I'm porting over June 2024 social media posts to our family blog. If you're already "friends" with me on social media, you've probably seen all of this!
June 2024
Wood Chips Day!
We hadn't laid wood chips on our backyard's barren, cracked soil in three years, so today was the day and everyone had a job.
Dad: repeated trips to the hardware store to buy wood chips
John (17): unloading wood chips around the yard
Mary (15): doing the housework indoors since we were all outdoors
David (6): using scissors to open all the bags (he was so proud of himself to use scissors)
Margaret (13): emptying the bags on the ground
Mom: raking the wood chips around
Thomas (8): stuffing the wood chips plastic bags into a refuse bag
Dogs: Hanging out in the backyard with us for boosting morale
The yard is looking more decent already. We hadn't laid wood chips since Thomas was released from the hospital three years ago and we renovated the back yard to make it a place for him to play when he was still so very sick and debilitated. Turned out that for this Mama, laying wood chips was a pensive trip down memory lane today.
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I gasped aloud with excitement to see my first Eastern Monarch caterpillar on my Narrowleaf Milkweed. Monarch caterpillars’ only food is the milkweed plant, so if we don’t plant it in yards, the butterfly population will continue to diminish.
Today marks four years since "Diagnosis Day"!
Thomas is *nearly* nine years old and living his best life, forging ahead despite his post-cancer limitations, and showing no evidence of cancer. For those children newly diagnosed, there is HOPE!
Thank God for every day you have with your children.
Chris and I are so proud of our firstborn and his strong work ethic! John has been hired for a second job, this one in an office environment. He managed the entire process by himself: contacting the owner, communicating with him over a couple of months, setting the interview appointment, and presenting well at the interview, and now he's finished his first week of employment there. John continues to work at the ice cream shop where he's been employed for two years, so this summer he is going to be working about 40 hours per week. Our 17-year-old has keys to two businesses, is trusted to open and close, and we hear he is appreciated by his employers. We parents are pleased as punch!
Such a handsome boy! He lives for our daily session of fetch.
I had a delightful time hosting a garden party for the June social event of our homeschooling ministry. Thanks to all who came!
Having just finished reading "Hannah Coulter" last week (highly, highly recommend!), I'm trying to pick a new literature book for Mary (age 15-1/2) and I to read simultaneously, something we have fun doing.
We were thinking of "Anna Karenina," but I keep reading reviews that it is really best read even beyond high-school. We're considering "Cry the Beloved Country" (which I've never read) or "Kristen Lavransdatter" (which I read probably ten years ago).
Thoughts? Recommendations?
Meanwhile, I continue puttering away at several other books . . .
"Credo: Compendium of the Catholic Faith" by Bishop Athanasius Schneider -- I am trying to re-establish a habit of holy reading early in the morning . . . while also trying to establish the habit of going to the gym to workout in the early morning, so we have a conflict, Houston.
"Joy in Suffering" by Rose Hu -- a story of Communism, always of interest to me
"The Rest of the Story: A Summary of the Life and Times of Archbishop Lefebvre" -- for my ladies' book club
"Anatomy and Physiology made Incredibly Easy" -- for continuing education
Cook's "The Science of Good Cooking" -- for continuing education
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Nicky lives for playing fetch Tilly could not care less, so when I bring her outside for fetch, she typically finds a shady spot to nap or eat grass. This morning, she found a bench to rest on, like the lapdog breed that she is!
Today I tried my hand at making homemade "quick oatmeal packets."
I have never liked to buy instant oatmeal packets at the store, despite how much my kids like them: too much sugar, too much expense. Recently we had some in the house leftover from John's backpacking trip, so my younger boys were delighting in eating up the remainder.
I followed a recipe I found online (see in comments) to make my own packets.
Ingredients:
- Steel cut quick oats (the canister that says it cooks in 5 minutes)-- I much prefer steel cut oats for its nutrition over rolled oats!
- whole milk powder
- brown sugar
- Redmond real salt
- ground cinnamon
- ground flaxseed
The one-cup of oats serving size in the recipe is 400 calories, so I bagged mine as half-cup servings of 210 calories (25% higher than Quaker instant oatmeal).
- Fat 6 g (300% higher)
- Sodium 126 mg (33% lower)
- Carb 33 g (equal)
- Fiber 5 g (25% higher)
- Sugar 4 g (66% lower)
- Protein 8 g (200% more)
My cost is 29 cents per serving, compared to 50 cents for Quaker brand or 25 cents for generic.
My boys read about the game of ringers (old-fashioned marbles) and have been playing it most of the day now. I love it!
Nine days after the six munching caterpillars vanished from my milkweed, I’ve spotted my first Eastern Monarch butterfly, emerged and safe! We are excited and hope to see more.
Thomas is followed by 13 doctors and for the last year or so had 30 regular clinic appointments per year. Lately he is stable enough that now he is down to 26 visits per year! Reason to celebrate! He gets blood labs at 13 of those appointments. He has 11 prescriptions at five dosing times per day in order to be growing and meeting his nutritional absorption needs. I praise God for Western medicine and brilliant, dedicated doctors, nurses, medical staff, and researchers who make this possible.
Look who learned how to swim this summer! Go, Thomas, go!
Hot Wheels Legends Tour (car show)
June 15, 2024
Very fun!
We’ve been enjoying visits from an Eastern box turtle to our back yard. I let the boys leave him lettuce and such, but they leave him alone and let him travel on his way.
Mary has been a busy bee wrapping up her music season. Her last performance with the Preparatory Orchestra was May 6. Her end-of-year piano recital was May 19. She participated in an organ master class on June 17 as part of Bach Week events here in Charlotte. Her violin recital was June 23. Finally, her Stigall organ recital is upcoming on June 30. Then she takes a deep breath before starting all her new musical material for the 2024-25 year!
MEAL PLANNING
I'm enjoying the slower pace of summer and getting to focus anew on cooking everything homemade that I can. I'm making a project to look through our meals and find elements to make myself (e.g., making homemade tomato sauce instead of opening a jar).
Last Week's Meal Plan:
Monday:
Homemade pizza (dough from deli) cooked in cast iron skillet plus salad with various veggies
Taco Tuesday:
ground beef (93/7), all the things, heavy on the sauteed veggies . . . still purchasing tortillas because I'm not THAT cool to make my own!
Wednesday:
Spaghetti night (Good Wheat high-fiber), homemade tomato sauce, homemade meatballs (sausage + ground beef), roasted broccoli
Thursday:
Baked chicken, brown rice, lentils, sauteed squash and zucchini
Friday night while preparing to host a garage sale:
I confess it, I ordered delivery pizza and salad for everyone else! (But I ate leftover lentils and brown rice. 🙂
Saturday night:
A French restaurant with friends where I enjoyed a lovely salad and ratatouille
Sunday:
Sandwich Night using my homemade bread + homemade apple crisp
The Current Week:
Monday:
Philly cheesesteak sandwiches made with flank steak, tons of sauteed veggies, homemade provolone sauce, homemade baked French fries, and (cooking for some picky people) boxed Annie's mac and cheese
Tuesday:
Kielbasa sausage (lower fat turkey); rotini pasta (Good Wheat high fiber); a casserole of wild rice/brown rice mix + goat cheese + low-sugar dried cranberries; roasted beets with goat cheese over arugula
Wednesday:
Spaghetti (Good Wheat high-fiber), homemade tomato+meat sauce, roasted Brussels Sprouts and red onions with balsamic vinegar
Thursday's planned picnic at a POPS concert:
Italian bread, deli egg salad, turkey, ham, sandwich makings, popcorn, and (I hope) homemade cookies
Friday:
TBD . . . maybe chickpea curry for the adventurous among us and something simple for the others?
I sure enjoyed taking my boys to see the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and fireworks at Pineville Lake Park. The event was entirely free and we met up with another Catholic family.
Chris was out of state slaying dragons and my three teens each expressed desire to do something else, so they didn’t come. Boo hoo for this mama!
Half a bushel of farm fresh peaches is going to keep me busy this weekend!
Our summer has much less formal summer school than the boys need after last year—okay, zero—but everyone is having a wholesome good time.
Today I baked four loaves of bread and started processing farm fresh peaches for freezing. Plus cleaned the house, like I’m doing every other second of my life. Tomorrow I hope to bake with some peaches and make a vat of homemade tomato sauce.
The boys run around getting dirty, playing with neighborhood boys, swimming in our pool, and inventing stuff. Today they built The Beast out of a cardboard box. A boy sits inside perched on a booster seat atop a skateboard. He waves baseball bats as arms, blows orange-dyed water out the mouth, shoots a Nerf bullet out the nose, and glows red lights out of the eyes. The boys spent hours and hours on it!
Congratulations to Margaret (age 13) for participating in an audition-only, two-week workshop with OperaCarolina! She grew as a performer through the experience and performed in front of about 100 people at a recital tonight. Click here to see her performance of "Per la Gloria"!
While I planted my plants for butterflies, I am pleased to see all pollinator friends, including bees and wasps!
Mary performed at her first-ever Stigall Scholars organ recital. She said goodbye to her wonderful teacher Jacob Temple, who is moving away, and she will continue her organ studies with a new teacher this coming year.
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