We are home after our second year at homeschool camp. This year was much better than last year! No partying/wrestling/racing mice through every night :) We miss our cabinmates that live elsewhere :( We are trying to get back into the school routine. We all love this time of year - the crisp, cool weather and the colorful trees.

Our biggest news: Jesse was baptized into Christ the day after we returned from camp. It was such a good feeling - so good that it is hard to describe. It was wonderful to think about the angels in heaven rejoicing about his decision.

Is your breath ever completely taken away by the sudden realization of how quickly time has passed? Mine certainly is today. My oldest is now 11 - how did that happen so fast? Today is also the end of the t-ball era of our lives. It is Cade's last game as a tball player, Jesse's last game as an assistant coach, Kevin's last game as the coach, and my last game as the head cheerleader. It seems like just yesterday that we were loading up to go to Jesse's first practice. My little boys aren't so little anymore :(

Don't you just love t-ball?

Today I made a recipe for cinnamon (or cimanun, as Cade used to say) rolls. I found the recipe on www.thepioneerwoman.com - she calls it Cinnamon Rolls 101. The recipe makes 7-8 cake pans worth - yes, you read that correctly. They have a wonderful, maple flavored icing. I highly recommend the recipe. It was very easy and I had no trouble with it - unless you take into consideration my resulting growing waistline.... But, alas, doughnuts (or any form thereof) are my weakness. You chocoholics can keep your chocolate, just give me a good, fresh doughnut :)

Okay, I'm finally writing a new entry - I am sure much to the delight of my fans (and you know who you are)...hee..hee...

We are on our summer break!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We will be off for about a total of seven weeks and then get back to our school routine. I have been busy with a lot of little projects and things around the house.

I have also been trying some new recipes - some from The Pioneer Woman (www.thepioneerwoman.com). For those of you who are not familiar with PW, you should check her website out. I enjoy reading it and getting ideas. She homeschools her four kids and lives on a ranch in Oklahoma. She recently spent a week in New York and blogged (what a weird, new word) all about it. It made me want to visit New York - however, I am having a terrible time just getting my sweet hubby to take us to Chicago. He is nervous in those REALLY big cities with which he is unfamiliar. He was lost and ended up in a pretty bad part of Chicago once. The boys and I really want to go, though. There are so many neat museums, Wrigley Field, and, of course.....an indoor Lego mini-theme park and store. Oh, and shopping :)

Yesterday I actually had time to go into a little "junk" shop nearby, and found an adorable little table to put by a rocker on my front porch. I have been waiting for just the "right" table to present itself - and it did - for only ten dollars!!!

Our garden is out and I am soooo looking forward to some home-grown tomatoes. So we can make spaghetti sauce, chili, vegetable soup, and if we want to, "our own, very own, to-mah-to juice." For those of you who don't recognize that line, it is from a John Denver song called "Home-Grown Tomatoes" - Don't you just love John Denver?

Every fall we have a big outside shindig we call Smores 'N More. We always have over 100 attendees. We have a HUGE bonfire to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. We make apple cider, well Kevin does in his cider press, and everyone brings yummy food! The big hit every year is the hay wagon. It is so much fun! Hope you all enjoy the pictures.