Ta-Da...Granny Square lap blanket

Hello faithful followers.

Boy time flies when you are super busy!!

Camping trip, oodles of doctor appointments, church activities.

I am so wiped out I can barely move.

But..

I did take some time to work on a project.

Every Wednesday morning I go to a women's Bible study.

We have a small group on about 8 women on a good day.

I tell you I have learned more from these women than I have learned anywhere else.

These women in this Bible study mean a lot to me. All of them are at least 20 years older than me most are 30-40 years older. I feel like I have known them for ages. They have all taken me under their wings.

They are "bringing me up in Christ", guiding me in child rearing and being a good person in general.

They don't tell me what I need to do but I learn from listening to them talk about their lives.

Well, I have plans on making each one of these ladies a lap blanket. I have finished the first one.

I made this one for the lady who heads our little group.

She truly has taken me under her wing and has helped me more than the rest.

Ok I will get on with it...

Here is her blanket in it's home on her formal living room's couch.

You can see it as soon as you walk into her front door.

I think she hugged me 3 times when I gave it to her.

She told me no one had ever done such a thing for her!

I wish I would have taken more pictures but I truly forgot as I was so excited to give it to her.

This blanket is made from Caron Simply Soft yarn. 

The yarn was great to work with.

Well that is all for today. 

 I will have to tell you all about the many things we have done in the past week soon.

Until then.

Be Blessed,

Erin

ECC Camp out

Hello again my friends.

We took yesterday (Sunday) when we got home from our church service at the camp to rest.

I was really glad to be able to sleep in my own bed after the very emotional day we had yesterday.

I wanted to tell you a little about our camping trip.

We stayed at Rocky Fork State Park near Hillsboro, Ohio.

We were in the Group camping area.

We had a blast.

On Thursday we packed up the van.

We arrived at the camp site at 1 pm on Thursday afternoon. 

It was super duper hot!!!

We unloaded the van and set up our tent.

Our tent is the Ozark Trail XL Vacation lodge. 

It is 20 feet x 11 feet and is 6 feet 6 inches tall.

We fit 4 twin air mattresses and one queen air mattress in our tent and still had room to move around.

Here is the view from our tent. What the picture doesn't show is the lake.

Here you can see our tent and some of the other's tents...ours was the biggest one there.

This area is the kitchen area.

It has a fridge, two stoves, an industrial sink. There is also 2 bathrooms and 2 shower rooms in this building.

A lovely view of the sky from the first night.

Sitting under the shelter house listening to the conversation around the campfire.

Here you can see the grove of pine trees down one of the trails in our camping area.

Here is a peek of part of the lake down a trail

And another.

On Saturday we had a fishing derby for the kids.

Here is the view from where we fished.

Here are 3 of my kids.

My other kiddo and an extra.

These wolf/coyote cutouts were all over the area down there.

Rocky Fork Lake hosts a lot of Canadian Geese.

I believe these were used to keep the geese away from certain areas.

Here are some geese swimming.

A picture of the Rocky Fork Sign.

The camp had a dog costume competition.

Here is the winner.

We got some rain on Friday but we had torrential downpours on Saturday.

Here is Sj and his friend playing in the rain.

I really do wish I took more pictures but we stayed really busy.

We usually woke up between 6:30 and 7 am and showered.

I would sit and watch the birds eat bugs until breakfast at 8am.

We also had morning devotions and guest speakers every morning.

We had to bring our own stuff for lunch and we usually had free time after lunch.

Every evening we had dinner at 6pm.

We had a music and a guest speaker around 7 each evening.

Then we would do a Bible study after the speaker. 

We concentrated on 1 Corintians 3 for the whole weekend.

Then around dusk we would have a campfire and we'd sit around and chat.

We also had group activities. We had a scavenger hunt, a water balloon fight, corn hole games, volley ball games. We also made ice cream in ziploc bags. 

On Saturday we had a quick storm move in and we didn't get a chance to completely close up the tent so some of our things got wet. We decided to pack up everything during that free time on Saturday and leave after the Bible Study that evening.

On Sunday we went back to the camp ground to attend the church service.

Me and another young man were baptised in the lake.

After the baptisms we had lunch and we helped everyone clean up and we all came home.

Our Smokey was really sick and weak and near death when we arrived home.

He took his last breath last night at exactly 9 pm.

Watching him pass was a horrible thing but I was blessed to see this wonderful kitty come into this world 2 years ago and I was blessed to see him take his last breath. We buried him by our gazebo in the back yard under a lilac bush. Our whole family is really upset over his untimely death. We know he was poisoned. We are pretty sure who did it but we don't have evidence to fully prove this person did it.

Unfortunately our neighbor's cat is also experiencing the same early symptoms as Smokey.

We thought his early symptoms were heat related but we were wrong. 

RIP my beautiful Smokey kitty. We love you.

My friends I am excited to tell you all that I didn't experience any anxiety while we were camping!

It was the longest time I have spent away from home since the symptoms started 10 years ago.

My kids had tons of fun as did my hubby and I.

We also have many bug bites as souvenirs.

Oh and Hope has a couple of spots of poison ivy.

But there you go my friends.

I am sorry if this post is a bit melancholy.

I have a heavy heart that will need some time to heal.

Be blessed my bloggy family,

Erin

We're Back

Hello again my friends.

I just wanted to stop by and let you all know we are back from our camping trip.

We got home last night. 

We decided to come home a night earlier due to some very strong storms that were gonna move through our area.

We had a lot of fun on our trip. 

I did manage to take a few pictures.

That marks the longest I have spent away from home since all the anxiety and panic attacks started.

I didn't have anxiety one bit!!!

We went back to the camp site today for our church service.

I was rebaptized in the Lake.

When we got home, our poor kitty Smokey wasn't doing so good.

He took his last breath at 9pm this evening.

We know he was poisoned.

We have a good idea who it was but we cannot prove it..

This sad time is why I will not be uploading and rambling about our camping trip today.

I will post a new post tomorrow or Tuesday.

We all are just so overcome with sadness over Smokey's unexpected passing.

Be Blessed,

Erin

Testing from phone

This is just a test post from my phone.  I'm Not sure how to add more pictures or possibly a video.

Family Camping Trip: Planning and Pre-packing

Hello again my friends.

I tell you I have been and will be one busy woman for the next few weeks.

I am always busy the month before school begins and today marks exactly one month until school starts.

However, all that is another post.

I plan on doing a series  on our family camping trip.

This will be the first in this series.

I hope to do one where we finish packing and get everything loaded.

Then, if I can figure out how to blog from my phone I will put a few updates on each day. If not I will just do one big post either on Sunday or Monday when we get back home.

We will see what happens.

Okay lets get on with it.

First, here is the rough outline of the events that will be occurring this weekend on our camp out.

You can see my notes from our last meeting.

This camp out is open to everyone. Anyone can come to any activity. No one is obligated to actually camp.

I am super excited about this camping trip.

For one, it will be the first time my kids will go camping.

It is gonna be the longest I have been away from home in 10 years.

I will get to know my church family a little better.

There are so many positives.

However, I have found that planning and packing for a 3 night camp trip for a family of 6 is no easy task.

I have made list after list and I have started packing and organizing.

Here is the quiet corner of my living room with all of the stuff I have ready to go.

It's a lot. 

The first thing I want to point out are the neon yellow and neon pink shirts draped over the back of the chair.

We got these shirts for the kiddos to wear that first full day. Just until we all get acclimated to the camp site.

Going a little deeper into that huge pile.

I have separated a lot of our stuff into these gallon bags so I can find them easier.

Here is our first aid bag.

It includes: Children and adult advil, kid's and adult allergy meds, bandaids, neosporin, dramamine, and calamine lotion.

The feminine hygiene bag contains kotex and tampons..just in case.

This essentials bag contains sunscreen, insect repellent spray, glow in the dark insect repellent wristbands for the kids, a spray bottle and tea tree oil.

We read online that if you mix tee tree oil and water and spray it on your legs, pants, and shoes it will repel ticks. I think we will be spraying it around our tent too. Maybe it will keep the bugs out.

This bag has 5 smaller flash lights (one for each of the kids, one for me). It also has extra batteries and a bunch of glow sticks. The big red flashlight is for my hubby.

Another baggie full of rain ponchos.-Just in case.

Here is our bag of balls.

We have a small and regular sized basketball, a soccer ball, a nerf football, a baseball, and baseball gloves.

We are also taking a golf toss game, an outdoor gaming set that has volleyball net and ball, a badmitton set, a frisbee, the toss and stick ball, and a flip and toss set. Oh and we will be taking a couple sets of corn hole games with us.

Here you can see some of our food and snacks.

Our church will be providing breakfast and dinner but we have to provide our own lunch, snacks, and drinks. We also volunteered to bring marshmallow/ hot dog sticks.

Here we have our plastic silverware, toilet paper (just in case), paper towels, paper plates, and cups.

On Friday we will be making home made ice cream. Several of us are going to bring ice cream makers. I bought this one last year at a yard sale. Yummy.

Here you can see our blankets and the plastic bag contains the sheets we will be using on our air mattresses.

My big red tote contains our tent (link goes to a video (not mine) of the same exact tent we have.

The tote also has 4 twin air mattresses, one queen air mattress, the tarp for under the tent , AND the battery air pump to inflate our air mattresses.

Our tent is called XL Vacation Lodge by Ozark Trail. It is 20 feet long and 11 feet wide at the widest point.

It is 6 feet 6 inches in the center. It is nearly a home away from home.

As far as other things we will bring:

I have 3 more gallon bags made out for our shower stuff..one for the boys and one for the girls so we don't have to wait if we want to shower. I also have a baggie made out for our oral hygiene products.

I have a big cooler I will be putting our drinks for the weekend in and a smaller red cooler for our lunch stuff.

I plan on taking both of my cameras so I can take loads of pictures AND I am going to be taking 2 of my crochet projects to work on. I think that is all we will be taking.

As I said, I am super excited, worried, anxious, scared for this camping trip.

I am gonna need loads of prayers.

Now I will ask a question:

Am I forgetting anything? 

Is there any other camping essentials I need to take?

Be Blessed,

Erin

Rain, Rain, (and Humidity) Go Away!

My friends, the sky is talking as I write this.

It's dark gray, gloomy out there!

It has rained every day for around 3 weeks now!!

I'm so tired of the rain.

I'm also tired of the humidity!!

It is hard to breathe when you step out side!!!

The air feels heavy and sticky!!

On a more positive side, My garden is thriving because of all the rain.

The trees/grass/plants are all beautifully green.

My house is staying pretty clean because I have to be in the house.

My car has been washed daily.

AND

Rain promotes nap time and we all need a nap sometimes!

Friends, I am still making lists and planning all my packing requirements for our big camping trip.

My kiddos are counting down the days!!

We have 8 days until our big trip!

We will be doing some shopping this weekend.

We need to buy some necessities such as bug spray, sunscreen, a tarp for under our tent, some outdoor games to set up...drinks, snacks, ect...

So I will pose this question to all who read this....

What do we need to take on our camping trip?

We will be spending 3 nights camping.

We will be sleeping in a tent on air mattresses.

We have to provide our own lunches and drinks.

What necessities do we need?

Hope to hear from you all!

Be Blessed,

Erin

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, How Does Your Garden Grow?

Well Hello!

My friends, I have been neglecting you!

I haven't been showing you EVERYTHING that has been going on.

Boy if I had, I could write a blog post daily.

BUT

I really wanted to show you what my garden is up to.

I didn't get to redo my garden beds the way I wanted so I just added compost to them and began planting.

Before we get started...I have lots of tomatoes planted this year. 

Some are the Better Boy Hybrids I planted last year, some are cherry tomatoes, and the others came from a seed packet labeled "Rainbow Heirloom Mix". So this year my tomatoes are kind of a surprise. I really don't know what I will be getting from the mix!! It is really exciting for me!

Here is garden bed 1. 

In this bed I have 4 tomato plants, a watermelon, and a cantaloupe. I also have broccoli, bush beans, fennel, and iceberg lettuce.

I'm really excited as my broccoli is starting to form heads.

This is supposed to be a cantaloupe. Doesn't look like one though.

Garden bed 2 hosts my wall of kentucky wonder bean vines and cucumbers. I plant them side by side as they love each other. I also have peppers, some herbs, onions, carrots and a tomato plant.

Garden bed 3 looks like a jungle!!!! I have 4 tomato plants (one in each corner). I also have 2 zucchini plants, 2 cabbage plants, some peppers, and some peas. Oh and kale.

I must tell you, my tomato plants are as tall as I am!!!!

I have been thrilled to watch the cabbage form heads.

Here is one of the gigantic tomatoes. Oh I'm itching for them to turn so I can eat them!!!

I have picked around 14 zucchini so far. Usually the vine borers get them before I get more than 2. I have been super happy with them.

One of my kale plants. I have been juicing it and making kale chips.

Banana peppers. I love the tang of banana peppers.

Here is the back side of the bean and cucumber wall. My beans are just starting to form and I have gotten 10 or so cucumbers so far. 

 I moved my greenhouse from along the house to my gazebo. This is now my favorite workstation!

My deck plants are doing ok...however, my kale on my deck has worms eating it. 

I don't mind much as I have more in my garden.

The lettuce is going crazy!!! It is so beautiful.

Finally my cherry tomatoes in buckets on the deck are going crazy!! 

That does it for my garden update. I hope you all have enjoyed seeing my plants.

I think the rain this year has really helped everything grow crazy. I have had so much produce. I can go and pick something every day!

Oh and a final picture....

Another storm is rolling in! It has been raining for 2 weeks here!!!! I really can't complain because of the success of my garden but man, where is the sunshine?

Well my friends, I have been busy scouring the web for more youth activities for our camp out and I have been making a list of all the stuff I need to take. I really think we are gonna have to take 2 vehicles, a uhaul, and a trailer. Ok I'm exaggerating but I do think we will need to take both vehicles. But I will keep ya updated.

Until next post,

Be Blessed,

Erin