to do before school starts.

Favorite photo from last week: We visited a cheese maker last week and this little calf was there. So sweet!

Lesson learned the past few days:
That I can do this. All of it.

On my Prayer List:
Friends
Family
Fellow bloggers

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
Philippians 2:3 Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself.

Snapshots of a Saturday

<center><a href="http://www.lifeonthehayfarm.com"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2538/3712146438_74ae990414_o.jpg"/></a></center>

I'd love to have you join my new photo meme! Here's the rules (they're easy, I promise!):

*Any photos you post must be your own.

*Nothing vulgar or obscene, please.

*Mr. Linky will go live late Friday night and you'll have as long as you like to post your link.

*Try to post pictures of your Saturday adventures, but if you have another day you'd rather share, feel free.

*The photos don't have to be from the same day you post. They can be a recent adventure, or something from long ago.

*No subject is too mundane. If you'd like to share, we want to enjoy!

*Please link back to LOTHF by grabbing the header from above. Thanks!

That's about it. I hope this will inspire us to take our cameras EVERYWHERE (well, almost) in case of spontaneous adventure.

Here's some shots of my Saturday:

I made some butter.

And some pancake syrup.

The garden is just about done, but Ron brought these in today.

We had a delicious quiche for dinner.

And finished it off with some scrumptious angel food cake.

I hope you had a terrific Saturday as well!